There was one more item in my drawer, which I took out last. The silver key glittered in the light of my bedroom, and I palmed it before turning and going to the door to my playroom. Officially the third bedroom of my condo, I had spent quite a bit of money customizing it to my needs and desires, including the lock on the door that Alix had not seen at first. I put the key in the lock, then stepped away. “Alix, come here, please.”
“Yes, Kade,” she said from her bedroom, which I mentally reminded myself to help her redecorate to her liking over the weekend.
As soon as she stepped out of the room, my knees turned to jelly she was so beautiful. She hadn’t added any makeup, Alix is so naturally beautiful it isn’t needed, but she had brushed her hair out from the simple ponytail she’d been wearing to go shopping, letting it hang freely around her face and down her back. Even more alluring was the red slip, which hung from her body just enough to hide her intimate areas, but little else. Not lace or see through at all, it still revealed enough of her ripe, beautiful body to me that I had to struggle not to sweep her off her feet right there and take her back to my bedroom to make love to her again. Only the promise I made to her and to myself that I would let her in when she was ready let me stay in control of my passions.
“You look very beautiful,” I said, reaching up and taking a strand of her hair between my fingers, rolling the silken strands and then inhaling their subtle scent. “Is that orange?”
“Just some. I remembered you said you liked the scent in the bookstore,” Alix said, looking me in the eyes but still demure. She was learning so well and so quickly, it was eerie and a bit frightening at the same time. How had I gone so long without someone so perfect for me? “Does this please you?”
“Very much. You’re a vision of an angel right now,” I said, brushing the hair in my fingers back behind her ear. “I asked you here because I’m giving you a choice. There is a key in the lock of this door. You didn’t notice yesterday, but I keep this door locked for a very specific reason. Any visitors who ask are told I keep legal files in there, but that isn’t true, as I’m sure you know. It’s my playroom . . . our playroom. First, a question. Do you want this tonight?”
“Yes, Kade. Very much.”
Her eyes were so wide they looked a deeper blue. She was so aroused, and I couldn’t deny it, I was too. “So here are your choices. We can go to my bedroom, and make love with no control, no Dom or sub or any of that. Or, you can unlock the door.”
I saw the questions in her eyes as she thought about what to do. I hadn’t told her anything about what was going to happen in there, and was asking her to trust me and my judgment, as well as my control. That was a lot for someone who’d only had sex with me once before. On the other hand, she was worried that if she said no, that I would be disappointed in her. I was just about to reassure her when she reached forward and twisted the key, the lock to the door making a small snick as it opened.
“I trust you, Kade,” she said simply, looking into my eyes. “What else is needed?”
I blinked, tears blurring my vision for a second as I nodded, then smiled. “Thank you. And as a reward, you may ask questions tonight. But there is only one way to refuse, as you know.”
Tudor Rose. Her safe word, it flashed through her eyes before she mouthed it silently. I nodded, and she smiled. “May I kiss you, Kade?”
“Inside,” I countered, twisting the door handle. I pushed it open slowly, letting Alix see the playroom. “You first.”
My playroom is painted in reds and blacks, red walls and black molding, with the various implements installed on black rails. In one corner I had the spreader bar attached to a heavy-duty pulley in the ceiling, used normally on the wrists, but Rita had, one time long ago when she had visited Portland and we were both feeling adventurous, let me use it on her ankles. There were eyelets in the floor as well for attaching to ankle cuffs, but I found them more of a hassle than anything else. They were only useful for restraint when inflicting pain, which if you needed to be restrained for, was too much in my opinion. I had no plans of ever using the floor eyelets with Alix.
In the other corner was my wall of toys, including handcuffs, leather arm and leg hobbles, and my cat o’ nine tails. Alix’s eyes fixed on it, looking at me with trepidation. “There is a technique to it,” I said simply, leading her over and handing her the device. “First, I never swing it full strength. Secondly, the lash must land on your back flat, not wrapping around or the tips getting a last second turn into your skin. That can tear and cut, which I’ll never do.”