My table of contents for not just the chapters of this story, but all the stories I have available and where to get them, updated daily.

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What is a duet story? The story is told twice – once from the perspective of the male sub written by Reluctant Man*, and once from the perspective of the Domme written by Logan Love.*

Copyright 2024 by Reluctant Man and Logan Love

Foreword

This is a project that authors Reluctant Man and Logan Love started as a different way of co-authoring. We knew we wanted to write together and we tried several different ways of doing that like alternating chapters or even paragraphs, but none of them worked well for us. Logan came up with this idea and I am not sure many other writing pairs are doing it. This is the same story told twice in first person. Once from male main character's side (Russell) and once from the female main character's side (Lily). So the dialog that you read and the actions are the same across both stories. You might think this is kind of redundant or repetitive, but you couldn't be more wrong. As we got into the meat of this story, we realized how amazing it was to be able to get deep into the heads of the main characters from our own points of view. Russell's story is largely written by Reluctant Man and Lily's story is largely written by Logan Love. You can sometimes find that even though the dialog and the action are the same, the thoughts and feelings around those things can be quite different, sometimes surprisingly so. The characters would sometimes surprise us with the differences! This allowed us a level of character development that I don't believe is possible telling a story in third person while not bogging you down in exposition. We are very proud of this story and we very much hope that you enjoy it and agree with us that this is an amazing way to tell it. Thank you so much for reading!

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Chapter 1 (Lily)

My best friend Kate likes to joke that I have a unique gift. One that came as I started to blossom into adulthood and only got worse as my very particular interests grew.

I can spot a submissive man from a mile away, even if he didn’t know it. I absolutely did. It’s a gift I’ve been damn proud of for a long time and has very rarely steered me wrong. Occasionally there’d be an enigma, but it was rare.

Russell Hamilton happened to be one of the enigmas.

It had started off like every other Friday evening for the last two years. I’d gotten off my regular nine-to-five, headed back to my apartment to get my shit together for the night and then proceeded to trek across town to the local BDSM club.The club was nestled in an old warehouse building and was the kind of location you’d both never guess would have the kind of debauchery that often went on inside its walls every weekend, but at the same time had the vibes necessary. It was an old brick building, with copper pipes that ran along the walls and ceiling and concrete flooring that in many places had safety mats lining areas.

I’d arrived fifteen minutes early and before seven, when the doors would open and my weekly demonstration would begin. When I’d first started several years prior, I got to the venue much earlier and would usually work through the entire routine top to bottom once before people showed up, and would still pace nervously until I was ready to go on.

Now, I knew it like the back of my hand. It was ingrained deeply within me, and it was something I was very passionate about and wanted to share with everyone.

I just hadn’t realized how much I’d wanted to share it with a man like Russell.

The place was packed that evening, when I’d made it onto the staging area for my demonstration. I couldn’t even count the number of bodies that had squeezed their way inside. My demonstration was thirty minutes long, and then everyone would divide up for their own BDSM scenes as they wanted, or to watch. I religiously gave these demonstrations and I knew many people came to see them.

Once the room kind of settled and I’d made it to the center of the stage, I stopped, staring out into the crowd. In my hands, I tossed a bundle of a deep red rope. Jute rope, to be specific. It was something I did out of habit nearly every time. I cleared my throat, looking out into the room.

“Shibari is a Japanese word that means “tight bondage.” It’s an ancient BDSM practice whose roots lie even before the Samurai existed, and involves tying a willing participant in intricate patterns of rope.”

I paced across the floor, still tossing the rope between my hands, staring out into the crowd. It was the first time I spotted Russell standing in the crowd. He was kind of hard to miss. First of all, he was taller than most of the rest of the crowd, and very broad framed. He looked like he could easily be a bouncer for a nightclub. The dim lighting of the building was reflecting very strongly against his neatly shaved bald head.

What had stopped me in my tracks pausing to try to formulate my next sentence, was his intense stare on me. It was like I was the only person in the room, and with how often I was seeking out the shy submissive types, the ones who looked away bashfully or were hiding meekly behind their friends not wanting to be spotted, I got a strangely intense vibe from him.

Then his blue eyes did the bashful dart away from me and I realized I’d spotted yet another submissive man, and one that seemed like he might not have even realized he was submissive. One that gave me, ‘I live on the side of the mountain and chop down firewood and kill my own food’ vibes, but in a strange, soft way I couldn’t explain, and it was endearing and very distracting.

I cleared my throat and continued walking. “There are several different types of rope bondage, some that are more artistic than others. Shibari tends to lean more towards the sexual side of things and is often used in conjunction with other BDSM activities to enhance the experience, while also providing almost a…meditative experience for both the rigger, the individual doing the binding, and the submissive, the one who is being bound.”

When I glanced over at the audience again, all eyes appeared to be focused intently on me, including, once again, the man standing off to the side with those fierce blue eyes. I looked away, continuing my thought. “I like to do a demonstration every week with a willing participant, to help emphasize the beauty of this act, and help inspire those who are here to practice their own Shibari with their scenes. I’d like now to invite someone up to the stage who’d be willing to help demonstrate a simple tie with me. Are there any takers?”

Immediately, a dozen hands flew into the air, which wasn’t unusual. My eyes scanned over all of them, trying to determine who exactly I wanted. It was an important decision to me, because oftentimes the rapport between the dominant and submissive in these demonstrations helped accentuate the whole act.

Except no one was standing out to me tonight. Well, almost no one. No one with the exception of the very distracting man standing off to the side of the room, whose blue eyes were still lasered in on me. Except he hadn’t raised his hand like I had hoped he would, and I didn’t like taking participants who weren’t willing. I wouldn’t.

Yet, I still found myself calling him out. “How about you?” I focused back on the man, maintaining my eye contact.

He blinked rapidly, mouth falling slightly open and suddenly aware that I was speaking to him. “...Me?” I nodded in reply, and watched him swallow deeply. “Oh, I don’t know about that.” His words were interlaced with a soft chuckle, and I watched his eyes divert towards the ground.

Oh yeah, he was definitely my type alright. I could already feel it and I hadn’t even gotten him on stage yet.

“You aren’t the least bit curious?” I inquired, still watching him.

He glanced up at me again. “...I honestly just came because a friend asked. I just wanted to…just wanted to watch, that’s all. I don’t think I’d be the right person for your demonstration.”“I’m not asking if you think you’d be right, I’m asking if you’d be willing. Even if it wasn’t what you thought you’d be doing.” What was I doing right now? This wasn’t exactly kosher for me to be saying to him. He clearly had reservations, and it was more beneficial for me to pick one of the willing participants with their hands still stretched wildly into the air. I needed to stop.

Instead, I kept going. “You know, sometimes challenging your doubts is the best thing you can do for yourself. I think you should try it, especially if it isn’t a hard no and you’re just outside your comfort zone. I wouldn’t want to send you home with any regrets.”

This time, his eyes didn’t divert away from me. He studied me intently, like he was sizing me up and trying to figure out what he wanted to say. It was while he was paused, heavily thinking, that I realized the guy maybe wasn’t even an introvert either and more outgoing, he was just well-hidden.

“I…” He trailed off, still clearly wrestling with the idea in his mind. Again, I felt like I should stop this and get another person, but some part of me wanted so badly for him to get on the stage, I was ignoring those other thoughts. Then, he finished his sentence.

“...Okay. I’ll give it a try.”

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Chapter 1 (Russell)

I was more or less happy with my life. Well, I guess happy might have been too strong of a word for it. Content. That worked just fine. I was content, not really wanting for much, but not really knowing what I was missing either. That all changed on Friday night when I met Lily.

I wasn’t sure what I was doing at a damn BDSM club in the first place. It wasn’t my scene and it wasn’t like anything I had gone to before. I was a welder for years and proud of my blue collar work and making an honest living. It wasn’t considered creative or artistic, but I made things with my calloused hands. I made things better. I sweated all day and at the end of it, I always had a sense of accomplishment. I wasn’t the kind of guy who got dragged to kinky underground events in my spare time.

I usually went home alone and I didn’t mind that either. I had a nice little ranch set well off the main roads on 10 acres and generally enjoyed my solitary existence. Sure, there was sometimes some restlessness that most people would ascribe to loneliness, but that was just the way things were. Whenever I felt like that, I would just work it out of my system and chop some wood for the stove that I heated my entire house with. I didn’t work out like those fakes that went to the gym every day, but between my work and my lifestyle, and of course genetics, I was a large and burly man and carried myself as such with confidence.It had sometimes attracted women to me and that was a part of the reason why I was here in this warehouse tonight. Julie had roped me into it, almost literally considering what it was. Julie was a coworker and somewhat of a friend, not a romantic interest certainly, but she stood out as the only female welder in the shop and she gave as good as she got with the guys there, oftentimes better. We had hung out several times and she took great delight in trying to find buttons and pushing them.I was uncomfortable about going to some perverted kinky thing with her, but she wrangled me into it.

“You aren’t afraid, are you Russ?” she had said almost mockingly. Did I mention how she liked to push buttons? I scoffed at her in reply and waved my hand in a dismissive gesture, but her question had gotten to me more than I would admit. I was very traditionally masculine and didn’t like to be seen as afraid of anything. Even though spiders scared the crap out of me, I never let anyone see that.

When that didn’t work, she raised an eyebrow. “Come on Russ, I really want to go to this and I don’t have anyone to go with. Have an open mind for once.”

That offended me a bit too. I liked to think that I had an open mind, but perhaps it wasn’t as open as I thought.

“You know, there are always a ton of hot women at these things and all the men are usually little nerdy twinks. I would be willing to bet you’d be able to leave with an amazingly hot woman afterwards,” she added and that got my attention. and I allowed myself to think about how hot it might be to tie up a woman before throwing her around on my bed.

It turns out I DID meet an amazingly hot woman, just not the kind I expected.

“Alright, alright, I’ll fucking go…” I finally said, giving in. Julie beamed at me, gave me the address to the place and agreed to meet me there. She was out of work on Friday, but I didn’t think much of it as I went home to shave, shower and change. Nothing fancy, just jeans and a form fitting thin t-shirt.

I arrived promptly at 7pm and I couldn’t believe how packed it fucking was. I signed in and tried to reach the back corner of the room but the space to move around was limited. Julie was right in that I towered over most of the people there and there were some pretty hot women who eyeballed me. Just as the class, or whatever the fuck it was, was about to start, I got a text from Julie.

Sorry, I am sick as a dog and won’t be able to make it. Try to have fun anyway!

Shit.

Well, there was no getting out of it now unless I bowled over a bunch of people, and I was always far too careful and cognizant of my size to want to even attempt it. I crossed my muscular arms over my chest and just settled in to watch.

“Shibari is a Japanese word that means “tight bondage.” It’s an ancient BDSM practice whose roots lie even before the Samurai existed, and involves tying a willing participant in intricate patterns of rope,” the leader of the class, Lily Noble, said as she paced back and forth in front of everyone.

She was clearly the most attractive woman here and had a sense of confidence in herself that was very alluring. I found myself staring at her, drawn in by her presence. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before and I needed to know why. She was very attractive, sure….but there was something more about her that drew my eyes to her. I wondered what she would look like all naked and wrapped in rope?

She was looking directly back at me almost as if she could read my stray dirty thoughts and I felt embarrassed for it and quickly looked away.

I took a few moments to compose myself as she continued, “There are several different types of rope bondage, some that are more artistic than others. Shibari tends to lean more towards the sexual side of things and is often used in conjunction with other BDSM activities to enhance the experience, while also providing almost a…meditative experience for both the rigger, the individual doing the binding, and the submissive, the one who is being bound.”She was so passionate with the way she spoke about it and I couldn’t help but be a little intrigued.

She resumed pacing and said, “I like to do a demonstration every week with a willing participant, to help emphasize the beauty of this act, and help inspire those who are here to practice their own Shibari with their scenes. I’d like now to invite someone up to the stage who’d be willing to help demonstrate a simple tie with me. Are there any takers?”My eyebrows rose at that and I looked around at all the volunteers, mainly pretty young things and thought that this class was suddenly becoming a lot more interesting. I resumed looking at Lily trying to figure out what it was about her that was so alluring when she suddenly locked eyes with me and said, “How about you?”

It was more unexpected than even being here tonight. I blinked several times trying to make sure that she was in fact talking to me. All eyes turned to me then and I felt my face heating up. I hated being the center of attention for anything.

“...Me?” I said dumbly, growing more embarrassed by the second and she merely nodded in reply at first. I swallowed and added, “Oh, I don’t know about that.” I threw in a forced chuckle trying to act like it was just a casual refusal, but with all of these eyes on me, I couldn’t help but stare at the floor.

“You aren’t the least bit curious?” she pressed, and I could still feel her eyes on me.

I gathered the courage to look back up at her and said. “...I honestly just came because a friend asked. I just wanted to…just wanted to watch, that’s all. I don’t think I’d be the right person for your demonstration.”

“I’m not asking if you think you’d be right, I’m asking if you’d be willing. Even if it wasn’t what you thought you’d be doing,” she said and there was that tone of confidence that I wasn’t used to aimed directly at me. I tried not to shuffle my feet and searched my suddenly cloudy brain for the correct response.

“You know, sometimes challenging your doubts is the best thing you can do for yourself. I think you should try it, especially if it isn’t a hard no and you’re just outside your comfort zone. I wouldn’t want to send you home with any regrets.”

I kept my gaze locked onto hers this time, studying her and the situation. I could continue to evade and admit to myself that I was afraid of being on display and tied up, or I could face those fears head on and perhaps get out of here sooner.

“I…” I started, still unsure what my answer would be. I didn’t want all of these people staring at me. I didn’t want to feel helpless and seen as weak. I didn’t want to…

Those eyes….

“...Okay. I’ll give it a try.”

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