Free The Secret Sex Life of a Single Mom by Delaine Moore Page B

supermodel. I was smart enough and educated enough to keep any one of these guys on their toes,for a little while anyway.
    I scoured his photograph one more time. This “Duke” guy could be a total cracker jack or an imposter. On the other hand,
maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was authentic. A man of his thinking might make a good friend or mentor, maybe even a lover, though this Dominant/submissive stuff both scared and enticed me.
    Since I was on a roll this weekend, why not see what was behind door number two?
    So I wrote him back.
     
    THE KIDS WERE in bed, fast asleep. Down in my office, I stared at the minute hand on my clock. After exchanging a few emails the past few days, I’d agreed to talk to The Duke by phone. Tonight. I was so nervous, I’d jotted down questions on a piece of paper. When the phone rang at precisely 9:00 PM, I knew it was him. But I let it ring four times to seem less eager.
    “Is this Delaine?” asked a deep voice.
    “Yes, it is. Hello Duke, how are you?” I asked, trying to sound calm and confidant.
    “Very well. Let’s begin by answering some of your questions, shall we?”
    Shocked, I hid the paper behind my back. Huh?
    “You said in your email you didn’t understand what I meant by Dominant and submissive. So let’s start there.”
    “Oh. Yes. Sounds good,” I replied, whacking my palm against my temple. God, I’m such an ass!
    Immediately he explained that he wasn’t into whips and chains and sadomasochism Phew. His interest, he said, lay more on the “mental side” of domination, though at times, he might also include physical elements such as teasing and spanking. “Before we even went into the bedroom, I might grab you by the hair, look you straight in the eyes, and tell you that you are going to do everything I want,” he said, his voice deep and matter-of-fact in my ear. “And you would submit to me . . . Because you respected me. And because you know I’m worthy.”

    “Being submissive to an alpha male does not make you a weakling or a doormat,” he clarified. “Alpha females are very capable, confident, strong-minded women who normally have a dozen things on the go. But some part of them wants to relinquish control; they want a strong alpha man to take charge and challenge them, because with that comes an intensity and creative connection unlike anything they could experience in a regular or ‘vanilla’ relationship.”
    “There are many men out there pretending to be Dominants or alpha men,” he went on. “But in actuality, they are ‘beta men,’ who are riddled with insecurities. They may appear successful and self-assured on the exterior, but underneath they are ‘wannabes’: Their identities are locked into their accomplishments and they live in constant fear of being exposed. I’ve sat in many meetings with these kinds of men before. They’re easy to pick out. They’re either pompous and arrogant or complete ass-suckers. It often comes out in how they talk about women: They put them down, treat them like objects. It’s disgusting. I’ve had to sit there listening to them, all the while itching to punch them out.”
    “The worst thing that can happen to an alpha woman is be in a relationship with a beta man,” he said with conviction. “He will bring her down, be jealous of her accomplishments, and consistently hold her back or sabotage her efforts, often unconsciously. This beta man doesn’t deserve her—and he may or may not know it.”
    “A true alpha male,” he continued, “is one whose confidence comes from within. There’s no pretending, no need to be egotistical; he knows who he is. Often, these men are very successful and wealthy, but not always. Having money is certainly not proof alone of an alpha male,” he warned. “There are lots of super rich trust-fund babies out there who are ‘pathetic little boys with hard-ons.’ Conversely, there are also many rich men out there who are so accustomed to getting what they want that