Page 41 of Master My Love

As Eric made his way out of the office, instead of passing the downtime room, he turned in, the scent of coffee practically calling to him. He poured himself an extra-large cup of caffeine. It wouldn’t do to doze off in the middle of new sub training, especially when that new sub was a petite, curvy blonde who was partly responsible for his lack of sleep this past week.

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EAGER TO SEE ERIC,Val returned to class on Monday. He worked over the weekend, but he’d called once, and they texted twice. In his last message, he informed her he had rearranged his schedule to be her partner for the hands-on portion of today’s lesson. When she arrived, she returned Julianna’s smile, avoided eye contact with Mistress Tara, and took her seat at the same table as before.

“Valerie. Master Eric asked that I give this to you.”

Several inches taller than Eric, Master Thomas loomed over her when standing. Seated, and with him so close, it strained her neck to look up at him. He handed her a folded sheet of paper then strode to the front of the class.

Val’s excitement quickly turned to disappointment when she read the note Eric had left.

Sprite,

Regrettably, I won’t be able to join you today. The timing is terrible, but the case I’ve been working on is heating up and is now at a critical stage. Be sure you pay attention to your instructors. Or we’ll have to have an encore performance of last week’s spanking. Except this time, I’ll acquaint you with a bondage table and a stingy little strap called the tawse.

When I return, I’ll expect you to play show-and-tell and bring me up to speed on what I missed.

Be a good girl for me until then.

He’d signed it with a flourish, using only his first initial.

Even though she’d never heard of atawseand didn’t fully understand the threat, she took it more like an invitation to be naughty.And why, at forty, did being called a good girl make her feel so giddy?

With him not there, she was able to focus on the agenda for the day, which included more safety precautions, including the club’s condom policy and the proper sanitization of equipment and tools. With the utilitarian topics out of the way, they got down to something more exciting, a presentation on the more popular BDSM toys. A rep from an adult boutique nearby brought in a bunch of specialty items—clamps, gags, and plugs—in so many shapes, sizes, and colors it was enough to make Val’s head spin. Eric had to know what was on tap for her third class, and his reference to show-and-tell made more sense. But the thought of telling, let alone showing one of those plugs, set her face on fire.

The vast variety of kinky toys made Val curious, and more than a little anxious, to learn what else Eric kept in his black bag than a paddle, flogger, and crop. A five-minute Q&A followed the presentation but wasn’t sufficient. The rep, dressed in a killer electric-blue leather corset dress, promised to stick around until after class. Val’s ears perked up hearing this. Not for the toys, but for the specially designed fetwear they sold.

Even though the girl was curvy like Val, she wasn’t constantly tugging up the neckline to keep from spilling out or pulling down the hem to keep her backside covered. And, with things heating up between her and the master dom, she needed to dress as well as he did.

After the presentation, they moved to the dungeon for a demonstration.

The lights were low except for a single spotlight illuminating a solitary station. As she and her classmates gathered around the velvet ropes, Val was shocked to see Mistress Tara bound to a tall wooden cross. Beside her stood her huge lumberjack-looking husband, who appeared to be waiting while Julianna laid out an array of implements on a nearby table, many of which they’d seen during the presentation minutes before. Once she was done, Samson called for silence from the whispering and excitingly tittering students.

“You are in luck, newbies,” he said in greeting, his voice booming throughout the mostly empty playroom. “Tara has presented us with the perfect opportunity to complete the objectives for today’s class, which is to introduce you to a wide range of impact implements. Because of her disobedience, you’ll get to see them applied in real time during her punishment session.”

A male student asked, “Isn’t Mistress Tara a domme?” It was obvious from his bright eyes and flushed cheeks he found the idea of the demanding mistress receiving her comeuppance titillating.

“Tara is a switch, which means she enjoys both dominance and submission. Until she met me, she had no idea she had submissive traits. As we explored our dynamic, it became clear that as a bisexual, she enjoyed topping females, but also had a deep-seated desire to submit to the authority of a man.”

Samson paused, letting that sink in before continuing.

“Tara, explain the circumstances that resulted in you being bound naked on a cross in front of your students?”

“I disobeyed your and Master Eric’s rules, sir.”

“Explain what rules you failed to follow.”

“I came on to one of the new students.”

A hum spread through the audience as they speculated over who. Many eyes shifted to Val, who said nothing, although her flushed face surely gave her away.

“The audience will remain silent,” he ordered without raising his voice, although it snapped with authority. “Anyone unable to do so will be escorted from the playroom.”

With his brawny arms crossed over his massive chest and a stern expression, he waited for compliance. In an instant, the only sound was the rush of the air-conditioning through the vents well above their heads. Not surprising; Samson was a big, scary guy.

His interrogation of Tara continued. “Why is this against the rules?”

“Because I come on too strong and scare the new subs away like frightened rabbits, sir.”

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