Chapter Eight
The first brainstorming sessions leading up to a new season were Mal’s favorite meetings all year. Landing a job at VCONN ten years ago had been a dream come true, and her job had only gotten better over the years. She really felt like they were making a difference, at least in Dallas. The local BDSM club, Silken, had doubled its membership since America’s Next Top sub had aired, and she’d even been recognized as the Mistress of Dallas while in Houston with Mama. Mal had just about fallen out of her chair when Mama had actually been pretty chuffed at her daughter’s recognition. Even as a Domme on a very sexy show.
Their ratings were great. They’d blown KDSX out of the water. Ad prices were through the roof. All of which made their CEO and her partner, Victor Connagher, beam with pride, even while he moved that bar another notch higher for their upcoming fall season.
“So.” He looked around the table, meeting each person’s gaze for a moment before moving on. Shiloh Holmes, his fiancée and the original creator of America’s Next Top sub, gave him one of the secretive, dirty smiles that subs were so very good at, promising all sorts of sweaty fun later. Then Georgia, the beautiful host who’d been all too eager to sign a nice contract ensuring her services for the next two seasons. Patrick wasn’t an employee of VCONN, but he’d played one of the dominant contestants, along with Mal and Victor. Ryan and Kimberly, the owners of Silken, were crucial in offering up their club’s play rooms and clientele for potential candidates. “Thank you for coming today to begin brainstorming ideas for continuing Top sub this fall.”
“I’m surprised you called me, actually.” Despite the business suit, Patrick sat in the chair like a negligent, bored lord of the manor. “I’m sure I was the least favorite dominant in the last show, though I’m certainly interested in continuing, or at least providing input.”
Shiloh glanced at her fiancé out of the corner of her eyes. “He didn’t tell you?”
Patrick’s eyes narrowed on the man at the head of the table. They were friendly acquaintances, but not above a dominant pissing match if they weren’t careful. “Tell me what?”
“I admit that it shocked the hell out of me too.” Victor’s mouth quirked and the tension eased from Patrick’s shoulders. “Your pony girls were a hit.”
“In fact…” Shiloh waited until he nodded and then stood with a stack of storyboards. The first board displayed a pony girl in all her glory, from bit and head piece to hoof boots and tail. “We’d like to talk to you about a spinoff.”
Patrick sat back in his chair, his mouth opening and shutting several times before he managed to find his words. “My own show. You’re kidding, right?”
“We’re thinking it could be set up very much like Top sub, but with all pony themes and challenges. If you’re interested, of course.”
“Interested? You’d have to horsewhip me to make me leave now. What are you thinking it’ll be called?”
She moved the next board up. A woman in a Victorian riding habit stood by a man easily recognized as Patrick, dressed in jodhpurs, with his famous whip whirling around the pair like a frame. “Pony Games.”
“Thank you.” Patrick cleared his throat and nodded vigorously. “It’s perfect. Yes. Let me know what you need.”
The man actually looked like he was near tears, and Mal suddenly found herself a little watery too. She knew what it felt like to be accepted, after a lifetime of never feeling like you fit in, that you were different, odd, strange. A twinge of guilt made her wince. She’d teased Patrick about his pony gear on the last show, all in good humor, but she hadn’t realized how important it was to him.
“You showed us that there’s a strong interest in our viewers for more pony play.” Victor even stood and leaned across the table to offer his hand. “So thank you, Patrick. I’m looking forward to seeing what else you can teach us.”
Patrick shook his hand sheepishly. “I’m sure that most of those interested viewers are probably more shocked and titillated than truly interested in my stable, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
Mal leaned closer to him and squeezed his arm lightly. “So what if they are? Most of our viewers start out that way, watching for the shock value. But our shows speak to the silent truths in all humans, and eventually, we start to unbury something they never understood about themselves.”
Victor sat back down. “You’ve always claimed that everybody is on the kink scale, whether they know it or not.”
“Like that cop,” Shiloh added. “Nobody would look at him and think submissive.”
But they hadn’t seen Colby last night. So needy and hungry. He might not think he was a submissive, but he’d sure been starved for a woman with her kind of power. Not ready to talk about him yet with anyone, she shrugged and gave them a hopefully mysterious smile. “What’s our ideas for a new season of Top sub?”
Victor’s eyes narrowed a moment, not fooled in the least by her changing the subject, but he wouldn’t force a conversation. Especially in front of people outside of their immediate circle. He gave a nod to Shiloh and she set the Pony Games storyboard aside.
“I promised Brandon that we’d do something for the queer folks in the scene,” he said. “I’d like to invite at least one homosexual dominant for the next season. Anyone have a recommendation?”
Ryan nodded. “I’ve got several people in mind, though I haven’t approached them yet. I’m assuming you’ll do the same sort of set up with masks and secret identities? This is Texas after all, and you’re going to have a lot of die-hard pissed-off conservatives up in arms if you’re not careful.”
“Of course,” Shiloh said. “I know all too well how much media attention we drew last season, though V played it up and welcomed it.”
“We’ll take extra care to protect everybody’s identities,” Victor said. “The point of the show isn’t how gays do BDSM differently. It’s to be inclusive, but not make a big deal about it. We’ll have dominants and submissives who just happen to be attracted to the opposite sex. Everything else on the playing field is the same.”
“He’s right, though,” Mal added. “How many hate letters did we get last year because I was playing with a white submissive?”
Just thinking about those nasty letters made her stomach hurt. So much hate in the world. So much misery. What did it matter to anyone who anyone else dated or loved? She’d never understand it.
“Let them write us.” Victor smiled his grim reaper smile—fully dominant, confident, and welcoming any battle. The kind of look a general would give his hopelessly outnumbered troops as he led them to glorious victory. Everyone at VCONN would charge into the fray with confidence they’d win, just because of his leadership. “Let them call. Or even protest out front. I welcome it. The more attention we bring to issues like this, the better. It’s the fucking twenty first century and people need to get over this petty shit. I want interracial and same-sex couples and we’re going to be in their face doing what we do best. We won’t play to any racial stereotypes or flinch from the truth. This is what we are. Get over it.”
“Amen,” Patrick said.
“We do have to be smart and careful, though.” Shiloh set up three story boards: last season’s silhouette of her at Victor’s feet, another with an obviously male-male pair, and the last with two women. “We don’t want to advertise only one or the other, while making it clear at the same time that we are inclusive and there are heterosexual and homosexual couples involved. What I’m thinking is that we start with last season’s for recognition, but then flash through all three.”
“Maybe with a large question mark and our tag line,” Mal said. “’Who will be this year’s top sub?’”
“Exactly. That way we’re making it clear before anyone turns on the show that anything’s game.”
“Sounds good.” Victor leaned back in his chair. “So. Two new shows. We need two producers. Mal, which do you want?”
With that simple question, he reiterated all over again why she loved working for and with him. It would have been easy for a take-charge boss to simply assign roles to each show as he saw fit. The second season was definitely going to need a confident, strong leader with a clear vision. Someone not afraid to take risks, but also open to others’ advice and sensitive to issues and the needs of people used to being portrayed badly by media. He could have demanded his second-in-charge take the show to be sure it was handled correctly. Or he could have assumed his fiancée was the best choice, because the show was her idea in the first place. Instead, he made no assumptions and fully trusted both of the women employed by him to make the smart, best decisions for their shows.
Mal deliberately didn’t answer right away. She looked at the three story boards and let ideas for the show bubble up in her mind. It’d be a fun show, for sure. She could participate again if she wanted—though it’d probably be better just to produce the show and concentrate on making sure everyone was well protected and heard as the show progressed. The show had already set records and this season could easily break those viewing records again. There’d be interviews and plenty of opportunities to be in the spotlight and build her career, both on and off the set.
Pony Games, on the other hand, was brand new and untried. It had difficulties to work through but was an unknown. Lots of opportunities for new games and exploration of new issues. Many of which would be uncomfortable for her personally. She didn’t fully understand the kink and would really need to push herself and widen her boundaries to make sure the show received the best opportunity to succeed. Which was exactly why she answered, “I’ll take Pony Games.”
Victor nodded. “Good. I’ll take lead on Top sub with Shiloh as assistant producer. Ryan and Patrick, if you could get us the list of candidates for each show, we’ll start interviewing and prepare contracts. Any questions?”
Everyone stood and made small talk as they headed out. Shiloh was beaming with excitement and for good reason. Assistant producer was a huge opportunity for her. Some people might snip that she’d only gotten the chance because she was in the boss’s bed, but she’d easily prove them all wrong. She’d done a fantastic job last season and Mal didn’t have any doubts she’d be able to handle the new show. Shiloh paused at the door, unconsciously checking with her dominant to see if he had a command before leaving.
“That might be her only difficulty,” Mal said softly as the door shut.
“Yeah. Most of the time it’s not an issue for us, but it does take work to separate out boss/employee from dominant/submissive sometimes.”
“It’s good work though.”
She’d tried to keep the wistful tone out of her voice, but by the way his intent gaze settled on her, she hadn’t been successful. “You were supposed to see the cop last night, right? How’d that go?”
“Good. Great, actually.”
She knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t push for details. Though he’d open the door and invite her in if she wanted to go there. “No problems?”
“Oh he has plenty of problems. That’s why he’s interested. Nothing I can’t handle, though.”
“Former soldier, now cop. I can imagine he has a lot of baggage.”
“He’s had a good family life, which helps. I mean he wasn’t abandoned, doesn’t have mommy or daddy issues. But leaving the military has definitely left a void that he hasn’t figured out how to fill yet.”
“PTSD?”
She nodded. “Not as bad as it could be, but it’s definitely affecting him.”
“Don’t try to fix all that shit by yourself. He needs to be seeing a therapist. I don’t have to tell you that those issues can seep out during a scene and turn something sexy into something scary in a hurry.”
Of course Victor would be protective of her. “He’s been seeing someone and I’ll be careful. Nothing too heavy. Like Shiloh said, he doesn’t seem to be fully submissive.”
“That’s exactly my worry. At some point, you’re going to tell him to do something and he’s not going to want to do it. If his head’s not right, you could get hurt.”
“He’d never hurt me or any woman for that matter. I don’t think it’s in him.”
Grim lines deepened around Victor’s mouth. “You can’t really know one way or the other until it’s too late. If he feels trapped, he might strike out. His training will take over and he’ll lose himself in the battle. He might feel terrible later, but that doesn’t change you hurt, in the hospital, or worse, with his kind of training. I’m pretty sure Elias said he was some kind of Special Forces.”
“Marines, but I’m really not worried.” That didn’t change the tight, grim lines on Victor’s mouth, so she softly replied, “he needs help, V. He’s desperate for help.”
“And you were able to help him last night?”
She let her eyes simmer, her voice going husky. “Oh yeah.”
Some of the tightness in his shoulders eased and he huffed out a laugh. “The Mistress of Dallas strikes again.”
“Let’s see if the Mistress of Dallas can get into pony shit now.”
Victor laughed again as she stood and they moved toward the door. “I was hoping you’d pick Pony Games for that very reason. Maybe you’ll get the cop into one of those tails.”
She laughed too but his words lingered long after they split ways and headed to their individual offices. For all she knew, Colby might be into pony play. He wouldn’t know either until he saw it. Or he might like humiliation play. Or punishment. Or puppy play. Who the hell knew? That was part of the fun playing with a new-to-the-scene submissive.
Exploration was the name of the game. As long as he trusted her to lead the way.