Page 44 of Snow Bound

She took a gulp of beer for courage and began to scroll.

The first couple of pages was nearly identical to the one she’d filled out that first night at Odyssey. An extensive list, it held nearly every kink known to man—from abrasion to zip ties and everything in between. But there was an extra bit of information included on his list that hadn’t been on the forms she’d filled out—next to each item he indicated interest in, he’d also had to include his skill level.

“Well, that’s helpful,” she murmured.

“What is?”

She glanced up. “The, um, the skill rating.”

He reached for another slice of pizza. “Michael’s idea. I updated it just a few months ago, but I went over it again this morning.”

He listed bondage as both high interest and high skill. Also listed as high interest and high skill were restraints, various forms of impact play, teasing, anal play, oral sex—she could attest—various types of pain play, role-playing, orgasm control—she could also attest—and co-topping.

“Co-topping?” she asked, lifting her head. “How does that work?”

“Two tops, one bottom.” His dimples flashed. “Double the fun.”

“Really?”

“It works best when both tops know each other well. Sometimes it’s a work in tandem thing, complementary skills, and sometimes it’s more of a teaching moment. I once did a scene with someone whose submissive wanted to try mummification, but her Dom didn’t have any experience with it. I got to play with an eager sub, her Dom got to learn a new skill, and she had two tops working to get her off.”

“Well, when you put it like that,” she said and he laughed.

“I don’t think it’s going to come up here,” he said, “unless you know the neighbors a lot better than I do.”

“Um, no.”

“Any other questions?”

“Not really. Not now, anyway.”

“I’ve got a couple.”

“Okay.” She didn’t want it, but she took another slice of pizza so she’d have something to do with her hands. “Shoot.”

“You crossed out ‘erotic humiliation’ and wrote ‘erotic embarrassment’, then added ‘being on display’.” He looked at her. “Tell me about that.”

She took a bite, chewing slowly to give herself time to think. “I guess they kind of go together,” she said when she’d swallowed. “A lot of the things that come up with erotic humiliation are hard limits for me, like being insulted or degraded. And I don’t want to be objectified.”

“Not at all?”

“Okay, I do want to be objectified,” she admitted, and he laughed. “But not literally treated as an object, like a piece of furniture or like I don’t matter.”

“Okay.”

“I like being called names,” she went on, his matter of fact attitude and responses making it easier to discuss this particular kink. “Like when you called me a slut.”

“I remember.”

The heat in his eyes had her floundering for a moment. “And being on display, well, that’s embarrassing. Especially if I can’t stop it.”

“Are you an exhibitionist?”

“I don’t think so.” She took another bite, thinking it through. “I think it’s less that people are seeing me, and more about how they’re seeing me. And me not having any control over that.”

She huffed out a breath. “Sorry. I’m not doing a very good job of explaining this.”

“No, you are. But these are edgy kinks, with potentially a lot of emotional baggage attached. I’m just trying to get a firm handle on what it means to you.”

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