He texted on a Sunday.

Just two words. I'm ready.

She read it sitting at her kitchen table with her coffee and looked at it for a moment and typed back. Seven. Bring nothing.

She put her phone down and finished her coffee and spent the rest of the afternoon preparing.

She changed the setup this time. Different from the chair in the center of the room, different from the cleared desk. She stripped her bed to just the fitted sheet and attached the restraints she kept in the drawer of her nightstand to the headboard and the footboard — soft leather cuffs, lined, secure without being harsh. She set...