Thanks so much to NewOldGuy77 for editing!
"Pearl! Stefan has a business proposition for you. He's begging you to call him. Do you still have his number? Well, here's his card anyway."
Giorgio left no pauses in his monologue for a reply, just thrusting a card into my hand as he greeted me. He'd been running around breathlessly all evening, dealing with a large group of people who were being very demanding. He hadn't even been able to greet us, and we'd ended up at a table in the middle of the restaurant as a result.
"What kind of business proposal?" I asked, wondering how Stefan knew I was in business.
"Oh, it's some kind of NFD thing, or NFC, or something? I don't know, you'll have to ask him, dear," Giorgio said lightly as he bustled away.
"NFT?" I questioned, but I was talking to myself.
"What's that about?" Connor asked as he returned from the bathroom, nodding at the card I still held in my hand.
"Giorgio says Stefan has a business proposal, for me?" I said, bewildered. "Do you think he wants to buy a business or something?"
"Does he know you work in acquisitions?"
"No, not as far as I know..."
"Well, it probably has something to do with modeling then," Connor reasoned, sounding a little uncertain.
"No, that can't be right," I shook my head, frowning.
"Why not?"
"Well, I'm not a model," I said firmly.
"But, you modelled," Connor grinned at me. "And you got paid, which makes you a professional model. A professional
nude
model."
I flushed, "That was a one-time thing."
I slid the card into my purse, next to the duplicate card that Stefan had given me two months ago, the
one
time I'd modelled.
"Are you going to call him?" Connor asked.
"No," I said, blurting out my knee-jerk reaction. "Well, maybe," I softened the denial.
Stefan had been very kind to me and maybe he did need some business help. I was absolutely not going to model for anything, though. I was positive about that. Even if the idea sent shivers of delight through my pelvis.
"Why not call him now?" Connor prodded as we left Margo's ten minutes later.
Because I wanted to just take Connor home, to my apartment, and enjoy our evening without worrying about strange business deals, that's why. After spending too many weekends at my boss's house, I'd put my foot down this weekend and invited Connor to my place. I was looking forward to having him in my space for once.
But I was curious... And if I didn't call him, the curiosity would bother me all night.
"Alright, alright..." I surrendered.
I handed Connor my keys and sat in the passenger seat of my car. Since we were heading to my apartment, we hadn't taken the MG TC Roadster. The last time Connor had parked Tessie at my place, he hadn't been able to relax due to worry. There would be none of that this time. As Connor pulled out of the parking lot, I entered Stefan's number into my phone.
"Hello?" Stefan answered through the blue tooth in my car.
"Hey, it's Pearl."
"Hi! Did Giorgio give you my message?"
"Mhm."
"Great, so when can you meet to talk about it?"
Meet? Oh no, this couldn't be good. The only reason he wanted to discuss his proposal face to face was because he thought I'd say 'no' more easily over the phone. I just knew it was a ploy. And, unfortunately for me, it was a ploy that worked.
"We can meet you tonight?" Connor butted in.
I gave him the evil eye, but he just grinned at me and shrugged. Connor must be really curious about what Stefan wanted too, I figured.
"Who's we?" Stefan asked, understandably confused.
"It's Connor, I met you at the Hog Roast."
"Connor? You the one that beat up that jerk that bit Pearl?"
"Yeah, that's me!" Connor answered brightly.
"Oh, are you with Pearl now?" Stefan sounded almost disappointed, or was I imagining that?
"Yes, I am," Connor confirmed with a grin.
I let Connor sort out where to meet with Stefan. It wasn't like Connor to talk for me like that, I frowned. What was going on with him? Maybe it was just curiosity and excitement at the mystery, I decided.
The art studio where Stefan asked us to meet him was bustling with activity. Connor and I wandered around a bit before finding Stefan. I was fascinated to see that all the art was electronic, photography, digital, and video art were displayed on giant screens that covered the walls.
When I looked closer, I realized that all the content was being sold as NFT's. What a world, where digital content was physically displayed in a gallery to be purchased in person, then electronically transferred. The concept was still working its way through my business brain when we found Stefan.
"Isn't it great?" Stefan asked in lieu of a greeting.
I glanced at him and couldn't help but take a sweeping look over his full body. Stefan was dressed nicely in a button-down shirt and slacks that accentuated his broad shoulders and toned stomach. He was just as big as I remembered, taller even than Connor, and more muscular. Connor was built like an athlete; Stephan was built like a bear.
"Yeah, this is all really cool!" Connor enthused, sliding his arm around me.
"This is insane." I muttered.
"What do you know about NFT's?" Stefan asked us, but he was looking at me.
"Non-fungible tokens," I said, "Someone buys ownership of some digital content, and it gets stored in their electronic wallet to be used as they wish."
"Exactly! And someone wants to commission one, a special request."
This just kept getting weirder and weirder. Since when did anyone commission an NFT? I thought people just offered them up for sale, as this gallery was apparently doing. But it was art, I guessed. And commissioning art was as old as time.
"What does this have to do with me?" I frowned, now all but positive that Connor had been right that this was about modeling. And given that Stefan was involved, it was probably some sort of nude bondage modelling. And didn't that actually sound like fun?
"Well... Maybe I better let Ted explain," Stefan waved across the gallery and another man came over.
"Ted's the owner of the gallery. Ted, meet Pearl and her boyfriend, Connor." Stefan said, his tone turning just a bit colder as he said boyfriend.
Ted, a tall, bald, man with a slight paunch, and a long goatee, looked down at me over the top of his wire frame glasses. He smirked a little as he examined me, which resulted in three very different feelings: irritation, arousal, and unease.
"Can you tell Pearl what you told me, about the request you got?"
"Sure," Ted said amiably. "So, as you can see, I've started this gallery to be dedicated to NFT's. And as a result, I sometimes get requests for specific NFT's. It's not common, but it happens.
"Well, last week a gentleman came in with a request. He wants a gif of a woman suspended in bondage. And not just any woman! No, he asked for a beautiful, fat, woman - his words, not mine," Ted assured me, holding up his hands as if to stave off some emotional outburst.
"Upon further conversation, it turns out that he'd heard of exactly the kind of lady he desires getting trussed up like a hog for some college party. Clearly an urban legend..."
My whole face was on fire, regardless of my attempts to pretend no reaction. I couldn't even look at Ted to see if he'd noticed my instant flush.
"Anyway," Ted continued blithely, "I went in search of a bondage expert and was assured that Stefan here is the best in town. And he told me that he knew just the perfect woman for the job, which would be you."
I took a deep breath and counted to ten as I leaned into Connor's chest for emotional support.
"I can definitely rig you so that your face isn't in the gif," Stefan said quickly, seeing an impending 'no,' written on my face.
I shook my head even as my traitorous clit twitched, and my nipples tightened with excitement at the idea of being suspended by Stefan again. The first time around had been quite remarkable. The memory of being spit roasted, with Stefan's steady brush strokes and the metal rod pressed against my clit resulting in uncontrollable orgasms still stirred me. I shuddered and hugged closer to Connor.
"Tell me all the details," I said, resorting to my standard request that gave me time to think.
Connor squeezed my side and I looked up at him. He gave me a little grin and wiggled his eyebrows. I suspected he was in favor of my return to nude modeling, and that set my clit off on another wave of arousal. I exhaled slowly and turned back to Ted, striving for rationality.