Raven's Seduction (The Pleasure Pros #1) (20 page)

From the beginning, Gunner had said that it
was strictly business.
 
With a
couple of record shows under our belts, it would make sense for him to do
whatever it took to ensure more of them.
 
Within a matter of minutes, I was able to go from the bottom of the
roller coaster to the top and back to the bottom.
 

I had to send Gunner another text:

Me:
 
How many women have you gone past level five with?

There was no immediate response, which made
me wonder whether he was busy or just reluctant to tell me.
 
After several minutes, I tossed my phone
into my purse and tried to get some work done.
 
I glanced through a few files and after
about twenty minutes, Gunner finally returned my text.

Gunner:
 
Sorry, I was in a meeting.
 
6
girls have gone past level 5.

Me:
 
How many have made all 10?

Gunner: Only 2.

Me:
 
Really?
 
In 3 years?

Gunner:
 
That’s it.
 
Most are just
curious and do a level or 2. Why?

Me:
 
Just wondering.

Part of me was trying to figure out whether
or not I was just another notch in Gunner’s bedpost.
 
At the same time, knowing that several
other women had successfully navigated the path before me probably would have
eased my mind a bit.
 
Only two other
women had made all ten levels with Gunner?
 
I found that a bit terrifying.
 
How bad do these levels get?

The entire week was a roller coaster of
emotions.
 
Thoughts of being intimate
with Gunner were offset by my fears of electricity and all of the other
unknowns lurking in the near future.
 
By Thursday night, I was wishing that I could somehow get my old boring
life back.
 
After Hannah was tucked
in, I sat in silence on the couch on the verge of another anxiety attack.
 
The more I tried to relax, the worse it
got.
 
Finally, I couldn’t take it
anymore, so I called Gunner.

“How are you?” he asked in his relaxed, sexy
voice.
 
“Are you ready for
tomorrow?”

“I don’t think I can do this,” I blurted out,
bursting into tears.

“I know you can do it.
 
You are one of the strongest women I
have ever met,” he replied, trying to sooth me.

“You think so?
 
I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“Waiting a week between shoots is rough.
 
It gives you too much time to think.”

“Exactly.
 
My mind keeps on going back and forth
over every fear.
 
I don’t know
what’s ahead and it scares the shit out of me.
 
If I knew what was coming, then at least
I could mentally prepare for it,” I pleaded.

“The best advice I can give you is to focus
on the end result.”

“The end result?”

“Yes.
 
Figure out what you want when everything is done and focus on that.
 
Forget about all of the unknown details
between here and there.”

“That’s actually pretty smart,” I told him as
the squeezing in my chest began to ease.

“Well, that’s how I got here,” he replied.

“By focusing on being a porn star?”

“No.
 
By focusing on making half a million dollars per year,” he replied
gruffly. “I thought it would come from a career in financial services, but it
didn’t.”

“Yeah, this is a long ways from financial
services, or real estate for that matter.”

“That’s for sure.
 
I never dreamt I would be doing this, but
I just focused on the money, and all of the other details fell into place.
 
I came scarily close to spending the
past few years in prison instead of the dungeon,” he confessed.

“Seriously?
 
What did you do?”

“It started out completely innocent.
 
My clients and I had lost a lot of money
in the stock market meltdown,” he explained. “One day at the gym, I overheard
someone talking about the fact that their software firm was being
acquired.
 
His primary concern was
being laid off, but for me it was my chance to get out of debt.”

“So you bought the stock?”

“I did.
 
I basically put every last penny into the stock as well as stock
options, then nothing happened for several weeks.
 
So I got nervous.”

“What did you do?”

“The next time I saw the guy at the gym, I
asked him about the progress of the buyout.
 
He told me he thought everything was
still on track.
 
He was a good
friend of the CFO, so I knew he had the inside track.
 
Someone overheard our conversation and
decided that I was one of those one percent bastards.”

“So you got busted for insider trading?”

“Yeah, after the financial meltdown, the
regulators went crazy, cracking down on everyone they could find.” He
sighed.
 
“They needed to
re-establish their credibility and I was someone who they could easily squash.”

“So how did you get out of it?”

“I talked to Renegade at the gym one day
after he showed up in his new Porsche.
 
He told me that Carter had helped him out when he was in trouble.
 
I was so desperate at that point; I
would’ve struck a deal with the Devil himself.”

“Which is exactly what you did, huh?”

“I did.
 
After I signed the contract, my case disappeared into thin air,” he
said.
 
“I found out later that an
SEC attorney had been paid off.
 
In
return, I had to fulfill a five-year contract with Carter.”

“So you have basically been here against your
will ever since?”

“You could say that, but it definitely beats
prison,” he insisted.
 
“Even in my
darkest moments, I kept my faith and focused on making half a million dollars
per year.”

“Wow, I have a whole new appreciation for the
road you took to get here,” I replied, realizing that my situation had actually
been pretty low stress by comparison.

~~~

After hanging up the phone, I began to
reflect on how things had evolved in my own career.
 
I had always focused on how much I
wanted to make instead of how many houses or buildings I wanted to sell.
 
Maybe
I actually made this happen, too
.
 
I had despised my boring life for several years.
 
I wanted to make a ton of money just
like I did in the old days.
 
I
wanted to find an interesting, vibrant man.
 
Maybe
I really am in control and this is all happening for a reason.
 
That realization was another
breakthrough moment for me.
 
Instead
of being ashamed of what I was doing, and fearing the unknown, I decided to
embrace all of it.
 
Hell, I never would’ve thought that I would
enjoy the pain.
 
Maybe I will learn
all kinds of things about myself before this is done.
 
It’s only six more weeks.

When my head hit the pillow that night, I had
a strange feeling of calmness.
 
I
had no idea how it was all going to play out, but I knew exactly what I wanted
in the end.
 
That will be my new focus.

Raven

The following morning I woke up well before
my alarm.
 
Instead of rushing to the
office, I dropped off Hanna and went shopping.
 
I had already worn my three best
dresses, so it was time for something new.
 
Within minutes of entering Lord & Taylor, a beautiful black lace
dress caught my eye.
 
This will look great with my black hair and
blue eyes
.
 
Walking past the
shoe rack, a pair of black
Damas
leather pumps
screamed out to me.
 
They had
pointed toes, three ankle straps with buckles, and four-inch stilettos.
 
These
are definitely proper dungeon attire.

I tried everything on again once I got home,
but this time I put on my old black wig and bright blue contacts.
 
This
is awesome!
 
It was such a stark
contrast to the conservative business suits that I had worn the previous four
days.
 
As I studied myself in the
mirror, I thought back to my revelation from the night before.
 
I
know exactly what I want and I’m simply playing a role to get it.
 
I gave myself a smile and looked
over at the clock.
 
Crap, it’s still nine hours until show
time.
 
I really need to find a
hobby.
 
I decided to walk to the
gym for a workout and booked a massage for Saturday.
 
I thought it would be a good idea to
pamper myself a bit after a night of torture in the dungeon
.
 
I hope he goes easy on
me.

~~~

7:30 PM Friday Evening

Gunner

After telling me the tragic story of a
neighborhood kid getting electrocuted, I knew that Raven would expect me to
back off a bit.
 
It left me walking
a fine line because I had already told Carter that it would involve electricity
and Suzanne had shared that with the members in the promo email.
 
I must admit that I toned down my plans
a bit, but I had to deliver a visually stimulating show.
 

“You look incredible!” I told her as she
walked through the door about an hour before show time.
 

“Thanks!
 
I took the day off and went shopping,” she smiled, settling in for
makeup.

She was dressed to the nines, causing an
immediate change in how I planned to open the scene.
 
She’s
going to hate me, but the members are going to love it.
 
I went on set to make sure that I had
everything I needed for the revised shoot.
 
In our previous show, we had set the bar exceedingly high, so I knew
that it would take some creativity and drama to get me out of my contract.

“How do I look?” she asked, twirling in front
of me in full makeup.

“Like I said, you look absolutely amazing.”

“Too bad I have to take it off right away,”
she replied with a little frown.

“Actually, you’re in luck.
 
I want the members to see how great you
look tonight.”

“Really? I get to wear clothes onto the set?”

“Yeah, I think they will like it.”
 
In
fact, I know they will.

Within a few minutes, the red light began to
flash, indicating that we were sixty seconds from going live.
 

“I’m so damn nervous,” she admitted, tightly
gripping my hand.

“Just remember that nothing I’m going to do
can actually hurt you, regardless of how scary it might seem.”

“Okay, I’ll try,” she said with that nervous
look lingering on her face.

Raven

I have to admit that I was completely petrified
by the time the flashing red changed to a solid red.
 
This
is it.
 
I took a deep breath and
squeezed Gunner’s hand.
 
He gave me
a comforting smirk before dragging me out onto the set.
 
He literally had to drag me because I
was having a hard time getting my legs to move.
 
It had nothing to do with the stilettos,
but everything to do with the raging fear that had steadily risen up from
within me.
 
Please go easy on me, please go easy on me, please go easy on me
, I
kept chanting in my mind, hoping to somehow make it come true.

Once we were on the set, I immediately saw
the apparatus that I would be strapped to for the duration of the show.
 
It looked like a giant swing.
 
Long white ropes hung down from the
ceiling and attached to a brass colored pipe that rested just a few inches off
the ground.
 
That looks pretty tame
, I thought as we approached the ultra-low
swing.

“Hop up on the swing and grab the ropes as
high up as you can,” he instructed after introducing me to the camera.

I followed his instructions as he leaned over
to type something into the computer.
 
The metal pipe fit perfectly between the heel and ball of my foot.
 
I gripped the ropes with my hands and
swung back and forth just slightly.

“You like swings?” he asked, approaching me
from the front.

“I do, sir.”

“That’s good; I think you will learn to like
this one.”
 
He used a small
stepladder to go up behind me and secure each of my wrists with a matching
piece of rope.

“I want you on your tiptoes,” he said as he
cinched the ropes around my wrists and pulled them tight.

“Yes, sir,” I complied, standing on the balls
of my feet.
 
I could instantly feel
the tension in my shoulders and upper back as the ropes strained against my
wrists.

“Spread your legs apart,” he commanded.

“Yes, sir.”
 
I moved one foot to each side of the bar
causing additional tension on my wrists.

“Is that uncomfortable?”

“Yes, sir.” He could obviously see the strain
on my face.

“That’s good because it’s meant to be.” He
laughed, before walking back over to the computer monitor.

“The members have made a request,” he told me
before walking over to a small table and picking up a pair of scissors.
 
“They really like your new dress, but
they want to see it on the floor.”

“It would have been easier to take it off before
I was tied up.”
 
Shit!
 
He’s going to ruin it
.
 
He grabbed the hem of my dress and began
cutting his way right up the center of it.

“Goddammit!” Flew out of my mouth before my
brain had a chance to filter it.

“Did you just swear at me?
 
You dirty slut!” He growled with instant
fire in his eyes.
 
When his scissors
finally came to a stop, I could feel the sharp point resting against the base
of my throat.
 

“I’m so sorry, sir.” I pleaded, instantly
overwhelmed with regret.
 
I felt a
huge lump forming in my throat just above the point of the scissors.

“This is all about learning
self-control.
 
I was simply
following the members’ requests.”
 
He leaned into me, locking his eyes with mine.
 
“Are you willing to pay for your
mistake?”

“Yes, sir!”
 
Oh shit, what have I
done?
 
Please go
easy on me
,
please go easy on me
…

Gunner

After cutting her dress up the center, I
rested the blade against her skin momentarily while locking eyes with her.
 
I could see how excited she was by the
way her jugular vein was pounding within her neck.
 
That was the type of thing our cameraman
always loved to focus in on.
 
The
look on her face was priceless once she realized that she had sworn at me.
 
I had known full well that cutting her
new dress off of her was going to get some type of major reaction.
 
That was exactly why I had done it.
 
By swearing, she set herself up for the
next punishment, which had our members salivating.
 
She had played her part perfectly,
whether she knew it or not.

Her eyes bit into me as I cut both shoulders
of the dress, letting it fall to the floor behind her.
 
I tried to give her a look of
reassurance, but she apparently didn’t catch it.
 
She was still stuck in the world of
reality, where actions had corresponding meanings.
 
It was time for her to realize that
everything on the set was an act, choreographed for the pleasure of the
audience.
 
I glanced over at the
monitor and our audience had indeed loved the opening scene.
 
They
are really going to love what comes next.

“Can I cut those new shoes off you?” I asked,
squinting my eyes slightly.

“No, sir,” she replied, giving me the correct
answer.
 

Maybe she is totally onboard after all
.
 
I walked back to the
table and retrieved my little hotshot.
 
“Do you know what this is?” I asked, holding up the prongs in front of
her face.

“A cattle prod?”
 
Her legs immediately began to tremble.

“Exactly.
 
Do you know what we do with them?”
 
I asked, running the prongs along the
left side of her rib cage.

“Torture people?” she asked.

She’s so cute.
 
I pressed the button and it made an
ominous sound as the coil charged.
 
“Some people might call it torture, but I like to think of it as
behavioral training.”

She released a distressed moan, scrunched up
her face and closed her eyes as I moved the prongs slowly up the inside of her
thigh.
 
“Open your eyes, bitch!”

She let out a small whimper and forced them
open.
 
“If you close your eyes
again, I’m going to give you a jolt right here,” I warned, running the prongs
along her pussy lips.
 
“Believe me,
you don’t want that.”

“No, sir,” she whimpered in agreement.
 

I would never be that mean to her
.
 
I just wanted her to
act as if it was within the realm of possibilities.
 
“What do you call this
area?” I asked, running the prongs along the full length of her lips one more
time.

“My vagina, sir,” she replied meekly.

“Really?
 
I’ve honestly never heard anyone actually use the word ‘vagina.’”

“That’s what it’s called, sir.”
 
She replied, not understanding my
question.

“I want to know what
you
call it.” I continued to tease her with the tips of the prod.

“My
va
-jay-jay, I
guess,” she embarrassingly admitted.

“Really... that’s rather childish.
 
Do you know what it really is?”

“A vagina?” she asked once again.

“No, Sapphire taught me that it’s a ‘cunt.’”
I replied, replacing the cattle prod with my gloved fingers.
 
“She told me that a cunt is the most
powerful thing in the world.
 
People
have died for it.
 
Wars have been
fought over it, and every young man obsesses over how to get into it.”
 
I slid two fingers inside of her and was
met with an excited flow of juices.