12. Dinner
"Marc, everyone in the restaurant is going to envy you until they die. I normally hate doing this but I'm going to dress up, and of course Chloe will be gorgeous. You will act as if having two beautiful women on your arms is the natural due of every handsome, successful male, what you want the world to see most, but you will also wear your buttplug, glans ring, and rubber bands. No one else will know that we're actually your owners. Chloe, as soon as you've applied Marc's accessories, I want you to help with my makeup. My face isn't beautiful like yours, I know that, but I would like to look better than usual. It would be a nice change. Can you?" She sounded wistful.
"Yes Mistress," Chloe said. She gently applied my rubber bands, then the glans ring with a wink and a sly smile. I managed to keep from getting fully hard even as she took longer than strictly necessary, teasing with soft fingertips. The buttplug was still in. I seldom go out dressed for success but I'm expected to with some clients, so I had a sharp suit and the right shirts and ties and shoes. I hardly ever wear aftershave, much less cologne, and this time, with the lightly scented moisturizer on my freshly shaved 'nads, I wasn't tempted.
Chloe was applying Nia's eyeshadow when I was ready. "Make a reservation," Nia told me. "You know this city. Pick a place with really good food and atmosphere, where beautiful people can see and be seen, because tonight we will be seen. Don't worry about price, we know you can afford it. Then find the pink buttplug in my bag of tricks and lube it up for Chloe."
I made a reservation at a place I'd only eaten at once, when a previous girlfriend wanted to go. Maybe she'd wanted to be seen, too. It was Sunday, so not a great night for showing off, but a table was available.
Chloe was touching up her own makeup when I returned, while Nia was wriggling into a skimpy dress that showed plenty of cleavage even without a bra, mostly concealing her powerful legs but generously slit to allow freedom of movement. My jaw had dropped more than once with Nia, but she would absolutely stop traffic in that dress. It glittered, it sparkled, it revealed, it concealed, it showed off enough of her wonderful breasts to cause any number of double-takes, also baring her toned shoulders and arms, everything about her another part in a symphony of the female form divine. And then there was her splendid ass, and her warrior's ponytail. Oh, my goodness.
"It seems you like my dress," she said.
I couldn't speak. I nodded.
"Chloe, come here and bend over. Marc, put the plug in."
Chloe looked back at me, unsure but trusting me. It was small, especially compared to what I was dealing with at that moment. Chloe smiled nervously. I showed it to her, showed her the pretty pink heart on the protruding end. She nodded, then I rocked it in. She moaned.
"Chloe, you've done very well today," Nia said. "I want to promote you to level 3. Are you ready for that?"
It was odd ... I thought I could read the expression that flowed across Chloe's face perfectly: 'What else have I got to lose,' she was asking herself.
"Yes Mistress," she whispered.
"Good girl. Marc, put my heels on. Chloe, watch closely and correct him if you think he could do anything better."
I took the same sexy four-inch heels Nia had wanted me to put on her several hours ago, a scene that'd quickly detoured to another place entirely. I gently, lovingly, slid them onto her strong feet, strapping her in, caressing her sculpted calves as I did, just as I'd wanted to before. I tried to make it as sensuous for her as it was for me. Chloe moaned, just slightly.
"Chloe, do you approve?" Nia asked.
"Oh yes, Mistress ... some time I want Marc to do that for me."
"Good girl," Nia said, and I could see Chloe shiver. "Marc, wear this," Nia said. It was a fine silver necklace with a message in tiny script letters: "Property of Nia." It wouldn't be visible under my collar. She watched me put it on. Then she put on a fine silver chain of her own, a small shiny key dangling from it, just visible in her deep cleavage.
Rising, I held my hand out to Nia. She took it and rose from my couch. I looked at Chloe. 'For you, anything,' I thought. She smiled warmly, as if understanding. I slid on her ankle socks and jogging shoes, and she sighed.
Chloe wore more makeup than I'd ever seen on her. She was beautiful, of course, but to me it was like she was trying too hard. "You don't need to do that," I whispered. "You are the most beautiful woman in the world to me. Makeup doesn't matter, nothing else matters." I put my arm around her waist.
Chloe leaned into me. "This is very hard for me," she whispered.
"Me too," I said, meaning no irony, and kissed her very lightly on the lips, not wanting to smudge her lipstick.
* * *
The restaurant was 300' up a mountain, overlooking the city. A beautiful view if you like large cities in daylight. Chloe called and left a message for her modeling agent on the way. It was 6:15, still early for dinner. Nia wanted to sit in the bar for half an hour, so of course we did. I think a very young man proposed to his girlfriend a few seats away. I thought I was still young, and Chloe and Nia were younger, but that couple looked downright underage.
Every single man and several women who walked past our table made at least one extra take, some more obvious than others. Who could blame them? One of the women who passed by with a man on her arm slapped one part of him or another, whispering sharply.
"Good choice," Nia said. "This place is perfect," but she seemed uncomfortable, maybe even nervous.
"Nia, you look positively beautiful," I said. "I love you, everything about you, including how you look now and every other time. Look around ... every woman here wants to be you, and every man wants to be
*with*
you. You are stunning."
Nia gave me a look I'd never seen from her before, like she was suspicious but leaning towards grateful.
"Thank you," she whispered. "I'm not used to this."
I started to wonder if she had some kind of stunt planned. God help me, I got hard, and of course the rubber bands hurt like fuck.
Nia seldom drinks and never had in a place like this, but Chloe helped, ordering cosmos, hers more tart than Nia's. I thought about a whisky, but beer is good. The bartender brought an IPA, trying hard not to stare down the front of Nia's dress. At 19, Nia was underage for drinking, but no one questioned us.
"What made you choose this lifestyle?" Chloe asked her.
Nia hesitated like she was thinking about answering, but shook her head.
We followed the hostess when our table was ready. "Table for three," she said as if such a thing were a novelty, holding her hand out as we arrived. It was right in the middle of everything, as requested ... I doubt there was a more visible location in the place. I seated Nia, then Chloe. They brought their drinks, which they'd only sipped. I ordered another IPA. We looked over our menus.
"Marc, I want you to order for me," Nia said. "I like steak, I need protein, you fill in the blanks. Nothing spicy."
"I would be honored," I said, and she smiled.
A pediatric surgeon I know walked to our table. "Hello, Dr. Marc," he said. "I trust you're having a wonderful evening." He smiled at Nia and Chloe.
I stood, genuinely delighted, reaching to shake his hand. "Dr. Hale, how nice to see you, and June! I'm enjoying my evening, and my company, very much, thank you. I know your company is every bit as enchanting."
"Thank you, Marc. Call me Will, please. It's a special night for us, as it seems to be for you." He smiled, knowingly. If only he knew. "I've been honored by our local pediatric society. We're celebrating."
His wife June came up next to him and held his hand, smiling at us.
"Congratulations, Will!" I said. "That's wonderful. They couldn't have honored a worthier doctor!"
He swallowed hard. "Thank you. That means a lot, it truly does. I wanted your permission to thank you publicly for your work, which is a big part of why I've been honored ... that broad-spectrum antibiotic you found in Sumatra four years ago, the one approved last year, I became an early adopter based on your recommendation, and two children in my care are alive today because of it when they didn't respond to anything else. I've spread the word and that antibiotic is getting much more use now ... twenty children around the country were saved just this past year, and more every week."
"Thank you so much, Marc," June said softly. Her eyes were glistening.
Chloe burst into tears. I thought about it ... ten million people live in our area, with thousands of pediatricians serving them. This award must be a big deal.
"Thank you, Dr. Hale. Will. I was just doing my job, that I only accepted because I hoped to help people like your patients. You've absolutely made my year, thank you so much for telling me, and of course you have my permission to mention me however you like." Chloe reached for my hand and squeezed it.
"I know your intentions are the best, which is why I looked into your recommendation as soon as you gave it. So ... what else do you have for me?" He smiled again, then laughed at himself.
I laughed with him. "There's an urgent-care asthma drug on track for approval later this year. We found it in Papua. That was a scary trip. I don't know what name it'll be marketed under, but it's a beta-agonist. I'll let you know when I learn more. Early next year there's also an intestinal anti-bacterial from central Alaska and northern Canada, decocted from black spruce bark. Both showed a lot of promise, and the people I talked to in both places swore by them, just like they did in Sumatra."
"Thank you, Marc. I'll keep my eyes open." He reached to shake my hand again, taking it in both of his, then Chloe's which he kissed the back of gently, then Nia's. He couldn't keep from glancing down Nia's dress. June did the same without the kisses or the glance, giving Chloe, whose cheeks were still wet with tears, an extra-warm smile. "You ladies have excellent taste," Dr. Hale said before they returned to their table.
"Wow," Chloe said, dabbing a napkin to her cheek with the hand that wasn't already holding mine. "I had no idea."
"He called you Doctor," Nia said.
"Not a medical doctor," I said. "Just a PhD, a doctor of philosophy. Piled higher and Deeper. That was generous of him."
