The doorknob turned, and I glanced lazily over the side of the tub to watch as Rans came in. He shot me a look that was positively predatory before he locked the door behind him with a decisive click. He’d shed his shirt, baring a pale torso etched with lean muscle. I moistened my lips at the sight, unable to help myself, and his eyes darkened in response. Distantly, I registered that he was carrying a tangle of... something... in one hand, which he tossed carelessly onto the countertop.
I completely stopped caring about whatever it was when the rest of his clothing came off, revealing lean hips and well-defined legs to my hungry gaze. Before he let his dark jeans fall to the floor, he pulled the belt free—braided leather snaking through the belt loops with a sound that made me shiver and press my thighs together beneath the rising water.
“Is that for me? Ooh. Kinky,” I couldn’t help teasing. My nipples tightened to aching points as I remembered the last time that belt had wrapped around my wrists.
“All of it’s for you, love. You should know that by now,” Rans said, his low voice nearly a purr. With that, he picked up the other items he’d brought in and crossed to settle on the edge of the bath, sitting even with my shoulders. “And as for kinkiness, you don’t know the half of it yet. First, though—the ground rules. You know you can tell me to stop any time. Just say the word. Stop.”
I smiled. “I know.”
“But under the circumstances,” he continued, “I also want you to hold back from feeding on my animus while I’m playing with you—unless you need to stop what I’m doing, but can’t say the word aloud for some reason.” His lips twitched. “If, for instance, your mouth is full.”
The jolt of heat slamming into my belly distracted me before I could blurt ‘oh, holy fuck, are you even kidding me right now’ out loud. It was probably just as well.
“If you’re not in a position to speak, for whatever reason, you can just start pulling energy from me instead,” Rans said. “If I feel your barriers drop, I’ll pause whatever I’m doing until I can check in with you properly. All clear?”
“Uh-huh,” I managed weakly. “If I need to, I’ll either say ‘stop,’ or start drawing animus from you. Got it.”
Okay. Shit. I... was completely doomed, here, wasn’t I?
Maybe so. But wow—what a way to go, whispered my traitorous inner demon.
A callused hand trailed down my right arm and circled my wrist, lifting it. I watched in something of a daze as Rans extracted a length of silky rope from the bundle he’d brought with him, and efficiently wrapped it several times around my wrist before tying it off. Two long tails fell loose from the knot. He used them to bind my arm snugly to the inset brass safety handle that was even with my shoulder on that side.
Then he leaned across me and repeated the process with my other wrist, tying it securely to the opposite handle. I tugged, testing the knots and the sturdiness of the fixtures. Meanwhile, the water crept over my belly, lapping at my breasts.
Rans raised an eyebrow. “Oh, don’t bother with any of that, pet. You can squirm all you like, but you’re not going anywhere until I’m done with you. Believe me.”
I lifted my chin, something inside me rising up, ready to test the boundaries—wanting to know they were there. “Maybe not,” I said, as though liquid heat weren’t twisting and coiling restlessly inside me, desperate for his touch. “But just because you tie me up, it doesn’t automatically mean you’re in charge.”
He gave a low chuckle. “Doesn’t it?” His hand ran possessively down my body. “Hmm. I suppose we’ll find out who’s in charge in the next few minutes.”
With no further warning than that, he cupped my folds and slid two fingers inside me. I arched and cursed, trying to rub those fingers over the places I most wanted stroked. He pressed deeper and obliged, sending warm waves of pleasure through me.
The water had washed away some of my natural lubrication, but I was pumping out more at a rate that bordered on embarrassing, so it didn’t really matter. I relaxed into the slow stroking, riding the wave. In fact, I was so entranced that it took me way longer than it should have to realize he’d slipped his looped belt around my right ankle with his free hand, using the leverage to bend my leg tightly at the knee.
I groaned in disappointment when his fingers slipped free of my body, still thoroughly distracted by my pulsing desire. A moment later, he wrapped the free end of the belt around my thigh. Then he buckled it snugly to the loop around my ankle, trapping my leg in a position like a frog getting ready to jump.
“What—?” I asked dazedly... but he was already repeating the process on my other leg, using a second belt.
“There, now,” he said with clear satisfaction. “That’s much more like it. What a lovely picture you make like this, all helpless and splayed open for me.”
I lay there, bound hand and foot in the bottom of the tub, blinking up at him stupidly as the water began to lap at my collarbones. He eyed the rising level for a few more moments, reaching across to turn off the tap once he was satisfied with it. When the flow trickled to a stop, it left the bathroom in near-complete silence—broken only by ripples against marble and the
