Beck And Call (10 page)

than…”

Pop! Debbie grinned. Chuckling, Claire got the

glasses.

“Good thing I stocked up on aspirin,” Serena sighed

as Debbie poured the wine. And filled all three glasses

to the brim. “I haven’t done this since I was about six,”

she muttered, bending down to slurp the wine so it

wouldn’t spill when she picked it up.

“And what happened when you did?” Claire asked,

mimicking her action.

“My mother swatted my rear,” she said dryly.

“And what would she do if she knew about your

phone sex?” Debbie asked archly.

Serena froze. “She’d do a lot more than swat at me,”

she whispered. Her hands started shaking. “Oh, God…”

“No,” Debbie shook her head. “Don’t even think

about it. I’m sorry I asked.”

Sighing, Serena picked up the tongs and mixed the

salad.

“No, it’s okay. I think we all hear our mothers

criticizing our actions and choices. It’s not easy

sometimes, is it?” She glanced at Claire, who shook her

head. “So, we do what we have to do to live our own

lives. We order pizza, open however many bottles of

wine we need to, and hold onto friends who understand

us more than our own families.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Claire stated, raising her glass.

They clinked their glasses and drank.

There was a knock on the door.

“Yes! Pizza!” Debbie put her glass down and

hurried to the door. “I’m starved.”

Laughing, the other two picked up the salad, forks

and plates. Putting them on the leather trunk Serena

used as a coffee table, they listened as Debbie flirted

with the delivery boy. Retrieving the wine glasses,

Serena grinned as Claire was pulled into the laughing

conversation.

They all needed this, she smiled, pulling another

bottle out of the fridge. Tucking it under her arm, she

caught up the corkscrew with her pinkie as she scooped

up the glasses. This was the perfect night.

By midnight, the perfect night had disintegrated

into a wine-filled haze.

Within minutes of starting the movie, Claire was

crying about Paul’s interest in a threesome. After

blowing her nose and splashing cold water on her face,

she appropriated a bottle and proceeded to drink the

contents. Exasperated with her roommate, Debbie

scarfed down two slices and opened another bottle.

Serena tried to coax them into making their usual

sarcastic or witty comments about the dialogue, but

gave up after thirty minutes. As the romantic comedy

droned on, she pulled into herself and went over the

phone conversation with master. Debbie made a few

incoherent comments about the men in the

Programming Department that pulled Serena out of

her daze. When she pressed for more information

though, Debbie refused to say anything else. Compared

to their previous movie marathons, the night was a

bust. Clearly, when all three were having ‘men’

problems, romantic movies were off the viewing list.

The next morning, Serena’s alarm clock went off.

“It’s Saturday, dammit,” she groaned reaching over

to shut the thing off. Her gaze fell on the cell phone

she’d left on the nightstand. “Master,” she whispered.

Heat flooded her pussy. He would be calling at ten.

Twenty minutes. She sat up and groaned. Taking a

deep breath, she slowly put her feet on the ground.

“Oooo, coffee,” she whimpered.

Entering the kitchen she saw the four empty bottles

lined up on the counter and grimaced.

“Coffee,” she muttered and was exceedingly grateful

she’d set it up the night before. Hitting the on-switch,

she turned the radio on. The music blasted and she

promptly turned it off. “Wrong answer,” she shook her

head. “Aspirin,” she said. “Now that’s the right answer.”

Heading into her bathroom, she found the bottle

and popped two in her mouth. Drinking a glass of water,

she brushed her teeth and splashed water on her face.

Feeling more human, she returned to the kitchen to

find the coffee nearly ready. She was taking her second

sip when the phone in the bedroom rang. He was early!

“Master,” she gasped, hurrying to find the phone. It

was on her nightstand. “Master?”

“Expecting someone else?” he chuckled. “How was

last night?”

“A bit somber,” she replied. “We kept a vineyard in

business. I don’t remember drinking that much, but we

finished off four bottles.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’ve taken aspirin and I have my coffee,” she

sighed. “I’ll be okay in a little bit.”

“Good,” he said decisively. “Get the vibrator and

lube and snuggle back against the pillows.”

Remembering how she had felt the night before,

Serena scrambled to get the items.

“Put the phone on speaker?” she asked, clambering

back under the covers.

“Yes,” he approved. “Good girl. Ready?”

She hit the button.

“Yes.”

“Put lube on the vibrator and put it inside you.”

She raced to comply. It took a second to get the

vibrator inside her as her body resisted the intrusion

even with the lube.

“It’s harder than it was yesterday,” she told him.

“I’m not as ready as I was.”

“You knew I was going to call,” he replied sternly.

“You should always be ready for me.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d want me to do this,”

she trembled. “I told you I’ve only been with two men.

Todd…” she stopped and tried to get control of herself.

“Todd…”

“Shh,” he murmured. “Take a breath and tell me

slowly. Why did you break up with him?”

“It was a lot of things,” she finally said. The vibrator

still inside her, she rolled onto her side and curled up.

“He wanted to go out and have fun and didn’t like me

studying all the time.”

“Studying?”

“I’ve been working on my MBA at Columbia the

past four years and finally graduated in June. My

grandfather was diagnosed with dementia three years

ago and then with cancer. But he always knew who I

was when I visited him and he was with me when I

graduated. He was so proud of me.”

“What did your grandfather think of him?”

“I was his only granddaughter,” she smiled. “He

didn’t like any of the boys I dated in high school and

definitely didn’t like Todd. He said Todd only cared

about the outside of a person and that if I stayed with

him he would suck the life out of me.”

“What do you think of him?”

“Grandpa was right. I didn’t know how right until

Todd got angry when I wouldn’t use a bonus to take

him on a trip and—”

“What about him taking you on a trip?” When she

didn’t answer, he pushed. “Serena, answer me. Why

didn’t Todd ever take you on a trip?” Still silence.

“What did Todd do for a living?”

“He… was a club and restaurant critic. I mean, I

know he had to go out as part of his job, but…,” she

sighed. “I’ve never been big on the whole club scene. I

like an occasional outing or party, but not non-stop

nearly every night of the week as well as through the

weekend.”

“Sounds like you were two very different

personalities,” he commented. “How did you get

together in the first place?”

“My former supervisor introduced us.” She giggled

nervously. “I guess that should have told me

something.”

“Is there a problem with your former supervisor

introducing you to someone?”

She froze.

“Oh, God,” she breathed. “Who are you? Are you

Mark? No!” she whispered. Her voice quivered in terror

at the idea. “I don’t care what Keith says. I’ll tell

Penny.” Her voice rose with each word. “I’ll tell her

what happened and—”

“Calm down!” he snapped. “I’m not Mark.” She was

nearly hysterical. “Serena!”

She gasped and struggled to control her breathing.

“I’m sorry,” she panted. She heaved in three deep

breaths and held herself still. “I’m sorry. It’s just…

Mark was my supervisor and he’s engaged to Keith’s

cousin. Penny is sweet and caring and naïve and she

has no clue what Mark is really like.”

“Then tell your boss.”

“I have. But he’s preoccupied with something. He…”

she took a deep breath. “I’m not going to discuss my

boss. He is off-limits as a subject of conversation.”

“Do you hate your boss as well?”

“Of course not!” she protested. “But I don’t know

who you are, and it just wouldn’t be right discussing my

boss with you. He trusts me with a lot and…” she shook

her head. “It just wouldn’t be right.”

“I see your point,” he answered. “And I hope I can

earn the same respect, trust, and discretion in our

relationship.”

“From what I read in the second book you gave me,

all those things need to go both ways,” Serena replied.

“But I was only able to read a couple pages before I had

to get things ready for the girls.”

“What did you read?”

Serena squirmed on the bed, feeling the heat rise in

her cheeks.

“Serena?”

“Um, well,” she started, voice barely audible. “I

focused on the pages you’d marked about, um, how a

submissive behaves with their master.”

“I like that,” came his reply, warm with approval. “It

shows you are taking this seriously. That you want

please me.”

“I do,” she said eagerly. “I… I just hadn’t gotten to

the part about being ready for sex. I’ve never been very

good at it. And I’ve never really enjoyed it.”

“What? Sex?”

“Yes,” she sighed miserably.

“Serena, it sounds like the bulk of your experience

has come at the hands of selfish assholes with no clue as

to how to take care of a woman.” Absolute certainty

rang in his words and warmed Serena’s heart. “Now,”

his voice dropped an octave, “in the hands of a man who

takes pride in giving his woman pleasure, I am quite

sure you will feel differently about sex.”

“Really?” There was hope in her voice. “Reading the

first book made me realize there might be more to sex.

And the second…”

“What about the second?”

“To be honest, I really wasn’t sure I’d keep it or do

anything with you. I’ve always been told that people

who like this stuff were perverts and mentally unstable,

among other things.”

“Do you still feel that way?”

“I’m not sure what to think. The page you marked

about the type of relationship you wanted fits my own

needs,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “People

who take care of each other; they talk and find out what

the other wants out of life, what they want to do. Do you

really want that?”

She heard the wistfulness in her voice and winced.

Could she sound any more needy? More desperate?

“Yes, Serena,” he replied. “My parents divorced

when I was a child. My father has since married several

times.” His voice was measured and, despite the voice

changer he was obviously using, Serena thought he was

sincere. “None of his relationships were happy. I wanted

more. When I was in college, some friends and I

discovered domination and submission. It felt like I’d

come home. There was a rightness to it.”

“In dominating a woman?” she frowned, trying to

understand.

“How did you feel when I dominated you last

night?” he countered. “When I talked you through

fucking yourself with the vibrator and you had an

orgasm?”

Serena squirmed on the bed.

“Good point,” she managed, her voice sounding

strangled.

“Now, turn your vibrator on level two.”

“Yes, master,” she whispered.

“Put your hand on the vibrator and start moving it

a little in and out of your pussy.”

Serena moaned as the vibrations hit the nerves

she’d discovered the night before.

“Master!”

“Stop,” he ordered. “Turn it off right now.”

“But I’m nearly…”

“Serena, do what I said right now,” he said sharply.

Whimpering, she hit the button.

“It’s off,” she moaned. “Please, master.”

“No,” he denied her. “The driver will be there at

eleven. You’ll get a copy of your key made and then

he’ll bring you to me.”

“A copy of my key?” Serena wasn’t sure she’d heard

correctly.

“Yes, a copy.” He paused. “Serena, your safety and

care is my responsibility. I can’t tell you to wait for me

naked, blindfolded, gagged, and cuffed to your bed only

to have the door unlocked. Anyone could come in.”