Working Late Ch. 02

Claudia had a busy enough Christmas, between family and social obligations, giving some as much time as she could afford and others just enough to seem polite. In the evening she spent her time reading. She hadn't really bothered with feminist literature since reading The Second Sex in college. Her discussion with Jay at Petra told her she had a lot of catching up to do.

She glossed over second-wave feminism, finding very little there that resonated with her. She did spend some time on standpoint theory after she had gotten home on Boxing Day/ She quickly realised that she had a lot more reading to do.

The reading did provide her with some distractions from Linda, at least. It had felt very odd loading her sheets into the washing machine after she had left, the droning machine soon erasing most physical evidence of their one night stand. But she knew Linda would be there, waiting for her at half past eight in the morning of the twenty-seventh.

She had actually considered coming in fifteen minutes early just to catch her personal assistant off guard. But she was pretty sure that if she did that, Linda would predict it.

She wasn't disappointed. As the elevator doors to the office slid open she saw Linda sitting there, busily typing away at her desk. It was oddly relieving to see that she was dressed exactly as she always was, a modest sweater and a long skirt.

Linda brightened up when she saw Claudia. "Morning, miss Braddock." she said in a way that could only be described as 'chipper.' "Your breakfast is on your desk, and a courier came by earlier with the proofs for the Stetilia account. I put them up in your office."

"Thank you Linda." Claudia nodded. For a moment she hesitated, wondering if there was more she should say. But then she forced herself to enter her office. Better to let things return to normal as soon as possible.

As Claudia enjoyed her breakfast bagel she studied the prints that Linda had put up. The printer had done a pretty good job with them, even if Claudia found the posters incredibly tacky.

The campaign was for some sort of cloud computing app. The executive in charge of the project had explained the idea with breathless excitement. Claudia had jotted down some key words but hadn't bothered to try to wrap her mind around the principles behind it all. She didn't need to know the minutiae to be able to sell the product.

The posters all showed more or less naked people, although they had been airbrushed to the point of sexless androgyny. Crisp black lines ran over the figures' skin to create the illusion that it was made up of segmented plastic plates, and they a variety of poses that all had one trait in common - outstretched arms reaching upwards, dissolving into polygonal segments around the elbow to fade into the background.

Claudia sighed as she sipped her coffee. The work was technically proficient, and the artist had done a pretty good job giving the people behind the company what they thought they wanted. That didn't change the fact that they could do so much more if they were allowed to work outside those constraints. At least tech companies never asked them to use Papyrus or other tacky fonts.

But it didn't matter. Not overly much, anyway. The project had been delegated entirely to her team, with Claudia doing little other than being the face of her company. She rarely got to get personally involved with the design of campaigns these days.

Claudia polished off her breakfast and coffee while eyeing the designs, trying to put herself in the shoes of somebody seeing them as a poster in the subway, or as a glossy full page advertisement in a magazine. It was close enough to what the customer had asked for that it would probably meet their approval.

Her gaze shifted from the prints to the office beyond the glass wall. Slowly her staff trickled in. They'd be running at a third of their usual capacity for the coming week, most of her staff choosing to fill the days between Christmas and New Year with vacation days. Of course she had never doubted that Linda wouldn't be one of them.

It wasn't until halfway through the morning that Claudia stepped into her private bathroom. When she did she immediately noticed the duffel bag. It was small, made of navy canvas. She noticed a sticky note attached to it. She picked it up and read it.

'Miss Braddock. I needed to bring in some things for the next time we're working late. I would prefer it if you didn't look inside.'

Claudia frowned at that. Having a mystery bag in her personal bathroom was an invasion of her space. And yet she already knew she wouldn't look inside it. The request might have come from Linda, but Claudia had a feeling that the only reason it wasn't signed by 'Mistress Linda' was on the small chance somebody other than Claudia found the note first. The only concession she made to her curiosity was to nudge the bag with her foot to test its weight. It seemed to contain clothing, but without breaking Linda's trust there was no way she would know.

She tried to put it out of her mind but every time her attention strayed from her work it inevitably wandered back to the mystery bag. Occasionally she watched Linda sitting at her desk. Without any work to do her personal assistant was working on some sort of puzzle, a set of linked plastic triangles that she twisted into various geometric shapes. She called it her mental bubble wrap.

Saturday was another quiet and uneventful day, with even less of the staff coming in to work. Sunday was a busy day for Claudia. The homeowner's association in her building had its annual New Year's Eve party, and she was on the organizing committee this year. It meant a lot of empty bickering in group text chains about the colour of tablecloths and such.

She had actually forgotten about the bag by Monday until she almost tripped over it when she went to use her bathroom. She glared at it, as if it had personally offended her. But still she resisted the temptation to look into it. She did call Linda into her office.

"Yes miss Braddock?" her always cheerful personal assistant asked as she stood in front of her boss's desk.

"Linda... your bag." Claudia sighed. "Can't you keep it anywhere else?"

Claudia watched her personal assistant more closely, watching for any reaction to her question. Linda just smiled. "I can miss Braddock, but I think it would be best if I kept it nearby..."

Claudia nodded at that. Linda wanted her to think about the bag. She figured as much. "How long will you need it?"

"Until the next time we're working late, of course." came the calm reply.

Claudia exhaled slowly through her nostrils. She was outwardly passive, but Linda could clearly see the frustration in that subtle gesture. "And when do you think we will need to work late?"

"It will probably be another week or two." Linda shrugged. "With the holidays and all... unless you feel the need to work late today or tomorrow?"

That actually caused Claudia to pause. This was the first time that she was being given the chance to initiate working late. She had always trusted Linda to make that decision for her. Had something changed? The past few days had been more or less normal between the two of them, as she had promised herself after their one night stand. Now Linda suddenly tossed something new in her lap. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Are you really telling me I can pick the time of our next play?"

Linda nodded. "Yes miss Braddock." she said calmly. She looked completely calm. Perhaps she was simply eager to engage in this particular play? Either way, she looked at her boss expectantly.

Claudia considered her options. Today or tomorrow... Tomorrow was definitely out. She wasn't about to go to the building's New Year's Eve party with rope marks or welts on her skin. They could do it later, but that would mean uncertainty... which she really couldn't deal with right now. Finally she made up her mind. "Very well Linda, I would like to work late tonight."

Linda just smiled and nodded. "Alright miss Braddock, I will make sure to order us some delivery for dinner."

"Thank you Linda." Claudia sighed. She frowned a little as she watched her personal assistant depart. Would it really be as simple as that?

Dinner turned out to be from a place that was vaguely Mediterranean without settling on any kitchen in particular. But the couscous with beans and goat cheese and the stuffed grape leaves on the side were both excellent, so Claudia wasn't going to complain about the less than authentic experience.

As she went into her bathroom to clean her hands after she finished the dinner she was confronted by the mystery bag again. She sighed softly but forced herself not to think about it. She would know what its contents were soon enough.

She returned to her desk to watch Linda pick the last of her own dinner out of its styrofoam container with a plastic fork. She couldn't help but wonder, how long would Linda have waited to bust out its contents? She didn't think Linda was so manipulative as to leave the bag out as a distraction but she still couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow meant as a test - and one she had probably failed.

She returned to her desk and turned her attention to her monitor. By now her employees had all gone home, all but Linda, of course. She probably would have done the same if it weren't for the fact that Linda had agreed that they'd be working late tonight.

So now all she could do was wait. Her attention wandered back and forth between reading news on the screen and watching Linda beyond it. She noticed that Linda had pulled out a Chromebook, busily tapping away at it. Probably for want of anything work related to do. Claudia frowned a measure. She couldn't help but wonder whether her personal assistant was deliberately drawing things out.

It was almost half past seven when Linda finally got up from her desk. In spite of herself Claudia felt a brief flutter of adrenaline behind her sternum. She watched Linda put her Chromebook away again, sliding it into a laptop sleeve with slow, almost deliberate movements that made Claudia wonder whether Linda was deliberately drawing the moment out. She promised herself that if Linda went to the bathroom in stead of her office she'd just go home.

Thankfully Linda didn't call her on the bluff she didn't even know Claudia had posited her. In stead she smoothed out her skirt and stepped into Claudia's office. She was smiling. "I think it's time we took a break from work Claudia..." she said in her usual soft but confident voice.

Claudia nodded, rising to her feet. "I'll go get ready." she nodded.

"You can keep your clothes on." Linda smiled. "I'd like to take them off myself tonight."

Claudia blinked at that. She couldn't remember the last time she had started a play fully dressed. When they had first started exploring Linda's particular brand of stress relief a lot of their playing had been done fully clothed. It was only after a few weeks with the slow introduction of more sexual elements that she had gotten more and more naked. Starting out in her silk blouse and pencil skirt and stockings again almost felt like a step back, especially considering how they had spent the night after the Christmas party.

Linda seemed to sense Claudia's unease. She stepped forward, placing her hand on the older woman's and giving it a soft reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry Claudia..." she smiled. "You'll understand when I've gotten changed."

Almost immediately Claudia's attention snapped back to the mystery bag. Her eyes jerked towards the bathroom. Linda just chuckled.

"I think you will need to get yourself in the right mindset... here." she smiled, reaching down and opening the paper tray of the printer to pull out a single sheet. "Over here please..." she added as she walked towards the window.

Claudia frowned, deeply confused. But one of the first things Linda... mistress Linda... had taught her, was that she didn't do anything without good reason. She had to trust Linda.

So she watched as Linda put the sheet of paper up against the wall, at face height. Her confusion grew with every passing moment, until Linda gave her first order. "Put your nose against it Claudia, and your hands behind your head. You will wait here while I change."

Claudia swallowed and nodded, moving forward until she was standing against the window. She felt incredibly silly as she felt her nose press against the cold glass, with only the paper separating the two from direct contact. Linda just smiled. "Hold the paper like this Claudia, I will be back shortly."

"And... uhm... if I drop it?" Claudia asked uncertainly, for want of anything else to ask.

"Then your mistress will be very disappointed..." Linda smiled. Claudia could feel her fingers at the back of her neck, gently undoing the clasp of the pendant holding the key to the toy locker. Claudia shivered as it was dragged up between her breasts, and in spite of the fact that she was feeling incredibly silly holding paper up against the window with her nose she still leaned in a little to make sure she didn't drop it.

With the way Linda had positioned the paper Claudia was left to look at the reflection of her eyes in the mirrored glass. She exhaled slowly, and she could immediately feel the damp warmth of her breath wash back over the lower half of her face. The unexpected sensation almost caused her to pull back. She frowned at herself for almost failing before Linda had even left the room.

"I know you can do it Claudia." Linda smiled. There was a brief hand on her shoulder, the brief brush of Linda's lips against her cheek. Then all Claudia could hear were the younger woman's retreating footsteps, followed by the door to her personal bathroom opening and closing.

Claudia willed herself to relax. Not wanting to feel her breath brush over her mouth again she instead focused on breathing in and out through her nose. As far as stress positions went this one wasn't nearly so bad as some of the others Linda had put her through during the past few months.

But the stress wasn't physical. It was psychological. Being up against the glass as she was she was unable to see anything but her own eyes, which she eventually closed. This left her with nothing to distract her from her thoughts about Linda, using her own personal bathroom, working with whatever was in that damned bag of hers.

She was left standing alone in her office with no sense of passing time. At least she didn't have a clock on the wall to grind away at her sanity with its constant ticking. She strained her ears for any hint of what Linda was doing just a few feet away from her, but she could hear nothing from beyond the closed door of her bathroom.

With her eyes closed she focused on keeping her breathing steady, in and out. This was just another stress position. An unconventional one, but not one that was overly taxing. The only sound to keep her company was her breathing.

As Claudia stood with her nose against the window she tried not to think about how silly it felt to be left like this in her own office. Her mistress would come out soon. And then she would go get the collar. And then she could fully surrender herself to whatever mistress Linda had planned for her.

There was a definite sense of passing time, even if she had nothing to tell her how much time was actually passing other than her steady breathing. She was grateful for her yoga classes and her fitness regimen. They had served her very well every other time she was left in a position like this.

She knew that Linda was doing this for a reason. She knew that her mistress wanted her mind to wander. She tried to distract herself by thinking of anything else but the constant pressure against the tip of her nose was an ever-present reminder of the anticipation and would always draw her attention back to her current state.

She had no idea how much time had passed when she heard the door to her private bathroom again. Her eyes flew open immediately but she still couldn't see anything but the top half of her own face. She could hear footsteps on the floor that suggested that Linda wasn't wearing the shoes she had been wearing when she left her but she couldn't know for sure, not without dropping the paper.

Being left alone with her thoughts had been hard on her, but now, having to listen to her mistress prepare, it was even more difficult. She could hear the beep of the electric lock, the drawer sliding open, some things being laid out on her desk...

And then her mistress was behind her. Claudia could feel her hand on her shoulder. She stiffened, and it was only by leaning forward in response that she stopped the paper from dropping. That actually brought a chuckle from Linda. "Very good Claudia... I didn't expect you to hold it."

Claudia felt a slight blush creep over her cheeks at her mistress's praise. "Thank you..." she said, her voice soft, vulnerable.

"I know you want to look. But you can't. Not yet. Just a little longer, I promise..."

Claudia swallowed and nodded, as much as she could without dropping the paper. "Yes Linda..." she nodded. A moment later there was the all too familiar feeing of black silk being slid over her eyes, her mistress's hands at the back of her head, then taking her by the arm.

"I'm going to turn you around, and walk you to the middle of the office. Then you are going to kneel while I put the finishing touches on this." came Linda's instructions.

Claudia sighed and nodded. She let Linda lead her along until the order to kneel came. All the while she hadn't moved her hands from behind her back, something that Linda definitely appreciated. She watched as Claudia slowly sank to her knees.

For her part Claudia was frowning, it was obvious even with the blindfold. Being denied a chance to see what was in the mystery bag was getting on her nerves more and more.

She could feel Linda behind her now, her mistress's hands on her lower arms, guiding them together until her shoulders were touching. She exhaled, willing her shoulders to relax. Thankfully she didn't have to worry about holding that position under her own power. A thick leather strap tightened itself around her arms, just below her elbows. She willed herself to relax into the binding as Linda finished her work behind her. Two more broad leather straps followed, one below the other, until her lower arms were bound tightly together all the way down her wrists. She automatically intertwined her fingers.

She listened to Linda's footfalls as they moved around her again. She could hear something slide across the surface of her desk. Then it was pressed against her lips. She recognised the inside of her collar the moment it brushed against the sensitive skin, and she kissed it out of sheer reflex. A moment later she heard a click behind her neck and she could feel the familiar reassuring weight of the soft leather around her neck.

"There we go Claudia..." Linda smiled. The older woman could feel her mistress's lips brushing over the side of her neck, just above the collar. "I'm going to pull your blindfold away now, alright? Open your eyes slowly."

Claudia nodded, feeling a little silly with the redundant warning. She had been blindfolded several times before. But she also knew that as soon as she would open her eyes, she would be able to see what was in the bag.

She realised her lips had gone slightly dry. Her tongue darted out briefly to lick them. She didn't want to seem too eager. Still, several seconds after Linda stopped moving to stand in front of her, she opened her eyes.

Keeping her head bowed, the first thing she saw was a pair of black wingtip shoes, definitely not something she would expect Linda to wear. By the time her eyes travelled high enough to see the neatly ironed pinstripe slacks that covered her mistress's legs she realised what Linda was trying to achieve with her look. Her eyes shot up at once.