Chapter 2 #2
“Hardly ever, but it seemed the easiest way to bring up the subject of what happens between dinner and s’mores.” She said it simply, but she wasn’t finished. “Part of me wants to play hard to get, but I get the feeling you value honesty, so I won’t go there.”
He considered her. “Okay, so having a safeword implies having kinks. What works for you?”
She tilted her head slightly and grinned. “You first. You invited me.”
Fair. He took a drink of the most excellent wine and thought about how to say it with the kind of honesty she deserved, but without making it sound creepy.
He didn’t usually share the why of his kinks, but he figured that was the way to go with Miss Tuesday.
“I know how bodies are built. Where the stress points are, where the nerve density is highest, how to stress joints, inflame nerves — and how to make someone feel precisely what I mean for them to.
I work with meat for a living. I know where every nerve cluster is, where the joints take the most strain.
I find that knowledge useful in other contexts. "
He watched her face, and she looked interested rather than horrified.
Her scent agreed, so he kept going. “I like stress bondage, which often means suspension, but not always.” He paused.
“And then I often exploit the high-nerve-density parts of the body once I’ve put a specific joint, or joints, under stress. ”
Her scent had shifted considerably. Her expression hadn’t moved much, but her wolf was extremely interested.
“I like sensory deprivation,” she said. “No sight, no sound. For a wolf, that means quality earplugs plus headphones with white noise. I’m a masochist, so most anything works beyond that.
Within reason, of course. I have some hard limits, but most people don’t bump up against them in the first couple of scenes, so there’s no reason to list them if you don’t plan to do anything out of the norm. ”
He lifted a brow. “I’ve played around with sensory dep a little. For a wolf, I add scent as well.”
Taking scent away from a wolf added to the loss of real-world input, increasing the isolation, and he saw the realization of what it would mean move across her face.
“No one’s gone that far with it before.”
He smiled. “New experiences.”
She studied him. “I don’t always submit as I should. I’m more masochist than submissive. Even when part of me wants to submit, to show respect even if it’s just so I can get the pain I need, my wolf is a pain in the ass and always disagrees. She seems fine with you, so it might work out okay.”
He sat back. He’d have her in ropes to start, so all she had to do was stay still.
Once she was properly bound, her submission wasn’t required.
But the latter part probably needed addressing, since she was sensing the dire wolf being vastly more powerful than the modern-day version.
If this was going somewhere, trust was important, but family rules meant a whole lot had to happen before he could share his secrets.
“I’m not a normal wolf, and it’s possible your wolf is picking that up. Family secrets I can’t tell on a first date, or even a tenth one, but my gut tells me to be honest with you. Or as honest as I can.”
She shook her head. “Not a date. Dinner and a fuck.”
“You don’t do relationships?”
“I’m a pack wolf; you’re technically a lone wolf. We can have fun with each other, but we both know it can’t go farther. No rules against it, but it would be awkward. Just a personal thing, not dating a wolf I can’t run with on the full moon.”
She was right, and she was more right than she likely understood, because Rolling Thunder had rules against getting involved with a pack wolf.
A one-time-fuck was fine, but not a relationship.
Packs are run as a dictatorship, and the alpha’s word is final.
Add to that, he can take over his wolves’ willpower at any time, meaning he could force her to give away secrets, meaning she couldn’t know anything about the club. At all.
But she wasn’t through talking.
“My wolf thinks you’re —” She stopped. Recalibrated. “My wolf has opinions about you that my brain is still evaluating.”
“That’s an honest half-truth.”
“I’m generally honest. It’s a full-truth, but only half of it.” She took another sip of wine. “No bondage I can’t escape from on a first date.”
“That’s a smart rule.” He set his wine glass down and met her gaze.
“I won’t go outside of consent with anyone, but it’d be exceedingly stupid to do so with a pack wolf.
Our organizations have worked too hard to get along with each other for me to fuck that up.
Still, it’s a smart rule, and one I approve of. ”
He looked at the back door and back to her. “We can negotiate what tonight actually looks like, or we can go sit by the fire first and figure it out while we eat dessert.”
She looked out the window, down at her dress, and then back at him.
“I figured I’d be okay outside for the short walk inside. I’ll need a jacket, or maybe a blanket until the fire is warm.”
Right. The day had been in the mid-forties, but it was probably down into the high thirties, and dropping.
“Not a problem. I can provide both.”