Page 56 of Binding Their Hearts

She found Henry’s face again. He wore his serene dom mask, offering no hints for her predicament, but his hawklike intensity promised a constant as guaranteed as the north star. Beyond him, Jay stood deep in conversation with Emma. Maybe they’d found a date for the claiming ceremony. Blood pounded louder past her ears, and one leg jerked in a reflex she hadn’t initiated.

Slow. Slow, slow, slow, breathing out longer than she breathed in, another trick from Jay’s therapist. The poor guy probably had no idea he was treating three patients. Deep and slow, watching the sea of stars overhead. Her foot twitched, but the cramp from before didn’t return. Wedding details weren’t her responsibility. Henry had delegated that to Jay, and he would do an incredible job. The house hunting wasn’t hers, either. Henry carried that on his own shoulders. She flexed hers, and the rope shifted with her, the knots less knobby and more like a massage. She leaned into the pressure.

The shape of the net was just her. The ropes only outlined where she existed. Her fight was with herself.

She’d been tiptoeing at work, afraid to push back on anything because maybe that was just how middle management was—a ton of extra work, pressure from above and below, and unreasonable expectations for how much she should accomplish in a day.

When she pushed back here, the knots didn’t hurt. She’d expected them to poke and bite, but once she claimed her space, the whole experience grew cozy. Secure. She could roll her shoulders or flex her feet or wiggle her hips or arch her back and the rope closed up around her every time. A safety net.

She pressed in again, listening to her body this time. Did her calf feel tight? Not once she flexed her foot. Did her neck ache? Not when she dug in with that wonderfully placed knot. The stars above drifted closer. She must have left gravity behind. She floated in the net, the low murmurs in the room like waves washing against the echo of her breath.

A shivery tickle started in Alice’s ear, and she muzzily lifted a hand to brush it away. Fingers clasped hers before she got there. “Mmmph?”

“Time to climb out, my sweet girl.” Henry stroked his knuckles along her cheek, his face appearing in flashes behind the blue-and-green net as she blinked and yawned. Her ears popped, the foam plugs missing.

He had soft lips. A bit pouty-smug right now, on the cusp of a smile, with a playful flicker in his eyes. He held her hand lightly, but he could choose not to. He could choose to bind her wrists and flip her over and—but not in the net. They should go find the next part of the night right the fuck now, while her body was loose and lolling and ready for anything so long as Henry and Jay put their hands and everything else all over her.

“Hope you weren’t bored,” she mumbled, her voice thick with sleep. It could’ve been sunrise outside the windowless room, and she wouldn’t know. The mix of peace and excitement stirring in her, though, that demanded a celebration. She ran her tongue over her teeth. “How many hours have I been here?”

The spark in his eyes ignited. “Twenty-three minutes.”

“Wha?” Gravity landed with a dizzy reorientation, but Will had been right. She still felt lighter. “Are you sure?”

Henry’s smile absolutely held back a laugh. He cradled the back of her head as he pressed his face against the net and kissed her forehead. “I can see rope play would be a spectacularly useful tool for you, dearest.” He settled her hand at her collarbone and freed himself from the net, nodding past her as he backed away. “For now, though, let’s disentangle you for a proper kiss. We have a date with a shower room.”

As the ropes lowered her to the floor, she found Jay and sent him a blissful smile. Pulsing energy thumped through her. Soap and water and rubbing would sluice the paint from him. Nobody said the rubbing couldn’t be against her body, at her direction. “Ready to get naked, stud?”

He crouched to her level, dropping easily into a squat with his oh-so-flexible muscles. “At your command, Mistress.”

The cushioned floor met her back, the net falling open around her. Stretching, she arched her back and splayed her arms wide. The power she’d rejected earlier hummed happily through her now. Jay could feast between her thighs, and when Henry reached the limits of his patience, his growl would have her on her knees in a heartbeat. “Good answer, pet.”

Chapter twenty-six

Alice

“Actually, I’m letting Henry choose.” Alice scooched back on the couch and rolled her neck against the armrest. Not nearly as satisfying as the rope knots had been Friday. Holding the phone above her so Ollie could see her for their Sunday chat was hell on the arms. “He has a good eye for those things.”

“I know you too well to ask if you’re high, but you’ve mellowed. Like, to the Nth degree.” The image rocked; Ollie must be changing positions too. Almost an hour on a call could do that. “My uptight, control-freak sister—I say out of love—”

Ollie batted her eyes with ridiculous exaggeration, and Alice obligingly rolled hers. “Feeling the love here. So much love, ick, get it off me.”

“Uh-huh. She is getting married when and where and how her flirty bike boy decides, wearing whatever her smoldering artist picks. So you just show up? They take care of all your needs?”

“Well, I mean…” The casual shrug and the slow-spreading smirk proved irresistible. Teasing her sister was a skill she could never grow out of.

“Ack, no, not hearing that.” Ollie covered her eyes with her hand and sang a handful of la la las before peeking through her fingers. “Unless you want to share. But then I’m getting a brownie first, because a good gossip sesh demands snackies.”

“Not sharing. I had a fantastic weekend, is all.” One orchestrated by Henry to relax her by tying her up and fucking the brains out of her head—mostly not at the same time. Wearing the rope harness invisibly on their shopping trip yesterday had worked magic even stronger than the hang time at the club in Will’s net. The incredible sex both nights hadn’t hurt either. “And yeah, my only job for the ceremony is to write my vows.” She had one other small part to play, but Jay was around the apartment somewhere, and she couldn’t risk him overhearing. “It’s a cushy gig.”

Ollie heaved a dreamy sigh and fell backward into a heap of pillows. “Living the dream, sis. Grab the good stuff when it comes, ’cause you never know if it’ll disappear forever.”

A sliver of pain lanced through her gut, a runner’s stitch in her side, only she hadn’t been doing anything more than her impression of a couch potato today. She rubbed the heel of her hand into the ache. “Truth.” The word left a queasiness in her throat. “Hey, I gotta wrap this up. More house-hunting on the agenda.”

Ollie wished her luck, and they exchanged I-love-yous and waves before she winked out. Nearly noon. Alice dropped her arm to the couch. Puffing her cheeks, she blew out a long breath.

A slight commotion in the kitchen heralded Jay; he trotted barefoot and bare-chested toward the couch and set a glass of water on the coffee table within her reach. Thin drawstring joggers hung off his hips, exposing his firm stomach. She tucked her fingers in the waistband. “Hey.”

He played along, pretending her barely-there touch was powerful enough to send him to his knees beside her. “Hey yourself.”

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