Twenty minutes—and several violations of state speed laws—later, we stumble into Hailey’s apartment, mouths fused and hands everywhere. After only a few feet, I lose patience with the pace of our progress toward the bedroom and reach down, hooking my hands behind Hailey’s knees and urging them around my waist. She moans her approval against my lips, locking her legs tight above my hips as I palm her bottom in my hands and make haste toward her bedroom. “I’m still on the pill and clean,” she gasps against my lips.

“Me, too,” I echo. “The clean part.”

She smiles against my lips, and I kiss her deeper, moaning as I squeeze her sweet ass tight, pinning her against my rock-hard length as I move.

I had a game plan for tonight, one that didn’t involve so much as a kiss, let alone carrying Hailey straight to bed—do not pass go, do not discuss her safe word in further detail—but now I realize how naïve it was to think I could plan this like any other scene.

This isn’t any other scene, and Hailey isn’t any other sub. She’s the woman I love, the woman I haven’t been able to stop thinking about, dreaming about, for months. I’ve jerked off to memories of being buried inside her more times than I can count, each release ending with a sharp wave of pain rushing in fast behind the pleasure as reality came crashing in, reminding me that I was never going to have Hailey in my bed again.

But here she is, stretching out in front of me on top of her pale blue and green quilt, her skin golden in the glow from the exposed bulbs strung across the ceiling. The lighting makes her bed look like a table at a trendy restaurant, and I intend to make the most of scoring this oh-so-coveted seat.

I note the slats in her headboard and don’t hesitate to order, “Arms over your head, wrists crossed.”

“Yes, sir.” Hailey lifts her arms without missing a beat, her eager obedience making my cock pulse against my fly. I’m desperate to be out of my clothes and skin-to-skin with her, but I’m determined to take this slow. I want to drive Hailey crazy, make her beg for me before I grant her the relief we’re both so desperate for. I want to give her a taste of what obedience and delayed satisfaction can do for her if she willing to put herself in my hands.

“Your safe word is ninja,” I remind her. “Do you still have those scarves you used to wear as belts a few years ago?”

“The silk ones?” She nods. “Yes, sir. In my closet. On the hooks to the right.”

“Perfect.” I fetch a silk scarf from the collection in Hailey’s closet and cross back to the bed, holding her hooded gaze as I deftly bind her wrists to each other before securing them to the headboard. “If you want me to stop or unbind you, you use your safe word, not ‘no’ or ‘stop.’ Do you understand?”

“Why?” she asks in a soft voice, her eyes going wide.

“Because sometimes ‘no’ and ‘stop’ are part of the game, Curious,” I say, reaching for the top button on her blouse and slowing slipping it through the hole. “You might find yourself screaming ‘no’ when you really mean ‘yes’ or ‘stop’ when you really mean ‘go.’” I open another button, balls growing heavier as the white lace of her bra comes into view. “When we agree to suspend the usual rules, it opens the door to different kinds of play and for words to have multiple meanings.”

“All right, sir,” she says, teeth digging into her kiss-swollen bottom lip as I finish unbuttoning her shirt and part the fabric, revealing her taut stomach and the tight nipples pressing against the lace of her bra. “But I’m not sure I’m going to be into that kind of play. I like no to mean no.”

“Understandable, and there’s no pressure to do anything that doesn’t feel right. You will always be able to put on the brakes, whenever you want. But when we’re together like this ninja is your ‘no,’ Hailey. Do you understand?”

She nods, shivering as I mold my hands to her ribs beneath her breasts, relishing the bliss of being able to touch her like this again. Like she’s mine.

“Cold?” I ask, voice husky.

She shakes her head and whispers, “No again, sir.”

“Scared?” I slide my thumbs beneath her bra, teasing back and forth across the sinfully soft skin on the underside of her breasts.

She shakes her head again.

“Then what are you feeling, Cat? Tell me how you feel.”

“Excited. Electric,” she says, adding in a husky voice that slays me, “Like I can’t wait for you to touch me.”

“Touch you where?”

“Everywhere.” She sighs as I bend, pressing a kiss to her chest, right above her pounding heart. “Please, Will, touch me everywhere.”

Her words snap something inside of me, severing the tether on the control I usually take for granted when I’m calling the shots in the bedroom, and before I’ve made the conscious decision to take things to the next level, I’ve shoved her bra under her armpits, baring her sweet, perfect tits. This is what she does to me, this woman. She drives me crazy, which is going to make topping her even more of a challenge, more of a pleasure.

I make love to her breasts with my mouth, circling each tight nipple with my tongue, dragging my teeth across the sensitive underside of her fullness, sucking and biting until she’s squirming beneath me, panting as she writhes against her bonds.

“Oh God, please.” She loops one leg around my waist, using her considerable strength to attempt to pull me closer. “Please, sir, I want you so much.”

“All things in good time, baby,” I promise, holding strong and holding back, making sure no part of me touches the needy place between her thighs. “But first, a brief refresher course on what we learned tonight. Lie flat on the bed and close your eyes.”

After the briefest hesitation, her lashes flutter closed, and her shapely leg lengthens back onto the increasingly rumpled quilt.

As soon as she’s still, I sit back between her spread legs, admiring how beautiful she looks with her shirt open, her breasts swollen from my mouth, and her arms bound over her head. “Now I want you to tell me, how close are you to disobeying an order? On a scale from one to five, one being not at all tempted to disobey and five being ready to rumble for what you want.”

“A one.” Her back arching, she adds, “I feel like I’m on fire with wanting you, but I don’t want to break the rules.”

“Good.” I reach down, tracing my fingers slowly down between her breasts with their tightly puckered tips. “And why don’t you want to break the rules?”

“Because I trust you.”

“Is that all?” I circle her navel, feeling the pulse of her heart beneath my fingertips as her belly flutters.

“And because I like it,” she whispers, trapping her bottom lip between her teeth in a way that makes me crazy. “I like doing what I’m told, not having to make any of the decisions, just doing what you tell me to do. It makes me…”

“It makes you what, baby? Tell me.”

“It makes me wet. So wet,” she says, sending a fresh rush of desire rocketing through my body until it screams for me to strip off her jeans and find out just how wet my girl is. For me to spread her thighs wide and sink deep into her slick heat and fuck her with all the passion I’ve been keeping bottled up tight for so long.

Instead, I grit my jaw and force my touch to remain whisper-soft as I return my attention to her nipples, circling her tight tips with my thumbs. “I love making you wet, sweetheart, but I don’t just want you wet tonight. I want you dripping. By the time I get you down to your panties I want them to be soaking wet. Do you understand?”

She whimpers softly, her throat working as she nods. “Yes, sir.”

“And so I want to try something different. You can open your eyes.” I wait for her lashes to sweep up and her lust-fogged gaze to focus before I reach into my front pocket, pulling out the silver buds I brought to share with her and holding them up to the light. “I was going to leave these here as a gift for you when I left tonight. I wanted to give you time to look them over, try them on, see what you thought about adding them into our lesson plan. But now that I have you here, naked and at my mercy, I don’t want to wait. Do you know what these are?”

Heat flickers in her eyes. “Nipple clamps?”

I nod. “Have you ever played with clamps before?” I ask, fighting to keep my voice calm and even. I know there’s an excellent chance that Hailey’s slept with someone else in the past year, but I can’t afford to let ex-boyfriend Will get code-red, stab-a-fucker jealous about that. As her instructor in the art of pleasure and pain, I need to know if she understands what to expect as I tighten the clamps—that’s all.

But I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I’m relieved as hell when she shakes her head. “No, but I’ve read about them. And I was…curious.”

“Curious Cat,” I murmur as I roll one of her nipples between my fingers and thumb. “Are you curious enough to skip ahead a few lessons tonight?”

She nods again, her lips parting on a gasp as I pinch her nipple tight.

“Just remember, if this gets too intense, you have your safe word.”

“I’m not afraid,” she says. Defiance sparks in her eyes, making my blood pump even faster, hotter.

“Famous last words, baby.” I lean down, capturing her swollen tip in my mouth, sucking her hard and deep. Her sigh turns to a groan as she arches closer, whimpering as I tease her sensitive flesh between my teeth. I wait until her hips are lifting off the bed, seeking relief, before I bring the first clamp to her slick flesh and trap her nipple between the textured rubber pads. “Hips down and lie still,” I order, tightening the clamp as I rock my thigh between hers, grinding against her clit.

A sound of relief bursts from deep in her chest, only to become a growl of frustration as I put an end to the friction. My lips curve as I shift onto the mattress on her left side and press a gentle kiss to her unadorned nipple. I can’t wait to introduce her to the sweet torture of delayed gratification, to teach her how swiftly relief can become pain and pain can become unimaginable pleasure.

I agreed to teach Hailey because I couldn’t stomach the idea of another man’s hands on her. I never imagined it would be this insanely satisfying to guide her first steps into the dark garden. But she’s a natural, taking to submission like she was born to blossom under a Dominant’s care.

I’m simultaneously thrilled and enraged that I never dared to take her in hand like this before.

How could I have missed the signs? How could I have so vastly underestimated her strength, passion, and imagination? How in God’s name did I get here—teaching the woman I love how to submit for another man?

The thought sends a wave of regret through me so strong I can’t keep the words filling my head from my lips. “I wish it was me, Curious. I wish I was the man you’re so eager to please.” I lift my head, catching her gaze in the dim light, surprised to see tears shining in her eyes.

“Of course it’s you,” she whispers, making my heart skip a beat. “I heard you on the roof,” she continues, her breath hitching as she adds, “Last September, when you were talking to that man. Sterling. I heard you telling him about our vanilla sex life and all the rest of it, and I just…fell apart. I felt like I would never be enough for you.”

My eyebrows shoot up, but after a moment of consideration, it all clicks into place. This is the missing piece, the part of the story I couldn’t make sense of before. This is why Hailey pushed me away.

And this is why she went looking for a teacher—because she wants to try to make this work, make us work.

Because she wants me back as much as I want her.

The knowledge melts the walls around my heart so fast it’s all I can do not to kiss her senseless. To surge over her, spread her legs, and glide inside her right this fucking second. I need to be with her again, to show her how much I love her, to prove to her with every thrust into her sweetness that she has always been and will always be everything I want and everything I need.

But in this moment, I’m still Will the teacher, and I have a responsibility to my student to hold the safe space she was promised when I first tied her to this bed.

“Thank you for telling me.” I press a soft kiss to the curve of her beautiful breast. “I can’t wait to talk more about this, but first we’re going to finish the lesson. Unless you need to use your safe word?”

She blinks faster, clearly confused, but after a moment she shakes her head. “No, sir, I don’t need to use my safe word.”

“Good.” I roll her nipple between my fingers, making her gasp as I slip the second clamp into place. “And what about these lessons?” I ask as I attach the chain in my other pocket to first one clamp and then the other, watching Hailey watch me with hooded eyes. “Are you still curious, Curious?”

This time she doesn’t hesitate before nodding. “Yes, sir. I’m still curious. I’m especially curious about what that chain is for.”

“It’s for this, sweetheart.” I give the chain a gentle pull, tugging on her bound nipples the barest bit, but the effect is everything I hoped for and more.

Hailey gasps, her body bowing off the bed. When I release the pressure, she sags back onto the mattress with a moan that’s music to my ears.

“You like that?” I whisper in her ear, cock swelling even harder, thicker as she whispers, “Yes, sir. So much, sir.”

“Then I think you’ll like what comes next.” I reach down, popping the button at the top of her jeans, loving the way she shivers beneath me as I drag her jeans down her legs. Her panties come next, and then I’m between her legs, spreading her strong, silky soft thighs and settling in to worship the sweet pussy I’ve missed so fucking much.

To worship, and also to torture, because that’s what I’m here for. To teach her about pleasure and pain and the way they can bleed into each other to make her come so hard she’ll never forget this lesson, this moment, or who was between her legs when she learned the things a Dominant man can make her feel. I don’t know where Hailey and I go from here, but I know that I want to rock her world.

I start slowly, pressing a kiss to one thigh and then the other before guiding her legs wider, wider, until she’s completely exposed to me and every slick fold of her wet pussy is mine to admire, to devour.

“Beautiful,” I murmur before teasing my tongue up one side of her swollen sex and down the other, carefully avoiding her clit as I get her hotter, wetter. I wait until her hips are urgently lifting toward my mouth, seeking a more intimate connection before I bring one hand to her entrance and capture the chain with the other.

Then, at the moment I tug the chain, I push two fingers into her heat, penetrating her to my first knuckle. The sound she makes—part gasp, part groan, and all feverishly aroused woman—is enough to make my dick throb painfully between my legs, but I don’t rush. I tug again and thrust deeper, tug and thrust, tug and thrust, introducing my gorgeous girl to the world of pleasure-pain while she continues to make sexy, turned-on sounds that assure me she’s loving every minute of what I’m doing to her body.

Her pussy tells me, too.

She’s so wet, so hot. It isn’t long before my fingers are dripping with her juices and the salty-sweet smell of her arousal is swirling through my head and I’m fighting a losing battle with my own self-control.

I want to be inside her so desperately I’m about to shatter a molar, but I need her to come first. I drive my fingers deeper, adding a third when Hailey bucks into my hand, silently begging me to move faster. So I do, fucking her hard and fast with my hand as I hold the chain tight, applying constant pressure to her bound nipples.

She cries out in pain, but only a second later, the sound becomes a shout of triumph as she tumbles over, coming so hard I can feel her inner walls convulsing around my fingers. And it is as hot as any fantasy I’ve ever had of Hailey under my control—hotter, because she’s hotter, wilder, abandoning herself to the experience with a bravery that brings me to my knees.

“Oh God, Will. Oh God, please, inside me,” she begs as the waves begin to abate. “Oh please, inside me, please.”

“Please, sir,” I remind her in a rough voice, but I’m already tugging at my belt and ripping open my pants. A second later I’m over her, my lips fused to hers as I gently detach the clamps. I catch her cries of pleasure-pain in my mouth, swallowing them as I swirl my tongue against hers.

The moment I come up for air, she gasps, “Please, sir. Please.”

And because I can deny her nothing, not when she’s like this, I shove my jeans and boxers down around my thighs and position myself at her entrance. And even though I’m so desperate to be inside her that my hand is shaking and my heart is thundering in my ears, I pause for a beat.

Another.

And then just one more.

Because I want to remember. I want to tattoo the way it feels to glide inside her on my memory, to bottle up this moment I wasn’t sure would ever come again so I can drink deep from it on nights when she’s far away from me and all I want is her. All I want is this. All I want is her taste in my mouth and her body hot and eager against mine and her sweet voice calling out my name as I push oh so deep, so fucking deep.

“Yes, oh, yes,” she cries out, arching beneath me, taking me even deeper.

And then there is nothing but her heat and her fire and the way she takes me to all the places I want to be, to something sweeter than paradise because it belongs only to Hailey and me. To us together. It is a place we created with love and five years of devotion to bringing each other pleasure.

But this time is special. Sharper, edgier, but still overflowing with emotion, and by the time she comes a second time, I can’t stop myself from following her over. I come hard, my balls clutching between my legs as I empty myself into her pulsing heat.

After, once I’ve finally caught my breath, I push myself up on my forearms, loosening the scarf binding her wrists.

“Thank you, sir,” Hailey says, rolling her hands in circles.

“Of course, Curious,” I say, gazing down into her flushed face as I add, “Ninja,” in a softer voice.

Her lashes flutter, and her lips curve in a lazy smile. “I thought that was my safe word.”

“It is, but I need to borrow it. I need to talk to Hailey my ex, not Hailey my student,” I say, pushing on when she nods. “I’m sorry. I hate that you overheard something that made you feel like you weren’t enough for me. You’re more than enough, and you always have been. I always felt honored and privileged to be the man in your bed, baby, no matter what we did or didn’t do together.”

Hailey swallows, and her tongue slips out to dampen her lips, but she doesn’t say a word, not a word, for so long I feel compelled to add, “But you were perfect tonight. A natural. And I’m happy to keep teaching you if that’s what you want.”

“I want,” she says with a surety that goes straight to my cock. “The fact that you were the one who answered my ad, it just seems…meant to be. And I really want to know, Will. If I can be what you want me to be. And if I can’t…” She glances away, severing the intimate eye contact. “Well, I want to know that, too.”

I want to tell her that all I want is her—fuck the lessons, fuck everything but her and me and how perfect it is to be back in bed with her—but I can tell that she’s serious. She truly wants to test her boundaries, to open her mind, to see if we can work this way as well as we did in all the other ways.

So I press a kiss to her forehead and promise, “Then I will be the very best teacher I can be.”

And I mean it, even though it’s going to be hard as hell not to fall back into loving her so fiercely that I can’t tell where she ends and I begin, so deeply that it will feel like a vital organ is being ripped out of me if she decides submission isn’t for her, after all.

But if that happens, I’ll just have to convince her that we don’t need the game. That all we need is each other.

It’s true. Right now, with her gaze locked on mine and her fingers skimming up and down my back as my cock thickens inside her, I lack for nothing.

Though, I can’t deny I enjoyed our first lesson. Enjoyed it a hell of a lot.

“Ready for a chance to earn some bonus points for lesson one?” I ask, arching a teasing brow.

She smiles that beautiful, fearless grin that won my heart on our very first date, when she swore to try any sushi roll I had the guts to order, even the one that was served still squirming on the plate.

“Then let me teach you what these clamps can do to your pussy, Miss Marks,” I murmur, laughing as her eyes go wide. “Don’t worry,” I assure her. “I’ll be gentle. At least at first…”

“Well, that’s reassuring, sir,” she says, slipping back into the game with an ease that makes me hope this is only the first night of many.

And that these aren’t just lessons, but a new beginning for me and this woman I love beyond all measure.