(for Rebecca)
* * * * *
He walked into the restaurant, an apparition from another time. Rebecca, who was working her third straight late shift and hated it, looked up and nearly fainted. A viking.....A Viking? She laughed aloud, then stopped herself.
The man stood strong and attractive, at least 5'10" with wide shoulders and what had to be a muscular chest under his shirt. It looked like linen, sort of dust colored, with a v-neck opening. She let her eyes travel down as the receptionist spoke with the man. He wore a broad leather belt and leather pants, above a pair of leather boots that came up to his knees. All of it dark brown. All of it decorated with colorful markings -- runes, she knew. Off the belt hung what looked like an ax, but in a likewise decorated leather sheath of some sort.
She watched him follow the receptionist toward her section. He barely glanced at Vicki, but raked his eyes over the empty tables. He chose...a corner booth, dark, secluded, and sat there. Vicki looked at him, shrugged and gave him his menu. He looked up and smiled, thanking her, then looked straight at Rebecca.
Rebecca caught herself staring into his eyes. His gaze held hers for a long moment, judging, testing. Then he smiled at her....the grin of a carnivore, a hungry animal. Rebecca approached the table and went into her usual routine, a sort of comic patter that generally loosened things up. She had never been afraid to meet and befriend strangers and almost always got large tips because of her warmth. This time, though, the gaze from the stranger was steady and firm. He was polite enough, listening to her chatter, but he did not seem to return the friendship implicit in it. He seemed more aloof, above her. After she finished, he reached out and touched her hand while he ordered a cup of coffee and a hamburger, medium, with a side salad. His voice was not a request, more a demand, politely framed, but nevertheless. Rebecca shivered inside, an electric thrill running through her.
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When Tom walked into the restaurant, he realized he was hungry...for food and adventure. He had come from dance practice...good solid country dances that always involved heavy flirting. Two of the younger Barony members had come on to him heavily, almost like a contest to see which woman could bed him first. But he knew them both...flirts who never came across in bed as they did on the dance floor. One was still very much the innocent teenager, despite being in her mid-20's; she was a scared rabbit if he tried anything beyond a straight fuck. The other was a cocktease for sure...at least an hour of talk and necking had gotten him a handjob the one time he'd called her bluff. He was not in the mood for their games tonight.
He had danced the Viking callouts he had devised, a few rounds of blacknag and Miller in the Middle, a very interesting hole-in-the-wall, and then he'd called it quits. He had to work tomorrow, he said, even though it was his "weekend" -- Wednesday & Thursday -- his days off from the Borders where he was manager of the Human Sexuality section. So he came to the restaurant, hungry, in more ways than one. He scanned the receptionist. "Vicki" her tag said, and she was not for him. A little overweight and quite assertive. He sighed inwardly. He knew he was a sight in full garb, the leathers tonight, designed for dance, flirtation and domination, not submission. He needed a submissive woman to play his game tonight, and everything about his stance and carriage said so. He followed Vicki (Gods, what a name, he thought, she's definitely a Victoria if I ever saw one.) into a deserted section and chose a booth for himself. She stopped, started to redirect him to a small table, but she saw his eyes and shrugged. He smiled as she handed him his menu. She moved away, looking at the waitress for the section and shrugging again.
He glanced at his menu, already knowing what he would eat. Then he looked up into a pair of deep brown eyes. She had said her name was Rebecca and she was spouting a little comedy line at him, trying to loosen him up. He smiled, but maintained his contact with her, letting her know that he was the boss. His eyes raked over her...petite, maybe 5'3 or 5'4, slim, except for a very nice pair of breasts. Her nipples already were visible under the starched white blouse she wore. Her legs were very nice, naked under the short red skirt. He knew that she was just right for his plans for tonight. He hoped she would be compliant. He tested her. He actually interrupted her, taking her hand in his and giving his order. From her reaction, he knew, immediately, that his hungers would all be sated tonight. She physically shivered under his touch and whispered, "Yes, Sir" clearly when he made his order. Just from that and the slight downward motion of her eyes, he knew...and she did, too.
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During the meal, Rebecca stayed near the customer. He had not given her a name, so she called him "Sir" throughout, checking on him every few minutes. There was no one else in her section, so she hovered nearby, watching his every move. His hair, long brown, to the middle of his back, was wavy, streaked with gray. His beard, cropped short, was also going gray. And his eyes, steely blue, gazed into her very soul, when she dared meet them with hers. It seemed that every time she looked at him, she became more aroused. She found herself fading into a little fantasy....
She was a maiden, dressed in a chemise and an overgown, cowering in a corner as Viking raiders plundered her village. She was trying to hide, for she knew, KNEW, what these marauders did to innocents like herself. She would be raped and kept as a plaything or sold into sexual bondage by some fiendish pagan lord. She was crying, trying to be a small as a mouse, when the door burst open and the warrior loomed over her, laughing, bloody sword in hand. She screamed......