Her smile had a mischievous curve to it. “Wow, I knew you were smart but . . .” She shook her head. “All you need is a cape and a pair of black-rimmed glasses to complete the image. And little red tights.”
He snorted in amusement. “I’m no one’s image of Superman.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Clark. You know, I do have some red and blue silk at my apartment. I could whip you up a nice little costume—”
His laughter cut her short, the sound bouncing off the walls. “Thanks, but I don’t think you’d ever be able to look at me without laughing after you see me in tights.”
Her eyebrows curved and there was that smart-ass grin again. “Oh, I don’t know about that. Those tights don’t leave much to the imagination and, trust me, you’d fill them out. Nicely.”
Damn, she managed to crank his lust even higher. His cock felt as stiff as a bat and his balls ached for release. But he wasn’t finished with their conversation yet. And he refused to be rushed.
It’s what made him a damn good businessman. Patience really was a virtue. In business and pleasure.
“I don’t think there are many board chairmen who wear red tights under their suits.”
“But I think you’d fit right in on that board, Tyler. I guess what it comes down to is this—do you really want the GoldenStar to go to someone who isn’t family? Could you live with yourself? And if you can’t, can you find a way to do it all?”
That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it?
Could he manage Haven and the spa and a multinational company comprising ten hotels?
Yes, he had Jared, and together they made a great team.
But the board had six other members, men his father had butted heads with over the years. The chairman position came with more than its fair share of headaches.
And did he really want to add more responsibilities to his plate right now, when his attention was fractured enough as it was? A lot of that due to the woman sitting close enough that he could reach out and touch her.
“Right now, I only want to do you.”
Color rushed into her cheeks but she didn’t drop his gaze. “And how do you want to do me?”
He watched her color deepen as he stared at her. “There’s a black leather bench in the corner. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it before. You might not have. Jared had it specially made to fit in with the rest of the room. If you don’t know what you’re looking at, you wouldn’t realize what it’s used for.”
“And what is it used for?”
“Are you willing to let me show you?”
She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she continued to stare at him, as if searching for answers. Before, when he’d asked her to trust him, she’d almost immediately agreed.
“I’m not sure I should be,” she finally said. “Willing, that is. It’s taken me years to feel like I have control of my life. Growing up, my dad had an image of me that I never quite fit into and it was . . . stressful trying to be that person he expected me to be.”
Tyler could tell “stressful” didn’t exactly do the situation justice. He wanted to push her for more, dig out her secrets, but managed to hold his tongue as she continued.
“And when you ask me to give up so much of my control to you, my brain automatically says, ‘No.’ But there’s part of me that wants to.”
“We’re consenting adults,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with sex between consenting adults.”
Her smile had a wicked edge to it. “I know that, Tyler. But . . .” She stopped and her smile faded into a slight scowl.
“But?” he prompted.
“There’s still that little piece of me that keeps saying, ‘This is bad. You shouldn’t want this.’ That we don’t really know each other that well yet. But there’s a bigger piece egging me on.”
He liked the sound of that. “So where does that leave us?”
Finally, she sighed. “I want you to relax enough around me to stop asking me if I’m willing. I want you to be comfortable with me.”
Frowning, he shook his head. “Why do you think I’m not comfortable around you?”
“Because you stop and ask my permission every time you want me to try something new. I want you to stop treating me like I’m going to freak out every time you want to introduce me to something new.”
He opened his mouth to say . . . something. “So if I tell you to take your clothes off and kneel on that bench, you’ll do it?”
She gave him a considering look before turning toward the bench.
With a flick of her head, she tossed her hair over her shoulder. He loved watching the fall of her hair down her back. It turned him on in ways he’d never known were possible.
He wanted to see it brushing against her naked back, feel it wrapped around his hands as he thrust into her from behind.
Which was exactly what he had planned for tonight.
Kate had reached the bench and stood beside it with her head cocked to the side.
As if she was dissecting it.
He was about to ask her if he could show her what they could do with the bench but stopped before he opened his mouth.
She wanted to know how he truly responded in this situation?
Fine. Let the games begin.
He walked over to her, stopped next to her. He watched her gaze trace the padded hump separating the benches, the three silver loops embedded on each side of the hump and the loops on each side of the base of the four legs.
“So many possibilities.” He kept his tone deliberately level. “So many different positions.”
“Did you design this?” She didn’t turn to look at him, kept her gaze on the bench.
“I sketched out a basic design. Jared found a furniture maker to create it.”
“It’s simple. Elegant. Ingenious.”
“And versatile.”
She nodded, and he heard her take in a deep breath.
“Take off your dress and lay it over the chair. Leave your bra and panties.”
Eleven
Tyler’s demand poured over Kate like heat in a sauna, filling her with lust . . . and tearing through her doubts.
God, she loved the hard command in his voice. She’d only caught a hint of it before, the night he’d tied her up in her room. Now, she was pretty sure she was hearing the true nature of the man.
It made her burn.
And brought up a host of other feelings she didn’t want intruding right now. Turning off that train of thought was harder than she’d expected. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her, but she also knew this went beyond play for him.
Could she handle giving over that much control to him?
She was damn sure going to try.
Turning to face Tyler, she looked up into his eyes and reached for the side zipper on her dress. He held her gaze as she loosened the dress enough to shimmy it off her shoulders and let it drop to the floor.
Stepping out of it, she bent to pick it up, remembering, barely, that he wanted her to put it on the chair. When she turned back from laying out her dress, she lifted her right foot to remove her shoe.
“Leave those on too.”
The heels weren’t her highest but they were black patent leather and went well with the sheer stockings held up by a cream lace garter belt.
She watched his expression as his gaze dropped, noting the tic in his jaw as he took in the strapless bra that matched the garter belt and the panties.
Her nipples pushed against the lace of the bra in stiff points and her panties were already soaked through.
“Take off the panties and give them to me.”
His voice sent pulses of electricity through her body. Anticipation made all the oxygen in the room disappear, and she took a deep breath because she wasn’t sure she’d remembered to breathe recently.