Chapter 8
Eight
Ari
His lips weren’t moving beneath mine. Had I somehow read the situation wrong? Wasn’t this the whole reason he brought me back to his apartment? Maybe he didn’t like kissing? Or worse—what if he was mad that I had taken the lead?
But then he groaned, the rumble in his throat low and rough like an engine spluttering to life, and I smiled into his mouth as his lips softened against mine.
His hands gripped the back of my neck, and our lips parted at the same time as he shoved his tongue into my mouth.
I was thankful he was holding me up, because my legs turned to jello as the tip of his tongue flicked against mine, making desperate circles before sucking my bottom lip into his mouth.
My body took over, wordlessly communicating how much I liked being grabbed, so he dug his fingertips harder into the base of my skull, kissing me like it was the only thing keeping him tethered to the world.
My existence narrowed to the present until it was only him and his tongue, and reality around us slipped away.
He leaned backward, pulling me off the door without letting our bodies separate, and walked us backwards as he cradled the back of my neck.
If he was anyone else, I would have broken the kiss to take a peek around, or even wondered what his home looked like, but all I cared about was placing my hands on his chest and tangling my fists into his hair and the fabric of the black dress shirt hiding beneath his jacket.
Our lips moved frantically in tandem, like it was the first kiss he’d had in forever, but that wasn’t possible. This was the best kiss of my life, and I was starving for more.
We didn’t stop moving until he had spun us around, my calves hitting the end of what felt like a mattress, but his grip was too tight for me to fall back onto the bed.
Instead, I whimpered as he broke our kiss to lace his fingers through my hair at the base of my skull.
He pulled just hard enough to feel good, and I gasped with pleasure as I closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, his gaze had darkened, and he looked at me with nothing but desire.
I could feel the flush on my cheeks as I struggled to catch my breath, but he shifted his right hand until it was wrapped around my throat, and let his left hand fall to my waist. He smirked as he dragged a trail from my waist to my throat with the backs of his fingers, leaving fireworks as he moved them up my stomach and between my breasts.
I angled my head back again to give him the access he required as both of his hands greedily tightened around my windpipe before pulling me towards him.
He rested his forehead against mine, and I smiled as I let my own hands fall to his waistband, slipping the tips of my fingers underneath the top edge of his pants.
I wanted him so bad, it hurt.
“Don’t move,” he commanded, and I had no intention of moving my body an inch.
I nodded my head just barely enough to respond as needy desire coiled in my stomach, not wanting him to loosen his grip around my neck, but I was curious what he was going to do next.
My breathing was shallow as he took a single step back, creating just enough space for him to reach up between us with one hand and loosen his red tie.
I struggled to watch from the angle he was holding my head in as his fingers slowly pulled the fabric loose, sliding the knot down torturously slow.
I glanced up from his tie to see his eyes hadn’t moved. They were still fixed on me, watching every reaction I had to his movements. This was better than anything I'd ever fantasized. It was almost too good to be real.
His breathing was quick as he leaned in, pulling my jaw to his face, but instead of kissing me, he breathed in once slowly, as if memorizing what I smelled like.
I sucked in a breath of my own as the featherlight touch of his nose against my cheek sent a shiver down my spine, and dizziness crept in.
“Give me your hands.” His voice was tight as if the very act of pausing for this had caused him pain.
I did as he said without a word, butterflies fluttering in my stomach as he slowly wound his tie around my wrists.
His movements were methodical as his fingers moved nimbly, over and under, until he had tied it into a tight knot and was satisfied with his work.
I moved my wrists against each other slightly, just enough to prove that I was actually restrained, and smiled.
He looked down to watch what I was doing, then stepped back again, raising an eyebrow at me. My mouth salivated at the sight of his coy grin, and I struggled to catch my breath as he devoured every inch of my body with his eyes as he licked his lips.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever be the same again.
It didn't matter that I was fully clothed. I had never felt more exposed in my life.
“Please,” I begged, watching as his breathing grew labored in response to my plea, and I struggled to convince my body to stay where he had left me.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he stood, devouring me from afar, until finally he reached his hand out to drag his thumb slowly across my lower lip.
“What am I going to do with you?” he mused, his face softening slightly for the first time all night.
“Whatever you want.”
He stared into my eyes, clenching the muscle in his jaw over and over again until the intensity of his gaze made me feel powerless.
I stood in front of him with my hands bound together, wanting—needing—more, aching to feel his rough hands wherever he wanted to put them.
I was just about to drop to my knees to beg; when he slipped his thumb into my mouth, smirking as if he could read my thoughts.
I trailed my tongue across the pad of his thumb without breaking eye contact, sucking lightly to tease him.
He pulled his thumb from my mouth slowly, letting his skin catch on my bottom lip as he let out a small sigh.
I shivered with anticipation as his hand dropped to the top button of my blouse to undo the first one, making his way down, button by button, until my black lace bra was exposed.
The cold air sent goosebumps over my newly-exposed skin, and I watched as his eyes roamed my body with hunger.
Every second he waited nearly sent me over the edge, but I loved it.
“You can touch me,” I said finally, letting my mouth hang open as his body responded to my words.
I was panting before I looked down to see the hard outline of his cock in his pants, and it was all I could do to continue breathing.
It was one thing for him to tie me up or unbutton my shirt, but to see the way I was affecting him—to see the how badly he wanted me?
That was something completely different.
“Please touch me,” I begged again, when he didn’t move.
I let out a small gasp when he yanked me towards him by my wrists, angling his head down as he held my hands over his shoulder. “I’ll touch you when and where I want to,” he growled firmly. “Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” I nodded once, my smile unfaltering as the thrill of being bossed around coursed through my veins. But it was more than that. It was that he was the one doing. I’d silently wanted this for years, but to have it come to fruition? It was almost more than my body could process.
Seemingly satisfied with my answer, he pushed me backwards, letting me fall onto the bed with a small thud. But I didn’t mind. I liked it.
He slid out of his jacket, throwing it across the room in one smooth motion, then unbuttoned the top two buttons of his black dress shirt before undoing the buttons on each wrist. He rolled up his sleeves slowly, like he was putting on a show, and the cocky look on his face was only improved by the corded veins in his forearms. He pushed himself between my knees, forcing them open with the sheer width of his body.
His fingertips hovered just above my skin, brushing the tops of my kneecaps with a featherlight touch that almost made my eyes roll into the back of my head, and I wanted so bad to beg for more.
To plead for him to fuck me here and now, but I stayed silent, watching as his fingers traced slow, deliberate lines up the outsides of my legs.
He kneeled slowly, his eyes never moving from mine as he slid my skirt up towards my stomach, revealing the matching lace underwear I had bought just for him.
His hot breath blew across the inside of my left thigh, and my heart threatened to explode. “Put your hands above your head and don’t move,” he muttered, the vibrations from his voice sending electricity into my thigh.
I gasped as he began to press hot kisses along the inside of my leg, starting at the flesh just above my knee.
I let out a moan every time he moved higher, and each noise I made seemed to fuel his movements, until he was so caught up in pleasuring me that his tongue slid over my bare skin before he sucked it so hard into his mouth, I knew he was leaving a trail of bruises.
Each one made it harder and harder to stop my hips from bucking reflexively as waves of pleasure flooded through me, but I didn’t want him to stop. Far from it.
It was a relief when his hands slid around to each side of my lower back, and I focused on the way his fingers dug into my hipbones every time his nose brushed against my inner thigh.
His mouth was only inches away from my underwear now, and every cell in my body was screaming for him to get rid of the thin lace that separated us.
But instead of moving it out of the way, he shifted, brushing his thumb lightly over my underwear. He had told me not to move, and I had every intention of obeying him, but I couldn’t stop myself from pressing into him. I heard him smile as he let out a small huff.
“Greedy,” he mused, shaking his head softly to himself as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. But he was the one whose smile turned greedy when he ripped my underwear off, finally leaning down to give me what I wanted, and I screamed at the warmth of his tongue.
My world crackled as he flicked and sucked, my hips bucking at the sensation already building from his mouth.
It was unlike anything I'd ever felt before, and I was already seconds away from release when he pulled away. I groaned once in disappointment, readjusting my hands above my head as I dug the back of my head into the mattress. There was only a moment of relief before his mouth was on me again, but this time he slipped two fingers into me. My back arched at the sudden feeling of the fullness I’d been craving, and his fingers moved with such skilled precision, I believed I might die of pleasure on the spot.
My eyes squeezed shut until reality was nothing more than a euphoric haze. It only took a few seconds before I was shattering beneath him, seeing stars as I screamed my release, but he didn’t slow down until I stopped shaking a second time.
I floated above my body for a moment when he stopped, but when I finally came back down, I realized my legs were wrapped around his back, and I had awkwardly managed to tangle my fingers into his hair despite my wrists being tied together.
I panicked for a moment, knowing he had told me not to move, but when he looked up at me, there was nothing but cocky satisfaction there to match the coy grin permanently affixed to his face.
He made his way to his feet, placing one hand and one knee on the bed until he was leaned over me, and he made sure I was watching as he slipped both of his fingers into his mouth to suck them clean. His eyes rolled to the back of his head with a groan, sending a jolt to my thighs.
“Fuck,” he muttered, his gravelly voice sending another chill down my spine as he turned his attention back to me.
“Fuck,” I echoed softly, lifting my hands to his face as I bit my bottom lip to steady myself. How was it possible for a man to be so beautiful?
I let my hands hover near the hair on his face before tracing the faint outline of a scar on his eyebrow I hadn’t noticed until now. At my touch, he immediately closed his eyes, and a shudder ran through him.
“Don’t,” he said firmly, pulling away like I’d somehow hurt him. “Don’t do that.”