Present Tense (Out of the Fire #3) - Candace Blevins Page 0,78
disciplinarian.” The sentence didn’t come out right, at all, but she decided not to try to fix it. Georgio would’ve told her to let it stand, that she’d just make it worse by trying again.
Eunice glanced sideways to Etta and looked back to Kelsey. “I’ve asked for a change in that status. If you’re okay with it, Etta has agreed to act as spotter. I’m still not volunteering to be a blood donor, but Etta feels...” he shook his head. “No. I’m not laying this on her. This was my suggestion. My intention. I want to dominate you in ways that have nothing to do with punishment. I want to train you to my voice, my demands.” He took a breath. “But I don’t want it to fuck up who we are outside of the bedroom.”
Sometimes, the submissive has to make a move. She just does. Kelsey slid her hands up his chest, between his arms, grabbed him by the shoulders, pulled herself to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms circled her body, and she leaned her chin against his shoulder, her mouth angled away from his neck so she didn’t make him nervous. At five-seven and five-ten, they were nearly the same height. So different than a hug with Collosa, but both perfect in their own way.
“The first year I was a slave — a human sex slave to vampires — I had to learn how not to be a nerd. It was more than clothes, makeup, and hair. It was learning about small talk, learning to never quote Gandalf in normal conversation. I’d spent my life avoiding social norms, and they forced me to confront them head on. I rebelled, and I very nearly walked away.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I wanted to be a vampire. I want to know where technology is in two hundred years. I want to ride the wave of it. No, I want to be part of the wave — mold it as we go. In the near future, AI is going to be a serious problem. Not just for a decade, but for centuries. I want to be there to help corral it so it doesn’t decide humans need to be eradicated. That’s only possible if I cheat the grave.”
“My second real op in the military, I quoted Gandalf.” He grimaced with the memory. “I rapidly learned that isn’t appreciated. Look, if you want to keep me as a friend, I get it, but I’m interested in taking this farther. At the same time, you have a connection with both Collosa and Fabio, so it seems simplest to handle this first time as a threesome. Fabio’s in Knoxville today on a one-person job. Collosa’s available.”
She made a quick decision, rested her cheek on his shoulder, and spoke in the softest, lowest voice she could manage. “We can figure out the details later. For the next couple of hours, until aftercare is finished, I’m at your command, Sir.”
Because if he wanted to make this more, he’d have to be involved in aftercare. Kelsey didn’t have a whole lot of lines she planned to draw, but that was one of them.
He used the same soft tones, though deeper. “Don’t think I didn’t hear the demand in there. Lucky for you, I’m looking forward to aftercare.”
He rubbed her back and spoke in a normal voice. “Etta. I assume you can monitor us from the other suite on this level?”
“I can.”
Having her in the other room merely gave them the illusion of privacy, since Etta would be in Kelsey’s head, but that was okay.
A ding over the household speakers let them know someone was coming up the driveway, and Eunice pulled his phone from his pocket. Five seconds later, he let them know it was Collosa, and Kelsey didn’t bother to let him know she’d known he was close nearly a minute before the ding.
Etta stood and looked at her, appraising her. Judging her. Finally, she said, “A mongoose and a grizzly bear. Both mammals. Both strong.”
Kelsey looked for the message in those words as Etta walked out of the room. If she was going to have an animal resonate with her, it was most likely to be a warm-blooded mammal. She did much better with them, energy-wise, than she did with bird or reptile shifters.
But she wasn’t likely to find the shifter she’d want to bring around her in larger numbers for another century or more.