And she was a teacher? She’d always been out of his league, though. Always would be. However, kink leveled the playing field, at least temporarily. Maybe for tonight, if he was lucky.
Her body had always responded to his, even when they’d been young and fumbling around in his sweltering attic bedroom at his grandmother’s. Good thing Gran had been a sound and frequent napper.
He’d always felt like Riley was hinting at things she wanted from him, but he’d never been good at reading subtlety until he’d spent time as a dominant.
And here they were years later. He always thought he’d tell her off if he ever saw her in person, but instead he’d prematurely invited her to play with him. Was she even submissive? Maybe she was a dominant.
“I –” she gave a delicious little shrug that made him growl so low she couldn’t hear it over the bass line of the music coming from the speakers. “I guess I could tie you up and flog you for a while, for old times’ sake.”
“You’re dominant?” he asked, more disappointed than he would have liked to admit. Dominating her and tormenting her might have made him feel better about how things had ended between them, even though it was ancient history.
“No, not at all. But neither are you, from what I remember.”
He gave her his best “you’re so fucked” smile and she shivered, amber eyes wide. “You and your little hints. It took me forever to catch on to what you’d wanted, and by then you were long gone.”
She shrugged again. “I just thought you were vanilla.”
“I didn’t think there was any way you meant what I was hoping you meant.”
They both laughed. Something in him eased. Maybe it wasn’t why she’d disappeared, but it was something. An answer he’d never thought he’d get.
She’d tried to get her needs met, but he hadn’t met them. Nothing personal. After a few failed vanilla relationships after high school, he understood that.
His mind flashed back to his old obsession with tying Riley up and having her at
his mercy. At the time he hadn’t had the balls to ask if he could try it.
Next came the vivid memory of her going down on him and repeatedly convincing him to put his hand in her hair. She’d teased him with her mouth, keeping him on edge, daring him to make her do what she wanted, but he’d been taught to respect women. Wanting to hurt or force the girl he loved had made him feel like the worst kind of pervert. He hadn’t understood the difference between abuse and BDSM back then.
She shrugged. “We were practically babies, Nate. Grades ten to twelve? Fifteen to seventeen? We didn’t even have sex until what? Six months before school ended?”
“Yeah.” He tried to stop himself from going there, but his dick remembered all too well. Tight, slick heat. Her whimpers of discomfort. He’d been gentle, and had managed to make it good for her afterward even though he’d only lasted a few minutes. God, he’d been so in love with her – had been making payments on a ring so he could propose to her for real instead of just joking about it.
He’d had plans for their future, but apparently the ones she’d made for herself hadn’t included him.
“I’ll play with you,” she finally said. “Hell, I’ve thought about it often enough.”
Oh she had, had she?
A thrill of anticipation and uncertainty lanced through him. He should back out, but if he didn’t do this he’d be kicking himself forever.
“What are your limits?”
She shrugged. “I’m not big on getting pissed on. Other than that we can play it by ear.”
Fair enough. He wasn’t into that either.
“What’s your safeword?”
“For you? Algebra.”
“So ungrateful.” Warmth at the shared amusement spread through him. A weird remembered affection flared back to life. He’d always thought she’d walked away and forgotten about him, but apparently he’d been wrong. “But did you pass that test?”
“I did, and you know it, you bastard.”
They both laughed. Edging had made for a good study session.
“I swear I yelled ‘it’s the motherfucking coefficient!’ every time I orgasmed until a few months ago.” Her smirk made her irresistible.