When I was christened my parents called me Wendell. I had a normal upbringing for a weed whose sportsman father wanted him to carry on the family name in various ball sports; and a mother who wanted him to follow her into the legal profession. I was a disappointment to both as I was not a sporty boy, nor was I very academically minded.

When I finished High School I got myself a job at a fabrication workshop and, by the time I turned twenty-one I was a qualified boilermaker / welder. I left home and got myself a two-room unit to live in. When I was twenty-three my mother died, leaving me a handsome legacy to ‘help me better myself’. After the funeral my father did not take long to take up with his secretary so there was nothing for me to visit my old home again. I had a long think and decided that the money would certainly help me better myself so I gave up my job, the unit and my old life to go to Thailand where I was turned into the woman that I always had inside.

I stayed there for about two months, learning to do all the new things that were now needed to maintain my new and improved body. I had turned out quite well, my jet-black hair helped now it was allowed to be worn in a feminine style and the surgeon had given me a body to die for. I went to my country's embassy and with the proof of my transition I got a new passport with the name of Wendy and, most importantly, a female.

I flew home but made sure that I stopped somewhere I had never been before, rented a small unit and got myself a job. My new employer, Pete, was a really nice guy and ran a fabrication and machine shop that he had inherited from his father. My knowledge of the processes soon made me an asset to the business and I went from a data entry girl to an assistant manager of the office, dealing with customers and suppliers.

One of our suppliers had a delivery man who was a friend of Pete. Bob was very good looking and he used to flirt with me whenever he came by. Eventually he asked me out and we became friends, then lovers, and I gave up my unit and moved in with him. It was then I found out that he had a kinky side to him and wanted me to be a submissive to his master. It worked pretty well as I was happy just to be accepted as his woman so went along with it. He started taking me to various fetish parties and I became used to being dressed in outlandish costumes, sometimes on a leash, sometimes with my hands bound and a gag in my mouth. At one of these parties Pete turned up with Kitten, his live-in girlfriend. She worked in the office as well but never said much at all and just seemed to be a quiet little mouse.

At this particular party I was in a corset, stockings, a thong and high heels and, towards the end of the night all of us submissives were led into another room where our hands were tied to rings attached to the wall. In the other room the masters took numbers out of a hat to see which one of us they would have and when they came to us, all with rampant dicks on display, Bob went to Kitten and Pete came up to me. He was very gentle and made sure I was ready for him before he took me from behind, causing me to groan into my gag as we both came together.

Back at home things carried on as before but, at work, Pete was very attentive to me and we spent a lot of time together, planning work schedules and organising things. Kitten just carried on being Kitten.

Some weeks later Bob told me that Pete was going to host a party on the Saturday night and that it was to be a themed party around the concept of Personal Protection Equipment. He looked quite happy when he said this as he had not been very loving but had been very depressed lately and I suspected that his gambling may be in a losing phase. He told me that he already had my costume and that it was a very apt one, seeing what I knew about fabrication.

That Saturday he gave me my costume, a complete set of safety gear for a welder. He got me to strip down to my bra and pants and then I was given the denim shorts, flannelette shirt, long socks and work-boots. Then came the leather chaps on my lower legs, a leather apron that had ties that went all around to tie at the front; and then leather gauntlets that came halfway up my arms. He then took out a pair of leather strips and tied them to each wrist and then to the straps on the apron. I was now effectively unable to do anything to help myself.

That’s when things got a little weird. He led me into the kitchen and sat me on a chair, putting a belt around me to hold me in place. Before he left the room he gave me a big kiss and told me that he would be back when he had changed. I sat there, unable to do anything, and could hear some rummaging going on in our bedroom. Finally he came back in a Bob the Builder outfit, complete with safety glasses and a red hard hat. He looked pretty pleased with himself as he put a ball gag in my mouth and followed it up with a respirator mask. He then put my hair up in a hairnet before putting a welders’ cloth hat on me. The final touch was a welding helmet with a very dark glass. I thought that I probably looked like something from outer space by now.

He led me out to his car and helped me get in the back seat and then he threw a blanket over me “so you don’t frighten the neighbours’. When we next stopped we were somewhere out in the country and even with the limited vision I had I could see that the house was quite substantial. The party was the usual type of thing with all of the masters drinking heavily while we submissive partners were placed where we didn’t get in the way. There were doctors and nurses in full pandemic hazard kit, a policeman, fireman and even one of the partners wore a plastic tube shaped like a condom with holes for the eyes and mouth. Towards the end of the night I saw Bob shake hands with Pete and he left the room with Kitten. One by one the other party goers left with their partners until there was just me and Pete. He was dressed in full surgeon gear, including mask and gloves.

When everything was quiet he came over to me and took my helmet off. Then he took off the respirator and removed the ball gag before kissing me deeply. “I know this may be a shock, Wendy, but Bob has been in great financial trouble and I offered to buy you off him, with Kitten as a trade-in.” He then untied my wrists and I removed the gauntlets and shook my hair out of the hairnet. “Wendy, you are beautiful and I have fallen in love with you. We make a great team with the business and I want you to be my partner as well as my wife. You will not be a slave.”

I put my arms around his neck and kissed him and he then led me off towards his bedroom, shedding the apron on the way. In his bedroom he helped me out of the boots, sock and chaps before removing my shirt and shorts while I just tore his paper gown from him. He took me to bed and we made passionate love. In the morning I was not surprised to find that Bob had put all of my clothes and cosmetics in a couple of suitcases and had left them last night.

By Monday morning we had become a couple and he took me into the workshop and announced to all of the staff that I was to be his wife and a partner in the firm. There was much backslapping and hugs and several of the guys told me that, with what I obviously knew of the trade, it was about time I had more input. I smiled as I put all of the PPE back into stock as Pete had supplied it to Bob last week. We changed our suppliers a bit and Bob did not deliver any more while Kitten worked out her notice and she told me that she would not be staying with Bob as he was just so strange. She wondered how I had put up with it.

Over the next few weeks I became the leader of the workforce and Pete sat back, working on an expansion plan which needed us to find new customers. At the six week mark we married in a low-key event in the Bahamas. I was lazing on the deck of his yacht in my bikini when it struck me that the only personal protection equipment a girl really needs is a loving man to protect her from the world. It didn’t hurt that he was reasonably rich and good looking as that was an extra layer of protection.

Marianne G 2020