The sound of a toilet flushing came from the bathroom. Seth could hardly wait for Bayley to come back into the bedroom. When she did, he had a surprise waiting for her. It had been weeks since she had escaped from his most recent attempt to tie her up and taunted him that he needed to do better next time. Next time was moments away, and he was indeed going to do better this time. A lot better. He had planned ahead of time what to do, and considered his plan to be flawless.

Moments later, after she had washed her hands, Bayley came walking back into the bedroom. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, and she had a tired, early morning look about her.

"I slept well," she informed him pleasantly. "How about you?"

"Yeah, I did too," he replied with a smile, lying nonchalantly on the bed with the blanket kicked off him. He spread him arms to invite her into a hug and said, "Come here."

"Aww, how sweet," Bayley said. She climbed onto the bed to accept his embrace, but when she did, Seth moved as quick as a flash, grabbing her and forcing her down onto the bed on her front, positioning himself on top of her in one fluid motion. He was now pinning her down, hard enough to keep her in place but not to the point where he would hurt her.

Bayley screamed in excitement, taken by surprise. "Seth, what are you doing?" she demanded, failing to stop herself laughing.

"What am I doing? Exactly what you told me to do," Seth replied. Bayley was lying with her head near to his pillow now, face turned towards it. He had stashed a few items under it while she had been in the bathroom, and now he moved it aside to reveal them.

"Wait, what?" Bayley gasped, feeling something stir inside her immediately. She was looking at two pairs of handcuffs and a roll of purple duct tape. The last thing she had expected was for Seth to tie her up and gag her at this time of day, but she supposed that was part of his plan, and he was going to use handcuffs! She hadn't even know that he had bought them. She wasn't going to complain about it, that was for sure. After all, she had meant it when she had told him to do better.

Seth picked up one of the pair of handcuffs. "You told me to tie you up better. That's what I'm going to do. Now get your hands behind your back."

"Oh, very authoritative," Bayley said, teasing him with her tone even as she complied with the instruction.

"We'll see how you long you keep using big words like that," Seth shot back, already turned on by what he was about to do to her. Bondage had started off as mainly her fetish, but over time he had come to enjoy it a lot too.

The handcuffs were soon locked in place on Bayley's wrists. Next, Seth picked up the other pair.

"My ankles as well?" she asked innocently.

"Your ankles too," he confirmed, turning around to apply them. As he did so, he considered tickling her feet. He could quickly take off the little white ankle socks she was wearing. Maybe later, he decided.

Bayley wriggled her arms and legs, testing her range of movement. "Okay, Rollins, you got me tied up. What do you need duct tape for?"

"Hmmm, I wonder," he said in response to her latest teasing. He picked up the roll and said, "I figure the first thing I do with it might be a surprise." Naturally, Bayley expected the tape to be used to gag her. And so it would, in time. But before that, Seth had another use for it.

"I like surprises," she said, clearly turned on.

"Good to know," Seth replied. He stretched out a length of tape from the brand new roll and stuck it to the chain between the handcuffs on her wrists. With that done, he lifted her ankles so that they were positioned not far from where her wrists would be able to reach up to.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Bayley asked.

"Tying you up properly, like I said." Seth set about taping the two pairs of handcuffs together, putting Bayley into a hogtie. He wrapped the tape around several times so that it would hopefully be strong enough to resist any attempts at struggling. "There we go," he announced with satisfaction when he tore the roll free.

Bayley was burning up, turned on to the point where she could feel her heart pounding. This was by far the most securely she had ever been bound. This predicament surely had to be inescapable, and that was driving her wild. And more was still to come. She didn't mind the pain in her shoulders from the way they were wrenched backwards. "Seth, I can't move," she told him, only speaking as a reminder for him to shut her up.

"I know. And you won't be able to talk in a moment," he assured her.

She felt him shifting behind her, now straddling her back. The sound of more tape being peeled from the roll came near to her left ear, then she felt it being stuck down to her cheek. She closed her mouth, wanting to allow the tape to seal it up properly.

Seth wrapped the tape several times around her head, making it tight and secure. When he was done, he tore the roll free, and threw it aside on the bed.

"Mmmmpph!" Bayley yelled into the gag, writhing around pathetically on the bed. She looked up at him with wide eyes that clearly displayed how turned on she was.

"That won't do you any good," Seth said matter of fact as he got off the bed. "You won't be escaping and throwing your freedom in my face this time. You can lie there and wait until I come back. I've got a visit to make to Bean and Gone."

"Wmmmmt? Nmmmm!" Bayley yelped, realising he was going to go and leave her tied, gagged and unable to escape. Inside, she was loving it. It was the ultimate helpless situation to be in.

"You heard," Seth said coolly. "If I was you, I'd lie still and quiet. Trying to shout or free yourself isn't going to happen, so don't bother. I'll be back as soon as I can. Or maybe I won't. I guess you'll find out whenever I return."

Seth rolled Bayley onto her side, leaned down and planted a kiss on the tape over her mouth.

"Mmmm," she groaned in response.

When Seth let go of her, Bayley fell back into position lying on her stomach. Paying no attention to the occasional muffled noise from her, he got dressed, then went and had a wash in the bathroom. He was now ready to leave. Before doing so, he stood by the bed, looking down at the gorgeous girl wearing only her nightwear, handcuffed and taped up. A large part of him wanted to stay and torment her for a while before the inevitable sex. But no, he had to go further than that this time after the way she had acted after escaping the last time she had been tied up. He had to assert dominance over her, especially because that was exactly what she also wanted to happen.

"Not getting free this time, I see?" he commented as she pointlessly wriggled her wrists in the cuffs.

"Mm Cmmt," she mumbled angrily.

"Good. I'll say hi to Daga for you."

With that, Seth left the bedroom and closed the door behind him, delighting in hearing another muffled yell from Bayley as he did so.

Fifteen minutes later, Seth walked into Bean and Gone, happy to see plenty of customers in there for morning coffee. As ever, he savoured the delightful smell of coffee beans as it filled his nostrils.

Excusing his way through the line of customers, Seth walked to the back of the store, then around the end of the counter, greeting a couple of young female employees on the way.

Elena D'Agostino, the coffee shop's manager, was standing with her back to Seth, operating one of the coffee machines. It ran with an incredibly loud rumbling sound, explaining why Elena hadn't heard Seth's voice.

When Elena had the coffee prepared, she turned around and saw Seth standing there. A smile appeared on her face as she greeted him in her strong Italian accent. "Ah, Seth, good morning. How are you?"

"Morning, Daga," he smiled. "I'm well. Looks like business is good?"

"Yes. Is always busy this time of day," she replied in her customary slightly broken English. She served her customer with his drink, then took an order and payment from the next person in line before speaking to Seth again. "No Bayley?" she enquired.

"She's tied up at home this morning," he replied, congratulating himself on the hidden wit in the answer. "I said I'd come down and get us a couple of coffees."

"I fix them for you next. How is your renovation work going?"

"Yeah, well, thanks," Seth replied. "We'll be over there later to put some more work in. We have the new kitchen in and finished now. The only problem we've had for the past couple weeks or so is a nuisance old woman who lives next door. She keeps complaining about the noise."

Elena laughed sarcastically as she continued working. "You are supposed to work in silence, yes?"

"Apparently," Seth laughed. "Bay has been working on the garden whenever we've been there, and she's been deliberately making as much noise as she could. It takes a lot to make her angry, but she can be relentless when she gets going. It's pretty much a war between them at this point. Luckily, the garden is about half done already. The work is going at a very good pace actually, considering we're doing most of it ourselves. Before we know it, we'll be finished and ready to sell."

"You will show me pictures?" Elena asked, meaning when the house was finished.

"I'll do better than that. We'll have you over to have a look around if you like?"

"Yes, I would like that," Elena said with a smile. While they had been chatting, she had served her customer and fixed the two coffees for Seth and Bayley, knowing what they liked to order without needing to ask. She handed the two cups to him.

"Thanks, Daga. I'd better take off. Bayley will be wondering where I got to."

"Sure. Say hi to her for me."

"Will do," Seth promised. "Have a good day."

"You too," Elena said before turning back to the line of waiting customers.

Arriving back home, Seth couldn't wait to get up to the bedroom. He couldn't imagine a way that Bayley could possibly have gotten free from how he had left her. But then he had thought that before and she had outdone him.

"Bay, I'm home," he called out on his way up the stairs.

"Mppphhh!" came an angry scream from the bedroom. That was a good sign, he thought with a grin.

Carrying both of the coffee cups, Seth had to crouch down and use his elbow to operate the bedroom door handle. He shoved the door open and walked into the room.

Bayley was now sitting up on the edge of the bed. During the half hour he had been gone, she had apparently managed to break through the tape that had been hogtying her, but the gag and the two pairs of handcuffs remained exactly as they had been when he had left her. Her hair was now a total mess from the thrashing around and struggling she must have been doing. She had an angry look on her face, but he could tell that she was putting it on. Her eyes gave her away, revealing how much she had enjoyed her fruitless bid for freedom.

"Didn't get free then, I see?" Seth commented as if he was remarking on the weather. He walked over and put her coffee on the night stand on her side of the bed. "There's a coffee there if you want it. You'll have to get it, though."

"Lmm mm gm!" Bayley pleaded, bouncing up and down in frustration on the end of the bed, looking up at him.

"No way," he replied with a laugh. "You wanted me to tie you up properly, so I did. Daga says hi, by the way. I told her you were tied up at home."

Bayley made an annoyed growling noise into the tape at the joke he had made at her expense.

Ignoring her, Seth sat down on a chair in the corner of the room, put his feet up on the end of the bed and pulled out his phone. "I'm going to take half an hour to enjoy this coffee and read the sports news," he reported. "When I've done that, maybe I'll let you go, if you're lucky."

Rolling her eyes and sighing, Bayley lay back down on the bed, looking at him. She was doing her best to win him over with puppy dog eyes, but it wasn't going to work. He wasn't even looking at her. She resigned herself to waiting for freedom. This time, at last, she had been defeated. She had plenty of time, though, to plot revenge.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter.

In the next chapter, we'll catch up with Seth and Bayley as they near completion of their project. How do you think it will look when they've finished it? And will Bayley be able to get revenge on Seth for what he did to her in this chapter?