Page 67 of Role Play
“I don’t think I should reveal that yet, either. I’ve earned her trust… now I have to keepit.”
Richard took a sip of coffee, nodding. “Iunderstand.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets, smiling at Lucy’s temper, at how angry she would be if I ever told someone—not that betraying her trust is funny. But there was something about her, a quality, that whether I was thinking about her laughing or angry or aroused… she just made mesmile.
“You’re growing attached to your new sub?” Richard asked, his eyes narrowingsuspiciously.
I shook myself out of the haze and cleared my throat. “We only just met,Richard.”
“That wasn’t myquestion.”
O-kay. “I enjoy spending time with her,” I answered, careful not to reveal toomuch.
Richard studied me, his gaze narrowing. “Is she falling for you,too?”
I felt my muscles seize. “I’m not falling for her,” I snapped. I couldn’t be. That was fucking ridiculous. One good emotional fuck didn’t mean I was ready to collarher.
Richard froze, the coffee mug halfway to his lips and his mouth quirked in a smile. “You know, it’s okay to have feelings for your submissive. Itcanwork. Look at Jude and Marlena. Just guard your heart. Enter cautiously. In case she has some oats tosew—”
I clenched my eyes shut. Lucy sewing oats was not what I fucking wanted to think about. “Well, I don’t. She’s just a submissive. I care for her the same way I care for the others,” I said, hardly believing myself. It was the exact opposite sentiment that I had just relayed to Jude. If I was already this fucking readable, wearing my heart on my sleeve, then I needed to harden myself. Block these feelings. Hide from my and Lucy’sconnection.
“Okay then,” Rich said. If he believed what I’d just said, he disguised it well. “Just… sign the waiver. And make sure one other Silhouette employee has a copy of your signed waivers, ideally someone that each of you knows and trusts. It can even be Jude. Then, at least, if there’s ever any litigation, you both have a signed copy as well as someone on your side to testify on your behalf. Think she’ll be okay with that?” He crossed back to his desk, setting the coffee down beside hiscomputer.
I nodded. “I hopeso.”
“Me,too.”
I pushed out of my chair, taking the waivers from Richard even though I already had a copy in my desk. I spun back around before walking to the door. “One more question,” I said, leaning against the back of the chair. My fingers bit into the leather hide of the seat, Brie’s ring leaving an impression in the soft leather. “What do you do when one of your hard limits intersects with one of hertriggers?”
Rich looked up, the hard lines around his forehead and eyes softening. “Trust comes before obedience,” Richard said. “Her hard limits hold more weight than yours, especially if she is still learning and intraining.”
Fuck. This was why I didn’t train new subs. It was too emotionally ragged. Seasoned subs understood limits—they understood their own and understood mine and it was unemotional as we discussed them. We trusted each other, but only in our pleasure for a night or two. We didn’t need trust to extend beyond that. But with Lucy? I couldn’t do this without trust. Neither of us could. I clenched the consent forms in my hand, my skin almost as white as the papers I was holding. “If I do this wrong…if I fuck up, I could end up tearing open her oldwounds.”
“Ash,” Richard said. “That might be true. But also… if you do this right? You might heal those wounds that are triggering her. Or at least bandage them.” He flashed me a quick smile and I nodded, heading for the door. “You might heal some of your own wounds,too.”
Fuck. Ifonly.
