Nicole Edwards - Perception

“You have to let me top you.”

Xander laughed out loud. There was no fucking way.

“I’m serious,” she told him, her hand working to reconnect the button on her blouse.

Had he been any other man, he might’ve succumbed to her threat, but Xander didn’t take kindly to teasing. If she wanted to work out a deal, he was game, but he didn’t play that way.

“Unbutton it,” he barked, standing up straight as his hands fell to his sides.

Mercedes’s eyes flared with what he assumed was surprise, maybe mixed with an ounce of heat. The woman might believe she was dominant, but he could see the underlying submissive inside of her.

What made him crazy was the fact that she truly believed she was more in control by being a Domme, as opposed to a submissive. He knew she was well aware of Xander and Shane’s views on Doms and subs, but she’d never embraced their way of thinking. Which was another reason he felt as though her reasons for becoming a Domme weren’t the same as most.

She wanted control.

Of herself.

That’s where she’d failed along the way. That’s where so many people went astray.

The Dom didn’t wield the power… the submissive did.

Now, he was going to work on teaching her that very lesson.

~*~*~*~

Mercedes’s fingers stilled on the button she’d just managed to hook back. The look in Xander’s eyes was fierce, and it sent a trickle of heat fluttering beneath her skin. She loved that look. Loved to watch him when he turned all of that masculine dominance on one of his subs. He was a sight to see.

Had she been watching him do that to someone else, she would’ve applauded him for taking the reins. Being that he was taking what little control she had away, Mercedes wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it.

As though they had a mind of their own, her fingers worked the button loose once again before sliding to the next.

“Now continue to remove your blouse while you tell me your requirements.”

Mercedes complied, unable to stop herself. She wasn’t exactly sure how she was going to continue to think, much less talk, because she was distracted by the look in his eyes, the impassioned way he continued to watch her.

“Tell me,” he ordered.

“You have to agree to let me top you. Twice,” she said, her breaths betraying her as she began to gasp for air as she released the last button on her shirt.

Moving on to release the buttons on the cuffs at her wrists, she continued. “I’ll agree to submit to you, however you see fit, for the next five days. But at least once during that time, I want to dominate you. In public. And then, after all the silliness is over, I get to dominate you again. In public. At a venue of my choosing.”

She barely noticed the slight quirk of his eyebrow, but it was there.

Honestly, Mercedes was stunned that he hadn’t laughed in her face or told her to get dressed because there was no way in hell he’d agree to her terms.

“Drop the shirt,” he said, his words no longer holding a hint of the gentleness she’d sensed in him earlier. He’d gone into full Dom mode. Not that she believed he had another setting.

Mercedes allowed her shirt to slide down her arms and fall to the floor behind her. Now practically naked from the waist up, Mercedes felt the overwhelming heat that had been simmering in her veins since the moment he had left her standing in his conference room.

Twenty four hours ago, if someone had asked her if she would ever be in this position, she would’ve laughed her ass off.

Now? Well, she certainly wasn’t laughing.

“Now the skirt.”

Mercedes knew she needed to stand her ground. He was clearly stalling, probably hoping she’d give in and retract her stipulations once she was naked. No chance.

“Do we have a deal?” she asked him as she reached to her side and unhooked the clasp on her skirt before lowering the zipper.

“In public, huh?” he asked, this time sounding amused.

“Yes. Public. Once at Devotion,” she explained as she gripped her skirt, keeping it from falling to the floor. “And the other at a place and time of my choosing.”

She knew exactly when she was going to call him to the carpet, but she couldn’t very well tell him that she’d reserve her date for the grand opening of Alluring Indulgence Resort, which they’d just recently heard would be happening sometime at the beginning of next year. It was a good thing she was a patient woman because it was going to be a long wait. But definitely worth it.

“What’s required of me?” he asked, his eyes continuing to glance up and down her partially clad body.

“Whatever I want,” she told him.

He nodded, his eyes still scanning her from head to toe.

“Hard limits?” he asked.

Ok, so he had her there. If he had hard limits, she’d have to comply. It was the only way she worked. “Yes, you can tell me your hard limits,” she agreed.

He chuckled. “I wasn’t talking about me. I was talking about you. What are your hard limits?” he asked, turning the question back on her.

God, she’d given some thought to what her hard limits were while she’d been pacing her living room, trying to talk herself out of this. She knew she should have at least one, maybe two, but she hadn’t come up with any. Her rationale had been that if she was going to do this, then she wanted to go all in with this man. She wanted to give herself over to him completely, to let him take control. It was the only way to prove to them both that this was not what she wanted.

She’d been unable to come up with anything she refused to do because ultimately, she trusted him; there was no doubt about that. They’d been friends for so long, she knew everything there was to know about him. He would never hurt her. Never.

“I don’t have any,” she finally said, her breath coming out in a rush.

“None at all?” he asked skeptically.

“None,” she confirmed.

“So you’re good with sex in public? Being naked at the club? Me using toys on you? Floggers, canes, whips?”

Those were just a handful of things she knew he was really thinking about. “I have no hard limits,” she reiterated again.

“Drop the skirt,” he commanded, his tone gruffer than before.

Releasing the material from her fist, she allowed her skirt to slide down her legs. Once it pooled at her feet, she stepped out of it, moving closer to Xander.

“Have I told you how fucking beautiful you are?” he asked.

Mercedes wasn’t sure whether he’d meant to say the words out loud, but she answered him anyway. “No.”

“Fuck,” he muttered. “You steal my breath, Mercedes.”

Holy shit. The honesty in his tone nearly had her knees going weak beneath her. She’d never heard him talk like that. Not to anyone. Ever.

Fearing that he was trying to distract her, Mercedes reminded herself that she was still waiting for an answer.

“Do we have a deal?” she repeated as she waited for his next instruction.

“Take off the bra,” he told her, his eyes locked with hers.

Without hesitation, Mercedes reached up and unhooked the front clasp of her bra, promptly dropping it to the floor. Xander hadn’t answered her yet, not verbally anyway, but she could see his response in his eyes.

They were going to do this. They were going to submit to one another.

It was only a matter of time.

Xander was doing his best to focus on the conversation and less on the dazzling, nearly naked woman in front of him. It wasn’t easy. Even if he prided himself on his ability to keep his composure, there were still some temptations that weren’t easy to ignore. Mercedes was just such temptation.