They needed sex to reconnect, so he could show her that she had no reason to panic. That she didn’t have to fear what she, deep down, wanted. Hopefully, he could break through her wall enough so they could talk out the rest of their issues afterward.

“I want that pretty ass of yours.” He went on as if she hadn’t spoken, refusing to lend credence to her fear. “I’m going to run my palms up and down that fine backside. Those sweet cheeks took a spanking so well.” He feathered the tips of his fingers down her back, then drifted over the tender line between her cheeks. “I’m sure it will take a fucking the same way.”

She gasped, tried to step back. His hold was too tight.

“No one’s ever penetrated you here, and I want to be the first one.” The only one. “I could give myself wet dreams just thinking about prying those sweet cheeks apart and sliding my dick, dripping with your juice, back here, then plunging deep. I want that, honey. Just like I want to see if anal sex will make you come.”

Kata dropped her gaze, her brows drawing together tightly, like she was fighting hard to resist the lure of his seduction.

Hunter grasped her chin and raised her stare back to his. “No running, no hiding. Eyes on me. Until Sunday, Kata.”

A mulish expression tore across her face—along with need. Hunter waited with a patience that chafed.

She sighed, opened her mouth, closed it.

Hunter seized the opportunity. “Until I figure out who is trying to kill you and why so I can stop them, I know you’re safe with me. Stay. I’ll protect you.”

“No one else has threatened me since Sunday. Maybe they’ve given up.”

He’d wondered at the pause, too, but in his gut, he knew the threat wasn’t over. “Or whoever is behind the hit is just waiting for us to get sloppy.”

Kata hesitated. “All right. Until Sunday, but you have to consider what I’m saying and give me some space.”

That was the last thing Kata needed. Still, her concession to give him more time was big. If she’d trust him, he’d give her something wonderful in return.

“I’ll do my best.” He cupped her jaw and stared directly into her eyes. “But you have to try to trust me.”

She sent him a solemn glance, and he hoped like hell that she was considering his words. Finally, she nodded.

Sighing in relief, he wrapped a hand around Kata’s hip and pulled her in close, whispering against her lips, “Now, where were we? Oh, yeah . . . After I found all the ways to make you come with just my hands, I’ll start in on you with my mouth. Did you know I have a huge oral fixation? I’m always going to be tasting some part of you. Your lips . . .” He pressed a slow kiss across her mouth, then bent to whisper in her ear. “Your neck.” Another achingly soft brush of lips along the silky skin there made his mouth water. “Your nipples.”

Hunter dragged his thumbs across those hard points, thrilled when she gasped and arched to him. With one hand at the small of her back, the other cradled her breast, and he brought the little bud to his mouth.

Hell, yes. He loved the hard candy tip just sitting on his tongue, the way he could pucker his lips around the engorged flesh, just before he bit softly. Kata moaned, shifting her hips not just against him, but into him, wriggling, flaunting, silently pleading for more.

Not quite success . . . but getting there.

Passion flowing like lava in his veins, he sucked one nipple deep while he worked the other with his thumb and forefinger. They’d be tender tomorrow, but she wasn’t feeling anything now except growing arousal. She clutched his head, fingers digging into his scalp. The little bite aroused the hell out of him.

Easing away, he studied his handiwork. Gorgeous nipple. Red, hard, swollen. He leaned into the other and gave it the same treatment, massaging the first with a firm pinch. Soon, she had a matched pair, each looking engorged and dark and eager.

Then Hunter clasped his hands around her waist and sank to his knees, his tongue tracing circles across her belly, dipping into her navel.

He clasped her hips and eased down a fraction, gratified when she canted toward him. She might not understand why, and her head might not agree, but she wanted him.

With one hand drifting down her stomach, he inched closer to her pussy. Easing back, he studied her. Goose pimples stood out on her thighs. She sought him with little jerks of her hips. And she was beyond wet. He smiled.

Clasping his fingers around her thigh, he settled his thumb low on her belly, then began a torturous descent. Down, down, in an unhurried stroke. Kata caught her breath, held it. He could feel her silently willing him to touch her and send her over. Another whimper escaped her throat, hardening his cock again, testing his will. He held firm.

It seemed like an eternity later when he finally felt her clit beneath his thumb, swollen, hard, peeking out from beneath its hood.

She gasped, thrusting her hands into his hair and holding him against her. “Hunter . . .”

Leaning in, Hunter hovered his mouth over her clit, his hot breath hitting the sensitive bud. “And here. I’m going to want to put my mouth right here all the time.”

“Do it now,” she demanded in a high, thin voice.

“You’d like that?”

Above him, Hunter felt more than saw her vigorous nod. “I ache all over. Why the hell can you make me want you too much?”

He brushed his thumb over her slick clit again, a ghost, there then gone. “Never any such thing, honey. Do you want to come?”

“Yeesss,” she hissed. “Please.”

Ah, a polite little plea. Definite progress.

“Soon. I need something from you first.” And just to ensure her assent, he swiped his thumb across her needy little bud once, then again, ever so slowly.

“Anything,” she gasped.

There it was, that beautiful, dangerous word. “Good girl. It works both ways. I’d do anything—and everything—for you.”

Hunter rose and smiled, covering her mouth with his own again and sinking into the honey-sweet kiss, as slow as molasses. Kata wriggled, moaned, clutched his shoulders, the edgings of desperation apparent in her every move.

“Come with me.” He took her by the hand and led her to the padded table in the living room for two reasons: First, he wanted to be as far away from those fucking divorce papers as he could manage. Second, what he needed to do to her would be much easier to achieve here.

Once they reached the low black table, he eased her down to the surface, stomach first. When the cold leather hit her skin, she tensed. Casting a gaze over her shoulder at him, panic tinged her hazel gaze. He could not let her brain kick in again.

Flattening his palm over her back, Hunter caressed his way down her ass until he curled his palm between her legs, right over her pussy, and toyed with her clit enough to keep her on edge.

“I love the feel of you, so wet.” He circled an idle fingertip around that hardened bundle of nerves. “I wonder how long I can draw this orgasm out. Two minutes? Ten? An hour?”

“Damn it, no. Don’t try to wring me inside out!”

Hunter flipped the switch under the table, turning it from a stylish, black studded ottoman to a fully functional play table. The compartments that concealed a set of O-rings retracted. He reached into the drawer beneath the table and pulled out two pairs of cuffs. In less than ten seconds, he had one attached to each of her wrists and the other end secured to the table.

“Let me please you,” he said firmly.

She pulled at her wrists, her body beyond taut with anxiety. “What are you doing?”

“You want this orgasm.”

Shaking her hair out of the way, Kata glared at him over her shoulder. “So?”

“But you don’t need it. Yet.”

“Don’t torment me.” She wriggled in vain. “Damn it, uncuff me!”

Not until he’d given her more of what she needed. Unless she used her safe word, he’d keep pushing her boundaries. Anything else she cried out was just for show.

Reaching into the drawer beneath the table again, he pulled out a tube of lube. And God bless Jack, there was a new multipronged vibrator sitting there, still in the wrapper, perfect for what he needed.

He grabbed it and rose. “I’ll be right back.”

Striding across to the kitchen, he unwrapped the toy, washed it, then inserted batteries, which he thankfully found in a drawer. Back on the ottoman, he slid Kata over his lap, then lubed up his fingers and the toy.

“What the hell are you doing?” The edge of fear was back in her voice.

“You’re doing well, so I’m adding something to your . . . experience.” He traced a finger down the line of her ass and pressed in, finding the tight little hole he knew no one else had ever touched.

“Stop!”

“Does it hurt?” He knew it didn’t; he’d barely put a finger on her.

“N-no, but . . .”

“Then don’t speak unless I ask you to or you wish to use your safe word. Do you understand? If you don’t, I’ll stop touching you altogether. Your choice.”

Kata paused for a long moment, so long Hunter thought he would have to make good on that threat. Finally, she whispered. “Yes, Sir.”

Relief poured through him.

Slowly, he pressed his finger inside her tight entrance. She clamped down hard on him, but with a gentle nudge, he pushed past the ring of resistance, all the way inside. She gasped. When she tried to peer at him over her shoulders, he pressed down on her shoulder blades with his free hand. She needed not to rely on her senses, but on their bond. Kata struggled for a moment, then fell still.

Easing out, he ringed the entrance again, spreading more lube, then pressed in with two fingers. She clenched her cheeks, and he rubbed her hip softly. “Ease up.”

Slowly, she relaxed. “This isn’t comfortable.”

Yeah, for him, either. She was like an inferno, burning his fingers. The hot, tight pressure . . . God, when he got his cock back there, not only would it feel incredible, but many women said that taking a man anally felt like one of the most submissive acts possible. It sure as hell felt both dominant and intimate to him—exactly what he craved with Kata.

He spread his fingers apart. “This is for you, honey, to make taking me easier when the time comes.”

Hunter worked his fingers inside her tight recesses, back and forth, in and nearly out, massaging her and coaxing her each time she clenched up. It didn’t take long for Kata to draw in a long, shuddering breath and grip the edges of the table until every muscle in her arms and shoulders stood out. Her breathing hitched, her skin flushed red. More moisture gushed from her pussy. She was damn close.

“Need to come, honey? You don’t have permission.”

And wouldn’t that reminder drive her insane?

Withdrawing his fingers, he took the vibrator in hand and set the tapering anal stimulator against her entrance. “Push down for me.”

“What are you—oh!”

Hunter pressed in with the flexible toy, pushing past the tight clench of muscles there. She hissed as the wider end of the plug began to stretch her. He slowed. No way did he want to hurt her, but he did want her to feel every inch.

“Oh . . . God!” She gasped. “I—it burns and I . . .” She panted, and he waited patiently while the sensations sank in and she worked it out.

“I didn’t give you permission to speak.” He continued pressing in ever so slowly.

“But Hunter—”

With a slap to her thigh, he cut her off. “How do you address me?”

“Sir. I know, but—”

“Safe word or shut up.” Eventually, she’d learn.

In the silence, he eased the toy completely inside her ass, the base flush with her cheeks. God, now there was a pretty sight, her ass still rosy from his spanking, her untried entrance slowly stretching, her stubborn submission nearly ripe for his taking.

He palmed the crown of her head in a soft stroke. “Kata, turn your head. Meet my gaze. Good girl. Honesty now. Are you all right?”

“It burns.”

“I know.” But he could tell from the way she spoke that there was more. “And?”

She wriggled her ass, jostling the wand inside. Her white teeth clamped down on her bottom lip. “I ache.”

So she liked anal penetration. Some women hated the sensation. Personally, he loved the power and intimacy of taking a woman that way, the forbidden sharing. He was relieved that translated for Kata.

“We’ll take care of that soon. He grabbed her thighs so she couldn’t slink away. “First, we’re going to talk.”

A fine sheen of perspiration covered her body. Her skin flushed even rosier as she sent him a pleading expression. “But ...”

“You hurt me, Kata. You can’t hurl something like a divorce at me without talking to me or trying to work it out.”

“I didn’t know about your mother.” She gritted her teeth against the rise of pleasure. “My sister, who’s an attorney, gave me the papers.”