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In our previous three installments, Madison has gone deeper and deeper into the world of Dominance and submission with Logan, even as she gains more confidence running her sister's erotica shop. Now, at last, she must decide if she's brave enough to embrace this world permanently, as Logan's submissive. Logan has told her he is going to take her on a guided fantasy, bringing it to life, and she has a feeling it will be a turning point for both of them . . .
As the door to Naughty Bits opened, Gloria Estefan's "Wrapped" started up on the music system, the sultry intro earning a startled look from the woman who'd entered.
"It's like having your own theme music, announcing your arrival. Pretty cool, right?" Madison gave her newest customer a smile. She did it from a kneeling position, because she was working on her newest display. The antique lingerie chest, a piece she'd picked up cheap at a consignment store and re-finished with Logan's help, was perfect to display an array of lace panties, bras and corsets, draped over the half-opened drawers and hung on the knobs.
The woman offered her a tentative smile. She was middle-aged, with attractive auburn tinted hair and brown eyes. Her manicured nails and tailored clothing weren't polished enough to suggest executive management, but likely the strata that kept the wheels running in the office. Perhaps executive assistant. The type of person who would ask for what she needed, when she needed it.
It gave Madison a fleeting thought of herself, working as an investment manager all those years, polished up and always looking the same outside, no matter what might be brewing beneath the surface.
"If you need help with anything, just holler," Madison said, holding eye contact to tell the woman she meant it, not just a store employee offering a rote response to a customer.
The woman nodded. "Do you have . . . costumes?"
"We do." Giving a demi-cup bra one more quick adjustment, Madison rose to her feet. "A variety of them. Which one are you planning to use to dazzle your lover?"
"Oh . . ." The customer chuckled. "Ah, maid?"
"A classic." Madison took her to the rack on the wall and showed her a traditional black-and-white outfit, complete with frilly apron and very low-cut blouse, matched by the high cut of the miniskirt. As the woman fingered the fabric, her expression reminded Madison of the disastrous times she'd sought out lingerie to bandage her own failing relationships. The look in the woman's eyes wasn't a true mesh with the desires she was harboring. Confirming it, she spoke.
"I'm not sure. I really don't know if he'd even like this sort of thing."
"Do you like the idea?"
"Maybe. I just remember years ago when we saw a movie that had a sexy maid in it, and how he liked that. Maybe I'm being foolish. It seems to take more to get him interested these days since he turned fifty, and I thought maybe something . . ."
What can I do to get him to pay attention again? To look at me the way he did at first? It was as clear as if she'd said it aloud, but the silence said it was too painful to be voiced.
Not more than a couple months ago, tangled up in her own baggage, Madison would have been unable to help, beyond offering the woman the number to a good divorce attorney. Since then, she'd connected with her own desires, thanks to Logan's direction. As such, Madison could step back and look at the situation from the woman's perspective, sympathizing with it, but not getting it confused with her own. This woman was dealing with middle age libido issues with her husband. A simple thing that wasn't so simple when dealing with the heart. "Would you mind telling me your name?"
"Nancy."
"Nancy. I'm Madison. And if you don't mind a couple suggestions, I think you may be focusing on the wrong person here. There's a good kind of selfishness, the kind that helps everyone involved. We have to be able to turn ourselves on before we can turn on a lover. As obtuse as guys can be, nothing centers their radar like a woman who's getting hot and bothered. It also sounds to me like rather than taking him on a wild rapids ride, you need to take him to a secluded lagoon."
At Nancy's blank look, Madison drew her to the bookshelf. "Does he like to read?"
"He'll spend a whole day with a book on the weekends and he reads at bedtime every night. He's even read my romances when he has nothing else." Nancy ga
ve a little laugh. "Wasn't self-conscious about it at all. Said he liked a couple of the historical ones."
"Wonderful. Who gets home from work first?"
Nancy shrugged. "He does, usually."
"Okay. How would you feel if you came home from work and he met you at the door, naked and ready to go at it like rabbits?"
Nancy put her hand over her mouth, stifling a surprised giggle. Then, seeing Madison wanted her to consider the question, she did, and whatever went through her mind sobered her. "Well, I expect I'd feel a little pressured. I mean, I'd be glad he was interested, but--"
Madison waved a hand, accepting that. "Of course you'd feel pressured. My point is that maybe that's his problem. When we're in our twenties or, God help us, our teens, it's all about our hormones. At fifty, it's about his boss, about the job stresses, the jerk who cuts him off in traffic on the way home. Whether there will be enough money for the kids' college, retirement, the vacation you've both always wanted to take to Europe. You have to help him change gears when he comes home."
As Nancy digested that, Madison picked up a book selection. "How about one Friday night, you suggest reading to him? He can put his head in your lap, close his eyes."
She put the book in Nancy's hands. "This one is a menage a trois, with one man and two women, written with both genders in mind. Plenty of things to intrigue him, as well as you. There are sketches in it as well."
Nancy flipped open the book and blanched. "Wow . . . " She gave it a closer look while Madison suppressed a smile. "That's actually very . . . nicely done."
"Yes. There's some erotic photography in there too. Again, things that will appeal to him visually and you emotionally, the best of both worlds." Letting her hold on to the book, Madison took her to a different section of the store and picked up a remote control panty with bullet vibrator in the crotch. She made a mental note to order more, since she'd sold about half a dozen of them this week.
"Encourage him to be interactive. When you're reading, switch this on, show him what you're doing. Get yourself worked up, and draw him into the spell. Then turn the remote and the reins over to him, so he feels like a man, like he's taking the lead. I bet things will take a good turn."
She took a breath. "If they don't, then maybe you need to dial it down further--or shoot him in the head and bury him in the backyard--but what's most important is getting in touch with what you want, Nancy. Pleasure yourself and invite him to take the journey with you. That's the key to reconnecting to him. If he's worth anything at all."
A few minutes later, as she was checking Nancy out with a generous purchase that included a couple of the books and the panty, she saw Clarence's UPS truck turning into the alley. Today was Friday, and not just any Friday. It was one of those Fridays where he might be bringing her something from Logan. When she heard the motor idle outside her back door, then Clarence turning the back room door latch, delight surged through her.
Nancy flicked a glance at her as she swiped her credit card. "You must have ordered something nice. You look like a pony just arrived at your birthday party."
She hadn't ordered anything at all, which was exactly why she had that look on her face. A week ago, Logan had told her it was time to give her the guided fantasy he'd promised her, a tantalizing erotic threat. She expected whatever Clarence was delivering would officially kick that off.
That same night, Logan had taken her for an after dark walk in a park near her neighborhood. He'd done nothing more than hold her hand, flirt, and let her talk about a hundred different things. Then he'd backed her against a tree and given her long, hot kisses that made her feel like a teenager out necking past curfew. She'd had a stubble burn on her throat the next day she'd caressed with her fingers when she discovered it.
He'd refused to take things further that night, but he left her reeling with the possibilities, thanks to his parting words.
"Can you clear your Sunday next weekend?" At her nod, those brown eyes had kindled with heat. "Then do it. I have plans for my sub."
She still leaned toward keeping their relationship a chain of erotic sessions, nervous about moving too fast into deeper territory. However, the obvious care Logan put into making those sessions special and unique perversely transferred those qualities to their relationship as a whole. The man was far too clever.
Nancy took her leave with a smile and a nervous look, but nervous in the right kind of way. Madison well understood the feeling. While she engaged Clarence in pleasant conversation, she had to quell her impatience to shoo him out of the store before more customers arrived and she'd have to wait to find out what was in the package he left on her counter.
As he was leaving, though, he paused at the curtain to the back storeroom and looked back at her. Like most UPS drivers, he was fit. Not very old, maybe a couple years younger than Madison, but she'd often wondered about his story, because there were lines around his eyes, and a look in them that said he'd had some interesting journeys in his life.
"I bet Alice smiles every time she looks down from Heaven and sees you behind that counter, ma'am," he said. "You fit here. You really do. Not like you're her, but like you were the best person to honor this place. To honor what she made of it. I think that's why she gave it to you."
It was the most she'd ever heard the quiet man say, and it left her staring after him as he beat a hasty retreat. He lifted a hand before he disappeared out the door, though, and she automatically raised her hand in answer, giving him a warm smile again so he didn't feel awkward about it. After the door shut behind him, she thought about it, though. And smiled.
"I really didn't fuck this up after all, did I, Alice?"
