At Her Feet Read online

  As I pack up to leave, a feeling of dread creeps up on me. I need to get back to work. I’d like to step outside, but I’ll miss Pilar the moment I drive away from her house. I know it.

  She walks me to my car. Before I can climb in she pulls me into her arms. “Thank you for taking care of me,” she says.

  “Are you kidding? You were paid vacation compared to my fever-ridden behind.”

  “I don’t know about that, baby. They’re releasing my nephew from the hospital this weekend and my sister’s throwing him a party. I want you to come with me.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I think we should invite Liam and his boyfriend, too.”

  “Really?”

  Pilar laughs. “Yes, baby. What do you say?”

  “I’d love to come and I know Liam will, too. There will be food, right?”

  “Tons of food.”

  “Gary wouldn’t miss it then. Thank you.”

  “Thank you, baby.”

  “I think this week is going to kick my butt, but I’ll text you when I can.”

  “I understand. Just make sure you get some rest. I don’t want that flu to sneak back up on you.” She kisses me good-bye.

  On the way to work, I think about the coming weekend and how I’m not looking forward to the time between now and then.

  I’m at my desk not three minutes and my phone starts to ring. I have to push Pilar to the back of my mind.

  *

  I have so much catching up to do. Part of that happens during a three-hour status meeting with 21 And Up. Valerie has really covered my ass, but I still have to get up to speed with what I’ve missed and mentally prepare myself for the new round of bullshit the client will throw my way.

  I send my panty pic off to Pilar late in the afternoon. She texts me back, but I’m on a call and don’t get to check it for another hour. I don’t leave the office until seven thirty. Part of me almost expects Pilar to invite me back over, but I remember what she said about the wanting and the needing, and then I remember that I haven’t emptied my mailbox in over a week. I stop and pick up a fairly nutritious dinner from the store and liberate the mountain of grocery fliers from my mailbox. By the time my food is ready, I’m exhausted. I barely finish eating before I text Pilar good night and collapse into bed with Frank. I wake in the morning to two texts from Pilar and one picture of her pussy. It’s a perfect way to start the day.

  Back at work I’m feeling more myself. Aside from a long call with Clear Vision regarding a six-month-old invoice their accounting department just now decided to rectify, I think I’m back on top of 21 And Up. Liam’s been up to his ass in work, too, but we plan to sneak out for lunch. Before I can go wrangle him, Valerie calls me into her office. She’s pacing around, at the tail end of a phone call, so I wait just inside her doorway. When she hangs up she leans over her desk and looks at something on her laptop. “We really missed you last week. How’s it going today?” she asks. I can see down her shirt. Okay, I look. I can’t help that I like boobs.

  “Fine. This paper-doll page is really ambitious, but everything Felicia showed me this morning seemed great,” I reply. She looks up just as I stop trying to decipher the color of her bra in its shadow. She smiles at me just ‘cause she does that sort of thing.

  “I think the whole thing is ridiculous,” she says as she walks around her desk.

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  Valerie leans against the front of her desk and crosses her legs. “I think they’re missing their market. Young girls like to play dress-up.”

  “Hey.” I do my best to sound offended. “I like to play dress-up.”

  “Ah, but there’s a difference between a woman with style and that woman spending hours on a retail site, trying clothing on a model that looks nothing like her. This is catered more toward young girls. Their market wants the clothes, and they want to get on with their day or get on with their night.”

  “You have a point, but far be it from me to tell our client this feature is off the mark.” Valerie is right. The further we go into the project the more I see that the paper-doll feature will be more of a pain in the ass to legit shoppers than a feature that will draw new customers. Pages like this are popping up all over the Internet. Get the customer to interact, but 21 And Up is failing to see some things. A retail site has basic rules, and complicating those rules often does more harm than good. Luckily, the success or failure of the actual application of the feature is on 21 And Up.

  “The redesign is gorgeous, even if the components don’t all work together to their desired effect. Either way, I’ve already talked to Simon about the QA. We’ll do it together.”

  Valerie’s expression flashes with a pleasant shock. “I like to hear that, Suzanne. You’re really taking this account by the balls.”

  I smile at her praise. “Yes, ma’am. That’s the only way to do it.”

  Valerie grins back. “That’s a good girl.”

  She says the words and it’s like something instantly grips my stomach. It’s a coincidence. My boss has no idea that a simple few words are utterances I associate only with pleasure. She has no idea what the slightest verbal cues do to me.

  My skin is heating as I blush, and I realize a moment too late that I’ve reacted to those words. I cough and straighten my posture. It’s nothing that anyone would catch. My sudden arousal and residual embarrassment are my own fault, but for some reason Valerie notices. She considers me strangely for a moment, her eyes narrowing just the slightest bit, but I notice. I clear my throat again and try to relax my hands.

  “Suzanne, are you happy here?” she asks. Her tone is slightly off. It’s personal, but I don’t know exactly how to read it.

  I answer her truthfully.

  “I love it here.”

  “Good.” She seems to relax and folds her arms across her chest.

  “I could do without a few of the client-related headaches, but yes. Very happy here.”

  “Good. I’m very glad to hear that.” She walks toward me and I know she’s showing me out. We meet near the door. “I think next week we’ll start interviewing to replace Josh.”

  “Sounds good,” I say. And then I freeze. Her hand is on the back of my neck. It’s a light touch, practiced almost. I quickly remind myself that she doesn’t know what she’s doing. She doesn’t know what I am. She has no idea. That doesn’t stop the goose bumps from spreading out over my skin. I smile at her, trying not to seem nervous.

  “I’ll let you get back to it,” she says. She watches me carefully.

  I try not to squeak. “Okay.”

  I do my best to walk back to my desk at a normal pace. Liam is waiting for me. I don’t even care that he’s going through the pictures on my phone.

  “You ready?” he asks.

  Without a word, I grab his hand and drag him out the door.

  *

  “Okay. Tell me what’s going on.” I ignore Liam and order my sandwich. He huffs, but he knows me and my need to build suspense from time to time.

  We sit and he stares at me while I mess with my over-oiled greens. “You want to come to Long Beach with me this weekend?” I ask.

  “Dear God, no. I don’t do the 405. You know this.”

  “Pilar’s family is having a party for her nephew. She invited you and Gary.”

  “We’re there. I have to meet this woman.”

  “What about the 405?”

  “I’ll make Gary drive.”

  I shake my head at Liam. “You are so mean to him. I hope he meets a sexy Mexican guy at this thing and dumps your ass.”

  “Shit, I hope I meet a sexy Mexican guy at this thing. You know I love him. Shut up. Is that what’s bothering you?”

  “Oh, no.” I shiver violently. “I think Valerie came on to me.”

  “What! What did she say?”

  “Well, she didn’t come on to me verbally.” I stop and consider how I want to say this. “You know when you’re talking to someone and then you just b
ecome super aware of each other. Like you’re actually looking at each other?”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s why I loved fucking with Josh. He used to look at my mouth all the time. So she just eye-fucked you?”

  “Not exactly. It was more something she said and how I reacted and then how she reacted.”

  “What did she say?”

  I squeeze my eyes closed, embarrassed all over again. “She said I was a good girl.”

  “And that’s what made you sick? Made you upset?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “It gave you a lady boner, didn’t it?”

  I cover my face with my napkin. “Yes.”

  “I fucking love how kinky you are. God, you and your foxy Mami must have the best time.”

  “Well, yeah. We do, but…I don’t know. I feel like Valerie knew it turned me on.”

  “Are you truly skeeved out?” he asks.

  “No. It was just weird.”

  “Hey, you’re cute and you’re working your ass off. You can’t be all that surprised if she at least checks you out from time to time. And she’s only human. Sometimes the breeders can’t help but drool a little.”

  “She is a breeder, huh,” I reply with my own dismissive chuckle. I hate that term, but Liam does remind me that we’d come to the conclusion a while ago that Valerie was pretty straight. Last I heard she was happily married to a sheepish accountant.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it unless she really crosses a line. And then you sue her fucking ass.” Liam slams his fist on the table and almost knocks over my water.

  “All right,” I say. “Let’s calm down.”

  “Sorry.”

  “So this weekend, you’ll come?”

  “I said I’m there. I think someone needs to talk to your Mami about this Valerie situation.”

  “I’ll kill you.” I consider throwing my water on Liam when he starts cackling.

  *

  Over the next day and a half things with Valerie are completely normal. But in thinking of her that way, my time apart from Pilar becomes harder to deal with. She knows how I feel, and now it’s just a matter of being patient and hoping that she rewards that patience when I can see her again.

  When I get off work on Wednesday, Pilar tells me to call her once I’m ready for bed. By nine I’m ready to climb between the sheets for some crap TV and some z’s. I call Pilar as soon as Frank and I are settled. She answers right away. She lets me whine for a few minutes about missing her. She tells me to hold off on touching myself. She wants her fingers to be the next to feel me wet. Of course that makes me hot as hell. We eventually get off the phone, and I’m left wondering what she’ll have in store for me this weekend.

  I ask Frank. He has no idea. I start to accuse him of a surprising lack of investigative skills when my doorbell rings.

  I look at Frank. No one “stops by” my place. It’s either our security guard doing a random walk-around, a lost pizza delivery guy, or someone come to murder me. I tiptoe to the front door and check the peephole, ready to grab a knife if the latter is true.

  What I see almost kills me. I open the door for Pilar. She’s standing in the hallway wearing a knee-length trench coat, red stilettos, and, I’m praying, nothing else. She has a large black purse over her shoulder.

  I grip the doorframe to support myself. “You’re so unfair.”

  Her eyebrow goes up. “Would you like to try that again?”

  I stand up straight with my hands behind my back. “Mami, would you like to come in?”

  “Yes, baby. I would.”

  I move aside so she can glide inside. And glide she does. I have no idea what she has in mind, but I hope she keeps the heels on. I lock the door behind us and wait for her instructions.

  She looks at my couch for a moment before she turns back to me. “Let’s go to your bedroom.”

  I lead her to my room. She tells me to strip. Once I’m naked she gets me on my knees on the edge of the bed. My head’s pushed down into the covers and my butt lifted into the air. I peek back just for a moment. She has the pink cuffs out. Two sets. Once each wrist is wrapped in the padded leather, she wraps each ankle in the other cuff. Then I’m bound hand to foot. I’m breathing hard from the position and the anticipation. Pilar grabs my ass cheek.

  “Yellow if you’re uncomfortable, baby. Red if you want me to stop.”

  I exhale and shift to rub a few wisps of hair out of my face with my pillow. “Yes, Mami.”

  “Good girl,” she says, and this time I really shiver. The next thing I feel is her spreading my ass. She kisses each cheek. Licks and bites it. She tells me how pretty I look in this position. I can only moan. I feel her fingers on me next, cool with lube as she runs a slippery glob up and down my crack. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any ass play. I’m scared. I’m shaking a little, but I know she won’t hurt me.

  The tip of something hard and smooth probes my ass. I exhale another deep breath and try to relax. She slips it in farther. There’s only a pinch of discomfort as she slips past my tightest spot, but I soak the pain in and lift my ass higher in the air. I say her name. I ask her to fuck me. She doesn’t correct my language this time.

  She slides the dildo in and out, rubbing my ass as I start to pump my hips to match her slow rhythm. My pussy is achingly empty, desperate for Pilar’s fingers or her mouth or her cock. I beg so much. “Mami, touch my pussy. Please, touch my cunt.”

  She hushes me with a soft sound and bites my ass again. It feels so good, her teeth on my skin, but I always want more.

  She slips the toy out and, a moment later, something a little wider goes in. When it hits its limit I realize it’s a plug.

  “We’re just going to roll you over, baby.”

  She grips my waist and my shoulder, and with one gentle push she rocks me onto my back. I look up at her in the shifting light from my TV. She unties the belt on her coat. She is naked except for the cock between her legs. I cry out, lifting my hips off the bed, but my shifting doesn’t get me any closer to what I want. It only makes things worse because my pathetic thrusting rocks the plug inside me.

  She leans down and all I can see is the top of her head as she licks me. I fight against the restraints, but it’s useless. They may be pink, but they’re well-stitched leather attached to real steel. I’m not touching anything but my sheets.

  Her mouth is enough to make me come. I’m writhing and making little noises. I tell her I’m close. She stops. Then she slams her cock into me. It would take all of my strength to hold back this orgasm, and a kind of determination I just don’t have at the moment. Thank God, Pilar doesn’t ask for it. I come and come, and come again as she pinches my clit. After some time, some deliciously torturous time, she grips my hip with her other hand and shudders against me. She curses before her teeth snag at her bottom lip. Her body trembles again.

  Once she’s regained her composure, she slips her cock from my pussy, then tosses it in her bag. She gently pulls out the plug and it disappears, too. When I’m free of her restraints, I see that her coat is closed again, and, though there’s a little sweat on her forehead, not a hair is out of place.

  She settles me back under my covers, leans down, and brushes my cheek.

  “Can’t you stay?” I ask.

  “No, baby. It’s time for you to go to sleep.”

  “Okay. Thank you for coming to see me.”

  “My pleasure,” she says with a wink.

  I watch her hips as she slips out of my room. For the fantasy I wait a few minutes after she’s gone before I get up and lock the door.

  Chapter Nine

  It’s another Friday and I’m at Pilar’s front door. I know our Saturday will be full and our Sunday restful so I want to make the most of tonight. She opens the door. I catch her off guard and throw my arms around her shoulders. She’s stunned momentarily, but she catches me and lets me kiss her full on her lips. I’m so happy to see her. It’s been a long week at work. I’ve missed her, especially in the few
moments when Valerie’s odd behavior enters my mind. Just as quickly though, those thoughts are eclipsed by the images of Pilar, by the sound of her voice when she’s calling me her silly Suzy girl. I kiss her with all of this energy that’s been building up since we last saw each other. And she kisses me back.

  Soon I wiggle out of her arms and take a step back. “Close your eyes and count to one hundred. And fifty.”

  “Baby,” she warns me.

  “Please.”

  She sighs. “I’ll count to one hundred.”

  “Thank you.” I kiss her on the cheek. “It’ll be fun. I swear.”

  She closes her eyes. “One!”

  I hobble out of my heels and drop one on the floor. Making a break for the hallway, I leave another one just around the corner. My shirt I leave in the kitchen. I’m headed for her bathroom, but in throwing off her trail I head to drop my bra in her sewing room. There I’m caught off guard. In the dark is a nearly completed dress hanging on her sewing mannequin. I flick the switch against the wall to get a better look. The skirt is fluffed out in a perfect circle, made of a hot-pink tulle. Above the tutu-like lower half is a wide black sash, centered in the middle with a big bow. The top of the dress is white, but I don’t know what kind of fabric it is exactly. The petal collar is incomplete. What’s there, though, is adorable.

  Pilar’s up to eighty-eight, but I’m too focused on what’s in front of me. I take a step closer and touch the edge of the skirt and then the bow. I want this dress.

  Pilar yells, “One hundred! I’m coming to find you.”

  “I’m in here,” I shout back.

  A few moments later I feel her behind me. Pilar’s fingers cup my shoulders. She kisses my cheek. “You’re terrible at hiding,” she says.

  I think of the dress Holly was wearing, and even though it wasn’t made for her, I think of how jealous I was of the girls who were given a chance to don one of Pilar’s unique creations. The dress Holly wore was cute, but this dress is me. “Is this for me?” I ask. I don’t even bother to mask the hope in my voice. I’ll pitch myself in a sobbing heap in the backyard if it’s not.