Submitting to Her(35)

"Yes, Ma’am."

"And as you receive your punishment, you are not allowed to make a sound, enter my room, or otherwise make yourself known until I tell you. Right?"

"Right, Ma’am."

I felt dread filling my chest at her suggestion that my punishment was yet to come. It stirred up not just butterflies in my stomach, but a nest of vipers, writhing and spitting and biting throughout my frame.

Surely she wasn't thinking of punishing me in the way I suddenly feared?

I was genuinely frightened. Ever since that fateful Friday, I had bowed to Zoey's every command - but though it had been a little frustrating to have her take control of my orgasms, there had been arousal in that as well. This evening I felt seriously vulnerable, seriously exposed. Was I only able to handle giving up control to my beautiful boss if she did things that met with my approval?

What if real control meant she did things I did not want? Could I have it both ways?

Our arrangement so far had been mild - I knew that. Ever since she'd curtailed my orgasms, I'd stopped venturing online to find pictures of naked women, and it had left plenty of time to fill with research that had included a casual investigation of this whole dominant female thing. My research revealed people whose whole lives revolved around a deep submission to their dominatrix lover, including all kinds of degrading and humiliating behavior. What Zoey had with me was soft by comparison - femdom lite, I'd seen some people labeling it. Female-led relationships. But as with all kinks in human sexuality, it could develop in various different directions. What was Zoey's taste in a dominant-submissive relationship?

Was all this about to get a whole lot darker?

I felt panic gripping my throat. Should I plead with her? Tell her I loved her? She would think me ridiculous. She would lose what little respect she had for me. We'd been together no time at all - we weren't even publicly out as a couple. She could walk away from me, and nobody would know we'd even had a thing.

I felt so fragile.

Brandon returned from the restroom, and I had no choice but to comply with my orders, though every cell in my body was crying out about the dangers of leaving Zoey alone with her college sweetheart.

"Well, I guess today just about wiped me out," I said, trying to sound relaxed and natural. I wasn't bad as an actor, as it turned out.

"Hey, from what you guys say, it was all worth it, though, huh?" Brandon said, the big slice of ham.

"I think so." I reached for my jacket, "but I'm going to have to get some sleep so I can get the follow-up strategy into gear soon as we get back into the office tomorrow."

"Fair enough," was all Zoey had to say, offering me a smile that concealed her own involvement in my decision to depart.

"Well, hey, man," said Brandon, standing up as I did, to shake my hand across the table as though we'd just played a worthy game of football against each other. "It was sure great to meet you."

"You too," I said, smiling myself. He was like a big Labrador, or perhaps a golden retriever considering his complexion. You couldn't hate him - it wasn't his fault my vice president was using him as a pawn in her power games.

One last look passed between Zoey and myself before I made a swift exit. I think I must have looked rather pitiful, as though making a final appeal to a merciless one-woman jury, while her eyes harbored a darkness that suggested I was in for a rough night - and fully deserving of everything I got.

In that one cruel glance, I could see that this was about more than simply my transgression the previous night. This was payback for everything I'd put her through.

Though it chilled my heart more than ever, I had no way to complain. I could have walked out of there - our presentation was done, after all. We didn't need to be in Philadelphia another night. But leaving now would be a sure-fire end to our relationship, and I couldn't handle that.

I returned to our hotel rooms, and did exactly as I had been told, though I felt so nervous and nauseous I very nearly had to throw up my recent meal. As instructed, I opened the door between our two hotel rooms wide, then extinguished the lights.

Then, I sat on my bed for a long, agonizing wait.





Chapter Twelve





Alone in the dark, I waited for two hours.

I had no idea when she might be coming back to her room, when I would be released, but I had my instructions and I did not want her to surprise me by returning quietly to find me watching TV or lying sleeping in bed fully visible from next door.

During that long wait, I had so much time to think, to contemplate my failures as a human being and think about what might have been, if only I'd been a nicer person during the first six months of her promotion, not giving in to my baser jealousy at being overlooked for promotion. Would she have ended up starting this relationship with me?