Page 32 of Jackson
As she looked around for a place to put her bag, he said, “Remember Rule Two, Paula? This is not a public place, so I expect a proper greeting.”
She turned toward him, eyes wide. “R-rule Two? Oh.” She took a step in his direction, and he met her with a wide smile. He pulled her close and cradled her head between his hands. This kiss wasn’t chaste at all. As their lips met, he took immediate control, demanding entry into her mouth with his tongue that tangled with hers as she drove her own forward. The give-and-take between them was more arousing than he had expected. He liked the way she gave as much in the kiss as he did. She might not like to show affection in public, but she did like to kiss.
Jackson withdrew reluctantly. He could kiss her all day. “How is my beautiful slave girl today?”
Paula stepped back. “I am not now, nor will I ever be, anyone’s slave girl, Jackson Cagney. We’d better get that straightright now.” She took another step, arms crossed over her chest. “Besides, I thought we were equals until we negotiated things?”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I jumped the gun. Come in, and let me show you around, and then we can talk, okay?”
Her features softened. “I’m sorry, too. Sure. I see you’re a Tolkien fan.” She indicated a handsomely framed map of Middle Earth on the wall.
“Yeah, ever since I was a kid. That’s signed by Peter Jackson. I went to a convention when I was in college. I forget which one of the movies had just come out. I waited in line for eight hours to get my map signed.”
“I don’t think I’d have the patience for that. I liked the movies, but I’ve never read the books.”
“Maybe we should put it in the contract that you have to,” he said.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
Jackson chuckled. “Let’s do this tour, so you know your way around.” He swung his arm around her shoulder to guide her. “You’ve already seen the master bedroom. There’s a second one upstairs that I use as a study. Down here, it’s pretty much what you see. The kitchen is through there.” He waved his arm in the general direction of an opening. “A house says a lot about the person who lives there, don’t you think? I’m looking forward to seeing your place, too.”
Did she just stiffen in his hold? Jackson skimmed his gaze over her hands—white knuckles, jawline rigid, and mouth—tense. Didn’t she want him in her house? What was that about? Jackson pondered this as he showed her his modest but pristine home. Maybe she was simply worried about the contract and their limits. Jackson would move the proceedings along, so he steered her to his leather sofa.
“Have a seat, and I’ll get us some snacks. What would you like to drink? I’ve got water, coffee, tea and Coke.”
“Water, please.”
Jackson went into the kitchen and pulled some crackers from the cabinet and sliced cheddar and gouda cheese. He also pulled out a few oranges and sectioned them. He put everything on a tray and carried it out to the living room then went back to the kitchen for their drinks.
Paula’s face lit up at the bounty, but she waited until he was seated before asking, “May I have some?”
“You may. I’m glad to see you learned from your reading today. I’d like it if you would add ‘Sir’ when you ask or answer a question.”
“That will take some practice. Sir.” She rolled the word around on her lips as if accustoming herself to its taste. “The only person I’m used tosir-ing is Captain Morris. I’ll try.”
“Good girl. So what did you find in your reading?”
“A lot of stuff, Sir. The links you sent kept leading to more links. I lost track of time and almost forgot to eat. I found a couple of articles and blogs I really liked. They talked about the different kinds of relationships people had. There was one from the submissive’s point of view that explained what they got out of the relationship and a couple by Dominants, too. You need to know up front that I don’t think I have it in me to be a service sub. I don’t burn with the need to make sure you have everything you need or to clean these plates as soon as we empty them. Can you live with that?”
“Yes. I would have been surprised if you felt a need to serve me at this point. That might change or it might not. It’s not a key part of a 24/7 relationship for me. How do you feel about giving up control in areas of your life outside work?”
“I don’t know. I’m a little scared by the whole thing.”
“That’s normal. I’m sure we can work out a contract that meets both our needs. Did you find any you like?”
“I did, and I printed out a couple. They’re in my bag.” She jumped up and went to the entry for her bag before Jackson could instruct her about asking permission before leaving the room. “I like this one best. The sub and Master don’t live together, which is why I thought it would be a good place to start. Here’s a limit list, too.”
Jackson took both from her and looked at the list first. It had quite a few hard limits and not nearly as many soft ones as he had hoped and expected. It seemed his new sub had quite definite ideas about what she was willing to try. “Paula, can you tell me how you understand the idea of hard limits?”
“Um, I thought hard limits were things I didn’t want to do. Those things are stuff I don’t think I’ll like. I certainly don’t want anything with blood or other bodily fluids, like watersports. That stuff is just sick to me.”
“I agree with you about blood and such. None of those is a turn-on for me either. But more broadly, hard limits are for things that you think or know would be mentally or physically distressing. Not just things you don’t like the idea of. Things you don’t like the idea of, but we discuss before doing are soft limits. Then there’s the category of things you haven’t tried but sound interesting and you’re willing to do. I call that the ‘maybe’ category.”
“So I can’t make something a hard limit just because I don’tthinkI’ll like it?”
“That’s correct. You can’t decide you won’t try something without a good reason. Don’t exclude something just because you don’t understand it.”
“I guess that means I have to change some things?”
