Chapter Five

Mason closed his laptop and shut down the projector machine. He’d just wrapped up one of the most expensive accounts of his career to date. He had been working on the Bankman and Prat account for months, and all those nights and long hours at the office were finally about to pay off.

His head snapped up when a brief knock sounded at the door stopping him from leaving the conference room. “Hey, man. I’m heading over to Sublime tonight. Am I going to see you there?” Bradley asked entering the room.

It had been a week since Stella gave him the tour around the club. He ended his Friday night doing paperwork in her office. Not the way he imagined he would spend his evening, but he understood safety and the reasons they ran background checks and blood tests on all their members. People in public positions went to places like Sublime because those clubs were known for their discretion. It’s the one place they could have their sex lives in the open and let their freak flag fly, with the comfort of knowing they were safe from the public eye.

Mason leaned back against the conference table bracing his hands on the sides behind him. He told Stella he would be willing to give the training a try but after having a few days away to think about it, the more he wanted to talk himself out of it.

“I’m not sure about all this. I mean, Stella’s talking like I need to get a Dominant or something? I don’t think I’m into that, man. Don’t get me wrong, the thought of her climbing over the top of me and bossing me around is hot as hell. But I don’t think that’s what she has in mind at all. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let someone leash me and parade me around the room for everyone to stare and ogle like I’m some kind of pussy.”

“No one’s going to pull you along on a leash. Angel said not everyone is like that. It’s about doing what’s comfortable for you. I think you should at least give it a try. Plus, every Dominant is trained this way. Master Cullen said all Dominants start off by being a submissive. He says you need to be willing to go through what others would be going through at your hands. You need to know firsthand what everything feels like. I look at it like all this will make me a better Dominant in the end,” Bradly said making his way over to the door.

“It might work for you, but I’m not so sure. I mean, it’s hot as hell and I’m turned on from the minute I walk through the doors, but I’m not sure if that life is for me. I don’t want to be a Dom.”

“All right.” Bradly held his hands in midair stopping the conversation. “I’m heading over there tonight. I rented a private room for the weekend. I’d like to say I’ll see you there, but I understand if you can’t go through with it.”

Bradly paused at the door to look back at his friend. “If you’re not going to do this, then at least promise me you will find another way to release all that built-up stress. Stella’s right. You’re too young to be this uptight. You’re my best friend, and I don’t want to see you have a heart attack before you’re fifty. Just think about it.”

Bradly left the room, heading in the direction of his office. Mason stood there for a long moment with Bradly and Stella’s words running wild through his mind. His body ached to return to the club. He had grown curious wondering what Stella would be able to do for him. Another part of him wasn’t sure he could let go of the control she expected him to give up.

Bradly had been right about the amount of stress he lived with. Being CFO of one of the largest investment companies in Seattle didn’t allow for too much down time. Not that he would have taken it anyway. He controlled multimillion dollar accounts. His availability had to be twenty-four hours a day, every day. He had to be the man everyone turned to when a problem arose. Hell, he was the man they all turned to even when there weren’t any problems.

Saying he felt a bit stressed out was an understatement. He basically lived at his office for Christ’s sake. Clean suits hung in his closet just for the nights he never made it home. Lord knows there had been quite a few of those nights in the last six years. Which brought him to another point.

He had no business starting something he didn’t have the time or the energy to dedicate a hundred percent of his time to. He lived by the motto something worth doing is worth doing right. If he couldn’t give Stella what she asked for, then why do it at all? He promised her one day a week, not sure he could pull off even that small amount. It wasn’t fair of him to waste either one of their times.

Besides, he blamed feeling drunk with lust and desire for Mistress Stella, as the reason he agreed to meet with her. While she had guided him through the halls of Sublime, he could think of nothing he wanted more than to give her what she asked for. The urge to please her consumed him. Now that he returned back to thinking clearly, he knew he would only be doing her a favor by breaking their contract.

With confirmation in mind, he needed to have a conversation with Stella. He needed to tell her he didn’t have the ability to follow through with their agreement. He picked up his phone to send her a text explaining that he had changed his mind and saw a received message waiting on the screen. It must have come through when his phone had been placed on silent during his meeting. The message came from a number he didn’t have previously stored in his phone.

Hope you don’t change your mind about tonight. I have a lot planned for us. See you tonight.

Mistress S.

Shit.

So much for sending her a text telling her he wasn’t coming. If he sent her one now, it would look like she intimidated him. Fire burned inside him as if a challenge had been handed to him. He couldn’t let her think she controlled him. Not after just one night. Maybe not ever.

Grabbing his laptop, he left the conference room and headed for his office. There were notes to finish from his meetings before he left for the day. With his mind made up. There was somewhere he needed to be tonight after all.

****

The drive to Sublime took twenty minutes on the freeway. Mason’s office and the club were on opposite sides of the city from each other. He found parking in the secure, fenced members-only lot in the back of the building. To keep membership more private, they had a separate entrance away from regular customers.

Mason locked his car after grabbing the bag he stuffed into the passenger seat. At the last minute, he stopped by his place and packed an overnight bag. He had decided to give the club and Stella a try with a plan in place that he would leave as soon as shit got too weird. He had signed the damn contract Stella gave him without even thinking about it making him a full-fledged member of Sublime. He would make damn sure he had the ability to leave at any time.

Taking the key card that had been delivered to him, he slid it into the reader at the door and waited for the red light to turn green with a beep. The private door led into the hallway of private guest rooms.

Heading to her office at the end of the hall, he paused for a moment at the closed door before bringing his hand up to knock. Muffled words that sounded like come in echoed from the other side. Opening the door, his gaze roamed the room picking out the auburn-haired beauty sitting behind the massive desk. His nerves jumped to life the second his eyes landed on her.

Tonight, she wasn’t wearing her fetish wear, but instead had dressed in everyday street clothes. Not that he would have minded if the queen of Mistresses wanted to wear tight black leather stretched across her ass or have her tits popping out of her shirt. He felt something altogether different about seeing her in normal clothes. Almost as if it made him feel more comfortable. Not only could this woman be a sex goddess, she could also pull off the girl next door act better than anyone else in this building.

“I see you made it.” She looked up from the paper work spread over her desk.

Mason shrugged his shoulders as if it didn’t matter one way or the other to him. “I decided to give it a go before I make up my mind for good. Where can I put this?” He held his bag in the air.

“Set it there on the couch. I’ll have someone retrieve it for you later. That is, if you’re still here by then. If not, just grab it on your way out the door.”

“Don’t have much faith in me?” He slung his bag onto the couch next to him. Her gaze drilled into his holding him prisoner for a long moment.

“If I didn’t have faith in you, a contract would have never made it to your hands. Despite what you may think about this place, we don’t give memberships to just anyone who walks in off the street. We have to see a certain spark in a person before we offer a contract. We need to see they have a real desire to be here. A real need for our service.” She dropped the pen from her hand and stood from her chair.

His gaze scanned her body from head to toe. Her casual street clothes were nothing fancy and yet the simplest blue jeans and T-shirt looked amazingly sexy covering her body. She walked toward him, her hips swaying slightly with her walk.

“If you’re ready to begin, go to the men’s locker room across the hall from the red room and change into the clothes that have been placed in your locker. Only wear what is in there. Nothing else. Those will be the only clothes you will be allowed to wear in the club unless you ask me first.”

Her eyes searched his face as if waiting for his response. He remained quiet, savoring the thought of defying her. One of her finely manicured eyebrows arched in question.

“Yes…Mistress.”

A measured smile bowed her lips. “Better. Now go. I’ll meet you in the red room in twenty minutes. Once you get there, sit at the bar. Talk to no one.”

She turned her back to him and walked back to her desk. She had dismissed him. He hated to be dismissed in such a way. He had grown accustomed to taking that kind of treatment from his hotshot clients, but to get it here from someone who wasn’t paying him got under his skin.

A tinge of regret mounted in his gut, but he wouldn’t give up. Not this soon. Words from his past came rushing back to him. Words he repeated to himself many times over the years. Words that had gotten him through years of believing he wasn’t good enough. “He was just as good as all the others. He had a right to be here.”

Over the years, the little chant reminded him he no longer needed to be the afraid little boy he had once been. He grew into a man whose co-workers looked up to him and admired him. He’d became a man clients gave their money to because they believed he knew how to not only handle it, but double it.

He didn’t like being treated as if he were beneath others.

Stella’s head popped up looking away from the paperwork on her desk and back at him. “Problems, Mr. Whitman? Are you having second thoughts already?”

Mason shook his head before dropping his gaze. If this woman hadn’t been daring him to walk away, that might be exactly what he would have done. He turned away from her and walked out the door. No way he could let her manipulate him. He was the manipulator, not the other way around.

The men’s locker room stood empty when Mason entered. Being a little past seven, most members weren’t expected to arrive at the club until after nine. Or so he’d been told. He liked having the room to himself. He’d never been thrilled sharing a locker room with other men before. Not because he had body image issues. In his opinion, his body was close to being as fit as possible.

He had worked long and hard on toning the parts of his body God hadn’t graced naturally. Years of making great use out of his gym membership gave him muscled abs and arm definition that could be seen through the outside of any shirt. No, he wasn’t shy when it came to other’s seeing his body.

Opening the locker assigned to him on the first day, Mason found another pair of black leather pants folded on the shelf. The pair of matching wrist cuffs and a black leather collar, an inch in width, had been lain among the clothes. Shaking his head at the thought of how ridiculous he would look, he stripped out of his street clothes, folding them neatly before switching them out with the leathers.

Once dressed with collar and wrist wraps firmly in place, he exited the room heading toward the red room. He felt stupid wearing this kind of outfit in front of others. The only thing this outfit had going for it, besides putting his toned body on display, was the inexplicable sense of calm that overtook him inside the leathers.

He moved over to the small bar in the corner of the room as Stella had instructed him. The members-only room held the smallest of any of the bars in the club. He took a seat on the stool, pressing his back against the bar so he could gaze upon the only other people in the room.

A man and a woman were draped on top of a couch fondling each other. The lady, who dressed similarly to the way Stella had been dressed the other night, wore tight pants and a binding corset. Except this women’s corset sat under her breasts, propping her naked flesh up and on view for anyone to see.

The man wore tight leather shorts similar to the pair Mason wore. The man worked on feeding the woman strawberries from a bowl. But it wasn’t the food that caused heat to stir inside Mason. The sexual tension stemmed from the act of the man feeding her.

Mason watched the guy pick out a juicy, bright-red berry from the bowl. Before he brought the fruit to his lady’s lips, he tenderly circled the small fruit around one of her exposed tight, pink nipples. He raised it to her lips allowing her a taste before lowering the bitten berry to the other nipple. The juices ran down her skin and into the fabric of her corset before he bent his head to lick the wetness from her skin.

Mason stood from his perch on the stool to readjust the growing stiffness in his pants. Watching the sexual play between the two strangers got him harder than he would like to admit. At moments, shame overtook him as if he shouldn’t be looking and forced himself to tear his gaze away.

Watching a scene such as that didn’t feel much different than watching porn except they were alive and in person. The couple who were enjoying their food play didn’t seem to mind his observing them; why should he?

His gaze rounded the room to fall back on the live show in front of him. He watched as the man lifted another berry to the woman’s lips and this time when she took a bit he dropped his free hand to the junction between her thighs. She inhaled a sharp gasp and her lover hushed her by covering her lips with his.

“Enjoying the show? I’m sure Master Cullen is enjoying you watching him with his sub.” The familiar female voice sent another pulse straight to his cock. Turning his gaze away from the couple, his sight landed on its target and he just about melted right off the stool.

Stella had changed into a tight purple and black lace corset that barely covered her large breasts. He could trace the outline of her nipples beneath the lace wrapping that held her breasts looked so see-through with his gaze. His dick jerked painfully against his pants as his stare continued down her body. He took her all in, including the leather mini skirt that looked more like a small leather gauze wrap across her hips. While wearing that thing if she bent over in front of him, he would get a glorious view of her ass.

Holding out her hand, she waited for him to take it before she led them over to the same loveseat they occupied the other night.

She let him sit first before she dipped low and curled against his side. Bracing one arm behind him on the couch, she leaned in until her sweet breath brushed against his cheek. Christ, he could smell her. The mixture of her perfume and leather invaded his nostrils and overrode his senses.

He never in his life felt the need to fuck someone more than he did at this very moment. It would take every ounce of willpower he had to keep his dick out of her…for now.

“Are you going to answer me, or do we need to talk about discipline already?”

Turning just enough to face her, he arched a brow at her. “Do you think you’re strong enough to hold me down?”

The sexy smile she gave him should have warned him not to fuck with her. He wasn’t a man who took warnings to heart.

“Who says I’m going to hold you down? Punishments can come in all different forms and fashions. It doesn’t have to be in the physical sense like most people think it does.”

He wasn’t sure why those statements turned him on even more, but if this little hell cat wanted to play rough, game on. “Yes. Mistress.”

Her stare drilled into his. “Yes Mistress, what?”

He knew what she wanted to hear. “Yes, Mistress. I like watching the couple. I can handle watching people fucking.”

Her gaze searched his for a moment. “First off, they’re not fucking, and two, if you think you’re going to shock me with dirty talk, you have no idea who you’re dealing with. Let’s start off by getting to know each other a little better. I already know where you work and what school you graduated from and all the normal things. Now I want to hear about you. The things that make you tick.”

What the hell did she do? Run a search on his entire life? Heat rose at the thought of what she could have found.

She paused for a minute when his gaze darted back to hers. “What? Don’t look so surprised. We do deep background checks on all our members, so please don’t feel invaded. We need to know who we’re opening our doors too and allowing into our private space. We have a right to know the kinds of people we let our guards down around. What I would like to know, now, are things about you. What’s inside you? Not what the rest of the world already knows.”

It didn’t bother him that she knew all the facts about him. They were running his name and could see all his public records. What he wasn’t comfortable telling her were all the things she wanted to know. He wasn’t here to make friends or bare his soul, and he never talked about his past or his feelings. To anyone.

“It seems as if you already know everything you need to know about me. What’s left to tell?”

She didn’t look impressed with his answer. “For now, I’ll let it pass. We’ll come back around to this discussion. Right now, before we begin any type of play, you need to establish a safe word. A word you say that will stop all play if you’re feeling uncomfortable with anything we’re doing, or if you don’t like what is happening. It needs to be something you would never normally say during sex.”

“Doesn’t anyone know what the word stop, means anymore?”

“If you were to say stop, then of course all play would halt. It’s good practice to have a safe word in place besides stop. You and anyone you’re playing with should know it. But a safe word means so much more. It’s there to make you feel safe, and it lets you have a hundred percent control over the situation. It’s important you come up with one for us to move forward.”

“Any word?”

She nodded “Yes. But make sure it’s not a normal word you would use during play or in any form of sex.”

“How about watermelon? Would that work?”

“Perfect. Watermelon it is.” The warmth of her breath brushed against his cheek as she spoke, low and sexy, next to his ear. “Tonight, I want to learn what your turn ons and offs are. We need to talk about hard and soft limits. Soft limits are things you’re a little unsure about but still willing to try. Hard limits are things you’re not okay with trying at all. Let’s start with hard limits. Things you don’t like.” As she talked, her hand moved to his chest so a finger could circle around his nipple.

“How about nipple play? Some men don’t like it. Some love having their nipples played with and even clamped. What do you prefer?” She pressed his nipple between a finger and thumb. Pinching the small tip just enough to cause a slight stir deep inside his gut. His nipple immediately hardened under her touch. “If I had to put my professional opinion on it, I would say you like it. What about this?”

Before he knew what she was doing, she bowed her head so her lips could press against the nipple she toyed with. Opening her mouth, she drew the little bead between her teeth and ever so lightly scissored back and forth over the tight tip.

Mason wouldn’t have thought nipple play would be something he could enjoy, but his body obviously didn’t agree with him. The urge to thrust his hips toward her made his cock pulse against the front of his pants.

“Mmm, I think someone does like nipple play. That’s good.” She leaned closer until her lips were just touching his ear. “I like to play with them, too.”

Her fingers went back to circling. “How do you feel about playing in front of others? In public?”

He had never given public play any thought before now. “I guess it would depend on who watched and what they were watching me do.”

“You don’t get to choose your audience or the nature of the play most of the time.”

That could be a problem for him. His mind immediately thought about the business world he spent so many years building a reputation in. There’s no way he would let one of his clients ever see him wearing these clothes or being controlled like a pet. And she had been right, any person could walk in off the streets. He had.

“Then I guess I’ll have to say pubic play is a soft limit. Being in here with a few others is fine, but I don’t want to be out in front where a lot of people can see me.”

Her fingers paused their play with his nipples. “Are you embarrassed? I didn’t take you for a shy person.”

“I’m not. It’s because of the business I’m in. I’m a private person and if one of my clients were to come in and see me like this…”

“If one of your clients came in here and saw you, it would mean they too were a member. Meaning they’re doing the same things you are. Probably even more depending on the member and how long they’ve been with us. Never be ashamed of wanting what you desire. You and your body need to learn it’s okay to want what you crave. Also, remember it’s not going to happen overnight. It took me two years before I knew what I wanted from this lifestyle. It doesn’t normally take someone that long, but what can I say, I’m a little indecisive. I know what I want now, and I’m not ashamed of going after it.”

Her lips brushed against the side of his cheek. She didn’t linger long enough to kiss him, just made him very aware of how close they were. There was no need. He and his dick were fully aware of her closeness, and she hadn’t even touched him…yet.

“Tell me what some of your other limits are. Hard or soft.”

“Absolutely no anal penetration. I don’t want anything going near my ass.” He tried to keep his voice firm but with her hot mouth working her way up his neck and over his jawline, he realized he wasn’t coming across as stern as he hoped.

“You already told me that last week, but I feel like I need to let you know what you’re missing out on. But I’ll respect that. No penetration. Hard limit. Anything else you would like to throw in there?”

His eyes drifted closed as heat washed over his body. His cock pulsed so hard it damn near caused pain. The urge to thrust his groin and hips into the air had him eager to find a sense of relief.

Her soft giggle vibrated against his ear. “You look like you’re in pain. Let’s see if we can make you a little more comfortable.” Grabbing his hand in hers, Stella pulled him from the small couch and out of the room to head down the hallway of private rooms. Toward the end, she stopped at a door, and using the key pad on the wall, she entered a code.

The room seemed larger on the inside than it looked from the outside judging by the space between the doors. A grand king-size bed sat between matching head and foot boards that were both fitted with cross bars. Those bars made it effortless for someone to be tied to the bed.

It was obvious the reason why those choices were made when choosing furniture. Even though the décor looked tastefully done, it had been designed for the pleasure of playing.

Exposed beams ran the length of the room along the ceiling with metal circle hooks embedded into them. Hooks that looked like they could hold some weight.

The rest of the room remained plain besides having no windows to let light in. A few scattered pieces of furniture included a dresser and two small tables that sat on either side of the bed.

“Whose room is this?” He closed the door behind them.

“Yours for the night. That is, if you decide to stay. You have your own bathroom through there. The room is fully stocked with everything you could possibly need for your stay. All the toys you could need can be found in those drawers. Blindfolds, handcuffs, whips…dildos. Anything heavier, you’ll have to go to a playroom or bring your own. And, of course, everything is brand new.”

His eyes caught hers. “Are those for me to use on someone or to be used on me?” Either way, he felt a bit nervous about her answer.

“Tonight, this is all about you. Once you feel more comfortable, we can branch out. There’s no chance I’ll let you have a sub or even a playmate until you understand what being one is all about. Every Dominant goes through the same basic training. If you were to become a full-time Dom and take on your own subs, you would go through even more hands-on training. If you choose to become a Dom here, then it’s our rule to have you shadow another Dom for a year before we let you take on subs alone.”

“What if I don’t want to be a Dom? What if I just want…?” He wasn’t sure what he wanted, let alone how to ask for it.

“First rule to any kind of play is communication. If you can’t tell me your wants and needs, how am I supposed to know what to give you? Never be ashamed of what you desire. I can guarantee there is nothing you can ask for or want that I haven’t heard of or seen before. Have you given any thought to what your likes are?”

He had no idea what he liked or wanted. “Can it be just sex?”

She moved up next to him until their eyes were locked on each other. “There’s no room for vanilla sex here. This isn’t a brothel, and we aren’t whores. There’s a lot of people here who play but never have sex with each other. Dominance isn’t just about the sex. It’s about the exchange of control over the body, mind, and desires. By allowing me to tie you up and do as I please to your body, you’re giving me control over you.” She paused as her gaze raked his body.

“Control that no one else besides the two of us have. In doing so, we both know you’re comfortable trusting me to know what you like and don’t like. I know you’re content knowing I’ll make you feel good by fulfilling your desires. It’s like a gift. Any two people can have sex. But it takes trust and openness to hand over control to another person. In the vanilla world, no one gives themselves solely to the other. Just giving your body doesn’t mean anything.”

“How is this supposed to release my stress if I have blue balls afterward? Believe me, that’s not releasing anything.”

Her lips coiled into a smile “You can still find satisfaction and come without sex. I would never leave you suffering. Are you all right with everything we’ve discussed so far?” She moved away from him and over to a set of drawers along the wall. Opening one up, she grabbed a few items he couldn’t see clearly before she turned back to him. He wasn’t sure what he had gotten himself into, but he found his head nodding in agreement anyway.

“Good. Then to start, I’m going to slip these handcuffs on you and place a blindfold over your eyes. Remember, if you feel like any of this is too much for you, use your safe word. Never try and be the macho man and not use your safe word. Keeping quiet and suffering through things you don’t like or that hurt you can fuck with your head if you let it go too far. Are we agreed?”

He released a heavy breath. “Yes” He watched her beautiful red hair bob up and down as she nodded. She flashed him a smile before walking behind him and asked for both his wrists. The metal cuffs felt heavy and snug on his wrists but not too tight. He heard her move to the table but before he could turn and watch her, she moved behind him then slipped something soft over his head and down his eyes.

Her words cutting through the sudden darkness. “Remember the word, watermelon. It’s your emergency brake. You’re safe here. If you feel you can’t handle something, tell me. Unless you verbally communicate, I don’t know you’re suffering. Now, with that being said, let’s see if we can release some stress.”