She recalled the scene in Charlotte’s Awakening, which had both fascinated and horrified her when she’d first read it. Thumbing through the well-worn novel, she found the passage again.
“It’s not enough to mark you with the whip. It’s not enough that you wear my chains at your throat, your wrists, your ankles. I want you to wear my chains at your sex. Indeed, I command it.”
Charlotte kept her head down, eyes downcast as she had been taught by her Master. She was still as a statue, the only evidence that she had even heard him a slight movement of her bare shoulders.
Sir Jonathan pulled her up by the arm and stared into her eyes. “I want it to be permanent, Charlotte. I’m going to pierce your flesh and lock your sex with these chains.” He held up a bracelet of fine gold. One end of the clasp came to a very sharp point. The other end was a spring mechanism that, once engaged, would not open again.
As Charlotte paled, Sir Jonathan went on, “Tonight when I come for you, I will find you naked in the bath. This piercing is yet another proof that you belong completely and utterly to me.”
He caught her as she swayed and fainted into his arms. Her display, while charming, would gain her no pity and certainly no reprieve.
Tess shivered even though she knew the words were fiction. She was glad Ryan never “informed her” of what she “would do.” While she adored submitting to her dominant lover, the exchange of power was always and completely voluntary.
But as the weeks passed, Tess couldn’t stop thinking about the piercing. Her research led her to understand it wasn’t as painful as a nipple piercing, as there were fewer nerve endings in the labia. The process was quick and the result was undeniably sexy. And if the jewelry didn’t work, she could always take it out. There would be no permanent spring mechanisms for her, thank you very much.
One night after dinner about a month after his initial broaching of the topic, the two of them sat at the table, sharing a glass of merlot. “I think I want to do it,” Tess blurted suddenly, clenching her hands into fists of resolve. “I think maybe I’m ready.”
Ryan looked at her. “Want to do what? Ready for what?”
“The piercing. I love the symbolism of it—another act of submission that only you and I would know about.” She touched the gold chain around her throat. “Like this secret collar, except even sexier.”
Ryan set down his wineglass and regarded her with a bemused smile. “I thought that one was a hard limit no-go. I didn’t even know you were still considering it.”
“Well,” Tess replied, heat moving over her face. “I have been. And I-I…” The import of what she was saying suddenly made her dizzy. But she forged on. “I think I want it.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “That’s not exactly a ringing declaration, Tess. We’ll revisit the subject in the future, when you’re more sure.”
“But I—”
He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “It’s okay, my love. Truly. I love that you’re thinking about it, but you’re not ready.”
Tess snapped her mouth closed and glared at Ryan. How dare he take the wind out of her sails like that? Here she had geared herself up to do this supremely submissive act, and he was telling her no. What the hell?
But then she took a step back, replaying how she’d presented herself. I think maybe… Ryan was right. She wasn’t ready. Yet.
“Okay,” she said softly. “Okay.”
Four more days passed, and while neither of them brought up the subject of her piercing, it was never far from Tess’s thoughts. Though it was Saturday morning, Ryan had to work, and Tess decided to do a little shopping. She went to a body piercing shop called Rings of Desire, which she’d determined from online reviews was the best around.
She perused the body jewelry for a while, and then noticed a framed photograph on the wall that at first she thought was a close-up of a butterfly wearing jewelry. As she examined it, she saw it was actually a woman’s shaved, spread pussy, tattooed to look like butterfly wings, the bulk of the design on the mons above the cleft. The inner labia were its lower wings, and they and the clit hood were decorated with numerous rings. The effect was stunning, if a little frightening, and Tess couldn’t stop staring at the picture.
“You like it?”
“It’s amazing,” Tess admitted, turning to a tall, statuesque woman with rings in her eyebrows and nose, along with multiple piercings along each ear.
“Thanks. My boyfriend did the tattoo art, I did the piercings. My name is Sandra and this is my shop. Can I help you find something today?”
“I’m thinking,” Tess began, but then stopped herself. No more equivocating. “I want to get my labia pierced,” she said firmly. “I’m looking for the right piece of jewelry.”
“You came to the right place on both counts. Let me show you what we’ve got.”
There was so much to choose from. Eventually, Tess selected a small gold hoop shaped like a horseshoe, with ruby posts on either end.
“They’re removable, see?” Sandra said, unscrewing one of the posts to demonstrate. “You can take it off, just like earrings.”
“And the piercing,” Tess asked, swallowing her fear. “The needle…?”
“Honey, it’s a piece of cake,” Sandra said with a smile. “One-two-three and done, and you’ll be so happy with it, I promise.”
When Ryan came home from the office that afternoon, Tess was waiting for him at the front door, naked and on her knees. She held out the jewelry box on her palms.
“What’s this?” Ryan set down his briefcase and took the box from her hands. He opened it and examined the small gold and ruby piece. “Is this what I think it is?” The play of emotions on his face was part admiration, part concern and all love. “Are you saying you’re ready, Tess?” he asked softly. “That you definitively want this?”
Tess rose to her feet and looked her darling Master in the eye. “Yes,” she replied in a calm, determined voice. “I’m ready, Sir. I want to be pierced.”
Tess leaned back on the comfortable recliner in the back room of Sandra’s shop, naked from the waist down, covered with a paper blanket like they used at doctors’ offices. The space was clean and bright, and Ryan sat beside her on a stool, holding her hand.
Sandra swabbed the area Tess and Ryan had selected for the piercing and used a plastic clamp to hold the skin taut. “This way you only pierce the minimum amount of tissue, resulting in the minimum amount of pain,” she explained. She dabbed some gel on the spot. “This will numb you up nicely so you’ll hardly feel a thing.”
Tess looked away as Sandra unwrapped a fresh piercing needle, and Ryan gave her hand a steadying squeeze.
“Okay,” Sandra said. “Close your eyes and relax. I’m going to count to three and you just take nice, deep breaths.” She stroked Tess’s hair, her touch soothing. On the count of three, she slipped the needle through the delicate labial fold. Tess felt a pinch, but nothing she couldn’t easily tolerate.
Though Tess kept her eyes averted, she knew from her research that, once the piercing needle was withdrawn, it left a hollow plastic catheter still sticking through the skin. Sandra would insert the stem of the ring into the catheter and then remove the plastic, leaving the jewelry in place. She would then screw the gem post onto the stud and that would be that.
“All done,” Sandra announced. “Told you. Piece of cake.”
Tess opened her eyes. “Wow,” she said. “That was quick.”
“Want to see?” Sandra brought over a hand mirror and handed it to Tess.
“Oh, I love it,” Tess cried, thrilled.
She turned to Ryan, who was smiling at her, love light spilling from his eyes. “I love it, too,” he said. “I love you.”
It was one year to the day since their first date and, as Tess luxuriated in the bath, she stared down at the sparkling emerald-cut diamond ring on her finger, which was flanked by lovely blue sapphires. When Ryan had asked her to marry him, she had joyously accepted.
; She slipped a hand between her legs, fingering the golden and ruby jewel tucked into the folds of her pussy. She stroked herself, though she wouldn’t make herself come. She was never to masturbate without Ryan’s express permission. Rather than feeling restricted by this command, she thrilled to it, as she did all of their BDSM rules and rituals.
Tess thought with a wistful sigh about Olivia’s secret diary, and how it had helped Ryan and her begin their own D/s journey, which was now so central to their relationship. While Tess knew from the journals and from Mr. Stevenson that their affair had been fulfilling, it must have been hard and lonely for Olivia not to have been able to share her true sexual nature with her husband. Tess was grateful her lover was also her partner and soon-to-be husband.
She soaked a while longer in the fragrant water, and then climbed out to dry herself. She was surprised to see Ryan lying on the bed when she came out of the bathroom, as he had been ensconced in the study pouring over a legal brief when she’d gone to bathe.
He was naked, his cock fisted in his hand. He smiled a lazy, seductive smile. “Come here, sexy girl,” he commanded.
Tess dropped her towel and joined him on the bed, reveling in his strong arms as they wrapped around her.
Ryan drew a finger down her cheek, moving it over her lips so they parted. She sucked on the finger and he slid it deep into her mouth, like a cock. As she gave herself over to her Master, Tess slipped effortlessly into that wonderful submissive state of utter peace intertwined with fiery passion. It was a delicious and potent dichotomy that never lost its power.
After a while, Ryan pulled his finger away and looked at Tess, the love in his eyes so bright she actually caught her breath.
“I belong to you,” she whispered, her heart bursting with love.
“We belong to each other,” he answered. Then he took her once more into his arms.
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The Master
& the Secretary
Claire Thompson
Edited by Jae Ashley
Fine line edit by Gabriella Wolek
Cover Art by Mayhem Cover Creations
Previously titled: Confessions of a Submissive – completely updated, revised & enhanced
Copyright 2018 Claire Thompson
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The Master & the Secretary (Finding Master Right Book 2) Page 16