Submitting to Her(73)

And in this economy, she couldn't afford to turn down a contract for a worthwhile cause - I knew that.





*





That evening, we met Brandon in the hotel bar, and this time he seemed different to me - somehow more grown up. He was in business mode.

Our conversation seemed much more business-like too, as Brandon went through what it was he believed he could get us together with his client, and how we ought to proceed to maximize our chances of a deal the next day. Essentially, Brandon's marketing agency had part of a portfolio of contracts for a major blue chip company's campaign, and he believed he could tap a sizable part of our range of magazines in order to target their campaign to the particular business sectors we served.

Zoey was naturally enthused, and as we talked business, it was clearly in all of our interest that this thing work out, though ultimately Brandon could have taken the deal to other magazine publishers, of course.

The difference in Brandon was quite astounding as we dealt on a professional level, but I could only imagine he was trying particularly hard to impress Zoey.

She was responding to his flirting, that was for sure, and though she'd been at pains to stress on the way up from Baltimore that she needed to make him feel loyalty to her in order to get him firmly on their side for the next day, I was more than a little afraid under the surface.

I had to just let it go.

I got the strong impression she was going to have sex with him again, to seal the deal. There was little I could do about it. Zoey didn't give the impression she needed that to happen in order to get the contract, but she hinted that it was something she wanted in celebration of the success. I could only sigh and ensure from my body language that I wasn't entirely happy about the situation.

As the evening wound down, Brandon headed for the men's room, and before he went, I caught a little flash of his eyes that was intended only for Zoey's view.

Was he telling her to get rid of me? How dare he!

He scampered off, and with a definite edge to my voice, I said to Zoey: "You want me to get out of here, huh?"

She sighed, and said: "Look, if we get tonight out of the way, pull in the deal tomorrow, then we're out of here, right? We don't have to see him again."

"Until he decides to visit Maryland on a weekend, or finds another nice juicy deal for the company?"

Zoey's lips seemed to harden. She said coldly: "Jones, I can see you have some lessons to be learned. You don't talk to me like that."

"No Ma'am," I said demurely.

She said: "I've said before that I love you. That is not for questioning any longer, you understand? That is a firm fact."

"Yes, Ma'am," I said. My insides seemed to thaw a little at that.

"Now go upstairs and prepare my room so that everything is tidy for when I return with Brandon. And when we return, I want to see that door between our rooms open - but you may not enter the room under any circumstances. Understood?"

That hit me in the chest like a solid boot, knocking the wind out of me. Yet all I could say was: "Yes, Ma'am."

"You need to know the difference between sex and love, Jones."

"Yes, Ma'am," I said, but I felt her cruelty like a dagger through the heart.





*





I did as she told me, scurrying away before Brandon even returned from the restroom, to head upstairs and ensure Zoey's room was perfectly in order, her clothes put away, case stowed out of sight.

I felt so nervous, I nearly threw up.

Was this how it was going to be with Zoey? Was she going to keep testing me like this? When I had suggested that I might be able to handle her playing with another man so long as it wasn't a former flame, or someone she might see again, why had she set up this rendezvous with Brandon?

She might have been testing me, but I suspected she might actually have been testing herself. She had to decide who she was - the dominant or the dominated. Her old life under Brandon's thumb, the pliant obedient little woman, or her new life in control of me, the independent, empowered goddess.

Perhaps I had to help her choose.

I knew Zoey was worth it. Thinking of how fortunate I was to be with her kept me going, kept me obedient. I dutifully finished up and vacated the room, leaving the door through to my room open.

If I continued to please her, she had to continue to love me. I figured if I could get us past this, somehow show her that she didn't need to look back to her past, our sexual exploration could keep moving to the next level.

She said she didn't love him, and at the end of the day I had to trust her. But perhaps I was Icarus getting just too damn close to the sun.

I kept the light off in my room, and could do little more than pace as I waited for Zoey to return.





*





It was a long while I had to wait. Much longer than before. Lying on my bed in the darkness, I had actually nodded off before I was awakened by the sound of Zoey's door opening.