Addison craned her neck back to watch as a small panel on the ceiling slid to one side. A moment later, with a gentle whir and a clink of metal on metal, a thick steel chain descended from the hidden compartment. Leather cuffs dangled from the heavy metal ring at the end.
“You...have a retractable chain in your ceiling.” She sounded every bit as dumbstruck as she felt.
Rich people were fucking wild.
“I had it installed when the house was first built,” he said, tugging on the ring, testing the chain’s strength. “The idea amused me. I’ve never had a chance to use it until now.”
A thrill ran through her.
“You like that, don’t you?” Mason mused, studying her face. “That you’ll be the first.”
She couldn’t hold back a smile. “Yes, Master.”
He responded with what she started to think of as his backward smile—basically the opposite of when someone’s mouth smiles, but their eyes stay hard and cold. His eyes held a smile the rest of his face failed to produce.
Without another word, he took her right wrist, lifting her arm above her head to buckle it into the cuff. Her left wrist came next, and he hooked the cuff around it with swift, confident movements. A few taps on his phone screen lifted her arms even higher, until she had to stretch her spine to keep from going up on her toes.
Walking a slow circle around her, Mason examined every inch of her body. When he made it back to her front, he traced a fingertip around one nipple, then pinched the sensitive bud between two fingers.
Closing her eyes, she arched her back, focusing on the exquisite pain.
“Beautiful,” he said, and she swallowed a gasp as he did the same to the other nipple. “You were born to be chained like this, Addison. To be ruled and possessed.”
She almost cried out when he let go. Eyes flying open, she watched him walk across the room, pulling an old-fashioned skeleton key from his pocket and fitting it into the keyhole on the new piece of furniture.
The lock turned with a soft click, and Mason pulled open the two large doors. The enormous antique cabinet sported three shelves, each one packed with kinky paraphernalia. Her eyes widened as she took in paddles, straps, crops, a terrifying assortment of plugs, and cuffs and restraints of every kind.
“Master?”
“Yes?” He didn’t turn to look at her.
“That cabinet wasn’t there the other day.”
Mason stilled for a moment, then went back to running his fingers across a cluster of crops as he considered his options. “Was there supposed to be a question in that?”
“Well,” she said slowly, trying to decide what she really wanted to know. “I guess I was wondering when it got here.”
Picking up a brown leather crop, he examined the wide loop on the business end, then wrapped a firm hand around the smooth handle with its brass fittings. He swished it once through the air before testing the flexibility of the rod between his hands.
Seeming satisfied, he turned to face her at last. “On Thursday,” he answered, his tone businesslike. “A friend of mine bought it for me at an auction in London and had it shipped here.”
Good God, Addison didn’t even want to think about what that had cost.
He regarded her for several seconds, head tilted slightly to one side. “Is there a problem?”
“No, Master,” she hurried to say.
His lips thinned. “Remember what I said about lying.”
“That’s not a lie, Master. I promise.” She didn’t have a problem with the sudden appearance of a giant old cabinet full of sex and bondage gear. Quite the opposite—her arousal literally dripped down the inside of her thighs.
Mason prowled back across the room with the grace and pent-up strength of a panther, the crop trailing at his side. Tracing the leather tip around her breasts, he ordered, “Tell me what’s going on in your head.”
She was powerless against that commanding tone. “I’m the only woman you ever brought here,” she said, resisting the urge to squirm away from the leather loop as it brushed across her belly. “And I told you I was never coming back.”
“Ahh.” With two quick flicks of his wrist, the leather hit one aching nipple, then the other, leaving behind a biting pain. “Well.” He leaned in, soothing one punished nipple with his tongue. Kissing his way across to her other breast, he once again chased away the sting with the wet heat of his mouth. “Let’s just say I wanted to be prepared in case you changed your mind.”
Her gaze drifted over to the still open cupboard. “All that is for me?”