Maren concludes Desire’s Peak, the story of Stet the cowboy and his mysterious lovers.
The music played during this episode: excerpts from a public domain version of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade
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Transcript
(orchestra tuning)
Hello and welcome to The Bodice Ripper Project, an exploration of sexuality, feminism, and the journey to self-empowerment through the lens of romance novels.
I’m Maren Montalbano, opera singer, coach, and writer.
In this episode, you’ll hear the stunning conclusion of Desire’s Peak, the story of Stetson the cowboy and his mysterious lovers. I’ll also be talking a little bit about what’s next for The Bodice Ripper Project.
So make yourself comfortable, loosen your bodice, and let’s begin!
(intro music plays)
Welcome back. I am so happy that you pressed play. We made it to the end of season two. Can you believe it? I just want to take a moment and look back and just think about all the things that happened. I can’t believe that I started this last fall. Like, it almost feels like I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now, but no, no, it hasn’t even been one full year.
Season one was really all about the stories and the opera in which they were created. Honestly, I thought it was going to just be a one season show. It was created with my one-woman show in mind, to lead towards the one-woman show and get people to buy tickets.
But I had so much fun that I just wanted to keep going. And that’s one of the reasons why I started season two. I had extra stories that I still wanted to tell.
And I actually decided to interview creatives because I was on the other side of the one-woman show, and I thought to myself, you know, the creative process is really complex and beautiful and messy, and it’s worth talking to different people about.
And having conversations about the creative process has really allowed me to showcase real artists who are going through the same thing I’m going through and whose stories inspire me. And I’m really hoping that they also inspire you, that they will inspire the clients that I’m working with, because the creative process is strange and individual, but also very similar and I really love talking about it.
So what’s going to happen in season three? Honestly, I’m still figuring that out.
I do have a few interviews in the can. So I still want to bring those to you. I think I mentioned this last time, I don’t have enough stories for an entire season, so I would have to write some more, and at the moment, I don’t think I have the bandwidth to do that.
And I’m feeling like I’m evolving a little bit. And so this podcast needs to evolve as well. It might be time for a rebrand, maybe a new podcast name. I’m not sure. I kind of like the metaphoric bodice ripping. Um, I think I’ll probably get some new cover art.
I’m so grateful to Brooke Borg for drawing the sketch of the woman reading the book. And I just want to have a huge shout out to her. But I do feel like with a new feeling, I need to have a new look. If I’m going to be interviewing people, I want to have a space in my cover art for the people’s pictures, who I’m interviewing, that kind of stuff.
And maybe I’ll write a new theme song. That’d be kind of fun. Who knows?
As far as how the podcast is going to evolve, I think I want to stick with the interview format. I also feel like there is some benefit to the monologues that I’ve been putting out there. I’ve been getting good feedback from you guys from that.
Please. I, I welcome your feedback. I want to produce something that people actually want to hear. Besides the fact that, you know, the main reason why I’m doing this is to delight myself, I don’t want to do this in a vacuum. I know there are people that are listening and I’m talking to you. And that is kind of a special thing, you know?
I don’t know you. Ma ybe I do. But if I don’t, then this is a really cool connection that we’re making, over ones and zeros, the internet, which is a mysterious thing, right? And a little bit magical, you know?
Anyway, since I’ve been having more fun talking to you like this, instead of reading my stories, I think I’m going to direct my focus away from the romance genre for now, and more towards these kinds of conversations.
And you know what? I do like the idea of ripping bodices, the metaphoric ones, at the moment. And honestly, it’s such a sexy title, The Bodice Ripper Project. I still get a little tingly when I say it. So I think I will probably keep it for now.
So how long am I going to be gone? About a month and a half, I think. I need time to edit the interviews I have and to record new ones.
As the world is opening back up, I just want to make sure that I’m able to do this without rushing or scrambling, especially with this new thing that’s happening in my life and everybody else’s life, which is, we’re coming out of isolation.
I want to talk about that a little bit right now. Isolation.
I’ve been asking myself this for about a month now. Am I ready for the world to open up? I think other people have been asking themselves that too.
I got my first vaccine shot at the beginning of this month of April. And I’m actually due to get my second shot this week. So just a few days after this episode is released. Ready or not, this is happening, right? Very soon, I will be fully vaccinated, and more and more people in this country are being vaccinated, which means hopefully that we can start going back to quote unquote normal, whatever that means.
We’ve spent so much time in isolation, that isolation is the default. And we can’t help but have that affect us. I think in general, we are more distrustful of one another. Far more distrustful, especially considering the fact that there are people who have varying degrees of comfort level around wearing masks.
And now that more people are getting vaccinated, I think a lot of people are seeing that as license to not wear a mask. And that’s very uncomfortable for me. I know I’m not the only one. I also know that just because I’m comfortable getting a vaccine doesn’t mean that everybody else is. I certainly know plenty of people who have a lot of questions about vaccines.
There’s a lot of distrust in the government, distrust in the pharmaceutical industry, distrust in the medical field. I mean, it all comes down to this: isolation is breeding distrust, and I think the solution to overcoming distrust is more communication and more transparency.
And maybe that means having uncomfortable conversations, like, “Please put your mask on,” or, “Don’t say that about my friend,” or, ” That’s not okay.”
Because I think that those are the conversations we need to have right now as a society.
And it might be painful.
It’s definitely going to be awkward. But I do believe that the more we do it, the more we normalize it, we might actually come out healthier on the other side. That’s my hope.
I’m hoping for the day when, if I actually am sick, you know, if I have the flu or the common cold something that’s not a global pandemic, that I can put on a mask and have that signal to everyone, “I’m sick, and I’m trying to protect you.” As a kindness.
I guess I’m looking forward to the day when we can all be a little kinder to each other. And kindness sometimes means telling the truth and being frank and open.
Maybe that day can begin right now because I want to be kind to everybody around me. I guess I could be the change I wish to see in the world.
All right. Well, with that, let’s get on with the story.
When we last left our intrepid cowboy Stet, he’d just met a strange woman bathing in a mountain stream and was getting to know her a little better.
When he slipped his hand under her bikini and began moving it downward, she pulled away from him.
Desire’s Peak
Chapter 5
“Wait,” she gasped.
Stetson nodded. “You’re right, this is too fast. First the bar and now here, and I don’t even know your name…”
She smiled slightly and shook her head. “No, that’s not it. I’m just cold. Maybe we should get out of the water and warm up a little?” With a grin on her face, she pulled her bikini bottom off and held it aloft as she bounded to the opposite side of the pool. Once on land, she glanced back, tossed the clothing at him, then ran up the bank and towards a meadow just behind the rocks.
Laughing, he caught the swimsuit. He looked at his own clothing, now abandoned on the other side of the pool from where they both were. No time to gather his things now; he wasn’t going to let this woman slip away from him again.
Naked as the day he was born, he pursued the mysterious woman up the hill. Her laughter echoed throughout the valley as she ran through the meadow, and her skin glistened in the sun.
At last she stopped, her breasts heaving from all the exertion of running. She was standing on a large quilt that had been laid out in the meadow for a picnic. A large basket of food and wine were sitting on one corner, while robes and towels held down the other corners.
“Expecting company?” Stetson asked.
“I think you know the answer to that,” she said archly.
He wanted to take her into his arms again, but thought better of it. Instead, he grabbed a towel and put it around her shoulders, rubbing her gently. “Don’t want you to catch cold.” He dried her off slowly, taking care to touch every inch of her. She stood still and quiet, her breathing getting more ragged as he made his way farther down her body.
Soon he was kneeling before her, and his hands were making their way up her thighs to the heart of her femininity. He inserted one finger, then two, and she moaned in pleasure as he moved them in and out. She was more than ready for him.
Her knees were beginning to tremble, so he carefully settled them both down on the quilt. His member was now fully erect, and as soon as they were lying down and kissing again, her hand grasped it with intent, moving up and down the shaft slowly but surely.
Without warning, she rotated herself so that her legs were straddling his face. She took him into her mouth fully, and he groaned as he reached up to pull her honeypot closer to him so that he could feast.
They continued to pleasure each other for a while. Her moans and squeals blended with the forest sounds as she convulsed with climax after climax. Finally he picked her up, placed her on her back, and plunged swiftly into her sheath. It was now a frenzied race to fulfillment, and reason tumbled into oblivion as he shuddered within her.
Chapter 6
Stetson awoke several hours later.
He was still lying on the quilt in the middle of the meadow, but he was alone. His clothing was carefully folded next to him, and someone had draped a large robe over him to keep him warm.
The sun was getting low, and as he got dressed, he looked around for any sign of his woodland lover. “Hello?” he called out, but his only answer was the chitter of a nearby chipmunk.
His stomach began to growl, so he opened the picnic basket to see if she had left anything for him. The basket was empty except for a small piece of bread, some cheese, a pink wildflower, and a handwritten note on a slip of paper. He picked it up and read it:
HUNGRY FOR MORE? FOLLOW THE PATH INTO THE WOODS. – ROSIE
Rosie. So that was her name! Seemed fitting, he mused as he remembered all the parts of her that had turned pink with his touch.
He scanned the edge of the forest and spotted a small path marked with a lantern. He set off without delay.
Five minutes down the way he heard strains of music and laughter. When he turned the corner, he spied a yurt nestled in a clearing. Warmth and light emanated from the structure, and he quickly stepped inside.
“Stet!” Dusty was sitting by the wood stove, his arms draped around a large, well-muscled, shirtless man who was playing a guitar. “So glad you made it. This is Marcus. Marcus Mast.” Dusty ran one hand appreciatively across Marcus’s hairy chest. “He helped me get my car up and running.” Marcus nodded briefly at Stetson, then turned his head towards Dusty for a full, long kiss.
Rosie was sitting on a sofa in the center of the yurt with the blonde woman from the bar. Their heads were close together and they were whispering conspiratorially. Rosie looked up with mischief in her eyes. “Took you long enough,” she said as she beckoned him to sit. “You remember Jen, right?”
Jen giggled and bit her lower lip shyly.
Stetson flashed a grin at the two women on the sofa and sat down between them, putting one arm around each. “Pleasure to see you again,” he murmured. Jen quickly settled herself on his lap, and Rosie rested her head on his shoulder.
His stomach growled again and he looked sheepishly at them both. “I’m sorry, but all this excitement really has me famished. Is there any food around here?”
Rosie gestured towards a table off to the side of the yurt. A full charcuterie along with fruit, cheeses, and breads were bountifully laid out for the group. “I’ll make up a nice platter for you,” she offered. “In the meantime, I think Jen has your appetizer.”
As Rosie got up, Jen picked up a bunch of grapes from a side table and began feeding them to him one by one.
Soon, Jen was kissing Stetson between each mouthful. Not long after, Rosie joined them back on the couch, providing sustenance and support. They slid from the couch to the floor as they pulled each other into a group embrace. Mouths and hands and limbs became entangled with one another in a feast of food and love that lasted all night long.
And there you have it. Stetson and his friends have had their happy ending. And now it’s our turn. To finish. You know, wind things up. I mean, wind things down. We’re complete. You know what I mean.
Seriously though, it’s been really fun to make this season, and I hope you stay tuned for season three and all the growth and change that will come along with it. I’m really happy to have you on this journey with me.
The Bodice Ripper Project is a production of Compassionate Creative, and was conceived, written, and edited by me, Maren Montalbano. The background music during the story was Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade – and the theme music was also written by yours truly. If you liked what you heard, I invite you to give this podcast a 5-star rating – you think it doesn’t make a difference, but it does! – and I’ll see you next time.