Page 98 of Illicit Education

Chapter Thirty-Two

Rylan

By Wednesday night, we were finally getting somewhere. I was stripped down to my new black lace teddy and bent in half over a spanking horse.

Halle-freaking-lujah.

Although he’d refused to strap me down, as, according to Sir Whips A Lot–sorry, Sir Doesn’t Whip At All Anymore, womp womp–we didn’t yet know what my hard limits were.

Well, let me tell you something, Cabot Reed, multiple nights spent learning instead of doing were quickly becoming my only hard limit.

But I had to commend the man for his patience; I wasn’t an easy student.

Keeping my hands to myself was damn near impossible–at work and in the underground club. Although, we had slipped up a few times at both places, which only served to drive me mad and make him pull away.

But now, finally, I was about to meet Master Creed.

After our now-familiar routine of locking up the store, we’d made our way downstairs, and he led me to what I presumed was his favorite room.

He had stripped down to just those low-slung dark jeans again, and I followed his bare feet as he strode casually around the room. He’d instructed me to grip each leg of the spanking horse with my hands, which made it difficult to watch him the way my hungry eyes wanted to.

He lowered to a squat in front of me and I met his gaze. “How do you feel?”

“Frustrated.” I flashed a sardonic smile.

“Rylan.” He said my name on a sigh. “We have to take our time. This is all new to you. You think you want it, but you don’t know what you don’t know. It is my job to guide you.”

I dropped my head.

“Look at me.”

The aggression in his voice made me jump. I met his gaze again.

He held up a black leather whip, similar to the ones he used with Stella–

Oh no no no. I pushed the thought of her aside and focused on the man in front of me. I hadn’t even told him about seeing her in the store Monday night and didn’t plan on it. He and I were starting something new, and there was no room for her.

“This is a flogger.”

I refrained from sayingI know, we’ve been over this, and focused on the way he held the handle tightly in one hand and caressed the long strands with the other.

God, he was fucking hot.

“What’s your safe word, Rylan?”

“Lavender, Master.”

“Good girl.”

A shiver traveled down my spine at the simple praise.

“Do you remember everything we discussed about consent?”

I nodded, swallowing hard. The longer he held my gaze with those dark eyes, the more my blood hummed with desire. “Yes.”

“Do you remember that you can take back consent at any time?”

“Yes.”Like I would ever do that–