"It's getting easier, isn't it?" I whisper.

He nods as I slowly push his shirt off his shoulders and let it fall to the foor.

"What have you done to me, Ana?" he murmurs. "Whatever it is, don't stop." And he gathers me in his arms, fsting both his hands in my hair and pulling my head right back so that he can have easy access to my throat.

He runs his lips up to my jaw, nipping softly. I groan. Oh, I want this man. My fngers fumble at his waistband, undoing the b.u.t.ton and pulling down the zipper.

"Oh, baby," he breathes as he kisses me behind my ear. I feel his erection, frm and hard, straining against me. I want him-in my mouth. I step back abruptly and drop to my knees.

"Whoa?" he gasps.

I tug his pants and boxers sharply, and he springs free. Before he can stop me, I take him into my mouth, sucking hard, enjoying his shocked astonishment as his mouth drops open. He gazes down at me, watching my every move, eyes so dark and flled with carnal bliss. Oh my. I sheath my teeth and suck harder. He closes his eyes and surrenders to this blissful carnal pleasure is so arousing. I know what I do to him, and it's hedonistic, liberat- ing, and s.e.xy as h.e.l.l. The feeling is heady, I'm not just powerful-I'm omniscient.

"f.u.c.k," he hisses and gently cradles my head, fexing his hips so he moves deeper inside my mouth. Oh yes, I want this and I swirl my tongue around him, pulling hard ...

over and over.

"Ana." He tries to step back.

Oh no you don't, Grey. I want you. I grab his hips frmly, doubling my efforts, and I can tell he's close.

"Please," he pants. "I'm gonna come, Ana," he groans.

Good. My inner G.o.ddess's head is thrown back in ecstasy, and he comes, loudly and wetly, into my mouth.

He opens his bright gray eyes, gazing down at me, and I smile up at him, licking my lips. He grins back at me, a wicked, salacious grin.

"Oh, so this is the game we're playing, Miss Steele?" He bends, hooks his hands under my arms, and pulls me to my feet. Suddenly his mouth is on mine. He groans.

"I can taste myself. You taste better," he murmurs against my lips. He tugs my T-shirt off and throws it carelessly onto the foor, then picks me up and tosses me onto the bed.

Grabbing the end of my sweats, he tugs abruptly so that they come off in one swift move.

I'm naked underneath, sprawled across his bed. Waiting. Wanting. His eyes drink me in, and slowly he removes his remaining clothes, not taking his eyes off me.

"You are one beautiful woman, Anastasia," he murmurs appreciatively.

Hmm ... I tilt my head coquettishly to one side and beam at him.

"You are one beautiful man, Christian, and you taste mighty fne."He gives me a wicked grin and reaches for the spreader bar. Grabbing my left ankle, he quickly cuffs it, strapping the buckle tightly, but not too tight. He tests how much room I have by sliding his little fnger between the cuff and my ankle. He doesn't take his eyes off mine; he doesn't need to see what he's doing. Hmm ... he's done this before.

"We'll have to see how you taste. If I recall, you're a rare, exquisite delicacy, Miss Steele."

Oh.

Grasping my other ankle, he quickly and effciently cuffs that one as well, so that my feet are about two feet apart.

"The good thing about this spreader is, it expands," he murmurs. He clicks something on the bar, then pushes, so my legs spread further. Whoa, three feet apart. My mouth drops open, and I take a deep breath. f.u.c.k, this is hot. I'm on fre, restless and needy.

Christian licks his lower lip.

"Oh, we're going to have some fun with this, Ana." Reaching down he grasps the bar and twists it so I fip on to my front. It takes me by surprise.

"See what I can do to you?" he says darkly and twists it again abruptly, so I am once more on my back, gaping up at him, breathless.

"These other cuffs are for your wrists. I'll think about that. Depends if you behave or not."

"When do I not behave?"

"I can think of a few infractions," he says softly, running his fngers up the soles of my feet. It tickles, but the bar holds me in place, though I try to writhe away from his fngers.

"Your Blackberry, for one."

I gasp. "What are you going to do?"

"Oh, I never disclose my plans." He smirks, his eyes alight with pure devilment.

Holy cow. He's so mind-bogglingly s.e.xy, it takes my breath away.

He crawls up the bed so that he's kneeling between my legs, gloriously naked, and I'm helpless.

"Hmm. You are so exposed, Miss Steele." He runs the fngers of both his hands up the inside of each of my legs, slowly, surely, making small circular patterns. Never breaking eye contact with me.

"It's all about antic.i.p.ation, Ana. What will I do to you?" His softly spoken words pen- etrate right to the deepest, darkest, part of me. I wriggle on the bed and moan. His fngers continue their slow a.s.sault up my legs, past the backs of my knees. Instinctively, I want to close my legs but I can't.

"Remember, if you don't like something, just tell me to stop," he murmurs. Bending over, he kisses my belly, soft, sucky kisses while his hands continue their slow tortuous journey north up my inner thighs, touching and teasing.

"Oh please, Christian," I plead.

"Oh, Miss Steele. I've discovered you can be merciless in your amorous a.s.saults upon me. I think I should return the favor."

My fngers clutch the duvet as I surrender myself to him, his mouth gently heading south, his fngers north, to the vulnerable and exposed apex of my thighs. I groan as he eas- es his fngers inside me and buck my pelvis up to meet them. Christian moans in response."You never cease to amaze me, Ana. You're so wet," he murmurs against the line where my pubic hair joins my belly. My body bows as his mouth fnds me.

Oh my.

He begins a slow and sensual a.s.sault, his tongue swirling around and around while his fngers move inside me. Because I can't close my legs, or move, it's intense, really intense.

My back arches as I try to absorb the sensations.

"Oh, Christian," I cry.

"I know, baby," he whispers, and to ease up on me, he blows softly on the most sensi- tive part of my body.

"Arrgh! Please!" I beg.

"Say my name," he commands.

"Christian," I call, hardly recognizing my own voice-it's so high-pitched and needy.

"Again," he breathes.

"Christian, Christian, Christian Grey," I call out loudly.

"You are mine." His voice is soft and deadly and with one last fick of his tongue, I fall-spectacularly-embracing my o.r.g.a.s.m, and because my legs are so far apart, it goes on and on and I am lost.

Vaguely, I'm aware that Christian has fipped me on to my front.

"We're going to try this, baby. If you don't like it, or it's too uncomfortable, tell me, and we'll stop."

What? I am too lost in the afterglow to form any sentient or coherent thoughts. I am sitting on Christian's lap. How did that happen?

"Lean down, baby," he murmurs at my ear. "Head and chest on the bed."

In a daze I do as I'm told. He pulls both my hands backward and cuffs them to the bar, next to my ankles. Oh . . . My knees are drawn up, my a.s.s in the air, utterly vulnerable, completely his.

"Ana, you look so beautiful." His voice is full of wonder, and I hear the rip of foil. He runs his fngers from the base of my spine down toward my s.e.x and pauses a beat over my a.s.s.

"When you're ready, I want this, too." His fnger is hovering over me. I gasp loudly as I feel myself tense under his gentle probing. "Not today, sweet Ana, but one day ... I want you every way. I want to possess every inch of you. You're mine."

I think about the b.u.t.t plug, and everything tightens deep inside me. His words make me groan, and his fngers move down and around to more familiar territory.

Moments later, he's slamming into me. "Aagh! Gently," I cry, and he stills.

"You okay?"

"Gently ... let me get used to this."

He eases slowly out of me then eases gently back, flling me, stretching me, twice, thrice, and I am helpless.

"Yes, good, I've got it now," I murmur, relishing the feeling.

He groans, and picks up his rhythm. Moving, moving ... relentless ... onward, in- ward, flling me ... and it's exquisite. There's joy in my helplessness, joy in my surrender to him, and to know that he can lose himself in me the way he wants to. I can do this. He takes me to these dark places, places I didn't know existed, and together we fll them with blinding light. Oh yes ... blazing, blinding light.

And I let go, glorying in what he does to me, fnding my sweet, sweet release, as I come again, loudly, screaming his name. And he stills, pouring his heart and soul into me.

"Ana, baby," he cries and collapses beside me.

His fngers deftly undo the straps, and he rubs my ankles then my wrists. When he's fn- ished and I'm fnally free, he pulls me into his arms and I drift, exhausted.

When I surface again, I am curled beside him and he's gazing at me. I have no idea what the time is.

"I could watch you sleep forever, Ana," he murmurs and he kisses my forehead.

I smile and shift languorously beside him.

"I never want to let you go," he says softly and wraps his arms around me.

Hmm. "I never want to go. Never let me go," I mutter sleepily, my eyelids refusing to open.

"I need you," he whispers, but his voice is a distant, ethereal part of my dreams. He needs me ... needs me ... and as I fnally slip into the darkness, my last thoughts are of a small boy with gray eyes and dirty, messy, copper-colored hair smiling shyly at me.

CHAPTER 17

Hmm.

Christian is nuzzling my neck as I slowly wake.

"Morning, baby," he whispers and nips at my earlobe. My eyes futter open and close again quickly. Bright early morning light foods the room, and his hand is softly caressing my breast, gently teasing me. Moving down he grasps my hip as he lies behind me, holding me close.

I stretch out beside him, relishing his touch, and feel his erection against my behind.

Oh my. A Christian Grey wake-up call.

"You're pleased to see me," I mumble sleepily, squirming suggestively against him. I feel his grin against my jaw.

"I'm very pleased to see you," he says as he skates his hand over my stomach and down to cup my s.e.x and explore with his fngers. "There are defnite advantages to waking up beside you, Miss Steele," he teases and gently pulls me round so that I'm lying on my back.

"Sleep well?" he asks as his fngers continue their sensual torture. He's smiling down at me-his dazzling, all-American-drop-dead-male-model-perfect-teeth smile. He takes my breath away. My hips begin to sway to the rhythm of the dance his fngers have begun. He kisses me chastely on the lips and then moves down my neck, nipping slowly, kissing, and sucking as he goes. I moan. He's gentle and his touch is light and heavenly. His intrepid fngers move down, and slowly he eases one inside me, hissing quietly in awe.

"Oh, Ana," he murmurs reverentially against my throat. "You're always ready." He moves his fnger in time with his kisses as his lips journey leisurely across my clavicle and then down to my breast. He torments frst one, then the other nipple with teeth and lips, but oh-so-gently, and they tighten and lengthen in sweet response.

I groan.

"Hmm," he growls softly and raises his head to give me a blazing gray-eyed look. "I want you now." He reaches over to the bedside table. He shifts on top of me, taking his weight on his elbows, and rubs his nose along mine while easing my legs apart with his. He kneels up and rips open the foil packet.

"I can't wait until Sat.u.r.day," he says, his eyes glowing with salacious delight.

"Your party?" I pant.

"No. I can stop using these f.u.c.kers."

"Aptly named." I giggle.

He smirks at me as he rolls on the condom. "Are you giggling, Miss Steele?"

"No." I try and fail to straighten my face.

"Now is not the time for giggling." He shakes his head in admonishment and his voice is low, stern, but his expression-holy cow-is glacial and volcanic at once.