Page 68 of Bared

So that was what she was thinking.

Brick scraped his free hand over his skull, using the action to disguise his astonishment. This was unexpected input. Unexpected but amazing. A statement conceived by a mind that continued to blow him away. Nowhere in that mind was the woman thinking how he’d grown up in back rooms instead of marble halls, or that he hadn’t rested his head on a clean pillow until his first night in boot camp. Instead of fixating on his past, she looked at what he’d done with the lessons from it. The strength he’d turned it into.

What cloud in heaven had this female been created on? He needed the mailing address so he’d know where to send his long thank-you note.

But that was on the to-do for later. Right now, he refocused on a gorgeous sprite who was clearly waiting for his response. “Yeah,” he told her, managing to stick in a sedate grin. “You could say I was ready to work hard.”

As a matter of fact, his first few weeks in Army Gruntville were more like going to summer camp—well, what he’d always imagined that would be. Hot food and showers on the regular, mixed between outdoors competitions and learning to work in teams. He was giddy, taking to the structure and discipline like GI goddamned Joe. After a few weeks, when they’d pulled him aside and asked about his interest in special forces, it was the easiest yes of his life.

He’d been so fucking young. So comically naïve.

Fortunately, Jayd didn’t read that chunk of his thoughts. Instead, she seemed engrossed in another thought track. “So was that when you started exploring your…proclivities? The…alternative…ways of doing things?”

He suppressed a laugh. For a female who had no trouble declaring personal sovereignty over her virginity, her new stammerings were damn adorable.

“Kink,” he supplied with an amiable wink. “It’s called kink, sweet girl. Or if you want to get more specific about the subset, TPE.”

She tilted her head. “TPE?”

“Stands for Total Power Exchange,” he explained. “And yes, it often goes along with its popular sibling, BDSM.”

She nodded, indicating she was familiar with the more notable acronym. “So they go together?”

“Often but not always.” Brick gentled his grip on her. Not a discussion to start with someone unless they had the option to break free. “For me, the dynamic isn’t always about the whips and toys and bruises. I’m happy to give those to a consenting submissive, if that’s what they need, but it’s not the necessary component for me.”

The princess shifted, facing him more directly. When he responded naturally, increasing his hold again, her stature actually eased.

“And what is that?” she murmured, as if he’d held her with the force of a shackle so many times before. Already epitomizing the strength of his one-worded reply.

“Trust,” he stated. “Plain and simple. But not just what a couple of people give with their bodies.” He cut in on himself with a chuff. “The physical elements are the easiest part.”

Jayd canted her head by another inch. “Because that is the part everyone can see.”

Brilliant girl. Amazing woman.

His new admiration made it difficult to restrict his touch, keeping everything to a gentle thumb stroke over her wrist. “Which makes the other shit easier to hide.” Screw it. There was no huge harm in circling his caress up to her forearm. “The part of the connection that’s even better than the rest.”

He braced himself for what was likely next. Subbies loved this line for the obvious opportunity it afforded. Steering the conversation back toward the rest as well as what they hoped to gain from him out of it. He’d never understood all that, considering all the components of his body and mind that went into every scene he was a part of. Dom drop, while rare, was real—and enough of a factor that he’d gotten pickier about his scenes, as well as who they were with. Never, in his whole kink journey, had he met a female he wanted to tie up again so soon.

Never…before now.

And as Murphy and his infamous Law would dictate, this woman only looked ready to continue with the direct subject at hand. “All the things that are going on inside,” she commented. “Yes, I understand.” She caught his skeptical glance but wasn’t deterred. “It is about other kinds of communication, yes? Not just the unspoken things with your body. The ways you talk to each other with your mind and even your soul. It becomes about deeper intentions. Forging those unspoken connections…”

Brick wasn’t sure why she purposely drifted on that thought. But maybe that was just how profound truths were communicated in heaven. She’d picked up the trick from the angelic crew who’d created her in the first place. It was either that, or—

Crap.

Why’d his brain have to go there?

But it was definitely there. Blocking out the logistics with gusto. Logistics telling him that kink wasn’t some magical land beyond Virgin Valley. That Jayd Cimarron wasn’t the unwitting subbie he’d first assumed. Which was bizarre but kind of cool.

“That’s all…pretty insightful, Pixie. And pretty damn right.”

She basked as if he’d anointed her with an A on a book report. “Well, it is a familiar way of thinking for me.”

Though Brick unclenched his teeth enough to speak, he forced his tone to the diplomatic straight-and-narrow. “Because you’ve been secretly exploring your own proclivities?”

And if so, exactly how had she done so? With some select friends back on Arcadia? What kind of friends? Helpers who’d gotten to see her naked? Were they male or female? And did that part really matter?