Page 60 of Bartholomew
“Come here, beautiful woman. Let me bathe you.” He helped me from the counter, immediately pulling me in for a kiss. His lips were addictive. I could not get enough of him.
“I could kiss you for hours,” I sighed as our lips parted.
“Bet, darling. Fucking bet.” He took my hand, leading me to the bath, and helped me to step into the steaming water. I situated myself to lie back, but his hand on my upper back stopped me. “Scooch forward, love.”
That word. He’d used it a few times, but I had no intention of giving any undue merit to that word, knowing that it was like any other of the little pet names he used for me. No use reading into it further.
He slid into the bath behind me, instantly making me worry the bathwater would slosh over the sides with our combined mass. I tried to make myself smaller as he slid a leg on either side of my body and pulled me back into his chest.
“Relax,” he soothed, his voice as calm and as gentle as his touch.
“How am I supposed to relax when the water is about to splash over the edges?” I chuckled, keeping my arms crossed over my chest.
“First of all, who cares? That’s what towels are for. Second, stop covering yourself.” The whispered last words he spoke against the shell of my ear made me shiver. “I have seen, kissed, and licked every inch of that beautiful skin. Don’t hide from me now, little firefly.”
“What’s with that, by the way?” I asked, happy for the slight shift in subject as his hands pulled mine away from my chest.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, running his hands up and down my arms.
“The firefly thing,” I clarified, relaxing into his touch. A loofah appeared in his hand, the rough texture of the exfoliating sponge running over my arms and chest slowly, languidly.
“What is your question about it?” he asked, slowly washing my body and setting my entire soul at ease with his touch.
“Why do you call me that?” I mumbled, my head resting back against his shoulder.
“Well, I told you I enjoy little pet names. Firefly is almost more of an honorific, but I just think it suits you.”
“Now, I just have more questions. That didn’t help at all,” I teased. “What is an honorific and why does firefly suit me?”
“Well, an honorific is a name given to a person in a BDSM dynamic. For instance, some subs are called pet, or princess, or babygirl. Some Dominants are called Sir, or Daddy, or Master. The list is nearly endless. But if I had to choose one for you, it would be firefly,” he answered, slowly wetting my hair with a cup that had appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t think too long on it as the water sluicing over my scalp felt like heaven. I melted into him like butter.
“But why firefly?” I insisted, tilting my head back for him to run more water over my locks.
“Because while to everyone else you may just look average, like nothing special, I’ve seen you glow, babygirl. I’ve seen you light up an entire room.”
I felt like my entire body was blushing. There was no room for questioning in his tone, in his words.
“That’s how you see me?” My voice was timid, small.
“Someday, I hope you won’t question my own thoughts about you so much. I mean that with all the goodness I possess. I don’t beat around the bush about these things.
You are stunning. A voluptuous goddess of a woman with curves that only the most skilled could handle. You are exquisite. Are you a teeny tiny thing? No, you are not. But I love these curves.” As he spoke, his hands moved down over my belly, touching every roll and lump on me. I wanted to shy away, but his words held me captive. “These curves turn me on and make me want to gorge myself on you, on your scent, on your taste, all day long.”
I wanted so badly to believe him. And I think a part of me did. But that did not just wipe away twenty some-odd years of being told the polar opposite.
“So, firefly. That’s what you would want my honorific to be?” I questioned again, letting my own hands run over his arms.
“If we were to enter into a dynamic, yes, that is what I would like, but it’s not just up to me,” he murmured against my temple.
“I would get a say?” His hands moved over my body, rinsing the scented suds from my skin slowly.
“Of course. How do you feel about firefly?”
“I suppose it’s not bad. Not bad at all,” I said with a smile. A special name he had chosen only for me? No, I did not have any qualms about that, indeed. “What about you? You said that often Dominants have their own honorifics. What do you like to be called?”
“That’s a tough question. I’ve gone by a few different names, depending on the circumstances,” he answered.
“What do you mean? Different circumstances?” I nuzzled deeper into him, the warm water lapping at my skin as I felt almost weightless.
