Chapter Twelve
She woke to the feel of a warm hand sliding over her hip and down her leg, then dropping lower on the return trip to brush the side of her sex and on up to cup her breast.
Charli rolled over onto her back and looked up at Grady. “Morning, gorgeous.”
He gave her a smile and ran his strong, hot hand down the center of her body.
She smiled up at him. Last night felt like a bizarre dream and right now, she wasn’t sure it was anything other than that. Things like that didn’t happen in real life. Right?
“Did you drown me last night?”
“Yep.”
“And…” She rolled over to face him and propped her head on her hand. “I swear I was… somewhere. No where. There was no sky or ground or light or dark. It was gray. Just gray. But Ani was there. And you. You were there.”
“I was.”
“And she was?”
“Yes.”
“But how?”
Grady shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that my grandmother on my mom’s side had the gift. She could talk with the dead—could go to that place between life and death, straddle the void somehow. I was told I got it from her. But I can only do it with people who are at the in-between place. At least that’s what she called it.”
“But Ani isn’t there. Is she?” Alarm had Charli scrambling to sit. “She’s not trapped in that gray−“
“No, I called her to come see you. She’s fine, Charli.”
Charli put her hand to the center of her chest, feeling her heart race. “This feels very strange.”
“Being here with me or your in-between experience?”
“Yes, to both. I’m not sure what to make of that—that in-between thing. I mean, I remember it. I believe it happened, but it’s not supposed to, is it?”
“I don’t know if it’s supposed to or not. There are a lot of things we can’t explain but our lack of understanding doesn’t negate them.”
“I guess. And then there’s you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Why did you do that? Go into that place for me?”
He looked away for a few moments and she wondered if he was going to answer. Finally, he did. “I didn’t expect any of this either.”
“Any of what?”
“This.” His finger pointed from her to himself. “I thought it would be fun and games. Great sex and maybe me teaching you to know that there’s power in letting go. But I didn’t expect to—to feel.”
Charli’s heart sped up a little at those words. “Feel what?”
“I didn’t expect to care. I—hell, I don’t even know how to say it, Charli.”
“I do.” She realized that in this situation she was the brave one. “I’m falling for you, Grady. I know it’s fast. Maybe too fast. And maybe it’s not the stuff that forever is made of, but I feel it and it’s real.”
“Me too,” he said and reached over to smooth her hair back from her face. “So what do we do now?”
“Well, I have a couple of suggestions.”
“Okay, out with it.”
“First, I go pee and brush my teeth and then I come back to bed and we explore that thing about the power of letting go.”
“You think you’re ready?”
“I do.”
“Then get moving, girl.”
She grinned, got out of bed, and headed for the bathroom, calling over her shoulder. “You have a spare toothbrush?”
“Medicine cabinet on the left.”
Charli got down to business and had just finished brushing her teeth when Grady walked into the bathroom. He stopped, shoved his boxer briefs down, and stepped out of them.
It was damn near a religious experience watching Grady get naked. Charli could not help admiring what she saw, or wanting it. Tall, powerful, and aroused, he was the personification of sex—at least in her book.
She remained glued in place. When he walked over and plucked the toothbrush from her hand, she realized she’d forgotten she was still holding it. He smiled, put the toothbrush on the vanity, and then got his own.
Charli turned, propped her hip on the vanity and watched. Even the sight of him brushing his teeth was sexy. Especially since he was naked. The man had a body that turned her thoughts to one thing.
Sex.
“I know what you’re thinking.” He said after he finished. “You’re wondering just what it means—power in letting go. You’re wondering if it makes you subservient and less than me. If it gives me control.”
Grady took her hand and backed up toward the shower, pulling her with him. “The answer is yes. It does give me control, but it gives you more.”
“How?” She asked as he reached in to turn on the water.
“Because one word from you and it all stops. You can choose to give me what I want—what makes me crazy with need and satisfies me like nothing else can, or you can withhold it and make me suffer and beg.”
“I can?”
“You can.”
“And all by turning control over to you?”
“Yep.” He backed up into the shower and tugged on her hand so that she would follow.
She did and he pulled her into his arms as he turned into the center of the spray from the three showerheads. “Trust me, Charli.” He breathed against her lips a moment before claiming a kiss.
How was it that his kiss could affect her on so many levels? First, there was that initial rush of lust that had her wanting to climb him like a tree. But stampeding in on top of it was a swell of emotion that had her wishing that this one moment could last forever.
Then desire rushed back in and her skin burned with every slide of his hand on her. It was as if he sensed that need, and used her lust as a tool to tease because during the hour they were in the shower, he kissed, fondled, bit, licked and stroked her to orgasm half a dozen times, all the while wooing her with kisses that had her falling into a fast addiction for the taste and feel of him.
When he finally turned off the water and grabbed a soft towel to wrap around her, she felt like throwing him down on the tile floor and raping him. But she’d agreed to do things his way and would see it through.
“What now?” she asked when they finished drying off.
Grady took her hand and led her back into the bedroom. He stopped in front of one of the closet doors. At least that’s what she thought it was until he opened it and took her hand to lead her inside.
“Ooookay,” she said and looked around. “And what exactly are we going to do here?”
“Whatever you’re comfortable with?”
Charli looked at the benches and chairs and swings and racks, at the whips and floggers and all manners of clips and whips and things that could be inserted into a body and she almost changed her mind.
This kind of thing was definitely out of her wheelhouse. Grady must have sensed her hesitation because he took her hand and raised it to his lips to kiss her palm and then run his lips to her wrist and on up her arm.
By the time he reached the middle of her arm, she was feeling a whole lot warmer. He raised his head to look at her. “If there’s ever a time you want to stop, just say the word.”
“What word.”
“That’s up to you. What do you want your safe word to be?”
“Glock.”
“Glock?” He chuckled.
“Sorry, it was the first thing that came to mind.”
“It works. So?”
She looked around and then at him. “You tell me. What’s first?”
Grady walked over to a cabinet and opened a drawer. When he returned, he held a black mask with no holes for the eyes, a set of padded wrist cuffs and a long feather.
“A feather?” she asked.
“You’ll be surprised what I can do with a feather. Do you trust me?”
“Front or back?” she asked in answer to his question.
“What?”
“Do you want my hands in front of me or behind?”
“Front.”
She held her hands out toward him. “I’m all yours.”
“I promise you’ll leave wanting more.”
“Don’t tell me, stud. Show me.”
Grady’s smile made her breath catch in her throat, it was so damn sexy. He slid the mask on her and then moved beside her. “Just let me guide you.”
She did and he walked her a good dozen steps before stopping to turn her around. He lifted her arms up and she heard the sound of metal against metal as the cuffs tugged on her wrists.
A moment later his hands drifted lightly down her arms, then lower, stopping to rest on her hips. She felt his lips against hers, a light kiss that lasted only a second. Then his hands left her body.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Then ask me.”
“Ask you what?”
“To pleasure you.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. If you want me touch you, to make you come, you have to ask.”
It seemed a bit silly, but she didn’t say it. Instead, she complied. “Touch me, Grady. Make me come.”
A second later, something incredibly soft drifted over her right nipple. She gasped at the amazing sensation.
“What is that?”
“The beginning.”
Boy was it ever.