“Is this what you want?” I ask, before squeezing her throat, testing her newly-given submission. She wants to speak, but I increase my grip so she can’t. “Nod if your answer is yes.” She nods, and I smile. “Good girl.”

As I continue reading, I slide my hand underneath my shorts and place the rose perfectly on my clit, using it to trick the darkness into thinking it’s getting what it wants. My imagination roars to life, and reading the book suddenly seems the same as watching it all play out in the middle of my living room. I watch the two of them, focusing on his hand around her throat, and it feels like feeding mice to a dinosaur, but it’s all I have to keep the darkness at bay.

“There’s plenty we still have to go over, which we’ll get to after this,” I say, still squeezing her throat and finding such satisfaction with her face turning a different color as I restrict her oxygen supply. “But some kinks are universal. You said you wanted to be controlled by me. I don’t know how you knew I was a Dom, but I’ll show what you’re getting yourself into. You want to belong to me?”

Ava nods as she tries to breathe and I hear her breath barely squeezing its way through her windpipe, but she doesn’t try to back away. She’s tough, and I fucking love that. She’ll need to be if she wants to be mine.

“You teased me with that little skirt, keeping your legs open so I would see your pussy. You knew I’d want it. You want me to touch it don’t you?” I ask, and she nods again, her face completely red. “You haven’t earned that yet. Put your hand down there and touch it yourself. Show me how you play with that clit when you’re alone.”

I loosen my grip on Ava’s throat just a bit as she obeys my command and immediately slides her hand down her body until she reaches the end of her skirt. She pulls the skirt up to move it out of the way before she starts to rub small circles on her clit. I can see from here how wet she is, and all I can think about is how I’m going to ravage that beautiful pussy of hers …