Initiation (Master Class, #1) - Sierra Cartwright Page 0,9
send Joe and Noelle a thank-you note. Maybe a case of wine.
“Go and stand near the St. Andrew’s cross,” he instructed when they were in the well-equipped play area. After Joe had bought the house, he’d had most of the basement walls taken out. That left a large space for the custom-built equipment and allowed him to rearrange things for each event.
Jennifer stopped where Logan had said, then turned to face him. She clenched the flogger so hard her knuckles turned white.
“Take a deep breath,” he instructed. “Relax a little.”
“Would you, if you knew someone was going to hit you?”
“Put that way, no.” He smiled. “But if I knew someone was going to spend the rest of the evening taking me to heights I’d never imagined, I might.”
“That might be even more nerve-racking,” she admitted.
He continued past her to put his bag on a bench near the wall, intentionally giving her some space.
Even though his back was to her, Logan heard the scrape of her boots on the hardwood floor, making him aware she had turned toward him.
He began to lay out his equipment—cuffs, blindfold and nipple clamps with a chain running between them. Since she had her own flogger, he left his in the bag along with a tawse and paddle. “Nothing will happen that you don’t want,” he reassured her when he faced her. “I promise you, you will ask for it.”
She trembled.
“Would you like to see what I have?” He extended his hand in invitation.
She hesitated but then came up alongside him.
“Does anything here scare you?” he asked.
“Those clamps don’t look like the ones I own.”
“What kind do you have?”
“Alligators.” She frowned. “But these are the kind that don’t come off easily, aren’t they?”
“Japanese clovers, and yes. They tighten if you pull on them. But it can be interesting to try to beat them off.”
She froze, obviously not knowing whether he was serious.
He wasn’t. He might try with the tamer alligator clamps, but not these. “Would you like to skip them?”
For a moment she was silent. “Actually, I wasn’t planning to get naked.”
At the majority of the play parties that he attended, most women kept on at least a bra and panties. Doms who preferred their subs bare-chested often adorned nipples with pasties or covered them with electrical tape. “Tell me what you want to have happen. But I’ll remind you that it didn’t work for you when Master Simon allowed you to keep your clothes on.”
She let out a shaky breath. “I guess I want all the excitement and none of the risk,” she acknowledged.
He inclined his head.
“That sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?”
“Not at all.” He’d seen that in all areas of life, from his time in the army and his time as a civilian contractor in the Middle East and now as a PI. Lots of people had bravado. Most of it retreated when the threat became real. “Let me tell you what I want.” He waited until she nodded before going on. “I want to give you the flogging you want, one that’s so damn good you forget your name. And bonus if you scream mine when you come. Yes, you’ll have risk. Yes, it will be scary. Yes, it will be worth it.”
“I…” She paused, her mouth open. “Logan… I’m not sure what to say.”
“Master Logan,” he corrected. “Master, if you’re only using one word. Sir, at the very least.”
“You’re serious?”
“It’s a boundary during a scene, helps separate the civilized world from mine.”
She shuddered. “Are you calling yours uncivilized?”
“No,” he hedged. “I call mine real. Say it.”
“Ah…” She wrapped her arms across her chest, and the flogger’s leather strands dangled in midair. “Master Logan.”
Fuck. The sound of her voice, so compliant, made him ache.
With great effort, he concentrated on finishing their conversation. “I will be touching you, kissing you…” Creating an air of intimacy so complete that she’d be engulfed by it, secure forever. “We won’t be having sex, at least until the scene is over. I have no expectations, so it will happen only if you want it, and then we’ll use condoms.”
She nodded.
“I’d prefer it if you’d take your clothes off, but I’ll be satisfied if you strip down to your undergarments. So what will it be?” He waited. Even if it hadn’t been on a conscious level, they both knew she’d thought about sceneing tonight. The fact that she’d brought a bag proved it. The obvious problem for her was that he wasn’t as easy to sway as Master Simon.
“I want