I studied my sore nipple in the mirror while J.P. combed his hair. We took a luxurious bath together after our morning romp and snuggle fest. After the bath, J.P. put some special lotion over my nipple and butt where he spanked me.

“Do you think it’ll bruise?” I asked J.P.

I saw him smirk in the mirror. Sadist.

“If I’m lucky, you’ll bruise a bit,” he said and set the comb down. J.P. wrapped me up in his arms and cupped my right breast as he looked at it in the mirror. He grazed my tender nipple with his thumb gently. “You’ll be okay, princess. A few marks to remind you of where you’ve been isn’t the end of the world.”

He was right. I’d survive.

We got dressed together and had breakfast out on his patio.

“Now, you’re sure you’re okay with me doing the half shift today?”

I nodded and set my mug of coffee down.

“Absolutely. We talked about this. I don’t want to interfere with your work schedule, and I have some things for the book that I need to get done. So, not to worry. I’ll have stuff to occupy my time with until you get back.”

“Better get that book blurb done or Samantha Kelly will be on my ass,” he teased.

“Ha! She’ll be on mine too,” I added.

“Tonight, would you like to go to Irons?” he asked as I just put a forkful of chopped strawberries in my mouth.

“Yes,” I nodded and mumbled then quickly swallowed. “I love going there with you. I always have a good time when we go.”

“Because you like watching dirty, kinky sex.”

“No,” I shook my head. “It’s because I’m with you.”

J.P. smiled at me and went back to eating his breakfast.

“If you’d like, maybe we can talk about a small bondage scene tonight,” J.P. suggested.

“Yes.” My mind began racing. This might actually happen! I was so excited and for once was at a loss for words. “Yes…I’d really like that, J.P. I’m ready and want to,” I confirmed.

He kept looking at me as if he was considering if what I was saying was the truth. It absolutely was, I was just so excited that I couldn’t relay my thoughts correctly.

“We’ll see how it goes tonight and if you’re still feeling as brave when we get there.”

J.P. glanced at his watch and stood.

“I have to get going, princess.” He bent over to kiss me. “Be a good princess and work on your book. Otherwise, I’ll have to punish you,” he said.

His threatening words of punishing me sent pleasant shockwaves through my body and landed right on my clit, making it throb.

He left for work, and I brought my laptop out to the patio to begin working on the book’s description. I stared blankly at the screen for a while and then moved to his cushioned lounge chair. My butt was a little uncomfortable on the chair that I was sitting at.

A good ten minutes passed by as I stared at the screen.

His yard was relaxing. The patio was made of pavers instead of cement, and he had planter boxes separating the patio from the grass.

“She wanted dark, but how dark could she go?”

I read my tagline out loud as I stared the screen.

I looked over his yard in the direction of a chirping bird.

“She wanted dark, but how dark could she go? Why am I having such a hard time concentrating?”

Maybe I needed to walk some. I stood to stretch and felt every place on my body where J.P.’s hands have been. As I bent to smell some of the flowers in his raised planter at the back of the yard, I noticed how sore I was. I never knew how much walking could hurt just from being spanked.

Mmm, I kind of enjoyed the spanking. I thought more about what J.P. had said. Bodies don’t lie. That didn’t mean that I was a masochist…did it?

After walking a few laps around the backyard, I picked up my laptop and logged onto Kinky Links. I searched for “masochist” and found a few forums with questions and comments. I read through lots of them. I had hoped that I’d be able to determine if I was or wasn’t a masochist but learned that there are varying degrees, just like with most other things.

I decided to send Samantha a text. I wasn’t able to concentrate on anything book-wise, so I might as well get some socialization in.

I frowned and set my phone to the side then stared at the screen with just my tagline. She was right, I needed to concentrate.

Samantha: I meant, hi, how are you?

I laughed out loud and picked my phone up.

I was thankful Sam couldn’t see my embarrassed face sporting the huge smile.

Amy: Oh, he’s just fine. We’re going to his club tonight.

I added a smiling emoji.

I rolled my eyes and sent the mutually agreed upon emoji that meant “I’ll catch you later.” I set my phone to the side and began typing out ideas for things that I wanted to include in the blurb.

Before I knew it, J.P. was home and asked me about my progress with the book description. I showed him what I had down as ideas for it and admitted that the ideas just weren’t flowing for me today.

“Other things on your mind, princess?”

“I was really enjoying your yard.”

“I see. So, my yard is to blame for distracting you today,” he said in a serious tone.

I smiled as he wrapped his arms around me.

“Maybe your pretty little head is thinking about naughty and dirty things. Filthy things that cause your panties to dampen at the mere thought.”

He kissed the top of my head, and I thought about our rough early morning romp in his sheets.

“How’s that ass and nipple of yours, princess?” he asked.

“Oh, they’re fine.”

I was glad my head was resting on his chest so that he wouldn’t be able to see my embarrassment. He laughed and gave my butt a swat.

“How about I change and then we’ll go to dinner and Irons?”

“That sounds perfect.”

I followed him inside, and we both got ready for our evening out.

While we waited in the lobby to check in, I glanced up at the black and white photos on the walls. They were the same as the last time I was here, but for some reason they always drew my attention.

“Let’s get a drink, princess.”

J.P. and I made our way to the bar and sat down at the end. The bartender asked what we wanted, and J.P. ordered for both of us.

“Water with lemon for my princess and I’ll have Jack and Coke.”

He gave me a sly smile as the bartender walked away. I decided to tease him a little.

“Maybe the princess wanted Jack and Coke, too,” I said.

J.P. laughed and looked me straight in the eyes.

“The princess is far away from her castle where she reigns. She’s in the hands of the dark castle dweller.”

“I like the castle dweller.”

“Good, princess.” The glasses were set in front of us, and J.P. pulled the glass of water toward me. “Amy, if you and I are going to potentially have your first bondage scene tonight, I don’t want alcohol in your system. It could sway your responses and influence you to say ‘yes’ to things easily. And that’s not how we’re going to ever play,” he explained.

Oh my gosh! Of course. He was right. I shouldn’t play or negotiate play with alcohol.

“Maybe once we get some experience under your panties and I have more experience with how you react and respond to things without alcohol, then we’ll talk about drinks before scenes. But not until then.”

Our conversation was focused on the bondage scene when Blake came over to say hello. I really enjoyed Blake, though I knew J.P. was somewhat at odds with him. Blake had always been pleasant and welcoming toward me since my very first visit.

“Good evening, Paul,” Blake nodded at J.P., then he focused on me. “Hello, Amy. It’s good to see you this evening. In town for the weekend?”

“Yes. I’ll be here until Tuesday.”

He mentioned a few scenes taking place this evening at various locations and J.P. cut him off. I couldn’t believe he did that. Blake was just being polite, and J.P. just interrupted him.

“Oh, we’re not watching scenes tonight, Blake,” he said.

“No?” Blake stared at J.P.

“No,” J.P. smugly stated. “We’re doing a scene tonight.”

Blake nodded, and his eyes shifted to look at me before glancing down at my glass of water. He looked back at J.P. and told us to enjoy our evening and to have a safe scene. As Blake walked away, J.P. took a long sip from his glass and then gazed at me. His eyes seemed to soften a bit.

“Princess, don’t pay any attention to him.”

“He was being nice.”

J.P. looked down but nodded.

“It’s complicated with Blake,” J.P. said quietly.

“I think if he didn’t want to be your friend that he wouldn’t bother coming over to see you tonight.”

J.P. opened his mouth as if he was about to say something but decided against voicing it. After he finished his drink, he took my hand in his and kissed my lips.

“Let’s walk, princess.”

On our walk along the path outside, J.P. delved into the bondage talk again.

“Amy, understand that you have the control. You can agree to do this, and if at any time during the scene you get cold feet, you say ‘yellow.’ That tells me to slow down and that you need a minute to regroup. And if at any time you decide you can’t go further and need to stop, just say ‘red.’ Understand?”

“Yes. I understand completely. I wanted you to show me the dark…so show me the dark.”

He stared at me with a cocky smile on his handsome face and gave me a small nod.