Payton
nineteen
Ainsley’s sitting cross-legged, laptop out, fingers typing away as I lounge next to her.
I’m answering emails on my phone and providing details when asked as she works since finishing our ridiculous pineapple pizza, as she was sure to point out at every opportunity.
She relaxed after realizing I wasn’t going to force her into some sex game during dinner, as much as I teased.
She hasn’t been nearly as prickly as I expected, given the amount I’m pushing her tonight.
We’re working on establishing her real boundaries, not the ones she uses to keep me out.
I need to know what she actually wants, what she’s okay with, what scares her, what thrills her.
Her clothes won’t even be coming off with what I have planned.
“That should do it,” she says, her fingers resting on the keyboard, eyes tracking back and forth across the page. “You can read through it to see if it meets your exacting standards.”
I chuckle at the sarcasm in her tone.
“Anything curious happen as you wrote the story?” I can’t help but ask as I take the laptop from her with a mischievous grin.
She rolls her eyes. “Your stupid handiwork was evident weeks ago when I was finishing my story on the Olympus real estate news. I had to take this dumb laptop in for service to have that piece of code removed so I wouldn’t have to deal with your annoying reminder of the favor I’m still repaying.
” She glares at me, her eyebrows pinching together.
“I can’t believe you fixed my code issue just to put another one on there for me to deal with.
It was super inconvenient and really mature of you to create a script that scrolled 'Payton is my favorite person in the world' across my screen every time I typed your name.”
I smile wider, loving that she’s being feisty with me. “Come on, you loved it.”
I reach over and drag my knuckles under her chin, and she grabs my hand, forcing it down between us, not letting it go. Fuck, I love when she does that without even realizing it.
“I didn’t want to make your life harder. I would’ve taken it off for you if you’d asked. No charge and no favors needed.”
“Nothing is free, so even that would’ve had consequences. It’s gone now and I’m watching everything you’re doing this time.” She lets go of my hand and uses two fingers to gesture from her eyes to mine and back as she glares.
I blow her a kiss and return my attention to the screen.
I scroll through her story, half tempted to add another quick script to remind her of me this week.
I leave her laptop alone in the end because the story she’s written is really fucking good, and I’m more interested in reading it than messing with her computer.
“Ainsley, this is incredible. It reads objectively, but your voice is so strongly intertwined in the writing that it feels literary instead of simply journalistic.”
I pull my eyes away from the screen to glance her way and notice the bright spots of pink in her cheeks as she stares at me with rapt attention while worrying her lower lip with her teeth.
Ah, my girl needs her praise, but she’s feeling a bit insecure having me read her work. We’ll fix that right up.
She pushes stray hair behind her ear and looks away from me, caught in a moment of unguarded vulnerability. “It’s okay. But I’ll probably need to do a few more passes to tighten the word count. This is the basis of the story I’ll shop around for publication, though.”
I put her computer on the coffee table in front of us and pull her into my lap.
She makes a surprised protest. I want to kiss her fucking stupid for thinking like that so the thought falls right out of her head.
I want to grind her hips against me until she comes so many times she forgets her own name, let alone that she’s insecure about her writing ability.
At the same time, I want to replace those insecurities with the truth by telling her she’s incredible, she’s so fucking smart, and I love everything she’s written.
Instead, I turn her face toward mine with my finger and touch my forehead to hers as I give her my most serious look.
“It’s perfect, just like you. Do whatever you need for the word count but know you’ve already written something that is exactly what it needs to be.
I can say the same about you.” I pull back and give her a slow appraisal so she knows I’m appreciating her beauty.
“Now that you're done with the article, let’s get you out of your head.” I stand from the couch, keeping her in my arms and relishing the quick way she grabs onto me in shock.
“Put me down or I’ll kick you in the balls,” she threatens, her feet already swinging, looking for parts of me she can make contact with. I keep her cradled in my arms and all parts of me safely out of her reach.
“Relax, Spitfire, I have longer legs, so it’s faster this way. Think of it as your princess treatment.”
I wanted an excuse to scoop her up and have her in my arms like this, protests and all.
I walk into my bedroom, but I don’t throw her on the bed like I’m sure she imagined I would.
Instead, I place her gently on a padded stool I put here while she was busy writing.
A candle is burning on the nightstand, the room filled with the scent of peach from the Broken Wax Co.
candle burning on the nightstand. “Play With Me” by Rendezvous At Two is currently playing from the Bluetooth speaker connected to a playlist I made especially for her.
Perfect timing for that song as I’m about to show her how I like to play.
I’ve noticed Ainsley gets in her head and refuses to process what’s happening in the moment, spiraling and freaking out over the smallest details instead.
I can connect her to her body, have her feeling more and thinking less, remove that feeling of overwhelm, and help her process by controlling what she’s experiencing physically.
She’s spiraled tighter lately, as the stories about us have become more frequent, and I feel shitty that I’ve caused that.
I want to make her feel good, get her out of that busy brain with something easy, and show her she can trust me.
I roll my sleeves up as she fidgets on the seat.
This will be how I initiate a scene with her going forward.
“Stay there,” I command, dropping my voice into Dom mode. Her eyes grow wide at the change. She stops moving, her hands gripping the edges of the stool at her hips.
I walk into my closet to grab a few things and when I come back out, she’s still where I put her.
Task one is complete. I approach her, winding a silk scarf around my hands, letting it slip through one palm as she watches until I’m directly behind her.
I drag the ends of the scarf up each of her arms in turn, noting the changes as she shivers and goosebumps rise in the wake of the cool black silk against her golden skin.
“What are you doing?” she asks shakily.
“You wanted to know what kind of Dom I am. I’m going to show you a little of what I like to do and the kind of pleasure you can get from it.
” She has no reply to that bit of information, but the way I like to play, I can’t take her silence as an indication of her acceptance.
“Do you want to play, my perfect little cocktease?”
She looks up at me, biting her lip and radiating tension, but there’s a flare of need that lights in her amber eyes, and she nods. “Yes,” she says quietly.
Unfettered joy and desire burst in my chest that she wants this, too. “That’s my girl.”
I walk around the stool again, letting her track my movement with tense anticipation. I nudge her knees apart with my thigh so her legs bracket mine and she has to look up at me. I trail the scarf over her exposed legs while she’s distracted, making her jump.
“We’re playing with sensations. What do you smell, hear, see, feel?
Next, we’ll take away one of your senses so you can experience how everything else is heightened.
” I drag the scarf up her shoulders to circle her neck.
I’d love to run the ends between her gorgeous tits, along the soft skin of her stomach, down her back, but she’s in a big T-shirt and I’m not getting her out of anything tonight, so this will have to do.
I slip out from between her thighs and move to her back.
“I’m going to blindfold you. Do you want to know what it feels like to have my hands on you when you don’t know where I’m going to touch next, Princess?” I whisper in her ear.
She shivers again and leans into me. “Maybe.”
“Maybe won’t cut it when we play. Yes or no, like my perfect cocktease.”
“Yes,” she exhales, a hesitant expression still on her gorgeous face despite her affirmation.
“Good girl. When I check in, I need you to let me know how you’re doing. Red means stop immediately. Yellow means change what you’re doing now or we’ll have to stop. Green means you’re enjoying yourself. Do you understand?”
She nods, blinking quickly as she takes it all in while willingly letting me guide her like this. Fuck yes. I’ve only dreamed she’d let me do this. To have it happening makes me ecstatic.
“What are you going to do?”
I hold the black scarf in front of her. “You’re not supposed to know in this game, but you’ll enjoy it.
Close your eyes and tell me if this is too tight.
” I bring the scarf to her face and wait for a nod to allow me to cover her eyes.
I run my fingers along the edges, checking the tension, satisfied it shouldn’t hurt her, but significantly reduces her ability to see what’s happening.
“How are you doing, Princess?” I ask, checking on her comfort as well as her ability to follow directions.
“Green,” she says after some hesitation.
“That’s right, you’re already so good at this,” I tell her, running my fingers lightly along her neck with my praise.