CHAPTER
Ten
“Come on, beautiful, let’s have a bath,” Ty suggests after the police and the locksmith have left.
My heart sinks. He wants to have sex now? I step away and frown up at him. “Really?”
He smiles softly and cups my face in his hands, pulls me in for a soft, gentle kiss, then pulls back. “As much as I would love to make love to you right now, I think I can restrain myself, Lo. You need a bath to relax. Let me take care of you.”
He leads me to the bed and, with his hands gripping my shoulders, lowers me to the side. “I’ll be right back.”
He disappears into the bathroom and I hear the water running in my large soaking tub. It’s big enough for two. I wonder, will he join me?
I’m too numb to get up and take my clothes off, and surprisingly, hearing Ty bustle about in my bathroom is strangely soothing.
He returns a few minutes later, shirtless, and my mouth goes dry.
“It should be illegal for you to walk around shirtless.”
He smirks and pulls me to my feet. “Why is that, baby?”
“Have you seen you?” I instinctively reach out and brush my fingertips over his chest, drawing a sharp inhale from him.
“Lo . . .” His voice is a warning, but I ignore him and continue to explore his chest, abs, hips, with my fingers.
“You’re so handsome.”
He takes my hands in his and brings them to his lips, kisses them softly, and watches me with hot gray eyes. “Come on, before I forget that you’ve had a traumatic evening, spread you out, and fuck you until the bed breaks.”
Well, doesn’t that sound delicious? Maybe I’ve changed my mind from earlier.
“Rain check,” he whispers, and leads me to the bathroom. Not only did he run the bathwater, but he lit several candles and poured my favorite bath oil into the water as well.
It’s soothing and soft and thoughtful.
He helps me undress and holds my hand while I step into the steaming-hot water. I lean back against the edge, close my eyes, and sigh deeply.
“Feel good?” I can hear the smile in this voice.
“Hmm. Join me.”
“I will in a minute. I want to check the house one more time. You soak.”
He kisses my forehead and is gone, and I let the heat of the water seep into my muscles, relaxing me. I’m suddenly beyond tired.
“No sleeping in the bath, sweetness.”
I open my eyes to find Ty standing over me, his arms crossed, gazing down at me with a half smile.
“I’m not sleeping,” I lie. “Join me.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” He quickly shucks his clothing. “Scoot forward.”
He slips into the bath behind me, then pulls me against him. “How do you feel?” He kisses my neck and reaches for a washcloth, lathering it up with body wash.
“Better.”
“Good.”
“Everything okay downstairs?”
“Yes. It’s quiet down there. The locksmith added a locking knob and a dead bolt.” I nod and am about to ask more questions when he leans in and whispers in my ear, “Relax. There’s nothing more you can do tonight.”
We sit in silence as he washes my arms, my back, my chest, and down my stomach to the juncture of my legs, never touching me in a sexual way, but in a soothing, cleansing manner that makes me melt against him.
Finally, he sets the washcloth aside, and while I’m still soapy, his hands glide to my shoulders and begin to knead the muscles there.
“Dear sweet Jesus, keep doing that and I’ll marry you.” The words slip out before I can stop them, before I even realize I’m saying them, and I bite my lips and cringe, hoping he doesn’t notice.
But rather than freaking out at the M-word, he simply chuckles and continues to spoil my shoulders and neck. “If I knew the way to your heart was rubbing your shoulders, I would have done it long ago.” He rinses the soap from my skin and tugs me back into his arms to rest against his chest. I curl up against him and sigh deeply as he continues to gently caress my arms and shoulders, kisses my temple, and nuzzles my ear.
When the water cools and we’re both wrinkling up like prunes, Ty pulls me from the bath, wraps a towel around his waist, and then slowly and thoroughly dries me off, his eyes warm as they roam over my skin.
“You’re gorgeous.”
I smile softly as he sets the towel aside and leads me to the bedroom and tucks us both in the bed. He pulls me against him and holds me tightly.
I’ve never felt so pampered in my life.
I don’t realize that I’ve spoken aloud until Ty whispers, “Get used to it, sweetness.”
I’m sitting in my office, my laptop set up before me, sending out e-mails and responding to requests on social media. It’s early in the morning, and I should be writing, but I just can’t concentrate.
I tossed and turned last night and gave up any hope of falling back to sleep at around five this morning and came down to work, leaving Ty to get as much rest as possible.
Jack destroyed my pool house.
I hear bare feet pad up behind me, and Ty’s strong arms circle me as he buries his face in my neck and inhales deeply. He drags his nose up to my ear, sending shivers through me.
“Good morning.” I push my fingers into his messy hair.
“I’m getting tired of waking up to an empty bed,” he responds softly. “I’d rather wake up with you under me.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
Ty kisses my cheek, sets a mug of hot coffee on the desk for me, and shuffles over to my chaise lounge, giving me a prime view of his bare back and boxers-covered ass.
God, he has a nice ass.
“I made coffee.” He shoots me a sleepy grin. “Why couldn’t you sleep, beautiful?”
“Just a lot on my mind.” I lift one shoulder in a shrug and lean back in my chair, watching him. “Since I couldn’t swim, I decided to get up and get an early start on work.”
“Working on a Sunday?” He raises a brow.
“I work every day, Ty.”
“I think you need a day off.” He scrubs his hands through his hair with a wide yawn.
I laugh and turn my attention back to my computer screen. “After I meet next week’s deadline, we’ll talk.”
“Hmm . . .”
I glance up to find him tapping his lips with his forefinger.
“What are you thinking?”
“What would happen if you were cut off from your computer and phone for a whole day?”
“I’d most likely be set behind.”
“But it wouldn’t kill you.”
“No.” I tilt my head and watch him as he takes a sip of his coffee. My phone rings on the desk at my elbow.
“Hey, babe.” Ty’s eyebrows climb into his hairline at the term of endearment and I mouth the word Emily.
“Hey, whatcha doin’?” she asks.
“I was working, but now I’m chatting with Ty.”
“Tell him I said hello.”
I pull the phone away from my face and grin at Ty. “Emily says hello.”
Without responding, he unfolds from the chaise, approaches my desk, and holds his hand out, silently asking me to pass the phone.
I pull it back to my ear. “Uh, I think Ty wants to speak with you. Hold on.”
“Thank you.” He winks at me. “Hi, Emily, this is Ty Sullivan. . . . Oh, good, she’s told you about me.” He sends me a wide, happy smile. “I wanted to let you know that Lo will be unavailable for the rest of the day. I’m taking her hostage.”
I feel my jaw drop as I sit numbly and listen to his side of the conversation. “Ty, I can’t . . .”
He shakes his head at me and laughs at whatever Em has said on the other end of the line. “I agree, she deserves a day off. . . . Yes, I’ll take good care of her, and she’ll call you tomorrow. Thank you, Emily.”
He presses END on the phone, powers it off, and lays it across the room from me, out of my reach. Before I can respond, he grabs my laptop, closes it carefully, and also lays it out of my reach.
“You’re taking away all my toys?” I ask sarcastically.
“No, I’m giving you the day off.” He walks to me and pulls me out of the chair. “I want to spend some quality time with you today.”
“I figured I’d be able to work while you did the guy thing and watched football all day. It is football season, isn’t it?”
He laughs as he pulls me through the house to my bedroom. “Yes, it’s football season, but you’re more important.”
“Wow, more important than football?” I chuckle. “You must be smitten.”
“I think I’m more than smitten,” he whispers as he gathers the hem of my shirt in his hands and pulls it over my head, tossing it on the floor. “I’m intrigued.”
My nipples pucker against the cool air and his nimble fingers as he brushes his knuckles over them lightly.
“I’m captivated,” he whispers, hooking his thumbs in my panties and pulling them down my hips, letting them drop to the floor. I reach out to touch him, to pull his shorts down, but he grips my hands in his and pulls them up to his lips. “Trust me?”
“Of course.”
He grins and cups my face in his hands and pulls me in for a long, deep, wet kiss. His hands push back into my hair, combing through it rhythmically. He has such amazing hands, I just want to purr.
He softens the kiss, nibbles my lips, and nuzzles his nose against my own. “Lay on the bed, please.”
I move onto the bed, to the middle, and lie on my back. “Now what?” I ask breathlessly, already so turned on I can barely stand it.
“Raise your hands over your head.”
His gray eyes are on fire as they roam over my body. He moves to the head of the bed and pulls a red necktie from the back of a nearby chair, loops it through the iron rungs on my headboard, and ties one hand, then the other, giving me room to move, but not enough to pull my hands down to touch him.
“I don’t get to touch you?” My body tightens at the sensation of being tied to the bed, at Ty’s mercy, open to his every sexual whim.
“Not for a little while.” He grins as he tests the restraints on my wrists. “Feel okay?”
“Yes.” My voice is harsh. Ragged.
I don’t care.
Morning light filters in through the blinds on the window, across the bed, across my body, sending shadowed lines over me. Ty walks to the end of the bed and watches me for a long moment, his arms crossed over his chest, gliding his finger over his bottom lip. His biceps are bunched and his stomach is tight, and I want nothing more than for him to take those damn shorts off and join me on this bed.
“Do you have any idea how much you make me ache?”
“If it’s anything like the way I’m aching right now, yes.”
He smirks and circles to the other side of the bed, his eyes still pinned to my body, making me squirm and rub my thighs together to try to ease the ache between my legs.
“Ty, please touch me.”
“Oh, I plan to, sweetness. I’m going to touch you all fucking day.”
My breath catches at his promise. I bite my lip and watch him as he moves onto the bed and kneels between my legs.
“I love losing myself in you, beautiful. But I realize that I haven’t taken my time to explore you like I’ve been craving. I am going to slowly worship every inch of this amazing body, Lauren. Do you have any issues with that?”
I shake my head no, entranced in the heat in his eyes.
Finally, finally, he touches me. His hands settle on my feet and glide up my calves to my knees and my inner thighs, his touch light and soothing.
“Your skin is so soft.” He plants soft, openmouthed kisses to my inner thighs, working his way higher. I pull on the tie holding my hands, wanting desperately to touch him. “You’re going to have to be patient, baby. This is going to take a while.”
“You’re trying to kill me.”
He smiles against my thigh and then bites me gently. “But what a way to go.”
I chuckle, then moan as his tongue drifts up my inner thigh to my core, making me shudder.
“God, you’re good at this,” I whisper.
“I can’t get enough of you, Lo.” He wraps those amazing lips of his around my clit and gently pulls, brushing the tip of his tongue over the nub until I’m writhing, chasing the unbelievable sensation of his mouth on the most sensitive part of me.
He slides down to my lips and kisses them, then slides his tongue inside me with a rolling motion and pushes his nose against my clit, and I come up off the bed in a wave of sensation.
His hand settles on my stomach, over my navel, holding me still as he continues to lap at me, his lips dancing over my pussy, making me mad.
“God, Ty.”
“Watch me, Lauren.”
My eyes open and find his as he slides his tongue up and down my slit, his mouth glimmering in my juices.
“You taste amazing.”
“Breakfast of champions,” I mutter.
His eyes smile up at me, then he plunges a finger into my pussy and pulls up against my G-spot, sending me spiraling into a crazy orgasm, pushing my pelvis against his face and pulling on the ties, longing to hold his head against me.
He kisses each thigh, my smooth pubis, over to my left hip bone.
“Your body amazes me.” His nose skims over to my belly. He presses a soft, wet kiss to my navel, then raises on an elbow and traces my abs with his fingertip. “Your muscle tone is amazing.”
I grin down at him as my stomach flinches under his light touch.
“Ticklish?” He grins.
“Yes.”
“Hmm, I’ll have to remember that for later.” He settles on his stomach, his chest at my pelvis, eye-level with my breasts, and he continues to gently caress my skin, trailing a path around my breasts, beneath them, between them.
My nipples are peaked and screaming for his mouth.
He lowers his head and sweeps his tongue over one, then the other, leaving them wet. “I love your breasts.”
“You’re a boob man?”
“I’m a Lo man.” He chuckles and pulls a tight peak into his mouth, licking and sucking lazily.
Finally, he climbs up me and kisses my arm, then moves to my mouth, hovering above me, gazing down at me.
“You’re so beautiful, Lo.”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
He settles his lips on mine, and I can still smell and taste myself on his mouth. It just turns me on more. I wrap my legs around his hips, grind my core against his hard erection, still covered by the cotton of his shorts.
“Please make love to me,” I whisper against him.
“I will.”
“I want to touch you.”
“You will.”
“Have I mentioned that I’m not a patient person?” I growl.
He chuckles and unties my hands, kisses me once more before pulling off me completely.
He effortlessly flips me over. “Hold on to the headboard.”
I immediately comply, reaching up and gripping tightly on the metal of the bed. Suddenly, Ty is covering me with his body again. Heat is rolling off him. His erection is pressing against my ass.
He leans in and whispers in my ear, “I’ve been wanting to do this since the first time I saw this ink.”
He kisses my shoulder and over to my spine, then kisses all the way down my back, over my tattoo.
When he reaches the bottom, he starts up again, but this time trailing over the ink with the tip of his tongue. I squirm beneath him, delighting in the feel of the soft sheets against my sensitive breasts and bare pussy, silently begging him to finally slip inside me.
His hands cup my ass, squeeze, then glide down my thighs before finding my ass once more.
“Your ass is perfect. Firm, round. It fits flawlessly in my hands.”
Dear God, his words are as sexy as his body, as the delicious things his hands are doing to me. I’ve never had my body explored so thoroughly.
“Your back is slender, and with your arms up over your head like this, your muscles are spectacular.”
I feel him slip his hand down my spine over my bottom, and he pushes his fingers into my pussy again.
My hips buck, pushing back against his hand, needing to feel him deeper.
“You like that, baby?” he whispers against my skin.
“God, yes.”
I feel him shimmy behind me, pushing his shorts down his thighs and legs, and suddenly he’s blanketing me with his hard body and his bare cock is pressed to my opening.
He slides in slowly, lazily, until he’s buried balls-deep. I try to pull my knees under me, to lift my ass in the air, but he holds me flat, plants his hands on the cheeks of my butt hard enough to leave handprints for days, and begins to ride me.
“I can’t hold back any longer, sweetness, I’m sorry.”
“God, it feels so good, Ty.”
His thrusts quicken. His breath is harsh. “Give me one more, Lo. Come with me.”
I shake my head and push back against him.
“Yes, Lauren.” He leans down, braces one hand on the bed at my hip, and pushes the other beneath me, between my legs, to circle my clit.
My toes curl.
The world shatters around me as I come hard, clenching around him and milking his hard cock with my pussy.
“Ah, fuck, Lo.” He pushes once, twice, then stills, rocking hard against me as he spills inside me.
Finally, he kisses me softly, right between my shoulder blades, and pulls away. He pads into the bathroom where I hear water running.
I love that he always wants to take care of me after he makes love to me.
“Turn over, beautiful.”
“I don’t think I can move,” I mutter into the pillows.
He laughs and lowers my arms to my sides, massaging them firmly, then nudges me onto my back. He brushes my hair off my face and kisses me softly. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Okay?”
“So okay.”
He cleans me up and joins me on the bed, pulling the covers over us both.
“Ty, it’s late. We should get up.”
“Rule number one when you’ve been held hostage is you don’t get to make those decisions. You didn’t sleep last night. Get some rest.”
“You don’t have to stay with me,” I whisper, and settle against him, my head on his chest, arm and leg draped comfortably over him.
“Well, it looks like I’m trapped.”
I start to back away, but he pulls me closer. “I’m here, baby. Sleep.”
Before long, the rise and fall of his chest and his fingers brushing up and down my back lull me to sleep.
“Bullshit.” Ty’s voice comes from another room, pulling me from sleep. I stretch and glance at the alarm clock, shocked to see it’s after four in the afternoon.
I slept all day!
Rain is pounding against the bedroom window and the room is cast in gray, dark because of the storm working its way through.
“I don’t care if we can’t prove it, Brad.” Ty’s angry. I move from the bed, wrap the sheet around me, and walk down the hallway toward the upstairs living room where Ty is standing before the large picture window, looking out into the storm. He’s dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt. He’s barefoot and his hair is still a mess. I lean against the wall, listening shamelessly. “No one else in this world would have done that to her house. A kid would have thrown one rock, not destroyed the whole fucking place.” He listens and pushes his hand through his hair. “I want her place patrolled regularly. This fucker isn’t going to hurt her.”
Brad must agree because Ty nods. “Good. Thanks, man. Let me know if you hear anything else.”
Ty hangs up and turns around, then stops short when he sees me. His face softens and he smiles. “You’re awake.”
I nod and cross to him, wrap my arms around his waist, and lean into him. “How’s Brad?”
“Grouchy.” Ty laughs and kisses my head while running his hands up and down my back, hugging me tight. “Pissed that we can’t pin the vandalism on Jack.”
“No proof?”
“None.” Ty’s voice is thick with frustration. “But the windows will be replaced by Wednesday. Brad was here earlier while you were asleep to check for any other evidence and clear the scene to be cleaned up.”
“Oh, good. I’ll have to call my pool boy and have him come take care of the pool.”
“You have a pool boy?” He raises his eyebrows at me and his lips twitch as he tries to hold his laugh in.
“Of course I do. I have a pool.” I grin and kiss him chastely. “Michael is very thorough.”
“Do I have to kill him? Lawyers don’t do well in prison, you know.”
I laugh as I pull away. “Nah, he’s very gay.” I sniff the air. “You’re cooking.”
“I owe you a home-cooked meal.” He brushes his knuckles down my cheek before taking my hand in his and leading me down to the kitchen.
“Shouldn’t I get dressed?”
“You could, but it would be a waste of time because I plan to just get you naked again.”
“So today is just a naked day then? Why aren’t you naked?”
He cocks a brow and smirks.
Arrogant ass.
“Sit here.” He motions to a stool at the breakfast bar, where I can watch him move about the kitchen. I like seeing him in my kitchen.
“Do you like to cook often?” Ty sets a plate of tiny-sliced bread with tomato and mozzarella cheese on the counter and I dig in, ravenous. “I’m starving.”
“I’m not surprised. You didn’t eat all day.”
“I know, I slept all day.”
“Not all day,” he reminds me with a smile. “Wine?”
“No thanks, just water. Where did all of this come from? I know I didn’t have it in my fridge.”
“Jill delivered.”
He pours me a glass of water and then sets about whipping potatoes and grilling asparagus.
“I’ll have to start paying Jill mileage. This is quite a production.” I take a sip of water and scoop up another piece of bread. “And delicious.”
He takes my wrist in his hand and pulls my food to his mouth, taking a big bite.
“Mmm, you’re right. Not as delicious as you, though.”
I feel my cheeks heat and realize that I’ve never been given the opportunity to taste him. I tilt my head and watch him bustle about the kitchen.
“What are you thinking?”
“That I’d like to suck your cock.”
He stops with a lamb chop gripped in the tongs in his hand and his head whips up to gape at me. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I shrug and take a bite of bread. “I’ve only done it once in my life, and I’d like to try it again.”
He sets the food on the countertop and braces his hands on the granite, watching me. “Right now?”
“Maybe after dinner. I’m hungry.”
His eyes are hot as he watches me. “Unless you want me to bend you over the breakfast bar, don’t bite your lip.”
I release my lip and lick it slowly where my teeth were buried in it.
“Damn it, Lo,” he whispers.
“What?”
He shakes his head and paces away, pulls the asparagus out of the oven, and plates our meal. “I have a permanent hard-on when I’m with you.”
“Is that bad?” I laugh.
“It’s new. It’s never been like this for me, and we’ve only just begun.”
Wow.
He smiles softly and gestures to the dining table. “Come on, sweetness, let’s eat so I can get you back to bed and bury myself in you for the rest of the night.”
“Maybe I’m tired.”
“You slept all day.”
“Maybe I’m sore.”
“We’ll soak in the tub for a while.” He frowns over at me as I join him at the table. “If you don’t want this, all you have to do is say no, Lauren.”
I grin and rise up on my toes to kiss his cheek. “I’m teasing you.”
He pulls me to him, wraps his arms around my middle, and buries his face in my hair. “You’re not funny.”
“I’m hilarious.”