The Denim Dom

Chapter Twelve

Shocked because of her certainty he’d say no, she looked up at him. His even, steady gaze never wavered from hers. Heat filled her cheeks again as her dreams about him came rushing back to mind.

In her dreams, he’d born that same intense look.

“Really?”

Instead of answering he looked away from her as the waitress returned with their drink order. “Ready to order?” she asked. “Or do you need a couple of minutes?”

He picked up his menu, which had lain unread in front of him. “Just a couple more minutes, please.”

When they were alone again, he tipped his head toward her menu. “Let’s get our orders put in and then pick up this conversation in a few minutes.”

She nodded. As she reached for her menu, she realized her hands trembled. She opted to lay it open, flat on the table in front of her, and stare down at it. She didn’t want him to see how badly his acceptance had rattled her.

Part of her truly had expected him to say no. Well, that had been the fantasy best-case scenario. Worst-case, she’d anticipated her reaction if he’d laughed in her face at the suggestion. Not that she’d honestly expected that from him, but she wanted to be prepared regardless.

After the waitress returned for their orders and left with their menus, Tony leaned forward again. “What are your expectations?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Are you looking for just an afternoon to experience stuff, or did you mean you wanted me to train you the way I normally would a submissive, or what?”

“How would you normally train a submissive?”

He smiled. “Normally, she would be my girlfriend and the process would involve lots of sex and orgasms. I would, of course, remove that option from the table for you under the circumstances. Unless you didn’t want it removed.”

Her pussy fluttered at the thought. She reached out for her water glass to take a sip and had to use two hands because they trembled so badly. “Oh,” she managed.

She couldn’t read his expression. “And I want to confirm there isn’t a boyfriend or significant other in your life who might take umbrage with this process. If there is, I need to have a sit-down with him before we do anything.”

“No. I’m single.”

“Okay.”

“Would I need to sign a contract or something?”

His lips pressed tightly together as if he was trying not to laugh. “No. If someone’s not adult enough to hold their end of a deal, a contract certainly won’t keep them in line. Besides, they’re not legally binding.”

“I thought some people use them.”

“Some people do. I don’t. I never have. If someone’s word isn’t good, I’d rather not be in a relationship with them if it takes a piece of paper to keep them honest.”

“Okay.” She buried her hands back in her lap. “Where do we start?”

When he smiled, she realized how handsome he was. “Right here.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Unlike the idiots who think submissives and Dominants magically bond together on the basis of labels and common kink, I am a firm believer that if you can’t be friends with someone, then you surely can’t be in a D/s relationship with them. There’s two-way trust that must be established. I won’t top someone I don’t have some sort of an emotional connection with, and I don’t want someone submitting to me who doesn’t trust me.”

“Oh.” She nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay.”

“You look relieved.”

“I…I just didn’t expect it to be so…” She didn’t know what word her brain grasped for to insert into that statement.

“Boring?”

She could tell from the way the corner of his mouth quirked up that he wasn’t upset. “Normal,” she said.

He reached out for his iced tea. “I think the word you’re looking for is ‘vanilla.’”

It’d taken every ounce of his will not to burst out laughing. She was so cute and so naïve. She had no preconceived, desperate desires to act out. No “do me” demands to make upon him.

If nothing else, it’ll be a way to have some fun.

And drive away his loneliness for a while.

While they ate, he purposely kept the conversation light and away from anything remotely resembling BDSM. He wanted to know about her tastes in reading, music, TV, movies. What she enjoyed about her job. Her past.

When he tried to guide her toward discussions about previous relationships, she nimbly danced around it.

Opting not to force the issue, but adding it to a mental checklist of topics he wanted to pursue later in private, he let the subject drop. “So about tomorrow’s whip class.”

“Yes?”

“It starts at two. I’d like you there by one.”

“Why so early?”

“Because I have things I want to go over with you in private. I have a key to the club, don’t worry.”

“Okay.”

He stared at her until it became an uncomfortable silence. She finally caught on and asked, “What?”

He raised an eyebrow at her. She’d have to learn sooner or later if she was serious about going through this process with him.

Either that, or she’d quickly come to enjoy spankings.

She frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“‘Okay’ isn’t the answer I wanted.”

She looked confused. Somehow, he kept from rolling his eyes at her. “The correct answer would be, ‘Yes, Sir.’”

“Oh. Sorry.”

He cleared his throat.

“Yes, Sir,” she said.

He smiled. “Good girl. And tomorrow, I want you to wear the black sundress you wore Sunday night when we met at the restaurant. No bra, and no panties unless you have a thong to wear under it.”

He barely held his amusement in check as her cheeks flushed with color. “No panties?”

“Like I said, you can wear a thong. But no, no panties. Unless you’re on your period.”

Her mouth opened and shut like she was trying to decide whether or not to argue. If she was going to balk at his orders, this would be the first one she’d challenge.

“Yes, Sir,” she finally whispered.

He broadly smiled at her, delighted to a nearly giddy level that she agreed to his demands. “Good girl.”

Part of her bristled. Then she realized she’d asked for this. Duh.

She didn’t have a thong. I’ll have to go shopping for one tomorrow morning.

“I can’t and won’t make you submit to me,” he continued. “That’s not something that holds any interest for me. Either you want to, or you don’t. If you want to then I expect you to respond not with yeah, or okay, or anything else like that. Yes, Sir. No, Sir.”

“Anything you say, Sir?”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “There is a term for submissives who like to mouth back. They’re called SAMs.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Smart-assed masochist.”

“Does this mean I’m expected to keep my mouth shut and do as I’m told?”

“No, not at all. It simply means there are, within the context of our D/s dynamic, proper ways to express yourself and your opinion. I’m not saying this is the way everyone does it, but it’s the way I do it. I don’t mind disagreement. It’s how that disagreement is presented. I expect a submissive of mine to behave in a respectful way toward me at all times regardless of whether they agree with me or not.”

“Hold on. You’re not going to pass me around to other Dominants or something, are you?”

“No.” He smiled. The damn, sexy smile that dampened her panties. “I do not share well with others. I should say, I don’t share at all. Not my desserts, not my implements, and damn sure not my submissives. The only time I will allow a submissive of mine to play with another Top is if that Top is skilled in something I’m not, I trust the Top not to harm my submissive, and the submissive must ask me for permission. I will never volunteer my submissive to do something like that. I’m a Dominant, not a douche.”

“I have a feeling there are a lot of things I’m going to have to learn.”

“Since I’m pretty busy, and since I prefer an independent submissive over a clingy person, I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with my requirements. One requirement I will not bend on is I do not like drama.”

“What do you mean by that?”

He shrugged. “We’re both adults. What I expect from you is if you have a problem with something at any time that you code and talk to me about it. You don’t pitch a hissy fit, you don’t give me the silent treatment, you don’t play mind games, you don’t get passive-aggressive. And in return, I will give you the same respect.” He smiled. “The only mindfucks I engage in are in the middle of a scene. But I don’t have time or energy to deal with drama. I won’t hesitate to walk away from drama without a look back.”

“Sounds fair enough.” It’ll be a relief compared to James.

“By code, I mean you call red. It’s that simple. Whether it’s in the middle of a scene or like now, in the middle of a restaurant. You say red, and we stop and talk about whatever it is.”

“That simple?”

He nodded. “That simple. As for rules, for the basics, I want you to text me every morning when you get up, and every night before you go to bed.”

“Why?”

“Routine. We don’t live together. I want my submissive to have a routine to stick to when she can’t be with me.”

“Fair enough.” She took a sip of her tea.

“And you do not masturbate without texting me for permission first.”

She nearly spewed her tea over the table. “You’re not serious?”

She spotted his sly smile. “Oh, I’m absolutely serious. You want to do this or not?”

She blinked and studied him. His gaze never wavered from hers. “Why?”

“Because I said so.”

“But what if I don’t want you to have control over that?”

“Then you need to take that off the table now. But if you want orgasm play to be part of what we do, that’s one of my conditions.”

She swallowed hard. Her mind flashed back to the scenes she’d witnessed last weekend. And to the sexy, hot dreams she’d been having of Tony Daniels and his wicked, wicked ways.

As the seconds ticked by, his smile widened until he eventually said, “You’re not taking it off the table?”

“I’m thinking.”

“That’s not a no.”

“It’s not a yes, either,” she shot back. “Sir.”

He smiled. “Good girl.”

Her pussy clenched. I’m single. He’s single.

Why the fuck not?

“Okay,” she whispered. “Sir.”

“Okay that orgasm control and play is on the table?”

She nodded.

Damn. And I’d just gotten my cock under control, too. Not that he was complaining. A chance to have this woman squirming under his hands?

Yes, please!

He would go slow with her, though. He didn’t want to scare her off. He damn sure didn’t want to pressure her to do anything she might regret later.

“Let me tell you my thoughts,” he said, “and you correct me if there’s anything you want to change. Okay?”

She nodded.

He’d let the lack of a verbal answer slip this time because he could tell she was still wrapping her head around the situation.

“Orgasm play. Not the first night out, perhaps, but once you’re comfortable. I’ll keep my clothes on and only use hands or toys on you. And I won’t let anyone else touch you.”

She nodded.

“The reason I want you to hand over control of your orgasms to me is psychological,” he explained. “If you can’t have them when you want them, you want them all the more. That makes you more receptive during training to the reward phase.”

“Reward phase?”

He smiled. “Yes, reward.” He reached across the table and gently touched his index finger to the center of her forehead. “I’m going to show you how easy it is to rewire a brain to crave pain with pleasure.”

He noticed she didn’t lean away from his touch before he finally drew back.

“I’m not a dog,” she said.

“No, but I do enjoy puppy play.” When he spotted her frown, he quickly added, “Human puppy play. It has nothing to do with bio-dogs. I enjoy it from a training and discipline aspect.”

“I read about that. I think.” She looked unsure.

“It’s okay. That’s something we can talk about more tomorrow. Tell me about your hard limits.”

She looked like a deer in the headlights. “No choking. And I don’t want to have any of my limbs cut off. Sir. No bleeding. Not on purpose, at least.”

He liked her snarky sense of humor. “Well that’s a good thing, because I don’t like amputations myself. Normally, if I was in a relationship with someone, I’d go through an extremely exhaustive list with them, more than once, to find out what their likes and dislikes are. Since this is a slightly different situation and there isn’t any sex involved, and since you want to experience various things, we’re going to take a different approach.”

“I thought we were going to do orgasm play?” She almost looked slightly panicked.

Hmm. “Sex and orgasm play are two different things,” he told her.

“Huh?”

“Yes, we’ll be doing orgasm play. Meaning I get you off if I so choose. You are not responsible for my orgasms.”

“What if I want to be?”

His cock throbbed again. Down, boy. “I appreciate that, but I’d rather not muddy the waters right now with sex. Nothing personal, and yes, I do find you attractive. But as a Dominant, I refuse to be a douche. That means until I feel the time is right, regardless of a sub’s thoughts on the matter, I keep sex off the table. That’s for your protection. Okay?”

She eventually nodded. “Okay. Thank you. Sir,” she added.

“Let me also add that I won’t renegotiate in the middle of a scene. If I have you tied down and you beg me to do something outside of our original negotiation, it will not happen. I want you to be able to trust me, which means under no circumstances will I violate a boundary mid-scene. Trust can never be completely rebuilt once it’s shattered. I will stop a scene and wait until I feel you’re able to rationally discuss something if that’s what it takes, but I will not take a scene farther than our preset limits.”

He noticed she flinched a little during all of that. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Sir.” He noticed she was working to try to remember to add that to her answers.

“You reacted to something I just said. I saw it.”

She shook her head. “It’s all right. It doesn’t matter.”

He mentally replayed what he’d just said. “No, I saw you reacted. I need you to tell me.”

Dammit. It was spooky how tuned in he seemed. She took a deep breath. “You probably should know up front I don’t trust easily. It’s not you. Nothing personal.”

He nodded. “All the more reason for me to take things slowly.” He wouldn’t take his gaze off her. “Is that what you reacted to? Me talking about trust?”

After a deep breath, she slowly nodded.

“Something you want to talk about tonight?”

“I’d rather not. Not here and now.”

“Understood. So how long do you want to continue doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Being trained as a submissive.”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, with my work schedule, most of my available time is on the weekends. The less time we have to do this, the less I’ll be able to teach you. It’ll be cramming a ton of stuff into a very short amount of time.”

“Oh. Yeah.” She considered it. “I should probably have my last article in by the second week of June. It’s almost the end of March. How about until the last day of May, unless we decided to stop sooner?”

He nodded. “Sounds good to me. I’m going to be away for a couple of weeks in early June anyway. I have to go out to Denver to oversee the equipment installation in a new data center my company is building out there. Construction is on track. As long as there aren’t any delays, we start installs on June second. Once I’m out there, I need to be fully focused on what I’m doing. It’s going to be a monster pain in the ass to get it up and running in the time allotted. I’ll barely have time to eat and sleep, much less be social. So that’s perfect timing. A little over eight weeks.” He nodded. “That’s reasonable. And of course you’re free to alter the timeframe up or down if you want. It’s just my schedule might get in the way.”

“Yes, Sir.” It felt more comfortable every time she said it.

“And that’s another thing. Our professional lives have to come first. I won’t knowingly give you any orders that will interfere with your job, and there might be times we have plans that I’ll have to change or cancel if work issues come up. If any orders I give you cause you problems with work, you have to code and tell me that up front.”

“Yes, Sir.”

He smiled. “Good girl. What we do needs to be tempered with a good dose of common sense. If I give you an order that you cannot in all practicality perform, use your best judgment and talk to me about it when you can.”

“Yes, Sir.”

By the time they called for their checks an hour later, Shayla realized she’d had a more in-depth conversation with Tony in that short amount of time than she’d ever had with James in eight years. Including Tony initiating a frank, and thankfully brief, discussion about STDs and their sexual health histories even though they wouldn’t actually be having sex.

It reinforced her opinion that she could trust him to be a man of his word. She also knew more about Tony as both a person and as a Dominant, vanilla and kinky things, than she realized in retrospect that she’d ever known about James.

How could I have been so blind?

Yes, she’d dated a few guys before James, even slept with two of them. Why did I settle for someone who, in retrospect, was a tight-lipped, secretive, deceitful sack of monkey shit?

Yes, it was pointless to keep kicking at that dead horse. She could second-guess herself until time ended and she likely wouldn’t have any answers.

It also wouldn’t change anything.

Moving the fuck on.

With the bills settled, Tony walked her out to her car. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow, pet,” he said, looking down into her eyes.

She blinked. “Pet?”

She suspected that damn smile of his would be her undoing. “Yes. Objections?”

She shook her head. “No, Sir.”

“Good girl.” He held her door open as she climbed in. “Be on time tomorrow, pet. I hate tardiness.”

“Yes, Sir.”

With that he closed her door and stepped back. She started the car and drove off.

He waited until she drove away to get into his car. He immediately called Leah.

She sounded concerned. “What’s up?”

“Talk to me about Shayla.”

Her tone turned guarded. “What do you mean?”

“I had dinner alone with her tonight—”

“Oh? That’s good.”

“And I know you, Loren, Tilly, and Clarisse spent the day together yesterday. Talk to me about what’s going on with her.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Bullshit. I’m guessing she had a dick for an ex.”

He heard Leah’s sigh on the other end. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Because she confided in us and asked us not to tell anyone.”

Fuck. “Am I stepping into a landmine with her? Tell me now before I get too involved with her.”

“What? Involved with her how?”

“She asked me to train her as my submissive.”

“Oh. Oh! That’s good, right?”

He rolled his eyes. “Quit screwing around, Leah. I’ll ask Seth to put you on chastity lockdown for me.”

“Tony, please. She confided in us something that happened. Yes, her ex was a dick. Not abusing her, as far as I know. But what he did that caused her to leave him hurt her badly. You need to ask her about it.”

“I plan to. I just wanted to go in armed with as much knowledge as I can get.”

Leah hesitated, no doubt trying to figure out how to answer him without breaking Shayla’s trust.

“Is what happened related to why she moved to Florida?” he asked to give her an opening.

“Yes,” she said.

Okay, so twenty questions it is. “Is her ex a psycho who might hunt her down and I’ll end up in the middle of it?”

“No. I don’t think so. She didn’t say anything to that effect. She got the job through a friend of a friend or something. Came up fast and she jumped at the chance to get out of Ohio because of the timing.”

“The timing of what happened between her and her ex?”

“Yes.”

He chewed on that. “You can’t give me any clues, huh?”

She hesitated again. “You know how sometimes people ask you to bring DVDs to the private parties?”

He frowned. “The porn?”

“Yeah. I mean, I know it’s not a big deal to you, and I know it’s not like you substitute that for reality or anything.”

He snorted. “No. Most of it I don’t even watch. It’s just for background. I’m in IT so I’m automatically everyone’s go-to guy for good porn. Well, watchable porn in terms of video quality. I wouldn’t say a lot of it’s very good.”

“Right, exactly,” she said. When she next spoke, she kept her voice slow and deliberate. “Some people…might not…have the same…feelings…about that.”

“About porn?”

“I didn’t say that,” she quickly said.

“Then what did you…” He thought about it. “Oh. That’s your hint.”

She cleared her throat. “I didn’t say that either.”

“Keep my computer locked down?”

“I didn’t say that, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“Okay. I’m tracking. Her ex was a porn addict?”

“You did not hear that from me.”

He smiled. “No, I didn’t, but it gives me a starting point to avoid the minefield.”

“Oh, and Tony?”

“Yeah?”

Leah sounded worried. “She’s got some big trust issues. Legitimately. Okay? There’s more to it than that, but she needs to be the one to tell you.”

“She did tell me that little bit, which is why I’m talking to you now. And no, I’m not going to throw her naked into a puppy pile Saturday night at the club if that’s what you’re worried about.” A couple of friends of his from the Tampa area, who were into pup and pony play, would be at the play session Saturday night.

Shayla would make a cute puppy.

She snorted, amused. “No, that’s not what I was worried about, smart-ass, but thank you. I know she’s in good hands with you.”

He thought about Shayla’s rounded hips, how her ass moved in her jeans.

I’d love to have my hands on her bare flesh. “Thanks, Leah. I appreciate it.” He hung up and drove home, deep in thought.

Shayla drove home, deep in thought. Her pulse raced. Ohmigod…ohmigod…ohmigod! She couldn’t believe she’d agreed to this.

Then again…not much about her life had changed.

Had it?

How much different was it, really, than dating a guy? At least Tony spoke his mind and decisively told her what he did and didn’t want. No mind games. Not about their dynamic, at least.

But she felt different. She wasn’t able to put her finger on it, but she did.

No doubt Tony would eventually force a discussion about James, but she hoped it’d be later rather than sooner before she had to talk about it.

She undressed and started to put her phone on the charger when she realized she hadn’t texted him yet as ordered.

Well, I was just with him a few minutes ago. He didn’t mean tonight, did he?

She stroked the screen for a moment, undecided.

Hell with it. She pulled his number up from her contacts and sent him a quick text. Better safe than sorry.

She typed, Good night, Sir.

A moment later, her phone vibrated in reply. Good girl. Good night, pet.

She blinked as she read and reread it. That little thrill ran through her again.

Pet.

She couldn’t help the smile. She liked it.

She put the phone on the charger and lay down to try to sleep. That was when she realized how horny she was.

She’d even rolled over to get the vibrator out of her drawer when she remembered Tony’s admonition about needing his permission to orgasm.

Dammit!

She thought about it. I could do it and not tell him.

But then again, that would be violating the spirit of their agreement.

Conflict ran through her mind. She’d left James for what boiled down to the fact that he couldn’t control his libido.

That washed over her desire like cold water. She wasn’t like James. She was far better than James. And she would be with Tony tomorrow. Maybe he’d even take care of her itch for her.

She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep, praying dreams of Tony would fill her night.