‘I’ll have to call Jamila and apologise,’ I said. ‘At least there were plenty of other people there. It’s not as if I’ll be missed.’
‘When’s the wedding?’
‘Weekend after next.’
‘Ah, coincides with our friend’s visit then.’ He paused. ‘Are you allowed to take a guest?’
I turned round to face him.
‘Don’t tell me you want to come? You don’t know the woman. Or the man.’
‘No, but as your partner … It’s OK. It’s too late, I expect. It would just have made a nice distraction from the goings-on here. I’ve never been to a Muslim wedding before.’
‘I’m taking mum as my plus one. It’s all RSVP’d and arranged now.’
‘It’s fine. Just a thought.’ He sighed. ‘You’ll think of me, all alone in my caravan, won’t you, while you’re living it up?’
‘We’d be the talk of the town, if we did go together, anyway.’
‘We already are, aren’t we?’
He squeezed the sponge over my shoulder and I watched as the suds on my collarbone were hastened on their watery route down into my cleavage.
‘How long do you really think all this will take?’ I asked.
‘What?’
‘Originally, you said you thought I’d be ready for this kink party thing by Christmas. Do you still think that?’
He took a deep breath and cupped my slippery breasts in his hands.
‘I’ll tell you the truth,’ he said. ‘I had no i
dea how long it would take when I gave you that time frame. I was so taken aback that you were up for it I wasn’t really thinking straight. You’ve got the positions and the little rites and rituals almost perfectly now. All I’m concerned about is that we haven’t tried some of the harsher implements – the cane, mainly. And we still haven’t taken the final plunge in a certain area.’ He removed one hand from a breast and tickled the furrow of my buttocks with one finger, as if I was in any doubt as to his meaning.
‘So do you think I’d pass, if he demanded our attendance next week, for instance?’
Joss pondered this. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I’d be uncomfortable with it at this stage. I don’t think you’re experienced enough yet. I think you’d answer him back or refuse to do things that were expected of you. You can perform submissive acts, but it still takes you a while to get into subspace.’
‘It’s self-consciousness, that’s all.’
‘I know, and it’d be magnified by a factor of God knows what if you were in a room with a dozen other people. You don’t know how you’ll react.’
‘That’s true. I don’t know. I can’t imagine it, either.’
Joss massaged my shoulder blades absently for a minute or two.
‘Perhaps we should go to a club,’ he said.
‘A club? There’s nothing like that in Tylney, surely.’
‘No.’ He chuckled at the thought. ‘Apart from right here in my own home, of course. No, I mean, there’s a place in London, a fetish club. We could try it for size.’
‘Oh, God, really?’
‘Think of it as an assignment. You don’t have to show your face – they do a masked ball about four times a year. I think there’s one coming up. I’ll check my messages.’
‘You’re on their mailing list?’