Page 33 of Hushed

“I’m sorry I didn’t finish. It made me crazy trying to go through it all, and you left so abruptly I couldn’t stop wondering where you were or what you were doing. I liked the way you taught me things last time.”

“Come here,” he said, his voice husky and his eyes dark with lust.

She stood on shaky legs and walked to him as he set the stack of papers on a shelf near the door. Did she really want this? Yes. Yes, she did.

“Let’s forget the homework and learn as we go,” he said as he pulled her into his arms.

She laid her head against his chest. “I’ve missed you so much, Gage.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I’ve missed you, too. More than you could possibly know.”

She stared up at him, and he put his forehead to hers. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

Kenzie closed her eyes as he touched his lips to hers, and a little whimper escaped as he swiped his tongue into her mouth and tangled a hand in her short hair.

The kiss was like coming home, and she nearly cried as he explored her mouth and held her against him.

She ran her hands up and down his back, clinging to him until he pulled away and smiled down at her.

“Let’s go to the bedroom, little imp, and talk about what’s going to happen next.”

Talking was the last thing on her mind, but the last time Gage wanted to talk things out before they had sex resulted in a very desirable outcome, so she let him hold her hand as they walked into her bedroom.

It was a cluttered mess, as always, and she experienced a moment of shame as he scooped laundry off the bed and dumped it in a nearby hamper. Some of it was probably clean, but who cared?

He sat on the edge of the king-sized mattress and patted the spot next to him.

“Come sit.”

She sat next to him and looked down at her hands.

“Why am I so nervous?” she asked after a few seconds of silence.

He chuckled. “I’m asking myself the same question.”

“What errands were you running?”

He grinned. “Good question. I’ll show you in a bit. Right now, I want to get reacquainted with you and your body and introduce you to my idea of power exchange.”

Her heart sped up and tapped her toes against the side of the bed. “That sounds good.”

“Tell me what power exchange is to you.”

She contemplated the question for a minute. “It’s one person letting another take the lead. And the person taking the lead gives themselves completely to the process. It’s a give and take, not one person taking all the power but not putting any effort into it.”

The corners of his mouth pulled up into a smile, and he bent to kiss her, with a soft brush of his lips to hers. “Very good girl. That’s a brilliant answer. It’s good to know you’ve spent time thinking about it. What kind of power do you want to give me?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, do you want total power exchange where I control everything, or do you only want to give me power over some things?”

It had never occurred to her there were levels to power exchange, but of course there were.

“I liked the way Austin was explaining her dynamic with Patrick.”

Gage laughed. “Austin told me you got to see a bit of their dynamic in action. What did you like about it?”

She pulled her legs up onto the bed and tucked them under her so she could face him better as she considered her answer.

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