Free Tough Love by Heidi Cullinan Page A

gaze darting to Steve’s hands. “I don’t want to be tied up.”
    “I’m not talking about tying you up.”
    Chenco crossed his arms over his chest, hunching his shoulders. “Then what are you talking about? Tell me what you’d want to do. I’m not saying we’re doing anything, now or ever, but I’ll tell you one thing right now—I hate surprises, especially in bed. It’s why I don’t have sex often. Every time I let go, somebody fucks me over.”
    “BDSM isn’t about surprises. In the lifestyle, consent is king. Even if play is about taking away control, none of it happens until the submissive gives the control up. What it can do, though, is offer a safe place to escape, to be. For example, if we were in a D/s relationship, after a night like tonight I’d ask you to do a scene with me, as I’d figure you needed it.”
    Chenco’s eyes widened. “On a night like tonight you’d want to do BDSM?”
    “I said if we were in a relationship, but we aren’t.”
    “Except you said you could show me right now.”
    Fuck. This time he was caught on a technicality. Steve tried to hide his unease with an arched eyebrow.
    Chenco tucked those arms tighter around him. “Fine. Then tell me what you’d have me do if we were in a D/s thing.”
    “D stands for Dom, and s for sub. Dominant and submissive.” He gestured to the floor. “First thing I’d have you do if you were my sub is have you kneel in position. You’d go to your knees and put your hands behind your back, one wrist clasped inside your other palm. That alone would do a lot for you. Going to your knees for me would mean you were giving up control, so part of your brain would already be letting go.”
    “Weird, how BDSM is about safety.” Chenco paused and corrected himself. “I mean, not weird. Good. Not what I thought, though.”
    Steve cocked a wry smile. “Most people think it’s about tying somebody up and getting them off. Probably the same way people think drag is about putting on a dress.”
    Chenco laughed. “Point taken. So what would be next?”
    “Next I’d let you sit there a bit, enjoying yourself. Everything after would be specific to you and our relationship, which is theoretical at this point.” Steve rubbed his beard a minute before continuing. “I’d say first I’d walk some circles around you, not touching you, but letting you know I was there. This would narrow your focus to me, shutting out the rest of the world.”
    Chenco’s stance had relaxed a great deal as Steve spoke, and while his arms were still folded in front of him, they’d slipped to something only casually self-protective. “That sounds kind of nice.”
    “Contrary to what you might be thinking, that’s the entire point.” Steve leaned over on his knees, his body posture open and casual—except the look on Chenco’s face was doing him in. “I’d tell you that you were a good boy. If it were the kind of relationship we had, I’d assign you a punishment for what you did to Randy. I can tell it’s eating at you, what happened at the club, and you’re punishing yourself. If we were in a relationship, I’d want those sorts of things to fall to me.”
    Now Chenco looked intrigued. “Punish me how?”
    “It’d depend on what I’d found out you liked. You’re thinking spanks or flogging, but if you enjoyed such activities, it wouldn’t be a punishment. You need to face what you did but also process it. You’d feel easier knowing I’d taken the responsibility from you, reminding you it wasn’t yours to worry about anymore.”
    Chenco’s body posture was fully relaxed now, and he looked still slightly wary, but mostly hungry. “That…sounds good actually.”
    “I could do it, if you’d trust me to. But it’s okay if you don’t.”
    Shit. This time Steve had pulled the rug out from under his own feet. What the fuck was he offering this for?
    To make things worse, Chenco looked ravenous now. “I… Maybe. Can I think about it?”
    “Of