The Fall
by Jennifer Harrison
Part 1Maria Hughes was a strikingly beautiful woman, even at thirty five. She had inherited her dark good looks – black hair, olive skin – from her Turkish mother, and she had kept herself in excellent shape, being very keen on sports as a child, which she'd kept up, playing tennis and squash to a decent level. Her body had developed into a very curvy hourglass, and though she had to stay on a strict diet throughout her adult life, that hadn't been a problem. She had inherited her great self-confidence and intense will to win from her English father, and it had come to the fore in her sports, where she had turned a limited natural talent into a formidable track record at club and county level, in her academic achievements, where she had achieved a first class honours degree from Oxford, and in her work.
Everyone had expected her to go into some academic field or become a famous writer, journalist or TV presenter, but her competitive instincts kicked in and she went into sales. As a twenty-two year old attractive woman in a predominantly man's world, she had had to develop a thick skin pretty quickly, and she soon developed a reputation as a hard bitch amongst her colleagues – or rivals, as she saw them. But she soon learned how to use her sexuality to charm her clients into signing deals which took her to the top of the sales league tables year after year. Her biggest problem had been other women, but she'd gradually learned which she had to charm, which to flatter and which to flirt with to get her way. She would use any and every weapon in her armoury to get to the top, whether it involved sleeping with her boss, her boss's boss or her client.
She had been made Sales Manager at thirty, the youngest ever in the company, and now at thirty five, she was in line for a Directorship and a sweet deal on shares and pension which would set her up for life. She ruled her team with a rod of iron, and she relished the fact that they feared and respected her, more than they liked her, but they liked the bonuses she made sure they earned.
So she was on a high. She had a beautiful, and very expensive, penthouse apartment overlooking the Thames, which she spent almost no time in; she had a beautiful, and very expensive, sports car, which was almost entirely pointless in the city as she travelled by taxi everywhere; she also had a beautiful, and very expensive, wardrobe of business clothes, which she used to emphasise and illustrate her power, position and sexuality.
Her private life was as under control as her work. She had had some fairly serious relationships through her teens and early twenties, but they had usually foundered when her lovers had grown tired of her constant work ethic, her desire – even need – to be in control, and her demands that they push themselves as much as she did herself. Since then, she had engaged in short-term relationships, even one night stands, to satisfy her own physical rather than emotional needs. She had been the instigator in these relationships and remained in control until she tired of her latest conquest and dismissed him with icy efficiency. The idea of paying for sex did not outrage her morally, and would simplify the whole process of satisfying her physical needs, but she would see it as an admission of defeat, that she no longer had what it took to win in the sex game.
"Excuse me, Miss Hughes ?" She had heard the knock on her office door and ignored it, on the basis that she was busy and anyone with an ounce of sense would not risk her wrath by interrupting her. She looked up and saw the young man standing in the doorway, the door pushed open despite her standing order that when her door was closed, she was not to be disturbed – even the Managing Director knew that.
She vaguely recognised the guy as a student who was working in the IT department – Cliff, Chris, something like that. He had annoyed her the previous week by insisting he be allowed to carry out a software audit on her laptop, even when she had told him she didn't have time to stop work for something so trivial. An hour after she had got rid of him, she had received an apologetic email from the MD requesting – i.e. demanding – that she co-operate with the IT department in their 'essential' work.
"What do you want ?" she said in an entirely unfriendly tone, backing it up with a sour look and some closed body language, but he didn't take the hint, coming into the office and sitting down in the chair opposite her as if he'd been invited.
"I just wanted to let you know the results of the IT audit" he said with a pleasant smile.
"Do I look like I care ?" Maria spat at him, pointedly looking down at her reports as a signal of dismissal.
"I think you should. I found some very interesting things". Something about his tone stopped her from just telling him to leave.
"What things ?" she asked warily. He handed her a sheaf of papers.
"Things like these personal emails and page views of various pornographic websites". She glanced through them and cursed herself – she had used her work laptop once, late at night, when she'd had a few drinks and felt a bit down ...
"This was not in the office or during office hours" she said coldly.
"You're right", the technician said cheerfully, "Still, misuse of company property is a sackable offence"
"They wouldn't sack me over this", Maria said, rather more forcefully than she'd intended.
"Almost certainly true. It wouldn't look too good to the board though, would it ? They might be a bit nervous about you as a director if they knew about your bondage fetish".
Maria looked at the young man in front of her and realised she might have underestimated his knowledge, his intelligence, and his purpose.
"What is it you want, Chris ?" she asked, fixing him with a steely glare.
"Its Colin, actually" he said, now openly grinning at her, mocking her attempts to regain control of the situation. She ground her teeth and kept silent.
"I did a sales training course once", he continued conversationally, "And they said, step one, make sure the client understands the size of the problem they have. So, Ms Hughes, do you appreciate the enormity of your problem ?"
"Why don't you spell it out to me, Colin ?" she said grimly.
"Okay, so you're up for the position of sales director in the next few months and you REALLY want that job, don't you ? It means position, power and, not least, money".
Maria kept silent, but was shocked by the accuracy of his analysis.
"Meanwhile, I have incontrovertible evidence which would kill that stone dead. Indeed, you might find your current position untenable".
"I could easily get a job elsewhere" she said defiantly.
"Not if your prospective employers were aware of this information".
Maria felt cold – he was threatening not just her promotion, not just her job, but her whole life.
"I see you're starting to understand" Colin said, casually crossing his legs, "So, step 2, get the client to tell you what the solution is worth to them. What's it worth to you, Ms Hughes ?"
"What do you want, Colin ? Money ?" she said, refusing to play his game.
"You're a very attractive woman, Maria", he said with a smirk. She looked at him with genuine surprise.
"Do you go for older women, then ?" she asked, feeling a mixture of pleasure and suspicion.
"Let's just say that this could be a lot less expensive than you were thinking. Why don't you come out from behind that desk and let me look at you ?" Maria was suddenly unsure of herself, a very unfamiliar feeling. Maybe she could use her considerable charms to get herself out of this situation, as she had on so many occasions. She gave him a coy smile and walked around the desk before perching on the edge of it in front of him. She watched as he looked up her body, from her high heels to her silky black hair, and felt she was gradually asserting herself.
"Take off you blouse" he ordered.
"I beg your pardon ?"
"Maria, I know you're not used to taking orders, but remember the bigger picture. You need to keep me sweet or I send an email to every member of the board with some of your more explicit messages attached. Now, I think you were about to take off some clothes for me ?" Maria looked uncertain again – this was not what she had expected, but she couldn't think of another option at that moment. She glanced nervously out of her office to see if anyone was looking, but the place was deserted this late on a Friday. Reluctantly, she started to unbutton her blouse, then slid it off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Colin let out a low whistle as he stared at her impressive 36DD breasts, presented spectacularly in a very expensive bra which gave her the perfect cleavage.
"Phew, that is some view !" he breathed, "Now take off the skirt". Biting back the abuse she wanted to throw at him, she unzipped the skirt and bent forward to take it off and put it neatly on the desk, inadvertently giving Colin a better view of her cleavage. As she straightened up, she stood tall and parted her legs slightly, taking on a fighter's stance, even though she was standing there in her bra and panties, garter belt and stockings – she could still defy this little prick !
"Very good. Now put this on". He tossed something to her, which she caught as a reflex action, before looking at what it was.
"What the fuck ?" she said, genuinely bemused as she looked down at the leather straps of the head harness, with the bright red ball at its centre.
"You know what it is and where it goes. Make sure you do it up tight", Colin ordered calmly.
"You've got to be joking !" Maria spluttered, looking at him in disbelief.
"I'm deadly serious, Maria. Put it on and be quick about it, you're trying my patience". She looked down at the device again and, for the first time, felt excitement stirring within her. Colin had discovered her secret desire to be dominated, to be bound and gagged, and he was going to exploit it. With her breath coming a little quicker, Maria put the ball to her lips, then eased it into her mouth and behind her teeth, trying to disguise her arousal but failing as Colin watched her cheeks blush bright red and her chest heave as she tried to breathe. She tightened the gag strap behind her head, feeling the ball pulled deeper into her mouth, then adjusted the chin strap and pulled the head straps up either side of her nose, up over her head and down to the buckle at the back. Her fingers trailed across the unfamiliar straps pressing into her skin, making her tremble a little with excitement.
"And finally" Colin said, tossing her another item, a pair of handcuffs, "Behind the back, please". Maria now looked pleadingly and shook her head, but he nodded his head in return, noting that her resistance seemed fairly token. With little fuss, she clipped the cuffs onto her left wrist and then put her arms behind her back. The sound of the ratchet closing around her right wrist echoed in the silence.
Only now did Colin stand up and approach the woman in front of him. She was almost as tall as him, in her five inch heels, but her proud shoulders had dropped a little as she had imprisoned herself in the cuffs, her whole body language suddenly meek instead of defiant. Colin ran his fingers over her bare skin, up her arm, down her back, across her flat stomach, enjoying the little shivers he could feel running through her body. He eased her long back hair from under the gag strap, then tightened it another notch, enjoying the small squeak this brought from Maria. He stood behind her and cupped her breasts in his hands and squeezing, bringing a muffled moan from her stretched lips. He brought his hands up on to her shoulders, then slowly pulled the straps of her bra down her arms until her magnificent breasts were suddenly free and the bra was around her wrists. He cupped her breasts again, pinching and pulling her nipples until they stood out firm and erect, and Maria was struggling for breath around the ball gag. Suddenly he felt her fingers grab at his crotch and grip his very stiff member. For a moment he thought she was trying to get some leverage on him, to force him to free her, but he knew he had her exactly where he wanted her when she started to rub his cock through the material of his trousers and push her buttocks into him, desperate to have him inside her. To re-establish his control of the situation, he grabbed her hair and pulled her head sharply back.
"You want it inside you, don't you, you slut ?" he hissed in her ear, then grabbed her crotch through her panties. "You're wet for me already ! Do you want me to fuck you, while you're gagged and cuffed ?" He felt her head nod against his shoulder.
"Well, I'm afraid you're going to have to wait". He let her go and she staggered a little as she regained her balance. He picked up the reports he had brought in and went to the door. He looked back at her and flicked a card towards her, which fluttered onto the carpet.
"Be at this address at 11 tonight. Wear something sexy" he smiled at her and turned to go.
"Oh, I guess you'll need these", he said, tossing two small keys on a ring onto the floor, where they skittered into a corner.
"Bring the gag and cuffs with you, we may need them". Maria watched helplessly as he left the office and walked away, a confident smirk on his face.
End of part 1
Copyright© 2011 by Jennifer Harrison. All rights reserved. I welcome your comments. Email me at bongopop63{at}btopenworld{dot}com