Chapter Eighteen

Chloe stopped dead at the threshold of the bedroom they'd been sharing and Chase turned to her, his eyes taking in her expression, the tight hold she had on his hands.

"Chloe?"

Knowing she needed to be strong - wanting to be strong not just for him, but for herself, too - she said, "I trust you," even as her heart whispered, "I love you."

She felt his large, warm hands cupping her face, stroking across her cheeks. "My lovely girl."

His mouth dipped down to hers, sipping at her lips like she was the finest wine. "So sweet." He licked across her lower lip and she was shivering with the pleasure of it as he said, "So brave."

She didn't feel brave. She felt like an actress trying to assume a role she had no prayer of nailing.

But she wasn't on the set of some movie. This wasn't a TV show she could watch from a safe distance. This was her life.

A life she needed to reclaim, every single piece of it.

"Show me how good it can be, Chase. Show me how good it should be."

He lifted her in his arms, then, so swiftly the breath whooshed from her lungs even as her feet lifted off the floor. She loved being in his arms, loved knowing that she was always safe with Chase.

He carried her into the large room and over to the bed. He didn't let her down right away, not when he was obviously intent on kissing away al of her fears first.

When he final y pul ed back to lay her down, she whimpered at the loss of his heat, the hard press of his muscles against her as he stared at her, his eyes moving slowly from her face to the swel of her breasts, almost painful y erect beneath the thin silk of her dress. The skirt had lifted way up around her thighs and that was what he final y reached out to touch, stroking his palm up one leg, from her ankle to the sensitive skin of her thighs.

She moaned her pleasure, lifting her limbs to get closer to him, to offer him more of her body, to offer him every part of her.

"Do you have any idea what it's going to do to me to see you na**d and bound for me? To know that you trust me enough to love you like that?"

A flood of arousal coursed between her thighs. She couldn't answer him, couldn't have possibly found any other word besides, "Please."

She'd sworn never to beg a man for anything ever again, but with Chase it wasn't begging, it was simply her body - her soul - needing, insisting on having something she'd denied it for far too long.

And then Chase's hands were on the hem of her dress and he was lifting it higher and higher, up over her thighs and then her waist and breasts.

She didn't need him to tel her to lift her arms, she was already there helping him get the beautiful dress off. She was dying to be na**d for him, dying to feel his skin against hers.

His eyes were everywhere at once; her face, her breasts, her thoroughly damp silk thong. "I've never wanted to take a picture of anyone more than I do right now."

She knew better than to ever let a man take pictures of her na**d.

"I trust you, Chase." She should have been surprised by the words, but the truth was, her trust in Chase went so deep, her faith in his goodness ran so pure and true, that she didn't have a moment's hesitation about his taking pictures of her in the nude.

His eyes flew to hers. "No. Never." His hands moved to her h*ps to hold her with obvious possession. "If anyone ever found the pictures, if anyone else ever saw you looking this way but me, I'd have to kil him."

The love she felt for him was on the tip of her tongue, but before she could put voice to it, he was pul ing her thong off and down her thighs, throwing it to the ground on top of the beautiful dress he'd found for her.

"I should wait until you're tied up to do what I'm dying to do to you."

Normal y, she would have waited for him. But this was her night. And she was in control.

"I won you," she reminded him, and when he looked at her, his pupils were dilated nearly black with desire.

"Yes, you did," he said softly, his low, heated voice whispering over her skin, setting every inch on fire.

"You have to do anything I want." She licked her lips, biting the lower before adding,

"Everything I want."

As she spoke, he was putting his hands on her legs, gently pressing her thighs apart.

"Look how lovely you are," he said, each word reverent, raw with passion.

She looked down her na**d body to the flesh that ached for him. For his mouth, his tongue, his hands. His cock.

It was a heady feeling knowing this beautiful man was al hers. And not just because she'd won him in a game.

He'd given her his love.

And she wanted so desperately to take it.

"Taste me, Chase."

Her words were barely more than a whisper and she wasn't sure he heard her at first, but then, he was sliding one hand down from the inside of her knee to her thigh, closer and closer to her core, and she had to hold her breath until that glorious moment when he final y touched her.

There. Oh god, right there.

She wanted to keep watching him touch her, was so incredibly turned on by seeing his large hand slide slowly over her, but it felt too good for any of her muscles to work. Her legs fel al the way open on the bed and her eyes closed as she lowered her head to the pil ow and moaned her pleasure into the room.

Again and again, his fingers took her straight to the edge, but never taking her al the way there.

She arched her h*ps up into his touch, but as he continued to tease her, as the heat in her bel y pooled and intensified, she was about to start begging for him to give her what she needed.

And then she remembered what she kept forgetting: this was her night.

Somehow she found the strength to prop herself up with the pil ows, to open her eyes and say,

"I told you to taste me, not play with me."

She saw the wicked glint in his eyes, knew that he'd been waiting for her to guide him further.

Her pu**y clenched at the thought of al the delicious, decadent things she wanted him to do to her.

She was just opening her mouth to set him back on task, when he slowly lifted his fingers from between her legs and brought them to his mouth.

Oh god, she couldn't believe she was watching him lick her arousal from his fingers.

"Is that what you wanted me to do? Is this how you wanted me to taste you?"

She would have answered more quickly if his hand hadn't moved back between her legs to stroke her to an even higher fever pitch.

She wanted to keep up with the sexy banter, but she couldn't, not until she'd had at least a little release so that she could think straight again.

"Make me come, Chase. Now. Like this. With your hands between my legs, while you're looking at me, watching what you do to me."

He answered with a low, borderline desperate groan, and then, "Wider. Open more for me."

She obeyed his commands without hesitation and then, before she could take her next breath, his fingers weren't just stroking her, they were fil ing her. First one, then two, and then he was thrusting them deep and saying, "You're so lovely, Chloe. Watching you stretch for me, watching you take everything I'm giving you."

He hadn't even touched her clitoris yet, but God, just the sound of his voice, the approval in his eyes, the adoration in his expression - and his naughty words - had her right there, hovering on the edge of detonation.

She pushed into his hand, a silent plea for more, for everything he could give her, and then, as he continued to f**k her with his fingers, his thumb shifting and swirling over her clitoris in a hard, wonderful, perfect rhythm, she lost hold of everything...everything but complete ecstasy.

With every thrust of his hand, her body fought to pul him in deeper. And with every exit, her inner muscles clenched around his fingers as if to hold him there forever.

She could barely catch her breath, certainly couldn't form words, but she didn't need to remind him of her original command, because before she'd even come down from her mind-blowing orgasm, his mouth was hot and wet between her thighs.

She arched against him, her hands going to his hair as she cried out again. She couldn't be this close again, couldn't possibly be right on the edge of coming entirely apart.

But, even though she should have known better by now, she hadn't counted on Chase. Hadn't counted on the way his tongue slipped and slid over her aroused flesh so perfectly, so sweetly.

So sinful y.

She had to watch, had to open her eyes again and look down to watch him love her like this.

Obviously in tune to her every movement - every thought - as he swiped his tongue through her folds, he lifted his eyes to hers. She read lust, need, and desire in them.

And so much love that al it took was one more swipe of the flattened tip of his tongue over her clitoris for her to come apart al over again. Her skin was slick with sweat, her heart had never beat so fast, as he took her to that incredible place she hadn't ever realized was there waiting for her. Not until the first time Chase touched her. Kissed her.

Until he loved her.

When she final y caught her breath, she said, "I should be sated now," as he shifted up her body so that he could press soft kisses to her stomach and the underside of her br**sts as he fondled them in his big hands. "I shouldn't need more."

"But..." he prompted, his tongue laving her bel y button before his teeth gently nipped at the skin around it.

"But I do," she confessed. "I need so much more, Chase."

Chloe knew what would happen next. He'd rise up above her, she'd wrap her arms and legs around him, and he'd take her the way she so desperately needed to be taken.

Instead, she watched as he moved from the bed and opened a dresser drawer. He pul ed out four of the most beautiful pieces of fabric she'd ever seen.

"I've been saving these for you," he told her as he moved back toward her. "I was hoping you would be able to use them for your quilts."

She reached out to stroke the fabric. "Chase." Her eyes fil ed with tears. Gathering these fabrics for her was the nicest thing anyone had ever done.

"I don't know what to say." But she did. "Thank you - "

He smiled down at her and pressed a kiss to her lips before she could finish. "You can thank me later, after I've made you scream with even more pleasure," he teased. He dragged the edge of one of the soft fabrics across her peaking nipples. "Who knew this fabric would be so handy tonight?"

She felt her breath go in a rush. They'd come into the bedroom for him to tie her up, but she'd needed him too much to remember her goal.

"You're going to tie me up with them?"

Giving her one of his beautiful y sinful grins, he nodded. "And you're going to have to be a good girl and not pul too hard on them when you're coming for me so that you don't ruin them."

Seeing her obvious look of distress, he bent down to kiss her again. "I'm just teasing you, sweetheart. Yank as hard as you want. Come as hard as you need to. I'l find you more beautiful fabric."

She was so focused on what he was saying in his low, sexy voice, she was hardly aware when he lifted one arm and began to wrap the fabric around her wrist. But then she did notice, and she instinctively tensed.

He slowed his movements, more stroking the skin at the inside of her wrist than continuing to tie her up, and she relaxed into his touch. Trying to take her mind off her fears, she said, "Tel me more about how hard you're going to make me come."

She liked the way he sounded surprised by his laughter. "Are you sure you can handle knowing?" Her right wrist was attached by the fabric to the bedpost by the time he finished asking the question.

Oh God, she wasn't sure about anything right now. Only that she needed to press forward with this, no matter what. She wouldn't let her true sexuality be stolen from her for one more night. Not one more goddamned night. This was who she was, who she'd been made to be, and Chase would never hurt her.

Only love her.

It would have been easier just to close her eyes as Chase worked from her wrists to her ankles, but she didn't want to let herself hide from any part of this. That's why, instead of waiting for him to lift her other arm up, she made herself put it into place for him.

She was rewarded with his smile, fol owed by his swift intake of breath as she purposeful y shifted her h*ps against his erection when he moved to tie up her other hand.

"Thank God I'm tying you up, or I might just embarrass myself," he said in a low voice.

She couldn't believe he had her laughing when every single one of her panic buttons should have been pressed instead by the position he had her in.

"Give a tug on the fabric for me."

Even without her legs being bound, he'd tied her wrists securely enough to the bedposts that she couldn't get away or protect herself if she needed to.

She waited for the panic to take her over, knew it had to be coming. Any second now it would swamp her and she would be begging him to untie her, to let her go back to safety, back to a place where she wasn't forcing herself to face down every goddamned fear.

But as the seconds ticked down, al she felt was the warmth of Chase's gentle caresses to her hip, to her waist, to her face. And al she knew was that he was looking at her as if she was the only person in the world who mattered.

And that was when she realized something she should have realized long before now: Chase was just as afraid as she was.

He was afraid that she wouldn't ever let herself love him back.

She would have reached for him if she could have, if her arms weren't bound above her head.

"I'm scared, Chase."

He didn't hesitate even a single second before beginning to untie her.

"No," she said through a throat that felt dry and raw. "Not because of the knots in the fabric."

His hands stil ed on her wrist. "Chloe, sweetheart, you don't have to do this."

She felt a sob rise up from her chest. "Believe me," she said, "I've tried not to."

She closed her eyes, but even with that sense gone, Chase was everywhere, his scent, the sound of his breathing, his warmth against her bare skin.

"Love."

She'd whispered the word against his neck once before. She hadn't been able to keep it inside, not when so much pleasure had been turning her inside out. It had been there on her lips, a silent vow to the man from whom she'd been unable to stay away.

She waited for him to ask her to actual y say it, braced herself for it.

But Chase had never played by the rules and instead of making her admit her feelings for him, especial y when she was bound before him and he had the clear upper hand, she was startled by a shifting of weight on the mattress and the warm caress of hands on her legs, down her thighs to her knee, massaging her calf muscle before final y reaching her ankle.

Her eyes flew open in shock. Here she'd been on the verge of confessing her love to him and he was simply continuing to tie her up.

But, oh, wasn't it just the most lovely sensation, feeling him spread her thighs apart wider, watching him bend over to press a hot kiss to the needy flesh between her thighs right before he moved his concentration back to the fabric around her ankle.

"I love the way you taste," he said almost as if in passing, and when his tongue licked over her clitoris again in a sinful assault on her every sense, she would have come off the bed if she hadn't been tied to it.

"So lovely," he murmured against her slick heat. "Always so responsive, so wet for me."

She moved her free leg to open herself to him even more.

"Only one limb left," he said softly and she was just on the verge of processing what he was saying, the fact that she was almost entirely bound, when his tongue speared inside of her.

Everything in her body coiled into that one spot that was about to explode and she stopped breathing, stopped thinking, couldn't have remembered to be scared for the life of her, even as he shifted again and tied up her other ankle.

But he didn't give her synapses any time to start firing again, because as soon as she was ful y bound, his mouth was back there, between her thighs, giving her more pleasure than any woman had surely ever known before.

And then she wasn't fighting her ties to try and get away from the wicked stroke of his tongue, the diabolical thrust of his fingers inside her clenching heat, she wasn't even struggling because she was at al scared...no, she was tugging and pul ing against her bonds for the simple reason that it felt good, so good to know that she was giving herself over, one hundred percent - every ounce of al of her faith and trust - to the man she loved. He'd already made her come twice, but it didn't matter, because she already knew she'd never, ever have enough of him.

She could hear moaning, begging, in the room, but she was so far gone that by the time she realized she was the person making those desperate noises, her world was being split apart by a pleasure so intense only one thing had any chance of remaining.

"Love."

The word fel from her lips again and again until Chase was there with her, until his mouth was saying the same word against hers and then they were kissing and he was inside of her, thick and hot and so wonderful y big she felt like she might burst from how ful her body, her chest, her heart, felt as he loved her. She couldn't wrap her arms or legs around him, but somehow, she felt closer to him than she ever had before as he lifted up onto his knees and slid up so that she could look down her na**d body, slick with her sweat and his, too.

"Look at how lovely you are, Chloe. Look at how brave you are."

He hadn't pushed her earlier when the word love had slipped out of its own volition, he'd simply let her fear dissolve al on its own.

Her thighs were spread far enough apart by his bindings that she could easily see his shaft, slick with her arousal, sliding slowly in, then out of her.

The act was impossibly beautiful.

Shockingly sensual.

"How can you be the one who's bound," he said in a voice that shook, "and yet I'm the one who's utterly helpless?"

She'd never known a man to be so honest with his feelings, with his emotions. She hadn't thought it was even possible.

Chase was so much more than her knight in shining armor.

He was her own personal miracle.

"I love you." Happiness flooded her alongside the incredible pleasure. "I love you so much."

So quickly she wasn't sure how he did it, he pul ed her bindings loose and then they were wrapped around each other and Chase was rol ing them over so that she was straddling him, looking down at the man who had managed to find a heart so deeply buried she hadn't even known it was there anymore.

In the end, it was the look in his eyes of love - a love that promised forever, a love that would never, ever let her down - that pushed her al the way over the edge.

Straight into Chase's loving arms.