Free Broken Bonds (Club Imperial Series) by Katherine Rhodes Page B

sets of windows on the right, all of them with drapes that could be pulled shut like the ones in the den.
    He pointed to the door. “That’s the bathroom.” She felt him studying her as she looked around. “What do you think?”
    “It’s gorgeous,” she said. “It’s you. It feels like you.”
    He smiled, and walked back out to the sitting room. Nathaniel motioned her to the couch, while he went over to the fireplace. A few minutes later, there was a small fire casting its heat and light into the room. He walked over to the couch, which looked out windows to the dying light of day, and sat. Without a word, Emmy moved over and sat next to him on his right, keeping her still-casted arm from between them.
    “We need to talk,” he said, “and I told Joanne and Victor to just leave us alone for the night. Nothing but the most serious emergencies. I am so sorry I haven’t had a chance to talk to you, that I didn’t show you my bedroom after you showed me yours.” He paused, then smirked. “Both of them.”
    Emmy sighed. “Please don’t mention that.” 
    “Why?” He looked at her. “You really are a very sexual creature, aren’t you? Not having intimacy is tough for you.”
    “Yes, I told you. I actually enjoy and need what I do at the club.”
    “Do you think you could ever be happy with just one person?”
    “I truly don’t know.” Emmy looked down at her fingers. “I was happy with Dan, but he didn’t question me.”
    “I’m not questioning you,” he countered. “I’m trying to understand you. But you won’t tell me why. There’s a lot of things you won’t tell me. I trust you, Emmy, I think you should know that by now. I want you to trust me, to talk to me.”
    “Oh, Nathaniel, I do trust you.” She sought words to assure him. “But you have to understand, you don’t become a Domme because you feel like it. It’s a psychological drive or…a coping device. And right now, the coping device is breaking down for me. I can’t face those demons right now. I’ve felt like I am completely out of control of my life for weeks now, and I hate it. I need to be in control.”
    “I feel like you’re never going to tell me,” he tried to make his case, “and I want you to. I want to know everything about you. Good, bad, indifferent. All of it. I told you I love you and that hasn’t changed.”
    “Let me start to feel like I’m in control again, let me get the damn cast off,” Emmy held it up, “and I’ll see what I can do. It’s not going to be right away. Please don’t get the idea that I can just casually talk about it.”
    “I’ll take it piecemeal.” He nodded. “But before that, you need to tell me what your hard limits are. I don’t ever want to see terror I’ve caused on your face again.”
    Emmy sighed. “I am so sorry I didn’t tell you before. I should have. There’s usually a contract that outlines everything between a Domme and sub, but you’ve already said you’ll only do this for me.” She looked at him. “If you don’t want to, I’ll go, Nathaniel.”
    He leaned in close to her ear. “I like your kink, mistress,” he whispered. “I like what you do to me.”
    Emmy let out an exasperated sigh and moved slightly away from him. “Please, don’t.”
    “Don’t?”
    “You said it. I’m a sexual creature. This is hell.”
    He pulled her back carefully. “Tell me your limits, Emmy. Even if you can’t tell me why.”
    She leaned against him, settling in. It felt so nice to be there; she hoped it gave her the strength to get through this. She swallowed and then began. “The bra or bustier. But you knew that. And you came up with a good solution. I greatly enjoyed that.”
    “So did I.” Nathaniel’s words were soft and filled with satisfaction.
    “No anal play. At all, whatsoever. But I suspect you figured that out.” She looked at him.
    “Yeah. I got that.”
    “No binding my hands together,” she continued.
    “That doesn’t seem like