‘Thank you, sir,’ she said.
He stopped, rubbing her all over her rounded mounds again.
He sighed deeply.
‘But I think I hurt you,’ he said.
‘I learned my lesson, sir.’
‘And it is painful,’ he said. His palm rested on her right cheek.
Poppy wriggled, very, very slightly.
She knew it was against the rules to solicit him for sex, or to try and invite a fingering but, oh Lord, she wished it were not.
‘But you like it,’ he whispered.
Two of his fingers fluttered idly near the wettest part of her gauzy thong. If they just moved, just touched, just … He removed his hand from her and she clamped her thighs together in an agony of frustration.
‘So what now?’ he asked.
‘It’s done,’ said Poppy. ‘You can take more tea if you want.’
‘I don’t.’
‘Then you pay me the rate for a hand spanking and, er, that’s it.’
‘That’s it.’
He pulled her skirt back down and lifted her from his lap.
Poppy hardly dared look at him but, when she did, she saw a misty, affectionate expression on his face that gave her complicated feelings.
Don’t get involved with the customers. Don’t think of them as people.
She should take that advice. She should take the money, and nod a submissive farewell.
He put his hands on her upper arms and bent close to her. She could smell the sour tea on his breath and, beneath that, a hint of brandy.
‘When do you leave?’ he asked softly.
; Here it came. The big decision. To accept an assignation outside the club or to walk away. She should say no. She lacked the experience and he could be the proverbial axe-murderer …
‘I can leave now,’ she said, the words spilling anyhow. ‘I only have to take one client.’
‘That’s good. Listen. It is your choice. I will be in the pub on the corner, you know it?’
She nodded.
‘For one hour. If you want, you can meet me. If not …’ He shrugged, then put a fingertip to her cheek. ‘If not, then thank you. OK?’
He took a wallet from his shirt pocket and handed her the spanking tariff in crisp twenty-pound notes.
‘I wonder if your Queen knows what she is paying for,’ he said, looking at Her Majesty’s face on the final purple banknote.
Poppy’s nerves dissolved and she smiled.