Giving In: Surrender Trilogy by Maya Banks Read Free Book Online Page B

that there was nothing he wouldn’t do in order to ensure she no longer feared him.
    “I’m sleeping here tonight. With you. In this bed,” he said in a calm voice as if they were discussing the mundane.
    Terror blistered through her eyes and her breath quickened. Her pulse stuttered and panic slammed into her. He could see her struggling for breath, her nostrils flaring with the effort.
    “Listen to me, Kylie. I understand you far better than you think. You value control in all things, because you once had that control taken from you. I’m going to give that back to you. Tonight. I’m going to sleep here, with you, so that you know you’re safe. I want you to rest. One night without dreams, or at the very least someone to comfort you when the dreams torture you. And so you are in absolute control and so you know you have nothing to fear, you’re going to tie my hands to your bedpost so that I am, in effect, helpless.”

FIVE
    KYLIE stared at Jensen in complete astonishment. “That’s crazy!”
    It was more than crazy. It was absolute insanity. Tie him to the bed? Despite the fact that this was a man she’d never imagine putting himself in a vulnerable position with anyone, particularly a woman, the idea of tying
anyone
to her bed was just nuts!
    “Would it make you feel safer?” he asked mildly, as if he hadn’t just proposed such lunacy. “Think about it, Kylie. You would have complete control. Nothing to fear. I would, in effect, be utterly helpless. But I will not leave you alone tonight. So your only two options are to trust me enough to share your bed with me or tie my hands to the headboard.”
    Her head spun. Her thoughts were a jumble of chaotic mess. The sheer selflessness that such an act involved was overwhelming.
    Without waiting for her response, he abruptly got up and left her room. Maybe he had decided that he’d experienced a brief break from reality and was now getting the hell out. She didn’t know if she was relieved or disappointed.
    No matter how much she protested the idea or how much her instincts screamed that this man was dangerous to her, the thought of being alone tonight, like so many other nights, was more than she could bear.
    She’d just about decided he
had
run for cover when he returned, striding through her door as though he belonged there, a pair of handcuffs in his hand.
    Handcuffs.
    Her eyes bugged out as she stared openmouthed at him.
    “Who the hell carries handcuffs around with them unless they’re a cop?” she demanded.
    The corner of his mouth quirked upward. “Never know when one might need them.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “Are you into kink? That dominant stuff Dash and Tate are involved in? Are you like them?”
    His gaze was level and he seemed unruffled by her suspicion.
    “I can assure you I am not like them. I’m me. Jensen. I don’t need or have any desire to model my desires after another or to emulate others. What Dash and Tate do is their own business, between them and their partners. Just as what I do, what I need and desire, is my own.”
    “You want me to use those. On you,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper.
    He sat down beside her, his fingertips grazing the skin from her shoulder to her elbow. Even through the material of her pajamas the heat from his touch scalded her.
    “What I want is for you to feel safe,” he corrected. “And if this enables you to feel safe. With me. Then yes, that is exactly what I want you to do. Handcuff me to your bed.”
    Did it make her a raving lunatic to give consideration to his bizarre proposition? But she didn’t want him to leave. She didn’t want to be alone. She’d been alone for so very long. Just one night she wanted what he promised. Peace. A respite from fear and the agony of her dreams. A source of comfort, one he was selflessly offering her. Would she be a fool to refuse him?
    “Perhaps just one hand,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t want you to be too uncomfortable.”
    His eyes