His response earns him a smile, amusement and approval and an easy familiarity that says she's finding her stride again. "Good boy," she coos, shaking her head so that the blue wrap falls away from her hair, still draped across her shoulders and flowing around her body.

She walks around him slowly, rolling her shoulders back in a way that hikes her bra slightly higher. She twists the necklace again sharply, not to hurt him, but to lock it tight around his neck, the smooth round beads slipping over each other and the tension keeping them from pulling free. It leaves him collared even after she lets go in order to run her fingers through his hair, tilt his head from side to side, examining his neck and shoulders and the way the muscles shift under his skin.

"If you say red, everything stops. No other word, no other phrase, no other action will be viewed as a denial of consent. Do you understand?" Underneath the flowing wrap, her free hand is tugging down the zipper on her jumpsuit, even though no one can see it yet.