Surrender (Bound Hearts #1)

Tied Up

Tess came awake hours later, a sense of being watched, studied, breaking through the erotic dream of Cole teasing her, tempting her with a kiss that never came. On the verge of screaming out for it, the presence in her room began to make itself felt.

She blinked her eyes open, frowning at the soft light of a candle on the small half moon table by her bed. Her head turned, her heart began to race. Cole was sitting on the side of the bed watching her, his blue eyes narrowed, his muscular chest bare except for the light covering of black hair that angled down his stomach and disappeared into— Her eyes widened, then flew back to his. He was naked. Sweet God, he was naked and sporting a hard-on that terrified her. Thick and long, the head purpled, the flesh heavily veined.

Tess was suddenly more than aware of her nakedness beneath the heavy quilt. When she had gone to bed, she had thought nothing of it. Now she could feel her breasts swelling, her nipples hardening. Between her legs, she felt the slow, heated moistening of her fevered flesh. She felt something else, too. Her arms were tied to the curved headboard, stretched out, the same as her legs, with very little play in the rope. Son of a bitch, he had tied her on her bed like some damned virginal sacrifice.

"What have you done?" She cleared the drowsiness from her voice as he sat still, watching her with those wicked, sensually charged eyes. "Untie me, Cole. What are you doing here?"

"First lesson," he told her, his voice soft as his lips quirked in a sexy grin. "Are you ready for it?"

"Lesson?" She shook her head, her voice filled with her surging anger. How dare the son of a bitch tie her up? "What the hell are you talking about, Cole?"

His hand lifted. Tess thought he would touch her, grab her, instead, those long fingers wrapped around his cock absently, stroking it. She swallowed tightly, her mouth watering, aching to feel that bulging head in it. She may have even considered giving in to the impulse if she could have moved her body.

"Your first lesson in being my woman, Tess," he told her, his voice cool, determined. "I told you I was tired of waiting on you. Tonight, your first lesson begins."

Tess rolled her eyes as she breathed out in irritation.

"Are you a secret psycho or something, Cole?" she bit out. "Did you just pay attention to what you said? Now let me go and stop acting so weird. Dammit, if you wanted to fuck, you should have just said so."

He smiled at her. The bastard just smiled that slow, wicked grin of his.

"But, Tess, I don't want to just fuck," he said, his voice amused. "I want you to know who controls your body, your lusts. I want you to know, all the way to your soul, who owns that pretty pussy, that tempting little ass, and hot mouth. I want you to admit they're mine, and mine alone to fuck however I please."

Damn. She knew Cole was into kink, but rape?

"Cole." She fought to keep her voice reasonable. "This is no way to go about getting a woman, hon. Really. You know, flowers, courtship, that's the way to a woman's heart."