“I don’t expect you to.” She sat up straighter on the stool, her hands folded neatly in her lap. She looked like a student preparing for a lecture. “But I need to know exactly what that means.”

Appreciating her directness, he nodded. “It means if we’re going to go there—if I’m going to take you there—then we can’t just be play partners. For this kind of play, the level of trust that’s required, I need a committed relationship.”

Her eyes went wide, surprise clear in the gold-flecked hazel, and her mouth parted on a soundless oh.

“That means we’re romantically and sexually exclusive,” he continued. “Neither of us dates other people, neither of us plays with other people. It’s all or nothing, fofa.”

“All or nothing,” she echoed.

He nodded, his heart in his throat. “If that’s not something you can agree to, then I’m sorry, but we can’t do this.”

He wanted to get his hands on her more than he wanted his next breath, but on this point, he had to stand firm. Aside from the practical reasons—practicing consensual non-consent required a level of trust and communication that was hard to do with casual arrangements—he’d loved her for too long to do this by half measures.

He was finally getting his chance, and he wasn’t holding back.

“For how long?” she asked, eyes still wide.

The word forever leapt to his tongue, and he swallowed it back. She wasn’t ready to hear that, and frankly, he wasn’t ready to say it. “For as long as we both want.”

“Do you…would I live here?”

“I’d prefer it,” he said calmly while his heartbeat thudded in his ears. “But that’s up to you. If you’d be more comfortable in your own place, that’s okay, too.”

“My stuff is in your bonus space instead of in the basement.”

The mild accusation in her tone made him want to smile. “I wanted you to have access to it while you were here. And I already told you that you could stay as long as you wanted.”

“As your roommate?”

“It’s an option,” he said, his heart dropping at the thought of her being so close, and yet so far away.

“But if we decide to play together, we wouldn’t be roommates, would we?”

He held her gaze, noted the caution there with approval. He’d have been concerned if she wasn’t wary. “No, we wouldn’t. Roommates have boundaries that wouldn’t be feasible for a relationship that includes CNC.”

“But you’re not saying no boundaries, right?”

He couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “No. That wouldn’t be healthy, either.”

“Whew.” She sagged against the counter, a wide smile curving her lips. “I was about to run for the door.”