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Those icy colored eyes studied her, making her even more nervous as she shifted her weight back and forth. She wanted to keep still, but with all the adrenaline and nervous energy running through her body it was impossible. She had a suspicion that, not only was he drawing this moment out on purpose, but that he liked how anxious she was.
As if to corroborate her suspicions, Rick smiled slightly. “Why don’t you go ahead and have a seat, Maria, and we’ll talk.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Turning back around, Maria realized there were only two places for her to sit. Either at one of the student desks or at the teacher’s. And she was pretty sure which one Rick meant for her. For just a moment she considered trying to sit at the teacher’s, but she had a feeling it would probably be justifiable cause for spanking. Maybe she shouldn’t start this off by antagonizing him.
So she went and sat dutifully at one of the student desks. Thankfully it was more comfortable than it looked, built for an adult and not a teenager, so she didn’t feel oversized in it the way she often had in high school. No need to feel like she was wedged into a small space. One of the other desks looked like it was more the standard size, but that’s why she hadn’t sat in it. It would work well for someone who was petite and slim, and she appreciated Stronghold had multiple sizes for different body types.
Rather than sitting at the teacher’s desk, Rick leaned against the front of it, which meant there was a lot less space between them than there would have been otherwise. If it wasn’t for the leather pants, he would have looked like the epitome of a relaxed, sexy teacher. Man... if his students could see him now... She didn’t doubt Rick was probably the fantasy of many a teenage girl; if they saw him like this their heads would probably explode.
“So let’s talk about your survey.”
Damn. She’d thought she couldn’t blush any more than she already had been. Seriously, it felt like the heat had spread from her face down to her neck and chest. Was it possible to have a full body blush?
“I thought the point of the survey was to answer all your questions before I even got here,” Maria said a little lamely. For some reason, now that they were sitting here and about to actually talk, having an actual conversation about her answers just seemed incredibly embarrassing. She’d kind of liked the idea of Rick just knowing everything about her and her burgeoning fantasies without her actually have to say them out loud.
The twinkle in his blue eyes said he was enjoying her discomfiture. “Communication is one of the most important aspects of BDSM, and one which I’ve been particularly bad with when it comes to you. I told you we’d talk things through before we start. Besides, I think you’ll be more comfortable if we go over some guidelines for the scene.”
Guidelines. Talking things through. Communication. Okay, she could handle that. Maria nodded, relaxing a bit.
“We definitely have a lot of the same hard limits,” Rick said, casually crossing his arms over his chest. Which just made his biceps stand out more. Yum. He was way more relaxed than she was. “But you left a lot of options open to explore, and I have to admit, not all of them are my cup of tea but if there’s anything you’re particularly interested in trying, then it’s my job to make sure you get to.” He raised his eyebrow at her.
“I just didn’t want to say no to everything,” Maria muttered, twining her fingers together as she glanced away from him.
“Do you even know what caning is?”
“I looked it up.” Now she really couldn’t look at him. She’d had to look up an awful lot of stuff and at a certain point she’d figured, what did it really matter what implement he hit her butt with? And what if there was a certain implement he really liked? “I just didn’t want to say no to something you liked and I haven’t tried before.”
Now Rick moved away from the desk, stepping forward and putting his hand under her chin to force her to look at him. Maria bit her lip as his blue eyes seemed to bore into her, like icicles. After a long moment they softened slightly.
“I have no interest in caning you, sweetheart, and I don’t think you’d care for it if I did. But I appreciate your bravery in wanting to please me.”
The compliment warmed her even as she opened her mouth to protest she wasn’t trying to please him. She shut it before she could get the words out. Because, after all, that’s what she had been doing, and even though some part of her brain insisted she was giving him all the power by admitting to it, he hadn’t said it like it was a bad thing. Or like it was something he expected of her. No, he’d said it like it was something to be cherished, like it was an honor she’d given him.
“Good girl,” Rick said, rubbing his thumb over her lower lip. It parted immediately from the upper as she drew in a quick breath, wondering if he was going to kiss her. Instead he pulled away, resuming his position leaning against the desk in front of her, and she scowled. The amused look he gave her only made her scowl deepen. “You also indicated on the survey you’re willing to engage in sexual intercourse during a scene.”
“Isn’t that what this is about?” she asked, a bit hesitantly.
“Not necessarily. There are plenty of scenes which don’t involve any sexual contact at all. Usually Introductory Scenes don’t have a lot of actual physical intimate contact.”
“Oh.” She couldn’t decide what she was feeling. Disappointment? Relief? Both? There was only a brief flash of rejection and worry that he’d decided he was no longer interested in her before she banished the thought as both stupid and illogical. Emotions were allowed to be illogical, but that didn’t mean she had to give into them when they didn’t make any sense at all.
So, did that mean he wasn’t going to touch her at all?
After a long moment of silence, she realized Rick was watching her reactions very closely. Staring at her face in fact. And she wondered how much of her thoughts he’d been able to see. She scowled up at him again, getting a flash of white teeth in response.
“No, we’re not going to have sex tonight,” Rick said. “But definitely not because I don’t want to. I do. But this isn’t the right time or place, and definitely not the right circumstances.” Right, because it’s not like they were an actual couple or anything. Maria blew out a breath. Maybe she should be glad he was being so controlled and authoritarian about this. After all, how much would it suck to have sex with him and then discover she wasn’t able to give him what he needed? Much better to stick with fooling around and then deciding where to go from there.
Still, the fact that he was so controlled while she was feeling so very vulnerable and out of control was starting to irk her. After all, she’d been ready to jump into bed with him tonight. Hell, she’d been trying to get him to jump into bed with her for weeks now, and here he was, finally giving in, but not really.
And he called her a tease. He was a bigger tease than she’d ever been.
Maria tilted her chin up. “So what are we going to do?”
She could hear how bratty and demanding she sounded, but she only regretted it for a second. It kind of felt like Rick was still withholding information from her. After all, he’d said they were going to talk, but so far it seemed like all they were talking about were the things he wasn’t going to do to her.
He raised his eyebrow at her again for her tone. “That’s what I wanted to ask you. Are you comfortable with me using my hands and or mouth on you, or would you prefer to stick to just toys?”
