Down The Garden Path Ch. 1

The assignment had a broader scope than her previous ones. She was to write every fantasy she could think of for Him, and particularly focus on those which could be enacted. She had one week, from the time He gave the assignment, and her initial excitement and happiness at his interest in her private thoughts had begun to give way to a realization of the effort involved in such an undertaking.

She had written for herself since childhood, and briefly entertained thoughts of being "a writer" in her late adolescence, but now, more than 20 years later, she had doubts about her ability to recreate the world in words. She still kept a journal sporadically, and had begun writing erotic stories a few months prior to being given her current assignment.

Her lover, the catalyst for her return to prose, enjoyed reading her stories, but He was a main character in them. How could He not be flattered and positively disposed toward such tributes? With His permission, she posted them on a couple of websites that specialized in erotica. Her close friends made encouraging comments, but of course they would. They were her friends and would not wish to hurt her feelings, even if they thought her work was in the mediocre range of that produced by other amateur aspiring pornographers.

Whatever doubts she entertained were pushed to the back of her mind as she sat in front of the keyboard now. She had promised to complete His assignment in the time given, and she had five days left. She would have to work diligently today, Easter Sunday, and after work each day until Friday to do her best for Him. She would not consider doing any less for her Dominate lover and erotic muse.

Many years ago, she read My Secret Garden, the famous compilation of women's sexual fantasies, and was struck by the elements of her own "secret garden" she found in the scenarios presented. There was some of everything, soft-focus romance, wanton lust, seduction, group sex, power exchange, and all orientations; het, bi and lesbian. Now it was time for her to present her own garden to her lover.

* * * * * *

I.

Her years of great sex were over in her early thirties, she had believed. Her once-happy marriage had ended in anger, frustration, bankruptcy and divorce. She had been contentedly monogamous with her husband for the entire decade they spent together. Her fantasy life continued during that time, but was populated by fictional characters only. To have thought "that way" of anyone she actually knew would have felt disloyal and wrong to her. Not that her husband would have cared who inspired her, so long as the desires were fulfilled in their bed, but she could not get past her feelings of guilt about "mental infidelity".

Things were entirely different in her life now, and she was amazed to find that, in spite of having lost much of her youthful beauty, she had gained a degree of confidence and sexual sophistication that made her more appealing to the type of 40-something men she had desired in her teens and twenties. And then she found the world of real life power exchange enthusiasts through the Internet, and knew she would never return to the vanilla world she had once thought was so great.

Her current lover, Talon, was her favorite Dominant thus far in her journey into the thrilling experience of sexual submission. Sometimes, a casual touch on her arm from him felt like an electrical jolt which went straight to her pussy, and she would feel herself growing damp immediately. He enjoyed toying with her lust in public, whispering sexy things in her ear at dinner parties, surreptitiously pinching a nipple or allowing her to feel the beginning of his erection as he pressed against her in a crowd.

One thing she had discovered very early on with Talon was that, even without any physical contact, the sound of His voice triggered an intense sexual response in her. The first time he Dominated her sexually, she stayed on the edge of orgasm until he gave her permission to fall over, in the form of a command. Ever since, with only his words, he could move her at light speed toward the ecstatic release she craved. He had mentioned to her in an email that he had sent her a package the previous day, so she was not surprised to find a small, rectangular box awaiting her after work. When she removed the brown paper wrapping, she found a cassette tape in a translucent gray acrylic box. The label had been printed on his computer, in "papyrus", the font he often used when they would chat at night. She smiled as she read the label through the smoked plastic, "listen while Alone" She was glad that her job both began and ended early, so her son was not yet home from school. She couldn't wait to see what Talon wished her to hear.

She stripped off her conservative white cotton sweater while going into the dresser drawer for her walkman and headphones. She laid the machine and its accessory on the bathroom counter as she kicked off the black leather mules and dropped the long black skirt to the floor, where it was soon followed by her pantyhose. A shower could wait, she thought, as she inserted the tape into the walkman, put on the headphones and pressed "play".

In her underwear only, she returned to the dresser to put on a pair of loose knit pants and a sweatshirt. The faint hiss during the silent part at the tape's beginning was replaced by her lover's voice. She jumped slightly when she heard "Hello, slutkitty. I am going to give you some instructions, and you are to do as I say, right now. If you are not alone, turn off the tape and return to it when you are alone." There was a brief pause, and then the familiar voice returned.

"Good, now we can begin, and know, My kitten, that as I recorded this for you I was imagining you now, hearing my words. You are fulfilling my fantasy at this moment, and you will continue to do that until I instruct you to stop." She felt the familiar rush of excited anticipation, wondering what He would require of her.

"You will now touch your breasts, through your clothes. When the nipples begin to harden, you will reach under your clothes, and pinch them, making them harder and larger and more sensitive for me." She complied, imagining His hands had replaced her own as they moved under her sweatshirt and then inside her bra. "Yes, that is very nice, dear. You have lovely nipples that I greatly enjoy sucking and biting, and I know they are ready for my attention right now, aren't they?"

"Yes, Sir", she whispered, closing her eyes and sitting down on the side of her bed.

"Now, I want you to release your breasts for the moment, and make yourself comfortable in a chair, or you may lie down, if you wish" he continued. She swung her legs onto the bed and pulled an extra pillow under her head. "I know you are wet for me now, kitten. I want you to think about my hands on you, exploring your body in any way I desire."

She sighed, remembering times he had done just that with her bound, or when she was held in place by just His instruction not to move. He could play S & M at a level that pushed a novice like herself, but he was also much more the sensualist than the sadist. Every strike was balanced by more than one caress, and the pain and pleasure enhanced each other until she was gloriously unable to distinguish one from the other.

"Now, move your legs apart slowly. I want you to slide your hands down your body. Feel how warm you are right now. Cup both your hands around your pussy and hold it for a moment. Feel the way you feel to me." She was warm, as he had known she would be. The gentle pressure of her palms curving over the mound made her tingle with desire. She felt her heat and the springy softness of flesh under her hands.

"Take off your clothes now, and caress yourself all over for me. Start with your face, then your neck, your chest…that's right, dear, keep moving down your body until you reach that beautifully wet pussy." She arose from the bed long enough to quickly remove her clothing, then returned to her previous position, pulling only a sheet over her naked body.

"Play with your clit now, kitten. Make it swell for me. I love to feel you so wet and swollen and ready for me"

"Yes, Sir", she whispered, slipping into the fantasy of his presence. Her clitoris was aching to be touched and she shivered when her finger made initial contact. She stroked the very tip with the pad of her index finger, and moaned her lover's name.

"Yes, that is good. Start slow and build it up. Excite yourself for me. I will tell you when you have permission to orgasm." His taking charge of her pleasure was one of their favorite games. She loved being taken to the edge and kept there, not allowed to either back away or fall into the release her body so craved. She slid a finger down between her inner lips, to the opening. With both hands, she pulled the lips apart and felt the cooling air on her vagina. "When you are ready, I want you to slide 2 fingers into your pussy, fast. I want you to think about my hard cock inside you."

There was a brief silent period on the tape, then his voice returned, both coaxing and commanding, "Do it, do it right now! Take that wet cunt for me, slut!" She felt herself lubricating even more just before she pushed both fingers into her pussy. The burst of excitement that entry produced make her gasp and her pelvis tilted up to swallow the digits to a greater depth.

"Please, Sir, please", she breathed, her fingers thrusting like his cock now while her other hand moved over her erect nipples and her clit, stroking and pinching in time with the thrusts.

As if hearing her, he replied "Now! Come for me!" Her body immediately responded with wave after wave of overwhelming sensation. "Feel it all for me, kitten, all over your sexy body, from your toes all the way up and up and through your pussy and through your clit and all the way to the top of your head. That is right. You know how to take the pleasure I give you, kitten. Take it all…"

After her tremors had died down, she realized that she still had the headphones on, and smiled. Just as she reached for the walkman's "off" switch, his voice, returned, barely above a whisper through the wires, "You will sleep soon, kitten, and soon, you will sleep in my arms again." She waited a short time, heard no more, and turned off the tape. She pulled up the blanket, rolled onto her side and fell into a blissfully peaceful sleep.

* * * * * *

II.

She dreamed of her lover. They were in the public dungeon where they sometimes played. Only a few other couples and singles were in the room, and no one was scening as yet. She recognized a few of the people, but most were not known to her waking mind.

He said "There is something I need to do with my kitten now." She looked up at him with a question in her eyes. "Go to the last room on the right and wait for me. I'll be there in a few minutes." was his only clarification before he kissed her forehead lightly and walked toward the social area, the opposite direction from the room where he was sending her.

She followed his direction and entered the room off the far right corner of the main dungeon space. It was her favorite, decorated in a Goth/medieval style she thought of as quintessentially BDSM. The St. Andrew's cross in the center of the room had been stained a deep brown and a wrought-iron light fixture hung a few feet above it. To her right, the black stocks stood, waiting for wrists and a neck to fill their openings. On the wall to her left, there was a large wooden frame across which a loosely-woven rope grid was hung. The hexagonal cage stood near the back wall, it's black metal bars looking like they had been salvaged from an Old West jailhouse.

She wondered what he had in mind for her. They both enjoyed playing in this room, and she had taken her first caning from him on the cross in here. She smiled at the memory, wondering if he would wish to repeat that scene tonight. They had not yet used any of the other furniture in the room, though she had thought it might be fun to be a bad colonial girl in the stocks sometime. Perhaps he would be her Puritan minister and act on the Biblical exhortation not to "spare the rod". She was giggling at the silly thought when he entered the room, toy bag in hand.

"Yes, dear? Something amused you?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir. I was imagining myself as a bad Pilgrim girl being corrected by Parson John." she replied, grinning mischievously.

He smiled broadly and said "it might take more than one preacher to redeem you, my slut kitten. But it would be fun to try." He set his bag on the bench just inside the door and motioned for her to come to his side. He opened the bag and removed the top layer of spanking devices, a broad, flat hairbrush, strips of leather and suede of various widths, wooden paddles. She watched and waited and wondered what would follow.

"Take off your dress now" he instructed and she complied, folding the purple velvet and laying it on the bench by his bag. " I am going to blindfold you now, and finish undressing you" he said. She closed her eyes as he lowered the blindfold, and felt the soft fur lining against her eyelids.

Her arms were at her sides, and he took her hands, lifting them to his shoulders and then holding her partially-nude body against him for a moment. His hands traveled to the back of her bra, unhooked it, and then he took a step away from her to slide the straps down her arms and remove the bra.

She had done as he required, forgoing her usual underwear and pantyhose to wear a black thong and matching thigh-high stockings. The bra discarded, he now ran his palms from her shoulders down to the rounded curves of her ass. She shivered, more from the tactile pleasure of his touch on her bare skin than the slightly cool temperature in the room.

"Very nice, dear. Now, I am going to lead you across the room. Just hold onto my arm." he said, placing her hand on his forearm and taking a step forward. She followed, anxious to learn what was to transpire tonight. After a few steps, he stopped, and removed her hand from his arm. He placed it against one of the horizontal bars of the cage. "I am going to lock you in here for a time, kitten. I want you to feel your submission and the pride I take in dominating you. I will never be far away, though you may think you are alone. Can you do this for me?"

A chill of both excitement and fear went through her at the thought of being left alone, confined and without the reassurance of sight. She was torn between her desire to please him and her deep-seated fear of abandonment. "You won't leave me for very long, will you?" she asked in an uncharacteristically small voice.

"No, kitten, I will always be near. I want you to trust me now. Nothing bad will happen." She heard the door of the cage open with a faint squeak and knew that, whatever her reluctance, she would do as he asked of her. He took her hand, moved her a step to the left. "Now, take a little step up, dear", he continued, guiding her into the cage. She felt the cool metal floor on the soles of her feet through the nylon stockings. "Turn around", he said, releasing her hand. As she turned, she heard the door close and latch.

"I want you to hold onto the bars in front of you. Think about what I have done. I have placed you here for the pleasure I get from displaying my slut for everyone to see. Unless you use your safe word, you will stay here for as long as I choose. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir. I understand." she whispered, her hands wrapped tightly around the bars in front of her.

"Good. Just stay calm, and I will return in a moment" he said, and she heard his footsteps as he left the room. She tried not to think of his absence, and concentrated on keeping her breathing deep and even, in spite of her racing pulse. More than once, they had talked about doing this sometime, but she had not thought about it recently and was not expecting it tonight. She listened to the faint sounds of floggers striking skin in the main space, and thought she heard whispers from the direction of the doorway. She was grateful not to be able to see those who might be looking in at John's caged kitten.

"Yes, come in", she heard him say, and heard a man's voice she did not recognize reply, accepting his invitation. "I am quite pleased by my slut's obedience and responsiveness", he went on. "Watch." He was next to the cage now, by the sound of his voice and she waited for whatever instruction he might wish to give her. Instead, he reached through the bars and caressed her bare breasts, gently pinching the nipples as they grew hard.

"Very nice", she heard the other man comment.

"Feel free to pet my kitty cat, if you wish", her lover replied, and she felt another pair of hands moving up her left thigh, then circling her ass. "Please go on. I will be right back." he said. She wanted to call out to him not to go, but she bit her lip and remembered his promise not to leave her for long. The unknown man's hands had been moved to her right thigh now, one on the front and one on the back, moving in slow circles from knee to hip.

True to his word, her Sir returned only a few minutes later, and again made his generous offer to someone else. This time, she felt the dull edge of long fingernails and knew it must be a woman who was touching her. "What a fortunate girl, Sir" a female voice said while using her nails to flick kitten's hard nipples.

"Oh, yes, she is tonight, isn't she?" her lover replied with a slight chuckle in his voice. "Lisa, my slut, are you enjoying this?" he asked. She was surprised to be called by name and spoken to directly, but found her voice after a second's hesitation, and replied. "Yes, I am, very much, thank You, Sir".

As the dream went on, more hands found their way through the bars and against her skin. She felt her mind drift into a place beyond linear, rational thought. She became a sensual receptor, taking in every tactile sensation, hearing even the slightest sound of breathing or movement beyond the bars. He told her not to think of anything but how much pleasure she was giving him and those he allowed to touch her.

"Now, when I tell you to, you will come, hard, just like you do when we are alone.", he said to her in a low voice. The hands which had been exploring her body seemed to fade away, and she heard the latch of the cage door opening. Her lover's familiar touch replaced that of the unseen men and woman, as he removed her tightly curled fingers from the bars of the door before opening it. "Step down", he said, guiding her through the door.

Her feet were on the carpet again as he wrapped his strong arms around her and leaned down to whisper into her ear "Come for me, now!" Dream and reality merged as her body obeyed his command.

When she awoke, she was calling his name and riding the aftershocks of the orgasm. She wondered how she would be able to wait another day to see him, and then smiled after seeing the walkman lying on the pillow next to her. "Perhaps the time will go quickly after all" she thought.

* * * * * *

III.

Her journey into BDSM really began when she was a child, and found "certain" things strangely powerful in their appeal to her. The escape artists on The Ed Sullivan show kept her transfixed as they were bound beyond all hope of escape and yet still managed to free themselves.

Sometimes she would look at, and later, read, from the World Book encyclopedias that had the honor of their own shelf in the living room. Often, she picked a volume randomly and let chance determine what she would learn from the pages. On one such exploratory day, she chose the "A" and began flipping through the last half of it for something interesting. She saw it near the end, with a long illustrated article about The Aztecs.