I'm Dating Our Mailgirl

This story is a continuation of I'm Dating Our Mailgirl. The 1st 15 chapters of that story should be read first for context. All characters are 18 or older and are completely fictitious as is Seahawk Industries. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional.

BRUNCH, WITH SOMEONE WHO KNOWS A THING OR TWO ABOUT BDSM

I was seated when Terri arrived at Dazzle. If it was possible, she looked more radiant than she had the last two times I saw her. We hugged and she placed her lips on my cheek, actually getting close to my lips. Her arm embraced me and her hand explored my back lower than was customary when two women exchange such greetings.

Our waitress approached with two menus and asked if we'd like a cocktail. I guffawed, certainly not at the poor waitress, but at the irony of what had just happened compared with what happened Friday evening with poor five.

Terri asked, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's just reminiscent of something funny that happened Friday evening." I told our waitress that's I'd like a bloody Mary. Terri asked if she could get a Pimm's cooler. I had no idea what she was ordering, and apparently neither did the waitress.

She said, "I'll ask the bartender." She came back after 5 minutes and asked Terri, "Will Pimm's, lemon juice and banana liqueur be alright."

Terri said, "With simple syrup and soda?" She said it with the precision of someone who knew what she wanted and wanted to assure that's what she got. She didn't say it with the condescending haughtiness that Joyce would have said it.

"Yes, ma'am." Are you ready to order now, or do you need a little more time?"

I was ready to order old reliable eggs Benedict, when Terri spoke up and said, "I'm famished. I'll eat at the buffet."

"That actually sounds pretty good."

Terri asked the waitress, "Are you serving bangers and mash with Guinness onion gravy today?"

The waitress assured her that was on the buffet.

I couldn't help but tease her, "My, after eating all that, you should be prepared to pull 40 acres of potatoes."

"And ten acres each of barley and oats. Shall we adjourn to the buffet?"

Terri loaded her plate and I decided to have what she was having. There were some more visually appealing items, but I was in the mood for adventure. When we sat down, she smiled at me, "So, what got you so worked up at midnight that you had to call me?"

"I hope you weren't bothered by my calling you so late, but I was enthralled by your article about your life as a sub. I wanted to learn more."

She questioned me, "Learn more about my experiences or learn more about how you can experience what I did?"

"Oh, no, no. I could never do some of the things that you said you did."

She recoiled ever so imperceptibly, "Are we being judgmental?"

"Are we being defensive?"

"Monica, I have no problem in discussing my experience with you. In fact, I find it quite flattering that you are showing such an interest. But if we are going to have a meaningful discussion, I must insist that we be completely honest with each other. Where is this coming from?"

I thought about what she was saying. "So I'm not going to get any information from you unless I tell you what is going on?"

"No."

"Waitress, I need another drink. Some one that I'm dating. . . ."

She laughed, "Well, I guess that narrows it down."

"Someone that I'm involved with revealed to me that she has a subordinate personality. That she wanted me to be her Dom."

"Let me guess. You were, instead of being intrigued by this turn of event, you rather became disturbed. You weren't sure this was a direction that you wanted to take your relationship."

"Yes."

"It's the classic case of the reluctant Dom. Are you looking for me to give you relationship advice, or behavioral advice. Do you want me to help you accept this new situation or do you want me, you having implicitly accepting the new reality, to help you guide your behavior?"

"I really hadn't though it through. I'm not sure."

"Are we talking about Joyce or nine?"

I was surprised by her question. I would have thought it was obvious. Maybe not obvious that it was Joyce, but that it wasn't nine. And by process of elimination it had to be Joyce.

"Joyce."

"Classic," was all she said. "A powerful person who dominates and controls all day long who seeks the escape of abdicating power at night by relinquishing that power to a lowly subordinate from the real world." She chuckled, "The only thing that would have been more obvious would have been if she relinquished that power to a completely inconsequential person, someone like nine."

"You're getting ahead of the story."

She laughed aloud, took a bite of her bangers and said, "Please tell me more."

I told her everything that had happened to Joyce and me since Wednesday. I prefaced my remarks by going through Joyce's Dom/sub history, about how she had been involved in a lesbian Dom/sub relationship for nearly twenty years with her previous lover, Amelia. When I took her through the events of the past four days, I got to the part where nine renamed her anus. Terri squealed with delight. "'anus', what a perfectly delightful name. My goodness, you're giving me enough here for a whole new book, never mind another article. And on top of it all, she's a switch. Not just a intermittent switch, but a truly genuine lifetime switch."

I was puzzled and asked her to explain that term. "Most people, most relationships involve a pair where one person is the sub and the other is the Dom. The roles are established early and remain rigid. A switch is someone who moves between the role of Dom and sub. You told me that for, what, twenty years, she had been a Dom to Amelia's sub? But with the death and loss of Amelia, and more importantly, her rise from humble lowly employee at Seahawk to the powerful head of HR, she switched to the sub to Monica's Dom. What an intriguing person."

If I had been petty, I would have bristled at that last remark. Why was Joyce being given all the credit for being "intriguing". Why was I not given any credit. But I decided to move on. "Terri, I've told you all about Joyce, excuse me, anus and me. But tell me about your experiences as a sub."

"Before I do that, I'd like you to help me out. In doing my research for the article, I consulted with a psychiatrist to help me understand what I was dealing with. You aren't the only person who has been overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation. She developed a test, I referred to it briefly in my article, which is a measure of one's tendency to be a Dom or a sub. Would you mind if I gave it to you? It will only take about 15 minutes. And it might help explain your anxiety with being thrust into the role of a Dom."

She opened a portfolio that she had brought in and took out a test. It was four pages long and contained 100 questions or statements. Most of them were yes or no or true/false, but there were a few multiple choice questions. "Ready?" she asked and gave me the test and the pencil.

I went through most of the first page, then I came to a statement, "You would have anonymous sex with a stranger." The next question said, "You would rather have anonymous sex with a stranger." I looked up and questioned her. "Aren't 22 and 23 the same question?"

She glanced at it. "Read it carefully. 22 is a question of willingness, 23 is a question of preference."

"Oh. What's the gender of the stranger?"

"Reread the introductory paragraph."

I read it again. "In answering the questions, assume the question is referring to a person of either or an unspecified gender."

I gasped, "Wow, that really does raise some interesting possibilities."

Question 67 caused me to pause. "You enjoy arranging sexual liaisons for your friends or associates." My mind immediately flashed to poor innocent five and how I was trying to set her up with Rose. It was easy to figure out that a "yes" on this question, which is what I marked, was going to give me points on the Dom side. I thought long and hard about the question, and if it hadn't been for that little ongoing raffish episode, I would have had to answer "No." But this latest episode reinforced my need to answer "Yes." Was the situation I was in slowly but subtlety reinforcing my Dom traits?

I finished the test, handed it to Terri and returned to my food while she graded it. "Interesting, very interesting. 34."

"Is that good?"

"Oh, it's neither good nor bad. It's just a measure of your tendencies. Zero would be completely submissive, 100 would be completely dominant." She smiled, "You came down as a submissive, fairly strongly."

"Question 67, what if I had answered it "no".

"Then your score would have been 33, ever so slightly more submissive. I guess there's a story behind your vacillation. Am I ever going to her it?"

"Mark January 17 on your calendar. You may have something to do that night." I just teased her with that information without any explanation, but she opened her calendar and perceptibly put down, "Monica and anus." I was composing a preliminary guest list for anus' reveal. Rose and five were definitely going to be invited. . . .together. Now Terri would be a very welcomed addition. "Oh, by the way, how's your love live? You told me Wednesday that your relationship with Rebecca Howell was going nowhere. Shall I just send your invitation to "Terri Reid plus 1" or do you want to give me a name?" She smiled but squirmed uncomfortable. She evaded answering me.

Was it because she didn't want to answer, and wasn't going to? I tried to change the subject back to what I wanted to know. "Well, you've given me a lot of information, and, more importantly, a lot of insight. But you told me you were going to tell me more about your experiences." I winked and smile, "stuff you couldn't put into your article."

"Where do you think I come out on my Dom/sub scale?"

"Well, you wrote extensively about your experience as a sub. I can only assume you have a tendency to be a sub."

"Wrong, my score was 79."

"But why did you assume the role of a sub?"

"I'm a writer. That was how I was going to get my widest audience."

"But weren't you concerned about being treated as a sub?"

"Monica, I'm a writer. Sometimes to develop a story we have to move into roles we are not entirely comfortable with." Her protestation, "I'm a writer" reminded me of five's protestations "I'm an entertainer" when I pointed out her engaging in cunnilingus in the fishbowl despite her protestations that she wasn't a lesbian.

"How did it come about?"

"I knew George and Grace from another story I had written for a City Magazine series, 'Power Couples in our City.' They confided in me that they were into the BDSM lifestyle, but they were both Dom's. I agreed that since it was a nice nugget of titillating information, because it wasn't essential to the story I would not reveal it. We exchanged banter back and forth while I was writing the story, they jokingly asked if I wanted to join them at one of their dungeon weekends. I laughed it off and politely refused. When Skyler Hoffman, the editor of City Magazine, approached me about the BDSM project, I got back to them. I was upfront with them and told them about the project. They assured themselves I would provide the proper safeguards of anonymity, both for themselves and others in their group. They were quite blunt. If they allowed themselves to be my 'beard' so I could get into the group I would have to engage in all activities. Frankly, George and Grace, despite their age, are both quite attractive. She was in her mid-40's; George was 61. I didn't think I would have any trouble having public sex with them, . . .either of them."

"But you described one session where you were sold into slavery."

"That's such a harshly judgmental phrase. Let's just say I was to be leased out for bondage sex. Have you ever prostituted yourself, Monica? Oh, I don't mean walking the streets in a sheer dress with lace trim, with thigh high sheer stockings attached to garters. But just agreeing to have sex, anonymously or otherwise, for money."

"No, of course not." She gave a derisive chuckle.

"You have no idea how empowering it is. The thought that someone would find you so desirable that they would depart with money, and I mean a substantial sum, for the sexual favors that you have the ability to bestow. What a rush."

"Maybe it has nothing to do with your desirability. Maybe it is just a manifestation of their inability to form meaningful relationships without barter. Maybe it's a psychological flaw that dictates that they dominate and control someone else, especially a sex partner. How much are you usually sol. . . uh, rented for?"

"The price was $3,500."

"Wow, you get that much?"

"I got nothing. That's part of the Dominant/submissive dynamic Only my Doms profited, as it were."

"Your pimps?"

"This hypercritical attitude is unworthy of you, Monica. By your own admission you have leased your self, your body and soul, to Joyce, uh, anus, as part of a blackmail scheme in which you get only job security."

"And admission to some of the finest social venues our city has to offer."

"We're not arguing about whether you are a prostitute, but only about your price." That snide condescending remark cause me to start to develop a dislike for Terri.

I retorted, "All I'm saying is that I could never expose anus to sexual slavery. I have my limits."

"And that limit stops short of you ever prostituting yourself? Or let me put lipstick on this pig, short of you ever exchanging sexual favors for remuneration?"

"Definitely. But if I can undo what I have said about you, I'm sorry. I don't criticism you for any of the activities you have described."

There followed an awkward silence which probably lasted at least five minutes. Finally, I asked, "How many times have you done this?" I uncomfortably elaborated, "uh, pros, . . prosti, . . prostituted yourself?"

"Just once."

"Do you ever plan on doing it again?"

"The article was written and published almost a year go. My research is over. I still see George and Grace, rarely. It is always in a social setting. We do not continue to have sex nor do they put me in a situation where I am their sub." Again, an awkward silence.

She chuckled, "But I would love to beat my record."

"Pardon?"

"My record. $3,500. I often wonder how much someone would be willing to pay." Again, an uncomfortable silence. Finally she broke the silence. "So have your read any of my other articles? I've had several submissions published by City in the past four years, a couple about people you may know."

"No, apparently my search wasn't that thorough. I'll have to go back and look again. Although the story was a bit off-putting, it was extremely well written and captivating."

"Come on, Monica. Cut the crap. We agreed we'd be completely honest with one another. You weren't put off in the least."

I gave a nervous laugh revealing that I had been exposed.

"I wrote an article four years ago about your friend Ted Winthrop. An intriguing little man who had previously sold his manure business to Seahawk. Are you aware he is a world renown photographers? Unfortunately, he has hung up his camera for the most part and only dabbles once in awhile."

"He did let it out once that he was a photographer, but he never used 'world renown" to describe himself."

"He wouldn't. He really is quite shy."

I chuckled. "So who else that I know have you written about?"

"City has been running a series of articles on our City's Fun Couples. As part of that series, two years ago I wrote a biography about David Brent and his mistress Celeste Bouquet."

"His what?"

"His mistress."

"But I thought he was happily married to his wife Helen?"

"As I pointed out in my story, probably part of the reason he is so happily married is because he has a wife who has full knowledge of his liaisons and who does nothing to discourage them."

"And you wrote an article in the magazine about David and his mistress?"

"Yes. There's nothing behind closed doors with him and his predilections. His various mistresses often accompany him on business trips and to social functions."

"If that is so, why did he bring Helen and not Celeste with him to the Christmas party?"

"He broke up with Celeste about nine months ago. I understand he hasn't found a suitable substitute for her, although I understand he is searching. Celeste set a rather high bar for a mistress, and it may be difficult for him to replace her, But in the meantime, believe it or not, he and Helen have a strong relationship. So there would be no reason why she wouldn't have accompanied him to this company function."

We had finished our meal and I said, "I'm going to have to go home and subscribe to City Magazine. and search their archives."

"Complete access to their archives comes with a subscription to their digital edition." We requested the check and I insisted on paying but Terri politely but firmly refused and grabbed the check to pay it. "You've given me a lot of new information."

I told her, "Yes, but you've given me far more insights. I insist that you let me pay."

"Well, if you insist. We don't want to end our first date with a fight," she said with a twinkle in her eye. I know that she was just making polite chit chat but the idea that she considered this a date gave me a slight estrogen rush. After all, she is a very attractive woman. Too bad I have too many other things going, but the idea of having her owe me a second date gave me a slight thrill. I wondered it she would play a part in my future?

As we walked out, we ran into Ted Winthrop and Jennifer accompanied by Lisa Crawford, the attractive "relations counselor" I had met through Ted and Jennifer at the Halloween party. Terri spotted them before I did and ran over to embrace each of the three of them. Obviously, she knew Lisa. "Monica, I'd like to introduce you to Lisa Crawford. She is the psychiatrist who helped me with my research for the BDSM article."

"Yes, I know Lisa. Ted and Jennifer introduced her to me at a Halloween masquerade party we attended. Hello again. Lady Godiva."

Terri laughed uproariously. She immediately recognized I was making a reference to the costume Lisa had worn which was obvious from my remark even though she had not been there. "I wish I had been there to see that."

I continued the levity by adding, "And where's the horse you rode in on?"

Lisa smiled, "Oh, him? He was just an accessory I had that night. Nothing special. So, Terri, are you starting something with Monica?"

I blushed, "Oh, I wouldn't be opposed to it. Terri is really charming and I've enjoyed the brief times we've be able to get together. But I would need a shoe horn to squeeze anyone else into my crowded life. But if you're 'out there' I understand Terri might have some openings in her busy social calendar. Terri, Lisa would be a perfect plus one for the dinner I invited you to earlier."

Terri didn't act as if I was putting her on the spot, but instead took Lisa's hand. "Remind me again, Monica, how did you answer Question 67? 'You enjoy arranging sexual liaisons for your friends or associates'?"

Lisa caught the context immediately. "Oh, Terri, you haven't given Monica that Dominance/Submissive inventory assessment, have you?"

"Yes, just now. And she got a 33."

I corrected her, "34."

Lisa replied. "I'm shocked. Monica seems to be such a strong person from my interactions with her."

I shot back at her, "Yes, but it's so hard for us closet submissives to find good Dominants these days."

Terri looked at Lisa, "So what do you say? Now that Monica has put you on the spot how would you like to be my escort January 17 at a dinner she and Joyce will be throwing?"