wouldn’t last long, not with that type of talk. I pushed deeper, imagining him stretching me. My legs tightened and a low groan escaped my lips.
“Now,” Nathaniel said and I exploded.
There was utter silence for several minutes as my breathing returned to normal. I opened my eyes and found him standing beside the bed, forehead glistening with sweat. His erection strained against the front of his pants.
“That was an easy orgasm, Abigail,” he said, staring at me with those sultry green eyes. “Don’t expect that to happen often.”
But on the upside, I thought, at least it sounded like there would be more.
“I have a previous engagement this afternoon and won’t be here for lunch. There are steaks in the refrigerator you will serve me at six in the dining room.” His eyes swept over my body and I forced myself to remain still. “You need to shower since you didn’t have time this morning.”
Damn, the man didn’t miss anything.
“And,” he continued, “there are yoga DVDs in the gym. Make use of them. You may leave.”
I didn’t see him again until six o’clock that night. If the steak dinner had been some sort of test and he wanted to see me fail, he would be sadly disappointed. I’d been known to bring grown men to their knees with my steak.
Okay, that was a lie. And I knew I had no hope of bringing Nathaniel West to his knees, but I could still cook up a pretty mean steak.
Of course, he didn’t compliment my cooking. But he’d asked me to eat with him, so I sat in silence beside him.
I picked up a forkful of steak and put it in my mouth. I wanted to ask where he’d been all afternoon. If he lived in the city during the week. But we were at the dining room table and I couldn’t.
After we finished, he told me to follow him. We walked through the house past his bedroom to the room before mine. He opened the door, stepped to the side, and bid me enter first.
The room was dark. A single small lamp gave the only light. From the ceiling two thick chains with shackles were suspended. I spun around to gape at him.
He didn’t look surprised. “Do you trust me, Abigail?”
“I…I…” I stuttered.
He walked around me and unbuckled a shackle. “What did you think our arrangement would entail? I thought you were well aware of what you were getting yourself into.”
Yes, I knew. But I thought chains and shackles would come later. Much, much later.
“If we are to progress, you must trust me.” He unbuckled the other shackle. “Come here.”
I hesitated.
“Or,” he said, “you can leave and not come back.”
I walked toward him.
“Very good,” he said. “Take your clothes off.”
It was worse than the night before. At least then I’d had some idea of what he wanted. Even earlier on his bed hadn’t been too horrible. But this, this was madness.
The crazy part of me relished it.
When I was completely naked, he took my arms, stretched them above my head, and chained them. He stepped away and took his shirt off. Rummaging through a drawer in a nearby table, he took out a scarf, and came back.
He lifted the black material. “Your other senses will be heightened when I blindfold you.”
Then he tied the scarf around my eyes and the room went dark. I heard footsteps and then there was nothing. No light. No sound. Nothing. Just the racing thump of my heart and my shaky breathing.
Light as air, something brushed my hair aside and I jumped.
“What do you feel, Abigail?” he whispered. “Be honest.”
“Fear,” I answered in my own whisper. “I feel fear.”
“Understandable, but completely unnecessary. I would never cause you harm.”
Something delicate circled my breast. Excitement pulsed between my legs.
“What do you feel now?” he asked.
“Anticipation.”
He chuckled and the sound reverberated along my spine. I felt him draw another circle—teasingly, barely touching me. “And if I told you this was a riding crop, what would you feel?”
A riding crop?