Magic Man

Cold, late night so long ago

When I was not so strong you know

A pretty man came to me

Never seen eyes so blue

You know, I could not run away it seemed

We'd seen each other in a dream

Seemed like he knew me, he looked right through me, yeah

"Come on home, girl" he said with a smile

"You don't have to love me yet, let's get high awhile

But try to understand, try to understand

Try, try, try to understand, I'm a magic man"

Heart, "Magic Man," from the album "Dreamboat Annie"

Chapter One

"Magic," one whispered.

"Mystical," another chimed in.

"Cathartic," a third murmured.

Who was this mystery man? He'd joined Adrienne's department three months ago but she'd only spent a few minutes with him. He seemed like a regular guy to her, medium height and build, dark brown hair and blue eyes, and didn't seem to have an over-sized personality.

Adrienne was normally on the road and didn't have time to associate in the lunchroom with members of her department but she had a couple of meetings cancel and took a long break with them. Of course the conversation among the girls eventually turned (devolved?) to relationships, and the three women Adrienne was talking to all mentioned being bedded by Garrett.

And they all had the same story. It started as an innocent first date, and somehow by the end of the evening they were asking -- no begging -- for him to use them in any way that he pleased. And all of them said they wouldn't hesitate to let him use them again in any way that he wished. They didn't give her more details (he forbade it) but assured her that they were willing participants.

Adrienne shrugged it off as idle talk. No one was that sexually persuasive. Of that she was sure.

Self-confidence had always been her strong suit. It served her well in her ascendancy through business school and in the world of finance dominated by men. She was the youngest female executive in the company, and at 35 was one of the youngest CFO's in her company's industry. Of course there was collateral damage on her rapid ascent to the top. There always was. Unfortunately, in her case it was her marriage. She got married to her high school sweetheart and the turbulence of her career eventually shook him loose. Too many long business trips, late nights at the office, and obligatory social engagements eventually wore him down. Jeremy and Adrienne parted amicably, and the last she knew of him, he'd gotten engaged to a teacher in their hometown and appeared to be quite happy. Adrienne thought he was a good soul and deserved to be happy.

In Adrienne's case, happiness wasn't one of the adjectives to describe her life, and in particular her love life. Even though her physical appearance was not rough on the eyes, to the contrary, she was able to turn heads, the same reasons that chased Jeremy away also kept all potential suitors at arm's length. She hadn't gotten past the first date in the two years that had passed since Jeremy and she parted ways.

The salacious lunchtime shop talk did pique Adrienne's curiosity. She went to HR to review Garrett's file. She justified the probing, telling herself that he was a member of her department and that she should make an effort to know him better. Deep down, though, the talk of his sexual prowess was too tempting for a woman that hadn't had sex in months. The HR manager Christine was eager to accommodate Adrienne's request for his file as her visits to her department were few and far between, and she relished any opportunity to kiss up to a member of upper management. Christine confirmed that she'd handled the intake interview but didn't have more to add other than her recollection that he had a solid resume and a pleasing demeanor.

The file wasn't any more revealing; Garrett D'Arnaud: attended a well-known business school, became a CPA and spent several years at a Big Four accounting firm. Specialized in software integration project management. Single, 35, and a sailor and car enthusiast. The file photo wasn't much help either. It was a head shot taken at a prior job. He was a handsome man with wavy brown hair, piercing blue eyes and a cute dimple on his chin. But not movie star good looking and certainly not the kind of man that would've had Adrienne dropping her panties on the first date.

Adrienne went back to her office and re-immersed herself in the maelstrom that was her life. Garrett was forgotten by her second phone call, and with the late night announcement of a major acquisition by her company of a competitor, a distant, then forgotten, memory. It was off to New York City for a month, holed up with investment bankers, lawyers and accountants, working out the details of the acquisition (it was touted as a 'merger of equals' but we know that's never true. The bigger company is always more 'equal' than the smaller company).

After a month of windowless conference rooms and late night room service meals she was ready to go home. The six hour flight to San Francisco somehow became eight, as there was the usual two hour delay out of Newark (her least favorite airport). On the final approach to SFO she looked out the window to see the twinkling lights of the Bay Bridge and the fog rolling in from the ocean, slowly enveloping the downtown skyscrapers. She was home.

Adrienne's needs were modest. It was a sinful pleasure just for her to sleep in her own bed, and it took a force of will to get out of it the next morning so she could make her first appearance in the office in a month. She dreaded opening her office door and seeing the clutter of correspondence, memos and assorted junk mail that undoubtedly littered her clean desk. She looked at herself in the mirror, hoping to see a fresh face, but instead seeing her limp blonde hair and shadows under her eyes, the ravages of a month of no exercise and poor eating. She needed a vacation -- desperately.

Instead of a vacation, she donned a silk blouse, black pencil skirt and black pumps, and went back to the office. She parked in her assigned spot in the garage and walked to the front lobby. Frank, the lobby guard, waved her through to the bank of elevators that serviced her firm's floors. She slid into an elevator with ten other people and made the silent ascent to her floor, with everyone (except her) checking e-mails and texts on their phones. She thought to herself that she could've dropped dead of a heart attack on the elevator and no one would've noticed. The elevator finally reached her floor and the receptionist spotted her before she'd even exited the elevator cab.

"Adrienne!" she cried, as she waved.

Adrienne waved to her and then lowered her head and focused on the path ahead of her. A detour to her receptionist's desk was a ten minute sentence to purgatory. She had nothing in common with Kathy, the receptionist, and knew she'd be facing a shit storm swirling around her desk.

She plodded past the rows and rows of cubicles to the back wall that housed the enclosed offices for the executives. Her assistant, Greta, was standing at her desk with a cup of hot coffee in her hand. She held it out in front of herself and the tall blonde gratefully took it, taking the first sip before she said hello.

"Not bad, Adrienne. It's 9:02, so only two minutes late after a month away from the office," noted her red headed assistant.

With the hot coffee sliding down and warming her insides Adrienne felt a semblance of humanity coming back to her. "Hey, Greta. What's new?"

She gave her boss a screwed up look. "You obviously didn't check your phone on the way to work, did you?"

"Tell me."

"Dave Gregory resigned yesterday and was walked out of the building."

"Fuck." Adrienne meant to shout "God Damn It" at the top of her lungs but her coffee hadn't yet kicked in.

"Rob Sanderson has already been by your office twice looking for you."

Rob was the CEO of the company.

"Double fuck."

"You need to go to his office right away."

So much for any semblance of sanity. The now embattled CFO threw her briefcase and purse in her office (where she saw a large pile of papers on her desk) and hoofed it down the hallway to Rob's office. Fortunately, the new silk blouse, skirt, and pumps that she picked out right before she left her house looked presentable. She'd also used enough foundation to cover those nasty shadows under her eyes.

Adrienne knocked on Rob's door and walked in before he had a chance to invite her.

Rob was hanging up his phone and swiveling his chair to face her.

"Adrienne, well done on the Mattson merger. Looks like it should close 3Q of next year if we get FTC and DOJ approval." He then focused on her new outfit and the cleavage peeking out of her blouse. "Typical Rob," she thought, "on his third wife and still a pussy hound." He jerked his head up when he realized she was watching him leer at her tits.

"I've been looking for you. You probably heard Dave Gregory was walked out of the office yesterday."

"Yep."

"Joined a competitor. Fucker. But got a 30% bump and options. I couldn't match it. He probably would've stayed if I did."

"So now what are we going to do about the database software integration project that Dave was managing?"

"That was my question to you, Adrienne."

A dim light bulb lit in her head. Yes... it was on the tip of her tongue,,,

"Yes?" said Rob after an overly long pregnant pause.

" . . . . . Garrett D'Arnaud," blurted Adrienne as the name popped into her head.

"Who?"

"Garrett D'Arnaud. We hired him about six months ago. I was going through his personnel file and noticed he had experience with software integration."

"Well?"

"I'm on it. I'll talk to him today and I'll let you know if he can handle it." Rob had already swiveled around to make his next phone call. Just for laughs, Adrienne pulled down on her blouse and the cup of her bra, exposing her ample breast to his back. She figured he'd always wanted to see her tits. She laughed to herself and thought, "Too bad he didn't have the courtesy to say 'thank you' so he could've enjoyed the view."

The lunchroom chit chat also floated to the surface of her consciousness. Garrett... the sex God... or something like that. Adrienne yelled to Greta on her way into her office, "Get Garrett D'Arnaud into my office, stat."

She sat at her desk for the first time in a month. Her coffee was now cold. Greta came into her office with a fresh hot cup. "Bless you Greta. You're a saint. I owe you." Adrienne knew that Greta always had her back.

"You know you do," Greta said with confidence as she looked over her shoulder on the way out of Adrienne's office. Greta was a little raunchy minx with her short skirt, high heels and bubble butt. Adrienne thought that if she was bi (like Greta) she'd have been all over Greta's voluptuous body.

Not two minutes later, there was a knock on Adrienne's door, even though it was open. It was Garrett.

"Come in."

"Reporting for duty, Ma'am."

"It's Adrienne. No need for formalities here. Have a seat."

Garrett looked just like his file photo. Rugged and handsome with that cute dimple on his chin. "Damn him," thought Greta. His good looks were distracting. He was studying Adrienne, but not in the way that Rob did. Rob's glare was lust driven. Garrett was studying her like he would a painting in a museum. Thoughtful. And he didn't try to stare down her blouse.

All of this was not lost on Adrienne. She was surprised that a man with such a reputation that preceded him wouldn't be much more forward in his demeanor. Instead, he acted like a perfect gentleman.

"The software implementation..." Adrienne began before she was interrupted.

"I figured as much. When I heard Dave Gregory had been walked out, I knew it was a matter of time before you reached out to me."

"So can you handle..."

"Of course I can. I've done at least a dozen implementations. I'm familiar with this software and the documentation. Just give me the names of the folks on Dave's team and I'll report back to you tomorrow afternoon."

"That's a relief. I can't tell you..."

"But I'm sure there's more details that you'll have to share with me over dinner. That's what you were going to tell me, right?"

The purported boss had to catch her breath. "Did he just invite himself to dinner?" she asked herself. Adrienne was grateful that he took control of the software implementation and did so in a manner that was confidence inspiring. It was a huge load off her shoulders. She didn't have any plans for dinner and he was cute, but no fishing in the company pond was her rule, so it'd have to be all business. She told herself that she could handle that.

"Sure. I'll have Greta make a reservation..."

"Don't worry about it. I've already made a reservation. Meet in the lobby at 7 p.m.?"

"Well, that was presumptuous," she thought. "How did he know this before he met with me?" Well, in any event she didn't care where they went. The manner in which he controlled the tempo of their conversation and the dinner invitation was highly unusual, yet for some reason stirred something within her. Was this what the women were talking about? She could see that he was controlling, but did that mean she was going to submit to him? Of course not. She was his boss, not his slave.

Garrett wandered back to his office with his hands in his pockets, whistling softly. That interaction with his boss couldn't have gone better.

Chapter Two

The rest of the day flew by. Adrienne was putting out one fire after another. When she got a free moment she looked at her watch. "Shit," she exclaimed as she checked the time. It was 7:10. The flustered blonde threw her papers into her briefcase, took a quick look in her mirror at her hair and makeup, and grabbed her purse. She ran into the lobby, breathless.

"I'm so sorry. The time just seemed to get away from me and..."

"And you won't do it again, will you?" Garrett said in an even, though firm, tone of voice.

He'd caught Adrienne off guard once again. "Uhh, right. I won't do it again." She was wondering anew. Who was the boss in this relationship?

The couple went out into the night. The fog had already rolled in. It was bone chilling cold -- a wet cold. It reminded Adrienne of one of her favorite quotations (attributed to Mark Twain): "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." Adrienne shivered, both from the cold and the uneasiness that somehow she'd lost control of this relationship from the get go. Garrett, on the other hand, was nonplussed by the cold, and Adrienne's pliability gave him a warm glow inside.

Adrienne and Garrett took an Uber to a South of Market address in a decidedly industrial neighborhood. Instead of a restaurant, they were dropped off at a nondescript warehouse. Garrett approached the main door and looked up at the security camera. Moments later the door buzzed and he pulled it open.

They entered, and stepped into a surprisingly opulent reception area. There was a well-dressed woman manning the reception desk.

"Good evening Mr. D'Arnaud, and welcome back to the Club," said the receptionist in a tone of voice indicating familiarity.

"It's good to see you again, April. Has Nancy recovered fully?"

"Why, thank you for asking, Mr. D'Arnaud. Yes, Nancy got out of her cast last week and is walking normally."

"That's good to hear April. Is our table ready?"

"Of course, just as you ordered. And I presume this is your guest, Adrienne Margolis?

Garrett nodded.

"Welcome Ms. Margolis. Marcelle will be by momentarily to seat you. Would you like to sit while you wait for Marcelle?"

"No, that's not necessary," Garret answered. "I'm sure Marcelle will be here momentarily." An attendant deferentially took their coats, and hung them in a small cloakroom.

They waited quietly. Adrienne studied the unfamiliar surroundings. The waiting area was more fitting for a fine hotel rather than an industrial building. It boasted hardwood floors, oriental rugs, richly upholstered furniture and a bar with many recognizable single malt scotches and bourbons.

Adrienne's careful study of her surroundings was interrupted by the opening of the door behind the reception desk. A man in a tuxedo held the door open. Garrett motioned for Adrienne to enter first. Adrienne found herself in a richly appointed hallway. They were escorted to the first door on the left. Marcelle waved the couple inside. Adrienne was astonished to see that instead of a normal-looking restaurant, the room had only a single table and two chairs. The table was covered with a snowy white tablecloth, a small candle, a vase with a single red rose and two place settings of fine china.

Garrett seated Adrienne and then himself. Shortly thereafter, a uniformed waiter appeared through a side door and served a soup course.

With a jesting tone of voice, Adrienne asked, "Do you dine here often?"

Garrett focused on Adrienne with a steady gaze. "Only with special people."

The blonde let that pass without comment. She steered the conversation to business, specifically the software integration project, and the members of the team that he'd be leading. Over their main course, and dessert, he explained what his plan of action would be, and what aspects he'd assign to each team member. Adrienne was impressed with not only his knowledge, but also his ability to dissect the project's needs into manageable pieces, and delegate each piece to the person best suited to handle it. Garrett was supremely confident in his ability to manage the project, and that confidence level soon permeated Adrienne's thinking as well.

Even though the words coming out of his mouth were focused on the business at hand, Garrett's eyes conveyed something quite different. He was still gazing at the comely blonde like some work of art. Yes, his eyes occasionally regarded her body, but they were never fixated there. He spent most of the time visually drinking in the sight of her face, perhaps noticing where her eyes were looking, or the body language conveyed by her subtle facial expressions.

As the meal was drawing to a close, Adrienne found a question bubbling up inside her that demanded to be uttered. She wasn't sure why she had to ask it, because his manner had been impeccable -- focused and businesslike, never straying from the conversational course that she'd set.

The words were out of her mouth before she could censor herself. "Garrett, I'd like to ask something. Some of the women in the office seem rather smitten with you. Do you have any inkling why that would be?"

He smiled a mysterious smile. "There's a submissive side in everyone. I just help bring it out."

He paused to let this sink in. There was an awkward silence as Adrienne took stock of herself. Did she have a submissive side? She didn't think so. Every social and business interaction had her wanting to be in control. But did she really want this? Her drive to succeed had dictated who she was. It'd ruined her marriage. It chased away anyone who wanted to be close to her.

He'd invited himself to dinner with her, even picking the place and making the reservations ahead of time. He'd knocked her off balance by making her promise she'd not be late for him in the future. His plan to control the project was now close to the way she viewed it herself. She loved the control in the business world. It felt good to hold onto the reins and feel the power of her position. But that same level of control was, for her, her downfall as well. Perhaps it really wasn't meant for her to be in control of her personal relationships. Her success in controlling personal relationships was a big fat zero.

Adrienne snapped back to the present and drifted back to the conversation at hand. Garrett had stopped talking and had his elbow on the table and his head resting in the palm of his hand.

His eyes now went lower, and lingered there. He was staring at the almost pure white skin at the inner edge of her breast with its ultra-fine web of light blue veins. One could see that in his mind she was nude, and that he was now eyeing her in a more cold and calculating way, studying the transition from white to the light brown areola and then to the gumdrop of a nipple, with its stippled surface.

Normally, Adrienne would be tempted to criticize this type of loutish behavior but this was different. The way he was looking at her was coldly clinical, as if she were a laboratory specimen, and not as a sex object. She found it puzzling. Suddenly she wanted him to notice her in an overtly sexual way. She wanted him to acknowledge that she was a desirable woman. Almost without thought, she unbuttoned another button on her blouse and leaned forward so he could now see the tops of her breasts and her bra. A smile curled his lips, but he said nothing.

Adrienne's mind was a swirl of thoughts. This was the man that all those women swooned over? The man they begged to... to... use them? The one they'd let use them at any time and in any way? He wasn't doing anything! He was just sitting there, smiling. He wasn't making bedroom eyes at her. He wasn't seducing her. She found herself actually getting a little angry.

Then the horrible thought struck. "Maybe he thinks I'm not good enough to bother seducing!" Sure, she was full of self-confidence in the business world. But, like any woman, she wasn't that confident about her body. Maybe Garrett was seeing her physical flaws -- analyzing them. She thought about her body and all of her petty insecurities. Her nose was perhaps a little too big. Her lips were thinner than she saw on most other women. Her breasts were ample but weren't huge by any stretch of the imagination. And her right tit was definitely larger than her left one.

But then her anger and self-reproach evaporated and gave way to an unexpected emotion, a long unsatisfied want. A longing for acceptance. A longing to be loved without condition. Without thinking, she unbuttoned yet another button -- the last one on her blouse. It fell open.

Garrett looked at her with an unfathomable expression as he watched her hands. Finally, he said, in a tone of voice that she couldn't place but felt like a command, "If you're offering me your tits, you'd better take them out of that bra."

A spark of hope bloomed inside her. He wanted to see her breasts! Maybe she wasn't as inadequate as she'd felt a few moments earlier. The room was private -- they hadn't been disturbed in some time. Her hands went behind her back. Unhooking her bra, she raised it away from her breasts, but she found she didn't want it obstructing his appraisal. Quickly, she dragged the shoulder straps out through the sleeves of her blouse and pushed the bra into her purse. She dared not look down at her bared chest, fearing she'd see all her perceived flaws. She looked in his face for some sign of approval.

Garrett just sat there, looking at her. She couldn't discern either approval or disapproval in his expression. It was maddening. His hands were on the table motionless. She looked at his hands, and then back into his eyes. "Approve of me!" she thought. She almost wanted to sob in desperation.

"You'd better bring my hand to your breast, if that's what you're seeking." His words, delivered in a tone completely lacking any hint of lust, floated across the table.

She still wasn't sure what came over her. She was almost desperate as she reached across the table, took his hand, and pressed it onto her tit. Once that hand was in contact, he cupped her breast, almost as if weighing it -- judging it, as he looked at it intently. She held her breath, now waiting for his judgment and his approval.

When Garrett's hand went into motion, thumbing her nipple, the exquisite nature of that contact almost gave her an orgasm! She shuddered with delight, her panties dampening.

His eyes again locked on hers, conveying his silent nod of approval. Adrienne felt as if his gaze went past her superficial defenses and probed deep within her soul. Then she felt an intense rush of déjà vu, that somehow they'd had this moment sometime in her past. Had she met him before? When?

Her reverie was interrupted by Garrett, now rolling her nipple between his index finger and thumb, casually flicking the tip of her nipple with a finger on his other hand. A surge of pleasure went through her with each flick, and her resistance to his unusual seduction weakened.

As he continued to flick her nipple and keep her in a high state of arousal, he asked, "Adrienne, you do want to come with me to see what else this Club has to offer, don't you?"

Adrienne was overcome by the pleasure, the setting, and the subtle seduction. She simply nodded her head. Garrett offered his hand. She took it and was led into the hallway. She was in such a state of mind that she didn't even bother to button her blouse, heedless of the possibility of others being out there.

There were a number of doorways in the hallway but no clear indication of what lay behind them. Garrett led Adrienne down the hallway and stopped in front of a door simply marked as '3'.

Garrett reached inside his pocket and pulled out a key. He inserted it into the door's lock and then stopped before he turned the key. He turned his head to look directly at Adrienne.

"I want to take you inside this room. There are untold pleasures that await you, but you have to understand that I'll control what happens in this room. You're welcome to ask me to take you home, instead. I'll do so, and what happened tonight will never be discussed again. I'll take care of your software implementation and no one in the office will be the wiser. If you decide to go with me, your life will never be the same. Most women call it magic, but I like to think of it as my ability to achieve a full expression of your submissive side."

He then paused and waited for Adrienne's reply, but already knew the answer before Adrienne did.

Adrienne was used to making decisions -- important decisions. But those decisions revolved around her business persona. She was not accustomed to making hard decisions about her personal life, and had never made a conscious decision about her sexual being. For the most part those decisions were made by circumstance, such as her divorce, or her work ethic, which prevented most relationships from even getting off the ground.

"What do I want?" Adrienne thought. "Do I want to explore my sexuality with a man I hardly know? Do I want to take an outlandish risk? It's not within my personality to take such risks, but it's also not within my personality to turn down such an enticing offer." While her wheels were turning, Garrett presented her with another puzzling observation.

"Adrienne, I've wanted this for a long time. I've wanted you for a long time."

This simple statement truly knocked her off kilter. "A long time?" she thought. "The firm only hired him six months ago, and he and I barely met -- what was it -- months ago. How could he have fixated on me with such a brief, casual encounter?" She saw his expression, noting an element of displeasure. She realized that her analytical business mind had intruded, delaying her response. Garrett was waiting for her decision, and his expression indicated that he was a man not accustomed to being made to wait like this.

She felt flustered. She actually blushed, somewhat ashamed at making him wait. The heat of her flush spread down to her collarbones. She pushed aside her contemplation of his puzzling statement, and nodded her acceptance.

He wouldn't let any hint of ambiguity remain. "I see you nodding, Adrienne. But you must state clearly that you want to enter this room with me, and that you accept the fact that I will be in control when we enter."

Adrienne swallowed hard, trying to moisten her suddenly dry throat. "I... I want to go in with you, Garrett." His eyes narrowed slightly when she stopped speaking. She realized her omission. "And, I agree that you'll be in control in there." Her heart was hammering so hard inside her chest as she uttered those words that her left nipple was shaking slightly from its movements.

Garrett smiled, and turned the key. They entered. The room was dark, except for one thing. In its very center was a cylindrical pedestal, perhaps a foot and a half in diameter, and eight inches or so in height. Adrienne couldn't tell its composition, but it was translucent, dimly lit from within. Garrett led her to the pedestal.

"Step up onto this," he instructed her, holding her hand to steady her balance as she ascended. His hand was warm in hers. Once she was centered, he stepped back. "Your blouse is lovely, but it's hiding nothing, so hand it to me," he said.

The dark intimacy of the room felt like a comforting womb. She shrugged the blouse off her shoulders and handed it and her purse to him. She looked down at her torso. The pedestal light was so dim that she could barely see her own tits. But there was enough illumination that she could see Garrett's face as he looked at her.

"You'll feel more comfortable if you remove your skirt as well," he assured her. "It's better to be fully undressed rather than half-dressed."

A small feeling of elation bloomed inside Adrienne's chest. Garret sounded nonchalant, but she was certain that this statement meant he wanted to see more of her body. She undid her skirt, and accepted his hand for support as she bent over to slip the skirt down with the other and step carefully out of it. She handed him her skirt and straightened back up, but Garrett just stood there silently, with the skirt draped over his arm, and his palm open, as if expecting more. She was puzzled, until she recalled the words 'fully undressed' that he'd spoken a moment before. She gasped. He was waiting for her to hand him her panties, as well!

A modicum of modesty tried to assert itself. But Adrienne had come this far, and didn't want to see a look of disapproval on his face. As unusual as these circumstances were, she was no prude. "My wispy panties hardly conceal a thing anyway," she rationalized. Taking his hand for support once again, she leaned over and stripped them off, and placed them into his waiting hand.

Smiling, he stepped back into the darkness of the room. A slight rustling sound indicated that he was placing her clothing on some far surface. He must've touched some control or switch, because four sources of light activated, bathing her nude body in soft, flattering illumination. However, this light in her eyes made the far edges of the room seem even darker. Garrett appeared, carrying a chair that he placed about six feet in front of where she stood. He sat down, now visible in the light being reflected from her bare skin.

Illuminated as she was, and placed on this pedestal, Adrienne felt even more like a work of art, on display in some museum. She stood there, shifting a little nervously from one foot to the other.

"You're slouching a little, my dear," he chided her softly. "You'd look better if you laced your fingers together behind your head."

Without letting her mind censor her movements, she obeyed. This new pose also caused her shoulders to retract slightly, making her back arch a little, and raising her breasts higher. Somehow, having them thrust forward in this manner instilled Adrienne with a soupcon of pride. A smile appeared on her lips. It helped that Garrett smiled, in return.

"The pedestal will begin to rotate slowly, Adrienne. Don't be surprised by its movement, and just focus on holding your pose." He reached into the darkness behind him, and the pedestal began a sedate rotation.

As she stared into the darkness of the room, standing like a statue, and bathed in the soft light, she was acutely aware that Garrett was observing her body from all angles. Was she being judged, or merely admired? She had no way of knowing. She hoped that what he saw pleased him. She became cognizant that she really wanted him to find her not only comely, but desirable. Her competitive mind even wanted and hoped that he'd find her to be the most desirable woman he'd ever seen.

After several rotations, the pedestal stopped moving, and Adrienne found herself facing him once again. With a musing expression on his face, Garrett asked, "Tell me, Adrienne. What would you like to have happen now?"

Thoughts of her conversations with the other women in her office flashed through her mind. "Yes," she thought. "It's what I want. Now I know why they wanted it."

Adrienne stared down from the pedestal and gazed into Garrett's deep blue eyes. "I want to be used by you."

Chapter Three

Garrett allowed a small smile to appear on his face. These were the words he'd longed to hear. To see this vision of loveliness, literally standing on her pedestal, begging to be used by him. All of the hard work leading to this point had been worth it -- every minute of it. He wanted to take her to the precipice of ecstasy and then be there to catch her when she fell.

Garrett extended his hand, helping Adrienne off of the pedestal.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

Adrienne hesitated for just a moment before replying. "Yes, yes I do."

"Adrienne, I need a definitive answer. One without reservation. If I'm going to use you as I please I need your unfettered trust. Do I have it?"

"Yes you do," replied Adrienne, this time with an air of confidence. Adrienne was quivering on the inside but was determined to see what was on the other side of the curtain.

Garrett stepped away in the darkened room and returned back into sight a few moments later.

He handed Adrienne a blindfold. "Put this on."

She did. She started to shiver, even though it was warm in the room.

She felt the lightest touch as something skimmed across her skin. She determined it was a feather. The feather traced under her chin, around her breasts and across her inner thighs. As the feather danced across her body, goosebumps appeared on her arms and legs.

Garrett's voice interceded into Adrienne's focus on the feather. "Tell me if you want me to stop."

"No, no, please. It's wonderful."

"I know, my love, but I'm referring to what's to come."

Adrienne experienced a flash of heat as Garrett's ominous warning registered.

Adrienne heard footsteps and then the closing of the door. For a fleeting moment, she thought she was being abandoned, naked and blindfolded in a darkened room. Just as her anxiety reached a crescendo, the door reopened. Footsteps approached her. Her nipple experienced a super cold sensation. Garrett had rubbed an ice cube against it. The cold water dripped down her breast and onto her belly. The shivering gave way to shaking as Garrett applied the ice cube to her other nipple.

Garrett used his finger to flick one of the hardened nipples, causing Adrienne to flinch as the small jolt of pain shot through her. "Excellent," he thought. "She's responding well to the stimulation. Let's see how she handles the next step."

Garrett reached into his pant pockets and removed two nipple clamps that were operated with a screw mechanism that allowed the user to vary the amount of pressure. He pulled on one of Adrienne's nipples, causing it to extend in length. When he'd stretched it out to its maximum, he attached the clamp, using the lightest amount of pressure. Adrienne groaned, having never experienced the pain of a clamp.

"Relax, my love, the pain will lessen as your nipple becomes accustomed to the clamp."

White hot flashes of pain emanated from Adrienne's nipples as Garrett tightened the clamp. Being blindfolded, Adrienne could do nothing but focus on the pain and then the numbing sensation in her nipple. Garrett clamped her other nipple, then hooked the two clamps together with a chain.

He gave a gentle tug on the chain. Adrienne almost jumped out of her skin. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed as the dual pain reached an uncomfortable level.

"It will pass. Be patient."

Garrett waited. Adrienne was thankful that the pain gradually subsided into a dull throbbing sensation.

Garrett went into the corner of the darkened room and returned with a spreader bar. He attached it to Adrienne's ankles, forcing her to keep her legs in an open position.

"Why are you spreading my legs apart?" asked Adrienne.

Garrett ignored the question. He picked up the feather and ran it from her ankles all the way up to her sex, lightly brushing her clit.

Now the pleasure overshadowed the pain. The clamps had heightened Adrienne's senses, and the feather raised inside her a sense of unadulterated joy.

"Yes... yes... I didn't know a feather could feel so good," declared the blonde.

Garrett was pleased with her reaction. He lowered a rope that was attached to a pulley in the ceiling. He cuffed Adrienne's wrists and then attached the rope to the chain between the cuffs. He pulled the rope upward until Adrienne was stretched out, arms extended and legs splayed. Adrienne had never felt more vulnerable nor less in control. She had no choice but to await Garrett's next move. Stretched and spread, in the darkness of the blindfold, she realized that this was what she sought and needed -- to utterly relinquish control, and just experience.

Garrett retrieved a leather flogger, wanting to now warm Adrienne's flesh for what was to come. He took lazy strokes, lightly slapping the tails of the flogger against her rear to acclimate her to the feel of this tool. The strokes felt pleasant enough to her, as some of the tails gently kissed her labia. The pleasant sensations were short lived, as Garrett added speed and force to the strokes until she was crying out in pain. The flogger's tails were now biting into her soft flesh, leaving a stinging sensation that grew between each stroke. Adrienne's forehead was now covered with perspiration and she was sagging against the rope holding her upright, with the leather cuffs starting to chafe against the skin on her wrists. As she was about to utter the word 'stop', he ceased the flogging. The pain began to morph into a glowing warmth in her body. Garrett knew this would happen, and used his hand to rub Adrienne's body from head to toe. She reacted by pushing her body against his hand, savoring the touch of his palm against her overheated flesh.

Garrett stopped. He waited for Adrienne to speak. The only sounds permeating the room were muffled voices from an adjoining room and the soft hum of the air conditioning system. It seemed like eons, but in reality was only a few minutes before Adrienne whispered, "Please."

The pain had morphed into pleasure and the pleasure had now morphed into need -- an overwhelming need that pushed all other thoughts out of Adrienne's head.

"Please what, my love?"

"Please... Please make me cum."

"You really don't remember me, do you?" Adrienne jerked slightly in her restraints, and then slowly shook her head.

"It was almost ten years ago. You were a visiting professor to Delta Community College."

Adrienne fought through the sex-induced fog in her head to remember that far back. Yes, she'd spent a summer teaching an introductory business course at her local community college. Why was Garrett raising this almost forgotten chapter in her life?

"I was a student in that class. I had a crush on you. It was well known in the class that you were having marital problems. I wanted you in the worst way. I approached you in your office and bared my soul. You ripped my heart out. Now I want to own yours."

The memories came flooding back. A number of students had been infatuated with her, but one stuck out in the crowd. She couldn't recall his face well, but it could've been Garrett. She remembered the incident in her office. She was exceedingly short with her admirer, shutting down his advance and shooing him out of her office. What was he going to do with her?

"Garrett, should I be afraid?" she asked, nervously.

"No my love. I've wanted you all of these years. I've followed you from afar -- your career advancement, your divorce. When I saw a job opening at your company I decided I'd make you want me. I seduced your co-workers with the hope that their talk would get back to you. I'm the one that hooked up Dave Gregory with his new job. I knew that when Dave left you'd come running to me."

A flood of emotions overwhelmed Adrienne. He did that to her co-workers, to Dave -- all to get her attention? Was she that much of a prize? Or was he set on revenge? His answer suggested she was a prize, but she had to be sure.

"If you want to beat me to exact your revenge, please do so and be done with it," she declared, almost whimpering.

"You've got me all wrong. I find you to be the most desirable woman in the world. I knew in my lowly position I'd never attract your attention. But now, you do want me. And I want you."

Adrienne processed his statements, hearing the sincerity in his voice. Beginning to be reassured, her need now bubbled to the surface. "Then please, if you love me, please make me cum."

Garrett decided to show Adrienne with actions instead of words. He got on his knees and placed his face directly underneath the smoldering blonde's pussy, pressing his lips upward against her sex.

"Don't cum yet, my love." He flicked his tongue back and forth against her swollen, throbbing clit, sending her head spinning into space.

"Oh God Garrett... more! Please! Just a little more!" The muscles in her thighs were quivering, trying to trap his mouth against her. But the spreader bar prevented such an action.

He pushed his tongue deep inside her, pressing his lips against her nether lips, sucking the juices out of her. Adrienne's arms tugged at the pulley rope, and her legs shook as an orgasm started to blossom in her core. Her breathing became irregular as Garrett's oral assault continued.

"Garrett... I'm going to cum! I'm so close!"

"No... not yet. Hold it back, darling." Garrett shifted his body slightly and pulled Adrienne's ass cheeks apart, licking her anus with a broad wet stroke.

"Mmmmmmm... no one has ever licked my ass before," she choked out in a husky voice. She'd now surrendered, not wondering what would happen next but instead staying in the moment.

Garrett stood up, unclamped her nipples, moved behind her and resumed licking her ass. The sudden circulation in Adrienne's nipples created an unexpected surge of pain and lust.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Adrienne screamed as her rock hard nipples were jolted by every pain and pleasure receptor within them.

Garrett knew that she was ready. He used two fingers to rapidly massage her clit while his tongue probed deep into her ass. Adrienne's pucker squeezed his tongue as she ascended toward a head splitting, mind blowing orgasm.

Garrett pulled back for a moment to command, "Cum, Adrienne."

The blonde thrashed against her bonds, swaying her body wildly to and fro as her orgasm took control of it. Beneath the blindfold, her eyes were squeezed shut as Adrienne wanted to remember this glorious feeling, a feeling of bliss she'd never before experienced. Garrett played with her and tongued her until she was gasping and sagging in the ropes.

He backed away, admiring Adrienne now, her nude body, glistening with sweat, still rippling with the aftershocks of her orgasm, the muscles in her legs so well defined as they tensed with each residual wave of pleasure, her breasts heaving with each breath, the saliva dripping from her mouth from the moaning and screaming, and the juices flowing down her thighs, the evidence of her wanton lust.

"Fuck me Garrett," she moaned, several times.

As she was pleading for him to fuck her, Garrett briskly removed his clothes, and increased the room's illumination. He detached the spreader bar, leaving its cuffs around her ankles. Lowering the pulley rope, he caught her in his arms as he released the chain of her wrist cuffs from the rope. Finally, he stripped off her blindfold, and gazed into the deep pools of her wide open eyes, seeing in their depths her desire -- her craving for him now.

He kissed her and she returned his kiss with a passion that shook him to his core. She pressed her body against his -- hot bare skin against warm bare skin.

As their lips parted, she pleaded, "Please! I need you! I need you to fuck me, Garrett!" She'd completely surrendered her control, letting her body make its demands. Her need was so great that a tear trickled down her cheek.

Garrett led her to a padded bench, shaped something like a sawhorse. Instinctively, she laid herself face down upon it, stretching out along its length, settling her breasts so they dangled off of each side. Swiftly, Garrett attached the chain on her wrist cuffs to a hook at the far end of the bench, stretching her arms forward. He secured her ankle cuffs to the bottoms of the near legs of the bench. He gave her only a minute to experience her vulnerability in this restraint.

Adrienne loved the feeling of being so helpless before him. Her body was begging for his touch -- begging to be ravished by him. To give and receive pleasure. Confined as she was, she could only make slight churning motions of her hips, as if her cunt was searching -- seeking to be filled.

Garrett stepped up close behind her, grasping her hips to steady her. The heady scent from the nectar that was leaking from between her engorged, splayed open labia made the blood pound in his temples. The head of his cock touched that wetness, and it was as if a warm, hungry mouth was sucking, pulling him deeper. Her natural lubricant coated his dick as, for the first time, he coupled with the woman he loved. Her cunt sheathed his manhood in its warm embrace as his pubic hairs pressed against her ass cheeks.

"Oh yes... oh yes... oh yes... " Adrienne was murmuring, over and over as she felt him enter her -- claim her! Just as she thought her pleasure couldn't possibly get any more intense, he started fucking her!

Garrett fucked her with long, even, rhythmic strokes, clutching her waist for leverage, and burying himself to the hilt with each thrust. Adrienne's throat became dry with her groans, moans, and panting breaths, and she was only able to rasp out a sound like 'AAAAAAHHHH' as she began a climax unlike any she'd experienced before. He smiled as he felt her cunt muscles rippling and quivering on his cock, as she surrendered to her release.

As her wave of orgasm subsided, Garrett let go of her waist, and leaned forward, reaching out and cupping her tits. The change in angle of his body not only required him to thrust harder into her -- it also increased the pressure of her clit against the bench's padding. Each stroke of his cock caused a massaging force on her sensitive nub. Not only that, his fingers had found her nipples, and were rolling and tugging them masterfully.

Adrienne was building toward another amazing climax when she felt Garrett's cock begin twitching inside her as it started spewing his load. Those spurting sensations took her over her orgasmic precipice and she shrieked as her body was wracked with astonishing sensations! The pleasure was so intense that she actually passed out, her senses overwhelmed, and her body reflexively continuing its shivers and shakes.

When Adrienne came to, she felt Garrett's warm body above hers, enveloping her in a loving, protective embrace. Her cuffs had been removed, and she was on her back on a soft, comfortable mat. Garrett's blue eyes were gazing into hers, and his smile lit up the room. She smiled back.

"Welcome back," he said, grinning. "I'll take your going unconscious as a great compliment, my dear."

"That was remarkable -- indescribable, magical" she murmured. "Thank you," she purred. "So that's what it feels like to cede my control." She smiled. "It was all that you promised -- and more. I hope we can do lots more of it." She looked a little pensive. "Garrett, I'm willing to let you take charge, and fuck me -- use me -- any way that you want." His grin broadened. "But may I express a wish, now and then?"

"Certainly," the magic man replied. He was gratified that she was increasingly in touch with her physical needs.

"Then I wish..." her cheeks radiated a gentle heat against his face as she blushed. "I wish that you'd fuck me, face to face, right here on this mat, and right now."

She got her wish.