Hello dear readers! Chapter 19 is finally finished and the story can continue after a break of more than a month. I would like to thank you for your patience, your reactions and your support. In my last update, I asked you if you prefer long or short chapters. Deduced from these reactions, I will try to write chapters which will contain 3000 words and upload two times a month.

THANK YOU!

SAKURA'S POV

Friday finally has arrived. After writing six articles, interviewing three celebrities and listening to these interviews multiple times, my work is done… at least for this week. If someone would ever ask me which day of the week is my favorite, it would definitely be Friday. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but going home after a long working week, knowing that I do not have to do anything during the weekend just feels amazing.

And of course having dinner with Sasuke makes this Friday even more special. Oh Sasuke… It has been a week since I have kissed him, touched him and slept with him. We decided on Monday to start all over again, but this time very slowly. I know that since I have met him, everything went fast, but it just felt so good at that time. Can you blame me? If you do, let's try this then: imagine this very hot guy that you meet on an ordinary day and asks you to have dinner with him the day after and with whom you feel such a strong attraction while you are surprised that someone like him likes you and would like to spend more time with you. Are you really going to let him go when you have the chance to spend your nights with him? No! So who can blame me now?

Anyway, now we are moving very slowly. I haven't seen him since Monday, but we have been texting each other a few times this week, talking about our work and other normal stuff. Normal as in BDSM is not a normal topic. But is it that abnormal? Sasuke told me that BDSM is not always about pain, but pleasure. And yes I know I snorted at that explanation, but that thought kept me awake almost the entire night so I decided to do some research. And let me tell you, the results will make you speechless. There are hundreds of books to introduce you to BDSM: BDSM for dummies, To tie to whip and to spank, How to pleasure your submissive, Discover BDSM, 50 tips to be a successful dominant, … Such titles do not put me at ease, at all, but apparently people read these books since most of them were sold out. However there was one book that intrigued me and that I bought: The psychology of a submissive and dominant. How to understand their relationship. The author of this book explains her thoughts about BDSM and how she felt about it when her husband suggested to follow some lessons and spicy up their life. I'm almost done reading it and I must admit that I somehow feel connected with the woman. Not that I am interested in BDSM! No, no, no, no, no.

Absolutely not, Sakura. Why would you buy such a book and read it if you're not interested in BDSM?

I am just curious and I want to understand more about Sasuke's former lifestyle.

Yeah sure. Go tell it to the marines!

Oh inner, sometimes I wonder what I am going to do with you.

Yes, but you know you love me, don't deny it.

Pff, I do not have time for this, I still have to d—

KNOCK KNOCK

"Sakura, sweetie, do you need some help with your outfit and make-up" Ino says while she walks in my bedroom. Ino and I have been friends since high school and although I thought that we already were best friends, I feel like we have become closer the last week. She and Sai have been there for me when I needed them the most and I shall never forget that.

Before I can nod, Ino is already walking through my closet in the search of an outfit.

"What do you think of this" she asks while she holds a dark red knee length strapless dress.

I shake my head at her.

"Why not? It's sexy but still elegant and very chic."

"I want something more comfortable. I don't want to wear a strapless bra or hold my boobs up the whole night."

"You could always ask Sasuke to do that."

"Ino, please…"

"It's not like he hasn't seen or felt anything yet."

"Really, Ino? That's not the point."

"It isn't?"

"No! Wait, are you implying that you would let Sai hold your boobs for you in a restaurant with most probably other people in the same room?"

"Duh, then every girl would know that he is mine and they would back off." I laugh at her ideas. She always has an answer for everything. Poor Sai, he has his hands full of her.

She walks back in my closet and shows me another dress.

"What about this taupe one? It's not strapless, but the little cleavage at the front and the knee-length make it sexy instead."

"I like that one" I answer.

"Good! Now you go take a shower or have a nice bath and I shall put all my make up on your table."

After a nice bath and a make-up session with Ino, I look at my reflection in my bedroom mirror. I am sexy but still Sakura. I do not need to overdress or have a lot of make up on with Sasuke, since he already knows me. Ino has respected my choice and has put some natural eye shadows on my eyelids, a little bit of blush on my cheeks and a brown/pink lipstick on my lips.

"Sweetie, he is here."

Already? I glance at my clock at the bedside table and notice that it is already 7:05 PM. Oh shit, I am late for our first date. Breathe Sakura breathe. It's okay, don't worry.

"He is waiting in the living room."

"Okay, I will be there in a minute."

After Ino leaves my room, I take a final look at myself in the mirror. I am nervous because of the little discomfort between us at Monday, but I am excited as well to see him again and to get to know him better. I haven't prepared any questions, since I do that all the time at work and I definitely do not want to give him the impression of an interview, even though that's where it all started. I just hope that the night will end well and that our conversations will go smoothly. With my fingers crossed, I walk out of my bedroom to join the man who makes my heartbeat faster in the living room.

SASUKE'S POV

When she walks in the living room, everything in my vision field becomes dark except for her. She is the only light in the darkness, a beautiful goddess and nothing or nobody else matters.

"Hi" I say "are you ready to go?" She nods and hugs her friend before she walks towards me. In silence, we walk to my car. I am glad that I am driving tonight so that I have to concentrate on the road instead of on these awkward and silent moments.

"Is this a new car?" she asks me while I open the door for her.

"No, it's just one of my cars."

"Oh" she says and she steps in. I close her door and walk towards the driver's side, hoping in the meantime that after tonight, I can make her feel more at ease in my presence.

"Where are we going?"

"Chez Michi."

"Chez Michi? Isn't that a three stars restaurant?" she asks and I can see that she is panicking inside. I nod and her eyes become bigger.

"I need to go back inside to pick out another dress" she says rapidly and she almost opens the door when I put my hand on her knee. I can hear her sharp intake of breath and the little tremblings under my hand. So I still have some effect on her? I smirk at that realization, since I thought that I had lost her completely.

"You look beautiful, princess." She turns around and looks me in the eyes. I can see a little bit of blush appearing on her cheeks and I smile at her at which she turns her head immediately to stare out of the window. Oh isn't my princess cute when she is shy?

We don't talk further during the ride, or when we entered the restaurant and walked to our table. Chez Michi was full booked, which is expected on a Friday night, but walls, flowers and other decorations give us enough privacy to talk without people eavesdropping on us. I'm still Sasuke Uchiha and I know that the paparazzi isn't far away, but tonight I want to have a quiet dinner with my girl and I definitely won't let them come near her or bother her.

"I don't know what to order" she says. "And that language… Grilled chicken on top of floating noodles in a soup of vegetables and sprinkled with soja sauce. Really? Can't they just put Noodles with chicken?"

I laugh at her reaction. She sure made a point. Why waist ink and paper when you can rephrase the food way easier. I see the corners of her mouth go up and that is the first time in a week that I see her genuine and beautiful smile. Seeing it again makes me realize how much I missed it and how it pained me to see her tears instead of her smile.

"Do you trust me?" I ask her suddenly, making her smile fade away and her eyes stare onto something behind me. It's as if I asked her a super important question at which she doesn't know the answer and god I want her to trust me so badly, but I need to gain it and that will take time... A lot of time after what Karin and I have put her through. Patience, Sasuke, is a very good virtue.

After a few minutes of silence she finally whispers that she trusts me. I wave my hand at one of the waitresses and order us an appetizer, main course and dessert. During our dinner, we talk about our working week and the dreams and goals we each try to achieve. I don't mind talking about such topics, I mean if we want to get to know each other and work things out between us, we definitely need to know the plans of the other concerning the future. But I feel that she is holding something back… Sometimes I see her lips moving as if she wants to say something but then I notice the uncertainty in her eyes and she closes her lips again. It bothers me during the dinner, wondering what she wants to say but can't because of certain reasons. Maybe it's because of the other people in the restaurant, even though our table is closed off the rest of the restaurant. Whatever it is, I will try to make her talk in the car, where she can be sure that nobody will interrupt or hear us.

When we both close the doors of the car, I turn to her and she looks up right into my eyes.

"I know you want to talk about something." She breaks the eye contact and choses to look at the floor. "I saw your lips moving a few times but no sound come out of them." I hear her sigh and that's when I know for sure that the topic is difficult for her to bring it up. I put my right hand on her left knee, gently stroking her. "You can talk to me about anything, princess, so please don't hold back and talk to me" I say while I squeeze her knee gently.

"I.. I just want to…" and then she stops.

"What do you want, babe?"

She finally turns back to me and looks in my eyes. "Can I ask you some things?"

"Sure."

"About your past too?" she asks silently, making it hard for me to hear it but my ears aren't bad so I heard every word of it. I nod, because I understand that she wants to know more about it. She licks her lips, making my cock to spring alive, but I know that this isn't the time to be that intimate with her. This will be a serious situation, so please go back down my friend.

"You said your ex-fiancée introduced you to BDSM. How?"

"Well" I start to tell her the story that had changed and influenced a few years of my life. "One of her friends was getting married and on the bachelor party they decided to go to a BDSM meeting."

"There are meetings about BDSM?"

"Yeah, once a month."

"What happens there?"

"Well, submissives can talk to each other and a few masters demonstrate how to use some new toys on their submissives. Such meetings are a sort of introduction to the lifestyle and the toys that come with it."

"So they demonstrate some toys to make sure that you use it right and you won't hurt the other person?"

"Exactly."

"And Karin was inspired by it?"

"She was more than inspired." I sigh when I remember the fights we had about it. "She craved for it and at first I wasn't thrilled to explore it with her, but she kept talking about it on and on and I agreed to go with her to the next meeting, hoping that she would stop nagging about it. But when I got there, something changed in my head. Everyone looked normal… You know you would assume that only weird and marginal people would do such things, but that is definitely not true. There were poor people, rich people, even a few CEO's of big companies and I realized then that everyone there is human too and that humans have needs that they want to satisfy with or without using some toys." She nods and I hope that she doesn't nod because I told her the story, but because she understands the meaning of it.

"I know that they are normal people like me" she whispers and looks out the window again. She takes a deep breath in before she talks again. "I bought a book this week: The psychology of a submissive and dominant. How to understand their relationship."

I am stunned at what she says. She just bought a book about BDSM. I don't know that book but furthermore I absolutely don't know what this means… Is she curious about my past or does she wants to experience it herself? My cock springs alive again when I think about BDSM with Sakura, but I want to erase that image immediately. Even if Sakura isn't open to try it, I will stay with her and accept her choice because that woman brings so much happiness in my life that I do not want to lose her at all. I clear my throat, trying to speak without sounding husky.

"Have you read it already?"

"Yeah, I'm almost finished."

"And?"

"I can't understand the mind of the dominant and the submissive completely, but…"

"But?" I urge her to go on, because whatever she says next sounds like it will be important.

"But I understand it more" she says while she looks me in the eyes. "I don't think I'm up to it, but I can't blame you for your past or glare at you because of your actions."

I sigh loudly and it feels as if a lot of weights have left my shoulders because this declaration means the world to me.

I place my hand on her hand and we intertwine our fingers. "I won't push you, Sakura. I just want to be with you again and have what we had before Karin ruined it because I loved what we had."

"Me too, Sasuke, me too." I release her hand and put both of my hands on her cheeks, holding her face in them.

"I like you, princess… a lot." I say when I look in her eyes, while asking her permission with my eyes to kiss her. She nods slightly and that is the sign to put my lips on her, finally. I kiss her slowly, trying not to move on to quickly but that becomes very difficult when she licks and bites my lip, making me gasp. That was the sign for her tongue to enter my mouth and reunite with my tongue after a very long time. Okay no, only a week, but still that is a very long time when you miss the other person. What started as little innocent kisses has turned into passionate, mind blowing kisses. Holy shit! Did I miss this woman, or what? I can feel my cock swelling against the zipper of my pants, which takes me back to reality. I pull away from her, because I can't make love to her yet. We decided to move on slowly, so that is what we are going to do, even though I would need three cold showers each day.

Please review. Until next chapter!