Table of Contents

Agreement (Melissa)

The Weekend (Alex)

First Night (Melissa)

First Night (Alex)

Bedtime (Melissa)

Morning (Alex)

Settling In (Melissa)

Hiking Trip (Alex)

Second Week (Melissa)

Punishment (Melissa)

Bathroom (Alex)

Aftermath (Melissa)

Coming Home (Alex)

Renewed (Melissa)

About the Author

An Agreement (Melissa)

The computer made a bad sound, a bad, bad sound. I stared at the screen. Disk error. "No. No. No! You stupid machine no!"

My heart began to race. I'd spent two weeks on the project. It was due for a client presentation Monday. My boss, Vivien, had already approved the rough mock ups, but not the final product. It was six PM on Friday, I was the last one in the office, and the computer ate my homework.

"No!"

I tried rebooting. Disk error. I tried checking for backups, for auto-recover, for anything.

It was gone. All gone.

I had the text, all the copy, but Wayne had done the graphics. He'd put everything on this external hard drive and handed it to me. "Don't lose it," he had said. And then he, with his laptop, had disappeared. For two weeks.

I started beating my head against the disk. I was fired. I was so fired. The first thing I should have done is made a copy, but I hadn't. Vivien wasn't going to listen to excuses. She had a client coming in on Monday, and there had better be a presentation.

I needed this job.

After twenty minutes of yelling at the computer, it was clear. I had none of the graphics needed for the client presentation, and I wasn't remotely qualified to reproduce them.

My heart was pounding as I contemplated my financial future. Jobs were scarce. I needed this job. I couldn't afford to get fired. Then I heard a voice. Someone was on the phone. Maybe it was one of the designers. Maybe she could help me.

I stood up and followed the voice, but as soon as I got closer, I knew I was ruined. I wasn't the only person here. Alex was also here. No way was she going to help me. She hated me. Lord knows, of course, I had given her plenty of reasons.

I stepped to her cube anyway.

"Alex," I said from behind her.

She turned around, still talking on her phone, and saw who it was.

"Just a second, Kelly," she said. "Someone is standing here." She put the phone to her chest. "What do you want?" she asked me roughly.

I looked at her for a moment. Alex was tall with long, straight, black hair. She was dressed as she always dressed, just barely one step short of skank. I don't know how she got away with it. She'd been with the company for about four months, and I had hated her on sight.

"Alex," I said. "I need your help."

She arched an eyebrow at me before putting the phone back to her ear. "Kelly, I need to call you back. This is going to be good." She paused. "Yep, sounds good. Talk to you later." She hung up the phone, then held it up, pointing it at me.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Recording this moment for posterity," she said. "Melissa the ice queen asking for my help."

She took my picture then looked at it. "Perfect."

I almost walked away. I hated that bitch. But I hated being unemployed even more.

"I need your help," I told her again.

"I heard that part," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "With what?"

"I just lost all the graphics for the Travis presentation on Monday."

"Bummer," she said. "I'm not sure what you expect me to do about it."

"Wayne is gone," I told her.

"Yep. Some place with no phone, no internet, no way to reach him. For two weeks." She paused. "It sounds like a horrible vacation but he was telling everyone all about it."

"There's no one else who can help me," I told her. "If I don't have everything on Vivien's desk by eight Monday morning, we'll lose the account and I will certainly be fired."

"And the downside to me from that is what, exactly?"

"Look," I told her. "I know I haven't exactly been your best buddy."

She laughed. "You've been a raving bitch. I never did a thing to hurt you. I've never even talked back, but you have stabbed me in the back every chance you have gotten since the day I started. And now you expect me to help you. Girlie, if you lose your job, I am going to celebrate."

"You're right," I admitted. "I've been a bitch. I'm sorry."

"Bullshit," she said. "The only reason you're sorry is because suddenly you need me. Piss off."

"Alex," I said. "I'll pay you. I have the proofs we sent to Vivien, and I know what changes she wanted. It'll take most of the weekend, but you're really good. You can do it. A thousand dollars. I'll pay you a thousand dollars. I can pay you two hundred tonight, three hundred tomorrow morning, and the rest when it's done."

She stared at me as if she was considering it. "Have fun at the unemployment line."

"Five thousand."

"Melissa," she said coldly. "You can't pay me enough to spend a weekend with a homophobe bitch like you." I watched while she started collecting her things to leave.

"Alex," I said. "Please, I'm begging you. Five thousand dollars and you'll be the hero. I'll tell everyone how you saved me. It will be good for your career. If you don't help, I'll tell everyone how you refused to help."

She pulled herself up to her full height, looking down at me. "You have done everything you possibly could to make me hate coming here. I've already started looking for a new job to get away from you. No one is going to fire me for refusing to pull your bacon out of the fire, and if they did, I don't care. But if you get fired, maybe I won't need to leave. Maybe it won't suck here once your poison is gone."

"Alex," I said, starting to cry. "Please, I'll give you anything you want."

She stared at me for a moment then came to some sort of conclusion. She sat back down. "Anything, huh?"

"Anything. I'll stop being a bitch. I swear."

"Anything. I doubt you really mean that." She looked me up and down. "All right, I'll tell you what I want from you, right after you kiss my feet."

"What?"

She bent down, unzipped her boots and slipped her feet from them. She set her feet side by side on the floor facing me, then looked up.

"I'll tell you what I want from you once you have kissed my feet," she said.

"I'm not kissing your feet!" I told her. "Are you insane?"

"Fine," she said, slipping her feet back into her boots. "It's a rough market out there, but I'm sure someone as sweet and lovely as you are won't have any trouble finding a new job."

"Alex," I said, whining, "Please!"

She zipped her boots up then stood up, collecting her coat. "Out of my way, Melissa," she said. "I have a weekend to enjoy."

We stood staring at each other for a good fifteen seconds before I said in a small voice, "If I kiss your feet, will you help me?"

"No," she said. "If you kiss my feet, I'll tell you what I want in exchange for helping you. You, of course, won't accept, but at least you'll know the price you refused to pay to keep your job." She paused. "Anything. Yeah, right."

"Fine," I said after a moment. "I'll kiss your feet."

She arched an eyebrow again, but sat back down and removed both boots, then looked up at me. "Kiss them like you mean it or don't bother," she said. "I'm not going to be impressed with a little peck." She stuck her feet out, flat on the floor, and waited for me.

As soon as I lowered myself to my knees in front of her, I started to blush. I'd never been asked to do something so humiliating! But I bent down and kissed the top of each stocking-clad foot. They smelled faintly of nylon and leather. I did my best to give them a proper kiss, but felt completely humiliated.

I hated that lesbo bitch.

Finally I looked up at her. She was smiling down at me. "I didn't think you would actually do it," she said. "But a deal is a deal." She gestured at her guest chair, and I slipped into it.

"You'll help?" I asked, suddenly hopeful.

"I told you, I'd tell you what I wanted from you, but you won't pay it."

I stuck my chin out and told her, "Try me."

"Fine. I want three things. If you agree to all of them, I will do everything I am able to save your job. First, you will make sure Vivien knows how much help I was."

"Agreed."

"Second, you will stop being a bitch to me. I don't expect you to turn all buddy buddy, but you'll stop with all the shit. You will stop trying to drive me away. You will stop with the snarky comments. You will stop acting like a complete homophobe."

"Agreed."

Then she smiled. "And you'll be my love slave and servant for two weeks."

"What?" I looked at her. She was smiling. "There's no fucking way I'm going to do whatever it is you lesbo dike bitches do together."

Her expression turned dark. "You come in here begging me to save your job, and that's the language you use?" She paused. "It just turned into a month. Take it or leave it."

I stood up and stormed out of her cube.

"Unemployment is fun!" she said after me. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

I got halfway to my desk before I started crying again. I listened as Alex started to talk on her phone again. "Hey, Kel. Naw, it was the ice bitch. She wanted a huge favor." Pause, pause. "No, looks like I won't have to put up with her much longer. She's going to get fired on Monday." Pause, pause. She brushed past me. "I offered, but she didn't want to pay the price."

"One night," I said to her retreating back. She stopped in her place.

"Kelly," she said. "She just reopened negotiations. I'll get back to you." She hung up her phone and turned around.

"A month," she said, but she wasn't bitchy about it. "You've made my life hell for months. If I'm going to bail you out, I want a month. I've felt like shit every night for three months, and it's all because of you."

"A week," I said, staring at the floor.

She walked up to me and looked at me.

"A month," she said. "But I promise I won't humiliate you or do anything to embarrass you in front of anyone else."

"Two weeks," I said. "Alex. Please. Two weeks. I'll do whatever you want for two weeks."

"A month," she said. "And I'll even let you pick ten toys I won't use on you."

"What?"

She smiled, but it wasn't a mean smile. "Melissa, I am your worst nightmare. Not only am I a lesbian, which means in your little puritan heart, if you have one, I'm doomed to burn in hell, but I'm also a domme."

I stared at the floor and asked her quietly, "What would I have to do?"

She reached out with her hand and lifted my chin, staring into my eyes. "Did you just say 'yes'?"

I returned her gaze. "What would I have to do?"

"Move in with me. You would be home every work night no later than six and all day on the weekends. You will be my servant, which means cooking and cleaning and anything else I want. And my love slave, which means exactly what you think it means. You would do anything I ordered you to do. You would allow me to do anything I want to do to you. I promise to give you sufficient opportunity to sleep, and I won't be excessively cruel." She paused. "That's the offer."

"A month is too long."

"Compared to the hell my life has been because of you?"

"The deal is off if I lose my job."

"Agreed," she said. "So to be formal, I will do everything I can this weekend to give you a kick ass presentation for Vivien on Monday morning. You will make sure Vivien understands how much help I was. You will stop being a bitch to me at work. And you will belong to me outside work hours for a month."

I tried to look away, but she pulled my chin back to look at her. "Look into my eyes and tell me whether I'm helping you or not."

I started at her for what must have been two minutes. She didn't say a word but simply watched me. Every time I tried to look away, she pulled my chin back to face her.

"All right," I said finally. "All of it."

"Are you going to go back on your word once I give you what you want?"

"No."

She looked into my eyes for a few more seconds then said, "It's going to be a long night. Grab everything you have and let's have a working dinner, my treat."

I nodded numbly.

The Weekend (Alex)

I really didn't think Melissa was going to agree. I didn't think I could have gotten a night with her, much less an entire month. But I'd made the offer, and now I was obligated to accept.

I went back to my desk and collected my laptop and a sketch pad, then collected her at her own desk.

She looked numb.

I watched as she pulled her coat on. She had short, blonde hair and was dressed in a blue business suit. She was about three inches shorter than my five-foot-six and was wearing sensible shoes. I was in my boots, which meant I towered over her by a good five inches.

She had a hot body, but man! had she been a bitch to me. I doubted she would hold up to her end of our agreement, but if she stopped being a bitch to me, maybe that would be worth the lost weekend. Plus I wasn't sure she would have been fired. She could claim hardware failure. She might not have lost her job. I might have been stuck with her until I'd found other work.

I led the way to my car, and we drove to a nearby restaurant. Melissa began telling me about the Travis account and explained where things were at. We got to the restaurant and actually were seated right away. We each ordered salads and water, then she pulled out her laptop.

"These are the proofs that Wayne and I did for Vivien," she said. She turned them around so I could see, then explained the changes Vivien had asked for.

"Do you have the Photoshop files?"

"No," she said. "Just the JPEGs."

I sighed. I'd have to reproduce everything.

I looked at Wayne's work. It was good, although he'd gone in a different direction than I would have. I looked at Melissa. "Whose concept were the graphics?"

"Wayne's," she replied.

"Was Vivien ecstatic about them?"

"Not really."

"So if we presented her with something different, would she consider them?"

Melissa blinked at me. "We don't have that kind of time."

"I'm not Wayne," I told her. "I can do that," I said, pointing at it, "But it will take me just as long to do that as to do something more in my own style, starting from scratched. Look."

I pulled out my sketch pad and started drawing. It took me a few minutes. "I know this is rough, but... The target audience is women, right? And that-" I pointed at Wayne's work. "That is awfully masculine. But what if we did this instead?" I slid my sketch pad to her.

She looked at it, then up at me, then down at the sketched I had done.

"I know it's rough. Is it too rough to see what I mean?"

"Alex," she said. "This is a lot better. But I don't have the authority to make that decision."

"Fine. Call Vivien."

She looked down at my sketches then back at me. "What do I tell her?"

"Tell her you showed me Wayne's work and I said I could do better. If this is what she wants," I said, gesturing to the laptop, "I will do my best to duplicate it. But I think my concept is better."

She nodded, fished into her purse, and called her boss. "Vivien, I'm sorry to bother you on a Friday evening. I'm with Alex Newman. I showed her the Travis presentation, and she has something else in mind. I think it's a lot better." There was a pause, then she looked at me. "How soon could we mail her something?"

I looked at my watch. "I can have something rough by nine tonight. If she can give me the go ahead, we can give her something more complete by noon tomorrow."

Melissa relayed all that then listened to the reply. She hung up.

"She said go for it. She'll expect a call by nine tonight and will look at them right away."

During the meal, I played with the sketchpad some more, talking through the ideas with Melissa. We stayed on task and actually had a pleasant meal. She offered a few ideas that were pretty good, and by the time we were done and I'd paid the check, I knew what I wanted to do. We headed back to the office. On arrival, we sat down together at my desk.

"Do you mind if I watch?" she asked.

"No," I said. "This is going to take about an hour though." I sighed. "We should have grabbed water form the vending machine on the way up."

"I'll get some for us then watch."

"You don't have to."

"I know," she said. "Alex, thank you."

I nodded and got to work.

I had a rough idea by eight. Melissa and I talked it over and started making changes. A few minutes before nine I mailed everything to Vivien. We gave it a few minutes to arrive, then Melissa called her.

"It's Melissa," she said. "We mailed you the concepts. They're rough." Pause pause. "Okay." Then she put the call on speakerphone."

"Alex, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Vivien," I said. "I know they're rough. I've only had a couple of hours."

"Can you really do a good job by Monday?"

"Yes. I can have something solid by about noon tomorrow if you'll be able to look at them." I paused. "I was thinking understated, but if you want me to make it really vivid, I can do that."

"Could I see both?"

"Sure."

We talked for a few more minutes and I got a better feel for what Vivien wanted. Melissa hung up and I turned to her. "There's nothing you can do until morning. You can stick around or you can leave. I'll be here until after midnight then back by nine in the morning."

"I'll stay," she said. "If I won't bother you."

Shortly after midnight, my eyes starting to get blurry, I turned to her. "I don't think I have anything more in me tonight."

* * *

"I'm on my way," came the text from Melissa on Saturday morning. "I can stop by Caribou."

Melissa spent the morning consulting on the designs I was doing and making sure I didn't need to leave my desk. She provided food, coffee, water, and I think would have gone to the bathroom for me if she could have. Shortly before noon I pushed away from my desk and told her, "It's not quite done, but we promised Vivien."

We mailed it off to Vivien and called her a few minutes later. Melissa talked to her for a couple of minutes before hanging up. "She's coming in," she said. "She'll be here in another ten or fifteen minutes."

I didn't say anything but rotated back to my computer and kept working. I became completely absorbed in what I was doing and didn't notice when Vivien arrived. The two of them had been talking behind my back for several minutes before I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Vivien.

"It was good of you to give up your weekend," she said.

I shrugged. Vivien pulled up a chair and examined the work we'd finished so far. "This is much better than Wayne's. His work was good, but this is a better direction." I showed her everything I'd done, told her why, and explained what I wasn't happy with yet. In the end she said, "I don't have a single suggestion. Can you finish by tomorrow? We have Wayne's as a backup if you can't make it."

Melissa said, "Actually, we don't." She explained.

Vivien turned to me. "You're saving the account."

I shrugged again. "What would you have done if I'd wanted Wayne's version?"

"I would have done my best to give it to you," I told her. "That's all I could do."

She nodded. "I have dinner plans tonight. I want an update at five. That will give me a chance to comment."

We sent everything off at five. Vivien had a few suggestions, which I incorporated. We worked until late, passing the files back and forth more once we got to the point where Melissa could start inserting the text. We resumed again Sunday morning, finishing shortly before noon. We called Vivien again.

"We're done," Melissa said. "Alex just mailed everything to you." We sat on the phone for several minutes while Vivien looked at everything. She was satisfied and gave us last minute instructions for everything. We were all done right at two.

Melissa and I stared at the screen then turned to each other.

"Have I delivered?" I asked her. "Have I given you everything I promised?"

"Yes, Alex," she said.

"You've lived up to one of your three items," I told her. "Vivien knows how much help I was."

She nodded.

"Are you going to live up to your agreement? Or am I going to get screwed?"

"I'll fulfill my end," she said quietly. "Are you going to hurt me?"

I looked at her, thinking about it. I pulled out paper and wrote my address down for her. "This is my address and phone number. Six PM tomorrow." I paused. "If you want to stay on my good side, you will make an effort to look nice and you will be pleasant, almost as if you are happy to be there. Bring anything you need for the week."

First Night (Melissa)

I left work early on Monday. The presentation had gone very well, and the client was ecstatic. I drove home, dreading the evening. But Alex had come through, and I wouldn't give her the pleasure of reneging on my agreement.

At home I changed into what could best be described as sexy date clothes, then packed for the week. It took a garment bag and a large rolling suitcase, but I hauled it all down to my car and drove to the address Alex had given me.

Alex lived in a small house in south Minneapolis. It was a cute house, I guess, and looking at it, I realized that she had done the exterior design work. I arrived at five forty-five and sat in my car, staring at her house, until just a couple minutes before six. I gathered my bags and walked slowly up the sidewalk to what I was sure would be my doom.

First Night (Alex)

Melissa sat in her car until the last possible minute. It kind of pissed me off. I'd gone above and beyond for her over the weekend, and she was making sure not to give me even an extra few minutes of pleasure. I watched her walk up the sidewalk, dressed in a long coat, carrying a garment bag and dragging her suitcase.

At least she had shown up. I didn't think she was going to.

She rang the bell. I waited until she wasn't looking at the window before moving away from it. I didn't want her to know I'd been watching for her. I opened the door for her. We stood staring at each other across the threshold.

"I bet you thought I wouldn't show up," she said after we had stared at each other for a while.

"No, I didn't. I'm glad to find out I was wrong." I held the door wider and she stepped in. She laid her garment bag down across her large suitcase then slid out of her coat.

I forgave her for waiting until the last minute. She had gone home and changed clothes, and she looked nice.

"You dressed for me."

She nodded.

"You can hang your coat up in the closet," I said, pointing. "Then come with me."

I gave her a tour. My house was a small three bedroom rambler with a living room, single bathroom, and kitchen. I used the basement for storage. One of the bedrooms was mine, one was a home office, and the last was a guest room. I showed her to the guest room. "You may use the closet in here," I told her.

She eyed the bed. I ignored the hopeful expression. She'd be warming my bed.

"Leave your things in here," I told her. "Come with me."

She set the garment bag on the bed and left the suitcase in the bedroom, then followed me back to the living room.

"Are you really going to do this?" I asked her.

She thrust her chin out. "I keep my agreements," she said.

I smiled. "It's six oh-five. Kneel."

She stared at me.

"Kneel!" I told her firmly. "Now!"

After that we had a staring contest before she slowly lowered herself to her knees in front of me.

"Good," I said. "Stay there." Without a backwards glance I walked to my bedroom. I had an entire dresser devoted to toys. I opened the top drawer and removed a switch. It was black leather, stiff, and two feet long. I walked back to her in the living room and walked around her twice.

I poked her with the switch. "Back straight," I ordered. "Head down. Eyes on the floor in front of you." She adjusted without a word. "Legs together." I tapped her legs for emphasis. "Unless I tell you differently, of course." She adjusted again, taking on exactly the posture I wanted.

I paused. "What is your position here?"

"Kneeling," she said.

I laughed. "I'm sorry, yes, you're kneeling. What is your role here?"

"Oh." She paused. "I am your love slave. For a month."

"And my servant."

"And your servant," she amended.

"There are rules," I told her. She didn't respond. "No lying. If I ask a question, you will answer it, no matter how personal it is. You will address me respectfully at all times. You will do whatever I order. If you break the rules, I will punish you. You will not enjoy being punished. Do you understand these rules?"

"Yes."

She managed to say it without sounding sullen.

"When you come here each knight, you will put your things away then kneel in front of me, waiting for my orders. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

I walked around her. I'd never done anything like this before. Oh, I'd had plenty of women kneeling to me, but each and every single one of them had wanted to.

"Do you want to be here?"

She didn't answer. I walked behind her and spanked her ass with the switch. She flinched.

"Do you want to be here?"

"No," she said.

"Do you resent the deal I made with you?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to share my bed?"

"No."

"Do you want me to kiss you?"

"No."

Fuck. This had been a stupid agreement. I should have taken the five grand.

"Have you eaten?"

"I had an apple."

I walked around her again.

"Can you cook?"

"Passably. Not gourmet."

"Go acquaint yourself with the kitchen. Make us a light meal, whatever you think we would both enjoy. Remember who is going to be cleaning it afterwards."

"What do I call you?" she asked. "I've heard dominatrix's like being called by a variety of names."

"Alexandra," I told her. "Nothing else."

"Yes, Alexandra," she said, rising to her feet. She looked relieved.

Fuck, what was I going to do with her? I had wanted to punish her for months of hell, and I had spent hours thinking about all the kinky things I had planned for her, if she showed up.

Fuck.

* * *

Melissa made dinner, pasta with a light sauce. She had found the asparagus and did a side dish. I sat in the living room, pretending to read, and pretended to ignore her when she came in to get me. She knelt down in front of me and said, "Dinner is ready, Alexandra."

I looked up at her.

Damn it, she was beautiful, and looking at her on her knees in front of me was making me hot. She looked scared but determined. I stood up and caressed her cheek gently. "Thank you, Melissa. Come, let us enjoy it."

I led the way to the dinette table, Melissa following meekly behind me. She had set the table nicely, and the food smelled wonderful. I sat down and told her, "You will serve us both."

"Yes, Alexandra," she said. I looked at her but didn't detect an ounce of sarcasm. She dished plates for both of us. "What would you care to drink?"

"Just water," I said. She retrieved water from the pitcher in the refrigerator and poured glasses for both of us before sitting down at the table across from me.

We both ate quietly, although we were stealing glances at each other the entire time. Halfway through the meal I told her, "Everything is wonderful. Thank you."

She offered a wane smile but told me I was welcome.

"I have candles," I said. "In the linen closet outside the bathroom. There are candlestick holders all over the house."

"I'll get them," she said.

"No. Next time."

We finished the meal quietly. I looked across the table at her. She had her eyes lowered to her plate and refused to look at me. I studied her.

I had no idea what I was going to do now. There was a part of me that wanted to hurt her for how badly she had hurt me. There was a much bigger part of me that simply wanted her. But I wanted her willing, and she certainly wasn't that.

"Please clean up, Melissa," I told her. "Then you may put your things away. After that you will find me." I paused. "If you are slow, it will annoy me. If you are sloppy, it will also annoy me."

"Yes, Alexandra," she said meekly. She got up immediately and began clearing the table. I watched her for a while.

I wanted her.

Bedtime (Melissa)

I hurried to clean up from dinner. I didn't know what Alexandra had planned. I hated kneeling to her, but she hadn't been mean about it. And she had been kind over dinner.

What would she make me do later?

I put the few leftovers away then washed and dried all the dishes. When I was done, the kitchen was cleaner than when I had started. I looked around once more to make sure I wasn't leaving her an excuse to become angry with me then headed to the guest room where my clothes were waiting for me.

I hung up or put away my clothes then wondered what to do with my cosmetics and related items. I looked in the bathroom and found an empty drawer. I stepped out and found Alexandra on the living room sofa with her laptop in her lap. I knelt down in front of her.

"Alexandra?"

"Are you done?"

"I had a question."

"What is it?"

"Is the empty drawer in the bathroom for me?"

"Yes," she said. "As you can see, I don't leave my cosmetics out, and I don't want you to do so either."

"Thank you," I told her, getting up. I put the rest of my things away then returned to the living room and knelt in front of her again.

"I am done," I told her.

She didn't say anything at first, but after a few minutes she closed her laptop and looked at me.

I was scared. I had no idea what she was going to do to me. But she had saved my job and done so very well. Vivien was ecstatic with the results, and I wasn't going to give Alex the joy of knowing I cheated on my deals.

"Thank you for looking nice," she said. "I appreciate it."

"You are welcome, Alexandra," I replied.

"How long will it take you to get ready for bed?" she asked me.

I gulped. "Five minutes."

"Don't be late. Meet me in the bedroom. Naked with your clothes hung up and everything completed you need before going to bed."

"Yes, Alexandra."

I fled to the bathroom. I quickly washed my face, brushed my teeth, and took care of my other needs. I ran to the spare bedroom, took off all my clothes, hung up the ones that should be hung up, and wondered what to do with the rest. For now, I stuffed them into one of the suit cases.

I arrived in the bedroom. She was naked and sitting on the bed. "Go out and turn off the lights in the rest of the house. Make sure the doors are locked. Then come back here and kneel."

My heart pounding, I did her bidding, returning to kneel on the floor in front of her. "Please don't hurt me, Alexandra," I asked her. I was deeply embarrassed to be naked in front of her and almost as embarrassed to see her naked.

"If you do what you are told," she said. "I won't hurt you. At least not tonight."

"Thank you, Alexandra."

"Why do you hate me?"

"What? I don't hate you."

"Do not lie to me!" she yelled. "You've made it very clear you hate me. Is all this hate just because I'm a lesbian? Are you that big of a bigot?"

"I was a bitch," I told her. "I didn't hate you. I certainly don't now. I don't know why I was a bitch. I'm sorry."

She sighed.

"I guess you have something to think about. I expect a proper answer sometime in the next few days."

"I'm sorry."

"So you've said." She paused. "You will give me a massage until ten PM. After that, you will slide under the covers with me and we will go to sleep. During the massage, you will talk quietly and calmly to me. I don't care what you talk about."

"I don't understand."

"What part wasn't clear? You agreed to be my slave. I believe giving back rubs falls under slave duties. Cuddling afterwards does as well."

"You aren't going to..."

"Going to... what?"

"Make me have sex with you?"

"Not tonight. Don't worry, we have 29 more nights after this one. Plenty of time to corrupt you." She paused. "Being gay is catchy, you know."

I looked up at her.

"There are oils in the nightstand," she said, pointing. "You may use them or not as you see fit. You will start on my back, but if you decide to pamper other parts of my body, that is fine."

"Yes, Alexandra," I replied.

I watched as she pulled the covers of the bed back then lied down, pulling her hair out of the way and getting comfortable. I stood up and walked around the bed to the nightstand, looking for the oils. She had several bottles of oils and lotions.

"Do you have a favorite?"

"I like all of them," she said. "Please do something about the light before you start."

I sniffed each of the oils, finding one I enjoyed. I put the rest of them away. I wanted a little light to work with, so I turned on the hallway light and turned off the bedroom light, then crawled up on the bed next to her. I poured oil into my hands, set the stopped bottle on the nightstand, and then began massaging her back.

I had to admit. She had a nice figure. I hadn't paid attention to her like this before, but now I couldn't help it, with her naked body lying on the bed next to me.

"You aren't talking," Alex said. "And I get the impression you haven't done this before."

"I have," I told her. "Just not to a woman before."

"Make sure you get the large muscles across the lower back."

"I don't know what you want me to talk about."

"I don't care," she said. "Anything that helps me get to know you better. Talk about something you love, or where you grew up, or what you like to do. Anything."

"Growing up," I told her. "I spent a lot of time at my grandparent's cabin."

"I'd love to hear about it," she said. "I'm going to enjoy this now, so don't expect any more responses." I watched as she settled further into the bed.

I talked about the cabin, about growing up and learning to fish. I gave her the best massage I knew how. Alex moaned appreciably from time to time. Still, I'd done everything I could to her back and only consumed half the time she'd ordered.

I leaned over her and said, "Do you want me to stick to your back?"

"Do whatever you would like if I were massaging you," she said quietly.

So I massaged her scalp for a few minutes, then moved down to her feet and worked my way up her legs. With five minutes left, there was only one part of her I hadn't massaged, her butt. I stared at it, wondering if she expected me two, then skipped over it and went to her lower back, working the deep muscles for the last few minutes until ten.

The clocked turned ten just as I finished a story about snowmobiling in the winter.

I leaned over her and whispered, "Ten o'clock." She didn't say anything. I got up from the bed, put the oil away, turned out the lights, then crawled into bed with her, pulling the covers up over both of us and putting some distance between our bodies. We both lied there in the dark for a while, me too nervous to move. Then slowly she rolled over to face me.

"Thank you," she said. "That was very nice."

"You're welcome."

"Did you think about my ass?"

I laughed nervously. "Yes."

I heard the smile in her voice as she asked, "Did you think about massaging it?"

"Yes."

"Touching my ass won't make you gay."

I laughed again.

"Sleeping naked with me will."

I turned to face her. "I'm not afraid of gay germs," I told her. It was her turn to laugh.

She moved away from me a little bit. "Roll over and back up into me," she said. "I want to cuddle, but if you can't sleep, you can move away from me in a while."

So I did. She slipped one arm underneath my head and the other she threw over me, pulling me against her. We rearranged pillows and covers, and I felt her breath on the back of my neck.

It seemed like she fell asleep not too long after that. I lied there for a while, considering the situation.

She hadn't been a bitch. Not even a little bit.

Eventually I slept.

Morning (Alex)

I woke sometime in the middle of the night, surprised for a moment to find a strange woman in bed with me. I hadn't shared my bed with anyone in some time. We were spooning. I woke a little further and remembered it was Melissa.

She hadn't moved away.

I snuggled in and fell back asleep

* * *

By morning we had separated. When I woke, she was lying there stiffly.

"Are you awake?" I asked her softly.

"Yes," she said. "I don't know what I am supposed to do."

I reached over and touched her arm. She almost pulled away, then willed herself to hold still.

"You're waiting for the other shoe to fall, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"It won't be this morning." I rolled over and looked at the clock. "We're going to cuddle for five minutes then we need to get up."

And with that, I snuggled up next to her. She was on the edge of the bed, practically falling off, trying to be as far away from me as she could. I decided to tease her.

"Can you feel the gay germs invading yet?"

She didn't respond. I sighed. "If you're so afraid of me, get out of my bed," I told her harshly. "Thanks for the buzz kill."

I rolled away from her, ignoring her, expecting her to flee the room. Instead, after about a minute, there was a hand on my arm. "I'm sorry," she said. "Being here with you carries a lot of culture shock for me." She paused. "I've never woken up with another person's arms around me like that, much less a woman's. I've never woken up sharing a bed with someone who I hadn't had to give sex to the night before."

I rolled over and looked at her. She was sitting up and the covers had fallen down around her waist. I closed my eyes. "Please cover up a little," I requested. I felt the sheets stir and opened my eyes again. She had pulled the sheet up to her chin and was clutching it to her.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I agreed to this. You saved my job, and I am doing my best to pay the price you demanded. But it's culture shock, okay?" She paused. "I know being gay isn't a disease, that there aren't gay germs or any of that. I know sharing a bed doesn't turn someone gay. I'm not afraid of any of that. But I don't know what you intend to do with me, and that has me deeply frightened. I've had a few boyfriends who like it a little rough, and not a single one of them had a whip like you do. I didn't like what they wanted to do to me. Do you think I'm going to like what you want to do?"

I wasn't sure what to say.

"I know the only reason you demanded this was to get back at me for being such a bitch to you. And I don't think making me kneel or cook dinner is quite what you had in mind. So I'm waiting to find out what your revenge is going to be like, knowing whatever it is, I deserve it, and knowing I'll sit there and let you do whatever it is you decide to do. So yes, I'm afraid of you. But it's not because you're gay. It's because I'm waiting for you to take your revenge. I wish you would just do the worst of it so I know what to expect."

I stared at her, letting it all sink in.

Finally I turned away. "Why couldn't you have stayed a bitch? Taking revenge on a bitch would have been a lot easier." I climbed out of bed.

"I'm sorry," she said. I turned around and she was trying to hide a smile.

"I'm not ready to forgive you yet. I'm not done being mad at you. You hurt me."

"I know," she said. "I'm sorry. I was wrong."

I started at her. "Fuck!"

"I'm sorry," she said again. "You made me promise to stop being a bitch to you. This is me not being a bitch."

She seemed earnest, but I was not ready to forgive her. I sighed. "We're not going to work this out this morning," I said eventually. "And we're past your slave time for the morning. There's only one shower."

"You should go first," Melissa said. "I can make coffee for us."

I nodded and headed for the shower.

* * *

That night, Melissa drove straight from work to my house, arriving  at five thirty still in her office attire. I'd gotten home only a few minutes in front of her. She knocked and I let her in.

We stared at each other for a while. I was half undressed, as I'd started to change clothes. I almost kissed her, but turned away.

"I have a key for you," I told her. I kept keys on a set of hooks in the kitchen. I retrieved one, returning in time to see her closing the closet door after hanging up her coat. I handed the key to her.

She took the key and slipped it into her purse. "I am early."

I looked away. "You don't have to do anything I order for another half hour."

"That's not what I was trying to say," she said. "I'm early so I have time to change clothes." She lowered herself to her knees in front of me, still wearing her business clothes.

God, I wanted her.

Melissa bowed her head and stared at my feet. I stared at the top of her head.

"Is there anything in particular you would like to see me wear?" she asked. "And do you want me to make dinner tonight?"

Yes, I wanted to see her naked. I didn't tell her that. "Dress however you like," I told her. "And yes, I'd like you to make dinner."

"May I ask a favor?"

"You may ask, Melissa."

"Will you talk to me for a few minutes while I am preparing dinner? I have a small offer to share with you."

"Yes," I told her. "I'd like that." I reached out and caressed her cheek then turned on my heels and headed to my own bedroom to finish changing. I heard the spare bedroom door close.

I stalled in my own bedroom until I heard her leave the guest room and head to the kitchen. I gave her a few minutes before joining her. When I arrived, she was digging through the refrigerator and pulling out vegetables. A package of chicken was already sitting on the counter. She pulled out some carrots and bell peppers, setting them on the counter next to the chicken, then closed the refrigerator and turned to look at me.

Neither of us said anything, but I watched as she crossed the kitchen and lowered herself to her knees in front of me again.

Every time I looked at her kneeling to me, my libido shot through the ceiling. She was already so damned sexy, and to see her submission pushed all my best buttons. I could barely keep my hands to myself.

"You don't have to keep doing that," I told her.

She glanced up at me. "I thought you liked it."

"I like it more than is good for you," I told her, licking my lips. "Get up, Melissa. Make us dinner, please."

"Yes, Alexandra," she said. She said my name slowly, almost as if she were caressing me with my own name. No one ever called me that. I was Alex to everyone.

She climbed to her feet. I leaned against the wall, watching her. She washed her hands, then the vegetables, and began cutting them up. She got into a groove then said, "Will I be doing all our cooking?"

"Yes. And the grocery shopping."

"Who is paying for the groceries?"

I paused. That was a good question. "Is splitting the bill fair?"

"Yes," she said. "If I am cooking, I would prefer to do the shopping, but it means I will arrive late. If there are things you would like me to cook, you can tell me."

She glanced over at me. I nodded.

She chopped for a few minutes.

"Was that all you wanted to talk about?" I asked her.

"No," she said. "It was awkward with both of us trying to use the bathroom to get ready this morning. I was going to offer a solution." She paused. "I have a small dressing table I use at home. It has a mirror. I could bring it over and set it up in the guest room. We would still need to share the shower, but after that I could be out of your way entirely."

"Do you need help moving it?"

"Only if you wanted to. It comes apart. But if I go get it on the way home tomorrow, I'll be late. And I'm cutting up the last of the fresh vegetables."

I thought about it. "Let's go get it tonight and we can go grocery shopping together on the way back. When we get home, you will have time to give me a pedicure before bed."

"Yes, Alexandra," she said.

After that we talked about other things while she made dinner for us. It was difficult to not help, but I let her do everything. We ate less leisurely than we had Monday night, then I checked my email while she cleaned up. Shortly she returned to the living room and knelt in front of me again.

"I am ready to go whenever you are, Alexandra," she said. "Can we take your car? It's bigger."

I let her stay like that for a while before setting my laptop aside. She hadn't moved, simply continued to kneel in front of me, her head bowed. I reached out and caressed her cheek and was startled when she leaned her face into my hand.

* * *

I made her take her clothes off before the pedicure. I kept mine on. When she returned to the living room with the pedicure kit she had picked up at her apartment, I'd pointedly leered at her. She blushed but didn't say anything.

I reclined on the sofa while she knelt in front of me. I gave her one of my feet. Her hands were gentle, and it looked like she intended to take her time. She spent a few minutes working on the foot before she looked up at me. "Am I allowed to ask questions?"

"You just did," I said, smiling at her.

"You know what I mean," she said, smiling back.

"Yes, you are allowed to ask whatever you want. I don't promise to answer."

She nodded and returned her attention to my foot. "When did you know you were gay?"

"Oh, let's start with the easy ones right off the bat." I laughed. "I was a teenager. That's when I started dressing like I do, too. Partly in self defense. Other kids treated me like I was weird, so I started dressing like it to give them an excuse." I paused. "I should probably outgrow it, but I get a lot of attention, and I've grown to like it."

"Did you ever date boys?"

"A few in high school. One in college, but by then I knew they didn't interest me. I told Steve 'yes' a few times just because he was insistent. I had a nice time, but when I let him kiss me good night, it felt like I was kissing a fish."

She laughed. "I've had a few kisses like that."

She focused on my foot for a while before looking at me shyly. "Do you like sex?"

"Yes. Don't you?"

"Not really," she said.

"Then someone is doing it wrong," I told her.

She didn't respond but bent over the foot again. She knelt down and kissed it. I stared at her, but neither of us said anything about it.

"Do you want the nails painted?" she asked me.

"I never paint them," I told her. "It's up to you."

She looked up at me. "I have a blue that matches your eyes." She pulled it out of her pedicure kit and showed it to me. I smiled at her before leaning back into the sofa and closing my eyes again. She painted my toes carefully and fanned them dry before telling me, "Other foot, if you please."

I shifted on the sofa so I could easily give her the other foot while continuing to recline indulgently. She barely had moved my foot into her lap before she asked her next question. "How old were you when you first kissed a girl?"

"Nineteen. I was in college. There were girls in high school I wanted to kiss, but I was afraid to find out if they felt the same way."

"I was younger than you then," she told me.

"Why you kissed you first boy? I was sixteen."

"I was seventeen," she said. "When I kissed a girl."

My eyes popped open. I saw no guile in her face. "Seriously? You?"

"Yep. Stupidest thing I ever did."

"She wasn't gay?"

"Oh, no, she totally was, but she wasn't out, and someone walked in on us. She was kissing me back until we got caught, then she turned mean." Melissa paused. "You asked why I was such a bitch to you. Two reasons. The first was because I was jealous."

"Jealous of me?"

"You walked into the office on the first day, and you were dressed so outrageously."

"I wasn't outrageous," I retorted. "I was in a conservative black on black."

"It was black, but it wasn't remotely conservative. And I was immediately jealous that you could be so comfortable. I wanted to be like you."

I took my foot away from her. "You are full of shit. The nice girl thing was working for you, but these lies are not."

She stiffened into a proper kneel, right there on the floor in front of me, with her head bowed. "I'm not lying, Alexandra."

I got off the sofa and prowled around the room before turning to her. "Finish your explanation," I said curtly.

"You walked in, dressed to draw attention, and you got it. Everyone looked at you. We had that staff meeting and everyone kept looking at you."

"And before it was you they would look at."

"And around the office you flirt with all the other women. Some of them even flirt back with you, even the married ones. Everyone likes you."

"So all that was because I stole the attention from you?"

"No. It's because you were so comfortable with who you are."

"It has taken me a long time to become comfortable," I told her. "It took me a long time being comfortable with being gay."

"Well, I was jealous. I still am. I'll never be like that."

I stared at her. "Oh." I sat back down on the sofa. "You said there were two parts."

"That girl I kissed. It wasn't anything I planned. I just sort of did it, and it was nice at first, but when we got caught, she turned into a raving bitch, screaming at me for kissing her, and she did it in front of a lot of people. She made the rest of my senior year of high school horrible."

"What has that to do with me?"

"She looked like you. She dressed like I imagine you may have in high school. She was gay. She acted a little like you." She paused. "I made you pay for something you didn't do. I can't tell you how sorry I am."

I settled back on the sofa. "Finish my second foot," I told her, giving the foot back to her. She relaxed back to the floor and bent over my foot. I watched her for a while. "I wish I knew you weren't lying to me."

"I'm not," Melissa said. She looked up. "Having a reason isn't the same as having an excuse." She bent back to the foot. "Maybe by the time my month is up, we'll both feel like I've repaid you for my being such a bitch, and we can both forgive me."

We didn't talk after that. She finished the second foot, kissing it before she painted the nails. Her lips felt nice. I examined both feet, wriggling my toes. "Thank you," I told her.

"You are welcome. Would you like me to do your hands?"

I looked at my hands and glanced at the wall clock. "Not tonight," I told her. "Go use the bathroom then wait in the bedroom for me."

Settling In (Melissa)

I knelt in the middle of the bedroom facing the bed, waiting for Alex. She used the bathroom after I had then slipped into the bedroom after turning the lights off. She didn't say anything when she came in, but she brushed her hands across my shoulders as she stepped past me. I shivered.

I hadn't realized until tonight why I had hated her so much. It wasn't until I started thinking about the one girl I kissed that it all came back to me. Then it all clicked, and I felt even worse than I had before. I was so ashamed.

Alex moved around the room for a moment, removing clothing. She seemed to be going out of her way to pass near me, touching me every time she drew near. The touches were always innocent. Sometimes she brushed her fingers through my hair. Other times just a finger traced a line across my back.

I thought about my past boyfriends and realized something. Not a single one of them would have treated me as gently as she was. All of them would have had me giving them oral sex over and over if they'd had me in the position I was in with Alex. It was obvious Alex was conflicted, that she'd lost sight of what she intended to do to me. I decided that whatever she eventually did, I would accept with as much grace as I could muster.

Eventually Alex climbed onto the bed and reclined against the pillows, lying on her side facing me. "Have you ever given or received a face massage?"

"No."

"Climb up here and lie down," she told me. I rose from my kneeling position, walked around the bed, and lied down next to her. She sat up, facing me. "Do I have permission to touch you?"

"You don't need permission."

She didn't say anything.

"Yes," I said.

"Close your eyes and relax. I am going to show you what I like."

I tried to relax in the pillows, closing my eyes. I didn't know if this was about to turn into sex, and my heart was pounding. Then I felt her hands on my face. I stiffened in surprise for just a moment before I relaxed again.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Alex said.

She began moving her fingers in circles against my checks. Soon her entire hands were touching my face, smoothing my forehead, massaging my scalp, and she even brushed her thumbs over my lips.

"Sorry," she said. "Habit."

"Hmm?"

"The lips are a little more intimate than is wise," she said. "If you start doing that to me, this is going to get far more intimate than you care for."

After several minutes of attention, she pulled her hands away. I opened my eyes and looked at her. "That's what I like," she said. "Not for a real long time. Five or ten minutes, then if you can stand it, we can cuddle while falling asleep."

She turned around and lied back into the pillows next to me. I sat up and turned to her and began touching her tentatively. "I'm sorry," I said after just a minute or two. "I don't know what I'm doing."

"Just do whatever feels right," she said. "Don't worry about right or wrong. Keep it gentle and don't focus on too small an area or it can turn annoying instead of pleasant."

I relaxed and just tried to make her feel good. I massaged her face and her scalp, then reached behind her head with my fingers and massaged the back of her head and her neck. I spent ten or fifteen minutes at it before I thought perhaps that was enough.

"More?" I asked her.

"Mmm," she said. "No, that was nice." She opened her eyes slowly and looked at me. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I told her. I continued to sit, looking down at her. She closed her eyes.

"Please turn off the last few lights and climb into bed."

"Yes, Alexandra."

I climbed off the bed, turned off the hallway light, then returned to her. I adjusted the covers on her side before climbing underneath them on my side.

"Will it freak you out to cuddle?" she asked me.

"No."

"Roll over then," she said. As soon as I had, Alexandra pulled me into her arms, spooning up against me. She was warm and soft. It felt good to be held.

She kissed the back of my neck before fully snuggling in. Shivers ran down my back.

We lied together like that for a few minutes before she said quietly, "Melissa?"

"Yes?"

"Have you been lying to me?"

"No."

"Are you going to revert to your old behavior?"

"No."

"Do you still hate me?"

"No."

As if we weren't snuggled close enough, she managed to snuggle even closer. "Then I won't be hurting you. I also won't do anything to you that you don't ask me to do. Your penance for your past behavior will be to continue to serve me the way you have. That's all."

"Do you forgive me?"

"I'm working on it."

I thought about it. "Did you just tell me you aren't going to expect sex?"

"Yes. I've never kissed anyone who didn't want to be kissed. I'm not starting with you."

I thought some more. "You don't want me?"

"Don't be stupid," Alex said into my back. "But I have no intention of falling for the straight girl, even if she is smoking hot, and even if I almost can't stand how it feels when she kneels to me."

* * *

By morning, we had rotated the other way, and I was holding her. I'm not sure which of us woke first. I checked the time and saw we had a few minutes. I pulled away from her a little, and she sighed. She was awake. I began scratching her back lightly.

"Alexandra," I said.

"Mmm?"

"You're beautiful, you have a great body, you're amazingly sexy, and you're kind. Why don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Buzz kill."

"Sorry."

"You could guess and probably be right." She paused. "I'm picky. I like strong, attractive, intelligent women. Who enjoy when I dominate them."

"Oh. That's a rare combination?"

"It appears to be, for me at least. I can find women who enjoy what I like to do. And I can find women whose company I enjoy. For brief flings, I pick up the first type. For almost as brief of flings, I gravitate towards the second."

She let me scratch her back for another minute before she told me to go shower and wake her back up when the bathroom was free.

* * *

The rest of the week went much like the first few days. I came home from work, knelt in front of her, and received the evening's plans. With the plans she started telling me how she wanted me to dress. Thursday night she had me strip down to bra and undies. Friday night she wanted me naked.

"Please don't make me cook naked," I asked her while kneeling.

"Kiss my feet and I will consider your request," she said. I detected a ghost of a smile.

I bent down and immediately began kissing her feet. She was still in her nylons, so I was kissing her through the gauzy material. She giggled. "You may wear whatever you want while cooking, but I want you naked once everything has been served."

"Thank you, Alexandra," I told her, giving each foot a final kiss before straightening up. After dinner she made me give her a bubble bath and read to her.

"Oh my god!" I said. "This is lesbian erotica!"

She giggled. "Are you enjoying it?"

I looked at her. "Yes."

"Keep reading then," she said, closing her eyes again, bubbles up to her chin.

After a while I looked up and noticed she was moving. I stopped reading.

"What are you doing?"

She opened her eyes and looked at me. "The same thing I do every morning while you are in the shower. It's the only thing that has kept your lesbian virginity intact. It's a good thing you take long showers."

I immediately started to blush.

"Keep reading, Slave."

"Yes, Alexandra," I said, lowering my eyes to the book.

She was quiet and actually somewhat subtle, but several minutes later she gasped several times then let out a long, slow sigh, and the room became more still. I finished reading the story and then looked at her. When she opened her eyes, I said, "We just totally had phone sex."

She laughed. "Well, I did, anyway." She narrowed her eyes at me. "I'm not sure you did, but we could remedy that."

I'm not sure I had finished blushing.

She licked her lips. "In case you were wondering, you were pretty good."

"Alex!"

"Your tongue would have felt better."

"Alex!"

"Stick your tongue out."

"What? No."

She narrowed her eyes. "Slave, stick your tongue out or face punishment."

I looked at her. "Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"What would you do to punish me?"

"Stick your tongue out or you can find out."

Slowly I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Can you curl it?" she demonstrated with her own tongue for a second. I copied her. "Nice," she said. "You can put it back now."

"That was totally wrong," I told her in my most offended voice.

She laughed. "Worse than masturbating in front of you while you read erotica to me?"

"I can't believe you did that, either. Have you no shame?"

"What is there to be ashamed of?"

"What? Everything."

"Oh. Okay. Tell me exactly what is wrong with what I did."

"It's indecent."

"Says who?"

"Everybody!"

Alex smiled at me. "Why is it indecent?"

"You're still trying to tease me."

"No, I'm honestly curious. Why is it indecent?"

"Because-" I thought about it.

She leaned her chin on the edge of the tub, watching me. I couldn't offer her an answer.

"Is it indecent because pleasure is indecent?"

"Of course not."

"Maybe because sex is indecent?"

"Yes. Exactly. Sex is indecent."

She leaned back in the tub and sighed. "You do know where babies come from, right?"

I sputtered at her.

"I tell you what, Melissa," she said. "If you can articulate clearly what is indecent about what we just did together, I won't make you do it."

"What? You wouldn't."

"I most certainly would," she said. "And I would enjoy watching."

"Oh god."

She smiled. "Or, if you can honestly tell me you aren't wet right now, I'll change the subject."

I squirmed while she looked at me.

"Was it the erotica that made you wet?" she asked. "Or was it because we're both naked and only a couple of feet apart? Maybe it's because you love being my sex slave, and you're wet all the time. Or maybe it was the excitement of watching me come off in front of you."

I was dying of embarrassment, and everything she said made me even more embarrassed.

"I'm not wet," I said sullenly.

"You're not? Reach down and check."

"No!"

"I'll close my eyes," she said, closing her eyes. "There, now you can check and I won't be watching."

"I don't have to check," I told her quietly. "Please stop teasing me."

She opened her eyes and looked at me for a while. "All right, Melissa," she said. "I'll stop teasing you. For now. If you answer one question honestly."

"All right," I said.

"How wet are you?"

I raised my eyes and looked at her. "Very. Okay?"

She grinned.

"You don't have to look so pleased," I complained.

She looked around the bathroom. "You know, the room that used to be my office is on the other side of this wall." She patted the wall next to her. "The room is now smaller now. I expanded the bathroom to make more room for this tub."

I looked at the tub. "It's a big tub," I told her.

"Uh huh," she said. "Room for two."

I looked at her. "Did you just order me to join you?"

She smiled. "No. Offered."

"Maybe another time," I said.

She laughed then settled into the water further and closed her eyes. "Read another story," she said. "Pick a good one."

"Are you going to, you know?"

"Listen?"

"Alex!"

"What?" She paused. "Stop yelling at me or I'll start teasing again."

"Are you going to masturbate while I read another story?"

She opened her eyes again and looked at me. "There's a hot, naked woman reading erotica to me. What do you think?" She closed her eyes again. "The one by Sarah Gibbons is really good. I think you'll like it."

"Are you just pushing my buttons?"

"Oh, I do hope so."

"Incorrigible."

She snickered. I found the story and started reading. The story was written from the perspective of a woman who had agreed to be a sex slave for her domme and talked about the things the domme had done to her. She described in detail the acts and how they made her feel. I wasn't sure, but I think Alex came twice more before the story was over.

I finished the story and the room was quiet. Alex opened her eyes and looked at me. "Thank you," she said quietly. "Did you like the story?"

I refused to answer. She laughed.

"I think I'm turning into a prune in here," she said. "But it's better than being a prude. Help me up."

I stood up, then reached out and gave her a hand to her feet. I gave her a towel for her hair and wrapped another around her, then set one more on the floor for her to step on. I held her hand while she stepped out.

"Thank you. We can draw fresh water if you wanted a bath. I could read to you."

"No thank you," I told her.

"I could order you to take a bath," she said, grinning.

"Alexandra."

"Yes, Melissa my slave?"

"Would you like a back rub?"

She laughed. "I was thinking about a movie. Would you go pick something?"

Hiking Trip (Alex)

I made her put on pajamas for the movie. It had been fun making her parade around the house naked, and teasing her in the bathroom had been a lot of fun, but I wouldn't have been able to keep my hands off of her if I'd kept her naked any longer.

I almost tricked her into picking one of the three lesbian porn movies I have but decided I'd teased her enough for one night. Instead she picked "Bringing Up Baby," an old Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn movie. It's a great movie in which Katherine Hepburn runs circles around Cary Grant. Melissa made popcorn for us then I made her cuddle with me on the sofa. She didn't even complain about it.

We slept in Saturday morning but were both awake before eight. I'd made her take the pajamas off before bed, and we were both naked under the covers. She was becoming desensitized to being naked around me. I, however, was not, and I felt like I was torturing myself.

She just felt so good, and if she hadn't been straight, she'd have been my dream girl: smart, articulate, and so amazingly hot when she kneeled to me. The things I wanted to do to her body.

We were on separate sides of the bed when we woke up, but I rolled over, caressed her arm, and she backed up into me. I drank in the her scent while we cuddled together.

"What are we doing today?" she asked.

"Are you willing to be seen in public with me?" I asked her.

"It depends upon how you treat me," she replied. "Are you going to embarrass me by calling me Slave?"

"Will it embarrass you if I treat you like a girlfriend?"

"No," she replied.

"I'd like to go for a drive. Do you like to hike?"

"Yes, actually, I do. Where did you have in mind?"

"Lake Superior."

She rolled over and looked at me. "The hiking trail?"

"Yes."

"It would be noon by the time we stopped by my place to get my gear and then drove all the way there."

"Are you a slow hiker?"

"No." She smiled. "But I like to stop and take photos."

"So you're up for it?"

"It's a great idea."

I almost kissed her, but then managed to catch myself. "Go hop in the shower. Be quick."

We both got out of bed. While she was showing, I tossed on a robe and went into the basement. I grabbed my day trip gear as well as my guide book and maps of the trails. I set everything on the dinette table. I heard the shower end and Melissa stepped out of the bathroom.

"All yours."

* * *

I could tell by her gear she knew what she was doing. "I'm surprised," I told her in the car as we left the cities. "I wouldn't have pegged you for the outdoorsy type."

"I love it up there," she said. "Where are we going?"

We were in my car. I gestured to the back seat. "My guide book and maps are in the backpack. Grab them, would you? We basically have two choices."

She turned around and grabbed the backpack, pulling it up front with us, then dug through it to find the guide book and maps. She piled everything into her lap, shoving the backpack down on the floor between her feet.

"We either can do a loop or pick an easier trail and hike it in both directions, or we can do something more challenging but we'll have to hitchhike back to the car afterwards."

From the corner of my eye, I caught her glance over at me. "I don't know how I feel about that," she said.

"I was thinking we could start at Gooseberry Falls and hike to Split Rock Lighthouse. Two women can probably get a ride with someone not too sleazy back to Gooseberry. If push comes to shove, we walk an extra five miles back."

She dug through the guide book and looked at the maps for a while. "It does look like a fabulous hike," she admitted. "Let's do the hike and then decide." She paused. "Will you make me get into a car against my better judgment?"

"No. We both agree it's safe or we thank them kindly and hitch with someone else. Or walk."

We rode in silence for a while, heading north on I-35 towards Duluth. "I have a car kit for my iPod," I told her. "If you think you can handle lesbian porn music."

She laughed. "What's the difference between lesbian porn music and regular porn music?"

We spent the next twenty minutes arguing over what it would take to make music into porn. "Lots of panting?" Melissa suggested.

"I was thinking banging," I told her.

"Oh that's bad!"

We drove straight through until Two Harbors, stopping for a potty break. It was just shy of noon when we reached Gooseberry Falls. We changed into our boots and hiking clothing and pulled on our backpacks.

"I haven't been here in a couple of years," Melissa said. "Can we spend some time around the falls first?"

We walked down to the falls. I hadn't seen Melissa's camera. She pulled it out of her backpack, and I was impressed. She took a bunch of nature photos before turning to me. "Model for me?"

I smiled and shed the backpack. She took more photos of me, both standing and sitting, then she handed me the camera and I took a few photos of her. We saw a guy taking photos with his own camera. Melissa walked up to him.

"Hi," she said, sticking out her hand. "I'm Melissa. This is Alex. We were wondering if you would take some pictures of us with my camera."

"Danny," he said, shaking her hand, then mine. "Sure. Anything in particular you want?"

"Just take a bunch," she said. "That would be great." She handed him the camera then stepped up to me and put her arm around my waist. I put mine around her shoulder. Danny took several pictures. Then she pulled me down so we were sitting on the rocks next to each other. She laid her head on my shoulder.

Danny took some photos and looked at them. "That's really sweet," he said.

Melissa pulled me to my feet and told Danny, "A few more, please," she said. The turned to me and wrapped her arms around me so she was hugging me from the side. Danny took a few photos while I looked at him and Melissa looked at me. Then she kissed my cheek and Danny got two more pictures.

Melissa turned to him. "Thank you, Danny. We really appreciate it." She retrieved her camera and hugged him briefly.

Then she insisted on a photo of me with Danny before pulling me away. "Long hike. Thanks again, Danny," she said.

She put her camera back in her backpack and we set off for the trail to Split Rock.

We were only a few minutes from the waterfalls when Melissa turned to me. "Alex, that's the first time I've done something like that."

"Something like what?"

"Ask someone else to take pictures of me with someone."

"Really?"

"And those are the only pictures in existence where I'm kissing someone, even something chaste like on the cheek."

It was a beautiful day, and Melissa and I had an amazing time. She took a lot of photos, which slowed us down a little, but not too badly, and she always picked things that were worth looking at, anyway. After the third stop where she asked me to take her camera out of the bag for her, she switched to just carrying it.

"I normally use a different pack, but I didn't want to carry two packs," she explained.

Periodically I took the camera from her and took a few shots of her.

The views of the lake were amazing and the trail was mostly dry. Still, it was four before we arrived at Split Rock. Melissa took more photos then we turned to each other. "We should get back to the car."

We looked around the parking lot for a car that was leaving. We wanted to find one or two women. Instead, we found a husband and wife with two young children. They were loading up a mini van. Melissa and I exchanged looks then walked over to them.

"Hey," I said. "This is going to sound weird, but are you heading north or south?"

"North," said the man.

"Dang. Okay, thanks."

"Did you two need a ride?" the woman asked. "Where are you going?"

"Our car is at Gooseberry."

The woman turned to her husband. "It's only five miles," she said to him.

He smiled at us. "Kids, hop in back."

"Really?" Melissa said.

"Hop in," the man said. "I'm Jamie. This is my wife, Jenny. The boy is Robert. The girl is shy. Her name is Elizabeth."

We introduced ourselves then climbed into the van. I noticed Melissa had her hand in her pocket and when I glanced over, she showed me she had her cell phone in her hand. She had taken a photo of the car with the license plate and only had to tap the phone to send it to someone.

Jamie drove and we turned left out of the state park, back towards Gooseberry. We rode the five miles, exchanging pleasantries about what we had done all day. Jamie drove us straight to our car back at Gooseberry. We thanked them profusely.

"Not at all," said Jenny. "It was only a few minutes, and now we know you're safely at your car instead of taking a desperate ride with someone less safe."

Jamie waited until he was sure we were in our car and it was started. He honked briefly as they drove away.

"Wow," Melissa said. "They were really nice."

I backed the car out of the slot and turned towards the exit of the park. Just before we reached highway sixty-one, there was a tired-looking man wearing a backpack and with an equally-tired-looking dog lying down on the shoulder next to him. The man stuck his thumb out.

"Give him a ride," Melissa said immediately.

I pulled over. The man turned towards us and walked up to Melissa's window. He looked into the car. "Oh hey," he said. "You girls shouldn't be giving rides to strange men."

"What is your dog's name?" Melissa asked him.

"This is Blaise," he said. "She had a brother named Pascal."

"Seriously?" I said. "That is totally cool."

Melissa turned to me. "Why?"

"You don't know who Blaise Pascal was?" She shook her head.

I looked him over. "Which way are you going?"

"South," he said. "My car is parked off the hiking trail near Castle Danger. We would have walked, but it was ten rough miles, and it turns out I'm not as young as I used to be."

"Blaise looks done in, too," I commented.

"Yeah. I think she's ready to be done for the day. We would just camp out, but I screwed up and didn't bring her ground pad. Last night was rough on her."

"What's your name?"

"Jim," he said.

"Jim, I am Alex. This is Melissa. Will you be offended if she takes a picture?"

"Not at all."

Melissa used her phone to take Jim's picture. "Forward that to someone," I told her. "Then call someone. Stay on the phone until we drop him off."

Jim smiled. "Smart." He looked at the car. "We're a little muddy."

"Jim," I said. "You're a lot muddy. Hop in." I popped the trunk for his backpack. Jim and Blaise hopped into the back seat, Blaise offering a doggy smile then leaned forward and licked my ear. Melissa laughed.

"No, Mom," she said into her phone. "Alex just got her ear licked by a dog." She told her mother exactly what we were doing. I could hear her mom screeching at her.

"It's okay, Mom, that's why I'm talking to you. If we suddenly disconnect, you can panic."

We pulled onto the highway, turning south. Jim and I compared hiking notes while Melissa talked to her mother. We pulled into Castle Danger and I asked Jim where his car was. "Up the hill about a mile and a half or so," he said. "You can let me off at this road up here."

I pulled onto the road and drove the mile and a half to his car. It was an uphill climb, and I don't think Blaise was up to the climb. Jim looked pretty tired, too.

"Ladies," he said when we arrived. "Thank you. You were life savers."

I smiled. "We just got a ride from Split Rock to our car. It was nice to return the favor to someone else."

They climbed out. Blaise gave Melissa's hand a lick on the way past. She jumped and said, "Eww! Blaise!" But the dog was already out of the car. Jim retrieved his backpack and waved as we drove away.

"Okay, Mom," Melissa said. "We're safely in the car again with no strangers." They talked for a few more minutes before she hung up.

We stopped for dinner in Two Harbors. Afterwards, Melissa asked if I wanted her to drive. I accepted the offer. "If you get tired, we can switch again."

"Sure. You can find the lesbian porn music on your iPod. I couldn't find any."

I laughed.

It was dark by the time we reached Duluth. "Did you want to stop?" Melissa asked.

"Only if you want to," I told her. We kept going.

Melissa drove expertly, sticking with the flow of the traffic just slightly over the speed limit. She drove all the way home. We looked at each other.

"Alexandra," she said. "I will bring everything inside."

"Thank you, Slave," I told her. She grinned at me.

"May I have a bath later?"

"Of course. I'll start filling the tub."

I left everything in the car for her but headed straight for the bathroom. I started filling the tub, adding some bubbles, then closed the door and made use of the room. By the time I was done, Melissa was waiting.

"Um. I need to."

"Right," I said, stepping out. I went in search of the book of short stories she'd read from last night. I couldn't find it. I wandered back to the bathroom and knocked.

"I'm decent," she said.

I opened the door. Melissa had climbed into the tub. "Where's the book you were reading from?"

She looked away.

"Did you hide it?"

"Can I plead the fifth?"

"You hid it?"

"No! Um." She looked embarrassed.

"Slave," I said. "Where is it?"

She pointed. There was a rack of magazines next to the toilet. A girl never knows when she's going to be using the room for a while.

"You were reading from it?"

"Maybe," she said.

I laughed and walked to the bedroom. I dumped my clothes in a pile on the floor then grabbed a bunch of candles before returning to the bathroom. I set candles all over the room and lit them, turned out the light, then grabbed the book and stepped into the tub.

"What are you doing?"

I settled into the water with my back against the opposite end from where Melissa was sitting.

"If you wanted a bath, I could have waited." She started to leverage herself out of the tub.

"If you leave," I told her. "I will tie you up and do things to you that you can't imagine."

She stared at me and said quietly, "I thought you decided you weren't going to do that."

"Settle in, Melissa," I told her. She did, but she was reluctant about it. "I promise to behave," I told her. "And I will leave if you ask me to."

She looked at me for a while. "You can stay," she said eventually. "It's a big tub."

I smiled, and we both settled deeper into the water. It felt divine. We soaked for a while before I opened the book. She opened her eyes and looked at me, then closed them again and nodded.

I picked a story and began reading. It was short and one of the more graphic bondage stories. By the time I was done reading, both of us were squirming around a little.

Melissa opened her eyes. "Is that what you like to do?"

"Yes."

"I would never let a guy do any of that to me," she said, closing her eyes again.

"Neither would I," I told her, laughing.

I read another story for her. By the end of it, I was quite worked up. Maybe this had been a bad idea, although I was having fun. I finished the story and we were both quiet for a while. I watched her. She licked her lips then opened her eyes to look at me.

"I'll give you a choice," I told her. "We can climb out of the tub and go see how much fun that is, or you can read a story to me."

"I'll read," she said.

I picked the story I wanted her to read while she dried her hands on a towel. I handed her the book and settled in to enjoy the story. She began reading.

The story I had picked was written from the perspective of a submissive writing to her dominant. It was written as if it were a love letter and detailed all the things she wanted her dominant to do to her, and why she wanted them. There were no names in the story, only pet names such as "My love". That meant I could imagine Melissa really asking me to do all the things from the story.

As she read, I slid my hand between my legs. Melissa must have noticed, as she paused for a moment, but then continued to read. I used two fingers to open myself, then began to tease my clit while Melissa's voice teased my brain.

Several minutes later, Melissa's voice caught. I opened my eyes then immediately shut them. She was holding the book in her left hand, and her right hand was under the bubbles. I had a pretty good idea what she was doing, and I didn't want to spoil it by saying anything.

Knowing she was pleasuring herself while we were sharing a bath got me even more excited. It didn't take too much longer for me to come. I let the pleasure roll through me, shuddering, and my vagina clenching against my own fingers. When the shudders subsided, I slit my eyes to watch Melissa.

I watched as she slid closer and closer to her own orgasm, her voice becoming ragged as she read the story. She gasped and stopped reading, then let out a sigh. She looked up at me and realized I was watching her.

"Oh god," she said. She tried to climb out of the tub, but I grabbed her feet.

"No!" I told her. "Do not run away. Please, Melissa, don't run away."

She looked at me, panic in her eyes.

"Please, Melissa."

Slowly she lowered herself back into the water. She looked away from me. "I can't believe I just did that."

"Was it nice?"

"Yes."

"Good."

* * *

Sunday was a little strained. Melissa had moved away from me in the bed after she thought I'd fallen asleep. By morning she was way on the other side.

Over breakfast I told her, "I want you to clean the house today. Will you let me have copies of the pictures you took?"

"Yes," she told me, not looking me in the eye.

"Do you Photoshop them?"

"I can crop and adjust exposure, but that's about all," she told me.

"All right. I'm going to play with them. Is that okay?"

"Me slave, you dominatrix," she said. She sounded a little sullen.

"Your photographs, Melissa," I told her. "Your copyrights."

"I'm not going to do anything too special with them," she said. "You may do whatever you want with them." She paused. "I should go grocery shopping, too."

She downloaded the images first to her own computer then to mine. I went through all of them and was impressed. She had a good eye. I got to one she had taken of me somewhere along the trail. I was looking at something. I have no idea what. She'd been taking so many photographs I had stopped paying attention to her. She caught an intense look on my face. I wasn't at all sure what it was.

"Melissa?" I said, raising my voice. "Can you come here?"

She stepped in from the bathroom. She was wearing a pair of green rubber gloves and looked quite disheveled. "What's this?" I asked her.

"Hmm. I'm not sure, but I think it's someone I went hiking with yesterday."

I smiled at her. I guess her mood was better.

"What was I looking at? I have such an intense look."

"You aren't looking at anything," she said. "You had just been looking at me. I was photographing that tree stump. Then when I turned to look at you, you looked away. I took this photo." She paused. "It turned out okay. Do you remember what you were thinking about?"

"Yes. I was thinking how amazing you are."

She immediately began to blush. She stepped away. "I'll go finish the bathroom."

Eventually I picked out thirty photos I liked the most and assembled them into a photo album. I cropped, adjusted colors, and retouched things a little. They didn't need much. I didn't want to make either of our faces too perfect. I didn't finish until Melissa was about done cleaning the house.

I sent the photo album to a company that would print and bind them for me. I ordered two copies.

Melissa came into the office just as I was finishing. She knelt down in front of me. "Alexandra, do you want me to clean in here?"

"No, thank you," I told her.

"Then unless you are dissatisfied, I am done. I would like to shower and have lunch, then I should go grocery shopping."

I stood up and pulled her to her feet then went to check on the house. She had done an amazing job. The place looked great. I told her so. "Would you let me take you to lunch, or were you hoping for some time away from me?"

"Lunch would be nice, Alexandra. I don't want to get away from you." She paused. "Is this a real friendship?"

I smiled. "I hope so. It is on my end."

She nodded. "You know more intimate secrets about me than anyone else. And I don't mean last night."

"Did you have anything you wanted to do after grocery shopping?"

"Why is the domme asking the slave that question?"

I laughed. "Then we'll go see a movie."

She narrowed her eyes. "Will you behave?"

"Probably," I told her. "I'm not an exhibitionist."

"Could have fooled me." But she smiled while she said it.

* * *

She cuddled all night with me. And then it was Monday.

Second Week (Melissa)

My second week as Alexandra's love slave was much like the first week. We hadn't been driving to work together but starting on Monday we did. At work we were friendly with each other, but Alexandra didn't do anything to give away the current nature of our relationship. I invited her to lunches with me and a few of the other women from the office.

That surprised them. It had just been slightly over a week ago that I'd been a royal bitch to her. Still, everyone liked Alex, and I think the other women were happy to have her along.

In the evenings, as soon as we arrived home, I helped Alex out of her coat and hung both our coats up. After that, I dropped to my knees in front of her. She would step up to me, caress my cheek, and then tell me how we were to spend the evening.

Monday night she wanted to talk and play cards with a back rub before going to sleep. She let me wear clothes until bedtime.

Tuesday she made me strip to undies and a bra. We had dinner and watched a couple of episodes of a television show while cuddling on the couch. She read a story from the book to me before we fell asleep. I didn't do anything embarrassing.

Wednesday when I knelt in front of her, she caressed my cheek, then lifted my face, leaned down, and kissed me.

I kissed her back.

It was the nicest kiss I'd ever had.

When she pulled away, I looked up at her, blinking my eyes. "I wanted you to have a pleasant kiss from a woman," she explained.

While I made dinner, she put together a list. Over dinner, she showed it to me. "This is a list of things around the house I've been meaning to do."

"You made me a honey do list?"

She smiled at me. "More like a slave do list."

I set the list aside. "You're telling me more than the things you want your servant to do."

Alex looked away for a moment then turned back to face me. "We've been treating our time together like a series of dates."

"I have enjoyed our dates," I told her, grinning.

"I have, too." She paused.

"I wanted to ask you something," I interjected before she could continue her thought. "When we started this you told me you would let me pick ten toys that you wouldn't use on me. I presume you have more than the whip you used the first night I was here."

"Yes. It's not a whip, really. It's a riding crop."

"Oh," I said.

"I mostly use it like a prop. For pointing and touching. But it has the potential of offering a pretty serious swat if I decide to."

"Like the one you gave me?"

"That was a love tap," she told me. "I was just getting your attention."

"When are you going to show me the rest of your toys?"

"I'm not."

"Oh." I thought about it. "Why not?"

"Because if I show them to you I'm going to want to use some of them."

We ate quietly for a while before I told her, "For every item on this list that I complete to your satisfaction, I would like you to show me one of your toys and explain how you use it."

She looked me in the eye. "You are playing with fire."

"I'll let you use some."

"What?"

"If you promise not to hurt me too much."

"Why?"

"I'm trying to understand," I told her. "I am trying to understand you. And I'm trying to understand my own reactions to the stories you've been making me read to you. I want to understand what it is you like to do."

"All right. One toy for each completed item on the list. Who picks which ones I get to use?"

"At first, I do," I said. "Which means you'll have to think carefully about which ones you show me, lest I be too afraid to let you touch me with them."

She laughed.

I cleaned the kitchen then read through the honey do list again. She had listed as two items pulling the stove from the wall and cleaning behind it and doing the same with the refrigerator. I found her in the living room and told her, "I don't know if I can move the stove and refrigerator by myself." She helped me pull them out.

It was gross behind each of them, but I cleaned as well as I could. Alexandra peeked behind them before we pushed them back into place. It was after nine. "Two," I said.

She smiled. "Clean yourself up and get ready for bed. Wear a bathrobe but be naked underneath."

"Yes, Alexandra."

Ten minutes later and I was in her bedroom with her. She looked at me. "Sit on the bed." I sat and she looked at me again. "All right. Toys come in two basic types. The first type is used to restrain you. The second type is used to give you some sort of sensation."

"Well then," I suggested. "Perhaps you could show me a good example of each type."

She walked to her dresser and opened a drawer. "I keep some things in here. The rest are in the closet." She pulled something out then hid it behind her back before she walked over to me. "I have a pair of restraints. I am going to wrap them around your wrists."

"I get to pick which ones you use on me," I told her. "Please."

"If I don't attach them to anything, these are little more than rather odd bracelets," she said. "Please hold out your wrists, Melissa."

I looked up at her before meekly holding out my wrists to her. She took her hands from behind her back. She wrapped a piece of thick, thick cloth around my wrist. It secured in place with velcro. She wrapped my other wrist the same way. I looked at them then up at her. "They don't look very threatening."

"I can attach them together, like this." She did something and I found my wrists clipped together as if I were wearing handcuffs. "Pull apart, see how secure it is. Try to get free."

I pulled and twisted, but my wrists remained bound.

"If you tried, you could unlatch yourself," she said. "You can probably reach this and unclip it." She pointed to the short piece of metal between the two cuffs. She unclipped it then moved around to my side and said, "I want to clip your arms behind you now. Will you let me?"

"Will you let me go?"

"Yes."

"All right."

She pulled my wrists behind me and clipped them together. "You could still free yourself," she said. "It might take you a few minutes. It would only take a few seconds with practice." She paused. "If I were semi-serious about this, I would clip them with something that locked."

"Semi-serious?"

"You can probably undo the velcro if you were motivated."

She reached behind me and unclipped my wrists. "I could clip these to a loop on your jeans, if you were wearing any," she said. "Or I can use some sort of tie and tie you to the bed with your arms spread. Depending upon how I do it, the only way for you to free yourself with these cuffs is if you can undo the velcro. If I left you alone long enough, you could get free. If I'm watching you, you probably couldn't."

I looked at her and thought about it. "Do it."

"Seriously?"

"If I ask, will you release me?"

"Yes."

"Then do it."

She smiled at me before walking back to her dresser. She returned after just a moment holding a bundle of cloth straps. "Lean against the headboard," she said. "I'll do this so it's comfortable."

I crawled backwards so my back was to the headboard, adjusting the pillows behind me so I was comfortable. She walked to my left and showed me that she had two straps. They had a clip on both end. She clipped one end to the cuff on my wrist, wrapped it once around a loop in the headboard, then clipped the other end to the cuff. I had a lot of slack, but then she did something which shortened the strap, drawing my wrist against the headboard. She smiled at she walked to the other side of the bed and treated my left wrist the same way. I tugged experimentally against the restraints.

"It would take me about twenty seconds to get free from that," she said. "It's about the least secure way I could have done this."

"Why did you do it this way then?"

"To avoid scaring you."

I struggled for a bit then fiddled with a buckle on one of the straps. She stood watching me while I figured out how to release myself.

"Do it right," I told her once my wrists were free again.

She nodded and used the same straps, but she attached them differently to the headboard before pulling them taut. This time I couldn't reach the little buckle she had used to shorten the straps. I struggled with it for a while before looking at her.

"You can still get free," she said. "You either have to snag the velcro somehow, maybe reach with your teeth, if you can lean that far. Or you might be able to unclip the strap from the tether. If I weren't willing to let you get free, I might use a small lock to secure the tether or another pair of cuffs that lock and are inescapable by most people."

She watched while I tried to free myself from the cuffs. I only worked at it for a minute or two. She reached over and patted my leg. "You'd get free eventually, if I left you alone to work on it." She paused. "Do you want me to release you?"

"You can show me the other toy first," I told her.

"All right," she said, walking to her dresser. She returned in just a moment with what looked like a big woolen mitten on her hand.

"What is that?"

"Exactly what it looks like," she said. "It's a big woolen mitten."

"What is it for?"

"Just for touching you. Will you let me show you? I'll stop if you ask me to stop."

"All right," I said.

She walked closer to me and began to caress my foot with the mitten. It tickled and I pulled away. She smiled. "If I were serious, I would have secured your legs first. Please put it back."

"It tickled."

"Trust me."

Slowly I gave her back my foot. She looked at me. "It's going to tickle, but don't pull away, all right?"

I nodded.

She began touching my foot, and it tickled, but I realized it felt nice, too. I closed my eyes.

She caressed my leg, stopping just above my knee. That felt good, too. "That's nice," I told her.

"I know. This is something you would use on me, too. It can be pretty intense after a while." She paused. "I want to get a little more intimate. Will you allow it?"

I opened my eyes and looked at her. "Not. Um. Down there."

"No." She stared at my chest. "I promise you'll like it."

I licked my lips. "That's what I'm afraid of."

She opened my robe, watching my face while she did it. I'd been naked around her so much I wasn't embarrassed by it anymore.

"Melissa," she said. "Close your eyes and let me do this as long as I want."

"All right," I said.

I closed my eyes, and I felt the wool mitten slowly slide up the outside of my leg, then cross my pelvis. I jumped. I tickled. She teased my belly button for a moment, then moved up and began to gently caress my right nipple.

"Oh god!" I started to squirm nearly immediately. "Stop."

She pulled away instantly. I opened my eyes and looked at her. "That's intense."

"Let me keep going," she said.

"Oh god."

"You'll like it."

"I know. But after that, no more, okay?"

"Your face. Then no more."

"All right." I closed my eyes. She began brushing my face with the wool. It felt odd, not as intense. It was calming. I liked it.

"That's not the same at all," I told her.

"No, it's not. Now I'm going to drive you crazy. Please try to enjoy it."

She moved down to my nipple again, brushing the rough wool back and forth. I felt the nipple engorge instantly and began squirming.

"Oh god!"

She switched to the left nipple and had that one engorged in just moments as well. She spent several minutes with the mitten, caressing both breasts and teasing my nipples like crazy. I couldn't stop squirming. Finally she pulled away.

I realized I'd been panting with my mouth open. I got myself back under control and looked at her.

"It can be used for back rubs, too," she said. "But it is still intense and is best when you really are trying to work someone up."

She took the mitten off and set it on the bed next to me then reached up and released my wrist. She leaned over me to release the other, then collected all the restraints and put them away. She left the mitten where it was. I picked it up and began touching my skin with it. I looked at her. "It was more fun when you were doing it."

She smiled. "And when you can't stop me."

"That made it especially intense."

I handed her the mitten and she put it away.

"We have a new rule," she told me. "You may not touch any of my toys without permission."

"Yes, Alexandra."

She nodded, climbed out of her own clothing, took my bathrobe from me, turned off the lights, and climbed into bed with me, wrapping me in her arms.

"What did you think, Slave?"

I wriggled at her and found a comfortable position. "I think I'm starting to understand, but I also think you showed me the kiddy toys."

She laughed. "True."

"I suspect my reaction to some of the others won't be as positive."

"Not if we were to jump to them." She paused. "People like to turn up the fires. What seems intense now can seem plain later on."

"Hypothetically speaking, if I asked you to do what you wanted to me, would you be bored with the kiddy toys?"

"Would you let me secure you completely?"

"Yes. That didn't seem too much at all."

"The toys are for your enjoyment. I would only use the ones you wanted me to use. I can drive you crazy with any of them. I get my kick from the restraints and from your submission."

Thursday night after dinner I cleaned the laundry room downstairs. It was the only thing I got done off the list. When I found Alexandra, she had her laptop on her lap in the living room. I knelt in front of her. "The laundry room is clean," I told her.

"One toy?"

I nodded.

"I need a few more minutes," she said. "Meet me in the bedroom, kneeling while wearing the bathrobe."

"Yes, Alexandra."

I got ready for bed then assumed my position on the floor. She kept me there for about five minutes before I heard her turning off the lights and joining me. She walked around me, caressing me while she did so.

"Restraint or sensation?"

"I don't know," I said. "The restraints just seem like more of the same."

She looked at me. "That's probably true. It's how I use them that changes dramatically. I can use rope and it looks like art, for instance."

"Show me that?"

"How about tomorrow," she said. "When we have more time."

"All right. Sensation then."

"I'll give you a choice. If you let me secure you to the bed again, I'll show you one you'll let me use. Or else we can skip the restraints; I can go to the extreme and show you something I wouldn't use even if you asked."

I looked into her face. "Which do you want?"

"To play of course, but you're probably more curious about what I might have I'm not willing to even use."

I smiled. "Same position on the bed?"

She returned my smile. "No. Lie down on your back. Get comfortable."

I climbed onto the bed, arranged some pillows, then tried to relax. She opened her dresser and came back with the same restraints she had used last night. She wrapped one around my right wrist and secured it to the bed somewhere I couldn't see. Then she did the left wrist. After that she pulled each of them taut, and I found my arms spread straight out from my shoulders with very little movement.

"Oh my," I said.

She smiled at me. "I'm not done," she told me. She went to the dresser and came back with two more cuffs. "Same cuffs, for your ankles."

I pulled my legs away. "You promise to stop if I ask you to?"

"Yes."

I slowly gave her a leg. She wrapped both ankles in cuffs, secured the tethers to the bed, then shorted the tethers, pulling my legs apart. When she was done, I was pulled tight to the bed and couldn't really move either my arms or legs.

She sat down on the bed next to me and caressed my face.

"Melissa, you are playing with fire."

I smiled at her. "I trust you."

She patted my cheek and stood up, walked to the dresser, and pulled something small out of it. She hid it behind her back as she walked back to me and sat down again.

"You're going to say No at first," she said. "It looks scary but it feels amazing."

"Then I suspect you'll talk me into it."

She pulled her hand out from behind her back. She was holding something that looked like some sort of surgical instrument. It was all shiny metal with a handle and some sort of wheel with spikes on it.

"This is a Wartenberg pinwheel," she said. She reached over and ran it across my palm. The little spikes poked me lightly.

"You're right," I said. "It looks like it hurts."

"It does if used too firmly. You can draw blood easily. I've only done that once, and it was because she jerked around on me. I've gotten more careful."

"It feels good?" I was dubious.

"It depends upon how I use it," she said. "I can use it to tickle you terribly. I can just wake up your nerves with it. Or I can use it so it's deliciously painful. You wouldn't be ready for that."

She slid on her butt to the foot of the bed near my feet.

"Oh god," I said, starting to struggle.

"You have five seconds to tell me 'no'. After that, I won't stop until I'm ready to stop."

"Oh god, Alexandra."

"Four."

I struggled to get away from her.

"Three."

I stared at the wheel in her hand while continuing to struggle against the restraints.

"Two."

I wasn't able to free myself, which I hadn't expected.

"One."

"Oh god."

Slowly she lowered the wheel to the bottom of the foot. I immediately tried to pull away. She grabbed my foot with her free hand and began running the wheel up and down my foot.

I expected it to hurt. It didn't. But it tickled badly.

"Oh god! Oh god! Stop!"

"No." She continued to tickle my foot.

I began thrashing around, begging her to stop while trying to pull away from what she was doing to my foot. She was grinning at me.

Eventually she stopped tickling. I slumped against the bed.

"That was exactly one minute," she said once my breathing was calmed down. "Imagine twenty minutes per foot."

"Oh god," I said. "I'd be promising you the world after five."

She smiled.

"Release me now," I told her.

"If you ask again, I will," she said. "But I hope you will let me show you how good this can feel, first. I promise not to tickle."

I looked at her then nodded.

She lowered the wheel to the top of my foot then drew it carefully across the top of my foot to the outside of my leg. It felt weird. I began to squirm. She worked her way up my leg in a series of long, light strokes, barely touching me. She used the wheel to caress my sides and arms, always gently, and I soon couldn't stop squirming.

"Oh god," I said.

"I know," she told me. "Starting to understand?"

"Yes. Please don't stop."

She chuckled but continued to caress me with the wheel. She stayed away from my breasts and the insides of my legs, and she was very, very careful around my face, but she used it everywhere.

"Imagine a backrub involving this."

She kept it up for a while, and I continued to squirm. Then she slowed down and finally stopped. I opened my eyes and looked at her. "It's starting to become too intense for you. You'll stop enjoying it soon."

I squirmed a little more. What she had done was very intense. I felt like all my nerve endings were alive. The way I was tied left me feeling very helpless and vulnerable. She could do anything she wanted to me, and I couldn't stop her. I looked up at her. She was standing over me, looking at me spread on the bed, helpless. I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

I couldn't tell her what I was thinking. I didn't want her to stop.

"What else would you do?" I asked her instead.

"You know darned well what I'd do," she replied. "Straight girl."

I closed my eyes, imagining her hands touching me. Then I felt her settle on the bed and felt her hands on my foot. "Yes!" I thought before I realized she was releasing me.

She released both my ankles then my wrists, taking only a few seconds for each. I was so disappointed!

But I couldn't tell her. She would laugh. I couldn't stand it.

I rolled over on my side facing away from her and curled up a little. She sat on the bed behind me. "Are you all right, Melissa?"

"Yes," I said.

I lied like that. Then I felt her hand on my hip. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Will you hold me?"

"Of course." I felt her lie down behind me. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me closer to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said. "I'm just feeling vulnerable. I liked what you did."

I felt her smile against my shoulder. "It was pretty intense."

"Yes."

She started to pull away.

"Please don't go," I asked her.

"I'll be back," she promised. "Then I'll hold you and we can talk."

She left me for a few minutes. I heard her use the bathroom then move around the house, turning lights off. She came back to the bedroom and stripped out of her clothes, hanging them up. I still had the bathrobe bunched around my shoulders, so she pulled me up to a sitting position and slid it off me, then peeled the bed covers back and slipped me into the bed.

She was very kind and gentle.

She turned the rest of the lights off and slipped into bed behind me, wrapping me in her arms again.

"Are you okay?"

"Sort of," I said. I wriggled closer to her and kissed one of her hands. "I would never let a guy do any of this to me," I told her.

She giggled. "I told you, I wouldn't either."

"I'm serious," I said. "But with you it's different."

She kissed my shoulder. "Thank you for trusting me. It means a lot to me."

It was a lot more than trust. Why couldn't she read between the lines? We lied like that for a few minutes, neither of us saying anything. She shifted away slightly, pulling her top arm away, and began caressing my arm, back, and side, all the way down to my hip. When she ran her finger down my back she stopped just short of my bottom. I didn't want her to stop.

"How many love slaves have you had in the past?"

She giggled. "For more than a week? None. You're the first."

"Really?"

"For a weekend or so, six or seven. And some of them were repeated a few times."

"How many people have you tied up?"

She paused before answering. "I'm not entirely sure."

"A lot?"

"Nooo," she said slowly. "Not a lot. Maybe ten, less than fifteen."

"And how many women have you been with you haven't tied up?"

She laughed. "About the same number."

"Ever been tied up yourself?"

"A few times." She paused. "I asked because I thought it was important to know what it feels like. Afterwards I changed what I did. Some of the stuff I was doing didn't feel as good as I thought it would."

She was still caressing my skin. Her touch felt really nice. It was calming. I wondered if that's why she was doing it.

"You could have hurt me just now."

"Yes."

"But you didn't."

"Of course not."

"Don't you want to?"

"Why would I want to hurt you?"

"Paybacks."

She stopped caressing me but left her hand on my side. "You have apologized repeatedly. I've forgiven you. I don't want to hurt you."

We were quiet. She was still touching me, but not caressing. "Thank you," I told her. "For forgiving me."

She began to caress me again. I closed my eyes and enjoyed it for a moment. "When this is over and you have kicked me to the curb, will you still be my friend?"

She bit my shoulder.

"Hey!"

"That's too important a question to make a joke out of it," she said.

"You're right," I said. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how else to ask."

"When your month is over and you are no longer obligated to be my love slave, I would love to count you as a friend," she said.

"This hasn't gone at all like you had planned, has it?"

She kissed my shoulder where she had bitten it. "I didn't really plan any of it. I really, really didn't think you would agree. And then I didn't think you would follow through."

"I am glad I did."

"So am I," she said. "But say that again after you've broken one of the rules and I've had to punish you."

"You would punish me?"

"Absolutely. Would you let me?"

I thought about it. "If I thought I deserved it, then yes. If I didn't think I deserved it, then I don't know."

"Then you're not really my love slave."

She stopped caressing again and pulled her hand away, but she didn't withdraw further. We lied like that for a few minutes while I thought about it.

"Yes, I would," I said eventually. "Even if I thought you were being unfair."

She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me, then went back to the caresses. I wondered if she knew what she was doing.

"When you agreed, I couldn't believe it," she said. "So I made sure that at least Vivien would know I'd spent the weekend on it. I didn't think anything else would change. After that, we were both so focused on getting the work done that I couldn't think about anything else. I suppose in the back of my mind I thought about you kneeling to me, but it just felt like a fantasy, not like a plan."

"So you never planned?"

"Well, maybe a little," she said with a small chuckle.

"Tell me."

She didn't say anything right away. "I'll scare you," she said finally. "I thought about hurting you."

"But you didn't. Tell me."

"You're going to think this is what I fantasize about."

"I deserved for this to have gone a lot worse than it has. Were you going to torture me?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I wanted to punish you so badly. I wanted to hurt you and humiliate you." She was quiet. "Two of the women I've tied up in the past wanted me to do a lot more to them than I was willing to do. One of them asked me to water board her."

"Seriously?"

"And she didn't want a safe word."

"I don't have a safe word."

"I haven't been doing anything to you that you need one. And I'm not going to."

"Did you do it? Water board her?"

"She spent an hour trying to convince me she really wanted me to. Then she started intentionally trying to piss me off so I'd want to punish her. Finally she pushed me far enough I yelled at her and told her, 'Fine, you want to be tortured, I'll torture you.'" She paused. "I made her leave. I've never talked to her since."

I laughed lightly, then sobered. "That seems pretty sick, wanting to be tortured."

"She was pretty screwed up. But human sexuality manifests itself in a lot of ways. I don't cast judgment even when I think it's unhealthy. Who am I to judge?"

I paused. "You have been side stepping my question."

She chuckled. "Yes, I have." She paused. "Melissa, I'm not the sort of person who enjoys hurting someone. I would have felt horrible if I had hurt you."

"Even though I deserved it."

"You deserved to know how you had made me feel. It's not the same thing. I couldn't make you feel how I had felt, but I could make you feel hurt in other ways. But two wrongs don't make a right. The world wouldn't be better if I hurt you. Neither of us would have come out of it better."

"But you said you would punish me if I break a rule."

"Punishment doesn't mean hurting you." She paused. "I could make you clean the kitchen with nothing but a toothbrush. It would take you hours."

"I'd rather you whipped me with your crop," I told her after a moment. "Get it over with."

"If you deserved a real punishment, I could never bring myself to hit you enough to deliver one. The toys are for fun, not pain. If I touch you, it's for fun, not pain."

She continued to cuddle and caress as we talked, the conversation growing slower and slower. She was still caressing me when I fell asleep.

Punishment (Melissa)

I spent the next several days trying to tease her into taking things further. I didn't get anywhere with it. By Tuesday I was getting pretty drastic about it. We were talking as I was cleaning up the kitchen from dinner, and I kept intentionally brushing against her, looking for every opportunity I could find to walk past her.

"Stop teasing," she finally ordered. "It stopped being funny two days ago."

In response I brushed past her again, making sure to rub my ass against hers on the way.

She tipped over the last of her soda from dinner, spilling it down the countertop and onto the floor. "Get your toothbrush," she ordered.

"What?"

"Go get your toothbrush and clean up this mess."

"You're not serious."

"Do it!" she ordered firmly. "You just disobeyed a direct order to stop teasing. Go get your god damned toothbrush."

"Fine," I said, starting to feel hurt and pissed off. I stomped off to the bathroom and retrieved my toothbrush. I wondered what I would use to brush my teeth afterwards.

She was waiting for me with her arms crossed. "Clean it up," she said. "All of it. You may use your toothbrush or your tongue."

I glared at her for a moment but then attacked the mess with the toothbrush, cleaning a little of the mess, then tapping the brush into the sink, picking up a microscopic amount of mess each time. She stood and watched me the entire time. It took forever, and it wasn't a very good job when I was done, but I finally decided I'd done as well as I could.

I looked over at her. I hadn't finished cleaning up. There was a small container of leftovers from dinner. Alexandra waited until she had my attention, then she slowly dumped the container on the floor.

"You bitch," I told her.

"What?"

"Oh shit," I said. I dropped to my knees in front of her and lowered my head to her feet. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

She bent down, grabbed me by the jaw, and lifted me to my feet, glaring at me, holding my by the jaw. It hurt. She spun me around so my back was to the door and started pushing me backwards. "Bedroom. NOW!"

I backed away from her. She kept pushing me. I turned around and tried to scamper to the bedroom. Every time she caught up to me, she gave me a shove in the proper direction.

"Alexandra!" I said. "I'm sorry."

"Shut up."

She shoved me into the bedroom. I turned around and tried dropping to my knees in front of her, but she grabbed my jaw and held me up. "Naked. NOW."

I stripped out of my clothes as quickly as I could. I tried to take time to fold them, but she yanked them from my hands and threw them in the corner. As soon as I was naked she pointed to the bed. "Kneeling. Get up there."

I climbed onto the bed. "Turn around, back to the foot of the bed, and back up as far as you can."

I faced the head of the bed and backed up until my feet were against the frame of the bed at the foot of the bed.

"Don't move," she hissed. "Not one muscle."

She disappeared into the closet and came out after a moment. She tossed something onto the bed and I glanced down to look at it. It was a coil of rope.

"I told you!" she said, yelling. "Not to move a muscle."

I snapped my eyes forward, picking a spot on the wall and staring at it.

"I'm sorry."

"Shut up!"

"Are you going to hurt me?"

"Shut the fuck up!"

I pressed my lips together and listened as she paced around the room behind me. After several times back and forth behind me, she stepped up and quietly asked, "Are you going to let me do this?"

"Yes."

"Hands behind your back," she said sternly. "Palms together."

Meekly I complied. She wrapped a rope around one wrist, then put several wraps around both wrists, just above the wrist bones. Then she squeezed my elbows closer together before tightening the rope around my wrist a little more. I then felt as she wrapped the rope around itself a few times before tying it off.

Then she wrapped the rope around my waist twice then did something to tie my wrists to the rope around my waist. This left my hands at my back just above my ass.

Then she worked her way up my arms. She wrapped the rope around my arms just below my elbows, used her hands to pull my elbows closer together, and tied them that way. She wasn't gentle, and I started to feel pressure on my shoulders.

"That hurts," I said.

"Where?"

"Shoulders."

She adjusted the rope, taking a slight amount of pressure off my shoulders, then wrapped the rope around me twice more before securing my elbows in a fashion similar to my wrists.

"Alexandra," I said. "I'm sorry."

"If I do something that hurts," she said. "You may tell me. Other than that, shut up. If you disobey, this will be worse for you."

I pressed my lips together.

I'd never been more excited in my life.

She tied the rope once more, this time above my elbows. When she was done she stepped back. "This is inescapable," she said. "You can't reach the knots. They won't slip. Short of finding a way to fray the rope, your arms are tied like that until I release you." She stepped up to me. "You've been pushing my buttons for days. I've had it."

I didn't say anything.

"On your face," she said. But she helped me lower myself to the bed, lying on my stomach. I turned my head to the side.

She used a second rope on my legs. She tied my knees together then my ankles. Then she bent my legs as close to my butt as she could and somehow tied them there.

"You can't reach any of those knots, either, but I am sure going to enjoy watching you try." Then her voice grew gentle. "Does anything hurt?"

"No."

"Are your hands okay?"

"Yes."

"Feet?"

"Yes."

She stepped away for a moment. I heard her enter the closet and return after a moment. She roughly pulled some sort of harness over my head. It felt like it was made from straps of leather. She buckled it into place.

"Open your mouth," she ordered. She had one hand on the back of my head and she was holding something long and black in front of my mouth. I clamped my lips together.

She bent down and whispered into my ear. "Do not fight me, Melissa. You will lose. I can leave you like this all night. You won't like it."

Meekly I opened my mouth. She slid the thing into my mouth and somehow buckled it to the harness. It filled my mouth and served as an effective gag. I couldn't spit it out and I couldn't talk.

"Is that choking you?" she asked. I shook my head. "Can you continue to wear it?" I nodded.

She walked into the bathroom and came back with a small hand towel. She arranged it carefully on the bed underneath my chin. I looked down at it then up at her.

"You'll figure it out eventually," she said to me.

She stepped away and I heard her walk to the dresser. I tried to turn and look, but I didn't have very much mobility. She stepped back up to me and clipped something to the back of the harness on my head. Then she fumbled at the ropes binding my arms. After a moment she said, "You aren't going to like this." Then I felt the harness pulling my head back. She tightened it. When she was done I was flat on my stomach with my neck arched backwards almost but not quite as far as it would go so that I was facing forward towards the foot of the bed. "You don't understand yet," she said quietly. "But that last part was actually a kindness."

She walked out of the room but came back after a short trip to the bathroom. She tossed a book on the bed. Then out of the corner of my eye I heard her get undressed. She left again then came back with candles and set them up in the room. She lit the candles before turning off the lights. She walked to the closet and came back after a moment. She tossed her riding crop on the bed next to the book. She threw one more thing onto the bed. I couldn't tell what it was.

Then she climbed onto the bed, sitting with her back to the headboard and adjusting the pillows behind her. She spread her legs, resting her feet against my shoulders. I found myself staring right between her legs. She was glistening.

"Here are the rules, slave," she said. "You may do anything you want except close your eyes. If you close your eyes, you get the crop." She picked up the crop and whacked me with it. It stung. "Blink once."

I blinked.

"One blink for no, two blinks for yes. Do you understand?"

I blinked twice.

I could do anything I wanted? I couldn't move. I struggled for a while, but she knew what she was doing when she tied me up. She smiled at me.

"This is punishment for you and pleasure for me," she said. "Feel free to struggle. It will get me more excited. You can try begging. That will get me excited, too." She paused. "You're staying like that until I've had three orgasms. You get to watch."

"Oh god!" I tried to say into the gag. All that came out was, "Mmm mmmm".

And with that, she settled in a little further, picked up the book, and started to read.

"Mmmm mmmmm!" I said.

She looked over the book at me. "What's that? You say you love the way I tie you up? Excellent."

"Mmmmmmm!"

She leaned forward and patted my cheek. "I'm having fun, too. I'm so glad you're enjoying this."

"Mmmmmm!"

I tried struggling, grasping with my fingers for the knots. I had no idea where they were tied.

"Where are the knots?" I asked into the gag. She ignored me.

If I stretched, I could just barely touch my feet. I tried feeling for knots, but all I felt was rope.

I collapsed for a moment. I was completely, utterly helpless, and all Alexandra was doing was reading a book. I had finally gotten her to do what I wanted and she immediately ignored me. My shoulders were already stiffening up. So was my neck. And I realized saliva was building up in my mouth, but I couldn't swallow. As the saliva began dripping past the gag and down my chin, I realized what the towel was for; it was to catch my mess.

Alexandra looked over her book at me. "Figure out what the towel is for?"

I blinked twice.

"Are your hands and feet okay?"

I wriggled my fingers and toes then blinked twice.

"You look amazingly hot like that, Melissa. Are you enjoying being completely helpless?"

I thought about it and blinked twice.

She laughed. "Let me know how you feel in an hour."

"Mmmmmm!" I started struggling again. It was futile and I knew it, but I couldn't help it.

She went back to reading her book, ignoring me. Frustrated, I closed my eyes. I her a swish then the crop smacked the back of my shoulders. It stung. I immediately opened my eyes.

Alexandra went back to reading while I stared at her glistening vulva a foot and a half in front of my eyes.

An hour? Three orgasms? She wasn't even touching herself. How long would she keep me like this? I struggled and complained into the gag.

She ignored me and turned a page of the book.

I collapsed again, relaxing my muscles as much as I could, surrendering to the situation. I could struggle and make noise, but nothing I did was going to hurry things along.

She read quietly while I stared at her. I closed my eyes again, and the crop slapped the side of my butt twice. It stung. I opened my eyes.

"Mmmmm! Mmmm mmmm!"

I watched her squirm for a moment, but then she went back to reading her book.

"Mmmmm!" I hated being ignored.

I'm not sure how long we stayed like that before I realized she was teasing one of her nipples with her fingers. She transferred the book to her left hand and was using the fingers of her right to tease the nipple.

"Mmmmm," I said, complaining again. I tried struggling again. Surely the knots would work loose, right?

She ignored me, but when I closed my eyes, I got a crop across my bottom again.

"You are so hot," she said, looking over the book at me. "I love your struggles. If you struggle enough, I wonder if you can work the knots to where your fingers can reach them."

I tried, seriously I tried. When I finally collapsed against the bed again, I realized that her fingers had moved down and parted her labia, and she was teasing her clitoris. I stopped struggling and stared.

"Oh, don't stop," she said. "It might ruin the mood."

I practically went insane trying to free myself. I couldn't even think anymore. I yelled into the gag and tried to thrash around. I watched as her fingers played with her clitoris right in front of me, then she slipped two fingers inside her vagina.

Oh god, she was masturbating right in front of me.

I renewed my struggles. Alexandra gasped and her fingers moved in and out. The movement became hypnotic and I watched her hand as it was swallowed by her vagina, then slipped back out, over and over.

I started moaning into the gag. At the same time, she also began to moan. Then she set the book down and her left hand joined the first, those fingers playing with her clitoris while the fingers of her right hand moved in and out of her.

I could smell her musk and see it dripping off her fingers as she moved them in and out of herself. Then she stiffened for a moment and moaned, pausing for just a moment before her fingers began moving again.

I thrashed some more then watched as she began to shudder, moaning. I watched her muscles tighten, and she thrust her fingers deep inside, then kept them inside, but I could see she was still flexing, pressing against her G-spot.

"Ohhhhh," she said, and renewed juices slide down around her hand. She slumped, shuddering a few times.

Nothing happened for about thirty seconds I stared at her hands. Then, slowly, she withdrew them. The fingers of both hands were glistening.

"That was one," she said. "Two more before I can release you."

Oh god. My shoulders were screaming and I had to watch her do that twice more.

"See what you do to me?" she said. She showed me her right hand, soaked in her juices. She leaned forward and touched my face. I tried to pull away but had nowhere to go. She spread the liquid around my face and under my nose, and her scent filled me.

I closed my eyes. She leaned over me and swatted the bottoms of my feet with the riding crop. I popped my eyes open, staring at her crotch now just a few inches away. She settled back.

"Are your hands and feet okay?" she asked me softly. I blinked twice. "Are you ever going to call me that name again?" I blinked once. "Are you feeling punished?" Two blinks. "Are you mad?" One blink. "You are so amazingly hot, Melissa. The way your back is arched and your feet waving in the air. The way you're looking at me." She paused and then said quietly. "I wish you were gay. I could let myself fall in love with you."

"Mmmmmm," I said.

"I wonder if you know what you look like," she said. "How smoking hot you are." She smiled. "I know, I can take your picture!"

"Mmmmmmm!" I said. No way did I want her taking my picture like this.

"I think it's a great idea, too," she said, getting off the bed. "Where is your camera?"

"Mmmmmm!"

She climbed off the bed. I heard her in the bathroom washing her hands, then I listened as she walked into the living room. The camera wasn't in the living room. I'd put it in the closet of the spare bedroom. Maybe she wouldn't find it.

"Mmmmm!" I said, struggling against the ropes. It didn't do me an ounce of good.

I heard her go into the spare bedroom. "Ah ha!" she said after a moment. "I think I found it."

She came into the bedroom carrying my bag of photo equipment. She opened the bag and pulled out the camera. I wondered whether she would be able to figure out how to turn it on.

She saw down on the bed and caressed my ear. She looked down at the camera. "This doesn't seem like the right lens for this," she said. It probably wasn't. It was the lens I had been using while we were hiking. "You probably think I don't know how to change lenses." She rummaged through the bag and pulled out another lens, one much better suited for inside. Then I watched while she demonstrated she knew exactly how to change lenses.

"Mmmmmm!"

"Thank you, Slave. What a nice thing to say."

"Mmmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm!"

"I know you're excited to have your picture taken." She turned the camera on and climbed from the bed. She began taking pictures. After the third one she looked at the back of the camera. "Oh, I like this one." She sat back down on the bed and showed me the picture. I stared at it.

"You look delicious," she said. She pulled the camera away, turned it around, and then took one from directly in front of me, the flash blinding me for a moment. All in all she took a couple dozen photos before she set the camera back in the bag. She climbed back on the bed in front of  me.

"So hot," she said. "You look so nervous. How well can you beg with your eyes?"

"Mmmmmmm."

"Maybe I should read you a story," she said. She picked up a book. "Once upon a time," she said. "There was a cute little love slave who made the mistake of calling her mistress by a bad word."

"Mmmmm mmmm."

"Yes, that was her name," she said. I watched as her fingers slid down her body. "Well, her mistress being the kind person she was tied up the naughty love slave and let the girl watch as-" she gasped as she slid her fingers into herself. "As the mistress pleasured herself." Her fingers were moving in and out of her again.

"And then the slave begged to have her picture taken and said, 'please, mistress, make enlargements of those photos and hang them on your walls as a constant reminder of what happens when I use bad words'."

Oh my god. She wouldn't. "Mmmmmm!"

"I know, it's a great story," she said. She gasped again. "We can go through them together later and you can decide which is your favorite. I can put it up by the front door."

"Mmmmmm!" I began struggling again. She reached forward with her left hand and patted me on the cheek.

"You get to see a new toy," she said. She pulled her fingers away from herself and picked up something front the bed. She showed it to me, but I had no idea what it was. Then she turned it around, flipped a switch somewhere, and it began to buzz. She slid part of it into herself, and I realized it was a vibrator.

As soon as she got the right spot, she moaned and began squirming. I was squirming right with her.

"Oh baby," she said. "God, you are hot!" She moaned and squirmed and then I watched her stiffen again, and it looked like her muscles in her vagina were clutching at the vibrator.

"Oh yes!" she said. "Oh baby, it feels so good to come while you're watching me."

Alexandra squirmed a little more, stiffened once, then I watched her shudder a few times before she collapsed against the bed.

She lied there panting for a while, slowly calming down. She pulled the vibrator out and I saw it was dripping. She turned it off and set it on the bed next to her. "Oh, that one was nice, too. You're really good, baby."

"Mmmmm."

She panted for a while longer before leaning forward and caressing my face. "Are you okay?"

I didn't blink. She offered a concerned look. "Are your hands okay?" Two blinks. "Feet?" Two blinks. "Mad?" One blink. "Do I need to untie you?" No blinks.

She settled back. "I told you that you were there for three orgasms. That was two. Will you make it?"

I thought about it. Two blinks.

"Good girl," she said. "Squirm for me, baby."

She picked up the vibrator, turned it on, and immediately slid it into herself. "Squirm, baby, it makes me so hot."

I began squirming and moaning into the gag. She worked the vibrator and got herself worked up pretty fast.

"Oh!" she said. "Oh!"

Her third orgasm didn't take long. I squirmed and moaned into the gag the entire time as I stared at her hands working the vibrator and teasing her clitoris. She began panting and then said, "Yes! Oh baby, yes!"

I watched as she gave herself her last orgasm.

And wondered if she'd give me one.

She collapsed against the bed, pulling the vibrator out and turning it off. "Oh, that was quicker than I would have liked, but I feel good now."

She calmed down, then rotated around to look at me, her face inches in front of mine. "Ready for me to untie you?"

I blinked twice.

"Are you mad at me?"

One blink.

She reached forward and unbuckled the gag and gently removed it from my mouth. Then she unsnapped the tether from the back of the harness over my head, and I collapsed my head against the bed, turned sideways.

"Are you okay, Melissa?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said.

She took the harness off my head then leaned down and kissed my cheek.

"That was punishment."

"I know. Please, my shoulders really hurt."

She climbed off the bed. I felt her work at the knots for a while then my feet were released. She finished untying my legs, then began on the knots that had my arms tied. It took her a while to untie everything.

I collapsed my arms against the bed and literally couldn't move.

Alexandra helped me roll onto my side and I curled up into a ball.

I felt wrung out and my emotions were all over the place. I had both loved and hated what she had done to me.

I was sick.

As soon as I had that thought, I was filled with self loathing and disgust.

"I'm sorry!" I said as I pulled away from her, climbed off the bed and ran into the bathroom. I slammed the door, then collapsed on the floor, my back to the wall. I stared at the floor.

I had loved what she had done and wanted her to do it again. I loved being helpless in front of her. I was sick. Sick.

She left me alone for a while but eventually there was a knock at the door. "Melissa, are you okay?"

I didn't answer.

"Melissa, say something or I'm coming in."

She waited a moment before opening the door slowly. It came to a rest against my legs and she slipped in and closed the door again. She slid down the wall to sit next to me.

Bathroom (Alex)

I faked the third orgasm. We were coming up on my self-imposed limit for how long I would keep someone hog-tied. As much as I wanted that third orgasm, it would have taken too long for me to have one. So I faked it. I had ended up pushing her too far, and she ran off.

I felt like shit. But now she needed me to be strong, to give her an anchor and pull herself back together.

I slid down the wall next to her. Melissa's knees were pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. I had a bathrobe on and spread another one over her the best I could.

"Too much?" I asked her.

She laid her head on my shoulder. That gave me hope.

We sat like that for several minutes before she asked me, "Are you really going to put my picture up?"

"Oh honey," I told her. "Of course not. I presume you'll delete them. That's why I used your camera instead of mine."

"Oh," she said. "I didn't know you had one."

"You didn't notice a certain amount of expertise?"

"I was a little distracted," she said.

"I'm sorry I went too far," I told her. "I decided you'd been intentionally pushing my buttons and thought you were asking me to play with you."

"You didn't go too far," she said. "And I was."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She was lying. I decided not to call her on it. She started climbing to her feet. "I should go clean the kitchen."

"I already did," I told her. "Would you like to watch a little television or play some cards? Or do you want me to leave you alone?"

"Can we cuddle in front of TV?"

"Yes."

* * *

The session had taken the edge off me quite a bit. We finished out the work week with both of us a little reserved, but everything seemed okay by Friday. "Did you have plans for us?" she asked me that morning on the way to work.

"No."

"There's a movie that has been out for a while. Could we go while it's still in the theaters?"

We held hands during the movie. I was a little surprised she was willing to act like a girlfriend in public, but it was dark, so no one could really see us.

She didn't asked to see any more of my toys.

* * *

We were into the final week of her agreement. By Wednesday I was getting depressed. I really liked having her around. She was just as hot, and I hadn't stopped wanting her. I loved having a servant. I loved having her kneel to me. She obeyed every order I gave her. I spent Wednesday evening pushing her boundaries a little, but she just said, "Yes, Alexandra," to everything I told her to do. I thought about making her do some of the really icky jobs around the house but decided not to take it that far.

But I liked her. We had nice talks. She was bright and a good conversationalist. We'd had a few passionate discussions, but not once had we gotten mad at each other. In a pure intellectual conversation, she didn't back down from me, but she listened to what I had to say and either offered a counter-argument or came to agree with me.

I hoped we would at least stay friends.

I worked her hard over the weekend, making her alternate between wait on me and do projects around the house. She actually seemed happy to do everything and made a point of kneeling in front of me between each task. She smiled.

And then Tuesday came. Her last night with me. We got home from work. She hung our coats up and dropped to her knees in front of me. I stepped close and she wrapped her arms around me, holding me. She hadn't done that before.

I caressed her hair.

"What are you going to make me do tonight, Alexandra?"

"I don't know."

"It's our last night."

"I know." I paused. "Go dress for me then let's make dinner together."

"Yes, Alexandra." I helped her to her feet and swatted her bottom playfully when she stepped away from me. She looked over her shoulder and grinned.

We each disappeared into bedrooms. I changed clothes and primped. I heard her leave her bedroom and head to the kitchen. I was a few minutes behind her.

When I got there, I saw that we had both picked little black dresses. Neither of us wore shoes, but we'd both put on nylons and done hair and touched up our makeup.

"You look nice," I told her.

"So do you." She paused. "I have something special for dinner. Well, not that special. But not too bad."

Melissa cooked. I helped as I could, but she had things well in hand.

I was really going to miss her. I told her that. She glanced over at me and smiled. "Who wouldn't miss me?" she said, grinning. Then she sobered. "Who wouldn't miss having her own personal servant and love slave?"

"Melissa," I told her. "I'm going to miss that, too. But I'm going to miss you."

She didn't respond to that.

Dinner was lovely. We had candles and a bottle of wine. We finished the meal and sat staring at each other.

"Have you decided what you're going to make me do tonight?"

"No."

"Make love to me."

"Funny."

I looked at her expression. She was smiling but not laughing. "You're serious."

"You could start by ordering me to kneel, then kissing me."

"Are you insane?"

Her face fell.

"You bitch!" she screamed. "God, I'm a fucking idiot! You're just like the girl in high school! You bitch!"

She shoved herself away from the table, ran to the front closet, and had her shoes and coat on before I could explain. She grabbed her purse, and then she was gone. I sat there staring at the door hanging open.

I didn't get a chance to tell her she had it all wrong.

Aftermath (Melissa)

I was sobbing by the time I got two blocks away. That bitch! I put myself out there like that, and she told me I was insane. She had spent a month telling me how hot she thought I was, but when the chips were done, she was just like Becca in high school That bitch!

My phone was in my purse. It rang. I pulled it out of the purse and glanced at it. It was the bitch. I threw the phone back in the purse and ignored it.

I had to pull over I was crying so hard. I sat in my car, banging my head against the steering wheel.

I was so stupid. The last month, all of it, had been a sham. All her words about wanting a strong, intelligent women, it was all shit. I'd done everything she asked, hoping she would want to keep me, and when I finally offered myself to her, she'd thrust me away.

Oh god.

So fucking stupid!

I'd spent two weeks throwing myself at her, trying to get her to treat me like the love slave she'd forced me to be. Other than the night she tied me up, she hadn't done any of the things I wanted. So finally I summon the nerve to tell her what I want, and she treats me like garbage.

Bitch!

I finally got home. My phone kept ringing. I ignored it. When I got home, I turned it off.

I changed into grubby clothes, found some ice cream in the freezer, and curled up in a blanket in front of a movie with a huge bowl of fattening ice cream.

I watched movie after movie, finally falling asleep sometime in the middle of the night.

* * *

I woke up sometime in the morning. I stumbled around, found my phone, and turned it on. Alex had left seventeen messages for me. I deleted every one without listening to them. I called in sick to work and went back to bed.

I didn't emerge from bed again until late afternoon. I took a shower then curled up with another huge bowl of ice cream and watched more movies until late.

My phone began ringing at six. I turned it off.

I got up the next morning at a more proper time, showered, found something to wear, and went to work.

At ten thirty, I felt someone standing at the entrance to my cube. I turned around and Alex was standing there. She looked like shit.

"Fuck off," I told her quietly and turned back to my computer.

"You don't understand," she said.

"Fuck off."

She didn't leave. Instead she took a few steps into my cube, stepped to where I could see her in my peripheral vision, and lowered herself to her knees, the same way she'd made me kneel for a month. I rotated to face her.

"Get out of my cube. I have work to do."

"I owe you an explanation, Melissa."

"Not interested."

"You're my dream woman."

I stared at her. "Yeah, right. That's why you treated me like shit when I finally worked up the courage to tell you what I wanted."

"I couldn't," she said. "I can't be a little tourist stop for you. I can't be your one night trying out the lesbian lifestyle, then going back to your straight life. It was just a night for you, but it would have broken my heart when you left in the morning."

I didn't say anything else.

"Please," she said. "I'm half in love with a straight girl. That's half too much. I can't do more. We need to talk about this."

I stared her down. She looked away first. I considered it a victory. "You're an idiot. Get out of my cube. I'll think about it. For now, leave me alone."

She got up slowly and left.

* * *

I avoided Alex for a week. She texted me over the weekend and suggested I come over to pick up my things. I ignored her. She tried calling twice over the following few days and stopped by my desk twice the following week. I sent her away.

Finally the following Friday I stopped by her desk. "May I pick up my things tonight?"

"Melissa."

"Yes or no. Will you be home?"

"Yes."

"Thank you." I turned around and left.

I left work early and drove straight to her house, using the key she had given me to get in. I snooped through her toys and her closet, pulling several things out. Then I set the stage.

Coming Home (Alex)

I was tired and worn out when I got home. I missed Melissa. I couldn't believe I let myself fall for a straight girl. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I missed her.

I parked and walked in the house, stopping dead when I got in the entrance. In front of the door, far enough away I wouldn't knock it over when I entered, was one of my end tables. There was a large, red candle lit on it. The candle wasn't one of mine. Under the candle was a hand-written note.

"What the fuck?"

I grabbed the note.

"I lied."

That's all it said.

"Melissa?" I called.

I didn't hear any response. I threw my coat over the sofa and looked around. None of the lights were on, but my other end table was in the hallway leading to the bedrooms with a another red candle burning on it. There was another note with the candle.

"Melissa?"

I walked over and slid the note out. "The first kiss I enjoyed was with that girl. You know how that turned out."

There was another candle on the floor to my bedroom with another note. I picked up the candle and read the note. "The next kiss I enjoyed was the one you gave me."

"Melissa? What the fuck?"

I stepped into the bedroom. There were candles everywhere. Melissa was tied up spread eagled on the bed wearing the head harness and gag. She was looking at me.

"What the fuck? I told you I can't do this." She looked by her side. There was another note.

"Damn it, Melissa, this isn't funny." I walked over and began untying her. She started complaining immediately and her eyes kept glancing at the note. "Fine. I'll read the note first."

"Alexandra. I'm not straight. Don't you get it? I'm strong, intelligent, and attractive, and I love when you dominate me. Don't you want me? I'm right here. Your slave. Melissa."

I stared at her then read the notes again. She was watching me. I looked at the restraints she used. I stared at her.

"Are you messing with me?"

She shook her head.

I looked around the room. There were lit candles on every surface. No other notes. I looked back at Melissa lying on the bed, staring up at me.

"You are so hot," I told her. "The things I want to do to you." She squirmed a little. "Do you like that idea?"

She nodded.

I crawled up on the bed next to her, lying down facing her, my head resting in my palm. With my other hand I began caressing her.

"Do you want me to untie you?"

She shook her head.

"Remove the gag?"

She shook her head.

"Tease you mercilessly?"

She nodded.

I smiled and slid one finger down her skin, running across her tummy, then flattened my hand and slid my palm against her skin until my fingers were laced in the fur between her legs. "Is this what you want?"

She nodded.

"Or maybe this." I let my hand rest on her vulva."

She nodded.

I began to tap my fingers against the outside of her vulva, just tapping slowly. She began to squirm. I let my fingers part her and began tapping against her clitoris. She jumped.

"Is this what you want?" She nodded. "I suppose you want me to make love to you?" Nod and a gasp into her gag as I gently pinched her clitoris. I continued to tease her with my hand. "There's just one problem, sweetie."

"Mmmm?"

"You've been naughty."

She shook her head.

"Oh yes, you were very naughty. You called me names."

"Mmmm."

"And you snooped through my things."

"Mmmmm!"

I slipped two fingers inside of her and she squirmed.

"You played with my toys without permission."

I slid my fingers in and out of her. Watching her squirm was getting me more worked up.

"You need to be punished for that. Giving you an orgasm would be rewarding you." I pulled my fingers out of her.

She turned to look at me, her brow furrowed. "Mmmm."

"Honey," I said. "I need to know you're here for me, not for the kinky sex." She turned away. "Honey, are you here for me?"

She turned back and nodded.

I reached up and unbuckled the gag, slowly pulling it from her mouth. I pulled her face to me and leaned in for a kiss, a long, slow, sweet, gentle kiss. We both closed our eyes, and I savored it. I pulled away and leaned back.

"Alexandra, please take me. You can punish me later. Please take me."

I smiled. "So impatient." I kissed her again, this time sliding my tongue between her lips to tease her mouth. She sucked, trying to inhale me.

My fingers worked there way back between her legs, slowly. She watched my face. As soon as I began teasing her clitoris, she arched her back, squirming, and said, "Yes! Please, yes!"

I thrust two fingers inside her vagina, teasing her G-spot for a moment, then froze. She squirmed against my hand. I rode with it, not giving her extra pleasure. She turned to face me. "What are you doing?"

"Are you just here for the night, or are you staying?"

"Staying."

I flicked her clitoris with my thumb. She jumped and smiled. I teased her for a minute or two, giving her what she wanted. She grew increasingly frantic.

"Who is in control, Melissa?"

"You are, Alexandra!" She arched her back and squirmed, trying to hurry the process along.

"Honey," I told her. "You may not come before I give you permission."

"Oh god!" She squirmed. I spent a few seconds teasing her clitoris and rubbing my fingers against her G-spot. "Oh please! Oh please!"

"Melissa, I need to know. Are you mine?"

"Yes. Please, let me come."

"Forever?"

"Yes! Stop teasing!"

"All right." I pulled my hand away from her.

"Alexandra! Oh god!" She looked at me in panic.

"Are you my slave?" I asked her quietly. "If I give you an orgasm, that means you are my slave. Yes?"

"Yes! Please, finish me!"

I immediately slipped my fingers inside her again, then used the other hand to more deftly tease her engorged and needing clitoris.

"Tell me you're my slave, Melissa."

"I am your slave, Alexandra!"

I smiled. "Yes, you are. If you keep saying it, you may come." I got serious with my hands.

She started screaming, "Yes! Your slave! Your slave! Your slave!"

The shudders started. I felt her vagina contract against my fingers as I pressed against her G-spot. I felt a spasm, then another, and through it all she kept declaring herself as my slave, over and over, as the spasms wracked through her body.

Then she collapsed and fell silent, but her vagina was still clenched around my fingers, and she gave a shudder every few seconds. I stilled the fingers on her clitoris but continued to press against her G-spot, drawing out the orgasm, until finally the muscles fell still.

I withdrew my fingers slowly and whispered in her ear, "Mine."

Renewed (Melissa)

I couldn't talk.

I stared numbly as Alex untied me from the bed. She climbed onto the bed and pulled me into her arms. I clutched at her. She pet my hair while holding me. We lied in bed like that for several minutes. She was still fully dressed from work, and I wanted to feel her skin, but my emotions were all over the place.

I continued to clutch at her.

"Mine," she said after a while.

"Yes," I replied.

She kissed my forehead.

I'm not sure how long we lied like that. Eventually I looked up at her. She was smiling at me, a soft, gentle smile. "I don't know how to please you," I told her.

"Are you really staying?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Moving in?"

"Am I invited?" She nodded. "Then yes."

"As my slave?" It was my turn to nod. "I need to hear you say it, Melissa."

"I am your slave, Alexandra."

She lifted my chin and kissed me.

"There are rules."

I smiled. "I know the rules."

"There are more rules. You must remain strong and intelligent. No pretending to agree with me if you don't."

I smiled. "I like that rule."

She kissed me again. "We'll figure out the rest as we go. Right now I just want to hold you, but I'm wearing too many clothes."

"I liked being taken by you while you were still in your office clothes," I told her. "It was sexy."

She set me back in the pillows and climbed off the bed. She stripped down to her undies, hanging her clothes up, then crawled back onto the bed with me and pulled me back into her arms. We cuddled.

"Are you really staying?" she asked.

"Yes."

She squeezed tighter.

We cuddled and murmured at each other for a while. "We need to eat," Alexandra said eventually. "I don't know what we have. I've sort of been numb for the last week and a half."

"We'll find something," I told her.

We threw on bathrobes and moved to the kitchen. I rummaged through the refrigerator, freezer and pantry. There wasn't anything fresh. The refrigerator needed cleaning. I ended up making some pasta with a chicken pesto sauce and canned green beans. It was what we had.

The entire time I was cooking, Alex hovered near me, touching me as much as she could. It felt nice. I could tell she was troubled though. I finally turned to her and melted into her arms. She kissed me as I wrapped my arms around her neck.

After the kiss she looked into my eyes. "I am having trouble believing this is real," she said.

"I know," I told her.

We talked about it while we ate. Then she said, "We'll need to find a different balance than before."

"Yes," I said. "One with a lot more sex."

She laughed. "One that you won't grow to resent."

After dinner we cleaned up together. Alexandra kept touching me. I liked it. I liked the attention. She helped me clean up then pulled me into her arms.

"I want you."

"You have me," I replied.

"I want you. On your knees in the bedroom. Right now."

I pulled from her arms and almost ran to the bedroom, dropping to my knees facing the door. She was only a few seconds behind me.

"Good girl," she said, smiling. "Take off the robe."

I slipped it from my shoulders and let it fall to the floor behind me. She walked around me, running a finger along my shoulders. I shivered. "Is this what you want, Melissa?"

"Yes, Alexandra."

"To be on your knees in front of me?"

"Yes."

"To belong to me?"

"Yes."

"Forever?"

"Yes."

Standing behind me, she leaned over me and whispered in my ear. "Eyes straight ahead. Do not move. If you disobey, you won't get another orgasm tonight."

"Yes, Alexandra."

I picked a spot, the intersection of the door molding and the baseboards, and stared at it.

I listened as Alex moved to the closet then came back. She knelt down behind me. "Spread your legs but remain kneeling. Hands on the top of your head with the fingers laced." I complied obediently.

Reaching around behind me, she wrapped a rope around my waist several times and tied it off. Then she wrapped it around one leg, passing her hand through my crotch. I jumped when she brushed me. She giggled in my ear. By the time she was done, she'd wrapped both legs, passing through my crotch several times.

"Do you know what I'm doing?"

"No."

"You'll see." She grabbed one of my wrists. "The other hand stays where it is." She wrapped a second rope around my wrist several times, then pulled it down to my side and tied it off to the rope around my waist. She used a third rope to secure my other arm. Then she worked with the ropes, first around my arms just below my elbow, then above the elbow, binding my arms tightly to my sides. When I was done, I could move my fingers, but my arms were securely bound.

Alex stood up, moved around  in front of me, then sat down in front of me. "The first rope was to give me something to tie to. Tying it the way I did, it won't slip around." She paused. "You are allowed to look."

I looked down. I was trussed very well.

"And you know I love when you struggle."

We smiled at each other.

Then she stood up. "Stand up." She steadied me as I climbed to my feet. Once I was steady, she grabbed the rope across my chest and used it like a handle to pull me after her. She pulled me towards the door, then spun me around and pushed me up against the wall. She followed me, pressing her body against mine and kissing me.

I moaned as she slid her tongue into my mouth, invading me.

She stepped away and pulled me away from the wall, spun me around again, and pushed me onto the bed, following after me.

"Mine," she said before attacking my mouth again. She lied on top of me as she kissed me. I loved feeling her body against mine. I struggled briefly against the ropes. She pulled away and smiled.

Then she slid off me. I watched as she collected another rope and wrapped it around my left ankle. She bent my leg as far as it would go, then wrapped the rope around my thigh and ankle several times, forcing my leg to remain bent. She tied it off. Soon she had the right leg trussed the same as the left.

"Can you feel yourself growing increasingly submissive the more I tie you?" she asked.

"Yes." I hadn't thought about it, but the more helpless I became, the more I felt like I was hers. "Please don't stop."

"Oh, I have a lot of lost time to make up for, Slave." She looked me up and down. "You make me hungry."

Then she slid off the bed, grabbing my legs and pulling me so that my butt was right at the edge of the bed with her kneeling between my legs. She positioned my feet so they were resting on her shoulders, my legs bent severely. She kissed the insides of my things, first one thigh, then the other, each kiss getting closer and closer to the middle. I squirmed as she got closer and closer.

Then she reached the middle, her mouth over my vulva, the labia still closed to her. She sucked at me with her mouth and I felt myself open to her. Her lips from my clitoris and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Oh god!"

She pulled her mouth away. "The more I make you squirm, the more submissive you become, Melissa." Then she began using her tongue, and I couldn't stop squirming.

"Mine," she growled.

"Yours," I whimpered.

She began using her hands and her lips and her tongue, and I became lost in the sensations, helpless, vulnerable, and completely hers.

My passion grew as her tongue invaded me, slipping into my moist vagina, teasing me, then sliding back out and running up and down my slit.

"You taste so sweet," she said. "So lovely."

She spent a long time teasing me, driving me closer and closer to climax.

"Do you want to come, Slave?"

"Yes, Alexandra." I whimpered and squirmed, trying to thrust myself into her.

She brought me to the edge, then held me there, teasing me, before she said, "Come, Slave. Come now!"

And obediently, I did, the spasms and shudders slamming through me, her mouth and fingers continuing to tease me until the orgasm passed.

Then, gently, she eased me more fully onto the bed before climbing on top of me, my legs still tied and spread. "This is what you taste like," she said, lowering her mouth to mine. She thrust her tongue into my mouth, and I could taste myself on her. It was sweet and musky and wonderful.

She slid off me and untied my legs.

"I don't want you to let me go," I told her.

"I'm not," she said. "Just your legs." Then she was back on the bed and pulling me into a cuddle, wrapping the blankets over us. She held me for a while, and I basked in the afterglow.

"Alexandra," I said after a while.

"Yes, Melissa?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"You don't know what I am thanking you for."

"I presume the glow that's filling your body right now."

I laughed. "You're only the second person to give me an orgasm."

"Oh." She hugged me.

"I'm the other one."

"Oh," she said in a different tone. "Wow."

We cuddled for a while. She spent most of the time caressing me, her fingers touching me. Then her hands grew more insistent.

"If you untie me," I told her. "Isn't it your turn?"

She laughed. "Oh, definitely my turn, but you won't need your hands."

She was right. I didn't.

About the author:

Julia P. Lynde lives and works in the American mid-west.

Julia is older than most of the characters in her books. She has blue eyes and grey hair. She enjoys hiking in the mountains (difficult to do in the mid-west) and hosting dinner parties.

Julia can be reached via email as julia.p.lynde@gmail.com.

Julia's other works include:

Novels

Rewind:

Emerging from traumatic events of her past, Shane is left dealing with newfound self-revelations until she seeks help from an unexpected quarter.

Veronica is a stunning and powerful businesswoman who knows what she wants and lives for the seduction involved in getting it.

Complicated doesn't begin to describe the results.

Rewind features graphic sex between consenting women and some light BDSM.

Pulled to the Dark: The Siriena Series Volume 1:

Felicia Conner begins having recurring dreams of the woman who gave her a great new job. Night after night, Petra appears in her dreams. Petra begins to teach Felicia the wonders of the dream world she inhabits while Felicia begins to wonder how she can have such lifelike dreams night after night.

Petra welcomes Felicia to the world of Siriena, where the world may just very well be as it seems.

This complete novel of 95,000 words contains swords, magic, intriguing characters, an easy-to-hate villain and graphic sex scenes between Felicia and Petra.

Shorts

Bound in Arrogance

"You wouldn't last two hours of my attention," Penny told me, turning it into a wager. Foolishly, I rose to the bait.

Bound in Arrogance features Veronica and Penny several years prior to the events in Rewind. It features light BDSM.

Emily's Gift

Succubus Volume 1

Emily's daughter has taken a bad path, and Emily turned to the fae succubus, Anita, for her own brand of help.

This short story of 9400 words features intriguing characters and some steamy female on succubus sex.