~*~*~*~ "Blow, blow, thou winter wind! Thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude." ~*~*~*~

"You want me to be your what?" I wanted to look at him, but I couldn't help but look around the room that reminded me of what a torture chamber during the Spanish Inquisition must have looked like. There were even some shackles dangling from some kind of maze on the ceiling, and shackles connected to one end of the bed.

What the hell is this?! I knew that I should have left when I had a chance! Oh, God, I don't want him to hurt me…

"Submissive," he said, speaking much as my teachers would during a classroom lecture. "Literally the one in a dominant-submissive relationship that submits to the dominant. That would be me." He took a step forward, closing the distance that I had somehow put between us. "I want to be your dominant, Phoebe. I want to show you pain, yes, but I also want to show you pleasure. I've been studying you; I've recognized this need inside of you to be dominated – a need that you probably don't even see in yourself. But you will see, Phoebe, if you let me show you."

Submit to a dominant? Submit to Adrian? Submit to him how? Pain? Pleasure? Need to be dominated? "Nothing that you're saying to me right now makes any sense," I said as I once again took a step away from him.

"Has a boy ever been able to excite you before, Phoebe?" he asked me, wisely choosing not to close the distance. "Or, when you've kissed before, has it been difficult for you to respond? Have you wondered if there was something wrong with you?"

I remembered those few times at parties that I'd somehow been able to sneak off to, when I'd go off alone with a guy and we'd kiss and I would just feel… empty. Like it wasn't doing anything for me and I was afraid that I couldn't respond. I wondered why other girls had such amazing feelings while kissing and I was just so busy worrying about how I smelled or how I was supposed to move or where I was supposed to put my hands. I was so busy thinking that I never had a chance to just feel. I had wondered if there was something wrong with me or if maybe some people just weren't meant to respond.

"I don't see how being… submissive would help me with that," I told him, though his words had given me pause.

He strolled absentmindedly to one wall and began to finger a cane. "Because you give up control. That's your problem, Phoebe; you have a need for control. If you give all of that up to me, I can show you what you've been missing. I can take control of your body and take you to places that you've never even thought to dream of." He turned and faced me, eyes on fire. "Let me show you."

Part of me wanted to run out and never look back… but the other part of me won. "How would… how would something like this work?"

Instead of smiling triumphantly like I had assumed he would, he turned back to the wall and said, "We'd come to an agreement of the terms, you'd sign a contract, and then you would no longer have to worry about how it would work. It would be my responsibility, as the dominant, to take care of everything. Your health, your travel, your pleasure."

Needing a few moments to compose myself, I turned to face the wall with the shelves of unfamiliar objects. "I've never done anything like this, Adrian." My voice lowered to a whisper. "Nothing at all."

"That's okay, baby," he said, and I strangely felt my heart lift at his words. "I didn't expect you to. I know that it'll be new for you. I'm prepared to work with you, to train you. You'll learn. And you'll like it."

The horrible part was that I was actually intrigued by what he was saying. I actually wanted to hear more, maybe even to agree. As he spoke, an overwhelming desire to have him touch me, kiss me, make love to me, overcame me. I'd never felt desire so strong before.

"In God 'tis glory: And when men aspire, 'Tis but a spark too much of heavenly fire…"

"I've never done anything," I told him, still refusing to look at him. "No sex, no… bases. I've kissed before, but I could never…"

"I don't usually like to be a woman's first," he said, "but I'll make an exception for you, if you'll let me. I'll be gentle with you for your first time."

But not for the other times; I heard his unspoken words. I'd heard of BDSM before, of course (you couldn't go to high school without hearing all about it), and I knew that rough sex was kind of a staple. BDSM involved handcuffs and whips and spanking and all manner of kink. I'd never considered myself participating in it before.

"I don't know," I told him and finally turned to look at him, finding him mere feet away, watching me closely, hands stuffed in the pockets of his slacks. "I don't know if I can make myself… I just don't know about any of this."

He nodded as if he had expected that reaction from me. "I didn't expect you to make a decision today. I just wanted you to see what you'd be getting yourself into. Here." He walked over to one of the shelves, dug around, and pulled out another file folder. Bringing it to me, he said, "This is the contract that you'll sign if you decide that you'd like to go ahead with this arrangement. Read it over and call me if you have any questions. My number is in the information and I'll have Arthur give you a cell phone on the way out. I'm sure that your father traces the numbers that you call."

Wow… way to think ahead.

He smirked as I took the folder from him. "Doms have to be good at planning, Phoebe. I've thought all of this through. Do you have any questions right now?"

I couldn't think clearly enough to come up with any questions, so I simply shook my head.

He frowned disbelievingly, but didn't call me out on lying. "All right, then. Feel free to let me know when you do. And don't forget that you signed a non-disclosure agreement, so there should not be any mention of this confidential information to anyone, not even your blond friend."

"Like I would want to tell Sarah any of this, anyway," I said with a roll of my eyes. She would flip out and probably call my father, promise or not. Not that I would really be able to blame her for that…

His eyes darkened and in a flash he was in front of me, grabbing my arms and pulling me towards him. His face was inches from mine, so tempting. "If you had already signed the contract, I would bend you over the whipping bench right now and spank you for rolling your eyes at me. And maybe for the snarky remark… I would have to make a split second decision on that one."

To my surprise, I felt turned on by his statement. Maybe he was right… maybe I do need to be dominated to get excited. The very thought made me even more confused; I was going to have so much to think about. So much information to ingest.

"Yes," he whispered when he saw the fear and excitement on my face. "Think on that for a while. Because that's how it's going to be, baby. I'll have rules, and you'll follow them. If you don't, I'll punish you; simple as that. Understand?"

I could only nod.

"Excellent." He released my arms and immediately backed away as though nothing had happened. "We should get going. Are you volunteering at the library today?"

"I was going to, yes," I answered him softly, legs like Jell-O.

"Come." He took my arm and guided me out of the playroom, locking the door behind us. We descended the stairs and he said, "Arthur will drive you. I have a feeling that you need some time away from me to think about all of this."

Actually, now that I thought about it, it was exactly what I needed. How did he know exactly what I needed before I even knew? "That would be nice."

We reached the living room and he bade me sit while he went to fetch Arthur from wherever Arthur was lingering. Does Arthur know the secrets of the man that he works for? Does he have any kind of idea? If he did, would he warn me?

When did Adrian become like this? How did he discover BDSM? Why does he like it so much? Will I like it? Is there really a need within me to be dominated? What if I'm no good at this? Is this really a good idea? What if get hurt? Actually… isn't that kind of the point?

"Phoebe." Adrian was in the doorway, looking at me disapprovingly. I shot to my feet. "Arthur is ready to take you now. Do you have everything you need?"

I looked down at the file folder in my hands, the one that held what I had dubbed 'The Devil's Contract'.

Do I need this?

"Yes," I answered and breezed past him.