A heavy hand landed on my ass. Three times in a row, quickly. In my peripheral vision I could see his arm going up again and I braced myself for the fourth hit. But it didn't come. Instead he lowered his arm and helped me back to sit next to him. Tears filled my eyes but I'd be damned if I let them drop.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Don't you have anything to say?"
"I have plenty to say. I'm just not sure I know how."
"Try"
"OK. First of all, this really hurt! You don't get to do that to me again! Second, I have so many questions I don't even know where to begin." As soon as I said that I started feeling the panic coming back and my breathing getting faster and shallower.
"Just relax. We'll go over your questions one at a time. There's no hurry. And as far as your punishment goes, it's supposed to hurt. You did something stupid that endangered you so you were punished. Next time you'll think twice before you do something similar. And it will not be up to you to decide if I get to do it again or not. You get to decide you don't want this at all but if you say yes then it won't be up to you anymore."
"But I don't know what
this
is..." I wailed like a little kid feeling forced to make a decision on what present to get when both are stored behind a dark curtain.
"
This
, will be what you want it to be. If you want it to be. A relationship, a friendship, an adventure with a twist.
A new beginning
."
"So what happens next?" I asked looking at the floor feeling silly to even have this discussion. "There's a contract? A list of rules? What..." He gently held my head tilting it towards him with one hand while with the other moved my hair from my face to the side.
"No contract. No pre-made list of rules. We'll talk about this more tomorrow. I don't think now is the time to discuss this."
He got up from the sofa
"I'm going home, you need to sleep."
I glanced at the clock which proudly showed the time to be 03:14 a.m. "It's late. You can stay here if you want. My sofa is pretty comfy and I promise not to take advantage of you" I said smiling.
After settling him in for the rest of the night I got into bed. My behind was still a little sore from the "punishment" but my thoughts kept drifting to that light gentle touch afterwards. It was so unexpected at that moment and that made it feel so much more powerful and lingering long after it was done. I wondered for a moment if he did it on purpose or if it just happened like that. Either way, despite the bad start to the night I felt better somehow. And I quickly fell asleep.
Morning came too soon but as I awoke to the wonderful smell of freshly brewed coffee a smile crept silently up and settled on my face. I got ready as quickly as I could and went to the kitchen. "It smells wonderful in here." I said to the empty room.
Feeling a little dejected I poured myself a cup of coffee, opened the window letting in the fresh crisp morning air and sat down staring out into space getting lost in my thoughts.
"Good morning"
"Oh fuck!" I jumped so hard I spilled half the coffee all over myself.
"Are you ok?"
"Yes. Fine. The coffee was almost cold anyway. I just didn't hear you come in. You scared the crap out of me. Next time make some more noise will you?"
"Sorry"
he said, clearly not being sorry at all.
"You ran out of milk so I went to get some. What's funny?"
He asked seeing me smile at his words. "Oh nothing really. It's just that I ran out of milk a few years ago. I don't drink milk with my coffee. You're lucky I still have sugar. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to change my clothes."
"It can wait until you finish your new cup"
As he sat down placing a new cup of coffee in front of me the back of his hand lightly touched my arm. I don't think he even noticed, I felt it all the way to my stomach. Such a small touch. And yet...
And yet...
I am so confused by this man. So gentle and rough at the same time. His eyes are dark but kind, his voice deep and soothing but also menacing. The duality of this man is intriguing. Unlike Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Adam's two sides are bound together. I can feel them both at once in him and hence my confusion.
"I'm still here you know."
"huh?"
"You were a million miles away. Anything interesting happening there?"
"You could say that. I was thinking of you."
"Oh? Pray tell. This does sound interesting."
"See, you just said "Pray tell", but your eyes and grin say
prey
, tell", I said emphasizing the word 'prey' melodramatically, "And that's what I've been thinking about- how things seem to have a double meaning with you." His grin broadened and I got lost in the twinkle in his eye.
"So you think about me," he said as a statement, not a question.
Not waiting for me to reply, he got up and collected the empty coffee cups. I was hoping he would again touch my hand like before and was slightly disappointed when he didn't. Silly really.
"You should get dressed. We need to go shopping. The red dress will do."
"It will, will it? So now you're choosing my clothes for me too? And what do you mean
We
need to go shopping?"
"Did you forget already? You were given the task of changing your ill-fitting grey wardrobe. Maybe I need to spank you again to jog your memory."
He placed the cups in the sink and grinning from ear to ear started to move towards me.
I practically jumped from my seat and started walking backwards to my room. "No you don't! Stop right there or I'll scream!"
"No you won't."
he started laughing that disarming laugh of his
"I wasn't really going to spank you, But it's nice to know you learned your lesson.
Good Girl
. Now go get dressed."
I felt like I was punched in the stomach when he said that. But a good punch. A weird feeling of arousal, surprise and pride? It floated around me for a few seconds and then left even more confused than I already was. "Ufff! You are impossible! What if I don't want to wear the red dress?"
"Then you can
calmly
tell me you don't want to and if you have a valid reason, I'll consider it. But since you don't have a valid reason or other good looking clothes, I expect you to respect my decision and wear the red dress."
I felt like a volcano was about to erupt inside of me. I was so angry and frustrated that I couldn't even speak. I just stared at him for a few long seconds, index finger pointing at him, stomped my feet and went to my room while letting out a very audible UGGHH!!! noise. He followed me, sat down in the arm chair and looked at me clearly amused.
"You are very angry lately. Is something wrong?"
"Of course I'm angry! Ever since I saw you my life is upside down. I feel like you opened the café door and a tsunami followed you in just sweeping me along and I have no control over anything. Do you know what it feels like having no control of anything?! I bet you don't. Mr. Wolf King of the castle"
"Dungeon"
"WHATEVER!"
"No, not whatever. We talked about this. There is no castle yet. When there will be a castle you will know. And you will be in full control of your life once you sort your shit out."
I just stared at him putting on the best sarcastic look I could.
"OK. You got me there. Maybe you won't have full control but I really have no desire to control everything you do. I have neither the time nor the inclination to do so. It's just that right now you need a little more incentive to do things. Now be a good girl and get dressed."
Apparently while shopping for milk he also got his car and he drove us to the mall. The ride there was made mostly in silence with the radio turned off as well. I tried to ignore his presence so close to me. His smell even his breath were more accentuated because of the silence.
On the way he stopped for gas and as he put the car out of parking gear the back of his hand brushed my knee. Maybe I've been alone too long. Otherwise I have no idea why such small random touches should affect me so much. I wish the radio was on. It would have helped me ignore his overpowering presence.
Once we arrived and entered the mall he said he'll meet me here in 2 hours.
"Why the long face?"
He asked seeing my reaction to his words. "Nothing" I lied "I'm just not sure 2 hours is enough if you want me to replace my entire wardrobe." The truth is I was a little disappointed when I realized he isn't going to come with me. On the other hand I was relieved to know he wasn't going to choose my clothes for me. But some feedback would have been nice, especially since he insisted on this. His eyes narrowed a little.
"I think 2 hours is enough for today. You can always buy more clothes later."
He was right. Two hours were more than enough to buy some clothes and even a pair of shoes or two. Just before I got out of the store and went to meet him I saw this short skirt and a shirt that was clearly too tight. I don't know what got over me but they weren't expensive so I decided to buy them as a joke. I was all prepared to hear him veto the outfit and me blaming him for not being here to supervise my purchase.
We arrived almost at the same time, me carrying my shopping bags, him carrying his laptop bag and 2 coffees.