Submissive Seductions by Christine D'Abo

would catch him off guard and he’d let out a surprised chuckle. That smile would reach his eyes, making them sparkle. More and more I started to see him that way, and every time I fell in love with him a bit more.
    Did I really want to walk away? Or did I want to take a chance and see if I could light that spark inside him?
    Screw that.
    “No, I don’t want to break up with him. I just don’t know how to make this work.”
    Connie nodded once, giving my hand a squeeze. “Remember me telling you about my dog Andy?”
    “The Lab?”
    “Yeah. He was a pain in the ass. I loved that stupid mutt despite all the shit he would get into. We got to a point, though, where my parents wanted me to give him up. I made them a deal. I’d take Andy to dog training and they had to give me the time to try to make things right. It took a while, but Andy and I figured things out.”
    “You want me to take a Dom to obedience classes?” Wouldn’t that be one for the papers?
    Connie chuckled. “Well, no. Though that would be kind of hot. But a good Dom needs to learn as much about himself as he does his sub. From what Stephen has told me, Gareth has changed a lot since Rachael died. Maybe he needs to relearn who he is as a man as well as a Dom? It’s easy to ignore what’s wrong with yourself when you’re focused on someone else.”
    Shit, I hadn’t even considered that. “So, he’s been using me to forget?”
    “He hasn’t been with anyone in four years. And from what Stephen said, Rache was his first serious relationship.” Connie shrugged. “What we need is a plan. A way to help him see that it’s okay for him to move forward in his life.”
    A plan for training a Dom.
    It was almost as absurd as her idea to buy a Dom for a night.
    Of course, that had turned out fairly well. What was to say this wouldn’t either? I could show Gareth how much he meant to me, maybe encourage him to take our relationship to the next level and in the end bring us closer together. I just had to have big enough proverbial balls to do it.
    I took another deep drink of coffee and waited for the pain to dissipate before I spoke again. “So, what do you have in mind?”
    I don’t think I ever remember seeing Connie give me such a devilish grin before. I should have known enough to start worrying.

    The phone had grown warm in my hands as I turned it over. I was supposed to have called Gareth twenty minutes earlier, but I still couldn’t figure out the right words to say to him. Sure, Connie and I had practiced the whole damn speech. I’d even gone over it again with Stephen when he got home from work. But that was a completely different thing from actually calling up Gareth and letting the words come out of my mouth.
    Basically, I was a big chicken shit.
    I hated being a chicken shit.
    Close your eyes and just do it.
    Yes, I actually closed my eyes when I pressed the speed dial for him. It was lame, but at this point I was willing to do anything to get through the call. I kept them closed, too, as the ringtone sounded three times before he picked up.
    “Hey.” The sound of his deep voice always did strange things to my stomach. And my pussy. Not to mention the way my heartbeat doubled.
    God, I had it bad.
    “Hey.” I really wanted to giggle. I did that when I got nervous, but I knew I couldn’t. Not if I was going to make this believable. “So, I wanted to ask you something.”
    “You’re late calling. Everything okay?”
    Shit. “Yes and no.”
    “That doesn’t sound good.” I could hear him shifting around, papers being rearranged. He was probably still at work. “Did you want to meet for a coffee? Talk?”
    “No!” Oh, nice overreaction there, Lizzy. “I mean, you sound busy.”
    “Just grading midterms. I can duck out for a while.”
    “No, this isn’t a duck out conversation.” I closed my eyes again, enjoying the sudden lack of sight. “I was wondering if you’re free this weekend?”
    He didn’t respond right away,