“It was a fine play. Being rude like that,” Natalya said, undoing the green corset. Her eyes never left Evie’s. “But you are new to this game. I invented the rules. You want me to touch you. To kiss you. To make you come by fucking you with my mouth.”
Natalya removed the corset, and her fingertips brushed over Evie’s skin. They produced nothing but warmth.
“I won’t,” Natalya said, eyes glittering with strange energy. Irritation, definitely. But maybe excitement too. “I’ll just watch you unravel instead.”
With a confidence that communicated years of practice, Natalya used the red ropes to tie up Evie’s legs. The ropes wrapped around each leg separately in elegant knots so her calves and the back of her thighs pressed together. With her legs tied like that, still kneeling, Evie couldn’t get out of the position. Her legs were bound in place. She couldn’t move.
“What are you going to do?” Evie asked, voice shaking a little. Natalya put Evie’s arms behind her back.
“What I want to. What I feel like. And not at all what you ask for.”
There was a brief pause after the statement. A moment of stillness where Natalya didn’t move, as though she was waiting for a response. Or a voiced color. When none came, she used another rope to tie Evie’s arms behind her back. Not just her hands. Herarms. Bound to each other and pointing straight down at the mattress. Other than leaning forward, Evie couldn’t move at all.
And then Natalya connected the ropes on her arms to the ones around her legs, and then she couldn’t even do that.
The rope dug into her skin, the texture of it providing just enough unique sensation that it was impossible to ignore. Evie was trapped. She was helpless. And she was utterly drenched.
“You look beautiful, all trussed up like this.” Natalya was still behind Evie, only now her lips were right by Evie’s ear. “And you’re shivering. If you hadn’t noticed.”
Eviehadnoticed. Her entire body was trembling, and her breathing was uneven.
“Please, Mistress. I just—”
Natalya grabbed Evie by the hair and pulled her head back. She was powerless to stop it, even more than usual, and when she looked up at Natalya’s triumphant face, she was reminded of the she-devil who had fucked her senseless a few weeks prior. Primal, powerful, and dominating.
“Are you sorry?” Natalya asked.
“Yes, Mistress.”
“What are you sorry for?”
“For being rude, Mistress. For trying to force you, Mistress.”
Evie didn’t dare not say her title. She didn’t dare not be polite. It wouldn’t just be reckless. It would be like jumping over a bonfire drenched in gasoline.
Natalya tightened her grip on Evie’s hair, making her whimper. There was still no unique sensation from Natalya’s touch, but her hair being pulled started something in Evie she wasn’t ready for. Her body actuallyachedfrom longing.
“I’m sorry, Mistress.”
“There’s a good girl,” Natalya said. The words fluttered through Evie like a warm breeze. She sighed hearing them, and her body stopped tensing. It relaxed. Went heavy.
At an earlier point in her life, that sort of reaction would have made her feel embarrassed. It would have been too vulnerable a response to share. But there, on the bed—tied up, exposed, andforced into complete submission—Evie was strangely at ease. Strangely calm.
As calm as she could be when a fiend was holding onto her hair with a fist that might as well have been made of steel.
Natalya leaned down, her lips an inch from Evie’s. “Do you want a kiss?”
“Yes. Please, Mistress. Please.”
If Natalya hadn’t been holding onto her, she might have dared steal one.Might.
“That’s unfortunate.” Natalya smiled for the first time since they’d entered the room. It wasnota pleasant expression. She looked way too satisfied. “You’re not getting one. Not until I decide you’ve earned it.”
She turned Evie around so they were facing each other and held up a bright red gag ball with leather straps on it. Evie had no idea when she’d fetched it.
“I’m not sure I can trust you not to be disrespectful again,” Natalya said. “I’ll need to make contingencies. To ensure you take your punishment without displaying further rudeness.”
Natalya cocked her head with poorly hidden glee. She was enjoying this a worrying amount. “Open wide, Evie.”
