BDSM Checklist: A, B, C

James stilled the swinging cage, which was suspended at shoulder level in one of the Iron Court playrooms. The sub kneeling awkwardly inside barely reacted, except for a slight relaxation of the tense muscles in her face.

He’d carefully watched her interaction with Madame Cat, warned by Master Mikael’s words. Beth was either one of the quietest, most obedient subs he’d ever seen, was so deep in subspace that all her reactions were muted under a thick layer of knee-jerk obedience, or she was just going through the motions of submission with no real emotional connection to what was happening.

He hoped, almost desperately, that it was one of the first two.

James put his hand over hers, realizing that she was white-knuckling the bars, not merely holding on. He hadn’t been able to tell exactly how tense she was in her body language.

She didn’t look up, didn’t open her eyes, leaving him staring at her glossy dark hair, which was parted in a perfectly straight line. She was naked, though in her contorted position he could see relatively little of her body. Tilting his head he caught sight of her reddened left nipple, the lingering mark of Madame Cat’s fingers a testament to how tight the grip had been, and how much self control it had taken for Beth not to cry out at something that was surely painful.

James had never enjoyed subs who were either naturally secretive with their responses or who had been trained to stifle their reactions. Not that demanding quiet couldn’t be a fun aspect of a scene, especially when it was a rule that couldn’t possibly be followed, but he wanted to interact with a woman, to know what she was feeling. That was much harder to do if she just lay or sat there stiff and mute.

He wondered if Beth had been trained to be this way, or if it was part of her personality.

“Hello, Beth.”

She shivered slightly when he spoke, and it was the first totally uncontrolled reaction he’d seen from her.

“Hello, Master James.”

She knew his name. He was shocked, though perhaps he shouldn’t be. There weren’t so many members of Las Palmas that it would be extraordinary for someone to know everyone’s name. But she’d identified him by voice alone.

“Let’s get you out of that cage so we can talk.”

“As it pleases you, Master James.”

He was listening closely, watching her intently, so he caught the signs of relief—lowering of her shoulders, loosening of her grip on the bars.

It took him several minutes to find the control panel cleverly hidden in the stone wall. He turned off the spotlights, turned up the other room lights, and then lowered the cage, which was suspended from a mechanically controlled pulley.

simple latches that held the door closed. Once it was open, Beth made

sigh. “You

“Thank you, Master James.”

body out, planted her hands on the floor then slowly moved her legs. At first he thought she was scared to exit the cage, perhaps scared of a scene with him after having only a moment ago lost the security of a collar, but after a moment of watching her, he realized what he

catcher’s pose he held out his hands. “Give me your hands.

powerful mixture of emotions—pain, anticipation, and lust. The force of her

When the pressure of her fingers in his increased, James closed his hands around hers,

knee to ankle were marked with deeply embedded red lines, the crosshatch a perfect replica of the bottom

as a wave of protectiveness washed over him. He held it back—subs were not princesses in need of rescuing.

was to be

For a moment her hands brushed his body as she instinctively reached out to steady herself. When she jerked back from the

brace yourself while I rub the marks out

on her hands, on what she’d do. With rueful amusement he realized he was holding his breath waiting to see if she’d touch him. One hand settled on his shoulder. Her fingers were cold

so light he almost didn’t feel it, but then she did it again, skimming

dilated with desire. Her hand clenched in his hair, not pulling, but

to his feet, still holding her gaze as her hands slid down his body, the pressure of her fingers molding his shirt to his chest. Beth blinked, and with a jerk that shook her whole body, dropped her chin, eyelids now submissively lowered. She folded her arms behind her back, cupping

completely fascinated. If anything, Master Mikael had

to Las Palmas this afternoon,

* * *

enough for her normal process to work. On the surface it was simple: he’d rubbed her legs, she’d touched his shoulder with one hand and with

in one another’s eyes as the real source of her turmoil, but in the next breath dismissed

how firm his chest was under the soft fabric of his dress shirt. She wanted to

breaths. What she knew about him didn’t provide a clue as to how severe an infraction he would consider her behavior. Madame Cat would have reacted with immediate disappointment and correction. Remembering the items on the C list, Beth

easy to force out the last of those unidentified

more footsteps before Master James called out

“Beth, come here.”

in front of her.