She nodded.
“Because I want you at my mercy. I want to know that every ounce of pleasure that you get, every rush of sensation, every orgasm, was due completely to me. I want to own it.”
She blinked, set off balance by his grim intensity.
“Isn’t that kind of narcissistic?” she asked warily.
His brows arched and she sensed his dark amusement. “Narcissistic like some of your past lovers? I don’t know. Is it?” he asked, his tone misleadingly mild. “Is that how it felt to you on the yacht? When we were on that chaise lounge together? When I was touching you?”
She blinked. No. If anything, your entire focus on me felt like the exact opposite of self-involvement.
“I like control in the bedroom,” he stated simply.
“Just like you do in the boardroom?” she asked with a half smile. “You can’t own everything, Jacob. You can’t control everything.”
Even to her own ears, she sounded unconvinced. She was under his influence now. She could never forget what it was like to be made love to by him. He’d controlled her mind and body like a maestro, and now all she could think about was submitting to him again.
“Maybe not. But many things, I can,” he said with quiet confidence.
“I don’t want to be beaten or bruised or abused in any way.”
“I would never leave you marked. Never. The idea makes me sick.”
She was taken aback by his bitterness. His mouth twisted, and again, she sensed that frustration she couldn’t understand in him.
“I won’t lie. I’ll demand a lot of you. I’ll want to fuck you hard. Frequently, and in whatever way I want. But only if you’re completely with me in the moment, Harper.”
She inhaled shakily, aroused by his words and finding the fierceness of his eyes overwhelming.
“This isn’t about making you suffer. Never. It’s about the opposite. I want you excited. I want you to surrender to everything but the moment. I want you to give in to the pleasure. To me.”
It was like he was on fire in those moments, and it hurt a little to stare directly at the flame.
“Does it turn you off?” he asked quietly, his gaze on her rapier sharp. “The idea of giving control to me during sex? I’m going to position you any way I choose. Then I’m going to pleasure you any way that strikes me before I have you any way that I please. It’s going to feel so damn good.”
Heat rushed through her cheeks and chest.
“It doesn’t turn me off,” she admitted. “If it’s anything like last night, I think . . . I think I’d like giving you control. In the bedroom,” she emphasized.
He spun around slowly. “You’re sure? You’re not afraid?”
“I don’t think so, no.”
He stalked toward her. She couldn’t help but notice he was erect. She could clearly see the thick shaft of his cock pressing against his cargo shorts. A thrill raced through her. She could make out the shape of the plump cockhead. He had been turned on, just by speaking the words out loud of what he wanted to do to her. He halted less than a foot away from where she sat on the bed.
Without thinking, she reached for him, running her hand along the rigid staff of his cock through his clothing. He muttered a curse, his hand going behind her head. She didn’t need his urging, though. She pressed her face against his crotch, running her lips against the hard ridge of his erection. When she felt that ridge beneath the large, mushroom-shaped cockhead that excited her so much, she caressed it with the edge of her front teeth. A fever rose in her.
The next thing she knew, his hands were at her elbows. He pulled her up roughly into a standing position. Harper opened her lips to protest the deprivation, but then he was kissing her forcefully. Angrily? A hot wave of excitement swept through her, taking all rational thought with it. His kiss scorched her. When he sealed it abruptly a moment later, she was panting softly.
“You see why I have to control you,” he said, his mouth slanted in a hard line. His fingers went to the small of her back, finding the button of her skirt. “You’d have me coming within a matter of minutes every time, just like you did the other night on the terrace.”
“Maybe that’s what I want,” she breathed, staring up at him. He jerked down her zipper and slid his hand down over her ass, taking her skirt along the way. He shoved his hand into her underwear and caressed her bare bottom as her skirt fell down to her thighs.
“Is it? I thought you wanted me to have control in the bedroom.” He pulled her panties down over her ass.
“I do,” she whispered, enthralled by his face . . . and his touch on her naked, tingling skin. “But I also liked watching you come that night. A lot. I liked that you came on me.”
His small snarl made her blood rush furiously in her veins. She pressed tighter to him, excited by his erection. He pushed her back slightly at the same moment that he took a step back. Harper felt her skirt and panties slither past her thighs.