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“I have soda, if you’d prefer something
cold.”

Lauren shook her head, suddenly unsure of
herself. Maybe he hadn’t invited her over here for incredible sex. When he
pulled out the chair beside her and sat to face her, though, her stomach gave
another of those annoyingly arousing flips to have him so near.

“Did you read up on TPE?”

She gave him a crooked grin. “I did. Total
Power Exchange. One person voluntarily gives up all decision-making power to
the other. In exchange, that person gets time without responsibilities. The
person in power gets the thrill of being in control of someone.”

“In a nutshell, that pretty well sums it
up.”

“I did my homework.” She heard the pride in
her own voice and wondered if giving up power meant also giving up pride.

“You’ve gotten to know a lot about me over
the past few weeks—”

“Week,” Lauren interrupted. “I know it
seems longer, but we only met a week ago last Saturday. Today’s Monday. It
won’t officially be ‘weeks’ until this Saturday.”

John sat back. “Am I moving too fast for
you?”

Lauren shook her head quickly. “No, I
didn’t mean that. I—” She stopped, not entirely sure what she meant.

John’s eyes narrowed. A slow smile spread
across his face and the dimple appeared in his left cheek. It disarmed her.

“You’re nervous.”

At that, she laughed outright. A quick
bleat of a laugh. “Well, wouldn’t you be? If you were the one giving up power?”
She frowned. “That is what this is about, right? I mean, you aren’t thinking
I’m the one who wants the power and you’re going to be the…” she hesitated
before saying the word. Saying it out loud in front of him made it real. Really
real. She said it anyway. “Submissive.”

His chuckle reassured her. “No, rest
assured. I’m the Dominant.”

“Good.” She leaned back in her chair,
suddenly understanding why he hadn’t taken her right up to the bedroom. There
were roles to be hashed out, understood. Tacit understanding wasn’t enough when
physical freedom sat on the line. “So what’s next?”

He shrugged. “That’s up to you.”

“I thought you were the Dominant. Aren’t
you going to tell me what to do?”

“Not until you give me permission.”

That confused her. He took her hand. It was
the first time he’d touched her since she’d entered and Lauren felt the thrill
right down to her toes. Her gaze fell to his hand. He reached forward and
tilted her chin up and she looked into his eyes.

His gaze told her of the seriousness with
which he took this. He gave her honesty. He would demand honesty from her. No
defenses, no walls to hide behind, no cute turns of phrase or deflections. He
would bare his soul to her. Could she do the same?

Lauren dropped her eyes, even as his
fingers remained under her chin. He cocked his head, waiting to see if she had
the courage. She’d walked in through his door even after doing her homework.
That was a promising sign. But if she couldn’t say the words, if she couldn’t
look him in the eye and give her permission, he couldn’t take her further.

The corner of her mouth twitched and turned
upward. She let out the breath she’d been holding and brought her gaze back to
his. She said the words with conviction, “Yes, John. I give you permission.
Whatever we do next will be at your discretion.”

His grin had nothing to do with his own
pleasure and everything to do with the huge step she’d just taken. Well,
perhaps it had a little to do with his pleasure. She trusted him and that all
by itself was a powerful aphrodisiac.

Squeezing her hand, he simply stood and
pulled her to her feet. This huge act of courage should not go unrewarded. He
moved his hands so his fingers encircled each of her wrists.

“Bindings take many forms.” He kept his
voice pitched low and neutral as he explained. “Sometimes I’ll want you spread,
like this.” Keeping his fingers wrapped around her wrists, he moved her arms
out parallel to the floor. “I might want you hanging.” He pulled her arms up
over her head and heard her intake of breath. Looking down at her, he brought
her arms down and around to the small of her back. “Or I might want your hands
out of the way entirely.”

She leaned forward, a little off balance at
his movement of her arms. Quickly taking advantage of the fact, he transferred
both her wrists to his left hand, holding her firmly as his right came up to
caress her cheek.

“With them out of the way,” he told her
softly, “you can’t prevent me from taking a kiss.”

Her face turned up to meet him as she went
on tiptoe. He kept his smile inside and brushed his lips against hers, not
taking possession yet. Teasing, he waited, his eyes holding hers. And still she
remained on tiptoe, although now because he’d pulled her close, forcing her to
remain there. With his free hand he brushed the hair from her face, cupped her
neck then fisted his hand in her wonderful tresses. A gasp followed by a small
noise from the back of her throat meant he followed the right track.

Her lips really were wonderful for kissing.
Such a delicate shade of pink. He loved that she wore little to no makeup. The
lack signaled she liked herself. That she didn’t need more to make her feel
complete. Those lips beckoned to him now, slightly parted. She leaned against
him for balance, her face upturned in trust.

When he kissed her in earnest Lauren
thought she might come right there in his kitchen. The first brush tantalized,
the second touch descended quickly into dominance. She knew what he wanted.
What she wanted. Hadn’t she devoured those web sites last night? Each one she
turned to showed her something new, something she’d thought of only in the
darkest nights, something she realized now she wanted very much. Without the
slightest hesitation, she bent her head back, opening to him as his lips sought
hers. His tongue pressed and she let him explore. Without even realizing she did
so, she leaned into him, willing her entire being to him.

Again and again his lips slanted over hers,
tasting her, taking her. She wanted to reach up and take him in her arms, but
he had her arms caught fast. Her knee, a woman’s best weapon against unwanted
advances, could do damage. Part of her knew she could twist away if she really
wanted to.

But she didn’t want to. He had asked for
her submission, freely given. Well, she was giving it, enjoying every moment of
his touch on her.

And then he was gone. He pulled away,
letting her hands go and setting her on her feet. The sudden lack of closeness
disoriented her and she blinked several times trying to catch her breath and
looked up to see him grinning.

“You are amazing, do you know that?” he
told her.

“I am? I was just thinking the same thing
about you and that kiss. Hot damn, but that was good.”

“So you’re okay with all this? You’ll
exchange power with me for the afternoon?”

“Oh yeah. If it leads to more kisses like
that one, I’m a go for launch.”

He laughed and took her hand. “Then let’s
get you to the launch pad.”

Without another word, he led her back
through the short hall to the stairs. In less than a minute they’d reached the
doorway of his bedroom, which Lauren could see had been set up before she got
there.

For one thing, the bed had been stripped of
all coverings but for a single fitted sheet over the mattress. Glancing around,
she saw the comforter neatly folded in the corner with the pillows on top. This
afternoon’s events were not going to be sex, a cuddle and a nap. She shivered
in spite of her desires.

Several long, silver rods sat propped
against the wall by his dresser, the top of which had also been cleared. Where
several days ago lay the detritus of a normal life—a comb, a brush, deodorant,
cologne, now lay a ping-pong paddle, a riding crop, a small rubber flogger and
several vibrators in neat rows. Just a few of the toys he wanted to show her?

“Coming?”

Lauren started, not having realized she’d
paused in the doorway. Chuckling, she stepped into the room with a flip remark.
“Not yet.”

He laughed with her and Lauren liked that
zingers weren’t against the rules. This ground held no familiarity. She’d given
him power, but what, exactly, did that mean? Suddenly the protocols seemed
overwhelming.

“John, I…” She ordered her thoughts and
tried again. “Sorry. I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to do all of a sudden.
Giving myself to you to ‘play’ with, as the site I looked at last night called
it, is a wonderful thought in the abstract. But in the reality, am I just
supposed to blindly follow along? Passive to the extreme?”

John pulled her close and took her in his
arms. “That’s where the negotiation comes in. We haven’t really done any of
that because you’re too new at this. You don’t know the questions to ask.
That’s okay.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “You’ll figure out what you want.
I suspect,” he unbuttoned the top button of her blouse, “that we’ll develop
protocols together.”

“You don’t want me to call you ‘Sir’, do
you?”

His fingers continued to unbutton her
blouse. “We’re both military. For us, that title has overtones it doesn’t have
for others.”

She smiled, resisting the urge to wrap her
arms around his neck. “And of course, there’s the little matter that I outrank
you.”

The back of his finger brushed over her
collarbone. “Which would make it only more interesting.”

She was losing track of the conversation.
Her blouse now hung open, his fingers coming lower to explore the lacy outlines
of her new bra.

“Very interesting,” she breathed.

“As is this.” John’s finger slid under the
lace to caress the top of her breast. The lace she’d bought to seduce him. Only
he turned the tables. He seduced her. Taking in a deep breath that swelled her
breasts, she let it out slowly, the muscles of her shoulders relaxing as she
did so.

“Better?” he asked.

His finger had reached her nipple. All she
could do was nod.

With a sudden movement, he brushed her
blouse off her shoulders and turned her around so she leaned against him. Once
again he captured her hands behind her. With her head against the hard muscles
of his chest, her neck lay open and bare. When the back of his free hand
brushed against her cheek and continued along her neck, Lauren suddenly
understood just how vulnerable she was.

John knew he didn’t need to actually apply
pressure to Lauren’s neck to get the effect he wanted. All he had to do was
rest his hand there, his fingers encircling that wonderful whiteness. She
trembled but didn’t make any move to get away. Taking this as a good sign, he
continued, wanting to explore that lacy bra. Was it new? He hoped so. That
would mean she’d bought it just for him and that thought gave him a very warm
feeling that had nothing to do with sex.

His fingers traced the outline of the bra.
One of those surreptitiously padded jobs that forced the breasts together and
up so a wonderful cleavage formed between them. John had noticed that cleavage
as soon as he’d opened the door. She’d left one extra button of her blouse
undone just to show it off. Another point in her favor.

Leaving the warmth of her breasts, he
explored deeper. Her skirt’s elastic waistband posed no impediment to his
explorations. Tempted as he was to head straight to her pussy, they had the
entire afternoon. A quick glance at the clock on the highboy showed it was
2:25. Plenty of time.

His hand, instead, cupped her nearly naked
ass. John had given her no instructions as to what to wear, but clearly Lauren
knew what she wanted. Only a small thong covered her mound and pussy, he could
feel the thin strap over her hip. She moved against him, angling to give him
better access, and another one of those marvelous little whimpers escaped her
throat.

“You like this,” he murmured into her ear,
more a statement of fact than an attempt to persuade.

“Yes.” With her head still tilted back,
even though his hand had long left her neck, her voice came out wispy and a
little strained. Could that be because she’d already moved into that mysterious
zone known as “sub space”?

He still held her wrists behind her.
Letting them go, he brought his hand up to rest on her shoulder. A warm breeze
wafted in through the room’s open window and she lifted her head to it,
inhaling even as she rubbed her arms.

From outside came the sound of a lawnmower
a few doors down. John smiled. He loved the juxtaposition of normalcy with what
conspired in his bedroom. If they only knew of the little piece of heaven he
had carved for the two of them today.

Lauren definitely liked this. She hadn’t
lied when John asked her. Having nothing to do except exist held some
tantalizing advantages. If she thought about it, existing was all she’d been
doing for the past several months, making no decisions, having no direction.
With a smile, she shoved those thoughts aside. Today existed only for John and
her. She hadn’t made any decisions about those outside matters so far, they
could wait another day.