He was waiting for my answer, and I wanted to answer, but I was so shocked and embarrassed and – well, turned on, I was really hot. All those feelings just froze me.

He laughed.

“Alina. Look at me.” Slowly, I raised my eyes to his, and in that moment, all my concerns slipped away. My focus was totally on him.

“One step at a time,” he said. “Have you ever had a fantasy about being spanked by someone?”

I was still embarrassed, but it wasn’t so hard to answer now. “Yes, I have,”I said. He nodded approvingly, and I felt a little rush of relief, and a flare of heat between my legs.

“When you have those fantasies, do you like it? Does it arouse you?”

His tone was so cool and clinical, like he was just collecting data. It almost made it easy for me to say, “Yes,” even though I was still a bit uncomfortable.

He nodded, matter of factly. “When you are aroused, do you touch yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Are you able to have an orgasm?”

“Yesssss,” I said, blushing, my nipples hard as pebbles. Again, he just nodded. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d gotten out a clipboard and started checking off boxes on a form.

He smiled and I took a deeper breath. “Enough,” he said.

“Did I pass?” I asked, almost laughing.

He chuckled. “You did very well,” he said. “Let’s try something else. I’m going to ask you a few more questions, but this time, when you answer me, I want you to say, ‘Yes, Sir,’ or ‘No, Sir.’ Do you understand?”

I paused, I had not called anyone Sir before, not since I was a child. But I was curious about what it would feel like so I said, “Yes – Sir! Yes, Sir, I understand.”

“Good girl,” he said, favoring me with another smile. A rush of pleasure ran through me – I had not ever felt that before, not just suddenly like that. I wondered if he could tell.

“Have you heard of BDSM?”

“I – yes, of course I have. I mean, 50 Shades of Gray and all that, right?”

“Is that a new way of saying, Yes, Sir?” His tone was light, teasing, but I quickly said, “Oh, sorry – yes, Sir! I have heard of BDSM.”

“Much better, Alina” he said.

The server approached our table, coffee pot in hand, but he shook his head, gestured for the check. I was more disappointed than I would have expected. I thought there would be more questions, this seemed so anticlimatic. And it was still early, not even 9:00 yet!

We were silent until the server had left the check. Then he said,”Did you know there’s a BDSM club near here?”

“No – Sir,” I said, barely remembering to add the honorific at the last second.

“There is,” he said, glancing at his watch,”And I’m supposed to be teaching a class there in about an hour or so. I had thought I’d be taking you home first, but now I’m wondering if you have any interest in attending class with me. No strings attached, no one would touch you or pressure you to do anything you didn’t want to do. But I’m teaching BDSM 101 and I have a feeling that this might be important information for you to have. Would you like to come with me?

Without a thought, I said, “Yes, Sir. I would like that.”

We left the restaurant together. He reached for my hand, but encircled my wrist with his hand instead. I felt his gentle restraint with a secret thrill. I smiled, just a touch, and followed his lead.