Unwilling Read online

  "Hey," I said. "This is going to sound weird, but are you heading north or south?"

  "North," said the man.

  "Dang. Okay, thanks."

  "Did you two need a ride?" the woman asked. "Where are you going?"

  "Our car is at Gooseberry."

  The woman turned to her husband. "It's only five miles," she said to him.

  He smiled at us. "Kids, hop in back."

  "Really?" Melissa said.

  "Hop in," the man said. "I'm Jamie. This is my wife, Jenny. The boy is Robert. The girl is shy. Her name is Elizabeth."

  We introduced ourselves then climbed into the van. I noticed Melissa had her hand in her pocket and when I glanced over, she showed me she had her cell phone in her hand. She had taken a photo of the car with the license plate and only had to tap the phone to send it to someone.

  Jamie drove and we turned left out of the state park, back towards Gooseberry. We rode the five miles, exchanging pleasantries about what we had done all day. Jamie drove us straight to our car back at Gooseberry. We thanked them profusely.

  "Not at all," said Jenny. "It was only a few minutes, and now we know you're safely at your car instead of taking a desperate ride with someone less safe."

  Jamie waited until he was sure we were in our car and it was started. He honked briefly as they drove away.

  "Wow," Melissa said. "They were really nice."

  I backed the car out of the slot and turned towards the exit of the park. Just before we reached highway sixty-one, there was a tired-looking man wearing a backpack and with an equally-tired-looking dog lying down on the shoulder next to him. The man stuck his thumb out.

  "Give him a ride," Melissa said immediately.

  I pulled over. The man turned towards us and walked up to Melissa's window. He looked into the car. "Oh hey," he said. "You girls shouldn't be giving rides to strange men."

  "What is your dog's name?" Melissa asked him.

  "This is Blaise," he said. "She had a brother named Pascal."

  "Seriously?" I said. "That is totally cool."

  Melissa turned to me. "Why?"

  "You don't know who Blaise Pascal was?" She shook her head.

  I looked him over. "Which way are you going?"

  "South," he said. "My car is parked off the hiking trail near Castle Danger. We would have walked, but it was ten rough miles, and it turns out I'm not as young as I used to be."

  "Blaise looks done in, too," I commented.

  "Yeah. I think she's ready to be done for the day. We would just camp out, but I screwed up and didn't bring her ground pad. Last night was rough on her."

  "What's your name?"

  "Jim," he said.

  "Jim, I am Alex. This is Melissa. Will you be offended if she takes a picture?"

  "Not at all."

  Melissa used her phone to take Jim's picture. "Forward that to someone," I told her. "Then call someone. Stay on the phone until we drop him off."

  Jim smiled. "Smart." He looked at the car. "We're a little muddy."

  "Jim," I said. "You're a lot muddy. Hop in." I popped the trunk for his backpack. Jim and Blaise hopped into the back seat, Blaise offering a doggy smile then leaned forward and licked my ear. Melissa laughed.

  "No, Mom," she said into her phone. "Alex just got her ear licked by a dog." She told her mother exactly what we were doing. I could hear her mom screeching at her.

  "It's okay, Mom, that's why I'm talking to you. If we suddenly disconnect, you can panic."

  We pulled onto the highway, turning south. Jim and I compared hiking notes while Melissa talked to her mother. We pulled into Castle Danger and I asked Jim where his car was. "Up the hill about a mile and a half or so," he said. "You can let me off at this road up here."

  I pulled onto the road and drove the mile and a half to his car. It was an uphill climb, and I don't think Blaise was up to the climb. Jim looked pretty tired, too.

  "Ladies," he said when we arrived. "Thank you. You were life savers."

  I smiled. "We just got a ride from Split Rock to our car. It was nice to return the favor to someone else."

  They climbed out. Blaise gave Melissa's hand a lick on the way past. She jumped and said, "Eww! Blaise!" But the dog was already out of the car. Jim retrieved his backpack and waved as we drove away.

  "Okay, Mom," Melissa said. "We're safely in the car again with no strangers." They talked for a few more minutes before she hung up.

  We stopped for dinner in Two Harbors. Afterwards, Melissa asked if I wanted her to drive. I accepted the offer. "If you get tired, we can switch again."

  "Sure. You can find the lesbian porn music on your iPod. I couldn't find any."

  I laughed.

  It was dark by the time we reached Duluth. "Did you want to stop?" Melissa asked.

  "Only if you want to," I told her. We kept going.

  Melissa drove expertly, sticking with the flow of the traffic just slightly over the speed limit. She drove all the way home. We looked at each other.

  "Alexandra," she said. "I will bring everything inside."

  "Thank you, Slave," I told her. She grinned at me.

  "May I have a bath later?"

  "Of course. I'll start filling the tub."

  I left everything in the car for her but headed straight for the bathroom. I started filling the tub, adding some bubbles, then closed the door and made use of the room. By the time I was done, Melissa was waiting.

  "Um. I need to."

  "Right," I said, stepping out. I went in search of the book of short stories she'd read from last night. I couldn't find it. I wandered back to the bathroom and knocked.

  "I'm decent," she said.

  I opened the door. Melissa had climbed into the tub. "Where's the book you were reading from?"

  She looked away.

  "Did you hide it?"

  "Can I plead the fifth?"

  "You hid it?"

  "No! Um." She looked embarrassed.

  "Slave," I said. "Where is it?"

  She pointed. There was a rack of magazines next to the toilet. A girl never knows when she's going to be using the room for a while.

  "You were reading from it?"

  "Maybe," she said.

  I laughed and walked to the bedroom. I dumped my clothes in a pile on the floor then grabbed a bunch of candles before returning to the bathroom. I set candles all over the room and lit them, turned out the light, then grabbed the book and stepped into the tub.

  "What are you doing?"

  I settled into the water with my back against the opposite end from where Melissa was sitting.

  "If you wanted a bath, I could have waited." She started to leverage herself out of the tub.

  "If you leave," I told her. "I will tie you up and do things to you that you can't imagine."

  She stared at me and said quietly, "I thought you decided you weren't going to do that."

  "Settle in, Melissa," I told her. She did, but she was reluctant about it. "I promise to behave," I told her. "And I will leave if you ask me to."

  She looked at me for a while. "You can stay," she said eventually. "It's a big tub."

  I smiled, and we both settled deeper into the water. It felt divine. We soaked for a while before I opened the book. She opened her eyes and looked at me, then closed them again and nodded.

  I picked a story and began reading. It was short and one of the more graphic bondage stories. By the time I was done reading, both of us were squirming around a little.

  Melissa opened her eyes. "Is that what you like to do?"

  "Yes."

  "I would never let a guy do any of that to me," she said, closing her eyes again.

  "Neither would I," I told her, laughing.

  I read another story for her. By the end of it, I was quite worked up. Maybe this had been a bad idea, although I was having fun. I finished the story and we were both quiet for a while. I watched her. She licked her lips then opened her eyes to look at me.

  "I'll
give you a choice," I told her. "We can climb out of the tub and go see how much fun that is, or you can read a story to me."

  "I'll read," she said.

  I picked the story I wanted her to read while she dried her hands on a towel. I handed her the book and settled in to enjoy the story. She began reading.

  The story I had picked was written from the perspective of a submissive writing to her dominant. It was written as if it were a love letter and detailed all the things she wanted her dominant to do to her, and why she wanted them. There were no names in the story, only pet names such as "My love". That meant I could imagine Melissa really asking me to do all the things from the story.

  As she read, I slid my hand between my legs. Melissa must have noticed, as she paused for a moment, but then continued to read. I used two fingers to open myself, then began to tease my clit while Melissa's voice teased my brain.

  Several minutes later, Melissa's voice caught. I opened my eyes then immediately shut them. She was holding the book in her left hand, and her right hand was under the bubbles. I had a pretty good idea what she was doing, and I didn't want to spoil it by saying anything.

  Knowing she was pleasuring herself while we were sharing a bath got me even more excited. It didn't take too much longer for me to come. I let the pleasure roll through me, shuddering, and my vagina clenching against my own fingers. When the shudders subsided, I slit my eyes to watch Melissa.

  I watched as she slid closer and closer to her own orgasm, her voice becoming ragged as she read the story. She gasped and stopped reading, then let out a sigh. She looked up at me and realized I was watching her.

  "Oh god," she said. She tried to climb out of the tub, but I grabbed her feet.

  "No!" I told her. "Do not run away. Please, Melissa, don't run away."

  She looked at me, panic in her eyes.

  "Please, Melissa."

  Slowly she lowered herself back into the water. She looked away from me. "I can't believe I just did that."

  "Was it nice?"

  "Yes."

  "Good."

  * * *

  Sunday was a little strained. Melissa had moved away from me in the bed after she thought I'd fallen asleep. By morning she was way on the other side.

  Over breakfast I told her, "I want you to clean the house today. Will you let me have copies of the pictures you took?"

  "Yes," she told me, not looking me in the eye.

  "Do you Photoshop them?"

  "I can crop and adjust exposure, but that's about all," she told me.

  "All right. I'm going to play with them. Is that okay?"

  "Me slave, you dominatrix," she said. She sounded a little sullen.

  "Your photographs, Melissa," I told her. "Your copyrights."

  "I'm not going to do anything too special with them," she said. "You may do whatever you want with them." She paused. "I should go grocery shopping, too."

  She downloaded the images first to her own computer then to mine. I went through all of them and was impressed. She had a good eye. I got to one she had taken of me somewhere along the trail. I was looking at something. I have no idea what. She'd been taking so many photographs I had stopped paying attention to her. She caught an intense look on my face. I wasn't at all sure what it was.

  "Melissa?" I said, raising my voice. "Can you come here?"

  She stepped in from the bathroom. She was wearing a pair of green rubber gloves and looked quite disheveled. "What's this?" I asked her.

  "Hmm. I'm not sure, but I think it's someone I went hiking with yesterday."

  I smiled at her. I guess her mood was better.

  "What was I looking at? I have such an intense look."

  "You aren't looking at anything," she said. "You had just been looking at me. I was photographing that tree stump. Then when I turned to look at you, you looked away. I took this photo." She paused. "It turned out okay. Do you remember what you were thinking about?"

  "Yes. I was thinking how amazing you are."

  She immediately began to blush. She stepped away. "I'll go finish the bathroom."

  Eventually I picked out thirty photos I liked the most and assembled them into a photo album. I cropped, adjusted colors, and retouched things a little. They didn't need much. I didn't want to make either of our faces too perfect. I didn't finish until Melissa was about done cleaning the house.

  I sent the photo album to a company that would print and bind them for me. I ordered two copies.

  Melissa came into the office just as I was finishing. She knelt down in front of me. "Alexandra, do you want me to clean in here?"

  "No, thank you," I told her.

  "Then unless you are dissatisfied, I am done. I would like to shower and have lunch, then I should go grocery shopping."

  I stood up and pulled her to her feet then went to check on the house. She had done an amazing job. The place looked great. I told her so. "Would you let me take you to lunch, or were you hoping for some time away from me?"

  "Lunch would be nice, Alexandra. I don't want to get away from you." She paused. "Is this a real friendship?"

  I smiled. "I hope so. It is on my end."

  She nodded. "You know more intimate secrets about me than anyone else. And I don't mean last night."

  "Did you have anything you wanted to do after grocery shopping?"

  "Why is the domme asking the slave that question?"

  I laughed. "Then we'll go see a movie."

  She narrowed her eyes. "Will you behave?"

  "Probably," I told her. "I'm not an exhibitionist."

  "Could have fooled me." But she smiled while she said it.

  * * *

  She cuddled all night with me. And then it was Monday.

  Second Week

  (Melissa)My second week as Alexandra's love slave was much like the first week. We hadn't been driving to work together but starting on Monday we did. At work we were friendly with each other, but Alexandra didn't do anything to give away the current nature of our relationship. I invited her to lunches with me and a few of the other women from the office.

  That surprised them. It had just been slightly over a week ago that I'd been a royal bitch to her. Still, everyone liked Alex, and I think the other women were happy to have her along.

  In the evenings, as soon as we arrived home, I helped Alex out of her coat and hung both our coats up. After that, I dropped to my knees in front of her. She would step up to me, caress my cheek, and then tell me how we were to spend the evening.

  Monday night she wanted to talk and play cards with a back rub before going to sleep. She let me wear clothes until bedtime.

  Tuesday she made me strip to undies and a bra. We had dinner and watched a couple of episodes of a television show while cuddling on the couch. She read a story from the book to me before we fell asleep. I didn't do anything embarrassing.

  Wednesday when I knelt in front of her, she caressed my cheek, then lifted my face, leaned down, and kissed me.

  I kissed her back.

  It was the nicest kiss I'd ever had.

  When she pulled away, I looked up at her, blinking my eyes. "I wanted you to have a pleasant kiss from a woman," she explained.

  While I made dinner, she put together a list. Over dinner, she showed it to me. "This is a list of things around the house I've been meaning to do."

  "You made me a honey do list?"

  She smiled at me. "More like a slave do list."

  I set the list aside. "You're telling me more than the things you want your servant to do."

  Alex looked away for a moment then turned back to face me. "We've been treating our time together like a series of dates."

  "I have enjoyed our dates," I told her, grinning.

  "I have, too." She paused.

  "I wanted to ask you something," I interjected before she could continue her thought. "When we started this you told me you would let me pick ten toys that you wouldn't use on me. I presume you have more than the whip you used the first
night I was here."

  "Yes. It's not a whip, really. It's a riding crop."

  "Oh," I said.

  "I mostly use it like a prop. For pointing and touching. But it has the potential of offering a pretty serious swat if I decide to."

  "Like the one you gave me?"

  "That was a love tap," she told me. "I was just getting your attention."

  "When are you going to show me the rest of your toys?"

  "I'm not."

  "Oh." I thought about it. "Why not?"

  "Because if I show them to you I'm going to want to use some of them."

  We ate quietly for a while before I told her, "For every item on this list that I complete to your satisfaction, I would like you to show me one of your toys and explain how you use it."

  She looked me in the eye. "You are playing with fire."

  "I'll let you use some."

  "What?"

  "If you promise not to hurt me too much."

  "Why?"

  "I'm trying to understand," I told her. "I am trying to understand you. And I'm trying to understand my own reactions to the stories you've been making me read to you. I want to understand what it is you like to do."

  "All right. One toy for each completed item on the list. Who picks which ones I get to use?"

  "At first, I do," I said. "Which means you'll have to think carefully about which ones you show me, lest I be too afraid to let you touch me with them."

  She laughed.

  I cleaned the kitchen then read through the honey do list again. She had listed as two items pulling the stove from the wall and cleaning behind it and doing the same with the refrigerator. I found her in the living room and told her, "I don't know if I can move the stove and refrigerator by myself." She helped me pull them out.

  It was gross behind each of them, but I cleaned as well as I could. Alexandra peeked behind them before we pushed them back into place. It was after nine. "Two," I said.

  She smiled. "Clean yourself up and get ready for bed. Wear a bathrobe but be naked underneath."

  "Yes, Alexandra."

  Ten minutes later and I was in her bedroom with her. She looked at me. "Sit on the bed." I sat and she looked at me again. "All right. Toys come in two basic types. The first type is used to restrain you. The second type is used to give you some sort of sensation."