Hers to Keep (Irresistibly Bound 3)

Lindsey murmured into the pillow. She was lying naked on her stomach on the playroom bed, the cuffs around her wrists and ankles and the blindfold covering her eyes. Camilla was in the middle of giving her what could only be described as a kinky massage.

Camilla’s hands were replaced by long, thin tails that swept across Lindsey’s back. It had to be a flogger. She shivered, her muscles loosening. The leather strips tickled her skin.

“That’s much better,” Camilla said.

She flicked the flogger against Lindsey’s back, first gently, then a little harder, ramping up the intensity with each strike. Lindsey moaned with bliss, letting the smacks resonate through her body. She was starting to enter that space where everything outside of her seemed to fall away.

“Are you feeling more relaxed now?” Camilla asked.

“Yes, Mistress.” Lindsey’s sensitized skin tingled pleasantly, and there was a faint scent of something sweet and floral in the air.

“Then it’s time for the fun to really begin.”

Lindsey reveled in her powerlessness. The cuffs around her ankles and wrists weren’t attached to anything, so she wasn’t restrained in any way. However, being blindfolded still made Lindsey feel on edge, and she found that rush almost as addictive as Camilla herself.

“Stay perfectly still,” her Mistress said.

Camilla’s footsteps receded from the bed. Lindsey listened carefully, but she couldn’t hear a thing. She took a deep breath, and froze.

The sweet scent that had filled the room had been replaced by something else. Something smoky, like burning oil. It hung so thick in the air that Lindsey couldn’t breathe. Suddenly, the cuffs around her ankles and wrists felt tight and restricting, and the darkness shrouding her seemed to swallow her up. She was trapped, unable to move, the smell of fuel and smoke from a fire she couldn’t see-

“Lindsey?” Her Mistress’s clear voice cut through her nightmare.

“Apple,” Lindsey whispered.

At once, Camilla was on the bed with her, tearing off the blindfold. Lindsey opened her eyes to see her Mistress staring back at her.

“Are you all right?” Although Camilla tried to hide it, there was a hint of panic in her voice.

Lindsey nodded, blinking against the light. She sat up. On the nightstand next to her were two lit candles. Candles, the kind used to drip hot wax on someone’s skin. That’s what the smell was. Now, it smelled nothing like burning fuel. Lindsey’s brain had made that part up on its own.

Camilla grabbed a thick blanket from the end of the bed and draped it around Lindsey’s shoulders. Lindsey shivered and pulled it tight. Her heart was finally slowing down to normal.

“What’s the matter?” Camilla asked.

“I’m sorry,” Lindsey said quietly. Camilla seemed hesitant to touch her. But considering how erratically she was behaving, Lindsey didn’t blame her.

“Don’t be sorry. Just tell me what’s going on.”

“I didn’t know that was going to happen. I thought I was okay with being blindfolded and all the other stuff, but I’ve just been feeling so off, and-” Lindsey’s lip quivered. “I’m sorry.”

Camilla wrapped her arms around Lindsey and pulled her in close. “Lindsey, it’s fine. You used your safeword. That’s a good thing. And even if you hadn’t, I could tell something was wrong. Do you want to tell me what all this is about?”

Lindsey hesitated. “It was just, the darkness and the smell of smoke. It reminded me of the car accident I was in. I’ve been jumpy about certain things since then. Long car rides. Driving at night. Smoke, apparently, too.”

“It sounds like what you went through was difficult,” Camilla said.

Lindsey shrugged. “I guess.”

“Have you talked to anyone about it?”

“Not really.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know,” Lindsey said. “I feel like I’m making a big deal out of nothing. Lots of people get into car accidents. I walked away from it fine in the end. Plus, it was all my fault.”

“Why do you say that?” Camilla asked.