“Come in,” William said as he stepped aside.
After blinking a few times, she gave the rolling cart a shove only to have it ram against the doorframe. I had to bite my tongue from laughing at how William’s naked form had her so flustered. After another attempt, she managed to get the cart inside the room. It rattled to a stop in front of the bed. At the sight of me, a flush dotted her cheeks. “Um, would you like it here?”
I flashed her my best smile. “Yes. That’s fine.”
She quickly turned her back to me and started setting up the table. “You don’t have to do that.” When she glanced questioningly at me over her shoulder, I said, “He’s going to feed me in bed.” I cut my eyes over to William. “Aren’t you, slave?”
He ducked his head. “Yes, Mistress.”
“Good. I’d hate to have to have to spank you again.”
At William’s and my exchange, the girl stood frozen with a serving lid in her hand. She appeared to be debating whether to bolt from the room. “Slave, bring me the bill, so I can sign it and leave a nice tip for this young lady.”
With a nod, William crossed the room. He took the black, leather envelope off the table. When he handed it over to me, I opened it up. “Pen?” I questioned.
“Huh?” the girl replied.
“I need a pen to sign the bill.”
“Oh, yeah, right.” She fumbled on the table and thrust out a pen. After I finished signing it and left her a fifty-dollar tip on William’s tab, I handed it to William. When he handed it to the girl, she promptly dropped it considering how her hands were shaking.
After picking it up, she mumbled, “Have a nice day,” before making a beeline to the door.
“You too,” I called, but the door had already slammed behind her.
“Did you have to scare the poor girl to death?” William asked with a smile.
I laughed. “If she’s going to work in a hotel, she’s going to have to learn sometime. I figured I might as well give her a baptism by fire.”
“Oh, you certainly did that. She’s probably going to be shell-shocked for the rest of the day.”
Tilting my head, I smiled. “Shell-shocked is a good word for how I felt my first day in 1740.”
“Were you as green as she was?”
“With sex, no, but with BDSM, yes.”
William pushed the table closer to the bed, and we proceeded to have a makeshift picnic.
“I had to do an apprenticeship for a month. Although my friend, Lindsay, recruited me, I was put with a forty-year-old Domme who didn’t have any hard limits with what she would do with a sub.”
William paused in cutting his steak. “That had to have been hard. Like throwing someone who couldn’t swim into the deep end.”
“Oh yeah, it was like the deep, dark end where you’re desperately trying not to drown. The first day alone I saw a golden shower, baby play, and sissification. Lindsay got me drunk that night and promised me it wasn’t all that bad.” I dipped a French fry into the ketchup. “Needless to say, I knew then what my hard limits were as to what I could do as a Domme.”
“Did you ever test your limits with a sub?”
“I did fire play once when the price was right.”
“Seriously?”
With a nod, I then related to him the story without sparing him any of the gory details. “Weren’t you scared?” he asked.
“A little. Probably more for the sub than I was for me. But in the end, I was more scared of not having the money for my dad.”
“Jesus,” William muttered. His expression had turned from curious to sorrowful. It was the kind of look that I hated to see on people’s faces.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
I jerked my napkin through my hands. “Pity me. I despise when people do that.”
“I’m not pitying you.”
“Yes, you are. It’s written all over your face.”
“I don’t pity you, Sophie. Trust me, I don’t like that sentiment any more than you do. ‘Poor William whose mother cared more about herself by swallowing a bottle of pills than she did him.’ I’ve gotten it all my life, so I understand how you feel. Do you want to know what I was thinking?”
“Yes.”
“I was thinking that I hate how hard life has been for you—that you were faced with making choices like you had to. I hate that your dad has had to endure what he has. More than anything, I wished there was a way I could make things easier for you.”
I swallowed the lump rising in my throat. “You make it better just by understanding.”
William smiled. “I feel the same way about you. It’s so fucking rare to find someone who truly understands. Nothing makes me angrier than when someone who doesn’t have a clue says they understand. It’s almost insulting and belittling of your pain.”
“I know exactly what you mean. Most people are just clueless.”
“I agree.”
Realizing we needed a subject change, William asked, “How’s your cheeseburger?”
“Deliciously sinful, just like I asked for. What about your steak?”
“Very good. Would you like a bite?”
“Sure.”
William brought the fork to my mouth, and I let the tines slip between my lips to take the bite. “That’s really good.”
“Do you want some more?”
“Another bite would be nice.”
“Then it’s yours.”
Tilting my head at him, I asked, “If I wanted the rest of your food, you’d give it to me, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes. But I would do that even if you weren’t my mistress. It’s just who I am.”
And I knew that to be true. His kindness and selflessness shone through. “You really are something, you know that?”
He gave me another bite of juicy steak. “Thank you for the compliment, Mistress.”
“At least take one of my fries,” I insisted.
“Okay. If it’ll make you happy.”
“It will.”
With a smile, he took a fat fry and popped it in his mouth. “Now I remember why I stopped eating shit like that. Too addicting.”
I laughed. “No one can eat just one fry.”
“Or potato chip. I gave those up, too.”
“Every time I think about eating healthy, I eat something deep-fried and greasy. Then I go run or work out. I figure it balances things out.”
“Keep up what you’re doing because you have an amazing body.”
“Thank you,” I replied, as I took a fry and brought it to his mouth. He groaned, but leaned in to take it.
After swallowing the last bite of my burger, I brought my hand to my abdomen. “Man, I’m so stuffed,” I moaned. I wiped my mouth with the linen napkin before tossing it onto the tray. Pursing my lips, I looked at William. “What now?”
He took a sip of his wine. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve fed me, and we’ve fucked. That’s usually where a date ends.”
Shaking his head, he chuckled. “You have such a mouth on you.”
I gave him a cheeky wink. “Thanks for the compliment considering you haven’t had the pleasure of my oral skills yet.”
“I live in hope,” he mused. “As for your previous statement, this wasn’t a date; it was for a night of playing.”
“Although I’m pretty creative, I’m not sure I can come up with any more scenes for us to do with our lack of props.”
“I have an idea, if you’ll allow it.”
“As long as it doesn’t involve anything strenuous. I’m too full for that.”
“Give me two minutes.” William rose out of the bed and went into the bathroom. A few moments passed before I heard the sound of the water being turned on in the tub. Oh, damn, the man was drawing me a bath. No man had ever done anything like that for me. The best I’d ever gotten was sharing a postcoital shower where the guy couldn’t be bothered to wash me.
William appeared in the doorway of the bathroom. “The bath is ready if you are.”
I shook my head slowly from side to side. “I can’t believe you’re doing this.”
“You don’t want a bath?
“Yes. Of course, I do. It’s just no man has ever done something this…” I was going to say romantic, but I thought better of it. “Thoughtful.”
“You must’ve really dated some losers in your day.”
I snorted. “My small hometown doesn’t breed a lot of romantics, and then frat guys are the definition of douchebags.”
William leaned back against the doorframe. “Did your boyfriends ever know about you being a Domme?”
“No. I only worked at 1740 for five years, and three of those I was single. The two guys I dated during the other two years just knew I worked at a club.”
“They didn’t ever want to come with you to check it out?”
With a grin, I replied, “I told them it was a lesbian club.”
William chuckled. “Yeah, I guess that kept them away. Unless they were interested in a three-way.”
“Haha, exactly.” Throwing back the sheet, I padded barefoot across the carpet to join him.
I must’ve been limping slightly because William asked, “How’s your ankle?”