He reached out his hand and toyed with the end of a curl in my hair. I shivered at the light brush of his fingers. “You're curious about me, aren't you Annie?”
“Of course I am! I'm an open book and you never tell me a bloody thing.” I gave him a light, playful shove on his shoulder. It was the kind of thing I did all the time with my siblings, roughing each other up in the name of teasing. It didn’t feel that way with Ian, though. He looked at my hand, lingering briefly on his muscular shoulder until I dropped it again to my lap. When he turned his attention back to my face, the smoldering desire in his gaze nearly made me catch my breath.
“What would you be willing to do, I wonder, to find out the answers to all of your questions?”
“Willing to do?” I didn't know what he was getting at. Also, my brain was only functioning at about 30% as the rest of my body sang to his touch. His fingers grazed the base of my neck, lightly caressing me. I could feel my nipples tighten, stiffening into pebbles with his hands so close.
“I've got a proposal for you. A bargain, an exchange of sorts.”
“Really?” My voice came out breathy, eager.
“I'll give you something that I haven't given anyone else. And in return you will give me the same.”
“That sounds... confusing.” I liked the idea of him sharing something with me and me alone, but what, exactly, did he want from me?
“I'll tell you all those secrets you're dying to know,” he continued.
“You will?”
“I will.”
“You'll tell me how you got injured?” My eyes brightened with excitement. “You'll tell me everything you've done about it and what you could still do?”
“I'll tell you anything about me that you want to know.”
This sounded too good to be true. “And in return?”
“You'll give me what you've never given anyone else.”
“What, tell you all my secrets?” I laughed. “I think I've already done that.”
“No, it's not something you're going to say to me. It's something you're going to do for me.”
That sounded suspicious. “What is it exactly you want me to give you that I've never given anyone else?”
With a wicked gleam in his dark eyes, he told me in a low, commanding voice, “You're going to cum for me.”
“What!?” Had I been leaning in toward him, feeling all warmhearted and dreamy? Spine straight, knees locked firmly together, I recoiled.
“You are going to cum for me. For every secret I tell you, you are going to give me an orgasm.”
“That's insane!” I leapt up from the couch as if a poisonous snake had crept into my lap.
He sat there, cool and composed, as if this were the kind of conversation he had every day. I realized that might be true. There was so much I didn't know about him. “Those are my terms.”
“This is crazy!” My heart fluttered and I took a few paces forward then turned around and retraced my steps. Shock and confusion mingled in me with something else I couldn't deny. I felt intrigued, aroused, and as much as I should've run from the room and quit on the spot, I stayed and asked, “What do you mean?”
“I'm flexible as to how you cum. I could make you cum. You could make yourself cum while I watch. Both would work for me.”
My mouth dropped open. “How can you sit there and talk about this so calmly?”
“It's a transaction.”
I flexed my hands up in the air, brought them down to my hair, settled them at my hips. I didn't know what to do with myself. “This is so wrong in so many ways.”
He gave me a devilish grin. “Doesn't that make it even more hot?”
“You’re crazy.”
“You’re intrigued.”
“I'm going up to bed,” I declared, feeling very much as if I needed some distance. Had the fire leapt out of the fireplace? I was burning up.
“Good, think about my offer while you’re in bed.” He sounded so amused, so sure I’d be on his mind. I huffed and I puffed, but I couldn't deny it. I’d be doing exactly that. I started for the door instead.
“Just remember,” he called after me. “If you make yourself cum tonight, it'll be much more intense with me.”
Of all the nerve. I stormed up the stairs and stomped into my bedroom. My poor toothbrush, I abused it, shoving it under the water, covering it with too much toothpaste, roughing it up around my teeth before I threw it to the sink basin.
I should leave. I should jump into my car and drive off. Of course I didn't have a car. And it was dark, in the middle of the night. I had no choice but to stay and stew over what he'd said to me.
People didn't say things like that to each other. That was ridiculous. Who did he think I was? I'd never felt so shocked and insulted.
And turned on. My skin burned. Twisting beneath the sheets, I kept picturing his face, handsome in the firelight, his eyes dark with promise. The feel of his powerful shoulder, the bulk of muscle underneath my fingers.
But how arrogant of him to assume that no man had made me cum before. Of course, he was right. And Ian could make me cum. I knew he could. He lit my whole body on fire with just a kiss. What would it feel like to have him do more, have him touch me and bring me pleasure like no one else ever had?
I tossed in my bed, punching my pillow, trying to get comfortable. What was I doing, even letting myself wonder about how it would feel to open myself up to him like that? There was no way I could say yes, and it wasn’t just because his proposal offended my prim sense of propriety.
The real reason I had to say no was because to him it would just be a game, a “transaction” as he’d called it. For me? The second he made me cum my eyes would pop into hearts, rainbows and moonbeams filling my brai
n as I swooned and fell deeply in love with him. I was already halfway there and all we’d done was kiss. Once. I’d gone into dinner earlier that night excited as a schoolgirl, chatting away about my family, hoping we’d kiss again on the couch. He’d had a much different agenda. While I’d nattered on, he’d been formulating the terms of a sexual exchange, his secrets for my orgasms.
My legs twisted in the sheets. I felt too agitated, too worked up. I couldn’t resist any more. I snuck my hand down between my thighs. Under my panties, my eyes closed, my mouth opened as I discovered how wet I was. I felt so slick and warm on my fingertips as I stroked. I'd been wet all night. Even though his words had offended my mind, they'd inflamed my body.
Sighing in surrender, I did exactly as he told me. I worked myself in a rhythm, parting my legs, imagining letting him touch me like that, his fingers right where mine were, stroking, giving me exactly what I needed. He’d be strong and sure, feasting on my responses, coaxing out so much pleasure until I shuttered and trembled in his arms. I bit back my cry of release, panting in the dark, not wanting to get caught.
Because I had a secret. While I might have managed to say no to his proposal, deep within, my answer was yes. Putting myself in his capable hands to do as he pleased was exactly what I wanted.
8
Ian
I shouldn't have said it. I knew I shouldn't have, but I couldn't stop myself.
She looked so ravishing, sitting across from me in the firelight, freshly-washed hair gleaming and soft. Her lips tantalized me with every sip of wine she took. Playing with her fork, savoring her food, everything reminded me of the sensual pleasures I wanted to give her.
She seemed completely unaware. She smiled and laughed and chattered, clearly enjoying herself while I burned with sexual tension. I had to do something about it.