Chapter 13

Falling asleep in each other's arms sounds romantic, but it's a killer on the back. I was so stiff in the morning that it was all I could do to hobble into the shower and soak myself under the spray. Warm water eased my cramped muscles and loosened the knots in my spine. By the time I staggered out and got dressed, Richard was sitting at the kitchen counter with a couple of mugs of tea. I joined him there, sipping the cooling liquid, and we quietly talked over the preparations that needed to be made for Arlene and Jack.

At work I thought over the events of the previous day, and the sensations I'd felt when Richard commanded me. He had asserted his absolute authority over me, and I had reacted as if he'd given me the best present a girl could want. Just the memory of it brought a tingle; I seriously considered sneaking over to his office for a quickie, only rejecting the idea out of concern that he might be busy. The contrast between my current state of servitude and my earlier self-image was striking. I had always thought of myself as an independent woman, able to stand my ground with anyone. Now I was utterly dependent on someone else, and I loved it. I knew that wasn't a normal reaction; but it was my reaction.

My boss, Professor White-Smith, always went home by three on Friday afternoons, so I felt no guilt at leaving work half an hour after she had wished me a good weekend. I stopped at the supermarket to buy what we needed for dinner, then lugged it all home and put it away. Richard would start dinner when he got home. I picked up the clothes that were scattered about and erased the signs of yesterday's debauch, then set about cleaning the rest of the apartment. In truth, I kept the place so clean normally that there was little to do. By the time Richard got home I'd been reduced to wandering about the apartment with a rag, looking for missed patches of dust without finding any.

I changed clothes twice before Arlene and Jack arrived. Other than that, I felt little trace of last night's nervousness. Richard wanted this meeting to happen, and that was good enough for me. I was only concerned now to make it go as smoothly as possible. I finally settled on a simple white skirt and blouse, with my coppery hair tied back in a ponytail. I wore no jewelry except a silver bracelet Richard had given me just after I moved in, shaped like a snake eating its tail. Richard walked into the bedroom while I was smoothing the skirt over my hips and wondering if I needed to go to a larger size. He hugged me, and kissed me on the top of the head.

"You look great, Susie," he told me, unbuttoning his shirt. I took it from him and put it in the hamper, while he got a fresh one out of the closet.

"Thank you, Master," I said. "So do you." He did, too. The new shirt, crisp and white, framed his broad shoulders and massive arms perfectly. I shut the closet door and looked at myself in the mirror again. "Do you think I'm getting fat? I've gained three pounds."

"No," Richard said, tucking the shirt in. "And three pounds is within the margin of error. You really do look great."

"Thank you, Master," I said again, giving myself a last look. Maybe I'd skip dessert. "I don't suppose we have time for a quick one before they get here, do we?"

"Afraid not," Richard said. "They'll be here any minute. But hold that thought, for later."

The buzzer in the living room went off at that point. Jack and Arlene must be downstairs. Richard went off to buzz them up, and I gave my skirt a final tug before going out to join him.

It was some consolation to see that Arlene and Jack had taken as much trouble with their clothes as I had, wanting to look nice but not too nice. Arlene have me a hug, a little tighter than usual, and Jack did too, before shaking Richard's hand.

"Here," he said, handing Richard the bottle in his other hand. "For dinner."

Richard glanced at the label. "Thanks! This should go with the pork very nicely. Why don't you have a seat? Would you like something to drink?"

"Just some water," Arlene said as I ushered them over to the couch, and Jack nodded agreement.

"Susie, would you get some water for us, please?" Richard suggested.

"Yes, Master," I said, and saw the tense, startled glance that passed between Jack and Arlene. I went to the kitchen and took down four glasses, filling them with ice and setting them on a tray, along with a pitcher full of water. When I got back to the coffee table, Arlene was attempting to make small talk with Richard and doing a pretty bad job of it.

"Water," I said, setting down the tray. I sat down in 'my' chair and started pouring water into glasses. "And it's OK to talk about it."

"Talk about what?" Arlene said, as if she had no idea what I meant.

"About my being Richard's slave," I said, handing her a glass. "Whoops, I forgot the dip. Be right back."

When I returned with the bowl of dip and basket of toasted pitas, Arlene gave me a slightly reproachful look, and said "That was pretty blunt."

"Well, no sense beating around the bush," I said. "That's why you're here, right? So, shoot. What do you want to know?" I picked up a pita and started munching it.

Jack and Arlene looked at each other again. Then Jack said, "Do you always call him 'Master?' "

"When we're alone," I confirmed. "In public I call him 'Richard.' "

"Doesn't that feel... strange?" Jack asked.

I said "No," at the same time Richard said "Yes," and we exchanged a smile.

"The first time she said it," Richard explained, "it really took me by surprise. I'm used to it now. It never seemed to bother her."

"Didn't you tell her to do it?" Arlene asked.

"Not specifically," Richard said. "I guess it was part of her slave-girl fantasy."

Arlene took a swallow. "It's hard to believe that you were fantasizing about this sort of thing the whole time we were living together. I mean, Susan, you always seemed so..."

"Normal?" I asked, and Arlene blushed. "Well, I guess appearances can be deceiving."

"This dip is delicious," Jack said in the awkward pause that followed. "Did you make it, Susan?"

"Oh, good heavens, no!" I exclaimed. "Well... I grated the cucumber, and stirred the ingredients. No, Richard does all the cooking. I'm learning, though," I added proudly.

"She helped a lot with dinner," Richard added.

"Oh," Jack said. "Well, it smells wonderful."

"Thanks," Richard said. "It should be just about ready. Susie?"

I got plates from the cabinets and silver from the drawers, while Richard extracted the pork roast from the oven and set about carving it. The apartment was too small for a dining room table; a counter separated the kitchen from the living room, and Richard and I normally ate there, sitting on bar stools. The coffee table was just about big enough for four people if two of them sat on the futon, where we'd put Jack and Arlene. For a few minutes we were completely occupied with serving food, and the conversation lagged. Jack opened the bottle of wine that he'd brought, and poured glasses for all of us.

After we'd been eating for a bit, Jack took a swallow of wine and asked, "So, Susan: if you're a slave, what are your duties? Ow!" He rubbed his ankle where Arlene had kicked him. "What's wrong with that?"

"It's OK," I said. "Let's see, my duties. Well, there's sex, cleaning, sex, straightening, sex, and more sex. Oh, and there's cleaning up after sex."

Arlene was blushing furiously, Jack looked a little stunned, and even Richard, normally unflappable, was staring at his plate with a little more interest than roast pork really deserved. I decided that this was fun.

"Of course," I went on, "in some ways the cleaning is just an extension of the sex. I mean, nothing turns me on more than Richard giving me an order to do something. Sometimes I get so hot and bothered in the middle of vacuuming that I have to go and let Richard have his way with me before I can finish. It does make the chores take longer, though."

"I'll bet," Arlene managed to say.

"Housekeeping as a form of foreplay," Jack mused. "Too bad Arlene doesn't see it that way."

Arlene gave him a mock glare, and Jack grinned at her. I felt a touch of surprise. At one time, whenever Arlene and Jack shared a private moment like that I would feel a stab of envy. Now that feeling was completely gone. I still admired their affection for each other; but I had Richard. I felt a stir of gratitude for what he'd given me; even more, in some ways, than I'd given him.

Also, I must admit, all this talk about sex was getting me kind of horny. I shifted position, hopefully subtly.

"Then there's the whole loyalty and obedience thing," I said. "Frankly, that's usually pretty easy. Richard doesn't normally tell me to do anything that I don't want to do anyway. But we're trying to branch out."

"Branch out how?" Arlene asked.

"Oh, well." Now it was my turn to blush. "Him telling me to do things I... um... wouldn't normally do." I thought of the day before, and shifted my position again.

"Don't you worry that he'll exploit you?" Jack asked. He gave Richard an unapologetic glance. "Frankly, I'd worry about anyone having that much power over you."

"No, I don't worry," I said. "I trust Richard. If I didn't, I wouldn't have... given myself to him."

There was a brief pause. Then Richard spoke up.

"I must admit, it worries me more than it does Susie. It's a huge responsibility. I worry if I'm up to it. Every time I give her an order, I wonder if I'm crossing the line." He gave me a little smile, and I smiled back tenderly. "She's given me such a gift... I can't possibly deserve it. No one could. But I worry that in time I might come to take it for granted."