My thanks to minke, gem, Diva and sweetlips for their input for this story, thank you all for your ideas and patience.
Chapter 1 - The Thrill of the Chase
The thrill of the chase still gave me butterflies as I strode through the large shopping mall to my first meeting with Sarah. I had met the young submissive a few months ago in a chat room and after many hours of online chatting we were finally going to meet for the first time. As usual I had selected the food court at the mall for our meeting where there were always many shoppers present. As I purchased a cappuccino I noted that, as usual, my hands were a little clammy and I smiled in recognition of my own nervousness.
I sat at one of the small tables where I had a good view of most of the food court and placed the silly looking baseball cap on my head. I had told Sarah to look out for the red cap, as I would be easily recognizable in the headgear. I pretended to read a car magazine while my eyes scanned the area to see if I could pick out Sarah among the many shoppers. I was beginning to wonder if she was going to show when I glimpsed a short girl with long red hair walking past the shops for the second time. She looked at me both times but I pretended to keep my eyes on the magazine, as I wanted her to make the decision to approach me.
Finally I sensed someone standing just behind me and a quiet voice asking, "Andrew, Sir?"
I swiveled around in my seat and greeted her with a wide smile, "Sarah? Welcome, nice to meet you at last, sit down please." As Sarah moved to her chair I removed the cap from my head and said, "I'm glad you have arrived, now I can take off this silly cap."
"It did make you easy to recognize," Sarah said with a slightly forced giggle.
"Would you like something to drink?" I asked.
"N'no thank you Sir." The understandable nervousness showed in her voice as she sat opposite me.
"Please drop the Sir in public, just call me Andrew, ok?"
Sarah gave me a wan smile, nodded her head and waited politely for me to continue.
"First of all, congratulations."
"Congratulations?" Sarah queried.
"Yes congratulations on having the fortitude to meet me today, you can be proud of your courage."
"Thank you Sir."
I ignored her use of 'Sir' and continued the praise. "And may I say that you are much prettier in real life than the photo you sent by e-mail. I love your red hair, it really suits you."
Sarah's smile was stronger this time and she appeared to relax a little as I continued the conversation. I asked her about her work as a nurse along with a few general questions about her likes and dislikes of food, television and the movies. I slowly and subtly changed the subject until we were discussing her submissive needs. Even though we had enjoyed long discussions on the computer I knew from past experience that it was best that she verbalize her needs to me. After nearly thirty minutes Sarah and I were engrossed in our conversation about safety back up when she broke our eye contact. Her gaze looked behind me and she giggled loudly as hands were placed over my eyes from behind and my world turned black.
"Guess who?" A heavily disguised female voice asked.
I waited a few seconds and replied, "Hello Diva."
"Damn you Andrew, how did you know?" My old friend Mistress Diva asked as she took her hands from over my eyes.
"Your lovely perfume of course." I grinned triumphantly. "It's elementary my dear Diva."
"Please introduce you me to your lovely friend." Diva said as she kissed my cheek before sitting on a spare chair.
"Sarah, I'd like you to meet a dear friend of mine, Mistress Diva. Diva, this is Sarah, we are having our first public meeting."
"Wonderful!" Diva said enthusiastically. "I won't keep you then."
"Stay a few minutes please, I was just explaining to Sarah about the importance of having a friend as safety back-up but she doesn't have anyone she feels would understand her submissive needs."
"Oh yes Sarah, it's very important." Diva turned her gaze to me. "If I'm staying for a few I'd love a cappuccino."
"Of course, would you like a drink now Sarah? Perhaps a hot chocolate?"
"Oh, yes please." The redhead was obviously happy to have female company.
"A Dom's lot is never done." I grumbled as I rose from my chair.
"Isn't he a dear?" I heard Diva whisper to Sarah as I moved away.
I took my time as I purchased the drinks and smiled to myself as I stood at the shop counter watching the girls chatting intently back at the table. Diva and I had worked in tandem twice previously, both times with positive results for both the submissive and us. As I neared the table with the small tray of drinks I saw Diva squeeze Sarah's hands and I knew that our plans were working well.
"Here you are ladies." I said as I placed the tray on the table. "Drinks are served."
"Thank you Andrew." They both said in unison and we all laughed.
"Andrew, Sarah is delightful." Diva said as she sipped her coffee. "I don't know how you manage to attract such lovely ladies."
"It all started with you my dear Diva." I said with a wink at Sarah who was blushing bright pink. "All those years ago."
"Hey, not too many years ago." Diva laughed and turned to Sarah. "I was Andrew's first submissive, he taught me so much and now I am mainly dominant but I do love to switch occasionally."
"We both learnt a lot back in those days, in fact, I think you never stop learning about BDSM, or life for that matter."
As we sipped our drinks Diva and I told Sarah a few funny stories from our early days in the lifestyle. Our laughter helped Sarah to relax even more and by the time our cups were empty the young nurse was very much at ease. Diva volunteered to be Sarah's back-up should the novice submissive choose to visit me and the two girls swapped phone numbers. Shortly after finishing our drinks Diva excused herself to go and buy some thigh-high boots and after kissing Sarah and myself she said goodbye.
"She's lovely." Sarah said as she watched Diva move away through the tables.
"Yes she has been a great friend for me, she is a very caring Domme." I replied. "But young lady, let's talk about you, time is getting on and we don't want you late for your shift."
"Yes of course Sir, I mean Andrew." Sarah turned her attention to me.
"Tell me honestly how you feel now that we have met." I asked.
Sarah paused and thought for over a minute before answering. "To be honest, I feel as if I have been talking to a friend, not the man to whom I hope to submit. I was so nervous and thought of running away even after I saw you." I nodded as Sarah paused for a few seconds then continued. "I'm not sure yet if I will submit to you and I'd like a day to think it over."
"I agree." I said with a smile.
"You do? Oh thank you so much." Sarah's sigh of relief was quite audible.
"Sarah, I told you that I would not pressure you today, what you see is what you get with me. I try to be honest all the time and I assure you once again, if you do submit to me, it will be under the creed of safe, sane and consensual."
"Thank you so much, I really do feel that I can trust you." Sarah glanced at her watch. "But I had better be going or I'll be late for work."
I scribbled my telephone number on a piece of paper and passed it over to the pretty redhead. "Phone me when you are ready and thank you for coming, I've really enjoyed meeting you."
"Thank you Andrew, Sir, for making me feel at ease," Sarah said as she rose from her chair. "I will phone you soon."
"Goodbye for now Sarah, take care."
We shook hands and I watched Sarah weave her way through the tables. As she reached the exit to the car park Sarah stopped, looked around and waved goodbye to me. I smiled and waved back as I wondered if we would see each other again. I waited five minutes before leaving, then as I made my way to my car my mobile phone rang.
"Hi Diva, what do you think?" I asked.
"She's a certainty in my opinion." Diva replied.
"You're that sure? As usual I think I could have done better with some of the questions."
"You're too much of a perfectionist Andrew, Sarah is lovely and I bet you twenty dollars you hear from her by this time tomorrow."
"Ok, you're on." I laughed. "And thanks for your help again, we make a good team."
"Oh Andrew, you know we both love the thrill of the chase." Diva giggled. "Besides I know you will share if Sarah is that way inclined, and I think she is, even if she doesn't know it yet."
I laughed as I reached my car. "You can be sure of it dear Diva."
"Ok, I have to go, keep in touch Andrew Sir."
"Bye Diva, catch you soon."
I drove home feeling pretty pleased with myself thanks to Diva's encouraging words. For the rest of the day I devoted myself to my expanding computer web-site design business that I operated from home. I did not expect Sarah to phone that day as her nursing shift did not finish until ten p.m. but I was hoping for a call the next day.
The following day I was eating some lunch when the telephone rang.
"Andrew speaking, can I help you?" I said after hurriedly swallowing my mouthful of sandwich.
"Hello Andrew Sir, this is Sarah."
"Hi Sarah I was hoping you would call." I said cheerfully. "You have come to a decision?"
"Yes Sir, I would like to see you for my first session of submission." Sarah said positively.
"Excellent Sarah, I'm very pleased to hear that." I was impressed by the strength in her voice. "Do you have any questions you would like to ask?"
"No Sir, I don't think so." Sarah paused. "I, umm, I did speak to Mistress Diva again and she explained a few things."
"Diva is lovely and you can trust her. So do you wish to make a time now Sarah?"
"Yes please Sir, as soon as possible if that's ok with you." The redhead replied with a slight tremor in her voice.
"As you know my time is flexible, I can usually fit in with your shifts, tomorrow sometime if that suits."
