Page 4 of Masters of Control

Q pointed a warning finger at his friend.

“For you, that’s a hard limit.”

Connor’s chuckle made him smile as the big man finally relaxed.

Sam

“It was nice to meet you,” Sam said, giving Steve a wave as she got up from her seat. This was kind of like speed dating except with hard limits and a lot more talk about sex than she would normally put up with from a stranger. Steve had been a total sweetheart, though, and going first with him had shaken loose a lot of her nerves.

The Dominants all moved, as if by unspoken agreement, in a clockwise circle, heading to the next submissive. Q would be her last stop, and she didn’t know how she felt about that.

“Hi, I’m Sa… Mistress Sam,” she said, quickly correctly herself when she almost left off the honorific. She sat across from a pretty blonde sub. With their similar coloring, at first glance, she bet a lot of people would say they looked like sisters, though the sub was shorter and much skinnier than Sam.

All the Dominants had a list of each sub’s limit list for the evening so they could be prepared. She’d spent three times as long looking over Q’s as she had anyone else’s.

“I’m Noelle.” The blonde smiled back at her, leaning forward slightly. “I love that you’re a female Dominant. I am all about female empowerment.” She held up her hand for a fist bump, which Sam returned somewhat bemusedly. It didn’t feel very respectful, but at the same time, Noelle was being super friendly, and she didn’t want to discourage that.

Making friends had never been one of her strengths, and it had gotten even harder over the years. She couldn’t remember having a best friend, even though she’d always wanted one. And it wasn’t like she was actually going to be dominating Noelle, since they weren’t attracted to each other.

She decided not to take offense at the lack of formality.

“Thanks,” she said, trying to smile as naturally as she could. “Actually, I’m a Switch. I kinda go both ways, Dom and sub.”

“Oh, cool!” Noelle appeared surprised but interested. “I wonder if I’m a Switch. I bet I could be. I’m not sure about this whole sub thing, but I wanted to get into it.” Waving her hand to indicate the room around them, she definitely didn’t seem very submissive. Maybe she was a Switch, too.

“Well, the class will definitely help you figure it out.” Samantha’s smile felt more genuine now. “I know it helped me. I’ve done both classes, but I wanted to get more practice being a Dominant.” She’d had plenty of practice being a submissive before she’d realized she might be interested in both.

“That would be great. I lost my best friend because I didn’t understand this whole lifestyle thing, so I wanted to try to understand it. I just wish she’d been more willing to explain things to me, but I know stuff like this can be a sensitive subject.”

Noelle looked so sad, Sam wanted to reach out and hug her. That probably wasn’t appropriate though, right?

Ugh. This was why she was so bad at the friend thing.

“It can be,” she agreed sympathetically. “I’m happy to answer any questions you have, everyone will. I don’t know all the Dominants in here, but Stronghold and Marquis are really careful about their membership.”

Though, even as she said the words, her eyes shifted over to where Cassidy was tucked in on herself, barely looking at the Dom who was trying to engage her. Unfortunately, assholes snuck in unexpectedly, but she trusted Master Patrick and the other owners to take out the trash.

“Thank you so much,” Noelle replied effusively, reaching out to put her hand on Sam’s knee. Sam blinked in surprise, but she didn’t really know what to do. “You’re so nice. I’m sure we’re going to be friends.”

“Um, right.” She smiled, relaxing again as Noelle sat back. So, she was a little more touchy-feely than Sam was. That happened. She was nice, and she wanted to be Sam’s friend. Sam held up her clipboard with the limits on it. “I think so, too. Um, would you mind if I practiced some of this stuff? I need it.”

Not just because she was going to be facing Q in a few minutes. Part of the reason she’d volunteered to be a Dominant for the subbie class was because she needed more practical practice with it. Striking up a conversation with someone she didn’t know, for the purposes of negotiating a scene, was absolutely something she needed more experience with.

It was also one of the reasons she’d started to worry maybe she wasn’t really a Dominant after the previous class she’d taken—if she was a Dominant, shouldn’t that mean this should all be easier?

Part of what had appealed to her about being a submissive was not having to make any of the decisions, but eventually, she realized that wasn’t always what she wanted. Sometimes, she wanted to be in charge. She wanted to have a man on his knees and play with him the way she wanted instead of the other way around.

Or a woman, she supposed. Kink wasn’t always about sex, which was why she needed to regain control of this conversation with Noelle.

“Absolutely. I’d love to help you practice.” Noelle sat up straight, her hands in her lap, eyes sparkling at Sam. She looked like an eager submissive, and Sam inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

“Great. So, it’s nice to meet you, Noelle. I was looking over your limits list and saw you have a lot of ‘would like to try’ items marked off, especially with impact play, but that you say you’re experienced with spanking. I’m assuming bare handed?” Sam tilted her head, giving Noelle the professional smile she would give a new patient at her job.

“Yes, and between you and me, it was more like a swat or two here and there, not like a ‘putting me over his knee’ situation.” Noelle giggled, then winked. She’d leaned forward a little again, as if letting Sam in on a secret.

“Well, we can definitely do more than that.” Sam smiled. “Are there any implements you had at the top of your list to try?”

Settling into the questions, she stayed focused on the woman, despite being able to practically feel Q’s presence from all the way across the room.