I wouldloveto see Matt that helpless.
“I think I’ll sub this time,” El-Mudad suggested.
“You and Matt both switch?”I asked.
“El-Mudad does, Neil doesn’t,” Sophie explained for them.“I don’t either.So, unless Matt feels like he wants to Dom… Neil, you’ve got your work cut out for you.”
His eyebrows rose.“You don’t switch, Charlotte?”
I shook my head.
“Four subs.”Neil rubbed his hands together and grinned.“I’m confident that I can pull that off.”
“Fair warning,” Sophie told me, “Neil is a really cruel Dom.I don’t know how experienced you are—”
His hand went to his chest, as if he were truly touched by the statement.“Thank you, Sophie.”
“He’ll tone it down for today,” El-Mudad promised.
A really cruel Dom.I looked at the canes, at the bondage frame.The idea that this super nice guy got off on torture like that was a little spooky.
And a lot dangerous-sexy.
“We have a machine room,” El-Mudad said, pointing to one set of doors.“And a bedroom stocked with all the appropriate toys.”
“Let’s play in the bedroom,” Sophie suggested, her eyes glittering with naughty enthusiasm.“There are mirrors everywhere.”
Matt gave her a mischievous head tilt.
With a smug smile, she added, “I like to watch.”
Talking frankly about what we wanted to do made me way more comfortable with the idea of doing it.Everyone was so matter of fact, and nothing felt high pressure.It reminded me of Ascend Red.
Sophie was a great choice to help with the new property.Whatever I ended up naming it.
“This way,” Neil said, motioning us through a set of doors.The Versailles theme continued into the bedroom, with a huge bed made up in an impossibly fancy gold and cream duvet.A mountain of pillows piled up in front of the gilded headboard, framed by the long, dramatic curtains of a baroque bed crown.Sconces on the walls held flickering, flame-shaped glass bulbs, and the light reflected off the surfaces of the largest collection of mirrors I had ever seen.They were every shape a mirror could come in, mounted to the walls and even to the ceiling in a hodge-podge arrangement.At the end of the bed was a low, backless bench with rolled ends, and to the side of the room was a huge wardrobe.
“Our safe word is ‘red,’” Neil informed us.“Yours?”
“We use ‘mercy,’” Matt said.
“So, if anyone says either of those, we’ll know to stop.”Neil nodded to El-Mudad.“I’ll need rope, lube, and...let’s start with those new prostate toys we liked so much.Condoms, as well?”
“Any changes in your history since Ascend Red?”Matt asked.
“None,” Neil said.
“What do you think?”Matt asked me.
“I think I want to get messy,” I said, and Sophie laughed.
“As long as we’re all right with a few fluids?”Neil waited until we’d all nodded in agreement.“All right.When we’re playing, you’ll all call me Sir.”
Sir.It sounded so plain in comparison to “My Dragon.”But it suited Neil; he was distinguished and elegant.Authoritative, his every move purposeful as he walked slowly around Sophie and I.“Charlotte.”
I jumped a little at his voice.His tone had changed to something deeper, firmer than our friendly conversations.
“I’d like to see you undress for me.”