aftercare

[riding_crop]

She texts him at half past noon, so that he's had time to sleep in if he needs it, but will probably be awake.

What channel are we watching, Sherlock?

Because he'd laughed, so she considers it a promise.

Comments

[seesobserves]

Ah-ha. Well, that would work.

"Charge extra for copies of the footage?"

[riding_crop]

"Paid for my first flat off one of those films."

She admits, with a smug little stretch. Because there had been more to cut her teeth on than kink alone.

[seesobserves]

"Enterprising business, sex work."

Not that he ever had much doubt in that.

[riding_crop]

"I could snatch you off a street one day, perhaps out of your bed one night, let you truly fight for all you're worth, then take you somewhere and try to get information out of you."

A musing little smile.

"Something prearranged, written in a closed envelope so I can double check afterward and see if you outsmarted me, or if I actually managed to break that iron will of yours."

[seesobserves]

She ought to enjoy the way his expression changes at that suggestion. It's subtle in the extreme, more a sudden stillness than anything else - the same way he'd looked when she'd first promised to make him beg for mercy (twice). He's utterly focused, taking in the moment in its entirety.

"That," he admits, "Does sound more like the type of scenario I was expecting last night." Although he hadn't anticipated just how the pain would affect him.

[riding_crop]

"No one ever explained to you that pain needn't be a competition."

She hadn't, either. Irene spares another moment to curse the over-hasty negotiation.

"I think that idea will wait, in that case. Explore what kinds of pain you enjoy before going into a scene where anyone is hurting you more than is immediately physically satisfying."

The language she chooses is deliberate, putting the control of the stimulation squarely in his hands.

[seesobserves]

It makes sense. Chemistry first. Work out the periodic table before they go handling volatile chemicals.

"Suppose so." His eyes skirt away from her toward the carpet, and then the wall. No sense pretending he isn't interested in continuing, but he's still going to have to adjust to her seeing him like this. "Then I think we will be approaching it again, at some point."

[riding_crop]

"Good."

She agrees, with a tiny bit of a glint in her eye. She won't pretend not to want to have him under her lash.

"I had hoped so."