“No,” she smiled, “I haven’t. Not since – I don’t even know how long it’s been. Practically forever.”

He watched her face intently, watching for any sign of emotion. But not seeing a sign of any feeling, he said, “And that doesn’t bother you?”

“No,” she said, “not really, it’s fine.” If she had stopped there, he might have believed her, but she went on, “It’s really ok. I mean, I thought about it a lot at first, sure, I missed it, but there wasn’t any point in that. Sometimes, things change and that’s just how life is. It’s fine.” She stopped then, brought her hand to her mouth and laid her thumb across her lips.

He noticed, that thumb pressed to her lips, as if she were silencing herself. But he just nodded slightly. “Of course,” he said. “You’ve adapted, you’re making the best of a tough situation. I respect that.” He paused, almost smiled. “I admit, I wouldn’t have guessed that from reading your stories. You are still really very good at conveying that deep sense of longing that submissive girls have. The desire to give yourself to someone who will take control for you.”

He took a drink of his coffee, aware that she was watching him intently. Setting the cup down, he shrugged. “That’s the pull for some submissive girls. Not all of them – some yearn for judgement, for the ‘good girl’ and the discipline. Whether it’s spankings, time in the corner, or a dozen of the best with the cane, some sub girls miss them. For others, it’s the sound of a belt pulled out of the loops or the command to pull your panties down. Lots of odd things you might miss. But you aren’t yearning for any of that… right?”

She had leaned forward as he was talking, without meaning to, without being fully aware of it. As he stopped, she opened her mouth to say ‘no, not I don’t miss any of that.’ But tears welled up in her eyes and a huge wave of longing and desire overwhelmed her. She missed them dreadfully, all of those things. She missed them all.

He was watching, one eyebrow raised. She hated when he did that, it made her feel like he could read her mind. And maybe he could, she thought.

The pause was too long – she knew it was too long, but she couldn’t speak. And she was afraid he would just sit there, looking slightly quizizcal, letting the tension between them grow until —

She started laughing. It was nervous laughter and they both knew it. But he just smiled, “So you don’t miss it? It wouldn’t make you a little bit hot if I said you were lying about that and needed to be punished? If I told you I wanted to take your panties down and spank you hard?”

She was still laughing, but covered her face as he said that. She could feel the heat on her face and knew she was blushing.

“It is funny,” he said, and something in his voice made her quit laughing and look at him.

He paused, looking at her, and she felt a tiny quiver of nerves low in her belly.

“So you’re telling me,” he went on, “that if I could check your panties right now, they wouldn’t be wet?”

Squirming a bit, almost giggling again, she said, “Um, I don’t know, Sir,” and stopped – appalled at herself. “I mean, Jon, I don’t know where that “Sir” came from… I’m sorry,” and she was blushing so badly she wished she could disappear.

He shook his head. “Don’t apologize for calling me Sir, that’s one of the few genuine things you’ve said to me in this conversation.”

“Oh!” Indignantly, “I am genuine!” But she knew she was lying.

“Prove it,” he said with a shrug.

“How can I prove it?”

“Prove that you haven’t been lying? That’s easy. Take off your panties and we’ll see how wet they are. If they’re dry, I’ll apologize. If they’re wet, we’ll take advantage of one of the private rooms and I’ll,” he paused and she held her breath for a moment, then, “I’ll discipline you appropriately.”

“But – you want me to take off my panties? Here?”

He laughed, “This is a BDSM club, baby. Yes, we’re in the coffee shop area, but no one here will be shocked if you discretely pull your panties down and hand them to me.”

She swallowed hard – he was serious – and this was all happening so fast. She had never done this before, not in a public place. And really, she had gotten resigned to not having any of this in her life and – he was looking at her. With curiosity.

“What if I don’t do it? What then?” she asked. She heard her voice, soft and unsure.

“Then you don’t do it,” he said. “No big deal. You won’t have a chance to get the discipline you need so badly, or redeem yourself for lying. If you don’t want that, it’s ok. But if you do, then take your panties off. Now.”

She bit her lip, her eyes were shining. Then she put her hands under the table, and began to pull at the hem of her skirt…

“