“But it was exciting, right?”
Derek grinned. “Yeah. We should get Beth a bottle of something to say thanks. Wait, she doesn’t drink. Flowers?”
“I’ve already taken care of it. She and Byron are staying at Crown Towers. I got them a spa package, too.”
“Nice. Wait, Byron knows about all this?”
“Oh, yeah. Beth tried to tell him that she wouldn’t see anything or be involved in a real way, but he said he’d rather rip off his own face than get details.”
“Fair. So, she couldn’t see me… she couldn’t see my dick?”
“No. She did take the photos of me tied up, though...”
Derek smirked. “Nice. Byron didn’t mind, right?”
“She had his full approval. I think he was kind of into it. Me and her together, I mean.”
“I can only imagine.”
Mara took a small sip of her champagne. “It was amazing to see you like that, you know.”
“Coming on myself?”
She frowned. “Doing what I asked. You were really… raw, or something. I saw this new side of you, and after all these years, that’s incredible.”
“I get it. I feel like that when you do what I tell you to do.” He took a slug of champagne and forced himself to say it. “I like what we did. It felt good to be like that with you.”
“Vulnerability,” she agreed. “It goes two ways, you know?”
“I should.” He tilted his head at her. “So, you think I’m a has-been, huh?”
“Of course not, but sometimes getting called names…”
“Gets you going? It worked. I just never thought…” He looked away, scrubbing a hand across his scalp.
“Derek.” Mara placed a light hand on his shoulder. “I read something once that said domination and submission are twosides of the same coin. If you like one, you’ll probably like the other, even if it’s not your preferred.”
“You might be right,” Derek admitted. “But I dunno how often I wanna go there. Not understanding what’s gonna happen next is fuckin’ brutal.”
“It is, and I’ll always be way more of a sub. And you’ll always be way more of a Dom… I just wanted to know I can be in charge sometimes.”
“Of course you can, baby.”
Mara brightened. “Really?”
“Yeah. Make no mistake, that was fucking nuts. I got so worked up that I thought I was gonna black out at one point. That scene was fucking all time, M.”
“I agree.” She pointed her glass at him. “But to my point, even in my own fantasy, I was getting dominated too.”
Derek remembered her riding the leather horse with a plug in her ass, and his flagging cock twitched. “Enough, woman, you tryna suck me dry?”
She giggled. “Just a bit…”
“Well, you’re welcome to try again soon. Just don’t kidnap yourself. That was full-on. Fuckin’ amazing, though. I haven’t been that worked up since my last final.”
Mara’s smile faded. “I know. I’m sorry, but seeing as you brought up football, there’s something else we need to talk about. Is that okay?”
Derek reached for the champagne and refilled both their glasses. “Sure, baby, as long as you know I’m kinda gone in the head.”
