“I can’t do those things you want… in the dungeon… but I could do the more normal stuff. I am attracted, and with you mostly leaving me alone these past few weeks, I feel safer with you than I did when I first came here.”

Leo shook his head. “I’d rather be celibate than in a vanilla relationship. I was preparing for a life of celibacy anyway before Emilio.” He didn’t voice that perhaps this was his penance. He’d wanted the priesthood to hide and subdue the things inside him that made him feel different. At the same time, he wasn’t going to live vanilla. It would be like Angelo settling down with a woman and having babies.

“I don’t do normal,” he said. “You’re either in it all the way with me, or not at all.”

“Aren’t we in it right now? Is the way you’re holding me in your bed platonic?”

If Caprice had said it, it would have been with an air of sarcasm. He would have wanted to smack the smart look off her face. But Faith was just being honest.

“When my family leaves, you’ll go back to your room in the east wing. I admit it’s dangerous getting this close, but we’ll both get over it and readjust when the holiday is behind us.”

The next thing she said was so quiet, he had to strain to hear it. “W-what if I gave consent?”

His breath stopped and his grip on her tightened. She couldn’t mean that. She didn’t trust that Caprice wasn’t a danger to her. She only wanted to keep him from going to the hotel.

He took a slow breath, not trusting his voice. “If you gave consent for what?”

“T-the things you like.”

“I think you should think about the consequences of that very long and hard. If you give me your consent, you’ll be treated as my slave, and I won’t allow you to take it back. You make that choice and you don’t get any more free choices in this house.” Her body tensed against his. Good. She needed to know she couldn’t tease him with this. He wouldn’t let her play with his emotions by trying to give him something only to take it back every time she became scared of it.

“W-would you be mean to me? I mean… would you be a lot different than you are now? Would I still be safe with you?”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’ll always be safe with me. I would expect you to obey me at all times. If you disobeyed, you would be punished. The dungeon is both for punishment and for play. I play rough, but I’m not mean.”

“I… um…”

Leo placed a finger against her lips. “Not tonight, Faith. You can tell me your choice after the family leaves. You need more than one day to think about it. Trust me.”

She lay against her pillow, the relief of being spared such a drastic decision for another week palpable. When she was settled in, Leo got up and began to get dressed. Now that he was thinking about it, he’d never get to sleep with a willing slut waiting for him at a hotel.