Page 22 of Shamefully Trained

“Alright. We can wait on that one. Not long, or your backside will pay for it, but⁠—”

“What?” I demanded, my eyes going very wide. I looked around, suddenly sure that everyone in the café had heard.

“You heard me,” Porter said, his voice suddenly flinty and his eyes narrowing. “And you’ll definitely need to learn not to interrupt me.”

My skin prickled with mortification.

He folded his hands on the table. His smile reappeared, and to my dismay my chest warmed again.

“There’s a single-occupancy restroom at the back of the café. If you want to try this, you’ll get up from this table and walk to that restroom. You’ll go inside and lock the door. I’ll give you a little time, during which you will undress to your lingerie. Then I’ll come to the door. I’ll knock twice, pause, and then knock three times. You’ll open the door. I’ll come in, and I’ll teach you your first lesson.”

The words seemed to enter my body more directly than my mind.

I stared at him. “In the bathroom of a café?”

“Yes.”

“That’s insane.”

“A little, maybe, from the standpoint of your previous life.” He held my gaze. “So is downloading Selecta Arrangements the morning after being fired for taking a senator’s cock and his belt in the same evening.”

The shock of hearing it said so plainly made me flinch as if he had struck me.

“Stop,” I whispered.

“Do you want me to?” he asked.

I couldn’t answer.

He let the silence sit there, then said, “The lesson will not be random. I’ll begin by seeing how well you follow simple instructions given you by a dominant man. I’ll see whether your body tells the same truth your pride keeps trying to conceal. And I’ll decide whether I’m interested in the effort required to train you.”

Train you.

My nipples tightened almost painfully under the ivory lace. I crossed my legs without thinking about it.

I watched him observe the movement, and more heat came to my face.

“Ten thousand,” I said, because I had to say something. My voice sounded thin. “That’s… excessive.”

“For most girls, perhaps. You’re more valuable than most girls, I believe, as an associate member.”

The bluntness of that made me blush again. I could practically hear sexual servant through the sounds of associate member.

“And,” he added, “you will require more work.”

To my horror, I clenched, down there, at this statement that should have offended the hell out of me.

My shaking hand brushed the water glass. I didn’t trust myself to bring it to my lips.

“You’re talking as if I’m already yours.” I realized I had begun to try to buy time, but I had no idea what else to do.

“No,” he said. “I’m talking as if you’re standing on the threshold of a choice and pretending not to recognize the doorway.”

I shook my head. “You don’t know me.”

He looked almost bored by that. “I know enough to know that Senator Gowry did not invent your response to authority. He only found a crude way to exploit it.”

The accuracy of that hit me like a brick to the head. I felt like I should hate him for seeing even that much.