by M T Stone
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M.T. Stone
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Raven’s Seduction
Book 1 in The Pleasure Pros Series
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by M.T. Stone. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the publisher.
Steamy Nights Publishing
www.SteamyNightsPublishing.com
First Edition – October 15th, 2014
This book is dedicated to my parents and family. Without them none of this would be possible. I would also like to thank the wonderful fans and friends who supported My Nights With Kate and the rest of the Jack Ryker series. You guys made it fun to write and I thank you!
Thank you to Megan Hershenson for her efficient editing as well as thoughtful suggestions.
The Author recognizes all trademarks of any companies, products and services mentioned in this work of fiction.
Note from the Author:
People who know me have asked why I would write a book like this, as its quite risqué. The main reason is because it was an interesting topic to learn about and it made for some incredibly hot scenes. It’s definitely not for everyone, but considering the fact that Fifty Shades Of Grey has sold over 100 million copies, there seems to be plenty of readers interested in the subject matter.
I hope you enjoy it!
M.T. Stone
Prologue
“You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.”
- Bob Marley
Raven
As I wilted into the driver’s seat of my sports car, my bottom felt completely numb and my mind was still abuzz. I had never quite understood the whole pain and pleasure thing. People who are into pain and bondage are total freaks; at least that’s what I used to think. Then I met Gunner… the man who changed everything. After our first weekend together, I knew that he had unleashed something within me that could never be repressed.
He quickly became an obsession or maybe even an addiction. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get him out of my head. If someone had tried to describe the feelings that he had dredged up from deep within me, I never would have believed them. The fear, the panic, the exhilarating pain, and the intense pleasure that I have experienced since our first night together have changed me forever. How can I possibly go back to the way things used to be? How could anyone?
~~~
As a young woman, I was always strong or strong-headed, as my father liked to call it. Most of my friends had parents to lean on, but my father had been sick for as long as I could remember due to the time he spent in Vietnam. I put myself through college by working two jobs. By the time I graduated, I had already established myself as a real estate professional. The real estate market was booming at the time, so the money was incredible. My natural networking skills not only landed me a ton of listings, but a sexy husband as well. Perry was the quintessential entrepreneur… smooth, charismatic, and very driven. I was immediately attracted to him for all of those reasons and more.
The sex was incredible right from the beginning, but so were the fights, as the two of us butted heads endlessly. I’ll never forget the day that I found out I was pregnant. After trying every different type of birth control pill, I hadn’t been able to find one that didn’t make me feel like shit. Since I was the one who had chosen to use an alternative method of birth control, he blamed me for the pregnancy.
Having another human being inside of me began to change my priorities for the better. I became much less concerned by how much money I was making and more interested in establishing roots. Unfortunately, that didn’t mesh with Perry’s five-year plan.
“How are we going to reach our goals if you are at home taking care of a kid?” he asked in a flurry of rage.
“I set my own hours, Perry! I can work around it.” I tried to assure him, but it was clear from that very first day that things would never be the same.
I had always known that raising a family wasn’t a huge priority for him, but I had failed to realize that he was adamantly opposed to the idea. When he insisted that having an abortion or giving it up for adoption were my only two options, I chose option three… divorce. My parents helped me get settled into a two-bedroom apartment and were there to help me after my little girl was born. They had assumed that Perry would remain part of our lives after she was born. They hadn’t fully comprehended the gravity of our split. Perry wanted nothing to do with either of us.
The birth of my daughter coincided with the start of the great recession, so my income dropped by seventy percent while I struggled to adapt to motherhood. If it hadn’t been for the court mandated child support, I never would’ve made it. From a young age, I had always known exactly what I wanted and had been laser focused. Now piece-by-piece, my entire life had been either ruined or dismantled. For the first time ever, I felt like an utter failure. I found myself struggling just to make it through the day.
As if my misery level wasn’t high enough, my father took a turn for the worse and died about six months after Hannah was born. At least he got to know her for a little while. I’m sure many women share a special bond with their father, but Dad and I were especially close. Mom was hard on both of us and that seemed to be what drove us closer together. We always sought refuge in each other whenever there was tension at home. Believe me, there was always plenty of tension.
After he was gone, I fell to an incredibly low point in my life. It took every bit of my strength to take care of Hannah and work part-time. Most days I actually felt relieved that the real estate market remained so dead, as it meant that I didn’t have to leave the house. I began avoiding people, preferring to spend time alone with Hannah. After several months of letting calls go to voicemail, the calls slowly stopped coming. Some of my friends gave up on me; others got married or moved away. In my lowly state of mind, I didn’t care and had no inclination toward finding any new ones. A year after Dad died, I found myself in almost complete isolation, and baby talk had become my primary language.
In an effort to stave off the feeling of losing my sanity, I joined a single mother’s support group. It made sense that it would be easier to make friends with other women who were going through similar situations. The meetings were a little boring, sometimes even depressing, but I did meet a few nice people. The one who I really clicked with was Amber.
Amber was a tall redhead with roughly the same build as me. We both liked to complain about the post-motherhood problem areas throughout our mid-section, but in reality, we had both been blessed with good genetics. She had a sarcastic sense of humor as well, so we were like two peas in a pod right from the start. Two peas in a pod, another saying my father used to favor. God I miss him.
Chapter 1
Three Years Later
A cold, dreary winter had given way to a cool, miserable spring. Amber and I sat at our favorite little coffee shop on a Friday evening, getting our caffeine fix before going out for the evening. Our kids were both at her house where her niece was babysitting, so we had the whole night to burn. We were both dressed to kill, just in case we decided to hit the clubs. I thought back to how much fun the clubs had been a decade earlier. Everything seemed fresh and new back then.
Unfortunately, the past few years had left me feeling as if I was past my prime. The thought of going out to the clubs in search of Mr. Right left me with a hollow feeling. Even though I still
wanted to find love, it had been a long time since someone had caused the slightest flutter in my heart. The exhilaration of a sizzling hot relationship seemed as if it had become nothing but a far-fetched dream. I really shouldn’t feel this damn old. I’m only twenty-nine.
Judging by Amber’s demeanor, I could tell that she felt exactly the same way. The fact that we had each other was cool, but we were both craved the type of excitement that could only be found in the opposite sex. As bleak as my personal life felt, Amber was always convinced that hers was even more pathetic.
“At least you have a rich baby-daddy,” she spouted while taking sip of her vanilla latte. “The loser who knocked me up doesn’t have a pot to piss in.”
“Having money doesn’t make my ex any less of a loser.” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
“Maybe not, but it’s easier to put up with a loser who helps pay the bills and takes care of Hannah every other weekend,” she countered. “I need to find myself a sugar daddy.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s been your primary goal the entire time I’ve known you, hun.”
“Oh shut up,” she chided me and began fussing with her straw. “It’s not easy finding a sugar daddy who’s interested in a thirty year old single mom. Most of them are trying to escape their own baggage.”
“I know, sweetie, I just like messing with you. I love how defensive you get.”
“Hey, the truth hurts. It’s not like I don’t feel pathetic enough already.” Amber gave me that cute little pout that made her look like a little girl. She was so adorable with her fair skin and generous sprinkle of freckles. “Hey, maybe we should go to group tonight, instead of a club,” she added after a moment of silent reflection.
“Dressed like this? I don’t think so. Besides, that place has been boring me to tears lately.” I sat there for a moment before lightning struck. “Maybe we should start our own group. At least then we could hand pick some fun members.”
“Get some cool people like us?”
“Exactly.” As if we’re cool.
As we sat there kicking around ideas, a woman about our age came in with her daughter in one arm, dragging along a whiny young boy with the other. The little boy was convinced that he needed an energy drink, but his mother was dead set against it. “Your father will kill me if I give you one of those right before he picks you up,” she told him.
After a spirited debate, she was finally able to get him to settle for a giant chocolate chip cookie. I’m so glad Hannah doesn’t behave like that.
“That looks awfully familiar,” Amber said as the woman kissed her kids goodbye and passed them off for the weekend.
“Yeah, she is obviously one of us,” I surmised, as she slumped into a chair at the next table and gave us a sigh.
“You look familiar,” she said, studying my face and trying to look past the black wig I was wearing. “You used to be on those billboards all over the city.”
“Her name is Raven and I’m Amber,” Amber interjected, trying to throw her off course. She knew the last thing I wanted to talk about was my former glory days at the top of the real estate world.
“Raven, now that’s an interesting name,” she replied, giving us a suspicious look.
“I’m sorry, that’s my bar name. We use them when we are talking to guys we don’t know,” I told her. The black wig and new name were part of an experiment that had been suggested by my therapist. She thought if I could reinvent myself, maybe I could get my life back on track. Throwing on a wig and adopting a crazy nickname seemed like an easy way to kick-start the process. Obviously, it was a pretty thin disguise.
“That’s cool, but they sound sort of like stripper names,” she said, thinking for a second.
“Hey!” Amber retaliated. “My grandpa gave me the nickname Amber when I was a little girl.”
“Because of your red hair, I’m sorry,” she said with a sorrowful look. “If we are going to use bar names, then mine will be Polly.”
“Polly?” Amber questioned; obviously thinking it was a boring choice.
“Because my ex always said I reminded him of the girl Jennifer Anniston played in Along Came Polly,” she confessed. “I’m kind of a free spirit. It drove him nuts.”
“A free spirit, huh? You might be exactly who we are looking for,” I told her. “We were just sitting here talking about starting a club for single moms.”
“One that’s actually fun,” Amber added.
“I could definitely use some fun,” Polly replied, shaking her head and looking generally pathetic.
“Then you can help us out. We’re trying to figure out something fun to do on the weekends,” I said. “We both feel like we’re slowly dying.”
“So what are you going to name your club?” she asked.
“The Single MILF Club,” I blurted out as it popped into my head.
“That sounds so nasty!” Amber countered with a surprised look on her face. Polly simply smiled and shook her head.
“I know, but the Single Mom’s Club sounds just as boring as the one we already belong to. I think we should spice it up a bit.”
“I don’t think we need an official name. Let’s just go out and have some fun,” Polly suggested.
“That’s true,” I agreed. “It’s not like we are going to start marketing our club or anything.”
As we sat there talking and getting to know one another, the conversation finally got back to what we were going to do for fun. After all, that was the whole point of starting a club. We didn’t want to be a group who just got together to bitch about our problems and drink coffee on Friday evenings.
“We could go out to a different club each week,” Amber suggested. Polly and I immediately shook our heads in disagreement.
“I’m so over the bar scene,” Polly declared.
“I couldn’t agree with you more. I want to do something different.” I hadn’t had any luck in the clubs in the past, so I really wanted to try something new.
“But what?” Amber moaned.
“I just thought of a club that might be perfect for you two,” Polly said with a glimmer in her eye. “I’ve heard it’s pretty crazy, so it would definitely liven up your weekends!”
“I’m up for crazy… ” Amber whispered, sitting up in her seat.
“Ha! You look like a dog who’s about to get a treat.” I teased her.
“Let’s go somewhere else and talk,” Polly said looking around. “I’m kind of a regular here.”
“Yeah, us too,” Amber agreed.
“Wow, this must be good. I’m actually feeling a little excited for once.”
In my excitement, I ignored the fact that Polly said she was a regular at our coffee shop. I never forget a face and I would have definitely recognized her if she was one of the regulars. It’s funny how hormones can so easily override the other senses.
Chapter 2
After meeting up at a little pub where none of us knew a soul, we ordered our drinks and found a secluded table in the back where Polly could reveal the big idea. At the time, I had no clue how transformative it was going to be, changing every aspect of my life.
“As I told you, I’m a free spirit, and everyone knows that about me,” she started out.
“Get on with it, you’re killing us,” Amber said impatiently. Both Polly and I laughed at how eager Amber was to hear what she had to say.
“Okay, we all know how much online dating sucks in this city. Personally I’ve had enough let downs in the past couple of years to last a lifetime.”
“And???” Amber waved her hand for her to get on with it.
“Okay, okay. So anyway, I have a friend who works at this place on the edge of town. It’s a place where… well, it’s for people who are tired of normal dating.” She paused.
“So you just learned about speed dating?” Amber asked with a major look of disappointment crossing her face.
“Oh, believe me. This is NOT speed dating,” she replied with wide eyes, shaking her head from si
de to side.
“Excuse me; can I get any of you anything?” a waitress asked as she dispensed a napkin to each of us.
“No, we’re all good,” Amber, replied on our behalf. She proceeded to stare at the waitress until she made a hasty retreat back to where she had come from.
“Please tell us before Amber loses it,” I told Polly, giving Amber a disgusted look.
“I know, but I hardly know you guys,” she said suddenly seeming self-conscious.
“I assure you, both Amber and I are completely open minded. We are frustrated and bored, looking for a release,” I reminded her.
“Okay, well… It’s like an S&M club,” she suddenly blurted out.
“So people dress up in leather and chains?” I asked, not having a clue what that actually meant.
