hers before she could panic and snatch them away. “Excellent, Mia. I knew you would remember,” he praised her. “There’s no one here but you and me. No one can hear us or watch us, just like in our conversations online. Didn’t you wish we were together then?” His tone invited her to be a conspirator.
She tried to nod, forgetting about the restraint around her neck. “Yes. I was so excited about our upcoming date. I wanted to meet you,” she confessed. Somehow it was easier in the dark to be truthful.
“Did you want me to touch you?” he asked.
He was so close. She could feel his warm breath on the top of her head. Mia squeezed her inner thighs together tightly, feeling the hot arousal fluid that coated them. She craved his touch. This man who was known to her but yet a stranger. Mia bit her lip as she fought her innate shyness that had always gotten in the way of any intimate relationship she could have enjoyed. She wanted to answer, but she couldn’t.
“Would you like me to answer for you, Mia?” he asked in a patient tone that conveyed his understanding of her inability to say the word.
“Please?” she whispered.
His hands left hers. She continued to grip the bars as his warm hands traced along the outside of her arms, over the stressed muscles to her hunched shoulders. One masculine palm lifted from her torso to wrap around her throat over the leather band that secured her. His fingers tightened, scaring her for a few seconds before they released.
Rising to cradle her jaw, his thumb rubbed softly across her lips. “I am delighted that you are here, my sweet.”
She tried to nod and winced as the leather bit into her neck.
“Soon, the band will not be necessary. You will learn that there are advantages to following my directions immediately.”
As those ominous words echoed into the darkness, his fingertips lowered to trace down the midline of her body. Pausing between her uplifted breasts, his thumb brushed the sensitive swell underneath each small mound before continuing downward. That fleeting touch burned with intensity, making her gasp before her breath paused, waiting for his hand to reach its next target.
“Mia, did you follow my directions immediately?” he whispered into her ear.
So totally focused on the path of that hand, his words didn’t process through her mind. His palm pressed against her slightly rounded lower belly before his fingers slid through the silky hair guarding her most private area. She bit her lip, wanting his touch so badly.
Her slender form jumped as his voice repeated the question louder, “Mia, did you follow my directions immediately?”
“What?” she asked distractedly, willing his fingers to move just a bit lower. When his hand followed her wishes, she gasped as he cupped the heat between her thighs and flexed his fingers to squeeze the soaked folds that betrayed her arousal.
That deep voice posed the question for the third time, “Did you follow my directions immediately, Mia?”
“N-no!” she stuttered, not understanding why his fingers didn’t move. She needed him to touch her. “Please?” she begged.
To her dismay, that hand lifted from her body. “Wait!” The word burst from her lips before she could stop it. Unable to process what was happening, she felt something loop around each wrist and then pull them off the bars they clung to as a wide leather band was fastened around her waist.
Automatically, she pulled against the bonds that held her arms close to her torso. And then again because she couldn’t process what was happening. Why wasn’t he touching her? The band around her throat loosened and fell almost silently to the concrete below her bare feet. Mia heard his footsteps back away.
“This is your punishment, my sweet. Next time do as I ask instantly and you shall get your reward. Go to sleep.” The spotlight flashed on, almost blinding her with its brightness. When she turned around to search the darkness beyond the bars, she knew that he was gone even though her blue eyes couldn’t see anything beyond the bars.
Turning around to the light, she stumbled toward the lighted mattress. Mia pulled at the restraints around her waist that barred her hands from moving up or down her body. Just as she reached the padded surface, the light extinguished. Mia dropped to her knees and turned to sit with her back against the wall.
Clenching her knees together, she moaned in frustration, unable to touch herself or ease