FREEDOM OF CHOICE Dinner was finished. In spite of her master's orders not to let her thoughts stray too far, Anita felt her excitement growing as she cleared the remaining dishes from the table so she could join her master and their guests in the evening room. Her master had hinted at new possibilities this evening, and ever since she had greeted their guests, her mind and body had been abuzz with the potential import of his suggestion. Earlier, as Anita was finishing dressing, her master entered her bedroom suite and drawn her to him. "Do you know our guests for the evening?" he asked, the spice of his cologne entering her nostrils and immediately lighting up her erogenous zones. "You told me their names are Leo and Lisa," she answered him. "But I don't recall having met them before." "That's correct," he said, winking at her. "However, I have met them and can assure you you'll find them much to your liking. They already like you." "They do?" she said in surprise, before she had taken time to check herself. She was not supposed to ask questions unless explicitly permitted. He raised his eyebrow, noting the infraction, but not commenting upon it. It had been happening more and more lately, these slips of hers. She found herself expressing her thought with less regard for their mutual arrangement than she ever had before. It worried her slightly. Her master answered her question. "They have seen us together several times at theatre, and at the holiday ball last winter. They have both commented upon your beauty." She nodded, biting her tongue against the other questions that stacked up in her mind. He drew her closer. "They have both seemed very curious about our arrangement," he whispered, his moustache tickling her ear. "What do you mean?" she asked, again stepping over the line. "That's twice in only a few moments," he said, still holding her close. "I will have to spank your lovely bottom for that. I think our guests will enjoy that sight," he added with a slight smile. She burned to know more, but dared not question him again. And he changed the subject with a movement of his hand, which he ran up the bareness of her legs under her dress. "What underwear did you choose this evening?" The heat of his hand came to rest against her bottom. "Lace," he immediately said. "The black ones," she said. "To match my dress." He squeezed her bottom roughly. "Your mouth is careless tonight, my pet." "I'm sorry," she said quickly, though she really was not. She loved it when he handled her, and even as she apologized she felt her crotch tingling. "I wonder if you are," he mused, picking up on her thought. "Tell me, Anita: how long have you been in my service?" "Three years," she said at once, because she remembered the beginning as if it were yesterday. She remembered her amazement the first time she had visited the mansion, a little over three years ago. She remembered the smoldering intensity in her host's probing eyes. She remembered feeling drunk and dizzy with his power every time he placed himself next to her. A few days later she had been invited back and he had issued his invitation: would she choose to enter into a pact with him, a pact of mutual gain, in which her every need would be provided for in exchange for her submission to his will. The prospect immediately appealed to her. Who knows what a person might learn by surrendering herself? He had given her complete freedom of choice in her decision. His offer was hers to accept or not, the term of her service determined by mutual consent. At any time she or her master determined the arrangement was no longer mutually preferable, she would be free to go. But until such time, her submission to him was to be complete and unquestioning. Even now, three years later, Anita remembered with a quivering chill the moment she'd accepted his offer, how he had kissed her roughly, his moustache coarse against her face, then taken her there, from behind, on the cold marble of the foyer, piercing her with his fierce cock, unremittingly thrusting himself into her again and again. She had come three times before he had pulled her ass back against his ramming hips and exploded inside her. Anita remembered that moment not only because it was her first act as his slave, nor because of the furious consummation of their arrangement, but because it was the only time he had ever permitted her to come while he was inside her. She had known no end of pleasures under his hand these past years, no lack of satisfaction, but she missed that particular thing, that coming around a lover's cock. He would only say it was something he found distasteful. He had never permitted her to inquire any further. Little matter, she reminded herself, flicking the thought away with a blink of her eye. She had spent the past three years happier than most, even if many would find it difficult to understand why. "Three years," echoed her master, insinuating a finger between her legs, probing at the exact spot the lace formed a last pliant defense over her entrance. He felt the moisture that had gathered on the fabric and said, "Three years and still your body betrays your thoughts." "My thoughts are not hidden from you," she said, knowing it would please him. It did, and he rewarded her with a quick flick upwards, grazing the hot button of her clit roughly before withdrawing his hand. "And yet, still your mind wanders more than it once did. Do you disagree?" "No." To which he shocked her by responding, "Then you may find this evening full of possibilities you haven't considered in a long time." "Possibilities?" she asked. He answered her with a slight curl of his lip. "You will still be disciplined for your transgressions, my pet. And I expect your customary comportment." "Yes," she had replied simply, and as she had followed him from the room to await their guests' arrival, she had promised herself to keep her thoughts in order, and to not dwell on the notion of "possibilities" to the point of further distraction. She bore great pride in reflecting well upon her master. Leo and Lisa had arrived a short time later. They were young and beautiful, and a jolt shot through Anita the moment she opened the door. Leo was richly attired--in the manner that her master's guests always were--but his gorgeous sandy hair fell in cascades to his shoulders, his blue eyes flashed ice and fire all combined, and his high cheekbones, the sculpted turn of his jaw, and the aquiline precision of his nose bespoke some proud and ancient history, a warrior's heart, a prince's blood. Anita found no words of greeting would come to her, so she inclined her head and swept her arm in a gesture of invitation, and as they thanked her and entered, she saw herself reflected in Leo's eyes, saw the heat that licked her twin reflections as he paused before her, drinking her in. The tight motion of his Adam's apple indicated that what he had drunk had only increased his thirst. It caught Anita's breath short even as she kept her face impassive and led the guests towards the living room. It wasn't until she had brought drinks for the couple that Anita took any real notice of the woman, who could not match her date's radiance--few, men or women, could--but was striking nonetheless. Her hair was raven black, nearly waist length, without any hint of wave or curl. She was Anita's height--five feet seven inches tall--but her two-inch heels made her look nearly as tall as her companion, who was somewhere just south of six-feet. Her blouse dipped in deep Vs back and front, showing off a long, straight back and, in front, inviting the eye to linger on the fine line of her breasts. She had wide, fascinated eyes, that took in her rich surroundings eagerly, as if she were searching for some kind of sign for what the evening held in store. Anita knew that look. It was the look her own face had betrayed on her first visit to the mansion. In fact, there was much about this woman who stood before her and gratefully accepted her proffered drink that reminded Anita of herself. Or, more precisely, a younger version of herself. Anita was only recently thirty, but this woman was no more than a few years past twenty. She still retained the last vestiges of adolescent angularity that by Anita's age had smoothed themselves fully into the subtle shapes of womanhood. Her hair was straighter and a shade blacker than Anita's, and her features a bit sharper. Her breasts, though not as large, obviously held their shape more than Anita's now did. Noticeable differences, to be sure. No one would mistake them for sisters. But still, the resemblance was not lost on Anita. Her master had joined them in the room, full of the same truculent power that was the crux of his attraction and intimidation. His linebacker's build was clearly visible within the array of his finely tailored jacket, his deep-set eyes sizing up people in an instant, meeting them with a mixture of welcome and challenge, his black hair gone over to salt-and-pepper, but his thick moustache still pure black, everything about him swarthy and powerful and more than a little dangerous. Anita observed the way Lisa's lip trembled when her master first took her hand and held her with his gaze. Yes, it was a feeling Anita recalled intimately, and she felt another hearkening twinge in her gut. She noticed as well that when her master turned to greet Leo, the young man showed no signs of intimidation. He met the master's probing gaze with equal strength. Leo. The lion. Maybe Anita loved him a little bit for that. The four of them had settled in the living room over drinks. Anita's master was a man of strongly-held opinions and it wasn't long before he and Leo were engaged in a lively debate, and Anita noted with interest that Leo had no hesitation to differ with her master and to argue strongly for his own point of view. Anita and Lisa sat together on a divan in what amounted to silence, observing. Anita observed Leo and Lisa, and Lisa observed only the master. She seemed more than a little overwhelmed, and Anita was unable to speak much comfort since she was charged with speaking only when spoken to. Anita, therefore, found herself stroking Lisa's forearm, resting her fingers along the back of the younger woman's hand, in an attempt to soothe her. Whatever took place within the walls of the mansion would be by everyone's mutual consent. Despite her master's great and menacing power, he was first of all fair and just. Anita wasn't sure why she felt so strongly that Lisa should understand, but Lisa seemed more at ease after Anita's gentle petting. After drinks, they had moved to dinner, which Anita served before joining them at table, always mindful to keep wineglasses filled, and after dinner she cleaned the table as her master led the young couple to another room farther back in the mansion. She carried the last of the dishes to the kitchen and again found that her mind had wandered to Leo. She had been only more charmed by him through dinner, and had she imagined it, or had Leo directed a great deal of his attention to her? She found a strange hope growing, but no--her master had never shared her with another man. Displayed her for other men, yes. Had her demonstrate her many talents and charms for other men, yes--she loved all of these things and they turned her on fiercely. But he had never shared her. Now dinner was finished. The evening's preliminaries, she was sure, had concluded, and things were about to get more interesting. She thought about Leo and Lisa. She thought about possibilities. She struggled not to drench her crotch lace with her anticipation. She put the last of the plates in the kitchen and hurried off to join her master and their guests in the evening room. The evening room. That's what her master euphemistically called it. There was no doubt upon entering it what the room was used for. There were cushions of all shapes along the floor. There was a chair with soft cuffing restraints on the arms and legs, as well as a raised table that not only could be used to restrain a person at different points, but that also was easily configurable to present a restrained person in all manner of positions. In one corner was a strappy sling designed to hold a person and mold like a hammock around the body. Anita was intimately familiar with all of these furnishings. She had known every position the table could hold, had been restrained there sometimes for entire evenings at a time, driven nearly mad by her master's periodic, almost afterthought attentions, a light caress here, a fingernail raked across her skin there. Sometimes a fluttering tickle with one of the large feathers from the end table or something more sinister, licks from the leather-tailed flogger he kept on the mantle. Sometimes he brushed her with them in an almost tender way, but even then her skin tensed to gooseflesh at the cold tautness of the leather, knowing he could at any time decide to turn up the heat and smack her hard enough to make her bite her lip to keep from gasping, hard enough to sting the moisture into both her eyes and her cunt, and leave long red aftermarks on her fair skin. Arrayed throughout the rest of the room, on walls and shelves and in drawers, were erotic accoutrements of all flavors: explicit oil paintings, books of art and smut, primitive fertility sculptures shaped like penises and flowering pussies. If one opened the many drawers and cabinets in the room, one would find all manner of dildos, vibrators, balls, plugs and implements. Anita appreciated many aspects of the room, some more than others. She liked the creativity the pillows on the floor afforded, allowing her to be propped in nearly any position and still be comfortable. She liked being secured to the table, especially when her master arrayed her for the appreciation of their guests, her ass raised in proffer, her legs held open wide enough for them to catch glimpses of her flowering labia. She liked exploiting the little bit of movement her restraints allowed her to tantalize her audience with tiny movements of her hips. But she probably liked the corner sling the best. In its way it was the simplest of all the furnishings, but when she was in it she could imagine she was floating, the feathery touch of leather and air all over her body. She was open and floating, and when she felt her master's cock teasing her entrance, it was as if she had come from across the universe to dock with her mate. When they fucked like that Anita moved easily through the air in response to his penetrations. Sometimes he would lunge against her with such force that she would fly literally off the end of his cock, only to plunge back down upon it on the return swing. That flying, vacant yearning followed by the sudden violent refilling was something she liked very much. It was the hardest duty of all to withhold her orgasm, to avoid coming like that, to let her pleasure have its way and hold him inside her until she had undone herself around his cock. But it was the one pleasure he would not permit, and so she would hold on until he had emptied himself inside her and withdrawn, and then he would find another way to pleasure her until she cried out in climax. She permitted herself a single small sigh at the want. She observed her guests as she made her way into the room. Leo was studying one of the fertility sculptures with an inscrutable expression on his face. Lisa, on the other hand, was pacing about the room, trying to take in everything, and Anita saw, as Lisa passed by the restraining table, that Lisa's fingers reached out to quickly brush one of the soft cuffs. Anita went to her master. When she arrived at his side he took his eyes off Lisa and cleared his throat. "By mutual consent, the longstanding arrangement between Anita and myself permits her certain behavior and proscribes others. When Anita commits a violation, certain punishments are in order." He turned to her. "Anita, you were out of order before our guests arrived. Would you care to explain the offense?" Anita smiled briefly. Despite his gruff demeanor, Anita wasn't threatened by her master's manner. She knew him too well to think that true cruelty was in his nature. He was showing off for their guests. She thought she knew why. "I questioned you when I was under instructions to only speak when spoken to," she answered him in a clear voice, wanting to show off, as well. "It was a trifling offense," her master said to their guests, who looked on with measured interest. Leo betrayed nothing more than if he were watching a casual sporting event. Lisa's eyes conveyed an intense interest. "Ordinarily I might have let it slide. But since you are special guests, I decided I would take the opportunity to show you a bit of the relationship between a master and his slave. Perhaps you will find it to be of interest," and as he said this Anita thought she caught her master's eyes flicking towards Lisa. The merest flash of intent. And hunger. Anita suddenly felt the lacy design of her panties lying like hot wires against her flesh. She tried to refrain from adjusting her posture to relieve some of the heat she felt encasing her crotch and bottom. Her master would most certainly frown upon seeing her squirm too soon. He turned to her. "Anita, walk to the end of the sofa." She did as instructed, well practiced in this performance. She walked until she was facing the large rounded arm of the sofa. Her back was to the other three. She waited there. "Anita, would you like for our guests to watch while I discipline you?" "Yes," she said, biting her lip to avoid adding, "I would like that very much." The slave must never indicate too much eagerness to submit. It undermines the master's illusion of power. "Very well," he master said, sounding satisfied. She thought she could detect the beginnings of arousal in his voice. She had become a very accomplished listener over the years. She could read things in her master's voice even he had no idea he conveyed. He said, "I'm going to choose an implement. While I do I would like for you to raise your dress above your hips, so that our gusts may observe the subtleties of your form before you become too... engrossed." Anita slowly raised her skirt, acutely aware of the eyes on her, and of the feathery hush of the fabric against her legs as it slid upwards. She knew how best to execute this action, not so quickly that it was without ceremony, nor so slowly that she was like a common whore groping for extra effect. But smoothly, gracefully, like a curtain rising on live theater. She felt the cooler air of the room mixing with the heat on her skin as the skirt came up above her thighs, and then she felt the cool kiss of air on her crotch as she gathered the skirt around her waist and stood still again, her legs and the black lace underwear that concealed her darker charms now on display for the room to see. She could hear the mixture of Leo and Lisa's breathing as they took in the sight of her, her bare legs, the swan's-necked suggestion of muscle beneath the skin of her calf, the gentle flaring of her thighs into the beginning of her bottom. Anita knew the power of her body. She knew her form was pleasing not because it was perfect but because she claimed it as her own and loved it. People recognized her complete comfort with her natural shape and responded with fascination and desire to be closer to her. That is why, despite a little extra thickness in her thighs and a little extra fullness in her buttocks, she would not be judged as anything but enviable by Leo and Lisa. She knew that Lisa studied her with fascination, and she knew Lisa was seeing what she wanted to become, even though her body was the more classically perfect of the two. But what she was more fully aware of was the heat of Leo's eyes. She heard the desire creep into Leo and Lisa's breathing, and she felt Leo's eyes on her as surely as if they were his fingers. Oh, how she longed to move her hips for him, to beckon him closer with her body language. "Be patient," she counseled herself. "Be aware of the possibilities." Then her master spoke from across the room, at the cabinet where he stored his favorite floggers. "I can't decide on the most appropriate instrument. Lisa, would you please give me a hand?" "Of course," said Lisa with a catch in her voice. There was a large mirror on one wall and through it Anita could see Lisa arrive at her master's side. Now it was just Leo looking at her. She couldn't help it. She felt her glutes clench momentarily, trying to clamp around something that was only there in her desires. She heard Leo's intake of breath, as if he were imagining along with her, as if he had felt the warm clenching where he desired to feel it. Oh, boy. If her master were not so engrossed with Lisa and the selection process, he would have been so livid he might have sent her to her room to spend the rest of the evening alone, with no more attention whatsoever. Fortunately he *was* engrossed, as she could surreptitiously observe in the mirror. He was placing different possibilities in Lisa's hand, explaining the different properties of paddles and straps and things that licked the skin versus things that bit the skin. After a moment he said in a rather more stentorian voice, "I'll leave it to you to decide for me, Lisa. Tell me: if you were in Anita's position, which of these would you wish to feel by my hand?" Anita saw the younger woman flush and look at her feet. Lisa said, "Oh, I don't think I could--" "Surely you have an opinion?" her master said in a chiding tone. "Surely you must favor one over the rest? One that would cause you to respond in a way the others would not?" When Lisa still struggled to answer, Leo interjected himself into the discussion. "Come on, Lisa," he said, a hint of bemusement in his voice. "This is the kind of thing you've always talked about." Lisa flushed still brighter but finally raised her eyes to survey the selection. After a long time she reached out a trembling hand and touched a leather-handled flogger with five wide tresses made of soft suede. "This one," she said at last. "A most refined choice," replied the master with a chuckle. "Tell me, Lisa: what is it about this one that appeals to you?" He took it off the shelf and swung it experimentally. Anita could see Lisa watching the suede tongues licking through the air. Even in the mirror she could read the look on her face, a burning curiosity to know what they would feel like against her skin. Lisa glanced at Leo and he must have nodded encouragingly because she answered, "I, I think it might not sting... too much." "Ah," said the master. "You mean, it would sting just the right amount?" Lisa flushed and looked down again. "Yes," she said. "Well," said the master with another approving glance at her, "perhaps. Even a benign trainer such as this one can be too much if not administered by a practiced hand. Do you think I would administer it with a practiced hand, Lisa?" "Yes," said Lisa again. "You are full of promise," he answered, then turned to Anita, who had nearly forgotten that it was she who was going to be the object of this little demonstration. But the implications of what had passed and what was coming surged in her as soon as her master set his foot in her direction. "Leo," said her master as he approached. "Has Anita comported herself appropriately while I was distracted across the room?" "Perfectly," answered Leo without hesitation, even though Anita knew he had observed her small movements with great interest. Not many men would have had the temerity to lie to her master in the heart of his own domain, but Leo appeared impervious to it all. "Oh," thought Anita, "how I want to show well for him. And for Lisa, so she will see in me the accomplishment of a thing she can only guess at." Her master had arrived at her rear. "Anita," he said, "please lean forward, over the arm of the sofa." Anita immediately complied, trapping her gathered skirt against the arm so that it remained raised up along the small of her back. She leaned over the arm of the sofa until her cheek rested against the rough texture of the seat cushion. Now she was well presented to her master and his audience. She welcomed the pressure of the furniture against her body, especially her hips. She dared not move herself against it, but she still appreciated the firm presence. The lace of her panties was stretched even more tightly against the raised shape of her ass. She wondered if her master would have her remove them at any point. Then all stray thoughts were chased from her mind as her master swiftly let the first blow fall. She bit her lip to avoid crying out at the sudden stinging lash across her bottom and upper thighs. It hadn't been a hard blow, nor even very painful, but Anita was stifling cries deeper than mere pain. She was expected to show some restraint. As her master warmed to his task, she would allow herself to make some sounds, but for now it was important to her that she remain as stoic as possible. She wanted Lisa to wonder at her abilities. Smack! came the second blow. And smack! the third. Anita flinched as the tingling heat spread across the slopes of her bottom. Her master was swinging the flogger with more precision than force. Still, the width of its ribbons made a satisfying smack that sounded much more impressive than it felt. There had been times when her master had chosen devices and used them in such a way that she had truly wept at the pain, and fierce red streaks had remained on her skin long after he was finished, but those times had been few and far between. Much more common was the kind of flogging he was administering now: an invigorating combination of pleasure and pain that inspired them both. Yet another reason Anita thought of her master as not truly a cruel man. He delivered a few more lashes, slightly more intense, which allowed Anita the liberty of gasping audibly and wiggling to absorb the blows. Tears played just at the edges of her eyes, but she was in her element now, making a good subject, a practiced submissive, making her master proud. And, she hoped, impressing their audience. She had lost the heat of Leo's hungry eyes in the fire her master had lit across her backside. She was just wondering if her master was going to ask her to spread her legs so that some of the blows might fall farther in between, the wicked suede tongues snapping smartly against her pussy, when he said, "Well, Lisa, what do you think? You've been observing keenly. Is this the right instrument for the evening?" "Oh," said Lisa, "yes." "Perhaps," suggested Anita's master, "you would like to wield it yourself for a few tries." "Oh," said Lisa, "I don't know if I could." "Of course you could! Anita wouldn't mind at all, would you, my pet?" "Not at all," Anita assured them, her jaw rubbing against the seat cushion's fabric as she spoke. "There you go," said her master, his voice full of mirth. He was enjoying himself immensely this evening. More than Anita could remember him enjoying himself in a long while. Come to think of it, Anita was enjoying herself more than she had enjoyed herself in a long while, as well. Had things gotten stale without her realizing it? "Here," said her master to Lisa. "Close your fingers around it like this. That's right. Not too tightly. Now, please, make use of the delectable target Anita has made available to you." Anita waited expectantly, twice interested to see what Lisa would do. She heard the younger woman approach her. "Go on," said her master after long moments of nothing. When Lisa was still unable to swing the flogger, her master said, "Go on," in a more authoritative tone, and Lisa responded immediately, raising the flogger and bringing the tresses down across Anita's proffered backside. The suede strips made a dull flapping sound as they slashed across Anita's lace panties, but she hardly felt it. Lisa had been far too gentle. "Surely you can do better than that," said her master, and Lisa brought the flogger down again, harder this time, but still not enough to make an impression on Anita. The feathery passing of the suede on her electrified skin was pleasant the way a whisper of breeze is pleasant on a still summer day, but what you really wish for is a good strong wind. "Perhaps," said her master, in his mock puzzled tone, "you don't find Anita... inspirational... enough. Perhaps you prefer her fully exposed rather than ineffectively concealed by her lacy underthings. Why don't you remove them, Lisa dear?" "Lisa's got her hands full with the whip," Leo interjected, bringing a slight smile to Anita's face that Leo didn't know the difference between a whip and a flogger. Leo continued, "Why don't you let me remove them?" "Of course," replied her master, his voice oddly hesitant. Anita could only guess at what was going through his mind. No one had ever dared suggest such a thing. The rare times her master had ever permitted anyone else to touch her, it had been at his initiation, on his terms. Now here was someone taking matters into his own hands, and more amazing still, her master acquiescing. Then she felt fingers on her waist and she knew with a rush of adrenaline that they were not the fingers of her master. They were longer, softer-skinned yet radiating strength. Leo's fingers. Leo's hands. Touching her. She felt a fresh infusion of wetness between her legs. Leo was now slipping his fingers beneath the lace. Three fingers on each side of her got between the elastic band of her underwear and her skin. Leo lingered about his business, pulling the fabric languidly away from her hips and down over her buttocks. He must have been kneeling or squatting behind her. She felt a ghost of his breath on her skin. She had to raise her hips away from the arm of the sofa to allow him to slip her underwear free, and she wondered if his face was now very close to her. Close enough perhaps to taste the honey between her legs. Close enough that he might lose himself and dive for her wetness with his mouth, drive his tongue so deeply into her inner folds that his nose would bump up against her asshole. But then the underwear were free and she was compelled to lower herself again over the arm of the sofa. As he lowered her underwear, his fingers stayed in contact with her skin, and he even added his thumbs around back, so that as he slid the undergarment away from her hips his fingers traced the outline of her hips and the swell of her ass. Down curled his thumbs, to the junction of ass and thigh, so close to the ardor between her legs that she was sure he could feel her heat. Perhaps. He gave her two tiny probing thrusts with his thumbs before he pulled the panties away, but they were only against the interior skin of her thighs and didn't come close to the bullseye she wished he would hit. Leo maintained contact with his fingers all the way down Anita's legs--she giggled silently when his thumbs traced over the sensitive backs of her knees--and she reluctantly lifted her feet to step out of them when he had reached the floor. "Are you always so thorough, Leo?" her master queried as Leo stepped away again. "She's a lovely woman," said Leo. "Indeed," replied her master, inscrutably. Anita had taken advantage of stepping out of her underwear and placed her feet a little bit farther apart on the floor. There was no doubt now, as she felt the cool air and the eyes of her companions wash over her, that her pussy was now visible as a shadowed crescent in the high arch of her hips. The memory of Leo's fingers was etched along the lengths of her legs as surely as the memory of the flogger's tresses lived in her tingling backside. "Now then, Lisa," said her master, apparently having no further comment on Leo's impudent skimming of Anita's underwear, "you may continue assisting me with Anita's punishment." "Yes," said Lisa, and it sounded to Anita as if she nearly added, "Master," before bringing the flogger down again across Anita's now-bare ass. It was a more forceful blow that the others, and Anita responded immediately to the delicious nip of suede across her unadorned skin. She eagerly awaited Lisa's rising to the occasion, she drew in her breath at the expectation of the next blow landing so smartly that the sound would be drawn involuntarily from her throat, just as the moisture was drawn simultaneously into her eyes and into her cunt. But her expectation was unfulfilled and all her anticipation for naught as the next blow landed lamely across the tops of her thighs. "Oh, dear," said her master gravely, and though Anita was disappointed she was not surprised. She had known from the moment she first set eyes on her that Lisa yearned to be a submissive. She had no taste for the dominant role, and as her master spoke, Anita heard in his voice that he had suspected this as well, and she knew that his asking Lisa to flog her had merely been a test to confirm his suspicion. "Now Lisa," he said sternly. "I'm afraid you failed to help me discipline Anita for her earlier indiscretion. I was counting on you and you disappointed me." "I'm sorry," said Lisa meekly. "What happened?" he asked her. "I don't know," said Lisa. "I'll tell you what I saw," said Leo, as always interjecting himself at a point that Anita knew should make her master furious. "Do tell," said the master, sounding fully annoyed. "She was distracted," explained Leo. "She couldn't concentrate because she couldn't keep her mind off of what it might be like to be on the other end of that, er, thing." Perhaps her master had had enough of Leo's insouciance. He startled Anita when he retorted, "Then let's put that theory to the test. Lisa, give me the flogger. Walk behind Anita and raise your skirt just as she did earlier." Nothing like this had ever happened before. Her master had never turned his will on one of his guests, whether she was a companion or a slave like Anita. Their arrangement had always been exclusive. Anita's head swam with the possible implications, and before she knew it she felt the fabric of the other woman's silk skirt brushing against her legs as she stood behind her and complied with her master's order. Her master whistled. "Oh, my. Look at that bit of naughtiness. Leo, tell me, do you often let her go about in public with nothing on underneath her skirts?" "I have no control over how she dresses," said Leo. Her master was close now. "No?" he said, his voice suddenly low and husky. "Perhaps she needs more direction in her life." "Perhaps she does," Leo agreed. "Although it's not my style." "Although," her master went on, as if he hadn't heard Leo, "she does have considerable assets that are worthy of proper display." Suddenly Lisa gasped and Anita knew that sound. Her master was touching Lisa, admiring her bottom with his hand, feeling the way it was pliant yet firm beneath his touch in a way Anita's had years ago ceased to be. "If you were mine," said her master, now stepping back, "you would submit to punishment for traipsing about with no underwear like a common whore. You would follow Anita's lovely example and present yourself for me." It had not been a direct order. He had no such authority over Lisa, but Lisa was apparently too enthralled to resist. Indeed, Anita was sure she had no impulse to resist. Lisa pressed herself tightly against Anita's legs and backside, and stretched to mold herself as closely as possible to Anita's position. Anita was certain this was not precisely what her master had intended. Lisa was acting out of naivete, but the effect was very intriguing. Lisa's bare flesh touched Anita's bare flesh all the way up the lengths of their long legs to their midsections, where Anita could feel the wiry abrasion of Lisa's pubic hair ground against her ass cheeks. Further up, their bodies were separated by the fabric of their clothing, but Lisa remained formed as closely to Anita as possible. Anita felt Lisa's breasts flattening against her back as the younger woman flexed herself into the position she thought the master wanted. She struggled a bit at the end and instinctively Anita reached up and grabbed Lisa's hands and pulled her down so that the two women lay in conjoined arches. Lisa's face was buried at the nape of Anita's neck. Anita felt her moist, ragged breath hot against her skin. Her master cleared his throat. Anita knew that Lisa had involuntarily presented him with an unexpected delight. His spirits must have been restored. "So very willing, eh, Leo? I think both of our women are looking splendid this evening." "They are both splendid at any time," said Leo. "Well said!" boomed the master. "Well, this is not an opportunity to pass up. Would you like to do the first honors, Leo?" "Thanks, no," Leo answered. "Not my cup of tea." "But you're happy to watch, eh?" the master chuckled. "As we've agreed, the women are lovely." "Very well, then. Lisa!" The woman startled against Anita as the master called her name. "This is for failing to comply with my request to carry out a proper disciplining of Anita, as well as your wanton lack of attire. If you were Anita right now I'd select a more severe implement for the double transgression, but since you know only some of what you do, I will stick with the one you told me earlier would be the one you would want used on you. Now." Lisa trembled against Anita as she waited for the coming blow. Anita squeezed the younger woman's hands in comfort. "Ah!" cried out Lisa as the first lash fell across her bottom. She bucked her pubic bone against Anita and thrashed about, clenching Anita's hands painfully. Anita could hardly contain her delight. She had felt vestiges of the tresses licking her own skin and knew that her master had employed a laughably mild amount of force. And yet, here was Lisa, crying out as if she had been tortured. But as the spasm passed her body, Anita felt Lisa's grinding against her backside, and she knew that Lisa was feeling the arousal that rode the coattails of pain. Smack! Again the suede striped across Lisa's ass, and again Lisa cried out and shook, though perhaps not as dramatically as the first time, even though Anita could feel her master had used a bit more force. Anita was impressed that it had only taken one blow for Lisa to begin to pull the pleasure through the pain. Lisa's hips ground against Anita more urgently. Anita knew she would have to learn the art of restraint, but this was her first time. She could be permitted her flailing and grinding. Besides, Anita was welcoming the movement. She enjoyed the feeling of Lisa fucking against her ass. It transported her briefly back to a more innocent time, as a teenager, with her first boyfriend, when she was still a virgin, and one night she let him mount her from behind and slide his brilliantly hard teenaged cock in the groove of her cheeks until with a startled cry he spurt his seed along the length of her back. Of course, with Lisa there was no pilaster of flesh splitting her in half. It was a dickless fuck, with only the sensation of Lisa's cunt hair sliding against her to suggest the place where a cock should be. Still, Lisa was thrusting hard enough in reaction to each suede-tongued lick to push Anita more directly against the arm of the sofa, and with only a slight rearranging (which went quite unnoticed beneath all of Lisa's frenzied thrashing), Anita was able to direct her clit against the fabric's texture. Lisa's breath was coming in rough gasps now, and the tears that fell from her eyes wet the nape of Anita's neck. But close as they were, Anita could hear the passion embedded in Lisa's every whimper. Smack! sounded the flogger again, and again Lisa drove Anita's clit against the rolled sofa arm when she thrust her hips against Anita's ass. Lisa was now bucking rhythmically, not just in reaction to the flogger, but in time with her own building arousal. Anita grasped the other woman's hands more tightly, pulling her a little closer, as another loud crack of the flat ribbons against Lisa's ass drove her home again. The master was working her now, seeing her arousal, and he was directing his blows lower between her legs, lighter but more targeted, and with the next blow Anita felt one of the tresses snake all the way down to lick wickedly at her own pussy before snapping away again. A small orgasm shimmered through Anita then. Not one to match the arousal that had been building all night, but a light frisson that made her toes twinkle like early stars. She was too disciplined to betray any sign of so light a climax, but she was able to enjoy its delicate creaminess through the master's final two blows against Lisa's now-toasted bottom. Lisa continued to wiggle against her until the master said, "Lisa, your bottom is too delicate for me to continue any longer right now. Please rise. And you too, Anita." The two women did as he instructed, allowing their skirts to fall back below their waists. As she faced him, Anita felt again the full force of Leo's presence. He had clearly not taken his eyes off of her. The master said, "Lisa, you are unproven, yet you entice me. I haven't encountered a woman with your proclivities since I met Anita some years ago." He turned to Leo. "You knew her desires, did you not?" "Let's say I suspected," said Leo, taking his acetylene eyes off Anita only long enough to answer the master's question with a slight smile. "I imagine it would be hard to miss. And yet, she is so untested. Have you no interest in such an unusual woman?" "I believe her desires run more to your tastes than to my own." "I see. Is that why you brought her here tonight?" "It was she who asked to come." "Indeed?" said the master, raising an eyebrow. He turned to Lisa. "And tell me, dear. Have you discovered what you hoped to find?" "I am... intrigued," she answered. The master roared with laughter. "Intrigued! Lisa, my pet, you are precious." He chuckled mirthfully for another moment before turning his attention to Anita. "And you, Anita, how do you rate Lisa's potential?" "She seems to have superb qualities," said Anita at once. "Indeed," said the master again, as if this settled something. He surveyed the group. "Perhaps Leo and I should have a game of billiards and a discussion. Anita, please take Lisa to your chambers. Both of you have become quite disheveled and could use a bath. And Anita, Lisa will be tender from her discipline, so treat her soothingly." "Yes," said Anita. She took Lisa's hand to lead her in the direction of her bedroom suite. "And Anita," said her master as they prepared to leave, "have you deduced what it is I intend to discuss with Leo?" "I think I have." "Are you willing to discuss this matter with Lisa?" There it was. The offer made as certainly as if he'd presented her with a written proposal. She smiled at him. "I will ponder the possibilities and discuss them with her." He returned her smile, and it was full of the affection he usually reserved for their quieter private moments together. The smile that expressed the true way he felt about her, beyond and beneath the terms on which they conducted their relationship. "Very well," he said. Anita led Lisa from the room, steadying Lisa's tremulous footfall, acutely aware of her master's eyes evaluating Lisa, and Leo's eyes on her, beckoning her closer even as she had to take her leave of him.