“That’s a good girl. I think you need a reward, sweet Annie,” he purrs from behind me, his warm breath brushing my hair and teasing the skin exposed on my neck. Chills of excitement scatter down my spine. I’m having trouble catching my breath and have no idea what I’m doing. All I do know is that I’m excited. I want more. Maybe I’ve always had this inside of me and have just buried it, kept a tight leash on that side of me because of my parent’s demands. Maybe I am just a whore, a scarlet woman as my dad calls them. It doesn’t matter to me that I’ve only met Sabre. It doesn’t bother me that we’ve barely spoken. I’d be a hypocrite to deny that my body likes what he’s doing to me—that I like what he is doing. So when he whispers roll over to me in that dark voice, laced with filthy unspoken promises, I do it.

It’s only then I remember he has cut away my underwear. I try to move my hands down to cover myself, but he grabs them. He takes a piece of my yoga pants that he cut off of me and wraps the soft cotton around my right wrist, then he positions it so I’m tied to the bedpost.

“What’s your safe word, Annie?” He asks, his voice dark and foreboding.

“Uh…ketchup,” I say turning my head to watch him tie my other arm to the opposite bedpost.

“Good girl, do you want to say your safe word, Annie?”

This should be the point where sanity comes back in. This should be the point where I scream the silly word ketchup at the top of my lungs—scream it so that they can hear me three states over. This is also where I should remember it’s only been less than a few hours since I’ve known this guy. Where I should run these men out of my house, go to the local church and give my confession and beg forgiveness of my sins…What do I do? I give him the truth.

“Not even a little bit.”

“Oh, that’s my good girl, sweet Annie. I’m going to reward you for that. Do you want to be my good girl?”

“Yes…” I answer, squirming up to meet his hand that he’s petting against the soft hair covering my female area.

“Hold still, sweetheart,” he says, his lips gently kissing my neck and then further down, following an imaginary trail on my breast.

His teasing is almost too much, and my heart is hammering in my chest.

“Sabre please…touch me.”

“Touch you where, Annie?”

“On…in my…you know where, Sabre.”

“Tell me, I want to hear you say it,” he growls against my skin right before he takes my nipple into his mouth. Even through my clothes it feels amazing. I want to demand he take my bra and shirt off so I can feel more. My hips thrust up and my body twists and turns to try to get close to him. I strain against the bindings on my wrists. He pulls away and shoves my shirt and bra over my breasts, exposing them to the cold air.

“Sabre!” I call out feeling as if I’m drowning in want…in need.

“Shh…you need to be quiet sweet, beautiful Annie. The boys are right outside and they can hear every sound you make.”

I imagine that and my heart drums in my ears. I know it’s all kinds of wrong, but thinking about the others listening excites me even more.

“Please, Sabre.” I groan as he takes my breast into his mouth again. It feels amazing without my clothes in the way. His tongue darts over the nipple while he sucks hard and releases it with a pop.

“Tell me where you want me to touch you Annie, and I’ll give you what you want, sweetheart.”

He goes back to teasing my breast, torturing it with his tongue and capturing it between his teeth. I pull hard against my restraints wanting to grab his head or his hand, something to give me more. I need more. He bites down hard on my nipple and pulls, and I scream out before I can stop myself. “My cookie! Touch my cookie!”

I thought that would make him give me what I want. Instead, he stops everything and I growl out in frustration. I try to rip my hands free, but I can’t. Then I feel the bed start shaking. I look down and Sabre has slid to the end of the bed and is looking at me, but he’s also laughing. He’s laughing loudly!

“Sabre?” I ask, slightly coming out of my sexual haze and starting to feel self-conscious. I don’t know him. Not at all really. I let him tie me up! I let him touch me! There’re strange men out in my living room! What in the world am I doing? What was I even thinking? “Ketchup!” I growl, pulling against the restraints. Sabre doesn’t say anything in reply, I’m not even sure he heard me because he’s laughing so hard. “I said ketchup!” I scream it out this time, there’s no way he can’t hear me.

“Shut it, Annie,” he grumbles though there is still a smile on his face.

“Ketchup!” I scream louder, but that doesn’t make him untie me. No, he does something I never realized men do, and something I never thought I would like. He spanks my lady parts…hard.

“I told you to only use that word if I was hurting you or you didn’t like what I was doing to you. Did I hurt you?” he asks and his eyes are frozen on mine. I’m still stinging from his slap and my body remains half aroused, even if I’m not in the haze I was before.

“No…” I whisper truthfully, looking away from him and to the wall by the bed.

“Look at me, Annie. Did you like my mouth on you?”

“Yes…” I whisper, my attention captured by the dark look in his green eyes. They’re glowing almost like jade glass. Beautiful is the word that pops into my mind, and they are.

“Then why did you use your safe word?”

“You were laughing at me…” I grumble, looking away again.

“Eyes on me, Annie. Eyes on me.” I can’t help but obey the command in his words. “I wasn’t laughing at you, sweet Annie. I was laughing at what you called your pussy.”

His frank words bring heat to my face and I look up at the ceiling.

“Annie,” he growls.

“Yes?” I ask, still staring at the ceiling.

“Have you ever had a man inside that hot little body of yours?” he asks, and it should bother me, but it doesn’t. It feels wicked talking with him about this, and it makes me feel alive. Maybe I’m being seduced by the devil.

“No…”

“So you’re innocent? No man has ever fucked you? Has one ever made you come?”

“Sabre…” I shift on the bed, I’m not sure how words can excite me, but his manage to.

“Eyes, Annie.”

“No…” I look at him and whisper my answer like it’s a dirty secret. I’m scared it will turn him off to know that I have no idea what I’m doing here.

“Has a man ever had his mouth on you?”

“I…yeah. I’ve been kissed, but…”

“I don’t mean your mouth, sweetheart.”

I wait for him to explain, I have no idea what he wants from me.

“Fuck me, you are innocent. Do you want to know why I laughed so loud when you screamed out cookie?”

“I uh…I guess so…or not. I really, this isn’t fun Sabre, I think maybe I should have thought this through more. I mean it’s kind of insane. We don’t know each other, we’ve barely spoken. I think I just got carried away because you’re so good looking and things but well, I am not that kind of girl. I mean I guess you know that now of course, it’s just…” I stop talking, rattling really, when he slaps me there, yet again.

“Now that I got your attention. I asked you a question. Answer it, Annie.”

“I don’t know. Why?” I ask and I sound petulant, like a child. I am pouting. I can’t help it.

“Because, sweetheart, I’ve decided I’m going to be your own personal cookie monster.”

I freeze, wondering if he means what I think he means. He looks so heart-stoppingly gorgeous taking me in with those beautiful eyes, his dirty-blond hair streaked naturally with lighter shades, his body so solid and defined, ink covering his arms and hands. Again, the word beautiful comes to mind. “My…what?” I ask, and that’s when I lose it, completely. He gives me a half smile and it makes his eyes sparkle even more, and I think this is it. This. Is. It. It doesn’t matter if I don’t know him. It doesn’t even matter if I just met him. I like him. I want him, and I don’t want to pass this up. Sabre doesn’t answer. Instead he pulls my legs apart, the whole time his eyes are on me. He uses his thumb to open me to him and I heat up in embarrassment because no one has seen me like this before. Then he does something I may have read about in books, but I never expected to experience. He puts his face against my center and I feel his tongue slide through my slit and push against the delicate skin there and lick me like I was an ice cream. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before, but something I definitely want to feel again. My eyes are drawn to his. My hands are tight against the restraints and I whisper the one word that I know deep inside he wants from me right now. I give it freely. “Please.”