“I don’t recall giving you permission to get up,” Ryan said.
 
 The shift in his tone of voice, the rough smirk tugging on his lips... Nicole recovered with a sultry tilt of her head.
 
 “Sorry,sir,” she drawled.
 
 She gave a chuckle that was meant to belong to a smug, sexy criminal, but what came out instead of close to a nervous giggle. Now she remembered why they quit after the handcuffs—she couldn’t do this roleplay with a straight face.
 
 But tonight, perhaps she could find the strength. One night—for him.
 
 Ryan went on, “I’m going to have to search you before the interrogation, make sure you’re not hiding anything.”A flick of his wrist—the yarn jumped and Nicole was jerked upright to a seated position. The move had been soeasyfor him.“Thought you’d be more of a fighter, with all that talk.”
 
 She cringed at the obvious cue, coming up empty for a smart remark. To make up for it, she halfheartedly squirmed and kicked at the fingers idling beside her legs.
 
 “Guess I’m just confident,” she managed lamely.
 
 Ryan’s gaze stilled on hers, flashing. He didn’t stop at having her sit or stand. In the blink of an eye, her feet had left the bed entirely, and she was dangling at the mercy of his grip.
 
 “And how is that working out?” he purred.
 
 For a moment, Nicole couldn’t think. The nightmarish strength he now possessed had felt pleasantly distant the past weeks. Together, the two of them had morphined his strength through constant reassurances and gentleness and the daily questions ofare you sure this is okay, babe, am I hurting you?
 
 Now, she kicked her feet, strained her arms, but there was nowhere to go.“Does it make you wet, waiting for me to punish you?” Ryan whispered. “You want Daddy to punish you, don’t you?”
 
 “I—Oh!”
 
 His other hand lifted beneath her calves, relieving the strain from her arms. Her knees spread and he thrust his tongue between them. The sensation of powerful heat was divine, but she was unable to focus on the pleasure.
 
 “Babe… The yarn feels weird. It’s digging into me.”
 
 “I’ve got you, baby. You’re okay. You’re fine.”
 
 The dizziness didn’t subside, but he was too pussy-drunk to notice. Nicole squirmed her hips around like a floundering salmon, forcing him to pause when he took a tiny knee to the eye.
 
 “Ow! Nicki…” He moved her hands down, jerking her forward.
 
 “Ryan, wait—”
 
 He pacified her with sensuous kisses, but it wasn’t enough. She was still at the mercy of his grip. The hand curled her legs lifted, forcing her knees near her chest.
 
 No matter what she did, she couldn’t escape.
 
 couldn’t escape,
 
 couldn’t escape,
 
 couldn’t escape,
 
 The thought roared until a frightened scream tore out of her. "Stop it!"
 
 The answering chuckle was dark—notherRyan. “You’ll have to try harder than that.”
 
 “I mean it, Ry! Stop it! Put me down!”
 
 Finally, that dumb fucking look on his face faded.
 
 “Oh,” he breathed. “Oh, fuck, sorry.”
 
 He set her down on the bedding, his hands hovering over her while she simultaneously tried to recover without use of her bound hands.