Page 15

S ebastian pointed to one of the large leather seats in the room. There were two, one either side of another large fireplace. Lucy loved sitting curled up on one of the chairs, reading in the wintertime with a roaring fire. There was also a low table and a leather couch.

Lucy sat hesitantly, her whole demeanor now one of apprehension. She kept swallowing—now extremely glad she hadn’t eaten.

Jack took the other chair.

Sebastian paced a few times before standing in front of her and gazed down at Lucy.

Intimidated by his stern face, Lucy was glad she’d sat.

Her legs wobbled slightly as she thought about what she should do with her hands.

Should she cross her arms? Put her hands on her knees?

But then his features softened as he smiled at her, a smile filled with warmth and a hint of sensual promises.

“Don’t be worried, Lucy, nothing scary is going to happen. This is just to talk about things and to answer all the questions I’m sure you have. Like I said, this is all up to you. Whatever you decide to do, Jack and I will respect your decision completely.”

Lucy tried to answer, but her mouth had dried and her throat felt constricted, so she simply nodded.

“And honestly, Lucy, you tell us to leave and we will. There is no way we will ever go against your wishes. You do understand?”

Lucy croaked, “Yes.”

Sebastian looked concerned. “Do you want a drink, sweetie?”

She tried to say ‘no’ but coughed instead.

This isn’t going how I thought. I’m so nervous I can’t even speak!

Jack leapt to his feet and left the room, returning with a glass of water. “Drink this.”

She took the glass gratefully and drank half the water, miraculously managing not to spill any.

“Better?”

“Sorry, I... It’s all a bit...”

Sebastian took the glass from her, and as Jack sat back down, Sebastian put it on the mantelpiece.

“Please, Lucy, please don’t be so frightened.”

“I don’t know what I am honestly.” She coughed to clear her tightened throat. “I feel scared, excited, and sick with nerves.” She shrugged her shoulders and gave an eye roll. “Stupid, I know.”

Sebastian got down on his haunches in front of her.

He put his slender, long-fingered hands on her knees and peered up into her face.

“It’s not stupid. Neither of us expects you to be all gushing with excitement.

Let’s face it, you only met us last week.

We both know this is all new, strange, and most definitely scary. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He squeezed her legs then stood, touching Jack’s cheek softly with his fingers, giving him a love-filled look.

Turning back to Lucy, he spoke. “Okay. Well, first thing is you’ve got it all wrong about Doms and subs, about the physical side of the relationship as well as the non-physical.”

Lucy cleared her throat again. “I get that now. I went online this morning. I’m so sorry about last night. I—”

Sebastian interrupted her. “Lucy, don’t apologize.

It isn’t necessary at all. Unless you’re interested in the lifestyle, most people wouldn’t know details about it.

To be honest, most Dom-sub relationships define themselves.

In these types of relationships, there are no sexual boundaries, but there are some basics that always stay true.

Those basics are that it must be consensual by all partners, and safe for all concerned.

” He kind of nodded his head as he reiterated. “It really must be.”

Lucy looked from one man to the other. When Sebastian had said ‘no sexual boundaries’, she’d felt a jolt somewhere around her stomach. Those pterodactyls are still trying to escape. Despite what she’d read, it worried her just what those three words could mean.

“With Jack and me, we discussed our wants, our needs before we did anything sexual together. We both talked about our limits, what they were, and why they were.”

“Limits?” She’d kind of glossed over that when she was reading.

“Yes. Things neither of us would ever do sexually. Everything was done consensually. There is absolutely no way I would do anything to Jack that I knew he didn’t want or enjoy, because I know he’d walk out the door and I’d never see him again.”

“But you do hit him,” Lucy said, pointing this out.

“Yes, I do.”

Lucy couldn’t stop a gasp escaping. She hadn’t expected him to so readily agree. Is that abuse? Sebastian must have guessed her thought. Maybe it was plain on her face. She tried to remember what she’d read this morning about hitting. Something about consent and pleasure, I think.

“But you have to understand it in the context it’s done. There is no way I would ever strike Jack outside of sex. In fact, there’s no way I would during sex unless I knew he enjoyed it. I could no sooner hit him than fly. I love him too much to ever abuse the trust he’s placed in me.

“However, during sex, well, that’s a different matter. Jack enjoys being ... well, he enjoys being slapped.”

Jack gave a laugh and when Lucy looked at him, he winked. “That man’s hand slapping my ass is a big turn on, and even more so if he uses a flogger or something similar.”

Lucy frowned. “Flogger?”

“It’s a type of tool that can be used to caress or whip my body. It’s kind of like a little cat-o-nine tails. It’s so bloody exciting. I love it!”

Lucy screwed up her face as she tried to understand. “Then it’s all about hitting?”

Sebastian shook his head as he answered.

“Heavens no! That’s just a very tiny part of our playtime.

For the two of us, it’s about handing over sexual control to someone else.

Jack gives all control over that aspect of our relationship to me.

Having Jack put his complete trust in me is amazing, and he knows I’ll do everything in my power to make him happy. ”

“To make Jack happy?” Now she was really confused. “I thought this was really about you, Sebastian?”

“So it is. If Jack’s happy, then so am I.

I do the things to Jack I know he loves.

When he’s excited, I’m excited. If he didn’t like them, I wouldn’t do them.

For instance, as he said, he loves me using a flogger on him.

He enjoys being disciplined. He loves to be blindfolded and tied.

But he hates being gagged so I’d never do that to him. ”

Jack gave an exaggerated shiver. “Argh, don’t remind me! I hate gags with a passion!”

Lucy gave her head a tiny shake. “I’m still confused, but I’ll work on that later.

” She looked up at Sebastian. “Some of the things I read this morning were contradictory in a way. They said a Dom tells the sub what to do, what to wear, who to be friends with. To my mind, that’s total controlling behavior.

It means the sub has no say in their own life!

But other pages said the sub controlled things. ”

“There are some Dom-sub relationships that are 24/7, Lucy. There are some subs who even want to be a slave with really no rights at all, but neither Jack nor I have ever been drawn to that level of intensity.”

“Oh. Um ... I discovered this morning that was what that book was about—a slave.”

Sebastian smiled. “I had thought it might be.”

“It was.”

“I suppose you would describe me as a Dom if you had to put a label on me, but in reality, you could just call me a control freak. I simply like being in command and directing what happens in the bedroom.” He gave a sort of snicker.

“I actually get off on it. It works perfectly for us. You have to understand, Lucy, for Jack and I this is a bedroom, a sex thing, and nothing else. Outside of sex, we’re both partners, equals with an equal say in everything. ”

Jack leaned over and tapped Lucy’s leg. “But outside the bedroom he’s bloody bossy,” he said in a pseudo whisper.

“Jack!”

“Well, you are! When was the last time you let me order a meal? Or who always says ‘love you in that blue shirt, Jack, wear it please?’ Who?”

Sebastian grinned at his lover and laughed. “I do that, don’t I?”

“You do,” Jack agreed, nodded at Lucy. “But understand, Lucy, I love it. I love him. But in saying that, if he started telling me what I had to do all the time, telling me how to run my business, or how I had to think, I’d be out the door so fast and he knows it.”

Lucy had been thinking and turned to Sebastian. “You said Jack likes being disciplined. That infers there are things that incur punishment.”

“Yes and no as far as our lifestyle is concerned. As part of our agreement, Jack allows me to make certain things punishable only because he loves being punished. Things like eye rolling and back-chatting me.”

“So by telling me you’re bossy he’ll now get punished?”

“Normally, but not this time. We agreed on the way over once we started talking to you about our relationship, all infringements would be ignored. We want you to know the relationship from both sides. It would be unfair if Jack spoke the truth but got punished for it.”

“Oh. I think I understand. When we came into the library and he was being smart about your comment, then he chalked up a punishment.”

“Exactly. And understand this, Lucy, between us punishments only happen during sex. For us, for our relationship, they aren’t really punishments. Normally, they might be something like withholding an orgasm or not doing something that I know Jack really enjoys.”

Lucy blushed listening to him.

“In some Dom-sub relationships, especially those that are 24/7 or slaves, punishments are probably more a way of stopping behaviors. With us, it’s more of a way to titillate our relationship, if you can understand.

Jack enjoys being flogged, so I know if I were to punish him that way, he would just get excited, but if I make him give me an orgasm but don’t let him have one then that’s punishment. ”

Lucy nodded, her face glowing, but she was still a little puzzled. “You say this is only in the bedroom, but yet Jack incurs punishments out of the bedroom. Isn’t that contradictory? Isn’t that controlling him?”