‘And your job here means a lot to you?’
‘Yes. I get more satisfaction from this than from anything else I do.’
‘How sad,’ said Natalie.
Simon was obviously surprised. ‘What do you mean, “sad”?’
‘Well, you can’t be any better than the rest of us at forming relationships if you get more pleasure from this than from anything else you do.’
‘We’re not here to discuss my private life, we’re here to sort yours out. I’ll see you at dinner.’
She could tell that he was eager to be gone, but that didn’t matter. At least she’d got through to him, rattled his composure a little, and that was what she needed to
do if she was to make any progress. ‘What did you mean about this evening?’ she asked.
‘This evening you’re in for a rather different experience. It’s a way of training both men and women at the same time. The women are put into pairs and then they make love to each other while some of the men watch. The idea is that women get an opportunity to find out what it’s like to pleasure and be pleasured by other women, while it’s hoped that the men will learn, just by watching, what it is that women really want.’
‘I’m not making love to another woman!’ gasped Natalie, horrified by the very thought.
‘Why ever not? After all, you seem to think that you know your own body best when it comes to men making love to you. Surely a woman will know without you having to tell her.’
‘I can’t do it,’ protested Natalie, trying to visualise the scene that Simon had conjured up.
‘In that case you’ll have to leave. The class isn’t a voluntary one.’
‘But I don’t want to leave.’ Natalie could hear the fear in her own voice, and despised herself for it, but it stopped Simon in his tracks. He sat down on the bed next to her.
‘Listen, Natalie. When you decided to come here you made a very courageous decision. You decided that you weren’t happy with your sex life and you wanted to change it. The trouble is that when you change old habits it means trying new ones, otherwise you’ve nothing to replace your old ways with.’
‘But I’m not interested in other women.’
‘You don’t understand what this is all about. Whether you’re attracted to other women or not isn’t the point. The point is that during your two weekends here you’ll experience pleasure, but pleasure given to you in completely new ways. It isn’t as though you’re
going to be locked up in a room with another woman and left on your own. There’ll be plenty of men around. I’d have thought that would appeal to you.’
‘Why?’
‘Think of the power it gives you. The men will all be frantic with desire for you. Surely that will be a turn-on?’
‘I want to try everything,’ said Natalie truthfully. ‘But I don’t know how I’m going to find the courage.’
To her astonishment, Simon put his right hand on the back of her neck and gently ran his fingers through her hair. ‘I’ll be there with you,’ he assured her. ‘Just think of it as another of my lessons. If you start to lose your nerve, think of me – that should spur you on. I know you believe that I want you to fail, so my presence should bolster your courage. After all, you don’t want me to say that I was right about you.’
‘I don’t want you to keep punishing me,’ said Natalie.
‘Really?’ He gave a laugh. ‘I thought you enjoyed it just now.’
He quickly checked his amusement. But for one fleeting moment he’d given himself away and Natalie knew it, even if Simon didn’t. ‘Well, I suppose I’ll just have to hope for the best,’ she said.
‘That’s the spirit. Perhaps you are going to make it, after all.’
‘Perhaps I am,’ said Natalie. ‘I hope that won’t be too big a disappointment for you?’
‘No, I shall be very pleased for you.’
‘And surprised?’
Simon shook his head. ‘No, women like you have long since ceased to surprise me.’ With that he left the room.
As Natalie showered and changed for dinner she kept remembering his final words. She didn’t like being
classed as one of a group, a ‘woman like you’. She was determined that by the end of her two weekends Simon would see her as an individual. And, she hoped, one that he desired.
WHEN NATALIE WENT DOWN
to the dining room that evening, she was shown to a large round table where seven other people were already seated, four men and three young women. Remembering what Simon had told her, she studied the other girls carefully. One of them was a small, bubbly blonde with short curly hair. Another had straight, dark hair and soft brown eyes: Natalie thought that she looked like Winona Ryder. The third girl was an Indian, with a beautiful face and a slim figure, whose hair hung down her back in a thick, dark, glossy curtain.
Natalie pulled out a chair. ‘Hi, I’m Natalie.’
‘I’m Juliette,’ said the blonde. ‘This,’ pointing at the Winona Ryder lookalike, ‘is Victoria and—’
‘And I’m Sajel,’ said the Indian girl, with a smile.
Natalie waited for the men to introduce themselves, but they didn’t. Instead, after nodding politely at her, they continued to chat to each other across the girls, clearly more comfortable with men’s talk.
‘Rude, aren’t they?’ said Juliette.
‘I think they feel uncomfortable,’ said Victoria. Her voice was low and attractive. ‘They’re probably nervous about tonight.’
‘Aren’t we all?’ said Natalie.
‘I’m looking forward to it,’ confessed Sajel. ‘What do you do for a living?’ she continued. ‘I’m a lawyer and my husband-to-be, Anil, who’s sitting across the table from you, is a hospital consultant. Our parents expect us to marry. But he finds me too assertive and, frankly, he’s too controlling for me. We both hope that this course will help us get a better balance in our relationship, because we know that we can’t disappoint our parents. Somehow we have to make it work.’
Natalie pulled a face. ‘That’s horrible. It must be awful to marry someone you’re not in love with.’
‘Not really. In lots of ways we’re lucky. We’re from similar backgrounds and our families have been friends for years. Anyway, people who marry for love aren’t particularly successful at making the relationship work. At least Anil and I know that we have some things in common.’
‘But if you don’t suit each other in bed …’
‘We find each other attractive,’ said Sajel quietly. ‘It’s only that Anil wasn’t expecting a wife to be quite as opinionated as I am. I think that coming here has done him good, because now he understands that I’m not that unusual.’
Looking at Anil, Natalie could see why Sajel would find him attractive. He had a wonderful face and liquid brown eyes. But there was a firm set to his mouth that suggested a stronger character than an initial glance at his face might suggest.
‘Who are the other men?’ she asked Juliette.
‘I only know their names: Toby, Mark and Adam. I think the three of them have had a bad experience this afternoon because I heard Toby telling Adam that if it wasn’t for the fact that he wouldn’t get a refund he’d have left here by now.’
Natalie laughed. ‘That doesn’t sound very promising.
They must be finding this as difficult as I am.’
‘It is hard,’ agreed Sajel. ‘Who’s your personal tutor?’
‘Simon Ellis.’
‘Is he the tall man, with dark eyes and a pale face?’
‘Yes.’
‘He’s very attractive. What’s he like as a teacher?’
‘Very demanding.’
‘But exciting?’
Natalie decided to be cautious. ‘No. We’re not meant to find our tutors interesting, are we?’
‘No, we’re not
meant
to,’ said Juliette. ‘But that doesn’t mean we don’t have feelings. It only means we have to hide them. I fancy my tutor something rotten. His name’s Shaun, and he’s beginning to think that I didn’t need to come on this course because I give in to him so easily!’
At that moment the waiters arrived with the salmon mousse. As they moved around the dining room the loud buzz of conversation dropped to a lower level as people started to concentrate on the excellent food and wine. After the mousse there was rack of lamb with a rosemary-and-red-wine sauce, and for dessert an exquisite lemon crème brulée. The wine, a light, dry Italian varietal, complemented the food and also relaxed Natalie. For the first time she began to feel that she was having a holiday, rather than facing three days of exams.
Everyone in the dining room was left to their own devices for nearly an hour after the meal had finished, before the tutors returned to collect their clients. As Simon approached Natalie, she waited anxiously to see which of the other women at her table she was to be paired with. Much to her relief he signalled for her and Sajel to follow him. Somehow she felt that the Indian girl, who clearly wasn’t as embarrassed as the
rest of them, would make what they had to do much easier.
Simon was carrying two bags of clothes and handed one to each of the girls. ‘You can use my teaching room to change in. When you’re ready, leave the clothes that you’ve got on in there and then go down to the end of the corridor. It’s the second room on your left. I’ll be waiting for you.’
‘How many people will there be?’ asked Natalie, anxiously.
‘I’m not sure. Quite a few, though. Don’t worry, you won’t be the only girls there. Juliette and Victoria will be alongside you.’
‘But will there be more than the four men we met at dinner?’ persisted Natalie.
‘I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until you’ve changed and find that out for yourselves,’ said Simon, not sounding in the least apologetic.
Sajel had already taken her bag of clothes and was walking off, so Natalie decided not to question Simon further. Clearly the events of the evening were meant to be a surprise for her, although she’d never been a great one for surprises. She always liked to have things planned and presumed that this element of uncertainty was an important part of her obedience training.
‘What have you got to wear?’ she asked Sajel, as the Indian girl began taking garments out of the bag.
‘They’re like nothing I’ve ever worn before,’ said Sajel, and now she wasn’t smiling. Natalie watched as the other girl put on a stunning, tightly laced white basque along with matching briefs, a suspender belt and long white stockings. A pair of white high-heeled shoes completed the outfit. When she was fully dressed Natalie realised how cleverly the underwear had been chosen to show off Sajel’s colouring, and how the
basque made the most of her slender figure by pushing her breasts slightly together and up.
‘I wonder if my outfit’s the same,’ mused Natalie. ‘I expect it is.’ She was wrong. Her outfit was completely different: a pale blue nightdress with thin shoulder straps and criss-cross ribbons down the front, it parted just below her crotch, splitting into two halves that, when she moved, revealed the entire smooth length of her legs. Each side of the split skirt was edged with matching pale blue lace, and there was a matching sheer jacket that she slipped on to cover her shoulders. Much to her relief, she also found a small pair of pale blue briefs, which just covered her pubic mound. There were no stockings for her, but she too had a pair of white high-heeled shoes.
‘What’s this?’ she asked, as her fingers felt something cold at the bottom of the bag. Slowly she drew out a tiny chain.
‘It’s for your ankle,’ explained Sajel.
‘See if there’s one in your bag,’ Natalie urged the Indian girl. ‘I expect they’re a sign of servitude or something.’ Sure enough, Sajel found that she too had a silver ankle chain. Quickly she put hers on, and then the two girls looked at each other.
‘Have we really got to walk down the corridor like this?’ asked Natalie.
‘I don’t know what Anil will think,’ murmured Sajel. ‘He’s very possessive, and he hasn’t been included in any of my training sessions so far. He won’t enjoy other men seeing me like this.’
‘He might enjoy seeing you like it himself,’ laughed Natalie, trying to cheer Sajel up.
Now it was Sajel’s turn to be nervous. ‘I don’t think I can go in there,’ she said, her voice little more than a whisper.
‘Of course you can,’ said Natalie decisively. ‘You’re a
lawyer, an intelligent, sophisticated woman. You know why you’re here, and if this is part of our training, then it’s what we’ve got to do. We mustn’t let them see that we’re afraid.’
Sajel straightened her spine. ‘You’re right. Let’s go.’
To Natalie’s relief the corridor looked empty. But then Simon stepped out of a doorway and she felt her heart sink. He nodded appreciatively before standing back to let them in. ‘You both look very lovely. Everyone will be delighted,’ he said softly.
Because Sajel was hanging back, Natalie walked into the room first. It was a lovely room, high-ceilinged, its windows large and with comfortable antique chairs placed in a large circle. A thick, pale green carpet covered the floor and in the middle of the circle there were piles of brightly coloured scatter-cushions. The circle was large because there were so many men there, and Natalie heard Sajel’s quick intake of breath as the Indian girl saw for herself how many men would be watching them. There were at least a dozen, not counting Rob Gill and his assistants.
As the girls walked across the room two of the men stood up and made a pathway through the chairs so that Natalie and Sajel could enter the space in the middle. Juliette and Victoria were already standing there.
Victoria’s outfit was hardly an outfit at all. She had on a pair of skimpy high-legged black lace panties and a black lace bra, but with the cups removed so that her surprisingly heavy breasts were ringed by circles of lace, almost as though she were wearing a harness.
Juliette provided a startling contrast. She was wearing a scarlet wet-look playsuit, cut away so sharply that you could see the flesh up to her hip bones. The plunging halter neckline revealed a tantalising glimpse of her breasts, while below that there was a long zip that travelled down her torso and
between her legs. Around her wrists were matching red bands, like imitation handcuffs, although her hands weren’t fastened. She looked dramatic and very assertive compared with Victoria, who was obviously embarrassed and whose eyes were downcast.
Once all four girls were in the middle of the circle, Rob Gill, who was watching intently, got to his feet. ‘Our four lovely young girls are now going to pleasure each other,’ he explained to the circle of men. ‘I want you all to watch carefully, and to learn from what you see. Many of you complain that women constantly tell you that you don’t understand their bodies. They say you fail to please them because you do what you
think
they’ll enjoy, rather than what they truly want. Obviously it makes sense that women should know their own bodies well, which is why they ought to be able to pleasure each other quickly, probably using techniques that you either haven’t thought of or don’t have the patience to try. Are there any questions?’