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***
Minty
That night, afterdinner, we curled up on the sofa together, watching the premiere of CBS’ new crime drama,Silk Stalkings. He held me in front of him, arm tossed over me and his chin resting on top of my head. I felt secure and safe, and I liked it.
I pondered the new equality I felt with Luke now. Messed up ornot, fair or not, using Luke’s love for me to hurt him had shown his weakness so plainly that, for a moment, I’d felt powerful. Sick, but true.
Before, I’d always felt like Luke had the upper hand in whatever it was we were building. He was the Dom. He was the older and stronger of us. He took care of me in so many ways. He protected me. He hurt me and made me sing with pleasure and pain.
And over the last week, I’d started to wonder what did I give him? I allowed him to exercise his sadistic needs. I helped him to feel strong and powerful in the face of impending death. I let him fall for me, an emotion he’d never felt before. But what did all that amount to really, if overall I was a liability, a dead weight around his feet?
In the end, that wasn’t true after all. I had a power he needed and craved. After I’d wielded the magical, weaponized words and seen the terrible outcome, heard the insecurity fall from his lips, and held him afterward, I realized I had strength to let him be what no one else in his life ever had—weak.
After Chris and Rita successfully investigated and solved a model’s murder, and the station had gone to commercial, Luke picked up the remote and muted the sound. “Baby, I was thinking…”
“Mm?” I rolled around so that I was facing him, nearly sliding off the sofa in the process. But Luke’s strong grip kept me from going over the edge.
In this position, I had a good view of his chin and nostrils, and each gust of breath hit me in the face. I breathed in on purpose, taking in the air that had just been in his body, feeling dreamy and calm now that our crisis had passed.
“The other day, I got an invitation to a local event, and I wondered if you might want to check it out?”
“Sure,” I agreed easily, nosing his t-shirt collar aside and kissing the soft skin at the base of his neck.
He stroked my back. “You should hear more about the nature of the event before you agree. No more checking all the boxes before you’ve read and considered them all, remember?”
“Ooh, is this a kinky event?”
“Yes.”
My heart pumped harder, and I grinned with excitement, squirming until I was sitting up and better see his face. I patted one of his cheeks and took in the hint of anxiety in his eyes. “Tell me about it then.”
“It’s an invitation to a party at Knoxville’s only operating dungeon.”
My mouth dropped open. “What? For real?”
“Yeah. Want to go?”
I choked slightly, my eyes flying wide. “Do I?”
“We don’t have to.”
“Of course I want to go.” I gripped his shoulders and moved him onto his back, and I climbed on top of him, straddling his thighs. “What are we going to do there?”
“Talk. Watch,” Luke whispered. “Learn.”
“Play?”
“If you want to.”
My heart pumped hard. “Wow. I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to decide now. In fact, you shouldn’t. See what’s on offer first, and then make up your mind.”
I licked my lips. “All right. Yeah. This could be fun. When is it?”
“This weekend.”
“Don’t you see Betsy this weekend?”
