Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Audrey
Awkward.
This was so awkward. Standing in the elevator was awkward because they were standing right next to each other, and she wanted to reach out to hold his hand.
Her own hand felt warmer on the side he was standing on, and she felt like she could barely take in a full breath…
but she also couldn’t work up the nerve to reach out for him.
That wasn’t what this was about.
He’d made a very kind offer to demonstrate a spanking.
Which she did want to experience with someone she trusted, and she trusted Mason.
She was also relieved she didn’t have to do it in the club where everyone would be watching. The pressure to react correctly was too high there. Especially since she didn’t know what the right reaction would be. A moan? Crying out? But what if she hated it?
If she did, she didn’t feel like Mason would judge her. Not that they’d spent a ton of time together for her to know for sure, but she felt like she’d been getting to know him over the texts they sent. Plus, the times he’d come running to her rescue. He’d never made her feel judged once.
“I’m right down here,” she said, walking quickly out of the elevator. She didn’t know how she was supposed to behave. Fortunately, Mason didn’t seem to mind.
Nonjudgmental.
That was reassuring since that’s what she was looking for right now. The fact that she was also wildly attracted to him… well, she wasn’t sure that was a good thing. He’d been very specific about it being platonic, which was a good thing, even if Yasmine was already moving on.
Audrey didn’t even know if she would like kink outside of her fantasies, and Mason was a real-life Dom.
Obviously, it was something he liked. And needed. Audrey wanted a Dom—at least, she thought she did—but how could she be sure when she’d never done anything kinky before? Maybe she only liked it in her books and in her head. Maybe she would wuss out the second his hand came down on her butt.
Even though the idea of his hand coming down on her butt made her feel hot and breathless.
She was far too aware of him standing behind her while she fumbled with her keys.
“Here.” His voice was calm, deep… reassuring. Warm fingers closed around hers as he gently pulled the jingling metal from her nerveless grip. “I’ve got it. This one?”
Nodding, Audrey stepped back as Mason put the key in her lock.
It shouldn’t be sexy, having a man take over opening the door for her, but it was.
She didn’t like to feel incompetent or fumbling, but when she did fumble, when she was struggling, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to catch her?
Cash had never, not once in their entire relationship, been that kind of guy.
He probably would have laughed while she struggled with the keys, then told his friends about it later.
Not that she and Mason were getting into a relationship like the one she and Cash had been in.
But when she did decide to try for another relationship, the bar for the man she dated was going to be a lot higher, thanks to Mason.
“Thank you,” she said, as he opened the door for her.
The smile that he gave her was both kind and searching, as if he was trying to read her expression.
“You’re welcome.” He followed her in through the door and shut it behind him, but didn’t make a move to come any further in. “If you’ve changed your mind, you can say so. That’s something you should know about kink—consent is the most important thing. Enthusiastic consent.”
He was giving her an out. If she wanted it.
But if she took it, would she ever be brave enough to try again?
Audrey stood in the entryway to her apartment, staring at the beautiful, beautiful man who had offered to spank her tonight.
If he walked out that door, she didn’t think she would have the courage to face him again in the same way.
She wasn’t sure she’d be able to go back to the club, knowing she’d chickened out.
And she would be so, so mad at herself for doing so.
She shook her head.
“I want… the demonstration.” Her words came out breathless, and her hands fluttered up and then back down to her sides. “I’m just nervous. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
The smile that curved his lips made her heart pound faster and her knees go wobbly.
Oh, dear.
“Well, for the purposes of a scene, you do exactly what I tell you to.”
Had his voice gotten deeper? It seemed like his voice had gotten deeper. The effect of which went straight through her and made her press her thighs together as the needy space between them was suddenly aching.
“Let’s start with taking off our coats, then we’ll sit down and talk through exactly what we’re going to do.”
Audrey nodded. Right. That made sense.
Coats off and hung up, she escorted him the five feet that took them into the main living area of her one-bedroom apartment.
She hadn’t had a ton of time to decorate, but she was happy with how it looked.
It was comfortable, at least, even if there was still a small pile of boxes in the far corner and none of the pictures were actually hanging on the wall yet.
She hoped he didn’t think she was a total mess, even though it was messier than she’d want it to be to show it off.
She hadn’t really thought through having him come over.
Then again, how could she have possibly planned for this?
“This is nice,” he said as he made his way to the couch. Somehow, he seemed to make the entire room smaller as he moved through it. The couch now looked smaller, too, with the weight of his presence filling it. “I love the colors.”
Like her clothes, Audrey liked retro furniture and designs.
There was a lot of color in her home now.
Things that she’d been able to choose for herself without her mother’s influence.
Everything in her parents’ house had been beige.
So much beige. With an occasional ‘pop of black’ to set it off.
Her room at her parents’ home had been the only place where there was any color, and her mom had still governed over exactly how much there could be.
Too much was gauche.
Which was exactly what her mom would think of her apartment.
The unhung red and black picture frames, leaning against the walls where she planned to eventually hang them, contained pop art in colorful yellows, oranges, greens, and pinks.
The couch Mason was sitting on was blue.
The apartment carpet was beige, but Audrey had covered it with a large area rug that was covered in a rainbow riot of polka dots.
None of her lamps matched—one was yellow and bubbly with a white shade, another was cotton candy pink with a bulbous base, and the standing lamp was Tiffany stained glass and one of the few pieces that had traveled from Philly with her.
None of it should have gone together, yet somehow it all worked. She loved it.
Her life had been beige and… well, vanilla, as Mason would say. Now it was spicy hot. Different. Colorful. Exciting.
And she had a man who was going to show her kink. Though she would not have guessed he’d be into interior decorating.
“I can’t imagine you having quite this much color in your home,” she admitted, sitting nervously on the green and cream striped armchair that was beside the couch. Close, but still keeping her distance. Sitting beside him on the small couch just felt too… intimate.
The whole side of her body that he was on tingled, despite the distance between them. It didn’t matter that she was on a completely different piece of furniture.
She was as messy as her space.
“I don’t. I wouldn’t even know where to begin to put this all together.” Mason smiled and waved his hand around at the assortment. It was very eclectic, she knew. “But I enjoy the effect.”
“Thanks. Um, so now what?” She wasn’t relaxing at all; if anything, the small talk was making her more nervous as she waited for what was next.
The wolfish smile he gave her in return wasn’t very reassuring, but it was exciting. Audrey pressed her hands together in her lap.
“Now, we talk about exactly what we’re going to do.
” He leaned forward, holding her gaze, and suddenly, it was very difficult to breathe.
“Audrey. I am going to put you over my lap, flip up your skirt, and administer your first spanking. If you are wearing underwear, I will leave that on. I plan to start more gently to warm up your skin, and once your bottom is a nice pink, I will increase the force with which I’m spanking you. ”
Oh, fuck. She couldn’t breathe at all now as she stared back at him. Every word that came out of his mouth was matter-of-fact, clearly enunciated, yet her ears were full of a buzzing noise that made her feel lightheaded.
The picture he was painting in her mind was intimate, arousing, and utterly terrifying. Especially because she was so turned on, and she wasn’t supposed to be. But maybe the actual spanking would be a turn-off.
“Okay,” she whispered when she realized he was waiting for some kind of response from her.
“At any time that you need to slow down, say ‘yellow.’ Or ‘red’ if you want me to stop completely.” He paused again. “Do you have any questions?”
Yes. What should she do if she was about to spontaneously combust? Because it felt like she might do that at any second.
But she couldn’t ask that. Platonic. This was platonic, and she needed to focus on whether or not she liked the kink, not on how Mason was making her feel. If that was even possible.
“Um, no. That makes sense.”
“Good.” The expression on his face turned wolfish as he patted his thigh. “Come here, Audrey, and put yourself over my lap for your spanking.”
Oh God.
This was real. It was really happening.
Except that it didn’t feel real. It felt like an out-of-body experience as she got to her wobbly feet. She’d forgotten to take her shoes off. Oh, well. It wasn’t like it mattered. She didn’t know why she was thinking about her shoes right now, anyway.