“I don’t think I can do this.” The round, curvy blonde sitting on the couch next to her husband turned wide, panicked eyes on me.

I gave her a reassuring smile. “Come on, Cassie. It’s your husband, your best friend in the world, remember?”

Casting a glance at said best friend in the world, I hoped he’d learned to pick up on non-verbal cues, the way we discussed in our earlier sessions.

Martin Reed half-turned to his wife.

They’d been married for almost twenty years, and while it was clear they were still in love with each other, they were having problems sexually.

Which was why they’d come to me.

A sex specialist.

While what I offered was therapy, I sometimes employed methods the typical counselor would frown upon, and I’d wanted to set myself apart from them.

I’d always done things a little differently, job included.

Cassie cast me another helpless glance, then looked back at her husband. “I…um…well…” She took a deep breath and blurted out, “I think about things like…um…kinky stuff.”

Mentally, I sighed. Martin blinked, looking a little uncertain.

“Cassie, kink can cover a lot of things,” I said gently. “Maybe you should be more specific.”

She bit her lip and covered her face with her hands. “This is so embarrassing.”

“This is nothing to be embarrassed about, Cass.” Martin leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple.

Good man. He’d just taken my line from me.

Cassie sniffed and reached up, touching her husband’s cheek. Then she swallowed and nodded. “It’s just a fantasy, you know. I don’t even know if I’d like it. But I’ve always kind of wanted to…dominate.”

She whispered the last word like it was something secret and forbidden.

Personally, I wasn’t surprised.

She’d dropped her chin to her chest as she spoke and now she wasn’t looking at anybody.

I was about to ask another question when Martin reached out and touched her cheek. “You want a pair of leather boots and a whip, sweetheart? You just made my heart stop.”

She giggled a little and darted a look at him. Then she sighed and closed her eyes, slumping in the plush, padded couch in my office like she no longer had the energy to sit up. “Wow. It felt kind of good to get that out.”

“That’s part of why we do this,” I said briskly. Shifting my attention to Martin, I asked, “What about you?”

He squirmed a little, looking uncomfortable. “I’m a typical guy. I’ve thought about a three-way with my wife – her and some other woman. I don’t want any guys intruding on my time with the ladies.” Then, out of the blue, he laughed and said, “At least that seemed to be the kinkiest thought I’d ever had up until Cass went and said she wanted to dominate.”

He slid his wife a look and reached out, resting a hand on her thigh.

Another breakthrough.

I was quite pleased.

* * *

With only thirty minutes before my next and last appointment of the day, I spent it enjoying a quick lunch at my desk while catching up on email and reviewing forms for an upcoming consult.

The forms, the paperwork, all of that was one of the less enjoyable aspects of my job, but a necessity.

As I finished my meal, I went back to my notes before my next couple came in.

I’d been seeing the Colliers for some time, and I was hoping for another positive session. It was time to move to the next level with this couple.

They’d been improving on communicating and engaging in more intimate, affectionate behavior, and I could see them growing closer. Sometimes, it took a couple a lot longer to get to this point, so I was pleased with the progress.

As my break wound down, I cleared my desk and slid into the bathroom to clean up.

The Colliers were sometimes early. I didn’t want them catching me with a ham and cheese sandwich in my mouth.

* * *

Matt Collier was still uncomfortable with my roll.

It didn’t bother me.

Both he and his wife had fantasies that were more aligned than some of the couples who came to me, and Matt, the control freak that he was, would probably really get into the light bondage aspects of Amanda’s fantasy once he stopped focusing so much on me.

I was there as a guide, to help ease them through anything they might find awkward. As a middle-aged couple who’d been in love a long time, they’d fallen into a rut. Now, they’d all but stopped having sex altogether.

It was the lack of intimacy between them that had led to Amanda’s issues. She’d been having trouble climaxing for some time. That was what led them to me.

The longer it went on, the more it affected both of them. Matt for feeling like he wasn’t able to satisfy his wife, and Amanda for…well, obvious reasons.

Not being able to orgasm had to suck.

Matt shot me another look, and I gave him an encouraging smile. “It’s okay, Matt. This is a safe space.”

He shifted to where he couldn’t see me, and I saw some of the tension drain from his stiff shoulders.

Amanda was waiting behind the elegant privacy screen in the corner of my office. He took a deep breath and said her name. His eyes widened when she emerged from behind the privacy screen wearing a cute little French maid’s costume that she’d secretly bought but hadn’t ever worn before. Her cheeks were red, but she kept her attention focused on her husband.

As they fell into the scripted role-play I’d given them, I relaxed a little.

Clearly, they’d spent some time thinking about this session. It was entirely likely they wouldn’t need my guidance through the rest of our time together.

I never had sex with my clients, but getting involved, taking a more hands-on approach when needed was one thing that made my service different from the standard sex therapist.

While a lot of couples might eventually bridge that communication gap, many were nervous – too nervous – to take the next step and get involved in things like roleplaying, BDSM, and other various kinks.

I was there to help bridge that particular gap.

I remained silent as Matt ‘instructed’ Amanda – she was his new personal maid and she hadn’t done a good job cleaning his office. That was the set-up.

As she fluttered around ‘cleaning,’ Matt stumbled his way through the lines. A few times I saw his eyes coming my way.

I said nothing.

He became more relaxed and eventually fell into the ‘game.’

Amanda was already into it, and by the time it moved to the next step, Matt was getting onboard.

I acted on instinct when Matt went to guide Amanda over to the couch, where she was going to receive a spanking for some invisible object she’d broken.

“Let’s cut it right there.”

Amanda turned wide eyes to me. “Are we doing something wrong?”

“This is your fantasy,” I told her with a smile. “You can’t do it wrong. But I think…” I winked at her. “Maybe you two should finish this at home. You might be surprised.”

I had no issue watching one of my clients paddle his partner, but Amanda had been sitting kind of…well, high and dry for a while. If this was what broke through her wall as I suspected it might, I wanted her to share that moment with her husband.

Not her husband and me.