Page 84 of Beneath the Burn
“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.” Charlee sat on the edge of the chair in Master Conrad’s home office in downtown Little Rock.
The wood boards creaked outside the door under Nathan’s angry back-and-forth circuit. She detested that he came but couldn’t muster the energy to fight with him.
The middle-aged man behind the desk leaned back, his shoulders stretching beyond the chair back. His huge frame dominated the room, his deportment more so. Clipped black hair shaped his olive complexion. The sharp lines of his square jaw reminded her of a battle-hardened Marine, but he’d disclosed his day job was in real estate.
“When was your last BDSM scene?” He stared at her, unmoving in his perusal, a characteristic common to every Dom she’d met.
Duke in New York had been her last contract. “Two months ago.”
“Master Duke e-mailed your contract. With your permission, of course.”
Of course. Duke had referred her to Conrad that morning.
“Why are you here?”
The question startled her. Did revenge pour from her eyes? Was her hatred bleeding from her pores? If she told him the truth, he’d send her on her way. “I need help moving past an emotional barrier.”
He studied her for a long moment with apathetic eyes. “Very good.” With two fingers, he twirled the paperwork on this desk to face her and pushed it across the mahogany surface. “Look over the contract. Cross off anything you want to exclude from our scene. Write in anything you want to include.”
Leaning forward, she accepted the pen and scanned the document, pausing on the punishments clause.
Punishment of the sub is subject to certain rules designed to protect the sub from intentional abuse or permanent bodily harm. Punishment must not incur permanent bodily harm, or the following forms of abuse:
Death
Damage that involves loss of mobility
Permanent marks on the skin, including scars, burns, piercing or tattoos
Breaking of the sub’s bones
Dismemberment
Burning of the sub’s body
Drawing blood
Dramatic loss of circulation
Internal bleeding
Loss of consciousness
Cutting or pulling out the sub’s hair
Her pulse hurtled through her veins as she thought, not for the first time, that she should mail a copy of this contract to Roy.
Satisfied with the definition of punishment, she skimmed until she reached the hard limits.
No scat or fecal play
No public nudity
No verbal humiliation
No unprotected intercourse
No anal
Restricted physical humiliation: No licking shoes, eating dirt, simulating dog/cat such as eating from the floor and crawling on all fours, etc.
“If you don’t have any changes to the limits, initial here.” He tapped the box on the contract.
She scrawled her initials and moved the sub’s role, lingering on the section she’d anticipated.
The sub shall keep her body available for the use of her Dom at all times. This includes and is not limited to sexual intercourse: vaginal and oral. The sub acknowledges that her Dom may use her body or mind in any manner He wishes within the parameters of safety and any limitations in this Contract. He may hurt her without reason to please Himself.
He rested his forearms on the desk, his presence filling the distance between them, shrinking her. “Sexual intercourse was included in your contract with Master Duke. It’s not a common practice in my dungeon, but I will honor it should you choose to include it. Condoms will be used, but I require a second form of birth control. Write your birth control in the space provided or cross out the clause to exclude it. Then initial in the box provided.”
A heavy weight pushed down on her chest. If she had sex with the Dom, would she be doing it to balance the hurt Jay had inflicted on her? Would she feel vindicated after? The thought of going back to clinical, negotiated fucking festered in her gut.
Conrad watched her steadily, his face smooth and slack. His nose was slightly bent, his lips a bit too thin, and his hair was too short, too dark. Jesus, he wasn’t Jay, but she didn’t feel even a twitch of attraction. Still, wasn’t intercourse the reason she was there? To flush out the jealousy by lowering herself to the same level? It was wrong. She was so fucked up, yet she continued to mull over it. Eventually, she made the required adjustments, finished the read-through, and signed by the X .
“Before we proceed,” Conrad said, eyes on her. “Explain the man pacing outside.”
“He’s my bodyguard, but he won’t interfere.”
Not a wrinkled movement in his face. Not even narrowed eyes. He stood. “Follow the hall to the end. Remove your clothes at the door. Inside, assume the submissive position by the St. Andrew’s Cross. Once you enter the dungeon, you are my sub. Your body belongs to me.”
“Yes, Sir.” She rose on wobbly legs, a cluster of fear, uncertainty, and excitement battling through her.
Nathan’s gaze bore into her back as she walked down the hall and stripped her clothing. Naked, she stepped inside and drew in a shuddering breath.