I kissed the center of his chest and worked my way down. I moved as slowly as I could, inching down his abs one kiss at a time, giving every tremor time to come and go completely before creating the next.
Metal jingled as his body tensed. His eyes were closed, his lips parted.
“You okay?” I asked, making sure my breath hit his skin just right to make him shake.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he whispered. He bit his lip and furrowed his brow, eyes still shut tight, and I hesitated to continue.
“Are you-”
“Don’t stop,” he said. “Please, just don’t stop.” That’s when I realized his words were slurred, his ability to speak ebbing with every breath.
I drew a small circle with the tip of my tongue just above his navel, then blew on it, watching the goose bumps appear on his skin.
Metal crunched against the wooden bed frame as Nathan’s entire body tensed. I glanced up, grinning at the sight of his trembling muscles and the cords standing out on his neck. His forearms rippled and, though I couldn’t see them, I guessed his hands were curled into tight fists, pulling the chain against the bed frame. He whimpered softly as my tongue teased his skin, dangerously close to his cock, still refusing to touch him the way I knew he wanted.
“Fuck,” he breathed.
“Am I frustrating you, Nathan?”
“You could say that, yes.”
I laughed and flicked my tongue across his cock. I did it only once, but it was enough to lift his spine off the bed.
“You fucking tease,” he growled. The chain ground against the bed frame, emphasizing his aggravation.
“I could do this all night,” I whispered against his skin. “Touching you…” I closed my fingers around his cock, stroking slowly. “…tasting you…” I ran my tongue along the whole length of his cock, barely keeping myself from coming as a shudder lifted his torso almost completely off the bed. “…teasing you.”
“Torturing me is more like it,” he said through chattering teeth.
I laughed and kissed his skin just to feel it quiver. “I think you’re enjoying it, though.” It was meant to sound playful, but I wanted confirmation. Just to be sure I hadn’t pushed him too far. Though I had done little more than tease him, I was on high alert for any indication, however subtle, that he wasn’t comfortable with this. I’d seen experienced subs suddenly buckle and beg to be released, and those were situations built on foundations a bit more solid than this makeshift effigy of trust.
“Zach?”
His voice brought me out of my tangle of thoughts, and I looked up. He’d raised his head and now watched me.
“You stopped,” he said. He was right. My hand had stopped, and all I’d done was breathe on him.
“I-” I paused. Didn’t want him to think I had doubts. All of this had to be part of my game, or else he’d get nervous. I grinned at him. “Just seeing if you were paying attention.”
He let his head fall back onto the pillow, laughing softly. Without being able to see his face, I couldn’t tell if that laugh was a nervous sound or if he was just wound up.
But it was up to him to tell me if he was nervous or uncomfortable, so I continued, if cautiously.
I stroked his cock, gripping tighter, then barely touching him, then gripping tighter again. He trembled at my touch, groaning every time my fingers tightened around him.
On one of the down strokes, my mouth joined, following my hand almost all the way to the base.
“Oh, fuck,” he groaned. The handcuffs rattled against the headboard, and he cursed again. “Fuck, Zach, that’s…” He trailed off, but he’d said enough to reassure me that he was still very much a willing participant. Frustrated, maybe, but uncoerced.
Abandoning my worries, I focused on what I was doing. Stroking, sucking, slowing down, speeding up. I teased him relentlessly, driven by his moans and pleas, by metal rattling against wood.
He squirmed beneath me, metal grinding against the bed frame as the chain protested his efforts to free his hands. I wasn’t concerned, though. If he wanted to free his hands, he could. I no longer worried that he was nervous. Every sound and tremor came from a place of arousal, not fear.
Then the click of the quick release made my blood run cold.
Chapter Thirty-two
I pushed myself up on my arms as metal clanged against wood. Nathan rose, something unreadable in his eyes as they locked on mine.
My heart pounded. “What’s-”
He kissed me, one hand on the side of my face as the other went to the back of my neck, the dangling cuff cool against my skin as it dragged over my shoulder. There was desperation in his kiss, in the way he held me closer and tighter with each passing second. My mind swam with confusion and panic, but my body responded to his kiss and his touch as if there was no reason for concern.
Barely breathing when his lips released mine, I whispered, “What’s wrong? Why did-”
“Nothing’s wrong.” He kissed me lightly, the fingers on the back of my neck running up into my hair with the cold cuff trailing behind. “Nothing’s wrong except…” He paused, swallowing hard as the pad of his thumb brushed over my cheekbone. “I just needed to touch you.” He kissed me again, drawing me down with him as he sank back to the bed.
After a long moment, he broke the kiss and looked at me, running his fingers through my hair. His gaze shifted back and forth between my eyes and his own hand with the cuff dangling beside my face. For a moment, he seemed to lose focus, looking at something unseen as he ran the tip of his tongue across his lower lip. His brow furrowed slightly as if some thought had crossed his mind, something that required extra concentration.
Just as he had earlier when he’d made the decision to go through with this, he let out a breath and met my eyes, his mind obviously made up about some question I wasn’t aware of. Then, with one hand still on the back of my neck, he reached for the nightstand. The handcuff clanged against the drawer, but it was the sound of foil brushing across foil that made me shiver.
His hand came back with the condom between two fingers, just as I’d expected, but I wasn’t prepared when his eyes-intense, determined, decided-met mine and he held the foil packet out to me.
Just the thought of being inside him made my entire body tremble. I couldn’t breathe. Never in my life had I been this perfectly, painfully turned on, and for a moment, I couldn’t even move because I was sure that if my skin so much as brushed his, I’d come.
I wanted to ask if he was sure, but my mouth went dry. That and the look in his eyes answered any question I might have thought to ask.
I took the condom and tore the wrapper with my teeth. He exhaled hard through parted lips and held my gaze, watching me watch him. When I shifted my weight onto one elbow, reaching between us to put the condom on, he put his hands on my neck and pulled me into a deep kiss.
Putting a condom on without looking wasn’t difficult, but trying to do anything while kissing Nathan was nearly impossible. Without breaking the kiss, he slid a hand between us and helped, rolling it on quickly. But even once it was in place, we didn’t move. Didn’t separate. Didn’t do a damned thing except make out like we couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Eventually, though, I couldn’t wait any more. After a second, third and fourth attempt to break the kiss, I pushed myself up on my arms and gestured for him to come up with me. He did as I poured some lube into my hand.
“Which way do you prefer?” I asked, surprised my voice wasn’t shaking more than it was.
“Your call.” He grinned into a long kiss. “You’re the one in control.”
“In that case,” I murmured against his lips. “Get on your hands and knees.” He shivered, and I hoped-prayed to any deity I could think of-that it was only anticipation, not dread or regret. The hunger in his next kiss told me my prayers were answered. Then he turned around, just as I’d hoped.