Page 57 of On a Fault Line

This catches her attention, and her apprehensive eyes find mine.

“Let me be your anchor, Penny. Keep your eyes on me and not on everything I’m about to do to you. You drove me crazy today. Now it’s my turn to return that favor.”

I busy myself with getting the cords and cuffs ready for use.

The one thing that sold me on this bed was the ability for it to be discreet. It was wishful thinking buying it at the time, because it wasn’t like I ever planned to have anyone join me at my own residence. And I haven’t up until now.

I’m just a man who likes to have options.

And my options are going to look so sexy on my princess.

“Do you trust me?” I ask again, staring at her in the eyes.

She looks timid yet excited. “Yes. But I’m a bit scared.”

“I know you are, Penelope. But that is not my intention. We can stop at any time.”

“Okay…”

“I want you to empty your mind and think only about following my directions.”

I kiss her left wrist and then secure her into the leather cuff with the belt loop adjustments. I kiss and do the same with her right.

Penny tests out the hold by trying to tug on them.

Kneeling back on my heels, I soak in her beauty.

She’s exquisite.

The custom nature of the restraints are what sold them for me. They aren’t bulky, yet they can withstand the force of anyone writhing around on the mattress—in torment or in ecstasy.

I slide off the bed and move toward my nightstand.

Opening the top drawer, I pull out a black scarf.

“Do you remember your little goal sheet?”

“Yes…”

“Well, we are about to cross off restraints and blindfold from the list.”

Penny cocks her head to the side. “But I thought you hated my ideas.”

“Only when I thought of you fulfilling your goals with someone else.”

A knowing smile forms on her face but then is quickly masked by apprehension. “Collins?”

I hate seeing her so unsure. “Tell me what you’re most afraid of.”

“Freaking out and having flashbacks.”

“Have you had one with me yet?”

She thinks about it for a minute. “No. Not really. I was scared by the self-defense lesson with the blindfold but didn’t have a real flashback.”

“Then trust yourself to not have one today. Let me eradicate your mind of all the trauma you experienced. We aren’t reliving old, fragmented memories. We are making new vivid ones together.”

Once I think she accepts that, I take hold of her ankles and pull them apart to restrain them to the two bottom posts of my bed.

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