Dare to Surrender (16 page)

“Come on,” she said, her gaze darting between photographs. “I’m nothing like what you’re used to.
Nothing!
”

“I know.”

Still, he held her shoulders, held her gaze. Her giggles died down until the only sound was the rain pattering against the
windows.

He leaned down until his lips were just barely touching hers. “I want to tie you. To my bed. Now.”

“I thought you wanted to take my picture.”

“I did… now I want… I just want you.”

This was not part of her plan. However, a shudder of arousal went through her, landing right between her legs.

Goddamn motherfucker shitwad.
She was weak, couldn’t say no, not when his touch was shooting through her like lightning, lighting her up, exciting her.
Right then she didn’t even care if it was a booty call.

She wanted to call his booty right back.

Kissing her, he pushed his way into her mouth, licking her lips, gently biting her tongue. Her bones went weak, but he was
there, holding her, lifting her in his arms.

“I want to please you, Joy.”

“I want to please you, too.” And she did. The thought of giving herself to him made her breasts heavy, made her sex hot.

“You do, baby, you do.” Once again, he carried her upstairs and gently placed her on the bed, following her down and laying
his long body across hers, pushing her legs open with one strong thigh. She felt his jeans pressing against her clit, already
swollen, throbbing for his touch.

“Will you let me tie you, Joy? And then pleasure you?”

How easily he persuaded her, how easily she melted for him.
So much harder. This one is going to be so much harder when it ends.
Because she’d never felt like this before—so free, so open. She’d never trusted a lover like she trusted Ash, and it made
her so very vulnerable.

Which prompted her to ask, “What can you promise me, Ash?”

She saw the unrest in his eyes, saw the turmoil. Everything would depend on this, his answer. Whether she stayed with him,
gave herself to him this night, allowed herself to be tied; it all depended on how he answered this one question.

“I can’t promise anything, Joy, except what we have tonight. Right now.”

She saw the regret in his eyes, and she gave him a watery smile. All she’d wanted was honesty, and that’s what he’d given
her. All the others… they’d made promises, promises they never intended to keep. Now, something inside her swelled at Ash’s
total honesty, even if it meant a broken heart in the end.

Reaching up, she cupped his face. “Yes. Please, Ash. Do whatever you want. Take me.”

Turning his head, he kissed her palm, and she felt his cock pressing between her legs, rubbing the sensitive flesh under her
jeans. “Yes,” she said again. “Take me.”

He pulled off her sweater and tossed it aside. His gaze landed on her breasts, and he leaned down to take a nipple into his
mouth, his tongue wet and damp through the red lace.

She arched underneath him as he sucked, tugged, and massaged her breast. Every nerve in her body sprang to life, and she moaned
softly as he continued the blissful assault of her nipples and breasts. When he pulled her bra straps down, his gaze was intense
on her body, unmistakably full of desire. For her.

A surge of power rushed through her. Somehow, for some reason, this man wanted her. Wanted her to give herself to him, and
she wanted it, too. Smiling, she reached behind her back and unhooked her bra to pull it off her body. Taking her own nipples
in both her hands, she teased herself, closed her eyes, and moaned. His eyes on her only made her hotter, only made the sensations
on her breasts go straight through her to land in her sex. Without conscious thought, her legs opened wider, welcoming him
to sink into the center of her.

He kissed her collarbones, her upper chest, paused to suck a nipple in his mouth until she cried out. He made his way down
her body, her stomach quivering when he placed a soft kiss on her belly button. She immediately tensed, but he ran a soothing
hand over her hip, calming her.

“When are you going to see how beautiful you are?”

When I look in your eyes
… But she just shook her head, ignoring the question. The last thing she wanted was to feel beautiful only because a man told
her it was fact.

He moved down to unbutton her jeans and slide them down her legs, leaving her lying before him in nothing but red panties.
Normally this type of situation—lying exposed before a man’s gaze—would have made her squirm, beg to have the lights turned
off. But this—-submitting, giving herself to him—felt too good to stop. It felt too good to be the center of this man’s attention.

“Take off your clothes, Ash. I want to see you, too.”

He knelt between her legs and tugged his T-shirt over his head. From this angle, she could just barely make out the wounded
flesh of his upper shoulder, but now she saw several more scars across his chest, as if he’d had numerous surgeries.

Although she was curious, she didn’t ask. Not now.

He climbed off the bed, and when he returned, he was holding four lengths of rope. Just looking at them sent a jolt of lust
through her, and she felt her sex pulse.

“Ash…”

He stroked her hair off her forehead. “Relax, baby. Trust me.”

Nodding, she bit her lip. She did trust him, and she wanted this, wanted it more than anything. She pictured the stolen sculpture,
in her mind seeing the erotic pose, the woman’s arms bound, her head thrown back, and a shiver tickled over her. She felt
like that, like a piece of stone coming alive under Ash’s touch.

And right then, that’s all she wanted to think about. “Yes, Ash. I trust you.”

The thing that was tearing her apart was the fact that she knew he couldn’t trust her.

J
oy pushed the thoughts out of her head as Ash took one of her wrists and quickly bound her in the soft nylon. Although he
was fast, the pattern of the rope was still beautiful, the knots artistic. After making sure it wasn’t too tight or constricting,
he gently eased her onto her back and stretched her arm above her head and to the side. A few minutes later, she felt him
tie it off to the far edge of the bed.

Leaning over her, he placed a soft kiss on her lips. “How does that feel?”

She gave it a tug, and while the rope wasn’t uncomfortable, it definitely felt sturdy and secure. Her heart raced as a slight
bite of fear energized her. “It’s fine,” she said.

He repeated the process on each of her ankles and her other arm, and as he restrained her limbs one by one, her nerves continued
to feel as if they’d been electrically charged.

By the time he was done, she was totally bound, totally helpless. Surrendered. Trembling.

He stood back and looked her over, his gaze consuming her nearly naked, restrained form in one all-assessing glance. “Goddamn,
Joy.” He reached down and spread her hair around her shoulders. “Hang on.” She couldn’t see what he was doing, but she heard
him rummaging around and then the familiar click of his camera.

“Ash, no—” She shook her head, only making her hair more messy.

But he ignored her, circling the bed and snapping away. Despite her awkwardness, she couldn’t help but respond to her own
exhibitionistic display of being restrained and photographed. Even through her embarrassment, she felt her sex throbbing harder
than before, felt her nipples harden under the camera’s clicking shutter.

She didn’t know how long he photographed her, but eventually he put the camera down and began unbuttoning his pants. Eyes
wide, she watched as he kicked off the remainder of his clothes and climbed onto the bed, straddling her chest. Her mouth
watered; his cock was close, so close. She wanted to taste him, taste his flesh.

Reaching behind her, she felt him slide a pillow under her head. “You still okay, baby?”

She nodded. She was more than okay; she was high, numb to everything except him, what he was doing to her.

“That’s my girl. My beautiful girl.” He placed his cock between her breasts. It was then she noticed he held a bottle in his
hands, and he poured a generous amount of lubrication into his palm. “It’s strawberry flavored,” he said with a grin.

“My favorite.”

He took his cock in his hands and stroked himself, all the while watching her. Slowly, his long fingers gripping his cock,
he stroked from the base to the tip, again and again until she saw the muscles in his lean body tighten.

“I want to feel you, Ash.” She pulled at the ropes, but they were secure, on the edge of being too tight; he knew exactly
how far to go.

He rubbed his slick erection between her breasts, his flesh sliding smoothly against her skin. The strawberry scent reached
her nostrils, mixing with the smell of sex and Ash. She tried to push her thighs together, but her legs were bound wide apart,
leaving her aching center open and untouched. Torture.

She watched as he took both her breasts in his hands and began to massage her sensitive flesh.

“Oh, Ash…” She felt her arm muscles tensing in their stretched position, and her pussy was getting so damp she could feel
her own secretions through her panties.

“Beautiful breasts, Joy; you have such beautiful breasts.” He rubbed his cock between the valley of her chest. Side to side,
using her skin to pleasure himself. And then he brought the engorged head of his erection to press against her nipples, to
rub himself against the sensitive buds, hard and beaded, until she threw her head back, moaning aloud.

“Yes, Ash. Do it. Fuck me there.” She bowed under him as desire pooled deep inside her. The feel of his cock, his balls on
her chest, made lust rush through her in a hot, raging river.

“Joy, I love tying you, seeing you helpless for me.” He took her breasts in his hands and pressed the mounds around his cock.
“And you love it, too, don’t you, baby?”

“Yes,” she breathed as he began moving back and forth, sliding up toward her face and down, just until the tip of him hit
the bottom edge of her breasts, and then he moved forward again. Back and forth, thrusting and not gentle. She didn’t want
gentle.

As he fucked her breasts, his own breathing went harsh and heavy, and his obvious arousal only turned her on more.

“Do you like being bound, Joy? Do you like belonging to me like this?”

More,
she thought.
I want more than just this.
“Yes, Ash. It feels so good… You feel so good.”

He continued to fuck her, his pre-come dripping out of his cock to mix with the strawberry lube. He pressed her breasts more
tightly together, making a firm grip for his rock-hard cock. “I can’t wait to feel myself inside you, Joy. I can barely wait
to fuck you.”

“Oh my God, Ash…” Her hips bucked up, searching for something, anything. All she knew was that she was aching between her
legs, aching for release. For Ash.

He inched up until his cock was right there, a breath from her mouth. “Do you want to suck my cock?”

“Yes.”

He gently touched the head of his erection to her lips, and her tongue darted out. She tasted strawberry and his skin mixed
with his essence. A shudder of longing vibrated through her as she tried to get more of him; she wanted him to fill her, fill
her mouth, fill her everywhere.

But he backed up, climbing down her body until he knelt between her legs, spread wide around him.

“You better not even be thinking of taking a picture right now, Ash.”

He grinned. “As much as I’d like to, even I wouldn’t push you that far. Yet. Nice panties. I especially like how damp they
are—you’re so turned on I can see it.”

She felt her face burn; it was true. She knew she was wet for him, and in this position she couldn’t hide it. She couldn’t
hide anything. And even as it frightened her, a sense of freedom mixed into that emotion, making her mind feel a bit euphoric
and totally unself-conscious. When the option of hiding was taken away, it was as if she had nothing left to do but embrace
being exposed.

He went to his dresser and came back with something, but she couldn’t see what it was. He held up a pair of small scissors.
“I always keep these around, just in case I need to release someone in a hurry.” He ran a fingertip along the elastic of her
panties, edging around her inner thigh, so close to her pussy. He slid his hand under the lace and immediately plunged two
fingers into her.

She screamed out as total pleasure rushed through her. Her body bucked against the rope that held her, constrained her.

“Oh, God… Ash…”

“That’s my girl. Let go. Tell me what you want.”

She looked down at him, saw the long sinewy body before her, every muscle visible and taut. His green eyes were so dark, bottomless,
like the sea at night.

She took a deep breath. “I want you to do whatever you want to me. Use me.” Did she really just say that? Why did she feel
this way around him?

“Oh, fuck, baby.” With the fabric of her panties moved aside, he placed his thumb on her clit and pushed his fingers inside
her again. He brought her to the edge, and she was moaning, crying out for him.

“Three fingers, Joy. I’m fucking you with three fingers, and I don’t want you to come, not yet.”

“I’m so close, Ash… my God, so fucking close…”

Just when she thought she would climax, he removed his hand and she lay there, gasping, panting. Watching, she saw him take
the scissors, and then she felt the cold metal on her damp pussy. She heard a few snips and then realized he’d cut her underwear
off, right at the crotch so the fabric still bunched around her hips.

“Much better. Now I can see you.”

Kneeling between her thighs, he took her clit in his mouth, tugged the throbbing flesh with his teeth. She felt his hand sliding
through her slick pussy, past her vaginal entrance and then pressing at her anus. She stilled.

“You said use you, right, Joy?”

“Yes,” she managed.

He held up a small piece of marble, shaped like a cone with a small base. His smile was wicked. “I’m an artist; I’m obviously
into sex. It was only natural that I’d have a few erotic pieces around.”