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"No. I've barely been outside Florida."
"Good. I can show you something you haven't seen." She smiled at him. "I'm giving a workshop there next week. If you don't have anything pressing, why don't you come with me? It'd be a three-day trip. There's a guy there, a retired Navy SEAL and a Dom. He runs a unique kind of animal shelter. You could check it out if you want. No pressure. We can enjoy the food and a couple tourist attractions, then come on back home. NOLA also has a great club, Progeny, and The Zone has reciprocal guest privileges there. If I get in the mood to use some fancy equipment on a sub, we might go there."
"Would you be using the equipment on 'a sub' or me?" He said it as if he were teasing, but his gaze became a little more challenging. "You'd pick someone out and I'd watch with my thumb up my ass?"
"That would depend on you," she said. He behaved better if she didn't let him get away with being too pushy. But she wanted to test the ground some, so she asked him straight out. "How would you feel about me working out another sub?"
"I wouldn't like it."
"Then I suggest you stay on your best behavior," she said, concealing the little trip to her pulse. Possessiveness wasn't always a good thing in a sub, and could go too far. But in Marius, it was progress, wanting something enough to show it, work at it, rather than sabotaging it. She wanted him to embrace the idea that he could choose, could desire a Mistress instead of playing her. He could have something for himself. "Does that mean the trip interests you?"
"Yeah. I can chip in for gas, because my car's not reliable for a distance that far. Not if I'm chauffeuring a lady."
His considerateness pleased her. "We'd be flying. I have a friend who private jets it between New Orleans, Tampa and Miami, because he and his wife like The Zone and he's the plant operations manager for a bunch of Central American facilities. I checked with him a couple weeks ago to see if I could hook up with his latest flight schedule, and it worked out. His wife will be with him on this trip. You'll like her."
"Okay." He looked a little taken aback by the idea of a private plane, and she expected the jolt was giving him some other second thoughts. It was a pretty big step from where he'd been only a week ago. She tapped his cheek.
"If you change your mind, all you need to do is let me know so I'm not waiting around on you. But I hope you decide to go. I'd enjoy your company. Now where's my coffee? Two sugars, one cream."
He left the bed without saying anything more, though his thoughts were loud enough. When he started to pull his jeans back on, she cleared her throat to command his attention.
"Did I say you could get dressed?"
He stopped. She'd dialed down her usual Mistress level this morning, instinct telling her a lower tone had been needed, but those same instincts told her now might be a good time to raise it up again, to help his focus.
As he met her gaze, she sharpened hers, a rebuke. It was amazing how responsive and intuitive a sub he was. But then again, he knew all the rules--thoroughly and bone deep. It was why he was so accomplished at breaking them. Not right now, though. Indescribable pleasure unfurled in her belly when he pointedly dropped his gaze toward the floor.
"No, ma'am."
"We'll call that one infraction, then. Bring me my coffee."
He left the jeans and moved across the room, all flexing ass and thigh muscles, and mixed the brew according to her specs. When he brought it back to her--another pleasing view--she sat up and took the cup with both hands, inhaling the scent with gratitude and sipping. "Not bad for hotel coffee." She pointed to the chair, where he'd draped the belt that had been in his jeans. "Bring that to me."
That intriguing muscle in his jaw jumped again, but he complied. She gestured. "Stretch out across the bed, your chest against the edge of the mattress, hands gripping the side rail. Spread your legs out."
She slid out of the bed as he complied. Setting the coffee aside, she threaded the belt through her fingers. "Mistresses in the past punished you because they thought you were asking for pain, and you were, but to hide what you really wanted. When I strap your ass, Duncan, I'm not after your pain, though that will be an intriguing side effect. I'm reminding you that you did something wrong, and you've disappointed me. Watching a powerful ass react to being strapped, watching you hold all that strength in check and submitting to discipline...that eases my disappointment while reinforcing the lesson. You understand?"
He had wrapped his hands around the rail, his head bowed so she could see his concentrated profile
. Slowly, he nodded.
Part of the build for her, the anticipation, was taking a long, drawn out pause to speculate on what might be going through a strong sub's mind before he was punished. Right now the kick of it was so powerful she felt a tremor go through her. Circling the bed, she squatted in front of him, stroking her fingers through the hair over his brow. It was quickly becoming a favorite caress, running those spiky, soft strands through her knuckles, tugging on them like a horse's forelock. Could he feel the faint quiver through her fingers, like he had yesterday? Wasn't it amazing that, for once, she wanted a man to feel that reaction?
As he started to lift his lashes, she tsked, and he kept them down. "You have no idea what your obedience does to me," she said, low. "Makes me want to care for you, protect you, fuck you until your legs shake. Wrap your throat and your dick in a collar with my name stamped on them. Not just on the collar, but into your very flesh." She watched his fingers whiten on the rail. A lovely reaction.
"Do you know why I'm feeling that way, Duncan? I can see--truly see--how hearing it breaks things open inside you. The truth of it makes your cock hard, makes your heart hurt and pound. Now, tell me why I'm punishing you."
He had to sort through a maze of emotions to find it, and when she saw the brief flash of panic at not having the answer ready to hand, she adored it. That panic came when a sub truly wanted to please his Mistress, and was afraid of that disappointment she'd mentioned.
"I started to put on my clothes without permission."
"A gold star for the right answer, though delivery time needs work." Rising, she circled back around him, trailing her fingertips over his shoulder.
"Spread your thighs wider. I want to see those big, badass balls of yours. Make you worry I might include them in your punishment."
His thighs spread, and she scraped her nails down one buttock, pleased with the light fur and muscled flesh. "Beautiful."
Doubling up the belt in her hand, she struck, hard. She was satisfied to see he hadn't been expecting the force and flinched, a breath whistling out between his teeth. "I may have my fragile moments," she said with amusement, "but am I weak, sweet boy?"
