Chapter 29
After Rebecca left the room, Jamie checked in with himself before things went any further.
He had told her this wasn”t a game and that he was deadly serious. Even with forewarning, she was still here—still cautiously surrendering to his dominance. The gift of her trust—still in its early stages—demanded he be ultra-clear about his role.
Yes—he had romantic feelings for the strong-willed single mom.
Yes—he was acting on instinct.
Yes—he saw them in a D/s relationship.
Yes—he knew how serious things were.
What more was there to consider? They were adults. What they did in private was nobody”s fucking business.
How they were with each other in public was an entirely different matter. Jamie wasn”t stupid. Dominating Rebecca in the bedroom—that was the easy part. Expecting that dominance to extend into other areas was a total crapshoot.
A smirk tugged at his mouth. The divine bitch he”d come to know and desire wasn”t going away. Rebecca had hellion qualities. She was always going to push back and start arguments. It was in her nature. Taming her fire was sure to be a pleasure-filled challenge.
He muttered dryly, thinking of her interest in spanking, ”Note to self. Brush up on the art of domestic discipline.”
He sensed her return—picking up her energy before she came into view.
Teasingly, she told him, ”You won”t be able to miss black lingerie on your white pillowcase.”
”Good girl,”he grinned.
She cocked her hip and rolled her eyes. ”Seriously?”
”Yeah.”A laugh rumbled up from deep in his chest. ”I”m going to allow the eye-roll—this time—but you”re probably going to want to rethink some of those reactions.”
”You”re rather bossy, aren”t you?”
”You need a firm hand.”He made the statement while challenging her with his eyes.
When she capitulated and dropped her gaze, triumph surged in his core.
Dropping his foot to the floor, he patted his thigh. ”Let”s see how you fit over my knee.”
Her face paled. She chewed her lip and stared anxiously at his lap.
”Are you going to spank me?”
”No,”he assured her. ”Think of this as rehearsal or spanking choreography.”
Jamie knew his expression was boldly lecherous. She went from washed out to bright pink when he wet his lips.
”If we practice the moves in advance, you”ll feel more confident—should a spanking arise.”
”Oh.”She adopted an almost childlike pose by putting her hands behind her back.
He could barely contain his pleasure.
Sounding like a professor in front of a classroom, he smacked his palm on the sofa cushion and suggested she start on her knees.
”Get comfortable. Watch out for your shoes.”
She put a hand on the sofa back for support and sat back on her feet, facing him.
”I know what this is,”she murmured—her voice small and shaky.
”Say it out loud, Rebecca.”
”Submissive pose. Kneel with back straight. Balance the hips evenly. Knees spread shoulder width apart to allow the Dominant genital access. Hands rest palms up on top of the thighs, or if the Dom prefers, clasped behind the back.”
”You did your homework.”He leered at her and added, ”Extra credit effort earns rewards.”
Nothing at this moment was more alluring than Rebecca”s shy smile.
Grabbing a throw pillow, he placed it by his side. ”When you”re ready, lay across my lap. Use the pillow for your head.”
Rebecca, in her sexy red dress, gave him the thrill of a lifetime as she lay across his legs, moving and shifting until she found her spot. Several times, her hands tugged the hem of her dress. He found it adorable as hell that she was so concerned about her bare ass.
”Comfy?”he asked when she settled.
Looking back at him, she grimaced to signal her comfort level. ”Am I doing it right?”
Regarding the quivering female laying ass up across his legs, Jamie was ready to explode from the ferocious lust swirling in his groin.
”Looks perfect to me.”
She stilled when he stroked the dress covering her backside.
”Placement is everything,”he told her in a matter-of-fact voice while gripping her hip.
Her butt shifted, and when she reached back to make sure her ass remained covered, he stopped the motion by gently slapping her hand.
”Behave.”
He heard her shocked gasp and smirked.
I”ve never done this before, he thought. Ever.
His training in the kinky arts—specifically the D/s dynamic—did not include how to introduce someone with no experience to a lifestyle many might find unenlightened.
Jamie felt differently. He firmly believed gender politics and narrow beliefs about feminism and masculinity did more harm than good. Finding your truth was an exercise that need not be judged.
”I feel stupid,”she mumbled.
”Well, we can”t have that,”he chuckled.
Flipping the hem of her skirt up to her waist, he surveyed the glorious bottom waiting for attention.
”Jamie!”she squealed. ”What are you doing?”
Squirming and panting, she tried to cover up, but he was the one in control.
”Be still, Rebecca. Nothing”s going to happen. I want you to release your tension. Focus on your feelings, not what you”re afraid I will do.”
He wanted to laugh when she squeezed her butt cheeks and lay rigid.
”These spanking videos you”ve seen—did they explain the process?”
Caressing and massaging her round bottom, he explained the steps of a spanking in an even, calm voice.
”Warming up the area is the polite way to begin, although knowing you as I do, I”m sure there will be times when your bitchy mouth earns you a disciplinary spanking without the gentle pre-gaming.”
She lifted her head off the pillow and looked back at him with wide eyes.
Grabbing a soft handful of ass, he smirked, ”You have a fuckable derriere, Rebecca.”
That was it—her line in the sand. She jolted, gasped, and, in the blink of an eye, scrambled off his lap and stood.
Her panicked outrage hit his funny bone, and he laughed.
”So should I take from your reaction that ass sex is off the table?”
”You dick,”she yelped when it finally dawned on her that he was jacking her up. ”Stop laughing!”
”Aw, come on. You have to admit, your reaction was funny. I bet you”ve never moved so quickly before.”
Looking up at her from his position on the sofa, he laughed harder at her stern scowl. She slapped her hands on her waist and glared at him.
She also did an admirable job of not laughing when it was clear she wanted to.
”I”m not sorry.”He stood and pulled her into a hug that she was not expecting. Her initial resistance melted when he kept laughing, and she held him at his waist.
Until her arms were around him, Jamie had not realized how much he missed a warm hug.
”That wasn”t funny,”she muttered against his shoulder.
”On my end, it was fucking hilarious.”
Her gentle laughter and firm squeeze told him they were having a moment.
Peace filled the empty spaces in his heart.
She ended their embrace by stepping back and crossing her arms.
His groin stirred whenever she did her tough lady shtick. Jamie couldn”t help his smirk of a grin.
”I”m thinking this Dom thing gives you an unfair advantage.”
”How so?”he asked, curious about her reasoning.
”For one thing, you get to say and suggest all sorts of crazy shit, whereas I, in the opposite role, have to keep my mouth shut.”
”Opposite role?”he taunted. ”Is it so hard to say the word?”
She blasted him with eye shade but didn”t take the bait.
”And you don”t have to be silent. Not at all. I want to hear what bothers you as well as your pleasures. The submissive challenge for you is keeping your mouth on a respectful leash. Plus, I could argue that the advantage is always in the sub”s hands.”
He softly said, ”We respect each other”s boundaries. You may withdraw your consent at any time. Safe words aren”t a joke. I hope you”ll think about what I”ve said. I”ve told you who I am, and you”ve shown me who you are. Our attraction isn”t going to suddenly go away. This is happening, Rebecca. I know this seems strange, and I want to do everything I can to keep from scaring you.”
”Is that your way of saying there will be butt sex?”
He couldn”t tell if she was joking until catching a slight glimmer in her eyes.
”Only if my lady insists,”he drawled with a wink. ”And only if she begs for it.”
The mixing of their laughs made a sound that got his blood pumping. She brought the light back to his life and drew him out of his self-imposed solitude.
”This might be a good time to admit that while I swear like a soldier at work, dirty talk isn”t a skill set. Bad girl behavior,”she quipped with an eye roll.
”Listening to what your bad girl side has to say may help quiet the chatter in your head. You know what you want, what you need, Rebecca. Your inner bad girl is there to help you take ownership of those desires. Mute everything else but that.”
”There”s a lot to process. Being with you is,”she paused—her eyes drifting here and there. She gave up and shrugged. ”There isn”t a word.”
Her pensive expression did not bother him in the least. Quite the opposite because it signaled that she was fully present. This was not a game for her, either.
”Answer me this—do you want to run for the hills?”
He was pleasantly surprised when she answered before he”d taken a breath.
”Absolutely not, but don”t take that as a sign that I know what I”m doing because I assure you, I do not. In layman”s terms, I find myself amid a shifting paradigm that is hard to wrap my head around. On the one hand, I get it, but on the other hand, it makes me feel baffled, clueless, and confused. All of this,”she waved her hands, ”is unsettling but, at the same time, something like an ah-ha moment. It shouldn”t fit, but it does, and that freaks me out.”
He wanted to tell her everything would make more sense…soon. At present they were playing with vocabulary, testing boundaries, and exploring protocols. She might be ready to surrender—a little—but she was nowhere near the point of fully submitting or knowing it when she did.
Conversation had limits, so for now, show and tell was his best move.
”Did you enjoy tonight? Was having dinner with me in my home what you expected?”
She had a fast answer. ”It was very grown-up. You wore a suit. I mean, who does that? Tonight felt like a real date, even though dating may not be a thing anymore. I”m not sure. Hanging out and hooking up is this century”s norm. I”m babbling. Tell me to shut up.”
”No. I want you to talk. Babbling is a good way to discover what you”re feeling.”
They were standing close—close enough for him to offer some reassurance by stroking her bare arms with his hands.
”There”s nothing wrong with doing things the old-fashioned way. My folks were sticklers about manners, especially Mom.”
He chuckled, and his voice softened.
”She drilled it into my and Robbie”s heads that there was a right way to treat a lady and a wrong way. As hormonal boys we knew what she meant. And then she went further with something that deeply affected us by asking if the way we acted with girls was how we wanted the boys to act who went out with our sister. Man, talk about an ice-water challenge. So,”he drawled. ”Old-fashioned it is.”
Her expression and body relaxed. ”This may sound funny, but I feel seen.”
A strong wave of pleasure-faction filled his being.
”Being seen is a two-way street. In this, we”re even Rebecca. I”ve opened up and let you see the real me. You”re not alone.”
He leaned in and jokingly drawled, ”Paradigm shift times two.”
The clever and savvy woman he”d spent far too much time butting heads with, who was now, thankfully, someone he had surprisingly deep feelings for, asked a question that reminded him the lady was neither a pushover nor a lightweight.
”Does that mean you”ve not done this before? I don”t mean seducing a woman. My question isn”t sexual. By this, I mean teach. Or maybe introduce. I get the broader dominant and submissive issue, and I”m not na?ve about what that means for your sex life. I”m drilling deeper. Have you ever introduced anyone else—someone you were interested in?”