“Thank fuck,” I moaned, and I barely heard his low laughter through the rushing in my ears. Rapture rolled into me, an ocean tide as strong as his scent, carrying me away with the force of all the pleasure he’d denied me.

His knot thrusting into me and locking us together started the wave all over again. My head was floaty and fuzzy, all of this fizzing through me and hovering, waiting for me to come back to myself.

“Why do you like it?” My words were slurred slightly. “I mean, I know why I like it, but I want to hear it from you.”

“Well,” Luke said softly, “for one, seeing you orgasm like that is better than any movie in the world. Second, it feels good here.” His hand slipped between our bodies and pressed to the center of his chest. “That my command is more important than your desire for pleasure.” A kiss on one cheek. “Or your need for air. Holding that power is like holding a live wire.”

He moved slowly, releasing the ropes from my limbs and rubbing them, easing the stiffness and working blood back in. “And I hope I don’t have to tell you that sex with you is incredible.”

“Back at you.” The awake part of my mind—the piece which wasn’t currently in control—rolled her eyes.

Luke lifted us together, moving us to the head of the bed where the pillows were. “But it’s more than being tied up, or even me saying you can’t come. It’s an exchange. You coming to me and knowing for a little while you don’t have to make any decisions. You can just rest, and let me do it.”

“It doesn’t really seem fair to you.”

“We choose what’s fair, sweetheart. If you were forcing me to do it, then no, it wouldn’t be fair. But you’re not. I’m offering. Holding power and those decisions for you makes me feel the same way letting go does for you. It feels like I can finally breathe.”

He kissed my forehead, and together we did breathe, slowly easing back from that exchange to just the two of us. Words were in my chest, but the fear was still there, even if I hated it. Still, I couldn’t let this moment pass without saying something.

“Luke?”

His eyes flicked to mine.

“You know I have a hard time saying things sometimes, right? It doesn’t mean I don’t feel them or want to say them. Everything gets stuck in my throat and it feels like I can’t breathe, but it’s still there.”

For a second, he froze. Then he pulled me close, wrapping his arms fully around me so we were tangled together.

His purr nearly overwhelmed the whispered words in my ear.

“I love you, too.”

Chapter 39

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

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ESME