Page 59 of Bonds of Shame, Bonds of Lust

She came down looking at me.

Her chest was heaving. Her cheeks were flushed deep. Her mouth was slightly parted and her eyes were so wide and dark I felt them.

She didn't look away from me until James moved, gently, to lower her thigh.

He didn't finish. He pulled out of her slowly. Kissed the inside of her bound wrist. Murmured something to her I couldn't hear. Then he reached up and unbuckled the wrist cuffs, one then the other, catching her gently as her arms came down. He knelt and undid the ankle cuffs the same way. He picked up the towel and folded it around her shoulders like a robe and gathered her, naked and still trembling, against his chest.

He looked over the top of her head at me.

Thank you, the look said. You did very well.

I hadn't known I'd been the one doing anything.

She walked over to me with the towel still draped over her shoulders. She looked thoroughly well taken care of, hair a little wild.

"That was wonderful," she said. "Thank you, Lacey."

I tried to speak. The sound that came out wasn't quite a word.

She laughed, soft, and stepped close, and pulled me into a hug. She smelled like sex, warm, musky, and close, and her arms were familiar and somehow different at the same time. The towel was the only thing between her bare chest and mine.

"Yes, honey," she said quietly, near my ear. "That was for you." A breath. "It was very much for me too. But yes. I wanted you to see how good it can be." She pulled back, hands staying on my shoulders, her eyes moving across my face with a careful attention that went past friendship. "You okay?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "Just processing."

"Good." Her hands on my shoulders were warm. "You looked beautiful watching, you know. You have no idea how beautiful."

"I feel a little overwhelmed," I said.

She smiled, soft. "That's right. First time I did something like that with someone watching, I felt exposed. Like every nerve was live. And like I was finally being seen for real." A pause. "That feeling, you get to keep."

"I loved it," I whispered. "All of it."

Her smile widened. "Could you see yourself doing that?"

I shivered, involuntarily. The cross was still visible over her shoulder, the wood dark in the amber light, the cuffs hanging quiet now. "I don't know," I said. "I've never been with a woman, but the idea—"

I stopped.

The look on Janice's face was delight, pure and wide-eyed, mouth slightly open.

I replayed what I'd just said. Blood went to my face so fast the room swam.

My hands flew up. "God."

Janice laughed, bright, and reached out and tucked the same strand of hair behind my ear again. Her fingers brushed my cheek. "Don't be shy. Not here. Not with me." Her voice was warm and easy, but her eyes were very steady on mine, and she let the moment breathe before she went on. "Lacey. You're a completely normal, healthy, curious woman. Whatever just came out of your mouth is fine. Better than fine." She held my gaze. "I could definitely imagine you taking James's place."

She held my gaze one beat longer.

Then she smiled. "Come on. Let's get out of here. We need to get you home. You told me you have a busy Sunday."

I nodded. "Right. The board meeting Monday." The furthest thing from my mind tonight.

James walked us to the door, hand light at the small of Janice's back, and kissed her once at the threshold without checking his watch or asking about next time. He nodded at me. Take care of her, the nod said. Of Janice, or of me. I didn't pick.

Janice went for the Jeep. I stood on the sidewalk in the cool air with the bass gone muffled behind the door. I hadn't thought about Ricardo once.

She drove the first few blocks without saying anything, one loose hand on the wheel, and she looked the way she'd looked walking back from the cross, lit from somewhere I couldn't find the source of.