Being Hers (Irresistibly Bound 1)

“Yes. I’m fine.” Vanessa’s lips were pressed together in a straight line.

Mel wasn’t surprised. Vanessa never confided in her in the past. Why would things be any different now?

Vanessa turned to Mel. Her worried expression had been replaced by a hungry look. “I have quite the night planned for us.” She slid a hand along Mel’s thigh.

Vanessa hadn’t told Mel what this elaborate scene she had planned involved. Keeping Mel in the dark was all part of Vanessa’s game. And Mel couldn’t deny how much the suspense thrilled her.

But Mel couldn’t help but notice the timing of Vanessa’s shift in mood. Did Vanessa only need Mel to satisfy her need for control? Mel could think of someone else who only needed her for sex. Kim.

Mel pushed the thought out of her mind. Kim had been abusive. Mel knew that now. And Vanessa definitely wasn’t. But Vanessa had said from the start that she wasn’t looking for a relationship. Neither was Mel at the time. But as they’d gotten closer, Mel had found herself wanting more. And Mel thought Vanessa did too. What if she was wrong? What if she really was just a toy to Vanessa?

They pulled up out the front of Lilith’s. Once they were inside, Vanessa took Mel up to The Scarlet Room. She gave her usual spiel about safe words and trust, and they went inside.

The room looked the same as the last time. But now, there was a high-backed wooden chair in the middle of the room. A small table sat next to it, with a black leather bag on top. Mel recognized the bag. It was the same bag of toys that Vanessa had taken to the hotel room on Mel’s birthday.

“Take a seat.” Vanessa gestured toward the chair.

Mel sat down. Vanessa pulled a long piece of black cloth out of the bag. Within seconds, it was around Mel’s eyes. Vanessa drew the back of her fingers down Mel’s cheek. Mel could feel Vanessa’s breath and the heat of Vanessa’s face, just inches from her own. Her lips parted. Vanessa brushed them with her fingertips, then pulled away.

So it was to be a night of mind games designed to drive Mel into a state of frustration. It was working—but not the way Vanessa intended.

Vanessa traced a finger down to the collar around Mel’s neck. “You’re all mine tonight. What should I do with you?” Vanessa rifled around in the bag, then dropped something onto the table with a metallic clink. “First, I’m going to make sure you can’t escape from that chair. But what then?” Vanessa reached into the bag again.

A buzzing filled the air. A vibrator? Vanessa drew it down Mel’s thigh, sending vibrations through her. Mel’s hairs stood up on her skin.

“I could torture you with pleasure until you begged for mercy. Or—” Vanessa brushed something along Mel’s arm “—I could punish you with this.”

Was it a flogger? Mel liked the sound of that. She wanted something physical. Something visceral. Something to drown out everything else she was feeling. She knew it was wrong. But she didn’t stop Vanessa. She wanted to feel the rush to take her mind off everything.

“Is that what you want?” Vanessa trailed the flogger along her thigh.

“Yes,” Mel replied.

“‘Yes?’ Yes, who?”

“Yes, Vanessa.”

Silence filled the room. Neither of them moved.

“No.” Vanessa pulled the blindfold from Mel’s eyes.

Mel squinted in the light. “I didn’t say to stop.”

“I don’t care.”

Mel let out a frustrated groan.

“Velvet,” Vanessa said.

Mel froze. She had never once used her safe word. But it had been drummed into her head that it meant that everything stopped. She sighed. She knew that Vanessa had been right to end things. This all felt so wrong.

Vanessa went over to the bed and sat down. “Come. Sit.”

Mel obeyed. Tension hung in the air. And now, it wasn’t just coming from Mel.

“Melanie.” Vanessa’s voice shook. “What the hell is going on?”

“Nothing.” Vanessa wasn’t the only one who got to refuse to share her feelings.