Kendra saw his eyes change as she smelled a hint of anger and fear come from him. She didn't say anything, she let him work it out in his head.
"Damn. You're right. It wasn't a formal power exchange, but you were definitely in power and I had to trust that you would respect my wishes when I said them. And the bite on my neck hurt a little this time when it hasn't for more than a split second in the past. Did you do that on purpose?"
"Yes, I did. I wanted you to have just the smallest edge of pain with your orgasm, so I didn't numb it all the way."
Kendra could have jumped for joy when she smelled arousal. The idea that she'd wanted him to hurt a little at the end had excited him. She knew she'd need to point that out to him, and she wondered if he'd admit to it.
"Eric, that turned you on. The idea that I gave you a little pain at the end, you just got aroused by it."
She could see him bristling, "I thought you couldn't read my mind?"
"I can't, but I can smell the chemical changes in your body. Fear has a smell, anger has a smell, arousal has a smell. I smelled arousal when I talked about wanting you to have an edge of pain at the end. It turned you on."
"Now see, this part has the ability to freak me out. The idea that I can't hide these kinds of things from you, that you know what I'm feeling whether I want you to or not. I'm having a hard time with that."
She softened her voice, not wanting to sound defensive. "And I'm being as honest with you as I can about it so that I don't hide anything from you. It would be dishonest for me not to tell you what I know. It might give you the illusion of privacy, but if we are to have a relationship we have to be honest about everything."
He took a deep breath. "Just because the idea of it turned me on, it doesn't mean I want to submit to you. To let you hurt me."
"I understood why you hurt me as much as you did when I submitted to you. You needed to establish yourself as Master. I get that. And I will admit that once you warmed me up I even enjoyed the pain, needed it, almost. But I will tell you that while I do enjoy dispensing pain, it isn't necessary for me to do so in order to establish dominance. If you prefer, then during our first session with you submitting I can spend less than five minutes of an hour dispensing outright pain and still leave no question of who was in control when the session is over. Unless of course you give me reason to need to punish you, and then there would be more than five minutes of pain. But my point is that long periods of impact play aren't necessary in order for me to establish dominance. So, if that's what has you worried, you needn't be."
"It sounds like we need to talk about that and let you Top me and get it over with, doesn't it?"
"Yes, I think so."
He closed his eyes for a count of five and then opened them. "Okay, the usual hard limits of asphyxiation, scat, watersports - you get the idea. I guess blood can't be a hard limit since you may bite me, but no cutting for the sake of cutting. I also don't want any CBT, or anything anal."
"Sorry, the anal thing is kind of a requirement. I won't hurt you there, but I do intend to make use of you there."
"Damn. Well, can't blame me for trying. Okay, but no anal pain."
"There will be discomfort, and maybe small amounts of pain, but nothing major. As for the CBT, I won't do anything extreme, but I will pay attention to you down there, and some of it will hurt."
"Leave my balls alone. Completely alone. We can negotiate the stuff you want to do with my cock, but not my balls."
"I will want to put you in a harness so you'll have a very hard time coming until I take it off. I also have a restraint device that will keep you bent over at the waist. It involves the use of your balls, but it won't hurt you unless you try to stand up. Those are the only things I can think of that might involve your balls."
"I think I can live with that for my balls, what do you have in mind for my cock?"
She shrugged. "Clothespins, some light flogging, I'll have to see how you react to medical sounds and other types of inserts. If you react positively then they'll be part of play, negatively and they'll be part of punishment. But I enjoy that kind of thing so you can be sure that will be part of it. I can tell from the smell of your arousal that while those things scare you they also excite you, so we should be okay. I also sense some adrenaline. The idea of what I’m saying excites you. That‘s a nice start."
Kendra thought for a few of Eric‘s heartbeats. "I think the next step is for you to start hanging out with me at the house. As we are, with no pretenses, without worrying about how the other vampires might take it."
"Kendra, from what you and Abbot said originally, that's kind of a big step. Isn't it?"