Patience was not Crispin’s strength but Gwen was worth thewait. A painful half-hour later, she finally emerged, looking asnervous as a virgin in a brothel. Sitting on the edge of the bed,he tried hard not to laugh at the trepidation on her face.Not just yet. It would be cruel to laugh. Poorthing, she’s obviously petrified. Sherefused to look him in the eye. Maybe she didn’t trust him quite asmuch as he had believed. Her uncertainty only made him want hermore. At the slight tremble on her bottom lip, he realized he hadnever set eyes upon a sexier sight.
“Come here, you.” He held out his hand for her. When shehesitated, he added, “Promise, I won’t bite.”
Master CrispinClover made quite the vision, sitting there in the dark. For asecond, she didn’t know what to do, but then he held out his hand,and just like that, all her fears disappeared. The moment he drewher between his knees and placed his hands on her hips, she relaxedand let out a big sigh.
“There, that wasn’t so bad,” Crispin said with asmile.
“I’m sorry, Crispin,” she whispered, resting her hands on hisshoulders. When he didn’t even flinch at her touch, she smiled evenmore and pressed her forehead to his.
“I’m the one who should apologize.” He took a deep breath andallowed himself to enjoy her sweet embrace. She loved him. She was in love with him… the words looped through his mind as they had done since shefirst spoke them.
“For what?” She blinked her eyes at him.
“For not considering your feelings. Your reaction to what yousaw in the shop said it all. I should have been more sensitive, andI’m sorry.”
“Umm, yeah, some of those things were kinda scary. You know,other than with you, I’ve never really done much beyond the regularstuff. And so far, it’s been real nice. But I suppose I started tothink maybe I was in-over-my-head.”
With a kiss toher mouth, he sat her down on his knee. “Do you trust me?” he askedher, tucking her hair behind her ear. When she nodded, he huggedher close. “Tonight, when you told me you loved me–”
“I do love you,” she blurted, cutting him off. “Very much, andI want so much to please you, but when I saw all thosethings…”
He smiled andchuckled lightly, touched by her concerns. “Remember, when I toldyou that you only ever have to worry about me?” He waited,smoothing a hand over her exposed thigh until she nodded. “Thatmeans, you have no reason to worry at all since I’m only interestedin a small part of it.”
“Bondage and submission,” she whispered. “But I thoughtmaybe…”
“Maybe what?” he asked.
“Now that you know how I feel about you, that I won’t everleave you, you might not need to…”
“Tie you up?” When she nodded, he hugged her close again. Shemade a good point. Perhaps he might even consider it. But could hechance it? If she did change her mind and left him, would hesurvive the loss of her love once he’d had a taste ofit?
“It’s the truth, Crispin. I love you so much and I don’t planon leaving you, ever,” she whispered into his ear. When he didn’trespond, she braced herself for the worst. Maybe he didn’t actuallywant her to stick around. “Unless you don’t me to stay withyou.”
“God, you are the sweetest thing.” Crispin sighed, taking itall in, the embrace, the love. It was all so fresh and new to him,something he had yearned for all his life, and now, for the firsttime, he had it right there in his arms. “Of course, I want you tostick around. I can’t even begin to imagine being away from you forany length of time, now that I’ve gotten to know you. That is howin love with you I am.” As the words left his mouth, he smiled,overwhelmed.
So, this is what if felt like to be in love,Crispin thought to himself, a big emotional vacuumwhere two self-conscious souls come together and dance incircles. What a beautiful, confusing placeto be.
“You love me?” she repeated, just to be sure she wasn’tdreaming.
He chuckledlightly within his chest, gathered her hair in his fist and angledher face to look at him. “Told you I wasn’t good at thisrelationship stuff. I could swear I told you earlier that I lovedyou.”
“Well, not in so many words, but I understand, you were upsetand overwhelmed. I figured you’d get to it eventually.” Shegiggled, hiding her face to his neck.
Once again, hetightened his hold on her hair so she had to look him in the eyes.He then gazed at her and smiled for an unmarked stretch of time.Without speaking, he then cradled her head to his chest and justlet himself breathe it all in for a moment. Sensing her eyes on thebaggie on the night table, Crispin reached for it and dumped itscontents on the bed beside them. “See anything scary in there?”
She took afurtive peek and then smiled when all she saw were a few lovelyblack and purple silk scarves, a set of furry handcuffs, andsomething else she hadn’t noticed at first. A shiny black featherwhich she reached for and stroked. When Crispin chuckled and shookhis head, she looked at him.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“I had a feeling you’d like the feather.”
“What would you use it for?”
“You’ll see,” he said with a wicked smile.
He could seeher mind working, and couldn’t help but wonder if she still feltthe same or if she had changed her mind about the darker side ofhis sexual nature. Could he be all right without it if she decidedit wasn’t for her? Could he do vanilla sex? It had been so longsince he had tried it. “So tell me, how do you feel about all thisnow, having seen the contents of my bag of tricks?”
“Much better,” she said, relieved. None of it frightened her inthe slightest. In truth, she was suddenly quite excited to try itall out.
Noddingpensively, he then gathered it all up and put it back in the bag.He was suddenly filled with inspiration. Traditional sex was nothis style at all, and
