Emmy, the little girl denied a childhood, wanted absolutely nothing to do with dredging up the past and the pain and the memories.
Especially the memories.
He laced fingers with me and brought my hand to his lips, kissing it. “Please be my good girl and do this, baby. I’m not going anywhere. But we can’t go forward without doing this work now.”
I sniffled. “Not fair you having kryptonite against me.”
“You think you don’t have kryptonite against me?”
“Do I?” I glanced at him.
“You sure do. Every time you tell me, ‘Yes, Sir,’ it makes me want to scoop you into my arms and toss you onto my bed and fuck your brains out.”
My mouth went dry as I stared at him, at his playful, sexy smile. “Then why don’t you?” I finally managed.
“Because my good girl has an assignment to complete first, and that’s sitting through the 101 class for me. Right?”
I found myself nodding. “Yes, Sir.”
Dammit, it was like I couldn’t help myself, and I’d never,evercalled another man Sir except in the polite sense of the word.
I don’t know what I expected when we arrived at the Ranch. I guess despite the pictures I’d assumed I’d find some sort of German post-war sex bunker, not a…
Well, aranch.
Our IDs were checked at the front gate and in a few minutes we wound our way up the driveway toward the main building.
“I also don’t want you to think it’s the rope classes or nothing,” he said. “If what you need from me this week is to spend time together, they have horseback riding, hiking—lots of activities. They’ll always have another rope class. Or if there are different classes you want to attend, then do that.”
“But you signed up for the rope intensive.”
“I know. Doesn’t matter. It’s more important to me that we build what we have on a solid foundation.”
I studied his profile. Had Ireallyhit the good-man lotto? After spending the first half of my life scrabbling for survival, it was difficult to believe something might be so…
Easy.
Twenty minutes later, our luggage was being taken to our room while we took seats in Derek’s office. He offered me a kindly smile that wasn’t a bit creepy. “Jack tells me this is all pretty new to you.”
“Yeah.” I struggled not to fidget with my hands. “I’m looking forward to the classes.”
“For starters, since you’ve indicated you’re a submissive, it’s customary around here for me to be addressed as ‘Master Derek’ by people who aren’t Tops. Are you and Jack all right with that?”
“No offense, but I’m not playing with you,” I said.
He shook his head. “No. Does it help to think of it more as a rank than as a personal label for me?”
I looked at Jack. “It’s up to you,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with it, but if you do, let’s discuss it.”
“Okay,” I said. “As long as it’s just a title, like you said.”
“Exactly. And I want you to know that, at any time, you can approach any of our staff for information or assistance. If you’re overwhelmed, or want to speak to someone?—”
“Like a shrink?” I noted.
He nodded. “A mental health professional. I don’t know your history, and Jack hasn’t revealed any details to me, but I’ve beendoing this long enough I know the signs. We have people on staff who have lots of experience with trauma-informed care. And we have a variety of staff who’ve been through things, and who have volunteered to speak with people about their own experiences, both before and after coming to the Ranch, if you want.”
I shook my head. “What I’d like to do is…”
