The tip of one wooden clothespin, dipped in black rubber, scraped down the length of her side. Eric circled her body, his dark eyes biting into hers, dragging the clothespin all the way passed her thigh, slipping beneath the skirt of her dress as he disappeared behind her.

"You're nervous," he stated, his breath hot against her neck.

Andie looked straight ahead, her eyes trained on Teddy who leaned into the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, watching them—her—intently. Their eyes met and he smiled; a dirty seductive smile that made her feel desirable and bold.

Her eyes lingered on him before traveling to the next man; who looked at her in a very similar fashion. And then the next...and the next...

Andie felt fueled by their lust for her.

"I think your friends like me," she purred. She was eager to drive Eric mad. It would nurse her pride to torment him some. Maybe then she wouldn't feel so helpless as she hung from the ceiling half naked.

Sure enough, the tantalizing journey of the clothespin froze halfway down the length of her thigh. She felt Eric straighten and look forward over her head.

Smiling to herself, her eyes returned to Teddy who she felt most comfortable looking at while Eric tortured her in deliciously deviant ways. His smile was broadening as if he knew her game and thoroughly enjoyed partaking in it.

Her bold smile faltered however when Eric took one step forward, his body as close to hers as it could get. At least—that's what she thought until his arm looped around her waist and pressed her flush against his body.

Andie gasped at the close proximity.

She could feel everything.

Everything.

"Yes..." Eric hummed. "It would appear they're enjoying you as much as I am."

The hand that still held the clothespin organized her blond curtain over one shoulder, baring her neck.

"Do you like being watched?" he murmured against her neck before he kissed her there. "Do you love the attention?" His mouth moved up her neck. He located the sensitive spot beneath her ear. "Do you just love driving them mad with lust?"

His hot breath fanned against her skin as he placed teasing kisses down the length of her throat.

Andie's eyes fluttered shut and her head fell back against his shoulder.

"I could invite every one of them forward if you'd like... They would worship your body while I told them how to please you. Would you like that?" he murmured before his teeth closed around the sensitive skin between her neck and shoulder.

Entirely under his spell, Andie could do little else but whimper and squirm. Her hips were a mind of their own as they restlessly moved, pressing her backside into Eric's hips again and again.

"Hmm," Eric hummed as his hand smoothed up her belly between her breasts to the hollow of her throat where he carefully closed his fingers around the throbbing pulse in her neck. "You like that don't you?"

No...

Yes...

"Who do you like the most? Teddy? Shall I ask him to join us? I'll tell him exactly what you like. He would be happy to oblige."

Andie's eyes fluttered open, releasing her from Eric's trance ever-so-slightly.

No, she wasn't so sure she liked the idea of someone else touching her... But, that's not what woke her from his spell.

Blinking, Andie licked her lips. "You...You don't know what I like," she breathed.

"I don't?" He grinned against her skin before kissing it again.

"No..." she whispered, waking fully from his spell. Lifting her head from his shoulder, she turned to watch him as he stepped back from her body and circled around to her front. He was wearing a smile that disarmed her. It was dangerous...all-knowing...

"Admit you're not supposed to be here," he commanded. But Andie couldn't find her voice. It was gone right along with her brazen attitude.

Tilting his head, he studied her as if he pitied her. With one finger, he caressed the underside of Andie's chin, tipping her head up.

And then he lowered his mouth to hers.

Eric opened her mouth with his lips. His mouth slanted over hers and he tasted her with his tongue. It seemed he was trying to punish her with the brutally provocative kiss, but his intent failed.

Andie came alive beneath him, having dreamt of it for so long... She tilted her head, pressing down on the rug with her toes, pulling at her ropes; anything that would close even a speck of space between their bodies that went uninhabited by either of them. She couldn't get close enough. Needily, she kissed him as if she would die, clinging to him with her mouth as if she was terrified to let him go.

Eric broke the kiss, his breath ragged and his eyes wide and ruinous.

Absolutely floored by what had transpired between them, Andie released the tension in her arms and legs. The rope gently tugged her back to the center of the rug.

He didn't understand the gravity of that kiss... But Andie did, and it looped in her head like a broken record.

If only he knew...

Eric took a step towards her, closing the distance between them once again.

"I don't normally kiss the girls I tie up..." Eric stated as if she would be relieved to hear that the kiss was a special occurance.

And she was—she was so damned relieved.

"Then again..." he hummed, brushing his knuckles up the length of her ribs, before flattening his hand on the side of her breast. He gently smoothed his thumb back and forth across one pebbling nipple. "I don't normally know the girls outside of the Green Parlour."

Andie's lips parted in a silent gasp as Eric cupped her breast and lowered his head, taking her pink nipple into his mouth.

"Oh...please..."

She was coming undone and he had barely touched her. Yet every touch was so painfully intimate, it didn't matter that the most he had done was suckle on her breast. The shock it sent through her made her belly jump with the hint of orgasm.

Yes, it was certainly possible... Eric had made her climax by spanking her before. It was unintentional, but her body refused to wait for the actual act of something sexual. This time, she had it, the sexual fourplay that her body had been craving. And how long had it been since she had been touched like this?

Had she ever been touched like this?

"That feels so awfully good, doesn't it?" he murmured against her breast before lifting his mouth to her neck. She barely mustered a moan in response. He rolled her nipples between his thumb and forefinger.

She gasped. Her body stiffened as desire struck like lightning through her body. It was almost too much to bear.

"Please," she cried, feeling more helpless than before.

"Oh, what a pretty sound that is..." He nipped at her ear. Andie shivered. He seemed to enjoy it so much that he rewarded her with another kiss to her lips. It was such a devoted kiss and it shook Andie to her core.

"I would have my way with you right here if I thought you would allow it," he told her between kisses. "But we know that wouldn't be very wise of us...don't we?"

Andie leaned into him, her lips seeking. He accepted her kiss, his hand flattening on the back of her head and holding her to him.

"Are you listening to me, Andie?"

"Yes, sir..." She moaned behind fluttering eyelids.

"Are you?" He pressed. "Then tell me why it would be bad of us to give into our urges and take one another to bed tonight."

"Because..." she moaned, her eyes out of focus, her breath uneven. "It's me...and it's you..."

"That's awfully vague, Andie..." he kissed the underside of her jaw.

"We live together," she murmured absently. "We work together..." she trailed off. Her eyes fluttered open. Her body stilled its lusty writhing. "What..." she breathed, her eyes blinking heavily at him. "What did you call me?"

Eric straightened. His face wore a very displeased frown.

"You..." she gasped. "You knew it was me!"

"You," Eric growled, "knew it was me." His hand tightened warningly in her hair.

Andie's mouth fell open. "You...you hypnotized me!"

"No," Eric smiled smugly. "I just tormented you by giving you barely a taste of what you really wanted."

Growling, she came for him, but the ropes that tied her to the ceiling yanked her back, as did the hand in her hair.

"Behave yourself, Andie. We're still being watched by a crowd of people who do not need to know our identities."

"Then stop calling me Andie!" she hissed her reply.

"With pleasure, Stray. Don't like that either?" He asked when she growled in response to the nickname. Bemused, he quirked an eyebrow and smiled. "Very well. Naughty Little Liar suits you better anyway."

"Jerk," she breathed, low enough so the others wouldn't hear.

"Risky words from a girl who is hanging from my ceiling. And entirely defensless."

"I'm not afraid of—"

"Don't say it." He lowered his voice, the hand in her hair tightening once again. "I'm warning you, Andie."

"Too brazen for you?" She gasped as pain tingled in her scalp.

"Too disrespectful for me," he growled. "Now, as far as these people are concerned, you don't know me, and I don't know you. Confidential identity is a high priority here, and our relationship outside of the Green Parlour can jeopardize that for everyone who feels safe here. How the hell did you end up here anyway?"

"I tracked your phone."

He blinked. "You're a loon."

"Says the guy whose regular Friday night involves tying up girls and torturing them for his pleasure."

"And their pleasure. Don't mistake what I do for selfish sadism. Every girl who wishes to partake in a scene with me does so willingly because they enjoy it as much as I do. You can understand that, can't you?" He scorned sweetly, lowering his head to her ear to whisper: "Doesn't the idea of being disciplined turn you on, Andie?"

Andie's jaw clenched, and she glared daggers at Eric when he straightened. Their faces were so close, their noses almost touched. They could kiss again, but they were both so severely livid with one another. Would they ever move past this?

Andie wasn't so sure.

Eric released the fist he had in her hair. He stepped away from her, crouching down at the anchor that held the end of the rope to the floor. He released it, giving Andie enough slack to slowly lower her weak knees to the soft rug beneath her.

Her eyes remained trained on him warily, even as he stepped forward to kneel in front of her. He lifted her well-knotted wrists and worked with deft fingers to remove the binds.

"You're going to go home now. And so help me God, Andie, I'll make this much worse than it already is if you even so much think about arguing with me." He spoke sharply, cutting her off when she had opened her mouth to protest his command. "Do you understand me?"

Feeling contrite, uncertain, embarassed, and disappointed, Andie's head lowered as she offered a pitiful nod.

The rope slipped away; her wrists were free. Then, he was slipping her arms back into the sleeves of her dress, and lifting it back into place.

He stood, tugging her up by her elbow and guiding her through the crowd of disappointed patrons who didn't receive the show they wanted. At the base of the stairs, Eric waited until Andie had collected her shoes from the ever-silent individual who didn't speak a word as he knelt in front of Andie and returned her heels to her feet.

"Go," Eric told her, pushing her lightly up the stairs. "Now."