Page 10 of Veil of Shadows

He poured another cup full of water over my shoulders. “What would you like to know?”

I shook my head softly. “How did you come across the lifestyle in the first place?”

“A particularly interesting trip I took into town.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” he said as he poured another cup full of water over my skin, “sometimes me, Voss, or Ronyn will take trips into Mt. Rainier, or even Seattle, to get things we may need from time to time. You know, new mattresses or a part to fix a fridge. Things like that. And during one of my weekend trips where I was picking up rarer supplies for Merida and her healers that they can’t forage from the forest, I came across a party being thrown in one of the bars.”

“A lifestyle party?”

He snickered. “More like a sex party. But, yes. Something like that.”

I giggled coyly. “Did you participate in said party?”

“No, but I most certainly watched. And after that party, I spent a whole entire week after that in town researching and devouring and reading everything I could get my hands on about it.”

“What about that party drew you to it so much?”

It took him a second to respond. “They just looked so… at peace with themselves.”

His answer broke my heart. “I’m glad you found it, then.”

He drew in a short breath. “So, yeah. It started me down this rabbit hole and, before I knew it, I was applying things like hard limits and safe words into just about every aspect of my life.The lifestyle helped me to draw boundaries where I used to have none. It helped me to navigate tough times without getting so fucking angry.”

Hearing him talk about something so important and dear to him made me smile. But, it also came with more questions.

“Wait, what’s a safe word?” I asked.

His hands went back to massaging me, working their way up and down my exposed shoulders and arms. “It’s a word that can be thrown between lifestyle partners that simply states, ‘Hey, I’ve said this word and whatever is happening, I need you to cut it the fuck out.’”

“Ah, so it’s a bedroom thing.”

“Not all the time, no. Most people use it just in the bedroom, but I use it in other areas of my life as well.”

I nodded slowly. “Do you have a safe word?”

“I have safe colors, yes.”

“Safe colors?”

“Mhm,” he said as he slid his hands back up my arms. “It’s a common code used in the lifestyle. Some people get creative, but because of some of the things that I like, I use the red, yellow, green system.”

I paused and waited for him to explain as soft sighs fell from my lips.

“So, red means stop whatever you’re doing immediately. Yellow means we need to pause, but I think I’m still good. And green, of course, means?—”

“Keep at it, bucko?” I asked.

He snickered. “Yeah, something to that extent. So, for instance, right now. I’m about to slide my hands down your back and massage your lower back. What color do you have for me when I tell you something like that?”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Green.”

He chuckled as he slid his hands down either side of my spine. “Good girl.”

I shivered at his words. “So, uh… what… what else do you do?”

“I have hard limits and soft limits.”

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