Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“How do you know so much about that stuff?” Easy suddenly asked.
Tex put the stopper back on the whiskey. “I minored in psychology in college. So I could get away with taking a psychology of human sexuality class and not have it look weird since my major was actually linguistics and communication.”
“To see if you were weird?” Easy asked.
Tex looked at Easy over his raised glass and then nodded. “Yeah.”
Hawk chuckled. “What was the verdict?”
Tex downed his shot. “I am certifiably normal, gentleman. Or normal enough not to pose a danger to anyone.”
“You just spank women,” Easy replied, teasingly.
Tex laughed. “It’s a little more involved than that, but the bottom line, and the most important thing to me is, I don’t hate women. I love women. And I love a woman to be a woman. I have no interest in humiliating them or punishing them for being female and I have no use for men who do. Some of them use kink to take their hate to a whole new and disgusting level. Some don’t even need kink, they just use their fists to bring ‘em down and keep ‘em there. Telling ‘em they’re worthless and less than a man, which is bullshit. If anything, most of them are better than men.”
“How do you figure?” Easy asked, not challenging, just curious.
Tex raised his eyebrow. “Pull a cantaloupe out of your nostril kid and then we’ll re-visit this discussion.” Easy and Hawk laughed. “My mama did it five times, while running the farm when my old man was laid up, injured from the rodeo. She kept us in boots and beans for a lot of years, just her and a few ranch hands. My old man was smart and a damn hard worker, but he wasn’t my mama. And he knew it. Knew what he had and treasured it like a man should.
“For all intents and purposes my old man was head of the household, but there wouldn’t have been a household without her. He never treated her with anything less than love and respect, not that I ever saw. And I’m gonna do the same with my woman. If I ever find her.
“I don’t dominate women to disrespect them. If anything, I respect them more. Especially the smart ones. The ones who understand the seriousness of it and choose to do it anyway. I’ve never had that, not yet, but I’ve seen other people who do and I want it. More than anything. Some people say submission isn’t a gift because it’s who they are, they naturally submit. And that might be true for some, but that’s not what I want.
“I want a woman who doesn’t normally submit, or at least hasn’t before. Someone who’ll only submit to me because she trusts me completely. That kind of thing is harder to find and if you had it, you’d treasure it more. You can find women who’ll drop to their knees when someone, anyone, snaps their fingers. But why would you want what just anyone can have? Why wouldn’t you work harder or wait longer for something that could just be yours and yours alone?
“Chris understands it,” Tex said, nodding to Chris. “At least on some level. It wasn’t easy to get Hayley to trust him, and it won’t be completely smooth sailing, even at the best of times. There are no handcuffs, but every time Slick gets in bed with him, she’s telling him she trusts him not to hurt her. And she won’t do that for just anyone. It also took a whole helluva lot for her to show him those scars and trust that he’d still accept her. Men especially are visual creatures, they can get turned off easily by what’s in front of them. Showing Chris her scars says a lot about her, but it says a lot about him, too. About what she thinks of him and the kind of man he is.”
“I’m always afraid,” Chris blurted out suddenly and everyone turned to look at him. “I’m always worried I’m gonna do the wrong thing or say the wrong thing with her. Sometimes I can’t tell for sure if I’m getting it right.” He looked at Tex. “How…how do you know what to do all the time? How do you keep from getting it wrong? I mean, if you fuck up, a woman could get hurt and it’s like that for me, too.”
Tex shrugged. “I don’t always know. Sometimes I do get it wrong. I get the signals wrong or I miss a response I should have seen. Thankfully I don’t usually engage in any activity that could result in serious physical damage. I don’t suspend them from the ceiling or anything like that. So if I fuck up, it’s almost always psychological. I hurt her feelings or she got scared of something or I pushed a button that maybe she didn’t even know she had. All you can do is stop and talk about it. Just trust your instincts. You’re a smart guy and you want to do right by her, both of which go a long way. She’s smart, too. Damaged, but still a very intelligent woman. She knows you’re not perfect. We all trusted you to lead us, and you did. Trust yourself to lead you and Hayley where you need to go as a couple.