Page 83 of His Turn

I drift off but then wake, the alarm I set a distant ringing on the other side of the apartment.

I wonder how long it’s been going off?

My feet find the floor and I’m in motion. When I get to the ballet room, she’s breathing so hard, I hear it before I pass through the door.

“Everything OK, Nadia?” I ask.

“Fine,” she says through deep breaths.

Her legs are shaking so bad, I can see her trembles from across the room.

When I get close enough to touch her, I place both on my hands on her hips and say, “Relax.”

Her feet collapse and she places her head against the wall, spent.

“Did you cheat?” I ask her.

“Once,” she says. “When the alarm went off and you didn’t come back. I had to,” she whispers, looking over her shoulder at me. “I needed a rest.”

“Hmm,” I say. “Is that the only time?”

She nods her head and when I look into her eyes, I see that she’s on the verge of tears.

“I’m going to check, if that’s OK. Is that OK?”

“Yes,” she says.

How perfect. The only way she could possibly make this better is if she had put a Master on the end of that response. “From now on, Nadia, when you address me while we’re playing, you call me Master. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

It’s pretty convincing. So I accept her submission as genuine and walk over to pick up my phone. Fast forward through the footage, and yes, she did cheat. Right after the alarm went off. And she continued to cheat for two minutes. In fact, she must’ve heard my footsteps on the hardwood floors as I made my way across the apartment, but she goes back up en pointe just before I enter the room.

“Did you like this, Nadia?” I ask her.

“Yes, Master.”

Good God. I get hard at that.

“But you did more than just cheat, Nadia. You waited until you knew I was coming back before you resumed. Tsk, tsk, tsk,” goes my tongue. “So I’m going to have to punish you for that as well. Back up, darling. Just the way you were.”

She sighs, almost sobs. But she obeys.

I walk over to her and place my hands on her hips. “Spread your legs wider,” I say.

She draws in a breath and that is definitely a sob. But she submits in silence.

Her feet inch apart, her legs opening.

“Wider,” I say.

A few more inches and she’s groaning with effort now.

“Just a little bit wider. You can do it, Nadia,” I say, encouraging her. “I know you can.”

Her sob is loud this time. But her legs open farther. Just an inch, maybe not even. But wider is wider and I know she’s really struggling now. Her legs are shaking so bad, it’s got to be painful.

“Now take your hands off the wall and—”