Zach Rannis knew some shit was up the second he opened the apartment door.
It wasn't just that the place was clean, which was already rare enough to make him suspicious--it was the smell.
Vanilla. Sandalwood. Some kinda lavender bullshit.
And candles. So many fuckin' candles. Flickering on every flat surface, glowing like he'd just walked into a bougie séance. He could practically hear the soft shhh of a lighter flicking in the distance, like someone was lighting the last torch before a human sacrifice.
Oh no.
It was pegging mode.
His throat went dry. His hands twitched. His fight-or-flight instincts kicked in, but all his escape routes were cut off.
"Yo," he called out, voice already rough. "Uh. Carrie?"
From the bedroom, a slow, sultry voice coiled down the hall like smoke.
"Zach-a-reeeee."
His stomach clenched. His knees almost buckled.
She only called him that when she was about to ruin him.
Stepping inside felt like walking onto the Linc field before a losing game--full of bad omens and impending suffering. The floor was too clean, the couch had throw pillows arranged like a goddamn Pinterest post, and the air smelled like someone had detonated a Bath & Body Works.
And when he turned the corner into the bedroom--
Oh. Fuck.
Carrie.
Lounging on the bed like she owned the world and everything in it.
Dark hair spilling over her shoulders, silk robe clinging to her in ways that defied physics, her cleavage looking like a fuckin' engineering marvel. One leg lazily crossed over the other, stretching long and smooth like she had all the time in the world. Her lips? Painted just enough to ruin a man.
And beside her--
Laid out with the reverence of a sacred relic--
The Strap.
Zach physically flinched. His body was caught in some hellish purgatory between admiration and raw, existential fear.
"Babe. C'mon. We talked about this."
Carrie stretched, rolling her shoulders like a smug, satisfied cat. "We did."
He narrowed his eyes. "And what did we decide?"
She arched a perfect brow.
He sighed. "That I would... be open to new experiences."
Her smirk coulda shattered glass. "And do you know what today is?"
