Page 126 of Safe Word

The keycard slid into the lock with a quiet beep, the green light flashing before the door clicked open. The room smelled like wine, something orangey, and the faintest trace of her perfume. Pressure built within me, a bestial thing rising from the balls of my feet and tearing upwards.

I dropped the duffel. Yanked off my long-sleeve without a thought, tossing it aside. She loved my tattoos. I could tell by the way her eyes devoured them every time we were together. And I wasn’t about to deprive her of that pleasure.

My boots thudded against the floor as I kicked them off, already feeling her hands on me, her nails dragging down my skin.

The lights were off.

I stopped, my eyes narrowing.

Until they landed on her.

She stood by the window, her nude silhouette caught in the soft blue and orange glow of the city lights. Her back was to me, her short black bob just brushing the nape of her neck, her buttocks highlighted in the low neon.

She turned her head slowly, her bare shoulder catching the shadows.

The Venetian mask hid most of her face. But her eyes – they burned through me. Even behind the mask her gaze was ravenous, pulling at every feral instinct I’d saved just for her.

Maybe she needed it as much as I did: pain that meant something. Pain that she chose, not one forced upon her.

Thoughts wouldn’t form. My body responded like I was wired to her, my blood pumping so hot I thought I might explode.

Her body was smooth, her curves a feast laid out just for me.

My mind snagged on the last time she’d chained me.

Yes, I liked it.

But no, I did not allow it.

She’d crossed the line again. In Obsidian, when I’d told her no – and she had still wrapped those thighs around me, dragging me in like she owned the right to decide.

I reached for the lock behind me. The click was loud enough to be final.

I said nothing.

She angled her head slightly.

It took every effort not to tear into her in that moment.

‘Come here.’ The command cut through the silence, and I could feel the tremors of my restraint coursing through me.

She hesitated out of instinct. A prey animal aware the air had shifted. Still, she obeyed, walking towards me with a slowness that made each step a silent offering. Her small, round breasts swayed with every tantalising shift of her hips.

She stopped just short of touching me, breath shallow, eyes unreadable behind the mask and the brown contacts.

‘Kneel.’

I watched her descend, her eyes never breaking contact with mine.

‘Do you remember what you did last time?’ I kept my voice low, even.

She swallowed, the motion reminding me how she’d savoured my release the first time she had a taste. My dick was already in full readiness for a repeat of that.

‘Yes,’ she murmured.

‘You chained me.’

A flush crept up her chest.