Free Bound and Determined by Jane Davitt, Alexa Snow Page A

“You'd better finish undressing yourself,
    then, and look at me as you do it, please. I want to see your face as well as the
    rest of you.”
    God, he hurt with wanting, but he could do this. Owen had told him to do
    it, so he would. The thought that something could be that simple, that
    uncomplicated, was enough to get Sterling's hands fumbling at the front of his
    shirt, even though his fingertips were numb.
    Somehow, he managed to undo the last two buttons, then remembered
    that he was supposed to be looking at Owen. Where had he been looking? He
    wasn't sure, but Owen wasn't reprimanding him and didn't look angry, so it
    must be okay.
    Sterling slid the shirt down off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor,
    eyes locked on Owen's. Owen was watching him as he undressed. Owen was
    watching him, and he'd never been so turned on in his life.
    With still-trembling hands, Sterling undid his jeans, slid down the zipper.
    His cock was a constant, determined ache, and he could feel the wet spot that
    marked the soft cotton of his boxer briefs. He licked his lips and pushed down
    his jeans and briefs in one—Owen hadn't specified that any of this had to be

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    Jane Davitt & Alexa Snow

    slow, and Sterling was breathing quickly enough that he wasn't sure bending
    twice would be a good idea, not with the way his lips were tingling. He was
    definitely hyperventilating.
    He got his pants below his knees, then kicked them off, and his socks,
    and straightened, never taking his gaze off Owen's incredible gray eyes.
    Weirdly, he wasn't even slightly tempted to put on attitude—just spread his
    hands to his sides a little bit and stood there.
    Here I am. Look at me.
    For a moment, there was something unguarded in Owen's expression, like
    he was tempted to forget all the carefully constructed rules and instructions
    he'd built around them and just reach out and take what Sterling was offering.
    Sterling caught his breath, but the moment—a panicked moment, he realized,
    because the support of those commands was about all that was keeping him
    standing upright—passed, and Owen just nodded at him. He did that a lot, as
    if he expected Sterling to add the words to go with the nod. In this case, they'd
    probably be flattering; Sterling knew he looked good naked, and now Owen did
    too.
    In a silence that felt heavy, thick, muting the distant sound of passing
    traffic to a hum but magnifying the small sounds inside the room, Sterling
    waited as Owen looked him over, an unhurried appraisal lingering not on the
    obvious places, like his dick, straining upward, begging like the rest of him, but
    his mouth, his hands…
    It didn't get easier to bear that scrutiny when Owen walked behind him.
    Actually, what that did was send him back into fantasy. He could almost
    feel Owen's hands on him, smoothing down along his spine to his ass. God,
    Owen was going to want to fuck him, wasn't he? That was something he'd
    never considered—stupid, stupid, maybe he really was stupid, maybe that was
    why he insisted he was smart so often, to convince himself that it was true
    when it obviously wasn't. Because of course a man used to dominating his
    partners would expect to fuck his newest toy. How could Sterling not have
    realized it until now?
    The thought made his whole body tense up in a way that Owen couldn't
    possibly miss.
    “You might not have a safe word arranged with me yet, but until we take
    care of that, just stay 'stop' if you need a break,” Owen said, and God, the
    words were spoken almost into his ear because even if Owen wasn't touching
    him, he was standing so close now. “Do you?”
    Sterling shuddered and shook his head. “No. No.” But he'd gone from
    turned on to almost nauseated in a split second. He couldn't do this, not if it
    meant having Owen fuck him, even if that was weeks, months down the line.
    God, he was so stupid . “I'm sorry,” he said quickly. “Stop. I just—I can't.” He
    turned so that Owen wasn't behind