I exhaled an unsteady breath as Ronan pulled off his tie, his fingers moving to the underside of my knee, the barest touch; but it initiated spikes of heady, aching longing between my thighs. He slid them down the back of my calf to my ankle and gently, reverently slid my foot out of my terrycloth slipper. I thought he was going to wrap the tie around my ankle, but instead he brought my foot to his mouth and ran his tongue along the base of my toes, making my leg jerk and spasm.

It was ticklish, but it was more than that. It was carnal. Sinful. Overwhelming. My sex pulsed, and my bound hands balled into fists.

I cried out, “Ah, Ronan!”

His grin was devilish, pleased, as he lowered my leg and knotted his fancy tie around my ankle.

“Will you submit to me, my darling? Hmm?”

“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.”

“You say yes and you say please and you beg me for more.”

I blushed a little as I pointed out, “I already do that.”

“So you do.” Ronan nodded, looking dangerously pleased, and added, “But if we’re going to really do this, if you’re really going to give up control, you’ll need a safe word.”

My mouth parted in alarm and surprise; I stared at him for a moment. “A safe word?”

“Yes. How about ‘peppermint’?”

“To make you stop? If I say ‘peppermint,’ then you’ll stop?”

“That’s right. I can’t take control you’re not willing to give.” Ronan unbuckled his belt, slid the leather strap from his waist.

“But….” I struggled to form a coherent thought now that I was faced with a belt. “What are you going to do with that?”

He took my hands and looped the belt through the knot made by the scarf. “Get on your stomach, face down on the bed, and lift your arms over your head. I’m going to secure the belt to the headboard so you can’t move.”

I licked my lips, thinking this over, then asked, “How are you going to restrain my other leg?”

His eyes moved between mine, and his mouth widened in a slow smile. “If you must know, I have another tie”—he nodded to the closet—“in there.”

“And you’re going to tie me to the end of the bed? So I can’t close my legs?”

“Yes. So you’re open to me. So I can touch you however I like, for as long as I like, wherever I like.”

I stared at him, my heart racing, but I knew I was going to do this. If I enjoyed it half as much as I loved the idea of it, then I was pretty sure Ronan Fitzpatrick was going to ruin me for all other men.

Ronan stood smoothly, his mouth twisted to the side in a faint smile, and offered me a hand. I placed both of mine in his, and he helped me stand. I hesitated for a fraction of a second and then turned and walked on my knees to the middle of the bed. I lay down and did as he instructed, my arms over my head, reaching for the headboard.

“Such a good darling,” he praised me. I felt the bed depress behind me and realized he was straddling me. He looped the belt into the headboard and tugged, making sure it was reasonably sturdy. Then I felt him move behind me and tie my ankle to the footboard.

He bent over me, his hot breath against my neck. “Don’t move.”

I nodded, blinking at the drapes and the comforter and wall filling my vision.

He left, but then I heard him return at once. I closed my eyes, and he secured my right ankle as he’d done my left. I felt my skirt hike up the back of my thighs as he opened my legs to tie me to the bed.

“Oh, wait, my skirt. Shouldn’t I—?”

“Shh….” He cut me off with a soft hush, the tip of a single finger sliding from my heel, along the back of my leg, to just under the hemline. “From this point forward, you are only allowed to say four things: ‘yes,’ ‘please,’ my name, and ‘peppermint’ unless I instruct you otherwise. Do you understand?”

I nodded and acquiesced quietly. “Yes…Mr. Fitzpatrick.”

He stilled, like I’d surprised him. But then I heard him chuckle, his finger drawing my skirt higher up my legs. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

He used just his mouth at first, biting me, tasting me, licking and devouring the bare skin of my neck, shoulders, back, and legs. It felt divine, and I was melted, became rubber. He was still fully dressed, yet somehow that made it even hotter.

Then I heard a buzzing sound, and I stiffened, my eyes opening wide with alarm. His hands moved beneath my skirt, lifted it slowly until my white lace panties and bottom were exposed. The buzzing became louder; and I tried to press my knees together, but I couldn’t because my ankles were tied. A spike of fear, but also anticipation, pulsed through me.

He bent over me, tongued my ear, and then whispered in a fall of hot breath, “This will be one of your favorite toys.”

The next thing I knew, he’d lifted my hips slightly from the bed so my bottom was in the air, and he pressed a vibrating something to my center. He moved it back and forth over the lace panties with aching slowness, from my clitoris to my opening, and I cursed the scrap of fabric separating my body from his mystery device.

“Oh….” I rocked my hips, arching my back, straining, loving the exquisite torture.

He moved the delicious vibration away. “Ah, now. Say ‘please.’”

“Please….”

“Say my name.”

“Please, Mr. Fitzpatrick.”