“Do you trust me?” he asked.
A small sound left her lips. “Yes.” She moistened them with her tongue. “I trust you.”
“In which ways do you trust me?” he asked. “Tell me, Alice.”
She shuddered, “To help me when I need it. You gave me your word and you kept it.”
“And?”
Alice shook her head. “I don’t know what else.”
She is innocent, after all. Well, partially innocent.
“Do you trust me with your safety?” he asked.
“Yes?”
“Your voice changed cadence at the end,” he noted. “Will you trust me with your safety, yes or no, Alice?”
“Yes.”
“Do you trust me to care for you while you are with me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you trust me with your body?” he pressed.
Her eyes lifted, “…Yes.”
His fingers danced across her collarbone before he rested his palm at the base of her throat. He loosely circled his fingers around her neck, and Alice released a breath.
“Bring your shoulder blades together and then drop them down. Take a few deep breaths. You’re tense, Alice, let the tension go,” he ordered.
Her chest rose and fell, as did her shoulders, and instantly, he saw the stiff lines break. “Again.”
After the third time, even the knot in her brows left her. “Good. Get on my bed, face the headboard on your knees.”
She gave him a flickering look, but climbed on the bed and sat back on her heels, her palms resting on her thighs—and his blood simmered with heat.
Taking the silk blindfold and the rope, he rounded the bed. “Close your eyes, Alice.”
Again, she looked at him, but then did as he asked, and he gently wrapped the blindfold around her eyes. Her sudden inhale was swift, but she didn’t yank it off her head.
“Give me your hands, sweetness. Put your arms out, wrists together,” he ordered. He could see she was unsure as she held her hands up, not knowing what to expect.
She surely didn’t expect her wrists to be tied, the length of the red rope encircling her hands and tugging them together in one quick snap. “I want to make you feel secure.”
“W-why?” Her words trembled.
Edward explained, “When you are bound, you do not have to hold yourself together. This is a safe place, Alice. You can cry, you can scream, you can let go.”
“Pull at your wrists,” he commanded.
She tried to lower her arms, but they didn’t leave their perch from the pillow behind her. “Am I tied to something?” she whispered.
“Yes, to the headboard.” He slid his fingertips around the edges of the bindings. “Not too tight, is it?”
“No.” She tugged again, but her hands barely moved.
