He swore under his breath and she loved it. His fingers tightened on her hips and she loved it. She did it again, taking him deep, and he let go, slapping one ass cheek so hard she could picture the red mark he would have left. It burned against the coolness of the room, burned against his skin when he adjusted, f**king her in earnest now.

His weight pressed her into the bed, limited her range of movement. And she loved that too.

“More,” she managed to gasp out.

He let go of her hip and she waited for the slap on her ass. But he slid a hand between her body and the bed and found her clit. He managed to squeeze her clit with the tips of his fingers as he continued to f**k her deep.

“You can’t come until I say so.”

She wanted to argue. It was ridiculous after all to order such a thing. She’d come when she wanted to, damn it. It wasn’t as if she was a yogi with that sort of mind/body control.

But she knew it would be a lie. Knew she’d do her damndest to make it happen however he wanted it to.

He kept thrusting and she sort of floated awhile, the pleasure flooding her system, lulling her even as it excited. She wanted to come. Wanted him to come. Wanted to please him.

She squeezed her inner muscles over and over and he hummed. “Well now, that’s quite lovely.” And then he growled as she kept it up. His fingers on her clit sped up a little, squeezed just a little harder. “I’m ready. Come around my cock.”

Like he hit a switch, orgasm burst through her with alarming speed. Brilliant. Sharp shards of pleasure seemed to slice through her as she heard him say her name, knew he was coming too.

It went on and on for some time until he pressed a kiss to her shoulder and pulled out gently. The bed moved as he got up, but she was content to keep lying there, her arms up above her head, wrists bound. On display.

All the noise quieted when he touched her. What all it meant she didn’t really know, only that it made things better.

“What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” He asked her this as they sat at a diner, their breakfasts piping hot on the table in front of them.

“I promised Erin I’d go out to Bainbridge to a Halloween party thing. They’re doing a costume parade and Miles—Gillian and Adrian’s son—his band is playing. I tried very hard to get out of it, but she guilted me.”

He smiled at her. “Why try to get out of it?”

“It’s exhausting trying to behave all the time.” She poured syrup on her stack of pancakes.

He laughed then. “Oh, gorgeous, you’re something else.”

“Hm.”

“Behave how?”

“They’re all so nice. Perky. Everyone loves everyone else and they’re close and blah. I go because Alexander will look adorable in his little costume and I’m sure Martine and Poppy will too. Rennie tells me she’s too old for that stuff, but she’s old enough to get a little giggly around Miles’s friends who, thankfully, are old enough to think she’s an annoying-little-sister type instead of make-out material.”

“I notice you’re talking about the kids and not the adults.”

“I like children better.” She chewed for a while, sipping her coffee, before she spoke again. “Though some adults do all right.”

“I never really pegged you for an earth-mother type.”

She laughed. “Stop, you’re going to make me choke. I’m not. Not in a million years. But I’m a decent aunt. And Alexander, Martine and Poppy are too young to judge me for anything but the quality of snacks in my cabinets and how many of those tiny board books I’m willing to read.”

“Just when I think I’m getting you figured out, you go and prove me wrong. Do you ever, you know, think about having a child of your own someday?”

“I’m getting older. I come from some f**ked-up stock. My family was enough. What kind of person would I be to do that to a kid?”

“I had a child and my mother . . . well, you’ve met her.”

“Your mother loves you. She’s a hard-case bitch with her nose a little too high in the air, don’t get me wrong. But I can guarantee she never left you alone for ten minutes, much less dropped you off at the corner convenience store and didn’t come back for nearly two years.”

He blinked at her.

“I’m sorry. I . . . It’s like telling you stuff has loosened my tongue.”

He took her hand, his fingers tangling with hers. “Don’t apologize. I’m glad you’re sharing with me. I can’t get past that initial moment of rage when I hear how you were treated when you were at your most vulnerable.”

“So I come from a bunch of ass**les. There are already a lot of ass**les who had kids and f**ked them up. I’m not sure I can overcome my DNA to not do the same. I mean, can you imagine me at a PTA meeting?”

He grinned. “I totally can.” He shrugged. “I’ve seen you when you talk about Alexander. I know you love him, and from what I understand, he loves you right back. Seems to me what your situation was had a lot more to do with how they acted, not their biology. Hell, Charlotte, my ex-wife, her parents were really involved when she and her siblings grew up. And she’s a terrible mother. It’s not always biology, Raven. Some people are just, as you so eloquently put it, ass**les.”

“Anyway, I don’t know. I have a studio apartment and I like to travel. Having a baby isn’t in the cards for me.”