Epilogue

‘There’s something I want you to do for me,’ I said while switching on the bedside lamp. ‘It’s a matter of trust.’

Tom shifted in the bed. He lifted his hands playfully above his head. ‘Bring it on, baby.’

I smiled down at him. ‘I’m serious.’

Tom immediately sobered. He looked at me for a long moment.

‘OK,’ he finally said.

I slipped a small stone into his hand. It clicked against his wedding band. He looked at the stone, turned it over in his fingers.

‘That,’ I said, ‘is your safe sound.’

‘My safe sound?’

‘When you’ve had too much, you drop the stone. It will hit the floor. It’s hardwood – I will hear it. When I hear it, whatever is happening stops.’

Tom’s expression was one of pure surprise.

‘Who is the dominant one here?’ he asked.

I smiled and reached over to the bedside table. I ran the silk scarf over his chest.

‘How much do you trust me?’ I asked.

Tom lifted his hands to the headboard. I tied first one hand, then the other. I used the knots he had taught me, the ones he couldn’t possibly free himself from, the same ones I could release in an instant with one sharp tug. He yanked hard on the bonds as soon as I was done. They tightened almost painfully on his wrists. He smiled in approval.

I pulled the small package out of the bedside drawer and laid it on his chest. Tom looked down at it for a long time. Finally he looked up at me with understanding in his eyes.

‘I never would have thought of this,’ he said simply.

His hand moved slightly as he fingered the stone. I watched his face as he thought things over. I dangled the scarf in front of him, and he raised his head. When it was comfortably around his eyes, I leaned down and whispered into his ear. ‘If you want anything to stop, you drop that stone. Understand?’

‘Yes,’ he answered.

I slid the second scarf over his chest. He was already breathing hard. I wound it carefully until it was a long, compact strip of fabric, then slipped it into his mouth. He obediently took it in. I tied the gag, effectively cutting off anything other than his moans.

Then I opened the package I had laid on his chest. Tom shifted in the bed. Without seeing his eyes I had no way to read his expression, but his body language told me he was nervous. I smiled at the fact that I had actually found something such an experienced man had never experienced before.

I slipped the earplugs into his ears. They were the soft comfortable ones that could be worn for long periods of time. They were guaranteed to block all sounds.

I slid off the bed and watched Tom.

Losing almost all his physical senses had a curious effect. He moved for a moment and then stopped suddenly, as if he was afraid to move at all. He slid his feet to either side of the bed, feeling for where I might have gone. His head turned from side to side, as if he were trying to hear – then he did it more deliberately, and I knew he was trying to see something from under the blindfold. But I had been taught well by Tom himself, and there wasn’t the slightest way he could see out from under the fabric. He pulled on the bonds around his wrists and gave up on that quickly, as he realized that he had taught me that part, too.

Finally he lay still, his whole body tense, his mind racing.

How much could Tom really handle?

I waited until I knew he was becoming uncomfortable. The edge of fear had crept into him. I could see it in the way his hands clenched on the bonds, the way he shifted on the mattress. I knew that man better than I knew myself.

When I placed one hand on the center of his chest, he immediately relaxed.

I climbed on top of him, slipped his hard cock into me, and began to ride. I rode him until sweat ran down my body. I rode him until sweat ran down his. I rode him through one orgasm, then pushed him to the edge of another one.

And then I climbed off, leaving him breathing hard, his cock pulsing.

I looked at the man who was sitting in the corner and watching every move I made. He stood and started to unbutton his shirt. He looked at me and then at Tom. His eyes were bright with discovery. He flashed me that not-so-innocent smile.

‘What’s next?’ Jake asked.