Page 77 of Beyond the Rules

But even then, I hadn’t dared to act, because I couldn’t be someone other than myself and what I needed wasn’t the usual. I didn’t know if she had the stamina or the inclination to engage in the sort of sexual exploration I craved. I didn’t know if she could stand the intensity of the Dom in me. I hadn’t even known if she’d be open to trying kink with me.Untilnow.

I’d teach you if you asked,I typed.But you’d have to ask. No wayaroundthat.

I stared impatiently at the three little dots, wondering what the hell she wastypingnow.

Would you tiemeup?

No avoidance. No pussyfooting around from Nina. None from me either.I’d like that.The understatement of alifetime.

A big black, ugly centipede slipped from under my backpack and slunk across the dirt floor on a meandering course to nowhere. I cursed the signal that slowed down our conversation to a crawl and made me sweat buckets with everypause.

My screen lit up. Would youhurtme?

I gritted my teeth. What kind of question was that? Injury was the definition of failure for a Dom like me. And then it struck me. The little vixen was actually negotiating with me. My heart revved up. If she was looking to set some hard limits, then she was giving me seriousconsideration.

Inflicting pain wasn’t a pleasure trigger for me. What got me going was control—absolute and unconditional surrender—domination in its purest, rawestsense.

I will never, ever hurt you, I wrote.I will test you. Push your limits. Introduce you to a new level of need and to the meaning of pleasure/pain. But I will NOT/NEVERinjureyou.

The slow-as-fuck centipede on the dirt floor crossed half the room before sheanswered.

Pleasure/pain?

She could look it up, of course, but she wantedmydefinition.Pleasure so intense that it feels as sharpaspain.

The wait was gonnakillme.

Hurt so good?shetyped.

Hurt so good you can’t stopcoming.

The centipede lingered in the corner, wiggling its long antennas, careless and oblivious, so close to Foreman’s heel that it could get squashed any time now. My knuckles ached from clutching the cell. I wondered if I’d lost signal, but the phone showed a few bars and a message lit thescreen.

This is me right now.She attached a picture of herself. She was inmyroom, reclining againstmyheadboard, lying onmyblue striped bedspread. The picture was taken at an angle. She had her hand over her mouth. Her lips were pursed in a perfect “oh.” She wasn’t wearing a shirt. Instead, she was naked from the waist up and her gorgeous nipples were plump and spiked. The captions popped up beneath thepicture.

What would you do withthesetits?

Fuck this. Nina was sending me naked pictures. She was negotiating her sessions with me. I wiped the sweat off my face and made a huge effort to stick tohypotheticals.

If those tits were mine, I’d suck them, hard,so hard you might scream from the pleasure.I’d trap your nipples with a pair of pretty clamps and use them as reins to lead you around until you begged formercy.

Dot, dot, dot, I could hardly wait for herreply.

Will you get off onmypain?

I’m a power hog,I wrote. I’d get off oncontrollingyou.

Will I need asafeword?

If you’d like one, you can have it. But stop, no, and get the hell off me will all work instantly. You will ALWAYS be safewithme.

What about yourothersubs?

???

The other subs, the ones you go to see when yousneakout.

So she knew. She’d put two and two together and she knew all about the club.Whataboutthem?