Page 78 of Fierce

“Not safe,” I said.

“Oh, I think we’ll live dangerously tonight.” He was pulling me by the waist, turning me so my back was to his front, and his hand was in my hair, unfastening the silver clip so my hair tumbled around my face.

“Hey.” That was all I said, though, because one big hand had reached around and closed over my mouth.

“I told you,” he said in my ear. “The spider decides.” He took my earlobe in his teeth, bit down gently, and I squirmed and moaned into his hand.

“Oh, yeh,” he said. “The hand stays.”

The car glided smoothly along, and Hemi’s mouth was moving over the side of my neck now. I realized that his other hand was unfastening my sweater, starting at the bottom, loosening one tiny pearl button at a time, his fingers drifting over my skin as he did it. And all the time, his mouth continued to work on my neck, biting hard enough that I was shifting beneath him, trying to get away or trying to get closer, I couldn’t even have said. I knew he might be leaving marks, but I didn’t care about that, either. He had me hauled back against his chest, and the strangled sounds he was muffling with his hand were filling my head.

“Oh, yeh,” he murmured. The last button was open now, fully revealing my bra. I had, of course, worn his favorite: the pink one with the black lace overlay, and his hand was tracing lazily over the edges, making me squirm some more. “I’ve found myself a good girl who’s so naughty inside. And I’m the only one in the world who knows her dirty secrets.”

When his hand moved inside the low-cut demibra to claim my breast, I shifted hard and strained against his hand.

“Hold still,” he said. “Or I’ll stop.”

I did my best, but I couldn’t keep from trembling, and when he began to work in earnest, pinching the nipple between hard fingers, I couldn’t help myself. I wriggled.

He let go of the nipple instantly, bit my earlobe again, and I gasped into his palm. “Thought I said not to move,” he said. “You’ve got a lot to learn about obedience. Hold still.”

I tried to tell him that it was too much, that I couldn’t do it, but he wouldn’t let me. For the next few minutes, he played with me, teasing me mercilessly while I burned and moaned, while I tried not to move and did anyway. And as soon as I did, he stopped what he was doing, and he bit me. Every squeeze, every bite sent a shock of awareness to my core, and I was aching for him to go on, to reach under my skirt and touch me. I wanted to tell him so, and I couldn’t, because he had his hand clamped so firmly over my mouth.

I only realized the car had stopped when he pulled his hand out of my bra and released my mouth. He was already buttoning my sweater when I spoke.

“Wh-what?”

He got the last button done and said, “Sit up, sweetheart. Time for dinner.”

I managed to sit up far enough to stare at him, but he had his hand on the car door, and the moment it moved, Charles had it open, was standing there waiting.

Hemi got out, turned, and put out a hand for me. Nothing but polite attentiveness in his face and posture, while I was trying to conceal my trembling.

“Such...a....dirty...trick,” I hissed to him as he led the way to the door of the restaurant and held it for me.

“Oh?” I caught the twitch at the corner of his mouth as he looked down at me. “Didn’t enjoy that?”

I couldn’t answer, because we were inside the restaurant, and Hemi was talking to the maître d’, and he had his hand on my lower back, at the hem of the sweater, his thumb somehow finding an edge of bare skin. And then the maître d’ was leading us to a table, and I knew Hemi was behind me, watching me walk, checking for unsteadiness.

I slid onto the banquette, and he sat down opposite me. The moment the maître d’ left, I was hissing at Hemi again. “This is even worse than the underwear thing, for your information. Now I’m supposed to eat?”

“Told you,” he said, seeming totally unaffected by my little outburst. “I didn’t want you to linger over dinner. Just trying to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“You are so...” I knew my eyes had narrowed, and now, he actually was smiling.

“Yeh. I am. Told you I would be. Want you ready for what comes next, that’s all.”

“What comes next? What are you planning to do?”

“Oh,” he said, “I’ll let you wonder, shall I?”

---