He’d selected a new restaurant for lunch. Even though we were a little early, there was already a line waiting to get in. Fortunately, he’d secured reservations, so we bypassed most of the crowd and within minutes of arriving had been seated in a corner booth.
I took my time looking over the menu. The restaurant had a massive amount of fresh fish. I had a hard time settling on one thing to eat but I finally decided on a crab cake sandwich with salad.
When the waitress finished taking our order and walked off, Nathaniel spoke. “I was glad to hear you’re enjoying the week.” He looked around the room, as if taking note of how many people were present. “I wanted to get your opinion about expanding it.”
My wineglass froze halfway to my mouth. “What?” I asked when I could actually speak again.
“I’ve enjoyed it more than I thought I would.” He caught my gaze and looked deeply into my eyes. “I don’t think I can go back to only playing once or twice a month.”
I’d had the very same thought, but I hadn’t seen how we could make it work with two kids in the house. Especially with one of them being as precocious as Elizabeth.
“I’m not sure I understand,” I said, wanting to know exactly what he was suggesting.
“I don’t want you in my collar twenty-four hours, seven days a week.” His eyes were intense as he spoke. He was serious about what he was saying. That he took my collar off at all when we’d agreed for me wear it all week spoke volumes.
“Then explain to me what you meant by expanding our play and how we can accomplish that without me wearing your collar nonstop?”
“I don’t know exactly how to implement it. That’s what we need to talk about.”
“We’ve been together long enough for me to think you’re not just pulling this out of the air.” Hell, the man planned everything. “I know you have ideas.”
“I do have ideas, but I want to hear yours. I know you need time to process and think. That’s why I’m bringing this up now. I’d like to have something in place when we get home.”
“That soon?”
“That’s my preference.”
“And if I say I’m not interested at all?”
Damn, the way his eyes could pierce my soul. Especially when I said something he knew wasn’t completely true to how I felt.“Tell me you’re not interested, Abby. Tell me you’re okay only playing once or twice a month. Tell me you don’t melt every time I call you Abigail and I’ll never bring it up again.” He spoke in a low, deep voice that gave me gooseflesh as if he’d reached out and caressed my arm. And all the time, he was looking at me knowing with absolute certainty what my response would be.
“You know I can’t say I’m not interested.”
“Then why did you ask in the first place?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Because I wanted to know.”
“I’m not going to run off and leave you or ask for a divorce if you don’t want to play more often.”
We were interrupted by the waitress bringing our lunch. I was suddenly famished. The breakfast he’d fed me earlier was totally gone. I took a huge bite of the sandwich and glanced across the table to him.
“This sandwich is so good.” I nodded toward my plate, but from glancing at his, he’d ordered the same thing. He picked up his sandwich and took a bite.
“Mmmm. Yes.”
We ate quietly for a few minutes. I was glad of the time to digest what he’d said, and I could tell Nathaniel was gathering his thoughts as well.
“Okay, so you’re not going to leave or get a divorce. But what would you have done if you’d felt this way years ago? Like when you were looking for a submissive?”
“I don’t think I can say for sure. So much of who I am is tied up in you and what we have. It wouldn’t be like that with just anyone.”
“True,” I said. “I’ll buy that.” I was comforted by his words, and ready to ask the harder questions. “Would you start off with more than just weekends?”
“Probably not. Dominance is a need for me, but I don’t want a twenty-four-seven submissive.”
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s take the rest of this week to think this through. I’ll come up with some ideas.”
“Thank you, Abby.”
“We aren’t going back to the hotel?” I asked, looking out the car window as we drove away from the restaurant. From what I could tell, we were headed in the opposite direction.