And what better way to do that than this?

“What should I do with you?” Yvonne drew the flogger up the back of Ruby’s thigh, letting its many tails trail over the other woman’s skin. “Now that I have you bound and at my mercy, I’m overwhelmed by all the possibilities.” She let the tails of the flogger slip between Ruby’s thighs. “Should I keep you on the edge, denying you release until you beg me to allow you to come? Or should I make you come over and over and over until you beg me to stop?”

Ruby said nothing, but a red flush crept up her cheeks.

“I’m in the mood for a little delayed gratification.” Yvonne dragged the back of Ruby’s skirt up her thighs. “On your end, that is. This is going to be immensely satisfying for me.”

Ruby buried her face in the pillow before her. Yvonne gave Ruby’s ass a testing flick with the flogger, eliciting a shudder from Ruby. Yvonne relished Ruby’s reactions. She wanted to spend the entire night getting lost with Ruby, forgetting about the rest of the world and all her problems.

But it was hard for her to forget about her problems when her biggest problem was Ruby herself.

Ruby. Her submissive. Her ‘wife’. But she was so much more than that to Yvonne. And it was becoming impossible for Yvonne to ignore that fact.

Ruby peered back at her. Presumably, she thought the delay was because Yvonne wanted to torment her, as usual. Did she have any idea of the battle going on in Yvonne’s mind? Did she realize how much she was tormenting Yvonne?

Did Ruby feel the same way Yvonne did?

Yvonne pushed the thought aside. “No peeking.”

Ruby bit her lip. “I just…”

“Well? What is it?”

“Nothing.” She buried her face in the pillow again.

“Oh? Don’t tell me you’ve gotten shy all of a sudden.” Yvonne drew the flogger along Ruby’s ass cheek before giving it another flick. “Don’t pretend you don’t want this.”

As Yvonne raised the flogger again, the air in the room iced over. She paused. A moment ago, Ruby had been squirming on the bed with anticipation. Now, her body was stiff, and she was breathing hard. A chill washed over Yvonne.

Something was very wrong.

She dropped the flogger and put her hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “Ruby?”

Ruby’s voice was so quiet Yvonne could barely hear her. “Get these off me.”

The cuffs. “All right. Stay calm.”

Yvonne grabbed the key to the handcuffs from the top drawer of the nightstand and unlocked the cuffs around Ruby’s wrists. Ruby sat up, pulling her hands in close to her and curling her legs up to her chin.

“Ruby, are you okay?”

Ruby looked up at her, her eyes vacant and quivering. “I thought…”

“You thought what?” Yvonne kept her outward demeanor as calm as possible for Ruby’s sake. “Ruby, what is it?”

“I thought you weren’t going to let me go.”