Chapter 32
32
B y the time Alex’s alarm started beeping, Leslie was covered in a slick sheen of sweat.
He’d set his timer for ten minutes, and those ten minutes had felt like an eternity, each second more horrible than the one before it as the arousal he’d worked up inside her pulsed and pulsed, giving no sign of letting up. The only way she'd made it through was debating how she would react to him when he did come back. Whether she would give him the silent treatment and avoid his gaze. Or whether she would flash daggers through her eyes and tear at his skin once she was free.
She hadn't yet decided when he sat next to her on the bed, studying her in the light of the lamp on the nightstand. Then he picked up his watch and fiddled with it again. She was afraid he was going to leave her again, but then he said, "I'm going to untie you, alright?"
Relief.
“Okay,” she said, her words breathless. Apparently, ignoring him or scratching him were not on the agenda. Now that he said he was going to untie her, she suddenly couldn’t wait to see what experience came next.
As Alex massaged the blood back into her hands and feet, Leslie moaned with relief and pleasure. But what she felt was nothing compared to what she felt when he began stroking her. Kissing her. Sucking on her nipples. Fingering her.
As soon as the alarm on his watch started beeping again, however, he stopped.
He gave her one last kiss before picking up his damn watch again then putting it down.
“This time, I’m going to leave you for fifteen minutes. When I return, I’ll pleasure you for fifteen minutes. You will not move from this bed. Do I need to tie you up again, or will you be able to refrain from touching yourself? Because if you touch yourself, I’ll know, and we’ll start all over again, Leslie.”
Shock made her tremble, as did the spike in desire that had her core throbbing.
“Alex—”
“Can you refrain from touching yourself. Yes or no, Leslie?”
Fifteen minutes. After what he did to her, she couldn’t touch herself for fifteen minutes? She couldn’t move from the bed?
He’d been serious when he’d talked of torturing her.
Then again, she’d asked for him to edge her.
For hours.
Fifteen minutes of pleasure next.
Then what?
“Yes,” Leslie said. “I won’t touch myself, Alex. Because you don’t want me to. But also because nothing feels as good as when you touch me. So I’d say do your worst. But I know it will be your best—the best I’ve ever had.
Leslie didn’t know how much time had passed. She just knew that after several rounds of waiting and pleasure, waiting and pleasure, with the time in between the pleasure growing longer and longer, she couldn’t take anymore. Her body was trembling, her skin alternating hot and cold like a fever. Her mind was a wreck. She couldn’t string together coherent thoughts except one: Alex, please .
It was dramatic, what he’d reduced her to.
When he’d returned after fifteen minutes, calling Leslie a good girl for not touching herself while he was gone (and she hadn’t) she’d already thought of a strategy to edge him even as he edged her. She’d decided that whenever he was about to leave the room after pleasuring her, she’d do her best to talk dirty to him, push his self-control, maybe even entice him enough that he’d lose control and wouldn’t be able to leave.
So after he’d pleasured her for fifteen minutes and was setting his watch alarm for twenty, she’d said, “When we were by the water earlier,” she’d said, “I imagined that my bikini would drive you to lose control. That you’d carry me to the water, holding me under and giving me air from your mouth when I started to run out. When we came up again, you’d carry me to the beach and fuck me with your big cock until I couldn’t breathe again.”
Alex had responded to her words by stiffening and freezing, but then he’d continued setting the alarm on his watch, set it down, then kissed her. “That just bought you thirty minutes, baby girl.”
It went on like that, her pushing for a while, him extending time, until she hadn’t been able to taunt him anymore.
Now Leslie was moaning nonstop. Alex's fingers fucked her hard and fast, and she clenched tight around him. She was exhausted, spent. And she couldn't take any more.
She needed to come.
Every thrust of Alex's hand Leslie feared would be the last. His eyes were fixed on her face, but she was long past being able to see him clearly. Her head rocked from side to side, lost in the need she'd been so long deprived of.
Goosebumps erupted all over her heightened body when Alex leaned over and brushed his lips over her ear. She almost couldn’t believe she was hearing him correctly when he said, "Alright, baby. Come for me."
With those words, Alex shoved his face in between her thighs and sucked her clit hard.
Leslie screamed so loud from her orgasm that Alex had to clamp the hand he wasn't still fucking her with over her mouth. Her body thrashed like a reeled in fish. Leslie gasped for air only to find she couldn't breathe. Spots flashed in her vision like shooting stars over the black dome of night sky.
It went on and on and on until her body was reduced to intermittent shudders. When Alex released her completely, drawing his hand away from her mouth and between her legs, she shuddered all over again, a fresh wave of pleasure descending over her.
As Leslie lay limp and moaning pitifully, Alex gathered her into his arms and held her. He kissed her, telling her how beautiful she was, thanking for trusting him, swearing that he would protect her and pleasure her.
And again she wondered for how long?
Was Alex still thinking of her as a friend-with-benefits, or was it possible he was considering taking a chance on more. But she didn’t ask. She wasn’t going to ask. After chasing him for so long, she needed it to come from him.
He held the key to their future, and all she could do was enjoy the ride, hoping it didn’t end, but knowing, if it did, she’d have stored up enough memories of their time together to last a lifetime.
When her breathing returned to normal, Leslie shifted in his arms.
“You found rope, but unless someone is kinky here, there's probably not a flogger on this island anyway."
Alex murmured deep in his throat as his hands squeezed the fleshy sides of her ass. "I think I’ve already proven that I can be creative," he said.
She laughed. “You certainly have.”
The next day, Alex and Leslie were in the library again. Alex sat in an armchair, his imposing form hunched over a thick paperback. The sight of him, so engrossed in the book, sparked an affectionate warmth within her. Yet as she sat in the armchair opposite him, her mind inevitably strayed back to yesterday’s encounter in this very room, when she’d read him erotic passages before they’d been interrupted by Bella.
Leslie tried focusing on her book for a few minutes but her mind played out memories of all the things Alex had done to her. Last night had been more intense than anything she could have imagined. Was it possible anything that happened between them now could top it?
Her gaze swept to the bookcase, to the spot where she’d returned the romance she’d read to Alex. Suddenly, Alex cleared his throat.
He was watching her, his eyes, dark and intense, a knowing grin curving his lips.
"Thinking about our little reading session yesterday?" he drawled, his voice dipped in sinful amusement.
Leslie felt a flush creep up her neck, her pulse fluttering. Gathering her wits, she retorted, "Don't be so cocky. You wouldn't want someone to walk in on you again with a... problematic situation."
"That's not funny. You've never had to worry about hiding an erection from a teenage girl."
Their banter sparked a playful idea in Leslie's mind. "So, Mr. Stoic Security, any other awkward moments where you had to hide your excitement in public?"
Alex sighed dramatically, running a hand through his hair, but his eyes sparkled with mirth. "You really want to have this conversation?"
“Yes,”
“How about you start?”
“Oh, that’s easy.” Leslie confessed her embarrassment when an erotica audiobook she had been privately enjoying in a crowded subway suddenly blared through her phone's speaker when her earphones got unplugged.
Alex laughed then said, “Remember that Seinfeld episode where George’s mom walked in on him…when he was…you know…”
Her eyes widened. “No!”
Alex nodded. “Yes. I thought I’d die from sheer embarrassment. She just closed the door and told me dinner would be waiting when I was done.”
Leslie shook her head as she laughed, then said. “You must miss her.”
Alex nodded. “Every day. But she was the best. Lee and I were lucky to have her as long as we did.”
Alex’s father had abandoned them when they were young. His mom had raised them as a single mother until she’d had a stroke several years ago.
“I’m glad I got to meet your mom at your college graduation.”
“Me, too. She loved you.”
She smiled at that. “I wish I could have—"
Someone knocked on the open door and they both looked up to see Bella. Leslie grinned then shot Alex a pointed look.
“Mr. Alex, my grandmother said to give you this.” The girl held out a cell phone. “It’s my Uncle Luca.”
Alex’s brows lifted in surprise. “Thank you, Bella.” He rose, took the phone from her, then said to Leslie, “I’m just going into the hallway. I’ll keep an eye on the door the whole time. Are you good?”
Leslie smiled. “Of course.”
Despite her reassurance, his retreat was reluctant, his steps measured and unhurried. Alex paused at the doorway, throwing her one last glance, before he stepped out, his voice gradually fading into a low, unintelligible murmur as he attended to the call.