The Bet Pt. 01

As Dan watched his old friend Zane shovel another handful of nachos between his greasy lips, he couldn't help but reflect that his wife Claire was right: this was a friendship that he had outgrown.

Zane had felt fun in college. Despite his blunt, crude demeanor, he had a certain greasy charm, and he had always known where the best parties were and where to buy weed. But now Dan's life looked a lot different, and his values had changed, too. And Zane? Well, in some ways, he had been traveling the opposite direction from Dan.

Unlike Dan, who had gotten a job in city planning, Zane was... well, there was no delicate way to put it. He was a pornographer. Zane ran a website named "Freaks in the Sheets", which claimed to show how kinky and slutty average, normal women were underneath their innocent exteriors. Dan had guiltily checked it out once or twice and had been disgusted to see that Zane himself starred in many of the videos.

Dan wasn't sure why anyone would want to see porn starring Zane Kruger. He was a short, overweight man with frizzy blonde hair in a ratty ponytail and bulging eyes. Not that the women were anything to complain about. They tended to be some of the most gorgeous women Dan had ever seen... barring his wife Claire, of course.

It didn't make any sense. Zane tended to not only attract and date total smoke-shows, but he managed to talk most of them into appearing on his gross, misogynistic website. Who was the last girl he had been with? That curvy little redhead? Oh, right, her name had been...

"How is Marissa doing?" asked Dan curiously, his interest piqued. If this was the last time he met up with Zane, he might as well indulge his curiosity.

Zane raised an eyebrow and chuckled, saying through a mouthful of nachos, "She's good, dude. She's making money hand over fist from the videos we're shooting."

"So you guys are still dating?" asked Dan pointedly. It would be one of the longest relationships Zane had ever had if so. He tended to have a different hottie on his arm every week

"What? Oh... naw, we broke up. If I'm being honest, I only went out with her in the first place because I was scouting a redhead for the site." Zane shrugged his rounded shoulders nonchalantly, as if turning a veterinarian into a porn star was a common occurrence. And for him, oddly, it was.

Dan frowned. He had always skirted around this issue. It was a big part of their friendship; an elephant in the room. But right now, when he was considering cutting Zane off entirely, maybe it made sense to cut the bullshit. "Man, I don't know," said Dan with a twist of his lips, "It seems shady to push women to..."

Zane's cheerful expression faded into a cold, blank stare. "Don't go there, man. There's no pushing. No coercion. Girls don't film for my site unless they are completely, one hundred percent on board. You want me to put Marissa on the phone right now? She'll say the same thing."

"No... I was just saying..." blustered Dan awkwardly, suddenly wishing he hadn't opened this can of worms. He had never seen Zane upset like this. It was actually, strangely, a little intimidating.

Zane pushed his plate away and wiped a napkin over his greasy mouth. "Ask," he said in a flat, hard voice, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his gut. "Everybody asks in the end, although it took you longer than most. I don't mind talking about it. So ask."

Dan hesitated, licked his lips, then shrugged. He was curious, after all. "Ok, fine. How do you do it? How do you get such hot women when you...?"

He trailed off, but Zane finished his sentence. "When I look like shit?" He barked a harsh laugh, seemingly not offended in the slightest. "Because that doesn't matter. Let me let you in on a little secret, Danny boy." He leaned forward across the table, his eyes glowing with an internal light.

"All women are sluts deep down. I know that secret, and that's all it takes to be successful with women."

Dan scoffed a little laugh, but Zane's expression didn't change. He was dead serious. "What?" asked Dan, shaking his head. "You can't be fucking serious."

"Oh, but I am," said Zane solemnly. "It's hard-wired into the female brain. You know how you can't keep your eyes away when you see a big, bouncy pair of tits? That's male hard-wiring. Our primal instincts want us to find a good mommy for our kids. Young, fertile, and healthy. And women want a good daddy. They can't fight it. It's baked into their genetics."

Dan raised his eyebrows. What sort of ridiculous misogynistic shit was this? Was Zane playing some kind of joke? "So..." he said slowly, "You're saying women just start drooling when they see..." He gestured expressively at Zane's squat body.

Zane laughed again, taking a noisy slurping sip of beer. "You haven't seen what I'm packing under these shorts, hotshot. But more seriously, looks aren't that important for women's instincts. They want someone forceful. Confident. Dominant. That's what their subconscious screams is good daddy material. All of that nurturing and supportive crap is great, but those kinds of guys will always be around to help raise the alpha's kids later."

Dan frowned. This didn't feel funny anymore. The joke was getting old. "Come on man," he said, getting a little testy, "You can't believe that crap. Not all women are sluts. That's fucking ridiculous."

Zane shrugged with a slimy grin. "I've personally found no exceptions. The only reason that some women seem innocent is that they've never met an alpha who wants them. When they do, they all spread their legs."

"There are clearly some women who aren't sluts," said Dan, his voice rising a little as he got heated.

"Name one," Zane shot back, his voice still cool and hard. It seemed like Dan's insults hadn't been forgotten.

"Claire," said Dan with a smug grin, as if laying down a trump card. It was hard to imagine a woman who fit Zane's insane worldview less than his wife. She was powerful, driven, and a paragon of self-control. Dan watched Zane carefully, ready to accept his surrender in the argument.

Instead, Zane looked evasive, a sly grin spreading across his face. "No comment," he said with a little chuckle.

Dan's face grew red. He leaned across the table with a frown. "And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Zane shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you, man! If she has tits and a pussy, she has the same instincts as any other woman. In the right circumstances, she would spread her legs like all the rest."

Dan's mind buzzed with rage, but he managed to control himself, taking a deep breath, leaning back, and stiffly saying, "You're delusional."

Zane's slimy grin grew wider. "Wanna bet?" He asked in a low, dangerous voice."I like those odds. I bet you I can prove your wife is a slut."

Dan was about to blow up. The idea was insulting. The offer was disgusting. The whole thing was sleazy and misogynistic in a way he never would have expected, even from Zane.

But then a thought crossed his mind. What better punishment could there be for this sexist prick than letting Claire cut him to ribbons? Claire was a knockout, and she was used to guys hitting on her. They were usually sorry they had afterward. It would be a deeply satisfying way to teach this little toad who Dan had once considered a friend that his worldview was stupid.

So, giving in to his anger and his desire to prove Zane wrong, Dan opened his mouth and asked, "What do I get when I win?"

Zane shook with laughter for a good minute, wiping a tear from his eye while Dan stewed. We'll see how much he's laughing once Claire tears him a new one, Dan thought sourly.

Finally, Zane shook his head and said. "How about this? If Claire is as virtuous and pure as you say, I'll fund that honeymoon you keep putting off. I'm swimming in dough, it'll be no problem for me."

Dan felt another spike of anger. It was a low blow. Although both of their careers were doing fine, he and Claire had mutually decided to put their money towards a nice house after getting married rather than an expensive honeymoon. They kept talking about having a honeymoon later, but at this point, it had been a few years since their wedding. "Fine," he said tersely. "And what do you want if you win? Not that you ever could."

Zane gave Dan a leering, lopsided grin. "Ohhh, I wouldn't worry about that, buddy. I get the feeling that the process of winning this bet will be its own reward. What's the time limit?"

"A month," said Dan distractedly, losing a little bit of his momentum. Zane was actually taking this seriously. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. He wasn't worried that Zane might succeed, but if Claire found out that he had put Zane up to this, Dan would be in serious trouble.

"Make it two," said Zane solidly. "Can't rush perfection." He wiped his hands on his pants and stood from the table, a strange, excited energy radiating off him, like he couldn't wait to get started. Dan felt a little disquieted at Zane's confidence. "I'll pick up the tab today, Danny," he said, patting Dan on the shoulder as he slouched toward the bar to pay.

"Hey," said Dan, licking his lips, "You're not going to tell Claire that we made this bet, right?"

Zane gave him a pitying look over his shoulder and snorted. "Of course fucking not. Why shoot myself in the foot? Don't worry, I won't tell her you put her in my hands. Your dirty little secret is safe with me."

A few short minutes later, Zane paid for the meal and left the bar and grill with a little mocking wave to Dan on his way out, leaving his former friend sitting stunned at their table, wondering what he was in for.

But he was worrying over nothing. Claire hated Zane. She had sent Dan here today with instructions to break off their friendship. There was no possible way that Zane's fucked-up sexist view of the world was correct in any way.

Right?

...

Zane cruised up to his house in his SUV and hurried inside, his mind already buzzing. Without even glancing at his daily site traffic and subscriptions, he cracked open an energy drink and got right to work researching his next project.

He had projected confidence in his discussion with Danny, and he was confident. In the end, Dan's stuck-up wife would be begging for his dick. But he wasn't stupid: he knew that Claire would be a hard nut to crack.

He pored over Claire's online presence. Social media posts, the website for her interior design business, public records... and he began to contemplate plans of approach.

The most important task, initially, was to find some way to maintain regular contact with her. Claire didn't like him, and she would be resistant to getting to know him better. Zane had to find some way that he could interact with her regularly without Dan around to ruin it. There were a few different options that Zane considered, but in the end, he felt the simplest plan was the most likely to succeed.

Claire's interior design business catered to the rich and famous, and, although he kept a low profile, like many pornographers, Zane definitely qualified as rich.

All he had to do was hire Danny Boy's wife to redesign one of the rooms in his house. That alone would get him frequent one-on-one access to the smoking married hottie without Dan hanging around to ruin it. Some of the meetings would even take place in his house, just the two of them...

Considering the fact that Claire had never liked him much, Zane imagined she would be a little reluctant to take him on as a client, but he wasn't too worried about that. Claire was a businesswoman, and if he offered enough money, she would hold her nose and design any room he wanted.

And with that foot in the door, she would be as good as his.

...

Claire Harrison used her stylus to ink one last precise line on the concept art she was preparing for her client and pushed back from the screen to survey her work.

This client (a very well-known television actress, if you must know) wanted a clean, simple space for entertaining and daily living, and Claire had knocked it out of the park once again, if she did say so herself. The color palette, the artwork she had selected, the tasteful elegance of the furniture... it all blended into a seamless, perfect whole. She was sure the client would love it. And, more importantly, a job this big would spread word of mouth about her burgeoning business.

Claire heard the door open, and a faint smile crossed her lips. Dan was back from his "special mission". Claire reached up to power down the monitor and go greet her husband, then paused and took one last moment to admire the clean lines of her concept art.

In a lot of ways, creating the perfect life was like designing a room. You had to choose all aspects of it to harmonize perfectly together. Last year, a rich, eccentric businessman she had been working with on designing a den had insisted that she include his favorite ratty old armchair in her design for the room. Claire ended up quitting the job over that very issue. You couldn't have a harmonious, perfectly designed room with a ratty old armchair in it. And you couldn't tolerate imperfections in your life either.

Zane was a ratty old armchair of a human being. That was why she had told Dan to drop him. Claire had spent years shaping and molding Dan into the perfect man for her (in the most loving way possible, naturally), and having a disgusting pornographer like Zane as a friend was one last stubborn rough spot on her husband that she was happy to sand off.

Claire left her studio and breezed into the kitchen, where Dan was looking through the mail, a distracted, almost worried look on his face. Claire's eyes narrowed. He had told Zane that this was the last time they would be hanging out, right?

"Hey, babe," she said cautiously, circling to the other side of the kitchen island and watching his face carefully. "So... How did it go? With Zane?'

Dan looked up, startled, his blue eyes flashing with some sort of intense emotion for a moment. Guilt? "Fine," he said simply, his eyes darting away from hers. "Wasn't as hard as I thought."

Ok, something was definitely up. Claire reached across the table and grabbed one of her husband's strong hands, her voice taking on a bit of an edge as she asked, "Dan... you did break off your friendship with him. Right?"

Dan sighed heavily, then lifted his eyes to meet hers with a grimace.

"Zane and I aren't friends anymore," he said heavily.

Claire saw it in his eyes. He was telling the truth. She felt the tension building inside her release.... Then she felt a twinge of guilt. She had maybe been a bit of a bitch about this issue. She knew that telling Dan to drop an old friend was a big ask. In many ways, Dan was wrapped around Claire's little finger. She liked it that way. But she also loved her husband deeply and tried not to abuse his devotion except when she considered it very important.

Her career was taking off right now! What might happen if gossip got out that she had a sleazy pornographer as a friend of the family?

Claire circled around the counter to snuggle up to her husband, kissing him on the tender part of his neck just below his ear. Claire wouldn't say she used sex as a reward to control Dan. That was far too crude a way to put it, and every relationship was a complex give and take.

But her husband had been a very good boy by doing something for her that was awkward and difficult. Was it wrong for a lady to want to show a little gratitude?

"Come on, honey," she whispered in Dan's ear, her delicate hand slipping down to palm the bulge already forming in his pants from the Pavlovian response to her kiss. "Let's not think about him anymore. Follow me... I want to focus on us instead."

Biting her lip, she tugged him by the hand toward the bedroom, watching with pleased amusement as his troubled expression melted into an eager smile.

...

Dan felt his lust and pulse surge, filling his body with needy heat as his wife kissed him hard. One of her hands snaked around his neck to pull him close as the other fell to the front of his pants, grasping and kneading there as her tongue slid wetly against his.

Claire was a woman who didn't know how to take a back seat or let others take the lead, either in life or in the bedroom. But she loved him. She wanted him deeply, and he could feel that in the bruising force of her kiss, the urgency of her hand as it rubbed and squeezed at his throbbing crotch.

Claire might be a little... pushy at times, but she was also a red-hot sexual dynamo, and why nitpick a good thing?

Claire pushed him back onto the bed and stood above him with a sultry grin, reaching up to slowly tug her shirt over her head. She was initiating a teasing game they often played in bed: a sultry foreplay striptease. Dan knew his role in the game well and was more than willing to play along. He unzipped his pants and shimmied his jeans down his hips, taking his cock in hand as he focused all of his attention on his smoking hot wife. "You're so beautiful, baby," he murmured as his hand began slowly stroking up and down the length of his cock.

And she was. Claire's eyes flashed with teasing green fire, and a smile played on her full, pouty lips as she reached back to unclasp her bra. She was tall and curvy, with perfect pale skin and long, shining black hair. The type of woman that made men's eyes pop out of the skulls and cocks wake up in their pants. But God fucking help you if she caught you staring where you shouldn't. There was only one man whose eyes Claire welcomed. Only one man that she showed off for, and he was stroking his cock appreciatively at the sight right now.

Claire shrugged the cute, lacy bra down off her shoulders and tossed it away, thrusting forward her chest a little to display her exquisite breasts. They were full, round, and heavy, with large, sensitive pink nipples that puffed up with desire whenever they made love. There was a little black beauty mark on her left breast, just to the bottom left of the nipple, that always drew Dan's eye. He knew that hundreds of men had pictured his wife naked, but he also knew that they got the image wrong. He knew about that beauty mark and they didn't: a sweet little secret that was only for Claire and him.

"Beautiful?" asked Claire in a raspy bedroom voice, raising an eyebrow. "Am I?" Her eyes fixed on her husband's cock as he pumped his hand up and down... worshipping her beauty, intoxicated by the very sight of her. Dan wasn't sure why Claire loved this teasing game so much... a kinky exhibitionist streak that was unsafe to indulge in elsewhere? The sense of power from being the source of Dan's pleasure? Sheer vanity? But he didn't mind one bit. His hand pumped faster as he saw Claire bite her lip, her nipples growing stiffer. They fed off each other's crackling sexual energy as Claire popped open the button on the front of her capris and hooked her thumbs through the waistband. "Well... don't stop there, big boy," she purred. "Keep talking. How beautiful am I?"

"A Queen," breathed Dan, his eyes staring hungrily as Claire turned away with a smokey glance over her shoulder, bending low as she shed her pants to display her thick, juicy ass and the tiny panties wedged deep between her full cheeks. "Your beautiful round ass..." Claire slipped the tiny panties down to her slim ankles and kicked them gracefully away, turning back around toward her husband.

"Your perfect breasts..." he groaned. She laughed and bounced on her feet a little, making them jiggle for him. Then his eyes slid down, over her wide, feminine hips, between her thick thighs. To his favorite part of her body. His territory. Her puffy little pussy, topped with a thin, close-cropped patch of dark pubic hair. Currently hot and oozing with desire from their arousing foreplay ritual.

"And your tight, juicy c-..."

"Hey now," Claire cut in, her voice still warm, but with a stern undercurrent. "Let's not get carried away, mister. I love dirty talk, but stay polite."

"Your tight, juicy pussy," amended Dan sheepishly.

"Better," said Claire approvingly, reaching down to lazily rub between her lips, sending a light squishing noise and the smell of her arousal spreading through the room. "Now get the condom, Dan. I want to show you how proud I am of you."

Dan reached to the bedside table and rapidly unwrapped a condom, rolling it down his cock as his wife mounted the bed, coming for him on her hands and knees. He wasn't thrilled about the fact that they still used condoms, but he had lost that battle long ago. More accurately, Claire had told him she didn't care if he wanted to go bareback, but she didn't plan to alter the rest of their sexual routine if he did... and that had settled that argument.

Dan lay back, his heart pulsing with love and lust as Claire swung a thick thigh over him, taking her favorite position.

Dan and Claire had had sex in all sorts of positions, of course: Claire was absolutely willing, and even enthusiastic to indulge in experimentation with her husband. But she made no secret that cowgirl was her favorite. On top. In charge. Setting the pace. It just fit too well with her personality. Dan didn't mind that it was the default for them at this point; She was fucking good at it.

His hands rose to grip Claire's wide, squishy hips as she planted a knee on either side of him. He stared up at her perfect femininity in awe. God, she was so fucking hot. Soft and feminine in all the right places, lean and toned elsewhere. The perfect woman. And all his. All mine, no matter what that little douchebag tries.

Claire reached beneath her and positioned her husband's cock, dragging its latex-clad surface up her slit and just barely inserting its swollen head into her tight, wet opening.

"Fuck me, big boy," she whispered, as her hips sank down, taking him to the hilt. Dan squeezed his eyes shut and let out a hot, shuddering breath as he sank into his wife's warm, welcoming depths. Her hips began moving in slow, sensual, liquid movements, her inner muscles gripping and milking rhythmically as she worked.

"I love you..." said Claire above him, low and sweet. Her heavy, hanging breasts swayed and bounced tantalizingly in front of Dan's eyes as her hips pumped up and down his cock. "My good boy. My strong man, doing what needs to be done for our family, even when it's hard. I may be a Queen, but every Queen needs her..."

"... King," grunted Dan, gripping his wife's wide hips with greedy fingers and beginning to thrust harder up into her.

Claire chuckled, plucking Dan's hands from her hips and pinning them on either side of his head, her fingers twining through his. "... her consort," she said with a smoky, teasing edge in her voice. Her hips moved harder and faster now, her pussy squeezing his cock like a silky vice. "Are you going to cum for me, honey?" she asked heatedly.

Although she clearly had a lot of fun with cowgirl, this part of their encounters was really about Dan's needs. Claire never climaxed during penetrative sex. She had spelled that out frankly to Dan early on in their relationship. She never had with any previous boyfriends, and she wouldn't with Dan either. Some girls just didn't cum that way. Sex felt great, was lovely for bonding, and was a lot of fun, but Claire was one of those ladies who needed other types of stimulation to orgasm.

The downside was that Dan didn't get to experience his wife cumming all over his cock. The upside was that during their penetrative sex, Claire was focused on making sure that he had as much fun as possible, knowing she would get hers later.

"Yes," he gasped, feeling his orgasm rushing toward him with the unstoppable force of a runaway train. "God, Yes. I'm going to fucking cum!"

"Quick shot today," commented Claire with a chuckle. "Guess I really am as beautiful as you say... Cum for me, honey. Cum for your Queen." Then she leaned down and pinned him to the bed with a kiss, her hips swirling and humping on his cock, pulling out all the stops to send him hurtling into a mind-melting orgasm.

His toes curled, his hips strained. Dan felt like his soul was practically leaving his body as powerful pulses of thick, potent sperm fired from his cock... and into the latex surrounding it. Above him, Claire watched his face with loving satisfaction.

Another job well done. And now that she had held her husband down and milked him dry, it was her turn to have some fun.

Claire rolled over so that she was now beneath her husband and spread her legs as he pulled out of her swollen, dripping pussy, his filled condom dangling from his softening cock. She pulled Dan back into a forceful, searing kiss... then pushed his head down her body, trailing kisses as he went.

"My turn," she said, her voice thick with lust.

Dan had become an expert on eating pussy over the years. He had needed to in order to qualify as the perfect man for Claire. Because, while Claire couldn't climax by getting fucked by a cock, she could definitely cum from a skilled tongue slithering over her clit. She could cum loudly, wetly, and enthusiastically in fact. It had become their standard routine: a little teasing foreplay, some wild sex to get Dan off and warm her up, and then a tender cunnilingus session to bring Claire to climax.

"Good boy," moaned Claire as Dan gripped her thighs, kissing and slurping noisily as he began to feast between her legs. "Very, very good boy."

...

The email came in later that evening, as Dan and Claire were sprawled out comfortably on the couch. Dan was absentmindedly rubbing Claire's legs in his lap while focused on the TV show they were supposedly watching together. Claire, as usual, was catching up on some work emails, because it never fucking stopped when you ran a business like hers.

Claire didn't handle initial business inquiries. Her assistant Perlah fielded all of the requests for Claire's services and selected only the most promising before sending them along to her boss. So any email about a potential job offer in Claire's inbox was automatically a good potential prospect.

This one definitely looked good. At the stage Claire was in with her business right now, she had two types of clients. Some were prestige clients, like the actress she was currently designing a living room for. Taking these kinds of jobs built her portfolio and her reputation, but weren't actually that good for her bottom line. It wasn't that famous people were stingy or cheap... but Claire was always forced to go the extra mile with materials and work hours to make sure she gave her prestigious clients the best experience possible, and that cost money.

The other kind of client was the cash cows. Nouveau riche idiots with questionable taste who were willing to pay anything she asked in order to bring in the hot designer who worked for celebrities. With this type of client, she could turn in competent, but low-effort designs and not need to waste much time with revisions or feedback.

Her business needed both types of clients currently, and it had been a while since she had landed a cash cow. This request seemed straightforward and easily accomplished: a redesign of a bedroom in one of the tacky McMansions up in the hills. The potential client was willing to pay an amount that Claire would have considered borderline robbery if she had suggested it first. It was perfect. A simple little job that would fit into her schedule and pay well. She was about to snap off an email to Perlah telling her to proceed with the paperwork when she saw the name of the client.

She must have made a sound of displeasure, because Dan looked over from the TV with a worried expression. "Everything ok?" he asked curiously.

"Fine," said Claire with a frown, her mind whirling furiously. Zane. Why would her husband's slimeball ex-friend want to hire her to design a room for him? She was under no illusions that this was a coincidence. Based on the timing, he must have requested her services shortly after his lunch with Dan concluded.

Was it some sort of attempt to butter her up and get her to change her mind about Dan cutting him out of his life? That was annoying. Maybe it was a petty power play... "You don't want to associate with me? Fine. Now you work for me." She could see that. Some men just couldn't take a slight to their ego. Maybe the simplest and safest solution would be to tell Perlah it was a no-go and let her deal with sending out a polite rejection.

But fuck that. Why give the little worm the satisfaction of thinking she was scared? She would take his money and simply ignore any game he was playing. If he was hoping to get on her good side, he would soon find that a professional and a personal relationship were very different things to Claire Harrison. And if he wanted to order her around like a servant, she would just terminate the contract and keep his deposit money. Either way, she won.

Claire scoffed and looked up at her husband with a confident smirk.

"Looks like you're finished with Zane... but I'm just getting started."

...

Dan listened to his wife's breezy, dismissive explanation of how Zane was planning to hire her for some design work, feeling a creeping sense of dread.

So that was Zane's game. Get Claire alone with him again and again over time by hiring her. Not a terrible plan, although Zane was still wildly underestimating Claire. The whole thing was making Dan more and more nervous. Not that Zane would somehow actually succeed, but that Dan himself would get caught up in the fiery aftermath of Claire's rage when she realized what Zane was attempting.

No, there was no possible way Zane could actually successfully make a move on Claire... right? It was ludicrous. But it did make Dan uncomfortable that Zane seemed so confident.

Well, if he was feeling nervous, why not even the playing field a little? Zane had never said that Dan couldn't work against him behind the scenes. And Dan knew just what he could do to turn his wife even further against his former friend.

He waited for a lull in the conversation and slipped it in casually. "Hey, speaking of Zane, you'll never believe what he tried to tell me today. He was trying to explain to me that all women are sluts."

"He what?" asked Claire in a tone of shocked disbelief. She wasn't quite sure she could believe her ears. Why would anyone say something like that?

Dan shrugged with a twist of his lip. "That's what he said. Direct quote. All women are sluts. Something about how it is all hard-coded into their genetics."

Claire shook her head in disgust with a pitying laugh. Just when she thought the squat little slimeball of a man couldn't get more pathetic. "Ugh, as if," she said dismissively. "No self-respecting woman would touch that creep with a ten-foot pole. That 'alpha male' bullshit that terminally online losers try to sell themselves on doesn't work in the real world."

Dan laughed along for a moment, looking happy to pile on his former friend, but then he grimaced. "Well, yeah, I think so too... I just don't understand why he always has a beautiful woman on his arm."

Claire gave her husband a flat, cool look. "I said self-respecting women, Dan. Those are gold-diggers. Obviously every woman seems like a slut to Zane when he's constantly being hit on by women who want a taste of his filthy porn money. He probably hasn't met a normal woman in years."

Dan just shrugged uncomfortably, rubbing his wife's legs planted in his lap while looking away. Claire snorted and turned back to her phone. "There's no magical, magnetic big dick energy, Dan. That's just his pathetic fantasy. One hundred percent of his charm comes from his wallet," she said condescendingly. "He convinced you for a second there, didn't he?"

"No," said Dan defensively. But Claire could read the guilty flash in his eyes like a book. Zane had actually momentarily sold him on the idea of secret genetic sluttiness. Why did guys want to believe that there was some sort of cheat code to sleep with women? The way Dan had attracted a hot wife like her was by being reasonably smart, kind, and attractive, plus having a willingness to change in the way she wanted him to.

The idea of Zane dating beautiful women was darkly fascinating to Claire, in the same way that watching a true crime documentary would be; enthralling, but disturbing. The idea of a beautiful woman letting the little pervert touch them with whatever shriveled thing he kept in his pants sent a shudder of horror through her. And all of this "all women are sluts" talk? Infuriating. The disgusting, ugly, conceited little man saw all women as ripe fruit, just waiting to be plucked whenever he wished.

She was glad that Dan had told her. Claire knew how attractive she was and how even supposedly decent men lusted for her. If Zane thought women were fruit for the taking, she was surely one of the juiciest. Her lips set into a grim line of determination. She would take his money AND prove to him how wrong he was. Show him the error in his insulting worldview.

This 'slut' wouldn't be as easy prey as the gold-digging, aspiring porn stars who normally threw themselves at him.

...

A few days later...

The petite asian slut knelt in front of Zane, her toned thighs spread into a wide-legged stance and the dark nipples on her tiny, firm little tits stiff and crinkled with lust. Zane was pleased to see that Perlah's tight pussy was shaved silky smooth, and he idly wondered for a moment if that meant she was regularly hooking up with one-night stands. She was certainly hot enough to have frequent casual sex. But unfortunately for the other guys, they would never compare to what Claire's cute little assistant was about to experience.

But, as tantalizing as Perlah's tight, petite body was to look at, it didn't make Zane's dick throb like the expression on her face did right now. Her lovely, almond-shaped eyes were slightly cross-eyed as she stared up at the massive white cock looming above her. Her glossy lips were parted with hot, panting breaths. "It's so big, Za-... I mean, Sir," she said, remembering what Zane had instructed her to call him. Zane had seen this dozens of times before, maybe even hundreds. Perlah was cock-drunk, totally enthralled by the sight of his incredible penis. It was possible that up until this point, she thought she was doing Zane a favor by having sex with him. A lot of girls felt that way... right up until they saw his cock.

Zane chuckled and leaned forward, pressing the thick, blood-hot length of his throbbing cock agains the kneeling Filipina's face. She groaned, feeling its dominant, masculine energy against her skin. Her breaths puffed, quick and shallow, against Zane's hairy balls as she moaned, "M-maybe it's too big, Sir! I don't know if it will f-fit!"

Zane grinned. It would fit. It always did. In fact, soon Perlah would be begging for more... for him to go deeper. He could feel it right now as he watched her squirm with lust, her hand sneaking down to rub and squish between her spread thighs: he was going to turn this little slut into a size queen, just like he had so many others. If she played her cards right, he might even let her play with her new obsession on screen and get more money than Claire could ever pay her.

"You don't need to worry about that now, honey," he said. "You just need to worry about making me feel good... and answering my questions. Worship me."

With a shuddering breath, Perlah obeyed, pressing her soft lips to his cock in a series of warm, wet kisses up and down its length.

"Now... is Claire a good boss?" asked Zane, settling back and enjoying the petite woman's slutty service.

Perlah looked up at him, confused, as she swirled her little pink tongue around his cockhead. "Ms. Harrison? Well, ummm, she can be hard to get along with sometimes, but she's honest and fair."

Zane nodded, his concentration intense. "She seems like she can be stubborn. When you really need to convince her to change her mind, how do you go about that?"

"Why are we... *slurp*... why are we talking about my boss, Sir?" said Perlah, pausing mid-sentence to run her dripping wet tongue over Zane's throbbing shaft.

Perlah hadn't been a challenge at all. By the end of Zane's first visit to the office, she had been giggling and twirling her hair; by the end of the second visit, he had gotten her phone number; and the third time had, as they say, been the charm. Single women were like easy mode, and Zane liked the hunt so much that he rarely bothered with pursuing them these days unless he badly needed a particular type of slut for his porn content. But, quite apart from what a delectable little snack she was, Perlah would be a useful tool in his toolbox. Once she was hopelessly addicted to him, he would have a woman on the inside, able to monitor all of Claire's communication and activities.

Zane slapped his thick cock wetly against Perlah's tawny cheek, leaving a shiny streak of her own saliva. "I thought you said you were going to do anything I said." His voice was low and hard, and made Perlah look up at him with a little catch of intimidation and arousal in her breath. "Or should we just get our clothes back on and go our separate ways?"

"N-no, sir," said Perlah hurriedly, her eyes still focused on his cock, hazy with lust. "I can be a good girl."

"That's what I like to hear. Now answer the question. And my balls could use a little attention while you're at it."

The tight little Asian hurried to obey, lapping at his rough, hairy balls with her cute pink tongue while she stroked his slimy, spit-covered cock. "Well... she's very hard to convince once she makes her mind up," said Perlah between licks. "But sometimes if you distract her, or present new information on the issue that confuses her, you can sneak things past her."

Zane nodded and moved on, quizzing Claire's assistant on everything she knew about her boss. What made her angry. What made her laugh. Any stories she told about Dan, positive or negative. Her favorite food. Eventually, Perlah forgot all about how weird it was to answer questions about her boss. She was too busy stuffing her mouth with cock to think about anything other than Zane's meaty dick.

Finally, Zane had everything he needed. Just one more thing that had to be done... time to blow the little asian slut's mind and make her a true beleiver. A worshipper in the church of big cock. Without warning, he bent to scoop Perlah up, tossing her onto the bed behind him as she let out a gasp of shock. He worked quickly and confidently, manhandling her tight young body into position. Her ass up and her face in the sheets, her back arched to give him the best possible view of her smooth, dripping slit.

"Hands behind your back, slut," he growled. He could see her little body heaving with passion as she held her arms behind her back for him, being a good, obedient slut just like she promised. He gripped her wrists tightly in one meaty hand, the position forcing her face down into the bed, giving Zane complete control.

He raised his cock with his other hand, rubbing and teasing at Perlah's swollen slit. "It's sooo big, Sir!" she whined, her voice muffled. But even with the intimidation in her voice, her slim hips squirmed back into the feeling of his cock rubbing against her pussy.

"So do you want to give up?" asked Zane, his voice mocking now.

"N-no sir... please... Please f-fuck me. Just g-go slow, ok?"

And Zane did. He may be a pushy, chauvinistic jerk, but he knew good sense when he heard it. He wanted Perlah to have hearts in her eyes when she saw him, not remember him as the asshole who hurt her pussy. He pushed forward with aching slowness, parting Perlah's tender lips and sinking deep into her tiny pussy inch by inch, making her gasp and moan and writhe beneath him from the intensity of the sensation as her hot, wet pussy cunt to his cock like a silken glove.

As he suspected, Perlah had been wrong. With a little patience and soft murmuring about how good of a girl she was, plus a short pause to rub her clit, Zane was able to push himself balls-deep into the petite woman, stretching her to her very limit.

And, after a long moment of luxuriating in that feeling, he began moving. Slowly at first, giving Perlah time to adjust to his girth, but then faster and faster, using his grip on her wrists as leverage as he plunged deep and hard, making Perlah moan and gasp like a bitch in heat beneath him.

"You're mine now," grunted Zane as he thrust, using his free hand to send a spank cracking down on Perlah's tight bubble butt.

"All yours, sir!" agreed Perlah enthusiastically with a whining moan. "Fuck me!"

They fucked, hot and sweaty and passionate, with Zane dominantly thrusting Perlah down into the mattress while she moaned and milked his cock with her tight, smooth pussy. Zane could feel that both of them were about to cum. Him from the long tease of the submissive blowjob, her from the mindblowing experience of getting fucked by a real cock at last. Time to seal the deal.

"You don't work for Claire anymore," he growled, increasing his pace ever further as his heavy balls tightened against the base of his cock. "You work for me. You do what I say. In and out of the bedroom."

"Mmmmmm God!" howled Perlah, her toes curling and her thighs shaking in orgasm as Zane roared in triumph, filling her with hot, sticky seed. "Yes, sir! You own me! I'm your little slut! I'll do whatever you fucking want!"

She didn't mean it. Not yet. This was just the first time they had sex, after all. She would wake up tomorrow walking a little funny and think this was just a kinky, slightly embarrassing little experiment. But she would be back... and planting the idea early was important. She would be his obedient slut soon.

And that would get him one step closer to turning Claire into the same thing.

...

A few hours later, Zane sat at his computer. He had just finished typing up the info he had pumped from Perlah into the document he had started on Claire. He had a folder full of similar documents from the past few years, and he took a second to run his eyes over them fondly.

Heather - SUCCESS

Billie - SUCCESS+HIRED

Veronica - SUCCESS

The list went on and on.

When Zane first started his little hobby, he had planned to mark any files where sleeping with the woman had proved impossible with FAILURE. But not a single document bore that label. Some of them had taken a while, and a few had managed to wriggle away after he had fucked them, but so far, Zane had managed to bury his cock at least once in every woman he had pursed.

Two days from now, he would have his first in-person meeting with Claire. It was scheduled to take place at his home, where she would look over the bedroom she was supposedly redesigning and ask him about what he wanted for the space. He had managed to get Perlah to pull some strings and move up the timeline: yet another perk of boinking Claire's assistant. But he had to decide what tactic he would take with Claire during their first meeting.

There was a reason why he had asked Perlah how best to change Claire's mind. Everything Zane knew about her told him she was a strong-willed, opinionated woman who stuck to her instincts. And she had already decided that Zane was beneath her.

But Perlah had given him some excellent leads. She had said that sometimes Claire was vulnerable to distraction. Counter-intuitively, he thought the best idea would be to antagonize Claire during the meeting. Right now, he wanted Claire to be thinking about him as much as possible, and at this stage, it didn't matter if that obsession was positive or negative.

The more time he could get Claire to stew in her anger over him, the more time he had for his dominant confidence to seep deep down into her subconscious. So, for now, the best approach would be to lean into Claire's dislike of him and be as abrasive and obnoxious as possible. It would be a delicate balancing act. He couldn't be so infuriating that he made Claire consider cancelling the contract, but he had to be annoying enough to make her lie awake at night, furious over him.

Zane thought for a moment, then picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts. There were a lot to go through. He kept a list of all his former conquests handy in case he even wanted a late-night booty call.

Finally, he found just the woman he was looking for.

This was going to drive Claire crazy.

...

Claire took off her sunglasses with a sigh, looking up at the large house with pursed lips. Just as she had assumed based on the address, it was a tacky, cookie-cutter design. The sort of house that someone who had never been inside a truly expensive home thought looked impressive. She had intended to schedule this first face-to-face out as far as possible as a minor power play; a way to show Zane that she was in charge and he would just have to wait. But, according to Perlah, there had been some sort of scheduling mix-up with her plans for today, and Zane was the only appointment on the calendar that could be moved up at short notice. Which meant she was seeing him just a few days after he had hired her. Which made it look like she was rushing to be at his service.

She slammed her car door as she got out, already in a foul mood before she even had to speak to the little worm.

Claire noted a large, dark SUV from a luxury brand parked in front of the garage as she made her way to the door and rolled her eyes. No wonder Zane had been willing to overpay for an interior designer. He obviously loved to flash cash. She stabbed a finger at the call button on Zane's video doorbell and crossed her arms, tapping a foot impatiently. The sooner she was able to get this meeting over with, the better. Maybe taking this job had been a mistake, even if it did give her the opportunity to put Zane in his place.

The doorbell connected with a chime, and a deep, panting voice on the other end of the line said, "Uhhh, Hello?"

Claire delicately pinched the bridge of her nose and had to count to three before answering so that she could maintain a professional tone. "Mr. Kruger, this is Claire Harrison. I'm here for our two o'clock," she managed to get out in a cool customer-service voice.

Zane barked an undignified laugh. "You mean our three o'clock? I'm afraid you caught me in the middle of something..." in the background, a moaning feminine voice said "Who is it, Z? Tell her to fuck off and get back to work! I was sooooo close."

Claire flushed red, certain in the moment that Zane was doing this to fuck with her. "I think you'll find," she said icily, "that our meeting is scheduled at two. And I think you knew that already, Mr. Kruger."

Zane snorted. "Hold on one second, Mona... Look, I don't know what to tell ya, Claire bear. It says three in my calendar. Are you positive that you have the correct time?"

"I'm quite certain," said Claire through gritted teeth, not enjoying the casual nickname at all. She navigated to her calendar app to prove that...

She stared down at the time in confusion. [Preliminary site review and project outline w/ Zane Kruger - 3:00 PM] She blinked. Refreshed the page. It said what it said. She would have bet all of the money she had that the appointment was at two. She had checked it before she left.

But the only two people with access to her calendar were her and Perlah, and neither of them had any reason to change it. Fuck! "It... it appears that I might have been mistaken," said Claire, each word feeling like acid on her tongue.

The whole point of taking this job in the first place has been to fearlessly respond to whatever petty mind game Zane had been trying to play, and she had fucked it up instantly by making a basic, unprofessional mistake. "I..." she began, then took a deep, calming breath and got a hold of herself. Mistakes happened. She couldn't let herself spin out over one minor embarrassment. She was still the better person here, and that's what would win out in the end. "I apologize for the confusion. Sorry to disturb you. I'll return in an hour, at the scheduled meeting time," she said in a clipped, professional voice.

"What, and sit in your car?" asked Zane with another coarse laugh. "No, that's no good. Just sit tight for a second. I'll just finish up and be right down."

Claire's mouth fell open in disbelief. Was he really suggesting that she wait while he... "That won't be necessa..." she began, but by that point, the doorbell had already disconnected. Zane had hung up on her. Claire stood in silent fury for a moment. This entire interaction had thrown her completely off-balance. She was supposed to breeze in and make Zane feel awkward with how cool, calm, and competent she could be. Now she was standing on his doorstep waiting for the fat slug of a man to finish having sex?

No. She refused. She would just get back in her car and drive back to the office. Tell Perlah the meeting had to be rescheduled. She had already taken a few steps toward her car when she stopped with a grimace of frustration on her face. She was the one who had made the screw-up here. If she had come an hour later, when the meeting was apparently scheduled, Zane would have been ready for the meeting. Leaving now would only make her look more unprofessional.

She turned stiffly back to the door, boiling with impotent anger while she waited a few long, infuriating minutes for Zane to come down and let her in.

Finally, the door swung open, and Claire was face to face with Zane for the first time in years. Claire looked down her nose at the scruffy little man with barely concealed contempt. Short and broad, with unpleasantly protruding eyes and thick, greasy blonde hair gathered back into a messy ponytail, Zane certainly wasn't handsome. It had been a while since Claire had seen him in person. He was maybe even uglier than she remembered, and it surprised her in that moment that even gold diggers would be interested in this repulsive little man. He was wearing a thick burgundy robe that thankfully fully concealed his body.

"Claire!" exclaimed Zane with a big crooked smile, sticking out a pudgy hand for a handshake. "Long time no see. Glad you could make it so, heh... punctually." Claire stared at his hand and had to repress an urge to slap it away. This was the worst part of Zane. Not how he looked: people couldn't help it if they were ugly. No, the problem was his utter, unshakable confidence. Despite looks that would make any reasonable person self-conscious, there was a lurking arrogance behind his eyes. A sense that he thought he was better than everyone he met.

Claire ignored the hand and instead put on a cold little customer-service smile. "Let's get straight to business, shall we, Mr. Kruger?" Zane withdrew the offered handshake, but instead of looking annoyed or confused by the slight, a little smirk crossed his face as his hand dropped to his side. Rage bubbled up inside her. What exactly did he mean by that expression? She felt completely off balance; even when she deliberately snubbed and disrespected him, Zane had somehow found a way to make her feel like she had made an embarrassing mistake.

Zane turned and gestured her into the house, and, wanting nothing more in the world than to get this over with, Claire followed. "As you can see," said Zane conversationally over his shoulder as he led her through the spacious living room toward the stairs, "A little interior decorating is long overdue."

Well, Claire couldn't disagree with him there. Zane had purchased expensive furniture and clearly had enough money to hire a cleaning service, but his home still gave off the unmistakable air of a bachelor pad. There didn't seem to be decorations of any kind on the walls or any surface, giving the whole place an odd, lifeless, sterile feeling. Even rental properties had cheap, generic artwork for God's sake. It made Claire feel a little better as she followed Zane up the stairs. He might think highly of himself, but Zane seemed to have no taste at all when it came to decor. One area, at least, where she was unquestionably superior.

The improvement in her mood lasted until she entered Zane's bedroom. The unmistakable smell of sex hung in the air, immediately wrinkling Claire's nose and turning her stomach. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the woman sitting on the edge of the bed.

Claire supposed she should have realized that a woman would be here. She had heard a female voice in the background of the intercom after all, and it wasn't like she would hide or evaporate in the time it took Zane to hustle down the stairs. Zane's sex partner was a slim, petite woman with wavy light brown hair and sharp blue eyes. She was currently dressed in a skimpy silk robe that showed off a scandalous amount of her lovely crossed legs, and was smoking a cigarette with a look of faint amusement on her cute features.

As Zane bustled inside, Claire froze in the doorway, nonplussed at suddenly sharing the room with one of Zane's floozies. Just like Dan had mentioned, this mystery woman was undoubtedly attractive, so she was no doubt one of the gold diggers who flocked around Zane. Not the type of person Claire enjoyed associating with.

"Oh!" said Zane, noticing Claire's surprise, "Of course. How rude of me. Claire, Ramona. Ramona, Claire."

Ramona raised an eyebrow and ashed her cigarette in an ashtray on the bed next to her. "Charmed," she said in a low, musical voice, her tone utterly insincere.

"Likewise," said Claire stonily, her eyes pointedly running up and down Ramona's state of undress. "I'm guessing that you and Zane... work together?"

Ramona shrugged languidly and blew out a stream of smoke. "In a manner of speaking. I'm his accountant."

Claire snorted with amusement at the joke, but neither Zane nor Ramona laughed. "She stopped by to try to convince me that I'm overpaying you," said Zane, flopping back onto the bed next to Ramona and throwing an arm around her casually.

Ramona accepted the thick, flabby arm around her waist without apparent discomfort, instead giving Claire a cool, appraising look and saying, "Some of the top designers in the city would do the job for less than what you're asking."

Claire glared at the small, sharp-looking woman, bewildered. Was she actually an accountant? Why in God's name would an attractive professional have sex with Zane? And she was apparently sharp as well: Zane certainly was overpaying for Claire's services. Claire didn't even know how to respond. Everything about this meeting felt like it was going against her. She had planned to sweep in as a powerful, unflappable professional and make Zane feel small. Now, not only had she looked unprofessional, but the quality of her work was being questioned.

She felt herself blushing and opened her mouth to say something, anything in retort, when, embarrassingly, Zane bailed her out.

"Shush, Mona," said Zane with a chuckle, reaching down to give his accountant a little spank on the side of her ass, drawing a giggle from the confident little woman. "Since when has money ever been an issue for me? I know what I like, and I think Claire can give me exactly what I'm looking for."

Zane's assistance was even less welcome than Ramona's disdain. To save herself from having to engage, Claire pointedly turned away, pulled a small notebook from her purse, and sketched some notes as Ramona and Zane whispered and giggled back and forth to each other. Luckily, it seemed like the job would be simple. The room was just a box with one large window, a walk-in closet, and an en-suite bathroom. Nothing particularly notable design-wise, and no architectural quirks to work around. Claire lost herself in the work, eyeballing a few basic measurements, then snapping a few pictures with her phone as references for when she sketched her proposal. She felt some of the embarrassment and frustration ebb away as she went through the motions, and by the time she turned back to her infuriating patron, she felt a bit calmer.

"I would recommend a sleek modernist redesign," she said in clipped tones. "That way, the bedroom won't clash with the rest of your house's decor... or lack thereof, I suppose. I can sketch a proposal for you by the end of the week and present some artwork options that are within the project's budget for your approval." There. All he needed to do was agree, and Claire could get out of here and leave this awkward meeting behind her.

Zane looked thoughtful, pursing his lips. "Hmph. Well, it's certainly impressive that you could come up with a plan just like that, but I'm afraid that "sleek modernism" just isn't what I had in mind."

Claire gritted her teeth. "Mr. Kruger, in my professional opinion, this plan will..."

Zane cut across her protest in a firm voice. "Yeah, yeah, and I appreciate that, Claire Bear. I do. But I hired you because I thought you had the creative spark to not just make something that looks good, but to design something in the style I want."

This arrogant little fucker... "Which is?" snapped Claire.

"Masculine. Powerful," said Zane, his pale blue eyes boring into Claire's. "To put it bluntly, I have a lot of guests in this room, Claire. A lot. When a woman walks into this room, I want her to know immediately what kind of man I am. A dominant male. An alpha."

It might have been a little unprofessional, but Claire couldn't help snort in derision and roll her eyes. "What," she asked disdainfully, "shall I get started commissioning a ten-foot granite statue of your dick?"

Zane met her mockery with a wide, unapologetic grin. "Let me know if you need reference photos," he said with a wink.

Claire flushed red. She had walked right into that one. Mental note: don't be the first one to bring up sex around this creep. "Zane, you don't need to hire a decorator if you want to act like a neanderthal. Here: Mounted deer head on the wall there," she said, pointing with a withering expression and a cocked hip. "Bearskin rug on the floor, yellow warning sign that says 'bone zone' above the bed. There, now you look exactly like the type of guy who calls himself an 'Alpha'. You can have that consultation on the house."

Zane raised an eyebrow, and Ramona gave Claire a flat, unimpressed glare, crossing one lovely leg over the other. "So you're saying you can't do it," said Zane lightly.

"I'm saying I'm not interested in doing it," corrected Claire, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

"I get it," said Zane. "I've seen your portfolio. Soulless minimalism; that 'sleek modernist' look you tried to sell me. Oh, and breezy, feminine cottage-core. I thought you had the chops to work a little bit outside the box you've put yourself in, but hey, if you don't feel comfortable with that, I completely understand."

Claire felt her blood boiling. All of the annoyances and frustrations of this trainwreck of a meeting came to a head as that smirking floozy Ramona laughed behind her hand. She opened her mouth, ready to show both of them the error of their ways...

...

Claire sat at her computer, tired, but too annoyed to go to bed. Dan had gone off to sleep ages ago after tiptoeing around her all evening.

That fucking prick Zane felt like a splinter deep in her mind, constantly irritating her in a way she couldn't let go. He had made her feel small today, and that was particularly galling from someone so beneath her.

Currently, she was flipping through social media of various men who identified as "alphas" with an unimpressed sneer on her face, growing more and more annoyed. Some of the men were good-looking, maybe even the majority, at least of the men who were most successful at projecting that image online. It wasn't that Claire found confident, masculine men unattractive. She could definitely see the primal appeal of a rugged man who knew what he wanted and wasn't afraid to push for it. But, even if some of these guys online had a certain animal magnetism, Claire had never considered a man like that for herself. It felt... dangerous to put all the power in the hands of a romantic partner like that. She much preferred to wear the pants in her relationships.

And all of that was beside the point anyway. Zane wasn't an "alpha", if such a thing even existed. He was a pretender. A wannabe who thought he could toy with his betters. But that was fine. In fact, this assignment would be a perfect chance for Claire to prove that to him.

Still feeling the memory of Zane's arrogant eyes throbbing inside her like a painful splinter, Claire began taking notes, determined to create a design so powerful and masculine that it would make Zane look foolish in comparison every time he stepped into the room.

...

"You're going to fuck her aren't you?" asked Ramona, her voice holding just the trace of a moan as she pumped her slim hips up and down Zane's cock. "That stuck-up designer... That's the point of hiring her, right?"

Zane lay back, scrolling through his phone as Ramona claimed her reward for helping out today. He had needed a very particular type of woman from his stable to make the perfect impression on Claire, and she had fit the bill perfectly: smart, professional, and gorgeous. The fact that an objectively beautiful accountant had been willing to fuck him had definately planted some important seeds in Claire's subconscious.

"Hmm?" he said, eyes flicking upward briefly to where Ramona bounced and whimpered above him. "Yeah, that's the plan. Why? Feeling a bit jealous? Or just nostalgic for the time when I first manipulated you into bed?"

"You fucking bastard..." panted Mona, but her hips just bounced faster, her pussy gripping his cock with needy desire. "You get off on it, don't you? Dragging women down into the mud..."

"Don't pretend you don't love it," said Zane fondly. He tossed his phone aside and put his hands on the slim accountant's hips, smoothly taking control. "Do you remember what first got you to fuck me?"

Mona's eyes glittered down at him, antagonistic, but full of helpless lust as her hips squirmed and writhed down onto his cock.. "I don't even understand how you did it," she admitted breathlessly. "You just acted like an asshole. Always criticizing something about my clothes or my hair. I think I finally just snapped and had to prove you wrong."

"Your wardrobe has improved a lot since then," said Zane with a wicked smile.

"God, it's fucking humiliating," gasped Mona, her hips bucking wildly now as the sorts of things Zane made her wear crossed her mind. "I swear half the men in my building stop what they're doing and just enjoy the show every time I walk by in those tiny fucking skirts you love so much."

"Maybe you should stop wearing panties," teased Zane as Ramona neared orgasm. "The wind blows wrong a little and all those men will get a real fucking show."

"Don't... God! Don't fucking jooooke about that, asshooolllle!" moaned Ramona, gasping and grunting as she came all over Zane's cock, imagining further exhibitionist humiliations. Zane gave it even odds that Mona would actually stop wearing panties: he had really let a kinky bitch off the leash when he corrupted the sassy accountant, and she might not be able to resist.

So, he had managed to win over Ramona by insulting her... Ahhh, negging. An old pick-up artist trick. It wasn't as broadly useful as some people thought, but for a certain type of proud woman, it could be a great wedge to get your hooks in. Women who assumed they were above Zane just couldn't stand it when he acted like the opposite was true... and sometimes it could lead them to do desperate things to address that mental imbalance

Maybe a similar approach could work with Claire. And Zane thought he had just the topic that Claire would be most insecure about. Not clothes like with Ramona. No.

He was going to insult Claire's taste in men.

...

Claire sat back, watching with smug satisfaction as Zane flipped through her concept art. In one sense, Zane had been correct. She had been forced to step out of her regular design instincts to create a design this forceful and masculine. But her skill and artistic talent had shone through in the end. She had knocked it out of the park.

Bold, daring use of color. Sharp, blocky angles. Stone and leather, and bronze. All garish on their own maybe, but coming together to harmonize in a room that wasn't just something a knuckle-dragging "Alpha Male" would find impressive, but also looked fucking incredible. Even Zane looked impressed as he perused the portfolio of designs.

Claire's ego had fully recovered from her embarrassing first meeting with Zane a few days ago. It had really been a perfect storm of bad luck and Zane's obnoxious ego, uniting to embarrass her and throw her off balance. That day had filled her with a burning desire to get back her dignity and show Zane who was really superior between the two of them. He had implied that she wouldn't be able to create a compelling and masculine design, and today she had her answer.

It helped her mood immensely that this meeting was happening in her office today rather than Zane's home turf. She felt calm, confident, and in her element.

Right up until Zane opened his mouth.

"I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised," said Zane with a wide smile, flipping the folder closed. "I really didn't think you would be able to capture the alpha male spirit. But this is excellent work."

"Well, it's not my usual aesthetic," admitted Claire, not able to help preening a little, "but a good artist can adapt to other visual styles."

Zane chuckled, his eyes meeting Claire with a mischievous gleam. "I'm sure that's true. But it's not what I meant. I thought you wouldn't have any insight into powerful, confident masculinity."

Claire stared down the ugly little man sitting across her desk, the smile fading from her face. The correct choice was to ignore his barb and conclude the meeting... but Claire couldn't do that. It felt too much like letting the little toad have the last word. 'There isn't much depth to so-called 'alphas'," she said icily. "Just unearned confidence and thinly-veiled aggression."

Zane shrugged, flipping open the folder again and avoiding her gaze as he looked at the concept drawing of his new room. "I'm not sure how you would know that..." he said mildly, "considering you avoid dominant men like the plague."

Claire rolled her eyes, trying to keep her annoyance under control. "Trust me, Mr. Kruger, as an attractive woman, I have plenty of experience with over-confident men. More than I would like, even if I was actively avoiding them. Which I'm not."

Zane's eyes flashed back up to hers. "And yet you've only ever dated betas. Why is that?" He asked, his voice sharp.

The stunning inappropriateness of the question took her breath away. This was a business meeting for God's sake! Zane was wildly out of line, and Claire would be well within her rights to simply have him escorted off the premises and tear his contract to pieces.

But she couldn't let this insult go unanswered. An insult against her husband, Zane's former friend. And an insult against her, more importantly, questioning her taste in men.

"My husband," she said angrily, drawing herself up in a stiff posture of rage, "Is a wonderful man. Ten times the man you will ever be. He doesn't need all of your stupid "Alpha Male" bullshit to be secure and confident. He knows how much better he is than men like you without having to swagger around and beat his chest like a gorilla."

"Is that why you married him?" Asked Zane in a calm, amused voice, completely unintimidated and unimpressed by Claire's angry outburst. "Because he is soooo 'secure"? Or is it because he's easy to push around, and that feels safe to you?"

Ok, that was enough. The little shit had officially gone too far. "Get out!" yelled Claire, red-faced with anger, pointing to the door. "Get the fuck out of my office!"

Luckily for his own bodily safety, Zane didn't argue. He just scooped up his folder with a smug look on his face, gave an obnoxious wave, then strolled out the door, leaving Claire shaking with volcanic anger behind him.

That little PRICK! How dare he? To march into her office and disrespect her like that! To disrespect her husband, her marriage, and herself on a deeply personal level. How did he have the balls?

He was wrong, obviously. Claire had married Dan because he was a wonderful man. Her other half. Not because he was somehow the easy choice. Dan could be manly and confident... at times. And besides, what was wrong with being attracted to submissive men?

And Dan wasn't fucking submissive!

She felt scrambled and off balance once again, despite her excellent design and meeting Zane on her territory. The creep just had an uncanny knack for getting under her skin. She picked up the phone to ring Perlah and tell her to cancel Zane's account. Then she tossed her phone to her desk and leaned back in her chair, breathing heavily.

She would cancel Zane's account tomorrow. But tonight, she wanted to prove him wrong.

Tonight, she was going to explore the manly, confident side of her husband.

...

Claire took off from work a little early that evening to go home and prepare. Zane was wrong. In many, many ways... but most importantly, he was wrong about men. Aggression and high libido weren't something to be proud of. They were impulses that all men had inside them.

"Alpha" men were just guys who had less impulse control. Beneath his calm, controlled surface, Dan was just as much of a horny brute as Zane. He was just able to control himself like an actual human being. Tonight she would prove it.

She considered just dressing up in lingerie, but decided that that would be cheating. Tonight, she wanted Dan to be bold. To take what he wanted. To be confident, with an aggressive edge. If she was just wearing a lacy bra and panties when he got home, that would be like giving him direct permission to initiate sex. And for this particular experiment, that wouldn't do. She wanted Dan to pursue her forcefully because that's what he wanted.

So she wore the next best thing: a skimpy and sexy, yet casual pair of pajamas. Tiny little pink shorts that showed her legs off perfectly, and a tight tank top that her nipples practically burst out of when she wore it without a bra. In other words, she was offering herself to her husband on a platter and daring him to take a bite. And he would. She was sure of it.

When Dan came in looking tired from work, she shashayed into the kitchen with a showy, hip-swaying walk, making sure her husband got a good look at her body. "Hey, handsome," she said, leaning over the kitchen counter and giving him a look straight down her cleavage. "How was your day?" She was gratified to see his eyes practically pop out of his head. His gaze began to crawl over her curves, and Claire was certain he would pounce on her right then and there...

But then he stopped, shaking his head and meeting her eyes instead with a clear effort to restrain himself. "It was alright. Nothing special. A little busy this time of year. People trying to get permits in. How about you?"

Claire felt a flicker of annoyance. Here she was, looking like a sexy little minx, just begging for him to come take her, and he was... resisting? Well, it was true that most of the time, she would probably be annoyed if he came on too strong when she wasn't interested in sex, but he should be able to read signals a little better. Well... if just the sight of his smoking hot wife in skimpy clothes wasn't enough to get Dan to let his inner beast off the leash, maybe she needed to rile him up a little more.

"I've been lonely all day, missing you," said Claire with a smile. "C'mon, big guy, let's spend some time together." She took him by the arm and led him to the living room. She was half hoping that he would pull in the other direction toward the bedroom, but he followed willingly enough toward the couch. Claire sat down snuggled up to him, her annoyance growing inside her. She could have taken him to the bedroom herself. He would have gone eagerly.

But she wanted him to take the initiative tonight. And instead, he just mildly put on one of their TV shows and sat there making small talk. Claire's frustration only grew as the night went on. She made sexy bedroom eyes at Dan, rubbed his thigh meaningfully, even pressed her tits into his arm. Everything she could think of short of directly initiating sex. She knew it was having an effect on him. He was obviously as hard as a rock. Arousal wasn't the issue.

The issue was that he was absolutely refusing to make the first move.

And, as frustrated as that made Claire, the worst part was that she knew that she was the one to blame. She had trained Dan over the years that they had sex when and how she wanted. She was always the one to initiate. Any time in their early relationship when Dan had tried to push for sex, exactly like she wanted him to do now, she had actively discouraged him.

If there had been a wolf inside Dan once, Claire and domesticated a long ago. Even if she teased him and flirted shamelessly, he would obediently wait until she decided they were going to have sex.

Claire knew, with absolute certainty, that if Zane got the same treatment she had been giving her husband, he would have already made his move. Probably as soon as he walked in the door. Of course, if he tried something like that on Claire, he would get the smug grin slapped right off his face. But that didn't change the fact that Zane would already have pushed hard for what he wanted at this point.

That didn't make him an alpha, but it did make him different from Dan in a way that irritated Claire. She wanted Dan to be a manly, confident man who did what she asked because he respected her. Not a meek yesman who couldn't think for himself. The difference might be subtle, but it felt significant to Claire. She knew it was unfair to test her husband without discussing her concerns with him first... but would it really count if she had to tell him to think more independently?

It wasn't even that she wanted a pushy guy like Zane (Not an 'alpha'. The term was stupid. And besides, Zane was more accurately termed 'a jerk'). She enjoyed her sex life with Dan, and playing a leading role in her relationships had always been her style. But it bothered her that Dan couldn't be demanding and rough and spontaneous even when the situation called for it... that that was an option she had somehow been locked out of, even if she did want to experience it occasionally.

And even worse, it bothered her that Zane might have been right about her taste in men.

Claire stood up suddenly, pulling her shirt over her head to display her perfect tits. Dan looked up at her, his face a picture of bewildered shock. She stared down at him, hands on hips, topless, her breasts heaving with anger and strange arousal.

'Well?" she asked challengingly.

"I... what are you...?" spluttered Dan. Claire could see how aroused he was... but still, with his wife half naked in front of him, he couldn't take that extra step.

Her little lapdog... loyal and obedient and utterly safe. Claire turned away toward the bedroom so Dan couldn't see her face, calling over her shoulder, "Clothes off. You're going to fuck me."

She didn't look back to see if he was following her, but she knew he would be. She stalked into the bedroom and removed her shorts and panties in one smooth motion, tossing them aside and throwing herself back onto the bed. She was a little surprised by the powerful wet heat between her legs. She was filled with a strange blend of anger and lust. An annoying itch that needed to be scratched.

Her husband appeared in the doorway, his cock rock hard, but his face troubled. "Honey, is everything ok?" he asked cautiously as he entered the dim room, taking in the sight of his lovely wife lying back on the bed, her pussy flushed and dripping, but her eyes flashing with dangerous heat.

"No talking," she growled, spreading her legs wide and beckoning him forward impatiently, "only sex."

Normally, they had foreplay first. Normally, Claire preferred cowgirl. Normally, she made Dan wear a condom. None of that mattered to her right now. She needed to feel a cock inside her, hot and hard and powerful. When Dan joined her on the bed, she pulled him down into a fierce, bruising kiss, her fingers tangled tight in his hair, desperately trying to spark the same desperate, fiery passion in him that she felt.

Dan tried his best to rise to the occasion, finally sensing what his wife had wanted all evening. He thrust forward into her pussy, raw inside her for the first time in months, feeling her wet, clinging heat directly against his skin. He pumped his hips, thrusting into her with slow, languid strokes.

Claire groaned in frustration against her husband's lips. "Harder!" she urged, lowering a hand to grip and pull his hip demandingly. "Fuck me! Fuck me like you mean it!" And he did speed up, pressing her against the bed with powerful strokes. He didn't lack the strength, and his cock was a good size...

... but he was only fucking her hard because she told him to. In that moment, Claire didn't picture Zane. She wasn't that far gone. But she did picture a strong, cocky man... pulling into the bedroom himself. Stripping off her clothes. Fucking her hard and fast because that was what he wanted, not what she instructed him to do. And for a moment, Claire found herself unexpectedly on the edge. She never came from penetration, yet there she was... almost there.

"Is this ok?" asked Dan above her in a panting voice. "Is it too hard?

She lost it. Her orgasm seemed as distant as the moon now. She swallowed her disappointment and purred, "Mmmmm, perfect, honey. I want you to cum for me..."

"Already?" asked Dan, confused, "But babe, we just..."

Claire shut him up with a deep kiss, working her hips against his frantically while milking his cock tight inside her.

He finished up within a minute, but Claire couldn't blame him for that. She had done everything she could to get him off as quickly as possible so she could exit this awkward, failed sexual experiment and have time to think. He came inside her, a rare treat for him, and Claire assured him immediately that she didn't need his regular oral service tonight.

Finally, Dan went off to take a quick shower, and Claire was left to her own devices.

She wasn't proud of herself. She had let Zane get into her head tonight and played a game with her beloved husband. A game where she hadn't even explained the rules or warned him that they were about to play. She had no right to be frustrated with Dan. She had married him because he wasn't a pushy asshole like Zane. It was a good trait. And the reason why he didn't aggressively push for sex was because he knew that she didn't like that.

She had to stop thinking so much about what Zane thought. It wasn't good for her.

Claire's phone buzzed, and she picked it up to find a work email. Oh God, speak of the devil... It was Zane, with a request for an element to add to the design of his bedroom.

Hey Claire Bear!

Had an idea for the room I wanted to run by you. For some time, I've been collecting a pair of panties from every woman I bed as a little souvenir. I'd love to have some way to display my collection in my new room! You're the design wizard, so you tell me: what would be the best way to display a couple dozen pairs of panties? Interested to hear your thoughts!

-Zane

As she read, Claire's eyes narrowed, and that sense of frustration and annoyance she had been feeling all week flared up inside her. This request was ridiculous! He couldn't really expect that Claire would be willing to work something obscene like this into her designs, could he?

As she began to draft a heated reply to Zane's unacceptable request, Claire didn't even realize that her idea from earlier in the day of cancelling Zane's contract had completely slipped her mind...