“You don’t hold my past against me and I wouldn’t hold yours against you. I just needed to know how you benefit.”
Samson stroked her chin and smiled at her. “Chiquita, you’re torturing yourself imagining me doing fiendish things to you and taking delight like a satyr or something. I’m the same Samson you knew before. I’m just more self-aware than I was at eighteen…and not quite as oversexed.”
I don’t know how I feel about all of this. And then another thought occurred to her. A question she wasn’t sure she wanted an answer to. “Is the person you told me about naked when you do the things…whip her?”
He didn’t hesitate to nod, not trying to equivocate. “Clothing would interfere with the lashes. Sorry,” he added when she flinched at that word. “Up until now that’s how it’s worked.” Was he implying he’d be willing to make a change?
She couldn’t fault him for an arrangement that sounded as though it’d been in progress for a long time. “What about after care? Joseph mentioned that earlier.”
Samson chuckled and said, “After care depends on the scene, but typically, the Dom talks to the sub to determine how they’re feeling after a scene. If they reached subspace—a heavy, endorphin-laced haze—then they’d wrap the sub in a warm blanket, make sure they get something to drink and to eat if they need it. The Dom would apply soothing ointment or cream to any welts needing attention. And if they felt it was a good idea, they’d hold the sub for a time until they were sufficiently recovered to move on with the rest of their evening.”
Cassie had noticed the impersonal language he’d used to describe the scenario. “And what about the person you told me about? She’s naked, and so you’d wrap her up since I imagine you shoot her straight into subspace.” He chuckled as she continued. “What else?”
“She’s always been one to bounce back pretty rapidly. She’s usually very thirsty, likes a little chocolate, and mainly needs to catch her breath.”
“You don’t cuddle afterward with her?” The cuddling seemed so personal. I don’t want to know, but I need to know.
“She’s let me hold her, but honestly, I think she does that more for my benefit than for hers. There’s no physical attraction there, Cassie.” He looked across at Joseph, who was conversing quietly with Bunny while teasing her with the toy, and then Samson turned back to her. “I could offer to set her up with another sadist from now on, but I’d need to talk to her first and arrange the transition carefully. She has a high degree of trust in me, and I wouldn’t cut her off abruptly. What she does is a tremendous service to others, and I feel gratified in returning the favor when I help her out.”
“Can you tell me more about her? I mean I’d meet her if she ever came here, wouldn’t I?”
Attentive as always, Joseph glanced up at Samson and gave a slight nod and said, “Victoria wouldn’t want you to do anything that might put a potential full-time relationship in jeopardy.”
Samson said, “She’s a perinatologist. She saves babies who otherwise might be lost before they’re even born and mothers who have life-threatening complications during pregnancy. You could meet her the next time she comes in if you’d like.”
Cassie mulled over what he’d said and tried to hide a reaction to Bunny’s very surreptitious thumbs-up gesture and nod. She didn’t want her friend to get in trouble with her Dom or extend her clitoral torture. Finally she patted Samson’s chest and laid her cheek against his shoulder. “It seems as though you’re willing to make quite a few concessions for me in this world of yours.”
“Because I want you in it with me more than anything else related to the lifestyle.”
“I’d like to meet her, I think. You’ve given me a lot to think about. Would you mind if I excused myself to the ladies’ room?”
“No problem. It’s through that archway.” He pointed the way and said, “When you return, I’ll tell you about fantasy role play spankings.” Her expression must’ve been comical, and his laughter lightened her mood as he helped her from his lap. “Don’t be long, and no stopping to talk with strangers.”
“I’ll be fine, honey. Judging by how many people have been sneaking looks in our direction while we’ve been talking, they all know I’m here to be with you.”
“To be with me.” His eyebrows waggled, and he kissed her hand as she stood beside his chair and rubbed the top of her hand against his raspy cheek. “I like the sound of that.”