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“Why?”
“The Dom in me is curious.”
Color flooded her cheekbones, staining them red. She didn’t answer. Instead, she stared into the wine, obviously composing herself.
After expelling a breath, she met his gaze. “Fair warning, you might change your mind after looking around.”
“I’ll take my chances.” Little did she know this was only the first of her hesitations that he intended to destroy. “Where should I put my coat?”
“The back of the couch is fine.”
Rather than putting down his glass, he extended it to her, and she held it without protest.
He shrugged out of the leather bomber jacket and tossed it on top of hers before turning back to her.
“I could have taken it for you,” she said. “That was rude of me.”
“Yes. It was.” He looked at her, hard, uncompromising. To him, this wasn’t a game, and he was going to be damn sure she knew it. “We both know it’s happened more than once. Lack of civility is not something I find appealing, whether the behavior is intentional or not.”
“I…er…”
“It’s never acceptable, and it’s something I’m likely to punish a sub for.”
“I’m not a submissive,” she corrected quickly, breathlessly.
“Are you sure?” He made sure his voice was soft, rather than commanding. And that took a fuckton of effort.
He watched as the twin telltale streaks of red crept back onto her cheekbones. Her reaction was perfect. Pleasing. “Are you? Or are you secretly hoping you’ll push me far enough that I’ll have no choice but to take you in hand? Do you want me to make it easy for you? Shall I remove the choice so you can pretend it wasn’t consensual?” He added the last sentence quietly, so quietly that she had to lean forward to hear him.
“You’re my boss.” Desperation made her words rushed, slamming them together. But she was still looking at him, head tipped back, her hands clenched on their drink glasses.
Nathan wondered which one of them she was trying to convince. “I am, and I can be your boss in other areas, as well.” Then he clarified, “If you want it. And hear me clearly. You will have to ask. Take too long and I’ll change asking to pleading.”
“Nathan…”
“Do you have a safe word?”
“No.” Her answer was quick. Too quick.
“Choose one,” he instructed. It wasn’t a suggestion, and he knew she heard that in his tone.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting this.”
“You were hoping,” he countered. “You knew what you were doing when you invited me up here.”
“I…”
“Be honest, Kelsey, with yourself, if not me.” He reined in his impatience. “You’ll never get what you want unless you are brave. Your choice.”
After a few seconds of silence, she admitted, “I want to be clear that this isn’t what I ultimately want for my life. I’ve fought for a really long time to make my own choices and decisions. I avoid men like you.”
“Like me?”
She sighed. “You know. Who like to be in charge. I prefer to make my own decisions. Being independent hasn’t always been easy.”
“Understood.”
“But there’s part of me that’s curious.”
He continued to wait for her, letting her work through things at her own speed. Emotion played across her face before she gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“I’ll use red.”
“You have been studying.”
She met his gaze. “And yellow for slow.”
“Good.” He smiled, and he knew she appreciated the approval by the way she exhaled. “Now that we understand one another, we can move forward. If you’re uncomfortable about something, say yellow.”
Her shoulders rose as she sucked in a deep breath. He was enchanted with the image of her on her knees, ankles and wrists tied to a spreader bar behind her.
“Do you punish your subs?”
“I typically scene with submissives at a club, with women who know what they want and make sure they get it.” He accepted the glass back from her. Her hand trembled so badly that the ice cubes clinked together.
She took several steps toward the French doors, putting some distance between them.
“Have you ever been punished for bad behavior?”
“No. I’ve never been with a Dom. Everything I know, or think I know, comes from reading, from websites, online groups, renting movies.”
“Do you think you might like to be?”
“Oh God… Really?” She regarded him, her hazel eyes wide, as if hoping he would relent and change the subject.
