Shawna awoke in Darren's bed naked, sore, and deeply content. Darren slept beside her, his sleeping vulnerability showing no trace of the secret man that lived inside him.
That was one hell of a first date, she thought. It still is, I guess.
At dinner, they had talked about what being a submissive meant to Darren and what was now required of her. Some things sounded wonderful to her now that she had a taste of serving him.
Other things sounded scary, or painful, or both. Those things she agreed to blindly over dinner, lost in Darren's penetrating gaze and thinly veiled excitement about trying them with her. She hadn't seen him excited at work about anything, and she fell into his excitement without much thought about what he was saying.
She knew for a fact he liked to inflict pain! Her nipples were tender from last nights' introduction to clamps, and though the beautiful marks on her wrists had gone, she could feel the bruises forming under her skin.
They both excited her.
Spanking? No problem. Nipple pinching? Check.
Anal? She had been curious about that anyway. It used to be such a taboo, but these days, the stigma had worn off it, and she wanted to give it a try at least.
Butt plugs, however, sounded a little outside her comfort zone. She had read somewhere that life begins outside comfort zones and if she was willing take his cock in her ass, how bad could a butt plug be?
I never would have imagined myself asking that question a week ago, she thought. How quickly things can change!
Caning, face slapping, deep throating, flogging all made her anxiety bubble in her belly, but as she looked at his sleeping face, she knew she trusted this man. He would break her in slowly, safely, and at her pace.
She could handle the sex stuff. So far, the sex they had was beyond anything she could have ever imagined sex to be. She wanted more of that for sure.
Darren had also mentioned her duties outside the bedroom.
She was to be clean shaven at all times and inspections would be conducted at random. She was to stand when he entered the room and she was to see to his needs if he had any.
She would wait for his permission to sit, and if none was given, she was to stand by him silently until he gave it.
She was to be ready and willing to perform any agreed upon sex act at anytime. She would have to trust him not to abuse that one. She would not be doing anything like they had done last night in public.
He would teach her everything she needed to know, and she was ready to learn. She felt the need to be the best sub she could be for him from somewhere inside her she didn't know was there.
Giving in to his desires so far was having a profound affect on her. She hadn't worried once about any of the usual mental sewage that held a prominent place in her daily life. No self doubt, no nagging sense of inadequacy, no bullshit comparisons to younger prettier girls.
And for the first time that she could remember, she felt no doubt about Darren. Past boyfriends and lovers always came with some "thing" that she instantly disliked or that lodged the first seed of discontent in her mind.
Even her ex-husband had triggered her doubt sensors from their very first date. He was handsome, smelled amazing, and the way other women looked at him made her feel lucky she had somehow manage to land him.
He was quite charming, but she could feel something hiding just under the surface as they played a light hearted game of mini-golf before going for dinner and a couple of cocktails. He had an excuse for every shot he missed. Every one of them.
He missed a lot of shots that day.
The biggest red flag was when Shawna beat him on a hole. She could feel his resentment coming through his half smiles and fake humility. He brought that hole up the rest of the game and seemed determined to make her understand how lucky she had been to beat him.
It's mini-golf, she thought. Who cares?
He sure did.
Against her better judgement, and because of his looks and the stir he caused in other women, she buried her doubts and ignored her ever growing collection of red flags and stayed with him.
The end finally came when she learned that the stir he caused in other women was more important to him than she was. He followed up with several ladies before she found out, and by that time, she didn't even care. She stopped having any kind of sex with him, and carried on like they were a happily married couple.
One summer evening after he had come home from work, showered, got himself ready for a date, and left without even aknowledging her existence, she packed a few of her favourite things and left.
It was three and a half days before he even sent her a text. He asked if she knew where his favourite green tie was.
Her self worth at that time was non-existent. She felt like a scrap of old garbage kicked under a leaky dumpster in an alley somewhere.
You've come a long way, Shawny. That will never happen again. You deserve the best and there's no settling for anything else. You are a strong beautiful woman and the lucky guy that finally wins your heart will know how lucky he is.
Shawna wasn't ready to give her heart away yet. She still guarded it like teenager guards her phone, but she already felt something with Darren she hadn't felt in a long time: trust.
Darren stirred out of his sleep. He opened his eyes and smiled a big genuine smile at her.
Reaching out and touching her face lightly, he said "Good morning, beautiful. How was your sleep?"
Dear god this man is a gift, she thought.
"Good," she said, smiling and revelling in his gentle touch. "You look so peaceful in your sleep," she said.
"Were you watching me for long?"
"A couple minutes," she said. "I just woke up, too,"
"Are you hungry?" he asked. "I make a mean French toast."
As if on cue, her stomach let out a loud squelchy embarrassing rumble. Her cheeks flushed immediately and her eyes widened to golf ball size.
"I'll take that as a yes," Darren laughed.
"As your servant, shouldn't I be making you French toast?" She asked.
"All in good time," Darren replied. "First you have to learn how to make coffee the way I like it. We'll work up from there."
Darren got out of bed and Shawna got her first clear eyed look at his naked body. He was tall, on the smaller side build wise, but nicely proportionate. She could see that his years of construction work had hardened him at one time, but office work had softened him some.
His butt had a sweet swing to it when he walked, though. She held back a giggle as the thought crossed her mind.
"Are you coming?" he asked as he slipped on a pair of pajama bottoms.
"I never pass up French toast," she said and flung the blankets off her own naked body. She felt a rush of exhilaration being so boldly naked like that.
Darren stood motionless for a moment, running his gaze over her body. "You are even more beautiful in the daylight," he said. If my neighbours weren't so nosy, you wouldn't wear clothes around here ever again."
He gave her a devilish smirk and walked out of the bedroom, leaving her to take care of her personal needs.
After a pee and some cleaning up, she stood naked in front of Darren's closet looking for a shirt to wear. She had a specific shirt in mind. She loved it on him when he wore it at work.
Found it!
It was an ever so slightly faded royal blue button up shirt that looked like it was made for him. She slipped it on, disappointed to smell only the freshly washed smell of laundry soap. His cologne was painfully absent.
Her underwear was no where to be seen, so she went without any and strolled into the kitchen.
Darren was already whisking away at some unfortunate eggs when he stopped in his tracks at the sight of her.
"Well hello there," he said smiling.
"I hope you don't mind I borrowed a shirt," she replied playfully. "My dress is still in the basement."
"It's never looked better," he said and slowly started whisking again.
"This is my favourite shirt of yours," she said. I love seeing you in it at work."
"I'm flattered you would notice something like that," he said. "Have you been ogling me at work, Miss Burns?"
"Ogling is a strong word, Mr South," she replied. "I would say casually obsessing."
Darren gave her another big smile. "I encourage that kind of behaviour," he said. "It's time to make coffee. Come here and I will give your first lesson."
Shawna felt Christmas morning excitement in her mind and almost ran over to him.
Wow, she thought. That was different.
Darren walked her through the process of making his coffee. Grinding just the right amount of fragrant coffee beans to the right consistency, and how to set up and use a French press. She had never made coffee this way before, so the lesson was practical beyond learning to make Darren's coffee.
As she waited for the water to heat up to just below the boiling point, she sat down on a stool at the island to watch Darren work his magic in the kitchen.
She looked out the big kitchen window and felt a new appreciation for the soft morning sunlight. When she looked back at Darren she froze.
Darren was staring at her, egg bowl in hand. He was not smiling.
"What is it?" She asked, a chill rushing through her.
"You need to ask permission to sit," he said.
Shawna jumped off her stool so fast she almost knocked it over. She saved it and stood beside it dutifully.
"Sorry," she said. "I forgot about that."
Darren returned to whisking the egg mixture and said "This is day one of your training. Mistakes are ok. I know you'll get the hang of it."
Relief flooded through her, expelling the cold that seeped through her.
"Thank you for understanding," she said. She was disappointed she has let him down. "May I sit down, please?"
"Yes, you can," Darren replied. "I know this is a big change. While you are learning, there won't be any punishments."
