Page 31 of The Player's Club
I shot her a glare. “No. I ran out of time.”
“Ah. Well. Maybe you’ll get back to it someday.” She gave me a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry if I offended you. I really was just teasing.”
“I know.” I finished off my whiskey and went to find another bottle I’d left in this room. “I know this place needs work.” I hesitated, then added, “I had some help with the rooms up here.”
“Oh?”
How did I explain that Caroline—who happened to be my lover when I was a teenager, no less had helped me decorate this room? I didn’t even know how to broach that subject. Besides, I’d only just gotten Elodie to agree to come here. I didn’t want to scare her away.
I refilled my glass, then snagged a few documents I’d been working on earlier.
“I hired a decorator,” I lied, returning to sit next to Elodie. “But then I got so busy I had to put things on pause.”
Elodie set her wineglass down. I let myself take in her appearance, shimmering in the firelight. Her hair was a beautiful black, but with the fire reflecting off the strands, I could see bits of red underneath. Her skin seemed to glow, her lashes dark and dusky against her fair cheeks.I wanted to kiss her so freaking badly, but now was not the time.
“So.” I cleared my throat. “You wanted to talk?”
“I did.”
I handed her the documents. “This isn’t the formal contract between us. It’s just an example, but I thought it’d be helpful.”
Elodie took the papers and began scanning them. “Should I have a lawyer?” she asked.
I almost chuckled but stopped myself. “If you want, but it isn’t necessary.”
“‘If either party is seriously injured beyond the scope of this agreement; maimed, or dies as a result of said injuries, the other party will not be held liable by the maimed/deceased party’s estate . . .” Elodie’s eyes were wide. “Good lord, is that necessary?”
“As long as we have boundaries in place beforehand, there’s no reason to worry. But it’s for our mutual protection.”
“Well, I’ll try not to kill you, then.” Elodie handed the papers back to me. “I’m assuming this is talking about a civil suit, not a criminal one?”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry, did I freak you out?” I took her hand. “This is just standard contract legalese.”
“I know. Pretty sure all those ‘terms and conditions’ we have to sign just to download an app have the same thing. I think I recently signed away my firstborn to get a new credit card.”
I grabbed an empty notebook and began writing. “Now, it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty. We’ll go through everything, and you’ll decide what you’re excited about, what you might be interested in trying, and what you definitely don’t want to do.”
We started a list. Elodie was uncomfortable at first, especially as things got more and more graphic, but by the end of things, she seemed more relaxed. The second and third glasses of wine probably helped.
“Nipple clamps, yes. Butt plugs, yes. Whips, maybe.” I gave her a heated smile. “We can discuss how much whipping you’d prefer.”
Elodie squirmed. “Uh, I have no idea.”
“There’s whipping that doesn’t leave any marks. Then there’s whipping that does leave marks. Then you can go so far as to draw blood . . .” When her eyebrows rose to her hairline, I chuckled. “Yeah, it’s a thing.”
“Um, do you do that? Regularly? The drawing blood thing?”
“I’ve had it done to me.”
She blinked like a confused owl.
“But it’s been a long time.”
We reviewed everything that could possibly be relevant, including what days and times Elodie would act as my submissive. Where she would live, where we would have sex, when we would have sex, how long we would have sex, and everything in between.
“What about feet?” I asked.