My gaze flicks pointedly to her hips.
Inch by torturous inch, that black skirt climbs her thighs.
I want to pounce. Instead I force myself to stay in my seat.
Another slide of fabric exposes another stretch of thigh.
Goddamn. I love this woman, and I make my intentions known. “I’m not letting you go again.”
Her fingers curl over the hem of her skirt and tug another inch. “That’s good, because I’m in for the long haul.”
Happiness replaces the grief of the last month. I need to claim her, brand her. Bind her to me through skin and sex.
Another slow reveal of tempting flesh, her expression full of mischief.
I flash a grin. “Aren’t you quite the tease?”
She licks her lips. “Did you miss me?”
Deadly serious, I say, “More than you will ever know.”
More skin. “Me too. It was hard to stay away.”
Curiosity seeps through my desire. “Why did you?”
“By the end of the weekend, I knew it was a mistake.” She shrugs, shifting one leg. Her hand stalls on her skirt. “But I had work to do that didn’t include you.”
I raise a brow. “Would you care to enlighten me?”
Her lashes flutter as her hips give a little sway. “I had to figure out who I wanted to be before I came back.”
“That’s what you’ve been doing?” I sit forward, resting my elbows on my knees.
“Yes.”
“And what did you discover?”
She takes a deep breath and for the first time since her arrival seems to falter. “I discovered that while I could live my life being a normal, everyday girlfriend, nothing in my twenty-eight years ever made me feel as alive or as complete as the night I spent with you.” Her words gain strength as she speaks. “I discovered that while I loved you before your very startling confession, I loved you even more all bossy and dominant.”
The smile twitches at the corners of my mouth, but I’m not quite ready to let it out yet. “Anything else?”
“I like the way it makes me feel.”
“How does it make you feel?”
She meets my gaze, and there isn’t even a flicker in their blue depths. “Powerful.”
“I see.” I wait to see what she comes up with next.
Her chin dips. “I think I very much want to be your submissive, whatever that looks like between the two of us.”
Peace calms me, gives me that last bit of patience I need before I fuck her and work out all this pent-up aggression. I smile with a hint of menace I know she recognizes when her eyes widen.
“Even if being submissive means…” I pause for effect, letting her anticipation grow, speaking only when she sways forward. “Getting into a cage like some dog?”
“No way!” Her brows slam together in time with her hands slamming on her hips.
I laugh, a low, evil sound that has her two-stepping back. “And where do you think you’re going?”