Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Astrid gasps. “Oh my God, yes, sis! Like Eleanor Roosevelt said—”
I can’t help the tears that spring to my eyes as every woman in the room joins in to quote, “‘No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.’”
We all squeal and reach for each other, wiggling our fingers at those we can’t quite touch. But the moment is broken when my blonde sibling cries out, “Oh em gee! You guys memorized all the words to The Princess Diaries too?” and the rest of us burst into genuine laughter.
Even me.
CHAPTER 8
Twyla
I’ve pulled into our driveway after a much more successful pole-dancing class than yesterday’s and see Seth beat me home. He and Luna are playing with her mini basketball hoop in the grass not far from where I park, and they pause only long enough to wave at me. But before I can turn the car off and join them, my phone rings, and I push the button on the steering wheel to answer the call when I see it’s Clarice.
“Hey, lady. Everything okay?” I ask, hoping something didn’t happen to her on her drive home.
“Hey! Yes, everything is fine. I just thought of something when I let my mind wander on my way to the house, and I figured I’d call and tell you before I squirreled and forgot about it,” she explains, and I giggle.
“I get that. What did you think of?” I watch my husband and little girl take turns tossing the miniature plastic basketball through the white-and-blue goal that’s half his height, admiring the way Seth’s jeans ride low on his hips. His white T-shirt clings to him with sweat, since it’s hotter than Hades outside.
“Okay. So. Did you see how everyone straightened up when Crystal threatened to tattle on us to our Doms?”
I smile. “Yep.”
“Hey. Don’t sound too cocky, there, Twy. You sure did expose your throat to her like a good little puppy when she gotcha for being self-deprecating,” she reminds me, and my smile widens.
“True, true. Continue,” I prompt.
“Anyway. While I love her idea about using those automatic reactions of yours to trigger you to consciously shut them down, it seems like that would be something that takes time. More time than the few days you have before his birthday.”
I nod, even though she can’t see me. “I thought the same thing the whole drive home and was praying for a miracle.”
She chuckles. “Well, that could happen, I guess. But how about a backup plan?”
I sit up straighter in the driver seat, waving at Seth when he looks over at me with a questioning expression, then give him the universal sign that I’m on a call, with my thumb and pinky pointed outward from my fist as I put it up to my ear. He nods, then turns back to Luna.
“A backup plan would be excellent,” I tell Clarice, nearly swooning as I watch the muscles in Seth’s back move beneath his thin tee. I’d give anything to be the sub he deserves, even if it’s just for one night. His birthday.
“Whether you can see it for yourself or not, you are a great submissive, Twy. And before you get to whatever point in a scene that makes you freeze, I know for a fact that you follow your Dom’s orders with grace and expertise. I’ve seen it myself the few times y’all have done a public scene, and when we’re just hanging out in general,” she says, and as I’ve been told to do, I attempt to swallow past the lump in my throat that forms when she mentions seeing me that way.
My voice cracks like a pubescent boy’s when I prompt, “Oh?”
“Yeah. It’s more subtle then, of course, but you two live in your roles. You might not address each other by your D/s names or kneel at his feet, but you still do things like look to him when someone asks you a question, keep an eye on his drink and make sure to top him off when he needs a refill, and absolutely glow when he praises you for little things like that. It’s a beautiful exchange of power, and your part of that exchange would make any Dominant envious of your man. It seems effortless for you, like you do all of that without much thought, as if it comes as naturally to you as breathing,” she explains, and coming from a woman I admire exponentially—not even considering the fact that she’s a Domme half the time—it makes my heart feel too big for my chest.
I can’t think of anything to say, and it doesn’t even have to do with me freezing or clamming up. I’m just… speechless.
But Clarice, being her strongheaded self, goes on without waiting for a response. “So what I’m getting at is you follow your Dom’s orders flawlessly, up until the point where you physically can’t because of this instinct.”