Ever since I posted the above comments, I have been second guessing my views on part 2, almost arguing with myself about them [
] You know, it is quite frustrating when someone's writing and character development is so good that I cannot stop debating with myself what I think about the story, even 2 days later!
My dilemma here is that part 2, as it went on, lost some of its fire, some of its spice and power. So much of the power and tension came from, and is caused by, the feelings, desires, fantasies, hopes and downright terror that there are other people, strange and dangerous men here, taking control and taking advantage of her. But once we know for sure, finally, that this is just an elaborately planned and constructed fantasy by her husband, this passion and fire disappears.
Given how powerful the wicked points where she was recognising that these strangers were able to give her levels of pleasure that her husband could not, watching her guilt and passion at work, loosing this seems a shame.
But, and its a very big but, my sense of the husband is of a loving, gentle, caring man, someone who wants to make his wife happy, without necessarily being driven by the same dark passions as she is. From this point of view, I remain amazed and deeply impressed by the work, time, planning and effort that went into this, how he looked for and found ways to give his wife something far above and beyond what she has experienced before, but also the things she has been clearly hinting, pushing and pressing for.
I am not sure how believable it would have been for the husband to have gone any further this time.
Looking forward to a darker part 3 though, I think this would work very well. Trying to put myself into the husbands place, to understand his thoughts and feelings, he went SO far above and beyond what is normal, deeply into "do it and ask for forgiveness later", and the result was both amazing pleasure for his wife, but also a deep disappointment, that this was STILL not enough, not far enough, not deep and dark enough.
I could see this somehow fuelling him going forward. Perhaps feeling / thinking that he is not able to give his wife what she wants himself, he could turn to someone to help, effectively turning his wife over to a "trusted" 3rd party part way through? I am not sure, but I could almost see him taking this step, rather than really letting loose himself with whipping and punishing her himself.
Of course, having been fooled so fully the first time, the wife will be quite sure and certain, no matter what happens, that this is just another trick by her loving and devious husband, right up until something happens that she is forced to accept could not be done by him alone...
Wanting something darker, this is not something I normally find myself thinking or writing, but there we go, and here we have it, you devil you