Scarlett Red: A Billionaire SEAL Story, Part 2 (In the Shadows) (16 page)

I jerk my gaze to the silky gold rope knotted around my wrists, recognizing it from the long drapes that cover the windows across the entire resort. Sebastian tugs on its secured trailing-end tucked somewhere under the end of the bench. Dark eyebrow raised in challenge, he smirks. “See what happens while you sleep? Next time, don’t be late.”

While he squats in front of me in nothing but a towel wrapped around his washboard abs, his words ripple through me. They might sound like a reprimand, but I see the raw desire in his eyes as his fingers slowly trail over my bound wrists then move up my bare arm.

Despite the heat in the room, chill bumps scatter across my skin. My heart thumps hard against the bench. “You can’t always have your way with me, Sebastian. If I choose to be late, I’m late.”

His bright blue eyes flash and his mouth quirks slightly as his hand moves across my shoulder, then up my neck. I swallow when he unclips my hair and spreads the red curtain across my entire back before trailing the flat of his hand down my spine to the curve of my rear. Throughout his tender exploration of my skin, he doesn’t say a word, and for some reason that’s more unnerving than the intense Sebastian I’m used to.

Cupping his hand on my butt, he taps my cheek, commanding softly, “Lift your hips.”

My aching breasts dig into the wood as I do as he asks, but he shakes his head until I lift myself high enough. I stop when he smiles and slides a rolled-up towel under my hips. With my rear raised in the air and my arms secured to the bench, I feel incredibly exposed, but I bite my lip and wait to see his next move.

“Do you remember your safe word?”

“Do
you
?” I counter.

“Rainbow,” he says in a clipped tone, then grips my inner thigh and tugs slightly. “Spread your legs.” My skin tingles at his barest touch. I exhale deeply and slide my knee toward him a bit.

Smoldering heat flashes through his eyes and his jaw tightens, his voice turning rough. “More.”

I’m throbbing so much even the curling steam in the room is turning me on.

As soon as I move my other knee, he’s on his feet and straddling the bench between my thighs.

“Hey, that wasn’t what I expected,” I say, frowning as I start to pull my legs together.

Strong hands land on my thighs and he sits, muscular legs blocking me in, holding my legs in place. “No, T,” he says in a gruff tone. “No more hiding. I want to see how wet you are for me.”

There’s sure as hell no hiding my body’s response to him in this position.
“I don’t like not seeing you,” I say, while trying to keep my tone even.

“Later,” he mumbles as his hands slide sensually up the inside of my thighs. When he applies pressure and separates my thighs even more, he lets out a ragged moan. “You should see how wet you are. All milky sweetness. Dripping for me to fill you up. Fuck, I want to taste you so bad right now. ”

“Then do it,” I snap, just as frustrated as he sounds tortured.

Instead he smacks the hell out of my ass. “I waited for you at that damned coffee house,” he says harshly. Before I can reply, he slaps the other cheek. “That’s for letting me believe you were still engaged.”

“You assumed I was still engaged. Since you were being such an ass that first day and continued to be one by judging me, you didn’t deserve the truth,” I say as he massages both butt cheeks at once. I try to glance over my shoulder, but end up rolling partway on my side so I can glare at him. “Are you going to spank me every time I frustrate you?”

For some reason my question makes him smile. Grasping my hips, he tugs me back over onto my belly. “Lay still and take it.”

When I try to tug free of his hold, he moves quickly, sliding his hard, muscular body over mine. As he pins me to the bench, his arousal juts against my ass through his towel. He speaks in a warm honeyed voice next to my ear. “Trust me. I promise you’ll come long and hard. Give in and feel.”

I’m breathing hard, both angry and turned on, but I finally rein in my initial response and slowly nod.

“That’s my girl,” he says, nipping at my ear before he slides back to his earlier position.

When he slowly trails his fingers along my back and down my butt, then gently pulls my cheeks apart, I still myself as I wait for the next smack to my rear. “Do you know why I spank you here?” he asks in that sexy deep voice of his right before he delivers another blow in the ultra sensitive skin along my butt crack.

“Because you’re a sadist?” I grit out.

He chuckles as he tenderly rubs the flat of his hand against the spot he’d just reddened with his hand. “I’m not going to say you don’t deserve a rosy red ass for the number of times you’ve given me a hard-on the last couple of days.”

I stiffen and huff, “That’s not my fault,” right as he whacks a bit lower down my butt and much closer to my sex.

Pain and desire swirl through me fast and furious, but all I can focus on is the sting. “Watch it. That’s a bit too close,” I snap, annoyed with myself for letting this turn me on.

He grunts and rubs his thumb along the heated skin. “What happens when you get aroused?”

“What?” I pant, surprised by the question.

“Tell me what physically happens to your body,” he demands just as he lands a forceful tap on my other ass cheek. It’s so close to my intimate parts, I actually feel a deep jarring sensation, followed by warm tingling throughout my entire center.

“I um…bl—blood rushes south?” I stutter as my body starts to shake with a raging need for release.

“Is that a question or a statement?” he asks, smug amusement lacing his words.

When I can’t form a response, he stands at the same time he cups his hand over my sex. Slowly winding his other hand into my hair, he gently tugs my head back. “You don’t know?” he asks in a low tone, his voice tighter than it was a second ago.

Everything inside me centers on the intimate press of his hand against me, of what comes next. I’m vulnerable and achy, but all I can do is shake my head, because I can’t believe how easily the man can bend my body to his will. He’s done this to me in the past, but this time it feels different. More…personal. Never in my life would I have thought a spanking could be so intensely sensual. Does he know he’s the only man I’d allow to touch me like this?

“I would never raise a hand to you in anger, T. Always and only for pure pleasure. Spanking you heightens the sensual experience and makes your orgasm much stronger.” Bending close, he nips at my shoulder and commands, “Come for me, sweetheart,” at the same time he grabs onto my sex with just enough force to send me spiraling over the edge. I shake as my orgasm rushes along my nerve endings. Heart racing, my body clenches in such a visceral response, I grip the rope between my fingers and pant through the experience, while wondering if I might actually pass out.

Once my hips stop moving and I try to catch my breath, he presses a hot kiss to my neck, his own breathing shallow. “I’ll never get enough of how responsive you are to my every touch. You’re fire burning through the shadows all around me, and it’s the hottest turn on, T. So fucking hot.”

Standing, Sebastian quickly unhooks the rope, and just when I move to my knees and hold my wrists out for him to untie, he lifts the end of the rope up. I’m too busy staring at his tanned, muscular chest and arms, and the two sexy bands of muscle that dip underneath the towel riding low on his hips to notice that my hands are rising in front of me until he loops the end of the rope onto one of the hooks under the shelf.

“Hey!” I tug on the hook, rattling the water bottle on the shelf above it. “It’s time to let me go now.”

“I’m not done with you yet.” Shooting me a merciless smile, he quickly straddles the bench behind me and runs his hands down my sides. I arch into his hands when he pauses to lightly caress my breasts before he slides his palms to my waist. “Now turn around.”

There’s enough play in the rope that I can turn without issue, but apparently I don’t do it fast enough. Sebastian quickly picks me up as if I weigh nothing and sets me down on a towel.

While we face each other in the warm, steamy room, he raises an eyebrow at my bent knees pressed to my chest and my ankles crossed in front of my private area.

I eye the towel he’s still wearing. “One of us needs to lose the towel.”

His jaw muscle jumps as he slowly wraps his fingers around my ankles. “I just made you come by spanking you. If you trusted me enough to do that, then baring yourself to me now should be easy.”

No, it’s harder. I can’t hide anything from you this way, and you see too damn much in my eyes.
I tug on the rope around my wrists. “It’d be easier if I could touch you.”

His mouth tilts in the slightest smile. “Not yet.”

“Why not?”

Before I can lock my legs in place, he quickly pulls them apart and places my feet on top of his thighs. “Sebastian!” I hiss.

“Leave them here,” he says in a stern tone before tracing his finger along the inside curve of my left breast. I hold back a gasp of surprise when he cups my breasts in a firm hold and dips his head to slide his nose down the middle of my chest. He inhales deeply against my cleavage, then slowly exhales. Releasing me, he trails a single finger down the center of my body. “Why didn’t you see me in Bash?”

His question sounds conversational, but his focus remains on his hand as he slides his fingertip past my stomach to the small patch of red hair between my legs. For a split second, with his nose pressed against me a second ago, Sebastian appeared as vulnerable as I feel whenever I’m with him, so I answer him honestly. “I thought I recognized you in the helicopter, but then you pulled your glasses down and your eyes were different. Are you wearing contacts to change your brown eye while you’re being Bash?”

He lifts his gaze to mine as he dips his finger just inside my entrance. “When you pulled off your glasses in the helicopter, I recognized you instantly. And no, I’m not wearing a contact. I got caught in a bomb’s blast radius during a mission a couple years ago. Apparently a head injury can change eye color.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” I remember the scar across his right hand and scan over his face, looking for more damage. That’s when I notice the thin red line curving around the side of his throat. “Did that blast affect your voice too?”

When he nods, I blink back tears. I can’t let him see them, because I know he’s the type of man who wouldn’t want my sympathy, but I can show him. “Release me, Sebastian.”

“Not yet,” he says, his tone fierce as he slides his finger deep inside me.

My breath catches, and I can’t help the moan that slips from my lips. If he’s not going to let me comfort him physically, all I have left to offer are my words. “There were other things you said and did as Bash that made me wonder.”

He slides two fingers into my channel, then begins to move them in and out of my body in a torturously slow pace. “And yet you wouldn’t have dinner with Bash because he reminded you of me.” Pushing his fingers deep, he curls them forward and slowly rubs them along a part of me that has never been touched. Whatever he’s doing feels so good, I try my best not to physically shake, but I can’t stop my eyes from closing in sheer ecstasy.

“Sebastian,” I breathe his name. My whole body is arched, a taut bow’s string ready to be released as passion builds in me once more.

“You said, ‘It was good and bad,’” he grates out.

I mentally wince at his interpretation of my earlier comment. “That’s not exactly how I meant it.”

“Look at me,” he demands while he continues to wind me tighter, spiraling my passion.

“I—I can’t,” I say, shudders of pleasure quickly building and spreading to every single nerve ending.

He leans over and captures my nipple between his teeth, applying just enough force that I jump and open my eyes on a gasp.

My quick movement sends the water bottle slamming to the wood floor, but while the bottle’s popped lid leaks its entire contents between the thick slats, Sebastian doesn’t lose his focus. His blue eyes remain locked with mine, reflecting frustration and heat. Curving his fingers deeper, he applies pressure, taking full advantage of the spot he’s found. “How is this anything but
good
?”

Unable to control my response, I give myself over to the heart-stopping orgasm. As my body begins to contract in rapid, forceful pulses of pure bliss, I’m shocked by the gush of warmth that spreads across his fingers. My face instantly flames and my voice shakes in embarrassment. “Oh, God, did I just…?”

He flashes a smile, full of male satisfaction. “No, but you did just give me something very sweet to savor.” Jamming his wet fingers into his mouth, he groans and buries his nose between my raised arm and throat, his whole body taut.

Relieved he appears just as caught up, I try to wrap my legs around his hips to pull him closer, but Sebastian grips my thighs and holds me still, his warm breath rushing against my throat. “If you connect with me right now, I’m so primed, I’ll either fuck you senseless or explode. Just…give me a minute.”

“What’s wrong with fucking me senseless?” I ask on a pout.

A pained grunt reverberates against my neck. “Who’s the sadist again?”

While he’s resting his head on my shoulder, I whisper in his ear, “With you, there’s a fine line between good and bad. Your intensity doesn’t scare me, Sebastian. Your tenacity does.”