Allie was silent as she thought about what a hundred dollars would buy her—groceries for two weeks, part of a car payment, part of her credit card bill, which had somehow gotten away from her over the past few months. As much as she hated to admit it, a hundred bucks—maybe nothing to a guy like Bob—was a lot of money to someone like her.
She pushed the card back toward Bob. “That’s a lot of money for something like that.”
“Yeah, I know. I don’t envy you young people, trying to make it in this world. Things were a lot easier back in my day.” He reached down and pulled something out of his bag. Allie saw it was a pen, heavy and fine, like his watch. He put his hand over the card and brought it toward him. Flipping it over, he scrawled something on the other side. He pushed the card back in her direction.
“I just gave you a free access code. You’ll see where to enter the information when you sign up. It will allow you to use the site free for a month, and decide if it’s for you or not. No strings. You don’t like it, you just let it expire. There’s no automatic renewal or any of that bullshit other sites try to pull.”
He swiveled his stool away from the bar and stood, pulling his too-small vest down over his belly. He turned to Allie with a smile and extended his hand, which she took automatically.
“It was nice to meet you, Allie. I wish you all the luck in the world. My sign-on at the site is Master underscore Bob.” He grinned, dropping her hand. “Yeah, I know. Real original, right? But it gets the message across. Keep it simple, I always say. I hope I’ll see you at BDSMConnections. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see a lovely lady sitting alone at that table over there.” Grabbing his gear bag from the floor, he tipped a nonexistent hat and walked away.
Allie turned back to the bar and looked again at the card. She closed her hand over it, smiled and shrugged. Why not?
~*~
Liam Byrne opened the link for BDSMConnections and scrolled through the new female members. He still couldn’t quite believe he was bothering, but reminded himself it was just for fun. No expectations, no emotional investment, no big deal. Just reaching out into the void to see what he might find.
The place did seem to attract a higher quality of clientele than the usual BDSM hookup sites, so many of which were just fronts for escort services and players. A photo was required, as well as a detailed profile. No random shots of disembodied genitalia were permitted. In the month he’d been on the site, he’d made a few nice connections, had a number of mildly stimulating sex chats and exchanged some thought provoking emails with women who had potential, if and when he ever decided he was ready to meet them face-to-face. If nothing else, the site had provided a few hours of pleasant distraction, of getting out of his own head. That was certainly worth something.
He clicked on a photo that caught his eye—a decent quality headshot of an attractive thirty-something woman. She was very pretty, with long, blond hair cut nicely around an oval face, her dark eyes and complexion probably an indication that blond wasn’t her natural color.
Then he read her profile tag line: BrattySexKitten – I’ve been a very bad girl. I need a strong Master to put me in my place. He shook his head. No thank you. Not his style. He wasn’t interested in playful slap and tickle as a form of foreplay. He wanted more. He needed more.
When he found the right woman, she would kneel before him and offer herself completely, without reservation. The connection had to be real. It had to be a true exchange of power. She would give him the gift of her total sensual submission, and he, in return, would cherish and nurture that gift.
Liam grinned at himself and shook his head. He could almost hear Matt’s chuckle. “Dude, you’re not going to find the love of your life on some hookup site, no matter how pricey the monthly fee. You’ve got to get out there, man. You’ve got to take risks. Life isn’t a dress rehearsal. This is all we got. You, of all people, should know it can be snatched away at any moment.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Liam said aloud, as if Matt were actually beside him. Absently, he leaned down to massage the pain in his left leg as he scanned the screen for something more promising.
Then he saw her.
He stared for a long time at the image of a young woman with a tumble of coppery hair that fell around her shoulders. She had sparkling blue eyes and a cute little nose, but it was the smile that drew him in and held him fast.
It wasn’t just the beautiful, sensual line of her pouty lips lifting up to reveal white, even teeth, or the deep dimple in her left cheek. For the first time in his life, he understood on a gut level what people meant when they said a smile lit up an entire face. She radiated a kind of innocent joy, coupled with saucy sweetness. Yet, in those deep, sky-blue eyes, he also saw shyness, or maybe it was sadness? Whatever it was, the combination of emotions playing over her lovely face worked somehow to make his stomach flip and his heart ache.
He held his breath as he read her tag line. Sub Allie - seeking intensity of experience with an experienced, honest Dom who understands the power and grace of total sensual submission.
Holy shit.
He clicked on the icon that allowed him access to her profile. He was able to view the number of people who had already contacted her since she’d signed up two days before. Shit—forty-seven guys had already poked, winked at and/or emailed her. Should he even bother?
He knew even as the question floated through his mind that of course he would bother. He would get in line with the rest of them and beg for a chance to say hi. Jesus, was he pathetic or what?
Stop it. You’re just exploring. Reaching out. Remember: no expectations. No big deal.
She was two years younger than he and single. She was from Massachusetts—the other side of the country. That was okay—it wasn’t like he planned to meet her in real life any time soon. She had extensive experience in the scene—that was good. Liam wasn’t up for training a virgin sub. Been there, done that.
He scanned the checklist of desires and turn-offs. She had checked off virtually every category of BDSM play, including bondage, erotic torture, sensory deprivation, whipping, spanking, and even needle, knife and blood play. Under the category of hard limits she had written: no scat, no bestiality, no children. Other than that, I trust my Master to take me where I need to go.
Was she real?
Liam’s cock hardened as he imagined Allie—a terrific name that perfectly matched that smile—bound and suspended from the beams in his dungeon basement, her naked body slowly spinning as he caressed her flesh with a whip and painted dark red welts across her skin.
He pulled the keyboard closer and positioned his fingers over the keys.
From: Liam B.
To: Sub Allie
Subject: Your profile
Hi Allie,
I saw your profile and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Liam Byrne. I am thirty-two and single, never married. I am sexually dominant with a passion for all things BDSM. I, too, have had extensive experience in the lifestyle. I have lived with two different women also into the scene, and while the BDSM connection with each was intense and satisfying as far as it went, the relationships eventually ran their course and we parted ways.
Liam paused and reread what he wrote. Too much information? It sounded like he couldn’t sustain a relationship; like he’d been dumped. Which was actually true, at least with Lila, though she hadn’t left him because he wasn’t a good Dom. She left him because— Stop. You don’t dwell on that shit, remember? The past is the past.