Page 31 of The Puppetmaster

She looks up at me, expectant and ready.

“Yes, sir,” a steady voice affirms. “And that means…?”

“What that means is this,” I growl, irritated at her pushy inquiry. “I will sit down on that couch and watch you undress in front of me. And once you’ve bared that beautiful body, my property, before my eyes, you’ll get down on your knees, crawl over to me on all fours, and sit down at my feet.”

Silence stretches between us as she processes my orders, not blinking an eye, but shifting ever so slightly on her heels.

“Do you understand?” I snarl.

And it’s then that my puppet awakes.

Chapter 20

Alena

My response to his command comes to me naturally and within an instant. It makes me forget everything. It makes me forget what I saw outside his house. It makes me forget what was going through my head as I waited for him to open the door.

Just like that, I’m right here, in the moment—wanting to please him.

I don’t think, I don’t question, I don’t object.

I just do.

It’s like I switched to autopilot on cue, my mind finally silent, and my hands appear to move on their own. The only thing that makes me hesitate for a split second is the question of where to start. I’m wearing a short dress with a light jacket on top, pantyhose underneath, and a pair of matching heels.

While my brain is still occupied with wondering how to proceed, I slowly take off my shoes, an obvious first step that buys me just enough time to become really nervous. Taking off one’s shoes in front of another person is no big deal under any other circumstances, but right now it feels like the most intimate thing I’ve ever done.

And it’s just because of the way he’s looking at me.

I’ve never been watched like this, and certainly never by a man like him. His onyx black eyes are glued to mine, the expression on his face serious and focused, as if even the slightest mistake could result in severe punishment.

The thing is, I don’t even know what that mistake could look like. He just told me to undress in front of him, but he didn’t say anything about how I was supposed to do it.

I mean, could there possibly be a wrong way to get naked?

My heart is fluttering nervously when my feet touch the white marble tiles. They are surprisingly warm to the touch and don’t send icy shivers up my spine like I expected they would.

I pause, taking a deep breath as I try to finally find an answer to my weird little dilemma.

What’s next? What does he expect me to take off next?

“Go on,” he demands, not moving an inch, which gives his command an insistence that surprises me. “Don’t dawdle. I hate that.”

I nod, and my hands fly up to slide the jacket off of my shoulders. There’s nothing on his face that would tell me anything about whether he’s happy with what I’m doing or not. There’s no response whatsoever, not even the slightest twitch of an eyebrow. He just sits there, his gaze still locked onto mine with that penetrating intensity and an ominous threat flickering in the black depths of his eyes.

My next move is the hardest so far. My hands reach beneath the hem, traveling up my thighs and along my hips until I reach the waistband of the pantyhose. Hooking my fingers underneath, I try to pull them down as elegantly as possible, subtly swaying my hips. I wonder if there’s ever been a person on this whole planet who actually managed to peel themselves out of one of these tight-fitting undergarments with such poise as depicted on television.

I push the thoughts aside and force myself to focus on the task instead. It’s so typical. My overactive brain never fails to annoy me, never willing to shut up, never shy to wander where it shouldn’t go when I need to be present in the moment.

A sigh of relief leaves my lips when I free myself of the pantyhose, letting them drop right next to the shoes and my jacket on the ground. I lift my eyes, searching for approval in the somber darkness of his, but once again he doesn’t betray any emotion. He just observes with the same earnest concentration he has displayed ever since he spoke his first command.

I close my eyes as I mentally prepare for the next step, evoking another remark from him.

“Look at me,” he insists. “Don’t hide before me. Ever. Do you understand?”

My eyes fly open on command and the nod that follows comes just as natural to me as the very first obedient motion.

“Yes, sir.”

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