Bittersweet Read Online Free PDF Page A

expected Little Red Riding Hood to answer his knock. She did.
    “Hi, you’re early!” she said blushing. Her dress was red, and she was draping a red, hooded cape over the spectacular garment that hugged her every curve.
    Deacon swallowed hard. His throat felt stuffed full of cotton, and his head felt muddied. All he saw was red fabric, lush curves and now, peaked nipples. She was watching him watch her and reacting physically to his gaze.
    “Drop the cape,” he managed.
    She untied the small black ribbon at her throat, and the draped fabric fell to the floor with an intimate whisper.
    “Turn around,” he growled.
    She spun without a word, like a ballerina in a music box. His cock grew hard at her obedience. She practically panted to submit, but did she know? Was she aware? She would be by the end of the night.
    She was barely breathing. He watched the slow, shallow breaths move her rib cage in and out. He pushed her mass of honey-blonde hair to the side and watched the nape of her neck pebble with goose bumps. Anticipation and excitement radiated off of her in waves. So did anxiety. She was uncertain. He placed his lips at the very base of her neck. She smelled like warm cinnamon and sweet flowers. He nipped her lightly with his teeth and she let out a small, surprised sound and jumped.
    “Shhhh. Just a moment more and then we’ll go out.”
    Rayka settled just a bit but he could feel the tension in her body. He liked it. On guard but excited. He slid his fingers over her shoulders, listening to his calluses rasp on the smooth fabric. Touch me , her outfit said. So he did. He slid his tongue down the side of her throat into the hollow above her shoulder. She moaned.
    “I like that sound. I like when you lose it for me. Like last night on the phone.”
    He heard her suck in a little puff of air. Embarrassed, he was sure. Her cheeks would be a lovely shade of red, her eyes downcast. His hands traced the dip of her waist, the flare of her hips, and then she sighed, long and low. He winced as his cock grew harder still. This would be the longest dinner he had ever endured, he was sure of it.
    “What’s this?” he said and he let just a bit of steel creep into his voice.
    Rayka jumped and said nothing. Her moans and sighs and happy sounds had deserted her. Deacon snapped the thin elastic band with his fingers. The sound, even muffled by the dress, was sharp. The strike of elastic on skin sounded painful.
    “I—”
    He snapped it again, harder, and she yelped. She moved to step away from him, and he clamped a hand on her shoulder and steadied her there. She stilled. Rayka didn’t fight him or protest. She simply stopped in her tracks, panting for air.
    “I told you no panties,” he said directly into her ear. Her back was ramrod straight, her breasts rising and falling briskly. He could almost smell the worry coming off of her.
    “I didn’t think that—”
    “I was serious? I would care? Really. Come now, Rayka, tell me that to my face. Tell me you thought I was joking. That I’d be fine with you disobeying me.”
    Deacon spun her to face him and there they were. Those twin blotches of color on her cheeks as if she had been smacked. “I didn’t feel okay. I felt weird. Ashamed. Embarrassed. Whatever you want to call it.”
    “Scared? Unsure?” he rasped.
    She nodded. Eyes downcast, hands worrying at her sides.
    “Do you want to go to dinner with me?”
    She nodded. “Oh, yes.”
    “Do you want me to fuck you? After dinner. Like we both know is planned?”
    “I—”
    “What? Speak up. You what?” Now he let the animal out of its cage. He didn’t pull any punches or soften his voice. He let her see how he could be when he wasn’t pleased. He would never hurt her, but he would put her in her place. She had to know that now.
    “Yes. Yes, I do.” She dropped her head, studied her shoes.
    Deacon bent and hiked up her skirt. No preamble or warning. He lifted it briskly and didn’t allow himself the