Chapter 5: Nina worries, and shows a bit

The next morning, I was again eating cereal for breakfast when Nina came down from her room. Today she was wearing one of the pairs of trousers that we bought, the white blouse and the blazer. The trousers did fit her nice and tight, but the jacket was quite long and covered up most of the relevant details. I told her she looked lovely again, she blushed again and smiled and thanked me for the compliment.

After she grabbed a bite to eat, we went off to work and I didn't see her again until the end of the day. She came back into my office beaming at about 5:00. She'd gotten all sorts of compliments today too and was again flushed with excitement about her new clothes. She came round to my side of the desk and leaned over and game me a kiss on the cheek.

When she pulled away, before she could even say anything, I said "I think the lips is more appropriate than a cheek, don't you?"

She smiled and giggled a little, then leaned back over and kissed me on the lips. It wasn't a sexy kiss, but she was coming along.

"Thank you again, sir, for my new clothes. I feel so nice. Everyone thinks I look great."

"Everyone's right. Those are sexy clothes on you. You do look nice."

On the way home, we stopped and got Chinese food, then went to the movies. I didn't touch her during the movie, though, and on our way home she asked me what was wrong.

"What do you mean?" I said.

"Don't you like the way I look?"

"Sure," I told her calmly. "You look fine. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that... you know... I don't know... but you think I look nice?"

"You look fine. Don't worry." Here was something funny. She was wondering why I hadn't made the moves on her in the cinema. Until then, I'd taken every chance to make a move. She had obviously been expecting me to make a move in there. Since I hadn't, she was afraid I was loosing interest.

She thought this was like a teenager dating game. She flirts, I respond. Then I try to push, and she pulls back. She thought she could manipulate me with her flirtation but be able to pull back at any time. This was obviously the way she'd kept her boyfriend strung along for more than two years, by keeping his interest up, but without delivering (until the very end, at least). I knew she was enjoying her new found source of wealth and status. But I also knew that if she lost it, she had a long way to fall before she'd stop. Since she'd been ostracized, she had me or she had nothing.

She couldn't afford to lose me, and I knew she had no other cards to play. She thought she could manipulate me, but I knew better. Every time I pushed, she'd have to give in. I could drop her at any point. She couldn't drop me, ever. I wanted to let her continue to think this way though. I didn't want her to realize that I knew I held all the cards.

It was exciting to have her think that she could use me, and this was one example. She was afraid that I might be loosing interest, and if so, I might kick her out anytime. I wanted to see what she would do in this situation.