Page 77 of Making Over Maris

“I will. I’m going to explain. And apologize—”

“For using her? Good idea.” Sara sat. “So. Are you ready for tonight?” God, the way she said it set his blood on fire.

“Yes.”

“Did you study the book?”

Did he? “A little bit.”

“Only a little bit?”

“Yes.”

“Good. That will make this more interesting.” Her lips curled in a wicked smile and a shaft of excitement skewered him like a lance. “In the meantime, there’s something important we need to talk about.”

He frowned. “What?”

She sighed. “You know. Expectations and shit like that.”

His breath caught in his throat. Oh, God. He’d read about that. “A negotiation?”

“Yes.” A flicker of uncertainty flashed over her features. “I think it’s important that we’re both on the same page with this.”

“Absolutely.”

“I don’t want to… I don’t want you to…”

“To what?” What? What was she trying to say? He wished he could jump into her brain and see what was going on there because he didn’t like the shift in energy he felt from her. This anxiety. This fear.

In the end she mumbled, “I had a…bad experience once. Because there was no clear understanding. I assumed… Well, I was wrong. I need to make sure we’re both after the same thing.”

Well, hell. He wanted that too. And according to his research, direct communication was the key. So he swallowed his own fear and said it. “You’re going to dominate me, right?”

She blinked. Her focus went a bit hazy. Then she laced her fingers together and nodded. “That was the plan.”

“Will there be bondage?” God. Simply saying the words made his cock pike-stiff.

“If you like.”

He swallowed the drool pooling in his mouth. “And…spankings?” This, in a wrenched whisper.

“Probably.”

“Punishments?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Only if you disappoint me.”

He shuddered. Nearly came right then. He loved the way her uncertainly faded as the conversation progressed. She transformed, word by word, syllable by syllable, from tentative to downright imposing.

“There are other things, specifics we should talk about. I want to make sure you’re comfortable with where we go.”

“Oh, I’m comfortable.” He thought about it for a minute. Thought about what this all might entail. He quivered with anticipation. “Maybe not comfortable, per se, but certainly cool with it.”

“Have you thought about a safe word?”

Oh. Fucking. God. A safe word. He’d fantasized about this for centuries. “Dalek.”

She barked a laugh. “Dalek? Seriously?”