Tied With Me (With Me In Seattle)(23)

She smiles, and for just a moment, I forget what I was saying.

I shake my head and pull her other foot into my lap.

“So, when I saw him a few days later, I asked him about it. It’s called Shibari. It’s an ancient form of Japanese bondage, and this friend is a master.”

“Had you tied girls up before?” she asks softly.

“I’d played with handcuffs before, sure. And restraining a woman was always fun, but once I started learning Shibari, I also learned that it comes with responsibility. Trust.”

“What about the dominant stuff?”

“Are you asking just because you’re curious, or have you decided to change your mind about our friendship status?” I ask quietly.

Her cheeks flush as she meets my gaze. “I’m not just curious.”

“I need you to say the words, little one.”

“I want to see where this might go,” she admits.

I release her feet and pull her into my lap, unable to keep from holding her any longer, and let’s face it, talking about this stuff is a huge turn-on for me. I settle her against me but arrange her so I can still look in her eyes while I talk.

This conversation could make or break us, and I am not going to f*ck this up.

“What are you afraid of?” I ask gently.

She shrugs and looks down, but I catch her chin with the tip of my finger and tilt her head back up.

“Talk to me.”

“I don’t like losing control,” she whispers. “I have to have control of my business, my financial life, my health, everything, Matt.”

“Okay.” I nod and push my fingers through her soft, short, dark hair. “What about when we had sex before? Did you hate giving up the control of that to me?”

“No,” she answers, and I grin.

Jackpot.

“There are different kinds of Doms, Nic. Some Doms want a full-time sub. Some even have slaves.”

She gasps and covers her mouth, her eyes wide in terror.

“Not that kind of slave, little one. Everything is always consensual and sane.”

“So these women voluntarily allow someone to call them a slave?” Her brow is pursed in a frown, and she’s suddenly overcome her fear, and curiosity has set in.

“Not just women,” I reply and laugh when her jaw drops again. Oh, it’s going to be so fun introducing her to my world.

“Wow, I had no idea.”

“When you were at the erotic ball with your friend, was that the first time you’d been anywhere like that?”

“Yeah, she dragged me,” she replies.

“I’m sorry, baby.” I kiss her forehead and nuzzle her nose with mine. “If I’d known, I would have done things a little differently. I thought you were just shy.”

“I didn’t want you to do anything differently.” She frowns.

“So you enjoyed yourself?”

She nods and then bites her lip before saying, “I’m no one’s slave, Matt. Voluntarily or otherwise.”

“I’m not a slave master, Nic. That doesn’t interest me at all. As I was saying, some Doms are into the slave thing. Some are happy with a submissive in the bedroom, and ask that their sub obeys their rules out of the bedroom as well, especially in a club atmosphere.”

“What are the rules?” she asks.

“Good question,” I reply with a smile. “They vary with the couple, based on their desires and hard limits.”

She swallows and then nods. “Okay.”

“But then there are other Doms who are perfectly happy to be sexually dominant but have a normal vanilla relationship outside of the bedroom.” I grin down at her. “That’s the category I fall into. The restraints are my kink. I love that you’re a business owner and a strong-willed woman. But behind closed doors, I would like to pursue a relationship like the one you tasted a few weeks ago.”

I sit back and wait while she processes this information, chewing on her bottom lip. “So, you won’t try to tell me how to run my shop?”

“Why would I do that?” I ask with a raised brow. “The only thing I know about cupcakes is that they’re delicious.”

“You won’t choose my clothes for me?”

“No.” I shake my head. “That’s too much, in my opinion, but it works very well for other couples.”

She nods again, deep in thought.