Chapter 2 - Bound

CHAPTER 2: BOUND

Nathi has four hours before she needs to meet Kitso at the members' club in Rosebank, and she cannot settle.

She tries answering emails. She checks the booking calendar twice. She folds a black silk blouse and then unfolds it again. Every thought returns to the coffee shop: the shape of his hand around hers, the way the word good boy had turned the strong lines of his face helpless for one warm second.

At last she gives up pretending she is not thinking about him.

In her Morningside flat, the playroom is separate from the rest of her life by a solid door at the end of the passage. It is not dark or cruel. The walls are the soft purple of a bruise, the trim glossy black, the bed covered in deep plum sheets. A St Andrew's cross waits against one wall. The toy cabinet is shut. Her rules are on a laminated card inside the first drawer, because nobody should have to trust memory when they are overwhelmed.

Nathi opens the cupboard and surveys her choices.

A paddle. A G-spot wand. Nothing too much for their first night. Not compared with the things he says he likes, and not compared with what she can already imagine doing to him when he has learned the shape of her voice. But she likes a slow beginning. Anticipation makes everything brighter.

She changes into a black leather bodysuit with an open back, then adjusts the camera she keeps pointed at the bed. It is not for strangers. It is for consented teasing, for clients who have agreed to it, for the particular kind of waiting that can turn an ordinary afternoon into a private secret.

She sends Kitso a message first.

Do you have privacy?