“And. . .do you remember the safe word?”
“I will not say it. I like this feeling.”
She smiled. “But do you remember?”
“Yes. Ume.”
“Good, little Dragon. We are going to play now. Do you remember our rules? If you need to breathe or feel the panic rise—”
“I remember, Tora. Stop being safe. Let’s do this.”
“Kenji, I don’t want to—”
“We will be fine.”
“Are you scared?”
“No.” I let the word carry the wildness firing through my nerves. “I’m intrigued. And thrilled. And fucking. . .high and horny and. . .currently thinking about how to give you my soul.”
She tilted her head. “You should keep your soul, Kenji. It’s important.”
“I don’t want to keep it. I want to give it to you. You already have my heart and my cock. Might as well take the rest.”
“Wow. I’m thankful. I had no idea.” Her mouth curved like she was holding back a laugh. “So then. . .should I give youmyheart?”
“Yes.”
“Mmm. . .problem is, I already gave it to this guy. I guess I’ll have to call him up.”
I stilled. “I would kill him.”
Her eyebrows lifted, the corners of her mouth twitching. “You would kill him?”
“Not quickly.” I lifted my head up, letting my voice drop into the dark places I knew she felt in her bones. “I would peel him apart slowly—vein by vein, nerve by nerve—starting with the ones that made him scream without losing consciousness.”
She widened her eyes.
“I would split the skin from his fingers like fruit, take the nails one by one, listening for the catch in his breath. I would saw through each tendon and muscle until every heartbeat was a pulse of agony and every exhale a plea he choked back. And when his eyes went glassy, and he finally begged for death, I would lean in so close he could feel my breath on his ear. . .and tell him exactly why I was torturing him. I would whisper your name over and over as I stabbed him.”
Her mouth was wide open. “So. . .I see that certain jokes or role play might be too much for you.”
“It may.”
She cleared her throat. “O-kay. Back to this. . .”
I smiled. “What are you going to do to me, Tora?”
Her gaze warmed. “You told me once you enjoyed breath control with ropes. It was in Spain. Right?”
“Very good memory.”
She picked up the white tube that had been on the vanity table. Sometime in the middle of my being tied up she had put it on the edge of the tub.
“What’s in there, Tora?”
She undid the cap. “A lubricant blended for water. Most gels wash away in the bath—they’re thin, slip off, stop doing what they’re meant to. It makes sex rough in the water. This one binds and keeping everything oily and slippery.”
I groaned. “My cock and your pussy.”
