A Dom for Patti (4 page)

He
looked up to see her watching.

She
smiled at him.

Cameron
soaked up the tenderness in her expression. He picked up her bra and pushed it
in his jacket pocket, then shrugged his jacket on.

A
lace strap of her delicate bra fell from his pocket and Patti tucked it back in
there. She held his arm and put her face up for a kiss.

Cameron
kissed her. Love welled up inside his heart. How had he fallen for her so fast
and so hard? He didn’t know and he didn’t care. He ran his hands into her hair
and held her head to his. He kissed her hard before he reluctantly let her go.

“I
ruined your panties, but you’ll find I do that a lot.” He picked them up and
crushed them into his fist.

Patti
shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll stop wearing them if you request it.”

Cameron
took Patti’s hand. He led her carefully, picking a path through the flowers and
shrubs so that they reached the lit path through the park. He dropped her
panties into a garbage bin at the end of the path before they exited the gates
onto the main sidewalk.

A
companionable silence fell as he pulled her against his side, his arm around
her shoulders. When they reached The Club by unspoken, but mutual agreement,
they took the side path to the car parking lot.

Cameron
stopped. He ran his fingers tenderly down her face. “I’m guessing we both drove
here, so I can’t drive you home. I don’t really want to let you go. What would
be great is to hold you close in bed tonight. I have to work tomorrow night,
but Sunday we could meet in The Club. Are you free Sunday night?”

He
saw pleasure appear in Patti’s eyes. Her pretty face was aglow in the white
light from the big car lot spotlights.

“I
am. I’d love to meet you.”

Cameron
looked around the car lot. “Where’s your car? I want to make sure you’re safely
in it.”

Patti
held his hand and took him to her car at the end of the line of cars they stood
by.

She
unzipped a little side seam pocket in her dress and took out the key.

Cameron
grinned.
“Interesting pocket.
I didn’t even know it
was there. What else do you have in there?” He leaned over and patted the area
of her dress.

Patti
smiled.
“Nothing.
The key just fits and only because
it’s flat.”

Cameron
trailed his hand up the side of her body to stroke her neck.
“Goodnight,
darling.”
He kissed her softly and took the key out of her fingers. He
opened the car door and helped her in there. He pulled her bra from his pocket
and tossed it over her lap to land on the passenger seat. With the key in the dash,
he closed the car door and stood back.

Patti
started the engine and reversed.

Cameron
watched her drive away out of the car lot. He walked over to his own car and
got in. If he was honest it was so hard to part from her, he wanted to follow
her car. He cursed as he realized he hadn’t taken her cell number, nor given
her his own … but she was his, he was sure of it. She’d be there Sunday night. He
smiled.
Hell, she’s gorgeous.

He
drove home. He’d be working in the activity center in the morning and then
visit his latest personal training client in the evening. The model had let
himself put on weight when he’d taken a six-month hiatus and needed to lose it
fast. Cameron was helping the guy lose weight, tone up, and get back his
legendary six-pack.

The
city behind him, Cameron accelerated along the highway to his home in the
hills. He touched the screen of his CD player and sang along with the song,
happy, peaceful, sated, and full of hope.

Chapter Six

Sunday
night, Patti arrived at The Club around eight. She went to the bar, to wait for
Cameron. She’d scanned the room as she walked over to make sure he wasn’t
talking with any of the Masters sitting on one of the leather couches by the
dance floor.

Patti
turned to the bartender, a huge smile spreading across her face as she thought
about Cameron.
Not only is he totally
gorgeous, but he also wants to be my Dom and
he’s
perfect
… well, so far. And I think, I hope, he likes me a lot. I so needed this to
happen.
She asked for a glass of iced mineral water as the bartender
greeted her.

Patti
sat on the same barstool where Cameron had deposited her on the night they met.
She took a sip of water. As she replaced her glass on the bar, one of her
friends slid onto the stool next to her.

“Hi,
Patti, how are things?” Joanne gestured at the bartender, asking for
a water
. Patti smiled. “Hi, Joanne … things are great. I met
the most gorgeous man. He’s a Dom here. I’d not seen him before. We had the
perfect scene for our first meeting,
then
we met for
dinner. He’s interested in being my regular Dom. I can’t tell you how much I
needed this to happen.”

Joanne’s
smile disappeared from her face. “Not the guy I saw you drinking coffee with a
few nights ago?
Right here.”
She pointed down at the
floor, which emphasized the horror in her expression.

Worry
spiked up Patti’s spine.
“Last week, but yes, why?
What’s wrong?”

Her
friend lowered her voice and put her hand on Patti’s arm as if to brace Patti
for bad news. “He’s always here … and with Amanda. She’s his regular Sub, and
has been all year. They’re a––a thing. I’m surprised you haven’t come across
him before.”

Disappointment
robbed Patti of her composure and the words
come
across him
forced a hysterical giggle from her as she pictured sitting on
his lap, his fingers in her pussy, and coming hard. Then the revelation hit her
fully and sadness took over. Tears sprang in her eyes. “Really, but he seemed
so genuine. Isn’t that against the rules? He should have told me. Are you sure,
Joanne?” Desperation there might be some mistake made her clutch at Joanne’s
hand.

Joanne
looked stricken for her friend. “Patti, he’s a model. He’s been a member for
three years. He had another long term Sub before Amanda. I know because I asked
another girl about him, when I joined last year and saw him around the place. I
think he’s given you the wrong impression. Masters are free to give release to
a Sub who needs it, but yes, usually, if they’re regularly involved with
another Sub, it’s expected they say so before enticing another Sub with promises.
I’m sorry, Patti. I can see you liked him.”

Patti
slumped and let go of Joanne’s hand. “I’ve never seen him before.
A model?
He is gorgeous … I-I need to go home, Joanne. Thank
you for telling me.”
So
much for him needing fidelity.
So much for his declarations in the park.
Patti’s
head ached with the impact of sorrow at Cameron’s duplicity.
He lied and that’s against the rules, too,
and … and it’s just so mean.

She
slid off the stool, holding onto the bar counter for support. Her sadness
lodged in her stomach and made her nauseous. The tears that had threatened
flowed down her face as she left the club.
I
really wanted him. I needed him. I still need him.

Patti
stumbled to her car in the lot behind The Club. She gave in to the
disappointment about Cameron and sobbed for a few moments as she sat behind the
wheel.
Did I misunderstand him? No, he
lied to me.

She
drove home totally dispirited.

****

Cameron
was running late. He’d dropped some dry cleaning he’d picked up for Blake at
his brother’s apartment, a block away from The Club. They took it in turns to
help each other out. It was the only way for both of them to run their business
and deal with domestic things and their extra jobs.

He
stormed into the car park entrance as Patti took the exit on the other side of
the lot.

Cameron
hurried into The Club. He hadn’t arranged an exact time to meet Patti, but about
eight was a respectable time to show up, on a Sunday evening. His eyes adjusted
quickly to the dim lighting and he searched the room for Patti.
Good, she hasn’t arrived yet.
He walked
over to a couch. It was situated just right so that he could watch both the
entrance to the room, and the dancers who swayed exotically in time to the
dance music pulsing through the speakers.

He
watched the display of sensuality for what felt like a long time before he
walked over to the bar. A bartender approached him. Cameron remembered her from
when he used to frequent The Club previously. “Hi, Adele … black coffee,
thanks.”

She
smiled at him. “Not seen you in a while, Cameron.
Coffee
coming up.”

Cameron
watched idly as she poured from the jug and brought his cup of coffee over. He
took out his cell phone to check the time. He thanked Adele for the coffee and absently
turned the cup around on the saucer a couple of times as she went off to serve
another customer.
Where is Patti?

It
was nearly nine and he gazed around the room, wondering if he’d missed her in
the gloom. He drank his coffee and fretted.

The
bartender who’d served him the night he met Patti walked over to refill his
cup.

Cameron
shook his head. “No thanks. Hey, I guess you haven’t noticed the girl I was
with a few nights ago, in The Club, tonight? A small, pretty, blonde girl …
maybe you know her—Patti.”

The
bartender nodded as he answered. “I know her. She was here earlier. Hard to
miss … I served her iced water. She was talking with a friend and then she
left.”

Cameron
frowned, a twinge of jealously startling him.
“A woman
friend?”

The
bartender nodded his answer on his way to serve at the other end of the bar.
“Yeah, a woman.”

Puzzled,
Cameron ran his hand through his hair. Why had she left The Club? How could he
find out her cell number? He looked over at the couch where two of the senior
Masters sat talking. Would they consider checking her file for him?

Cameron
sighed. He knew they wouldn’t. If members exchanged home information then that
was their business … but The Club wouldn’t give any out. Agitated, he stood up
and stalked around the perimeter of the room considering all the different
scenarios for Patti leaving without meeting him. After the way she’d responded
to him,
and looked
at him the last
time they’d been together he couldn’t understand it. At eleven-thirty, he
finally accepted she wasn’t coming back to meet him. He left The Club.

Disappointment
finally took over when he reached his car. It felt like a kick in the gut to be
without Patti
and
without an
explanation for why she’d stood him up.

Chapter Seven

Sleep
eluded Patti that night, and as soon as her morning alarm sounded, she climbed
out of bed and miserably got ready for work. She pulled on her skirt and a
shell top, and stood in front of her mirror to apply some makeup. Drawing a
line of kohl under her bottom eyelashes, she then slicked on some lip-gloss.
The sky was a perfect blue through her bedroom window as she collected her
purse. Ordinarily it would have lifted her spirits, but that day she felt
crushed with sadness. Patti drove to work without her usual music playing. She
gazed ahead as she waited in the traffic going over the bridge with sorrow
eating at her. What a cruel trick life had played. Cameron had been hers for a fleeting
moment, and now all she had was the memory of his touch. To her annoyance, her
thighs clenched as her body betrayed her. She craved his body against hers. She
longed for his intense gaze as he told her to undress.

At
work, she couldn’t feel her normal excitement for the mock up as the team saw
what the new
issue’s cover would look
like. Then as
she took a coffee break, she allowed a sweep of anger to flow through her.

It’s not fair. I really needed to meet
someone.

In
that moment, Patti decided to stop visiting The Club, at least for now.

I’ll give it a few weeks before I go
back. I have my vibrator and
it’s
summer, so maybe
I’ll take a few days’ vacation this time. I have heaps not used. I need
something. I need a change.

****

Cameron
was in the gym. He’d checked on his clients and in an effort to dispel his
blues he worked out on the pull up bars, doing a short set of pull-ups and then
chin-ups. He dropped down onto the rubber matting alarmed that all he could
think about was Patti.

Maybe it’s because I don’t know what
happened that I’m fucking obsessed with her. I like her, though, really like
her.
He saw one of the gym members
struggling with a new rowing machine and went to help.
If I keep as busy as possible I’ll stop worrying. No, I won’t. I’ll go
by The Club tonight and each night for the rest of the week. If she’s a regular
member she’s sure to turn up sometime.

Cameron
had a climbing leader course to run and he left the other fitness trainers to
look after the gym circuit that was starting.

The
afternoon and early evening flew by, but all the same, Cameron fretted over Patti.

He
couldn’t get to The Club before nine but just after nine-thirty, he rocked up
feeling sure Patti would be there. After an hour and a half of hanging around
and not even approaching a Sub who clearly needed a Master’s attention, he left
berating himself for being sentimental.

Every
night that week Cameron raced off to The Club when he could but Patti never
showed up. On Saturday night, he and Blake were having dinner together at the
local steak house. It was already after nine, because they’d opened the fitness
center until late. Cameron fiddled with his cutlery as he waited for his order
to arrive. He moved his water glass around and around in circles, gazing at the
huge fish tank in the center of the room. He knew Blake was talking but about
what, he couldn’t say, his thoughts were on Patti. She hadn’t shown up for a
whole week. Now he’d started to be anxious that she was ill, that something had
happened to her, she’d been mugged, had a car accident, or worse … he’d
considered knocking on every door of the apartments and conversion on the long
avenue by the river where Patti might live and then he’d thought better of that
enterprise. People were security-conscious to the max these days and he might
be arrested or something. He’d considered researching every fashion magazine
for a hint she worked there, and he could contact her via the site, but there
were thousands and it seemed a desperate act, when she might show at The Club
at any time.

Blake
leaned across the table. “What’s going on, Cam? You haven’t heard a word I’ve
said and you’ve been bizarre at work all week.”

If
his brother hadn’t moved forward and caught his attention, Cameron might not
have heard that, but he did. Agonized by his inability to forget Patti, he
shook his head as he spoke. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I met a girl, a
Sub, at The Club more than a week ago, and I really like her. We had a great
time together. I felt something special, something I’ve wanted for a long time
now. I thought she did, too. Maybe I was wrong. I can’t stop thinking about her
and because she just abruptly stood me up, and hasn’t been seen since, well,
not by me anyway, I’m beginning to worry that something’s happened to her.” He
shrugged apologetically feeling a little stupid for being so into a girl so
quickly.

Blake
stared at him for a few moments. “What’s her name?”

“Patti.
She’s small, slender, so pretty, brown eyes and has her blonde hair cut in a
style that’s sort of thick at the back, and longer at the front.”

Blake
laughed. “Good description. I’ve seen her I reckon, but not recently and not up
close. Since I met Amanda, we’ve been … private, I guess is the word. Don’t be
ashamed of caring, Cam. I love Amanda. Have you asked around at The Club if
anyone’s seen her?”

Cameron
picked up his fork and used the ornate handle to trace a line up and down the
tablecloth. “I know it’s ridiculous since I saw her twice, but I think I fell
in love with her. If only I just knew what happened.” He sighed and leaned back
from the table to let the server place his plate of food in front of him.

Blake
waited until the waiter had left them.

“I’ll
make some inquiries. Someone must know something.”

Cameron
gave him a misty smile.

They’d
always been close and supportive of each other. Blake was the one man Cameron
would go into a ménage with when the Sub wanted two guys. They knew there would
be no sexual contact with each other and understood how each other operated. It
was only right to give a Sub the best attention possible. Although they had gay
friends among their circles, they were completely heterosexual and loved women
if the truth was told, hence their shared sensual approach to dominance. Once,
they’d talked about why they’d veered toward the lifestyle and were Dom
material. Blake had nailed it when he said it was because they loved women and felt
needed cherishing a sub, knowing that to be wanted was what a sub needed.

Cameron
knew there were other reasons for men choosing a Dom lifestyle or women a
Mistress preference, but he was happy with Blake’s assertion.

He
cut his steak up and pushed around his potatoes.

“Eat
your dinner. Cheer the fuck up. We’ll find her, I promise.” Blake shot him a
grin.

Cameron
tasted the steak. Beautifully cooked, it melted in his mouth, great because he
was hungry after a week of picking at his food. “Are you going tonight?”

Blake
swallowed his mouthful of food.
“To The Club?
I wasn’t
going. Amanda is away this weekend for work, but let’s
go
.
We’ll have a drink, watch the lovely people doing delicious things, and try to
find out where Patti is.”

Cameron
grinned. “Thanks, Blake.”

“Now
you’re actually listening, I was telling you about my new modeling assignment.
I’m off to Hawaii for a shoot on Thursday, so I’ve arranged for Tom to do extra
shifts this weekend. I’ll be back Monday morning. ”

“Lucky
you, even though the river is great I’d like to get to the ocean this summer
sometime.”

The
brothers finished their meal and left the steak house to go to The Club.

Cameron
allowed himself to hope that because it was Saturday night, Patti would be
there. He raked the main room with an optimistic gaze and then hung around at
the bar for a time as Blake asked around, fruitlessly––no one Blake asked knew
anything about Patti’s whereabouts. They waited until midnight, but she didn’t
turn up.

Cameron
was driving that night and he dropped Blake at his apartment.

“Hey,
don’t give up hope. She could be on vacation somewhere. She could be visiting
friends or family out of town. I’ll ask Amanda if she can find anything out.”
Blake gave Cameron an affectionate thump on the shoulder before he got out of
the car.

Cameron
thought about the situation as he drove home.
I’ll give it another week of checking The Club and then I’ll try to
forget her.
He told himself that as he parked in his wide driveway. The
moonlight lent a silver sheen to the potted shrubs on his porch and glinted in
the glass of the front door. It reminded Cameron of the night in the park with Patti.
He unlocked the door and punched in the security PIN, cursing. “Fucking hell, I
really wanted her in my life.”