“Good,” he said approvingly. “You should run from anyone who thinks you shouldn’t have any boundaries.”

“Including you?” she teased.

“Including me.”

“Noted,” she said, still smiling. “So, what now?”

It was a good question. He eyed her for a moment, considering. She was a physical therapist, and he knew she often worked weekends or odd hours when assigned to the hospital rotation. “What’s your work schedule like this week?”

“I’m in the clinic this month, so standard office hours. Monday through Friday, eight to five.”

“No weekends?”

“No. Why?”

“I’m in the office for meetings tomorrow,” he mused, ignoring the question. “Then I fly out to a job site in Oklahoma City. I get back on Friday morning.”

“You’ll be gone all week?”

The dismay in her expression made him smile. “I propose we take the week to negotiate.”

“How are we supposed to do that if I’m here and you’re in Oklahoma?”

“Email,” he told her. “I’ve got a questionnaire I’ll send you.”

“I already have a yes/no/maybe list,” she began.

He shook his head. “This is a list of questions specific to CNC. I want to know about the scenes you’ve done already, and the ones you want to do. I want to know how you want to play those scenes, how you want them to make you feel. There are a lot of different ways to do this, and I want us on the same page.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“We’ll talk about other things, too. I’m going to want some level of D/s for our time together, so think about what kind of boundaries you want to set for that. I’ll do the same.”

“You want to talk all of this out via email?” She frowned. “Couldn’t we just hash it out over dinner or something?”

He shook his head. “I want you to really think about the questions and take your time answering them. If it takes all week to do that, fine. If it takes two weeks to do that, that’s also fine.”

“It will not take two weeks,” she assured him, an edge in her voice that made him grin.

“On Friday, when I get back, we’ll go out for dinner and talk it through. Wherever we are in the negotiation process.”

She chewed her lip for a moment, then nodded. “Okay, I can do that.”

“Good. In the meantime, no orgasms.”

Her jaw dropped. “What?”

“No orgasms,” he repeated, amused to see dismay and outrage leap into her eyes. “Is there a problem?”

“Yes!”

“What is it?”

Her mouth worked, but no sound came out. Finally, she said, “I’m not going to fuck someone else, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m not,” he said calmly.

“Then…why?”