Chapter Twenty-Two
Piper took the stairs down to the kitchen to find her mother staring at the half-empty whiskey glass on the bar.
Bess looked up as Piper stepped into the room. “Did I come at a bad time?”
Piper blushed. “You didn’t notice the car parked out front?”
Her mother turned pink as well. “I didn’t pay it any attention. You’ve never had a man over before, I— Well, I-I’m sorry, honey. I’ll come back later.”
Following her mother to the living room, Piper touched her on the arm. “Wait. You came by for a reason. What’s up?”
“Oh,” Bess breathed, obviously mortified she’d caught her daughter in an undesirable situation. “I wanted to get your opinion on the invitations I had made for your father’s birthday party. It’s in four weeks. I should have gotten them done sooner. And I’m babbling. I’ll bring them by tomorrow…when you’re alone.”
Bess spun and grabbed the doorknob.
“I’ll call you in the morning,” Piper assured her, watching as her mother scurried onto the porch and down the walkway.
Closing the door, Piper engaged the deadbolt to prevent anyone who had a key from waltzing in unannounced.
She meandered to the kitchen, refilled their glasses, and carried them upstairs.
What she saw when she entered her bedroom, took her by surprise.
Ethan had removed the covers and pillows from Piper’s bed, and in their place he’d laid shredded strips of his T-shirt.
“Come here,” he demanded, his hip propped against the corner post at the foot of her bed.
Piper swallowed hard, nervous yet more than a little curious.
She took a healthy swallow of her wine, set the drinks on her dresser, and moved to stand in front of him.
“Is everything okay?” he questioned, his arms crossed over his powerful chest.
It took all Piper had not to gawk at his massive erection. “It was just my mother. She’s gone now.”
“Remove your clothes.”
Her pussy clenched.
Pulling her tank top over her head, she dropped it to the floor and stepped out of her shorts. Ethan wanted her again, and fuck, but she wanted him just as much.
“What are you going to do?” she whispered, watching him push away from the post.
Instead of answering, he picked up a strip of the cut-up T-shirt and eased around behind her. “Do you trust me?”
She did trust him. Strange as it seemed. “Yes.”
“Then close your eyes.”
Piper did as she was told. Her lids drifted shut as he covered them with the cloth, securing it behind her head.
With her world thrown into darkness, Piper’s senses came alive. She could almost feel every breath that Ethan took, hear the whisper of cloth as he retrieved another from the bed.
He took hold of her hand and turned her around, helping her lie down on the bed and securing her wrist to the top of the post with a strip of the cloth.
Piper’s heart began to pound. She’d never been in such a position before.
Her body began to heat up with near frantic need.
Ethan gripped her other wrist, tied it with the soft cloth and secured it to the other pole.
The sound of his footsteps padding across the floor could be heard over the thundering of Piper’s heart.
He returned a moment later, tipping her wineglass to her lips. “Drink.”
Piper took a healthy swallow, feeling the cool liquid drip down her mouth as he abruptly removed the glass.
The feel of his warm tongue licking up her chin sent shivers up Piper’s spine.
He sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, capturing the remnants of the wine resting there.
Piper leaned into him, needing more, silently begging him to give her his tongue.
He pulled back instead. “Spread your feet apart.”
Pipers stomach flipped. She opened her legs and gripped the poles her wrists were tied to.
“More,” he demanded, nudging the insides of her ankles with his bare feet.
Piper felt exposed, her body open to him in a way she’d never thought herself capable of. But it had to be the most exhilarating feeling imaginable.
He touched the cold, wet wineglass to her right nipple before rolling it across the left one, hardening the tips into straining points of pleasure. “You like that, Piper?”
“Yes,” she breathed, her nipples throbbing with the need to be touched.
The feel of his teeth raking over one of the hardened points wrenched a gasp of pleasure from her.
He gently bit down, flicking the tip with his warm, wet tongue.
“Ethan, please,” she moaned, her back arching in attempt to get closer to his heated mouth.
He moved to the other one, giving it the same pleasurable torment. “Please what?”
“I need…”
He licked his way down her ribs, stopping to dip his tongue into her belly button. “Tell me what you need, Piper.”
Lower, his tongue moved, swirling along her skin, his teeth nipping at her abdomen.
“I need you,” she breathed, moving her feet farther apart.
He swiped his tongue across her mound. “You have me. Now tell me what it is that you want.”
The deep, demanding growl of his voice severed any inhibitions she might have clung to.
In a voice she barely recognized, Piper answered. “I want you inside me.”