I stayed right there.
He tipped his head back to look at me.
“Downstairs, you made a decision,” he stated quietly, and my breath started to quicken.
He was very right. I did.
I nodded.
“I know it freaked you, baby, but I hope you come to understand what I gave you downstairs was a gift that, in giving, means a f**kuva lot to me.”
I could see that already so I nodded again.
He took in my nod, nodded back once and the pads of his fingers dug into my hips.
“I trusted you with that, Hanna. No one but the people I work with knows that shit about me. Not my Mom, my sister, not anybody.”
“I won’t say anything,” I assured hm.
“I gotta trust that, honey.”
This was big. I understood why, so to make my point my hands covered his at my h*ps and I whispered, “You can.”
Raiden studied me.
Then he said, “Okay.”
I let out a deep breath.
His hands slid up to my waist and his eyes held mine. “Now, you’ve had a lot happen. You’re learnin’ some serious shit and this is goin’ fast for you, but even so I’m gonna ask you to take more.”
Oh boy.
“Okay,” I replied but it was hesitant.
“Last night, you got off on what we did. I get who you are, where you come from, but you let yourself go with me and I loved that, every second. I’m gonna trust you with what I gave you downstairs and take it from you that since I’m sittin’ on your bed, you took that from me and still trust me. But I need you to trust it all to me.”
I was again confused. “Trust all what to you?”
“This,” his hands slid up to my ribs and tightened. “You. All of you. I want you to trust it all to me.”
I was right.
Oh boy.
“Raiden—”
“I like to play.”
I shut my mouth.
“You got a hint of that last night,” he went on.
A hint?
Oh God.
“Yeah?” he prompted.
Oh yeah, I got it, but I didn’t know it was a hint.
Still, I nodded.
“And you got off on it,” he noted.
I so did.
I nodded again.
“I wanna give you more.”
Oh my God.
My legs again got weak, and my hands that had dropped from his when his moved lifted to hold onto his shoulders.
“Which means you’re gonna take more,” he continued.
Oh my God.
“And you’re gonna give more to me,” he kept going.
I started breathing heavily.
“But anything I do, anything I ask you to do, it doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t turn you on, no matter how deep we are in it, Hanna, you say the word ‘solitaire’ and we switch it up, find somethin’ we both enjoy that gets us both off.”
I knew what he was saying. I’d heard about it.
He was talking about a safe word.
Which meant when he said he liked to play, he meant he liked to play.
Even as my breath came faster and my stomach clutched I still felt my ni**les tingle and heat start to pound between my legs.
“You with me?” he asked.
I never expected this. I never even thought about it. It didn’t occur to me I’d have to make this decision, much less make it with Raiden Miller.
Still, I didn’t hesitate before I breathed, “Yes.”
His fingers at my ribs dug in again and his voice got rough and commanding when he said, “Hear me, Hanna, you don’t like what we’re doin’, you stop it. I got what I got from you last night, honey, and I did not lie. It was f**kin’ phenomenal, so I push you to an edge you don’t wanna go over, you put a stop to things. I know what’s standin’ in front of me and I want it just like it is, however that comes. We explore, I’ll be happy. But if I get nothin’ beyond what you gave me last night, this will make me far from unhappy. Right?”
I nodded but it was tentative.
Raiden didn’t miss it. “Baby—”
“I’m Peggy Sue,” I whispered and his lips turned up.
“No down-to-her-bones-Peggy Sue gets her freak on like you did last night, honey.”
I had to admit, this was true.
“Do you trust me?” he asked, and my fingers tensed into the muscles at his shoulders.
“Yes.”
“Then trust it all to me.”
I swallowed before I licked my lips, rubbed them together and stared at him.
A handsome man.
A dangerous man.
A damaged man I intended to fix.
On those thoughts, determination stole up my spine and I again nodded.
His fingers dug deep as his eyes started burning and he growled, “Fuck.”
Raiden was pleased.
Oh God.
His hand slid back down to my h*ps and his voice was deeper when he said, “Right. Now, Hanna, take off your clothes.”
Oh.
God.
Suddenly that determination in my spine didn’t feel so determined.
I sucked it up, started to take a step back but his fingers flexed and I stopped.
“Right there, honey,” he instructed, and I was a bit confused.
I was standing between his spread legs. There wasn’t a lot of room to move.
Still, I went for it. I put my hands in the hem of my t-shirt, whipped it off and threw it to the floor.
“Slow,” Raiden ordered and I bit my lip.
Okay, I could do that.
Or maybe I could.
Even as my fingers went to the button on my shorts his hands didn’t move from my hips, so when I slid down the zipper and, holding his heated eyes, very slowly glided them over my hips, I pulled them out from under his hands, but they stayed right where they were.
My shorts fell to my feet. I shifted from one foot to the other, getting them off and kicking them behind me.
His eyes never leaving mine, Raiden demanded, “Your bra now, baby.”
Okay. Oh boy.
Um…
My skin tingling, nerves jangling even as the heat gathered between my legs at the look in his eyes, I put my hands behind my back and very slowly unhooked the first hook then the second. I dropped my hands, rolled my shoulders forward and the bra fell away.
His eyes dropped to my chest. His fingers dug in and I began to pant softly, the heat now swelling between my legs as I caught a strap of my bra in one hand and tossed it aside.
Raiden’s gaze came back up to mine and he growled, “Panties.”
I swear I felt the rumble of his growl at the heat of me as I did my best to maneuver around his hands that still didn’t move and very slowly tugged my panties over my h*ps until they fell down my legs. I repeated what I did with my shorts, kicking them behind me.