Page 30 of On His Terms
“Chelsea, if I want you to pay, I’ll let you know. This changes nothing between us and takes nothing away from your feminine power. So give up the fight.”
“In that case, thank you, Sir.”
He nodded, wishing all arguments with her were this easy to end. “Did you bring an overnight bag?”
“I did. But I’d prefer not to stay, Sir.”
“That’s up to you. I have a guest room. My bed is comfortable. There’s also a hook attached to the footboard if you prefer to be chained to it, along with a nice pile of blankets on the floor, if you prefer.”
Color drained from her face, and she pushed away her wineglass.
“Some Doms expect their subs to sleep on the floor.”
As if choosing her words with great care, she asked, “Is that your expectation, Sir?”
“No.” He’d had the chain installed for Liz when he’d trained her, and he’d done it at her request. He was happy to snuggle after a session, and there were nights when he wanted his woman to sleep in his arms. Liz had never wanted to do that. Even if he hadn’t taken the time to chain her and arrange her bedding, he would wake up to find her on the floor, cocooned with her pillow and a single blanket, her collar affixed to the chain. “I had a sub once who preferred it that way. It helped her.”
“I don’t understand.”
He had never discussed intimate details of his relationship with anyone other than Damien. “Liz was a masochist. Being in my bed would have been a luxury she didn’t want.”
She folded her hands on the tablecloth. “Is she the reason you’re no longer a trainer?”
“She has a lot to do with it, yes.”
“And you loved her?”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “I did.” Deeply. Painfully.
For a moment, she was quiet, but she pushed forward, despite the fact his tone had been cold and final.
“Did she end it, or did you?”
He sighed. “I suppose if I don’t answer you, you’ll continue to ask again and again.”
Interestedly, she leaned forward. “And again, Sir.”
“Liz ended it.” Except for Damien, no one knew how devastated he’d been and how long the anguish had lasted.
Months after she’d walked away after finding a Top much more extreme than he was, he and Damien had stayed up almost an entire night at the Den, drinking a bottle of Bonds’s finest single malt.
The next day, hating what he saw in the mirror, Alex had vowed never to look back.
“You haven’t gotten involved with anyone since?”
“No. And I’m not planning to.” A warning to her? Or perhaps to himself? “D/s relationships can be more complex than ordinary ones. Be careful what you wish for.”
“Why is that? I thought they might be better.”
“For many people they are,” he agreed.
Eyebrows knitted together as she studied him, she waited.
His answer was going to reveal more than he was comfortable with. “If—when—it ends…” Fuck. “There can be significant emotional fallout.”
“Are you speaking from personal experience, Sir?”
He didn’t owe her an answer. He was her trainer, nothing more. Still, he couldn’t resist her. “A sub—a Dom—can fill a lot of roles, not just the kink, but as life partner, and a lover. When that ends, there can be a gulf in multiple areas.”