It should.Still, his position was relatable. I pulled the sheaf of contract papers toward me and began at the top, sipping my coffee after every page or so, making sure I made no real progress.

Minty groaned, squirming.

I laughed. “You’ve checked off every kink. Did you even read them over? Think about what each of them entailed? Research them?”

Minty’s jaw worked, but he said nothing.

“That’s a no then.” I tutted. “I don’t see scat in your future. It’s only on there to weed out incompatible partners. Be honest, do you really want to play with my shit? Or yours?”

He shook his head, wincing at the pain from his clamped earlobes.

“No, I didn’t think so.” I crossed it off. “And you’ve specifically written ‘no kissing.’ Interesting. Is there a reason for that?”

“I don’t like to get kissed when I’m being hurt. Kyle never kisses me.”

“Kyle is?”

“My lover.”

“Right. Your ‘lover.’” I lifted a brow and swallowed some more coffee, filing away his words for later, and going back to the list. “Oh, here’s a fun one, though. Cage play. I think putting you in a cage sounds very satisfying. And you’ve got piss play checked off too. I could go for that. Mm, I could hose you down from my dick while you’re all caged up. Could work. We’ll see.”

Minty whispered something.

I cupped my ear. “I couldn’t hear you.”

“It’s hurting.” He quickly added, “Sir.”

“Good catch.” I smiled. “And, yeah, it hurts a lot when you’ve got sensitive tits. People with less sensitive ones don’t get nearly so riled up by clamps. You’re lucky.” I paused, letting that sink in. “Believe it or not, this isn’t the worst of it. Just wait.”

I peered inside my cup and then showed it to him. “I still have a lot to go. How about you?”

He tilted his mug to me. Empty.

“I see. Well, be patient. This is just a first taste of my kind of pain. This is low intensity. The things I’ll do to you in the future will hurt a lot more than this. I see you checked off whips. Excellent.”

“But will they scare me?” he blurted. “Because I don’t feel scared right now.”

“Oh, you will,” I told him. “Before long, tonight even, you’re going to be scared.”

He huffed, rolling his eyes. “Clothespins can’t hurt me.”

“They’re hurting you right now, aren’t they?”

He gritted his jaw, not answering.

“That’s a yes. But you know what hurts the most?”

He shook his head.

“When you take them off.” I cackled. “I can’t wait to see your face.” I reached out to pat his hand. “Don’t worry, boy. Just wait.”

Minty chewed his plump bottom lip. “Sir.”

“Hmm?”

“Can you please just fuck me? It’ll get my mind off things.”

“Not tonight,” I said, though my dick was absolutely appalled by that answer. “Tonight is just to keep you steady until we can make an appointment for a scene.”