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“Abigail, this is the gallery’s owner and the man behind the camera.”
“Pleased to meet you,” he said, shaking my hand in a smooth-as-silk voice I recognized immediately. He was the third guy from the previous day. I faltered, just for a second. Should I say something about yesterday? Or just act as normal as possible? Did I even have permission to speak?
I looked to Nathaniel and he nodded. “Master DeVaan,” he said, giving me the gentleman’s name.
“Nice to meet you, Sir,” I replied, deciding to go for normal. “Your work is amazing.”
“Thank you. Any photograph in particular you like?”
“Your rope work is remarkable, but I think my favorites are the profiles, especially where the submissive is kneeling.” I nodded toward a picture near us. It was a close-up of a kneeling sub and only a portion of her face was visible.
“Interesting,” he said. “That’s one of my favorites, too.”
I walked to it. “It’s her expression that captured my attention. You can’t see a lot of it, but from what I can tell, this was taken after the scene was over. She has that sated, blissful look about her.”
“Very astute,” DeVaan said. “That’s exactly when it was taken.”
“There’s something else, though.” I tilted my head. “She’s a bit sad, I think, or maybe unsettled is the better word. Or yearning. She doesn’t want the scene to be over. She wants to serve you more, but she’s obeying you and not insisting upon it. It’s that conflict in her expression that makes it hard to look away.”
“Yes,” he said. “Yes. That’s it exactly. Incredible. Most people never see that much.”
“It’s only because it’s a position I’ve been in before. I recognize a kindred spirit.”
“Master West is a fortunate man to have captured the heart of such an insightful woman.” He tipped his head toward me. “And submissive.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“He is fortunate indeed.” Nathaniel came up behind me and slipped his arms around me. “So tell me, my lovely, is this the one for the playroom?”
“You want my honest opinion, Master?”
“Always.”
“The pictures are all beautiful, but I don’t think they’re right for us.”
“No?” He seemed surprised. I wasn’t sure why. Did he really think I wanted a picture of another woman in his playroom?
“If you wouldn’t be opposed, Master, it would be my pleasure to pose for a photo for the playroom.”
He stood in shock for several long seconds before saying, “Damn.”
I turned in his arms. “Master?”
“I hadn’t even thought of that. It’s a brilliant idea.” He looked over to DeVaan. “We’d like for you to photograph Abigail. Would it be possible to set up a time for you to come to New York?”
“Absolutely. It would be an honor.”
“Excellent,” Nathaniel said. “I’ll call you once we get back home and we’ll set something up.”
As the two men continued talking, I walked back to look at the pictures. Seeing how he captured the light made DeVaan’s comment about the sun on my body the day before make sense.
Nathaniel came up to me and put his hand on the small of my back. “Let’s go get lunch.”
DeVaan had left the room, so I didn’t get the chance to say good-bye. I looked over my shoulder to glance one last time at the pictures displayed. My belly tightened with excitement over having a similar picture, but of me, in our playroom.
Our car was waiting for us outside and once we climbed in, Nathaniel turned to me.
“I’m taking the collar off for lunch.”
I looked at him with my unspoken question in my eyes, but didn’t say anything. I slid closer to him and bowed my head while he unclasped the collar. My neck felt unusually light after having it on for so long.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
Typically, once he took the collar off, I would notice a slight shift in our relationship as we went from Dominant and submissive back into our everyday lives. But when I looked at him then, he still had the aura of my Master.
“Good,” I said. “The week has been challenging, but I’m enjoying it so far.”
“Glad to hear it.” He took my hand and brought it to rest on his knee. He held it there stroking my knuckles with his thumb. “We’ll talk more at lunch. Unless there’s something you’d like to discuss now?”
I shook my head. “Nothing right now, but I’ll admit to being insanely curious about what you want to talk about so badly that you took my collar off.”
He brought my hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss to my skin. “Not just yet.”
“That’s what I figured,” I said with a mock sigh. “But I thought I’d bring it up anyway.”
He’d selected a new restaurant for lunch. Even though we were a little early, there was already a line waiting to get in. Fortunately, he’d secured reservations, so we bypassed most of the crowd and within minutes of arriving had been seated in a corner booth.
I took my time looking over the menu. The restaurant had a massive amount of fresh fish. I had a hard time settling on one thing to eat but I finally decided on a crab cake sandwich with salad.
When the waitress finished taking our order and walked off, Nathaniel spoke. “I was glad to hear you’re enjoying the week.” He looked around the room, as if taking note of how many people were present. “I wanted to get your opinion about expanding it.”
My wineglass froze halfway to my mouth. “What?” I asked when I could actually speak again.
“I’ve enjoyed it more than I thought I would.” He caught my gaze and looked deeply into my eyes. “I don’t think I can go back to only playing once or twice a month.”
I’d had the very same thought, but I hadn’t seen how we could make it work with two kids in the house. Especially with one of them being as precocious as Elizabeth.
“I’m not sure I understand,” I said, wanting to know exactly what he was suggesting.
“I don’t want you in my collar twenty-four hours, seven days a week.” His eyes were intense as he spoke. He was serious about what he was saying. That he took my collar off at all when we’d agreed for me wear it all week spoke volumes.
“Then explain to me what you meant by expanding our play and how we can accomplish that without me wearing your collar nonstop?”
“I don’t know exactly how to implement it. That’s what we need to talk about.”
“We’ve been together long enough for me to think you’re not just pulling this out of the air.” Hell, the man planned everything. “I know you have ideas.”
“I do have ideas, but I want to hear yours. I know you need time to process and think. That’s why I’m bringing this up now. I’d like to have something in place when we get home.”
“That soon?”
“That’s my preference.”
“And if I say I’m not interested at all?”
Damn, the way his eyes could pierce my soul. Especially when I said something he knew wasn’t completely true to how I felt.
“Tell me you’re not interested, Abby. Tell me you’re okay only playing once or twice a month. Tell me you don’t melt every time I call you Abigail and I’ll never bring it up again.” He spoke in a low, deep voice that gave me gooseflesh as if he’d reached out and caressed my arm. And all the time, he was looking at me knowing with absolute certainty what my response would be.
