Page 5 of Submit

Not that he minded if she was a little afraid. That only made it more exciting. Domination and submission, sadomasochism, were all about an energy exchange, after all. He fed off her energy. Pleasure, fright, it was all the same at that level. And this woman, as controlled as she tried to be, unconsciously wore her emotions on her sleeve.

To play her would be fantastic. He couldn’t wait to begin.

She could always change her mind, of course. That was part of the power exchange, why it was an exchange and not simply a power trip for the Dom—the submissive’s ability to say no, to call an end to a scene. To say no before it even started, if that’s what they truly wanted. He never forgot that. But he wanted this woman in a way that shook him.

He didn’t want her to change her mind, damn it.

“I’ll e-mail you as soon as I get home with the questionnaire,” he went on. “There will be some other things, instructions. Let’s talk a little now about how I do things. Once we negotiate our terms, I will absolutely stick to them. You need to trust that in order for this to work. Because once you’re in my hands you’re turning everything over to me. With the exception that, because of what we’ve negotiated, and because of the safe words, you always ultimately have control over what happens to you. From our e-mail conversations, I gather you’re not looking for the kind of total submission involved in a Master/slave scenario, is that right?”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not for me. I think I’m more of a bottom than a true submissive, if I understand the things I’ve read correctly. It’s more the sensation, my mind getting to a certain space. I want to go to that edge without necessarily crossing over it. Does that make sense?”

He nodded. “Kink is different for each of us. That’s why these negotiations are so crucial. I train each submissive to do to perfection whatever it is that serves their particular need. That’s what it’s about for me.”

“I hadn’t really thought about it that way before.” She paused a moment. “May I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

She pressed her pink lips together for a moment. “What fulfills your needs, Adam?”

Christ, her eyes were beautiful. Gleaming. He felt another sharp tug of desire in his groin.

“Doing wicked things to beautiful girls like you.” He grinned and she batted her lashes, her cheeks flaming. “There are things I’m not into, like anyone else. I’m not into foot worship, for instance. Or the idea of owning someone, making them sleep on the floor at the foot of my bed. Making them clean my house, be my footstool. Personally, I’m against verbal humiliation and I won’t work with a girl who feels a need for that. Almost everything else is negotiable. Except that I have one unbreakable rule—I never sleep with a woman I’m training.”

Her pupils widened the tiniest bit. “Never?”

He grinned at her. “Are you saying you’d want me to, Skye?”

“I… it just seems odd that you’d do these things without being… titillated.”

“Oh, I didn’t say that.” He leaned into her again, took her wrist in his hand once more and felt her pulse racing beneath her skin. Felt the answering pulse-beat in his cock. He ignored it. “But I am very disciplined. How can I expect you to be if I can’t control my own urges?”

She nodded. ‘Yes, I guess that makes sense. But there will be… um…?”

“Sexual contact? Absolutely, if you agree to it. I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I left you hanging, would I?”

Her cheeks went scarlet. He loved to see it. Loved to see her flustered.

“What I am interested in, Skye,” he went on, “is eliciting a certain response from those I play with. The mind-fuck. And there is always mind-fuck, at some level. Like right now.” He watched her blush deepen even more. “But it’s a bonus when the woman I’m training wants—needs—the things I enjoy the most. Icing on the cake of kink. I want you to experience pleasure, of course, and pain. I want to take you into subspace, get you to a place where you question your boundaries—that’s exciting for me.”

“I’m not sure I want to question my boundaries,” she said, her voice quiet, quavering.

“Really? Isn’t that what you’re doing already by being here, talking with me about this?”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know. Maybe. Yes, I guess that’s true. But that’s not what I meant.”

“You don’t want me to push you, is that it?”

“Yes.”

“But that’s part of it, Skye. If I don’t push you, you’ll never be forced to answer certain questions about yourself. Like, how much can you take?”

“Oh!”

Her cheeks were really burning now. He loved to see how he’d thrown her, made that process of questioning herself begin already, here in the quiet café.

He lifted her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles, felt her answering shiver. He said very quietly, “I intend to push you, Skye. To test those limits. That’s where the real journey begins. So, tell me again. Are you still in? Do you still want this?”

She blinked a few times, then focused her big brown eyes on him. “Yes. I’m in. I want this.”

---