Ruby’s legs tremble, spread wide at the foot of my bed, and the sight of her like this—bent over at the waist, hands fisted in the comforter—takes my breath away.

She has the most perfect ass I’ve ever seen on a woman, and the creamy skin there is a bright pink shade from a warm-up spanking that had her slick and wet by the fifth stroke. The rest of her is a golden tan from her weekend at the house in Conyers Farm. I can’t stop tracing my fingertips over the lines where her bathing suit used to be.

She shivers, standing in place, the blindfold wrapped around her eyes. It’s a soft, expensive length of silk, and utterly opaque.

I’m taking my time.

I’m taking my time, because we have time. We finally have time.

She let me carry her through the penthouse to my bedroom and when I stepped across the threshold she sighed with relief.

“Happy to be here?” I’d murmured into her ear.

“Could I stay forever?”

“No need to ask permission.” As soon as I’m finished worshipping her body, I’m going to have some of my staff pack up her apartment and bring all of her things here. She’s not going to have to worry about a single detail. I’ll have someone cancel the lease, even if I have to buy it out myself, and by the end of the day tomorrow she’ll be all moved in. What she doesn’t know yet is that I’m going to have the guest suite outfitted as a private space for her. Ruby doesn’t have to sleep in my bedroom if she doesn’t want to. I’m willing to take our time.

There are other things to focus on right now, though the plans keep churning in the back of my mind.

I run my hands over the ridges of Ruby’s spine, and she wriggles her hips, her ass moving in delightful circles. “Don’t break the rules,” I warn her, keeping my voice low and commanding.

“Sorry,” she whispers.

“Don’t apologize.” I lean down, breathing the words into her ears. I wrap my hand around her hair and pull so her face is tilted slightly upward. “Just follow my commands, and you’ll never have to.”

A little smile plays over her lips, but I know she’s enjoying it by the way her juices drip down the inside of her thighs.

Speaking of the inside of her thighs...

I move behind her, stroking two fingertips over her slit, and she tilts her hips, offering me more access. 

“There’s nothing I’ve ever wanted more than you.”

Ruby turns her head to the side, her breath fast and shallow. “Please?”

“Please what?”

“Please, fuck me.”

She’s begging to be teased, so I slide two fingers into her and work them in and out, in and out. Ruby groans in frustration, bucking against my hand. “What’s the matter? Is this not what you wanted?”

“Please, fuck me with your cock.” Those words, in her sweet voice, just about push me over the edge.

This time, I’m not teasing. I pull my fingers away from her and line myself up in an instant, thrusting inside with all the power I can summon in my hips. Ruby gasps. I’m in to the hilt, the head of my cock banging against that final barrier, and she cries out.

I fuck her like it’s the last day on earth, fast and hard, until she’s crying out.

I reach forward and tug on the edge of the blindfold, letting it drop to the comforter, and on the next stroke I pull away. It’s only a matter of lifting her, turning her, and Ruby is spread out in front of me on the comforter, breasts heaving.

She stretches her arms over her head and arches her back as I climb onto the bed, leaning down to swirl my tongue over her nipples, one by one. Then I concentrate on one, then the other, licking until she’s gasping, wrapping her legs around my hips, trying feverishly to draw my cock back in.

I kiss the side of her neck. “You don’t have to beg.”

“I...wasn’t...begging,” she breathes.

“Your body is begging,” I tease.

“Trust me,” I say, lining myself up with her opening and plunging in, making her cry out. “I’ll give you what you want.”

I rock my hips into her, picking up the pace, picking up the rhythm, and she meets me with every thrust, her hips rising from the surface of the bed.

I’m so damn close, and the way her muscles work my cock, her tightness made for me, pulls me under. I’m lost in her, lost in the brightness that’s filling my chest, lost in her voice, her touch, the scent of her skin.

She’s mine.

She’s mine, and I’ll never want for another thing in my life—unless it’s for the purpose of making her happy.

We move together, and it doesn’t take any more conscious thought. I play her body like an instrument, drawing out little cries and loud ones, circling her clit until she comes on my cock and then thrusting myself into her pulsing pleasure.

I’m swimming in the heat of her, far away from anything else, when she whispers something into my ear.

“I didn’t hear what you said, love.” The apology comes between thrusts, slowing things down, making each stroke powerful and deliberate.

“I love you. So much.”

There are no qualifiers. There is no doubt in her voice. She doesn’t ask me if it makes any sense, if it’s happening too soon, if we should slow down, if we should wait. All the answers we could ever need are in the molten heat between us, hanging in the air. We can come back to them any time.

“I love you,” I respond.

“Tell me again.”

“I love you.”

“One more time...” The final word is a gasp.

I lean down, murmuring them into her ear, one more time.

Ruby comes at the words, pulling me in, and I follow close behind.