"Fine, you want to know, I'll tell you."
I sat back, propping the pillows against the headboard, and settled in for her explanation. At last. I knew better than to prompt her; she had resisted for so long and would resist again if pushed. If she wanted to say it, she would, but in her way, her time. I waited as she visibly collected her thoughts and prepped herself. It was likely to be long, but I had waited years, prodding and probing and beseeching. I tried to make my face show compassion and patience, and hide the eagerness I felt; inside I thought I might explode. She sat on the edge of the bed, turned away from me. I knew there was no way she could begin while looking at me; that would come as she opened up and relaxed a little.
She began with her face aimed at the wall.
"It's complicated, so be patient," she started, and I touched her shoulder reassuringly. She shrugged it off. "No, don't," she told me. "Just let me say it." I dropped my hand and waited, watching her bare shoulders rise and fall. She glanced around with a frustrated air, then bent for the tee shirt on the floor where it had fallen and slipped it over her head. "Sorry, not naked," she informed me, then heaved a sigh.
"I resist because I am afraid, Steven. The things you want, what you want me to do, what you have made me do..."
"You seemed to enjoy-"
"Stop! Please, don't interrupt. You want to know, so I'll tell you, but please, just let me say it." She was silent for a while longer, still facing away from me, and I thought for a moment I had ruined the moment, that she would stuff her thoughts back inside and not tell me. In so many ways she was outspoken and opinionated, and her hesitance on this one issue seemed out of character. Sure we pushed our limits, I thought. But this felt like her reaction was out of proportion; to me, anyway.
"Yes. I enjoy it. Not the way I enjoy just regular sex. A different enjoyment. That's part of it; part of what scares me.
She turned to look at me. There were tears welling in her eyes.
"Honey, are you all-"
"No. Stop. You want this answer, you can wait for it." I clammed up. At least on that, she was certain. "I have to tell it my way." I nodded silently. My curiosity was getting the better of me, though, and I had to force my questions to silence in my head. Listen, I admonished myself.
She turned her head away again, focused on some vague unknown spot in the corner of the room, but her profile was still visible. I could almost see her thinking.
"There are things I have done with you, things you have made me do," she began slowly, controlling her breathing, "that I consider perverted and disgusting." I nodded my agreement; it was not a secret. Her view of sex was, like her, pretty straightforward. Over the last years I had gotten her to try some new variations. She'd seemed hesitant at first, but slowly I had gotten her to concede. Things she didn't like. Things she said she didn't want to do. But I had insisted, and over time, wore down her resistance.