I spread her open and trace my finger between her ass cheeks and to the sensitive ring of muscle. She gasps as I touch her there, but I don’t enter her, just stroke the sensitive skin. Her shock fades and her muscles release. My ears fill with her moans.

I want to fill her with so much pleasure there’s not room for anything else in her mind. I want to claim her. To own her, the way she owns me.

When she’s close, I tighten the rope, drawing her arms up as far as she can stretch, and I wrap my lips around her clit and suck.

“Yes. Sam . . . God . . . please.” Her hips buck and her body spasms. I love the sound of my name on her lips, repeating like a prayer as she surrenders to the pleasure.

Chapter 15

Liz

Sam tends to the ropes, loosening them as my body relaxes. I lie down next to him, every muscle turning to mush after being pushed higher and higher over and into the abyss.

When the bindings are gone, he tosses them on the floor and presses kisses around each wrist. My lids are heavy with sleep, but I moan when he rolls over me, resting on his elbows. He’s hard, and though I was desperate to have him inside me a couple of minutes ago, now I’m so sated, I just want to go to sleep when I know I should be heading back to Nix’s.

“I wish I could have a redo.” He tucks a curl behind my ear.

“Seriously?” I yawn. “I wouldn’t want you to change anything about that.”

He grins. “Good to know, but not what I was talking about.”

“A redo for what?”

“Us.” He traces the side of my jaw and threads his fingers in my hair. His eyes are sad. “I’d change things. So many things.”

I lean my head into his hand. “Me too. I would go back to that night last summer when Connor found me drunk at Brady’s, and instead of going home with him I’d call you. I wanted to, but then Connor was there, telling me things I desperately wanted to believe.” I swallow. “I wasn’t even going home with him. I was going home with the idea of him—a guy who’d wanted me from the beginning.”

“Did he?”

I shrug. “He said so. He said a lot of sweet things that night.”

“Like what?”

I grimace. The memory alone makes me feel guilty. Even though he and Della were broken up, and even though Della had been treating me like shit for months, I broke something in the girlfriend code by going home with Connor. “He said he’d always wanted me, and that every time Della broke up with him, his first thought was that he could be with me now.”

Sam’s nostrils flare as he draws in a sharp breath. “And you bit, hook, line, and sinker. He’s good. I’ll give him that.”

I frown. “Why do you assume he didn’t mean it?”

He shrugs, but there’s no anger on his face. In fact, I think this is the first time we’ve talked about that night without him getting furious. “I didn’t say he didn’t mean it, but I also think you still give him more credit than he deserves.”

“Maybe. Could you tell me what happened between you two? He used to be your friend.”

“I don’t know why you think Connor is this amazing guy,” he says. “You are such a smart girl, but when it comes to him you have blinders on.”

“I don’t have blinders. Maybe you’re the one who’s wearing blinders. Especially when it comes to Della.” I shake my head and hold my hand up. “I’m sorry. Forget I said that. I don’t want to fight. I’m just having trouble imagining what could make you think Connor’s so horrible.”

“Liz, he slept with you when he was with Della, and when I had feelings for you. He knew I had every intention of getting you to be mine. And he found you at a vulnerable moment, plied you with liquor, fed you his story about Della ‘breaking up’ with him—”

“She did.” Something sinks in my chest, and for the first time, I consider that Connor may have been lying to me that night. “Didn’t she?” Would Connor have taken me home if he’d still been with Della and—“You had feelings for me? You . . . wanted me?”

He rolls on top of me. “I’ve wanted you since you were the big-mouthed teenager who would wander around my parents’ house without a bra in the middle of the night.” He skims his hand down my side then grazes my nipple with his thumb. “You have no idea how many times I jacked off thinking about you. Thinking about the way your nipples poked through your T-shirt.” Dipping his head, he sucks one between his lips, then the other. And when he lifts his head again, some of the heat in his eyes has softened to tenderness. “No woman has ever turned me on as much as you do. Never mind the way you could make me laugh like no one else.”

I take his face in my hands and lead him down to kiss me. His erection presses into my stomach, and I shift under him, spreading my legs and arching my back until he’s positioned exactly where I want him.

“I’ve wanted you that long too,” I whisper as he slides into me.

“You’ve always been my girl.” His eyes lock on mine, and he slowly thrusts deep, then withdraws, then deep again. “Always.”

* * *

I close the door quietly behind me.

“Jesus!” Nix hisses behind me. “I thought you’d been kidnapped or something.”

My plan was to get back here by five a.m. so Nix would never know I’d left. Judging by the fact that she’s completely dressed and ready to go at five-oh-two, I guess I should have shot for four instead. “I’m sorry.”