“Still trying to decide your own punishments?” He sank his hand into her hair and tugged.
She gasped because he knew damn well she liked that pain, too. “Maybe I’m trying to pick my pleasures, Master.”
“Your pleasure belongs to me.” He tugged her hair again and let his free hand find one of her breasts, twisting it and making her writhe. “Bend over. Grab your ankles.”
There was no way to mistake her sigh for anything but satisfaction. Eve bent over, grabbing her ankles and exposing herself fully to him.
“You’re already pink, angel.” Just the slightest pink, but pink.
“I want more.”
It was his call. Smack. Smack. Smack. Smack. Smack.
“Where are you?”
“I am so green.” Her words were sweet, sultry.
Another quick ten smacks. He could smell her arousal. “I need to talk to you.”
“Yes. But touch me first, please, Master. I missed this so much. It’s different now.”
Because he was giving to her, not because she’d dictated it, but because she’d asked. They were in a sweet harmony. Smack, smack, smack, smack, smack.
She moaned, her ass wiggling a little. She needed this, but he needed something, too.
He needed to make sure she understood a few things. “Stand up. It’s my fun time now.”
Eve’s eyes were soft and wide when she obliged him, but her mouth curled up. “Yes, Master.”
“Arms folded in a U.” He let out a long breath when she complied, folding her arms behind her back, forearms touching, her fingers pointed toward opposite elbows. The position thrust her breasts out. He secured her arms with a double column tie and passed it around her waist. In the low light of the room, her skin practically glowed. He’d missed this so badly. Any time he’d tied her up in the last few years had been strictly for her comfort, but now he could be a little selfish. Now he could take his time, enjoy every knot, revel in the connection.
Do the work it really took to get his wife back.
He worked carefully. The rope was soft, deserving to be against her skin. He secured the rope with an overhand knot in the front.
Eve sniffled a little, a shiver going across her skin.
“Are you all right?” He didn’t want her scared.
“I was just wondering.”
He started to route the loose ends up her torso, between her beautiful breasts. “About what?”
“If you still think I’m pretty.”
He’d dealt with this. “I told you you’re lovely. I believe I promised you punishment if you denigrated what is mine again. Are you trying to get more spankings?”
“You said you still wanted me. But you’ve also mentioned that I’m too thin.” Her voice had gone quiet, vulnerable.
He could fix that. He worked another overhand knot halfway between her breasts and throat. He brought the ropes over her shoulders and around her arms, but he started kissing her, paying special attention to those scars that used to make him feel like shit, and now he could see them for what they really were. They didn’t have to be a symbol of his failure. They were proof that she had survived. “I think you’re gorgeous big or tiny. The real reason I have a problem with your weight is that you never indulge. You never enjoy. I love your curves, but most of all I love knowing that you deeply enjoy the life we share. I adore stuffing you with chocolate.”
“I miss chocolate,” she admitted in a husky voice.
“I want you to enjoy it again. Now, we’re going to talk, angel. We’re going to get to the heart of everything.” His hands worked slowly, methodically. By the time he was done, she would be wrapped in a beautiful tortoiseshell pattern, and even once he got her out of the ropes, the pattern would be left on her skin for a while, proof of her trust, her love. Because she still loved him. He just knew it.
There was a long pause, her body slumping slightly. “Alex, what do you want me to say?”
He found the rope work so calming. He passed the rope under her arms and back around to her breasts. Her nipples were sweetly puckered. “I want you to stop placating me and talk to me. I want you to stop making excuses and coming up with a million logical reasons for what I did.”
He continued to move the rope across her skin, skimming it with his fingers, tightening it just so she would feel it. He made sure it wouldn’t cut off her circulation, just leave a pretty pattern on her skin for a while.
Eve remained perfectly still, relaxed under his ropes. “But I’m right about this. That was why you did it. You withdrew from me because it was easier to focus on more active things.”
“No,” he commanded. This was exactly what he wanted to avoid. “Stop the shrink talk. I want plain English. Tell me what I did. You’ve danced around the topic for years. This situation we’re in is just as much your fault as mine.”
He wound the rope around her breasts, forcing them up and out. He knelt down as he moved the rope lower.