Page 125 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

“Are you still good to go without condoms?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now I’m going to destroy what’s left of that lipstick.”

Zoe put out her hand to stop him, then began to unbutton her shirt. The confidence looked good on her. With her eyes on him, she undid one, then the next. When he saw her underwear, his dick punched against his joggers.

He slipped a finger through the silver ring and tugged her toward him sharply. “Fuck me, that’s hot.” It was edgy, perfect for his mood. “If I said I felt like I needed to fuck you hard, would that freak you out?”

Zoe shook her head. “I kind of thought we could try something more…shit, I don’t even know the words. Just, the books I’ve been reading. Some of the things I read turned me on. And I like it when you tie my arms behind my back, and…I don’t know what it all means, but I like the idea of exploring what I enjoy with you and learning more about what you like.”

“Honesty looks good on you, Rocky. I love talking sexual preferences with you. You want to know what I love? I love slow fucking on a Sunday morning. I love oral sex and trashed lipstick in stadium dressing rooms. I love making love in high thread count sheets. And I love fucking dirty while hidden in public places. What do you want?”

Zoe’s eyes widened with interest. Her cheeks deliciously pink and innocent. “What if I wanted all of that?”

He slid the shirt off her shoulders, stroking her skin, before removing his own T-shirt.

“You want it how I want it tonight?” Alex stared at Zoe “Because you’ve been teasing me since I got home, and you know it? Because you let me down when you didn’t tell me what was happening?”

He almost smiled at the exuberant nod. “Yes.”

He threaded his hands through his hair, then linked them on top of his head as he blew out a breath. Her eyes flicked to his biceps, along the ink that ran up the side of his ribs, down his V to his erection beneath his joggers. When her tongue ran along her lower lip, he almost groaned.

“You understand what you’re giving me tonight, right?” he asked.

“I think so. You decide what we do. And I experience it with you. I don’t like the term submit. It makes me feel skeevy. But the feeling of letting you decide, and that what you decide will be more than just missionary sex…well, that’s what I’m giving you, right?”

“It is.”

“Ask me for it, and it’s yours,” she said.

Trust Zoe to try to renegotiate the terms such that she wouldn’t feel like it was really giving him anything because he’d asked her. “That’s not how this works.”

“I thought how this works was for us to determine.”

Alex smiled grimly. “It is. That’s what I’m attempting to do. I asked you if you wanted it how I wanted it. You said yes. I’m not asking again.”

“What if I started to leave the room?”

Alex’s eyes tracked her as she moved. “To make sure we’re all clear, Rocky. Remember your safe word is peony.”

“I feel like my heart just dropped forty floors.”

Alex scowled and stepped closer. “You hear me okay?” he asked.

Zoe nodded.

“Good. As soon as you said yes, we were already doing this. The only thing I’m not sure of is if you’re truly having second thoughts, or you want me to chase you. Your words and underwear are deliberately ambiguous, your actions have wound me up tight all evening considering I was already thinking about how much I missed you, your body, and the feel of us together. Then you told me you loved me. Consent is everything to me. So, you need that safe word tonight, like when we played with the wax. Because if you take one more step to that door, I’m going to chase you, haul you over my shoulder, drop you on the bed and spank your arse before I fuck you. And I need to know that you know how to tell me if that’s not what you want.”

She shivered, her shoulders flinching upwards. “I consent,” she said on a breath.

“Good.”

“What happens if I don’t take a step further to the door?

Alex didn’t answer, he simply gripped her wrists behind her back and kissed her. Within a moment, her hands were tied behind her back using her shirt. And he inhaled her sigh of relief as she felt the sleeves tighten.

“How do I sign?”

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