Page 20 of Beautiful Disaster

“We have not met our agreement yet. I will not be pushed by you or anyone before it’s time. Do you understand? But make no mistake, as soon as we’re ready, you will pay for this.”

Mason drags his thumb across my bottom lip, eyeing me like I’m his last meal before he’s standing straight, smoothing out his shirt.

“I’ve changed my mind. You’ll fill out your paperwork while I get dinner started. Then you’ll help me finish cooking.”

He turns his back on me and walks out. I sit up on my hands, huff, then fold my arms like a petulant child. I guess I’ll have to wait to see what’s in store for me. He has more patience than I credited him with. Phillip would’ve laid right into me for it.

While we’ve all learned to cook at the ranch instead of hiring staff, eating a meal from Mason Vitali is otherworldly. He’s not even a chef that I’m aware of, but, fuck, he can cook.

I’ve never had Cioppino or been a big seafood eater, but this is pretty delicious. I dig out a mussel from its shell, dunk it in the tomato sauce while Mason slowly chews on some bread and reads my checklist of dos and don’ts.

“Where in Italy is this recipe from?” I ask.

His eyes never leave the paper. “San Francisco. It originated there but was created by Italians who immigrated to California. The area is surrounded by water and fish, so they made a dish that could feed a family cheaply with leftover seafood that wasn’t sold in the market.”

“It’s really good.”

Mason’s eyes finally glance at me before he’s back to reading. “Thank you.”

He finally sets down my checklist, lifts his wineglass, and swirls around the red liquid. “You are absolutely certain you wish to do the things you’ve checked off?”

“Yep.”

“‘Yessir,’” he corrects.

“Yessir.”

“We will use the traffic light method of consent. Red means stop, clearly. Green means continue. Yellow means proceed with caution, at which point I’ll continue to check on you for red or green.”

I reach for the bread, butter it, and take a bite. “Okay… err, yessir.” When I swallow my bite, I ask, “What will I have to do and what will you do?”

“As I’ve said, impact play is part of it. I’ll use it as punishment, but I won’t ever harm you. But I have other methods of punishment. Determining which works best for you is part of the challenge and fun. While you are with me, you will help me keep the place clean, you’ll help take care of the stables, and you will pleasure and please me. There will be times I’ll treat you like an object, keep you on a leash, make you sleep at my feet by the fire. Things like that. Are you okay with all those things?”

“Yessir.”

He smiles sweetly at my obedience, which makes my heart race a little and my cheeks flush. Weird.

“Your rewards can be whatever you want. Small rewards will be hugs, kisses, holding you. Larger rewards can be sexual pleasure or taking you out to do something you wish to do, like a date. It can even be in the form of a gift.”

Now that I can get on board with.

“You won’t mind taking someone so much younger out on a date?”

Mason waves a dismissive hand and finishes chewing his bite of bread. “People will talk no matter who I date.”

“What happens when I’m not with you?”

“I’ll give instructions as needed. I will periodically text you with orders, and you’ll take pictures as proof.”

I take a bite of shrimp, finish chewing, and wash it down with watered-down red wine. “When do we start?”

“After dinner.”

My stomach dips strangely again. Honestly, I don’t usually get excited about things these days, whether it’s sexual or fun, except for riding my horse. But this is different. This has all my curiosity neurons firing.

“Tell me, Jinx. What do you hope to achieve from this? Think really hard. Be honest.”

“Not to be afraid,” I blurt, which surprises even me, so much so that my eyes water again and I’ve suddenly lost my appetite. “I want to… hand myself to someone and just… let go. I want to reclaim my body.”