The Naughty Step (Billionaire Book Club 2) Read online

As I nodded, her hands crept under my shirt. There was a “sorry” on my lips but I couldn’t get it out of my mouth. I bent down to press my forehead against hers. This close I could see the freckles on her face like they were constellations.

  “And don’t punish yourself for trusting me,” she said softly.

  Was I doing that? “You’re too young to be this wise,” I joked.

  “You’re too old to be this stupid.” She kissed me. “I’ll make you a deal.”

  My body responded to the words, and the realization that she was naked in my arms—another new daily ritual in my apartment. “What kind of deal?”

  “I want you to ma—” She broke off with a tight, faraway look in her eyes. “Fuck me,” she said. “Make me scream without punishing me. Show me how much you want me, without the… accessories. You have enough power over me without them, trust me. Show me you don’t need the power and the control to get off, and I’ll let you try that crop on me. Maybe the flower flogger, too. Because to be honest, I kind of want it all.”

  Her cheeks flamed. I tilted her chin up, examining her expression. “You selfish, naughty girl,” I chided. “You want to try them anyway.”

  Her breath hitched. “Okay.”

  “Yes, it’s making you hot and wet, isn’t it? Thinking about submitting to me is turning you on.”

  She pressed her thighs together. I could almost smell her arousal in the small room. It made me burn, too.

  “Believe me, Zoe, making you scream is not a punishment. It’s a fucking privilege.” I swept my hands up her rib cage to her armpits and pushed her onto the bed that was shoved against the wall of my den. “But you’re wrong about me. I can go without the power-tripping.”

  “Oh really?” Her gaze never left me as I took off my shirt and stepped out of my shorts. She propped herself up on her elbows, eyeing me with lust and a lack of confidence. “Prove it.”

  12

  Nathan

  “Oh baby, you asked for it.” I knelt on the bed beside her, my cock hard and heavy. Keeping my eyes on her face, I reached down to dip into the damp heat between her legs. She was already dripping. I pressed my tongue to her inner thigh then moved over to her hip.

  Zoe trembled as my lips forged a path through the valleys and plains of her body. When she reached for me, I pinned her wrists down to the bed and sucked her delicate skin into my mouth.

  “Ah! I love what you’re—oooh—doing, Nathan, but you’re already losing. You’re just a natural dominant.”

  But was she a natural submissive? Hmmm. She’d been right before; I did want to punish her. For getting too close, for questioning me, for invading my home and heart.

  “You can’t do it,” she taunted, her breath hitching as I closed my lips around her nipple. “I knew it.”

  I rose up onto my knees. “You know, I’ve got better things for you to do with that bratty mouth of yours.” Swiftly I straddled her chest and held the shiny head of my cock to her lips.

  She stared at me, unmoving with her mouth curving up slightly, and I wished I could hear the thoughts racing through her head.

  “Zoe, you might think I’m a power-happy bastard, but I’d never force you. Now, I want—ungh!” I broke off with a groan as her smooth little fingers reached up to tease the underside of my balls.

  Devilish delight danced in her eyes. “I’m sorry, what did you want?” she asked, stroking me.

  My swollen dick was so close to her lips that she brushed it when she spoke. I arched my back as her hot breath washed over me, pleasure zapping through my lower abdomen. She pinched and I let out a gasp. Oh Jesus Christ, that felt good. My eyes closed as I fought to get some control back. I had to be honest with her.

  I held my twitching erection in my hand to keep it steady. “I want you to suck my cock, Zoe. I want your hot little mouth around me until I come down your throat.”

  Her lips parted in surprise. Then… she licked them. We were both breathing heavily from arousal, tension, and sheer sensory overload.

  “Are you conceding victory?” she asked. “You just can’t give up power, can you?”

  “I could if I wanted to,” I clarified. “Right now I’d rather fuck your mouth. If you want to consider that dominant, then I guess I concede.”

  In lieu of a response, she stuck her tongue out and tasted the glistening tip of my rock hard dick.

  Motherfuck!

  “More,” I commanded. I thrust my hips forward gently, but she met my challenge head on—so to speak. Her hands went to my ass. She pressed her lips together, then opened her mouth in a pout and pulled me to her. As I disappeared, an inch at a time, her pupils grew larger and her hips squirmed beneath me.

  “Is this the kind of punishment you mean, Zoe?”

  “Mmph.”

  I felt a moment of bereft agony as she pushed me back out in order to sass me. “Maybe more for you. You’ll be the one screaming.”

  Voraciously, she swallowed my cock.

  Her fingernails dug into my ass, her hunger making me flinch. Did she have no gag reflex? Holy shit, I could feel the back of her throat rubbing against me. In and out, back and forth. She pushed and I withdrew; she pulled and I thrust. Silent but for the low grunts and whimpers rising in our throats, we spent a luxurious, intense few minutes there like that. Soon my balls were tightening, but she remained pliant and responsive. She was right—I was close to screaming.

  In a split second, I changed my mind.

  So quickly did I pull out that her teeth rasped over me, making my eyes cross. Control, control, had to get it back. I braced my hands on either side of her and brought my legs together between the open vee of her thighs.

  “Nathan, what? Did I—oh!” Her head rocked back against the bed as I penetrated her.

  “Yes,” I hissed in relief, ramming into her. This was so much better. “Take my cock,” I snarled at her. “You’re a bad little girl for teasing me. Deep down, I think you want to be punished.”

  She cried out wordlessly, her ankles crossing over my hamstrings. Tilting up as much as she could to meet every thrust, she pushed up against me. It took only a sliver of time and space before I was ready to come.

  With a sudden burst of force she rolled us over.

  Her knees clamped down on my hips as she rose up a few inches then drove down on my cock, deep and true. Hot, filthy words spilled from both of our mouths as she pressed her palms into my chest and rode me to the edge, grinding herself against my pelvic bone.

  “Nathan, come! Please, come with me!” I was helpless against her plea and the unyielding embrace of her pussy.

  I shot up into her, my hands flying up to squeeze her bouncing tits. With surprisingly strong fingers, she pried them off and pressed my arms back to the bed. At the same time she was contracting around my pulsing cock, our push and pull of earlier being mimicked inside her tight, young body. For one brief, brainless moment I wished I could knock her up, watch that sweet body swell up…

  “Agh!” Like the finale of a fireworks show, my last spurts were intense and spectacular.

  What the fuck was that?

  Panting, she dropped her head onto my heaving chest. “That, Nathan, was what I think they call a power exchange.” She tilted her pink face up to kiss me sloppily, then giggled into my neck.

  I was speechless. Well, almost. “Motherfucker.”

  Still nestled inside her, I felt her quiver around me as she burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked, my hands rubbing up and down her back.

  “Nothing.” She snuffled and sighed, then started to move—

  “No.” Like a total pansy, I wanted to remain buried inside her for just another moment. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close.

  She pushed up on her hands a little to look me in the eye. “I think you just submitted to me, Mister Grey. Does this mean I get to use the flogger on you, now?”

  I groaned. “That fucking book.”

  It was both the bane of men’s exi
stence and the gift that kept on giving, with women wanting to experiment with a little kink. I thought back to the regrettable meeting wherein we discussed it. We had to institute “the hot seat” after that, so we wouldn’t scream at each other.

  “If I was Christian Grey,” I pointed out, “you would have already packed your things after I spanked you.”

  Zoe grinned. “I may be inexperienced, but I’m not naïve. I knew what we were doing.”

  I wasn’t sure I knew what we were doing anymore. Right now I was on the bottom—a position I wasn’t used to. I’d just experienced the most explosive climax of my life, and I was still weak in its wake.

  Punishment, pleasure, power—it was all mixed up. Plus, the warm weight of her body and the aftermath of my orgasm were making me drowsy.

  “Is this the part where you leave me because you want ‘more’ and I only know how to fuck hard?” I joked, nearly swallowing her head in an uncontrollable yawn.

  I didn’t really think she’d leave. I hoped she wouldn’t leave, anyhow. I blinked, trying to stay awake, but my eyes felt so heavy…

  “No, Nathan,” Zoe said softly as she slithered off me. “This is the part where I leave you wanting more.” She kissed my lips and pulled a blanket over me.

  As I drifted into unconsciousness, one thought bubbled up in my mind.

  Shit just got complicated.

  13

  Zoe

  My relationship with Nathan was having some thermostat problems. In other words, it was hot. Then it was cold. Then it warmed up again. I guess this was the no man’s land of adult relationships. Here I thought college guys were frustrating? Ha!

  Had I scared him? Enlightened him? Rocked his world? I didn’t hold out much hope that I’d made some kind of emotional breakthrough with him. He was a successful, driven man; he didn’t get to where he was by being malleable and afraid.

  On the other hand, something compelling had awakened in me. For the first time I felt more secure in my body and femininity. That little power exchange I’d experimented with had resulted in a fiendish need to try new things. New, sexy things.

  Shower sex was harder than I thought. Bathtub sex was easier. Being bent over the couch was hot, but my first attempt at sixty-nine ended up with me kneeing him in the face. He sported a black eye for the next week.

  “Where is your underwear?” Nathan started with surprise as he explored under my skirt when we met for dinner one day at a dark little restaurant. The horseshoe booth hid a multitude of sins.

  “I didn’t wear any today,” I replied, biting my lip as he circled my clit under the table. He knew just where to touch me, exactly where my body would tremble and quake uncontrollably. I was still learning those areas on his body.

  “You’re a naughty girl, Zoe.”

  I fluttered my eyelashes at him. “Are you going to take me over your knee?”

  Worse. With an evil grin, he ruthlessly pinched my clit between his thumb and forefinger and then left me hanging on the edge of climax for the rest of the meal. He sat far enough away from me that I couldn’t touch him. I could only fidget at his nearness. My upper thighs were slick with my arousal, and no panties to catch it, when we headed home.

  Before we walked into the apartment, I kissed him shyly and thanked him for dinner, like we were on a first date. It was… sweet. Then he opened the door and frog-marched me into the living room, where he bent me over the back of the couch and flung my skirt up.

  Exposed and unsteady, I panted softly and waited. My nerve endings fizzled as I heard the sound of his zipper. As he folded over me, his chest heaving against my back, he whispered, “I can’t stop myself. What are you doing to me?”

  It took him approximately ten seconds to seat his cock deep in me, and less than another ten seconds for me to cry out as my delayed orgasm finally ripped through me.

  The next day my period started and I lived in granny panties for a few days. A part of me was relieved I wasn’t pregnant, not that I thought Nathan had been lying to me about the vasectomy.

  Nathan didn’t appear to notice my time out, which mystified me. I’d thought he would want me every day, but three, then four days went by without either of us making a pass at the other. Was it his move or mine? It was like a game of sexual chess—and I could barely play checkers. By the time Aunt Flo left town, I was missing him fiercely.

  “What do you say?” I swung the crop from my hand one evening. “Wanna teach me some new tricks?”

  His shrug was infuriatingly noncommittal. “Are you an old dog?” he asked with a chuckle.

  “Well, if the leash fits…”

  He finally looked up from his phone, over which his thumbs had been flying. His eyes narrowed at me. “I’m not going to collar you, Zoe.”

  Awww. Part of me was disappointed. Another part of me was very, very damp at even the suggestion. The truth was that despite my curiosity about all this, the majority of my education in this area so far was from books and a few websites. And I knew better than to believe everything I read online.

  Nathan’s gaze followed the line of the crop in my hand up to my bare arm, and he sat upright on the couch as he took in the pink bra and panty set I wore. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

  Frankly, I didn’t think I had to try to seduce him. But apparently big brother had an attack of conscience or worse—maybe he didn’t want me anymore. Burying all my nerves and gathering all the confidence my pretty lingerie gave me, I moved to behind the couch where he sat. If he was going to reject me, I didn’t want to see his face while he did it.

  Bending over the back of the couch, I nuzzled the curve between his neck and shoulder. It was, without a doubt, my favorite part of his body—his smell, his taste, the way his stubble rasped against my lips at the end of the day. At that moment, the way he bit his lip and tried to suppress his own small shiver gave me more of a thrill than any tingle in my girl parts.

  I wanted to affect him as much as he affected me, but I figured that was naïve and foolish. He was rich, gorgeous, and wicked. Yeah, we were not on a level playing field.

  “Would you like me to seduce you?” I whispered in his ear. With my other hand, I reached the crop down his arm to tickle his arm. He was still wearing a button-up shirt, but it was rolled up to expose his strong, tanned wrists.

  “Be careful what you wish for, Zoe.” He bent his wrist and grabbed the crop in his fist, tugging my arm along with it. My head knocked against his lightly.

  “Oof!”

  The man was an expert at putting me off-balance—emotionally, psychologically, and now literally. He spun around to pull me over the smooth leather back of the couch and on to his hard lap.

  “What was that about new tricks?” he murmured against my lips. I was stretched out over him, almost lying on top of him. He made one hell of a mattress.

  I was too close not to kiss him. It was as inevitable as my next breath. As his tongue glided against mine, he dragged the end of the crop up the back of my calf.

  “You want to try this?”

  I nodded, my lips seeking his again. His erection pressed into my belly. I braced myself up a little with one hand and shoved the other one between us to pull his shirt out of his waistband.

  Need more. More skin.

  My breath hitched as I touched the crisp hairs below his navel. Happy trail, indeed. Ecstasy trail was more like it. As I toyed with the button on his pants to get closer to the hard promise underneath, he snapped the crop against the back of my knee.

  “Uh uh uh,” he chided.

  I froze at the challenge in his eyes. The tender flesh behind my knee stung from his little flick of reprimand, making me wonder exactly what he wanted to do to me.

  For all my curiosity, I was smart enough to be a little afraid. The spanking was intense enough, but I didn’t know if I could handle a riding crop or a flogger. There was something… more violent about using a toy like that, more detached—like the difference between swatting a misbehaving child and wh
ipping a wild animal.

  This wasn’t a game we were playing anymore. This was a kink he had experience with, and I did not. Not in a million years did I believe he would harm me, but it would be just as easy to flay my heart into ribbons.

  “What is it?” He’d noticed the shift in my mood.

  I pulled my hand away from the ridges of his abs and began to push myself up and off of him. It was hard to think logically when I was this close to him.

  Escape would not be so simple, however.

  He tossed the crop over the back of the couch and let it clatter to the floor. Then he clamped his hands over my ass, holding me to him. “No. Stay.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Arf.” I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out and pant comically.

  “So funny,” he muttered. “Maybe I will collar you after all.”

  His little joke nearly stopped my heart. With one hand planted on my ass, he drew the other up my spine to tangle in the hair at the nape of my neck. Still, he held me to him, no space between our bodies.

  My legs parted, my knees finding purchase on either side of his hips so I didn’t fall. The position, though steadying, underscored the strength of his arousal beneath me.

  “Zoe? Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t know what?”

  “I don’t know what I’m thinking, what I’m doing. What we’re doing. My friends think that hooking up with you is super hot, and super stupid.” The disappointment on Tom’s face when Halle let it out still rankled me.

  “You told your friends?” Nathan’s grip on me tightened as his voice iced over.

  “Sort of. Halle kind of guessed. Was I not supposed to? Is it a secret?”

  He pushed himself up to sitting, sliding me off his lap to the floor like I was a family pet that was shedding on him. “God, you’re so fucking young.”

  The way he shook his head lit a fuse in me, inflaming all my anxieties.

  “That’s it, isn’t it? I’m too young for you to do anything but just play with me. I’m a sex doll. Not worthy of a real relationship, right?”