"Do it harder," I suggested, panting slightly.

"I don't want to break anything," Mason murmured uncertainly.

"You won't. Just try doing it a little harder."

Mason pushed with all his might, grunting slightly with the effort. However, his efforts were all in vain. A few seconds later he gave up, sitting on the edge of the tub and breathing heavily. He shook his head, running his hand through his hair.

"Okay, that's it, I give up. This thing is impossible to figure out."

I sighed, glaring down at the shower handle in frustration. I'd made that crack about us figuring out how to use the shower as a joke. But, apparently, I was a goddamn psychic, because we'd been racking our brains for nearly five minutes now trying to figure out how to turn the damn thing on.

"Did you try pulling it instead?" He asked, still a little winded.

"Yeah, I tried that," I grumbled. "I tried twisting it too. Like, seriously, who's the sadist who designed this shit? It's a fucking shower, not a bank vault. I shouldn't need to plan out a movie-level heist to make hot water come out of a glorified hose."

He smiled at me sympathetically. I think he could tell I was getting frustrated. Not that I really hid it well. How else was I supposed to feel though? I brought him in here to help set the mood. Unfortunately, thanks to the damn shower, the only "mood" being set right now was aggravation. At least, on my end.

Mason, however, seemed to be taking a much more level-headed approach to the whole situation. He glanced around the bathroom for a minute or two as if searching for something. And it didn't take long before he found it.

Without a word, he leaned across the tub and twisted one of the handles. The bathtub faucet sputtered to life, steam slowly rising from the water that landed below. He turned to me and smiled.

"Hey, how about this instead?" he suggested, gesturing towards the tub. "I know you were hoping for a shower, but a bath could be just as nice. Nicer even. We can actually lay back and relax in a bathtub."

"Yeah, but we can't..."

I trailed off, but he didn't have any trouble filling in the blanks. A mischievous smile slowly spread across his face. He stood up and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Oh, sorry, I thought we were trying to get cleaned up. Were you, perhaps, hoping to do something dirty instead?"

He was teasing me again. A choice he would soon come to regret. The wine was finally starting to kick in and the resulting tipsiness only helped to heighten all of my sexual frustration. I was in no mood for his games, and I was going to make sure he knew it too.

I reached down and grabbed his member, stroking it gently. As it hardened in my hand, a small groan broke the smugness on his face. Now, it was my turn to give him an impish smile.

"Yeah, I want to do something dirty," I murmured, pressing my body against his. "More specifically, I want you to do something dirty."

It was beyond obvious that the sudden personality flip had thrown him off completely. He stared at me, dazed. It was as if my words were barely registering with him, and when they finally did, his brain still didn't seem certain about how to respond to them.

"Uh... Yeah... Sure," he mumbled as if on auto-pilot. "What, uh, what do you want me to do?"

A good question. And one I, surprisingly, seemed to hear quite often from him.

What did I want? What did I like? He asked me these things nearly every time we were together. And as thrilled as I was to finally have someone who even cared enough to ask, it brought to light a fact that I'd somehow managed to overlook in all our sexual encounters thus far: I didn't know what he liked.

Luckily, that was one problem with an easy solution. I let go of his member and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Whatever you want," I explained, shrugging. "Any positions you like, any fantasies you have, anything that you've been dying to ask me to do but haven't for one reason or another. I want you to fuck me the way you really want to fuck me."

Mason had never exactly been the shy one when it came to things like sex. Which might explain why the bright red color that suddenly filled his cheeks surprised me so much. He shifted his eyes away from me, his body tensing up slightly.

This wasn't good. I was trying to draw him in, not send him running. Was what I said really that over the line? Or was he just worried that he might be the one to overstep it? Whatever the case, I didn't want to leave him feeling this way.

"Jeez, that bad? You must be into some really kinky shit," I teased, hoping to lighten the mood.

It worked. At least, a bit. A smile cracked on his face and his body started to relax. Though the blush and no eye contact were still in full swing.

"No, it's not that bad, but..." he trailed off, thinking of what he wanted to say next. "Well, I guess I just don't want to scare you off or anything."

"Something 'not that bad' that might scare me off?" I asked doubtfully.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, still refusing to look at me. "I say 'not that bad' because it's not really anything crazy or out there. I know I'm not the only guy who's into it either. But... I have been with some women before where I've asked and it freaked them out a little and... Well, I just don't want to risk doing that with you."

After so many years in a shitty relationship, I think that I forgot what it was like to have open and honest communication with a partner. I felt bad hearing Mason say all that. Not because he made me feel like I'd be a shitty partner for potentially saying "no" to him, but because he seemed to feel really bad about himself for it. Like he blamed himself for enjoying whatever it was that he liked. Like it was wrong for him to even like something I might say "no" to in the first place.

"You won't scare me off. Or freak me out," I promised him. "Trust me, if scaring me off was that easy, I never would have started fucking you in the first place."

A small laugh sputtered through his lips. He finally raised his head to look at me. His eyes still held a hint of caution though.

"You're sure?"

"Look, worst case scenario, I don't like it and I just say 'no.' I mean, it's not like you'd force it on me, right?"

His eyes widened. "What? No! Of course not!"

"See. Then it's not an issue," I said, shrugging. "So, come on. No more stalling. What are you into?"

He let out another sigh and gave a defeated nod. "Okay, okay. You win..."

Despite saying that, he still took his time before answering. I could see him planning out the words in his head. Trying to find the way that would "freak me out" the least. And, after a minute or two, he seemed to find it.

"I really like when you blow me," he finally murmured, his eyes lowering to the floor again.

I don't think I could have hidden my confusion if I'd stood behind a brick wall. A blowjob? That's what all the fuss was about?

"Okay..." I started slowly. "And... you were worried I wouldn't want to do it again or...?"

Again, the smile tugged at his lips. "No, I was pretty sure that part wouldn't bother you. It's just... well, I kind of like things a little bit... rougher."

"Rougher?"

He nodded, the blush returning to his cheeks. "Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong, the way you do it is perfectly fine. Trust me, no complaints here. I guess I just like... going wild. You know? No holding back, giving in to the pleasure, losing control and being in control at the same time.

"Not that I'd take advantage of that, of course," he added quickly. "You can absolutely bail whenever you want to. No questions asked, no complaints, nothing. I mean, it's no fun if you're not having fun too."

The tenseness started returning to his body again. He was really nervous to tell me all of this. Whatever the hell he was trying to tell me.

Unfortunately, in his attempts to soften whatever it is he wanted to ask me, he seemed to forget that clarity was an important factor in asking. He was dancing around the actual topic so much that I could barely follow what he was saying. The one bit I did gleam from all of his waffling was that it had something to do with a "rougher blowjob."

Then, suddenly, it clicked for me.

He kept his eyes glued to the floor. Face red as a tomato as he continued to mumble his less-than-clear explanation at the polished tiles. I reached up and put my hand over his mouth to stop him. Apparently, that was enough to finally make him look at me again. I smiled as I lowered my hand to his chest.

"Mason, are you trying to say you want to fuck my face?"

His eyes immediately returned to the floor. He did, however, give me a small nod to confirm my theory.

"You don't have to do it though," he explained. "I really don't expect you to. Like I said, it gets pretty rough, and I don't want to do anything that might scare you or cross any boundaries. Besides, it's not like I need it or anything. I mean, fucking you is already amazing enough on its own, so—"

"Let's do it."

"Huh?"

He looked so shocked I thought his eyes popped out of his head. It might have been funny if I didn't know how worried he was about all of this. However, it didn't take too long before it finally sunk in for him what I had actually said. And he seemed hesitant to believe it.

"Maggie, trust me, I have plenty of fun fucking you as is. You don't—"

"And I have fun fucking you too," I cut him off, pressing my body against his. "And one of the things that makes fucking you so fun is how much I learn about myself while doing it.

"You think I would have tried any of this exhibitionist shit before I met you? A month ago I was too nervous to wear a low-cut top to the supermarket, and last week we fucked in a public bathroom. Mason, I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know anything about what I like. And the only way I'm going to find out is by trying things.

"So, let me try this. Either I end up liking it, or I don't, but I won't know either way until I at least attempt to do it. Besides, you said yourself, I can bail at any time. So, stop worrying so much about 'scaring me' or 'forcing me' or whatever other stupid shit is going on in your head and just let me suck you off. Okay?"

And with that, he burst out laughing. The tenseness left his body completely and the redness slowly started to fade from his face. As the laughter died out and became small bursts of chuckles, he even worked up the courage to look at me again. His eyes were filled with relief.

"Well, I guess when you put things that way, how can I refuse?"

"Oh, you can't," I teased. "That's why I said it in the first place."

He smiled and leaned in to place a few gentle kisses on my neck. "You're really sure you want to do this?"

"Mason, I swear if I have to tell you 'yes' one more time..."

He took a step back, holding up his hands defensively. "Okay, okay. Just making sure. Not every day I have some insatiable little minx offering to let me fuck her face. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of it."

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him playfully. "Insatiable little minx, huh? Is that a compliment or an insult?"

"Oh, trust me, it's definitely a compliment," he commented, pulling me to him again. "Feel free to fuck me as much as you want. I won't complain."

"Good," I murmured.

I pressed my lips against his neck. Then his collarbone. Then his chest. With each kiss, I slid my body lower and lower, fully ready to take him up on his offer.

However, I didn't get too far before he suddenly grabbed me and stepped away. A look of brief panic on his face.

"Umm, just wait a second, please," he asked nervously.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, uh, I just need a moment," he muttered, glancing at the bathtub briefly. "I still haven't, umm... 'cleaned up' from the last round yet and... Well, I'm pretty sure we'd both enjoy this more if I cleaned up a little first."

The smile spread across my face before I even had a chance to think about it. Typical Mason. Even in a situation like this, he was still trying to be considerate. I gave him a small nod and stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"Okay, okay. 'Clean up' then. I'll wait outside for you. Just don't keep me waiting too long," I murmured breathily.

I don't think I was even fully out the door yet when I heard the water start to splash. Looks like I wasn't the only one eager to get down to business anymore.

As I stood outside the bathroom, the reality of everything that we'd just talked about finally started to sink in for me. My heart raced with both nerves and excitement. Another day, another brand new experience with Mason. I just hoped that this was one I wouldn't end up regretting.