Part I
My hand stills on the door, palm resting lightly into the smooth grain of the wood beneath. Already my mouth has gone dry and I can feel my pulse beat a tattoo in my neck. A simple push of that door will find me in your territory, under the spell of those unsettling dark eyes, knowing you will unwrap me layer by layer until there is nothing left. You always do. Tonight, however, I sense deeper more dangerous currents.
It is just an instinctive feeling, but our beings resonate so closely together that I am rarely wrong. There will be reason to fear you tonight and before the evening is out this slave will know about it. Whether the dish to be served will be dazzling enthrallment, sensuous torment or sharp frightening frissons of pain remains to be seen. Life under your tutelage is hardly ever predictable.
My fingers form a fist finally. They knock out two firm raps and I wait. I wait with utter silence roaring in my ears, unable to breathe until your voice is heard. Oh how I hate to wait and oh how you know it. The silence is impermeable in its entirety and produces a convulsive swallow in me. I know you heard me, more than that I know you feel me... can taste my fear.
Finally a single word rings out.
'Enter.'
It makes me jump and I have to clutch my fingers into fists to stop the trembling. 'Breathe,' I tell myself. Just breathe. Finally the life force flows again allowing me to continue. My shaking hand pushes the door slowly open.
The smell of burning wax assails me first, before my eyes register that the floor is a lit up like a runway... awash with candles. It gives the room a soft but eerily muted glow. My eyes take several seconds adjusting to the dim light before they find you, lounging on the leather sofa with a thick tome in your hand. From this distance I cannot make out the title, even though my eyes squint hard in the attempt.