I stared out the window for a while before I read the rest.
"I've attached the photos we took before I left. With Love. Sarah."
I opened the attachment. The photos were stunning. I stared at them for a while before forwarding the pictures to Emily with a brief description. I didn't forward Sarah's email. It was too personal.
I stared at my favorite photo while I quietly ate the rest of my lunch at my desk. It was a picture of us looking at each other. My arms were around Sarah's neck, and she had her hands on my waist. We were smiling at each other, and there was a glow in Sarah's eyes.
My phone rang fifteen minutes later. It was Emily.
"Hey," I said.
"Jim is right," she said without preamble. "I'm staring at these pictures. She's in love. She'll be back."
I cried quietly. "No," I said. "She won't."
* * *
It was a lonely weekend.
On Saturday, the hard copies of her books that I had ordered arrived. I stared at them all weekend, never actually opening the box.
The following Tuesday evening was the first night for a new group. It was a LGBT group, three pairs of women and two pairs of guys. Ages ranged from upper twenties to sixty. I had copies of Sarah's book set up for display. Partway through the session, I told people about the book. "You can buy copies from me or get them online," I said. "The electronic copies are less expensive." I told them the best thing they could do is read the book to each other.
I sold three of the copies I had available. The other two couples said they'd buy electronic copies.
Wednesday evening my phone rang. I had both a professional and private number. The professional number rang at work and my cell phone. The private number rang at home and my cell. This was a call on my work number. When I looked at the phone, it said, "Number blocked."
Sometimes when people aren't quite ready to tell me who they are, they try to call anonymously. I wasn't in the mood to talk to a shy prospective client that night; he or she could call back during business hours. I let it roll to voice mail. I settled back in with my laptop, setting up my schedule for spring retreats at the cabin.
Twenty minutes later I received an email. I opened it. It was from Sarah!
"Hello, Allison. Are you still my love slave? I tried calling, and a well-behaved slave would have answered. I'll be trying again tonight and tomorrow. You better answer. Sarah."
My phone didn't ring again until eleven PM. Number blocked. I answered immediately. "Sarah?"
"Hello, Allison," she said. "I've been thinking about you."
"Yes."
"Yes, what?" she asked me.
"I'm still your love slave. If you want me."
She laughed. "Maybe."
"Where are you?" I asked her.
"I'm in my tent," she said. "After you didn't answer earlier, I drove into town and stole an internet connection by sitting in my car outside the library. They have an open wireless connection. But I'm back in my tent now."
"What are you wearing?" I asked her.
"I'm in my sleeping bag. All I'm wearing is one of your pair of undies. I like them."
We talked for a few minutes. "Honey," she said. "I don't have a full charge on my phone. If it cuts off, I won't be able to call back." She paused. "When will you be at your cabin next?"
"I can cancel my Friday appointments and be there tomorrow night," I told her.
"No," she said. "Don't neglect your clients. Friday. What time?"
I started to cry. "Really?"
"Only if you're still my love slave," she said. "Allison, it would just be for the weekend. You understand."
"I won't get there until eight," I told her. I told her how she could let herself in if she arrived before I did.
I heard her smile over the phone. "What are you wearing, Allison?"
"Jeans and a blouse," I admitted. "I'm sitting in my home office, staring at your picture."
"Do you have a headset for your phone? Switch to it. I want your hands free." She waited for me to switch. "Close your laptop now," she ordered. "Turn off all the lights and head go your bedroom."
I wandered around the house, locking up and turning off the lights.
"I want to talk to you while you go to sleep," she said. "Do you need to use the bathroom first? Brush your teeth?"
I did. She told me to mute the call so she could talk, but the noises I'd be making wouldn't transfer over the phone. While I readied myself for bed, she told me about another book cover she had done. I finished in the bathroom and took her off mute. "Will you send me a copy?" I asked.
"If you're good," she said. "Are you going to do exactly what I tell you to do?"
"Yes, Sarah," I said.
"We'll see," she said. "Take your blouse off." She waited for me. "What color is your bra?"
"White," I said. "But lacy."
"Are your nipples erect?"
"Yes," I said, blushing.
"Take your bra off," she ordered.
"It's off," I told her after a moment.
"Tell me what your nipples feel like when you touch them."
"Oh god!" I said.
"No!" she said, angry. "No, we've talked about this. This is you and I, no one else."
"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm sorry."
"You need to be punished for that. I'm hanging up now."
"No no no! Sarah!"
"You need to be punished."
"Something else. Please, Sarah. Don't go."
"Will you do what I tell you?" she asked.
"Yes, Sarah, anything. Please don't go."
I could tell she pulled her phone away from her ear for a moment.
"My phone is going to die in less than twenty minutes," she said. "I'm sorry, I should have charged it. Take your pants off. Leave the undies on. I want you in the undies and phone head set and nothing else. Do it quickly."
I stripped down to the undies.
"Go to your kitchen," I said. "Describe your house as you go."
I did. "It's a small house," I said. I describe the house as I walked to the kitchen.
"Get yourself a small glass full of ice," she ordered. "Then back to the bedroom."
"What are you going to make me do?" I asked.
"Don't waste time," she said. "We have about seventeen minutes."
I collected the ice.
"It's cold up here," she said.
"Where are you?"
"Boundary Waters," she replied. "Twenty minutes from Ely."
"An hour from my cabin. If it gets too cold, you can always go there."
She smiled. "I'm used to it. Are you back in your bedroom?"
"Yes."
"Climb on the bed, on your back, with the glass of ice. Are the lights turned down?"
"Yes. Just a small lamp next to my bed is on."
"Take one of the ice cubes. Tease your left nipple with it."
"Oh god!"
"Damn it, Allison! Keep this up and you won't be getting an orgasm tonight."
"I'm sorry."
"Two ice cubes," she ordered firmly. "One on each nipple."
"It's cold," I said.
"Imagine my hands teasing you with those ice cubes," she ordered. "Are you my love slave?"
"Yes, Sarah."
"Good. Are your nipples nice and erect now?"
"Yes. And very cold."
"That's for the first offense. Now the second one. Those two ice cubes. Shove them into your vagina. RIGHT NOW."
"Oh Sarah!" I said. But I did what she ordered and began shrieking. "Cold! Cold!"
"Are they both inside?"
"Yes, Sarah."
"Push them in deeper," she ordered.
I reached inside myself and pushed the cubes in deeper. "Cold! Sarah, please, I'm sorry. Please can I take them out?"
"Are you going to forget again?"
"No, Sarah!"
"You may take them out, Allison," she said.
I reached in and tried to snag the ice cubes, but I couldn't grab them.
"I can't," I said. "Oh Sarah, I can't. They're so cold."
"Gravity is your friend," she said, laughing.
I jumped off the bed and began squirming around and jumping up and down while awkwardly holding myself open as much as I could. Eventually I snagged one of the cubes, now much smaller, then the other.
"They're out," I said. "Oh, that was cold."
"Back on the bed, Slave," she ordered firmly. "Flat on your back, knees in the air, legs spread. Close your eyes."
"Yes, Sarah." I shifted around on the bed. I heard a gasp over the phone.
"What?" I asked her.
"I'm doing to myself what you're going to be doing to yourself next," she said.
I immediately felt a rush and I knew I'd find Sarah's panties wet from far more than the ice cube.
"Reach down with one finger," she said. "Tell me, are you wet?"
"Soaking," I said, running the index finger of my right hand through my slit.
"Taste it," she ordered.
I slipped my finger into my mouth and sucked.
"Listen to me very carefully, Allison," she said. "If you have not come by the time my batteries run down, you will not finish yourself. You will wait until I can do it Friday. No cheating!"
I pulled my finger out of my mouth. "Yes, Sarah. No cheating."
"If you come while still on the phone, then you are allowed to give yourself two more orgasms before Friday, but if you do, you must email me and tell me all about them. You will tell me what you were thinking about and how it felt."
"Yes, Sarah," I said.
"Take those lovely fingers of yours and tell me, is your clit ready for me?"
I reached down and used two fingers to begin teasing my clit. I gasped. So did she.
"Imagine I'm there with you, touching you while you're touching me," she said.
"Oh Sarah!" I said. I moaned and squirmed.
"You are going to spend Friday night entirely helpless," she said.
She spent the next ten minutes making me tease myself. "Oh Sarah!" I told her. "I'm so close! May I come? Sarah? Sarah?"
Her batteries had gone dead. We were disconnected.
"Noooo!!!!!"
I pulled my hands away from myself immediately, but I couldn't stop squirming. I thought about finishing things. She wouldn't know. Or if she did, what would she do about it?
I kept my hands off myself, but lay in my bed, panting. Eventually I crawled under the covers, set my phone on the nightstand, turned my light off, and tried to sleep.
I did eventually, with my final thoughts of, "She'd called, and I'd see her in two days."
* * *
I woke in the morning. I didn't realize what I was doing, but I finally realized I was cheating. I had two fingers pressing against my clit, and I was only seconds away from an orgasm. I snatched my hand away, then curled into a ball and moaned for a while.
I was a lousy therapist Thursday morning. I called Emily over lunch. "She called! I'm seeing her this weekend."
I told her about the phone call.
"Phone sex?" she said.
"Hey, at least it wasn't sex with the phone," I said.
She laughed.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" she asked me. "A stolen weekend now and again?"
"Right now," I said. "I will take whatever she'll let me have."
"You are in such trouble."
"I know. But oh, I'm so horny."
She laughed. "There's a cure for that."
"She forbade me."
"You are so whipped."
"I know," I told her. "It's so wonderful."
I managed to pull it together and do a better job in the afternoon. I hoped she would call again Thursday, but she didn't. I did receive an email.
"Have you been behaving?"
I wrote back. "Mostly," I wrote. I told her about my wayward hand that morning. There wasn't a reply that night. When I checked my email during a break between clients, there was a reply.
"Slave, Sigh. You must really like your punishments. Email me when you know your exact arrival time. If you are off by more than fifteen minutes, there will be another punishment. Sarah."
I wrote back. "I will be out by four, but drive time can vary depending upon traffic in the city."
A reply came back almost immediately. "I will call you at five for a status update. Make sure you'll be safe to take a phone call. Sarah."
* * *
I wrapped up the day and left shortly before four. Traffic was moderate, and I was well clear of the city by the time she called me.
"Hello, Lover," she said into my ear. "Were you thinking about me?"
"Yes."
"Can you drive safely and talk to me at the same time? I wouldn't want to distract you."
"For now," I said. "There are dead spots later, and the deer can be heavy."
"What time will you arrive?"
"Almost exactly eight," I said. "Assuming no deer."
"Do you know where I am?" she asked me.
"No."
"I'm in your cabin," she said. "You told me I could let myself in. I've been here for an hour."
I smiled.
"I've been snooping," she said, giggling. "Does that bother you?"
"Normally it would," I admitted. "But not when you do it." I paused. "Please don't snoop on the computer. It has patient information in it."
"Too late," she said. "But I didn't get past your password." There was a pause. "Are you angry?"
"No," I told her.
"In the future I'll leave your computer alone and any files I find. Do you know what I'm looking at right now?"
"No."
"I'll give you a hint. It was in your dresser."
"Stealing another pair of undies?"
"Oh, I already did that." Sarah giggled. "I'm now wearing a red pair. Next hint. It fit me."
"Sweater?"
"No." She paused. "I wonder what the price should be for each failed guess. I think you'll owe me one orgasm each until you get any. Next hint. I really don't think it's yours."
I didn't have the vaguest idea.
"No guesses are as bad as a failed guess," she said. "Are we up to three orgasms for me?"
"Yes," I admitted.
"Next hint. I'm jealous."
I suddenly realized what she had found.
"It's Emily's," I said. "It got left with my laundry last summer."
"Is she my competition?" Sarah asked.
"She's my best friend, she's straight, and she's married."
"Does she know about me?"