The Pleasure Boy 28 (Short List)
Exactly one week after the interview with Myrna Stiles, I got an email from Judith Arruda herself inviting me to dinner at one of the best restaurants in the city, at a specified date and time, just four days later. Not by coincidence, I suspected, it was the same restaurant to which my father had taken me years ago when he apologized for opposing my intention to study history. The email also instructed me to expect a small package that would be delivered that same day by courier, and to follow the instructions it contained. When the package arrived, I found that it contained a top quality cock cage, a small lock without its key, and a letter ordering me to confine my genitals on receipt and to come to dinner dressed 'appropriately.'
Nothing was said about removing the cage. Appropriate dress for the occasion was left for me to decide. Clearly, both my skills as a geisho escort and my pliability as a submissive were being tested. Having lived as an academic for the last several years, and done no escort work at all for months, I had to scramble to get myself properly groomed and dressed for this crucial first meeting. As for the cage, I could guess that refusal to wear it - refusal to take on faith that it would shortly be removed - would automatically disqualify me. I was not yet committed to Arruda in any way. I was not committed to accept the position as Arruda's prospective lifemate if it was offered. In fact, this cock cage test struck me as presumptuous and arrogant. Notwithstanding, I put it on and locked it as instructed. I had no doubt that it would be removed in few days, when Ms. Arruda's invitation to dinner was followed by an invitation to her bed as the second part of her interview. From Stiles' written discussion of me as a candidate, she already had an idea what kind of assistant I would make. What she was testing with the cage was my intelligent obedience. Removing it in a few days, she would be testing my performance as a bed pet.
Four days later, I arrived at the restaurant exactly on time and found her waiting for me. She waved away my apology. "This isn't a date," she said. "It's a hiring interview. I came early to wait for you for the same reason that I will pay our cheque here. I want it clear who will be boss if I take you on."
"Before we start this interview," I answered, "let's get one thing straight. If I accept the position as your lifemate, I will call you 'Mistress' (or even 'Goddess,' if you prefer), and will obey you to the best of my ability. If I think you're wrong about something, and there is time for discussion, I will speak up and try to give you the benefit of any relevant knowledge or experience I have. If your mind remains unchanged, I will obey you without further discussion. That is what it means to be someone's submissive, as I understand the role."
"But I am not yet your submissive. Until we sign a contract, we are equals. I am considering you as a Domme and lifemate, just as you are considering me. And if I understand the job, part of my role will be to coach you and other senior people at Woodruffe Electronics in being Dominant with intelligent and valuable submissives. Coming on so strong with such people - people like me - is exactly the wrong approach. As the Domme, you want an iron hand. But you want to keep it sheathed, whenever possible, and as long as possible, in a velvet glove. There are times to take the glove off and show your steel. But on these occasions, usually you will also want to show that you are removing the glove reluctantly because the twit you're dealing with is too dumb to know that there is steel underneath."
"Do you always talk this way to your employers?" she asked me.
"Ma'am, when you're my employer, I promise to speak more gently and with due deference," I answered her. But please consider what I'm saying as a first sample of the kind of instruction that you are hiring someone to give. If the job is as its been explained to me, you're not looking for blindly obedient slaves who follow orders without questioning them. You're looking for intelligent, autonomous but reliable subordinates, already highly trained in electronics or some other demanding field, who are worth what you'll have to pay them, as assistants, or as subordinates to whom you can delegate responsibilities. They don't need to work for you; they could work anywhere, for about the same money."
"In addition, you're looking for authentic submissives who hope, not just to earn their pay cheques, but to give support and love to someone who deserves it. And just like everyone else, they want love and respect themselves. Such people are rare and worth the respect they ask for. If they don't feel loved or at least respected, they may stay with you anyway to honour their contracts, but you will not receive full value from them. You will not get all that they can give."
She looked at me very hard, and was silent for a moment. Then, she said, "You're right; I'm not your Mistress yet. You can call me 'Ma'am' to show respect. And I will call you 'James.' I like the way you stood up to me. You were right to do so. For now, let's agree to be friends and see where it goes."
While we were talking, the waiter had brought us a bottle of wine, opened it before us, and poured a little into Judith's glass. Clearly, he knew that she was boss here. When she tasted it and nodded to him, he poured for both of us. Saying nothing, I picked up my wine glass and toasted her. She returned the gesture and we clinked glasses. Then to the waiter she said, "You can bring the menus, but leave us for awhile. We're not in a hurry."
He bowed and scurried away.
"Friends," I said. "That's a good place to start. But I can see right away that you have the makings of a Mistress, and I think serving you might be a pleasure."
She grinned at me. "Please tell me," she asked how can you sound like you just did and be a submissive?"
"There's no contradiction," I answered. "I enjoy giving pleasure to others, and I've been trained to do it. Much like the waiter who just served our wine, I take pride in serving well. But I've also been trained to the work that you want done. You're not interviewing people now to see if they can pour your wine gracefully. You're looking to hire someone who can learn to be your assistant in human resource management, but also teach you and other senior people at Woodruffe Electronics to function well as lifestyle dominants. That's the person I'm trying to be. I stood up to you, because I didn't want to let you walk all over me; and I think our waiter would probably do the same if you tested him. Just like him, I serve, but I also have self-respect."
"I'm trying to get hired for a job, and trying to show you that I can do it. As an executive, I'm sure you know that giving orders is much harder than taking them. In a D/s relationship that's still more true. A sub accepts to obey and serve. A Dom, then, takes responsibility for two lives, not just for one if he wants that service to continue. For that reason, training good Dominants is much harder than training submissives."
"But why do you want this job? And, for that matter, why do you want to serve? As Todd Woodruffe's son you could be working in the executive suite, learning to run the company. I know I'm asking you a very personal question. You don't have to answer it, if you don't want to."
"I don't mind
trying
to answer it, but I'm not sure I can. Mostly, it's just who and what I am. Years ago, when I was a boy graduating from high school, my father wanted me study engineering in college and prepare myself to inherit the company. I wanted to study history, and went off to train as a geisho to have the means to do it. Push came to shove, I was my mother's son more than my Dad's."
"Yes, I've met your Mom a few times at Company social events. I don't know her well, but she struck me as a formidable lady, I understand that she was a geisha at one time, so you've chosen to follow in her footsteps."
"How did your father feel about that?" How does he feel about you applying for this job and coming to work for me?"
"It was Dad who told me about the Mars project, his need to expand the company, and the plan to attract good senior people partly by offering them the company's support in teaming up with lifestyle submissives. He told me that you'd be needing help, and encouraged me to send in my resume and apply for the job. But he warned me that the hiring would be up to you - that he would not intervene, and would not hold it against you if you chose someone else. He said - almost his exact words - 'I think the job is right up your alley, but Judy Arruda knows her job, and it's her decision. If she hires you, it will be on your merits, not because I told her to."
Judith nodded and thought for a moment. Then she said, "OK. Let's order now." We were silent, looking at our menus. Then she caught our waiter's eye and he came over.
After he'd taken our orders and gone away, she returned to our conversation. "Apart from the question (still to be tested) about our compatibility as lifemates, I do have one serious doubt about taking you on as my confidential assistant, though you seem qualified for the job in every way. While we're talking about your father, let's get it out of the way. He and I have an excellent working relationship, and we agree most of the time. Still, there have been times when my opinions, desires or interests are in some competition with your father's. There will be such times between us if take you on." I started to say that "there couldn't be," but she cut me off. "Of course, there will be," she went on. "There always are, between any two people. It's just that as a submissive you are promising that my desires will always prevail."
"I have one big doubt about you," she continued. As my assistant, I will be counting on your loyalty. But as your father's son, you have his love, and will have his ear. So my question is, "Can I really trust you? When we come to a crunch (and, predictably, we will eventually), whose side will you be on?
"Dad saw this coming," I answered her. "He knew you would see my possible conflict of loyalties, and he knew it would concern you. He said that if you chose me, my loyalties should always be to you in any such conflict, and he promised that he would not feel betrayed when I obeyed and supported you against his wishes. All I can do is trust him to keep that promise, and not resent it when I keep my professional commitment to you as a geisho and submissive."
"Likewise, all I can do is promise that what I learn about you will stay between us, and that I will never allow my relationship with him - close as it has become - to infringe on my commitments and loyalty to you. I will never be his spy or secret agent. I will never tell him anything about your thoughts or plans or activities without your explicit permission. And even then, I will use my judgment and discretion to your benefit not his."
"He knows that fidelity to you will be my professional obligation as a geisho. He will not mind my making this promise and keeping it."
"So in the end," Judith replied, "it all comes down to promises and expectations, and to whether the promises made will be kept. Very well, we'll see if I can trust yours."
