Excitement churns in my chest until I realize I’ve asked the wrong question. I type the more relevant question and hit send.
Ash
Would you LIKE that?
Her answer is quicker this time.
Gray
Yes.
I nearly pump my fist in the air but refrain.
Ash
Now tell me what you want to do.
I watch the screen as the dots bounce every few seconds while I presume she goes down the list of kinks I sent and adds the ones she likes. I count at least eight or nine possible items, and my dick throbs with anticipation. The little professor is more adventurous than I thought.
Gray’s list finally pops up, and I read it eagerly.
Gray
Bondage/Ropes, Submission, Role Play, Exhibitionism, CNC, Mirrors, Hunter/Prey, Tentacles, Voyeurism, Somnophilia.
My brows shoot up at Tentacles. I didn’t see that coming, but I’m all-in if that’s what she wants. I went through my own Hentai phase growing up, and I have a healthy appreciation for tentacle sex.
I also see a theme in Gray’s list. She may be a strong, independent woman in her public and professional life, but in the bedroom, she wants to be dominated.
I can’t help the grin that spreads across my face. Perfect.
My phone pings.
Gray
What do you think?
I smile again.
Ash
I think we’re going to have a lot of fun, baby.
Chapter 28
Gray
Ash and I have barely seen each other the last few weeks, and it’s been excruciating. It’s like every force on the planet has conspired against us since that text conversation. First, Ash had a string of away games just after I came back from my conference. Then I came down with a cold, and after that I was underwater with end-of-semester finals and grading. Next, we had a freak December snowstorm, then the Christmas holiday hit, and Ash went back up to Canada while I stayed here with my family.
I was surprised when he presented me with a Christmas gift just before he left. I felt bad, since I hadn’t thought to get him anything, but I was shocked when I opened the package to see it was a bottle of 2017 Pétrus Pomerol.
Actually, I nearly dropped the bottle, since, as I confirmed later, it cost more than the Scarecrow he’d gotten me at the restaurant. I tried to get him to take it back, but he refused, so it now sits in a place of honor in my wine cellar. I’m not sure I can bring myself to ever drink it.
I feel guilty that Ash and I have done very little the last few weeks to fix his chirping issue. Our conversations start out on-topic, but they always seem to evolve – or perhaps devolve – from trash talk to dirty talk.
To be clear, I don’t feel guilty for taking Kaladin’s money, although I expect to get a call or email from him any day now asking for a progress report. Ash has been playing a little better, so perhaps it’s been enough to keep Kaladin satisfied for the moment.
It’s more that I feel guilty for not helping Ash because I know how much hockey means to him. On the other hand, he’s usually the one thatsends our conversations spiraling off into debauchery, so at least I’m not completely at fault for our lack of progress.
