"I can give you what you want," he said, silkily. "All the submission. All the pleasure. Everything you've been dreaming of."

He sat down next to her on the bed.

"All you need to give me in return," he continued, "is your 'no'".

She startled. She felt her muscles tense involuntarily.

"My 'no'? What does that mean?" she said, asking for confirmation of what she had already, sinkingly guessed.

He spoke evenly. Calmly. Looked her directly in the eyes.

"It means that once we start, you can't say 'no' to me," he said seriously. "You have to trust me implicitly with your submission. That's the only way this will work. I don't play games here- if I'm dominating you, it has to be real."

"Ok..." she said, uncertainly.

He continued. "I'll usually remove the actual 'no' hypnotically but- that only works if I have your permission. Your buy in. In advance." He emphasized his last word, then adopted a more casual tone. "So- you have to give that to me now before we go any further."

She looked away. Down. She was new but she had done some research- people had warned her against situations like this. She wanted things to feel dangerous but- this was maybe too dangerous.

"Do I get a safe word?" she asked.

He shook his head, firmly. "No. This has to be real."

She had told him she wanted something real- back when they were first negotiating.

"I'm not sure..." she started hesitantly.

She immediately wished she could take her words back. This was her chance to actually experience this! Real kink! What if she offended him? What if he got annoyed and left? Found someone more willing?

But instead of leaving, he leaned in sympathetically. With infinite empathy, he asked: "What are you worried about? What people will think?"

He paused, knowingly.

"It's hard when you first start playing with kink- overcoming all of those societal messages about who you're supposed to be and what you're supposed to want. All of that stigma."

That wasn't...exactly her concern, but it was also correct. She had been struggling with wanting submission for quite a while. She nodded, feeling seen.

He nodded back. Comfortingly, he said, "You have to realize that you can't let others' expectations define who you are. That it's ok to want what you want. It's OK that what we want is unconventional. You already know you don't want something conventional- that's why you're here, isn't it?"

She nodded again, relieved.

"I understand it- I struggled for so long with being dominant. I was sure that what I wanted was evil or bad or sexist. What kind of monster wants to hypnotize people and boss them around, y'know?"

He continued, sincerely. "But- it's not bad, is it? Not if we both want it." He took her hand and squeezed it, comfortingly.

She hadn't considered that before- the struggle he must have gone through to be comfortable as a dominant. Maybe that struggle was universally common with kinky people. She had a sudden desire to comfort him.

"No, it's not bad. I don't think you're bad at all, " she said, rushing to reassure him. "It's just that..."

"It's your first time," he said understandingly. "And you're nervous."

She nodded, relieved.

"Oh sweetheart," he gently cupped her cheek, bringing her eyes to his. "It's OK to be nervous. It's OK. But- I want you to hear me with this- I'm going to take such good care of you, ok?"

His thumb stroked her cheek. He sounded so genuine.

"I'm going to keep you so safe. So safe. I'll be watching over you, taking in every reaction. Making sure everything we do is good and right by you. So you don't need to worry, ok?"

She could feel herself melting as he spoke. That's exactly how she wanted to feel. He really understood her.

"Ok, " she responded, feeling almost euphoric.

"Good girl," he praised.

A thrill went through her.

"You can trust me," he said, seriously. "Just let yourself enjoy it."

She nodded eagerly.

He looked into her eyes for a long moment. She wondered if he was going to kiss her. Instead, he seemed to make a decision.

"OK, then," he said soothingly. "Let's go ahead and get started."

He stroked his hand down her hair, gently.

"Close your eyes," he began.