Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,59

far as I was concerned.

We’d saved seats for them, and I almost rose to surrender my spot to Archie, but Bubba was already on his feet. He moved to stand behind Frankie and rested his hands on her shoulders, even as she took Archie’s hand. Fair enough.

It wasn’t long before we were invited into the dungeon proper and to the chairs they had set up. Tonight’s demonstration would be followed with open time in the “dungeon” and the “playrooms” if we wanted to use them. Yeah, I wasn’t sure how likely that was to happen. There were way too many people here to see Frankie naked, thank you very much.

Coop elbowed me, and I cut a look at him.

“Lose the scowl,” he murmured, lips barely moving. “There’s restrictions on sex on the property, not to mention you look like you’re going to kill someone.”

I would kill someone if they saw her that way, but fine.

“Good evening,” a petite blonde woman said as she walked out wearing what amounted to a leather corset, the tiniest lace panties, and a pair of stiletto heels. My gaze cut upward and stayed there. Lady had great legs, and I focused on her face because the corset took her boobs and pushed them high enough they were still visible, even when I focused on her face.

Fuck.

A soft giggle from next to me had me glancing at Frankie, and her open grin teased me. Yeah, yeah. I was a guy. I noticed things. But I wasn’t watching the chick in the skimpy clothing, even if she was the one talking.

“For our newcomers, I’m Lyssa, and this is Master Richard.”

Master Richard.

I didn’t scoff. I really didn’t. But at the same time, I had to choke back a laugh.

“I know we have some newcomers tonight, so welcome, and we have some who are new to the lifestyle as well.” I swore, she looked right at me. Fuck. Called out. Wait…

No, Lyssa focused on Frankie. Yeah, okay.

“Tonight, instead of a full scene, we’re going to talk a little bit about the romantic dominant and the power exchange between dominant and submissive. What one gives and the other takes.”

The man behind her stepped forward and slid a hand up to rest against Lyssa’s nape, and her whole body seemed to relax at the contact. Okay, that was pretty cool.

“It’s not a one to one exchange,” Richard explained. “It’s a cycle. The dominant commands the submissive, and the submissive takes those commands and crafts a response. The dominant then takes the response to craft into their next commands.”

“For example,” Lyssa began as she moved to her knees and bowed her head. “Master Richard gripping my neck is a command, it’s a nonverbal one, but it also offers me the opportunity to play if I want or just to relax if I want.”

“Not all commands are going to be an open discussion, though you should have good communication in any dominant and submissive relationship,” Master Richard said, picking up the thread. “Lyssa’s response communicates that yes, she would like to play. She is open to the commands. Now I can take this a step further…”

And so it went. For the next thirty minutes, they walked us through the dynamic of a full power exchange that had almost nothing to do with sex and everything to do with how they interacted. In fact, it was both interesting and entertaining. While Richard stressed listening to and responding to both verbal and nonverbal cues, Lyssa, in turn, discussed being open to those responses and fearless in offering them.

“Romance is a co-created reality,” Richard said. “It doesn’t just fall from the sky. It takes effort. When you add romance to dominance, you get dominance that cares, dominance that’s loving, dominance that puts the needs of your submissive before your own. It’s still intense, but it can be very fulfilling.”

The conversation segued into transition into scenes through micro rituals and how the communication and choices made could dictate a scene. Even if they’d previously decided on one thing, that they may change their minds, because organically, that’s not what the submissive needs or what the dominant can offer.

By the time they opened it to questions, I had a lot of thoughts in mind. Not to mention a lot of ideas. The micro rituals they discussed, we did a lot of them. At some point during the demo, Frankie had interlocked her fingers with mine. She had her head tucked against Archie’s shoulder, and her free hand locked