Finding Master Right (Masters Unleashed 1)

“Does that make a difference?”

“No.”

Women always said that, but for some reason, with Kate it seemed true.

They arrived in the home theater room, which was cozy and soundproof, although noise probably wouldn’t be an issue today. He turned to face Kate, but because she’d been rubbernecking around the room, she hadn’t noticed he’d halted. She stopped too close. Only inches away, she tipped her head back to look at his face. Lips parted, eyes wide, she looked surprised they’d almost collided.

“Give me your BDSM checklist and the list of limits you have regarding your arrangement with me, then go finish getting ready in the bathroom across the hall.” He wondered if she’d obey, considering how reluctant she was when it came to other things.

She drew a stack of papers from her purse and handed them over but stayed rooted in place instead of heading across the hall.

“Do you need me to walk you there, Kate?”

She fidgeted. “But I don’t want to. It’s demeaning and disturbing.”

“Chances are your Dominant will tell you how to dress, at least sometimes. This will start getting you used to that idea. Is there a serious reason why you can’t comply? Is it a trigger for you?”

She shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “No, it’s just that I have trouble following instructions if I don’t have a reason. If it’s just that you’re a pervert, I’d prefer to know that now.”

“It’s not my payment for teaching you, no, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s been my experience that when submissives aren’t allowed to wear underthings it makes them feel more sensual and helps them get into a submissive frame of mind. As for your hair being loose, that’s just because I’m a pervert.”

A giggle escaped her before she sighed heavily and drew a pattern on the floor with her bare toe. The blue polish on her toenails was unexpected and adorable.

Patience wasn’t going to be as effective with Kate as reasoning with her might be. She was new and he’d have to cut her some slack—a lot more than he’d give a girl he was actually involved with.

“Let me put it this way to you, Kate . . . If giving this tiny bit of control to your Dom is too much for you, we might as well end this arrangement now. I can’t teach you anything if you’re balking at something this small.” He shrugged. “Maybe you’re not submissive at all, or ma

ybe you’re not strong enough to hand control over to someone else. It’s not something everyone is capable of doing.”

Banner turned and walked to one of the room’s leather armchairs, then sat and began looking over the papers she’d filled out. If she refused to do this, he’d escort her to the door. It was true that he wanted her more than he’d wanted anyone in a long time, but this was going to be temporary at best. There was no way he’d let himself get any deeper into this if she wasn’t giving anything back. Admittedly, if he was just training her in the fundamentals of BDSM he’d go easier on her. However, if she was looking for a Dom, they had to find out if there was even a hint of submission in her first. If Kate just wanted to play at this, she’d picked the wrong man to indulge her.

He pretended not to watch her as she stood there staring at him. Eventually, she walked out of the room, and he heard the bathroom door click shut.

Teacher: one; difficult student: zero. Although gloating wasn’t his style, Banner permitted himself a small smile as he scanned the paper in his hand.

When he reached the bottom of the page, he whistled low. Other than the hard limits on her checklist, she was willing to consider any amount of contact between them, up to and including sex. Well, that was going to make training her much more interesting.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, he tried to think about maintaining a level of distance and concentrate on what she needed to learn.

Focus, man. Ignore your dick.

With iron will he pulled his gaze away from the words “up to and including sex” and flipped to the next page. At the top of the checklist was anal, beside which she’d drawn a shaky circle around the word “curious,” instead of circling a scaling number. Damn, an anal virgin? He groaned aloud, his cock now completely hard and bent at an awkward angle in his jeans.

He’d leave that for her real Dom to do, right? He was a decent man. He could resist the temptation. In his mind, he pretended she’d circled “hard limit,” but his cock remained unconvinced. Who had taught the damn thing to read?

Aw, hell. Their kinks lined up. She’d circled scaling numbers or the word “curious” beside all of his favorites and had marked “hard limit” beside all of the things that turned him off. Several items she’d left blank.

“I needed clarification on some of those, and after searching the Internet for figging I was too scared to look anything else up.” She stood by the doorway, looking at the floor. Her loose hair had fallen forward to obscure her features from his view, but the bits of her face he could see were crimson. “And there were other things where I didn’t know how I felt about them.”

“That’s fine. You knew more than I thought you did.”

“I called Janine a few times.”

He chuckled. “The things you left blank probably aren’t things we’ll explore together anyway. Come sit in the chair next to me so we can talk.”

She trailed over after ditching her purse by the door, and he managed not to be a complete pervert and ogle her breasts as they swayed free under her tight T-shirt.

“Do we have to talk about it? Can’t you just give me a safeword and take it from there?”