Wow. He had no trouble expressing his desires. In a way, his directness relieved me. It was honest. The only way I could operate anymore. He’d said he wanted me submissive when we fuck. The “when we fuck” was key to his request. It was also the only time I would consider such a thing. Yeah, I’d learned that lesson the hard way.

“I understand, Ivan,” I said, realizing he needed a gesture of consent from me. “I know what you’re asking of me.”

“And?” His expression didn’t change beyond the raising of an eyebrow and a slight tilt of his head.

“I think I need a little time to consider it,” I said softly, steadying myself to tell him the rest, “because it’s been a long time for me to be in this kind of… relationship with someone. I… I don’t know if I can—or if I want—to do it again.”

My words just seemed to make him more determined to convince me. I could see the wheels turning inside his pretty head as he switched on the persuasive charm and blasted me with it. “I’m sensing a dominant partner hurt you in the past, and did terrible damage to your trust, confidence, and most of all your self-worth. It ended badly, and while it’s not my place to ask you to share any part of that story with me, you can if you ever want to. I’d love to know the name of the fucking shit so I can make his life a sodding misery for daring to harm a hair on your lovely head,” he told me while touching a finger to my hair and tracing it firmly, and I might even say, possessively around my ear.

A smile threatened to break through at the thought of my lord Ivan protecting my honor by challenging Kent to a duel or something. He was now rubbing circles below my ear right against my neck, distracting me further. A deliciously sensual spot he’d discovered on my body. Ivan already knew where he should be touching me. How was this possible?

I was beyond understanding how it all would work. I didn’t even want to try to figure it out. Ivan didn’t seem to be worried a bit. He had enough confidence for the both of us. So, I let him plead his case. I leaned into his caress and allowed him to continue with his closing arguments most convincingly.

“I do know it’s not good for you to deny yourself something you need, though. It also doesn’t work that way. You cannot deny physical needs. You need the submission as much as I need the domination. And you’re going to seek it out with someone at some point, and I believe that someone should be me, of course.” He pressed his lips to the spot he’d been caressing with his thumb. “I’ll take care of you here. We have a pretty damn perfect sexual connection already even without the kink, you know?” He stroked a single finger down from my lips, over my chin, down my neck, and then kept going determinedly until he reached a breast, stopping at my nipple. He circled the tip of his finger over my sensitive flesh, teasing it to attention with the added pinch between his thumb and forefinger. I couldn’t help the intense jolt of pure pleasure that grabbed me any more than I could prevent the little moan that escaped my mouth. I could only observe the response of my body to his touch as my nipple budded up hard and tight under his fingers. “Am I right?”