“You’ve been doing this a long time?”
“Many, many years.”
“So we’ll both have a safe word then?”
Derrick raised a brow. “If you wish. What would you like yours to be?”
“Pink.”
“Fair enough. Mine can be blue then.”
Jacey rolled her eyes, but relaxed slightly.
“Will you sit with me?” He held out his hand to her.
Probably a bad idea. But her feet were moving even as she thought that. She reached out and took his hand.
Derrick sighed as he sat on the sofa. She sat next to him, not quite touching him.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” she asked.
“Trusting me, I know it can’t be easy.”
“You don’t know how hard it is. And my trust only goes so far,” she warned him.
He brushed her hair back off her face. “That’s as it should be. I wouldn’t want you trusting too easily. There are a lot of bad things in this world and you should always be on alert.”
There was a sad look in his eyes, as though he had first-hand experience. That was something she could relate to.
“I know. People you think you know can turn out to be total strangers.”
Although it wasn’t cold, Derrick pulled a blanket off the back of the sofa. Lying on his back, he tugged her down next to him. Jacey lay on her side, her head nested on his chest as he tucked the blanket around them both.
“Who hurt you?” His voice was quiet, undemanding, his heartbeat steady against her ear. Jacey yawned, feeling warm and safe with him. It seemed crazy when just minutes ago she was ready to flee.
“My ex.”
Derrick ran his hand up and down her back.
“He turned into someone I didn’t know, someone who seemed to hate me even as he said he loved me.”
“How did you meet him?”
“Through my parents, they set me up with him. They thought he was wonderful, of cours
e. Everyone did, including me, in the beginning. I was taken in by his charm and his good looks. He was smart, rich, successful, well-liked and I thought I had found the man of my dreams.”
“When did you learn differently?”
“After about ten months. Oh, there were little signs before then, things I foolishly ignored. I was so excited when he first told me he was a Dom.” She snorted. “I had all these silly fantasies about what being with a Dom would be like, that he would be protective and caring, that he would put my needs and wants ahead of his own. That I would be able to surrender myself and trust him to look after me.”
“What did he do instead?”
“He hurt me. What I saw as protectiveness turned into a blind, raging jealousy.”
“He hurt you?”