THE SOFT SWISH OF THEleather flogger cut through the air and I blew out a bored breath, ruffling the few wisps of hair that slipped from my braided ponytail.Arching my back for effect, I tugged gently at the padded leather cuffs, being careful not to pull free.The bite of the rough wood against my mostly bare ass helped wake me up as I counted down the minutes until the appointment was over.
Peter, the hundred-and-sixty-pound accountant in pleather pants, winced as he worked me over with the flogger.I’m usingworked overin the most generous way possible.In reality, I was unlikely to feel either pleasure or pain from poor Peter’s ministrations.The only real danger was being tickled to death while he tried to channel his inner Dom, visibly cringing every time the leather hit my flesh.
“Is it okay, Lexi?”A bead of sweat caused by nerves, not exertion, clung to his upper lip.
Here’s where it got tricky.The whole consent/non-consent issue.The men who hired me were looking for a practice submissive.Someone discreet who could help them work out their moves before they take them out to the real world.Sex was on a case-by-case basis.Not that that particular case had come up yet, but I was keeping my options open.Nudity was a given.
Peter’s CEO girlfriend would probably rather he didn’t look at my naked tits, but honest to God, I had to figure out a way to keep the man motivated.The flogger didn’t do it for him, but my tits kept him in the game.I doubted his girlfriend, I think her name was Sarah, would ever know about me, but if I managed to teach Peter how to take charge in the bedroom, she’d be grateful for my help, nipples and all.
“We talked about this, remember?”I gently admonished the timid man.The last thing I wanted to do was make him more uncertain.I’d be stuck on the cross forever.“You don’t ask; you tell.You watch your partner’s reaction to what you’re doing, and then you decide when she’s had enough.If you’re concerned, remind her to use her safe word.Do not ask her if what you’re doing is okay.You’re the one in charge.”
He nodded, but I could tell by the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed that he still wasn’t comfortable with the idea.
“Go ahead and try again.This time put your back into it.”
I arched, pressing my tits toward him, and waited to feel something—anything—as the flogger came down again.
It took him two or three tries, but he finally hit his stride, and by the time the session ended, he’d managed to shed some of his inhibitions.He was unlikely to rock Sarah’s world, but I was pretty sure he could manage a decent rumble.If he did, he might become a repeat client.
“Remember the aftercare,” I said as a clearly pleased with himself Peter unfastened the cuff around my right wrist.“We won’t practice it, but with the woman you’re dominating, you’re going to need to hold her and reassure her.Make her feel safe and cherished when you’re done playing.”
Peter wasn’t going to need help with the aftercare.The hard part for him would be not apologizing.He nodded, reaching for the cuff around my left wrist.Now that we’d finished, he seemed to be in as much of a hurry to leave as me.He left me to unfasten the cuffs around my ankles, and by the time I stepped away from the St.Andrew’s Cross, he was headed for the door.I expected as much.Once I was freed from my bonds, I was a naked woman and not someone he wanted to remember he’d paid to help him.
“She’s going to be amazed,” I called after him as he slipped on his coat and yanked open the door.I shimmied into my bra in time to see another man slip through the doorway and past a horrified-looking Peter, who either assumed I knew the guy or was too chicken-shit to stick around.
I didn’t know the guy.I’d put a fairly elaborate screening process in place to weed out the assholes just looking for someone to smack around, and honestly, it almost never came up.The building that housed my studio was secure, which didn’t explain why there was a hipster, rocking a man bun and carrying a beat-up messenger bag, standing in the doorway and paying particular attention to my G-string and mostly bare breasts.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”I asked, drawing his gaze from my tits to my face.
He held the folded legal-looking piece of paper out in front of him, his eyebrows arched in clear approval.
“Alexandra Smithson,” he said as I reach for the paper.“You’ve been served.”
––––––––
ISTILL HAD the foldedpaper clutched in my sweaty hand when the cab stopped in front of the bar.I was late and dashed for the front door, stumbling when my five-inch-high fuck-me heels caught on a crack in the pavement.I would have landed on my knees, but a strong, firm arm reached out and snagged me around the waist before I went down.He didn’t so much steady me as set me back on my feet.As soon as I was sure my heels would hold me, I looked up into the eyes of my rescuer.Whiskey-colored eyes with bronze flecks, the kind that went dark chocolate when the owner really wanted something.Forcing myself to breathe and to stop thinking stupid shit about wanting, I managed a smile.
“Thanks,” I said to the man who’d saved my knees and my pride.
The cut of his suit made it clear he didn’t buy his clothes off the rack, and his dark-brown hair curled over his collar in a way that would have looked feminine on a different man.On him, it added to the barely civilized pirate vibe.But it was his lips that kept pulling at my attention.Soft, warm, full lips, curved in a smile that said he knew more than anyone else around him and was enjoying the joke.
“I assure you; the pleasure is mine,” he said, managing to make it sound like he’d done more than catch me.
I nodded and pulled away, trying not to show my surprise when he held the door open and followed me into the dimly lit room.I felt him behind me, a warm presence at my back in the crush of people jockeying for space at the bar.Forcing my attention away from the man I was sure I was safer not knowing, I squinted as my eyes adjusted.I scanned the tables around the bar for my friends, and by the time I found the women who were closer to me than family, Mr.Tall, Dark, and Dangerous had disappeared into the crowd.
“Finally,” said Meredith.“Did you get tied up with a client?”The freckles over the bridge of her nose crinkled as she grinned at her own play on words.I knew she hated the tiny spots that dotted her pale Irish-cream complexion, but along with the red hair and emerald eyes, she was fresh-faced and stunning, more suited to windswept moors than grubby city streets.She was also a hopeless romantic, a tendency she’d thankfully been able to channel into her wedding cake bakery, I Dough.
“Funny,” I said.“This is why I’m late.”I slapped the paper on the table.“I got served, and please spare me the puns this time.”I held up my hand, but I didn’t need to.Something in my tone must have betrayed the slight edge of hysteria I’d been feeling since the smug ogling man handed me the summons.
Charlotte reached for the paper, scanning it quickly in the dim light of the bar.“Okay, it’s not Armageddon,” she said, glancing up from under her inky lashes.
With her glossy blonde hair and doe eyes I can only mimic with an abundance of makeup, Charlotte could easily be mistaken for a sexy Alice in Wonderland.It was a misconception she’d put to good use for her clients.The opposing counsel almost always underestimated her until they got their shirts handed to them.It had earned her the nickname Tiger Shark with the other lawyers who had gone up against her.She was beautiful, deadly, and her attacks came when you least expected them.I was glad she was on my side.
“It feels like the end of the world,” I said, but my chest relaxed a fraction of an inch.Exhaling, I collapsed into a vacant seat next to Elena.
“I know,” said Charlotte.“Legal stuff always does, but don’t worry.I can refer you to someone who handles these kinds of cases all the time.He owes me.”
Her eyes narrowed and just like that, the shark replaced the wide-eyed innocent.I could only imagine why he owed her, but I had no doubt Charlotte could make him pay up.
