Free Wrapped Around My Finger by Kristen Strassel

a long sip of my sangria. “Like what?”
    “Some of them liked to be dominated, but a few liked to top me. It was all a game. Because they were my clients, they were always in control. But it was a game I liked, never knowing what to expect. I could play the role. Be someone else for a little while. Others liked it rough and wanted to push their limits. They hired me, so there was no reason to hold back.” He paused, gauging my reaction. I wondered if he could tell I wasn’t breathing. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
    The last time I let Jagger tell me a little of this before I shut the whole thing down, he’d said that people hired him to fulfill what they’d been refused by their husbands or were too afraid to ask for. And I made him stop because that was the category I fell into. It wasn’t the only thing I’d been refused, by a long shot. There was a reason why we’d been brought to each other. Jagger filled in all the cracks where I’d been broken and made the scars disappear. I wanted to do the same for him.
    I licked the wine from my lips. “I don’t want to hold back anymore.”
    “I never thought you were.”
    We’d never talked about sex. Never had to. Our bodies were drawn to each other in a way that didn’t need to be questioned. “I don’t want you to play a role. I want to be with you.”
    He sighed. “You always are.”
    Then why am I not enough? I knew this feeling all too well. Okay, this was going badly. That wasn’t what he meant. Neither of us could put words to what we really wanted to say. It took a lot for him to tell me what he wanted. I knew it because I couldn’t do the same for him.
    “That’s not what I meant. You joked that I was a control freak. But I hired you, so the ball’s been in my court the whole time. That’s not fair. We’re together now. And that means I want to know every part of you, not just when it comes to sex. The good, the dark, and you know what? Maybe there are some things that you’re afraid to ask for, too.”
    His shoulders relaxed, and he exhaled as if he’d been holding his breath. “You get it.”
    The waiter came with the bill, and Jagger paid it. Now wasn’t the time to argue about that.
    “I do. By now you should know I don’t half-ass anything.” I giggled, I had to lighten the moment. For a couple minutes, we’d sucked the sun out of the sky. “I put my whole ass into it.”
    “And you will be, all weekend long.” He grinned. “Something tells me I’ll lose my mind when I do this stuff with you.”
    I put my hand against his chest when we stood to leave the restaurant. “Let’s play.”

Chapter Ten
    L eah
    Jagger slammed me against the wall as soon as we got into his apartment. All the air went out of my lungs. The wall was cool against my cheek, a stark contrast from the heat the rolled off his body. His hips held me in place, and his breath was ragged against my neck. “This is all I’ve been able to think about doing since I saw you step on the escalator at the airport,” he said.
    I turned my head as much as I could. His eyes were on fire. It flowed through my veins and found its center between my thighs. My pussy pulsed faster than my heartbeat. Our lips caught in a messy kiss, connecting anywhere we could. His stubble scraped against my cheek. It was the little things like that I missed about actually being with him. We couldn’t do that on the computer. I reached back, tangling my fingers in his hair. Jagger moaned against my lips, and his sunglasses crashed onto the floor. Shit, I hoped those weren’t expensive.
    If they were, he didn’t care.
    It was so hot. “You said it wouldn’t be a quickie.”
    I shivered as he drew his finger underneath my tank top, lifting it, exposing my bra on one side. Total torture. I wanted him to rip my clothes off and take me against his front door, so anyone walking by could hear us. Instead, he traced the line of my bra slowly, curving with the lace. I started to catch my