Page 94 of Her Beast

He looked startled, as if he’d been expecting some other question. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“I’m not a child,” she retorted, not bothering to hide her irritation. “I’ve had three l-lovers, you know.” She glared up at him, furious with herself for stumbling over the wordlover.

He held up a hand in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you were. It’s just that my tastes are rather, er, unconventional.”

“How do you know that mine aren’t, too?”

This time she saw a definite glint of humor when he looked at her. “That is an excellent point.”

“Well?” she prodded. “Are you going to answer the question? Or are you—”

“I like to watch a woman be stripped naked, bound hand and foot, and then whipped. Sometimes I include another woman—or a man—kneeling between her thighs, servicing her. Sometimes I like to administer the whipping myself. Sometimes I like to be the one licking her pussy.” They’d slowed to a crawl and he was staring down at her, his gaze so hot she was surprised he didn’t melt the ice. “But sometimes I just like to watch while I am sucked to orgasm—slowly brought to the peak of pleasure and then deprived—over and over—”

He caught Julia before she even realized she was falling, scooping her up and holding her as easily as a babe in his arms.

“Whoops,” he whispered, and then brushed his cold lips softly against hers—the touch so brief and delicate that she wondered if she imagined it.

He skated to a halt, still holding her. “Do you want to stop skating, Julia?” His deep voice rumbled through her body.

“No.”

He smiled and set her on her feet.

Julia clung to his arm, her knees still wobbly. She swallowed. “I think perhaps we should talk about something a bit less, er—”

“Stimulating?”

“I was going to saydistracting, but I supposestimulatingis more honest.”

“Does that mean I have to wait for my answer?”

“Yes,” she said, still trembling. “I think that would be best.”

They glided together in silence.

“Feeling more stable?” he asked a few minutes later, keeping pace beside her but allowing her to skate on her own.

“Much. May I ask you another question?”

He cut her a sidelong glance.

“Notthatsort of question. There are other things to talk about besides, er—”

“Sex?” he suggested.

Julia sucked in a breath.

“What?” he said, the innocent look he tried to assume not even remotely convincing. “I thought you needed help finding the right word.”

Julia ignored his taunting. “Well? Will you answer me, or not?”

“Ask and find out.”

“You said growing up in the orphanage wasn’t awful—but were you happy there?”

“Happy?” He pondered for a moment as the skated. “I don’t recall being especially unhappy,” he said after a moment.

“Didn’t you ever want to know who your mother and father were?”

---