Amery gave him a sleepy-eyed glance over her shoulder.
Ronin had propped himself up on his elbow, and his hungry gaze drifted over her body.
“Why do I feel like Little Red Riding Hood about to be pounced on by the Big, Bad Wolf?”
He slowly ran his finger down her bare arm. “Maybe because you look very tasty.” He tugged on the ties of her nightgown. “I want to lift you to your knees and bind your hands with these. I know how warm your skin feels against mine as I f**k you from behind. I know how much you like my breath in your ear as you shatter beneath me.”
Amery faced him and glanced at the tent pole imitation his c**k was doing against his boxers and then back up into his smoldering eyes. “You’re hard, and you haven’t even touched me yet.”
“That’s about to change.” He leaned over so his lips brushed the skin below her ear. “I need you to surrender to me tonight.”
She trembled from the heat and intensity pouring from him. She said “yes” and gave herself over to him completely.
But even though the sex was spectacular, as soon as they were both sweaty, sated, and spent, she felt him disconnect emotionally. And she was at a loss as to what to do about it.
CHAPTER TEN
ONCE again Ronin was in the Crow’s Nest. No one thought anything odd about him being in there. He used to spend a lot of time up here.
He half listened as the students counted during warm-up exercises. His father had considered it a point of pride that Ronin learned to count to ten in Japanese by age two.
What would his father and his sensei say about the students upstairs counting to ten in Portuguese and not Japanese?
Not that he’d gone up to the ABC dojo and watched the Brazilian working with his students.
His thoughts bounced all over the place, and he worried about what his lack of concentration might mean as far as permanent damage.
The stairs squeaked and Ronin knew who had violated his inner sanctum before he saw her reflection in the dark glass. His body responded to her as it always did—heart rate jumping, shaft thickening. His primal male need to mark her seemed stronger than usual lately, which had made it doubly hard to ignore it.
Her hands slipped up his belly, and she latched on to his shoulders from behind. “I know something is wrong and I’ve tried not to push, but things aren’t getting any better.”
That she’d recognized his melancholy and listlessness spoke volumes.
“I’ve thought a lot about what could be causing this reaction. It’s not your students’ lack of progress. I don’t think it’s solely about your recovery process. I don’t think it is entirely about the recent changes with the dojo and starting a new promotion company. Your family issues might play a small part in the restlessness I see in you. I don’t believe it has to do with me and your invite for me to move in with you. Yet I do think it’s a combination of all those things.”
Ronin said nothing; he just turned his head and dropped a kiss on her knuckles.
“So here’s my theory. You’re bored. You can’t train like you used to. At least when you were fighting, you weren’t quite sure of the outcome. When you were teaching, it broke up your day and forced you to concentrate outside yourself. Even that’s been taken away from you. So knowing all these factors, I took it upon myself to find a challenge for you.”
“Amery—”
“Hear me out completely before you interrupt. I like rope play, Master Black. As much as it pleases you that I’m your willing partner, it’s not a challenge for you. Figuring out which technique to use on me has its challenges, but nothing like the test of capturing and punishing a disobedient partner.”
Interest stirred his brain and his cock.
“So I’m here to make a confession.”
“What did you do?”
“I broke your ‘no observation’ rule. I’ve watched classes. I even interrupted a class Knox was teaching last night—he’s probably still wrestling with the best way to tell his boss that the boss’s girlfriend has been openly violating rules.”
“That is pretty blatant.”
“And I haven’t learned my lesson. Case in point? I’m up here. Civilians aren’t supposed to enter your domain during class hours. This is the second time I’ve done it in a week. You never let that shit slide.”
“True—I’ve always been adamant about enforcing the rules.”
“So what are you going to do about it? Pull down my panties, bend me over your desk, and spank my bare ass? Huh-uh. We’d end up f**king for sure. And, hot man of mine? Fucking you is always a reward, never a punishment.”
“Are you trying to piss me off or turn me on?”
Amery stood on tiptoe and murmured, “Both,” in his ear. “You know you have to punish me. I know you have to punish me. But there’s no way I’ll be on my knees in the practice room waiting for you to finish up your day to dish that punishment out.”
Ronin whirled around and, shockingly, Amery was already halfway across the room.
“This is where the challenge starts, Samurai,” she cooed sexily. “You’ll have to find me before you can exact the punishment of your choosing.”
“Find you,” he repeated.
“After the dojo closes, I’ll be somewhere in this building except for the penthouse level. I bet I know some really great nooks and crannies that you aren’t even aware of. Or maybe I’ll be plotting my escape back to my place. I’ll give you an hour to find me. If you’re unsuccessful, your bed will seem big and lonely without me in it tonight, don’t you think?”
Ronin started to stalk her. “When I do track you down? What then?”
“You’d better have a plan in place to capture me because I won’t go easy.”
“Baby, throwing down the gauntlet is what I live for. The fact that it’s you issuing the challenge?” His greedy gaze raked over her from head to toe. “Even better. But I’ll give you a warning. If you’re my prisoner? I get to do anything I want to you. Anything.”
“Guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?” Amery smiled and said, “Catch you later.”
“You can count on it.”
She slipped out of the room.
• • •
RONIN warned his instructors they needed a speedy shutdown.
He’d tied a coil of hemp rope from his gi belt. Normally he worried about the burn ratio of the size and texture of the rope against bare skin when he tied her, but not tonight. Tonight when he caught her, he’d give her a taste of the hojojutsu side of bondage. Chase, capture, and bind for the reward.