My Body-His (11 page)

“
Hmmmm. Maybe,” I said.

“
Are you sassing me?” he said, touching his
nose to mine.

“
Moi? Sassing you?” I laughed. “Maybe,” I said
with a big smile.

“
Well I like it but it won’t keep me from
giving you what you deserve.”

“
And what is that?”

“
Your penalty for being a bad girl.”

“
I thought you liked bad girls.”

“
Let’s just say I like disciplining bad girls,”
he said, leaning me forward and smacking my butt.

“
Hey,” I said, but giggled.

“
So it seems we need a different discipline for
tonight, but expect that at least the tying up part of your dream
will happen at some point. This changes our plans a bit. Okay, so
let’s get dressed and get something to eat. We can talk
later.”

After we arrived at the restaurant and were seated,
Luke said, “So, how attached are you to your job?”

“
As it pays for my bills and home and car, very
attached.”

“
Money is of no issue. I have plenty of
it.”

“
Luke, that’s
your
money. What happens
if this doesn’t work out? I need my job.”

“
Well let’s just say I’m much more optimistic
about us than you are. This will work out. Think about it, okay?
There are far better ways for us to spend our time. I travel a lot
and if you’re working, we will be apart more than I’d
like.”

“
Do you go to Japan? Is that how you speak
Japanese?”

“
You’re a curious girl. How about this? I will
answer up to five questions. You can ask anything. It will cost you
an extra lash for each question.”

“
An extra lash? You mean adding more to my
discipline?”

“
Yes.”

“
How is that fair?”

“
Fair or not, it’s your choice.”

“
Fine, five. Let’s see. I have to make them
good …. Okay, where were your born and raised?”

“
That’s two questions.”

“
Wait, that’s not fair. I take it
back—”

“
Seattle, Washington. Raised in Tacoma. Three
more, and you better make them good,” he said with a
smirk.

“
That’s just bullshit. You’re incorrigible!
That was one question.”

“
Two: where was I born
and
where was I
raised. They’re two separate questions.”

“
But I didn’t mean it that way.”

“
Again, choose wisely.”

“
I’m going to the bathroom,” I said in a huff
and marched off.

What an asshole. I mean, really! How can he be so
nice and compassionate one minute and then piss me off so badly the
next? Okay, get a grip on yourself, Jane. What do you really want
to know? Cause this is your chance to find some things out.

While using the toilet I decided on my questions. I
needed to be careful about the wording. I knew what I wanted and
needed to know.

“
Took you awhile in there. Pondering the weight
of the world?”

“
Something like that.” I sat back down in my
seat. “Here goes nothing.”

“
Wait,” Luke said.

“
What?”

“
We need a safe word or phrase for later
tonight and for the duration of the relationship. Have anything in
mind?”

“
In reference to what? To your discipline or
correction, as you call it?”

“
Yes, in reference to your ‘Get Out of Jail
Free Card’ for when you are done. When you’re ready to end your
disciplining because you don’t think you can handle it or just
because you are done with me. You say the words … and out you go.
So do you have any ideas?”

“
Yes as a matter of fact. ‘Get lost,
creep,’ ” I said and leaned back causally in my
chair.

Luke laughed so hard that I thought he might fall off
his seat. “Oh, that is good. Never heard that one used before.”

“
So how many others have there been?” I
asked.

“
That’s question Number Three,” he said,
chuckling.

“
Oh come on, Luke, that’s not what I wanted to
ask you. This is so pissing me off.”

Still laughing, he said, “Okay, babe. I’ll give you
this one. There have been others, of course, as I am a man with
needs. I didn’t get to forty-five behaving like a monk. But I will
also say that I have been waiting a long time for ‘the one’ and I
have finally found her.”

“
You think I could be ‘the one’?” This made my
head spin. “What do you know of me, sense of me, that would make
you think that?”

“
It just fits. You are asking for an
intellectual response to something intuitive. It’s the way we feel
together.”

“
Does your body react the way mine does? How
could we be in love so fast?”

“
Jane, how about asking fewer questions and
just listening to what your body is telling you? I will say one
thing and then back to your questions: this doesn’t need to make
sense. It just has to feel right, and it does. We are meant to be
together. That’s why you feel alive and brand new and no longer
alone. I’m right about that, am I not?”

“
Yes but ….” I couldn’t think of a
but
.
It made no sense and really, when did love ever make sense? There
was much I wanted to ask and yet I only had three lousy questions
left.

“
So, Jane, what do you want to know?” he said,
smiling with his eyes as well as his mouth.

His eyes did something to me. They infused me with
such intensity that it was as if they held my soul. Even without
his touching me, I felt cradled in his arms.

“
Ahem,” I said, clearing the haze of my desire.
“Okay, here’s an easy one and probably a waste of a question but my
curiosity is driving me nuts. Do you own the house where we first
met?”

“
Yes.”

“
Just yes? Care to elaborate, like are you the
one throwing the parties?”

“
You may use that as your next question. I
answered the third one already.”

“
No, then. I don’t want to waste my remaining
questions on that.”

“
Next?”

“
What exactly do you do in your business, which
I have deduced is photographing nudes?”

“
Pick another, my love. I will show you when we
get home.”

“
Home?” I said. “Are we really living together?
How is it that my life has changed so much in less than a
week?”

“
Jane, are you okay?” he asked, leaning forward
to take my hand into his.

“
I’m scared,” I said. “This seems so fast and
so intense.”

“
When it’s right, it just is, babe,” he said.
“And we are right. Want to save the questions for
later?”

“
Oh, no. It’s just that I need to come up with
another one. Ummm, okay, how did you get your scar?”

“
The wrong place at the wrong time, with a
sword. Let’s leave it at that.”

“
That’s not an answer, Luke. Tell me the whole
story.”

“
I’m not a fan of talking about the past, and
that’s all I’m willing to say.”

“
But—”

“
I’ll allow you another question,” he said. He
gazed out the front window of the restaurant as if trying to will
the past away.

“
Could I save one for the future?”

“
Sure, I’m feeling generous,” he said with a
grin.

“
Okay, then here’s my last question: do I need
to be worried for my life?”

“
That was good.” Luke laughed, bringing his
attention back to me.

“
I’m completely serious, and how the hell did
you know where I work?” I asked.

“
Oh … really, that’s what you want to ask?” He
looked astonished. “Of course I would never really hurt you. Plus
you have the ‘Get Lost Creep’ card. It’s in your power to end this
whenever you want. Just because our relationship is alternative
doesn’t mean I’m dangerous. Not in the life and death sense anyway.
I love you, Jane, and given time, you will come to trust that and
me. ”

I felt better. His words rang true on a deep level,
allowing me to let my guard down.

“
Okay, but I’ve got to tell you it’s all a bit
overwhelming at this point,” I said. I paused and then continued,
“Can I ask you something about us? It’s nothing about you
personally. I really like the idea of saving a question for later.
Plus, twenty-four ‘thwacks’ are way more than enough.” I wondered
if he would use the belt again for my discipline.

“
Oh, I forgot to mention it costs two licks to
save a question for the future.” Laughter spilled out of him before
he had finished speaking.

“
I don’t think so,” I said with a stubborn
pout, and laughed all the same.

“
So ask,” Luke said. “Question is stored for
later use.”

“
Have you felt this way before? Have you
thought you met ‘the one’ before?”

“
I have been in love before and have thought
I’d met my match, the one I would spend my life with; so yes. In
some ways this is the same but in other ways it’s different and
new.”

“
How is it different? I don’t want to be like
everyone else to you, or why even do it?”

“
There is a deeper connection between us, as is
evident in the dream you just had. There’s an energy between us
that is undeniable and stronger than any I’ve felt. I’m not just
talking about chemistry, although that is very strong
too.”

“
So you do feel it. That’s good to
know.”

“
Of course I do. Let’s ask for the check and
get out of here. You need to be disciplined, because you have been
a very naughty girl, and I’m all done answering questions for a
while. I want to show you my studio and make plans for the rest of
our lives together. A tall order for one evening, but let’s see
what we can accomplish.”

“
Oh, before I forget,” I said, “I need to get
the phone number for our place to give to my mother and
friends.”

“
I like the sound of that, ‘our place.’ Very
much, in fact. You have a cellphone, right?”

“
Well, yes—”

“
I will be using the land line for business
calls and would prefer if you use your cell.”

I hesitated. “Okay, I guess.”

* * * *

The ritual of undressing at the door had already
started to become a routine. As I had never entered farther than
just inside the door with clothes on, it had been ingrained in me
from the start.

“
A choice, yet again,” he said, taking my
clothes and leading me deeper into our apartment.

“
Hmmm.” I had a hunch what might be
coming.

“
Discipline, which will of course end in your
orgasms, or learning more about my business. In what order would
you like to indulge?”

At that moment the idea of avoiding the inevitable
seemed worse than getting it over with. Plus, my body continued to
betray me because even the thought of what he might do to me had my
nipples almost painfully erect and my nether lips wet. “Let’s get
it out of the way,” I said. I remember being scared and so turned
on, my body sizzling with anticipation.

“
So how many do we have … twenty-six, by my
count.”

“
NO! That’s twenty-four, not twenty-six,” I
said, getting pissed off again.

“
Okay, okay,” he laughed. “Twenty-four. You
sure are sexy when you’re mad.” He smiled and pulled me into his
embrace for several long seconds. Then he took me by my shoulders
and moved me back away from him, looking me up and down like a bird
of prey. “It’s a shame I won’t be stringing you up to the eyebolt
tonight,” he said wistfully. “Another day.”

Taking me by the hand, he led me over to the couch.
He tugged the coffee table and then the couch away from the wall
and pulled out what I had thought to be decorative artwork. He
attached it to a base that had been hidden underneath the couch. I
stood there in amazement, wondering what other little surprises he
had in store for me.

He set the wood structure at an angle. “Turn around,”
he said.

He had me step up on the wooden platform and face it.
Grabbing a leather strap out of the end table, he attached my right
arm to the high right corner, securing me to the slat of wood. He
did the same to my other arm on the left side. It was awkward to be
facing the platform; I had to pick a side to place my face. Once he
lifted my right leg, I realized that my arms would be bearing a
large portion of my weight. He attached my right leg to the far
right corner, leaving me balancing on my left leg. My body trembled
as he strapped my other leg to the corner.

Oh, this does not seem so bad
, I thought at
first. The angle seemed to help distribute my weight so I didn’t
feel the strain.

“
I have a different hoippu for you to
experience tonight,” he said.

“
Huh?” I mumbled into the wood
planks.

He struck me with something I couldn’t see.