“Great. We got the contract for the wholedevelopment I was telling you about, so I’ve got a job for at least the nextyear.” Landon beamed. “And I finished the paper I was working on, so therewon’t be any more crazy projects for a few weeks.”
Which hopefully meant we’d have more timetogether.
“That’s great.” Before I could even tellhim how proud I was, he smiled and shifted in his seat.
“And it means that I’m all caught up thisweekend. I even got the electrical work at my mother’s house done.” The not-so-subtlehint made me grin, and I reached around the booth and took his hand.
“You went to a lot of trouble to make surewe could spend time together this weekend. Thank you.” Tracing his fingers, Ifelt the way his body tensed before he relaxed again. “What?”
He didn’t pretend not to know what I wastalking about.
“You didn’t dance around the topic or teaseme about it. You just appreciated it. I still find that…surprising sometimes.”He looked down at our hands before moving his gaze back up to mine. “My familyis a bit like well-meaning bulldozers most of the time and the guys at workare…they like to tease; it’s just how they fit together. But this is different.I like it.”
Giving his hand a squeeze, I went back tocaressing him. “I think being honest is best, but there are ways of beinghonest that don’t make you an asshole, and dancing around topics never made anyrelationship better.”
Trying to make sure he understood, Icontinued. “You went to a lot of trouble to make sure you could give me timethis weekend and I really appreciate that. So why should I be a dick and talkaround the subject?”
His chuckle made me reach up and stroke hischeek before I went back to holding his hand. “And it might feel differentbecause you’re giving me permission to bulldoze.”
He grinned. “This, I appreciate. The wayyou just handle things makes me relaxed instead of stressed like I worried itwould.”
“Because of your family?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged and his fingers startedstroking against mine. “And work and just everything. Constant orders andcontrol from other people do not make me this happy.”
“I know a lot of submissives that are very take-chargeoutside of their relationships. When you have a lot of responsibilities, it canbe a good way to let that stress go.” Smiling, I ran my fingers over the insideof his wrist, making him shiver again.
Letting my voice go quiet and deep, Icaressed the sensitive skin. “Something like being restrained and completelyhelpless can make it easier to let the rest of the world go.”
Wrapping my hand around his wrist, Ilightly pinned it against the padded bench we were sitting on. “When your Domhas complete control, there isn’t anything you can do. You can’t even disobey.I think you’d find it very freeing.”
And erotic, judging by the sexy bulge inhis slacks.
“Would you like to try that sometime?”Keeping his wrist against the bench, I gave the illusion of being restrainedand he let out a low moan. “There are all kinds of ways to restrain you at theclub.”
Landon nodded, peeking over at me and thenback to his wrist. “What about someplace like your house?”
“I think that would be perfect too.”Finally releasing my hold, I went back to stroking his fingers and wrist. “Andonce you’re more comfortable with what we’re exploring, I might do somethinglike restrain you and spank you at the same time.”
I could feel the jolt of pleasure that shotthrough him, but I smiled when he looked into my face curiously. “Not too soon,though. We need to see what you think of those individual pieces first and weneed to talk about your limits.”
His head made the faintest nod, but I couldsee he was thinking about what I’d said. I gave him a few moments of quiet andit didn’t take long before he started to speak. Landon seemed to be quicklygetting used to the idea that I wanted to know what was going through his head.
“Limits being the stuff that I know I don’twant to do right off the bat?” When I nodded, he continued. “What if I don’tknow what those are?”
Not surprising given the current situation.
“Then we’ll start with a handful of thingsthat we both agree on, and before something else gets added, we’ll talk aboutit.” It was a little bit backward compared to what I would usually expect in arelationship, but nothing was typical with Landon.
The way his muscles relaxed said he likedthat plan.
“When we talk about a new activity, we cando research online so you know what I’m talking about, or if we plan thingsright, we can watch a demo at the club or walk through the idea in one of theprivate rooms.” Landon’s head cocked as he thought about that, so I kept upthat theme as I continued. “And there are a lot of couples at the club whowould do a private demo of something like sounds if you wanted to see that inperson before you put that on our list.”
Landon stilled and I could see thequestions in his mind as he looked at me. “Those are the thin…rods?”
Since he seemed to understand what theywere, I didn’t go into too much detail since we were technically out in publiceven if the tables were set far apart. “Yes, it’s an interesting sensation, butnot one that has to be painful.”
“Has to be?” His voice trailed off and thenhis brain seemed to kick into gear because he kept going. “You mean becausemost of the…stuff can have lots of different levels?”
