“Shh…”
His voice seemed to stop that endless internal chatter, and I just blinked at the sudden silence. He looked up at me, a fire lighting in his eyes, curving his lips into a devilish smile.
“You’ve done very well, omega. There is a lot to choose from here. I confess my mind is teeming with ideas.” He held my eyes with his endless gaze, those irises bleeding to silver and back to brown, over and over again. “What I propose is this—I’ll explain the different ways each one is used. If that use is of no interest to you ever, I’ll set them aside to be removed from the room. If you are curious but not sure, I won’t use them today, or we can negotiate for a very specific kind of trial, the limits to be determined before we use them, and if you like something?”
He watched me lean forward, hanging on his every word, his smile growing wider.
“Then we’ll engage in a very low-key little scene and try them out. No real submission on your part and no safe words. No will mean literally no in this context and everything will stop. It’s something we can push past when we are more familiar with each other, but not now. How does that sound?”
I nodded first, but he waited until I replied. “Good. It sounds good.”
“Well then, let’s play.”
61
“I’d like you up on this podium.” He drew me over to a leather upholstered piece of furniture that looked like a really large footstool or a small stage. “Naked.” I swallowed at that, but he continued, “It will give me clear and easy access to all of you, as well as make it easier for me to read your body language. Will you be all right with that?”
I considered the idea, then nodded, but Tobias didn’t move towards me, not until I said the word.
“Yes.”
“While you’re on that podium, no means no, absolutely and with no prevarication. You saynoorstopor anything like that, and I’ll end things and start aftercare.”
His tone was so serious, it was kind of daunting, but I agreed to this.
“I’ll be checking in with you a lot, probably to the point that it will annoy you. We are building trust, Sage. We’re not in a position for me to take you deep, not yet, but…” He moved closer, wanting to reach out and touch, but I watched him stop himself. “But I want and need to hear your responses. What does it feel like? Do you like it or not? Good, bad, more, harder…” My breath started to come in faster, and he smiled at that. “Tell me. There’s literally nothing you can say that will upset me, other than lies or holding something back. Give me your responses—that’s what I need from this. Can you give me that?”
I agreed, staring up at him and wondering just how serious he was about that. I was about to find out.
“Good. Now to get this damn suit off you.” He strode forward, hands sliding under my jacket and pushing it off, then pausing when he got to the shirt underneath, his fingers sliding over the buttons without opening them. “I’ve changed access to executive level. Anyone wanting to come up needs to get a code emailed to them from one of us. If I have any more snakes like Miranda lurking on the lower floor, I don’t want them getting access to us, but…”
He traced the shape of the top bottom with his finger and then flicked it open.
“Most of all, I know I’m going to need to be able to do this in my office.” His gaze was endless as he stared at me, moving to undo the next one. “I need to be able to pull you onto my desk and…” His fingers moved like lightning, unbuttoning the shirt and then pulling it free until I just stood there in a bra and pants. “I need to know that I can get to you, have access to you, be able to touch you without prying eyes seeing what’s mine, because, Sage…”
Those hands traced the curve of my breasts contained in the bra.
“When you become mine, my mate, my girl…” His hands felt like they moved slowly, so slowly, to cover both mounds. “I think you’ll find I’m quite demanding. You feel like a tide in my blood, sucking me under.” He moved in closer, his mouth hovering over mine. “One I can’t find it in myself to resist.”
My bra clasp was flicked open so fast, I blinked, then it was eased off me. My pants, too, were undone and drawn down, until all I wore was my underwear. He pulled back, holding out a hand like this was some kind of dance onBridgerton. When I took it, he helped me up onto the podium so my eyes were finally level with his. That was curiously intimate, which, coupled with the odd feeling of standing naked in a room with a suit-clad man, left me feeling off-kilter. He nodded slowly, then stepped back.
“When I moved forward and take your underwear from you, then you’ll be mine.” He looked so very proud of me right now, I found myself soaking that in. “You are already, but then you’ll know it too.” As he stepped closer, I heard him exhale, his breath fanning across my skin as his fingers went to the waistband of my underwear, then he just watched me for a second, before sliding them down and off my feet.
I was naked, so very naked, and I felt exposed where I was, which was the point, I thought. I knew from Scar that scenes could be as much of a headfuck as a physical one, a good Dom able to push the fear, excitement, arousal, and pleasure buttons skilfully in a way that could take us to greater and greater heights. Still, having her dryly recite all of this, with a slow curve of her signature red lips, was not the fucking same as experiencing it. I wanted to step down, grab my shirt, pluck Tobias’ off his back, and drape it over me, but he turned around right at the moment my foot shifted, ready to jump down. He caught that tiny little movement and then smiled as he held up two little things.
Shit.
I’d picked them up more from curiosity if anything, not even sure what they were for, and now I was about to find out. I took one step backwards, which stopped Tobias right where he was.
“These are nipple clamps.” He flexed the metal peg-like devices, making clear how they were to be used. “They’ll be quite useful when it’s just you and me, because they can keep nipple stimulation up while I’m busy…” —his eyes slid down my body— “doing other things. If I could make a suggestion, padded ones that are screw closed, not spring loaded, might be wiser for a beginner. That way, I can control how tightly they clamp down. What do you say?”
“Ahh…sure.”
He paused, then put the clamps back onto the tray before walking over to one of the drawers, seeming to know exactly where to find what he was looking for. What he returned with wasn’t any more reassuring.
“Put your finger out,” he ordered.
“What?”