She was brushing her wet hair in her bedroom when she heard the lock click--someone was in her house. She froze mid-stroke. She strained her ears and heard nothing at first, and then soft footsteps.
Her heart pounded, her body trembled with adrenaline. What were people supposed to do if a burglar broke in? Try to get out somehow? Hide and call the police?
Shit.
She had set her phone on the bathroom counter before her shower, and there it still sat, just waiting to be stolen.
The intruder wandered slowly down the hallway towards her bedroom. She glanced wildly around the room for places to hide. In the closet? Too obvious, and she would have to dash across the open doorway in plain sight to get in. Under the bed? Too much crap under there to fit. She silently cursed herself. She was in her late twenties for god's sake, she should be cleaning her bedroom like an adult, not shoving everything under the bed.
The footsteps drew nearer, and in a panic she gripped her towel tightly around her and ran quietly across the room to duck behind a wingback chair in the corner, still clutching the hairbrush in her hand. It wasn't the best spot, but a burglar likely wouldn't look behind a chair for valuables. She would wait patiently, let him take whatever he wanted, and call the police after he left, whether by her own phone or a neighbor's (though "neighbor" was a bit of a loose term when you lived out in the country). It was a good, solid plan. She would be safe.
The man stepped into the bedroom and turned off the lights, leaving them both in total darkness.
Odd,
she thought. Didn't he need to see what he was doing? She heard the door shut and the zipper of a duffel bag, and then several minutes of him shuffling around. Clinking, rustling, clicking, tapping. What in the world was he doing?
Finally he stopped, and for a moment there was total silence. "I know you're in here, Ava."
She blinked, startled. That deep voice was familiar.
"It's alright," said Caden, her neighbor. "Come on out, I won't hurt you."
Something deep inside her told her to stay hidden, but he was just her neighbor, a kind and friendly man with an easy smile. He had helped pull her car out of the ditch last summer when she swerved too hard from a deer. He helped her install a backup generator after the ice storm a couple months ago took out her power for days. And just a few days ago he had stopped by and offered to mow her yard since he was already planning on doing his own that day.
That one was a bit odd, considering one of their yards alone would take hours to finish, and he had driven half a mile down her private dirt road just to offer... She had thanked him with a home-cooked meal and fresh sweet tea. He ate outside at her patio table, and then he had just smiled, winked, and left.
Yes, it was strange that he was in her house, but he was a nice guy, so she shyly stepped out from behind the chair, bending a little awkwardly to keep her towel from slipping, though it was too dark to see much anyway. "What the hell are you doing in my house, Caden?" He was barely more than a silhouette in the dark.
"Well," he said slowly, "I've helped you out a lot over the past couple of years, you know, and I thought that maybe it's time you help me with something." He tapped something soft in his hands.
She didn't know how to respond. Why did he come in? Why did he turn off the light? What had he been rummaging around for? Warning bells rang in her head, but Caden was harmless... wasn't he? "Can it... can it wait until tomorrow?" she said. Her body was trembling again.
He gave her a quiet chuckle. "No," he said. "It'll take at least a few days, and I'd like to get a start on it now." He stretched the thing in his hands, and in a sliver of moonlight she caught the soft shine of the black silk rope.
What the fuck?
She stepped to the side, brandishing her hairbrush ridiculously like a sword. "I--I think you should leave."
He took a step toward her and she hurled the brush at him with all of her might, using his momentary surprise to dart around him to the door. She flung it open just as he turned around and she sprinted down the hallway.
She cried out in panic as he barreled after her. She made it to the front door, unlocked it, and pulled it open just a crack before his hand shot forward from behind her and slammed it shut again.
Caden grabbed her around the waist, pinning her arms to the side as lifted her up and held her tightly against his chest. He carried her back into the bedroom as she thrashed and kicked against him. "It's alright, Ava," he said. "I told you I wouldn't hurt you, remember?"
"Get the fuck out of my house!" Ava screamed. She was in full panic mode now, squirming and kicking in his grasp with everything she had in her. She found some footing on the wall and managed to push him violently back against the opposite wall in the hallway.
He grunted at the force of it, but then he dug his fingers into her and easily jerked her away. He was simply too strong. "Nice effort," he said, carrying her into the bedroom. With his arms still wrapped around her, he pushed her onto her stomach on the edge of the bed, pinning her under him with his weight. That was when she saw it: ropes and straps and cuffs, and a myriad of other things strewn across the bed. He reached over her for one of the cuffs and she shrieked, clawing frantically at the bed, at his arm, at anything she could reach.
"You're really making this difficult right now," he said in a strained, irritated voice as she continued to thrash. He cuffed one of her wrists to the sturdy slatted headboard, and then in one swift motion he flipped her over onto her back, pulled her to the center of the bed, and straddled her, holding her legs down before she had a chance to fight back.
"What are you going to do to me?" she asked in a shaky voice, clinging to some hope that it wasn't what she knew it would be.
He wrangled her other wrist into the cuff and, satisfied at the achievement, smiled and gently ran his hands down the length of her arms and down her sides where the towel was still tucked firmly around her. He slipped it down to her stomach and traced the base of her full, round breasts with his thumbs. "Whatever I need to," he said.
She tensed at his touch and tried to shy away. "What the fuck does that mean?"
He didn't answer. It didn't take him long to wrestle her legs into the shackles at the foot of the bed, and once he pulled the rest of the towel away, she was fully exposed, trapped, and vulnerable. He stood by the foot of the bed, taking a moment to admire her.
Shame, fear, and anger ran through her, each fighting to surface first. She pulled futilely on the restraints.
He casually removed his clothes and tossed them aside. Even in the dark she could see that he was so much larger than her, so much stronger. He climbed onto the bed again. He ran a hand up her body as he laid over her. His hardened member slid up her thigh, trailing a small bit of wetness over it, and she squeezed her knees together as best as she could. She turned her head away from him as he loomed over her. "It's alright," he said gently. He grabbed her jaw and easily brought her head to face him, despite her struggling, and wiped her cheek with his thumb.
She glared at him. Moonlight outlined his broad shoulders and the strong arms that trapped her helplessly on either side. He leaned his head down towards her to kiss her and she snapped her teeth at him wildly. She caught a glint of excitement in his eyes through his dark shaggy hair as he quickly pulled back.
"You're quite a fighter, aren't you?" He clenched her jaw tighter and kissed her forcefully. She sucked in a hiss of surprise and pain as he bit her lower lip. "Come on, Ava," he said softly, his lips lightly brushing hers as he spoke. "This doesn't have to be a bad experience." He released her jaw and continued to hover over her as his hand traveled down her neck, breast, and stomach, and then settled on the small space just beside her hip bone.
Something came alive in her body when he gripped her hip and pressed his thumb into it, into that secret, sensitive place that most men didn't know about. She quickly pushed the feeling down.
He studied her face and grinned. His hand traveled down further to her thighs, which she pushed together desperately. "Open them," he said. When she didn't, he sighed and wedged his hand forcefully between them. "There will be consequences if you don't do what I tell you to." His voice took on a darker tone, but his dark smile lingered. "Now spread your legs for me, Ava." She glared at him again in defiance, and he roughly pushed one of her knees to the side and shoved his hips between her thighs.
"Stop!" she cried, squirming. "You don't have to do this. I won't tell anyone, I swear! Stop, please--"
He pressed his lips to hers and forced his tongue between her teeth. "No," he breathed into her mouth as she tried to pull away. It was an all-consuming kiss; every attempt she made at turning away just gave him more control. He brought his hand up again and ran his fingers across her neck and wound them into her wet hair at the back of her head, holding her still against him.
In any other situation it would have been good, pleasurable, but she didn't want this, not with him. He was her neighbor--he was supposed to be safe, someone who looked out for her, someone who protected her from people just like him.
He broke the kiss and looked down at her, still holding her head in place. He shifted his weight and his free hand cupped her breast and rolled her nipple between his fingers. "Just relax," he said softly. He bent his head and took the other nipple in his mouth, circling it with his tongue.
She gasped. It was the cold air that made them hard, not his warm touch. It had to be the cold air that made her skin prickle beneath his hand, nothing else.
She didn't say anything as his hand traveled down further. If she didn't talk, then maybe it would be over faster.
His hand trailed down over her stomach, grazing her bellybutton, and he laughed lightly at her shudder when he moved over the ticklish spot just below.
She squeezed her eyes shut in shame as his palm cupped her smooth mound. He shifted again and she tried to push her legs together, but he pressed his thighs against her, forcing her to spread wider.
He groaned deeply as he ran his palm over her, kissing away the tears that slipped from her closed eyes. He traced two fingers around the velvety outer lips of her widespread folds. "It's almost like you shaved just for me," he said in her ear.
She jolted at his touch. It was fear that filled her with heat and made her tremble, nothing more...
He released her hair and sat up so he was kneeling between her legs. He spread her folds a little wider and stroked the inside of her lips with his thumbs. "It sure seems like you want this," he said with a chuckle. She opened her mouth to protest, but cut off as a finger pressed on her little bud of a clit. Any words that would have come out turned into a surprised gasp, which he took as encouragement. He stroked her again, this time sliding a finger from the top of her clit down to the bottom of her opening, which, to her horror, was slick with her own juices. She squirmed in the restraints and he climbed backward off of the bed, kneeling on the floor before her. He held her knees firmly in place as she struggled.
"Oh no, please," she said. "Please, don't..."
He ignored her and pulled her legs closer to the end of the bed. He lowered his head between her thighs.
She blushed with embarrassment. No one had ever had their head down there before. No one had looked so closely at such a vulnerable, private piece of herself.
