Phoenix closed the door behind her, smiling to herself. That had been an unexpected surprise. Sir Simon. Interesting.

She half danced out onto her balcony, humming softly to herself. Lunch tomorrow. Nice. She wanted to know more about him.

It was late and she wanted to be up early, so she told the ocean good night, came back in, and got ready for bed. She had planned to read a chapter or two of the latest from the Masters of the Castle series, but instead she fell asleep quickly, content and looking forward to the next day.

She woke at 3 a.m. and got up for the bathroom, but when she lay back down, she couldn’t go back to sleep. She tossed and turned for a bit, tried to meditate for a while, and finally gave up and let her thoughts surface.

‘What are you thinking,’ she chided herself. ‘The last thing you need is any kind of relationship, much less a D/s one. You’re in the middle of a pandemic and you’ve already let him get close to you. You barely have time for anything after your grand kids and your work, you’re not taking care of yourself well as it is, why would you want to add a man, particularly a Dom? You know how you are, next thing you know you’ll be spending half your time trying to figure out how to please him. You’re too old for that nonsense.’

The thought that she was too old brought a whole new string of worries. ‘And what man is really going to want you anyhow? Age spots and saggy everything. Ugh. I don’t know how you’d even get naked in front of anyone. You don’t even like to see yourself in the mirror.’

She closed her eyes, ‘Just go to sleep,’ she advised herself. ‘Forget all this nonsense.’

But no. She was apparently not going to sleep tonight..

‘Fine,’ she thought. She rolled onto her back, bent her knees, legs spread just a bit. ‘Can’t sleep? Let’s try this.’

Closing her eyes, she began the fantasy, ‘He came into the bedroom. You’re supposed to be asleep, he said and she gasped. You know what’s coming next, he said. Turn over.’

Phoenix began to stroke herself with one hand, seeking the magic button that would take her to a quick orgasm. With her other hand, she toyed with a nipple, continuing the fantasy.

‘On your knees he said, Ass up. Obediently, she turned to lie on her belly, face down in the pillow, pulling her knees up underneath her to raise her ass. She had hoped to earn his mercy by obeying quickly, but that was not to be.

You know the rule, he said sternly. If you’re not asleep by 11, you’re to be punished. One hand probed between her thighs, where she was embarrassingly wet. He smacked her inner thigh and she whimpered. Then she heard that noise – the swish of a belt being pulled out of the belt loops.

She was shivering with the orgasm, just a tiny one, before the fantasy belt even landed. Rolled onto her side and went to sleep.

The next morning, her middle-of-the-night blues were gone. Phoenix took her coffee out on the balcony to watch the ocean. She started writing with her second cup, moving her Macbook out on the balcony with her. She paused long enough to go for a quick walk on the beach, but got right back to work afterwards. By 11:00, she had drafted the next two chapters of her book and was hungry.

After a quick shower and some basic primping, Phoenix was ready to meet Simon. Looking in the mirror one last time, she thought, ‘Well, you don’t look too bad, for an old hag, that is.’ Then she smiled at herself. ‘You can’t live without getting old. And you’re not gonna have sex with this man anyhow so it doesn’t matter what you look like under your clothes.’

Wondering vaguely if she should invest in Spanx, she headed toward the pier. By the time she got there, she had decided that it was too much like the girdles she’d rejected in her youth and was thinking how ridiculous her own thoughts were.

Simon was waiting for her, his smile so warm and welcoming that she beamed back at him. She thought for a second that he was going to hug her, but he nodded instead, saying, “Phoenix,” with such pleasure that it felt like a hug.

“Simon,” she said, trying not to sound too excited, but her heart was beating quickly.

“We have lunch decisions to make,” he said, taking her hand and bringing her closer to the pier railing, beside him. “We could go to Johnny’s Grill, they’re always good, and that’s what I had in mind originally. But I had a meeting with Sofia and Lucas this morning and when I told them I was meeting you for lunch, they wanted us to join them. They’re going to the Pirates’ Inn. What do you think?”

Phoenix hesitated, torn. Johnny’s Grill was fine with her, and more intimate for just the two of them. But the Pirates’ Inn was renowned for their food and had a fabulous ocean view and it would be fun to hang out with Sofia and Lucas. She shook her head. “That’s a hard choice,” she said. “Either one sounds wonderful. Seriously, I don’t think I have a preference. Your choice.”

(And then she felt silly, nobody liked a woman who couldn’t make a decision, what on earth was wrong with her?)

But Simon looked pleased and she suddenly remembered that he was a Dom, which explained that. “Great,” he said, “Tell you what, if you’ll agree to take a rain check on having a meal with just me, we’ll go to the Pirate’s Inn and do it up big time. Deal?”

And what could she say but yes? After all, it was the best of both worlds.

“Shall we walk?” he asked.

She nodded, “Absolutely. It’s not that far and i love to walk.” So they started off, chatting about the island, the things they liked to do there and the things that were cheesy tourist traps. She felt quite comfortable with him, even though she noticed that she was awfully aware of him. Of the way their hands almost touched as they walked. Of his after-shave, which was almost but not quite unnoticable. She wondered what it was, it was kind of – how would she describe it? Warm. somehow. Inviting. And that made her smile.

“You’re smiling,” he said, smiling himself. “A penny for your thoughts.”

Startled, Phoenix felt herself blush. Then she thought, what the fuck. In for a penny, in for a pound. “I was thinking about your after-shave,” she said, smiling again. “I like it.”

He stopped and laughed. “You are full of surprises,” he said. “I didn’t expect that at all.”

“No? What did you think I was smiling about?”

“Well,” he looked thoughtful, “I suppose I expected you to avoid answering. To side-step the question.”

“Oh, no,” she said. I hardly ever do that. Honest to a fault, it’s a cliche, but that’s me. Don’t ask unless you want to know.”

“This was a pleasant surprise -that you were thinking good things about my aftershave,” he said, taking her hand and beginning to walk again. For a minute, she could not think of anything but his hand. The way it engulfed hers, and how easy it felt to rest her hand in his.

As she brought her attention back to the walk, he said, “It’s good to know that you’re honest. I appreciate that, just about always. Sometimes it takes me a while to appreciate it, but still. It’s a wonderful quality.”

She was smiling, basking in the praise, when he added, “Sometime, I will ask about your submission and your experience in the “private club” that our belong to wiht Sofia. But certainly not today, that would be way too pushy and not my style at all.”

Phoenix felt her heart leap, a catch in her breath and her pussy throbbed as well. Just for a moment, but still, more than she wanted. And yet it wasn’t exactly unpleasant. Fuck it, she thought. I’m not getting involved, I’m just playing.

So she glanced up at him, batting her eyelashes once. “And sometime,” she said, “I’ll tell you my stories. But you’re right, certainly not today.” She settled her hand more comfortably in his, and they walked on.