Four steps inside the playroom, he stopped but held tight to Dizzy’s hand. Fearing the worst, he looked down at her. The expression on her face surprised him. It wasn’t horror or terror reflected on her features but curiosity.
As if feeling his interested gaze, she glanced up at him. She licked her lips a bit nervously before asking, “So when you say playroom, you mean…sex.”
“Yes.”
“I see.” She moved away from him. At first, he suspected she might try to bolt for the bedroom. To her credit, she indulged her curiosity of the space. She opened one of the drawers where he kept a selection of vibrators and anal toys. Almost as quickly she slammed it shut and refused to meet his amused gaze.
Walking to the wall where he’d arranged his ropes and striking implements, she simply stared at them. He could only imagine how very strange the floggers and many lengths of looped rope must have looked to her right now. She felt one of the rougher ropes among his collection. He didn’t miss the fleeting distaste that spread across her face. That was definitely a rope that would be dead last in his rotation.
When her gaze drifted to the ceiling and the reinforced hooks and rings, she stopped walking. Her mouth slanted and she pointed toward them. “I guess this is what Risk meant when he mentioned inversions and suspensions.”
“Yes.” Venom cautiously approached her. She was putting on a brave face as she explored the playroom but he sensed one wrong move would cause her to flee. “I’m not like most men of my race. I don’t find much pleasure from domestic discipline but I’ve always gravitated toward bondage and restraint. We’ll try out impact play to see if it’s something you enjoy but it likely won’t be something we do very often.”
“Impact play?”
“Spanking, flogging, whipping—”
Air hissed between her teeth. She narrowed her eyes at him. “If you think you’re going to whip me—”
“I don’t.” He dared to clamp his hand on her shoulder. “Everything we do in here or in our bedroom requires your consent. All you have to say is no and it’s off the table.”
She relaxed under his touch. “Okay.”
He took down his softest, lightest and shortest rope and handed the small coil to her. She hesitantly accepted it. “I enjoy rope bondage—and I hope you’ll learn to enjoy it too.”
Swallowing, she glanced up at him. “Bondage?”
“Restraint,” he clarified.
“You mean like the way you held me down last night while we…?”
“Exactly like that,” he confirmed. “Did you like what we did last night?”
She refused to meet his questioning gaze. “You know I did.”
“There’s nothing shameful about liking to be held down by your lover, Dizzy. Whatever makes you feel good is perfectly acceptable.”
“I suppose.”
He suspected she believed what he said was true but decided not to push her. In time she would learn to be more accepting of her desires and needs. Instead he took one end of the rope from the small coil in her hands. He expertly formed a knot and then teasingly rubbed it along her exposed collarbone. “You’ll learn to crave the sensation of rope hugging your bare skin.”
“Oh, will I?” She arched one of her bow-shaped brows.
His mouth curved with amusement. “Well—I hope you’ll learn to crave it.”
She didn’t stop him from gliding the knot down toward the neckline of her nightgown. “Why do you like ropes?”
He searched for the right way to explain it to her. “I like the way they look crisscrossing skin. I enjoy the slow, methodical work of planning the ties and knots and rigging it all together.” Quietly he added, “I enjoy knowing that the woman in my ropes is completely at my mercy.”
Dizzy breathed a little harder. “It excites you to be totally in control?”
“Yes.” He dipped his head to get a better look at her face. The tips of her ears were bright red now and she seemed desperate to hide her eyes from him. “Does it excite you to think of surrendering control to me?”
She didn’t answer him at first. Instead she rubbed her fingertip over the rope clenched tightly in her hand. “It shouldn’t excite me—but it does.”
He tipped her chin and forced her gaze to meet his. “Why shouldn’t it excite you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just…it’s not right.”
“Says who?”
“Well…”
“Dizzy,” he interrupted her gently, “what other people or society deems right and wrong ends at the front entrance of our quarters. We decide what is right and wrong for us. If you enjoy being tied up by me and I enjoy tying you up, we’re going to do it. If you like giving up control when we’re in bed so I can drive you crazy with pleasure, we’re going to do that. This is our mate bond and we’ll set the parameters of what is or isn’t allowed within our union .”
With a look of quiet consideration, she mulled it over while fingering the rope. When she finally lifted her face, Dizzy wore the oddest expression. She tilted her head back a bit bravely and said, “Tie me up.”
He reeled back with surprise. “What? Now?”
“Yes.” She looked as though she was trying to maintain her courage.
Worried about pushing her too far, too fast, he hurriedly said, “Dizzy, I didn’t bring you in here to pressure you. I only wanted you to see what the playroom is and explain what I hoped we might someday enjoy together.”
“I know that.” She placed her hand against his bare chest. The searing touch of her fingertips on his skin branded him as hers forever. “You’re going to be my first and I want to know what it’s like to do things your way.”
Venom studied Dizzy for a solid minute. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” There was no hiding her nervousness but that was to be expected considering all that she was about to experience for the very first time. “Unless you don’t want to tie me up…”
“Dizzy, I’ve wanted to bind you in my ropes since that first moment I caught sight of you.” He threaded his fingers through her white-blonde hair. “I need you to understand that you can change your mind at any time.”
“I understand.”
He hoped she did but he would be watching her carefully. At the first sign of discomfort or panic, he would end their first foray into bondage.
Bending down, he kissed her tenderly and took the rope from her hands. “Go into the bedroom and wait for me.”
Biting her bottom lip, she nodded and carefully backed away from him. He enjoyed the sight of her swinging hips as she padded silently from the playroom. Left alone, he faced the wall of rope and formulated a plan for Dizzy’s introduction into the sensual world of bondage.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Dizzy couldn’t decide if she was crazy or stupid. She nervously paced the spacious bedroom and waited for Venom. Had she really just asked him to tie her up? Are you insane?
She must be losing her mind. Maybe that space sickness she’d read about in the pamphlets the medics had given her was a real thing. Surely she had to be coming down with some sort of space crazy to invite Venom to restrain her with rope. There was no other explanation for her brazen request.
Unless…
No. Definitely not. There was no way she really wanted to be tied up. Was there?
Except…
Well.
She did.
Dizzy couldn’t explain it but something so stunningly primal had happened to her back in the playroom. As Venom had described wanting to restrain her with his ropes, she’d been overwhelmed by the most intense desire to feel squeezed and embraced by the intricate loops of knots and bonds. She remembered the way it had felt when he’d held her down while giving her an orgasm. Safe. Secure. Thrilling.
When he had spoken about the reasons he enjoyed rope bondage, she’d seen the primitive spark in his blue eyes. He needed this as much as she craved it. The way he had instinctively known how to help her sleep last night should have been her first clue that Venom understood her needs better than anyone.
For so many years, she’d considered herself broken with her bizarre need for deep pressure when trying to sleep. It wasn’t normal and different wasn’t something that people down in The City liked.
But maybe all along she’d simply been waiting for a man like Venom to show her what she needed. A man who understood how to nurture her and provide for all her needs—even the seemingly silly ones like needing to be feel secure and embraced at all times.
The sound of Venom’s advancing footsteps spurred her heartbeat into overdrive. She gulped and licked her lips and watched him emerge from the playroom with three coils of rope looped over his brawny forearm, two of them were a deep-red shade and the other a creamy white. In one hand he held some shiny clips and a knife.
“In case I need to cut you lose in an emergency,” he explained calmly. “I can grab some scissors from my play kit, if you’d prefer.”
She shook her head. “I trust you not to hurt me with that.”
“You probably shouldn’t put so much trust in me,” Venom gently chided. “We’ve only known each other for a day.”