They were words, just words, but the intent behind them was like a stroke of electricity along the midnight sky. They carried the weight of the love this man felt for me. I knew I was safe with him—had known it all along. Even in the worst of moments when we’d been in that warehouse, when hope had felt lost, I’d known that if I survived it would be because of him. Tonight, with his fingers pushing and stroking and taking what they wanted from me, I was a slave to him. I would have given him anything he’d wanted, anything he’d needed, but with his whispered promise I had come around his fingers, his name an invocation on my lips.

I pressed against him as my body shuddered at the last of his ministrations, even the brush of his lips against mine made static electricity flare to life under my skin. I felt alive. I was in love, and the only thing that mattered to me was this man and this night. Tomorrow would come eventually, but this was just the two of us.

As the last vestiges of my orgasm were absorbed into my heart, my hands began their own exploration. I touched every inch of skin I could reach on his body.

I took my time undressing Drew between touches and kisses, my fingertips tracing every scar on his body, every edge of his muscles and the lavish expanses of warm skin stretched in between. I didn’t rush. I didn’t need to. I was reading the moment by whispered words and the change in our breathing. Even as my feet pushed his jeans from him, I could feel his excitement—the beat of his heart under my fingertips, and the hard, blunt head of his erection as it teased the crease between my thigh and groin.

As always, he wanted to take. He wanted to bury himself inside me and lose himself in the motion and friction of our bodies working together, but I needed this to be slow. I needed to memorize every brush of his hands and push of his fingers, every stroke of his hips as he pounded into me. I needed to know that I could recall this memory any time because it was the only thing that would dampen the panic now.

Reaching down between our bodies, I wrapped my hand around him. My fingers traced the veins up and over the head, too gentle to do anything more than make him grunt in recognition. His body pushed mine back against the bed in one roll of his muscles, and his mouth covered mine, feeding me his slow groans as my hand worked his length, my grip tightening and thumb working the tip as his hips began to pump with my strokes.

Every growl. Every twitch. Every shudder of his body was a reward for me, my blood coming to a low boil under my skin as his hip strokes deepened, and the pace rose. My own moans soon met his, and I knew that if I continued, he would need some recovery time before sex. I was feeling too desperate and selfish to allow that, so I released him. A quiet chuckle fell from my lips as he hissed out his displeasure.

“It’s like that, is it?” He growled, brushing his nose along my jaw before he carefully sank his teeth into the skin in the curve of my neck.

My eyes fell closed at the contrast, the small, controlled pain that he offered me, and as I brushed one of my legs up over his hip in preparation to roll him onto his back, he countered my movement and pressed me deeper into the mattress.

“Always have to be in control,” I murmured as my chin lifted more to give him access.

He continued to kiss me, somehow making it feel like he was everywhere before he grabbed my wrists and slammed them above my head, his body pressing down harder so most of his weight was trapping me beneath him. “The joys of fucking the pres, darlin’,” he whispered between the kisses he was currently trailing between my breasts.

I wriggled underneath the weight of him. Both feet finding their way to the mattress as my hips pushed against his body, before twisting as much as I could manage. With the training he’d been giving me, I’d built up some strength, but it was still like a mouse trying to wrestle a cat. The exertion pulled my breaths from my chest, but Drew ignored me, his mouth closing over my nipple with his teeth grazing the taut bud, causing another sensation of need to explode from the deepest depths of my body as he continued to hold me down, helpless.

With one rock of his hips, I felt him between my thighs, the head of his cock nudging at my dampened folds, tempting me with exactly what I wanted.

“Not yet,” I purred, arching my back and narrowly escaping being mesmerized by the power of him. My wrists pushed against his grip, but the raising of his chin and the tickle of his beard on my sternum told me I had his attention. “I want to be on top.”

“Now who wants to be in control?”

“Me,” I admitted, only half joking. “Just for tonight. Do you trust me enough for that?”

I wriggled my hips from side to side, all of my love gathering inside of me as I held his gaze. There was a tiny voice in the back of my mind that nagged me to give him what he wanted. To concede and rock my hips up to accept him where I needed him the most. Only this desperate, adventurous side of me was scared of what tomorrow would bring, and it drowned out the submissive side that enjoyed his raw power. I needed to take him. I wanted to memorize every little part of his body if he would just let me.

“Let me take control, pres,” I smirked, challenging him.

“Take control?” Drew raised a brow and held my gaze. “You’ve been on top a hundred times before, Ayda. Why do I need to trust you to let you do it tonight? You planning on tying me up?” He raised a brow.

I smiled as the idea ticked over in my head. I loved the nights he held me down and left me helpless to his hands and mouth. I loved giving him the power over me. I loved feeling that trust between us. He hadn’t ever experienced that because I couldn’t hold him down. I couldn’t keep him in place.

“Would you let me?” I asked, pressing my lips together nervously.

The humor drained from his face as something darker flashed over his eyes for just a moment before the muscles in his jaw twitched. When he swallowed, I heard the resolution, and it was soon followed by a gentle nod before he whispered the words, “Yes. If it was something you wanted. If it mattered to you.”

The moment he released my hands, I pulled them free and cupped his cheeks, studying his handsome face as my breath sputtered from me. “Are you sure?”

“Do whatever you want to me, Ayda. The only thing that could ever hurt is you leaving, and that’s not happening tonight.”

My thumbs worked under the shadows that had haunted his eyes all week. I kept us connected for the longest time. “I’m never leaving. As long as it’s in my power, I’m going to be here. With you.”

I moved us again, this time without his resistance, which left me straddling him, looking down at his handsome face. I settled on his stomach, my hands on his chest as I continued to look for doubt or anything else that would tell me this was a bad idea. When I found nothing, I rose to my knees and rolled from the bed, the cool air wrapping around me as I moved as quickly as I could to the closet, hunting for anything that would do the trick.

“Would a… um belt work?” I asked over my shoulder.

“Sure,” he said through a sarcastic smile. “Or I can go grab some rope or chains from the back of the truck if you’d prefer.”

“No, not necessary, I found this…” I pulled an old scarf from the collar of one of my old winter coats, and then dropped it when I saw Drew’s one, and possibly only, tie. I turned and held it up, the skinny black thing dangling from my fingertips like a limp snake. “This will work just fine.”

I headed back to the bed, swallowing my own nerves as I climbed onto the mattress and straddled him again. My hands were trembling, my heart pounding, but my resolve was steel as I met his gaze again. When I clenched against his abs, I knew he felt that electricity burn between us, too.

“You okay?” he asked softly, with way too much tenderness considering he was the one being taken control of.

“Nervous,” I admitted, tugging on his beard lightly. “And really horny.”

“Focus on the horny. No need for the nerves here. This is your safe place.”

I nodded in agreement, smiling down at him as that slow burn in my stomach flared into a fully-fledged fire. I lifted his arm to my lap and tied a soft loop around his wrist and then knotted the tie. Lifting it to the headboard left me in a precarious situation, my breasts were very close to his face, and that was a position Drew took full advantage of. Warm, wet lips closed around the sensitive flesh and had me shuddering to a stop as a groan of pleasure fell from my mouth. The only advantage to this was that he lifted his other arm to join his first, and my fingers fumbled through the knots as pleasure surged through my body.

“Bastard,” I whispered as I shimmied down his body, hovering over his dick as my hands ran down the length of his arms.

His eyes stayed on mine, his hunger shining. “Do your worst, darlin’.”

I raised my eyebrows, but I knew it was pointless. He would see the heat in my eyes already. I could feel my desire running through my veins as I shuffled my body farther down and straddled his thighs. I sat back on his legs, my hands dragging along the surface of his body and settling on his hips as I took his beautiful body in.

There was no way to describe Drew Tucker like this. He was all muscle and warm honey-colored skin that was puckered and scarred in places no man should ever be scarred. There was a beauty to the battle wounds, though. He wore them well, like a story that was played out when his body was stretched and prone this way. I was lucky enough to see him naked almost every day, but never like this. Never stretched out and still, ready for my exploration.

My fingers moved to his chest first, tracing the letters of my name. Bending at the waist, I leaned in closer, his erection pushing against my stomach as I allowed my tongue to follow the same path my fingers had taken, before detouring to his nipple. I felt the subtle jerk of his body below mine as I sucked and grazed the tip with my teeth, as he so often did to me.

I treated the patch tattoo on his chest with the same reverence as I made my way to the other side and gave his other nipple the same treatment as my stomach muscles twitched against his dick, simply to tease him.

Moving slowly, I explored every scar and tattoo within my reach. I left no part of him unexplored. He reacted differently to every part of his body I doted on. The first of his scars had dragged an almost inaudible hiss from him as my tongue traced the jagged line across his ribs, and I’d paid attention to every one I’d come to since. Each one became easier, every reaction more subdued, until the last one I came to earned me a small grunt of pleasure.

He was rewarded for his trust. My eyes met his as my tongue danced over the head of him in one languid stroke and I earned myself a buck of his hips in acceptance. His groan was followed by a growl as I blew a stream of cool air over the dampness I’d left behind, another trick I’d picked up from him. Before he could open his mouth to say a word, I’d taken him in my mouth, my hand gripping the base as I sank lower.

I worked slowly, my forearm stopping his need to push himself deeper and faster. I continued the ministrations to the rhythm of his growing panting breaths and the pull of his hands against the tie as he tried his best to get free and guide me. I took him to the edge and pulled back several times before abandoning him with a quick kiss to the tip of his dick.

There was something powerful about having complete control over a formidable man like Drew. Even at my mercy, he was able to let me know what he wanted. He just wasn’t in control of whether or not I gave it to him. I was a slave to my own needs now, and I was so worked up and needy I knew I couldn’t hold out much longer. Fire and passion burned inside of me as I crawled up his body. Need and desire gathered like an impending storm as I hovered over him, my hands pressing against his broad chest when our eyes met.

I didn’t let him dictate to me as I reached between our bodies and guided him inside me, but our mingled moans of pleasures filled the air almost violently, breaking the brief moment of calm I’d created. I sank down slowly, accepting him fully as my fingers clawed his chest and my breath rushed from me. I watched as his hands balled and released with a need to touch me, and smiled down at him, rising with momentum to give him a second of reprieve before sinking onto him again. We found our rhythm quickly. I used his body as much as I used mine, rising and falling in a symphony of grunts and cries and building to a crescendo.

The heat in my body rose quickly, and I slowed, panting as I met the deep green-blue of the man looking up at me. I wanted to go on, I wanted to take him to the edge and fall back again and again until that torrent of violence flared in his eyes, but I was too selfish. I needed his touch. I needed the bruising brutality of his fingers as he held me in place and fucked me hard. The gentle brush as he pushed my hair over my shoulder and the loving embrace as he pushed me hard over that edge. I loved being in control. I loved having the power, but I loved the man he was more.

I slowed abruptly, and fell forward, my left elbow holding my weight as I reached over his head to untie him from the bed. I meant to tell him I loved him. I’d wanted to ask him to fuck me in that insatiable way of his, but instead, the words that fell out of my mouth were words I’d never so much as thought of before.

“Marry Me, Drew Tucker.”

His arms tensed, still above him, and his eyes widened, fixing on my mouth before slowly rising to meet my gaze.

The two of us stared at each other, neither one certain I’d actually said those four little life-changing words.

“Did you…?” he trailed off, his quiet whisper barely audible.

I was now trembling almost violently. He was inside of me, surrounding me, the heat of him, the smell of him, that burning fire in his eyes, and all I could think was… yeah, I sure the fuck did.

“I…” broke off and simply nodded. It was all I had.

Drew reacted instantly. His arms came around me as he pushed himself up almost violently, his strong muscles holding me in place until I was sitting in his lap, under his control again. He pulled me even closer to him, his movements urgent and commanding until our noses were pressed together, our breaths mingling with one another’s so much, I could taste him as I tried to remember how to breathe.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. The slow, yet needy rise and fall of his chest showed me all of his emotions, and when his hands fell to my waist, gripping it fiercely, I let him do what he needed to do. Drew’s eyes never left mine as he began to guide my body up and down his dick in slow, controlled, incredibly powerful movements. I tried to remind myself that Drew wasn’t the overly emotional type, but as he made love to me with my body in his hands, I could have sworn I saw a glint of unshed tears glazing over the blue and green flecks of his eyes.

My arms wrapped around his neck, fingers tangling in his hair as our eyes held that connection between us. We worked together, his hands pulling me against him viciously, my body gripping as the powerful release started to build, our breaths coming hard and fast as they sawed in and out from us.

The growing orgasm was painful as I tried to deny it and drag out the moment between us. The friction was like a fire burning, and the sheen of sweat that was now beading on my flesh had me shivering violently. The visceral need for release built in my chest, and the words I’d spoken repeated in my mind over and over again with every thrust Drew gave.

Marry me.

Marry me.

Marry me.

It wasn’t those words that poured from me as I came. It was his name. I uttered his name in the same intonation that I would cry for God. It was rapture and exaltation all culminating into that one word.

Drew.