Page 17 of Jonah Noble - Anticipation Is Everything (Interview With a Master 2.5)

I held my ground, kept my gaze level and steady. “Yes,” I said calmly. “You told me what you thought, Leticia. You told me exactly what you had decided… that you were aroused by watching.”

I paused significantly. Leticia looked as though another angry outburst was bubbling to her lips but I silenced her with a curt snap of my hand. “But what you feel is clearly very different,” I observed. “Your tentative participation over the last couple of days training, and then your soft moans of delight at having Cameron on the bed between your thighs betrays the reality.”

“The reality?” Leticia hissed, her expression incredulous. There were red spots of color high on her cheeks and a hardness in her eyes.

“Yes!” I snapped back, raising my voice to a commanding tone and silencing her in an instant. “The reality is that if you would just shut off your mind and the narrow conventions of your traditional thinking, the reality is that you are very, very capable of enjoying much more than merely watching the sexual exploits of others. You can participate – make the most of the opportunities that life presents… not just be a passive bystander who lives vicariously through the pleasures of others.”

Leticia flustered. She shook her head in mute denial. There were tears welling in her eyes, but they weren’t the tears of hurt or betrayal. They were something else entirely. She lowered her head, unable to hold the smolder of my gaze.

“You don’t know me at all…” she muttered so softly that I barely heard the words.

“I know you better than you know yourself,” I said. “At least I can see in you what you’re capable of… when you let yourself feel instead of think.”

Leticia and I glared at each other across the space of the bedroom. There was more she wanted to say… but she didn’t. She stormed from the bungalow bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her. I heard the sound of her footsteps stomp along the narrow hallway and then disappear behind the sound of the front door closing. I turned back to Cameron. She was still on the bed, still on her hands and knees. She looked at me with a face made bereft and tragic.

“I… I didn’t mean to…”

I curled the corner of my lip into a wry smile. “It’s not your fault,” I assured her. “You did as you were commanded. You were obedient and willing. This is not the fault of your actions – it’s the fault of Leticia’s reaction.”

Cameron sat on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest, her arms wrapped around herself. She looked very small and very sad. “Do you want me to leave?” she asked softly.

I shook my head. “No,” I said. “I made a commitment to you that I would train you for a week and introduce you to the lifestyle of sexual submission. There are a couple of days to go until the week ends. You will stay here and continue with your training.”

“But Leticia?” Cameron began to protest.

“Leticia’s problems are hers to solve,” I said. Perhaps I sounded harsher than I had wanted, but the facts were the facts. There was no point denying the reality. “She has to sort those out for herself.”

“And if she doesn’t? If she shuts herself away, or decides not to watch the last training sessions?”

“Then we will continue together, just you and I,” I said decisively.

I meant it. I had made a promise to Cameron and I intended to keep it. This was not about sex, it was a matter of honor – of making a pledge and keeping it. I would not let Leticia’s stubborn reluctance to reconcile her desires and secret fantasies stop me from keeping my word to Cameron. With Leticia watching, or without her in the room, Cameron’s training would continue.

* * *

“You’re trying to change me,” Leticia sat on the sofa, clutching a soft cushion to her chest like it was some kind of shield. She had been crying – I could still see the soft smudges below her eyes that were the color of old bruises.

It was late. The lights in the house were low. I had no idea how long she had been sitting there, waiting for me to return from the bungalow, but I sensed she had used the time to marshal her thoughts and prepare her attack… or her defense.

I shook my head and dropped into the chair opposite. I stared across the hostile space that separated us. “No,” I said sincerely, “I’m not trying to change you, Leticia. I’m trying to encourage you to discover things about yourself that you won’t admit.”

She flinched and then her expression soured. “I gave this idea of bringing a submissive woman into our lives months of thought, Jonah. I didn’t take the decision lightly – I weighed up all the risks and all the possibilities long before I mentioned the idea to you.”

I nodded. “And by any measure you must admit the idea has been a success. Cameron is perfect. She is submissive, willing and non-threatening. She presents no challenge to our relationship because she’s not looking to fall in love, she’s looking to learn more about the lifestyle.”

“Yes,” Leticia’s voice took on a barbed edge. “Exactly. It’s precisely the relationship and experience I had hoped and prayed for.” She got to her feet then, but instead of coming closer, she hugged her arms around her shoulders and began to pace restlessly across the floor. “Cameron has given you the chance to be the man and the Master you were made to be, and she gave me the chance to watch… to watch, Jonah. That was what I wanted. That was all I wanted. I explained that to you in great detail before we invited Cameron to join us.” She stopped pacing and whirled back to face me, her hands on her hips. “Now, suddenly, you seem hell-bent on changing the rules we had agreed to. Isn’t it enough that you have Cameron to command? Isn’t it enough that you have your willing submissive? Why can’t you leave what we have the way it is?”

I nodded and lapsed into a long moment of reflective thought. Leticia stood, defiant and waiting. I got slowly out of the chair and thrust my hands deep into my pockets. We were both on our feet, and now I began to pace, almost as if I was circling Leticia like a predatory shark. She turned her face to follow me with her eyes as I moved around the room, seeking out the dark shadows as my mind played carefully over my answer.

“Having Cameron here has been a wonderful experience,” I admitted. “I find within her someone willing to submit and learn, and in return, the reward for me has been the opportunity

to rekindle the interest in domination that has run like a strong current throughout my entire adult life.” I paused. Leticia’s expression had become blank, as though she were absorbing everything I said but, as yet, had found nothing to react emotionally to. “But,” I held up a finger ominously, “having Cameron here has also thrown into highlight something I had not expected.”

“Which is?”

“You… and the way you have responded.”

Now emotions were beginning to play across Leticia’s features. She frowned deeply, and narrowed her eyes, sensing some implied warning that she should be wary.

“What does that mean?” her voice was guarded.

“It means that you have been very aroused this week – like a new woman, filled with a sexual energy that I have not seen in you before. There was not only a hunger and a willingness, there was passion.”

Leticia reacted in the way I expected. She took my comment as a criticism. She scowled at me, and there was a sting of hurt offense now in her tone. “So you’re saying that before this week I was a poor lover for you?”

“No,” I shook my head, brushing off her question as though it was inconsequential. “That’s not the point,” I explained.

“Then what is – exactly?”

“You became a different woman this week,” I kept my voice patient. “You were overt in your arousal. The subtle secrecy to your sexuality was swept away. You were erotic, aroused and filled with the raw kind of lust that only comes from sudden realization… or the sudden loss of restraint.”

Leticia shook her head. I was sure she wanted to be angry, but I hadn’t said enough to provoke her. She wanted to scream and shout. She wanted to raise her voice and throw accusations back at me… but I hadn’t said anything that she could latch on to; anything to give focus to her frustration. She stared at me for a long moment of silence and I took the opportunity to say the one thing I knew would resonate.

“Leticia, life is about opportunities – and this moment in our lives is just that. It’s been an opportunity for you to watch… to explore the fantasy you have of observing me training another woman. I understand your voyeuristic urge. I understand that it comes from your past. That makes perfect sense. But what I can’t understand – what I cannot accept – is that you would draw a line under this moment and not seek to explore all its possibilities.” I stared into Leticia’s eyes, looking for some sign that my message was getting through, but her face remained impassive as if carved from stone. “This is the chance for you to explore further – to join in a threesome with another woman. Now, that might not be something you enjoy… but how will you ever know if you don’t seize the chance? This opportunity might never come to us again, and I just don’t know how you can go through life not knowing – not being willing to experiment and taste everything that life has to offer.”

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