TWO

Leather slid through Brandon's belt loops, one at a time, with a sound that sent a spiral of desire straight to Leah's too-long-denied clit. Thwap. Thwap. Thump. He gripped the belt's buckle end in one of those big hands and yanked it free, finally, to dangle from his hand.

He was grinning, the bastard.

'Look at this nice new belt.' His voice dipped, husky-low. Leah kept her chin high, expression neutral. 'I see it.'

Brandon didn't seem swayed by her lack of reaction. Looping the leather in his fists, he tugged it with another thwap that weakened her knees so much she had to grab the back of the nearby desk chair to keep her balance. Her pussy pulsed, her clit a tight, hard knot against the silk of her panties, but Leah was so not going there.

Not in Brandon's parents' basement with them doing God knew what just above. The house was quiet, but that didn't mean they were asleep. And it was the rumpus room for fuck's sake!

'What a nice belt this is.'

God, he knew just how to tease her. Thwap went the leather in his hands and he tucked the end through the buckle to make a loop just large enough for both his wrists. He held it up. 'Leah, don't you want to help me use this belt?'

She'd given him that belt, supple black leather with a plain silver buckle, just over a week ago. She'd given it before Christmas because they'd be spending the actual day with his family, and how, exactly, do you gift your lover with a belt you intend to tie him up with and have him open it in front of his parents?

She should've waited, she thought as his tongue swiped across his lips and all she could do was imagine it buried between her legs. Above their heads, Leah heard the skitter of claws on linoleum. That would be Scamp, the Longs' appropriately adorable mutt. That, along with the squeak of the back door opening, was also a reminder that, although the house was dark and mostly quiet, they weren't alone.

With the belt still dangling like sin from his fist, Brandon reached over his shoulder with his free hand to grab at the neck of his white T-shirt and pull it off over his head. It snagged on the belt and he tugged it free to toss the shirt onto the faded and spring-busted recliner in front of the battered television. Most of the white-painted basement had been decorated with cheery bright furniture and posters on the walls, a billiard table and Brandon's dad's prized possession, a vintage KISS pinball machine. But this guest space contained, in addition to the lumpy pull-out sofa, the cast-offs from when the Longs had redecorated. The fact Brandon had told her he'd received his very first blow job on that chair might have offended her except the thought of it had turned her on so much she couldn't look at the chair without wanting to make him forget any other woman had ever touched him.

'Brandon,' Leah said warningly and watched his pupils dilate. Fuck. She was only going to turn him on more, at this rate. Herself, too.

This could be a problem.

Bare-chested, he stood straight. It was just an illusion that the top of his dark head brushed the ceiling beams. At least she thought it was. He was seventy-thousand feet tall, after all, and she knew every single inch of him.

'Your parents,' she managed to say with another glance upwards as the door squeaked open and shut and Scamp clattered across the floor again.

'That's my dad letting the dog in. Mom's in bed. He's going to bed, too.'

But she couldn't fuck him in his parents' house, she just couldn't. It was bad enough his mom had greeted them with a cheery grin so much like Brandon's it had been startling, had given them this basement guest space instead of, as Leah had assumed, assigning them separate rooms. Brandon had seemed to take it as a matter of course, not noticing as he slung their bags onto the couch and showed her the tiny but functional bathroom that Leah had been shocked into silence by his parents' seemingly easy acceptance of their son's relationship with an older woman.

They'd been there for four days. Arrived on Christmas Eve and planned to stay until New Year's Day. It had been four days of whirlwind activity from morning until night, with present opening, visiting relatives, taking tours of Brandon's hometown and viewing the hot spots — his elementary school, high school, the grocery store where he'd had his first job.

The chair where he'd had his first blow job.

Her eyes flicked towards it against her will, and he didn't miss the look. Brandon hooked a finger in the button of his jeans and tugged it open. Then the zipper, notch by notch. When he pushed the denim over his hips and stepped out of it, still without letting go of that damned belt, Leah's heart set up a steady thumping that sounded so loud she was sure he could hear it. He had to see the way her mouth parted and her breath hissed in over her tongue. He never missed anything like that.

Down went the jeans and he stood there in his soft cotton boxer briefs, already bulging in the front. Lord have mercy, he was a knee-trembler. Her grip tightened on the desk chair, which swivelled a little.

'Brandon.' Leah tried to sound stern. 'This is not the place.'

He grinned again, damn him. 'Why not?'

Because your mother wears sweatshirts with pictures of kittens on the front, and I can't deflower her son in her house without feeling like a fucking slut. Because your dad looks just like you will in another twenty years and is only a couple years older than my last lover. Because I'd prepared myself for them to hate me, and instead they've welcomed me into your family like a daughter, and I den't know how to handle that.

She didn't say any of those things, because Brandon had moved step-by-step closer, and she could smell him. Soap and water. A hint of cold fresh air. They'd been out visiting his grandparents and aunts and uncles, had taken a walk around the neighbourhood. His hand had kept hers warm.

He was so tall and stood so close she had to tip her head back to look at his face, but she was helpless not to. With the desk just behind her ass, Leah let herself sit on the edge so she could lean back far enough to keep her neck from cricking. That was more of a mistake than giving him that damned belt had been, because all she could think about was the first time he'd gone down on her, in that Harrisburg hotel room. She'd told him to eat her pussy and he'd gone to his knees like a pro. How long had it been since she'd had his mouth on her cunt? The five days she'd had her period before they left Pennsylvania for Iowa, and four days here, but who was counting?

Leah was not a woman who gave up control. When Brandon leant down to offer his mouth to hers she didn't turn her head, but neither did she lean to meet him. His grin curved his lips and his breath teased her. He didn't kiss her. He was waiting for her.

Oh, they'd come so far. Six months ago she'd have said there was no way this beautiful man, sexy and self-confident, strong and secure, would ever have put himself in a place where she could get him hard with nothing more than a murmured command. She wouldn't have believed it of herself, either. And yet here they were, not mistress and slave but something far, far deeper.

I love you,' he whispered into her ear when she didn't grant him the privilege of her kiss.

Her pulse throbbed in her wrists and throat, and between her legs. Leah drew in a soft breath, not because the words were new or even unexpected, but because her world still rocked a little every time she heard him say them. He knew it, too. He was working her, but did she care?

He'd braced his hands on the desk on either side of her hips, his upper body a mere inch from hers and his mouth teasing her ear. Now Leah reached to sink her fingers into the deep, dark depths of his hair at the base of his neck. She traced the familiar curve of his skull and arched her back as his breath gusted over her skin on his hiss of pleasure.

She pulled, hard, harder than she'd have dared six months ago when this was all still new. She knew better, now, what he could take. Brandon could take a lot.

She pulled his hair as she turned her face to his and held him with their mouths a breath apart. It wasn't that her grip kept him still. She had her fingers tightly woven into his hair, but he was big enough to get away if he wanted to. She tugged again to remind him of that, and another slow exhale drifted over her face.

Leah leant in and, eager, Brandon almost kissed her. Her hand in his hair arrested him, and his dark eyes went wide. She'd surprised him.

The white, soft hum of arousal filtered out all the other sounds. Leah looked deep into her lover's eyes and felt her smile teasing him. 'No.'

Her hand cupped the back of his neck for a moment before sliding over his shoulder and down to his chest. She pinched his nipple lightly until it pebbled under her touch and his skin humped into gooseflesh. Brandon let out another breath, this time with a shiver. You don't want me to kiss you?'

She loved it when he asked her what she wanted, how to give it to her. How to please her. She wanted a lover, not a mind-reader. She loved it even more when he got cocky and thought he knew. Most of the time he did, without question, but there were still times like now when she was able to remind them both of the rules of the game.

'Oh, I want you to kiss me, Brandon.'

Heat had bloomed between them, more now against her thigh where his crotch pressed. It was his name, the way she said it. Turned him on, and knowing that it was his trigger got her revved up, too. He smiled. 'Not on the mouth?'

Leah wanted to smile, too. She always did when she saw Brandon's grin. It lit him up from inside, infectious, and made her want to kiss him breathless. She raised a brow instead and kept her expression cool.

Without saying anything, she put her hand on the top of his head and pushed down. The desk creaked when he shifted and went to his knees in front of her, when he pushed her legs apart under the long corduroy skirt she'd chosen for both warmth and fashion.

The material dipped between her knees and made a well into which he pressed his face. Looking down, she ran her fingers through his hair as his hands came to rest on her ankles. She still wore her knee-high leather boots, flat-heeled for walking. He'd bought her those boots.

His nose nudged her through the multiple layers of her skirt, tights and panties. He sat back on his heels, his dark eyes alight with desire. The belt had fallen to the floor, forgotten.

Leah leant back on the desk a little and put her foot into his lap. 'Boots.'

First, he leant forwards to rub his cheek against her calf. He drew in a breath, smelling the leather. He made a fuck-noise low in his throat, and her clit pulsed. Her hips shifted, the desk creaked, and Brandon looked up at her as though he knew exactly what he was doing to her.

Which, of course, he did.

Next, he ran those big, strong hands up the leather, then found the zipper and tugged it down. Not fast. Brandon inched the zipper open without looking away from her eyes. Each separating tooth eased the leather's constriction on her calves until finally the entire boot had opened.

Heat leaked through the vents on the ceiling and the room wasn't chilly, but Leah shivered at how cold the basement air felt on her leg without the boot's protection. Or maybe the shiver came from Brandon's fingers easing the boot from her foot and how he cradled it in his lap. Her tights-covered toes pressed the bulge in his boxers.

Gently, he put her foot on the floor and lifted the other boot into his lap to repeat the process. Leah wiggled her toes, which had been slightly pinched, and Brandon captured her ankle in his huge hand. He could circle his fingers all the way around it.

Leah hooked her fingers into the soft corduroy and inched it higher, over her thighs. Winter-weight tights weren't quite as sexy as thigh-highs and garters, but, hell, it was cold in Iowa.

Brandon didn't seem to care. He ran his hands up her legs and drifted them over her knees and thighs. 'Leah.'

'Yes, baby.' She stroked his hair back from his face.

'I want to taste you.'

He wasn't asking permission, but she gave it to him anyway because they both liked it that way. 'Put your mouth on me.'

With another grin and a duck of his head, Brandon leant forwards to press his face into her pussy. Leah's legs parted wider and she gripped the desk as he lifted one of her legs to go over his shoulder. His hot breath seeped through the fabric of her tights and panties, warming her already heated cunt. He kissed her there, then rubbed his lips over her clit. Her mouth slammed shut on a groan at the pressure, which was tantalising but not nearly enough.

'Stand up,' he whispered.

She did and stood over him so he could hook his fingers into the elastic at her waist and pull her tights down over her legs. Her skirt she held high, bunched at her waist.

Brandon had to wrestle with the stretchy tights to get them all the way off, and Leah laughed. He tipped his face up to her as he pulled, laughing too.

Love swept over her in a wave so fierce it would have sent her to join him on her knees had she not grabbed his shoulder. The white hum that always tickled her ears when he was submitting to her, no matter how subtly, for a moment became a roar. Leah gasped, and Brandon's grin faded.

His brow furrowed. 'Leah?'

She shook her head. His hands on the backs of her thighs steadied her. So did the kiss he pressed to just above each knee. Her skirt had fallen on one side when she grabbed his shoulder, and Brandon pushed it aside to reach her flesh.

She loved him. This was not some schoolgirl crush or something to do to pass the time. He wasn't a man she put up with because it was easier than breaking it off. She'd chosen Brandon six months ago, and she still chose him, every day.

Leah undid the buttons at the front of her skirt and let it fall off her hips. It caught briefly on him and then fell to the floor when he moved. She stepped out of it, still in her panties and soft turtleneck sweater.

Her nipples peaked through the lace of her bra and showed clearly through her sweater. Brandon didn't miss that, and his eyes gleamed again. He put his hands on her ass and pulled her forwards against his mouth. One hand tugged the cotton to the side and then, oh, fuck yes, he'd found her with his tongue and lips.

Her grip bore down on his shoulder, her nails digging into his skin, but Brandon didn't even flinch. He moaned into her. He licked her dit and sucked gently until Leah's hips bucked forwards.

She wouldn't be able to stand for this, literally unable to keep upright while he ate her. She needed to sit, to lean, to lie down. But for now it felt too good for her to move as he spread her pussy with his fingers and nibbled her clit with teasing strokes of his tongue and lips.

It was rare they went for more than a day or two without making love, and it had been a helluva lot longer than that. Leah's cunt contracted in the first orgasmic spasm by the time Brandon had pulled her panties off. When he bent back to blow on her, small, steady puffs, Leah couldn't hold back the groan of frustration.

She looked down at him, and then he was on his feet. Stretching up, up, up, he towered over her. His hands tangled in the hem of her sweater and pulled it off over her head. When his mouth crushed hers, Leah was already wrapping her arms around his neck and jumping into his embrace. He caught her easily, his hands under her ass, and walked her to the pulled-out couch that screamed in protest when they sank onto it.

His cock, still shielded by cotton, rubbed her belly. He rolled them both until she straddled him. Mouths locked, tongues stabbing and dancing, they both worked to get him naked. Panting, Leah pulled back to ride his thighs and reach for his delicious erection. It leapt in her hand and she drew gentle, teasing fingers down the length until she reached his balls.

And she stopped.

Brandon stopped too, his every muscle tense. He licked his lips, his gaze going first to where her hand cupped his balls and then to her face. Under her touch, his skin grew hotter. He wasn't helpless in her grip, but they could both pretend he was. 'Do you still want to taste me?'

His tongue crept out again to swipe over the mouth she'd come to crave with an addict's intensity. 'Yes.' 'Well then,' Leah murmured, 'I guess it's your lucky day.'

She crawled up his body and sat on his chest, her knees next to his ears. Brandon was already holding her hips and urging her forwards until her cunt hovered perfectly over his face, but Leah didn't lower herself close enough for him to lick her. Not yet.

So much of what they did was based on trust and anticipation, she wanted to relish this just a moment longer. From this position there was no question who was in control. She could move, writhe, even grind herself onto his face if she wanted to. But for now she only teased his lips with the fluff of her curls.

Brandon could have forced her down, or lifted his head to reach her, but he liked the game as much as she did. Sometimes, based on how easy it was to get him erect and panting in her ear, Leah wondered if he didn't love it even more. He waited, each breath catching in his throat as his fingers flexed on her hips.

Without a headboard to grasp, Leah had to be satisfied with bracing herself on the back of the couch. Her hands sank into the padded fabric a little too deeply to make this comfortable, but in the next moment she barely noticed as she shifted her hips to brush her cunt along Brandon's lips.

He was ready for her. His tongue found her seam and parted it, darting inside to taste her just as he'd said he wanted. With a shudder, Leah dropped her head forwards, eyes closed as pleasure made her blind.

Brandon found her clit and sucked gently as she rocked her body back and forth. She set the pace, but he kept up. His hands roved her ass and thighs as Leah moved on his mouth.

Her thighs trembled as Brandon's clever tongue teased her clit towards orgasm. He knew just how to circle and stroke her, just how much pressure to give and when to take it away. Pleasure had taken over and stolen her control. Her body moved on its own, and Brandon didn't falter even when her hips pumped against him.

She thought about his cock as she rode his mouth. How hard it was, how thick. How it would feel inside her, in just a minute or two, just as soon as she came . . .

The knock on the door didn't register right away. When it came again, Leah's low moan strangled her. She froze, her body tipping on the edge of pleasure's precipice, so close to coming she couldn't believe she hadn't already fallen over the edge. 'Bingo?'

Shit. Caroline, Brandon's mother, was knocking on the door while her son . . . wasn't stopping . . .

Leah's fingers gouged deep dents in the back of the couch, and now she pushed with her hands to move herself off Brandon's face. If she ever needed a reminder he was strong enough to never obey her if he didn't want to, she didn't want it now. His hands gripped her hips and kept her still, her cunt hovering over his mouth.

'. . . yeah,' he said after a moment, sounding sleepy.

Don't open the door, Leah prayed. The room was small and everything in it was in full view of the doorway. Don't open it . . . 'Sorry to wake you, honey, but I wanted to remind you both to toss your laundry into the basket in the laundry room, OK? I'll throw a load in tomorrow morning.'

Leah's heart was pounding, but when Brandon spoke, damn him, he let his mouth continue working its magic on her pussy. 'OK, thanks.'

Shit. She was going to come at any second, and not even the spectre of his mother listening outside the door could stop it. If he said another word, she was going to go over, go up in flames . . .

'Goad night, honey!' Caroline chirped as prettily as the birds she'd BeDaizled onto her sweatshirts. 'Good night, Leah. See you in the morning!'

Leah didn't know where she found the voice to reply, but she did. As the creak of the basement stairs announced Caroline's departure, Brandon set back to work with that wicked tongue.

The mood should've been broken by them almost being caught like a pair of naughty teenagers, but Brandon didn't seem to care. Leah did, or she would when she came down from this sexual high. For the moment all she could do was ride out the waves of pleasure turning her into a mass of boneless, quivering jelly.

Blinking, her muscles still twitching, Leah rolled onto her back next to him. Despite the interruption, the orgasm had been strong enough to knock her senseless for a minute. She came back to reality when Brandon put his hand between her legs, cupping her.

She looked at his smug grin and frowned as she sat up. Leah looked down at Brandon's prick, tapping his belly without shame. Obviously, he wasn't as disturbed as she was.

'I love it when you come on my mouth,' he said as serenely as if dirty talk fell from his lips every day.

Which, she had to admit, it often did. Nobody would ever guess it to look at him with that choir-boy face, but Brandon was as much a champ at talking about what he wanted to do as he was at doing it. Usually it melted her butter in a huge way, but not at themoment. It was hard to be annoyed in the aftermath of that orgasm, though, and even more difficult with that gorgeous cock staring at her.

Brandon got up on one hand to put the other on the back of her neck and pull her in for a kiss. She let him, tasting the remnants of her pleasure on his lips. Somehow she found herself on his lap and, since Leah wasn't a woman who let go of control, she had to admit she'd put herself there.

His cock rubbed her belly as she moved, but only for a second before she'd reached between them to guide him inside her. Brandon moaned into her mouth as she sank onto his cock all the way. Her cunt convulsed around him, and she moaned too. But softer, biting it back, ever mindful of where they were.

'You feel so good,' Brandon said.

'Shh.'

He blinked and looked at her, then grinned. 'Are you worried?'

She didn't want to talk about it now. Leah put her hand over his mouth, her fingers tight together. His eyes widened for a moment and in the next his hands clamped down hard on her hips as he thrust upwards.

Leah wasn't into many of the scenes most people would think of as representing dominance and submission. She'd had her share of that with the man she'd left just before meeting Brandon. Empty games that had no meaning and never got to the heart of what really aroused her. Not the props and toys, the leather, the cuffs, the floggers, but control and trust.

She and Brandon had been together for six months, testing that control and trust. Learning from each other. Testing the limits.

She'd bound his wrists but never gagged him. Now, her hand covering his mouth, her breath caught as his cock throbbed inside her. Leah stilled, her knees gripping him to prevent him from easily thrusting deeper. He moved once more, then acquiesced to her silent command.

Under her hand, Brandon's mouth was warm and wet. She could feel his lips parted slightly, and the smooth push-pull of his breath. A tiny muffled noise vibrated her palm, but her fingers kept it trapped.

She let her gaze go to the ceiling, as though assessing it, then back at him. A small shake of her head, and he got it. She didn't need to spell it out for him.

Silence.

She moved on him, rocking her hips. She moved slowly, twisting her body on each down stroke to make sure her clit rubbed just right on his belly. In moments her cunt slickened with desire, easing each thrust until they rocked together as smoothly as if they were part of one another.

His hands slid beneath her ass to make it easier for her to move; Leah gripped him with her thighs and locked her ankles to give herself leverage to fuck onto him harder. Faster.

She could have told him to be quiet and assumed he'd do his best, but this . . . this was . . . she wanted to make her own noises at how this made her feel. Under her hand, his mouth opened. His cries leaked out but she held them tight and quiet. Hidden. Secret.

He closed his eyes and leant into her as she fucked him. They moved together. His throat worked as he cried out with each thrust, but her hand kept him locked up tight.

The white-noise buzz filled her ears again. Great, sparkling ripples of ecstasy flooded her, and she bit back her cry as she came.

Brandon shuddered. His teeth pressed her palm and she let go of his mouth to muffle him with her kiss. She took her name from his lips inside her mouth and swallowed it, then came again as he shuddered into climax.

Sweat glued them together, and muscles she hadn't known she was using ached as Leah relaxed into Brandon's arms. He buried his face into her neck, kissing her before just resting. Quiet. She smelt his soap-and-water scent but also the unmistakable aroma of their fucking.

'Guess we'll have to wash the sheets,' he murmured, and she jerked away to look at him, appalled. 'I'm kidding!' She moved off him to hap/skip/jump into the bathroom before she could leave a stain. 'Not funny!'

He followed her and leant in the dooiway while she turned the water on in the shower. 'You really are worried, aren't you?' Leah stepped in before the water was even hot. 'I don't want your parents to think I'm fucking you raw on their pull-out sofa, OK?'

'Not raw.'

She glared, even though with that rumpled hair and just-fucked grin she really wanted to kiss him. 'I'm serious.'

He nodded and stepped into the shower with her. There wasn't nearly enough room for them both, hell, he had to duck just to get under the spray when he was in there alone. But when he tucked her up against him so she could breathe in the familiar, beloved scent of him and the water finally got hot, how could she complain?

'I love you,' Brandon said with the confidence of a man who has no doubt his love mattered. 'And relax, my parents do, too.'

Which was, Leah thought as the steam hid her face from him, a big part of the problem.