“What on earth is in here?”
“It’s my toy bag.”
“Toy bag?” He eyed her skeptically. “Store your Legos in here, do you?”
“Not quite.”
He glanced at her once more before slowly unzipping the bag. Nora moved to stand next to him, her left hip pressing against his right leg. Nora reached past him and pulled from the bag a long chrome bar.
“Do you know what this is? It’s called a spreader bar. Just a basic pipe with eyebolts on the end. You take a snap-hook and a pair of these—” she reached into the bag again and brought out a wide leather bracelet with a gold buckle sewn into it “—leather cuffs. Adjustable. They go around the wrists or the ankles. Both if you want to put someone in a spread-eagle position.”
Nora arched an eyebrow at him and reached back into the bag.
“This is a flogger. Here. Give me your arm.”
Zach held his arm out with extreme reluctance. Nora brushed his forearm lightly with the tips of the flogger’s leather strips.
“It tickles.” He rubbed his arm.
“Pain or pleasure, it’s made for either. So am I.”
“I’ll stick with pleasure. I’ve always preferred the carrot to the stick.”
“Where we’re going, the stick is the carrot.” She put the flogger away. She dug into her bag again. “This lovely device,” she said as she held out what looked like two spreader bars joined in the middle, “is called an X-Bar. It cuffs the wrists and ankles behind the back. Perfect for immobilizing someone in a kneeling position. As a man, I’m certain you can imagine the benefit of immobilizing a woman on her knees.”
Zach coughed and exhaled.
“Usually, I just prefer her to volunteer for that particular activity.” His tongue felt heavy and dry in his mouth.
“In my world, if she shows up, she did volunteer. Or in your case, you showed up and I volunteered.”
Zach could feel the cold metal of the handcuffs around his wrists again.
“I can’t win with you, can I?”
Nora laughed.
“Of course not. The only way to win in this game is to surrender. Come on, Zach,” she said, seeming to drop out of character for a moment. “You and I both know I could have had you weeks ago. In the cab, remember?”
Zach recalled the night of the release party. He’d convinced himself it was his own restraint that had prevented him from asking Nora up. But he knew it was only because Nora had closed the door before he could invite her inside.
“Why didn’t you?”
“You weren’t ready then.”
“And I’m ready now?”
“Well… You did show up again, didn’t you? You should know by now,” Nora said, and Zach made himself look in her eyes, “I wouldn’t chase you so hard if I didn’t know you wanted to be caught.”
“Just because you want something doesn’t mean you should have it.”
“Really?” Nora asked with a raised eyebrow. “And what did you want that you shouldn’t have had?”
Zach looked away and pointed at something in her bag. “What’s that?”
“Once upon a time,” Nora began, “I spent a week with a sheikh. This was his version of morning-after roses.”
“You just keep this in your garage?”
“What? Just your everyday Aston Martin.”
“This is James Bond’s car.”
“Yes, but he can’t have it back. Don’t tell, but I’m going to give it to Wes as a graduation present in a couple of years.”