In the Rain by Erin Lark

out now could be used by any couple."
    "Kink,"
I said, nodding.
    "Yes.
Just because one might be bound or use a paddle, it doesn't make what they're
doing BDSM. I know I've said this before, but it needs repeating. Being a sub
is as much a frame of mind as anything else. Without having those submissive
tendencies the same way I have them as a Dom, we'd be another couple
experimenting with kink. And we can still work along those lines. This can go
as little or
as far as you like."
    "For
now?" I paused, but the lift of his eyebrows asked me to continue. "I
want to forget about the kink, my submission or anything else that might
have to do with that lifestyle."
    He
nodded, but I didn't miss the flicker of disappointment in his eyes. "I'm
okay with that,
but if you change your mind—"
    "I'll
let you know."
    Thayre
patted on the mattress. "Lie back and, if it's not too much to ask, close
your eyes."
    I
settled down, and after a bit of hesitation on my part, I shut my eyes. Thayre
didn't move or speak for a long, unnerving moment. And soon, I couldn't
remember where I'd left him before I closed my eyes. At the foot of the bed, of
course, but how close was he? Where were his hands? His eyes? Was he looking at
me or something else?
    I
shivered and folded my hands behind my head. I was still clothed. My legs hung
off the edge of the bed. I wasn't exposed, and yet I felt completely
vulnerable. In a good way. This was the one guy I knew I could trust, as much
from our past as the events that had
happened over the last two weeks. And while we might not have gotten into bed
together when we were teens, I knew now that the attraction hadn't been
one-sided.
    Something
clicked off to my left, but before I could react, music danced in the air above
me. I tried to concentrate on where Thayre may have gone, but found myself
following the music instead. It wasn't something I'd heard before, but it was
definitely his. Strings opened the piece, joined by a bit of trance less than a
minute into the song.
    My
head bobbed on its own while I gently tapped my foot against the air.
    "Open
your eyes."
    I
did, and smiled as small orbs of colored light moved from one side of the
ceiling to the other. "Thayre, this—"
    "Even
without bondage, floggers and blindfolds, you can still submit. Your
apprehension is more than enough for me. The entire time you were laying there,
probably going out of your mind, I was standing right over here."
    I
turned my head in his direction, laughing at the small disco ball sitting on
his dresser beside the source of his music. "Head games."
    He
smiled, then stepped toward me, leaning in to kiss me on the lips. "The
best kind. But you see what I mean? You can't control your submission. It's a
part of who you are, and, like it
or not, you're stuck with it."
    "Why
are you so desperate to see me give in to it?"
    He
caressed my cheek with the backs of his fingers. "Because, I can see
fighting it frustrates you. But also because you would make a beautiful
submissive." He brushed a thumb under my eye, removing a tear I hadn't
noticed was there. "Listen, I might not know what happened in your last
relationship, but it obviously wasn't bad enough to throw you out of the
lifestyle completely. Even if you hadn't brought this up tonight, I saw the
submissive side in you well before you saw the Dom in me. You wear your
submission on your sleeve, and while you may think you're tricking yourself,
you aren't hiding it from anyone else. And again, I'm not asking anything from
you, only that you
be yourself around me. Especially when it comes to your music."  
    Tears
burned my eyes. I was angry with myself and beyond frustrated with my life.
When I wasn't defending myself at work, I was struggling to make heads or tails
of my sex-life, and the other night with Thayre only seemed
to complicate things more. Something had to give, and it all started in this
room. Right now.
    I
threw my arms around Thayre, grateful when he hugged me. I