For a moment, she thought the joke had gone too far, but he finally laughed, sounding a little dazed. “Only you, Lucy.” His hand coasted over her hair. “That’s my past. I’m not going to lie, it messed with my head. I came back to a place I didn’t recognize, to people who didn’t know me anymore. Everything felt like a lie. Sometimes I still don’t feel normal.” His rush of breath fanned her hair. “But there’s more.”

Something about the way Matt’s voice dropped caused the atmosphere to shift in the room. He dipped his head and traced his lips across her temple, making her shiver. She wanted to talk more, to tell him none of what happened was his fault. That there were people here, namely his friends, who knew and loved him exactly as he was, but the words felt trapped in her throat. He’d physically and verbally changed the subject, effectively causing her body to take notice.

“More?”

Matt nodded. “Yeah.” Using her hair, he tugged her head back, running his tongue up the side of her neck. A decadent buzz raced along Lucy’s skin, but it was tempered when she met Matt’s gaze. She could feel he was turned on, oh yes, but his eyes were troubled. “I want, I need, control, Lucy. Always have. I don’t want to scare you away.”

Her heart pounded in her chest. She was terrified of him, but not in the way he meant. Terrified that she’d given him the power to annihilate her. How’d she get here this fast? It was Matt, he’d pulled her in so deep, so quickly, she hadn’t had a fighting chance. Now, curiosity was a living thing inside her. “I don’t scare easily,” she whispered, already knowing that no matter what he said, she wasn’t going anywhere.

He scrutinized her for a beat, then surprised her by reaching for a grape. She watched his teeth sink into its skin with fascination, every muscle beneath her waist clenching at the sight. When he rubbed the remaining half over her lips, coating them with grape juice, heat rushed between her thighs. Needing an anchor, she reached behind her to grip the counter. “Would you like to hear one of my fantasies about you, Lucy?”

She chewed the piece of grape he’d pushed past her lips. “Yes.”

Matt began unbuttoning the bodice of her dress, her chest rising and falling beneath it. “You come to my apartment, wearing those jean shorts you had on the day we met. The ones that made my c**k so f**king hard, I wanted to bend you over in the coffee shop.” When he finally pushed the fabric apart to reveal her br**sts, her ni**les were hard points. From the drugging quality of his voice, the anticipation of his touch.

He picked up another grape, bit half of it off, then circled her ni**les slowly with the remaining half. Somehow the cold sensation sent heat streaking through her center. With a moan, she pushed her br**sts higher, begging for more of the same.

Matt popped the rest of the grape into his mouth. Rough hands rose to cup her br**sts, massaging them rhythmically. “When you get there, I’ve made you a meal. Just for you, not me.” He bent down to take a deep pull of her right nipple. “I sit you down on my lap while you eat, your bare thighs draped over mine. By the time you finish, you’ll be wet because you’ll feel me underneath your ass. You’ll know what’s coming.”

Continuing to torture her br**sts with long licks of his tongue, his hand slipped up her inner thigh and tugged her panties down, letting them fall to the floor. Lucy felt like her lungs might explode from the racing of her breath. “What happens next?”

Before she could anticipate his next move, he boosted her up onto the counter and spread her legs, baring her damp center. He tested her with one finger, licking his lips slowly, and Lucy swore she heard herself moan. “I push your shorts down to your knees and sink in. You grip the table and ride my dick until your legs give out. Then I put you facedown on the table and finish you off hard.”

Yearning twisted in her belly. “Th-that sounds doable.”

A corner of Matt’s mouth twitched, but his eyes remained mysterious pools. He reached over and picked up another grape, placing it between Lucy’s teeth. “Do not bite down. Keep it right there. And close your eyes.”

After a moment, she nodded, trusting him to help her fight the insistent ache he’d built. When her eyes slid shut, she felt Matt’s tongue drag up the inside of her thigh. Strong hands palmed her bottom, pulling her to the edge of the counter and tilting her at an angle. His mouth nuzzled her core, lips brushing over her sensitive skin. Then he tasted her, humming in his throat, taking his time. Balancing herself with one hand on the counter, Lucy urged him closer with impatient fingers in his hair. She needed relief, couldn’t last much longer in this heightened state of arousal. Matt seemed to sense her overwhelming need because his lips closed around her clitoris, worrying it, before sucking it long and deep.

Her teeth sank into the grape with a cry. Already the pressure between her legs was whipping around, looking for an outlet. She could feel half of the grape sliding between her br**sts, down her belly, but she didn’t care. Matt’s tongue was circling her now in tight strokes, big hands massaging her backside in time with his mouth. Her thighs began to shake. More, more.

Matt’s mouth stopped and he straightened, thumb running over her bottom lip as she gasped for air. “You bit down. Now we have to try again.”

“Matt, please.”

“Shh.” His hand dropped from her mouth to massage the bulge behind his fly. With his other hand, he replaced the ruined grape with a new one in her mouth. “Trust me to make you feel good. Trust me to be obsessed with making you come, Lucy.”

Her pulse jackhammered in her ears. Not just from what he’d said, but the way he looked at her. Could this be enough? This irresistible man wanting her simply for her body? Right now, she didn’t have a choice. Her body was making decisions for her. “Yes, Matt.”

Firm hands spread her thighs wider on the counter as his skilled tongue brought her to the precipice of climax once more. Half her focus went toward finding that desperately needed peak, the other half concentrating on keeping the grape whole between her lips. Not breaking his rule. She found herself sucking on the fruit, mimicking the movements of his mouth, moaning as her tongue skated over the smoothness. Her orgasm rolled over her in a blissful ripple, making her body tremble and cling to him, riding out every ounce of perfection. Still, she wanted more. Needed to feel his skin moving against her own.

She let the grape fall. “Please. I want you inside me, Matt.”

His mouth collided with hers in a hot, wet kiss. “I decide when I’m going to f**k you.”

Oh, Lord. Renewed heat coursed through her, suffusing every inch of her body. “Fine. As long as it’s now.”

Amusement leaped into his eyes, but was quickly extinguished by determination and desire. Keeping his focus locked on her, he unhooked his belt and whipped it through the loops of his pants. The whooshing noise sent her pulse tripping over itself, a whimper falling from her mouth. She tried to relax as he reached behind her, bringing her wrists together and securing them tightly with the pliable strip of leather, but the pulse between her legs had begun beating out of control once more. Being restrained felt foreign, yet handing over her trust completely to Matt felt freeing. The position made her back arch, displaying her stiff ni**les, filling her with seductive power. God, she needed to be filled.