Persuasion Skills (14 page)

She yanked her arms down hard, but it was
too late. He’d already secured the cuffs around the center of the headboard and
locked them again.

“Nope.”

He tossed the key to the floor and
brought his lips down to hers in a quick, hard kiss then pulled away, denying
her the chance to bite down on his lower lip.

“You, Pepper Larissa Holts, are going to
finally stop running long enough and listen to what I have to say.”

Her mouth fell open in shock.
He must be joking
. The man just chained
her to a bed, and he expected her to lie calmly and
listen
?

She took a deep breath, ready to lambast
him, but he cut her words off before she could get out a single word.

“What makes you think that I don’t love
you?”

Her mouth closed with a click. She stared
blankly up at him, not immediately comprehending his question, shaking her head
as his words finally sank in. He still didn’t understand. How many times was
she going to have to rip her heart open and hand it to him?

“I know you love me, Jax,” she said
sadly, “but I don’t want you to love me like your best friend anymore. If you
want to marry me, I need more than that. I
deserve
more than that.”

The harsh lines of his face softened. He
leaned down over her, planking his forearms on either side of her head.

“Why can’t I?” He whispered the question
softly to her. His gaze was filled with such sincerity she had to close her
eyes against the earnestness of it.

 
Fresh tears began to well when she felt his
lips kiss her closed eyelids. Why was he making this so hard?

“Why can’t I love the fact that you love
sci-fi movies but hate Star Trek?” he asked.

His lips drifted down her cheek.

“Why can’t I love that every time you
smile at me, I feel a hundred feet tall?”

He shifted his attention to her jaw line,
nibbling slowly down her neck.

“Love that you eat your M&M’s in
pairs and that you always make me laugh even when I feel at my worst.”

She whimpered at the feel of his teeth
biting down and sucking lightly at the sensitive flesh of her collarbone.

“That touching you always makes me feel
like I’m drowning and all I want to breathe in is you? I love that you’ve got a
girl-crush on Sandra Bullock and an almost weird obsession for Alan Rickman.”

She felt his lips curl up into a smile
against her skin and opened her eyes. Tears slipped down her face as her heart
began to swell with a strum of hope.

“That every time I hold you I feel like
I’ve finally come home?”

He worked his way back up to her face and
lightly grazed her lips with his before leaning his forehead against hers and
staring deep into her eyes.

“Hell, Pep. Why can’t I love all of you?
As my everything, my partner, my best friend, and the woman who’s held my heart
in her hands for years, and if she’d just give us a chance could have it
forever?”

She couldn’t tear away from his gaze. Her
breath stilled, and her heart leapt not just at his words but also at the clear
and stoic truth she saw reflected in his eyes.

Warmth flushed through her heart and
spread down her body. Her lips tilted up in a wide smile as she looked at him
in wonder—the blood rushing to her head drowning out everything except his
words.

“You love me,” she whispered, the words
coming out as a statement, no longer a question.

She’d never felt such a sense of complete
exhilaration and peace all at once.
He
loves me.

The corners of his eyes crinkled, and he
let loose a short, raspy laugh.

“Yeah, brat. I do.”

“God, I love you, too.”

“I was kind of banking on that.”

She moved to cup his cheek only to be
pulled short by the cuffs binding her to the bed frame. She jerked again,
jangling the chains at her wrists.

“Un-cuff me,” she said, wanting more than
anything to pull him close to her.

His wicked dimples winked at her as his
lips curled up into a sultry smile.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “It’s taken
me months to get you here. I don’t think I’m ready to let you up yet.”

She couldn’t keep a laugh from springing
from her lips. Flexing her back, she arched up into his body and sighed at the
feel of his warmth.

“That won’t be a problem since I don’t
plan on going anywhere anytime soon,” she said.

Heat flared in his gaze as he flexed his
hips against hers. They both moaned at the sensation. The need to kiss him
burned through her. Grunting in frustration, she reached for him again.

“Jax, please.”

Nothing was quick about his kiss this
time around. His mouth came down on hers hungry and demanding. She opened her
mouth on a sigh eager to taste him. He sucked her tongue, making her hips grind
against him, seeking some form a relief for the building ache between her
thighs.

The kiss ended way too soon in her
opinion—a whimper escaping her lips when he pulled abruptly away. He leaned up
between her legs and looked down at her, his eyes flaring wide and his breaths
coming out in harsh pants.

Reaching down, he began slowly slipping
the buttons open on her long shirt.

“I still have Plan B to follow through
on.”

Goose-bumps trickled down her body as one
by one each button was freed.

“Plan B?”

He nodded his head slowly, his gaze
tracing the flesh he revealed. For the first time, she appreciated the lack of
underwear he’d provided her. Her naked nipples tightened underneath his
scrutiny.

“Yes. After much deliberation, I realized
today that it may have been time to try another strategy with you.”

She sucked in a deep breath when he
reached out and caressed a long finger between her breasts, swirling down to
her navel, leaving behind a trail of prickled, wanting heat.

When his finger flicked down and popped open
the button of her jeans, she couldn’t help her hips from jerking up and seeking
his hardness.

Her hiss of breath matched his grunt at
the contact.

“Well, since you already have me, how
about you table the plan and play with me?” she asked, deliberately grinding
against the length trapped between her thighs.

All she wanted was to have him inside of
her again. She wanted them locked together knowing that he loved her, knowing
that she could hold him close.

“No, I think you may still need some
convincing. I’ve already told you how much I want you, but I know how much you
love solid proof,” he said with a wicked smile and a look of pure determination
set on his face.

He stilled her movements with a hard grip
on her hips, his other hand working quickly at unfastening her pants.

She let out a frustrated groan when he
forced her grip on him to loosen. He scooted back slightly and removed her
jeans, throwing them to the floor, leaving her open and bare beneath him.

His heated gaze narrowed on her open
pussy only made her squirm more, anticipation flooding her already wet core.

“There’s that mole again,” he said
gruffly. He reached out and gripped her hips, tilting them up for a more
thorough perusal.

His thumbs dipped down and rubbed at the
juncture of her thighs before pressing firmly towards her center, pinching the
lips of her sex together. The action forced pressure on her already aching
clit.

“Jax—”

“So perfect,” he said staring down at her
as if in a trance.

“I’ve been imagining how you taste, Pep.”

He pressed down and moved his thumbs
apart, spreading her open. The abrupt loss of pressure had her trembling. She
could feel her whole sex throbbing.

“Would you be spicy or sweet?”

He lifted his gaze to hers as he stroked
a finger down her center and rested it at her opening.

She shook her head silently, unable to
speak. The walls of her sex were eagerly contracting. She knew he could feel
the strumming against his finger.

“Or maybe a bit of both,” he said,
finally plunging his finger deep.

He groaned as she cried out, canting her
hips up and wrapping her legs around his hips. She clamped the muscles of her
sex around him, pumping fiercely.

“But there is one little thing I need to
take care of first.”

He pulled his fingers out abruptly,
lifted her slightly and flipped her onto her stomach.

“Jax, what are—”

“Someone here has earned themselves a
spanking,” he said as he moved to her side,

He pulled her hips up and settled them on
his splayed thighs. The feel of his hard cock digging into her side had her
squirming and her core flooding in anticipation.

“Damn, but I love the way you look right
now,” he said gruffly, lightly palming her butt.

“So pretty and soft.”

His fingers drifted slowly down the
crease of her ass before lightly stroking the lips of her pussy.

She couldn’t speak. Her whole body was
focused on the progress of his fingers. She wanted them back inside of her.
Better yet, she wanted his cock buried in her to the hilt.

“Jax, please.”

“Hmmm, did you say something, Pep?”

She could hear the smile in his voice, as
she tugged at the cuffs holding her bound.

His fingers slid her lips open and
settled at the opening of her pussy, but still not venturing further. She
whimpered and shoved her hips up.

“Sadist!”

His hand moved away completely and landed
down on her ass in a hard smack. She sucked in her breath as pain radiated
along her backside and settled as a wicked burn in her pussy.

“Most definitely,” he said chuckling.

He placed a hand on her back, restricting
her movement further as he continued to spank her. He landed several more blows
before his fingers drifted back to her dripping sex.

“And it looks like you’re a masochist,”
he said before plunging his fingers deep.

“Fuck you!” she yelled out between harsh
breaths.

The hand holding her down moved across
her back, curved over her side and began to fondle one of her aching nipples.

“Soon,” he said, “but not yet, honey. I’m
not done playing with you yet.”

She moaned against him, clenching her
pussy around his fingers. She took solace in the wetness she felt at her side,
knowing his cock was leaking pre-cum, just as eager to be inside her as she was
to welcome him there.

A whimper left her lips when he withdrew
his fingers again. His hand swooshed back down and began spanking her again.

Each smack was accompanied by a twist or
pinch of fingers on her nipples. Each lick of pain was followed by a rush of
pleasure so intense, they melded into one.

Her pussy shivered with each harsh stoke
of his hand. Her body was screaming and reaching towards orgasm, but just as
she felt the delicious tightening of her core begin, he stopped.

She screeched in protest when he pulled
his hands away and rolled her back over.
 

“Now that wasn’t so bad now, was it? A
little discipline is good for the soul.”

He settled back between her thighs with a
smile, thrusting his fingers back inside her gushing sex.

If he wanted to play games, then she was
going to make damn sure she gave as much as she got.

“I’ve always wanted to taste you, too,”
she said, her breathing labored and desperate. “I used to watch you sit back in
meetings and wonder what your cock would taste like in my mouth.”

He hissed in a breath and circled her
clit with his thumb.

“You’re playing dirty, Pep. I have a plan
to stick to here. How many times?”

His words came out in a harsh demand,
making her lips curl up in a smile.

“All of the time. Every time. I wanted to
crawl between your legs, take you into my mouth, and have you explode down my
throat.”

She was trembling all around him now,
pumping hard against his hand, so close to the edge of coming.

“I’ve imagined trapping you at your desk,
stripping down for you and feeding you my breasts, begging you to suck them.”

He let out a guttural cry before doing
just that, leaning down and sucking her right nipple hard and deep.

A deep moan ripped from her throat at the
wet heat of his mouth. Her plan was to make him snap, but she hadn’t counted on
her dirty talk taking her to the brink so quickly.

He released her nipple and licked between
her breasts.

“More.” His words rasped against her skin
before he engulfed her other nipple in his mouth greedily, biting lightly
before sucking firmly.