===========================
PART 4: GOOD MORNING TO YOU, TOO
===========================
I opened my eyes slowly. The natural, musky scent of a man mixed with a spicy cologne filled my nose when I breathed in deeply against the pillow. My fingers squeezed around the malleable fabric, and I smiled. Remembering.
"Feeling rested?"
My smile widened when I glanced over my shoulder to see Alex leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed. He had on a blue, graphic T-Shirt and jeans, his hair messy on top. God, he looked delicious.
"Don't move," he said when I started to roll over.
I froze, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm enjoying the view at the moment." His eyes dropped from mine, and his own smile grew broader.
Heat filled my cheeks, knowing what he was looking at since I was on my stomach, my arms tucked under a pillow. I could feel that the sheet was barely covering my ass and one leg. My other leg was bent with my naked thigh and knee obviously visible, if not part of my hip. My entire back from the waist up was bared as well, and the angle I was now prostrate in also gave him a side shot of my right boob.
He scrubbed his chin with one hand, his tongue occasionally slipping out to lick his lips.
"Am I in your way, being here?"
His gaze met and held mine. "Emma, I invited you to come over this weekend. Whenever you like for as long as you like, for that matter. I wouldn't have said it if it weren't true. Having you here also helps me. You are a wonderful distraction."
"Well, then by all means, I'll stay." I meant it, but something still irked me. I wanted to be around because he desired me. Not to be a distraction from his work. I watched him approach and sit on the end of the bed by my feet. "Get any more reading done?"
"Mmm hmm. And some solid work on the big, final project."
"Good for you."
"Thanks." He continued the conversation, though his eyes seemed to be focused on my rear end again. "It's shaping up pretty well, actually. I'm happily surprised."
I shook my ass just a little to confirm my suspicions.
"Sassy thing," he mumbled, the corner of his mouth twitching. Then his hand rested lightly on what little of the sheet remained covering me, the heat of his palm palpable through the fabric.
A shiver rippled up my back. "So, back to my question from earlier...the reading you got done. Was that for school...or pleasure?"
"Mmm. Unfortunately, school... but pleasure tomorrow night, hopefully. I got your Email."
I closed my eyes and admitted, "I'm anxious to hear what you think."
His hand moved slightly, grazing the side of my bare ass now. "Mmm. I'm anxious to learn more about you. To imagine doing it all to you."
The glance I shot back at him was filled with both trepidation and mischievousness. For what he would think of what was in my head...and the longing to experience it myself.
"Mmm. That's the face I feel like a certain girl would make when she's about to get spanked but is trying to get out of it."
I blushed and tucked my head between my arms and the pillow.
Alex's hand stroked fully across my skin now, but he didn't make any sudden moves to smack me. The moment I moaned softly at his touch, he let out a low growl of a laugh. "You're a cutie. Does the idea of not knowing if you're getting spanked excite you?"
"Yes, Sir." I still couldn't look at him, even after all that had transpired this morning. Or maybe because of it.
"Mmm. Good girl."
He continued teasing in my nether region, his fingers coming dangerously close to my asshole but always shying away each time I sucked in my breath. It was both arousing and calming. Strange.
I thought of one of the pictures he'd sent me, a woman laid out on the bed on her stomach with her arms and hands bound behind her back. Her ass had been completely on display, unlike mine that was only half-exposed. For now.
"So the photos you showed me. You said they were of ties you had done. Have you practiced your rope techniques on willing victims a lot?"
"Some. But not recently."
"Ever do any Shibari?"
"Mmm. I've done some pretty elaborate harnesses, so I guess, yeah." His hand paused on my right ass cheek. "Why do you ask?"
"Turns me on."
The heat of his body caressed my back when I felt him lean toward me. "Yeah? You wanna be roped up and helpless?"
All I could do was mewl because his hand had continued stroking. Luring my thoughts away from what he was saying.
"I saw the photos you included with the story you sent me. Is that how you want to be tied?"
I squeezed my eyes shut, remembering. Focusing. "Yes. They're multifunctional...beautiful to look at."
"Mmm. Also true. The first oneβwith the elbows and wrists bound behind the back? It's called a strappado. I love it. It's a classic."
"The second one," I smiled, "was the inspiration for the bondage scene in that story."
"It's a hot photo." His finger grazed over the crack between my ass cheeks.
I hissed at the tension he was building in me. The slight disappointment when he moved on.
Shifting my thoughts back to the photos, I imagined the two people on the bed. One was kneeling, her legs spread apart; her arms straight above her head with wrists and palms tied together as though she were praying. The binding rope was raised high and looped over a wooden beam, the other end hanging down, gripped by her partner as though he were hoisting her up. Both were completely naked. "That helpless position..."
Alex moaned in my ear. "Trust me, I know what you want."
My heart was beating faster now, my breaths coming quicker. "Can't go up, can't go down... At his mercy."
"Just have to writhe against my fingers," he chuckled.
I moaned.
"I'd love to tie you all sorts of ways that leave you helplessly exposed. Mmm. Love, love, love that."
Screw what he was imagining or the idea of ropes. It took all I had to not writhe now. To not push back against his hand that was mere inches from the bottom of my ass, his fingers lightly playing over the skin but not really touching.