Page 137 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

Say yes. Please say yes.

It’s too early. We’ve only vetted for a week. This is reckless and stupid.

But I fucking want her.

“Yes Sir.”

She’d never jokingly called me by an honorific. She’d never called me one while we were talking last week, or when I’d punished her before. She’d refrained, knowing it was important to me. She knew it meant something to me, and I respected and appreciated her refrain. But she was using it now, and I knew she meant it.

“This would be like we talked about. We agree on rules and tasks, I punish you as I see fit based on the things we discussed last week, and you respect me as your authority. I know you don’t want anything too serious to start, and I know you want a dynamic, not a romantic relationship. I’ll respect that. But I still need your respect as your dominant.

“I don’t want to break your mischievous streak, Alice,” I said. She sniffed as she watched me, her eyes bloodshot from crying. “Nor do I want to break your playfulness. I like that about you. But I am going to make it very clear to you who is in charge here. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“Try again.”

“Yes Sir.”

“And you will not brat me this evening. I have several hours left. We’ll consider your pass complete at the end of the night. Starting tomorrow, you may act as you desire, and I will play your game, but at your discretion. I want you to know exactly what you’re getting yourself into, and I suggest you tread carefully until you know what I expect of you, and you know what to expect from me.”

“I understand, Sir.”

“You asked me to hold onto you and keep you, even if you fight me. Am I correct?”

She nodded. “Yes Sir.”

“We are going to take this one day at a time, and figure this out as we go. If you feel we need to redraw our dynamic, you sit down beside me, at any time, and tell me you want to renegotiate. Otherwise, you accept what I have for you. I will still check with you before pulling anything crazy out of the closet, and I’ll discuss any kinks we haven’t talked about before. I intend to build your trust, but part of that has to be you surrendering to me.” She bit her lip and nodded again.

“Tell me your safeword.”

“Scarlett.”

“Can I trust you to use it appropriately?”

“Yes Sir.”

“That means at any time, for any reason, but I have to trust that you won’t use it to attempt to control me.”

She nodded fervently.

“Good...” I nodded to her and sat back in my chair again. “Take everything off.”

She hesitated only for a moment, a flicker of surprise at my request. Perhaps a bit of embarrassment? But her hands rose behind her neck, reaching for the zipper on the back of her dress and freeing herself from it. She pushed it down her breasts and it slid from her hips, falling to the floor.

The naughty girl hadn’t worn a damn thing underneath.

“Alice... where is your underwear?”

She opened her mouth, shut it, and then took a steadying breath, as if to measure her response before she said it. “I didn’t wear any.”

“Yes, I can see that. Why not?”

There was really no way to contain her snark. The quiet respectful tone left her voice as she said, “Well, to be perfectly honest, all my cute ones are at your house, and I don’t have a key. And I figured I’d end up naked by the end of the evening anyway, so I just skipped them.”

“That’s a lot of attitude for a girl who has agreed not to brat.”

“Sorry, I really am trying.” She bit her lip and gave me her puppy-dog eyes.

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