Page 6 of Dancing With Temptation

Roxie paused to write something into the margin of one paragraph before she continued. “How long do you want this contract to last?”

“How long do they usually last?” He rebutted, wondering how many times she’d had this conversation. He wasn’t judging her. It was simple curiosity that made him wonder.

“Some last six months, some one or two months. It depends on what you want, Lincoln.” She tapped the pen against the papers now, a sign that she was agitated.

That amused him for reasons he didn’t really want to examine for now, so he just gave a slight nod. “Alright, how about one month with an option to renew?”

This time she nodded her head as she wrote something under another paragraph. “That will work. Now, about the reasons I can break the contract…”

“Oh, we can both break it?” The dark eyebrows above his brown eyes lifted while his eyelids opened a little wider.

“Of course. I won’t tolerate abuse of any kind, emotional, physical, verbal. That’s my number one deal-breaker. Not that I’m saying you would do any of that, but it’s best to have it in the open from the start I’ve learned. I’ve had to break contracts before.” This time, Roxie didn’t look at him. Her mouth was set in a grim line, but the rest of her face was hidden.

She’d been hurt before and that made him want to punch whoever it was that had hurt her. He’d known all those years ago that the girl he knew as Chloe wasn’t prepared to live in the world she’d escaped to, but she’d survived this long. She’d even succeeded in that world until her boyfriend had burned down the place that had given her that success. There had to be stories for her to tell and stories she’d probably keep hidden away forever. He wouldn’t push her to talk though, no matter how much he wanted to do just that.

“The rest itemizes what you want, and here you don’t have to be detailed, but it would be good if you could describe how you’d like me to dress, even my hair color if you want me to change that. I’m not your slave during this contract, but I will be what you want me to be. You will cover the costs of whatever changes I have to make.” She paused, pursed her lips, as she read the next paragraph. “You also have to put down things that you want me to teach you, if you have ideas, and things you will absolutely not participate in.”

“Such as?” He asked again, just to hear her response. He knew exactly what he would and would not participate in just fine. He wasn’t totally sheltered from the world of sex.

“Group sex, anal, either receiving or giving, rape play for my part. That’s a hard no for me.” Her lips pursed again when she saw his confusion. “Some men really do take this as a contract to make me their slave. They think they can ignore the rules and have been known to cause a lot of damage. Rape play is not something I will take part in, even when you take total control. If I use the safe word, you have to stop, no matter what stage of sex or playtime we’re in. I don’t care if your balls turn black and fall off, if I use that safe word, you’d better stop whatever you’re doing if you want to keep your family jewels.”

The hard note in her voice made something ache deep in his chest. Was she speaking from experience or just knowledge of what could happen if she wasn’t as hard as a diamond? Fuck, this was more complicated than he’d thought it would be when he asked her to bring him into her world. Contracts and safe words weren’t quite what he’d had in mind, but it was obvious she needed this if she was to do what he asked. That was the only reason he’d agreed, he’d seen how serious she was when she mentioned the contract and he couldn’t argue with her.

If she needed this to feel safe, he’d give her a dozen contracts.

“Agreed.” He said when he realized the silence had stretched out too long. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.”

“Good. Now, the rest is just arranging dates if you have something specific in mind, renewal agreements, things like that.” Lincoln could see the way her shoulder relaxed as she moved on through the contract, the hard part must be over with.

She wrote a few more things into the margins of the contract as they moved along, and he waited for her to tell him what came next.

“I like to be paid in cash, upfront. Once you write what you want into the contract, I’ll type it up and we can begin on whichever date you specify.”

“Okay. Well, as soon as possible. Paying upfront is no problem, and I don’t want you to change anything about yourself, Roxie. I may buy you outfits, other things, but I don’t want you to become a living form of a blowup doll. I like you too much as you are.” He realized he’d said too much when her left eyebrow quirked up in shocked amusement.

He quickly moved his gaze to the landscape outside, or rather the seascape, and tried not to feel like an idiot about to have sex for the first time. Which reminded him… “Will we be having sex?”

“Eventually, perhaps. If you just want a prostitute, I can give you the contact details of several I know. I’m not a prostitute, Lincoln.” She moved closer to turn his face back to her, obviously wanting to ensure he understood. “The sex part is now and will always be my choice. Of course, you have a say if you don’t want sex as well, but having sex is ultimately my choice if we get to that point. My lifestyle isn’t just about sex, you see. It’s about gratification of all types.”

“I see.” He didn’t quite see it all just yet but knew she’d guide him. “This is all new for me, I don’t wish to offend you. I would never hurt you, either. I just want to be as clear as you are.”

“It’s alright.” She took a deep breath, looked down at her hands as if searching for the answer to life, something she might find if she squinted hard enough, but looked up again finally. “I know you’re new to this. I’m assuming you’ve continued to have sex and have some ideas of what you want to learn?”

“I didn’t become a priest after you left that morning, no.” Fuck, this was weird, he couldn’t help but think. He was usually the one in control, the one giving orders, but right now he felt like a schoolboy caught fibbing about how much he’d studied. “I have ideas, things I want to explore with you.”

Talking about these things was hard, but he knew if he didn’t, he’d never get what he’d paid for. He chewed at his lower lip unconsciously, deep in thought. How to say exactly what he wanted? Was he even really sure he knew what he wanted?

“To explore until I find what blows my mind, that’s all I can say at the moment.” His eyes found hers and their gazes locked. “How do we do that?”

“We start with a snazzy little quiz you can find online. It looks stupid, some of it is downright horrifying, but it’ll give us an idea of what you really want. Give me your phone.” She held out her hand, her face expectant. He couldn’t resist. “This site is one of the few I trust in the world of kink. It will tell us what you hate and what you love. It’s long so I’ll make some phone calls while you go through it.”

“Oh, what if I don’t know what something is?” He had a feeling there would be quite a few of those situations.

“I won’t be far away. Come find me.” She gave him a pert wink before she got up and left the kitchen.

“Right, go find her. Or I can just look it up.” He muttered as he started the anonymous ‘How kinky are you’ quiz.

As he poked at answers and read the questions, Lincoln’s jaw dropped and closed at least a dozen times. All the questions were exceptionally personal, but he could see the point now that he was fifty questions in. It wasn’t a ‘Which animal were you in a previous life’ kind of quiz. It was meant to help the respondent find out what they should explore.