1 Chapter 1

"Please, Sir."

Those were the only words that had left Marie's lips for the past half hour. Her legs were shaking, her arms sore. Her Dom, Nate, had her hands tied behind her, squatting, riding the dildo that he had suction cupped to the floor. He, of course, flogged her the entire time and wouldn't allow her to come.

He never did unless he thought she had begged enough. Or failed. Or fell over from exhaustion. Whichever he was in the mood for that day.

Marie was relieved when he finally spoke. "Alright, on the bed. Hands and knees."

Nate lined himself up behind her and pounded into her ruthlessly. Any impending orgasm she might have felt dissipated - she could never come when he fucked her.

Once he had finished with her, he tugged off the ropes binding her arms and flopped over. Then, he grabbed his phone.

"Grab a towel for me, froggy," he said, scrolling.

Despite her aching body and the rude reference to her French nationality, she sat up. She snagged two small towels from the other side of the room. She put one to her pussy as she knelt down next to him to present the washcloth. It was expected, after all.

When he took it without a word, Marie excused herself to use the shower.

*What am I doing?* she thought as the hot water soothed her muscles. *This was supposed to help relieve my stress, not add to it.*

Being a receptionist wasn't a hugely stressful job, but it was nice to have someone else take the lead. To not have to have all the answers. And here she was, doing her own aftercare while her supposed Dom was in the other room playing a game on his phone.

"I'm done."

"Good, I wanted to take a shower, too."

"No, Nate. I'm done with this. It's not working for me."

Nate looked at her with narrowed eyes. "So, what, you're dumping me?"

"I guess I am."

"For what?"

"Because I've never felt so lonely as I do when we have sex or when we scene. I don't feel like you're committed to the relationship aspect of this arrangement." She took a deep breath. When he didn't answer, she continued, "I'll get my things and be gone before you're out of the shower."

Nate scoffed. "Fine. I can find another dead fish sub anywhere."

***

Marie tried not to let the insult echo in her mind. She liked to think that she was a decent sub and a generous lover. Hardly a dead fish.

Still, doubt hung over her as she walked into work.

"Hey! What's got you looking so blue?"

Piper was always a ray of sunshine. She was already at her desk with an unreasonably large cup of coffee in hand.

"I broke up with Nate last night."

Piper's face immediately dropped. "Oh. Are you okay?"

"I'm… I'm fine, I guess. I feel a little bad because we had just had sex but it was a long time coming."

"What do you mean?"

Marie sat down in the cubicle so she could lower her voice. "I mean that he never paid me much mind after he was done. No aftercare – nothing. It was almost like he didn't want to think about anything that just happened. And no matter how many times I asked him to even just cuddle with me, it never changed. I guess I just had enough."

Piper hummed sympathetically. "You never told me about that. I'm sorry. I would have kicked his ass if I'd known."

"Good morning, pixie squad! Whose ass are you kicking, Pipe?"

Michael from the next cubicle over popped his head over the wall. Gayer than a three-dollar bill, he had decided that he was the petite pair's protector in the office.

"Shitty men," Marie replied pitifully.

"Ugh, men. Do you want me to internet stalk him? Leak some dirty little secrets?"

"I'm his dirty little secret, Mike."

"Fair enough." He winked and dramatically sank back behind the cubicle wall.

Piper turned back to her friend. "Well, you know what they say. Best way to get over someone is to get under someone else!"

"I don't think I'm a rebound kind of person," Marie said.

"Why don't you try Net 'Em?"

Marie grimaced. "A dating app? Those things attract the dregs of society."

"Well yeah, but you're sort of scraping the bottom of the BDSM barrel anyway, so, why not try some vanilla guys?"

Between phone calls and paperwork, she downloaded the app and made a half-hearted profile. Her biography was mechanical and vague, and she used a mediocre picture from the company's last Christmas party. She added a picture of her cat, Minnow, for good measure.

Within minutes of finalizing her profile, her phone buzzed with a notification. "Nearby Matches". Marie routed the call she just answered and unlocked her phone. There were three matches in a one-mile radius. One was a supervisor, the second an intern, and the third a creep from the second floor. She quickly unmatched them all. Sighing, she answered the office phone again.