Enamored by Shoshanna Evers Page A

some guys got off on that stuff, but not him. Marc wanted to cherish his submissive, not embarrass her.
    Lauren blinked rapidly, as if to keep from crying. “No, sir.”
    “Carnation.” Marc said. “Fuck it. Red. I’m safewording right now.” He unhooked the leash from her collar and lifted her into a hug, leaving her heels on the floor so she was barefoot.
    “You? You’re safewording?” Lauren asked, her body warm and comforting against his.
    “I can’t do this anymore. I thought if I could show you that you could submit to me and enjoy it, hell—love it, that we could connect on a deeper level. Obviously, I was way wrong.”
    “No, wait, Marc,” she said, still hugging him back, so that she spoke into his chest and not to his face. “Your motives change everything. I was upset because I thought you were . . . purposefully trying to humiliate me. But if you’re not, then I’m okay with it. I really am.”
    “No,” he said. “I can’t do anything to you that you’re going to regret later. We can’t risk our friendship. I was trying to let the whole club know that for now, for this week or until you call it quits, you’re mine. That you choose to give yourself to me, and that I have responsibility over you.”
    “But I am choosing to give myself to you, at least for this week. And I won’t call it quits sooner.”
    Marc smiled sadly against her beautiful long red hair. He’d meant until she called it quits after the week was up. As in, what if she wanted to stay with him? To be his submissive for real, and not just playing pretend because she lost a bet?
    “Please, Marc, don’t safeword out on me. I’m sorry. I want to let everyone know that I’m yours this week. In fact, it would really help me if you’d let me make an announcement before the public flogging. Please . . . sir. Please?”
    An announcement? It wasn’t unusual at the club for a Dom to introduce his sub and perhaps tell a story, such as the reason he or she was being flogged, or if they were trying out a new toy, or if the sub was a newbie. That sort of thing. Sometimes, for fun, the subs begged their Doms to whip them to prove they really wanted and needed it before receiving their licks.
    “Okay. But I’ll be checking in with you, and you better use the stoplight colors to keep me updated so we’re on the same page, got it?”
    She nodded, smiling again. “Got it. Right now, I’m green to go.”
    “It’s a lovely color on you,” Marc teased, since her corset was green as well. “Speaking of, I’d like to open the corset once you’re attached to the cross so I can have full access to your back, but I’ll lace it up again before I untie you.”
    “Okay.”
    “Still green?” He held her hand and helped her back into the heels.
    “Green, sir. Will you . . . I’m sorry, I hate it when people top from the bottom. Never mind.”
    “Tell me what you want. This is our first real experience doing this together, so I’m going to give you some leeway on the not-topping-from-the-bottom rule, at least for now.”
    “Will you put the leash on me again, and walk me up to the cross?”
    Wow. Those words, coming from her mouth . . . it was like she was his fantasy come to life. “I’d do anything for you, baby.”
    She smiled. “Sounds different when you say it like that.”
    “Different how?”
    “Like you mean it.”
    He kissed her gently. “I’ve always meant it.”
    He hooked the leash back to her collar, and they slowly made their way to the large, X-shaped Saint Andrew’s Cross.

    L auren felt curiously safe now, after talking with Marc. And she did want to tell everyone what was going on, since it felt like everyone in the club was looking at them in confusion. Time to set the record straight.
    At the cross, she turned to the onlookers, a crowd which suddenly seemed much bigger than usual.
    To Marc, she asked, “Okay?”
    He nodded.
    “Ladies and gentlemen and kinksters of all legal ages,” she