After arriving at Kinkee Sensation Studio, my first order of business was to greet Cassidy Paige. She was one of the co-owners of the studio, along with Lila Paige, and usually available at the front desk in the mornings.

"Mister Fallow," she greeted cheerfully, her southern accent as thick as a bowl of well-made banana pudding. "I'm glad to see you made it in so early."

"Ms. Paige, have I ever been late for an appointment?" I asked, holding one hand over my heart.

"Not yet. But some folks set you up and promise to be reliable, then only end up disappointing you," she answered sweetly. "Glad to see that isn't you, though, sugar."

I would like to argue with her about people's tendency to disappoint, but that wasn't really an argument that my heart was into at the moment.

"I know I have the early morning appointment with the first timer," I said, as I went to go stand by the desk. "Do I have any other appointments booked after that one?"

I shifted the duffle bag from one shoulder to the other while Cassidy checked the schedule. As I glanced over the waiting room area, I couldn't help but feel proud of the place that I had chosen to work. Some people might have a predisposed negative view of my profession as a dom, but simply walking into the front waiting room should have gotten rid of at least some of those ideas. The waiting room was a variety of cool colors: blues, greens, and pale beige sofas on shiny wooden floors spoke of the kind of professionalism that Kinkee Sensation Studio prided itself for maintaining.

It was a much classier image than the one I had been a part of at my old job as a corporate call center director. As much as I had prided myself for being able to put "director" on my resume, the place had been a hole in the wall between two department stores, and the outdated decor had certainly been indicative of the fact that professionalism wasn't high on their list of priorities.

The fact that they fired me back when I was getting ready to marry another man was also high on their list of reasons why they weren't professional.

"Ah, yes. It looks like you have two afternoon appointments as well," Cassidy said. "Both are after lunch, though, so you'll have plenty of time to wind down from your session with the first timer."

Cassidy gave me a sympathetic look and I laughed softly. Most of the doms weren't crazy about having to do sessions with first timers. I didn't mind them. It kept me on my toes. Besides, it had only been two years ago that Lila had taken me in under her wing and showed me the ropes.

"It's not so bad, Ms. Paige," I argued. "Some of them can be very enthusiastic. That can make for a fun time."

Cassidy shook her head, but didn't argue with me.

"I hope your morning is a fun one," she said. "And I'm legally obligated to remind you to make sure that your parlor is in good shape. Cleanliness is next to godliness."

"Always," I said cheerfully.

I gave Cassidy a mock salute before I headed off into the parlor. Each dom had their own, and they were a pretty decent size to accommodate the comfort of both clients and doms. I'd had clients tell me in the past that Kinkee Sensation Studio easily had the largest and most comfortable parlors. I hadn't spent any time in any parlors or professional dom service places beyond Kinkee Sensation Studio, so I had to take their word for it.

Once I was in the parlor, I took out the disinfectant wipes and began to wipe off the table. I did so after every session anyway, but this was just a precautionary measure. "Cleanliness is next to godliness" may be what North Carolina mothers said on a regular basis to get their unruly children to clean their rooms, but it was also a guideline that Kinkee Sensation Studio believed in with all of their heart.

It was another way that Kinkee Sensation Studio was different from my last job, if I was being honest.

Other than safety and cleanliness, it was important to me to get everything nicely organized. Especially for first timers, having a clean studio was very important to putting clients at ease. First timers needed to be assured that this was different from visiting a brothel, and that nobody was going to take advantage of their trust. I needed to put forward the appearance of a professional, every bit as much as the waiting room did. In fact, it was even more important that I put forward the appearance of a professional and not some seedy alpha looking to take advantage of a submissive omega.

After making sure that the area was clean, I began to unpack my duffle bag. I laid the restraints carefully out on the table, and below them I placed the pinwheel and feather teasers. The final row I reserved for the paddle, riding crop, and ruler.

I was just placing the ruler when I heard the hesitant knock at the door. I grinned to myself, because they didn't have to knock. If I was "busy" with another client or for some other reason, there is no way that Cassidy or Lila would have let them past the front door. Still, I went to the door myself and opened it.

The guy was a couple of inches shorter than me, and covered head to toe in a hoodie, sweatpants, and sunglasses. It was apparent, despite the fact that the man was dressed in slouchy clothes, that he worked out. There was serious muscle definition underneath that hoodie and sweatpants.

"Hello and welcome to Kinkee Sensation Studios. My name is Samuel, and I'll be your Dom today. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. We expect the first time to be a learning experience," I said by way of greeting.

It was my standard greeting, but something in my words made his head snap up. He'd been staring at his shoes, but at my greeting, he jerked his entire body to attention, and in the process, his glasses fell off of his face.

It was my turn to look surprised, because there in front of me was the surprised and horrified dark blue eyes of my ex.

As Eric slid his hoodie down off of his head, the light brown hair that he'd once worn in a ponytail was revealed to be styled in an undercut with a generous portion of very grabbable hair on top. When I'd last seen him, he'd been completely clean shaven, but now there was the thinnest trace of facial hair along his jawline and above his upper lip. It was too thick to be a five o'clock shadow, but not thick enough to be a goatee.

Those thick, dark eyebrows still framed his eyes. They'd always been so expressive, and they were definitely helping to convey the look of surprise mingled with horror that was so prevalent in Eric's eyes.

"Samuel – I..." Eric trailed off, and it would have been kind to interrupt him, but I didn't. "I – I had no idea you worked here."

Eric's words were seeped with embarrassment. Why would he be embarrassed? Did he think that I believed him to be here on purpose?

That was a silly idea.

"I didn't know this was your kind of fun," I managed to say.

I was ready to marry you, I thought, and I had no idea that you were into being submissive.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room, and I suppose that my statements probably contributed towards it.

With a sigh, I shook my head and tried to find the words to express that there had been some sort of misunderstanding.

"Look. Just." I took another deep breath and tried again. "Let me talk to Lila or Cassidy and see if there's been a mistake. If this is what you're wanting, then give me a minute and I'll see what I can work out."

I walked back out into the waiting room and quickly found Lila at the desk. Her dark black hair was pulled into a carefree ponytail and she looked very much as though she had no idea that she had just ruined my entire day.

"Ms. Paige, with all due respect, what the hell?"

Lila looked up from her computer and frowned at me in surprise. I did mention that professionalism was a very important aspect of our business, didn't I? Admittedly, I wasn't acting very professional.

"Is there a problem with your new client?" she asked.

I choked back a laugh.

"You might say that! He's my ex. You scheduled an appointment with my ex."

Lila stared at me for a minute then shrugged. "I don't see the problem. You had an open appointment and the guy wanted in. I didn't ask for his entire dating history before booking him. Is there going to be a problem or can you be professional about this?"

Could I be professional about it?

That was a good question. Eric and I had parted on really bad terms – if you could call him ditching without so much as a goodbye "parting" - but I had been doing this for almost two years. I knew how to conduct myself as a professional dom, and my training included handling a variety of "difficult" clients. Why should that have changed, just because the "difficult" client was now my ex?

Walking back into the parlor, I straightened my shoulders and tried to regain my composure. As I walked in, Eric turned around and stepped forward, as though he was going to leave.

I put my arm up on the door, blocking him.

"Look, if you want to leave, that's your right. But you don't have to. You wanted this, didn't you, Eric? If this is something you wanted, then let's sit down and discuss your hard limits. If this is something you want to explore, then I might be your best chance at exploring it. We know each other. We were almost married. You can trust me better than anyone else in this facility, and you know that."

I paused and lowered my arm. Now that I had said what I needed to say, I wouldn't keep him from leaving, if that was what he wanted to do.

Eric looked over my shoulder, out into the corridor leading to the waiting room. He rubbed the thin line of facial hair that ran along his jawline and I fought down the ache to do the same to him.

If we were going to do this, it was going to be professional all the way.

After Eric got done glaring at the hallway, he turned his glare to me. I couldn't tell what he was thinking – if I had been better at reading his mind, maybe he wouldn't have ditched me two years ago. But after staring at my face impassively for a few minutes, he took a step back into the room.

"I do want to do this," Eric said quietly. "And I'm pretty sure the manual says you are supposed to ask me about my soft limits, too."

Despite the anxiousness churning in my gut, I let myself smile.

"I'm glad you read the manual," I said as I closed the door. "If you did, you should know that the first question I generally ask clients is why exactly you are here."

Eric frowned and I could feel the hesitation even before it drew out into an uncomfortable silence.

"Look," I said, trying to sound both professional and polite. "There are reasons for these questions. If you don't feel comfortable answering them, then you should probably find someone else."

"No, I'm comfortable," he said quickly – a bit too quickly to be truthful, in my opinion, but I let it slide for the moment. "It's just that I'm not sure how to explain it. It's something I've always – that I've wanted to try for a while."

Always? I could feel my own brows raising in disbelief, and I forced myself not to react.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to try something that you haven't had the opportunity to do so before," I answered, because it was a stock answer that I gave all of my new clients. "What made you want to go ahead and try it today?"

Eric chewed his bottom lip for a moment. "I have a lot of stress in my life these days," he said finally. "You know... I'm up for my fourth tournament soon."

I didn't think about the muscles that were underneath those baggy clothes, because I was trying desperately to be professional. I also tried not to think about all of the crunches and sweaty workouts that used to greet me when I'd come home from work and Eric had been preparing for an MMA match.

Nodding, I agreed with his premise out loud. "Many of our clients find our services to be very helpful in letting go of some of that stress. That's what you're here for, then?"

Eric nodded. "That's it exactly, yeah. I need some way to let go."

"You've given some thoughts about your limits?" I asked. "I have set out a few items here on the table for you to review. If there are other things you are interested in, we could discuss them for future sessions."

Eric took his time reviewing the objects I had laid out for him. That was usually a sign of someone who had made an impulsive choice to sign up for Kinkee Sensation Studio, yet Eric had said that he'd been wanting to try this for a long time. That was an interesting contrast in what was true, and I mulled over what the contrast said about Eric's unspoken truths as he continued to look at materials.

After a moment, he said, "My hard nos are the ruler and the riding crop. For now. I mean, if that's something I think I want to change later, I can, right?"

I nodded. "Your ability to dictate what you are comfortable doing is always in your hands," I answered. "You can always add and subtract from the hard no column, as well as from the kinks you enjoy list."

Eric nodded absently. That was in the manual, so it wasn't a surprise that Eric merely needed to hear me say it again. The verbal confirmation was enough for many clients.

"My other hard nos are no blood, breath, or knife play," Eric said slowly. "I also don't want anything that will leave a permanent scar – especially not on my face."

"You get hit enough that I don't think anyone would notice," I blurted, which admittedly wasn't very professional.

When Eric turned to look at me with a glare of disapproval, I shrugged my shoulders. "Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood. But that was unprofessional of me. No scars. Would you prefer me to stay away from the face entirely?"

"Yes," Eric said simply.

"Is there anything that you would definitely like to try?" I asked, because the enthusiastic "yes" was just as important as a firm no.

"The pinwheel and the feathers," he said after a moment of deliberation. "Oh, and the restraints. I'm not sure.. which one would you recommend for the first time?"

I closed my eyes and thought about baseball to keep my hormones in check. The session was supposed to be about an alpha being the best dom he could be, not about an alpha wanting to do a variety of dirty things to his omega sub.

"The satin ties and silken ribbons," I answered. "Those allow you to be bound, but aren't as formal. A lot of first timers really enjoy that, and it allows them to transition into the cuffs and ropes later on, if they want."

Eric nodded. "Let's go with the ties, then," he said. "Are we ready to start?"

"Safe words," I reminded gently, and I tried not to think about how much Eric hadn't changed at all from the impulsive man that I had once known. "Do you have a safe word you'd like to use? Or do you want to use the traffic light system?"

"Oh, right. I read about that. Green means go ahead, yellow means I'm not sure, and red means stop, right?"

"Mostly," I agreed. "Except yellow can also mean slow down. If a sensation is something you want, but it's overwhelming. For example, if the feathers get to be too fast, yellow will let me slow down so you can figure out if you are actually enjoying the sensation or simply enjoying getting overwhelmed."

Eric tilted his head. "So, I should treat the yellow the same way you used to treat the yellow traffic light?"

I allowed a small laugh to escape as I shook my head. "Not at all. You should treat it with much greater care," I answered. "Now if you're ready, and don't have any other questions, you'll have to strip down to your underwear so we can get started."

I watched as Eric took a deep breath and began to remove his shirt.

He was just as handsome as I remembered, if not more so, because time had certainly been kind to him. The three championships that he'd won in the years that we had been broken up had given him definite bulk that had been missing before, and it was difficult to keep in mind that the beautiful man before me had left me. The well-sculpted muscles were better defined than the ones that I had spent nights tracing as we’d laid beneath the sheets together.

Baseball, I reminded myself as I picked up the satin ties. That's what I needed to focus on in order to get through this session.