“She’s a submissive? A service submissive?”
“Yeah.”
“And a masochist?”
“Yes.” I feel myself closing up like a clam. I don’t want to tell her anything about Emily.
“Can I speak to her? Girl to girl? I promise I won’t say anything to embarrass you. I’ll just tell her what you need.”
I need to hang up, is what I need. “She’s not here. She isn’t arriving until tonight.”
“No? Then tell me all about her, darling. What does she look like? Is she blonde and blue-eyed?”
Mir is blonde and blue-eyed. I didn’t consciously go for a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman in picking Emily, but maybe my subconscious compass was pointing as far away from my former lover as possible.
“No, she’s dark. Small. She’s kind of elfin-looking, actually. Not a Peter Jackson, Lord of the Rings, elf. She’s a wood elf. Like an ElfQuest elf.”
“You know I have no idea what you’re talking about when you stray from the classics, darling,” Mir says dismissively.
No, she doesn’t. Mir’s never read a comic book. Never sullied herself with anything that might reek of popular culture. Would Emily know what an ElfQuest elf is? I don’t know. She loves fairy tales, but the ones she reads are more high-brow than comics. She likes Lego Batman and watches Japanese manga porn, though. I can hope. I pull the phone away from my face, flip over to messages and type Emily a quick text.
“Darling, are you still there?” Mir asks.
“Yeah, sorry, just a notification coming in on my phone.” Fuck, yes, an excuse to get off this call. “Mir, I have to go. The client wants to debrief.”
“Of course. You’ll call me later, won’t you? I want to hear all about this new girl.”
I grit my teeth. “Sure. I might not get another break today, though. This job’s pretty full-on.”
“Business first. That always was the way with you. Take care of yourself, darling.”
“Yeah, you, too, Mir.”
My balls unclench as I end the call. That’s the last time I’m ever calling Mir after a tough interview.
Just as I’m shutting off my phone, Emily pings me back.
Are you questioning my geek credentials, Sir? Of course, I know what an EQ elf is. I have first editions. Signed.
Thank God for her. I laugh and rest my sweaty forehead against the cool window glass.
Favorite character?
Winnowill, duh.
The super-sexy, super-evil villain of the original series. A very dominant villain.
Did you want her to spank you?
Not as much as I want you to spank me, Daddy.
Oh, yes. That’s my baby doll. God, I need her.
You’re going to get your wish.
I want to say more. I want to tell her how desperate I am to see her. How being away from her for three days has been completely miserable. I know I’m as messed up as I am right now not just because of the jet lag or Mrs. Black’s ugly vulnerability or thinking about my sister in a way no brother should for the first time in a decade. It’s because I need my little girl. I shouldn’t need her so much, after just one real date. But the scene and the sex and our time together was so good, so intimate, it opened me up in ways I haven’t been open in a long time. Texting and video-calling her during the days we’ve been apart just crow-barred me further open. Phone sex before breakfast didn’t actually give me any relief; it just dialed me up to eleven. I need her so much every muscle aches with it.
She doesn’t want me to be needy. She wants me to be in control. So, instead of raw truth, I give her coated platitude.
See you in a few hours, baby doll. Looking forward to it.
Me, too, Daddy.
I stare at those words for a long time, standing in the window of the fancy hotel my client’s booked for me, which I would never have laid out for on my own, looking out over a city built on greed and idolatry, counting down the minutes until Emily arrives.
Glossary of Slang and Unusual Terms
Arse: (British) ass.
Bastard: (British) rarely used in the literal sense, but rather as a generic term for a man, often affectionately.
Binkie: (British) blanket (usually used by/for children).
Bottom: (BDSM) in an older, stricter sense, the person who is penetrated during a kinky scene or activity, but this term has evolved to be synonymous with submissive and is used primarily when there’s no power exchange between partners.
Bum: (British) ass, buttocks.
BDSM: an acronym for bondage and discipline (BD), Dominance and submission (DS), and sadism and masochism (SM); covers a huge range of
Dominant: (BDSM) the person who holds and exercizes control over another in a kinky activity, usually within the context of a power exchange; abbreviated Dom; the female version is Domme; synonymous with top.
Fanny: (British) vagina.
High Protocol: (BDSM) a formal set of behavioural rules for a submissive, enforced by a Dominant; always restrictive and frequently punitive.
Kecks: (British) male underwear.
Knickers: (British) female underwear.
Maman: (French) mother.
Masochist: (BDSM) a person who derives sexual pleasure or emotional gratification from receiving pain and/or humiliation. Not synonymous with submissive or bottom, although some submissives and bottoms are also masochists.
Master: (BDSM) the person who holds and exercizes control over another in a kinky activity, within the context of a power exchange.
Mate: (British) buddy, friend (often used in distinctly unfriendly situations to try to calm someone down).
Mum: (British) mother.
Sadist: (BDSM) a person who derives sexual pleasure or emotional gratification from inflicting pain and/or humiliation on another. Not synonymous with Dom or Top, although some Doms and Tops are also sadists.
Safe word: (BDSM) a word or phrase used by a participant in a kinky scene to alert other participant(s) that the person is having a problem and needs the activity to stop, at least momentarily.
Scene: (BDSM) a kinky activity, usually with a distinct
