Page 125 of Dose

Before the third, I stop.

“Look at me.”

She turns toward my voice beneath the blindfold.

“Do you want another denial, or do you want to come?”

Her answer takes several breaths. “Another.”

“Color?”

“Green.”

I give her the third. Then the fourth, checking every time rather than treating one yes as permission for the rest. On the fifth approach, I keep the vibrator against her and tell her she can come.

She breaks around the permission. Her wrists pull once against the rope, hard, and her cry strikes the concrete walls before returning to us.

I release the bed tie, then her wrists. No numbness. No pressure marks beyond a temporary blush. I remove the blindfold and let her eyes find me before I pull her against my chest.

“Report,” I say.

“Alive. Furious. Extremely satisfied.” Her voice is wrecked. “You sound pleased with yourself.”

“I am capable of accurate self-assessment.”

“That’s a yes, then.”

The second morning begins with another threat review. The Chicago teams are still searching, and the safe-house route has attracted surveillance two blocks from a vehicle exchange. Isla opens the blast door before she gives Nikolai her answer.

She chooses the secure level for another day.

That afternoon, she opens the door again before we begin.

The system accepts her palm. The locks withdraw. Nikolai’s panel offers an escort, and she declines it.

She leaves the blast door open while I lay a towel across the bed and set out lubricant, gloves and the smallest of the body-safe silicone plugs I ordered months ago and never assumed we would use. It has a broad flared base. There is no numbing agent, no compound of my own invention, nothing that could silence a warning her body needs us to hear.

After thirty seconds, she closes the door herself.

“Still want this?” I ask.

“Tell me exactly what you want to do.”

“Touch first. One finger if you ask for it. The smallest plug only if you still want more. No penile penetration today. No target we have to reach at all.”

“And if it hurts?”

“We stop. Pressure and unfamiliar fullness may be expected. Sharpness, burning or numbness are not.”

“You really did research.”

“You sound surprised.”

“I’m deciding whether to be flattered or concerned about your search history.”

“Be still and decide.”

She smiles as she lies down.