Playing the Game (12 page)

Henry nodded and gestured her toward a seat. “It does, that’s true, but I have his consent to make determinations about what will be best for him in these matters.”

Oh. Right. She was about to hand over that same consent. Was she crazy?

She slid into the seat, awareness of his scrutiny running like a current under her skin.

“The things you choose to consent to may be entirely different from Jay’s, Alice. Though you are younger, you’re also more settled in your skin than he was at your age. The two of you may need different things from me. I will work to provide them to you accordingly.”

How was he the one in charge if he catered to their whims? Better to ask while she had the chance. So she did.

The question hung unanswered.

Henry set a slice of coffee cake on her plate. The scent of warm apples and cinnamon rose between them.

Streusel covered the braided top, and juice from the apples flowed through open slits in the dough. Her mind flashed on Jay’s tongue sliding along the lips of her sex, lapping at her flowing center. She shifted in her seat.

She needed to stop thinking about sex while looking at food. This would be a serious discussion.
Yeah, a serious discussion about sex.

He served himself as well before claiming the seat to her left.

“Alice, dominance takes many forms. Not all require that the dominant partner make the submissive one lick his shoes or receive a spanking. I have no need to humiliate you.” He gestured to the papers she’d laid on the counter. “Unless it’s something you have indicated you desire.”

“It’s not,” she answered, quick as a cat. “I want to know what makes you tick, I guess. It can’t all be black leather and snapping whips, but when you say ‘dominant,’ that’s the picture that comes to mind.”

“I’m not surprised, my dear. It’s rather the iconic image in mainstream consciousness. But there are as many variations on play as there are dominants to direct and desire them. What Jay and I share is a relaxed, personal relationship. We do not give our games as much formality as you would find were you to visit local clubs catering to those in the scene.”

He stopped to eat a piece of coffee cake, and she copied his movements. She’d forgotten about brunch altogether until his fork had approached his mouth.

He sipped his juice.

She sipped hers.

“You would have a great deal more freedom in a relationship with us than you would in formal training as a submissive. And although you have some submissive tendencies…” He smiled, a small, private smile he did not explain. “I don’t believe you truly desire to be commanded by another’s will at all times, in all aspects of your life.”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not me at all. I don’t need someone telling me what to do all of the time.” Just some of the time.

“Mmm. No. Just some of the time, yes?”

She laughed. “Stop being psychic.”

“Am I? Good. You ought not wish for me to stop that, Alice. It’s precisely what our contract will demand of me. To anticipate your needs, your desires, your limits. To judge when you have had enough and when you hunger for more.” His sensual cadence reeled her in. “To read your body, your intonations and inflections and minuscule movements, and to understand and interpret the information properly.”

“You’ll be…watching me.” She held back a shiver and toyed with her fork, rolling it over the remains of her coffee cake.

“Intently, my dear. Intimately. I will make a veritable study of you, a philosophical dissertation.” He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “The thought excites you. I know it does.”

He returned to eating his brunch as she pressed her thighs together and stared, unseeing, at her plate. He wasn’t wrong. The thought of him paying such close attention to her was a heady one.

They finished their meal in silence. She carried her plate, fork and glass to the small dishwasher and loaded them in, and did the same for his while he wrapped up the remaining cake.

Picking up her papers, he smiled and gestured her into the living room.

“What?”

“Pardon?”

“The smile. For what?” She sat on the couch, turning her body sideways.

“A simple answer for a simple question, my dear. You display comfort and familiarity in my home, behaving as a close friend rather than as a guest waiting to be served. It pleases me.”

He’d chosen to sit at the far end of the couch. Laying one arm along the back, he tapped the pages in his lap with the other hand.

“Have you questions or concerns to raise about the contract before we go any further, Alice? Any generalized confusion or anxiety you wish to express?”

“It’s not exclusive.” That sure as hell confused her. The contract didn’t require monogamy or celibacy or whatever the hell you called it when you had two sexual partners and handed over control of your sex life to one of them. “We can all see other people? I mean,
see
see.”

“You mean fuck.”

The word from his lips shocked and aroused. She wanted to hear it in another context, in the quiet growl he’d used Friday when he’d told her to spread her legs. His eyes told her he knew exactly what she was thinking as she shifted in her seat and refused to look away.

“Yeah. I mean fuck.”

He smiled. “You’re a young woman, Alice. You may meet someone you wish to date. I would not interfere in the natural progression of events should that be the case. Either of us may end this contract at any time. Your consent would only belong to me on the days and times we outline here. You would be required to keep me informed, of course, and to take steps for health and safety, but you would be free to pursue other relationships, so long as you did not engage another dominant for play.”

Good. She wasn’t tied down to this thing with Henry and Jay. Her dating life remained her own. This was just sex. Fucking. Less complicated, and more complicated. So what if he didn’t want to be exclusive. She didn’t either, did she?

No. No, this was better. He wasn’t trying to control her.

“Right. Okay. That’s good.” Not that she’d need another partner. If she signed this contract, if Henry signed, she’d be guaranteed sex on a regular basis until they broke things off. And it wasn’t likely to get dull, either, if he’d done even half the things mentioned in those four pages. “So, that list you gave me, you’ve done everything on it?”

“No, not at all, my dear. Some I’ve tried briefly. Others I have not endeavored to attempt at all. But if you wish to do so, when you are ready, I will make arrangements for another dominant to step in.”

“You’d give me away?” Her horror sounded in her voice. “Let someone else…”

“No.” Henry’s reply came swift and vehement, a low utterance as though he cursed the idea. “You would have to choose to break our contract for that to happen, dearest. Should you find you wish to try something beyond my skills, however, the responsibility to make certain you do so safely would be mine. That would necessitate engaging an expert to teach me to find your limits in such games. The contact needn’t be sexual, Alice. Professional courtesies are not always, and rules would be strictly set. No one would touch you unless you first gave me your consent for them to do so.”

She digested the idea in silence.

“We’d talk about it first, though, right?”

Henry released a soft chuckle. “You’ll find much of what we do will involve talking. Before, during, and after.” He resettled himself against the cushions. “Do you have other questions before we discuss details?”

“Would I have to call you master?”

A slow blink. “Do you want to?”

“I will if I have to.” She didn’t want to end this before it started. Not for something so trivial.

“That’s not what I asked.”

She studied him. Formal, but relaxed, too. Henryish. She tested the word in her mouth. “Master.”

He didn’t even twitch.

She frowned.

“Master.” Her nose wrinkled.

“Try my name.” A quiet command.

She closed her eyes. Took a breath. “Henry.”

Damn if she didn’t deliver his name in the low, warm tone she used in her head on those nights when the thought of him and the touch of her fingers brought her to climax. She opened her eyes, heat flooding her face.

A smile crossed his, there and then gone.

“You’ll use my name, Alice. I expect that will suffice for respect.” He tilted his head. “Any other questions?

“Just one.” The one she almost feared to ask. “We’re…we’d still be friends, wouldn’t we? I mean, for the hours outside the contract, we could still…” She had no idea where her mouth was going. “Um…do…stuff? Without it being weird?”

Henry did not break into laughter at her pitiful attempt at a coherent question, a muddle of nerves she was glad Jay wasn’t present to hear. No, Henry nodded, thoughtful, his gaze intent on her.

“It’s an important question to ask, and I’m pleased that you are comfortable enough in our friendship to ask it now. The answer…” He pursed his lips and exhaled through his nose, a puffing sigh. “I believe so, yes, but it may require the occasional mental adjustment, particularly as this will be a new experience for you. Unless there’s a much larger surprise awaiting me in your pages than I expect.”

His fingers tapped the papers lying in his lap, and he flashed her a wicked grin.

She shivered.

“But I will not treat you as a sexual object should we choose to go to dinner or visit a museum or do any number of other activities we have previously enjoyed. Nor will Jay. We will continue to treat you as the friend you are. Sexual advances will be limited to the contract conditions. Excepting Jay’s flirting, of course. It’s impossible to stop his mouth from running away with him.”

She laughed, because he was right, and wondered if he’d said it to break the tension. But the lightness faded.

He dove into her answers, confirming she still agreed with what she’d written and probing for additional information. More than four hours passed before they reached the end, and not once did he express surprise, concern or disappointment about anything she’d said.

His methodical, scientific approach reassured her.
He knew I’d appreciate that.
He’d been right, too, to keep this discussion between the two of them.

Jay’s unabashed enthusiasm, though relaxing at first, would’ve grown difficult to manage as Henry’s questions went on and on into the afternoon. Jay wouldn’t have been able to control his emotional responses, and she might’ve modified her replies in turn, and Henry wouldn’t have gotten the honesty from her he wanted. She had no idea yet what he thought of her replies, but she hadn’t censored herself.

By the end, she sat utterly exhausted. Emotionally and mentally wrung out like a dishcloth at a twenty-four-hour diner. But appraisal gleamed in Henry’s eyes, so she forced her back to straighten and her eyes to open wide.

He stroked her nose from bridge to tip and tapped once before pulling back. “Perhaps you’d care to nap here? Stretch out on the couch and stay for dinner?”

“I probably shouldn’t. I don’t want to be a bother.” Besides, if Jay came home now, his attitude would overwhelm her. She wasn’t up to it, not while waiting for Henry’s decision.

“You are not a bother, my dear. You are a friend. And right now, you are exhausted.” He paused, smiled gently. “Much as you will be after our evenings together. You’ll require time to recover your equilibrium before you depart.”

“I will?” She leaned toward him. “You’re saying ‘yes’?”

“I’m saying yes,” he confirmed. “I believe this arrangement will work out well for all of us.”

He scrawled his signature on the last page, and she followed suit. Elation coursed through her.

“How do you know?”

“You didn’t balk at any of my questions, Alice. Either you’re exceptionally open and forthright about your sexuality with everyone you meet, in which case you’re likely to be compatible with any number of partners who could introduce you to this lifestyle, or you’re exceptionally open and forthright with
me
because of our existing friendship and your trust in me. In which case, we shall do quite well together. Your candor is merely one sign of the sincerity of your interest in pursuing this arrangement.”

He stood. “I won’t force you to stay. The choice is yours. But I intend to put on some Mozart and prepare dinner. I would very much enjoy being able to look across the room and find you sleeping comfortably on the couch.”