Page 23 of Serving the Maestro

She went quiet and still, her erratic breaths stopping for several seconds. Then she pushed up onto one elbow and met my gaze.

I breathed a little easier when all I saw in her lovely eyes was a bit of surprise mixed with a healthy dose of curiosity.

“Bondage,” she said softly. “As in you like tying up your sexual partners?”

Stroking a hand down her arm until I could manacle one soft wrist, I squeezed lightly.

“Tying my sexual partner up is one thing I enjoy. There are other pleasures.” With a faint smile, I added, “I notice you went straight to assuming I’m the dominant in the situation.”

Her cheeks colored, but she shrugged. “I learned to read people at a pretty young age. Since you took the lead there, I’m guessing my assumption was right.”

“It is.” Squeezing her bound wrist, I felt her pulse under my thumb speed up. “Have you ever given the idea of BDSM any thought?”

She blinked, then shook her head. “No. I can’t say it’s a turn-off, but I’ve just...never thought of it. What kind of...” The words trailed off.

I could see her trying to formulate what she wanted to ask. “Are you curious about just what I’m into? What I like?”

She nodded, looking both nervous and intrigued.

“I like having a woman submit—having her turn over her trust and her pleasure to me. Trust and pleasure—those are key because why would a sub give control of her body over to somebody she didn’t trust to care for her? Somebody she didn’t think would give her pleasure?”

Circling my thumb over her pulse, I smiled. “It’s a heady feeling, having somebody trust you to do that. It’s arousing as fuck to have that person trust you enough to let you tie them up, bend them over, or stretch them out and touch, taste, explore every inch of their body while they lay there...vulnerable.”

Her lips parted with a ragged sigh.

“I’m not very good at trusting...or being vulnerable,” she said quietly.

“It’s a learning process.” Nuzzling her neck, I added, “Taking a woman like you as a sub, teaching you all about the lifestyle is something I would very much enjoy.”

A tiny noise left her as I pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot behind her ear.

Then I stretched back out next to her and pulled her closer. “Just maybe an idea for you to consider.”

She nodded jerkily before settling back against me, one hand resting on my chest.

She hadn’t jumped up and left.

She’d actually looked curious, if somewhat anxious.

I just might have found a sub to play with for my short stay here in New York.

I considered the idea, and decided I very much liked it.

But when I went to kiss her, I found her eyes closed and her breaths soft and steady.

She’d fallen asleep.

EIGHT

JAZZ

I woke up almost instantly.

It was pretty normal for me, a holdover from a childhood where I’d never know if I’d wake up to find my mother still half-drunk and crying into a bottle about my dad, or in a foul mood because she was hungover and late for work.

What wasn’t so typical was waking up to the smell of breakfast cooking...bacon? My mouth watered, and I had a temporary fight with my nerves while debating whether to slip out and go next door to my apartment or act normal and go out there to face him.

This was only the second one-night stand I’d ever had.

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