TheOneandOnly (13 page)

Sean chuckled, so proud of her for opening up to him. “And
that’s a good thing?”

“Oh yeah, very hot.”

“What about the paddling itself?” They’d have to discuss her
tolerance for pain in much more detail. He didn’t want to push her too hard too
soon though. Baby steps would do just fine for now. At least she was talking to
him and not trying to run out the door.

“We’re back to confusing. It hurt and I didn’t care for it,
but I liked your touch afterward.” She was looking at their hands and wouldn’t
meet his gaze. “When you were talking to me, telling me to relax, it was a
disjointed moment. It was like we were a team and working through something
together even though you were the one doing it.”

“We are a team, Michelle, and we are working together. D/s
is about teamwork. You can’t have Dominance without submission or the other way
around. By submitting to me, you’re allowing me to guide you on a journey. If
you stray from the path, I need to reel you back in. You seemed aroused by it.
Am I wrong?”

She shook her head. “No, you’re right. I was.”

“An erotic spanking is much more pleasurable. I think you’d
like it.”
He
sure as hell would. “Come on. Let’s get you set up so you
can get that paper written.” The look on her face told him that was the last
thing she’d expected him to say. He smiled to himself, knowing she’d be mulling
it over the whole time she completed her homework. Anticipation was such a
sweet tool. He took her hand and led her into his home office.

“Why don’t you take the desktop and I’ll use my laptop over
here on the couch?” He knew if he sat at the desk, she’d be thinking about him
as her boss and that would bring up all her insecurities about the club. Since
he planned on having some fucking-hot sex with her just as soon as she finished
her work, that was the last thing he wanted.

“It’s booted up and ready to go. Just wiggle the mouse.”

“Sean, I don’t want to keep you from doing your work. I can
go back to my place and do it. You’re probably tired of me invading your
space.” She was standing by the desk, running her fingers over the wood
surface.

He could be reading her body language wrong, but it didn’t
look like she wanted to leave. “If you’d rather go to your apartment, I’ll take
you. But I like being with you. I like having you in my house. This place has
felt more like a home today than it has since I moved in and it’s because of
you.”

Michelle sat down and began booting up the programs she’d
need. “You’ve made me feel comfortable here and I fell in love with your
kitchen. I think the smell of cooking makes a house smell like a home. That’s
probably the difference between today and the other times you’ve brought women
home.”

“I don’t bring women home. Other than family, the only woman
I’ve had here was my personal trainer and believe me, there wasn’t any
chemistry on either end.”

“Then she was blind.” Michelle turned her attention to the
computer and began typing.

Sean brought up his website and began updating the calendar.
He was having a very difficult time keeping his mind on work. More often than
not, he was staring at Michelle instead of the computer screen. She would type
a mile minute for a few moments and then tap her fingernails on the desk. After
fifteen minutes or so, she went to her purse and pulled out her phone.

She attached earbuds and put one in her ear. “I have to have
music. I can’t think without it.” She grinned at him.

He smiled, hearing faint music coming from the unattached
bud dangling down behind the desk. He remembered in college he’d had rock
blaring every time he worked too. Nowadays he was more of a jazz fan, but he
could listen to just about anything.

“Sean, what do you enjoy?” Michelle asked, a beautiful pink
blush dusting her cheeks.

“Bringing you pleasure. Watching you come for me…oh
Michelle, I can’t describe how gratifying that was. I know that wasn’t the
answer you were looking for, but it boils down to that. I want to know every
way possible to send you flying. I love shibari. I wish I had the equipment
here at the house for suspension. I know I could send you into rope space the
first time out.”

Michelle left the desk and came over and sat beside him. She
leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Your eyes sparkle when you’re happy. I
like that.”

Sean cupped the nape of her neck and kissed her soundly.
When they broke apart, he rested his forehead on hers. “You make me happy,
Michelle. Thank you.”

She gave him another peck on the cheek then returned to the
desk and started typing again. After a few moments she looked up at him. “Are
the protocols important to you?”

“At the club, yes. Just like society has a set of rules we
follow for the protection of everyone, the club needs to have a set of standard
practices. There are too many dominant males in close confines to not have
strict guidelines in place. Outside the club, it would depend on you.
Submission is a mindset. If following certain protocols helps you get in the
mindset, then yes, they are important.”

“Dana refers to Brian as Master even in everyday
conversation. I don’t think I could do that.”

“When I first met them, they were in a D/s relationship and
she referred to him as her husband or Brian. About three years ago, they
progressed to a Master/slave arrangement and that’s when she started calling
him Master consistently. It works for them. I’m not opposed to it, but I don’t
have any specific desire for that type of arrangement either.” He had yet to
see one last.

“One author I’ve read has the Doms demand the submissives
crawl. Her books are on the fringe of what I can read. I like the characters,
but the sex scenes don’t do much for me. The girls all need high levels of
pain, even those without any experience in BDSM.”

“Crawling could be used a couple of different ways. Some
subs are highly aroused by humiliation. For others it doesn’t matter what task
they’re given—simply fulfilling a command, any command from their Dom, makes
them horny. They could be told to mop the floors and it would serve the same
purpose.” Sean liked that she was asking questions and talking to him about her
concerns.

“Pain is subjective,” he continued. “It depends on the sub’s
level of arousal and their tolerance. No two people are the same. I was reading
your body language to tell me how much you could take. If I’d walked up to you
cold and pinched anywhere on your body with the same force I pinched your
nipple, you’d probably deck me. And with good reason—it would hurt. I’m not
talking about deliciously hurt either. It worked at that point in time, because
you were highly aroused and you trusted me.”

“So pain for pain’s sake wouldn’t have added to the
experience?” Michelle seemed more comfortable opening up to him.

“Arousal is key. So is a slow buildup.” Sean saw her nod,
then go back to her paper.

“Sean, I hate to ask, but would you read this over? I’ve
been a bit distracted and I want to make sure this proposal makes sense before
I submit it.”

“Since I’m to blame for distracting you, it’s the least I
can do. Are you any good with websites? I can’t figure out how to update the
calendar. Every time I try to add an event, it cuts off the description or runs
it into the next field. We just switched to this design and I’m finding it very
frustrating.”

“Let me look at it. I have some experience with web design.
As long as I’ve seen the coding before, I can probably manipulate it.”

After they traded places, Sean read her paper. He wasn’t
only impressed with her writing ability, but he learned a few things as well.
It was basically a proposal for improving supply acquisition for a local
company. “It looks great. You left out a word and I put in a comma in the third
paragraph, but other than that, it’s perfect. I highlighted the changes so you
could accept or decline them. You said you were going for a business degree,
but what’s your area of emphasis?”

“I’m majoring in supply-line management and minoring in
social-media marketing. I fixed your calendar issue. Do you have plans for
making your website more interactive? I also noticed you aren’t using many tags.
Do you have a limited number available? You’d get a lot more hits if you used
more tags. You should review your stats and switch up the lowest five with a
few alternatives to maximize your search potential.”

Sean stared at Michelle for a few moments then finally
asked, “What are you doing next Sunday?”

“Um, what I do every Sunday—sleep, followed by homework.
What have you got in mind?”

“Marriage. Damn girl, you’re a bases-loaded home run.
Stunning, sexy, smart and submissive. Fuckin’ a. Oh and you can cook. Maybe we
should drive to Atlantic City tonight. If we wait ‘til Sunday, someone might
steal you away from me.”

She smiled and shook her head at him. “We should probably
wait until next month to see if Stella’s prediction comes true or not. It’s a
lot easier to fire an employee than divorce a wife.”

“Fuck Stella.”

“Do that and I’ll quit you for sure.”

“Submit your paper. You and I have an appointment in the
bedroom, subbie.”

Michelle was already squirming in her seat. The more time
she spent with Sean, the more time she
wanted
to spend with him. He was
easy to talk to, even with embarrassing subjects. She accepted his changes and
turned in the paper. It was obvious he was kidding about getting married, yet
for the first time in her life she could imagine spending her life with
someone.

Nah, it was just a serious case of lust. Stella was probably
right—in a month the newness would wear off and it would go the way of all her
past romantic relationships. Sean wouldn’t fire her. He was too much of a
gentleman for that, but his attention would wane and their time together would
come to a halt. Michelle decided to enjoy it while it lasted.

She closed the programs and walked toward him as he set his
laptop aside. He pulled her onto the couch beside him and kissed her gently at
first, then deepened the kiss. His experience was intimidating. She feared he
would compare her to all those who came before her. Yet when he looked at her,
Michelle felt like she was the only woman in the world. If she continued to
think about it, she’d go crazy.

Sean ran his hand down the side of her face. “Go to the
restroom, remove your clothes and then present for me in the bedroom.”

Her tummy clenched and her heart raced. He knew what he was
asking of her. They’d discussed kneeling and yet he was still asking her to do
it. No, he was
commanding
her to do it. There was no request in that
sentence. “Okay.” He kissed her forehead before she left the couch and started
down the hallway.

He’d said he was jealous seeing Dana kneel for Brian, yet
women kneeled before Sean every night at the club. Why would he be jealous? And
why was she doing this? Because she was already excited and she wanted to
please him. She beamed every time he smiled. Once in the restroom, she took
care of business, then undressed. She tried not to think about anything but
pleasing Sean.

During the time they’d spent together, she’d noticed he had
two smiles. His polite, high-wattage smile that could melt a woman at twenty
paces and the special one he reserved for her. His special smile touched her
heart and made her want to cry. It was that one she wanted to see again and
again. She pulled her hair out of the ponytail and ran her hands through it.

Michelle took a deep breath and walked into the bedroom.
Sean, wearing only his faded jeans, was standing by the bed, pointing to a
pillow he’d laid on the floor. She turned her head so her hair would cover a
good portion of her face and kept her gaze on the pillow. As she dropped to her
knees, her stomach bottomed out. She didn’t know what to do with her hands and
opted to keep them at her sides.

“Thank you, Michelle. Why was it so hard for you to assume
this position? You look so beautiful.” He bent over and his hands caressed her
face, tilting her chin toward him. “I want to see your eyes. Don’t hide them
from me.”

Her breathing faltered as he continued to touch her. “I
don’t want to be one of many.”

“You’re the one and only, Michelle.” He put his finger over
her lips. “Sshh. When you kneel for me, it is a rare and special gift. You’re
offering yourself to me. The women at the club aren’t giving me something—they’re
wanting something from me. By kneeling, they’re tacking on a ‘please’ to their
request. That’s why I’m jealous of Brian when Dana kneels before him. She is
offering herself to him just as you’re doing now for me. There’s a big
difference, Michelle.”

She smiled at him and knew her heart was in her eyes. He
always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better. He’d turned something
degrading into an intimacy shared only between them. “Thank you, Sean.”

“My collar looks perfect around your neck. I’m so glad you
haven’t removed it.” He wrapped his hand around her neck.

From anyone else that type of hold would be threatening and
frightening, yet with Sean it was erotic. He was very strong and he could snap
her neck or choke her—so why did it send heat pooling to her pussy instead of
fear to her gut? It seemed impossible to trust someone as implicitly as she
trusted Sean in such a short period of time, but she did. She’d felt drawn to
him since the first time he’d come into the diner all those months ago.

“It is very comfortable. I forget I have it on.”

“Wearing it means you belong to me. Your body knows you do
and accepted the collar as a physical representation of that commitment. It
feels natural and right like another extension of yourself. Your mind, however,
is too busy overthinking things to admit it yet. It will come around given
enough time.”

“You know, I’m falling for you.”