Lauren

 

The corners of his lips began to curl, the man could read my mind too damn easily. “See, now get your little ass in the bedroom.” He stepped out of the way, clearing a path for me to get out of the bathroom.

 

Holding the towel tightly in my grasp, I maneuvered past him and padded to my bedroom, kicking the door closed behind me. He must have been right behind me. I heard the thud of the door smacking his hand. He shoved the door open, then slammed it shut behind him, turning an angry glare at me. “Did you just try to slam a door in my face?”

 

I couldn’t help but smile. Of course that wasn’t what I had done; I had no idea he was right behind me. “Well, if you would have given me some privacy, that wouldn’t have happened. I didn’t know you were that close. I was just closing the door, Michael.” The fierceness in his gaze should have warned me, should have sent alarm bells off in my mind. Instead, I felt my body reacting to him. My nipples hardened under the towel; brushing against the roughness of discount store fabric made my insides warm to him even more.

 

Michael stalked me, taking deliberate steps toward me, backing me up until the bed hit the back of my knees. “I think you were trying to hit me with the door.” His eyes never left mine.

 

“Why would I do that?” I held tighter to the towel, my only lifeline. The tip of his boots touched my toes. He towered over me with such close proximity. I had to lean back to look up at him. His eyes weren’t full of anger––no, it was something more, something carnal. Stubble covered his tense jaw. I reached up to touch it. I’d never seen him with a beard before. He stood steady as my fingers touched his chin.

 

“I thought you had a class you wanted to get to.”

 

“I did. I do.” My throat felt dry as the words left me. My hand traveled downward, over his shoulders, toward the hard muscles of his chest. Everywhere I touched felt hard, the muscles, the tension in his body. I chanced looking up at him, my eyes meeting his again. He watched me with curiosity. “You’re all grown up, Michael.” I barely whispered the sentence.

 

“So are you.” His hand came up and covered my own, stilling my exploration just as I reached for the buckle on his jeans. “And as a grown woman, you need to understand a few things.” He gently pushed me down to sit on my bed. Planting his hands on either side of me, his nose nearly touched mine. “If you look at me like that, touch me like that, I’m going to take that to mean you want me to rip this towel off you and fuck you until you scream so loud your neighbors come banging on the door.” If he meant it as a threat, it wasn’t working.

 

“Maybe I do.” I found my voice.

 

His lips curled at the edges, and he shook his head. His eyes grazed over my body, settling on where my hand still gripped the towel. “Take off the towel.” He stepped back to give me room.

 

The harshness of his voice suggested I shouldn’t argue, and truth be told I didn’t want to anyway. I stood on shaky legs and untucked the towel, letting it drop to the floor at my feet. The back of his hands brushed against my pebbled nipples. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath at the strong current of arousal just his simple touch could evoke in me.

 

“Unbuckle my belt.” He made no move to touch me again, and he laughed at my little pout of disappointment. He always could tell my thoughts even when I wasn’t looking at him. “Don’t worry, you’ll get what you want. So long as you’re good.”

 

I wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but I focused on his belt instead. The heady desire in my body built with every second of his eyes on me. The belt finally came loose and I moved to work the round silver button but his hands stilled mine.

 

“I didn’t say to unbutton them. I said to unbuckle the belt. Now remove it from my jeans and hand it to me.” I did look up at him then, searching his expression for anger. He grinned at me. “Go on, Lauren. Give me my belt.” His arms crossed over his chest.

 

Taking a small step back, I pulled the leather strip through the belt loops of his jeans. I ran the thick leather through my fingers as I doubled it over and offered it to him. My insides were shaking, but I could feel more than a little moisture building between my legs.

 

He uncrossed his arms and took the belt from my hands, his eyes never leaving my face. I tried to avert my eyes, to ignore the hard lust in his eyes, but as much as his demanding stare brought my nerves to attention, he was the safest place I ever knew. Nothing bad would happen to me with Michael with me. I knew that, and I knew that no matter what he was about to do with that belt of his, I was going to love it.

 

“Turn around.” He twirled one finger at me, showing me what he wanted me to do. I swallowed, gave a nod and obeyed. “Hands behind you.” Another curt order. The fan blew toward us from the dresser, the light breeze hardened my nipples more, making them tighter.

 

The belt pressed against my wrists as he ran the leather strap around my wrists, then slid it through the buckle. Metal jangled behind me, but when I tried to see over my shoulder at what he was doing, he delivered a hard slap to my bare ass. “Eyes forward.” He softened his hard command by placing a kiss to my turned cheek.

 

Around and around my wrists he ran the belt, until they were securely bound behind me. My shoulders gave a little pull at the positioning, and for a moment I was grateful for the horrible yoga and Pilates videos I forced myself to work through almost daily.

 

“Shit. Your shoulder.” He started to untie my wrists, but I yanked away, shaking my head.

 

“It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt anymore,” I protested. It was the truth; other than a vague ache, I had almost forgotten about it being injured.

 

“It’s not healed yet.” He ignored me and grabbed my upper arm, spinning me back around. With jerking motions that were more uncomfortable than if he had just left me, he unbound me. “Fuck, woman. You make me forget myself.” Under other circumstances it might have been a romantic comment, but he growled it, making it sound accusatory.

 

I yanked away from him again, spinning to look him in the eyes. “My fucking shoulder is fine. If you don’t want to do this, then just say that. Untie me and leave.”

 

Something flashed in his eyes that I had never seen before. His lips pressed together, turning white in his attempt to breathe through his nose. The eyes that I found so much comfort in not more than two minutes ago darkened and narrowed. Giving me the very distinct impression that the storm was building, and if I was smart, I would take cover. Except I was naked and still bound.

 

“You just yelled at me.” His lips curled into a smile, but it lacked warmth.

 

“I…I.” Where’d my tongue go? “Michael. I’m sorry.”

 

“I was going to undo your wrists and rebind you in the front to relieve any pressure on that shoulder, but then you pulled away and yelled at me.” He closed the space between us with one step and his hands dove into my hair, making me turn away from him again. With one hand, he managed to finish unbinding my hands. My insides told me to claw at him, to get his fist out of my hair but something else told me to stay put, that I’d done enough damage already.

 

“You’re hurting me,” I whispered, and covered his fist with my hand.

 

He dragged me back until I was pressed up against his chest. “Not yet, but if you ever raise your voice to me like that again, I will bend you over, strip you bare, and spank you until sitting down isn’t an option for days. Got me?” He gave my head a slight shake when I didn’t answer him right away. “I told you, I’m not that kid you knew in high school.”

 

“Yes! I got it, Michael.” My breath came faster, my throat burned from breathing through my open mouth. I could feel my nerve endings tingling and, most embarrassing, I felt liquid run down my inner thigh.

 

“Good. Now. Get dressed.” He placed a kiss to my cheek, and gave my earlobe a quick nip before releasing me.

 

I turned to face him. He already started putting his belt back in his pants. A panic ran through me. “I’m sorry. Really sorry,” I rushed out.

 

He grinned, warmer, but still not safe. “I know you are.” He winked.

 

“Michael.” I caught a glimpse of the bulge in his pants and immediately licked my lips. “Aren’t you…well…” I nodded toward his erection.

 

He gave a laugh. “Yep, I’m hard as fuck for you, but you didn’t play nice. You need to learn to listen to me.”

 

“What?” I breathed out. “You’re not going to fuck me because you’re punishing me?” I wanted to launch myself at him and slap him.

 

“That, and you’ll miss your class if we don’t get going.” Without another word, he walked out of the room. Leaving me standing in the bedroom, naked, and more aroused than I had ever been in my life. I wanted to scream at him until my throat split in half, but I knew Michael. I would have better luck changing the ocean tides than I would getting him to change his mind.

 

Besides, if he didn’t want me, that was fine. I lived just fine the past seven years without his touch. Although, to be fair, I never knew his touch like I did the night before. Damn him. But two could play his game.