Page 37 of A Little Harmless Pleasure

She hesitated and he cocked his head to the side.

“What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?” His voice had softened, his worry easy for her to hear. When she met his gaze, she tried to relax. Chris continued on, his voice softer, more understanding than before. “Don’t get ahead of me. Just sit down and we’ll work it out.”

She nodded. All the delicious warmth that had been building now lay frozen. Doing his bidding, she settled onto the bed and concentrated on her bare feet.

He didn’t say anything, but she felt his gaze on her. Slipping a finger under her chin, he lifted it. When she finally made eye contact, he continued.

“That night in Georgia…” He sighed. “This is really hard, so I’ll just blurt it out. Did you feel like there was something different, something new about your experience with me that you didn’t have with other men?”

Heat crawled up her neck and into her face. “Well, I told you…I hadn’t been able to…”

“Did you ever wonder why?”

“I just thought you were very good.”

He chuckled, and she smiled. “I am, but notthatgood. Let me put it another way. Did you ever feel that you didn’t enjoy sex because…well, maybe you didn’t feel as if you had a say in the action?”

“I wasn’t raped.”

He winced. “Okay, I’m not being as slick as I usually am. When you were telling me what to do, how did that make you feel?”

“I liked it.” It was hard to admit, but the little play had turned her on.

“And would you like to do that again, have that play within the bedroom?”

She nodded, confused by his line of questioning.

He took another deep breath and swallowed. For some reason, his nervousness made her feel better, not so unsophisticated.

“I have a confession to make. I’m a switch. Do you know what that means?”

She shook her head.

“It means that I like to play both the role of dominant and submissive.”

For a second her mind didn’t compute the words, but then what he was saying hit the mark. “You’re into S and M?”

“Not really. Well, a little. I’m more into bondage and submission.”

Her mouth opened but she couldn’t get her tongue to work. Her mind had frozen on the wordsbondage and submission.

“You like to tie women up—”

“Sometimes. Sometimes I like them to tiemeup.”

Her eyes widened at that comment. She couldn’t say anything. Her head was still reeling with the ideas he had planted there. Most of all, a tide of hot lust rose up and almost overwhelmed her. She wasn’t comfortable with the fact that the idea of tying him to the bed aroused her.

He shifted his feet restlessly. “Listen, what I like, and what you like—thatis what’s important. Cynthia, ask yourself, would you have been as fulfilled if you had not taken the lead that night and the next morning?”

The mention of their time brought back the experience in vivid detail. She’d been a little pushy and felt…powerful. She never would have associated that power with sex.

“I guess you’re right, there.”

He released a breath, as if he had been worried she’d deny it. “I’d like to help you feel that way…all the time.”

She swallowed, wondering why the idea had her practically creaming. The image of Chris, tied to a bed, naked and at her mercy, had pleasure humming through her. Immediately, embarrassment and shame stole over her, telling her that this was not right, this was bad.

“No,” Chris said, accurately interpreting the expression on her face. “Don’t be ashamed of what you feel. It’s healthy, and if you want, I’ll try my best to teach you.”

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