Page 23 of Love Lessons

He cast around the room, trying to prolong their conversation for a few more minutes. He was about to ask about the potted plants when Landon captured his attention.

Ready for your lesson? He made it look so dirty, the way that he moved his body and tilted his head when he signed “lesson.” But of course, it was dirty. And it was kind of hot to think of it that way.

Dustin was a little sad, though, that he wouldn’t get to talk to Landon a bit more. He was intrigued by all of his contradictions and wanted to get to know him better.

And, if he was being honest, he was still terrified about what would happen next.

He knew that Landon was a switch, which made it even worse. What if Landon was even better at this than he was? Would he be getting advice from Landon as another Dom or a sub?

He was starting to regret his decision to come over at all. But since he was here, his best option was honesty. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.

That’s alright. We’re not going to do anything that we don’t talk about first. Something seemed to occur to Landon, and he strutted across the room. Picking up his phone, he settled back onto the couch, but much closer to Dustin’s chair.

Dustin could see him slipping into “teacher” mode as he launched into a lecture. In a strange way, he looked much more comfortable like this than when he’d been posing on the couch.

The first rule about any encounter is that, as the Dom, it’s your responsibility to choose activities that the sub is interested in or willing to try. It’s true that the sub is really the one in control, because the Dom can only take the control that the sub is willing to give him. Do you know about hard and soft limits?

Dustin nodded. Now that he could see Landon’s passion for teaching, it made the practiced seduction feel a little more fake. They were clearly both sides of Landon’s personality, but teaching seemed more real.

Great. I’m sending you my list. Some things we wouldn’t do without a third person to be a mentor while you’re learning, but there are still a lot of things that you can just try with me. Landon fiddled with his phone for a moment and then Dustin heard a chime from his pocket.

Dustin pulled up the text, not having any idea what to expect. There were two typed pages of categorized entries and most of them had a hand-drawn star beside them.

Dustin’s mind was reeling. Not just from the exhaustive list of kinky possibilities, which went far beyond anything Dustin had imagined for the day, but also that Landon used this list so often that he had it ready on his phone.

So the stars are the ones you’re interested in? he confirmed.

Yeah.

Are some of them soft limits? Or are those blank?

Landon thought for a moment. I guess I don’t really distinguish between soft and hard limits. I think I’d need to have a lot of trust in someone to push my soft limits and I never really get there.

With every word, Dustin was starting to get a fuller picture of Landon. He was outgoing and popular, but he didn’t have close friends. He sent out his kink list from his phone, but he’d never been with someone for long enough to think about soft limits, let alone test them. He was fascinating and complex, but he seemed closed off to anything more than one-night stands.

Dustin’s protective instincts were firing hard, and he tried to turn them down. Right now, he wanted to wrap Landon up and take care of his every need. He wanted to crack him open and put him back together again.

But Landon hadn’t said he wanted that. And all of Dustin’s exes had told him he was suffocating when he acted like this. He didn’t always realize he was doing it, though. He’d just wanted to make their lives easier and show them that he cared. Even Zhong had mentioned that he could be a bit overbearing.

This was his signal to get out now, before he started to get in over his head. Not to mention that he still didn’t know if he could even spank Landon correctly, or whatever he was supposed to do.

He just needed to remember that this was a one-night stand. A lesson.

What’s your safeword? he finally thought to ask.

I use the traffic light system. It’s easier for people to remember. He said it with a smile on his face, like he didn’t even realize that his safewords might be worth remembering. Do you understand how that works?

I’ve read about red to stop, yellow to slow down, and green to go. But you’ll need to sign your safewords, explained Dustin quickly. He tried to push memories of Alan out of his mind. He’d been too foolish to tell Alan the same thing and he wouldn’t make that mistake again. I can technically hear you, but what you’re saying might not make sense to me. Especially if I’m having strong emotions myself.

Landon nodded. I’ve only been with one other Deaf Dom, but I think I can remember. He winked.

Dustin sure as hell hoped he meant it. Is there anything else you want to tell me? Or anything specific that you’d like to do together? He needed some sort of guidance here.

Landon shrugged. The heavier stuff, like whips or breath play, that you’d need to train for first, so those are off the list. Otherwise, if it’s on the list, we can talk about what you’re interested in.

Yeah. I wasn’t even thinking of anything like that while I figured things out. Like, I didn’t even realize that I might be a Dom until my ex told me when he was breaking up with me.

Landon almost kept a straight face, but Dustin didn’t take the small quirk of his lips personally. It was fucking awkward that someone else needed to point this out to him. But Landon recovered quickly. We’ll keep it simple. There are a lot of things you can do with just your hands. Or, we can go to my bedroom and check out my toy chest.