In the Middle

by Sindra van Yssel

  “Relax, Louise. Nothing is going to happen between us, in the hotel room or anywhere else, that you don’t consent to. You remember your safe word?”

  He’d given her one, months ago. She’d never used it, nor had she expected to. Online, you could always log off or even say someone was at the door or that you had an important phone call to take. She’d never had to use either of those dodges with Rob, although she’d done quite a lot of that in the weeks before she met him to ward off unwanted attention. Now he expected her to remember her safe word. At any other moment, she probably would have, but right now it seemed impossibly difficult. “No. No, I don’t.” She tried to keep the panic out of her voice.

  “It’s Colorado.”

  She took a breath. He was perfectly casual about it. When she’d been small, she’d had a Labrador puppy named Colorado. They’d had to give the dog away when they moved, so she had never seen it grow up, but holding that little puppy had been a fond memory that would never go away. No other dog could ever replace him. He’d asked her for a word that had good memories for her, and she’d volunteered Colorado’s name. From that one conversation, he remembered.

  “All you have to do is say your puppy’s name, and you’ll be freed if you’re tied up, let go if I’m restraining you, and I will do everything I possibly can to make sure that you are all right. Your safety is my first priority, and that means physical safety and emotional safety. You have the final say, and I’m only in charge as long as you want me to be. There’s nothing to fear.”

  The submissive is the one with the real control. It was something she’d read when she first started learning about BDSM three years ago before she ventured online. But I don’t want to be the one with the control. I just want it to be safe to give it up. She felt some of her shoulder tension go away with his words, though. She wasn’t so relaxed that navigating DC’s traffic circles didn’t stress her, but at least she could worry about that rather than what would happen once they reached the hotel.

  She steered the conversation to a safer direction. “So what do you do exactly, anyway?”

  “Ah. I make electronic widgets, custom stuff, made-to-order. Sometimes it involves modifying something the customer already has. Someone wants their security system to incorporate a new feature without buying a whole new system, I can do that. Or maybe someone wants a door in their house to unlock when they use the garage door opener. Or they want their smoke alarm to play ‘Light My Fire.’”

  “Is that a real example?”

  “Sadly, yes.”

  “And what brings you to Washington?”

  “There’s a convention here, and there are some business opportunities I’m looking into. Government contracting and subcontracting is big, potentially. I can invent something, and then a contractor can produce as many as the government needs.”

  She had to ask the question, in spite of her desire to keep the conversation neutral. “Do you ever make anything kinky?”

  He grinned. “Now would I do a thing like that?”

  He might be a stranger in some ways, but she knew him well enough from their online interactions to know the answer to that was yes. She kept her mouth closed and her eyes on the road. The idea of electronic sex toys intrigued her. Maybe something remote control. She shivered. They were almost to the hotel anyway. A few moments of silence wouldn’t kill her.

  “Do you feel comfortable coming up with me?” he asked when they were in the lobby.

  She blinked. “I have a choice?”

  “Of course you have a choice. There’s an element of risk in going into a room with a man you’ve just met. I feel I know you quite well, but I don’t think the risk is quite the same for me as it is for you. If you like, you could call a friend. Daniel, maybe? And let him or her know where you are.”

  The thought of Daniel coming to rescue her made her smile. She didn’t doubt he would, if need be, not at all. She wondered, though, if he might have second thoughts and burst in on them when she didn’t need rescuing. Rob must have sensed her indecision because he took her hand and led her to the check-in desk. He could have done that by himself, she thought, and then she understood when she overheard the clerk give him his room number: 859. Now she knew it too and could let anyone know.

  “Make that phone call, and meet me upstairs when you’re done.” He handed her the second keycard to the room.

  She nodded and got out the phone. Only when he was boarding the elevator did she realize he’d made that an order. Yes, Master. She couldn’t quite see herself saying it, certainly not with the ease that she could say it online. She looked at her phone, her finger hovering over Daniel in her contact list. She could call someone else. Kathy? No, if she told her, she’d never hear the end of it, given Kathy’s attitude toward “pushy” men. And if she told Zoe, whatever she said would be all over the place by the end of the weekend. Daniel was the obvious choice, and besides, she trusted him.

  She hit the button.

  “Hey, Lou. Everything okay?” She could hear the concern in his voice, and it touched her.

  “Yes. Everything is okay. I wanted to tell you where I was, though. I’m at the Wildwood Hotel on Connecticut Avenue. I’m in the lobby. I’m about to go upstairs to his hotel room.” Her heart beat faster. She couldn’t quite believe she was doing this. And never in a thousand years did she think she’d be telling her boyfriend about it.

  There was silence on the other end of the line.

  “Anyway. Room eight five nine. I guess, if you don’t hear from me in two hours, please give me a call? And if I don’t answer, have someone check on me?”

  “Sure thing. You don’t trust him, do you? Makes me worried for you.”

  “That’s sweet, but it’s not really that I don’t trust him. It’s that I want to be sure. He knows I’m making this phone call.”

  “Why me?”

  “Because you’re my best friend,” she answered truthfully. An impulse grabbed her, and before she knew it, she was talking again. “And maybe because I’m giving you a last chance to say no. Or to say yes. I think it would make me happiest if you said yes, but no is still an option.”

  There was a pause, and for a moment, she was afraid she’d gone too far. But talking to him about it was turning her on.

  “Yes, what?” he asked at last. “You know I want you to be happy, don’t you?”

  In for a penny, in for a pound. “Yes, Mistress would do nicely. If what makes me happy is to go upstairs and do whatever I want to with Randall, that’s fine with you?”

  Another pause. “Yes, Mistress. Do as you wish.” His voice got stronger with each word, and there was no resignation in it.

  Funny, I’m not feeling very submissive at all right now. “Are you hard right now, Daniel?”

  She could hear him take a sharp breath at the other end of the line. “Yes. Yes, Mistress.”

  “Good boy. I love you.” She hit the End Call button before she went any further. Her desire to tease Daniel and take control warred with her image of herself as a kind, gentle person. It scared her. At the same time, she was ready to surrender that same control to another man. How could she have both feelings, so strongly? She’d been half tempted to tell Daniel to go jerk off but not to let himself come, and thinking about that made her pussy wet, very wet. She walked quickly to the elevator, feeling as if the other people milling about the lobby could tell how turned on she was.

  “Eight, please,” she told the little old lady who was standing in front of the buttons in response to the lady’s inquiring glance. The woman was wearing way too much perfume, and the elevator moved with agonizing slowness, but at last it arrived on the eighth floor. After the first quick steps out of the elevator, she tried to keep her gait even as she walked down the hall, torn between a desire to flee and a desire to run forward. What I have with Daniel is wonderful. And getting even better. Why do I need more?

  The door marked 859 was slightly ajar, and so she went in and closed it behind her. The room
was wallpapered in soft greens. There was a bathroom open to the right, a closet, television, small fridge, and desk along the wall opposite the king-size bed. Rob had his suitcase open, and he was hanging up his shirts. He looked over to her and smiled at her. “Take off your blouse, Louise.”

  Such an easy command to follow online, but one click wouldn’t do the trick here. Her fingers fumbled with the buttons. She wore a black lacy bra underneath. Virtual breasts might not need support, but she felt strongly that her breasts benefitted from some uplift in real life. He put a hanger back on the rod and watched her. She hoped he didn’t ask her to take the bra off too. Not yet anyway. She felt much sexier in it than without it. And judging from his appreciative stare, he was pleased so far. She managed a hesitant smile. She put her blouse on top of the rack next to the clothes rod.

  “Come here and sit in this chair.” He moved to where a mahogany-stained chair and matching desk sat against a wall, and met her with the chair between the bed and the television. He set it down in front of her. She turned her back to him and sat down, wondering what he had in store for her. Was he going to tie her to the chair? And if so, what then?

  Instead his large hands gripped her bare shoulders, and his thumbs moved along the muscles inside her shoulder blades. “You looked pretty tense when you were driving. I thought they could use some attention.”

  She’d been mostly ignoring the pain in her shoulders, and at first, all his massage did was remind her how tight they were. But in a few moments, she felt his expert fingers draw the tension out of them. Aren’t I supposed to be serving him? But it felt too good to say anything. She relaxed under his care, her arousal largely forgotten.

  At least, forgotten until his hands moved around to cup her breasts. The touch of his fingers brushing her peaks through the lacy fabric sent a jolt straight to her core and reminded her of how wet she was. She turned her head in surprise, and he met her with a kiss, plunging his tongue into her mouth, taking her breath away. It was a possessive kiss, and she felt herself melt into it. When his lips left hers, she longed for more—and knew she’d wait until he chose to give it to her.

  “Stand and face me, Louise.” She did as he directed, and he whisked the chair out from between them with one hand before settling both his hands on her hips. “What’s your safe word? Do you remember?”

  “It’s Colorado.” She barely had the breath to speak above a whisper. She’d once thought safe words undermined what she wanted, that feeling of loss of control. Now the fact that he had to remind her of it told her that he was about to do things to her that might require one, and the thought sent a delicious shiver down her spine, half fear and half arousal.

  “Good girl.” He unzipped the little zipper on the side of the skirt. She couldn’t remember half the time whether it zipped on the side or the back, and it was her skirt. But he found it without hesitation, and then pushed the skirt down over her hips until it dropped to the floor.

  “Panties,” he said. “I thought I told you never to wear panties around me.”

  They were black and matched the bra even though only the edging of them was lacy. “That was online,” she said.

  “This is very real.” He hooked his fingers in the waistband and pulled them down, bending at the knees so he could pull them all the way to the floor. She stepped out of them, aware of all the differences between virtual and reality. She wasn’t as thin, and her shoes weren’t elegant heels but chunky Mary Janes. Her heart never beat quite as fast when she was sitting at a computer, and she couldn’t feel his breath so well on her pussy. The way she was tingling had her wondering if he could make her come from breathing on her long enough. She stepped out of the pile of clothes on the floor and kicked them to one side.

  He straightened, taller than her again. “Would you like to take off your bra for me, Louise?”

  She didn’t know what to make of the fact that he was looking into her eyes rather than checking out her body. Then again, he’d had a good chance to look while he was pulling her panties down. “No.” She figured his question deserved an honest answer.

  He pulled her into a hug, which she thought was purely for comfort until she realized he’d unhooked her bra in the back. I guess he was only asking who was going to do it. His decision whether it stays on. Why am I so self-conscious? I’m not this way with Daniel. But then, I’ve known him for a lot longer. He’s seen me naked.

  “On the bed, slave girl. Lie back and watch while I take my clothes off.”

  “Yes, Master.” She still couldn’t bring herself to speak above a whisper. He held her bra while she moved, forcing her to pull out of it. She lay back on the bed, believing her breasts looked better when she was lying down, yet wanting to see him as he stripped. She settled for the compromise of propping herself up on a pillow. She was very conscious of how naked she was in contrast to him.

  He didn’t take off his clothes immediately. Instead he moved to one side of the bed and gently moved her right leg until it was bent at the knee. He moved to the other side and did the same with her other leg, positioning her knees apart, before moving back to the foot of the bed. He smiled at her. With her legs spread like that, he had a perfect view of her pussy. Did it look as wet as it felt? In any case, it was clear enough he’d put her legs where he wanted them, and she wasn’t supposed to move them. What would he do if she did? Spank her? That didn’t sound so bad.

  He unbuttoned his blue shirt. When he shrugged it off his shoulders, she quit wondering and started staring. His body was similar to Daniel’s in some ways, with his chest and abdomen lined by well-defined muscles. Yet he was different too, less bulging in the arms, leaner in the waist. Daniel might win an arm wrestling contest, but she’d bet on Rob in a race.

  I shouldn’t be comparing. But she couldn’t help herself.

  He took his shoes and socks off and kicked them to the side. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking that you look pretty nice.” It wasn’t the complete truth, but it wasn’t a lie either.

  Rather than taking his jeans off, he leaned forward and stroked her inner thigh. “I’m thinking you look good enough to eat.”

  Oh my. “You can,” she started to say and then decided she had no business giving him permission. “Do whatever you want,” she amended.

  “Not quite whatever. But yes, I can lick your pussy. I’m looking forward to tasting you. Would you like that too?”

  “Yes.” Of course. Why does he have to make me admit it? Does he need my innermost thoughts bare, as well as my body?

  “Scoot yourself forward, Louise. Bring your pussy right up close for me.”

  She had once imagined herself crawling, but this was far more intimate, more embarrassing, and a lot hotter. She felt the heat of his gaze as she scooted forward.

  “Very, very good. You have a beautiful pussy.” She couldn’t see very well because she’d slid off the pillow, but she felt his tongue as it made its first electric touch on her sensitive pink folds. His strong arms lifted her legs higher, so she could rest them on his shoulders. “You’re very, very wet. Have you been anticipating what’s to come, my lovely Lulu?”

  She pulled the pillow under her again and propped herself up. She wanted to watch his tongue as it glided along her pussy. She was in time to see him reach her clit on his slow journey upward, his tongue swirling around it, making her pussy ache with need. Her breathing shortened. Her hands fluttered up to grab his head, and then she thought better of it, grabbing the sheets instead. She gave him a squeeze with her legs, hoping he would give her a few more expert strokes and send her up and over.

  He licked her once, twice more, on the right spot. Her clit was swollen and tender, but each touch of his tongue made it worse in a way that felt oh so good. Just a little more! He stopped and grinned at her. His finger lazily stroked the inside of her thigh. “Not quite yet, love.”

  “Please, Master. I’m so close!”

  “Don’t use that word to argue with me.” He
extricated himself from between her legs, even though she resisted, and then walked around to the side of the bed. “Only when you want to obey, no matter how hard it gets.”

  “Please?”

  He shook his head.

  “Master.” She frowned, avoiding his eyes. “I’m sorry.” But I almost came!

  He sat down on the bed. “You don’t need to be. You have a lot to learn, yet. And learning is part of the process. Besides, I rather enjoy teaching.” He turned her chin so that she faced him more directly and smiled at her. “And I very much enjoy correcting. So don’t be perfect yet. I will make you come. That’s a promise. And you will wait for it until I’m ready for you to have the best orgasm I can give you. Understood?”

  Her eyes widened. Most men she’d been with were pleased enough that they’d managed to get a woman off. Often enough she’d been rather pleasantly surprised when it happened too. But he acted as if he could make it happen anytime he wanted. “Yes, Master.” Her voice came out a squeak, which didn’t please her until she noticed his smile widening.

  “Now I haven’t gotten to play with your breasts yet. And since they are particularly lovely, I really think I ought to play with them before you get to come, don’t you?” He held them in his hands, his palms against her hardened peaks, and cocked an eyebrow at her when she didn’t respond immediately.

  She didn’t know about the particularly lovely part, but she wasn’t going to argue with him about his rights to touch them, either. “Yes, Master.” She found herself sinking deeper into a feeling of submission to him. She drew her shoulders back and arched to offer him her breasts. He caressed them, softly at first, sending tingles all through her body. She couldn’t come from just having her breasts touched, but his touch stopped her from coming down from feeling on the edge.