Melting Ms Frost (34 page)

Seriously, she was beginning to think the man wasn’t even real.

Ten minutes later she could feel how real he was as they found themselves all but wrestling in the middle of the dance floor.

‘Stop trying to lead,’ Aidan muttered through clenched jaws as he tried to manhandle her into a spin.

‘I can’t help it,’ Annabel snapped with frustration, nearly wrenching her knee as she mis-stepped in the wrong direction again. ‘I told you I couldn’t do it.’ She made to pull away from him and retreat back up to the box but he firmed his grip, preventing her escape by holding her fast against him.

She felt the rush of his breath stir the hair at her temple as he exhaled in frustration. Then he lowered his mouth to her ear. ‘Close your eyes,’ he said, the low command brushing over her skin like velvet.

‘I don’t think that’s going to help.’

‘Just try it. You’re overthinking things. As usual.’

She bristled. ‘And how is me bumbling about blindly going to simplify things?’

Aidan slowed their pace, pulled her even tighter against his body. ‘Remember the night at my place when you were blindfolded? Remember how liberating it felt to let go? To give control up to me?’

Annabel licked her suddenly dry lips, remembering with a shiver the delicious helplessness she’d felt that night, waiting to feel the play of ice against her hot skin.

He pulled back a little to look down at her. ‘Let go again,’ he bid, eyes sharply focused with his will. ‘Let me take care of you now.’

She held his gaze for a moment longer and then let her lids drift shut. She felt him pull her close again, felt the long fingers resting between her shoulder blades splay wider as he moulded her against his hard chest and swept them confidently into a series of smooth revolutions.

His mouth found her ear again. ‘You thrill me, Annabel Frost,’ he whispered. ‘Your trust is like a gift.’

The words flowed through her, washing some of the tension out from her limbs. As she felt herself relax she was aware of Aidan’s strength taking up the slack, aware of the graceful flex and stretch of his muscles as he took control and guided them both around the floor.

When the music stopped, Annabel opened her eyes to find him smiling at her. She couldn’t help but smile back. ‘Thank you, that was amazing.’ She pulled back to break out of his hold, but again, he wouldn’t let her go.

‘I agree,’ he said, gathering her close as the orchestra struck up a new piece. Let’s try another. I like the feel of you in my arms.’

Almost as one, the countless couples on the dance floor began to move again, swirling around Annabel and Aidan in a fantastic, ever changing kaleidoscope of coloured gowns and glinting jewels and beaming faces. But she realised that it was the brilliant flash of Aidan’s eyes, his smile of fierce satisfaction and pure enjoyment that really sent her senses into a dizzying spin.

She waited for her warning system to set off the alarm bells, waited for the defensive panic to hit, but in the midst of the mad whirl, all she felt was the solid presence of Aidan, wrapped around her like a strong tether that promised to keep her from being blown away in the maelstrom of new sensation. She shouldn’t let herself fall for the illusion of security, but she found that the pull was irresistible.

Relaxing into him, she closed her eyes. The music swelled and the tempo quickened, spinning them faster and faster until it felt as though her feet barely touched the floor. Throwing her head back, she laughed with delight, and opened her eyes to see the lights of the auditorium swirl dizzily above her. When she lowered her gaze to Aidan’s face, she was met with a look of such intensity and naked desire that it stole the laughter from her throat.

Caught up in the magic of the moment she had a sudden desperate urge to make the most of this fairytale before the spell got broken. Like Cinderella, her fantasy came with a time limit, and she wanted nothing more than to make the most of it before midnight struck and returned her to the hard practicalities of real life.

With an urgent squeeze to the hand that held hers aloft, she said, ‘Take me back to the hotel. Now.’

Aidan had enough time to throw his jacket over the back of one of the armchairs before Annabel had herself pushed up against him, mouth stretching to meet his, hands groping with single-minded determination. As he’d noted previously, if there was one thing Ms Frost wasn’t backward in being forward about, it was taking what she wanted. And that in itself wasn’t a bad thing – as his spring-loaded erection could testify – except when it was obvious to him that such behaviour came less from conscious choice than from the fact that she knew no other way but to take pleasure on her terms. He’d bet no man had ever got close enough to
give
her anything.

He looked forward to being the first to teach her the gift of receiving.

Allowing himself to accept and enjoy her kisses, he held her away when he felt her hands start to undo the zipper of his trousers. It would be better if they both remained dressed for the moment.

‘As flattered as I am by your enthusiasm, Annabel, I’m afraid to say you’ve already had all the rope you’re going to get from me.’

She frowned at him. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean that I’ve given you all the slack I’m prepared to give, allowed you more than enough freedom. It’s time to tighten the ties so I can do all the things I want to do to you.’

She looked at him in uncertainty for a moment.

‘Do you mean tie me up – literally?’

He bent his head a little so she could see the intent in his gaze. ‘Yes. I do mean tie you up. Literally.’

‘No.’ She tried to pull away but he locked his arms around her and caged her to him.

‘Why not?’

‘You know why not. I’m not into giving up control.’

‘And yet, you’ve given up quite a bit to me, especially during the past twenty-four hours.’

She shook her head. ‘Not easily. And not on the level you’re asking for now. I can’t do it.’

‘You can’t. You don’t. You won’t. You say things like that a lot. But how do you know you can’t if you’ve never tried?’

‘Because this is too much. I know better than to put myself in a position where I can’t defend myself.’ Although she wasn’t struggling, he could feel the rigidity in her spine, feel the steady pressure of her palms against his chest as she sought to put some distance between them.

‘What is it you think you’ll need to defend yourself against?’ he asked with quiet earnestness. ‘For my part, I’ve already promised that I’ll never hurt you. Whatever else you think you’ve learnt about me, you should know by now that I’m a man of my word.’

‘It doesn’t matter. You can’t expect me to go against my better judgement and give you that much control.’

‘But I do expect it. The issue is whether you can agree to it.’

She shook her head, pushed harder against the hold he refused to relax. ‘It scares me.’

Oh, he was already acutely aware of that. ‘Yes, I know it does. I can see how you’re reacting to just being held trapped against me like this. And I can’t deny that fact is a big part of the attraction – can’t say it doesn’t excite me to see your eyes widen.’ Keeping one arm clamped around her waist, he raised the other and brushed a strand of red hair from her cheek. ‘To feel your pulse pounding.’ He traced his fingertips over the fluttering vein in her neck. ‘The rapid rise and fall of your chest against mine.’ Settling his palm over her breastbone, he felt the racing patter of her heartbeat. ‘Not because I want you to be frightened of me, but because I understand that a little bit of the fear of the unknown can be a good thing. All that adrenaline-spiked blood pumping extra fast to every part of your body, flooding your nerve endings, feeding your brain, putting every sense on high alert. You can see better, hear better, feel better.’ Ducking his head, he pressed a kiss to the side of her jaw. ‘Every touch is amplified, every taste and scent more distinct.’ Because he couldn’t resist, he put his nose to her neck and took a deep draw of her scent before raising his head to look at her again. ‘It’s about giving you pleasure like you’ve never known before, Annabel. It’s the place I want you to be every time I put my hands on you, so that not a single touch is wasted, so that every sensation is maximised.’

Even though her green eyes showed a touch of heat smouldering around the edges of fear, she shook her head, said, ‘What if I say no?’ – but in a voice far softer than it had been a moment ago. It was enough of an advantage for him to press.

‘Then I’ll keep pushing. Because “no” is exactly what I’d expect you to say. I know what I’m asking of you, Annabel, know how far out of your comfort zone this falls. But I’m asking it anyway. If you can’t do it then the word you need to use is “stop”.’ He raised his hand and clasped her chin so that he had her full attention. ‘But if you say it, be sure that’s really what you want.’

She closed her eyes, obviously torn.

‘Let me show you something, before you decide.’ Making himself release her, he went into his en suite and retrieved the towelling sash from the bath robe, hoping that – like the dinner napkin he’d used as a blindfold at his apartment – the mundane nature of the item would help make the prospect of its intended use seem less threatening. Coming back into the sitting room, he noticed she hadn’t moved from where he’d left her. Going directly to the dining area, he pulled one of the ladder-backed chairs out from the table and looped the strip of towelling around the top strut. Explaining the workings of a slip knot, he tied one, demonstrating how she could free herself with one simple tug.

‘Will you let me try it on you?’ he coaxed easily – as though he wasn’t holding his breath like her answer was the most important thing in the world. ‘One hand only.’

She looked at him, at the sash, with trepidation. But then she moved, and it was the first step she took toward him that told him her true desires. That first step that had lust raking its claws so deep it was almost painful.

She stepped near, but not too close, and extended one arm. Calling on every ounce of will power he owned he managed to keep his movements slow and casual as he tied the sash around her slender wrist and let her see for herself how quick and easy it was to release it.

‘Now the same thing with two.’ Watching her carefully he gathered her hands and held them together in front of her, wrapping the sash around both. Tying the knot, he pressed the loose end into one of her palms and watched as she again freed herself with ease.

‘How’s that?’

‘It would be just like this?’ she asked.

He nodded, sliding the sash from her fingers. ‘Just your hands this first time, yes. Tied together like this. Just for fun.’ He kept an eye on her expression as he reached for one of her hands again and raised it to his mouth to press a kiss against her pulse point before he began to wind the sash around it again. This was the moment he found out if he’d done enough to earn her trust. ‘Do you want me to stop?’

She did but she didn’t; he could see it warring all over her face.

‘No.’ She hit him with that green gaze and offered her other hand this time, rather than wait for him to take it – a show of courage that slayed him where he stood.

He grasped it loosely, turning it to expose the inside of her wrist as he brought it to his mouth and this time traced his tongue along a delicate web of blue veins there, leaving Annabel shivering as he began lashing her wrists together.

Once the knot was complete, he cupped her face and stepped close to kiss her, deep and long, because the sight of her bound for him made it impossible not to claim her in some way. Those claws of lust were shredding his insides.

With her hands trapped between their bodies, it didn’t take the industrious Ms Frost long to discover his iron-hard erection within her reach. This time when she groped him through his trousers, he let her. Not only because he was greedy for her touch, but because giving her a sense of control to start with would help ease her into her first bondage experience, would hopefully allow him to take her deeper without scaring her off.

He nipped her bottom lip as he broke the kiss. ‘As you like to be so useful with your hands,
a mhuirnín
, why don’t you see if you can undress me?’

Maybe this really wasn’t so bad after all, Annabel thought as she reached her bound hands towards the studs of his dress shirt – she was tied up but somehow gained all the power while Aidan Flynn stood as passive as she’d ever seen him, moving only to assist her efforts, letting her do as she pleased.

And it pleased her to uncover that masculine strength as quickly as possible. Starting at the top, she found it easy to get his shirt off to expose the width of his shoulders, the contours of his chest. She knelt low to remove his footwear and then rose up on her knees and reached for the belt of his trousers. As she went to work on the buckle, the backs of her fingers brushed against the silky dark hairs that ran south from his navel in a fine line. She saw Aidan’s abs clench sharply in reaction, felt his palm come to rest on the crown of her head. A moment later his breath hissed as her wrist grazed against the hard bulge of his erection through his trousers, his fingers twitched against her scalp.

She glanced up to see his fiercly focused expression. It was obvious he liked the picture she made on her knees before him, and it wasn’t hard to figure what ideas were running through his mind.

As she undid his flies, uncovering more of that treasure trail of body hair leading down into the waistband of his boxer shorts as she went, her own mind became suddenly set on the same idea. Once loosened, his trousers fell easily away, leaving her only to pull his underwear down. He was fully erect when he sprang free, and Annabel left the boxers hanging around his thighs as she reached to cup the swollen weight of him between her palms.

A wordless noise, deep and appreciative, escaped Aidan’s lips as she slid her bound hands up and down his length. She licked her lips in anticipation and felt him jerk in response – felt the fine tremble running through him as she opened and took him into her mouth, the tiny shudders speaking volumes about the effect she had on him. He was hot, of course, and hard. But as she began to move her mouth and hands in tandem along his length she discovered an incredible softness also, all that hard heat wrapped in a layer of silken skin. His scent enveloped her, musky and male, his taste slightly salty on her tongue when she began to suck.