Free Cherished: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella by Lexi Blake

She talked about how she’d met her friends. At the end of the meal, he’d given her the contract and told her to read it while he cleaned up. She’d stared at the pages, the words familiar but meaningless since her brain was on the man who wrote them.
    They were so different. He could cook. She could barely heat water. She didn’t even drink coffee because she found the machines irritating to deal with. He was obviously neat and perfectly organized. She was usually a bit of a mess, her walls peppered with sticky post-it notes containing plot ideas and reminders about her schedule. How could this work?
    “Do you have a question about the contract?” He closed the dishwasher door and walked back into his super-neat living room.
    He sat down across from her on the love seat and she struggled to form a coherent sentence.
    “Do you use the same contract every time?” There. That was semi intelligent.
    “I’ve only signed three contracts. The two prior to this one came before I joined Sanctum. That is a standard Sanctum contract with revisions specifically for the two of us. When I was allowed my membership, I was also allowed use of the contract and the checklists Ian and Alex developed. I keep it on my computer where I do the revisions, and once you’ve signed it, I’ll scan it in and send it back to Ryan. He runs Sanctum for Ian. He keeps a copy of all the contracts. Should we go over your limits?”
    The list of hard and soft limits that would let Will know what he could and couldn’t do to her. Like flogging and spanking and anal play.
    She wrote a lot about anal play, but she’d never cared for it. The one time she’d tried it, it hurt. But she had to wonder if it would be different with a Dom. “I already filled it out.”
    She’d read the contract. At the end of the day it was simply a document that stated the obvious. She and Will would have sex and she could say no at any time. He could punish her for infractions, but all she had to do to stop it was to use her safe word. He could dominate her but only as long as she let him. It was a consensual relationship but with everything on paper and with a definite time limit.
    She picked up the pen and signed the document, handing it back to him.
    He took it and laid it aside. “Tell me about your prior relationships.”
    She frowned. “What about them?”
    His brow arched in a way that let her know he was annoyed. “Polite is going to work so much better with me, sweetness. And I would prefer a ‘Sir’ when you ask me a question or answer one of mine. It’s in the contract.”
    Crap. She hadn’t meant to be rude. “Sorry. Sometimes I think my voice comes off as impolite. I wasn’t trying to be rude. I was surprised by the question.”
    His brow rose higher.
    “Sir.” That shouldn’t be so hard to remember.
    “I wanted to know about your prior boyfriends. From what I understand, you’ve never had a D/s relationship.”
    “Though I do play a sub on TV.” Well, she wrote about them.
    His lips curved faintly. “I’m serious, Bridget.”
    That was apparent. He really had that Dommy vibe happening. From the moment he’d let her in his condo, he’d kind of oozed authority. He always seemed in control, but tonight all that willpower was focused on her, and it made her both uncomfortable and a little hot. A lot hot. Her nipples might chafe if they didn’t go down soon.
    What should she say about her former loves? “They kind of sucked. The relationships that is. I haven’t had a ton.”
    “Of men you would call boyfriends?”
    Of men at all, but she nodded anyway. “I had a boyfriend in high school, but he was approved of by my father so I didn’t sleep with him.”
    “Why were you with him if you weren’t attracted to him?”
    “It was easier than fighting. I needed to keep the peace at home for Amy’s sake. There were events to go to that I needed a date for and Nick obliged. We were only friends, but we told people we were