If it weren't for the mild California winters, I'd be shivering under my scarlet peacoat as I felt my exposed skin brush up against the satin liner, tightly wrapped against my lingerie-clad body. Legs crossed, the black sheer thigh-highs providing minimal warmth, I teetered on my sparkling new stilettos as I nervously rang his doorbell. I was five minutes late, maybe seven. Now there would be hell to pay.
My muscles stiffened as I heard his heavy boot steps approach the door to his house. I sucked in a deep breath and used the last of my saliva to moisten my teeth. Watching the door handle turn, I prepared my brightest smile for him: Jesse, my Dom.
"Well, I see you got part of my instructions right," he said in a low tone, letting me pass into the doorway. "However, you're late. And you know what that means." Despite my heels, he looked down on me from his almost ten-inch height advantage.
I trembled under the thick wool of my coat, dreading him slipping it off my shoulders, but I turned around anyway, knowing he'd want to inspect my adherence to his dress code. Facing the wall, he carefully denuded me, the skin of my arms blossoming with goosebumps at the tickle of his fingertips as he lifted my coat off and hung it up.
"My... I have impeccable taste. I knew blood red was your color." Lust stained his words. As if I were an object, he turned me around and adrenaline pierced my heart as his eyes devoured my glowing skin displayed in the bra and panty set he chose for me. I was so worried it wouldn't fit right, but miraculously it hugged every curve with tasteful delicacy and spared me the humiliation of multiplying my bulges. I loved the black lace trim. In this, I felt about as sexy as a thirty-something brunette in glasses is going to feel. Clearly, I'd passed the first test of the night, but what about all the others?
"Your punishment for tardiness will be ten pushups, one for each minute you were late," he demanded, gesturing to the floor before standing back and crossing his arms, drill sergeant-style. He peered down at me over his nose and I almost melted into a puddle on his hardwood floor.
"But Sir, I was only five minutes late, seven at most." I didn't spend two hours getting dressed up for a gym session!
"But me no buts! You know the rules. Ten. Or you can go home right now, Yellowstone be damned." Though his voice was stern and deep, he couldn't quite conceal the mischievous smile twitching his lips, nor could I hide mine. I bent down to remove my heels.
"What are you doing? No! Leave them on. Until I say otherwise."
I looked up at him with a snarl.
"Ten! Let's go! You're wasting our time."
Giving him a full view of my backside, I propped myself up on my palms and stretched my feet out to a plank position. With a deep breath, I lowered myself down.
"All the way! Chin to floor!" He kneeled before me to scrutinize my form.
I did as I was told. Up, down, up, down.
"One. Two. Three." Luckily, he counted for me because my mind fractured with equal parts exhilaration, embarrassment, and anger, which only grew with the advancing numbers.
By eight, my arms shook, and it took all I had to straighten them out again, huffing and puffing. I paused for a break.
"Almost there, Little One. Two more, let's go."
Ahhh... 'Little One!' My kryptonite! Hearing him call me that nearly caused my arms to buckle, but somehow I steeled them against my instincts to crumble. He wasn't my 'Daddy' Dom, per se, but occasionally he'd use those terms for encouragement and they made me melt like butter every time.
"Nine. Ten. Good job, Invicta! I knew you could do it."
He offered his hand to help me up, and I gladly took it, swaying on my heels from the exertion.
"There, you happy now?" I puffed, catching my breath. My cheeks burned and I'm sure I was blushing brighter than a cherry in the snow.
"Happy? Never. Satisfied? Yes. Let's move on, shall we?"
He was happy. He couldn't hide it. And I was happy to make him happy.
As I stood before him, a silence blanketed us as he drilled me with his eyes. With a slight cock of his head, he lifted his right hand and gently placed his palm on the crown of my head, the weight of his arm transferring to me. In a moment, I lowered myself, following the downward pressure of his hand until my knees once again touched the floorboards, my joints cracking loudly in the quiet house, a sound he'd grown accustomed to after much reassurance that it didn't hurt me in the slightest. Additionally, with his left hand, he gave his signal for kneeling- thumb, index, and middle finger all pointed down at the floor with the other fingers tucked like a fist. He'd drilled me on several hand commands for times when the environment was too loud to speak, or if he simply preferred silence, as he often did.
Kneeling, staring at the scuffed tips of his black motorcycle boots, I lowered my chin to my chest and let my eyelids close. I felt his hand lift from my head before he cleared his throat in a husky cough.
There, I waited in silence. Though we only heard the sounds of our measured breaths, their cadence winding down to a relaxing rhythm, the room filled with a certain presence I only felt here, in his home, kneeling before him. I felt his loving gaze, his adoration and excitement cloak me, lifting me to a state of altered consciousness I only felt with him.
I became humble, yet exalted. Lowly, yet precious. Submissive, yet powerful in my position. I was an equal in this unbalance of power, the yin to his yang, and perfectly reminded of my place.
Sometimes the silence lasts several minutes or more, it just depends on the day and what mental obstacles lay in the path to our desired positions. This evening, it felt like a couple minutes before he broke the spell with a deep, authoritative voice.
"Lady Invicta," he addressed me by my chosen title, "Do you wish to serve?"
It was a question I looked forward to hearing each and every time. He let the 'v' of 'serve' vibrate with sinister certainty. It was a simple question he always asked, as each day was fresh and new consent was needed.
"Yes, Sir, I wish to serve," I said, sweeping my gaze up for a moment of intimate eye contact, then returning to my bowed head position and bending forward at the waist to touch my forehead to the floor, in full submission. Here I waited for five deep breaths, then returned to the basic kneel.
He likes to pause a few seconds to let the statement sink in before responding. 'Serving' Mr. Phoenix runs the gamut, from simple and cute play scenes to downright traumatic spiritual experiences. Saying you wish to serve is never a lighthearted statement, nor does he treat it as such.
He exhaled deeply. "As it is spoken, so shall it be done."
These words penetrated my mind with chilling finality. My skin pricked into goosebumps, as it always did with that closing statement. From this moment on, I am an instrument of his will, come what may. The prospect always left me breathless.
"You may stand." He offered his right hand again and I rose, my knees grateful for the relief of pressure. Now our scene began in earnest.
"You say I've gotta watch Yellowstone, so that's what we're doing tonight."