Unorthodox Therapy (18 page)

“Fine by me,” I said and took my hands off her seductive, warm body. Hopefully, I'd get to touch her thighs again soon. “Take your time and think about it, but I want you to call me tonight and let me know what you’ve decided. We'll talk in details if your answer is yes.”

“I guess I'd better get going then.” She slipped her feet into her high heels and got up from the chair. I understood her urgency to get away on an intellectual level but I hadn't expected to feel so disheartened.

We walked down the stairs together.

“Are you sure you don't want to eat something or at least take a shower? No offense, but you look like hell.”

“I'll be fine. I need to give your offer the time it deserves. And I can't think clearly when you're around.”

I decided not to comment on her last statement and sent her to the door. While she was leaving, I called after her with a cheeky smile.

“Bye, beautiful. Who knows, someday you may want to stay.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Lina

ChaosTech Solutions was buzzing with activity through the week. There were lively discussions on every corner, in the different break rooms, conference halls and departments. People started coming in at about 9am through the big elevator doors and rushed to their respective offices or cubicles. The beehive was coming to life with the first wave of arrivals. The earliest birds were the administrative assistants and accountants who typically worked until the end of business hours. The IT departments had a more flexible schedule. I'd given them the go-ahead to arrive and leave their place of work whenever they pleased, as long as they weren't slacking on their assignments. Plenty of them would show up at lunchtime, stay late and tie up any loose ends at the weekends.

Sometimes, their freedom provoked bitter remarks from some of the other office employees but it was expected. The success of the company depended on my engineers and it didn't cost me much to keep them as happy as possible.

Last year we had released a work schedule mobile app, a great way for me to keep tabs on the different projects and follow their progress. It helped me catch those who were slacking way too much. I believed in creative laziness but there were limits. I didn’t have cases of misconduct often. In spite of my heavy workload, I stayed true to my policy of always hand picking the people who would work for me. I guess I was doing something right since those who became my employees were efficient and passionate about their jobs. However, there were the occasional geniuses who thought they were too smart to work. I wasn’t a slave driver but a good leader needed to be familiar with all the levels of their organization. The IT specialists had enough freedom to apply their skills and ideas, they were well paid, and they kept to deadlines. It was a win-win situation.

This week would be challenging, though. During the Friday meeting, the representatives of our new client – a big media corporation – claimed they were satisfied with our business plan and happy with the quality assurance. One of their non-negotiable conditions was that we provided twenty-four seven support. Currently, we had support staff who operated and provided aid on different products from nine to five. I'd had to hire new people, invest time in their training and expand the office space. The real estate agent I'd spoken with a few weeks before insisted we needed to finally go over the construction plans of the buildings in progress. We were gaining new clients and activities so quickly at one point that an independent office building for ChaosTech Solutions was becoming a necessity rather than a luxury. Sometimes it amazed me how far we had come in less than a decade.

When I was through interviewing all the applicants and we’d expanded the IT Support department, ChaosTech Solutions would turn into a round-the-clock beehive. Meanwhile, I had other projects to consider and approve. The representatives of another big company had also showed interest in our products, and that would take serious research and pitching.

I loved my job and was proud of the successful working environment I'd established, but sometimes the early retirement option seemed awfully seductive. In reality, though, I'd probably be bored by the end of the first few days.

Whenever I expected my week to be such a nightmare, I would arrive at the office during the wee hours on Monday. There was no one there except the janitors going through their morning routines. The peace and quiet of the office was a balm to my anxious brain and a great way to recharge, but today, even the solitude at dawn couldn't give me the comfort I longed for.

I nodded at the cleaning lady who was wiping the floor in the break room. She was swaying to the rhythm of whatever she was listening to on her headphones. She looked fully focused on her activity, paying no attention to anything beyond her scope. I envied her for a moment since I could have used some focus myself. My brain was all over the place.

There was one more reason I had arrived at nearly 7am. Today would be my first day as Thomas's sex pet.

I walked to my office, unlocked and closed the door behind me with a sense of rising panic in my chest. Ever since my caffeine had kicked in, I hadn't stopped tormenting myself over the decision I’d taken. Why? Accepting his proposal made no sense and could lead to my personal and professional ruination. If anyone learned about our kinky little arrangement, I risked losing everything I’d spent years working on. Of course, sex scandals in the tech world were nothing unusual, and those involved didn't generally suffer serious career repercussions. The key difference was that I was a woman in a male dominated industry and people might not be so forgiving in my case.

It was much easier for Thomas. He could always say I coerced him into an unnatural relationship or that I promised him a promotion in exchange for sexual favors. He could even accuse me of blackmailing him. It wouldn't matter that I made the decision to advance his career long before our heated encounter. Perhaps Thomas really valued me and wouldn't throw me to the wolves just to save his ass, but life had taught me enough of the dirty side of human nature.

I crossed the distance between the door and the desk in small steps. Then I pressed my palms on top of it, trying to catch my breath and calm down. The urge to light a cigarette would resurface every now and then when fear became too intense. The craving faded away quickly since the welts on my ass would take some time to fully heal.

I sighed. The truth was no matter how advanced we were, how much we developed our intelligence and morals, most of the time we were primal in our reactions. Our survival instincts prevailed over the system of values, friendship or love. I'd give everyone a fair chance but never extended my trust to one hundred per cent. Most of the time, I’d give them enough rope and they’d hang themselves.

Hell, I didn't even fully trust in myself.

So why was I always willing to take such a huge leap of faith when it came to Thomas? First, when I’d hired him years ago, and now I'd decided to let him guide me through the scary world of submission? Once you gave someone such power, you had to be sure they wouldn't abuse it. Would Thomas resist the temptation?

He'd always have the upper hand and that was meant to drive any self-respecting control freak like me way out of my comfort zone.

Those reasonable arguments kept bouncing through my sore skull during the entire Saturday until I dialed Thomas's number with trembling hands. At first, the plan of calling him was to reject his offer, to tell him to play his games with someone else.

However, everything inside me froze at the thought that it would be all over with a simple ‘no’. I felt sad as I imagined him walking away and not attempting to dominate me again. What had happened in his 'dungeon', though, was not right from the moral point of view. Perhaps it went against women's rights and my life’s work. I’d been fighting for respect too long.

No other lover had made me feel so alive, relaxed and pleasured, though. It was the first time I’d been released from the pressure of a thousand worries, doubts, and fears. Thomas had pushed all the right buttons and allowed me only to feel regardless of any inhibitions. The rope he’d used to bind my wrists was nothing but an aiding device and the pain was just the other side of pleasure.

My sex life before that night had been like a series of gray sequences, sad cookie cutter images, laced with fake orgasms and others I’d achieved with great effort. I longed for more of what he could offer and my wish to quit smoking was a convenient excuse.

When I called Thomas on Saturday night, he sounded tense at first, as if he had spent the day just like I had, pacing back and forth with increasing anxiety. Once he got my consent, however, his voice went back to his signature mischievous tone. Without further ado, Thomas went ahead and explained the rules of our arrangement.

We would have no contract or written agreement but the rules were firm. For the next two months, I'd arrive every morning at exactly 7am, leave my office door unlocked and wait for him to enter, with my hands on the desk. Thomas insisted on a dress code, which was rather painful for me, given how much I loved setting up the schemes of my outfits. Luckily, he wasn't too specific and just insisted I wore skirts since, “a good pet always provides easy access”. Hearing those words provoked a familiar throb of longing through my clit. Dampness began to gather between my closed legs.

I’d hardly thought of him as a man a few days before, and now he could make me wet just with a phone conversation. His voice was sultry and brought memories of the night before – his warm breath on my neck, nails raking the curve of my ass...
Oh, snap out of it!
The lust had got to me again, and I had to make him break his rule of not repeating himself. Thomas laughed and said he'd have to punish me each time my attention took a day off.

I’d been on the pill for years and we’d both been tested recently during the annual company check up. There would be no need for us to use condoms, to my great pleasure. It felt so amazing to feel him without any barriers between us.

The rest of the weekend was spent entirely on research. My new ‘Master’ suggested I learned more about the lifestyle. He also sent me an excruciatingly long list of different fetishes and kink practices. When I opened the file on Sunday morning, I groaned and nearly gave up on the whole affair. It was fifteen pages, extensive and specific, covering every deviancy I'd ever heard of and so much more. There were things on there that I would never have even thought of to list as hard limits. At one point, I thought nothing could shock me more than ‘bondage with a tongue piercing attached to a nail on a tree’. After flipping the page, I nearly choked on the mineral water I'd been sipping. The next section was entitled
Impact Play
and some of its content completely destroyed my erotic mood. Knife play made my pulse quicken with worry, but when my gaze slid to electricity, cold sweat drenched my spine. Nausea rose all the way up my throat and I minimized the file so I wouldn't vomit in my mouth. It was just... too much.

Luckily, Thomas answered on the first dial. The little bastard must have had the time of his life listening to the horror in my shaking voice.

“Please, tell me you don't have any fantasies about cutting pieces of my flesh or electrocuting me.” I sounded shrill and panicky but that was how I felt. The items on the list had conjured up some very disturbing images of torn limbs, burnt smelling flesh, and permanent scars.

“Someone is fast at doing her homework.” He chuckled.

“Thomas, please! I don't want to go through any actual torture or suffer permanent injuries. This shit is fucking scary.” Now I was openly screaming, unable to stop myself, on the verge of hysteria.

“Lina, please, calm down.” Thomas's voice switched to a caring, concerned tone. It was stupid to be so terrified by mere words on a screen, but even the slight possibility he could turn out to be a cunning, violent sociopath made me flip my shit. “Sit down, rest your back on the chair and breathe, okay? One deep inhale and a slow exhale. Let the air out very slowly. Breathe.” Any other time I'd have been unhappy to be treated with such motherly concern, but his little trick had the necessary effect on me. As soon as I breathed out, some calmness filled my body as if the fear had leaked out. “Better?”

“Y-yes, I think so. Thomas, please, answer me.” My voice sounded coherent and pacified but with a pleading note to it.

“I'm filling in the same questionnaire as you, pet.” It was amazing how comforting his low voice was but still he didn't sound as if he was talking to a child who had woken from a nightmare. “You'll know my preferences soon enough. Just for your comfort, though, caning is about the most violent thing you'll experience with me. I am not into knife play myself, but even if I were was...” Thomas left a small pause then kept talking with a firmer tone. “As long as it's one of your hard limits, I'll never force you into it. I won’t get any pleasure if you're merely suffering and not gaining anything from this experience, so relax.”

“Then why... did you send me this?” I took a sip of my water and rested further against the chair, still a bit shocked but not as shaken as earlier.

“It's a standard questionnaire,” Thomas said. “I'm pretty good at recognizing my sub's feelings but I'm not a mind reader. I’ve got to know you and your fetishes, even if we only have a temporary agreement. Also, all the practices on the list can be incredibly arousing if they are done the correct way by a well trained top. You need to know every possible scenario before making a choice.”