“It’s more than that. Robert...he takes such good care of me. So protective. I swear he’d lay down his jacket over mud puddles I have to cross if I’d let him. Just once in a while, I wish he wasn’t so protective of me. He loves me like a wife, yes. But sometimes he treats me like a child.”

“I have heard this story before,” The Mistress said, smiling.

“And maybe if he treated me like he did Toni, if he saw me like he saw her...I don’t know. I just want to try. I want to be a woman to him—a whole woman. A woman he’s not afraid to treat like a woman, and not like his fragile blind wife who needs to be saved.”

“Robert, are you hearing all of this?” The Mistress asked, turning her attention to him.

Robert looked up at the ceiling. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Good man. Is any of this sinking in? Or at the very least, giving you a semi?”

“Yes, Mistress.” He rubbed his face and laughed. “I want to make her happy.”

“It can’t just be about her, though. You have to want to do this. You have to want to top her. You can’t just go through the motions or she’ll know it. You enjoyed what you did with Toni, right?”

Robert glanced at Cara, who clearly sensed his diffidence to answer even though she couldn’t see it.

“It’s all right.” Cara found Robert’s hand and squeezed it. “I wasn’t a virgin when we met. I had boyfriends I loved being with before you. You’re allowed to have fond memories of ex-girlfriends.”

Robert raised Cara’s hand and kissed it.

“I wouldn’t trade a thousand nights with Toni for five minutes with you, my love.” He kissed her hand once more. “But yes, I loved topping Toni in the beginning. She loved pain, loved being used and abused. The sex was never rough enough for her. At first it’s a sexy challenge. But then it got old. I love playing Dom but not every night.”

“I don’t want every night, either,” Cara said. “I love our sex life. But I do want to do this tonight. And if we both enjoy it maybe again in a week or two.”

“Do you want some help here?” The Mistress offered. The more they kept talking, the greater the risk Robert would chicken out. They needed to get started doing. “I can play wingman. The first scene’s always the hardest. I’ve got floggers with me, some cuffs and stuff. We can do this together.”

Robert put his hand on Cara’s shoulder. “Would you be comfortable with The Mistress watching and helping?”

“She’ll keep her clothes on, won’t she?” Cara asked Robert.

“I’m already naked,” The Mistress said. “Bedroom, perverts. Now. I have an idea.”

“I’m going to admit to being terrified by your idea,” Robert said as he ushered The Mistress and Cara into the master bedroom. Master bedroom was a perfect name for the room. Perhaps Robert hadn’t consciously decorated his bedroom to look like a dungeon, but it certainly gave off a darkly erotic air. The king-size bed was draped in black-and-white linens. The four-poster bed frame was constructed of sturdy metal bars tailor-made for restraining a willing submissive. The walls were painted a deep red. Low leather chairs sat under the windows that overlooked the streets. The Mistress couldn’t help but picture a naked, helpless Cara with her legs draped over each chair arm as her owner violated her with his fingers and mouth as the whole city watched.