Silence. He wasn’t going to make this easy.
“So what happens next?” I asked.
“That depends on you.” He looked between us, then rose and crossed to a cabinet near the window. When he returned, he held two slim booklets with plain covers.
He placed one in front of me, one in front of Oliver.
“What is this?” Oliver asked.
“A questionnaire. Activities, scenarios, dynamics—you mark what interests you, what doesn’t, and what you’re curious about.” Kiernan returned to his chair. “It’s how I learn where your boundaries are. And how you learn them too.”
I opened mine to a random page. The questions were blunt, specific, leaving no room for ambiguity.
Have you ever been restrained during sexual activity? Yes / No / Maybe / Curious
“And if we have questions while we’re working through these?” I asked.
“I’ll be in the library.”
Then he was gone, leaving us alone.
Oliver stared at the open page in front of him for a long time without speaking.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” He stared at the booklet in front of him. “Are you?”
“We don’t have to do this,” I said. “Either of us. He gave us the choice.”
He looked at it again, then at me. “Is this something you want to do?”
I remembered the peace that had washed over me last night when I’d stopped thinking and surrendered, the rightness of following Kiernan’s commands, and the freedom of giving up control.
“It is,” I responded. “What about you?”
Oliver turned the page, skimmed what was on it, and his eyes widened. “This is…”
“Intense?” I asked as I read one of the questions.Have you ever fantasized about being told what to do by a sexual partner?I marked “Yes” without hesitation. Maybe I would’ve answered differently before last night, but now, it was almost all I could think about.
“There’s some kinky shit in here,” he muttered.
I shrugged a shoulder. “If this doesn’t interest you, no one is forcing you to participate.”
His eyes bored into mine. “So it’s this or nothing?”
“I can’t say for sure. All I know is before last night, every orgasm I’d had was self-induced.”
His brow furrowed. “Seriously?”
I huffed as much as sighed. “Oliver…”
“Sorry, none of my business.”
“Actually, if you’re interested in pursuing this—whatever it is—it is your business. If you’re not, then don’t fill this out.” I picked up the questionnaire and waved it at him.
We stared at each other for several seconds, then he flipped to the first page and began marking things.
The next question stared up at me when I did the same.
