Sometimes I hate my editor Barb. She is very good at what she does, I will admit that. She can take my sterling prose and put just the right gloss on it to make it even more sparkling. She is also my biggest fan and my loudest cheerleader at "Participation" magazine.
I'm sure you have read at least one of my articles. It might have been my cover story about taking part in the world's largest strip poker tournament. Maybe you read or heard about the time my husband Jim and I acted as groomsman and bridesmaid for a nude wedding that featured over a thousand guests. I WASN'T totally nude, the bridal party had matching wedding garters and the groomsmen all wore black bow ties. I got lots of fan mail for that story. There were even more than a few wedding proposals but I am committed to my husband Jim. Hand off ladies! That six foot hunk of muscle with the smoldering looks is MINE ALL MINE! We have been together since college. I seduced him and have never regretted a moment since. I got him his gig at my magazine. He often accompanies me on assignments and he does wonders with a camera. He's also not a bad writer on his own. Nowhere near as good as me, obviously, but he does have a far better than average ability.
I'm NOT conceited but I know that I am very attractive. I've been turning heads since I passed beyond my tomboy phase. I an five foot seven with long auburn hair and an ivory complexion . My legs and arms a long and lean and you can bounce a quarter off my tummy. I have been approached by various adult male magazines but I don't think those suit me. I prefer Jim's camera and my own veto power over his images. Being attractive has its privileges. I can disarm virtually any heterosexual male and get them to confess things they would not ever tell their own wives or best friends. The kind of stuff that other journalists take weeks to crack, I get handed in an afternoon. The fact that I am so good has made me some great friends and some very powerful enemies. The fact that I am unabashed enough to let "Participation" publish a luminous photo of me in my underwear on the cover brings me all kinds of attention both good and bad. What really grinds the gears of my detractors however is the prizes that I have won
Its only politics preventing me from winning the Pulitzer, I've been nominated four times! The old goats that give out the award simply can't wrap their brains around the fact that I am as talented a writer as I am a photogenic female. I'll probably be permitted to win the big one if I age another thirty years and let myself go to the point that Hillary Clinton makes me look like one of the witches from "Macbeth." The movie contracts and the book deals are wonderful consolation prizes however.
Back to Barb. Although I am good at reading most people , Barb's mind flies off to reaches that I can not contemplate. She loves the magazine but she loves big sales and ancillary movie and TV rights even more. She is the kind of editor most magazines covet. She wants her magazine to be number one and will stop at nothing to see that it is in fact number one.
She called Jim and I into her office. She was wearing the fake smile she puts on just before asking one of her writers for something outrageous, challenging, or dangerous or perhaps all three. The moment we entered her office I could tell that she had something big to spring on us.
"Ruthie, Jim!" Have a seat." She said in her cloying manner.. "I love the piece you did for the September issue, our readers have ordered so many extra copies that we had to order another press run and the digital downloads! You two are a big reason why this magazine has such a great bottom line. Which started me thinking."
Whenever I hear Barb say "Which started me thinking" I KNOW that I am in for it.
"The two of you work great as a team but I think i can get two stories out of our next venture, that is if you are game. What do the two of you know about the BDSM community?"
I replied something along the lines that I did not like whips and chains and collars or some such. That did not deter her in the slightest.
Jim, sweet darling Jim defended me I can still recall his words, "Look Barb, we have done a lot of things for this magazine but I'm not about to turn my wife over to some bruiser with a whip and a bad attitude."
Like I said It did not deter her at all. Her fake smile grew broader and she said. "Hear me out. First take a look at this check."
I like to live well. I think most people do. This check was a thing of beauty. The way all of those zeroes made such delightfully perfect circles. Jim and I decided to hear our editor out.
"Don't get too excited this particular check is a dummy but I have the letter verifying that a real one will be issued to the two of you once you turn in your stories. Your deadline is three months from the end of this month. That gives you a couple of weeks to do your homework. Each of you will tell the same story from your respective genders. The studio is so excited by this story idea that they bought the films rights from the magazine even before the story has even begun to be written. This check is your share of the movie rights. I'll be honest with you. This story could support this magazine for the next three years without even having to sell a single line of advertising. That is, of course, if the two of you are willing."
Jim was losing patience with Barb at this point and asked her to lay all of her cards on the table. He is such a good bullshit detector.
Her next words were some of the hardest to take that I have ever heard.
"I have been contacted by members of the local BDSM community. They like our magazine and they like you two. They feel that our magazine will give an honest portrayal of their community. Like all groups who are considered outside the mainstream, there is a great deal of misapprehension of what their community is all about and how they operate. What they propose is a two part story, one part told from the male perspective and the other from the female perspective of a two month voluntary entry into a submissive relationship. In simple terms Jim. Ruthie you will be collared slaves of a male and a female dominant. You will have to do EVERYTHING they ask of you for two months. You spend the next month after that writing your stories and the check is yours."
"The representatives of the BDSM community feel that they have found suitable matches for the both of you. They also want to assure you that neither of you will be permanently marked or scarred. Both of you will have a safe word that must be obeyed immediately. It WILL involve a great deal of sex, especially for you Ruthie but the two of you are promised patience and gentility. However, obedience IS expected and you MAY be compelled to obey if you are recalcitrant."
With that Barb had played her hand. She smiled like a manikin, almost daring us to respond. I looked at my husband, he looked at me. We decided that we needed some privacy and Barb left us alone in her office. I pride myself on taking ANY story especially ones that make me uncomfortable. Taking stories like that stretch and grow a person. I have grown a great deal since I married Jim. I barely recognize the girl I was in college when I compare her to the woman I am now. I won't go into all the details of the conversation between Jim and myself. Suffice to say it is a rare husband who is willing to let his wife enslave herself to a total stranger for two months. I also considered Jim. I HATED HATED HATED the idea of some other woman ordering him around. And then I imagined Jim pleasuring her. Jim is MY man and I an very protective and very jealous. Turning him over to some other woman terrified me. But I also knew that our marriage could survive even this. We forgave each other for the sins and infidelities that would be required of this story. Almost an hour later we called Barb back into her office and agreed to do the story. She smiled so hard I was afraid she would split both of her lips.
The next couple of weeks Jim and I did a TON of research. Books, websites, videos. I understood what my role would be, to serve and to comply. Those I felt sure i could do. Whether or not I could enjoy doing those things at the behest of a total stranger was another question entirely. I like sex a great deal but, despite many temptations Jim and I have remained faithful to each other. Partly out of deference and partly because I liked the way the word rolled off my tongue, I started calling Jim "Master" He reciprocated by calling me "Goddess." I really liked being called Goddess. When out two month adventure through the land of BDSM is over, I think I will insist that Jim refer to me as Goddess henceforth. Once we took turns pretending to collar each other and practicing our roles. I think Jim makes a better sub than I do. It seemed to come naturally to him but I was not about to tell him that.
Finally the time came for us to report to the BDSM convention at a down town hotel. Jim and I shuttered the apartment and dressed casually yet fashionably. The night before our personal D Day we made love several times. I told Jim with complete sincerity that I would miss his cock more than anything else. I hoped it was the truth.