At Her SEAL's Command (SEALs of Roseville, Book One) by Selena Blake

glanced down at the remaining chips on her plate. “Yeah.” Her appetite had left her.
    “Good. Come inside and ask me whatever you want.”
    Her brows lifted and her eyes widened. Ask him anything? Boy, that left a lot of ground open.
    If she'd thought her nerves had the better of her half an hour ago, she felt like a live wire right now. But he stood and held out a hand to her. His body language told her to trust him, which she did. She always had.
    She placed her palm against his and let him pull her up. Hand in hand, they left the dishes and walked into the house. It felt good to be touching him again but she couldn't let herself get used to it yet. Not yet, Reya.
    In the living room, he took a seat on the old sofa and she settled next to him. His beautiful blue eyes stared at her openly, not the least bit shuttered or evasive.
    “What does being a Dom mean?”
    It’d been the single burning question she needed to know the answer to. She’d had plenty of time to simmer over the last few days and her research hadn’t soothed her fears.
    While the idea of sex toys and a little bondage seemed appealing, she was absolutely, completely, without a shadow of a doubt never going to do knife play or choking. She had enough scars and suffocation without taking it into the bedroom.
    “For me, it meant being in charge of a woman’s pleasure.”
    Despite her reluctance to ever enter another relationship with a control freak, she felt her pulse quicken at his words.
    “You mean control.”
    “I’m an extremely visual person, Reya. I love nothing more than a woman in beautiful lingerie…or silk ribbons.”
    Her brows rose at that. She’d seen a few examples of ribbon play and she had to admit, the intricate designs displayed on a woman’s skin were incredible. Stark and sexy, almost like a tattoo but she’d be willing to bet that the ribbon felt so much nicer against the skin.
    “It’s not about controlling my partner. It’s about worshiping her, controlling her orgasm, taking her higher and higher until she just can’t go any farther…and then letting her tip over the edge.”
    Her breath came in short pants and her breasts flushed. The tender flesh between her thighs tingled and she felt a flush of moisture gathering there.
    His words, the sincerity on his face, were seductive.
    “Carlos introduced me to the lifestyle because I needed to learn to control myself. And after joining the SEALs, I needed to be in control of something. I’m not going to lie to you, honey. There’s a power exchange.”
    Reya took a deep breath and held it. There was that word. He must have seen the panic in her eyes because he closed a warm hand over hers. The connection stalled her wayward thoughts.
    “It’s not at all what you’re thinking, at least not for me. I controlled the scene; I never controlled the sub’s life. That’s not who I was, that’s not what I ever wanted.”
    “Did you have a sub? A regular one?”
    He nodded. Another stab of jealousy slashed her. All this time she’d been waiting for him to notice her, to see that she wasn’t the chubby fifteen year old anymore and he’d been tying some other woman up.
    Dylan squeezed her hand when she tried to pull it away.
    “Early on, not recently. I was out of the country too much.”
    “Have you ever hit a woman?”
    “I’ve spanked women.”
    “What about—” she swallowed, “whips?”
    “Too impersonal.”
    She licked her lips and tried in vain to gather her thoughts.
    “Did someone hit you, Reya?” he asked, ducking his head so he could catch her gaze.
    She shook her head. “No.”
    “Tell me the truth.” His voice hardened.
    She gave her head another little shake with an eye roll for added measure. “He never hit me, but he loved trying to control me in other ways.”
    “Like?”
    “He loved to make me wait. I’d wait thirty minutes or more for him to show up, but of course, there was always a comment if I was five minutes late. Words were his