The Agreement (Unrestrained 1)

"Do you agree?"

He nodded but didn't say anything for a moment. "I didn't know what it took to make a relationship work. I'd never seen a marriage. Never knew what a woman wanted, what she expected. I can do sex, Kate. I do it really well. Everything else in a relationship? Not so much."

I nodded. That's why he kept it to his submissives. No love. No romance.

"What happened in court? Lara said you got off really lightly."

"Lara helped me. She's very rational and saw what was happening and set me on the right path. I started training with Lara at that point."

"You already knew her?"

He nodded. "Yes. We were old acquaintances and took classes together during our undergrad years. When I needed a lawyer, I called her. When I needed to be taught how to do this properly, she trained me. Kate, I've never hurt anyone purposely except during training and that was consensual. If anything's happened otherwise, it was an accident. Incidental to what was happening."

"What happened?"

"A binding a bit too tight. A bruise or abrasion on a wrist or ankle. Nothing permanent. Nothing inflicted on purpose. I've always chosen my subs very carefully. I don't want anyone into pain. If a sub needs pain, I refuse to sign. Just D/s. Just pleasure. You can ask Lara for more details if you need them. I'll tell you anything you want to know." He glanced at his cell. "Look, I hate to rush this. I know you need to process this but I have a surgery in a very short time. I want you to come with me. I don’t want to leave you alone right now."

"Come with you where?"

"To the hospital. You can sit in my office while I take care of this procedure. It’s pretty short – only about forty-five minutes. Then I have an hour off before my final surgeries of the day. I want to figure this out."

"I can go back to my apartment and wait there."

"Come with me. I don’t want you out of my," he said and hesitated. "Out of my reach right now."

"I'm not going to disappear…"

"Kate, for all I know, you might. Come with me. Wait for me. Then we'll figure this all out."

I sighed. "I shouldn't go anywhere with you. If anyone saw us."

"No one is going to see us."

I exhaled. "OK."

He still hadn’t let go of my hand. He squeezed it, and then he leaned in and kissed me. I let him and a stab of desire filled me at the touch of his lips on mine.

"Come," he said, standing, pulling me up. He wouldn't let go of me as if I'd dematerialize in front of his eyes. We walked to his car, our fingers entwined, and he opened the door for me. I got in and we drove to NY Presbyterian, to the wing where his office was located and parked in a spot marked "Doctors Only". He was quiet on the way there as if he was deciding how to handle this – how to handle me.

We walked hand in hand through a maze of halls to his office, which was very comfortable but clinical looking with a window, a desk with two computers and a filing cabinet, and a huge flat screen television on the wall. A small couch and two chairs on either side of a coffee table. I imagined that's where he met with patients and family members.

"Here," he said and pointed to the couch. "Have a seat and make yourself comfortable. I have a collection of out of date magazines to read." He went to the huge screen, turning it on. "There's a coffee and vending machine down the hall if you get thirsty or hungry. You can watch the surgery on the screen if you want. We're recording all procedures and you can watch live feed here."

"I can watch you operate?"

"Yes," he said. "I do really specialized robotically-assisted procedures and record every case for my clinical course in neurosurgery." He held up a remote. "You can use this to turn the volume up or down. If you get bored, you can switch to cable and watch television." He brought up a screen that had three views, one with a slightly elevated view of a high-tech looking OR theatre, another directly above a gurney, and a third staring at what resembled an open CT scanner. A number of gowned and masked people walked around, moving equipment.

"That's your OR?"

"For the procedure this afternoon, yes. It's a really advanced OR suite equipped for neurological procedures like I'm doing this afternoon." He pointed to a machine that looked like a CT scanner. "That does real-time images of the brain for really delicate surgery."

"What are you doing?"

"Implanting electrodes in a man's brain to stop Parkinson's tremor. That's for imaging the brain during the procedure. The patient will be sitting with his head inside the machine so we can watch as the electrodes are inserted to make sure we get them in the right location. Speaking of which, I have to get ready or I'm going to be late. Gotta go scrub in."

After he handed me the remote control, he bent down to kiss me. I raised my head and let him.

He touched my bottom lip, my scar, and then stared into my eyes, frowning. "Wait for me?"