The wait for the explosion was sweet torture. But when that first shock wave hit, Amery might’ve actually screamed. Then another one blasted her. And another. And each subsequent pulse built on the last one and the skill of Ronin’s mouth.

After the waves ebbed, she found herself blinking at the dark sky, wondering if she was still being tossed about in that spinning vortex. Her gaze fell on the dark head between her legs.

Their eyes met. Ronin murmured, “Again,” and slipped two fingers in her drenched pu**y. Those fingers expertly stroked her to another shuddering orgasm so quickly she did cry out. She’d never been so in tune with every nuance of her body’s response—even with her inability to move. Maybe it was because she couldn’t move and she’d given control of her pleasure to him. She didn’t have to think; just feel.

Her thoughts scattered again when his hands were stroking her belly and a hot mouth brushed her breast. Then she was looking into that sigh-worthy face.

“You’re beautiful,” he said. “Every inch of you.”

“Ronin. Untie me. I want to touch you.”

He brushed a soft kiss across her mouth. “Not this time. This time it’s all about you.”

“But . . .” It’s always about me. How could she complain about that? She watched as he stripped off his gi. “You don’t plan on f**king me?”

“I plan on f**king you. But even then, it’s still about you.” Ronin balanced on his knees and slowly fed his c**k into her. Once his shaft was fully buried, his hands landed on the armrests beside her and he began to move. “Wrap your legs around me up high. That’s it. I want to feel your heels digging into my shoulder blades.”

That changed the angle and she moaned. “That’s so good.”

Ronin kissed her. But it was a different kiss than usual. He kept his eyes open. He teased her lips with his; then he sank his teeth into her bottom lip. Their breath mingling, breathing each other in, staring into each other’s eyes further enclosed them in a bubble where the world outside this one ceased to exist.

He quickened his pace; his thrusts became shallower.

“How long are you going to hold off?”

He nuzzled her neck. “Until I feel this hot cunt clamping down on my cock.”

“Say that again.”

His breath warmed her ear as his hard shaft stroked inside her. “You’re so wet, so hot, so f**king tight I could spend every waking moment slamming my c**k into you. Feeling this pu**y milking every drop of seed from my dick. Make it happen, Amery. Make me come.”

Amery turned her head and scraped her teeth up and down the tendons straining his neck. “Anything you want from me. Anytime. Anyplace. It’s yours. I’m yours.” She squeezed him with her cunt muscles. “Let go of that control.”

Ronin emitted a growling noise and f**ked her harder. Rolling his hips so the chaise bounced with his effort to get inside her as deeply as possible. A dozen nearly brutal strokes later, he stilled as his c**k emptied into her.

She felt the burst of heat as he came inside her without a condom for the first time. Each time she bore down on that thick shaft filling her up, a throbbing pulse zipped from her G-spot to her clit.

He buried his face in her neck, panting as she’d never heard from him. Ronin stayed like that a long while before he whispered, “Thank you,” and pushed away from her.

First thing he removed his belt. His fingers and mouth soothed the tiny red lines on her belly. Two quick tugs and he freed her hands. He immediately brought her upright and massaged her forearms to get the blood flowing. He examined her closely, tracing the marks. “Any pain or numbness?”

“None.”

“You sure?

“Positive.”

Ronin continued to sweep his hands everywhere across her body. “Every time I touch you . . . I want more of you. I want you in ways that you can’t even imagine.”

Now that she could touch his face without restriction, she mapped the planes and angles that made him so beautifully masculine. “It’s a rush that a man like you wants me like that.”

“Amery.”

“I’m serious, Ronin. I know we agreed that what came before this doesn’t matter. But it does, because I’ve never had this kind of . . . freedom before. I’ve never had any man look at me the way you do. I’ve never had any man want me the way you do.” I’ve never been obsessed with a man the way I am with you.

“Does that frighten you?”

“Only in that I’ll disappoint you.” When he started to protest she pressed her fingers over his lips. “So promise me you’ll let me be whatever you need. Whatever you need,” she repeated. “Because you’ve given me things I didn’t even know I needed.”

He closed his eyes. His whole body trembled. “I promise” was barely audible as he breathed it through parted lips, but Amery heard it, and that’s all that mattered.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“I didn’t spend this much time getting ready for prom,” Amery complained.

“This is much bigger than prom,” Emmylou said, unwinding the curling iron from Amery’s hair.

Sasha, the blonde Amery secretly called Marilyn, swept powder over Amery’s face. Maybe she’d lucked out that Sasha made her living as a makeup artist, but to be honest, she was half-afraid to look in the mirror. What did it mean when Sasha swore Amery would look “glamorous yet natural?”