“Diabolical.”
“Never underestimate that trait,” he warned, and she knew she’d do well to heed the words.
He led her to the playroom.
“Feel free to touch and hold anything.”
“I’m not sure I’m that brave.”She wandered around.A slender chest of drawers was pushed against one wall.Despite the fact there were no windows, the space seemed light and airy.The wooden floor was polished and, as she expected, all of the items in the room were obsessively organized.
“What is that?”she pointed to an odd-looking contraption in the corner.It had two different pads, set at different heights.It was covered in red vinyl, and the metal stand was painted a glossy black.
“Spanking bench.”
“It looks like a chair.”She considered it.“Of sorts.”
“It’s a versatile piece.The knobs on the side allow the back platform to be adjusted by about a foot and the lower portion can be unlocked so it folds down.Eyehooks allow the Dom to bind a sub in any number of ways.You can kneel on the bottom part and be secured to the top.I can have you stand and grab the top.From the opposite side, you can be fastened to the lower end so that you’re bent over more.I can even make it all the same height.The possibilities are almost endless.”
She realized he’d started out by talking about the spanking bench in general terms.But then he’d become more specific.Instead of discussing how a Dom restrained a sub, now he was being explicit about what he expected from her.“This place seems pretty kinky for a man who says he’s only looking for a submissive to show him respect.”
“I did say I enjoyed kinky sex,” he reminded her, his eyes dancing with a devilment that made her shiver.
“You did.”A number of floggers hung on the walls, along with other scary-looking implements of pain.
“You indicated you’d had some experience with a flogger.”
“It didn’t look quite like those.It was shorter, not as…” She searched for the right word.“Sturdy.Less expensive, maybe?”She doubted it had even been made of leather.Even from a few feet away, there was no mistaking the scent of these.“I’m not really sure what everything else is.Some, I can guess.”The cane, for example.
He took down a coiled piece of leather.It was black, braided and fearsome.
“This is a single tail,” he said.“It’s a type of whip.”
“Looks like something out of an action-adventure movie.”She stared, fascinated.“Do you carry it when you go looking for the Holy Grail?”
“This whip does know how to get to the bottom of things.It’s particularly attracted to smart-asses.”
She hadn’t seen this side of him, a ferocious scowl softened by an easy tone.It made him more complex, more real, approachable.“You know, I kind of like that image,” she teased.Maybe a little too much.“I can see you as a dashing moving hero.SirIndiana Jones, perhaps?”Damn if all of this didn’t add to his appeal, not that she needed any more reasons to be attracted to him.
“Let’s see if I can be as accurate with it as Indy was, shall we?”He shook out the single tail.
She took a step back, her laughter dying.He still looked dashing, but more than a smidgeon of intimidation had been mixed in.The whip portion had to be several feet long.“I promise to behave.”
“Like most things, it can be gentle or it can sting, depending.This one in particular is meant for beginners.For you.”
“It never occurred to me that there would be different kinds.”
“Some I would probably never use on you.I’d enjoy it if you asked for a session with it.”
“Until you, Mr.Donovan, I had thought I was at least a little adventurous.”
“Your choice.”
She was curious.Very much.And scared.
He waited.
“One?”she suggested.
“How would you like it?”
