I lead her to the hallway and feel her pause at her room. I pull gently at her hand and take her further down the hall to my own bedroom.
“Master?”
“You sleep with me tonight,” I say simply. I can tell she’s pleased with the idea but still hesitant. “What are you thinking, Yvette?”
“Your room, Master,” she says quietly, “the place reserved for the most personal things a man has. I’m…curious.”
“Then exercise your curiosity, pet,” I respond.
I release her hand, and she walks to my dresser. The framed pictures have caught her eye, and she runs her finger over the edge of the first one.
“My parents and I from when I graduated college,” I tell her. As she moves down the line, I explain each picture to her. “My grandparents. They’re both gone now. That’s me and John, my college roommate.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Yvette asks as she gets to the last picture.
“No,” I say, “just me.”
“Were you lonely as a child?”
“I never felt that way. Sometimes I wished I had a sibling like my friends did, but most of the time I was glad to have all the attention.” I chuckle.
“I have a lot of siblings,” Yvette says, “but I still felt lonely at times.”
“You had too much responsibility when you were young,” I say, and she nods.
“Where do your parents live?” she asks.
“My mother lives in Sacramento,” I say. “My father is here in New York. They split up when I was in high school, but they’re very civil with each other. My mother lives with a couple of friends she made when she worked as a paralegal. They’re all divorced, and they call themselves the new Golden Girls.”
Yvette smiles broadly and almost laughs. It makes me realize I haven’t heard her laugh, not once. I don’t even know what her laugh sounds like.
“Where is your family, Yvette?” I ask. “Are your brothers and sisters in the area?”
She looks down at the floor and shakes her head.
“They live in Indiana, last I knew.”
“Last you knew?”
“I…I told them about my chosen lifestyle,” Yvette says. “They don’t approve, and we’ve since lost contact.”
She looks up at me, and I can see tears in the corners of her eyes.
“They say I’m sick. They don’t speak to me anymore.”
I step forward and push her hair back behind her ears.
“There’s nothing wrong with your choices,” I tell her. “There will always be those who don’t understand or approve.”
“I know,” she says, “but it still hurts.”
I wrap my arms around her and pull her against my chest. My own fears have kept me from ever mentioning my choices to my family, and I realize how strong Yvette really is. She’d done what I have always been afraid to do and has suffered because of it.
I take her to bed and lie down facing her. I caress her cheek and neck, trailing my finger over her collar as she closes her eyes and smiles slightly. I feel tense, and I’m not sure why. I’ve rewarded other subs with sleeping in my bed, so that’s not it. The feeling in my stomach reminds me of my trip to the Grand Canyon when I had stepped up to a precarious point and stared at the valley far, far below.
I run my finger over her lips and then lean in to kiss her. It only magnifies the feeling, and my head is starting to spin with the implications. I don’t know what to call this; I only know my body is reacting in an unusual way. It’s beyond just wanting my cock in her—far beyond it. It’s not for the sake of possessing her or even healing her.
The ledge I feel like I’ve been teetering on gives way, and I roll over on top of her. In this moment, I don’t care about her submission or my dominance over her—I only want her.