“You’re not afraid I might bite you?” he growled softly. Brushing her hair to one side, he leaned down and placed a soft, hot kiss on the side of her neck. “You’re not afraid of my fangs?” Opening his mouth, he let their sharp points graze lightly across her sensitive skin.
“Do…do you want to bite me now?” Selena whispered breathlessly. She tilted her head, offering the side of her throat more fully. “I…I’m not afraid…Master.”
“You like calling me that, don’t you?” Valen’s lips moving against her skin sent another erotic shiver down her spine. “You like to submit to me and be my ‘good girl.’”
“Oh, God…” The soft moan was torn from Selena’s lips. “What…what if I do?” she asked, her heart pounding against her ribs. “Would you think less of me for it?”
“Never,” he murmured, kissing the side of her throat again. “Though I am still trying to decide if I would think less of myself, for acting the way the male in Forbidden Desire does. Or for doing…other things.”
“What? Like biting me?” Selena twisted her head around to look at him again. “What if I told you I like being bitten?” she asked, her heart pounding. “That it’s always been…been a fantasy of mine?”
He frowned. “You fantasized about pain?”
“I fantasized about submission,” Selena emphasized. “Sometimes that involves intense sensations. It’s not about the pain—it’s about receiving it from a Master you can trust—from someone you know has your best interests at heart and knows how far to push your limits without going too far.”
“What is too far, though?” Valen objected. “So far you seem to have greater, er, limits than any female I have ever met. You let me touch you in public…parade you around almost naked…bite you and drink from you…”
Selena felt her cheeks getting hot with shame.
“What are you saying? You think I’m wrong to…to let you do those things?” she demanded.
“No, no! I am not offering judgment of any kind.” He raised his hands in a “don’t shoot” gesture. “I just want to know I’m not hurting you more…” He frowned. “More than you wish to be hurt.”
“I don’t necessarily wish to be hurt—I wish to be dominated,” Selena corrected him. “But like I said, sometimes pain is part of that. And I have to be honest, I’m not sure what my limits are, either. Because I’ve never found anyone willing to ‘play’ with me before.”
Valen raised his eyebrows. “You call it ‘playing?’”
“Sure—as in playing out a scene—a scenario both people agree on before they start,” Selena explained. “Like…we might do some role play and pretend that you’re my stern boss and I’m your secretary who has something wrong, so you’re ‘punishing’ me for the infraction.”
“Punishing you in an erotic way, you mean?” Valen’s face was like a thundercloud. “But I would never do that to a subordinate—it would be highly improper and unethical. Not to mention morally reprehensible.”
“Of course it would—in real life,” Selena explained patiently. “But this is a sexual fantasy we’re talking about. And we would agree on the rules and what would happen beforehand. Do you see?”
“I suppose.” He sounded thoughtful. “What other ‘scenes’ might we play out?”
“Well, you could take me to a BDSM club and be my Master there,” Selena said. “Of course, we don’t really need to make up any scenes or pretend here on Ma’shorka Centra,” she added. “This whole planet is like one big scene.”
“I suppose it is,” Valen murmured. “I had always found it reprehensible before—the way the Ma’shorkans treat their females. But I suppose if a male and female decide to act in such a way and it is consensual…”
At that moment, the pleasant automatic voice of the lift said,
“The lift is coming to a stop at Ice Table. Please be ready to depart if this is your destination.”
“Oh, is this us?” Selena looked around and gasped. The window closest to her head showed a sheer drop that had to go down for thousands of feet. She’d been so engrossed in the conversation with Valen, she hadn’t even looked at the scenery outside as the lift flew to the top of the mountain.
“This is us,” Valen confirmed. “Better get up unless you want to ride all the way down again—the lift doesn’t linger for long,” he added. “Oh—and you’d better put on your coat as well—it’s going to be cold outside.”
Selena slid into her red fur coat and settled the fur hat on her head. She followed Valen out of the lift—which had landed on a cliff on the side of the vast mountain.
She supposed they could continue this conversation inside the restaurant, though she still wasn’t sure how Valen felt about her needs and desires. And it wasn’t clear if he thought he had the same need and desires himself, either.
Selena wondered if she would ever find out…