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.

the cage, unfastening the simple latches that held the door closed. Once it was open, Beth made no

a sigh. “You can come

“Thank you, Master James.”

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,

hands. “Give me your hands. I’ll help

up, and for a moment her eyes met his. What he saw in her gaze was a bright and powerful mixture of emotions—pain, anticipation, and lust. The force of her personality and desire was nearly enough to knock him

slowly, drawing her up until she was kneeling with her back straight. When the pressure of her fingers in his increased, James closed his

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

it back—subs were not princesses in

she needed was to be cared for, not to

hard strokes. She made a small noise and swayed. For a moment her hands brushed his body as she instinctively

rub the marks out of

she’d do. With rueful amusement he realized he was holding his breath waiting to see if she’d touch him. One hand

didn’t feel it, but then she did it again,

and her irises dilated with desire. Her hand clenched in his hair, not pulling, but possessive. A flush rose from her chest to her

shook her whole body, dropped her chin, eyelids now submissively lowered. She folded her arms behind her back, cupping the opposite elbow in each hand in a position that was physically demanding to maintain due to the pressure it put on the shoulders—it

utterly and completely fascinated. If anything, Master Mikael had undersold exactly what was

he’d gotten to Las Palmas this afternoon, James smiled.

* * *

describing what had just happened well 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 the other she’d

the real source of her turmoil, but in the next

contact with him—or the memory of how firm his chest was under the soft fabric of his

and Beth brought herself under control, taking measured 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

the last of those unidentified emotions Master James had raised in

there were more footsteps before

“Beth, come here.”

feet in front