Friday brought a change. Francesca rose early and woke Anne with a little kick before measuring out her breakfast and refilling the water bowl. Anne would come to work with her today, she said. That was an unexpected pleasure; Anne knelt and kissed her owner's shoes.
A slight pang over missing Renee creased her forehead, but this was much better; she would be with her owner all day and the whole plant would see her on her leash.
Francesca led her outside and bathed her before going in for breakfast. Anne shivered in the morning air until the sun rose and began to warm her. Returning, Francesca told her to kneel and brushed her hair into presentability. "I think it's time they met you. You can stay beside my desk and I'll have my secretary take care of you. I want you on your best behavior; no knocking the bowls over again."
Anne lowered her head. "I'm very sorry about what I did at your neighbor's house, ma'am; I'll be extra careful. I think there is some mud on my knees."
"Stand up." Francesca took a cloth and scrubbed the smudges off. She went inside, returning a few minutes later in a gray suit. Unhooking Anne's leash she led her naked charge indoors. Anne knelt in a corner while Francesca adjusted her lipstick and took a coat from the rack, then preceded her owner through the town.
The lights were on in Maria's house; Anne saw a face in one of the windows looking at them, but she dared not look back.
Since she put on her collar and bracelets over a year ago and entered her present life, Anne had learned the language of the leash; Francesca guided her with subtle tugs to left and right, pulling on it to slow or stop her, or slapping her back with it to speed up. Just short of the plant entrance Francesca signaled for Anne to halt and led her from there to the guard shack.
He wrote out a property label and pasted it on one of Anne's breasts (_just above my heart_, she mused) while she stood with downcast eyes.
Francesca led her along corridors and up stairs to her office in the building's executive wing; the cold terrazzo floor reminded Anne of the cement floor of her cell at obedience school. Anne curtseyed on command to Barbara, Francesca's secretary.
Barbara was dressed in a long-sleeved blouse, pastel scarf, and ankle-length skirt; she was about Francesca's height with pale skin and straight black hair that descended almost to her shoulders.
Rising, she came from behind her desk and examined Anne, lightly stroking her. "Very nice," she said simply.
Francesca looked pleased, but all she said was "Get a couple bowls and put her by my desk." Barbara led Anne to the inner office, showed her where to kneel, and attached her leash to a short chain on the corner of the desk.
She retrieved a pair of bowls from a cabinet - Anne saw she was familiar with the routine - poured a quantity of feed into one and set them beside the desk before taking a pitcher and going for water.
Anne rejoiced in the softness of the carpet on her knees and looked around at the paneled walls. It resembled an office she once aspired to in her earlier life.
Sometimes when the head of the firm was away, she would consult with her clients there; she remembered sitting in the high-backed leather executive chair and advising them across the dark wood surface of the big desk. She enjoyed a vicarious shiver of pride at Francesca's achievement.
It was followed by a more embarrassing memory. Louis, a junior partner she cultivated in hope of a promotion led her into the boss's office to make love on the floor. She undressed at his direction and he was using her when Alice walked in.
The head secretary had short gray hair and a mannish look; she said nothing but sifted through the clothes Anne left on the chair, holding up each item and inspecting it. Anne lay on her back moaning while Louis entered her again and again. After they reached a climax and Louis subsided, Alice returned to her desk.
Louis got up and left. After a minute Anne rose off the floor, dressed and went through the outer office avoiding Alice's gaze. She wondered if she would be fired, but the only results were knowing looks from her colleagues and a brief fear that he had got her pregnant.
Returning to the present, Anne remained demurely motionless whenever a visitor entered unless told to rise, and on one occasion accompanied her owner to a meeting in a nearby conference room. Francesca introduced her to the group. Anne noticed a woman with a brisk, businesslike appearance wearing a yellow and black plaid skirt just like one she used to have.
She knelt quietly beside Francesca's chair until next month's production targets were decided on. As the meeting broke up and they stood to go, the woman in the plaid skirt came up to them.
Teri was a director at the firm, a member of the selection board that chose Francesca. The two shook hands and made small talk for a minute. She complimented Francesca on her girl; Anne stood a bit straighter to present herself properly.
She was Francesca's only girl? Teri kept a dozen or so; she would put a couple out for auction in the fall when demand was up. She invited Francesca to view her stable and training yard.
She liked Anne's hair; it was her natural color, no? Francesca lifted a hank of it to show it was. Perhaps if it were a bit longer... Francesca shook her head; she used a garrote for discipline above the metal collar, long hair would be in the way. Teri agreed.
Francesca went on. It had to be long enough to grasp when necessary, though. She took a fistful and pulled Anne's head abruptly back to demonstrate.
Anne stood motionless; she was used to having her body analyzed like this. It no longer belonged to her and she was pleased to display it for her owner.
Teri welcomed Francesca to the firm on behalf of the board, and Anne returned with her owner to the office.
Mid-morning, Francesca called to her secretary. "I have to work through to lunch; would you take her outside for me?"
"No problem, boss."
Barbara unhooked Anne's leash and shook it as a sign for her to rise, then led her out to a small wooded area on the grounds a distance from the main building. She tethered Anne to a tree before beginning a minute inspection of her captive. A corner of Anne's badge had peeled away from her breast; Barbara pressed it back down.
"Anne, property of Francesca," she read. "I want to know more about you than that."
Anne was nonplussed and at a loss for words.
"You're in love with Francesca, aren't you?"
"Yes, ma'am I am. Is it so obvious?"
"It is to me. I see the way your face lights up and your nipples rise when she turns your way. You're not allowed to look in her eyes but you want to; you keep darting glances at her and then away. I notice things like that.
"And I paint; the instant I saw the patterns on you, I *had* to get a closer look." She began at Anne's shoulders, tracing with her fingers the residue of lash marks down Anne's back, carefully over each buttock, and along her thighs and calves. "My, you've been worked over by experts." Anne felt herself growing moist.
Barbara walked around and repeated the process in front, caressing the fine pale lines on her breasts, then her belly and legs. She crouched down and pulled gently on Anne's fleece. Anne bit her lip and grew wetter still.
"Ooh, is that for me?" Barbara said, laughing.
Anne surrendered to the secretary's soft probing as she parted Anne's lips and explored more closely. She exclaimed on the delicate colors of the interior before giving it a last caress and standing up. "If I could match those tints I'd call myself a real artist. I must make a sketch of you; several actually, to get the whole figure and the details. I'm looking forward to this."
"Thank you, ma'am. Is this where I-?"
"Over there, beside the trail. Wipe your feet before we go back."
"Yes, ma'am." Anne did as she was told, and the two returned to the building.
At noon Francesca led her to the company cafeteria. A woman in gray coveralls from the motor pool held Anne's leash while Francesca carried her tray to a table, where Anne stood beside her as she ate. Several employees dropped by; for each, Anne curtseyed while they watched and complimented Francesca on her possession.
"She's very graceful, isn't she? I like the way she holds herself."
"Look at all those marks on her."
"I heard she was trained at St. Agnes; they're supposed to be very good."
"How much feed does she go through in a month?"
One young man stood beside her holding her leash while a friend photographed them. "Until I can afford one of my own," he laughed.
