I close my eyes and try to will my tears back. I feel very foolish and vulnerable. Stupid. So, stupid.

“Please,” she whispers, very quietly. When I open my eyes she is not speaking, and I wonder for a nonsensical second if I’d imagined it. Then I see the look in her eyes, and the intensity of her naked admission makes desire flare in me.

“Okay,” I smile, and when she smiles back I feel sort of high.

She nods readily. She seems hypnotized by my palm on her belly, moving over her hip, and down to her leg.

“Shane. Look at me.”

She does and that dominant thrill rushes back into my veins.

“Do you want me to tie you up?”

“Yeah.”

“Tie your arms and legs so you’re at my mercy?”

“Yeah,” she says, closing her eyes as if to hide from the intensity of her admission.

“If you start to get upset I want you to remember where you are, okay?”

She nods.

“And I want you to say the safe word. California.”

She nods again. I pinch her nipple and she moans. Her red lips part and I feel a surge of lust so strong I shiver with it.

“Are you absolutely sure you want this? Look at me, Shane.”

She does. “Yes. Please.”

“And what’s the safe word?”

“California.”

“Right. I’m going to tie you up now.” I kiss her gorgeous mouth, then stand up.

“Put your hands and feet at the corners of the bed,” I order. She does, spreading on the white sheet as if making a snow angel.

It takes me a few minutes of digging in my armoire to find all four of my fur-lined restraints. When I finally do, and turn around, I whimper at how beautiful she is in submission, dark hair spilling out over my pillow. Her breath is coming quickly and she is flushed.

“Are you sure, Hottie?”

She nods, eyes on mine, still a bit frightened.

She watches me as I move to the bed, eyes dark and glittering, quiet. I kneel at the bottom of the bed. “I’m going to tie up this foot,” I say, kissing her left ankle. She nods dizzily and I gently press the fur-lined Velcro cuff into place. I test it and it is snug enough to hold, but not enough to cut off circulation.