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Alain replaced the lube and retrieved the bar with the restraints. “This is a leg spreader. The straps go around your ankles, and then I lengthen the bar, locking it in place to keep your legs apart.”

He demonstrated, and her clit beat in time with her racing heart at the mere thought of the straps around her ankles, her legs spread wide.

Alain dropped it on the bed and picked up the whip. “This is a flogger. Unlike a whip, it has multiple tails.” Goosebumps trailed it as he dragged it up her thigh and across her stomach. “It spreads the impact, giving a softer, more forgiving sensation.”

He brushed the tails across her nipples, and they tightened. Grace squeezed her thighs together. Where exactly did he plan to use that?

She bit her lip as he picked up the leather restraints. They would bind her hands, giving him the ultimate control.

“These are designed so you can release yourself.” He showed her how they worked. “Remember, at any time we can stop.”

He set the restraints aside, picked up the silk blindfold, and held it in front of her eyes. “Ready, Grace?”

She sucked air in through her nose and released it out through her mouth. “Yes.” There was a tremor to her voice she couldn’t hide. “I’m ready.” Firmer this time.

Alain tied the blindfold across her eyes and the world went dark. He stepped back and she blinked, raising her hands to the silky material, her heartbeat racing a little faster. She strained her ears for any sound. There was the tick tock of the clock, the gentle flap of the gauzy curtain at the open window. The faint hum of a car on the drive and the crunch of gravel beneath its tires as it pulled to a stop in front of the house. From Alain…nothing. Then… Her breath caught in her throat. The clink of a buckle. The restraints?

Grace jumped at the soft touch on her wrist.

Alain trailed his fingers up her arm, then back down again. “I’m going to put the cuffs on you now.”

Her body trembled. Cool leather wrapped around first one wrist, then another, and he buckled them up firm, but not too tight. She jerked a hand toward the blindfold, dragging her other hand with it. There was a moment of panic, then Alain took her hands in his, his thumbs rubbing gentle circles across her knuckles. The motion sent heat straight to her core, as if he were rubbing there, and not some place as innocuous as the back of her hands.

“Easy, Grace.”

He let her sit with the cuffs, let her test their limits.

“Are you all right?”

Grace nodded, then remembered. “Green.” It was a whisper, tremulous and hesitant. She tested the cuffs again, and an unexpected thrill skipped through her body. “Green,” she said, and this time her voice didn’t waver.

He was by her side, guiding her hands to a place on the bedpost above her head. She grabbed hold of it as though it might steady not only her body but the roiling emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

More silence. It stretched as if seconds were minutes and minutes were hours, her mind hyperalert, listening for the hint of sound. A light touch on her ankle. She gasped, and her clit pounded out a staccato rhythm. A caress up her calf, then smooth leather. A buckle being tightened, his warm breath ghosting over her hip. Then her other ankle, his hands nudging her legs further apart, and the snap of metal. The bar being extended. Her legs forced to remain apart. His breath on her mound, and warm heat sliding down through her core to greet it.

More silence. Straining her ears for his footfalls. Expecting his touch. Not knowing where or when it would come. The man was a ghost.

A rumble broke the quiet. A growl, from deep within his chest, and a strong musky scent coated her nostrils, her tongue. Was he shifting? Was it his wolf standing behind her?

“Putain de merde, Grace. Seeing you like this, bound and spread…” His voice was guttural, barely human.

Another deep rumble. Grace turned her head, following the sound.

“Magnifique.”

His breath, soft against her neck, had her clenching, rising on her toes. He chuckled. Her stomach quivered, and goosebumps rose across her skin. He was so close his chest hair brushed against her shoulder blades. Strong arms encased her, a large hand splayed across her belly, the other… Where—?

A click, then a steady hum. She sucked in a breath. The vibrator. Somewhere in front of her, not touching her but buzzing close enough she could almost sense its vibrations. It moved, humming somewhere low. She gasped. Between her legs, but not touching her. Slowly, Alain trailed it up in front of her body. Her stomach quivered as the vibrator moved higher. A hum to the side, hovering over her right nipple. Moving to the left, hovering over her other nipple. Dropping lower again, past her stomach. Lower. Close, so close. It hovered and she waited, on edge, her body screaming for Alain to touch it to her skin. Craving it. Her breathing heavy, a harsh sound. Yearning for it. Arching her back, seeking it out. Waiting. Waiting.

Alain pressed the vibrator to Grace’s clit, and she threw back her head and cried out, the sound wrenched from her throat. She gripped the bedpost, her knuckles white and her toes curled. He kept the pressure, rubbing the wand in circles. Her legs were trembling, her cheeks clenching. She was so close. So fast. So receptive.

He removed the wand from her clit. Grace whimpered and collapsed against the post, her body shaking from her denied orgasm. Alain closed his eyes and breathed her in. Putain, she smelled so fucking good. He wanted a piece of that. To sink to his knees, put his mouth on her and taste her.

Not yet.

His hand on her hip holding her steady, he pressed the vibrating wand up over her stomach to her nipple. Her body jerked. He kept it there for a heartbeat, lapping up her soft pants, then shifted it to her other nipple. She moaned.

“Do you want me to stop, Grace?” All his years of experience, her body’s response, her scent, told him she didn’t want him to stop. What she wanted was for him to use the wand on her clit again. To bring her to the release that hummed beneath her skin, ready and waiting for him.