Whispy tails of steam hovered over the surface of the bath as Melanie slowly moved her hand through the hot water. It had been years since she had taken the time to enjoy a bath and now here she was, soaking in a beautiful marble tub being doted on by her own personal slave. That slave was, of course, her best friend Emelia; the woman who had lured her to her Mistress' dungeon to be flogged.

Okay, so she had asked to be whipped, but that hardly excused Emelia's deception.

"So are you going to tell me what happened to James or not?" Melanie asked, tilting her head back to see her naked friend leaning over the tub behind her. After washing Melanie's hair, Emelia had been using a soft cloth to gently cleanse her friend's shoulders and back.

"Since I am at your command, Miss; Master met his match at the poker table."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Melanie tossed Em's statement around in her head for a second. "He lost you in a poker game?"

"Sounds crazy, right?" Emelia leaned in a little further to give her friend a little kiss on her shoulder. "I didn't know this when we were together in college, but Master was a really good poker player. He's got a knack for numbers, and maybe he had a system or something; I don't know. Supposedly everyone has a "tell" and he said he was good at reading them. He didn't play that often while we were together, but he'd go to tournaments a couple of times a year and was good enough to win a few of them. The last one I went to with him was in Vegas, but I noticed right away that there was something different about it."

"What do you mean, different?" Melanie asked.

"It wasn't held in one of the usual poker rooms with rows of seats for spectators and TV cameras for broadcasting. We had to walk down a hallway to some private room that had it's own bar and servers, and the furnishings were lavish. It reeked of money, and I could tell the players were all filthy rich just by looking at them. Mistress was one of them, and when we first saw each other there was some kind of connection."

Melanie took the cloth from Emelia and dipped it in the hot water before using it on her chest.

"Hey! That's my job, Miss!" The submissive put her hand out for the cloth. Once she had it in her hand again, Melanie leaned back against the curved surface of the tub so she could continue being washed and pampered.

"Go on..." Melanie closed her eyes to let her other senses take over. The sound of Emelia's voice, the feeling of the hot water against her aching flesh, and the stimulation of the cloth as it gently caressed her body were all incredibly sensual. She felt a little tug on her aroused nipples as Emelia brushed over them with the cloth.

"Well, it was kind of funny because we both did sort of a double take, and we both knew the other had done it. I was standing behind Master when she walked in and I looked up briefly to see who had come into the room. I was about to look down when I suddenly looked back up to see if I what I saw was real. She must've come in the room and scanned the people there, and just as I looked up her head snapped back towards me, and our eyes met. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I think my mouth hung open, and I blushed all shades of red, but she just gazed at me like some sort of animal sizing up her prey.

During one of the breaks Master told me he had figured out everyone's "tell". When he told me about the red-haired woman's he said she was nearly impossible to read, but he had finally noticed that her index finger stroked the edge of the cards when she was nervous about a bad hand. He said she was an excellent bluffer, and had won quite a bit of money on poor hands. He didn't think anyone else had picked up on what he had seen and he may have been right because at the end of the night they were the only two left at the table.

It was so suspenseful, I thought my heart would stop. There was all of this money on the table and she had raised the stakes another five grand. I got a peek at his hand and he had a straight flush, king high, and I got really excited because I knew that was a good hand. Then I saw it, her finger stroked the edge of the card. It was such a slight movement that it was barely noticeable.  I looked up at her and she looked calm and relaxed, just sitting there as if she was waiting for Master to fold. He knew she was bluffing too, but didn't have enough money to see her bet. After a couple of tense minutes he leaned over and whispered something to the dealer. The dealer leaned the other way and whispered to Mistress. She looked right at me for a moment, right into my eyes, and then nodded to the dealer.

The dealer reached over and flipped Master's cards. Everyone in the room gasped, and he smiled. Then her cards were flipped over to reveal a straight flush with an ace; the winning hand. Master's face went white. Mistress looked at me, got up, and nodded towards the door. It suddenly dawned on me what had just happened. I couldn't believe it!! I looked at James but he wouldn't look up at me. I really didn't know what to do for a moment, but Mistress was heading out of the room. I left James sitting at the table, and I've been with her ever since."

Melanie opened her eyes. "You're fucking with me, aren't you Em?" Melanie looked skeptically back at her friend, expecting to see a grin that would prove the story to be a hoax. The odds of having a straight flush are not good. The odds of having a royal flush; even worse. The odds of having both in one hand...minuscule.

There was no smile on Emelia's face. "It's the truth, I swear it," she used her index finger to cross her heart.

Not seeing any real reason why Emelia would make up a story like that, Melanie moved on to her next thought, "No one can be wagered in a card game, Emelia. You didn't have to go with her."

Scooting around to the side of the contoured tub, Emelia's hand dipped under the lavender scented water, following Melanie's curves until it rested between her legs. The slave gently slid the wash cloth back and forth and then it floated to the surface. Emelia's hand remained in the water; her fingers lightly massaging Mel's slit.

"I know." A simple statement, followed by silence. After some thought, Emelia continued, "There was just something about her that made me want to follow her out that door, well...besides her beauty, of course. She seemed so confident, so in control. I had to go with her. I just had to."

Knowing Emelia as well as she did, Melanie understood, and wondered who had really won the most at the poker table, the Mistress, or Emelia. It was a game of chance where both participants had won the jackpot. Reaching up with both hands, Melanie cupped Emelia's head and pulled her towards her, kissing her with affection. There was a faint 'ding', and the slave glanced up at the opposite wall.

"Mistress needs me," she said, breaking off the kiss. "She'll probably be getting ready for bed soon." Sensing Melanie's frustration, she leaned in and gave her another quick kiss. "I'll be back in no time, sweetie. Dry off and then make yourself at home in my room." She nodded towards the door near the vanity. "There's a blow dryer under the counter."

Melanie watched her nude friend leave the bathroom. Mistress needs me. After reading countless fetish stories, her experiences so far had shed some light on reality versus fiction. Several things had occurred that seemed straight out of the fiction she had read, yet they were not fiction at all. For example, the insanity of Emelia's barking when her Mistress arrived. She was a 'pet', and when the woman came home Emelia became a barking dog, even though she admitted to not liking that role. She obeyed her Mistress' commands, regardless of her likes or dislikes. When told to present the flogger, and then later to go prepare supper, she had complied immediately, just like any fictional slave would've done.

This woman, Emelia's Mistress, played her part as well as any she had read about in any book or story. Totally in control, she was at times affectionate, and others, stern. Emelia's haste to get her prepared before her Mistress arrived was indicative of a slave not wanting to displease her Mistress. Thinking back, Mel recognized how focused Emelia was on stripping and subduing her. It had all happened so quickly! Part of that quickness may have been to prevent her from backing out, but a large part of her actions were due to the instructions she had been given.

Pushing up on the water release with her toe, Melanie stood up in the tub and reached for the large towel that had been left for her. She stepped out onto the cool tiled floor and walked to the vanity. Seeing her reflection in the mirror, Melanie turned to look at her backside. Her ass was still bright red, maybe even slightly purple in places, and her back was reddened in the two areas that she's been struck with the flogger. Standing straight on again, she could see that her breasts were pink where the smaller rubber flogger had been used on her, and a similar pinkness was visible between her legs. Reaching down, she flinched a little when she touched her labia, and then looked down to examine the skin in that area. There didn't seem to be any bruising or breaks in the flesh, so she must just be tender.

Reality versus fantasy...

Her fantasy was to feel helpless and to be flogged hard enough to scream. There was no doubt that she had felt totally helpless, especially when Emelia's mistress first arrived home, and when she came down those stairs. She had struggled to free herself, but couldn't. That was a feeling she would never forget! It made her heart race even now, just thinking about how she felt at that instant. She remembered calming herself down; to not appear panicked in front of the woman. Had that prevented her from screaming later? Had she sabotaged her own fantasy?

No. Even though the woman had struck her quite hard, it was never harder than she could process. At the same time, by the skill with which the woman administered the flogging, Melanie was certain that she had been struck as hard as was safely possible. That was the reality of it. The Domme was not going to strike her harder than she felt was safe just so she could scream. How easy would it have been for the woman to hit just a little harder and make her scream? Quite easy. Yet she didn't allow that to happen. That was control.

As Melanie fluffed her hair with the towel and began to brush it out, she knew the experience may not have been everything she had imagined, yet she had no doubt that it was everything she needed. All of the sensations she had fantasized about had been felt, and from the pain she had experienced it would be quite easy to extrapolate the further harsh abuse that would have her screaming in her dreams. She knew how painful the reality of it was, and could now imagine the horrible pain of the more brutal fantasy.

After blow drying her hair, Mel walked naked through the door and into Emelia's bedroom. It was a comfortable room, furnished for living in, not simply sleeping. There was a small table with three chairs around it that could be used for eating or working, a small sofa with table lamps at both ends, and a queen sized bed. The carpet was plush and the curtains that covered the windows were made of thick, light reducing, fabric. One noticeable difference from most bedrooms Melanie had been in was the absence of a television.

Laid out on top of the bed was a short silk robe. Since her clothing had been removed in the dungeon, Melanie decided that taking the robe would be a fair trade. She slipped into the robe and retreated to the sofa to wait for Emelia's return. There were magazines on one of the end tables and she flipped idly through them. In the quiet, she began to hear sounds from outside the room; sounds that might possibly be slapping, or...spanking? The slapping sounds went on for quite a while, and then it was silent. About fifteen minutes later, Melanie heard the door knob turn on one of the doors in the room, and saw the door open slightly.

"Good night, Mistress," Emelia said as she backed out of the darkened room. Amelia's room conveniently adjoined her Mistress'.

Emelia looked over at her friend as she closed the door behind her. "Oh good, you found the robe I left for you." She crossed the room to a dresser and removed a pink t-shirt. Slipping it over her head, the shirt hung all the way down to mid thigh on the petite woman. Wiping a tear away from her cheek, she said, "Let's go eat."

Once in the hallway, Melanie whispered, "What happened in there, are you okay?"

Emelia took Mel's hand and led her down a stairway into the kitchen. "Yes, of course. Mistress was just punishing me for being deceitful. I deserved it, don't you agree?"

Well, she had been deceitful in not revealing that she no longer served James, but at the same time, Melanie could have asked her at lunch earlier in the day why she kept saying 'owner'. Emelia had been deceitful by omission.

"I suppose you did deserve it, slave," Melanie said.

"Are you going to punish me, too, Miss?"

"Maybe I will," Mel replied, squeezing her friend's hand.

Emelia went to the oven, opened the door, and used an oven mitt to remove a baking sheet. "I've been keeping these warm for us," she said as she used the mitt to remove two plates from the sheet and place them on serving chargers. She nodded towards a small table against one of the walls and followed Melanie to it.

Together, they dug into a delicious steak dinner with vegetables and dinner rolls; the meal they were to eat with Emelia's Mistress earlier. Emelia explained that her Mistress doesn't eat dinner with her Toys. They gabbed away during their meal and then afterwards while they cleaned the kitchen together.

"I don't know if I should share this with you, but you made quite an impression on my Mistress," Emilia said as she handed one of the dinner plates to Melanie to dry.

"I did? What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything right away, but I could tell by her aggressiveness that she was really horny. I don't really understand how her mind works because it's sort of opposite of mine, but she gets like that after a good session. It really turns her on."

The submissive released the water in the sink and began to wipe down the counter tops around it. "She questioned me about what we used to do in college, and whether I thought you had done anything like that afterwards."

"She did? I wonder why?" Mel asked.

Emelia shrugged. "I guess she was a little surprised at how you reacted. I think she expected more crying and begging."

"Well then you'd think it would've been a disappointment to her when I failed to do that."

"Not at all." Emelia folded the towel she'd been using over the handle of the stove and glanced around the kitchen to make sure everything had been cleaned properly. "Mistress uses sounds to gauge what she does. If you'd been crying too much she would've toned it down a little, and that wouldn't have been as satisfying for her. I think she really enjoyed playing with you; more so because she didn't feel the need to hold back anything."

As Melanie followed her friend up the stairs she thought about what Emelia had just said. It seemed that her thoughts on how hard she had been struck were accurate after all, and that what she had gone through earlier had not been a one-sided affair. She hadn't considered what the Mistress may have wanted to get out of her visit. The stories she had read were almost exclusively told from the submissive's view point, or about the sub/slave. She made a mental note to explore more writings that focused on the dominant half of the equation.

Once back in Emelia's bedroom, the two slipped under the covers of her large bed and cuddled up together.

"I'm sorry for not telling you about James, Mel," Emelia said as she hugged up against her friend. "I was just about to say something in the restaurant, but I knew if I did you wouldn't want to do it. I..I just..."

Melanie held Em's arm that was wrapped around her and squeezed it gently. "I'm glad you didn't tell me, because you're right, I wouldn't have done it." She looked back over her shoulder and said, "I'm really glad I came."

"Me too."

The two held on to each other as they drifted off to sleep.

Melanie was awakened the next morning by Emelia as she brought a large serving platter into the bedroom and set it down on the table.

"Breakfast is served, Miss," she said with a smile, and then sat down in one of the chairs.

Mel rolled out of bed and joined her. "How long have you been up?" The brunette winced slightly when she sat down. Her butt was still very sore from the flogging, but that discomfort felt good as it was a reminder of what she had experienced.

"About an hour," she said. "I got Mistress off to work, made this for us, and cleaned up a little. We should get going soon, too."

A clock on the dresser showed that it was eight o'clock in the morning. Melanie's thoughts turned to the business deal she had just concluded the previous day. It seemed like a week had passed since she was last in the conference room! Emelia seemed content to eat in silence which was appreciated because Mel needed to focus her mind on what she needed to accomplish in the next few hours. The paperwork for contracting her firm to handle the business merger would be signed and she began going over all of the requirements in her head. Had anything been missed? She didn't think so. It was a fairly straight forward business agreement for an undertaking that, even though it was quite a large merger, didn't seem overly complicated to her.

After getting dressed - a new set of bra and panties were graciously provided to replace her own - the two friends were driven back to Emelia's company headquarters. All of the legal documents had been laid out on the conference room table by the company's legal team, and Mel went through them and signed each one where it was required. Just as she was going through the final packet, the door opened and a woman entered.

"Oh, Miss Grayson, this is Jackie Baker, the senior vice-president of our human resources department. We asked her to come in and speak with you."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Grayson," the woman said as she shook Melanie's hand. "I understand everything is going well in here?"

"Yes, it all went very smoothly, and I'm sure there won't be any problems my firm can't handle with the merger. It looks like a very good deal for you."

"Do you have a sense of how long the merger will take to complete?"

"It's fairly straight forward, based on what I've seen so far. I plan on spearheading the project myself, so maybe two months?"

The woman laid a manila folder down on the table in front of Melanie and said, "The reason I ask is that the Board, with the CEO's backing, has asked me to draw up an employment package for you to consider when the merger is complete."

This statement sort of broadsided the young lawyer. "Employment?"

The woman sat down across from Melanie. "The company is going global, Miss Grayson. We're preparing to interview candidates for the international legal team in a few weeks."

"I'm a junior partner at my firm," Melanie said. "I'll be a full partner within the year. No disrespect, but I can't miss out on that opportunity just to work in your legal department."

Jackie reached over and opened the folder to reveal the paperwork. "You wouldn't be just working on the team, you'd be over-seeing an entirely new mergers and acquisitions department as a senior vice-president. We're a large company, Melanie. We have two law firms larger than yours on retainer for different projects right now." She pushed the folder closer to Melanie. "I think you'll see we're offering a generous compensation package."

Melanie glanced down at the offer and saw a seven figure number. That was a lot of money, but did she want to leave her firm? She felt a sense of loyalty to them. On the other hand, she would be with Emelia again.

"I don't know what to say..." Melanie stammered.

A voice behind her said, "Say you'll consider taking us up on our offer, Miss Grayson." 

Melanie turned to see a stunningly beautiful red-haired women, with Emelia dutifully standing beside her. The HR VP stood and said, "Miss Grayson, this is Rene Cooper, the CEO and owner of the company."

Rene extended her hand and shook Melanie's. "I'm so pleased to finally meet you," she said with a sly smile. "I've been so impressed with what you've accomplished here in such a short time."

"Thank you," Mel replied, still stunned to be face to face with Emelia's mistress.

Rene smiled and said, "Please say you'll consider joining us, Melanie. You'll have opportunities you never dreamed of; trust me."

Trust me!

With those two simple words, Melanie knew her life was about to change.


The End