1 JAN -- MAR (party guest, first day)
"What do you like sexually?"
"Everything except pain," Sage replied, not knowing on that day in early January just how much her life was about to change in a very short period of time.
Sage was on a coffee date with the man who was to become her Master. His vanilla male self contacted her vanilla female self on a popular online dating website. They emailed back and forth a few times, chatted for about a week and discovered they seemed to be compatible. They at least both wanted the same thing: casual, uncomplicated sex with no strings and no commitments. The next logical step was meeting for coffee to see if there was a physical spark as well. Let's face it, you can chat with someone, exchange pictures and get along fine online but if there is no physical attraction when you meet face to face, sex is out of the question.
Sage was already at the coffee shop sipping a moccachino when D arrived. His windbreaker, polo shirt and jeans were a very good start, as casual as Sage's jeans and turtleneck. Being comfortably dressed helped on these coffee meets because it could be nerve wracking meeting someone with whom you've talked about sex and other intimate things for the past week. D's voice was soft and warm and it seemed incongruous to hear some of the things he said in that voice. They discussed their lives very basically, not prying or probing but just to get a feel for the other. A casual relationship meeting for sex once in awhile does not require a complete background check. In fact both parties are eager to leave their baggage at home as neither one wants to take on the other's and this type of friendship would help each escape their own for awhile.
The whole purpose of this meeting was to find out if they were physically attracted to each other and to discuss their sexual compatibility. So far so good, Sage thought, as she found D highly attractive. She liked big men, not fat men, just tall and substantial. D was very tall, 6'2" and she would estimate him a little over 200 pounds but he looked solid without an extra pound of fat anywhere. Broad shoulders, big hands, muscular looking legs under the jeans were all topped by a most pleasant, open face. He had short chestnut coloured hair and a full neatly trimmed beard. His eyes were a light hazel and as soft and gentle as his voice. Sage decided that if the package under the windbreaker was as nice as the outside, this one could be a keeper.
It all sounds so clinically sluttish but that was exactly what this dating site was for: people to find people for sex. Period. "Friends with benefits" was how they called each other. And online chatting made it so easy to talk openly: anonymity behind a keyboard went a long way. It cut out a lot of the bullshit of normal dating. Sage found out that her so-called slutty ways were quite normal for a woman in her mid-40's that just ended a 21 year marriage. "They" -- whoever "they" are -- liken it to a parolee after a long sentence hitting every fast food joint and hooker in town making up for lost time. Maybe it was the sudden and unaccustomed freedom that gave a heady euphoria. Maybe it was the affirmation by others, her peers, that she was still an attractive, sexual woman. Maybe it was the lack of sex over the last couple years of the marriage (and lack of
good
sex over many years before that). Maybe it was the realization of her mortality and that her life was half over and her sexually active life even shorter. Whatever the reason Sage was behaving typically according to "them" -- and enjoying every minute of it.
D brought up her interest in Domination and submission and the fact that she said she was highly experimental and asked her about that. Sage said that way back in her first single days she had a boyfriend with whom she engaged in light bondage sex. They had watched "The Story of O" and sort of played at it over one weekend. She enjoyed being tied up during sex and spending the time naked to be touched, fingered, probed -- to just be
available
everywhere at anytime. She had gone out for a walk with him wearing only lingerie and heels, with a collar and leash (in the middle of the night thank goodness) and she liked it. Sage had always been highly adventurous, willing to try almost anything at least once, "twice just to make sure" as she laughingly put it. D told her he liked bondage and asked if she would consider trying it again with him. Having no idea what she was letting herself in for, she said sure, of course she would try it.
Now it seems very dangerous to be talking about having bondage sex with someone you just met for the first time and it is -- highly dangerous. D asked her about that too. Sage drew on her intuition, which was very strong and very accurate. Her angels and her guides spoke to her often and she never got into trouble when she listened and obeyed them. When she looked at D the word
integrity
sprang to mind very strongly, very insistently. He was a black belt and so she knew he practiced self-discipline, honour and inner balance and harmony. She also knew some black belts were nothing more than lethal brutes and that's how a lot of women viewed them. Sage had taken some karate training herself and came to partially understand the Oriental martial mind. But D was different. He had taken the psychological teachings of martial arts to heart and his very character screamed integrity. The fact that he owned his own martial arts school and taught children was a sign of a balanced mind. She knew she could trust him, she
felt