“Leather or Knot” by SwitchMan (switchman2002@yahoo.com)

F/m, M/f, bdsm, bondage, machine, slave, toys, kidnapping, cons, reluctant, nc, torture, XX

Chapter 1 – First Impressions

Chapter 2 – The Job Interview

Chapter 3 – Dan’s First Modeling Session

Chapter 4 – Things Get Personal

Chapter 5 – Amanda’s in a Bind

Chapter 6 – Dan’s Private Modeling Session

Chapter 7 – A Lapse in Judgment

Chapter 8 – Honesty is the Best Policy

Chapter 9 – Dan’s New Position

Chapter 1 – First Impressions

It was late June in the Midwestern college town.  Three weeks before, Dan had received his degree in Information Technology, but instead of celebrating, he was concerned for his future.  The recent economic downturn had ruined his hopes for landing a job in his field, and for the first three weeks after graduation, Dan moped around his rented house checking the mail every afternoon for responses to job applications only to find nothing but bills.

With his grant money dwindling and no immediate job prospects, he took the advice of a classmate.  He decided that he would accept the first job he was offered, no matter how menial, just to get some money coming in.  To start his expanded job search, he answered an ad for a job in a clothing store on the edge of the city near the warehouse district.  Using a map from the Internet, he found the location, but before he even reached the door, he knew that this was not an ordinary clothing store.  It was called “Leather or Knot,” and it seemed to be a kinky sex shop.  The ad for the job neglected to mention that little detail, but having come all the way to the shop, Dan decided to check it out.

As he stepped into the shop, a tiny bell above the door announced his arrival.  The shop was empty except for a petite 20-something clerk and two customers who were laughing and checking out the bondage gear hanging along the wall.  The clerk had long brown hair and teardrop shaped brown eyes.  She was about 5 and a half feet tall, athletic, well proportioned, and she wore a leather outfit that was somewhat revealing, but still left room for your imagination.  Dan took in the woman’s stiletto heels, fishnet stockings, leather bustiere and leather collar as she approached him.  Dan thought she was stunning in spite of the dark make-up and heavy red lipstick – or maybe because of it.

“Hi, I’m Amanda.  Can I help you?” the young woman asked in a pleasant voice.

“I’m Dan.  I’m answering the ad in yesterday’s issue of The Metro Scene,” Dan replied, “but now that I’m here, I’m not sure that this is the right place for me.”

“I understand.  That was my first reaction as well, but why don’t you take a look around.  We can talk after I help the couple in the corner.”

Dan agreed and began to wander around the shop as Amanda tended to her customers.  He could hear Amanda give the same introduction to the couple that she had just given to him.  She must have practiced her greeting to put people at ease.  The couple introduced themselves as Brian and Shelly, and they began asking Amanda about various items.  Dan could tell that this was a bit of an adventure for them.  He guessed that they were newlyweds looking for an exciting change of pace.

Unlike that couple, Dan wasn’t born yesterday.  He had seen most of the items in the shop at one time or another.  Movies like Pulp Fiction, Saw and Hostel were slowly giving cuffs, collars, ballgags and blindfolds a place in mainstream pop culture.  He just couldn’t envision actually wearing such things.  He thought back to an old girlfriend of his who once asked him if she could tie him to his bed frame.  He had always wondered what would have happened if he had agreed.

Shaking himself free of his reminiscence, he looked over to Amanda and the couple.  They were in front of a three-way mirror in a far corner of the store.  Brian was trying on a leather jacket and laughing.  Amanda stood behind him holding up the jacket so that he could slip his arms into the sleeves, and Shelly giggled as she fastened first four sets of buckles running down the front.

“So with this on, he’ll be helpless to resist me?” Shelly asked as Amanda smiled and nodded.

With a closer look, Dan could tell that it was no ordinary jacket.  There was only a single sleeve; a tube which ran from one shoulder to the other, trapping the man’s arms across his back.  Brian looked down and laughed as Shelly reached between his legs and fastened a crotch strap to the lowermost buckle in the front.  He twisted from side to side as he looked in the mirrors.  Shelly smiled at him and said to Amanda “We’ll take it.”

“Whoa, hold on a minute.” Brian said with a concerned smile.

“What’s wrong?  Doesn’t it fit?” his partner asked.

“Well, sure it fits, but it costs little more than we agreed to spend.”

“Oh, that again.” said Shelly as she turned away from him rolling her eyes.  “Just indulge me for a bit.  If you really don’t want to buy it, just say so.  In the meantime, let’s look at the other things that we picked out.”

He smiled back at her.  “Fair enough.”

Shelly then fastened a posture collar around Brian’s neck and attached a long leather leash to a ring on the front of it.  Next, she removed a ball gag from a hook on the nearby wall and placed it in front of Brian’s mouth.

“You trust me, right?” said Shelly, nodding and smiling.

“With all my heart,” replied Brian as he opened his mouth and wrapped his lips around the oversized ball.

Shelly tightened the leather strap, as Brian made a series of muffled grunts that sounded like “Hey, that’s pretty tight.”  As Brian shifted in his single-sleeved jacket, Amanda surreptitiously handed Shelly a small padlock which she applied to the gag strap without Brian’s knowledge.

Shelly came around in front of Brian and held his face in her hands.  She looked him straight in the eyes and said “Kneel” in such a commanding voice that it startled Dan.  Brian wasn’t startled, though.  He merely complied.

Shelly reached into her purse and removed a pair of small items.  As she inserted one into each of Brian’s ears, Dan realized that they were some sort of ear plugs.  Finally, Shelly put a heavily padded blindfold over Brian’s eyes; helped Brian to his feet; and lead him around by the leash.  She watched herself in the mirrors as she walked Brian from one end of the mirrors to the other.

“Like I said,” Shelly announced to Amanda, “we’ll take it.  All of it.”

Shelly led Brian to the checkout counter.  She tugged the leash twice, and he stopped.

Dan couldn’t believe what he was seeing.  He wandered over to Shelly, Brian and Amanda as they stood near the checkout.  Amanda and Shelly were talking pleasantly as Shelly paid for the items using a credit card that she slipped from Brian’s back pocket.

“Excuse me.” Dan said to Shelly as he approached, “It really isn’t any of my business, but are you sure that he wants you to buy all of that stuff?”

As Shelly turned away from Amanda and toward Dan, he could see Amanda’s face turn stark white.  Shelly glared at him for a second, and replied “You’re damned right it isn’t any of your business.”

Dan was dumbfounded, but after a short pause, Shelly regained her congenial demeanor and said “Look, you may not realize this, but we have an understanding.  If my boyfriend didn’t want me to buy this stuff, he could just say so.”

As Dan still tried to find his voice, Shelly turned to Brian and said in a sugary sweet voice “Brian, honey, just let me know if you want to put any of this stuff back.”

They all looked at Brian in silence for a moment.  He stood in front of them all without moving.

“There.  It’s settled.”  Shelly said smiling and turning back to Amanda.

Amanda handed Shelly a receipt and deferentially said “You’re all set.  Sorry about the inconvenience, Mistress Shelly.”

“No problem, dear.  Boys will be boys.” Shelly replied as she turned, smiling and winking at Dan.  She gave the leash two quick tugs and Brian soundlessly, slowly followed Shelly out of the shop and into their car which was parked at a meter directly across from the door.

As the shop door closed and the small bell tinkled, Amanda, now red as a firecracker, turned to Dan and scowled “What was THAT about?  Do you want to get me fired; or worse yet, punished?”

Dan felt bad about interfering with Amanda’s sale, but he still didn’t understand how she could let that woman deceive the man who said he trusted her with all of his heart.

“Look, I didn’t want to mess anything up for you, but that guy didn’t want to spend that much money.  She just totally took advantage of him, and he didn’t even realize it.” Dan explained with an increasing crescendo in his voice.

Amanda just shook her head.

“You should stay out of things you don’t understand.” Amanda started.  “That man and his Mistress are regular customers in here.  They come in here twice a month and drop between five hundred and a thousand dollars in here every time.”

Dan was confused.  “But that doesn’t make sense.  I heard you introduce yourself as though you had never met them before,” He said with a question in his voice, “and they told you their names, as well, like they were strangers meeting you for the first time.”

“Yes, that’s part of their game.” Amanda explained.  “Every time they come in here, I am supposed to pretend that it’s their first time in.  She picks out a set of bondage gear, and he tries it on.  If they like it, they buy it, and he wears it out of the shop.  If they don’t like it, he takes it off, and there goes my commission.”

“But Amanda,” Dan said pleadingly, “it was pretty clear that the guy hadn’t made up his mind.  It was also clear that he was leaning against the purchase.”

“Again, you are speaking of things that you don’t understand.” Amanda said slowly shaking her head in pitiful disgust.  “Don’t you remember when she looked him in the eyes and asked if he trusted her?”

“Sure.  That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” he replied.  “He trusted her, and she deceived ---”

“No!” Amanda cut in.  “He trusted her, and she accepted that trust.”  She paused to let it sink in.  “Don’t you see?  He wanted her to make the decision.”  She paused again.  “If he really objected to the purchase, he would have let her know when they stopped at the checkout counter.  The two tugs on the leash were his cue that she was buying the gear.  Similarly, the two tugs on the leash before they left was her cue to him that the purchase was complete and that they were leaving.”

Dan stood there feeling stupid.

“I didn’t know.” he said feebly.

“Of course you didn’t.”  Amanda said understandingly.  “How could you have?  That’s probably why Mistress Shelly lightened up before she left.”

Amanda smiled a smile that melted Dan’s heart.

“If you’re still interested in hearing about the position, I can tell you about it and the shop.” Amanda said, changing the subject.  “Of course, after your missteps of the past few minutes, I would understand if you wanted to find a job that was more… vanilla.”

Now Dan smiled.  “No, I’m still interested.  Actually, more so than when I came in.”

“Alright then, let’s start the tour at the front of the store.” Amanda said, and Dan knew that he was about to get quite an interesting post-graduate education.

Chapter 2 – The Job Interview

Unless you were paying attention, you might not immediately realize that the shop sold restraints and the like.  The shop window was mostly filled with trendy leather clothing.  One had to look a bit closer to see the cuffs, harnesses and other accessories displayed near the feet of the well dressed mannequins.

From the front door, Amanda showed Dan how the store was laid out.  Toward the front of the store, the owner kept the more respectable merchandise: coats, skirts, pants and shoes.  The center of the store held most of the leather restraints.  They were displayed on along the walls and on free-standing racks arranged to form small aisle ways.  At the rear of the store, the owner kept the more severe restraints and accessories.  Looking around, Dan noticed a full-length cage hanging from the ceiling and a set of iron manacles chained to a 50 lb iron ball.  Several glass display cases along the back wall housed a complete array of torture implements:  pinwheels, cock cages, nipple clips, and the like.

In the back corner farthest from the front door, there were three full-length mirrors, each at a slight angle to the others.  An inconspicuous doorway behind the mirrors separated the shop from a private back area.  The back area provided access to a loading dock, a storage room, a spacious private dressing area and a small back office.

After making a fairly quick circuit around the shop, Amanda completed the tour at the checkout counter located toward the front of the store.

“Now, that wasn’t so scary, was it?” Amanda said with a smile.  Dan smiled back.  “Still interested in the position?” she said with raised eyebrows.

“So far, so good.” said Dan.

“Great, but this job isn’t quite as easy as it looks.” cautioned Amanda.  “From an outsider’s perspective, it probably looks like all we have to do is humor our kinky clientele and operate a cash register.  In fact, there is a lot more to it.”

“Well, I’m sure there’s inventory and a bit of office management, but how hard can it be?” said Dan.

With that, Amanda began to slowly peel the onion that was “Leather or Knot.”

“To begin with, the owner is anonymous.  Although I couldn’t actually identify him… or her, I’m fairly certain that we’ve met.  I was told by the person who hired me that the owner comes into the shop on a regular basis as a customer or delivery person in order to keep tabs on how the shop is running.”

“Great!” said Dan.  “So that dominatrix or the guy who just left here trussed up like a Christmas goose could have been the owner?”

“Theoretically, but not likely,” replied Amanda as though she had already thoroughly considered this possibility.  “They have only been coming into the shop for the past nine months, and I’ve been working here over a year.”

“Okay, well at least I haven’t embarrassed myself in front of the owner, yet.  That’s a plus.”

Amanda laughed. 

“So, how does the owner provide any direction without direct contact?” Dan asked.

“Well, there is a store manager, Lisa.  She communicates with the owner via e-mail, and she implements any changes the owner requires.”  Amanda explained.  “Actually, any of us can communicate with the owner via e-mail, or text message, in case of an emergency.  The e-mail address and texting number are posted on the bulletin board in the office.”

Amanda then began to tell Dan about the compensation and the clientele.  Dan was disappointed to discover that the sales associates only made minimum wage, but he perked up when Amanda mentioned that they also received a 20% commission on all sales.  That meant that Amanda just pocketed over $100 on her last sale.  No wonder she didn’t want him screwing things up!

“Our customer base is split among three general groups: newbie thrill-seekers, goth-types and the regulars, or as I like to refer to them – the irregulars.”  Even though she joked about them, Amanda respected them.  “I’m quite certain that they are all educated, well-paid business people based on the amount they spend on this stuff.”

Amanda paused to think.  “What else would you like to know?”

“Why do you need another sales associate?  It seems to me that between you and Lisa, you can handle the shop.  It isn’t like there’s a line of people waiting to checkout.”

“Well, actually, we are very short-handed right now.  We’re actually hoping to find two sales associates through the ad.  Shop rules require two sales associates to be on duty at all times.  As you can see, right now, I’m the only one minding the store.  So, the owner wants to find at least one new associate ASAP.”

“What’s the big deal about having two sales associates on the floor at the same time?”

“Security,” Amanda answered flatly.

She explained that some customers like the sales associates to model the bondage gear.  Hence, the rule requiring two sales associates.  You can’t operate a store with a bit-gag in your mouth and your hands cuffed behind your back.

“Currently, with only one sales associate on duty at a time, the store has temporarily suspended that customer service practice.” Amanda explained.

“Whoa, hold on a second.  You mean that I have to let the customers tie me up to make a sale?”

“Not every time.” Amanda said to calm him down.  “Besides, we do get a pretty hefty commission.  With that reward comes a commensurate amount of risk.”  Amanda paused to let it sink in.

“Besides, the owner doesn’t condone the customers binding the staff.” she continued.  “For safety reasons, when a sales associate is asked to model the gear, the gear is applied by the other associate – again, you see the need for two associates.  Sales associates are advised to use extreme caution if a customer wishes to apply the gear to either another customer or to the sales associate.  While it is not prohibited, each sales associate should use his or her best judgment on such occasions.  The shop only takes responsibility if the gear is applied by another associate.”

“That’s understandable.  It must be a huge insurance issue.”

“I guess.  I never really thought about it.  All sales associates who model the gear have a safe word or gesture that the other associates know.  When the safe word is used, the other associate must immediately remove all of the gear that they applied until the bound associate can remove the rest themselves.”

“Wow.  That’s a lot to take in.” Dan said shaking his head.

“Well, do you have any other questions?

Dan thought for a moment.  “Yeah, do I have to wear the leather outfits?  They really aren’t my style.”

“No.  Clothing is optional.”

Seeing Dan’s look of disbelief, she quickly added “What I meant to say was that the style of clothing is optional.  I started out wearing street clothes, but I switched over to wearing leather after my first week.  You see, if you wear the merchandise, you get it at cost because the owner considers it good advertising.  But if you buy bondage gear, you don’t get any employee discount.”

“That stinks.  Why not give the staff some incentive to learn about the equipment firsthand?”

“Well, there’s always the on-the-job training that I just told you about, but actually, there is another incentive.  The other sales associate on duty is credited with the sale, and gets a 40% commission.  Apparently, the owner believes that peer pressure to buy merchandise is a stronger incentive than an employee discount for the purchaser.”

“Have you ever bought any bondage gear?” Dan asked.

Amanda laughed.  “No.  Nobody’s made a dime in commission off me.  I just don’t see the appeal.”

“Well, I’ve never bought anything like this stuff either – though I’ve been curious once or twice.”

“Your curiosity could be satisfied if you decide to take the position,” Amanda said hopefully.

“Oh.  So, you’re offering it to me?” Dan said in surprise.

“It’s yours if you want it.  You’re in the right place at the right time.”

“When would I start?”

“Tomorrow at 10:00 am.”

“I’ll be here,” said Dan with a decisive nod.

“Great!” Amanda said beaming.  “To start with, you’ll be working mostly with me.  Let’s consider tomorrow a training day.”

Chapter 3 – Dan’s First Modeling Session

Friday morning couldn’t arrive quickly enough for Dan.  He had difficulty sleeping through the night with thoughts of Amanda wandering through his head.  He couldn’t quite put his finger on why he kept thinking of her.  It might have been the exotic nature of the shop.  It might have been the slightly over-applied make-up.  It might have been her smiling eyes.  Hell, it could have simply been that he was a guy, but whatever the reason, he tingled at the thought of her.

He arrived at the shop promptly at 10:00 Friday morning to find that Amanda had arrived a few minutes earlier, leaving the door unlocked for him.  The familiar bell sounded to announce his punctuality.

“Good morning,” called out Amanda from the back of the store.

“G’morning,” Dan replied, trying to sound casual.

“Could you lock the door until we open at 11:00?” Amanda asked.

Dan locked the door behind him, and Amanda offered him a cup of freshly brewed coffee from the back office.  They discussed the importance of punctuality when operating a retail business, and they started working.

Amanda unpacked and sorted the merchandise that arrived late in the day on Thursday via UPS ground.  Dan updated the computerized inventory and applied price tags.  Once they were finished, they opened the store for business and placed the merchandise in the correct locations throughout the store.  They took their time, and talked about current events until they finished around noon.  Then, each of them took turns eating lunch in the back office while the other minded the front of the store.

All in all, Dan thought, it was turning out to be a pretty typical retail position; maybe even a bit mundane.

About an hour after he finished his lunch, the first customer of the day came in the shop.  She was a professionally dressed woman in her early thirties.  She had long blonde hair that came from a bottle, based on her naturally dark eyebrows, but not even her poor choice of hair color could distract one from her beautiful facial features.  Perfect eyes, nose and lips juxtaposed with her high cheek bones and dimples made her a magnet for the eyes.

Amanda had the feeling that she had met the woman somewhere before, but she couldn’t quite recall where or when.  Shrugging off her déjà vu, Amanda nudged Dan and whispered “Go ahead, this one’s yours.”

Dan came around the counter and politely said “Hello, I’m Dan.  Can I help you find anything?”

“Yes, I’m looking for a complete set of restraints for my partner,” she said in a business like tone.  “I am particularly interested in an effective gag.”

“Okay,” said Dan, pausing to get his bearings.  “Let’s step over here and I can show you some of our beginner sets.”

“No, thank you,” the woman said, quickly cutting Dan off.  “We’ve run through the beginner gear.  I am interested in something more extreme.”

“Okay, then,” Dan replied, changing directions.  “We need to be looking toward the back of the store.”

Dan lead her to the rear of the shop, and helped her pick out a 4 inch posture collar, a single sleeve, and two spreader bars for use on thighs and ankles.  To complete the ensemble, the woman selected an inflatable gag and a locking leather hood with eye pads.

Once they had gathered all of the gear, Dan began to lead the woman to the checkout counter, but she caught his arm and said “The person who recommended this shop suggested that I have a sales associate demonstrate the effectiveness of the gear.  Do you folks do that sort of thing?”

Dan looked over at Amanda and saw her grinning from ear to ear.  He turned back to the customer and shakily said “Well, sure we can demonstrate it.”  He called out to Amanda.  “Amanda, could you lock the front door, flip the sign and come back here to help me demonstrate this gear?”

Amanda was already two steps ahead of him.  She was approaching Dan and the customer having already taken care of securing the shop.

“Hi.  I’m Amanda, the senior sales associate here at Leather or Knot.” Amanda offered.  “The friend who referred you here was correct.  We’ll gladly demonstrate anything on our show room floor.  Would you like Dan to model the gear clothed or unclothed?”

The woman raised her eyebrows.

“Actually, my lover will probably be wearing underwear to start.  So, why don’t we try it that way?” she said thoughtfully.

Dan swallowed hard, and slowly began to unbutton his shirt.  The woman gently reached over to stop his hands from their work as she continued to look at Amanda.

“But actually, I would prefer that you model the gear, my dear.” the woman said with a slight curl at the corners of her lips.  “You are just about her size.”

There was a nearly imperceptible moment of surprised silence, and Amanda said “Of course.”

Dan couldn’t believe his luck.  Not only had he avoided being bound on his first day, but he got to do it to Amanda.  He squirmed a bit from the bulge in his pants, and re-buttoned his shirt.

Amanda stripped off her leather clothing to reveal her beautifully trim body in a lacey thong and push-up bra.  She was spectacular.

The woman held Amanda’s chin and gazed into her eyes.  “From this point forward, I am Mistress Juliette.  Do you understand?”

Amanda lowered her gaze and nodded.  “Yes, Mistress Juliette.”

The woman picked up the collar and began to move toward Amanda.  With a concerned look from Amanda, Dan remembered that he was not supposed to let the customer apply the restraints.

“Mistress Juliette, it’s the store policy that only another sales associate may apply the restraints.  Please, allow me to assist.”  Dan held out his hand politely, and Juliette complied.

Dan tenderly applied the posture collar to Amanda’s beautifully pale neck.  As he reached around behind her head to buckle it, he tried to catch her eyes, but she kept her eyes focused at his feet.

He reached over to a nearby shelf; removed a set of small padlocks, and fastened one to the buckle of the posture collar.  The click seemed particularly satisfying, and his bulge grew a little bit harder.

Mistress Juliette then handed him the single sleeve, and as he was helping slide it up Amanda’s arms, he realized that it might be a size too small for Amanda.

“Mistress, maybe a bigger size is in order…” Dan began, but Juliette quickly cut him off.

“She has a virtually identical build as my Susan’s, and this is the size that I want.” she said authoritatively.

Dan continued to work the sleeve up Amanda’s arms.  She periodically suppressed a grunt, but she never used her safe word.  Dan took that as a sign that he should continue.  Eventually, he had the armbinder in place, and he crossed a pair of straps from the sides along the top of the armbinder to mating roller buckles under each arm.  Dan pulled them snug and knew that Amanda was now utterly helpless.  He wondered how she felt as he applied the spreader bars above her knees and between her ankles.

He was careful to keep a close eye on her as he received the hood and gag from Juliette.  Amanda was silent as he applied the hood, which took away her vision and a good amount of hearing.  After lacing and locking the hood around her head, he unzipped the mouthpiece.  As soon as he raised the inflatable gag to Amanda’s lips, she accepted it.  Several pumps later, the demonstration was complete.

Amanda stood there at the mercy of Dan and Juliette; unable to hear; unable to see; unable to talk; unable to move.  She was cut off from the outside world.  The only thing that she could interact with was the armbinder and the spreader bars.  She stood there carefully balanced on her stiletto heels, testing the unyielding grip of the single sleeve.

Juliette began to slowly and silently circle Amanda’s bound form.  Dan remained silent as he imagined that Juliette was playing out a scene in her head to determine whether the gear suited her purposes.  His mind slowly began to wander, and he imagined himself in Juliette’s position, but in a private setting - away from any on-lookers or sales clerks.  What would he do with Amanda in such a state?  He could feel a wetness explode in his pants, and he dared not look down and draw attention to it.

Finally, after circling Amanda twice, Juliette said “This is missing one thing… a vibrator.”

Dan nodded, and said “Certainly, we can pick one out at the checkout counter.”

“No need.” Juliette said flatly.  “I already have the one I want.”  And she lifted her hand to reveal a vibrator and a bottle of lubricant.  The vibrator was a small unit that was designed to be held against a woman’s clitoris by a pair of tight panties, and was designed to enter a woman only about ½ inch.

Dan didn’t recall seeing her pick up the lube and vibrator, but he knew he was in a spot.  He had never discussed this type of thing with Amanda.  He didn’t know what the store policy was about demonstrating insertables, or whether Amanda would consent.

“Mistress Juliette,” Dan began.  “Given the obvious personal hygiene issues, why don’t we just ring those items up without a demonstration?”

“No.  Actually, this is exactly the demonstration that I need.” Juliette responded.

“You see, my partner has never allowed me to use a vibrator on her.  Much like young Amanda, here, she will have no idea that it is coming, and will not have a chance to consent – aside from the general consent that she made when she allowed herself to be bound and used.”

“But I don’t think…” Dan started.

“I’m afraid that if you think too much, you will lose the sale.” Juliette interrupted.  “Either I get a complete demonstration, or I leave here with nothing.”

Juliette stared unblinkingly at Dan as he tried to consider all of the options.  He didn’t know if Amanda would consent, and he knew that she was his responsibility.  Even if she would have consented, he was pretty sure that she wouldn’t want him rummaging around down there.

“I understand, Mistress.”  Dan responded.  “Go ahead and apply the vibrator as you see fit, but I reserve the right to remove it at my discretion.”

“Of course.” she said with a smile as she activated the vibrator.

Amanda began silently and slowly shaking her head.

Juliette generously lubricated the business end of the vibrator, and she stretched the waistband of Amanda’s panties to allow access to her most private region.  Amanda’s head shaking became more pronounced, and she began grunting into the inflated gag.

Juliette reached up and gave the gag two sharp pumps which considerably dampened Amanda’s protestations.  She then swiftly inserted the vibrator, allowing the panties to snap back in place.

Amanda bucked and flailed violently, straining against the unyielding armbinder.  She quickly lost her balance, and Dan caught her from behind, but she didn’t stop twisting and grunting from behind her gag.  She was gulping air in through her nose when Juliette reached down and turned off the vibrator.

Amanda went limp, and let out a long and shaky high pitched sigh.

“Take it easy, dear,” Juliette said as she patted Amanda’s hooded cheek.  “You totally sold me.”

Dan continued to hold Amanda while Juliette removed the spreader bars.  They maneuvered Amanda to a nearby chair, and lowered her onto it.  Dan then removed the hood, and Amanda tried to adjust to the sudden flood of light into her eyes.

By the time the posture collar and gag were removed, Amanda was staring daggers at Dan, but said nothing.  Dan and Juliette both helped Amanda out of the single-glove, and she slowly flexed her arms to relieve the stiffness and lack of circulation.

As Dan gathered up the various pieces of gear, Juliette put her arm around Amanda and said “Don’t be too hard on him, honey.  He didn’t really have a choice in the matter.  Why don’t you go in the back and take care of yourself.”  With that, Juliette handed Amanda her nicely folded clothes, and nodded toward Amanda’s crotch which still held the now silent intruder.

Amanda silently accepted her clothes and disappeared through the door at the back of the store.

As Dan was ringing up the merchandise, Juliette commented “Add on a second bottle of personal lubricant and a second vibrator like the one in the demonstration.”

“No problem.” Dan said, wondering why she needed two.

“Tell Amanda that she can keep the vibrator that she used as a gift from me.  She seemed to enjoy it.  Also, add in a $200 tip for her assistance.”

“Thank you.” Dan said.  “That might make her forget the role that I played in all of this.”

“Yes, I hope so.” Juliette said with a smile.  “Oh, and tell her that I will be back next month to buy some gear that I’ll need you to demonstrate.”

“Okay.  I will.” Dan said with a bit of hesitation.  “Thank you… I think.”

As Dan unlocked the front door and opened it for Juliette, he felt a bit more confident than he did prior to the demonstration.  He thought to himself that his first modeling session had gone as well as he could have expected.

But he his confidence turned to embarrassment when he noticed Juliette checking out the stain in the front of his jeans.

“Maybe when your co-worker is finished, you should clean yourself up, as well.”

Chapter 4 – Things Get Personal

Dan completed his first full day at “Leather or Knot” without any other customers requesting a demonstration of the products in the shop.  After briefly discussing the matter with Amanda, Dan felt better about how he handled the situation.  Amanda made him promise not to make the same mistake again, but she seemed to forgive him.

The day ended uneventfully.  He and Amanda closed the shop together, and they went their separate ways for the weekend.  Dan had considered asking Amanda out for drinks or to a movie, but one of the first things that she told him on that first day was that the shop owner had a strict no-dating policy.  She quickly followed up the information with “Besides, I’m sure a nice guy like you can get a date any time he wants.”

Dan’s weekend moved slowly.  He occupied himself with his continuing job search, but he found it hard to concentrate.  He couldn’t stop thinking about Amanda.  He was particularly caught up with Amanda’s modeling session, and how excited he had been when she was helplessly writhing about.  Monday finally arrived, and Dan found himself back at the shop to start his first full week.

Over the next few days, Dan discovered that requests for demonstrations or modeling were rather infrequent.  In fact, he discovered that sales were rather infrequent, as well.  It seemed that most of the people who came into the store were just there to browse.  Every time Dan or Amanda would approach these customers, they would either scare the customers off or get a cold shoulder.

After days of observing customer behavior, Dan finally commented “Why do those people come in here, if they aren’t interested in buying anything?”

“They’re just tourists.” Amanda replied.

“Tourists?” Dan asked.

“Yes.  They just come in to see the sights, like tourists.” Amanda explained.  “Sometimes I call them rubber-neckers, gawkers, tire-kickers, but it all just comes down to curiosity without the conviction to follow it up.”

“Wow, that’s a harsh critique from someone who has never purchased anything in here.” said Dan, a bit condescendingly.

“Maybe, so, but I have also never come through a shop like this as though it were a freak show.” She replied unfazed.

Dan dropped the subject figuring that she had a point.

He changed the subject by asking Amanda about her family.  Amanda told him about her life growing up in an upper-middle class, extremely conservative family.  Her parents would be mortified to find out that their daughter made her living selling bondage equipment.  She confided in him that they believed that she was working in a used CD shop.  She joked that it was only a little white lie since some of her customers were used CDs – cross-dressers, that was.

Dan told Amanda more about his search for a job in his chosen field, but he made sure that she understood how much he enjoyed working with her.  Eventually, each revealed to the other that they were not currently dating, and Dan seized the opportunity.  He immediately asked Amanda out for a date the following weekend.

Dan was hit by a stunning silence.  After a bit, Amanda asked “What about the owner’s no-dating policy?”

“What the owner doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” Dan quickly replied.

“Or her,” added Amanda with a smile, reminding Dan that the owner was anonymous.

“I’ll go out with you on one condition.” continued Amanda.  “Just in case you’re only interested in me because you’ve seem me tied up in my underwear, let’s agree that we will leave work at work.  No bondage outside the shop.”

“No problem,” said Dan.  “I would prefer that, as well.  Especially since you have me at a distinct disadvantage since you have had a lot more practice at tying people up than I have.”

Thursday afternoon was heading toward evening, and he had almost completed his first full week at the shop when a group of six college-aged girls loudly entered the shop.  It was Dan’s turn to wait on the customers, but he took his time approaching them.  Based on their boisterous giggling, he figured that they were just there for the novelty of it.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.  He approached the girls, and began to address the tall blonde who appeared to be the leader of the group.

“We need to buy things to tie up some boys,” the tall blonde announced before Dan had even introduced himself.

“Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Dan said jokingly.

“We are the pledge night planning committee for our sorority, and we need restraints for six football players,” she said directly.  “We were considering handcuffs.  They are inescapable, but so uncomfortable.  Do you have any leather restraints that could control a big strong guy… like yourself?”

“Well, we have some 3-inch wide leather cuffs that would restrain just about anybody,” Dan said blushing slightly.

After a brief explanation, Dan learned that the girls had coordinated their sorority pledge party with a corresponding fraternity’s hazing party.  As part of their hazing, the fraternity members were going to restrain their top six pledges and give them to the top six pledges of the sorority.  The sorority pledges would keep the fraternity pledges as slaves until 9:00 the next morning.  A chaperone assigned to each pair of pledges would judge the sorority pledge by how cruelly or kindly she treated her slave during the twelve hour period.  The girls didn’t explain to Dan whether pledges would receive more or fewer points for cruelty, but he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know, anyway.

He led the group to the back of the store where the more extreme restraints were displayed, and he could see the mischievous thoughts behind each girl’s eyes.  They looked like children in a candy store as they gazed around in wide-eyed wonder.  He showed them the heavy-duty cuffs, and they tugged the ends to test how sturdy they were.  With a nod from the blonde, one of the other girls collected six pairs and took them to the checkout counter.

Dan then proceeded to show them blindfolds, ball-gags, collars and heavy-duty leather ankle restrains connected by an 18-inch chain.  Each time, one of the other girls would gather up a half dozen of the items and deposit them on the checkout counter.  Finally, the girls asked Dan to show them the punishment devices.  They seemed particularly interested in whips and riding crops.  One of the girls suggested that they could have an equestrian theme for the evening.  Dan started to mention that they had an entire selection of pony restraints, but the tall blonde quickly refocused their attention back to basic restraints.  She said that they would work well regardless of whatever theme they ultimately selected.

Dan thought to himself that she would probably be deciding the party’s theme anyway, based on her dominant personality.

Unlike the restraints, they selected a variety of slappers – two riding crops, two whips, a cane and a rather nasty looking paddle.  This time, the blonde collected the merchandise herself, and she led them to the counter.  Amanda had just completed scanning the barcodes from the other merchandise when the blonde said to her, “I hope that this all comes in under $1,000 because that is our limit.”

After a few more beeps from the checkout computer, Amanda announced, “Nine-hundred and forty-five dollars even.”

“Wow,” whispered a cute little brunette to the tall blonde.  “That’s an awful lot of money.  What if they don’t work?  The party would be a disaster if the slaves got away”

“We’ll just have to take that chance.” said the leader decisively.

“You don’t have to,” said Amanda off-handedly.

All of the girls looked between Amanda and the blonde, wondering what Amanda meant.  After a moment’s pause, the blonde asked, “What do you mean, we don’t have to take that chance?”

“Well, you could test how effective the restraints are by having someone try them on before you pay for them.” Amanda offered with a cunning smile.

“Thanks for the suggestion, but that wouldn’t work,” the blonde replied quickly.  “I don’t think any of us would be foolish enough to try them on, and besides I’m certain that none of us could get out of them even if we did.  I don’t think you realize that we plan on using these on fraternity pledges who are a lot stronger than we are.”

“You mean that Dan didn’t brag about our shop’s standing offer to demonstrate our merchandise before you purchase it?  Dan, shame on you.” Amanda said, shaking her finger at Dan with an over-emphasized look of disapproval on her face.

Ten minutes later, Dan found himself stripped down to his underwear in the rear of the shop.  Instead of using the heavy-duty wrist cuffs that Dan had suggested to the girls, Amanda applied a neck-to-wrist restraint that held Dan’s arms parallel across the small of his back.  The cuffs were connected to a harness that crossed from the cuffs, up and around the sides of his torso to the front of a matching collar.  Amanda adjusted the harness to hold Dan’s wrists just a little higher behind his back than he was comfortable with.

The women all gathered around Dan, and pointed out how the cuffs looked like they made him completely vulnerable.  They asked him to try to break free, and Dan gave it a valiant effort, but the restraints didn’t budge.

Dan’s shoulders ached a bit, and as he began to mention it to Amanda, she inserted a ball-gag into his open mouth.  He struggled a bit, but decided that he had better cooperate.  He wasn’t so much afraid that he would lose the sale, as he realized that he was in no position to antagonize either Amanda or the tall blonde who was ominously silent during the demonstration.  It wasn’t until the ball was wedged behind his teeth that he realized that Amanda had selected a gag with their largest size ball.  Dan would have trouble getting this out even if Amanda had not fastened the strap.

To complete his ensemble, Amanda placed a blindfold over his eyes that completely removed his vision.  Once he was bound, gagged and blindfolded, Amanda began to calmly discuss the various restraint alternatives in much more detail than Dan had.  She made it a point to ignore him, and the girls followed along.

“I saw all of the merchandise that Dan helped you picked out, but I was surprised that you didn’t buy any leashes for your slaves,”  Amanda said to nobody in particular.

“I guess we hadn’t thought about it.” said the cute brunette.  “Do we really need them?”

“Well, you don’t need them, but they can be really useful.  And they can double as a whip, which gives you a bit more bang for your buck,”  Amanda said smoothly.  “Here, let me show you.”

Dan heard a distinctive snap, and he felt a gentle tug at his collar.  Dan obediently followed along as Amanda paraded him around the rear of the shop.  The girls giggled.

“Tell you what,” Amanda said suddenly.  “Let me show you a new piece that we just received last week.”

Dan had no idea where this was headed, but he didn’t like the sound of it.

“This is our portable spanking bench,” Amanda said as she forced Dan to bend over a device that looked something like a collapsible, leather covered work bench.  Once Dan’s chest was resting along the top of the bench, Amanda attached Dan’s collar to the bench with a snap-hook.  Dan’s underwear-covered ass was facing the women, and he was powerless to stand up.

“What are these?” he heard one of the women ask from behind.

“Here, let me show you,” Amanda said as Dan felt his ankles being cuffed to the base of the bench.

“Wow.  That’s really nice,” said the tall blonde, “but we could never afford six of those!”

“Maybe not, but I might be able to let you borrow this one to use for the party,” Amanda responded.  “It isn’t often that someone buys a thousand dollars worth of gear in one shopping trip.”

“Let me show you a couple of other things,” Amanda said as Dan heard her voice moving away from him.

Slowly, the sound of the women moved away from him.  He could hear Amanda showing the sorority sisters item after item.  Finally, he heard Amanda say, “Great, I’m sure that you’ll be much happier with this gear than the gear that Dan showed you originally.”

It seemed like hours.  Dan could hear the women passing the time and talking at the checkout counter.  He couldn’t do a thing about it, but he wished that Amanda would complete the sale already.  Suddenly, Dan smelled the perfume of the tall blonde, and he could feel breathing in his right ear.  The women continued to talk at the front of the store, but Dan was sure that the blonde was right next to him.

Finally, she whispered in his ear.  “Thank you for your help in picking out our gear.” she said.

“We ended up making some different decisions after talking with Amanda.  She was really helpful.”

She paused, but Dan could still feel her breathing.

“Shame on you for not offering this bench to us, like Amanda.  You were a naughty little salesman , weren’t you?” she whispered with a pout in her voice.

Dan remained silent following the rhetorical question when a piercing slap across his ass made him realize that it wasn’t rhetorical, after all.

“Mmphh!  Mmphh!” Dan shouted in his gag, shaking his head emphatically.

“Beth, dear,” Dan heard Amanda call from the front of the store.  “I’m afraid I can’t let you continue.  It is against store policy.”

“Oh, just one more?” the blonde pleaded.  “He’s been such a bad boy.”

Amanda paused as though in contemplation.

“You know what?” she replied.  “He really has been a bit naughty.  I’ve thought so ever since his very first day.”

Amanda paused again.

“Go ahead.  Teach him a lesson, but no permanent marks.  I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a bit of discomfort for a really good sale.  Isn’t that right, Dan?”

Dan immediately realized that this was his payback for the vibrator stunt he pulled on Amanda on his first day.  Panic overtook him, and he completely forgot the release signal Amanda assigned him in the event he was gagged.

He felt his underwear being slid below his buttocks, and he felt three swift whacks to his ass before he remembered that his safe signal was the national anthem.  By the time he remembered, though, it was all over.

His briefs were slid back up to their original position, and he could hear the tall blonde walking to the front of the store.

“Let’s go girls,” she said as she approached the counter.  “We have a party to plan.”

“Oh, and thank you Amanda.  We appreciate the demonstration, and I’m sure we’ll come back again now that we know about the shop’s superior customer service level.”

Amanda showed the women out, but re-locked the front door after they left.  She decided to close the shop up a bit early tonight.  She restocked the shelves with the gear that the women decided not to buy.  She tidied up the back office.  She signed for the final UPS shipment of the day.  And finally, she released Dan from the spanking bench and other restraints.

When she was through, she smiled and said, “I think that makes us about even.”

Dan smiled sheepishly and said, “Yeah, I guess.  Except that I didn’t get a $200 tip and a vibrator out of the deal.”

Chapter 5 – Amanda’s in a Bind

Even though Dan wasn’t working in his chosen field, he was considering ending his search for another job.  He had been working at the shop for only a few weeks, but he couldn’t remember a time when he had been happier.  It wasn’t really the job that had changed his outlook though.  His relationship with Amanda was amazing.  He couldn’t stop thinking about her, and they certainly worked well together.  Their dates gave him a satisfaction he has never known, and working with her was a special bonus.

Just after lunch on a slow Friday afternoon, Dan was lazily arranging merchandise that had been moved out of place by customers earlier in the day.  The bell over the front door sounded, and for the first time since working at the shop, he identified a repeat customer.  Mistress Shelly, the dominatrix whom Dan confronted on the day of his interview, entered the shop.  When Dan first saw her, a few weeks ago, she was dressed in street clothes, and he would never have guessed that she was a dominatrix.

This visit was rather different.

Her appearance screamed BDSM.  Mistress Shelly was attired head to toe in leather.  Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail by a leather hair bow that resembled leather bunny ears.  She wore a leather bodice with a plunging neckline.  A tight black leather corset with steel boning concealed her nicely toned abdominal muscles.  Her shapely thighs were covered by fishnet stockings, and she wore leather mini boots with 4-inch heels to complete her ensemble.  Over her arm, she carried a small leather pouch as a kind of over-sized purse.

She walked straight up to Dan, who smiled and said “Hello Mistress Shelly.  I’m Dan, the new sales associate.  Can I help you?”

Shelly smiled.  “Oh, I remember you,” she said with a knowing smile.  “A few weeks back, you were questioning my good character.  I never forget someone who deserves a spanking”

“Yes, ma’am… About that… I had no idea…” Dan stammered.

“No matter,” the dominatrix said curtly.  “It’s all water under the bridge.  I assume that Amanda set you straight.”

“Definitely.  It won’t happen again,” Dan said apologetically.  “What can I help you with today?”

“Actually, nothing,” she said dismissively.  “I sought you out just to make you squirm a little.  I always insist on using Amanda as my sales associate.  She has a knack for knowing just what I want even before I want it.”

“Okay.  I understand.  She’s right over therem” Dan said as he pointed out Amanda at the back of the store.

Dan went back to arranging the misplaced merchandise for a few minutes when Amanda called from the back of the store.

“Dan, could you help me demonstrate some merchandise for Mistress Shelly?”

“I’m on my way,” Dan said immediately, trying to show his attentiveness.

He went directly to the back of the store where Amanda was showing Mistress Shelly a new line of latex products designed to stimulate the wearer.  Amanda explained that the shop doesn’t typically offer any products that aren’t leather, but these were so good that the owner made an exception.

“We just put these items on the showroom floor this morning,” Amanda explained.  “We haven’t even been fully briefed on all of the selling points.”

“Well, let’s be adventurous,” Mistress Shelly replied.  “We can find out together what makes these items so special.”  Mistress Shelly gave Dan a truly evil grin that made his groin deliciously uncomfortable.

Amanda continued.  “I understand that the latex cuffs are as strong as our heavy-duty leather counterparts, and we have sizes to fit wrists, forearms, biceps, thighs, calves and ankles.”  Amanda paused for effect.

“Of course, there is also a matching posture collar and sensory deprivation hood.”  Amanda held up a lace-up hood with holes for the wearer’s eyes and nose.

“Well, they all seem quite nice, but I can’t use the hood,” Mistress Shelly said, frowning.  “I am buying these toys for my female assistant, and her hair just won’t work with the laces in the back.”

“Not to worry,” said Amanda confidently.  “We have a model for women, as well,” she said as she retrieved one from the shelf below.  It was essentially the same except it had two pig-tail holes in the back – one on either side.

“Perfect!” Mistress Shelly exclaimed.  “That’s why you are my sales girl!”

“Sales associate,” Amanda corrected with a nod and a smile.

“Of course,” Shelly countered with a look of false seriousness.

Amanda continued to show Mistress Shelly the new products as Dan followed along like a lost puppy.  Once they had selected a number of additional items, Mistress Shelly was ready to see the items in action.  Since she was buying the gear for her female assistant, it was agreed that Amanda would model the items, and that Dan would assist by applying the restraints.

Amanda excused herself to go into the dressing area to change into a bra and panty set that Mistress Shelly had selected.  The bra was essentially a string bikini top made of latex, but it had a special feature to enhance an encounter.  The portion of the bra that aligned with the wearer’s nipples included latex nubs molded into the interior of the top.  These nubs would flex and rub the nipples and aerioles with even the slightest movement by the wearer.  Amanda’s nipples hardened as soon as she slipped the thing on.  The thin latex strained to cover each nipple which only amplified the visual effect.

Amanda’s sex was covered, barely, by a latex thong that matched the bra.  A small dildo was molded into the front of the thong.  It could not be worn without inserting the dildo into the vagina it was to cover.  Although relatively small, the dildo included a small vibrating unit that was activated by movement of the wearer.  It could also be controlled by a wireless remote that was included in the packaging.  The rear of the thong included a snap fastener which could be attached to another small dildo which was inserted into the wearer’s anus.  The position of the snap fastener was adjustable so that it accommodated a variety of body styles.  The snap fastener also acted as an electrical conductor between the two dildos.  When one was activated, either by the wearer’s movements or by the wireless remote, the other was activated, as well.

Amanda knew she was in trouble the instant she finished dressing.  She couldn’t make the slightest movement without the latex clothing somehow stimulating her most sensitive areas.  With a great effort and a fair amount of blushing, she gingerly walked back out to Mistress Shelly and Dan.

“She looks fantastic, doesn’t she?” said Mistress Shelly to Dan, as though Amanda was a sports car or a painting.

“Yes she does,” Dan replied slowly, not even realizing the lust in his voice.

Mistress Shelly silently handed Dan two pieces of gear without removing her gaze from Amanda.  Dan accepted the gear and gently raised Amanda’s right wrist.

“I don’t know about this one...” Amanda said pleadingly.

Her voice quivered uncontrollably, as she fought off the effects of the orgasm building within her – an orgasm gaining in intensity with every tiny muscle movement.  Dan saw excitement, fear and confusion in her beautiful eyes.

“Amanda dear,” Mistress Shelly said soothingly.  “I know that every sales associate here has a safe word or gesture.  Any time you want to stop, just let Dan know.”

That seemed to resolve Amanda’s concern, and she offered her wrist to Dan.

Dan rolled Amanda’s fingers up to form a fist, and he inserted Amanda’s right fist into a small ball of latex with an attached wrist cuff.  He repeated the exercise with her left hand, encasing her left fist into a similar ball of latex.  In a matter of seconds, Amanda had lost all of her fine motor control, and she was completely at the mercy of Dan and the dominatrix.  Even if Dan hadn’t locked the devices to her wrists, which he did, she could not have removed them without assistance.  Dan slipped the keys into his front pocket, and continued applying the restraints as he received them from Mistress Shelly.  For several minutes, as the binding continued, the only sound that could be heard was Amanda’s increasingly ragged breathing and an occasional soft moan.

After Dan had applied the last of the selected restraints, the three of them stood there in silence.  Dan and Mistress Shelly simply watched as Amanda slowly writhed and squirmed without any intervention by either of them.  It was as though Amanda’s clothing and restraints were tormenting her for them.

Amanda stood within a structure of portable scaffolding.  Her wrists and elbows were bound tightly behind her back.  The latex wrist cuffs were lifted high behind her and attached to the top of the scaffolding by a latex leash.  A similar leash stretched from her collar to an attachment point low on the scaffolding.  Her legs were spread wide by ankle cuffs and latex leashes attached to the sides of the scaffolding.  She was bent over so that her nicely curved ass was exposed as it gently swayed back and forth.

If Dan hadn’t done the binding himself, he never would have guessed that the writhing figure was Amanda.  A latex hood completely covered all of her features except her eyes.  A pigtail hung from either side of her otherwise smooth and mostly featureless head.  The hood’s integrated gag effectively muted Amanda’s moans which were so low and husky that they sounded like the growl of a large dog.

Dan and Mistress Shelly continued to silently admire Amanda as she stared straight down at the floor in front of them and continued to gyrate.

The silence was suddenly broken by the familiar tinkle of the bell on the front door, and a well dressed, older couple entered the store.

Amanda raised her head in surprise to look at the incoming customers.  Her eyes grew wide with panic.

All of the blood in Dan’s body seemed to flow to his head.  In his haste to assist Mistress Shelly bind Amanda, he had forgotten to lock the front door before the modeling session.

Dan looked from Amanda to Mistress Shelly and back again.

“Should I leave you and attend to the customers?” Dan whispered to Amanda?

She looked stunned.  She began to shake her head no, but changed after a split second.  She then bucked her head diagonally upward several times.

“You want me to get rid of them?”  He asked.

Amanda vigorously nodded her head, and Dan noticed tears streaming from Amanda’s eyes.

Dan quickly turned to Mistress Shelly and said “I expect you to be on your best behavior while I take care of this.”

“You’d be surprised by my best behavior,” she replied with a devilish grin.  “Go ahead and take care of them.  Amanda will be fine.”

Dan approached the couple who were looking around the front of the shop in obvious disgust.

“Good afternoon.  I’m Dan.  Can I help you with something?”  Dan said in his most sincere and helpful voice.

The woman looked to the man as he said “I hope so.  I’m looking for Amanda Miller.  I’m her father, John, and this is her mother, Susan.  We understand that she works here.”

Dan remembered that Amanda had told him about her parents.  They were a conservative older couple, and she had not dared to tell them where she worked for fear of their disapproval.

Suddenly, the scaffolding at the back of the store shuddered loudly as Amanda’s anonymous figure trembled like an erupting volcano.  Her moans, though muffled, were loud enough to reach the front of the store before Dan could respond.

“What the hell is going on in this place?” Mr. Miller demanded.

“No need to worry, sir.”  Dan replied, thinking quickly.  “Those are just a couple of performance artists rehearsing for a fashion show later this month.”

Everyone stared silently at Amanda as she fell limp against her bonds.  Her head hung down like a marathon runner upon crossing the finish line.

“Oh, John,” Mrs. Miller said desperately.  “This place is horrible.  Let’s just find Amanda and take her home.”

“Where’s my daughter?” Mr. Miller demanded menacingly.

“Sir, there is no Amanda Miller working here.  We just opened this shop a couple of weeks ago.”  Dan said trying to calm the man down.

“We took over this space from a CD store that went out of business.  She may have worked for them, but otherwise I have no idea where your daughter might be,” he lied.

There was a strained silence as Mr. and Mrs. Miller stared at Dan deciding whether to believe his explanation.

“Very well,” Mr. Miller said reluctantly.  “Let’s go back to her apartment, Susan.  Maybe we can get additional information from her landlord.”

The couple turned around to leave, but Dan could overhear their conversation as the walked to the door.

“You don’t suppose the hooded one in the back was Amanda, do you?”  Mr. Miller asked his wife.

“No, I thought of that.” She replied.  “The hair is all wrong.  She seems to be shorter than Amanda, and the body type is different, too.”

“I have half a mind to call the police to report what was going on in here,” he replied.

“I’m sure the police are keeping their eyes on this place,” she said “but it wouldn’t hurt to notify them just in case.”

As soon as the bell on the front door tinkled, and the door closed behind the Millers as they exited, Amanda started stomping her feet and screaming into her gag.  Dan knew that the foot stomping was Amanda’s safe signal, but he reluctantly ignored it to watch the Millers through the front window.  He continued to watch until the Millers were in their car and leaving the parking area.  Only then did he lock the front door and head to the back of the store.

By the time Dan reached the scaffolding, Amanda was resting in a nearby chair.  Mistress Shelly had resisted her natural impulse to tease Amanda, and had removed all of Amanda’s restraints except the hood.

Upon removing the hood, Amanda quickly thanked the two of them, dressed, and rushed out of the rear of the store toward her car.  She knew a shortcut to her apartment that might get her there before her folks.  With the right timing and a plausible explanation, Amanda believed that she could set things right.

As she drove through the back streets of town toward her apartment, she reflected on the last 30 minutes during which she had the most intense orgasm she had ever experienced.  She now understood the awesome power of being powerless.  She decided that once she was able to ease her parents’ minds, she would have to introduce bondage into her relationship with Dan.  She felt more alive than she had felt in a long while, and she knew he was the perfect partner for sharing her feelings.  Now, she just needed to decide which side of the restraints she wanted to be on, but that decision could wait.

Chapter 6 – Dan’s Private Modeling Session

The day following the unexpected visit of Amanda’s parents was Saturday.  Neither Dan nor Amanda were scheduled to work that day, and although they both wanted to spend the day together, they both knew that Amanda needed spend enough time with her parents to set their minds at ease.  She spent the entire day visiting, shopping and dining out with her folks.  It turned out that they were on a cross-country road trip, and had reservations at a hotel in a historic town five hours west.

They stayed until 5:00 pm, and they were satisfied that Amanda was doing well.  She told them that a recent increase in online music sales forced the CD shop where she had worked to close down a few weeks earlier.  She also told them that she was in the process of looking for another position.  To quell their fears, she told them that she had saved money enough to last her for a few more weeks.  Of course, they told her that if she found herself reaching the limit of her savings, that they would help her out.

“Don’t hesitate to call us if you need us,” they said repeatedly.

At 5:05 pm, as Amanda’s parents’ car was heading out of her neighborhood, Amanda called Dan to tell him that everything worked out with her parents.  They decided to grab a bite at their favorite brewery near the shop, and to take in the latest movie at a theater a few blocks away.

The pizza and beer were better than ever, and they talked about Amanda’s revelation of the previous afternoon.  She confided in Dan that she wanted to experiment with bondage in their relationship.  Dan was surprised and a bit unsure of how to handle this turn of events.

“Don’t you get enough of that at work?” he asked.

“Well, if you had asked me that a couple of days ago, I would have said that I get more than enough at work,” Amanda said, pausing for a moment.

“But last night was different,” she said, her eyes growing wide.  “You have no idea how it felt to be continuously aroused by even the most subtle movement, and then realize that your parents are only a few yards away.”  She paused again.

“And then, you…  you came to my rescue like some kind of a white knight,” she gushed.

“Come on,” Dan said incredulously.  “I tied you up in the back of the store, and then lied to your parents about it.  That doesn’t sound too chivalrous to me.”

“You don’t get it,” she retorted.  “You protected me from total humiliation.”

“But you still felt humiliated, though, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes, but that’s exactly the tension that caused such an extreme reaction when I …  when I…”

Amanda looked around and realized that she could find no politically correct way to express herself in the public restaurant.

They took their time eating, and they discussed her feelings at length.  When they finally looked at the time, they realized that they would not make the movie.

Amanda said “You know, the shop is only a couple of blocks away, and it’s open for another thirty minutes…”

She smiled a “please do this for me” smile that only beautiful young women can get away with, and Dan relented.  They decided to go to the shop as customers instead of employees.

When they reached the shop, they found Linda, the store manager, was the only person tending the store.  She was happy to see them, but surprised to see them out together.  The shop had a strict no-dating policy between employees, and Linda made it a point to remind them.  In their rush to the shop, both Dan and Amanda had forgotten that they needed to be discreet.  Their relationship felt so natural that discretion hardly seemed necessary, but clearly it was.

Although Dan hardly knew Linda, Amanda was her close friend.  Amanda explained their situation to Linda, who agreed to keep their secret as long as they were more careful about their dating in the future.  Amanda agreed.  Then Dan sheepishly explained that they wanted to buy some bondage gear to experiment with in their personal lives.

“Well, I’d be happy to sell you anything that you want, but I get the commission.”  Linda said.  “And since I’m the only sales associate on duty tonight, I won’t be modeling any of the items.”

“That’s okay.  I was actually thinking of buying some gear for Dan, anyway,” Amanda said with a smile.  “Since we’re just customers tonight, you wouldn’t object to helping me put a few things on him, would you?”  Amanda asked.

”Wow.  I’d love to, but we really shouldn’t.  Given the store’s no-dating policy, you shouldn’t be seen in the store together as customers.”  Linda warned.

Disappointment hung in the air.

“We could buy a few things and take them back to your place,” Dan offered.  “At one time or another, we’ve handled on most of the gear in the shop.”

“Not exactly,” Amanda said.  I wanted to try out more of the new Latex gear – the stuff designed especially for men.  But it’s so expensive that I wouldn’t want to buy it unless it was really worth it.”

“Let’s compromise,” Linda replied.  “I can’t let you try the gear publicly on the showroom floor, but you could take it to the back room to try it out.  Then if you like it, you can pay for it and slip out the back door.  Everybody wins.  You get to try out the new merchandise before you buy it; I get my commission; and you both learn the selling points of the gear.”

“It’s a deal,” said Amanda before Dan could object.

Fifteen minutes later, Dan found himself wearing a skin tight latex thong.  The front of the thong formed an adjustable hole which permitted his cock and balls to be exposed.  The hole surrounding the base of the wearer’s genitalia could be adjusted to be comfortably loose or painfully constricting.  Amanda adjusted it to provide a constant, but pleasant, amount of pressure.

Each of Dan’s arms was encased in a separate latex sleeve which ran from each wrist to just below each shoulder.  Three thick padded cuffs were integrated into each sleeve: one above the bicep, one above the elbow, and one around the wrist.  Amanda folded Dan’s arms behind his back and locked each wrist cuff to the elbow cuff of the opposite arm.

A small strap ran along each of Dan’s shoulders.  Each strap connected the top cuff of each sleeve to a ring on each side of a severe latex posture collar.  The collar included a large O-ring in the front from which a shiny latex leash dangled.

To further restrain him, Amanda locked thick latex cuffs on his ankles, and connected them with a 16 inch chain.  A small jingle announced each of Dan’s limited steps as the chain impacted the ground. 

“Open up,” Amanda said in a sweet sing-song tone as she held a gag up to Dan’s mouth.

The sweetness in Amanda’s voice made him hesitate, but he reluctantly accepted the gag.  He didn’t really have a choice at that point, but he trusted Amanda.

Although Dan didn’t realize it, Amanda had selected a particularly effective pump-gag.  The interior portion of the gag was contoured to fit between the teeth and inside the cheeks of the wearer.  The center portion of the inflatable interior forced the wearer’s tongue down quite effectively.  With the device fully inflated, Dan looked like a trumpet player hitting a particularly difficult note.  His mouth tasted like rubber, and his loudest protest was barely audible.

To further ensure his silence, Amanda inserted two short plastic tubes into his nostrils.  The outer wall of each tube was spring loaded and held itself in place by applying pressure to the interior sides of each nostril.  Each tube also had a small hole through the center to allow air to pass through.

Dan began to panic, but Amanda soothingly stroked his temples.  She stared purposefully into his eyes and quietly instructed him to remain calm.  She explained that with sufficient concentration, the nostril tubes would still allow him to get more than enough air to breathe, but not enough to enable him to produce any significant noise.  Dan regained his composure, and concentrated on controlling his breathing.

Just then the door to the show room opened, and Linda leaned in.

“I hate to break up the fun, but you two need to wrap it up in about five minutes,” Linda warned in a hushed tone.  “As soon as I finish with my last customer, I’m closing up shop for the night.”

“What’s so interesting?” a voice behind Linda asked.  “I thought you said you were working alone tonight.”

Then a hand pushed the door wide open, and standing right behind Linda was Mistress Juliette, a customer of Amanda’s.  Dan’s eyes grew wide with panic when he remembered Mistress Juliette.  She was the customer who used a vibrator on Amanda after she was restrained by Dan.

He knew that the mistress was nothing but trouble, and here he was completely restrained and exposed.

The last thing he needed at the moment was for Amanda to be reminded of that breach of trust.  But surely all was forgotten by now, he thought.

“What have we here?”  Mistress Juliette asked with a smirk as she moved past Linda to completely enter the room.

After an awkward silence, Amanda said “We’re testing some of the new equipment.  Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have work to do.”

“Tsk, tsk.  You seem to have neglected some of the most important equipment,” the dominatrix said as she nodded toward Dan’s fully erect penis.

“Don’t worry,” Amanda began, barely able to contain a laugh.  “That equipment will be as fully tested as any.  Now, please, I only have a few minutes before the shop closes.”

“It’s funny you should say that,” the mistress replied.  “I only have a few minutes before the shop closes, as well, and I haven’t decided what I want to buy.  I had originally come into the shop tonight hoping that your friend here was available to model a few items for me, but apparently you beat me to him.”

Dan was more turned on than he had ever been before.  He was completely at the mercy of three attractive women who were talking about him as though he was little more than a piece of furniture.

“Well, we’ll both be in the shop tomorrow.  We’d be happy to assist you in the morning,” Amanda said smiling.

“No.  That won’t do at all,” the dominatrix said shaking her head.  “I’m sure he’ll be much too tired for the gear that I have in mind.  Are you sure that I can’t just help you finish up here.”

Dan vigorously shook his head and made unintelligible protests.  He had trouble breathing.  He became light-headed, and his erection grew harder than ever.

“Normally, I would decline, of course.  But you really are a valued customer, and there isn’t much left to do…”

Amanda looked at Dan’s manhood and then back to the mistress.

“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong,” said Mistress Juliette.  “You can do so much with just a little bit of time and effort if you know what you’re doing.”

She quietly used her middle finger to stroke the underside of Dan’s straining cock.  She made one silky movement from the opening in the latex thong to just below the head of his penis, and he exploded.

“Oh my!” exclaimed Linda in surprise.  “We’d better get something to clean that up.”

Linda and Amanda instinctively went to a cabinet behind Dan where the cleaning supplies were stored.

As they were searching the cabinet, Mistress Juliette quickly opened her purse, removed a clean tissue, and wiped the residue from Dan’s quickly shrinking member.  She then took a bottle of hand lotion from her purse and swiftly moisturized his penis.

“No need ladies,” the dominatrix announced with satisfaction.  “I have tissue in my purse.”

Amanda and Linda turned around just in time to hear a “click.”

In one fluid motion, Mistress Juliette had removed a metal tube from her purse, slid Dan’s now flaccid, lubricated shaft into it, and locked an attached cuff around the base of his cock and balls.

Dan started twisting in his bonds and making a high pitched whining sound.

“What have you done!” Amanda demanded.

“Oh, nothing really,” Mistress Juliette replied, casually shrugging her shoulders.  “It’s just my little way to ensure that my sales associate won’t be too tired to model my gear tomorrow morning.”

“You bitch!  You locked him into a chastity device!” Amanda said, her face turning an angry red.  “Let him out this instant.”

“I’m afraid that I don’t take orders from you,” Juliette said flatly.

“Let him out, I said.”  Amanda said feebly.

“I’ll remove the device when I’m ready... which won’t be anytime before tomorrow,” the dominatrix said as she turned toward the door.  “I’ll return when the shop opens at noon.  Until then, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

And then she was gone.  A few seconds later, the bell on the front door sounded, and Amanda quickly grabbed a keychain from a nearby wall hook.

“Don’t worry, Dan,” Amanda said shakily.  “This is our emergency key ring.  It holds a key to every kind of handcuffs imaginable.  These types of chastity devices are usually made using common handcuff locks.”

As Amanda bent down to begin testing each key, Linda looked over her shoulder.  Dan tried to stand as still as possible.

“That doesn’t look like any handcuff that I’ve ever seen,” said Linda slowly.

As Amanda made her way through all of the keys on the emergency key ring, she realized that Linda was right.

Chapter 7 – A Lapse in Judgment

Linda and Amanda unlocked Dan’s restraints in a dejected silence.  They both knew that the chastity device was not going to come off before the shop opened the next day.  Dan, too, was silent.  Even after they removed Dan’s gag, he didn’t have anything to say.

“Should we call the police?”  Linda finally asked as the two women unlocked the last restraint.

“No!” Dan said forcefully.  “I don’t need my penis at the center of a police investigation.”

“With the kind of bad publicity that the shop would get from an incident like this, we’d all be out of a job by next weekend,” Amanda chimed in.  “And that bitch knows it” she added spitefully.

“The owner keeps a complete record of each of the regular customers,” Linda suggested.  “We could use the emergency number to contact him.”

“Or her,” Dan and Amanda said in unison.  They smiled at each other because they always jokingly referred to the owner as ‘him or her’ because of the anonymity.

“No, then we’d have to explain how all of this happened, and we’d all get fired,” Dan concluded.

With no alternative, the three closed up the shop and went home for the night.  Although he was seriously concerned about his predicament, Dan didn’t find the chastity tube that uncomfortable.  The worst part was the added weight it placed on the base of his cock and balls when he walked, but when he was lying down, he almost didn’t even notice it.

The next day, both Dan and Amanda arrived early to open the shop.  Dan wore baggy sweat pants to hide the bulk of the metal tube.

Amanda felt completely responsible and empathized with Dan’s situation.  Dan tried to ease her mind, but she knew he was anxious to regain control over his own body.

They opened the shop at 11:50, and by 12:15 no customers had entered the store.

“You do think she’s going to come back, right?” asked Dan.

“Yes.  I think that she is just making us sweat,” Amanda replied.

The day wore on slowly.  Sundays were never busy at the shop, and that day was an unusually slow Sunday.  By 4:00, Mistress Juliette still hadn’t returned.  At 5:30, Linda stopped in to see how things were going, but she was upset to find that Dan was still wearing the device.  She told Dan and Amanda that she couldn’t stay, but asked them to call her on her mobile phone to let her know what happened.

Fifteen minutes before closing time, the front door bell chimed to announce Mistress Juliette’s arrival.  She entered the shop like she owned it.  As the front door closed, she locked the deadbolt and turned a small sign so that passersby would see that the shop was closed.

Dan couldn’t remember ever being more relieved to see someone.  He immediately approached her.

“Thank you for coming, Mistress Juliette.  Can I help you with something?” he said with a courteous smile.

Mistress Juliette smiled, paused, and then slowly and softly answered “Yes, you can.”

“When I came in last night, I was in search of some new gear for a male client of mine,” she continued.  “I would like you to model it for me.”

“I’d be happy to, if you’ll agree to remove the chastity device,” Dan said, trying not to sound too anxious.

Amanda jumped into the conversation.  “Well, the store closes in a half hour.  What would you like to see?”

“My, my,” Mistress Juliette chuckled as she turned toward Amanda.  “I’ve never had such attentive service.  Let’s start with the best armbinder in the store.”

Mistress Juliette selected a $3,000 leather single-sleeve armbinder.  The high quality craftsmanship was obvious, and she instructed Dan to take off his shirt and turn around.  Dan glanced toward Amanda who quickly intervened.

“Mistress Juliette, you know the rules.  I am happy to help Dan into the armbinder.”  She said.

Mistress Juliette thought for a moment.

“Well, it seems to me that I have the key to Dan’s manhood.  Doesn’t that mean that I make the rules?”

They all stood in silence for a moment before Dan spoke.

“Look, you clearly can’t be trusted.  You locked my penis in a chastity tube the last time I let you…”

Mistress Juliette held a finger up to his lips to silence him, and he instinctively complied.

“Actually, you didn’t let me do anything.  Your girlfriend did.  You were completely restrained, as I recall, and despite your trust in her, she let a virtual stranger get you off and lock a cuff around your cock and balls.”

Dan and Amanda were stunned.

“It sounds to me like you need to place your trust in somebody else, and since I’m the only other choice, I will apply the restraints,” she said authoritatively.  “Amanda can assist, if she wishes.  She may learn a thing or two.”

Dan resigned himself to the idea that he would have to submit in order to free his genitals.

“Please promise that you’ll unlock the chastity tube,” he said sounding more desperate than he had wanted.

“I don’t know about this…”  Amanda offered.

“It’s a deal,” replied the dominatrix, and she continued to collect restraints from various parts of the store.

Within minutes, Juliette had Dan completely under her control.  He was naked but for the restraints, which included the expensive leather monoglove, a strict 4-inch posture collar, and goggles that significantly obscured his vision without completely blinding him.  A leather gag filled his mouth and wrapped around the lower portion of his head like the bottom half of a hood.  It covered his chin and effectively silenced any sound he tried to make.  He wore nothing below his waist except a pair of leather cuffs locked around his ankles connected by a 12-inch leather strap.  And, of course, the chastity device.

The store was quiet except for the hum of the florescent lights and the sound of Dan’s breathing.

The mistress deliberately circled around Dan with an arrogant strut as though he really was her slave.  Dan tried his best to follow her through the shadows caused by the goggles.  Finally, she stopped in front of him and said “Enough is enough,” and she reached down to the cuff around his genitals.  She squeezed the two hinged halves of the cuff together slightly with her left hand while twisting the righthand arm of the cuff a quarter turn, and the cuff sprung open.  Dan groaned, realizing that he could have freed himself at any time if he had known that the lock was a ruse.  Mistress Juliette carefully removed the cuff and attached tube from Dan’s manhood while Amanda watched over her shoulder mumbling unintelligibly.

Before Dan could get used to his new situation, Mistress Juliette rolled a thick rubber O-ring to the base of his penis.  He was immediately excited, and his member grew uncontrollably, straining against the tension of the O-ring.

“Oh my, your equipment is just what I need,” said the dominatrix with a smile.

It wasn’t clear whether she was addressing Dan or Amanda, and each of them hoped it was the latter.

“I’ll take it all,” she said looking Dan up and down.  Removing a 6 foot leather leash from a nearby display, she added “This, as well,” as she clipped it to Dan’s collar.

“Excellent,” said Amanda.  “Now if you will just step over to the counter, we can add it all up.”

Amanda walked behind the counter in the middle of the shop.  Mistress Juliette walked to the front of the counter pulling Dan along behind her.

Amanda totaled up all of the merchandise that Dan was wearing and said “Forty-one hundred even.”

“You can’t be serious,” the mistress said in mock astonishment.  “The monoglove alone is worth $3,000.  The other leather goods are probably one thousand, which means that you haven’t charged me for the young man.”

Amanda was confused, but Dan understood perfectly.  He twisted violently and tried to back away from the dominatrix, but she held him firm with an experienced hand.

“Don’t be silly,” said Amanda.  “You know that we don’t charge for our modeling services.”

With a deadly serious stare, the mistress corrected Amanda.

“I’m not offering payment for his services.  I’m offering payment for him.”

As the implication dawned on her, Amanda immediately came around the counter to release Dan.  Before she even realized what was happening, Amanda found her face pressed into the dirty commercial carpeting.  The Dominatrix pressed her knee into Amanda’s back and twisted Amanda’s hand high behind her back.

“Playtime is over,” she said softly in Amanda’s ear.  “He trusted me to bind him, and he is now mine.”

Mistress Juliette slowly released Amanda’s arm and allowed her to stand up.

Amanda began crying.  She didn’t know what to do.

The mistress handed Amanda her credit card, and seemed sympathetic to the tears.

“Are you two involved?”  She asked incredulously.

Amanda bit her lip and nodded.

“I thought that wasn’t allowed at this store,” the mistress pressed.

“No one was supposed to know,” Amanda whispered.

With a sigh of resignation, the mistress said “Well, that is a fly in the ointment, isn’t it?  Okay, let’s make another deal.”

Amanda and Dan waited to hear the details.

“Neither of you are in a position to refuse.  So, here it is.  Any time I come into the store, you let me bind your young man here any way I see fit.  No interference.  No safe word.  It’s either that, or I take my prize here and now.”

The mistress glanced at each of them in turn, and after a slight hesitation, she finished with “Great.  It’s a deal.”

Amanda ran the credit card across the magnetic reader while the mistress released Dan from the bonds.  Nobody said a word.  The mistress bagged up her gear, accepted the credit card and receipt from Amanda, and silently left the store.

Dan and Amanda both knew that they were in over their heads.

After several minutes of routine clean up, Dan spoke.

“I’m going to look for another job in the morning.”

Amanda smiled approvingly.  “Great idea.  I’ll help.”

Chapter 8 – Honest is the Best Policy

After closing the shop, Dan and Amanda went to Dan’s apartment to spend Sunday evening.  Neither spoke much, but each communicated their feelings in other ways: a kind touch, a loving smile.  When they arrived, Dan turned on his computer and began composing an e-mail to the owner of the store.

Dear sir or madame,

Unfortunately, I am e-mailing you to inform you of a serious lapse of judgment on my part.  Over the past few weeks, I have been carrying on a personal relationship with Amanda in violation of the shop’s strict no-dating policy.  I understand that you have a zero tolerance policy for such behavior, and I would not be surprised if you demanded both of our resignations immediately.

Although I have started to look for a new position, I know that the shop is already understaffed.  Amanda and I would be happy to remain on staff as long as it takes to hire and train replacement sales associates.  Of course, I would be personally grateful if you allowed Amanda to remain at the store after I leave.  She enjoys her work, and she is an exceptional salesperson.

Please reply with your decision.

Dan

Before the end of the evening, Dan received an answer to his e-mail confession.  Dan almost deleted the message because the owner had “spoofed” the e-mail system into displaying Dan’s own e-mail address as the source of the reply.  The only reason Dan didn’t delete it as spam was that the owner cc’d Amanda on the reply.  The owner’s reply read:

Daniel,

I truly appreciate your honesty.  Of course, I cannot tolerate your infraction if I am to remain consistent with my longstanding policy prohibiting employee dating.  For that reason, I must regretfully terminate your employment as well as Amanda’s.  That said, I also truly appreciate your offer to stay on and help in view of the shop’s current staffing crunch.  I will take you up on your offer of staying on until you find another suitable position.  Of course, Amanda should begin looking for alternate employment, as well.

As you probably guessed, “Leather or Knot” is merely a pleasant distraction for me.  I support myself through a number of other endeavors, and I own and run several other businesses which are far more profitable than the shop.  One such business may soon have an opening for your services, Amanda’s services, or both.

Once I have had an opportunity to consider each of your respective talents, as well as the talents of other qualified applicants, I will contact you.  Until then, please know that while I am disappointed that you broke my rules, I respect your honesty.

       M

After reading the reply, both Dan and Amanda were saddened but relieved.  Neither of them was scheduled to work on Monday.  So, they both decided that they would spend the entire day on their job searches.  Dan and Amanda went to bed Sunday evening and slept well knowing that they no longer needed to hide their relationship.

Monday was spent mostly in front of Dan’s computer.  First, they updated Dan’s resume.  Then, they updated Amanda’s.  They identified as many jobs as they could, made phone calls, printed resumes and prepared mailings.

Tuesday, however, brought them back to reality.  They both got ready for work and started the day early.

The day began as routinely as any other.  Although business was slow because it was a weekday, Dan and Amanda kept themselves busy by unpacking and tagging inventory, restocking shelves, and cleaning the shop.  When they weren’t busying themselves with administrative tasks, they alternated tending to customers.  Nearly every customer that day had been a novice or thrill-seeker who failed to buy anything more than a cheap pair of handcuffs or some low-end ballgag.  Shortly before closing time, however, the day took a decidedly different turn.

A man in a black trench coat and dark glasses entered the store rolling an over-sized stainless steel briefcase behind him.  If Dan hadn’t known better, he’d have sworn that he had stumbled onto the set of a low-budget thriller and that the customer was an undercover agent of some type.  It was Dan’s turn to wait on the customer.  So, he approached the man with his usual inviting style.

“Hi, I’m Dan.  Welcome to Leather or Knot.  Can I help you find something?”

“No, but I may be able to help you find something,” the customer said in a soft, low, east coast accent.

Dan couldn’t believe how melodramatic this guy was, but Dan played along.

“Oh, really.  How’s that?”

“I represent a new player in the high-end bondage equipment and accessory market.  If you and your co-worker have a few minutes, I’d like to demonstrate some of our devices for you,” the stranger replied.

Dan looked over his shoulder to Amanda who had been listening to the entire exchange.  Amanda shrugged as though to say “why not?”  Dan turned back to the stranger and said “Actually, we don’t make the purchasing decisions, but if you leave us your card, we can pass it along to the owner.”

“I’m not asking you to make any decisions about purchasing our products, but if I could just demonstrate a few of them, I’m certain that you would appreciate how unique they are.  Then you could describe the products better to the shop’s owner,” the man explained.

Amanda had come out from behind the counter to stand next to Dan.

“Sure, we’d be happy to take a look,” she said with a smile.

“Great,” the man said.  “I’ll set up the demonstration in the open area over there,” he said, pointing toward the back of the shop.

Amanda nodded.  “Okay.”

As the man moved to the demonstration area, Dan pulled Amanda aside.

“Something about this doesn’t feel right,” he whispered.

“Yeah, I know he looks like he’s one of the ‘men in black,’ but lighten up.  It could be fun,” she said with a smile.

The man took off his trench coat to reveal an expensive black suit.  Amanda offered to hang it up, and Dan watched the man unfasten two latches on the side of the stainless steel case.  As he opened the doors of the case, several felt-covered shelves swiveled into place creating a type of Christmas tree shaped display case with the lowermost shelf jutting out from the case the farthest and the uppermost shelve remaining close to the case.

Each shelf displayed a different set of restraint devices, and the top shelf contained a small stainless steel case which resembled a miniature of the case from which it emerged.

“Okay, I’ll need a volunteer,” the man announced as he pointed at Dan.

“Wait a minute.  You never said anything about having to try the stuff on,” said Dan.  “You do it,” he said looking over to Amanda.

“Actually, she can’t.  This set is specifically designed for a male,” the man said flatly as he leaned down to remove a device from the bottom shelf.

“Oh, come on,” said Amanda.  “You’ve done this countless times before.  I’ll go lock the front door, and we’ll consider this gentleman our last customer for the evening.”

Resigned to the task, Dan accepted the first restraint from the man.  Dan turned it over in his hands, but he couldn’t quite figure out how to wear it.  He thought it was some type of belt, but it had no buckles.  It had a generally egg-shaped metal container at one end with three rubber straps coming out of it.  Each of the three straps connected to a silver box at the other end of the device.  The center strap was considerably thinner than the two side straps.  Dan figured that the thicker side straps formed the belt and the center strap passed between the wearer’s legs, but he wasn’t too eager to find out.

“While your co-worker is closing the front door, is there a dressing room where you can put this on?” the man asked.

“Yes, but I wouldn’t know how to begin putting this on,” Dan said with a question in his voice.

“I’ll go back with you to assist,” the man offered.

“Whoa!  I draw the line at any customer touching me in the dressing room.  Especially, another guy,” Dan growled.

“I assure you that I am as uninterested in touching you as you are in being touched.  By ‘assist,’ I merely meant that I could talk you through it,” the man explained.

Slowly, Dan made his way to the changing room.  Once both men were in the room, Dan said loudly “The door stays open.”

“No problem,” said the man with a disgusted tone.

Dan removed his clothing and hung it on a hook in the dressing room.  He stepped into the belt-like device placing the larger oval shaped metal piece in front and the smaller rectangular metal box toward his lower back.

As Dan had guessed, the man explained that the larger metal container was a penile restraint and chastity device that fastened around a man’s cock and balls.

“I’ve had a bad experience with chastity devices,” Dan said doubtfully.  “Can I take it off whenever I want to?”

“Any time you want it removed, just let me know,” said the man reassuringly.

The man then instructed Dan how to open the holding chamber.  Although barely visible with the naked eye due to its superior construction, the metal chamber was made up of two halves which opened from the bottom.  The device could then be fastened around his manhood from the top, and closed again to seal the appendage within the chamber.  The brushed metal encasement had an upwardly curved spine that acted as a hinge for the two sides.  Once opened, it resembled an expensive car with gull-wing doors.  On the edges of the sides closest to the wearer, rubber piping lined the opening which would secure the device to Dan’s package.  Dan hated to admit that it actually looked rather comfortable, as these things go.

Inside the device, supported by metal blocks along the underside of the spine, were two rubber rings.  According to the man’s instructions, Dan threaded his penis through the rings before carefully closing the device around his penis and balls.  Although there was no visible locking mechanism, the sides held fast together once the device was closed.  Dan assumed that the sides were either spring-loaded or magnetized to keep the device closed.

When the two men returned to the demonstration area, they found Amanda sitting in a chair patiently waiting for them.  She smiled as she eyed Dan wearing nothing but his metal and rubber thong.

As the man began to remove one device after another from the display case, he explained to Dan and Amanda that these restraints did not use conventional locking mechanisms.  Each device employed a small but powerful electro-magnet which enabled the device to be locked and unlocked electronically.  Each device further had a small transceiver and microprocessor built into it allowing the set of devices to be wirelessly networked together and controlled.  Finally, each device had a small servo motor which could lengthen or shorten each attached strap to ensure a customized, secure but comfortable fit.

The man handed Dan a wide rubber collar.  Dan examined the collar with a critical eye now that he had more information.  The collar seemed exceedingly simplistic.  It appeared to be little more than a rubber strap with a metal box at either end.  Dan wrapped the strap around his neck, and the two boxes clicked together when they met at the back of his neck.

After following the salesman’s direction to similarly fasten cuffs around his wrists, above his elbows, and around his thighs and ankles, Dan was not impressed.  Although the belt, collar and cuffs would not come off, they were not exactly snug.  He looked at Amanda with a look that said “So, this is it?”

While the two were having their silent conversation, the man opened the small metal case on the top shelf of the display and removed what appeared to be a flip phone.  He handed the device to Amanda and said “You may do the honors.”

The man instructed Amanda to navigate a simple graphical user interface.  With a few touches to the screen, Dan was startled to find that all of the restraints had automatically tightened to a point that made him feel completely controlled even though he still had the use of all of his limbs.

While standing next to Amanda, the man reached over and quickly touched the screen a few more times and said “Please place your hands palm to palm behind your back and touch your wrists together.”

Slowly, Dan complied.  As his wrists drew closer, he felt the strong attraction of the metal boxes of the wrist cuffs.  With a loud metallic “clink” the wrist cuffs became inseparable.

As Dan stood looking behind at his wrists and tugging against his bonds, the stranger began to list the highlights of the new bondage system.

“As you can see, the cuffs are incredibly easy to use.  Although we are using a dedicated remote controller, the system can be controlled by apps downloadable to any mobile phone or PDA.  In addition, the cuffs are virtually inescapable employing the same electro-magnetic technology used by department stores and office buildings to secure their front doors during off hours.”

“They do seem secure and easy to use,” said Amanda as she smiled at Dan’s continued preoccupation with the cuffs behind his back.  “But are they safe?”

“Good question,” said the man in the black suit.  “The system includes a panic button that will instantly release all control of the cuffs.  Once pressed, the cuffs will literally fall off the wearer.  Of course, I’m not quite ready to show you that feature since we’ve really just started the demonstration.”

The man gestured to a red circle in the lower right corner of the flip-phone screen.

“Of course,” agreed Amanda.

“In addition, the cuffs can be set to release at a predetermined time or after a predetermined duration.  They also have a time-delay feature enabling them automatically lock after a predetermined duration.  These features not only add to the safety of the system, but make it an excellent choice for those interested in solo bondage.”

“Wow!  I’m impressed.  You guys have really thought this through.”  Amanda said.

“I could go on and on, but let me show you some of the accessories,” the man replied.  “Is he able to touch his elbows behind his back?” the man asked Amanda.

Amanda giggled.  “No, he can get them within a few inches, but he can’t get them to touch.”

“In that case, let me show you one of our spacers.”

The man pulled out a 9-inch length of hard rubber cord with a metal disk attached either end.  After directing Amanda through a couple of taps on the remote controller, the man held one metallic end of the cord to Dan’s left elbow cuff and the other end of the cord to Dan’s right elbow cuff.  A pair of loud “clinks” announced that Dan’s elbows were inescapably linked together.  The look on Dan’s face suggested that his elbows were at their limit.

The man asked Dan “How does that feel?”

“Uncomfortable,” Dan replied, grimacing.

“Tell me young man, do you worship this young woman you work with?”

There was an awkward silence as Dan tried to find the right answer.”

“Of course he does,” interjected Amanda, smiling.

“Yes, of course,” repeated the man.  “Let’s prove it, shall we?  If you would be so kind, please step over to your lady friend and kneel down in front of her.”

Dan smiled sheepishly, moved in front of Amanda and knelt down in front of her.

The man reached over to the controller in Amanda’s hand and deftly pressed a few buttons on the remote controller and “clink” “clink.”  Each of Dan’s thigh cuffs were instantly welded to the corresponding ankle cuff forcing him to remain kneeling in front of Amanda.

“Wow!  I’m liking this more all the time” said Amanda with an mischievous grin as she looked into Dan’s eyes.

“Yes, I thought you might,” said the man confidently.

“So, what else do you have?” asked Amanda.

“Well, we have quite an assortment of other accessories that employ similar technology.  For example, we have ballet boots with electro-magnets built into the heels and soles.  When used with specialized flooring, a subject can be rendered immobile without otherwise restraining them.”

Taking a breath, the man continued.

“Let’s see, we have female insertables, anal insertables, nipple rings… you name it, all controllable through the same interface.  We also offer heart monitors, perspiration sensors, GPS devices and that can be used to provide input for certain automated functions of any other networked device.  Of course, we are proudest of our blindfolds and gags, but I’m not allowed to demonstrate them.”

“Why not?” Amanda asked, disappointed.

“Because our owner insists on personally demonstrating those pieces since they incorporate some of her best ideas.”

The screen on the remote controller suddenly went blank, and Amanda heard a small noise toward the front of the store.  Looking up, she was shocked to see Mistress Juliette standing near the checkout counter with a remote controller in her hand similar to the one Amanda was holding.  The mistress was dressed in a black leather trench coat with her hands on her hips, and a broad smile across her face.

Chapter 9 – Dan’s New Position

Mistress Juliette’s presence in the store caused a stunned silence for a moment.  Then, Amanda forcefully rose from her seat, pointed at the stranger and demanded “power down the restraint system.”

“I already have, my dear,” responded Juliette from across the store.  “Well, your portion of the system, anyway.”

Turning to the dominatrix, Amanda nearly shouted “How did you get in here?”

“Calm down Amanda,” said the mistress in a casual tone.  “I’ve come for my pet, and the restraints will come off on my orders, not yours.  Remember our little deal?”

“Oh, I remember the deal.  Dan had to model for you without condition, but you didn’t restrain him.  I did with his help,” Amanda countered as she pointed to the stranger in black.

“I see you’ve met my personal assistant, James,” Juliette replied.  “What he does, he does for me.  So, in a sense, I actually restrained your friend.”

As Mistress Juliette came closer to examine her prize, Amanda lunged at Juliette, her hands aimed at Juliette’s slender throat.  But, before she was within two feet of her target, James had hit her with a dart from a small gun he had hidden in his belt.

Amanda crumbled to the floor unconscious next to Dan who was silently horrified.

“Nice work, James,” smiled Juliette.  “Remind me to reevaluate your salary when we get back home.”

Within minutes James and Juliette had restrained Amanda with a set of cuffs similar to those worn by Dan.  Amanda’s wrists were secured together behind the back of her chair.  A longer belt was fastened around Amanda’s waist and the chair back to force her to remain seated.  Each of her ankles was individually secured to the rear legs of the chair, forcing her legs to be spread awkwardly.  Although Amanda’s ankles could just as easily have been secured to the front legs of the chair, Juliette used the rear legs to highlight her adversary’s submission.

As Amanda began to regain consciousness, she attempted to move.  She quickly discovered her predicament, and struggled wildly.

“Let me out of these, you bitch!” Amanda spat.

“Now, now,” said Juliette calmly.  “Please don’t spoil the demonstration with any more outbursts.  I was just about to demonstrate some of my favorite pieces.”

Juliette opened a second steel case containing electronic bondage gear.  She removed a rather ordinary looking device which Amanda had decided was some type of head piece based on the size and location of the attached straps.

“This is the most effective gag that has ever been devised,” said Juliette in a matter of fact tone.

She forced Dan to accept a short rubberized tube between his teeth, and she arranged the straps in a fashion typical of a standard gag trainer.  As she worked, she explained that the gag was much more effective than it appeared.  Even as she spoke, Dan grunted a few semi-intelligible sentences that could be plainly heard by everyone in the room.

“Some gag,” smirked Amanda.

Without acknowledging the remark, Juliette gave a sweet sounding instruction to Dan.  “Be a dear, and place your tongue inside the tube until it touches the front of the gag.”

Dan, knowing that his fate would be easier if he simply accepted it, complied with the request.  Suddenly, he let out a yelp, his face contorted into an expression of surprise combined with fear.  The touching of his tongue to the front of the gag activated a small servo motor which could be heard operating within the gag, but only Dan could tell what was happening inside his mouth.

The small tube into which he had placed his tongue was actually a telescoping device which reached into his mouth, encircled his tongue and clamped onto it to hold it in place.  Although the tongue tube itself did very little to silence the wearer, it included an audio sensor that communicated with a shock unit embedded in the collar.  The slightest sound resulted in a painful shock from the collar.  Wearers often found themselves in a vicious cycle of shocks that caused involuntary, pain-induced screams that resulted in another shock, and so on.

Juliette fully explained the design and benefits of the gag as she began to remove a blindfold from the steel case.  The blindfold, unlike the other restraints, did not have a strap that encircled the wearer’s head.  Instead, the blindfold had a metal box on each side that attached to corresponding metal boxes on the gag trainer straps.  “Click, click” and the blindfold was in place.

Juliette explained that the metal boxes on the blindfold had a dual purpose: first, they acted as an attachment mechanism, and second, they acted as shock units for delivering electric shocks to the wearer’s temples.  The eye holes of the blindfold were actually round LCD screens that could be electrically controlled to be transparent, completely blacked out, or something in between.  Juliette further explained that the blindfold included embedded motion sensors which could detect the movement of the wearer’s head.  In other words, the wearer could communicate with nods and shakes, and could be punished automatically for wrong answers.

“Let me show you how this works,” Juliette said as looked down at the remote controller.  Juliette touched the screen several times and said “Now, Dan, using a nod or a shake of your head, tell me, do you want to stop working here and become my personal slave?”

Dan didn’t move a muscle.  His mind was racing to figure out what he should do.  His eyes darted from Amanda to Juliette.  After a moment, Juliette spoke again.

“Tsk, tsk, Dan, your Mistress doesn’t like to be ignored.  Under other circumstances you would be punished severely for such insolence, but since you’re new to this, I’ll give you another chance.  Search you heart and answer honestly.  Do you want to come home with me to become my personal slave?”

Slowly and tentatively, Dan shook his head to answer “yes.”  But before his head had reached the pinnacle of its upward movement, he stiffened as a surge of electricity flowed through his body.  He grunted from the pain, and the event replayed.  This happened four times before Dan could find the self control to refrain from vocalizing the pain.  Instead of using his throat, Dan focused on breathing through his nose.  When the vicious cycle stopped, Dan was silently crying and heavily breathing through his nose.

Dan stared at Juliette as she approached him.  She ran her fingers through his hair like a pet and sweetly said “There, there.  Now that little lesson wasn’t so bad, was it?  Next time I tell you to answer honestly, you would be wise to do so.  Seriously, we all know you don’t actually want to become my slave.  That’s what makes this all so delicious.”

Juliette turned to Amanda who was staring at Dan in sympathetic disbelief.

“Here’s the way this is going to work.  James is going to load my prize into my car through the back door.”  Juliette nodded in James direction, and he began moving Dan toward the back door.  “He is also going to pack up our gear – except, of course, the few pieces that we are leaving with you,” Juliette said smiling.  “Your restraints are timed to release shortly after our departure.  I know that tomorrow is your day off.  Wednesday morning, you will tell your manager that your friend has found a new position, which is technically true.  Just say that he left early to start his new career.”

“No.  I won’t do it!”  Amanda said nearly crying.  “Clearly, I can’t stop you, but I’ll never help you!”

“Oh, yes you will, or I’ll tell your boss about your extracurricular activities with Dan.” Juliette replied sternly.

“Don’t threaten me.  My boss already knows all about us,” Amanda shot back.

There was a brief silence as Juliette appeared to contemplate the alternatives, and a smile slowly snaked its way across Juliette’s face.

“Do your parents know?”  Juliette asked letting the question hang in the air.  “And do they know what kind of a place you work at?”  Again, Juliette paused for effect.  “Do they know that you let people, complete strangers, tie you up so that you can model perverse bondage gear?”

Juliette reached into her case to remove a manilla envelope.  She removed three black and white 8 x 10 photographs of Amanda in bondage in the shop.  Amanda immediately recognized the photographs as having been taken during her bondage orgasm a few weeks earlier.  Juliette had set Amanda up and Dan was too naïve to stop it.

Amanda silently looked away to the floor.

“No.  They don’t know,” she said quietly.

“Look, Amanda.  You know that I kind of like you.  I always come into this store asking for you to assist me.  I don’t want to hurt you, really.”

Juliette walked over to the counter with the envelope of photographs.

“I’m going to leave this envelope here on the counter for you.  Once you get loose, you can destroy the prints inside, and I promise to permanently delete the files from my computer.  I am also leaving second envelope on the counter.  Before you do anything you’ll regret, check out the second envelope.  I’ve left you enough information to decide your future and the future of your friend.  Review it and follow your heart.”

With that, Juliette turned toward the back door where James had just finished loading the car.  As Amanda heard the back door close, she broke down crying.

“No!  No!  Please let me go!  Please don’t take Dan!  I’ll do anything!  Please take me instead!”

Her cries fell on an empty store.  Over the next ten minutes, she struggled ferociously to free herself, but the high-tech restraints were unyielding.

Exactly five minutes after Juliette left the shop, Amanda’s restraints silently and suddenly fell to the floor – exactly as James described in his sales presentation.

Amanda bolted to the counter to open the second envelope.  Inside, she found $100,000 cash in a bank envelope and a typewritten note.

Amanda,

I have been frequenting “Leather or Knot” for quite some time, and I have had the great pleasure of watching you develop.  The first time that you assisted me, you were wearing conservative street clothes, and now not only do you wear fetish clothing for your job, you have incorporated bondage into you personal relationships.  You have come a long way, but I am most impressed by your character which started strong and remains so.

I am certain that this is a difficult situation for you, but I believe that it is the best for all concerned, including Dan.  I know that you care about him and that you are concerned for his well-being.  I assure you that I will take excellent care of him.  He will want for nothing – except his freedom.

I have enclosed $100,000 for your cooperation.  If you refrain from discussing Dan’s new situation with anyone for the next 24 hours, you may keep the money, and your parents will not find out about what you do for a living.  Of course, if you choose to be troublesome, I will see to it that you return the $100,000 and that you are properly punished for your poor judgment.

Mistress Juliette

Amanda was scared, stunned and offended.  Juliette expected her to look the other way for $100,000!

With purposeful deliberation, Amanda crumbled up the letter, placed the letter and cash in her purse, and walked to the back office.  Running her finger down the list of emergency numbers posted on the wall, Amanda stopped at the emergency number for the owner.

To Amanda’s knowledge, no employee had ever used the owner’s emergency number.  There had never been a situation so significant that it warranted contacting the owner in real-time – until now.  Amanda followed the instructions on the emergency contact list.  She dialed the number on her mobile phone and left a text message describing her situation.  Her message was succinct: “Dan has been kidnapped by a client.”

Pressing the “send” button was anticlimactic for Amanda.  There was no telling how soon the owner would check for text messages.  There was no telling whether the owner could do anything to help.  Amanda, adrenaline flowing, reached for the back office telephone to call 911 when her mobile phone signaled that an incoming text message had been received.

Amanda quickly looked at her phone to read “W8 4  me.  Do nothing.  Will contact U shortly.”

Amanda could hardly contain herself.  She felt like she should be doing something to help Dan before it was too late, but she controlled her impulse and waited to hear from the owner.  Maybe there was a protocol for dealing with the situation of which Amanda was unaware.

Five minutes after Amanda placed her emergency text message, the front door to the shop swung open.  Amanda ran from the back room to see Mistress Juliette striding toward her.  Through the glass storefront, Amanda could see Juliette’s limosine waiting at the curb.

“You rang?”  Juliette said with a smile.

“What?  How did you get in here?”

“When there is an emergency at my store, I investigate it in person,” replied Juliette still smiling.

“You’re the owner?” asked Amanda in shock.  “What are you going to do with Dan?”

“Well, I had planned on keeping him as my personal assistant before you passed my little character test.”

“What do you mean?”

Juliette explained that the money and the letter were designed to assess Amanda’s strength of character.  If Amanda had chosen to remain silent, she would have been $100,000 wealthier, but she would have failed the test.  She also would have lost her job shortly thereafter.

“But what happens to Dan now?”  Amanda asked, without fully considering all of the implications of her present situation.

“As I see it, whatever happens to Dan is his own doing,” replied Juliette without emotion.  “Dan has made a number of poor judgments.  Really, the only good judgment he has made recently is his trust in you.”

A few short weeks ago, Dan allowed me to bind him, in this very spot, without adequate precautions.  Frankly, that was not your finest moment either.  Then, he foolishly made the deal with me for subsequent binding.  What was he thinking?”  Juliette asked rhetorically.

She continued.  “Further, he disobeyed the rules about dating co-workers, as did you.  He is lucky that his errors in judgment landed him in my hands.”

“But you didn’t answer my question.  What now?”  Amanda said with a hint of pleading in her voice.

“Well,” Juliette said with an expression of mock consideration, “I think that depends on you.  I have decided that his fate is in your hands.  You do seem to love him.”

After a pause, Juliette laid out Amanda’s options.  Amanda could allow Dan to become Juliette’s slave; Amanda could keep Dan as her own slave; she could allow him to keep his current job and continue as before; she could give him a job as a web developer for the store; or she could allow him to find another job entirely.  Regardless of her decision, Juliette told Amanda that the $100,000 was hers to keep.

Handing Amanda a folded piece of paper, Juliette said “Here are directions to my estate.  Take the rest of the evening to consider your decision.  Tomorrow at 9:00 am, come to my estate.  We will have breakfast together, and you can tell me your decision at that time.”

Without waiting for Amanda’s reaction, Juliette turned toward the front door and her awaiting car.

“Don’t forget to lock up the store before you leave.”

Amanda                Sales Associate

Linda                Store Manager

Dan                Sales Associate

Shelly                Customer – Brian’s Domminant

Brian                Customer – Shelly’s submissive

Juliette                Customer / Anonymous Owner

James                Juliette’s Assistant

“Leather or Knot” by SwitchMan (switchman2002@yahoo.com)

F/m, M/f, bdsm, bondage, machine, slave, toys, kidnapping, cons, reluctant, nc, torture, XX

Chapter 10 – The Employment Agreement

A black Mercedes-Benz panel van with darkly tinted windows was idling in front of the shop as Juliette stepped out onto the sidewalk.  She entered the van through a large rear passenger side door, and James began driving toward her estate.  The panel van had a luxurious burgundy interior.  Juliette smiled and relaxed on a rear-facing Italian leather sofa behind a soundproof glass wall separating the passengers from the driver’s compartment.  She took in the view of Dan bound and frightened, still attached to the dolly James used to load him into the vehicle.

Dan’s mind and senses were working overtime.  He was physically aware of the stress caused by his predicament, but his thoughts were mostly of Amanda.  Juliette made a big production about using a timer to release Amanda, but Dan wondered if that was just a show for his benefit, and he wondered if the brief stop they just made had something to do with her.  Not knowing she was safe scared him more than whatever might happen to him.

Juliette regarded him a few moments more before she reached for the remote controller embedded in the arm of the couch.

“As much fun as this is, I’m afraid I need to teach you a little something about being a slave,” she said ominously as she manipulated several controls on the touch-screen of the remote.

Without warning, all of the restraints binding Dan fell to the ground except for the crotch harness and the head harness with attached blindfold and gag.  After a few more taps on the screen, the LCD screens of the electronic blindfold became completely transparent, enabling Dan to take in his surroundings.  He slowly stood up, stretched his limbs and looked around.  Uncertain what to do with his new found freedom of movement, he decided to sit in a leather chair on the driver’s side of the van.  He glanced out the window, and he realized that they were traveling north toward the more affluent suburbs.

“The human anatomy can withstand tremendous stress and difficult circumstances, but it isn’t designed to do so for extended periods.  That is why I have released your restraints,” explained Juliette.  “You will continue to wear the thong and head harness as a safety precaution.”

Juliette reached under the sofa and pulled out a leather briefcase.  She set the briefcase on the couch next to her and opened it.  Looking through a few documents, she selected one and handed it to Dan.

“Do you recognize this?” she asked.

Dan looked at the document’s title “Leather or Not Employment Agreement.”  He nodded his head, wondering where this was headed.

“Turn to the last page.  Is that your signature?” continued Juliette, pointing to the page.

Dan examined the signature above Juliette’s index finger and nodded.  Then, he noticed the signature to the right of his own.  It was Juliette’s signature, and the title under her signature read “Juliette Bouvier, President, Leather or Knot, Inc.”  After a moment of initial confusion, he realized that Juliette was the reclusive owner of the boutique.  His revelation gave him some solace that Amanda would not be hurt, but he wasn’t too sure he could say the same.

“This employment agreement is one of the documents you signed on your first day of employment with Leather or Knot, Inc.  In this document, among other things, you acknowledge that any and all bondage activities related to your employment at Leather or Knot are completely consensual.  In fact, to ensure that the activities are consensual, you were provided a safe word which you could use with your co-workers in order to be immediately released.  Were you aware that you had such a safe word?” Juliette inquired.

Again, Dan nodded.

“Did you use your safe word at any point this evening?”

Looking down, Dan shook his head.

“Then your bondage must have been consensual, right?”

Dan vigorously shook his head.

“Silly me!  I forgot.  You’ve been deprived of your voice.  Of course you couldn’t use your safe word, isn’t that right?” Juliette said understandingly.

Dan’s head bobbed up and down.

“Were you aware that you had a safe gesture?” she said smiling.

Dan sheepishly nodded.

“You didn’t use that either, though, did you?” Juliette questioned with a knowing smile.

Dan took a moment to think, and then pounded on the floor with his feet once, then twice in rapid succession, then three times in rapid succession.  He looked to Juliette with his eyebrows raised.

Juliette let out a hearty laugh.  “Is that your safe gesture?” she asked rhetorically.  “Please review section 10.3 of your employment agreement,” she said, still chuckling.

Dan read: “Employee’s use of the Safe Word/Gesture is effective when provided to any employee having a position of Store Manager or lower.  Employee may use the Ultimate Safe Word/Gesture to be released from any bondage situation applied by any employee, officer, director, owner or agent of Leather or Knot, Inc., including employees having a position superior to Store Manager.”

Dan looked at Juliette quizzically.

“I’m afraid that the safe gesture you just provided won’t work with me.  You see, I’m the President of Leather or Knot, Inc.”  She paused for effect.  “Yes, right about now you’re probably wondering about the “Ultimate Safe Gesture” mentioned in the agreement, aren’t you?  Check out Section 1 where all of the safe words and gestures are defined,” she said in a tone a teacher might take with a pupil.

Dan flipped back to the second page and found his safe word and safe gesture defined just as he had expected, but the ultimate safe word and gesture were obscured by a black marker.  He turned to Juliette angrily.

“Oh, my.  This copy seems to have that information redacted,” she said in mock surprise.  “Of course, I have the original in my safe with all of my other important papers, and I’m sure you have a copy of this somewhere at your house, right?”

Dan gave a resigned nod.

“Well, there you have it.  If you can remember your ultimate safe word or gesture, you will be immediately released.  Otherwise, I will assume that you are a man who abides by his employment agreement, and I will consider this little endeavor we are on completely consensual.”

Dan turned away sharply.  She knew that there was virtually no chance that he would ever come up with the right word or gesture.  She also knew that he hadn’t bothered to read the agreement when he was hired.  “Who reads that stuff, anyway?” Dan thought.  At the time, he figured that they were just standard employment papers, but he should have known better.  After all, his job was certainly not standard employment.

They drove along in luxury and silence for 45 minutes or more, and along the way the roads became progressively more remote.  Finally, the van turned off of a 2-lane drive covered by a canopy of trees onto a driveway secured by a large metal gate and flanked by two massive stone columns.  Each of the columns supported a large figure carved out of stone, and small dots of red light gave away security cameras perched at the foot of each figure.  They drove up the driveway for 300 yards until it intersected with a large circular drive which followed the contour of an enormous reflecting pool.  An array of water fountains pulsed and sprayed in a beautiful, rhythmic, and slightly erotic pattern as the van came to a stop under a covered breezeway in front of two oak doors at least 30 feet tall.

Without speaking, Juliette gently ushered Dan, still clutching his redacted Employment Agreement, out of the van. Together, they walked up a set of stone steps and into the opulent three-story manor house.  The front hall was like something out of a fairy tale.  The floor was silver-gray marble that had been polished to a shine.  A sprawling circular staircase emptied into the hall from a railed balcony, and several beautiful hand maidens were available to attend to anything that Juliette may have desired.  She motioned for one of them to accompany Dan.

“Cynthia, please show our new guest his accommodations,” Juliette said, as though Dan was a client at a quaint bed and breakfast.

The attendant touched Dan above the elbow and motioned up the staircase.  Still unable to speak, Dan followed the woman in numb disbelief.

As they ascended the staircase, Dan tried to take in as much information as possible for a future escape attempt.  He noticed that each of the attendants wore a white translucent 2-piece nightie as a type of uniform.  Each of them also wore a harness around their waist and crotch, most likely to allow Juliette to maintain control over their actions.  Whether it was because of the harnesses, job satisfaction, or some other reason, the staff seemed to operate like a well-oiled machine.  Dan figured that escaping from this prison-estate would be an extremely low percentage proposition.

Cynthia led Dan down a long corridor with doors on either side.  As they approached a room about three quarters of the way down the hall on the right, Dan heard a door automatically unlock.  They entered the room which was to be Dan’s bedroom for the evening.  It looked like a five-star luxury hotel suite with a desk and credenza, a computer, and a large HD video monitor in front of a king-size bed.

In a professional voice that was in stark contrast to her appearance, Cynthia began to recount the amenities of the room like a flight attendant providing safety information before a flight.  “You will sleep here tonight.  For your protection and the protection of those around you, the door will automatically lock once I leave the suite.  Another attendant will come to get you in the morning before your breakfast with Mistress Juliette and your friend Amanda.  In the meantime, feel free to make yourself at home.  You may take a shower, bath or Jacuzzi to relax if that suits you, as all of the equipment that you are wearing is completely waterproof.  For your peace of mind, you should further know that each piece of equipment has a variety of safety mechanisms in the event of any malfunction, including a water-induced electrical short.  Of course, we will do our best to make sure your stay with us is safe, sane and consensual.”

“Cynthia, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dan thought.  “Clearly, you’re in no position to judge sanity.”

Cynthia continued.  “The television receives a variety of movie channels and in certain circumstances may operate as a video conferencing station.  There is a workstation with a high-speed Internet connection over on the desk if you prefer on-line entertainment.  I hope you have an enjoyable evening.”

Breaking from her professional demeanor, she smiled like a gushing school girl and said “Between you and me, I think it’s so romantic that you are offering yourself to your friend Amanda like this.  I actually requested to be part of the breakfast detail, but my request was turned down since I don’t really have any seniority.”

The mere mention of Amanda’s name caused Dan to raise his eyebrows in surprise.  How could this woman know about Amanda, and what did breakfast have to do with anything?

Cynthia mistook Dan’s expression for one of disbelief at her lack of seniority, and she elaborated accordingly.  “No, really.  I just started here.  I probably don’t even make as much as you and your friend do tending the Mistress Juliette’s shop.”

Forcing himself back in the moment, Dan suddenly and swiftly flipped to the second page of the contract he almost forgot he was holding.  He pointed to the section defining his safe gesture, and he proceeded to stomp on the floor in the sequence described on the page.

Cynthia laughed.  “How cute, you want me to know your safe gesture.  Very good, now I know,” she said nodding.

Dan shook his head back and forth as he flipped to the section about levels lower than Store Manager.

A concerned look came across Cynthia’s face as she read.  “You’re serious,” she said.  “You have just given me your safe gesture, and you expect me to free you.”

Dan nodded quickly and tapped the page of the employment agreement.

“Well, I don’t know.  Nobody said anything about this.  I’m going to have to check with my manager.”

Dan flipped the contact to the last page and pointed at his signature and Juliette’s signature.

“Yes, yes, I see that this is between you and Mistress Juliette.  I’ll call her.”

Dan vehemently shook his head and he pointed to the gag preventing him from speaking.

“Are you suggesting that I take the gag off so that you can explain?” she asked, as though they were playing a game of charades.

Dan first gave her a “thumbs up” then held up his thumb and index finger to suggest “just for a little bit.”

“I don’t know…” she said thinking a moment.  “Well, alright, but just long enough for you to tell me what you absolutely need to.”

Cynthia reached behind her back and produced a remote controller seemingly out of thin air.  “There must be a well disguised pocket in that outfit,” thought Dan “because I thought I could see everything.”

With a few taps of Cynthia’s finger on the touchpad, Dan’s tongue was released, and Dan turned his head allowing the gag to fall harmlessly onto the bed.  Dan breathed a deep sigh of relief, and swallowed hard before speaking.

“Cynthia, please don’t contact Juliette or your manager.  I don’t trust them.  This is my employment agreement with Leather or Knot which requires that I be released from any bondage equipment when I provide my safe signal to an employee at a store manager level or lower.  Unfortunately, I don’t know my “Ultimate Safe Word or Gesture” since I didn’t pay attention when I signed the agreement, and Juliette won’t tell me what they are because if she did, she knows that I would use them.”

“Surprised, Cynthia said “Wow.  That’s a lot to take in.  So, how do I know that you didn’t just make all of that up?”

“Well, I guess you really don’t.  Not yet,” Dan said considering his situation.  “Look, let’s take one thing at a time.  Are you at a lower level in the organization than a store manager?”

“I’m really not sure, but I would bet that I am.  I just started working here last week, and it is an entry-level position,” she reasoned.

“Is there someone you could ask other than your manager?  Maybe a co-worker?”

Cynthia agreed to call her roommate who was also a co-worker.  Cynthia used the telephone next to the bed, and after a short conversation she hung up and said “Yes, my friend Vickie said that we are at the same level as a janitor which is far below a store manager.”

Cynthia then tapped her finger on the remote controller a few times, and picked up the gag from the bed.  “Okay, time to put the gag back on,” she said nicely.

“Wait a minute.  We aren’t done yet.  What about my employment agreement?  You should be letting me go since you are at a lower level than a store manager,” Dan implored.

“I’m sorry, but we can settle all of that once we get your gag back on.  Vickie also warned me not to let you go without proper authorization because unlike your employment agreement, my employment agreement includes my consent to corporal punishment for breaking the house rules.  So, even though I want to help you, I’d rather not find out what will happen to me if you’re lying,” Cynthia explained.  “Now please, just put the gag back on, and I promise I’ll try to help you.”

Dan knew that he had no choice.  Even if he overpowered her and took the remote controller, the minute anyone found out that he was gone, they would send a signal to his helmet or thong that would make him regret his actions.  He started to reason with her, but she insisted and threatened to do it “the hard way.”

Just as he was putting the gag back on, a woman in a blue translucent nightie entered the suite.

The woman looked directly at Cynthia and said “I came as soon as I received your signal.  What seems to be the prob…”  She stopped short, looked at Dan and then looked back to Cynthia.  “Who authorized you to remove his gag?” she demanded.

Cynthia searched for the right words.  “Well, he gave me what appeared to be a safe gesture, and I needed to be certain that I understood.  So, I temporarily removed his gag for him to explain, but we put it right back on.  I’m so sorry if I did anything wrong.”

“Of course you’ve done something wrong!” the woman said, raising her voice.  “What in the world made you think he would have a safe gesture, and how would you have known what it was, anyway?”

Dan, having reinserted the gag, held up his contract and pointed to the section describing his safe gesture.

“Yes,” Cynthia explained.  “He has this employment agreement that identifies his safe gesture, and requires anyone at a store manager level or lower to remove his restraints.”

The woman dismissed the thought.  “That’s nonsense!  They’re just words on a page.  There’s nothing here to suggest that this is a real contract.”

“Actually, there is,” said Cynthia taking the agreement from Dan and turning to the last page.  “It appears to be signed by Mistress Juliette.  That’s why I called you.”

Cynthia’s manager studied the document.  She spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the signature page.

“Well, there’s only one way to settle this.  We’ll call Mistress Juliette.”

Dan stared at the ground resigned to his fate.

The women stood in front of the HD monitor, and the manager tapped the remote controller touch screen several times.  The monitor displayed “Connecting… please wait” superimposed over a beautiful panoramic shot of the estate grounds.  Twenty seconds later, they were on a video conference with Mistress Juliette.

With an air of skepticism, Cynthia’s superior reported the events in a fairly accurate fashion to Juliette.  Juliette asked Cynthia “Did he give you the correct safe gesture as described in the agreement?”

“Yes, ma’am.  He did.  That was what prompted me to call Miss Francis,” Cynthia said, gesturing to her manager.

There was an uncomfortably long pause.  Dan expected Juliette to order the women to add more restraints.  Cynthia was certain that she was going to be punished for even considering this.  Miss Francis was contemplating the appropriate punishment for a first-time offense.

Finally, a smile crept across Juliette’s face.  She began to nod.  “Nicely played, Daniel.  Nicely played.  I wondered whether you would use the clues I provided.  I wasn’t sure you would be able to identify a staff member at the right level in the organization, but you managed to make quick work of it.”

Dan looked up, eyes wide, stunned that she admitted that he was right.

Juliette continued.  “Ladies, I am a woman of my word.  Please see to it that you remove all restraints from Mr. Learner, and offer him every amenity that you would offer any of my most honored guests.”

The women were amazed, but they promptly complied.  Miss Francis reached down to operate the remote controller, and Dan’s head harness, goggles and gag slid off of his head to the floor.  The harness covering his manhood gently opened.  Dan gladly removed it and tossed it on the bed.  Suddenly naked, Dan felt extremely self-conscious.

“I don’t suppose there are any men’s clothes in the closet?” Dan said sarcastically.

Cynthia immediately walked to the bathroom and held open a luxuriously thick terrycloth robe.  Dan put his arms in the sleeves, wrapped it around his body and began to feel human again.  Walking over an armoire near the closet, Cynthia said “We have a variety of clothes for you.  I believe that they will all be your size.”  She opened the armoire and the closet to reveal an immense wardrobe.

Stunned, Dan said “The robe will be fine for now.”

Juliette spoke again from the HD monitor.  “Daniel, you are now free to move about in any of the public areas of the estate, but if you don’t mind waiting, I would love to give you a personal tour.  Please relax.  Settle in for a bit, and I will be down in just under an hour.  Agreed?”

“Sure,” replied Dan, not knowing what else to say.  This day had been long and eventful, but it wasn’t over yet.

Chapter 11 – Juliette’s Domain

After reviewing his clothing options in the armoire and closet, Dan had decided to put on some khakis and a golf shirt.  As promised, Juliette arrived at Dan’s door just before midnight, 45 minutes after disconnecting from the video conference.  She was dressed in jeans and a long sleeved tee shirt.  Initially, he thought that she had removed all of her make-up, but upon closer inspection, he realized that she was just more conventional and subtle about its application.  She was a naturally beautiful older woman.

“So, how does it feel to be a free man?” Juliette inquired playfully.

“Wonderful, but I won’t really be free until I’m back with Amanda.  She is alright, isn’t she?”  He asked, concerned.

“She’s fine.  She’s probably home asleep by now.  As you know, I’ve invited her for breakfast tomorrow.”  She paused to see recognition in Dan’s face.  “Of course, she thinks that she is coming here to decide your fate, but you seem to have taken care of that yourself.”

“What do you mean ‘decide my fate?’  Does she think you were going to kill me?”  Dan asked incredulously.

“No, silly.  After taking you from the shop earlier tonight, I gave her the power to decide what would happen to you.  I would have let her decide to do almost anything with you if you hadn’t freed yourself by tomorrow’s breakfast.”

“What would there be to decide?” He asked rhetorically.  “She would have told you to let me go, and we’d have gotten out of here.”

“No.  I don’t think you’ve thought this through completely.  She would have had all night to think about this decision.  It’s true that she could have decided to set you free, but there are a number of other possibilities that she might have considered.”

“Oh, really?”  Dan said acerbically.

“Sure.  For example, she could have told me to keep you both on at Leather or Knot, since it did bring you both together,” she said smiling.

“No way.  I’m done with the shop.  Using my safe word was my last official act as an employee, thank you very much,” Dan said sarcastically.

“That’s fine.  Consider your employment terminated, but you’re missing the point.  Amanda could have decided anything.  She could even have decided to keep you for herself.  You certainly wouldn’t have been in a position to argue about it.  Or, maybe I could have convinced her to let me keep you, you never know…”

Dan considered the implications of what might have been.

“So, if I didn’t use my safe signal, she could have decided to keep me as her slave… if she wanted to?”

“That was actually the outcome that I was hoping for,” Juliette said matter-of-factly.  “I have seen great things ahead for Amanda ever since I hired her, and you would have been lucky to have her,” she said with a hint of sadness.  “But that’s all moot now.  Let me give you a quick tour before bed.”

Mindful of the late hour, Juliette decided to limit the tour to the vanilla areas of the estate before retiring.  They wandered around the grounds, and she pointed out landscape lighting in the front garden.  They toured the ball room, the conservatory, the game room, the exercise facility and the sauna.  Juliette pointed out the two pools, the stable and the four tennis courts.

She delighted in explaining that hidden within the lovely vanilla exterior was a wonderfully kinky facility.  She and her husband had originally considered having two estates: one vanilla and the other alternative, but they ultimately decided it would be more fun to have them both operating in the same house, but each completely separate from the other.  As Juliette and Dan concluded the tour in the dining room, she explained that it gave her a secret thrill to entertain her socially acceptable guests in a house infused with hidden kinkiness.

“Most of my guests have no idea, for example, that there is a hidden staircase right behind that wall that leads from this dining room to a dungeon in the basement,” she said smiling like a school girl.

At that moment, Dan realized that Juliette may have had a truly playful and happy side that he hadn’t seen before.

Juliette escorted Dan to a table for two off to the side of the formal dining table.  The table held a variety of late-night snacks that Dan eyed as he sat down.

“Dig in.  You must be hungry after the evening you’ve had,” she said, nodding toward the snacks.  “We’re pretty much finished with the vanilla aspects of the house.  I’ll give you a quick tour of the kinkier side of the house in the light of day.”

“Agreed.  I’ve already seen more of that side of the house than I cared to for one night.”

They sat in silence for a moment.  Then Dan asked “How did you end up living like this, anyway?”

It came out more judgmental that Dan intended.  What he had meant was that he marveled at her ability to compartmentalize her vanilla and alternative sides.  For the past few months, his vanilla side and his alternative side had been co-existing without really interacting with each other, and he felt torn.

“That’s a fair question, actually,” Juliette said with a hint of sadness.  “It didn’t start off like this.  My husband and I built this estate so that we could live out our fantasies without sacrificing all of the ordinary pleasures that we enjoyed.”

“So what happened?  Where is he?”  Dan asked.

“He passed away about ten years ago.  An automobile accident, and ironically, he wasn’t wearing his seat belt, a safety restraint,” she answered with a sad laugh.

“That’s terrible.  I’m so sorry,” Dan said sincerely.  He was beginning to see Juliette as more than just an S&M caricature.

“Actually, Brent and I were rather similar to you and Amanda when we first started out.  We were getting by on what I made working at a resale shop, and Brent had just graduated with a chemical engineering degree when he invented a non-toxic, quick-setting glue that is still used by most dentists to this day,” she said reminiscing.

Dan listened as she continued.

“We had experimented with bondage in the bedroom, and the money we made from his discovery allowed us to take our dark fantasies to another level by building this house.  When he died, he left me a fortune in life insurance proceeds, not to mention the royalties that I collect from his patent portfolio, but he left my heart and our house empty.”

Her eyes began to water, and Dan offered her a napkin.  Juliette accepted it, rose to her feet and started walking Dan back to his suite.  As they walked, Juliette collected herself and continued.

“I see that same passion between you and Amanda even though you two probably don’t fully recognize it, yet.  Brent used to call me his ‘little pistol,’” she said.  “If you had read your employment agreement before signing it, you would realize that I now use that as the ultimate safe word for my employees,” she said smiling sadly.

“So, if I had just said ‘pistol’ you would have let me go earlier tonight?” he asked, trying to gently guide the conversation back to the present.

“Yes, immediately.  But there was little chance of that happening since you were well silenced.  You would have had to hum or tap out “Take me out to the Ball Game.”  While humming, she snapped her fingers in time with the words.  “Brent loved baseball.”

Finally, they arrived at Dan’s door, and Juliette looked at her watch.

“Well, it’s off to bed.  Over the years, I have discovered that some of my guests like to indulge in any number of activities before bed.  If you would like any of my staff to help entertain you before bed, please just let me know,” she said with a wink.

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Dan answered, a bit disgusted at the implication.

Juliette smiled and said in a sing-song voice “It would be just our little secret if you want to.  Amanda never has to know.”

“Seriously, no,” Dan reiterated.

“Yes, you two really are reminiscent of Brent and me when we were young,” she said, half to herself.

Dan was tired and his accommodations were superb.  Nonetheless, he spent a restless night thinking about Amanda.  He had wanted to pick up the phone and call her, but Juliette had asked him not to call, assuring him that Amanda was fine.

The next morning, he awoke at sunrise and decided to take a look around in the daylight.  He dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and strolled down the wide circular staircase.  Before he stepped onto the marble flooring below, Cynthia entered the hall from the dining room.  Unlike the day before, she was dressed completely in leather: halter top, mini skirt, stilettos and gloves.

“Juliette has asked me to complete your tour from last night.  Step this way,” she said professionally.

Surprised, Dan obeyed.

“So, why the leather outfit?  Dan asked to make polite conversation.

“Well, we have a limited selection of uniforms, and if you must know, I chose this one because I was punished for the way I handled your situation last night.  The mini skirt hides my red bottom,” she answered, clearly a bit irritated.

Dan stopped walking.

“But you didn’t do anything wrong,” he reasoned aloud.  “Juliette even said as much when she directed you to let me go.”

“Well, I wasn’t punished for letting you go.  I was punished for removing your gag without permission and for calling my roommate from your bedroom phone.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Dan said sympathetically.

“I suppose it was my own fault, really.  I should have contacted Miss Francis immediately instead of handling it myself,” Cynthia replied, motioning Dan to continue walking.  “My punishment was only two light swats with a cane, but they left marks that will last a few days.  So, I’d rather not advertise my disobedience,” she said, pausing a moment.  “I won’t be making that mistake again.”

As they talked, Cynthia led Dan out of the residence and to an adjacent four story building.  It was the Development and Research of Leather or Knot, Inc.  The employees often referred to it by the acronym “DARC LOK,” or “Dark Lock.”  They met Juliette in the lobby and spent the next 90 minutes touring the building as Juliette pointed out the highlights of the innovative work being done.  Juliette explained that with her inheritance and her husband’s connections, she was able to attract leading university scientists to develop new technology which could be used in a variety of applications, including bondage.  Some of the scientists were Brent’s friends who knew of his interests.  Others simply couldn’t pass up free a vacation at Juliette’s estate in exchange for their research activities.

On the ground floor, the staff was conducting final tests of an inhaler that was designed to deliver a muscle-relaxer which could temporarily remove a subject’s ability to speak.  The tests today were merely a quality control measure to verify the results that supported FDA approval a month earlier.  The FDA found that the inhaler was completely safe to use, with no long term side effects.  The muscle-relaxer targeted the muscle tissue of the voice box to render the vocal chords so loose that they could generate no sound.  The effects of one or two inhalations were estimated to last about 30 minutes.

On the second floor, Dan and Cynthia watched a subject receive a piercing that could be tracked by a handheld GPS device.  They witnessed a demonstration of the technology in a lab.  A pierced subject moved around a simple maze of office cubicle walls while a lab technician tracked his movements on an LCD screen.  The GPS tracking software used a proprietary algorithm that enabled it to be accurate to within two feet.

On the third floor, a team of technicians was working on an electronic blindfold which delivered energy pulses to a subject’s temples temporarily interfering with the subject’s vision.  The technology was at an early stage and could not even be tested on animals yet.  Juliette, Cynthia and Dan briefly sat in on a brainstorming session at which various scientists sketched out ideas on a whiteboard.

On the top floor, the tour group looked in on a team of software engineers developing applications for realitime monitoring of vital signs using specially designed cuffs, collars, cock rings and chest harnesses.  The customized restraints included embedded sensors for monitoring heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, perspiration and nerve sensitivity.  Juliette joked that they should write an application that would use the monitored parameters to simulate a lie detector.  When the technicians told her that the parameters would always suggest a lie since the biological levels of a restrained and aroused subject would continually be elevated, she said “Exactly!  That way, I can punish my slave for dishonesty every time.”

After the tour, Juliette led the group to the dining room where Miss Francis was waiting with a variety of breakfast pastries arrayed along the main dining room table.

“Please, feel free to sit down for a bite to eat,” she said to Cynthia and Dan.  She smiled a knowing smile at Cynthia.

Cynthia remained standing and took a sliver of cheese Danish, but Dan declined to eat due to the anticipation of reuniting with Amanda.  Then Dan, Juliette and Miss Francis sat down, and Juliette began to review the morning schedule with Miss Francis.

“Amanda will be arriving in twenty minutes, and I would like the staff to be on their best behavior,” Juliette said with authority.  “I trust that you have seen to it that we have no vanilla visitors on the grounds today.  So, the staff can wear their alternative uniforms.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Miss Francis replied obediently.

“When Amanda arrives, please escort her to the back porch overlooking the stable where we can have drinks and talk girl-talk for ten minutes, or so,” Juliette continued.  “We will then move here, to the dining room.”

“Of course,” replied Miss Francis.  “I will see to it that the executive continental breakfast will be served promptly.”

After a short break in the conversation, Cynthia asked “Should I bring Mr. Learner in after breakfast?”

Raising her eyebrows, Juliette turned toward Cynthia.  Miss Francis slowly shook her head with a frown.

“Excellent question, Cynthia.  A bit presumptuous to jump into a conversation between your superiors, but an excellent question nonetheless,” Juliette said haughtily.  “I suppose that depends on whether Mr. Learner would want to know what Amanda’s decision would have been had he not used his safe gesture last night,” she continued, turning toward Dan.

“I’m sure I already know,” Dan replied confidently.  “She would want an equal partnership, and she would have let me go to make my own decisions.”

Letting his answer hang in the air, Juliette paused before replying “Did it ever occur to you that an equal partnership could include her making the decisions for both of you?  It worked fine for husband and me.”

“Well, of course you thought it was an equal partnership.  You made all of the decisions,” Dan replied smiling.

Juliette raised one eyebrow.  “No,” she said.  “I only made one.  To surrender myself completely to his will.”

The others looked at Juliette in stunned disbelief.

Dan broke the silence.  “You mean you were the submissive?  But your personality is so strong.”

“Strength comes from having the conviction to follow your dreams and live by your decisions.  Of course, it helps to find someone who loves you completely,” Juliette sagely replied.  “So, the decision is yours.  You are certainly welcome to attend the breakfast with Amanda.  We can all drink Mimosas and have a delightfully vanilla time.  But if you decide to have breakfast with us, you’ll never really know what Amanda’s decision would have been.  Your presence will undoubtedly influence her.”

She paused to let Dan consider the option.

“As an alternative, you could surrender yourself to Cynthia and allow her to prepare you as she would have if you hadn’t used your safe gesture last night.  You would have just enough time to get ready if you start now.  By the time breakfast is over, Cynthia would be ready to present you to Amanda just before I ask for her decision.”

“But what if Amanda decides to keep me?”  Dan asked uncertainly.

“Well, that might be the best thing that ever happened to you,” Juliette answered tersely.

“But what if I get cold feet?” Dan asked with a bit more urgency.

Juliette calmly answered his question with a question.  “Are they cold now?”

“Well, no.”

“Then what would possibly change between now and then?  Besides, if you were to completely change your mind, you now know the ultimate safe word and gesture, right?”  She said, smiling at him as though they were both in on a juicy secret.

“You’re right.  I’ll do it,” he said decisively.

“I thought you might,” Juliette said with a nod.  “You won’t regret it.  I never have.”

Chapter 12 – Dan’s Preparation

The meeting quickly adjourned.  Juliette and Miss Francis walked to the back porch in anticipation of Amanda’s arrival, and Cynthia escorted Dan to an elaborate dungeon through the secret door in the dining room wall.  They descended in a hidden elevator and walked through an unusually wide cinder block corridor in the lower level.

With businesslike precision, Cynthia directed Dan to a side room and helped him step up onto a metal platform which had two metal boots attached to the top of it.  The boots were spaced roughly shoulder distance apart.  Each boot was hinged at the toe and heel, and around the ankle of each boot was a latch which, when engaged, locked the front and rear portions in place.  Cynthia opened each of the boots to reveal that the inner portion of the boots was rubberized, like an inner tube.

Understanding that the boots were meant for him, Dan removed his own shoes and socks and stepped into the metal boots.  Cynthia trapped his feet by closing and locking the hinged portions of the boots.  As if to test the comfort of his new footwear, Dan wiggled his toes against the rubber interior.  “Not as good as my Nikes,” he thought, “but not bad.”

Looking down at his feet, Dan more closely examined the metal platform.  What he originally assumed was ordinary corrugated metal was actually a finely machined grid for mechanically attaching a variety of elements to the platform.  He reasoned that the bottom of his boots must have a corresponding grid which allowed them to lock into place.

Looking up, Dan noticed Cynthia attaching metal poles slightly in front of each of his feet.  Each pole had a brushed chrome finish and was tapered to form a wide base for a sturdy connection with the platform.  From a storage shelf under the platform, she removed a similarly finished, futuristic neck stock and attached it to the tops of poles.  The circular center portion was attached to side pieces by ball joints that allowed the neck restraint to swivel with the movement of the subject without sacrificing secure restraint.  Like the boots, the top half of the neck restraint was hinged at one side to allow positioning of the subject’s neck, and a latch on the opposite side locked the restraint.  Further, the interior of the neck piece was rubberized, as well.

After adjusting the height of the poles, Cynthia opened the neck stock and nodded for Dan to place his neck in the lower semi-circle.  Dan felt like he was placing his neck on a chopping block as he grasped the supports and gingerly lowered his head into position.  Only as the latch sounded a telltale “click” did Dan realize how quiet it had been.  Cynthia hadn’t spoken a word since they entered the elevator from the Dining Room.  He suddenly realized that he had been quietly, submissively complying with all of her unspoken commands, and the realization made him uneasy.

Stepping out of view, Cynthia quietly removed a second set of poles from beneath the platform.  A wrist stock, a smaller version of the restraint which encircled Dan’s neck, was attached to the top of each pole.  Cynthia attached each pole slightly behind each boot and adjusted the height of each pole to just below Dan’s shoulders.  One by one, Cynthia guided Dan’s arms behind him until his wrists rested on the lower semi-circles of the restraints, and she locked them into place with two quiet “clicks.”

Dan was now completely trapped in a position that looked as though he was beginning an Olympic dive.  Cynthia reappeared in front of Dan holding an oversized ball gag.  Smiling sweetly, she held it ho to his mouth, and he took in the rubber sphere, but not without some trepidation.  She fastened the gag swiftly and tightly causing Dan’s heart rate to quicken.

As Cynthia moved out Dan’s view again, he strained and craned to see what she would do next, but to no avail.  He could hear her rustling about behind him, but it was impossible for him to see what she was doing.  Suddenly, he felt a cold steel blade sliding up his leg.  She was cutting his clothes off with scissors!  After parading around most of yesterday evening in a nothing but a high-tech chastity device, Dan was loath to be on display again, but he had little say in the matter, and he rationalized that it was for Amanda’s benefit anyway.

After all of his clothes were removed, Cynthia knelt down in front of Dan facing his genitals.  He was hard as a rock, and he was panicked that Cynthia was going to take advantage of his position.  She grabbed his shaft and pulled slightly as she applied a cool moist substance to his balls and around his crotch.  To Dan’s surprise, Cynthia began shaving his genitals with a straight razor.  Each stroke felt cool and crisp as air hit the skin where hair and shaving cream had been removed.  Dan kept as still as he could, knowing that a blade was within millimeters of some very active blood vessels.  Each stroke came closer to his family jewels, and after the fourth stroke, he began humming “Take me out to the Ball Game.”

Cynthia stopped shaving him immediately and rose to face him with a look of concern.  She reached around the back of his head and unfastened the ball gag.

“Everything is alright,” she said soothingly holding his face in her hands.  “Take a deep breath.”

Dan tried to control his panic and reduce his racing heart rate.

“You’re having second thought, aren’t you?”  Cynthia asked, as though she was talking to a kindergartener on the first day of class.

“Yes, I’m sorry,” said Dan in a trembling voice.

“I completely understand,” Cynthia said empathetically.  “You need to understand that this was the way that Juliette had planned to present you to Amanda.  Are you sure you want to stop?”

Dan took a deep breath.  He knew how crazy this was.  A few short months ago, if someone had told him that he would be allowing himself to be presented to a woman as a piece of property, he wouldn’t have believed it.  But here he was completely helpless, displayed like some kind of collectible doll.

“I wasn’t kidding last night when I told you how romantic I thought it was that you were giving yourself to Amanda,” she offered.

Last night, he was completely confident that Amanda would decide to let him go, but he hadn’t realized how the question would be put to her.  In his current position, he looked like a slave, not Amanda’s boyfriend.  Would she be inclined to continue the enslavement that was already started?  It would be easy, he thought, but ultimately, he wanted to hear it from her.  Besides, he could always just say “pistol” or start humming “Take me out to the Ball Game.”

Dan swallowed hard and quietly said “No, let’s continue.”

Cynthia set the gag aside and said “We can leave this off for now just in case, but I need to finish shaving you”

After shaving his entire body below the neck, Dan looked up to see a clock on the far wall.  He estimated that Amanda and Juliette were probably exchanging pleasantries on the back porch at that very moment.  Maybe Amanda was already demanding to see him.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Dan commented.  “We’re actually finished sooner than I expected.”

“Oh, we’re not done,” Cynthia said from behind him.

Dan felt the platform jar slightly as Cynthia unlocked the wheels.  She rolled the platform to the other side of the room facing a storage cabinet.  Cynthia opened the cabinet to remove two metal spheres.  Each sphere was eight inches in diameter and had a circular opening on one side.  The opposing side was hinged.  Dan watched as she opened one of the spheres into two halves.  One half was constructed with a metal bar running across the center, perpendicular to the opening at the end.  She stepped behind him and placed the ball near the palm of his right hand.

“Please grip the handle,” she said in a clinical tone.

Upon gripping the metal bar, Dan felt the device close around his fist.  Although he couldn’t see what she was doing, he felt Cynthia somehow fasten the sphere to the metal wrist stock.  It attached firmly with absolutely no give, but Dan could still flex his fingers inside rubber lined interior.  Cynthia repeated the process with Dan’s left hand and returned to the storage cabinet.

As she turned to face him, Dan could see that she had what looked like an athletic mouth guard in her hand.  She held the mouth piece in front of his lips and said “Please bite down naturally.”

He accepted the device and bit down firmly.  His mouth slowly filled with a sweet strawberry taste as non-toxic glue seeped from pores of the soft rubber mouth piece to instantly bind with his teeth sealing his mouth closed.  Cynthia next produced a rubberized metal harness which she fitted around his head and chin.  She adjusted it until it was just a bit too tight.  Metal bands extended from the harness near his temples, and she attached them to the neck stock, thereby completely limiting even the slightest head movement.

Dan had never been so thoroughly immobilized.  In all of his time at the shop, he had never encountered any restraints so elaborate – except maybe the remote control straps that Juliette had used to kidnap him, if you could call it kidnapping.

“Almost done,” Cynthia says in an encouraging tone.  “But we’ll need to hurry if we want to make your grand entrance on schedule.”

Turning to the cabinet, she removed a small transparent mask on a hook.  The transparent mask included a small rubber bulb attached to the bottom.  Cynthia gently hooked the mask onto a loop built into the forehead of the head harness.  Dan wondered what she could be doing.  Cynthia adjusted the mask so that it lightly covered his nose and mouth, and she pumped the bulb twice before turning away to complete her next task.  The mask filled with a mint smelling vapor which he had no choice but to inhale.

Once again, Dan felt the platform move as Cynthia wheeled him off to the corner of the room.  After locking the wheels of the platform, Cynthia moved to the front of the platform and opened the double doors of another storage cabinet.  She removed a retractable rubber hose that was attached to a small air compressor mounted in the cabinet.  Dan watched as Cynthia bent over the base of the platform to access his metal boots.

She attached the compressor hose to a valve fitting in the toe of his left boot.  He was surprised when he realized that he hadn’t noticed the valve earlier, but he was even more surprised when the rubberized interior expanded between Dan’s foot and the metal covering with a short “pssst” to completely prevent his toes from moving.  After repeating the process on the heel of the boot, Dan’s left foot was one with the boot.

Circling around behind him, she filled both halves of the left fist sphere in a similar fashion, and Dan found his fist was as immovable as his foot.  Continuing to circle him, she pressurized the other boot, the other fist sphere, both wrist cuffs, and his neck cuff.  The inflated cuffs were tight but surprisingly comfortable.  Even though the neck cuff was tight, it still allowed him to breathe freely.  Finally, she moved back around in front of him, removed the plastic mask, and asked him “What do you think?”

Dan tried to “mmphff” out a response, but his vocal chords had been completely relaxed by the mist from the bulb.  His surprised look prompted Cynthia to say “I thought so,” as she moved behind him once more.

Dan began to struggle helplessly.  He was unable to make a sound.  Not a whimper.  Not a hum.  Not a tap.  He was held fast and silent.

The room was again eerily quiet and Dan felt Cynthia’s breathe near his right ear.

She quietly and deliberately whispered.  “You can’t move, can you?  There’s no need to respond.  Your vocal chords have been disabled.”  She paused to give him time to panic, but he was way ahead of her.  “That means that there will be no safe word or gesture today.”

After a pause, he could hear that Cynthia was again removing equipment from beneath the platform and attaching it to the top of the platform.

“Mistress Juliette insisted that I save the best for last,” Cynthia whispered into his left ear.  “Your safe word wouldn’t have mattered anyway.”

His complete vulnerability was punctuated by a squirt of lubricant into his anus.  Dan’s heart was beating like a speeding train.  He frantically tugged at his feet and wrists, but any ordinary observer would not have known unless they noticed the strained thigh and upper arm muscles.

“You were committed as soon as I locked down your first foot,” she continued in a hushed tone.

Suddenly Dan felt a metal probe being screwed into his ass.  He had never allowed anyone to penetrate his ass.  Not anyone.

“In case you haven’t realized by now, your attempt to use the safe gesture earlier was really quite meaningless,” Cynthia said smiling.  “Think about it.  You’re no longer an employee of Leather or Knot.  As a result, your safe word and safe gesture mean nothing.  You really should be more careful when you surrender control to Mistress Juliette.”

He thrust his hips forward as far as they would go to avoid the intruder, but his penetration was a certainty.  Just as he thought it was in as deep as it would go, Cynthia attached the plug to a post she had installed behind him.  With the post in place, he regretted thrusting his hips so far forward because releasing any tension on his hips pushed the plug further in.  With his hips thrust forward, and his heart beating double time, his hard on was accentuated.

“It was fun toying with you though,” she continued.  “I was hoping that my feigned sympathy would convince you to continue.  It was so much more fun finishing the job knowing you’d be surprised in the end,” she said laughing.  “No pun intended, of course.”

As a final restraint, Cynthia encircled the base of Dan’s scrotum with a metal band and attached it to yet another post that she installed and adjusted immediately under his package.

“Time to see Amanda for the show!”  She announced, and with a few taps on her remote controller, the butt plug and the scrotum ring began to vibrate.

Chapter 13 – Amanda’s Decision

Sunlight shot down between the bedroom shade and the window frame onto the floor.  Amanda opened her eyes again to focus on the digital clock.  It was only 5:28 am.  It was too early to get up, but she was too emotional to sleep.  Closing her eyes, she worked through her schedule in reverse.  She needed to be at Amanda’s at 9:00 am sharp.  Any earlier would show anxiousness.  Any later might be taken as disrespect, or worse – disinterest.

She determined that she could safely sleep until 7:15.  But who was she kidding?  She hadn’t slept more than 30 minutes in a row all night.  She swiveled her legs off the bed and sat up to stare at a bedside photograph of her and Dan in the park.  So much had changed since their friend’s camera had captured that moment.  So much had changed in the last twelve hours.

Amanda took her time getting ready, thinking through the many ways in which her morning could play out.  One common thread weaved throughout all of her imagined scenarios: she demanded that Juliette release Dan.

Dressing on instinct, Amanda automatically selected a provocative leather outfit that she might have worn to the shop.  She was ready to go by 6:45.  Rather than waste her time in the apartment, she decided to begin driving.  She would spend the extra 90 minutes scoping out the area around Juliette’s house.  It beat doing nothing.

With two hours to do nothing but think, Amanda’s thoughts swirled around her impending decision in ever widening circles until she began to consider scenarios that didn’t involve setting Dan free.  She considered one, then another, and another.  Yet, even as she considered those other depraved realities, she knew what she had to do.  She loved Dan; and she knew that he loved her; and even though she was aroused by the thought of keeping him as her captive lover, she remembered the feelings she had when she was tied up in the store in front of her parents.  Dan rescued her when she needed it most.  She loved the loss of control to someone so trustworthy, and then regaining control at his hands.  It was incredible.

Then she realized that she might be able give Dan that same incredible rush.  Maybe she could take him away from Juliette while he was still restrained and release him at the apartment.  Maybe his release would be as incredible as hers was.

She shook the thought out of her head.  This wasn’t a couple of Midwestern parents she was dealing with.  This was Juliette, a brilliant, powerful, deceptive bitch.  She would need to free Dan immediately to ensure that they got out of Juliette’s house safely.  Besides, she couldn’t betray Dan since he was taken against his will.

Amanda drove around the house for over an hour before finally deciding to turn into the long drive.  She took her time driving up to the house, and then she realized that this was no house.  This was a mansion.  No, this was a compound.

As slow as she drove, she still arrived fifteen minutes early, and she was helped from her car by a valet in a leather tuxedo.  A doorman in a leather chest harness and little else ushered her through the front door into the foyer where she was greeted by Miss Francis in a leather maid outfit.

“Miss Amanda, I presume,” Miss Francis said in a welcoming tone.  “Mistress Juliette has been expecting you.  Please allow me to show you to the back porch where she awaits.”

Amanda looked around in awe as she followed Miss Francis through a wide hall to the back of the house.  Aside from the strangely dressed staff, you wouldn’t know that a deceitful sadist lived there, she thought to herself.

As she stepped through the double French doors to the back porch, Juliette was sitting in a comfortable leather loveseat looking out over the stable area.  Several horses were being trained, each in a separate rectangular corral.  The trainers wore the customary equestrian attire which made them the only people here, other than herself, who looked normal.  Then, she laughed at herself when she realized that people in equestrian attire could hardly be said to appear normal, and she was wearing her work clothes.

“Amanda dear, so glad you could make it,” Juliette said rising from her seat with her arms outstretched for a pompous hug.  Amanda allowed Juliette to hug her, but did not reciprocate.  “And you’re early,” Juliette continued, looking over Amanda’s shoulder.  “You must be anxious.”

“Damn!” thought Amanda, and her thoughts played out across her face as Juliette leaned back to take her in.

“No, no, it’s a good thing,” Juliette said reassuringly.  “It only shows how much you care for Dan, a fact of which I was already keenly aware.”

Without hesitating, Amanda said “I’ve decided that you should let Dan go.  I’d like you to bring him to me.”

She said it just as she had practiced hundreds of times in her head.  She said it perfectly.

Juliette regarded her a moment and said “So, you’ve made up your mind.  That’s nice, but I haven’t asked you for your decision just yet.  Please, hold that thought until after breakfast.  Daniel is in good hands.  Let’s have a drink and get to know one another.”

A young woman in a leather waitress’s outfit walked over from a bar on the far side of the porch and said “May I get you something to drink?  Orange juice?  Tomato juice?  Bloody Mary?  Mimosa?”

Amanda looked at Juliette and at the waitress, and she couldn’t believe that any of this was real.

“Bloody Mary,” Amanda said reflexively, as if in a daze.

“My usual, Constance,” said Juliette with a smile.

The waitress brought the drinks promptly as Juliette and Amanda began to talk about the shop.  Juliette wanted to know whether Amanda was happy working there.  She asked about how long Amanda and Dan had been dating.  She told Amanda about her deceased husband, and she asked about Amanda’s parents.  As the two women continued to drink, Amanda was surprised at how relaxed she was beginning to feel.  Still, she was resolved to leave there that morning with Dan on her arm.

After nearly a half hour of talking, Miss Francis announced that a continental breakfast was ready for them in the dining room.  Juliette and Amanda walked leisurely to the dining room as if they were old college roommates catching up after years apart.  The comradery continued through breakfast, and Amanda began to actually enjoy Juliette’s company.  She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she couldn’t manage to hate Juliette, despite the kidnapping that brought them to this point.

About fifteen minutes into breakfast, Juliette looked over to Miss Francis who was attentively waiting in a corner of the dining room and said “Amanda, it has been quite nice getting to know you better.  You’re a lovely young woman with a bright future, and I’ve made you wait long enough.  It is time for you to make your decision.”

Caught off guard, Amanda collected herself and began to repeat the words that she had practiced.  But before she got only as far as “As I’ve said…” before Juliette leaned over and put an index finger to Amanda’s lips.

“Before you decide, I would like to give you a small presentation,” she said quietly.

Amanda stared at Juliette a moment.

“Go ahead,” Amanda said stubbornly.  “It won’t change my mind.”

Juliette tapped a touch screen embedded in the dining room table, and a wooden panel on the far wall of the dining room opened up to reveal a darkened alcove.  At first, Amanda couldn’t see what was in the darkened recess, but she soon made out a female figure emerging from the darkness.  As the figure came into the light, it became clear that the she was pulling a cart of some kind behind her.

No, it wasn’t a cart.  It was a wheeled platform, and the platform carried a sculpture.

Amanda looked over to Juliette who was smiling a devilish smile - the devilish smile of a child who was caught with chocolate all over her mouth after finishing the last cookie from the cookie jar.

By the time Amanda turned back, the platform was close enough for her to recognize it for what it was.

“Dan!” she shouted, rising to her feet.  Juliette rose to her feet as well, and gently grasped Amanda’s upper arms.

“Don’t be too quick to judge,” Juliette cautioned.  “Things are not always as they appear.  I assure you that less than an hour ago, in this very room, Daniel freely agreed to be presented to you in this fashion so that you could decide his fate.”

Nearly hyper-ventilating, Amanda found herself frozen.  She was stunned yet strangely excited.  She couldn’t sit down, but she didn’t move away from the table either.  She just stared at Dan as he was wheeled into the well lit center of the dining room.  Then, she glanced over to Juliette.

“Please, he’s fine, really,” Juliette said calmly, trying to comfort her.  “Sit down and give me five minutes to explain.  Then, you can give me your decision.”

Dan was positioned directly in front of the women, and the attendant locked the wheels in place.  Dan was utterly immobilized.  The only things he could move were his eyes which darted from person to person taking in the scene.  He became particularly concerned when he took in Amanda’s outfit.  She wore a tight fitting black silk top with a plunging neckline and a black leather waist cincher that accentuated her assets.

Dan desperately tried to find a way to alert Amanda to the fact that he was no longer as certain of his position as he was before she arrived.  He just had nothing to work with.  On the elevator ride from the dungeon, Cynthia had used more of that strawberry smelling glue to seal his lips together, preventing him from moving even his lips.

“Thank you, Cynthia,” Juliette said, and the attendant took a position along the wall behind Amanda.

Amanda continued to stare at Dan.  Aside from a few blinks of his eyes, Dan was completely motionless.  Attached as he was to the platform, it almost seemed as though he was part of the platform itself.  The light cast shadows which accentuated his firm but inanimate muscles, and Amanda paid particular attention to the muscle at his groin.  She had never seen him more sexually aroused.

As she examined his predicament, she noticed a screen being lowered just behind him and to her right.  When the screen stopped descending, the lights behind Dan dimmed, and an LCD projector threw an image onto the screen.  It was a photograph of Dan, Amanda and Juliette in the shop the evening before, and a superimposed title read “Dan’s Devotion: The Story of how Dan gave Himself to Amanda.”

The relative positions of the screen and Dan’s platform were such that Amanda could not look at one without also seeing the other.  The arrangement didn’t go unnoticed by Juliette who was rather proud of her staff for orchestrating such an impressive presentation.

“I’ve taken the liberty of having my production staff prepare a video montage of the events of the past twelve hours,” Juliette said proudly.  “It was made using footage from surveillance cameras positioned throughout my estate and the boutique.  It will take less than five minutes to view, and then I will ask for your decision.  If you would like us to release Dan at the end of the presentation, we will do so without question.  Agreed?”

Amanda, her eyes fixed on Dan, finally sat down and nodded.  A tap of Juliette’s finger on the dining room table touch screen started the video.

Amanda began to watch the short documentary-style presentation depicting selected events of the past twelve hours.  A recognizable female voice narrated the story.  Meg Ryan?  Jennifer Anniston?  Although the narrator’s name escaped Amanda, she knew that it was a popular A-list actress. 

Amanda watched as she relived Dan’s capture from the boutique.  She was surprised when she witnessed Juliette’s explanation of the Employment Agreement, and she thought of her own employment agreement.  “Why didn’t he read that thing?” she thought.  “I read mine.”

Amanda listened intently as the announcer described Dan’s resourcefulness, and the video showed Dan using his safe gesture, cross fading into his release in front of the HD monitor.  Amanda was proud that Dan had figured out a way to free himself, and she was initially surprised that Juliette lived up to the contract.  But then, after spending the last forty minutes with her, Amanda felt a bit ashamed for judging Juliette so harshly.

The narrator explained that Dan had resigned his position at Leather or Knot, and to punctuate the point, the documentary showed Dan saying “I’m done with the shop.  Using my safe word was my last official act as an employee, thank you very much,” as the screen faded to black.

After a brief pause, the documentary showed footage taken right there in the dining room just an hour earlier.  In a flawlessly spliced audio track, Juliette could be heard saying “As an alternative, you could surrender yourself … to Amanda just before I ask for her decision.”

Through a bit of creative editing, Dan immediately replied “You’re right.  I’ll do it.”

Dan couldn’t see the screen, but he heard the edited dialog, and he saw a profound change in Amanda’s expression.  He could also see the smile of satisfaction on Juliette’s face.

That wasn’t how it happened!  He was exploding inside, and he was nearly exploding outside.  He thought he had a safe word.  He thought he could back out.  He thought his presentation was merely to prove that Amanda would set him free.  Only when it was too late did he realize that his presentation was the one factor that might push Amanda over the edge.  As exciting as the prospect might seem, he hadn’t expected that he might actually become Amanda’s slave.

The documentary concluded with a live shot of Dan immobilized and contorted in the metal display platform.  Amanda looked at Dan in front of her and then at the video echo of Dan’s plight.  She was as surprised, confused and aroused by this new information as Dan was worried.

Again, she noticed Dan’s intermittent blinking, and Cynthia dimmed the lights around the periphery of the room until Amanda and Juliette seemed to be the only two people in the room.  A spotlight above them illuminated only Amanda and Juliette.  The rest of the room fell into complete darkness.

Cynthia quietly made her way through the darkness to Dan’s side, and she whispered in his ear.

“I saw that little stunt of yours.  You’re lucky that she didn’t recognize your Morse code S-O-S.”

Then she tapped a few commands on her remote controller, and Dan felt a jolt of electricity rip through his ass.

A barely audible “hffft” escaped through Dan’s nose as he involuntarily exhaled in reaction to the sudden shock.  His unseen face contorted into a grimace in response to the pain.

“From now on, I expect you to be nice,” Cynthia whispered.  “By the way, the scrotum ring is similarly equipped.”

At the dining room table, Amanda was still silently weighing everything she had just seen.  Juliette sat patiently as Amanda slowly shook her head.

“He loves you very much,” Juliette said quietly.  “He trusts you, and you can trust him.”

Amanda smiled.  “With him like that, trust really isn’t an issue, is it?”

“Well, no.  But it’s still nice to know what he would do if he wasn’t controlled,” Juliette answered.

Juliette then tapped a few times on the touch screen in front of her, and the projector came back to life.

“Check this out,” Juliette said as an image appeared on the screen.

The screen displayed raw video of the previous evening as Juliette escorted Dan to his room.  Amanda watched as Juliette offered Dan the use of his staff for whatever he wanted before bed.  It also showed Dan rejecting Juliette’s offer once and then a second time after being assured that Juliette would keep it secret.

As the screen faded to black again, Juliette reiterated “He really does love you.”

Amanda chuckled.  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but doesn’t that strike you as a bit hypocritical.  In the video, you said it would be your little secret, but here you are telling me about it.”

Juliette raised her eyebrows.

“Hypocritical?  Hardly,” Juliette said smiling deviously.  “Young lady, I have proven time and again that I am a woman of my word.  As you saw, I clearly stated that if he took me up on the offer it would be our secret,” Juliette said defensively.  “He didn’t take me up on it.  So, there is nothing to keep secret.”

The room was silent again.  Amanda still offered no decision, and Juliette did not press for one.

“Have you considered what you will be doing with the $100,000?”  Juliette asked.

“I plan to use it to tide me over until I find another job,” Amanda said responsibly.

“So, you plan to quit the boutique?”  Juliette countered.

“Well, I don’t want to, but you told both of us that we should find other jobs.”

“What if I offered you another job?  Would you take it?” Juliette asked.

“That depends.  What is it?”  Amanda answered, her curiosity piqued.

“Store manager of Leather or Knot,” Juliette said flatly.  “Frankly, Linda has disappointed me with the way she handled Dan’s chastity incident.  So, I’ll be giving her a two month severance package starting tomorrow.  Of course, Dan has resigned, and we’re seriously understaffed.”

Juliette let Amanda absorb the circumstances before continuing.

“On the other hand, you have always impressed me.  I’ve seen the way you treat the customers.  I believe that you could rebuild the staff from scratch and run the shop the way it was intended, with customer satisfaction being tantamount.”

Amanda’s anxiety, confusion and arousal all mounted until suddenly all of the pieces seemed to fit together perfectly.

She loved Dan dearly, and he clearly wanted her to take him as her slave since he voluntarily allowed himself to be presented to her without a safe word.  She truly enjoyed working at the shop, and the only thing that she never really cared for was being subordinate to Linda.

Quietly, she announced her decision to Juliette.  “I’ve made up my mind.  I will be taking Dan home with me as my slave, and I would be happy to accept the position as store manager of Leather or Knot.”

Juliette smiled like a little girl at her own birthday party.

“Wonderful!  Let’s get you started at once.  Come with me, and we’ll put together a little starter kit for your new toy,” Juliette gushed.  “Cynthia, please prepare Amanda’s slave for his new life and meet us in the front hall in 45 minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Cynthia said with a smile.

Over the next hour, Juliette and Amanda discussed Dan’s future.  Amanda told Juliette that she would need periodic help in training him, and they arranged for training sessions to be conducted on Tuesdays and Saturdays at Juliette’s estate.  The first two sessions, however, would be at Amanda’s apartment to ensure that she could provide the proper living environment.

Juliette cautioned Amanda that Dan may appear to change his mind and beg for his freedom.  She assured Amanda that such behavior was typical in the non-dominant partner.

“He may tell you that he thought there was a safe word, but we know better,” Juliette said to Amanda taking a tone that a teacher might use with a parent of a difficult child.

“You need to be certain enough for both of you,” Juliette advised Amanda.  “Daniel deserves no less.  He’s a good man and he’s perfect for you.  Don’t let his insecurity interfere with what you know to be right.”

While Juliette gave Amanda a brief tour of the dungeon and many of the accessories it housed, Cynthia dressed Dan in a discipline harness covered by street clothes.

An ordinary observer would be completely unaware that anything nefarious was afoot.  The concealed harness included a number of features that made it a dangerous clothing choice.  It included a microphone embedded in the center of the chest for detecting any sound Dan might make, and electrodes at the scrotum and anus that could be remotely controlled.  Having already tasted the electric pain administered by Cynthia during the presentation, Dan was terrified of those electrodes.

As Juliette and Amanda met Cynthia and Dan in the front hall, Amanda pulled along a wheeled case filled with high-tech bondage accessories.  Juliette also provided a brief tutorial on how to use the harness.

She gave Amanda a beautiful leather and diamond choker which included an embedded microphone, voice analyzer and transmitter.  She told Amanda that it was synched with Dan’s harness and showed Amanda how certain commands would activate various features of the harness.  For example, she instructed Amanda to initiate the “silence slave” command that would cause the electrodes to be energized whenever Dan’s voice was detected by the harness microphone.  Juliette also directed Amanda to initiate the “heel slave” command which would activate the electrodes if he strayed beyond 4 feet of her.  Although Dan was pretty sure his vocal chords had not returned to normal, Dan was smart enough not to test them.  He was silent and obedient.

Juliette assured Amanda that those two commands using in conjunction with one another would keep Dan from fleeing or calling out for help.  Juliette jokingly advised that Amanda deactivate the “heel slave” command after Dan was belted in the passenger side of the car, because Amanda’s walk around the car to the driver’s side would take her beyond the four foot limit.

As Amanda hugged Juliette and said goodbye, Amanda told Juliette how excited she was to start revamping the shop.  Amanda revealed that she already had some ideas for finding the additional help she would need.

Cynthia called for Amanda’s car to be brought around, and as Amanda and Dan set off toward home to settle into their new roles, Amanda felt happy and satisfied.  Just as Amanda had promised herself, she was walking out of Juliette’s estate with Dan on her arm.