Page 31 of S is for…

Joni’s lips twitched and she arched a brow in challenge.

“I’m sorry I…unlocked your previously undiscovered claustrophobia?”Lihn said.

Joni’s small smile blossomed into a grin.“Nope.I used my safe word not because I was experiencing trauma rooted in a past relationship coupled with unresolved feelings about my own needs, or painful people-pleasing tendencies that mean I bottle everything up and hate the idea of asking for what I need.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Joni,” Diann muttered.

“Um, ouch,” Laney added.

“Tell me I’m wrong.Look me in the eye and say it.”Joni arched both brows, but her tone was teasing, not confrontational.

“So what did happen for us?”Lihn asked.

“That scene wasn’t meeting my needs,” Joni said simply.

“Okay…” Lihn frowned.“I spent ninety minutes licking your pussy.”

Laney and Diann turned to him like dogs who’d caught sight of a squirrel—focused and ready to pounce.

“That part was great.Definitely met my needs.But the sleep sack?Nope.I didn’t feel dominated, I felt alone and not at all submissive.”

“You used your safe word because you were…bored?”Julen asked, accusation in his words.

Lihn’s mouth was open to jump to Joni’s defense, but she didn’t need his help.

“I used my safe word because my needs weren’t being met.I used my safe word because when I come here, I need to get out of my own head and relinquish control.And the world’s shittiest sleeping bag wasn’t doing it.”

Joni arched a brow, looking at each of them in turn.“I’m sorry if that offends you.But I have a limited amount of time and patience, and I refuse to waste either.”

She focused her attention on Lihn, and in that moment he wanted her with a ferocity that made his teeth ache.

“If you’d told me that strapping women into sleeping bags was your favorite kink, and you’d lie in bed beside me jacking off, I would have been completely on board.If you’d made the experience sexual, even with just a plug up my ass, I think I could have stayed submissive and gotten into it.Instead I was just uncomfortable and irritated.”

“Honestly, it was boring,” Lihn admitted.“We weren’t the right pair to handle that particular item.”

“And these two aren’t the right pairs, full stop,” Joni said, pointing first at Laney and Diann, then at Julen and Peter.

“Maybe we work the list as a group,” Julen said.“Or work it item by item, and anyone who wants to try that item pairs up for a quick scene.”

“That will take us six to eight months to complete,” Peter muttered.“Our list is too long.”

“I said quick scene,” Julen muttered.

“I hate group projects,” Joni added.

“Why don’t we pair up for one night at a time?Each pair takes four or five items.The next night we meet like this, reshuffle, and then tackle the next chunk of the list.”Lihn proposed.

“I like that idea.Ladies?”Joni asked the others.

Laney nodded immediately.Diann was slower, but agreed.

“Okay, we have a plan.And that will check off ‘swapping’.That just leaves one item to discuss.”Lihn exchanged looks with Peter and Julen.Peter nodded immediately, Julen more slowly.

“What’s that?”Diann asked.

Lihn nodded to Peter and Julen.“Their punishment.”

Chapter9

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