"Will you go off looking for new lands to conquer once you've subdued your current target?"
He pulled away and looked down at me, a frown on his face. "Kate…"
"Well, when you put it that way, it got me thinking."
He led me over to the couch in the living room and sat down, pulling me down to sit on his lap, my legs over to one side, my arms around his neck like that first night in November.
"I was just playing around."
I nodded, but my insecurities came to the surface from out of nowhere.
"Kate, you're not merely a submissive to me. I love you. I want to be with you. Not only as your Dom but as your partner. I'm old enough to know when I've found what I need to make me happy. I have found it. I'm not going to grow bored with you. I want you to stay who you are. I don't want a footstool. I thought you understood."
"I do, but it's every woman's insecurity."
"Shh," he said, a finger against my lips. "You are completely everything I want and need. You're beautiful, intelligent, warm, loving and submissive sexually underneath all the questioning and resistance. You don't have to worry."
"We hardly know each other," I said, thinking of the very brief amount of time that had passed since we met.
"I know you, Kate," he said, kissing my cheek. "You don't easily hide your emotions. You question everything, so I know where your mind is. I know you."
I sighed and leaned my head against his shoulder. We were still so new to each other, having been together for barely four months since the fundraiser. Still, I knew what I wanted.
Drake.
But suddenly, the enormity of what I was doing struck me. I had given up my semester at Columbia. I was packing up my apartment and had given it up, and I'd lose the lease at the end of January. Most of my things were either at my father's or would be in storage. I was going to Kenya with Drake, to live with him.
It was what I wanted, but a little crack of doubt crept in. I'd be alone with Drake in a foreign country, completely dependent on him. I could always leave if need be for I had my own money, but still…
"Stop," Drake said, tilting my chin up so that I had to look into his blue eyes. "I know what's going on in that mind of yours. This is a big commitment, but don't you feel the way I do? That this is exactly what you want and need?"
"Yes."
I tried to squash the doubt in my mind. I had to go on my own gut feelings and trust myself. My time with Drake had been only wonderful. Only pleasurable.
"Good," Drake said and kissed me tenderly. He ran the backs of his fingers along my cheek, then touched the choker, before letting his fingers drop to my cleavage. "I want us to be happy and enjoy ourselves tonight, with your father and Elaine but also as a couple. Until they arrive, we're in scene and I want your total submission to me. No questions. No more doubt."
He ran his hand along my leg, from my knee to my thigh. Then, he slipped his hand under the hem of my dress, his fingers searching out the tops of my seamed stockings to the clasps of my garter belt.
"Mmm," he said, murmuring against my throat. "Just what the doctor ordered."
I closed my eyes, smiling. "Your wish is my command."
He pressed me down on the couch, lying on top of me, his body between my now-spread thighs. Once more, he fingered my garters and the tops of my stockings as if he couldn't get enough of them. Then, he slipped them between my thighs, his fingers unerringly finding the opening to my body, his thumb on my clit, which he circled lazily. I moaned softly and couldn't help but move my hips in response, pressing into his fingers.
He kissed me deeply, his tongue finding mine, searching my mouth, sucking in my tongue. My heart raced, shocks of lust surging through me as he slipped fingers inside to test my level of arousal. He pulled back, his eyes half hooded.
"Nice and wet already," he said, his voice a whisper. "It'll be hard to last through the night with you like that."
I lay with my eyes closed, a smile on my lips. "All you have to do is talk to me and I'm ready. In fact," I added. "I only have to think of you."
He bent down and kissed my neck and I could feel the rise of his cheek in a smile.
"That's an awful lot of power," he said, his voice playful. "I like it, being a Dom and all." He grinned at that and then abruptly sat up, pulling his hand from between my thighs and beneath my dress. He stood and helped me up, my legs a little wobbly from the lust he'd built up with his talk and his touch and his kiss.
"So, what are your plans? Are you going to make me so aroused before dinner that I can't focus and sit there like a rag doll in front of my parents?"