STORY EXCERPT

He ran a hand through his hair and met her gaze, his hands light on her waist. “I’m sorry.”

Stiffening, Charity closed her hands on the edge of the table. “What are you apologizing for?”

Beau offered a small smile, one filled with tension and self-depreciation. “For being so…intense.” He looked down at the photo of her. “Just the thought of any other man seeing you like that drives me crazy. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Deflated, Charity slid from the table and walked around it, closing her laptop and shoving it into her bag. “You didn’t scare me, Beau. You aroused me.” Glancing at him, she picked up the picture she’d been so proud of and ripped it to shreds. “Evidently, you don’t think I’m woman enough to handle that darker side of you.”

After tossing the pieces of the photo into the trash can, she hooked her purse over her shoulder and grabbed the bag holding her laptop. “I’m not stupid, Beau, and I’m not as weak as you seem to believe. I wouldn’t marry you until I knew that your playfulness didn’t mean you took our relationship lightly. You’ve shown me that love can be playful. You showed me another side of myself and made it clear that you wanted all of me.”

Beau stepped closer, holding out a hand to her. “I do, my love. I love every part of you.”

Ignoring his outstretched hand, Charity forced a smile. “Meanwhile, you hide part of yourself.”

His eyes narrowed. “It’s not that I’m hiding a part of myself. We play, Charity. I told you how important I think it is to play.”

“There’s more.” Charity lifted her chin, her insides clenched so tightly it hurt. “I’ve seen it. I’ve tried to encourage it.”

His eyes narrowed. “You try to piss me off. You try to make me lose control.”

Charity smiled faintly, wishing she knew how to make him understand. “At times.”

Beau sighed, running his hand through his hair again. “Baby, it’s not something I want to subject you to. I’ve always liked to play, but since…you—hell.”

“Since me…what?”

Beau closed his hands over the top rung of the chair. “I want more. You’re right. It’s a dark part of me that I thought ended when I met you.”

He lifted his head, something dark and tormented in his eyes. “With you, I’ve learned that wanting is much more intense when it’s built on love. You’re mine. You wear my ring. You bear my name. It should be enough. It was enough.”

“But it’s not anymore?”

“I love you.” Shaking his head, he grimaced. “Hell, that used to sound so profound to me, but now it doesn’t come close to describing what I feel for you. I love to take you slowly and give you the tenderness I need to show you and that you deserve.”

His eyes glimmered with something so stark it took her breath away. “I love when we play. But there are times when I want more. I want primitive. Raw. I want to drive you insane with hunger and show you just how much I want you. How much I need you.I want you to feel that hunger.”

With a sigh, he clenched his hands so tightly on the back of the chair that his knuckles turned white. “The need to possess you, have complete control over you is so intense that I have to walk away. It’s not something you signed on for. It’s getting harder and harder to contain. But I’m scared of setting it free. If you saw that part of me, it would probably scare the hell out of you.”

Closing the distance between them, Charity lifted a hand to his chest. “Do you think I don’t see it? How can you be so blind? How can you not see how much that darker side of you excites me?”

Dropping her hand, she tugged her purse higher on her shoulder. “How can you expect me to settle for any less than all of you?”

“Charity, you have all of me.”

Dropping her hand, she shook her head sadly. “No, Beau. I don’t, and it’s creating distance between us. That’s what scares me.”

“There’s nothing to be scared of.”

“Well, I am. You’re already holding part of yourself back from me. Eventually, it’ll be more and more. I can’t live like this, Beau. You always say that I’m impatient. Maybe I am, but I feel like I’ve been patient for months, and you still pull away.”

In a move too fast to anticipate, Beau gripped the back of her neck and yanked her closer, his lips hovering over hers. “Charity—”

Charity waited, the feel of his warm breath against her lips, the look in his eyes unlike anything she’d ever seen before.

The intensity in his look both excited and scared her, a look she’d seen only glimpses of in the past but now appeared more frequently.

Recognizing it as a part of him, a dark hunger for more dying to break free, Charity realized how much of himself he’d kept hidden from her.

She held her breath as the look in his eyes sharpened even more, the hand at the back of her neck holding her close, her face lifted to his.

His eyes suddenly became shuttered, and releasing her, he stepped back. “I won’t keep you from your plans. I have things to do myself.”

Sucking in a breath at the pain his cool tone inflicted, Charity nodded, finding she had to swallow the lump in her throat before speaking. “I’m meeting Hope for lunch. I’ll see you later.”

She went outside, closing the door behind her before releasing the breath she’d been holding, feeling better now that everything was out in the open.

And the different ways it could play out really scared her.

ADULT EXCERPT

Standing at the foot of the chaise with his hands on his hips, Beau watched sharply as she lay back and spread her thighs, reaching out to grip the edges of the chaise.

Beau raised a brow and braced a knee at the foot of the chaise, lightly slapping her inner thigh. “Wide, Charity. As wide as you can. It’ll take time, but little by little you’ll understand what I want from you.”

Bending his leg, he sat between her thighs, running a fingertip lightly up and down the place he’d slapped, heightening the awareness there even more. “This is the beginning of a new path for us.”

Charity gulped, the tingling at her clit driving her crazy, especially since she could no longer rub her thighs together.

She opened her mouth to tell him that she looked forward to it but remembered that he’d told her not to speak unless he asked her a direct question and snapped her mouth shut again.

Beau smiled and ran a hand over her mound. “Good girl. You remembered not to speak. I was counting on your obsession with rules. I need to know that you’ll remember the rules I give you, so I’ll always be testing you. Testing your limits.”

She squirmed on the chaise, unable to look away.

“Even when you’re aroused, I want you to remember the rules.”

Charity, unable to stop writhing and fighting hard to press her thighs together, nodded again.

Beau gave her another of those smiles that made her heart beat faster. “Good. The next time I tell you to spread your legs, it had better be wide. Understood?”

Charity rocked her hips, the growing heat and awareness in her clit driving her crazy. “Yes.”

 With a hand flattened on her abdomen, Beau ran his thumb back and forth over her mound. “Now, we’re going to work on your focus.”

Not understanding what he meant, Charity frowned, lifting into his touch again.

Beau took a deep breath and gave her another smile. “You want to come. The question is, how badly do you want it?”

Charity gripped the edge of the chaise, her clit on fire. “Badly. Please, Beau. I can’t wait. It’s agony.”

“Pauvre ti bete.”

Poor little thing.

With his hand still flattened on her abdomen, Beau slid his other hand lightly up her inner thigh to her slit, pressing a finger into her pussy.

With a moan, Charity rocked her hips, sucking in a breath at the feel of his fingertip pressing against an extremely sensitive spot inside her.

Her entire body floated on the edge of sublime pleasure, making her greedy for more.

She rocked on his finger, closing her eyes and absorbing the pleasure, her eyes snapping open again when he abruptly withdrew his finger. “Please!”

Beau flattened a hand on both of her thighs. “You can have what you want, but you have to stay still. As soon as you move, I’ll stop. Understood?”

“I don’t know if I can.” With Beau, she’d never been able to stay still, the pleasure taking over and controlling her.

Beau smiled again and smoothed his hands up and down on her thighs. “I know. It’s going to take practice.”

Taking a deep breath, Charity nodded. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Chuckling softly, Beau continued to run his hands over her thighs, his thumbs trailing up and down her inner thighs. “You’re adorable. Do you think you have any say in when I do something?”

“Damn it! I suck at this.”

Laughing softly, Beau reached up to caress her breasts, lightly tugging at her nipples. “You’re doing fine, baby. You talk too much, but since this is your first day, I’ll let it slide.”

Closing his fingers on her nipples, he held her gaze. “Your only punishment will be that I make you wait.”

Shit.

Nodding to let him know she understood, she fought to remain still while his attention to her nipples shot arrows of heat and sensation to her already swollen and tingling clit.

Releasing her nipples, Beau slowly ran his hands down her body. “You’re always so soft. So sweet.”

Charity tightened her hands on the edges of the chaise when he slid his hand lower, barely breathing when it skimmed her mound.

Her clit throbbed with the beat of her heart, the slight brush of his thumb over it so shocking she cried out and jolted.

Growling in frustration when Beau removed his thumb, Charity struggled to remain still, every muscle in her body tight with the effort.

Beau watched his stunning wife’s struggle for composure, in awe of her effort to explore the new path they’d taken. “Very good. Good girl. Breathe. Pay attention to your breathing. I’m going to touch you again. You can make all the noise you want but remain as still as you can.”

Her whimpers tugged at him, and he couldn’t wait to take her to the playroom.

He teased her by tracing her folds, acutely aware of her struggle to remain still.

She trembled with it.

“Are you ready, love?”

Charity sucked in a breath. “Yes!”

Wanting to reward her for how much she’d already given him, Beau lightly touched his finger to her clit.

Throwing her head back, she groaned, her hands tightening on the edges of the chaise.

“Good girl.” Beau slowly began to stroke her clit, knowing his wife well enough to know that she was primed to come.

“You can come whenever you want to.”

Her eyes popped open as if she hadn’t even considered the possibility that he wouldn’t allow her to come whenever she wanted to instead of when he allowed.

Smiling, he watched her flush deepen as she shook with the effort to remain still. “Yes, my love. There’ll be times when I’ll make you fight your orgasm. I won’t allow you to come. It’s both a lesson in control and a punishment.”