We don’t last much longer at the ball after that. My body still feels way too hot, on fire in all the right places, and I can’t wait to get Darius’s hands all over me again. More than that, I want to touch him this time. I want to make him lose control the same way he made me forget where I was in that coat closet.

I make one last round through the ballroom, offering a few farewells to some of the more interesting prospective contacts I made throughout the night. Then I flash Darius a pointed look, and slip out the back door, the one closest to the elevators.

He reaches my side before the elevator I’ve called even arrives. We both step inside, hesitating to cast one last look behind us and make sure nobody’s staring too blatantly as we enter the elevator together. But the few other people scattered across the lobby seem to be involved in their own business to mind anybody else’s. I catch a glimpse just before the doors shut of Tony Chambers, my new chef partner, deep in conversation with a cute redhead. Good for him. I stifle a grin as the doors finish closing, and we whiz upward toward our hotel floor.

The second the doors shut, Darius wastes no time. He tugs me toward him, his hands finding my ass and squeezing as he pulls me body against his. Even through the thick fabric of my gown and the multiple layers of his tux, I can feel his thick hard-on, straining against his pants.

“I’ve been hungry for you all night, Holly.”

“I noticed, the way you were eating me out earlier.” I smirk up at him and slide my hands down his body until I reach his cock. With both hands, I trace his length through the fabric, savoring how long and thick he feels, even constrained like this.

Then the elevator stops with a jerk on our floor and I step back out of his arms just in case, as the doors glide open. For a second, I glimpse a flash of some emotion on his face. Hurt? But I don’t have time to register it, because I’m too busy turning to scan the hotel hallway in both directions.

The coast is clear.

I reach for his hand, and turn to peek back over my shoulder when he doesn’t immediately place his hand in mine. But he seems to only be straightening his tie, because a moment later he slips his fingers through mine, and I drag him down the hall.

“Someone’s eager,” Darius comments behind me, a suppressed laugh in his tone. “Where’s the fire?”

“Oh, I think you know exactly where the fire is. Because you just spent half an hour licking it earlier.” My room is closer, so I beeline for it. I don’t even bother letting him debate which room or where. I just unlock my door and practically drag him inside.

Inside, he chuckles as the door glides shut behind him. “And here I thought you’d planned to put up a fight again. Continue trying to resist me.”

“Yeah, well, I like to keep you guessing.” I reach out and grab his tie. Yank him down until our eyes are level. When I lean in to kiss him, I pour all the hunger, all the desire that’s been building up inside me all weekend into that one kiss. We break apart, and there’s a fire in his eyes like I’ve never seen before.

“So you want this, that’s what you’re saying.” His eyes seem like they’ll bore holes into mine, they’re so intense.

I fling my arms wide. “How clear do I have to make it?” But he just waits, watching me, silent, so I cave in and breathe out a sharp, annoyed sigh. “Yes, Darius. I want this. I want you. Fuck the consequences, fuck how bad an idea it is to hook up with your—”

I never finish that sentence, because he closes the gap between us and kisses me hard enough to still any further protest. At the same time, his hands find my hips, and he walks me backward toward the bed, one step at a time. At the edge, he pauses and reaches down to catch hold of the hem of my dress.

“Let’s get this out of our way,” he murmurs. In one smooth motion he drags it up and over my head. He tosses it to the side, where it puddles beside the bed.

As for me, I’m left standing there naked, my underwear still bunched in a ball in Darius’s pocket. And I never had a bra on. I couldn’t find one that would fit under my gown, and anyway, the dress itself had a shelf built in that was enough to support my handful of breasts for one night. Still, despite how bare I was earlier in the supply closet, or before that in the shower, it feels strange to be completely naked while Darius is still dressed.

I swallow hard, fighting a reflex to cover myself.

But from the way Darius is gazing down at my naked body, I don’t have anything to worry about as far as appearance goes. He looks like he’d devour me whole right where I stand, if he could. And I’m pretty sure if anyone could, it’d be him.

I expect him to reach for me again, grab me the way he normally does. But he only stands back, considering, eyes eating me up at the same time.

“Lie on the bed,” he says.

My heart skips a beat. I’ve always wanted to be ordered around in bed. But the few guys I’ve dated in the past who have tried have never been able to do it with conviction. Darius’s voice, on the other hand, brokers no resistance. There’s something undeniably sexy about that, about how commanding he can be when he wants to.

I step backward to the edge of the bed, then slowly lower myself onto it. I pull myself up until I’m lying in the middle of the bed. I expect him to join me, but he just arches an eyebrow, still watching me.

“Spread your legs,” he says.

This time, a little of my fire returns. I flash him a smirk. “Not until you take off your top,” I reply. When he tilts his head, questioning, I only shrug. “Fair is fair.”

He loosens his tie, grinning down at me. “You know, most girls just do what I tell them to in the bedroom.”

“Well, I’m a little bit higher maintenance than that,” I reply, laughing.

“Mm. Good thing I enjoy high maintenance.” He winks and starts to unbutton his shirt, after tossing his tie down onto the bed beside us.

“That so? Then you’re going to love me.” I watch, appreciating the view as he slowly peels off his shirt and drops it onto the floor. “Pants next,” I say.

He shakes his head. “Ah, ah. That wasn’t the deal. Spread your legs first, Holly.”

I lick my lips, but I obey at the same time, parting my ankles until my legs are spread wide across the bed. “Now take off your pants,” I say, and the flame in my belly licks higher as he starts to undo the clasp. All the while he keeps his gaze focused on my body, appreciative of every inch of me.

He drops his pants, his boxers still on, and after he steps out of his pants and kicks them aside, he reaches down to catch my ankle. He lifts one of my legs up to his height, kisses the inside of my ankle. Lowers his mouth to kiss up my calf.

I shiver with delight. But I still want to see all of him, the way he’s getting to enjoy all of me. “Boxers too,” I tell him.

He grins a smile that makes every nerve ending in my body flare up. “Not yet,” he says, his voice low and husky like a promise. Then he lowers my leg back down and crawls onto the bed, on top of me, on all fours. I reach for him, wanting to feel his bare chest pressed against mine, wanting to savor the sensation of his body over mine, pressing into me.

Instead he keeps going until his waist is in front of my face. Only then does he pause and gaze down at me. “Take off my boxers,” he says.

I reach up, but he stops me, catching both my wrists with his hands.

“No, not like that,” he says. “With your mouth.” As he’s talking, he raises my hands higher, brings them together. He holds them with one hand and reaches down to pick up his tie. He glances back at me then, eyebrows lifted. “I want to tie you up, Holly.”

“To make sure I don’t cheat?” I ask, smiling, mostly to cover the flutter of nerves in my belly. I’ve never been tied up by a guy before. Don’t get me wrong, the thought has always turned me on. But it’s never been a kink I’ve felt comfortable bringing up trying.

“Yes,” Darius replies, also grinning. “Well. That, and I think it will be fun to make you lose control again. This will make that easier.”

I narrow my eyes, never able to resist a dare. In the back of my mind, I still remember what I was intent on doing when I dragged him up here. Making him lose his mind as much as he’s done to me. “Fair,” I say. “On one condition.”

His eyebrows shoot up, and he laughs. “What’s your condition?”

“You let me suck that thick cock of yours.”

His eyes do that flaring with heat thing again. “You drive a hard bargain,” he says, but he can’t keep the throb of lust from his tone. “But trust me, Holly, I have every intention of letting you use that dirty mouth of yours tonight.” With that, he wraps the tie around my wrists, binding them tightly enough that I can’t pull them apart, but loosely enough that I can still move my wrists and fingers. If I needed to, I could wriggle out of this pretty easily. But I don’t plan on it.

My wrists bound, I lean up with a little difficulty, and manage to catch the hem of his boxers in my teeth. It takes a few yanks, but I manage to drag them down over his hips, until they slide down his thighs. Darius shifts to one side then, and kicks them off, but I’m too distracted by the sight of that cock of his once more, springing free of the confines of his boxers at last.

God, he looks even bigger than I remembered. Large enough that I start to wonder if I might have gotten myself into more than I bargained for, volunteering to suck this thing.

Will he fit in my mouth?

But my competitiveness won’t be dissuaded so easily. So when Darius presses me gently back down to the bed, and lowers his hips toward my face, I part my lips and extend my tongue to lap across the tip of his cock. My first taste of him, heady and heavy and filled with his scent, like he’s flooding all my senses—because he is, I suppose—makes me shiver with desire.

“You want my cock in your sexy little mouth?” Darius murmurs, then, and that desire flares hotter.

“Fuck yes,” I whisper, leaning up to try to lick him again. But he pins me against the bed, tilting his head with a smirk as though to tell me not so fast.

“Ask me nicely, then, Holly.”

I swallow hard, tasting that first lick of him still on my tongue. “Let me suck your cock, Darius.”

He hesitates, tilting his head to one side. “Hmm. I believe I said nicely.”

I narrow my eyes. “Please let me suck your cock, Darius.”

“That’s my dirty girl.” At that, he lowers himself again, until his shaft is within reach of my mouth.

The moment he’s close enough, I don’t waste any time. I start to lick him, my tongue tracing the base of his shaft, digging into the underside as I trail it up to his tip. I lap and suck at him eagerly, loving the way he tastes, the way he smells, everything about him. But I’m still nervous about taking him all the way into my mouth.

Apparently I’m about to find out how that will go, however. Because he reaches down to catch my head in his hands, and angles his hips so his cock is pointed straight at my lips.

“I want your mouth around this thick shaft, Holly,” he whispers, voice low enough that it thrums in my ears.

Obediently, I part my lips, and he places the tip of his cock between them. He must sense my nervousness, because a moment later, as he arches his hips to begin sliding forward, my lips spreading wider as his cock slides between them, he adds, “Relax, Holly. Trust me.”

And I do, I realize. Somehow, I’ve come to trust this man I thought I hated. This man who my whole family tells me I should disdain.

I relax my jaw, and let his cock slide deeper, deeper. Every inch farther he goes, I find myself breathing in sharply, but finding that I can fit him, more of him than I thought. I press my tongue against the underside of his shaft as he enters my mouth, and tongue every inch of him I can reach, even as my lips press down gently around the girth of his shaft.

Then he reaches my gag reflex, and I tense, choking a little.

He stops, pulls back, but only a quarter of an inch at most. “I said relax, Holly,” he says again, voice low and soothing.

Relax, I repeat inwardly to myself. And I let go.

This time, he presses forward again, and his cock easily glides to the back of my throat. I moan a little in pleasure, and that moan opens my throat enough for his tip to slip down, stuffing my mouth fuller than it’s ever been stuffed before.

He holds himself there for a second, and then draws back a little, thrusts forward again. This time I moan again, my mouth vibrating around him, which makes him suck in a sharp breath, his eyes going hazy where they’re focused on mine. “Fuck, Holly, that mouth of yours feels incredible,” he murmurs. He pulls back, thrusts again, and before long, he finds a rhythm.

Every few thrusts, too, he inches a little deeper into my throat. “Just like that, naughty girl,” he murmurs as he thrusts. “Let me fuck your dirty mouth.”

I moan a response, which makes his cock jump between my lips, the pressure building in him. I start to rock my head in time with his thrusts, adding pressure with my tongue. I gag a couple of times, but I find it kind of hot actually. So does Darius, whose eyes flare every time I do.

“You like that?” he whispers. “You like gagging on my fat cock, Holly?”

I moan once more in agreement, and he starts to thrust faster, on the edge of losing that control that’s kept him so cool under pressure, all evening. More than anything, I want to see that. I want to see him lose his careful control. So I tighten my lips around him, bob my head in time with his deep thrusts.

But just when I sense he’s on the edge of reaching his climax, about to come, he suddenly pulls back, out of my mouth. I groan in protest, frustrated, and Darius sits back to smirk down at me, shaking his head a little. “Not so fast, dirty girl,” he says. “I have a lot more planned for you this evening.”

“That’s hardly fair,” I reply, narrowing my eyes at him. “You got to make me come already.”

“Who said I planned to play fair tonight?” he answers with a laugh. With that, the flips me over beneath him, and pulls me up into a kneeling position. My hands are still tied in front of me, so I go down on my elbows, my ass sticking up toward Darius. At the same time, I feel the bed shift as he kneels behind me.

I glance back over my shoulder, in time to watch him wrap one fist around the base of his cock, and use his other hand to part my pussy lips. He guides the tip of his cock up to my slit, traces back and forth along it, coating the tip of his cock in my juices. Because fuck am I wet, after sucking his cock.

“I want to fuck you, Holly,” Darius murmurs, still stroking his shaft along my slit. “I want to feel you come with my cock inside you. I want to come in you again, the same way I did earlier, pumping you full. Do you want that?”

I breathe in sharply as his tip presses against the tight entrance of my pussy, wanting him inside me. But when I don’t reply, he leans back, pulling his cock again. I groan in frustration and arch my hips back toward him. “Yes, dammit. Yes, fuck me.”

“I thought you told me the shower was a one-time deal,” he points out, and at this, I whip my head around to glare at him. But he’s smiling, so I know he’s not entirely serious about calling me out right now.

Still. The sudden reminder pulls me out of the moment for a second. Makes me consider the position I’m in. Completely tied up and at the mercy of someone who’s supposed to be my biggest enemy. And yet… I don’t feel compromised, or like he’s using me. I trust him. And he’s already given me more pleasure than just about anyone else I’ve ever hooked up with.

“Maybe it’s a couple of times deal,” I finally grumble, begrudgingly, but I’m smiling too, and Darius doesn’t call me out any farther.

He just smirks and reaches up to run both hands over my ass slowly, before he places his cock at my entrance once more. “I’m glad,” he says. Then he thrusts into me, and I moan aloud with pleasure at the sensation of his thick cock filling my pussy, stretching my walls and making me ache with fullness. “Because I really, really like you, Holly.”

“Like me?” I ask, my voice only trembling slightly as he goes to pull out of me again, providing an achingly good friction sensation inside me. “Or like fucking me?”

“Both,” Darius answers, and then he thrusts into me once more, and I arch my hips back toward him to grant him better access.

“Good,” I say, my voice breathy. “Because I really, really don’t want you to stop what you’re doing right now.” My voice rises on those last words, as Darius thrusts into me again. He pulls back, drives his cock into me once more, and I groan again softly.

“Oh, I won’t,” he replies. With that, his hands slide up to my hips, gripping me tight for purchase, and he begins to fuck me in earnest.

With every thrust, I drive my hips back toward his, giving as good as I get. But fuck is what I’m getting good. He fills every inch of me, makes me feel full in a way I never have before. After this morning’s session in the showers, there’s an ache in me still, but it feels so fucking good, a bone-deep ache that only supplements the pleasure I’m feeling.

Then Darius reaches down beneath me to finger my clit at the same time as he continues pounding into me, and it’s more than I can resist. I cry aloud as another orgasm sweeps through me, making my whole body shake. He doesn’t slow down, doesn’t cut his pace at all. He just keeps fucking me, hard and steady, relentless.

I lose track of time, of where we are. Of everything except for the hot smack of his hips against my ass with each thrust, the scent of our mingled sex that fills the warm air of the room. The sight of him any time I glance over my shoulder, muscled and sheened with sweat, thrusting that thick cock into me as I’m bent over in front of him, all tied up.

He angles his hips downward, until his cock drags along my front wall, and when he says in a low tone, “I want you to come again for me, Holly,” at first I’m not sure how I can do it on command.

But he keeps thrusting, keeps stroking that same spot with his cock, and it becomes hard to resist all of a sudden.

“Come for me,” he says again, louder, and I moan in response.

“I’m close, fuck, I’m so close, don’t stop… Ah…” My voice pitches higher as he keeps thrusting into me, and before I know it, my climax hits with the force of a lightning strike. I cry out again, my whole body shaking, and Darius sucks in a sharp breath behind me as my pussy convulses around his thick shaft, involuntary spasms from the orgasm.

A moment later, he speeds up, his hands finding my hips, gripping hard.

“Yes, Darius,” I moan. “Come in me. I want to feel your hot cum.”

He groans through gritted teeth, his head falling back, his neck bared, every muscle standing out. I watch him, loving every second of his release. He comes with a guttural growl, and I feel his hot juices shoot into my pussy. I clench my muscles around him, milk every drop as he continues to thrust, slowing down with each one, as his orgasm fades.

He pulls out of me, and juices spill down my thigh. I drop to one side, and Darius lies alongside me, surprising me. He reaches up to undo the tie around my wrists, and then wraps an arm around my waist to tug me against him. I let him pull me to his side, and drape one arm around his waist, gazing into his eyes.

“That was…” I hesitate. Press my lips together.

Darius leans in to kiss them softly. “Don’t tell me yet.” He flashes me a wink, and a dangerous grin, as he rolls me onto my back and slides his hands down my stomach. “Because we’re only just getting started.”