13. Lourdes #2
At first, I don’t understand what I’m looking at. Then I do.
Rope.
Not an industrial cord used for some domestic purpose. It’s…beautiful. Thick and soft-looking. It’s coiled and hung neatly.
My stomach flips, and I whisper to myself, “What is that?”
“Shibari.” The soft answer brushes the back of my neck.
My heart slams into my ribs. No. No. No.
Ares.
“A Japanese form of rope bondage,” he adds, and doesn’t sound the least bit angry that I violated something there is no going back from.
He sounds…amused. Like he’s a spider who caught the butterfly in his web.
Shibari… I am definitely Googling that later.
“Now that I’ve answered your question, you can answer mine,” he adds when I say nothing. “What are you doing in my closet?”
“I’m in the wrong room,” I say just above a whisper.
“Are you?” he asks, his tone changing. “Turn around, Lourdes.”
Bracing myself for what I’ll see, it’s worse. And better. Ares stands there with a towel knotted against his waist.
And it’s not a very big towel.
It sits low on his hips but shows a lot of his thighs.
His damp hair looks darker. Shower water still clings to his skin, beads of it trailing down the sculpted ridges of his chest and his abs.
A deep V cut disappears into that towel.
His ridged abs go on forever. I’ve heard of six-packs and eight-packs.
But at over six-feet tall, I think I’m staring at a twelve-pack.
I see the outline of his cock perfectly. Is he still hard? Did he come? Is that his normal resting size?
God, I can’t…
“Say something.” He gets closer, his expression unreadable as his gaze drags over me. “You are in my bedroom. In my closet, gazing at rope I use to tie women up when I fuck them.”
He has every right to be inappropriate. I violated his space. Heat floods my face, and I don’t think I can speak, but I try.
“Your valet let me in. He told me to wait in your office,” I manage.
“This is not my office.”
“I realized that too late. I’m sorry.” My pulse spikes.
“No.” He presses warm fingers against my mouth. “You’re not sorry. You were curious. About me. About who I am. What I…like.”
The finger traces my lips, our eyes locked. Then he drops his hand.
“I didn’t mean to—”
“Yes, you did. Admit it.”
“Okay. Yes, I was curious. It’s all so…much.” I swallow, very aware of how close he is.
“I’m…a lot. I’m too much for you, Lourdes.” He steps closer, reaching past me. The rope comes loose in his hand with a smooth motion, the coil settling against his palm. “This isn’t for you.”
I lift my chin, forcing myself to hold his gaze. “Are you a Dom?”
The corners of his mouth curve up slightly. “Not in the traditional way. But I do keep a woman under contract from time to time. Not to spin my wheels with sex games. I keep them to have someone to fuck. That’s it.”
“Oh.”
“Have you ever been tied up?” he asks. “And fucked while restrained?”
The question makes white spots form in front of my eyes. “No.”
Something shifts in his expression.
“Good,” he murmurs. “A woman like you… Your first time should be done right. With a man who can give you what you need.”
My breath stutters.
“It’s not meant to hurt,” he keeps talking. “It’s meant to release control. To give yourself over to someone. To…trust that man.”
He brushes the rope lightly against my wrist, the texture surprising me.
“It’s softer than I expected it would be,” I say.
“It still leaves marks,” he continues, his voice raspy. “To signal to others who you really are. And who you belong to.”
“It doesn’t feel how it looks,” I say before I can stop myself.
Ares watches me as he speaks, his gaze sharp and intentional. “You’d look beautiful tied up, though. Wrapped in my restraints. Waiting for me to fuck you.”
My stomach tightens. “Do you have a woman under contract now?” I ask, my voice softer than I intend.
He goes still. For a moment, I think I’ve pushed this too far. If that was possible. All I did was innocently wander inside here. He’s the one who turned this into a game.
“No,” he finally answers.
“Do you…need one?” I hear myself asking.
Everything about Ares shifts into a colder expression. Controlled. All the heat has drained from his eyes. I crossed a line.
“I need you to leave,” he says. “Before I do or say something that I can’t walk back.”
My heart is still racing, my skin still too warm, and now I don’t know what to do with any of it.
“What if I don’t want to leave?” I say on a shaky breath.
His gaze hardens. “Is this what you want?” He steps back and drops the towel.
Blinking, I take in the most perfect human body I’ve ever seen. His legs are molded, his thighs thick and yeah… His cock is perfect. Semi-erect or that can be its resting stage since he is so big, I don’t know. It’s beautiful. But it’s too much. He was right.
“I’m not sure I can handle you. Plus…”
“You’re married,” he says.
I resist a scoff.
“What if I want an arrangement that’s just physical?”
“That’s usually how I prefer it.” He steps closer, pressing into me. “But with you, it will mean so much more than that. But I don’t fuck what doesn’t belong to me.”
Nodding, I back away. “We should forget this happened. I just came here to bring you contracts Ambrose needs signed. I’ll put them in your office and leave.”
“Leave them on my bed,” he says, standing there, still naked.
Still tempting me.
Silence stretches between us, thick and charged. I leave the closet, feeling like my neck is on fire. He follows me out, still naked, but I sense his distance so starkly. A wall has snapped into place.
I lay the folder on his bed, exactly as he indicated, and ask, facing him, “Do you still want me at the ten a.m. meeting?”
He hesitates and stares down at the bed. “Yes.”
But his voice is hard and cold. Back to business. Back to control.
“A courier will pick up the signed contracts,” I tell him.
“That’ll be all, Lourdes.” He heads back into his closet, leaving me with the most amazing view of his back and ass.
I force my legs to move, to carry me toward the bedroom door. My hand trembles slightly as I reach for the handle.
I don’t look back.
I have no idea how that happened. What I did. What I said. Who I was with him. I shake it away. It doesn’t matter. I have to get out of this city. But I won’t forget what I saw.
Ever.