Copyright 2017 by Cassandra Bloom- All rights reserved.

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Yes Sir

Bad Boy Billionaire Boss Romance

By: Cassandra Bloom

Table of Contents

YES SIR

CEO’s Christmas Party

BILLIONAIRE’S SECRET BABY

BIG BAD BOSS

SEAL’D SLEEPING BEAUTY

Knocked up under her boss

SEAL’D CINDERELLA

SECRET QUICKIE

SINGLE DAD BOSS

bILLIONAIRE PLAYBOY’S PLAYTHING

bILLIONAIRE CEO’S BEAUTY

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YES, SIR

Chapter 1

Veronica shaded her eyes from the sun and squinted into the clear sky. The helicopter hovered over the luxury yachtDiamantinaoff the Singapore coast. It sank out of the sky and landed on the boat’s stern helipad.

Veronica and the rest of the staff covered their faces against the propeller wash. Some turned their backs, but Veronica faced front and kept her eyes on the helicopter. Two men got out and crossed the deck toward her. They both wore immaculate black suits, but only one wore a tie. The one with the tie carried a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist and wore dark sunglasses. The other did not.

The two men strode away from the helicopter and under the aft veranda, where Veronica greeted him. “Welcome aboard theDiamantina, Your Majesty. I’m your maitre d’, Veronica Mellon. On behalf the whole staff, let me say it’s an honor to put ourselves at your service. If you follow me, I’ll show you to the security office where you can lock up your valuables.”

The man with no tie swept his brilliant blue eyes over the assembled staff without seeing them. He didn’t see Veronica, either. He gave a curt nod and turned his back. Veronica led the two men down the companionway to the main salon. She turned off into a little office with no windows. The two men squeezed in behind her, and she shut the door.

Without a word, the man in the sunglasses laid his briefcase on the desk and unlocked the handcuff holding the handle. He immediately turned around and walked out of the office. Veronica stepped forward. “Here’s the safe, sir. Enter an eight-digit code into the key pad, and you’ll hear three beeps. Then enter it again. Once you enter your code twice, the combination lock will be set and the door will open. Put your valuables inside and lock the door. No one will be able to open it without your code. I’ll wait outside until you call me. Then you can give me your further orders.”

He smiled at her for the first time. His bright eyes glowed out of fine tanned skin. His short black hair framed an exotic face, and his shirt collar opened at the base of a muscular neck. “Thank you, Miss Mellon. You are very thorough.”

Veronica blushed in spite of herself. “Please, call me Veronica.” She let herself out of the office and heard the door lock behind her. The bodyguard stood next to the door. His sunglasses eyes faced straight ahead. He didn't acknowledge Veronica.

A few moments later, the door opened again. “You can come in now.”

She went back inside. The briefcase was gone.

Prince Said went around behind the desk and dropped into the big leather chair. It swayed under his weight. He rested his chin on his chest and let out a heavy sigh. “Thank goodness that’s finished.”

Veronica gazed across the desk at him. He couldn’t be more than thirty. Why did that surprise her? When she heard Crown Prince Said of Brunei booked the yacht, she expected a middle-aged, greasy, and womanizing sleaze. This man was anything but that.

She couldn’t stop staring at his skin. He glowed with an inner light. That light shone out through his clear eyes, too. It even shone through his hair and fingernails. Every part of him radiated curious energy. Unlike the demanding powerbrokers who usually booked the yacht for private luxury cruises, that energy hummed a sublimely serene and contented air. When he looked up at her, he smiled again.

“As to my orders, Miss Mellon—I’m sorry, Veronica—I plan to give a dinner party on theDiamantina onSaturday night. I’m told you’ve been maitre d’ on the yacht for some years, so you must be very experienced with events like that. Am I right?”

“I’ve been maitre d’ for five years, so yes, I have quite a bit of experience with them. I’m ready to receive your orders for your preferences. I can also arrange a meeting between you and the chef concerning the refreshments, and we have a full liquor locker in the forward hold. If you guests are devout Muslims, we can keep the locker locked for the duration of the event to avoid offending anyone.”

He burst out laughing. “Devout Muslims! Ha! Well, Veronica, I can see you really are as thorough as they say. My guests are not devout Muslims. That’s all I think I need to say on the question of liquor. As for the refreshments and preparations, I’ll leave that to your discretion. I’m sure you’ll do a much better job planning the party than I will.”

“Thank you, sir. You can count on me.”

“I’m sure I can.”

“Might I ask, sir, how many guests you expect and what time you expect them?”

“I expect fifty guests, and I expect them between nine and ten o’clock pm.”

Veronica bowed her head and closed her eyes. “Thank you, sir.”

When she raised her head, she found him looking straight into her face with those crystal blue eyes of his. A slight smile touched his lips. “As for my other orders, I’ll call on you when I need you.”

She couldn’t tear her eyes away from his face. “Yes, sir.”

His gaze unsettled her in a way she couldn’t understand. He was so handsome and calming, he should have put her at ease. He did put her at ease, but every inch of her skin tingled when she looked at him. She wanted to run from the room, but she had to stand there and stare at him and let him stare at her. Her pulse screeched in her veins. Adrenaline burned her chest.

She had to think of something to say. She had to find a way out of that office. No one could see her here. The door was solid steel, reinforced against forced invasion. What was she thinking about that for? What could he possibly do to her in here? “If you follow me, sir, I’ll show you to your quarters.”

She started to turn away, but he shot forward in the chair and leaned his elbows on the desk. “Not just yet, Veronica.” She turned back. “I want to ask you a few questions. I want to get some personal information about you before we leave this room.”

“Personal information about me? What for?”

“I’ll ask the questions here. You’ve been on theDiamantinafor five years. You must like it a lot.”

“I like it a lot, but this will be my last cruise—for a while, at least. I’m getting off at Honolulu. I’m flying back to the States to visit my family.”

His eyes widened. “Your last cruise? May I ask why?”

“I’ve been on the ship five years. I haven’t been home once in all that time. I want to visit my family and see my home town again. I have good friends back home, and I miss them.”

“Will you come back to theDiamantinaafterwards?”

“I haven’t decided. That depends on how I feel when I get home. I might decide to live around my family for a while. I really don’t know. I love theDiamantina, but it might be time for a change.”

“I understand. Where’s your hometown?”

“I’m from Fresno.”

He stood up. “All right, Veronica. You can show me to my quarters now. Lead on.”

She did her best not to tear the door off its hinges getting out of that room. She jumped when she found the bodyguard still standing outside the door.

She strode down the companionway to the forward cabin. She didn’t turn around to check if the Prince came behind her. She didn’t have to. His magnetic presence smoldered behind her back. She kept her eyes facing forward. She knew that companionway well enough not to look where she was going. His presence consumed her whole awareness.

She threw open the cabin door and stood back. “Here you are, sir. Please let me know if I can do anything else to make you comfortable. Shall I have the steward bring you refreshments in your cabin?”

“That won’t be necessary.” He stepped inside and swept the cabin with an appraising glance. Then he turned back and smiled at her standing beyond the door. “Come in for a minute.”

“I apologize, sir, but that’s not allowed. If there’s nothing else you require, I’ll....”

“I require you to come in for a minute.”

“I’m sorry, sir. The ship’s charter specifically forbids any staff member to enter the guests’ quarters except the maid. I could get fired. If you have any orders to give me, you’ll just have to give them to me here.”

His eyes sparkled, but he didn’t smile. “You said you were ready to accept my orders. I order you to come inside.”

She glanced around. The man in the sunglasses took his place right outside the door. He stood right next to her with his back against the wall and his hands together in front of his hips. He faced forward and gave no sign of hearing the conversation.

Veronica hesitated a moment longer. She couldn’t enter that cabin and she couldn’t refuse a guest’s express order, either. Entering that cabin was the last thing in the world she wanted to do, but something in his eyes told her not to refuse. His overpowering presence drew her toward him. He ordered her to enter. She had to obey him.

She stepped into the cabin, and he shut the door behind her. She stood still and stared straight forward. She knew the cabin well enough, the big bed piled with cushions and the forward conservatory flooded with sunlight from overhead hatches set into the ship’s deck.

Prince Said leaned against the mattress. He rested both hands on either side of his hips. That maddening little smile danced across his lips. “Now, Veronica, I want to ask you something a bit more sensitive. You’ll understand why I didn’t ask you in the security office.”

She waited for him to continue.

“You’ve been on this ship long enough to have received some pretty outlandish requests from your guests. I’m sure some of them ask you to procure them drugs or women or even men for their pleasure. Is that right?”

The blood rushed to her cheeks. Why did it do that? She had, in fact, procured drugs and women and men and a lot more than that for her guests without the slightest scruple. Why did that smile on his face throw her off balance now? “Yes, sir, I have.”

“Good. Then I want you to procure a woman for me. I have a hankering to spend my time on board this ship in the company of a fine woman, and I’m trusting you to procure her for me.”

Veronica started to say, “You can count on my discretion, sir,” when he held up a warning finger.

“Don’t be too hasty, Veronica, until you’ve heard the rest of my request. I don’t want you to procure just any old woman. I know what you’re thinking. You would have some Chinese waif sent out from Singapore, and that would be the end of that. That’s not good enough for me. I have refined tastes, and I need a woman who meets my standards. I want a certain woman—only one specific woman is good enough for me.”

“Sir?”

His eyes pierced her to her core. “I want you, Veronica. I want to spend my time on board this ship with you in my bed. You are the woman I want you to procure for me.”

Veronica’s jaw dropped. “Me, sir? No, I couldn’t possibly do that. I have a job to do on this ship. I couldn’t spend the entire cruise in your bed, and anyway, another woman would serve you much better than I would. I’m not cut out for that sort of thing.”

“I have no intention of interfering with the job you have to do on this ship. You won’t spend the entire cruise in my bed. You’ll go about your usual duties, but when I call you, you will come.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t do that. I’m sorry, but I just can’t. It isn’t done. I have no problem getting a woman for you or just about anything else, but you can’t call on me to do that.”

“Nonsense. No one tells me what I can and can’t do. I want you, and I won’t take any other woman. You said you were ready to receive my orders and put yourself at my service. This is what I require, and this is what you will do.”

She stared at him. The very idea of putting herself at his service that way shocked her beyond comprehension. At the same time, a secret thrill ran through her body when she thought of it. Her crotch swelled up with hot blood, and her lips opened to ooze into her panties. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t. She was maitre d’, not some cheap prostitute.

“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t, and I won’t.”

He didn’t seem to hear. He pushed himself off the bed and walked in a circle around her. He murmured into her ear with slow, purring tones. “I find you very attractive, Veronica. Do you find me attractive?”

“Yes, sir, but....”

“You have no idea how intoxicating it is when you stand there with your back to me and say, ‘Yes, sir.’ I want to hear you say that a lot more.”

His voice drove her out of her mind. The vibrations rippled out of his chest into her very bones. They rattled her world on its foundations. They shook the droplets from her pussy lips and brought fresh gushes of juice flowing onto her thighs. What was he doing to her? She couldn’t allow herself to actually consider fulfilling his request.

“Have you ever given yourself to any guest on board this ship? No, don’t answer that. I know you haven’t. You’re too professional for that, and if you get off at Honolulu, you never will. I’ll be the first and only guest who’s ever had you. I like that idea. I’ll have you, and that will be your last experience on theDiamantina.”

Her head swam in a drunken swoon. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t end five years of a spotless record like this, as a sex toy to some pampered playboy. She could call on several dozen high-class whores in Singapore to service his tastes. She even knew some statuesque blonde Americanbabesif he didn’t want a Chinese waif. He would like them a lot better than her.

But it was happening. Against her better judgment and her own will, it was happening. Even now, she lost the power to protest. The power of her subservience to theDiamantina'sguests overrode everything else. She placed herself at his service and accepted his orders, even in this.

He stopped behind her and his lips hovered inches away from her ear. “Is your pussy wet, Veronica? Do I turn you on?”

She could barely gasp out the words, “Yes, sir.”

He brushed his hand across her ass, and her knees melted under her. “You have a very nice ass. I’m sure the rest of you is just as nice. I like a woman who keeps in shape. Let me see you better. Bend over and put your hands on the bed.”

“Sir, I....”

He brought his hand down hard across her ass in a stinging slap. She jumped three feet in the air and cried out in surprise, but she didn’t run away. “You’ll speak when spoken to. I gave you an order. Bend over and put your hands on the bed.”

She sobbed under her breath. “Yes, sir.”

Without moving her feet, she leaned over and planted her hands on the bed. She braced her elbows like she was doing push-ups. Her ass stuck up in the air behind her, straight toward him.

He stood back and admired her upturned ass. Then he stroked it back and forth through her woolen skirt. “That’s nice. That’s very nice. That’s beautiful. You have no idea how appealing that sweet ass of yours is. Do you like me touching you like this?”

A ragged moan answered him. Veronica closed her eyes. She didn’t recognize herself, bent over like that for a man’s intimate touch. Her body acted of its own will, against all her silent screams to get herself together, to get away from him and run to the authorities.

He couldn’t treat her like this. He couldn’t use her like this. He couldn’t smack her when she tried to protest. He couldn’t demand her body as part of her service to him.

How did she wind up like this, with herbodybent over and her head thrown back? How did she wind up moaning athistouch? Herpussythrobbed for more, for whatever he would choose to do to her. Would he take her right here and now?

He slipped his hand up under her skirt from behind. He gave her engorgedpetalsa few circles with his flat fingers throughthe hercotton panties, just enough to make her whine in naked lust. Then he ducked his fingers inside her panties, straight into the spongy moist hole of her pussy.

He sighed to himself. “Ah, yes. That’s a good girl. That’s my juicy, sweetpussy. You’ll be mine. You’ll be my sweet southern thing, won’t you? I need a woman on my prick, and you’ll fit there nicely. You’ll make a nice memory for me to take with me when I disembark in Hawaii.”

He removed his hand from between her legs and stepped back. “Stand up.”

He walked around in front of her and stopped where he could look her in the eyes. He smelled his fingers with a satisfied smile. “You can go now, Veronica. I’ll call you when I’m ready for you.”

Veronica pushed her way past the bodyguard and hurried aft. She had to put as much distance as possible between herself andthat man. She couldn’t put very much distance between them in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, could she?They weren’t in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, either, were they? They were no more than seventy nautical miles off Singapore. If she really wanted to, she could get the chopper pilot to fly her back to the city. She could go to the Police and be on the first plane back to San Francisco.

She ducked into the butler’s pantry behind the galley and threw her back against the wall. She had to stop her mind whirling. She had to get herself together and figure out what to do aboutPrince Said.

Hermind and heart tumbled in a whirlwind of thoughts and ideas and emotions and sensations. Her heart raced, and adrenaline set her nerves on edge. What did she just do? Why did she ever bend over when he told her to?

Thespankhe gave her for daring to speak rang through her being. Never had anyone dared treat her like that—certainly not as part of a sexual advance. How could she respond to that abuse?

She did respond to it, though. Even now, halfway across the ship, it thrilled her beyond belief. She ached for something between her legs, something to satisfy that insatiable itch deep inside her hidden channel. She needed something thick and hard moving deep into her forgotten recesses to answer the gnawing need consuming her guts.

Every inch of her flesh cried out to be touched, to be annoyed to a fevered pitch. She ran her hands up her sides to her breasts and squeezed them with both hands, but that only made it worse. She pushed herself off the wall and flew out of the butler’s pantry.

She had to find somewhere to go. She could go back to her own quarters and finger herself, but she didn’t want that. What did she want? Her mind scurried through a thousand possibilities, but she always came back to the same thing. She wanted more of what he did to her in that room.

Again and again, she replayed the spank. It clapped across her ass with a burning fire. It left an indelible imprint, not only on herass,but on her very soul. She could never cleanse herself of that smack, not with a million showers. It woke something in her innermost being she never knew was there.

Even after the memory ceased to intrude on her thoughts against her will, she brought it up again and again. She stopped herself in the act of thinking about this evening’s dinner entertainment to summon the memory back. It triggered the same reaction in her drippingpussy. Her lips twitched and the muscles along her canal spasmed with rabid desire.

What did she want? She wanted him to smack her again, and again. She wanted him to finger her juicyslitand ask her those penetrating questions.Do you like me touching you like this, Veronica?

Yes, sir. Oh,yessir.

She could repeat those words a thousand times and they would never lose their power. Yes, sir. Whatever he said, she would always respond, Yes, sir. Yes, sir, I like it. Yes, sir, my pussy is wet. Yes, sir, I want to bend over and be your sweet, southernthing.

What was she thinking, repeating those words to herself? Where was her self-respect? She had a job to do, and she wouldn’t let him interfere with it. Maybe he was just toying with her. He would throw his dinner party. He would disembark in Hawaii and she would never see him again. So much the better. In all likelihood, he would never call her or expect anything else from her. This was all an elaborate joke.

She busied herself with her work duties. She finished the inventory of thegalleystores. She double-checked the staff time sheets and sent a detailed menu to the chef for Prince Said’s dinner party. Then she sat down at her desk to plan the entertainment.

What would a man like Prince Said appreciate? Belly dancers? No, that might give him ideas. It gave her ideas, and it brought a warm ooze between her legs. Before she knew it, she leaned back in the chair and trailed her fingertips up her thighs.

She yanked them away when she heard voices out in the salon. She stuck her head out of the door and heard Prince Said talking to the steward. “And a roast beef sandwich with pickles and a side salad with vinaigrette dressing. And a bottle of water, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, sir.”

“The maitre d’ said you have alcoholic beverages on board.”

“Yes, sir, but you also have a wet bar and a fridge stocked with beer and other drinks in your cabin. Didn’tthe maitre d’ point that out to you? That’s notlikeher.”

“I’m afraid I kept her busy with some other business at the time, but I don’twantto drink in my cabin. Could you please send my lunch up to the forward deck, along with a Tanqueray and tonic?”

“Of course, sir. Olives?”

“No, thank you. Just plain.”

“Of course, sir.”

One set of footsteps receded forward, while the other went aft toward the kitchen. Veronica tried to concentrate on her preparations, but she couldn’t stop herself from thinking about the conversation she justoverheard. There was one way she could find out ifhis attention in his cabinwas a fluke.

She went to the kitchen and made some pretext of talking to the chef while she made the sandwich. She watched the chef’s expert hands put the sandwich on the plate with the salad next to it.

The steward appeared with the drink in one hand. Veronica smiled at him. “I’ll take this up to the deck for Prince Said. I’m going that way anyway to talk to him abouthis dinnerparty.”

The steward handed over the drink, and Veronica carrieditand the plate up to the forward deck. Her heart thudded in her temples. What was she doing up here? She had no choice but to stare the awful truth in the face. She wanted to get near him. She wanted to throw herself in his way. What would he do?

Her pussy quivered when she saw him. He sat in a deck chair under an umbrella. He wore sunglasses, and he’dchanged out ofhis suit. He wore lightgreyslacks and a short sleeved shirt.

She walked around in front of him to set the plate and glass on the iron table in front of him. She had to bend over facing away from him to put it down. Her pussy stretched against her panties and the damp cotton cut between her butt cheeks. Every corpuscle screamed for his touch.

She put down the drink and the lunch. He murmured, “Thank you, Veronica.”

She stood up and waited. Nothing happened. He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t budge from his seat. He gazed across the azure sea toward the horizon.

Her cheeks burned. Her neck and belly burned. Every inch of her burned. Did he really mean to dismiss her like some kind of waitress? Did he really mean to ignore her, when she came all this way to place herself in his path? Did he expect her to just walk away without so much as a touch?

She stood next to him and stared down at hisreclining form. His body shimmered with that glowing presence she noticed in the security office. His skin burnished golden brown in the sun. Through his thin cotton clothes, his muscles showed crisp and defined under the velvet skin.

Her body screamed for his touch. Sliding his fingers up her leg and under her skirt to her panties. Bending her over and spanking her taut buttocks. Guiding her around to sit down on his lap. Pushing her head down between his legs.

The next minute, she ran for the companionway. He didn’t want her. He didn’t even notice her. What an idiot she was to come up here!She would never again treat him as anything but a regular guest. She would forget all about him.

She went back to her office, but those lunatic thoughts kept cycling back before her eyes. His face between her legs. His hipsbumpingher ass from behind. His finger in her ass while he pushed her down on the bed.

She tossed her pen on the desk and stormed out. She marched along the companionway to the staff quarters under the main dining room. She found her own tiny berth and locked the door behind her. She stretched out on top of her blankets and closed her eyes.

In the privacy of her own quarters, she gave herself over to her fantasies. She would never have anything to do with Prince Said again, so she could dream about whatever she wanted.

She let her hands glide down her neck to her chest. She massaged her breasts through her shirt and let the pleasure wash over her. How long had it been since she touched herself? For that matter, how long had it been since she enjoyed the company of a man? She hadn’t known anyone since she came on board theDiamantina.

She stood out in the hall and listened to screams and cries and moans after delivering a tasty young woman to some rich tycoon. She even heard blows and begging and growled obscenities. Those filthy words, the threats, and the begging pleas for deliverancefiredVeronica’s blood. She hid under the covers while she secretly titillated herself to orgasm.

Her experience with Prince Saidwas nothing likethose sounds driftingthrough  aclosed door. The fantasies she called up before her mind’s eye, the stinging slap of a man’s hand across nubile female flesh, the murmured promises of wet dreams—all those things happened not to an anonymous Asian whore. They happened to her.

That hand descended on her round buttocks. It whistled through the air. Prince Said’s breathcaughtin his throat just beforehis handlanded. Then the impact sent shock waves through her body. It jostled herpussy, and her muscles tightenedand squeezed fresh spurts of juice across her lips. Her clitoris jerked erect and howled against her panties for relief.

His fingers circumscribed their erotic circleoverherswollen vulva. He rubbed the harsh cotton into her sore flesh. He swirled her pussy juices in their flaming cauldron.

Then he smelled his fingers while he gazed on her confused infatuation. He drove her to the brink of madness and left her on tenterhooks of unfulfilled passion. Did she turn him on the way he turned her on? She would never knowfor certain.

She let her hands glide down to her hips when a twinkling music made her start out of her skin. She snatched her phone from her pocket and swept her finger across the screen.Prince Said requests your presence in the forward cabin.

Oh, great. Perfect timing. She smoothed down her skirt and fixed the blanket on the bed. She unlocked the door and raced forward, but she slowed down when she gotclose towhere the other staff might be working.

She walked with unruffled calm past the kitchen and the salon. Once beyond them, she quickened her pace. What did he want now? Would he do something to her this time? Would he strike her, or fulfill her fantasies?

She found the bodyguard standing outside the door again. She couldn’t hide her burning cheeks from him when she knocked the door. He must have seen this kind of thing a thousand times. Maybe Prince Said did this to every maitre d’ he ever met.

A deep male voice called out from insidethe cabin, “Come in.”

She couldn’t keep him waiting. He called her, and he just told her to come in. That sealed the deal. She opened the door and stepped inside. She found him waiting for her right next to the door. The moment she entered the room, he slammed the door behind her and locked it.

Veronica jumped in surprise and whirled around to face him. He regarded her with sharp eyes. “You’re a very obedient servant, Veronica. You came without delay. I like that in a woman.”

She gasped for breath, and her hand flew to her heart. “You startled me.”

He took a step toward her. “I’m ready for you now. I’ve had something to eat and drink, thanks to you. Thank you again for bringing my lunch up to me. I want you to know I noticed your service, and I appreciate it.”

Her eyes riveted to his face. What did he expect? Should she curtsy to him or something? Should she get down on her knees and say, “I live to serve you”?

He smacked her for speaking out of turn before, and she couldn’t get her voice to work,so in the end,she didn’t say anything.

“Are you ready to serve me, Veronica? Are you ready to receive my orders?”

She lowered her eyes. She couldn’t speak above a whisper. “Yes, sir.”

The color mounted to his cheeks when she said it. “Good girl. Now take your clothes off.”

Her eyes popped open. Take her clothes off? She couldn’t! Let him touch her and talk dirty to her—maybe. Take her clothes off? Why did she say shewould comply with his orders? What did she think he would tell her to do?

Her hands shook when she tried to unbutton her shirt. He watched with a curious expression on his face. “What’s the matter, Veronica?”

She tried to say something, but she choked instead. She fumbled with her buttons. One by one, she got them undone and cast her shirt aside on the floor. She had to stand there panting before she mustered the courage to unzip her skirt.

She seethed in fevered torment under his exacting gaze. He viewed her body with a critical eye. Her breasts heaved inside her bra, and her pussy moistened her panties. “What are you waiting for, Veronica? I told you to take your clothes off.”

“Yes, sir.” She still couldn’t bring herself to lift her arms. She couldn’t take her bra and panties off with him staring at her like that. Maybe she couldn’t take them off at all. Maybe this was all a colossal mistake.

The intrigued smile evaporated from his face. He glared at her with cruel hostility. “I gave you an order, Veronica. Don’t tell me you’re going to stand there and defy me when I just praised you for being obedient. That’s not what you have in mind, is it, Veronica?”

“No, sir,” she peeped.

He crossed his arms over his chest and pursed his lips. “All right, Veronica. I can see you’re not used to this sort of thing, so I’ll make it easier for you.”

He grabbed her by the arm and jerked her around hard. She yelped in pain, and he almost yanked her off her feet. He dragged her over to the bed. He held her arm in one vise-like fist. With the other hand, he tore her bra and panties off with such ferocity that she screamed in startled terror.

There she stood in all her naked glory, but now, she didn’t have the luxury of displaying herself to him with the dignity of doing it by choice. She was disgraced. She was nothing to him.

He flung her down on her back on the bed. She scrambled to sit up. Shecurledup in a ball tohideher body. He strode across the room with his arms flexed. He balled his hands into fists, and when he turned around to face her, raging fury blazed across his face.

He bared his teeth at her, and his shoulders swelled to twice theirnormalsize. He loomed over her, gigantic, volcanic, dominant.

Veronica whimpered under her breath. She stared at him in terror. What kind of monster was this, that she gave herself over to him of her own free will? She had to get out of that cabin at all costs, but he blocked the door.

She couldn’t exactly run down the companionway stark naked, could she, for all the staff to see? Maybe they would be busy and wouldn’t see her run by. She could get back to her quarters, put on some other clothes, and get off the ship before he caught her. She couldn’t get past him, though. That was the problem.

His breath grated through his bared teeth. “I gave you an order, Veronica, and you deliberately disobeyed me. I’ll have to punish you now, but I guess that’s what you wanted all along. I’ll have to teach you your place. Turn over.”

She couldn’t breathe. Her palms sweated, and cold chills ran up and down her legs. Punish her? That quiver of excitement she remembered when he smacked her ass tingled up her thighs. If only he would touch her, she could bear anything else.

“I said turn over, Veronica.”His voicecutthe air.

She sat there stupefied. She couldn’t move. He shook his head with a sigh. His hair stuck in the sweat on his forehead. His eyes bored into her soul.

He grabbed his belt buckle and started unbuckling it. “Is this what you want? Is this what you’re asking for, youwillfullittlething? Youwant me to punish you? Have you been a bad girl? Did you touch yourself after I bent you over this morning? Is that why you want to be punished?”

“No, sir. I didn’t touch myself.”

He yanked the belt tongue out of the buckle. “Why did you disobey me? Are you a horny little vixen? Did you want me to fuck you this morning?”

She opened her mouth to say something, but a moan escaped her instead.

“Never mind, Veronica. It doesn’t matter why you did it. Turn around now.”

She turned around and knelt on the bed.She put her hands down on the bed, but that was too close to making herself an animal for him. She sat on her ankles and waited.

The beltzippedthrough his pant loops. He whipped it through the air and slapped it on his palm. He strode back and forth across the cabin with his head lowered between his shoulders. He glared at her from behind with the doubled-up belt dangling in one hand.

Faster than thought, he darted forward and snatched one of her ankles out from under her. With unimaginable strength, he jerked her legs back and knocked her forward on the bed. Her face hit the quilt and the downy softness stifled her frightened cry.

He dragged her back to the edge of the mattress and tossed her legs over the side. She clawed at the quilt for a handhold to stabilize herself, but he moved faster. He stepped back and swung his belt. It thudded down across her ass and left a wicked stripe.

Veronica screeched to high heaven, and fought to right herself. Every time she started get a purchase on that quilt, he knocked her flat with his belt. He swung it back and forth like a tennis player, leaving red stripes running up and down both cheeks.

Veronica screamed at the top of her lungs, but he paid no attention. He growled at her through clenched jaws. “Bad girl! You bad girl! I’ll fuck you like you’ve never been fucked before. Oh, you steaming little slut. Is that what you want? Who’s your master? Huh? Can you feel that?”

She couldn’t feel a thing. She could only scream.

He brought the belt back the other way with a resoundingthwack!He raised his voice to a roar.“I asked you a question, Veronica. You better learn to answer when I speak to you, or you'll really start to make me mad. I said can you feel that?”Thwack!

She screamed, “Yes, sir!” She would say anything, do anything, be anything. She gave herself to him to be his little pleasure toy on this cruise. She couldn't go back on that now.

Thwack! Thwack!“Is your pussy wet, Veronica?”Thwack!

“Yes, sir!”

“Did you play with yourself this morning?”Thwack!

“No, sir!”

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!“Don't you dare lie to me. I saw the way you closed your eyes and backed your ass up to me when I touched you. You went back to your room and rubbed that hard little clit of yours, didn't you?”Thwack! Thwack!“Didn't you?”

“No, sir! I swear it!”

His arm dropped to his side in exhaustion, and the belt hung limp. His chest and shoulders heaved with panting breathe. He glared at her rear end and listened to her sob into the bedclothes.

Veronica clenched the quilt in both white-knuckle fists. She buried her face in the bed to stifle the sobs she knew he didn't want to hear. At last that ordeal was over.

All at once, he summoned the strength to raise the belt and give her one last almighty strap across the ass. “Who's your master?”

She reared back and shrieked as much from surprise as from pain. The truth was her ass ceased hurting a long time ago. He could beat her a lot longer without inflicting any more pain on her. She sobbed and moaned and screamed as much from her own debasement as anything else. What had she become? She couldn’t do anything but what he told her to do. She couldn’t do anything but screech out, “You are.”

“I can’t hear you, Veronica. I asked you who is your master?” He lacked the strength to strike her again.

“You are! You’re my master.”

He flung the belt across the room and came up behind her. He stroked her barerump, where the red stripes stood out crystal clear against her white skin. He grunted for every breath, and sweat dripped off his forehead.

His soft touch brought her deadened skin back to life, and her sobs changed to moans of desire. All her burning passion flared up again, and she arched her back to encourage him. “Such a sweet little ass. So,so soft and vulnerable.Did I hurt you, baby?”

“Yes, sir,” she moaned.

He fell on his knees next to the bed and laid both hands on her upturned cheeks. He purred into that verdant garden between her legs. The honeyed juice flowed from her slit and sprinkled her thighs. He whispered to it so softly she could barely hear him. “So sweet. Yes, so delicious.”

His tongue touched her raw flesh. He pushed her lips apart with his tongue and tasted the nectar on her petals. “Hmm, Veronica.”

He dove deep into herquaveringtissues and drank deep from her fragrant fountain. He moaned and sighed. Veronica pushed back against his face. A cry of lusty desire wrenched from her lips. She had to have this.

The welts on her butt cheeks hurt when she pressed against him, but the pain only spurred her to fresh heights of pleasure. She ached for him in every pore. Would he bring her to her limit and then take her, here on his bed, at long last? Oh, if he only would, she would die happy.

He ate her pussyingreedymouthfuls. He tormented her clitoris with his tongue andforkedher lips aside with two fingers. All at once, he plunged those two fingers to the hilt in her glory hole.

Veronica writhed in agony. She hurled herself against those fingers in a desperate bid to impale herself on them. He withdrew them in an instant and twiddled her clit while he lapped her hole with his tongue.

Out of nowhere, Veronica became aware of something cold and hard against her sore butt cheek. Somethingchilledher between her cheeks, and she froze in startled surprise. What was he doing to hernow? She tried to turn around, but he forced her down on the bed.

Cold wetness spread itself up and down between her butt cheeks. A queer sensation wriggled through her guts, a sensation she never experienced before. Her pussy twitched, and her muscles stretched to grab hold of something, anything, to draw into itself. Whatever it was moving against her ass thrilled her with the same disturbing energy as the beating he just gave her.

All at once, something cold and very hard nudged into her butthole. Veronica tensed every muscle against the rude intrusion. What wasthis?She revolted not so much against the penetration as the sickening excitement it brought out in her. How could something so wrong elicit such powerful reactions from her? What kind of animal was she, that she could enjoy this terrible treatment?

The thing wedged in hard against her ass. Her rising cries took on a life of their own. “No! No! No! Anything but that!”

He wouldn’t stop. He shoved the thing all the way in. It was too cold and hard to be any part of his body. She could almost wish it had been. No one ever forced this abomination on her. He would rob her of her very humanity, and she had to lie there like a dog and take it. She was his servant. She said so herself.

The forceful invasion stopped, but the thing lay buried in her guts.The Princewent back to licking and fingering and eating her pussy. He hummed to himself in satisfied desire. Was he touching himself back there?If only she could see his cock exposed, she could forgive herself this monstrous experience.

Veronica cast a furtive glance behind her, but she couldn’t see anything but his face buried between her legs. He happened to come up at that moment, and he caught her looking at him. His eyes blazed.

He gave her clitoris one last playful bite that made her yelp. Then he stood up. He ran the back of his hand across his chin and licked his lips. “You’re just as delicious as I dreamed. Turn over and sit down on the bed.”

She got up on her hands and knees. She moved with careful movements not to disturb that filthy thinglyingburied in her flesh. She gave it one exploring touch with her fingertips and felt something metal nestled between her butt cheeks. The rest of the thing remained embedded in her body.

She turned around, but when she tried to sit down, the thing gave her a hard jab deep inside her being. She squealed and jumped up, but she couldn’t move very fast with that thing inside her.

Very slowly and carefully, she lowered herself down on the bed. When she lowered her weight on her ass, the object impaled her deeper than she thought she could stand. It aroused such foreign sensations in her, she couldn’t muddle through them. That thing, whatever it was, kept her in a state of intoxicated delirium. Her body swayed and wavered on the brink of desire and explosive insanity.

Heobserved her from across the room. When she settled herself down, he barked out, “Move back. Put your feet on the edge of the bed.”

She slid back and went through the whole process of settling herself all over again. At last, she got into a position that seemed to satisfy him, with her feet next to her hips and her knees propped up. “Lean back and spread your legs for me.”

She planted her hands on the quilt behind her and let her knees fall apart. Now, for the first time, her mind and body worked together to obey his every order. That thing inside her worked its magic. It obliterated every shred of resistance. It made her willing and pliable to his whims.

“Touch yourself. I want to see you bring yourself to orgasm.”

Her hand found its way between her legs. She glided two fingers along either side of her clitoris and down to the saturated hole between her curtains. She kept her eyes locked on his face. His eyes burned in their sockets with something close to hatred.

Her mouth fell open, and her nostrils flared. She slid her fingers faster up and down on either side of her clitoris, but never touched it. Then she dropped one finger into her molten cunt. She tapped the engorgedG spotjust inside the entrance and came out again. She exploredfartherdown and touched again the metal button wedged between her butt cheeks.

Hestarted talking to her from across the room. “Do you like that plug in your ass, baby? Does that turn you on?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell me what you’re feeling. Play with yourself and tell me how if feels.”

She stroked her fingers into her pussy and spread the juice around her clitoris. She rocked back and forth on the plug and drove it deeper into her rotten flesh. “It feels so good. God, I’m so dirty. I want it. Make me cum for you. Oh, please.”

“That’s my girl. Let me hear you beg me to fuck you, you dirty littlegirl. Do you want my cock in your ass?”

She beat around her clitoris faster. Then she poked two fingers into her cunt and rubbed herG spot. Waves of passion lifted her out of her body to the rare heights of pleasure. “Oh, yes, it feels so good. Oh, it’s so hard. Oh, I can’t stand it. Yes, oh, yes. Oh, please. I need it so bad. Let me cum right now.”

In an instant, he swept across the room. He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her to the edge of the bed. She sat down on the plug again and groaned out loud, but he didn’t care.

With a flick of his wrist, he freed the thick rod fromits confinesand let his pants drop to his knees. He plowedhis naked manhoodthrough her ragingslitto cover it with her steaming juices. He grated it over her clitoris and brought a broken cry to her lips. Then he tilted his hips and wedged it into heropening.

Her head lolled back. The uncomfortable tightness in her ass grew unbearable. When he pushed his rigid cock into herpussy, she teetered on the brink of unconsciousness. Her head weighed a ton. She couldn’t hold it up. She moaned in agony.

He gripped her hips in two powerful meathooks and yanked her against himself while his weapon struck deep into herglowingfurnace. His face twisted in a mask of horrible determination. His eyes flashed ice blue at her, and he set to work with pounding strokes. His piston touched her sensitive cervix. Its lower ridge bumped over the plug’s undulating surface. Oh, she couldn’t stand the intensity of its intrusion.

Her eyes rolled back in her head. She stared around the room in wild desperation, but she couldn’t escape his controlling hands. He guided her back and forth against his insistent rhythm. She rocked back and forth on that plug driven to the hilt in her back door.

How could she survive this? The pain drove her insane, but all mixed up with the pain and confusion dwelt the tiniest seed of an orgasm so big it obliterated her entire being. She inhaled it from far away. He watered it with his dripping spout. He forked it alive withsharpstrokes. Heraisedit up,out of the black depths,to crack her apart as never before.

Her mouth fell open in wordless moans. She fought to hold herself together, but that orgasm was too big and too strong for her. It drank its power from him. Henourishedit into existence, and he wouldn’t let her go until it took over her mind and spirit.

He pumped her full of his hot meat. He pried her tissues apart to make room for hismassivecock. He tickled the itchy places deep inside her until she couldn’t bear it any longer.

She thrashed against his grip, but he tightened his hands around her hips in a death hold. He slammed his pelvis against her ass and drove the plug deeper. His balls touched it on every swing. His pubic bone banged her clitoris, and all these sensations married together in a maelstrom of power and ecstasy.

“It hurts, doesn’t it, baby? Does your ass hurt?”

“Oh, it’s so tight. I can’t stand it. Oh, fuck me. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I need it. Oh, my God. My ass! Oh, God, my ass is so tight.”

“Take that, baby. Take that hard cock. Can you feel that? Is that hard enough for you? I’m gonna fuck you, you bad girl. Your pussy is so sweet. Oh, fuck, that pussy is so tight and wet. Yeah, you like it in the ass, don’t you, baby? Make it hurt like you want it. I’m gonna make it hurt. I want to hear you scream for my cock. Scream how you want it in the ass.”

She screamed. She never wanted to do anything but obey him. “Oh, yes! Oh, God, it’s so good. Oh, my ass! It’s so tight and hard. Oh, that cock is so hard. Fuck me. Oh, fuck me.”

He succumbed to vicious grunting. “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.”

She couldn’t focus her eyes on his face anymore. She couldn’t see anything but that rising behemothinsiderher. It shoved her pain out of the way and dominated her whole awareness with colossal orgasmic pleasure.

She gave herself over to manic rocking. She hurled her own weight down on that plug as hard as she could. She had to drive it deeper into herself. Every stroke of his cock went into her ass. It burnished every cell of her body to bright glowing gold.

All of a sudden, her inner muscles spasmed in rippling waves of energy coursing through her. She screamed and cried to heaven. The rising torrent of power exploded out from her lower depths to consume her being in crashing breakers of rapture and bliss. She tossed to and fro under his hands, and endless surges of cosmic potion bathed his driving piston.

He plunged into her depths, but his dirty words got lost in his bellowing moans of completion. He pumped her channel full of his boiling hot lava and collapsed on top of her in sweaty sighs.

She lay back in a swoon drugged by perfumed smoke rising from his magnificent skin. She allowed her arms to circle his neck and cradle his head on her shoulder, but the next minute, he tore himself free from her arms. He pushed himself to his feet and pulled up his pants.

Before she could completely recover, he grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her to her feet. Her legs buckled under her. He had to hold her up to stop her collapsing. The plug in her ass robbed her of all her ability to think. She couldn’t control her movements or even her thoughts.

When he finally succeeded in getting her on her feet, he picked up her clothes and started dressing her. She stood still in a delirious haze. She couldn’t understand what he was doing.He held her panties open and bent over to her feet with them. “What are you doing to me?”

“Step in.” She stepped into her panties, and he slid them up around her ass with the plug still buried inside her. “Do you have any responsibilities tonight?”

“No, sir. The staff sometimes gets together in the evenings when we don’t have any guest events, but other than that, I have the evening to myself.”

“Good.” He zipped up her skirt and held her shirt for her to put her arms through the sleeves. “You can go about your usual routine. You come back to me when you’re ready to go to sleep tonight.”

“Sir?”

His eyes darted to her face. “Is there a problem, Veronica?”

“Sir, I....”

He stared at her. Her face flushed. She couldn’t form the words.

He dropped his voice to a husky murmur. “Does it hurt, baby?”

She gazed up into his bright eyes. “No, sir, it just....”

“Does it turn you on, baby? Do you feel me inside you?”

“Oh, yes, sir.”

He lifted one of her hands to his lips. That was the closest he would ever come to kissing her. “That’s good. Leave it there. I want to find it there when I call you. Do you understand me? Don’t take it out under any circumstances.”

“Sir....Can I....May I.....can I....?”

“No, you may not. Don’t you dare. Leave it there, and you can tell me if you had any spontaneous orgasms from sitting on it at the dinner table. Under no circumstances are you to play with yourself or get yourself off. That is my express order, and I won’t be so lenient with you next time I have to punish you.”

She looked down at the floor. “Yes, sir.”

“I’ll see you later, Veronica. You’re a very good maitre d’, and I’m very happy with the woman you procured for my pleasure on this cruise.”

Her head shot up. Her head spun in confusion. How could she go all night with that plug in her ass? She couldn’t function around the rest of the staff.

Heguided her to the door, and with another casual, “I’ll see you later tonight,” he shoved her out and closed the door in her face.

She stared at the door. Then she stared at the bodyguard. He stood in the same place with the same dark sunglasses hiding his eyes. He must have heard every sound coming out of that room. Did it turn him on? Did he have any idea she still carried that plug insider her? How was she supposed to walk around with that thing?

She took the first tentative steps down the companionway. She had to stop more than once to get her head together. She stopped again outside the main salon and listened. She heard the chef, the bartender, the steward, and the maid all talking in the galley. She almost always joined them in the staff loungein the evenings. She couldn’t do that tonight if her life depended on it. She wouldn’t be able to hold a conversation.

At that moment, the steward came out and almost collided with her. “Oh, there you are, Ronnie. I’ve been looking for you.”

She passed her hand over her forehead. Was she as hot in the face as she felt?“What can I do for you, Tim? Is everything in order?”

“Everything’s fine, but Prince Said hasn’t ordered dinner yet.”

“I’m sure he’ll do it when he’s ready.”

“I just wanted to ask you about the flowers for the party Saturday night. Do you want to have them sent out from Makassar? We’ll be closer to Indonesia, and the prices are cheaper. What do you want to do?”

Veronica looked around. She couldn’t think about anything but that thing stuck in her ass. “Um, I’m sorry, Tim. Can we talk about this tomorrow morning? I don’t feel very good right now. I think I better go to my quarters and lie down.”

He studied her and frowned. “You look all right. Why don’t you come into the staff lounge and have a drink? You’ll feel better.”

“No, I think I’ll skip it tonight. You go have my drink for me. I have to go lie down and close my eyes.”

“Okay, Ronnie. Well, you let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks, Tim.”

She was never so glad to get away from him. Now that she’d made her excuse, she didn’t have to worry about the others seeing her. She hurried past the galley. She heard Tim explaining to the rest of the staff that she didn’t feel good.

She stumbled back to her room. Very gingerly, she lowered herself into her bunk. Her body burned with fevered excitement. How could she get through the next few hours without touching herself? How long did she have to lie here before she could go back to his cabin?

She closed her eyes and focused all her concentration on drawing one tortured breath after another. He said to come back before she went to bed, but she had no intention of leaving this room. She would stay here until she could go back to him. She couldn’t face the rest of the staff or another day of work with that plug stuck insideher.

She must have drifted off, because she woke to a twinkled notification on her phone. She swept her finger across the screen.Prince Said requests your presence in the forward cabin.

Eleven o’clock. The rest of the staff would be in bed. The whole ship rested in peace and quiet. She pushed herself up on her arms, but when she leaned over on her butt, she sat down on the plug. She couldn’t move without stimulating herself one way or the other. She let out a slow breath through pursed lips and shuddered. Her cheeks and forehead glowed withwarmth.

She heaved herself onto her feet and steadied herself against the wall. Just one more walk down the companionway, and she could collapse. She got to the door and let herself out of the room.

She tiptoed down the companionway. The bodyguard was still there. She tapped on the door and heard the familiar greeting. “Come in.”

Veronica rolled over and extended her hand across the bed. The Prince wasn’t there. Dullgreylight streamed through the hatches in the conservatory. She blinked her eyes open and looked around the room. Where was he?

She sat up. She had a full day’s work ahead of her. She had to get out of this room and up on deck before any of the staff saw her come out of that cabin. If anyone saw her, thejig was up.

She didn’t have the butt plug in anymore. The Prince took that out sometime during the night. She got into her clothes and hurried out of the room. The bodyguard wasn’t there, either. He must be with the Prince in another part of the ship.

She heard the chef banging around in the galley, but none of the other staff were up. She made her way back to her quarters and dove into the shower. The hot water cascaded over her head and brought her back to her senses.

The cold, clear reality of morning rushed back in all its complexity. Without that butt plug inside her, she went back to being the crisp, motivated manager she was before Prince Said came on board. Shecatalogedher daily tasks in her mind. She had all her usual duties looking out for guests on board. Prince Said was the only guest on board at the moment, but he could call her up at any time. He might want her to spend a lot of time in his room today, and she still had all the preparations for the party tomorrow night.

He kept her awake all night with his demands. Every time she started to drift off, he took her again—from behind, from the front, in her mouth, with his tongue between her legs. He had her cunt, her ass, her mouth, in every conceivable combination. He told her when to get on her knees and when to lie on her back. He held her sitting up on his lap, and he bucked up into her when she lay on her back across his chest.

She never knew so many sexual positions existed, but she would do exactly what he said. She accepted when he duct taped her mouth shut to stop her screaming. She let him hold her hands behind her back, and she begged him to call her the most vile names under the sun.

Through it all, he neveroncekissed her on the lips. She could think of a dozen reasons why, but she longed for that most simple tenderness from him to counteract his rough treatment. If only she knew she mattered to him, that she wasn’t just another convenient piece of ass, she could give herself to him all the more willingly.

The woman in Prince Said’s cabinwas someone so far away from her real self Veronica could barely believe they were the same person. She would never submit herself to a man like that. She had far too much self-respect. She was a professional woman with a promising career.

The only time she betrayed herself was when she thought about seeing the Prince again. Would he call her into his cabin again tonight? Was last night just a roll in the hay before they both went on their merry way? He certainly wouldn’t acknowledge her in front of his dinner guests.

She got outof the showerand toweled off her hair. Once she got her uniform on, she went about her day with hardly a thought about him. She had to think twice when she sat down. Her ass was still sore from his thick member, but the dull ache made her pussy tingle with excitement. She never thought anal sex could feel so good. He made it exciting and enjoyable, just as she enjoyed obeying him in all things.

She organized the chef and the bartender with everything they needed. She handled emergencies when the chef realized she didn’t have everything she needed for the devil’s food cake. She sent the chopper pilotupto Makassar to pick up the cinnamon and gave the chef a dressing down forbotching her food order before they left Singapore.

She had a detailed discussion with Tim about the flowers before they both decided to have the chopper pilot pick up their order in Makassar while he was there. After that, she spenthertime organizing and managing the rest of the staff. She ended up in her office with thestoresinventory on her computerscreenwhen her phone recalled her to the Prince’s cabin.

Her heart skipped a beat. Should she be thrilled, or scared, or annoyed at him for interrupting her work day? Her work day entailed serving his needs, didn’t it? She closed her computer and made her way back to the cabin, but when she stepped inside, she saw no one there. The bodyguard was nowhere in sight, either.

She went back to the salon and found Harvey, the young Kiwi bartender, setting out the extra glasses. “Hey, Harvey, have you seen Prince Said?”

“He was down here an hour ago getting another Tanqueray and tonic, but not since then.”

Veronica frowned. Then she looked back at her phone.Prince Said requests your presence in the forward cabin.He requested her presence in the forward cabin,so that’s where he must want her, even if he wasn’t there.

She went back there, but it was still empty. She sat down on the edge of the bed. Then she lay back and gazed up at the sky through the hatches. Her eyes drifted closed, and her hands drifted down to her body. Without really meaning to, she massaged her breasts. She slid her hands down to her belly and shoved her fingers into the waistband of her skirt.

She found her panties wet down between her legs. She would get herself ready for him when he did come. She dabbed one finger into her saturated pussy and squished against her G spot. Her passion exploded to life. Her pussy twitched for something thick and deep inside it when that rumbling voice startled her upright, “What do you think you’re doing?”

She gasped for breath. “Your Majesty!”

He glared at her. “You were playing with yourself, Veronica. I expressly forbade you to do that.”

“I thought you wanted me to....sir. I thought you called me here to....I didn’t know...”

“I didn’t want you to. I called you here to discuss the party, not to find you masturbating on my bed. Now stand up.”

She rocketed to her feet. “I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.”

He paced back and forth in front of her. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, Veronica. You will do what I tell you to and not what I don’t tell you to do. You will speak when spoken to and refrain from offering unsolicited information.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How can I believe it will never happen again, when you intruded on my personal space this time?”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Stop saying that. Do you think I care if you’re sorry?”

She started so say she was sorry again, but she stopped herself in time. She stood silent and waited for him to say whatever he wanted to say to her.

He walked back the other way to the conservatory. He looked around the room and up at the sky before he came back. Veronica’s nerves stretched to their limit. He would surely punish her now, and he already said this punishment would be much worse than the last one.

He stopped in front of her and measured her with his eyes. When he spoke, he startled her by keeping his voice low in a confidential murmur. “I want you to stay by my side at the party tomorrow night. I want you to stand next to my chair.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I want everyone to know you belong to me.”

“Yes, sir.”

His eyes darted to her face, and he smiled. “You say‘yes, sir’, but I don’t think you realize what you’re saying‘yes,sir’, to. I’ll send down a gown for you to wear that will show off your assets, so everyone knows what I’m getting with my booking on this yacht.” He scanned her up and down, dwelling with particular interest on her hips and breasts.

She stared up at him. “Sir, I’m supposed to wear my uniform.”

His voice lashed her harder than his belt ever did. “You’re supposed to do what I tell you to do. If I say you will stand next to my chair stark naked, you’ll do it and enjoy it. Do you understand me? You exist to serve me and obey me, but never mind. You’ll like the gown. You’ll like everyoneknowingI own you.”

“What about the staff?” She forgot to say sir.

He didn’t appear to notice her slip-up. “None of the staff will see you except  Tim and Harvey. Somehow, I don’t think they’ll mind seeing you like that.”

Veronica’s mind whirled. Tim was thirty-six and gay as a summermorning. If he noticed her dress at all, he would take the situation with a grain of salt. He probably thought she was giving herself to all the guests all along.

Harvey was a different kettle of fish. He was twenty-five, straight offa remote New Zealand farm. Veronica caught him checking her out more than once. He would go out of his mind if he saw her in a revealing dress. If he suspected she gave herself to Prince Said, or any other guest, he would move in like the shark he was.

At least she wouldn’t see either of them again after she left the ship in Honolulu—not unless she decided to come back. By ordering her to present herself in a revealing dress and stand next to his chair for all the worldto see, he basically barred her from ever coming back. Word would spread back to the ship’s owners. They would never re-hire her.

She never considered flouting his order. He wanted her at his side with her assets displayed, and that’s what he would get. What sort of dress did he have in mind? She could only wait and wonder.

He moved closer and his breath hissed in her ear. He ran his hand around her hip and squeezed her ass. His fingers trailed between her butt cheeks. “How’s my pussy today? Are you sore back there?”

“Yes, sir, but it’s okay.”

“Do you get turned on, thinking about me fucking you last night?”

She croaked through her parched throat. “Yes, sir.”

“Do you want me to bend you over again right now?”

“Oh, please, sir. Please bend me over.”

He spun her around and tossed her down on the bed. He burrowed under her skirt with one hand. The other landed with a sharp slap across her ass. “Bad girl! You bad girl!

She cried out in alarm, but the next minute, he pulled her to her feet. He rubbed her stinging ass and gave it another tender pat. “Not just now, Veronica. You have work to do for me, so run along. Maybe later, if you’re a good girl and do as you’re told, I’ll let you suck my cock.”

“Yes, sir.” She slunk out of the room.

She raced along the companionway. She couldn’t bear this any longer. She ran to her room and bolted the door behind her. She dove under the covers and pulled them over her head.

She had to play with herself. She had to please herself, to get some relief from this maddening desire before she went back out and faced the staff. All the confusing emotions and experiences of the last twenty-four hours overwhelmed her. She couldn’t wait for the Prince to be ready to please her. She had to do it herself, right now.

She shoved both hands under her waistband and down inside her panties. She was wetter than ever after he fingered and spanked her. She spread her lips with two fingers and touched her clitoris with the other.

The blankets suffocated her, so she stuck her head out to catch a breath of fresh air when her eye fell on a sheaf of clear plastic hanging next to the porthole. She froze in place. Her eyes skated down the shimmery silver form underneath. The neckline plunged almost to the waist. The back hung open, all the way around to sides. A slit up the skirt exposed the leg all the way up to the hip.

She couldn’t. She just couldn’t face people wearing a dress like that. He couldn’t be serious about making her wear that in front of anyone.

She yanked her hands free and jumped out of bed. In a heartbeat, she crossed the room and seized the dress from its hook. One look through the plastic showed her everything she needed to see. It was far more revealing than she ever imagined.

How did he get it into her private room? She didn’t have to ask. Any of the staff would do it for him. He probably gave Tim a fat tip to hang it here.

The dress fell out of her hand and crumpled to the floor. She fled from the room, she knew not where. She found her way back up to the salon. There was Harvey standing behind the bar.

The instant she met his gaze, she saw herself in that dress. He smiled at her. “Hello, Ronnie. Did you find Prince Said?”

Brother, did she ever find him! Harvey undressed her with his eyes every time he looked at her. He gazed at her breasts stretching her shirt buttonsagainst their buttonholesand her cleavage between her lapels. He caressed her hips and ass with loving glances.

She knew already what he was thinking. He wanted to stroke his stiff cock between her tits and poke the tip into her mouth with every stroke. He wanted to bend her over and smack her tight ass the way Prince Said did. He wanted to lick her wetpussyand ride her like a pony.

She couldn’t let him see her in that dress. She couldn’t let him leer at her from behind the bar while Prince Said introduced her to his guests. She couldn’t let Harvey stare in drooling desire while Prince Said petted her ass and trailed his hands up her thighs under that skirt to finger her dripping pussy.

She hurried away. The only place she could find sanctuary was in her own office, but when she got there, she stopped dead in her tracks. There was Prince Said,lounginginthe chair opposite her work station. He gave her a benevolent smile when she appeared.

His face could change with the flickering shadows. One minute, he bestowed that glorious smile of genuine approval and consideration. The next minute, he glared at her with the predatory malice of a marauding beast. He gnashed his teeth and menaced her with his hands and body.

Right now, he was all nice and cuddly. She couldn’t let that facade fool her. She went around her desk to her chair, but she didn’t dare sit down. He hadn’t given her permission yet. “What can I do for you, Your Majesty?”

He broke into a grin. “I like it when you say that. Most of the time, it annoys me, but from you, it sounds perfect. I can imagine you on your knees in front of me, looking up at me with those big, dark eyes of yours.”

She waited. He hadn’t asked her a question.

He sat forward in the chair. “Actually, I came to check how the party preparations are going.”

“Everything is going according to schedule, sir—or would you prefer I call you Your Majesty?”

She asked without a hint of irony. She merely wanted to know his preference so she could serve his needs. That’s all she was to him anymore, a servant.

“I’ll leave that to your discretion, Veronica. You can call me either one, depending on your evaluation of what’s most appropriate at the moment.”

“Is there anything you’d like to tell me about the preparations, sir? Do you have any input to give me, or would you like me to tell you what plans we’ve made so far?”

“No, I prefer you to surprise me with your expertise and your talent as a hostess. Did you receive the dress?”

She stared down at the desk. “Yes, sir.”

“What did you think?”

“I think, sir, it will show off my assets very well.”

“You bet it will. I picked that dress out myself.”

“Sir? Did you bring that dress on board with you?”

“Of course not. You saw what I brought on board with me. I ordered it online.”

“How did you pick it up?”

“Your chopper pilot picked it up for me, but I can see this conversation is bordering on the inappropriate. You’re forgetting your manners.”

“Yes, sir.”

He rocked the chair back and crossed his ankle over his knee. “You know, Veronica, for someone who hasn’t given herself to any other guest on this ship, I’m surprised at your responsiveness. I didn’t expect you to behave as well as you have.”

“I’m glad you’re pleased with my service, sir.”

He chewed something inside his mouth with his lips closed. “Is that all you have to say for yourself?”

“Your Majesty is always telling me not to speak out of turn and not to offer unsolicited information about myself. I’m sure Your Majesty will tell me when I have something to say for myself.”

His face cracked in a wry grin, but his eyes took on that fierce glint that warned his mood could change in the blink of an eye. “Good girl.”

She dared steal a glance at his face. “Did Your Majesty come here for anything else, or just updated information?”

His voice cut like a knife. “What are you offering? Are you suggesting I get you down on your knees andmake youbeg Your Majesty to shove his cock in your mouth? Is that what you wish I came here for? Maybe you’d like me to push you back in your chair and fuck you right now. Is that what you’d like?”

“Your Majesty knows I would like it, but if Your Majesty came here for casual information, I wouldn’t presume to make advances.”

“Good. I didn’t come here for anything other than casual information, except to see you squirm, and I can see you’re doing that very well. I can imagine you squirming in that dress.”

“I won’t squirm, sir. If you tell me to stand there, I will.”

He twirled a paperclip in his hand. “Do you know, I was just standing at the bar a few minutes ago, talking to Harvey. He’s very sweet on you. I guess you know that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you ever go out with him? Did you ever fool around with him?”

“No, sir, and no, sir.”

“Do you have a sweetheart back home in Fresno? Is that what you’re going home for?”

“No, sir, I don’t have a sweetheart back in Fresno.”

“Did you have a boyfriend there before you came to work on theDiamantina?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What was his name?”

“Roy, sir.”

“And what did you do with Roy?”

“I went out with him for three years in high school.”

“Sir.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you fuck him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell me about it.”

“What would Your Majesty like to know?”

“I would like to know everything you did with him. Did you suck his cock?”

“Yes, sir, every Saturday night when we went to the movies.”

“Describe it for me.”

“He would pick me up at my parents’ house and we would drive halfway to the movies. Then he would feel me up and fingerbangme in the car. Sometimes he ate me out to make me cum. Then we would drive to the movies, and we would sit in the back row. I would bend over his seat and suck him during the movie.”

“Did he cum in your mouth?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you enjoy that?”

“Not as much as sucking Your Majesty’s cock.”

“What else did you do with Roy?”

“On the way home, we would climb into the back seat of the car and he would fuck me.”

“Did you cum when he fucked you?”

“If I sat on top, but most of the time, he liked to get me on my knees.”

“Did he ever fuck your ass?”

“No, sir.”

“Has anyone every fucked your ass before me?”

“No, sir. You’re the first.”

He let his hand fall down on his crotch and rubbed his hard shaft through his pants. “You’re getting me hard, Veronica.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Are you wet right now?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Would you like to sit on my lap right now? Would you like to screw my hard cock with your wet pussy?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let me hear you beg for it.”

She closed her eyes. She couldn’t look at him while she degraded herself this way. “Please fuck me, Your Majesty. Please let me sit on your hard cock. I need it bad. I’ll be a good girl. I’ll do anything.”

“Come over here.”

She took a few steps around the desk and stood next to his chair. He gazed up at her with his most innocent expression while he slid his hand up between her thighs to the damp garden inside. His fingers delved into her panties and stirred her fragrant concoction. “Mmm, yes, that’s nice. I like a nice, wet pussy.”

She panted through parted lips, and her knees rocked under her. Just a few more seconds of this, and she would sit down on that thick stick. She would grind her pussy to pieces on it and scream so the whole ship heard her.

To her surprise, he pulled his hand out of her panties and stood up. He sucked the cream off his fingers. “That’s good, Veronica. You’re nice and wet, just the way I want you. You can go back to work now.”

The rest of the day was a torture. She struggled to concentrate. More than once, she made up her mind to go back to her quarters and finish herself off. In the end, his orders bound her in chains. She could do nothing but drip—drip and wait.

Toward the end of the day, Tim came into her office. “Are you feeling better today, Ronnie?”

“I’m okay, Tim. Thanks for asking.”

“That’s good. We all missed you in the lounge last night. It’s not the same without you.”

“You might have to do without me tonight, too, I’m afraid.”

His eyes popped. “What? Why?”

“I’ve got too much to do to get ready for this party. Prince Said has some additional work for me tonight.”Thatwasn’t exactly a lie.

“I’m sorry to hear that. We all want to spend time with you before you disembark.”

“Thanks, Tim. I trust you’ll pass on my apologies to the rest of the staff.”

“Sure.”

After an eternity of small talk, he finally left her in peace. Disembarking sounded like a wonderful idea right about now. Tim wouldn’t look forward to spending time with her after he saw her in that dress tomorrow night. His whole idea of her would change.

When she finally got back to her quarters, she just sat down on her bunk with a shattered sigh when her phone chirped.Prince Said requests your presence in the forward cabin.

She really was starting to dread those words. The ship’s computer sent her the same automated message in response to the Prince pushing his service button. Did he have any idea what those words meant to her? Maybe he didn’t know there were any words connected to his call. To him, it was just a button. To him, a light turned on and she appeared in his cabin.

She took one last look at the dress. She hung it up on the hook and smoothed the creases after it fell on the floor. It really was a stunning dress. How much did it cost him? She dared not think. With his budget, it could be more than her whole annual salary and probably quite a bit more.

She made her way back forward, but with a greater sense of calm than the last fewtimesshe made that trip. She no longer tiptoed past the galley or the salon. Let them see her. After tomorrow night, everyone would know the truth, anyway. They could say whatever they wanted. They might as well say it now as tomorrow.

The bodyguard didn’t blink when she appeared outside the cabin. He stood as still as stone. She knocked at the door and entered when the Prince called, “Come in.”

She stopped in the darkened room. She was here, at his disposal, but she jumped when his voice rumbled out of the dark behind her. “Take off your clothes.”

She complied with no hesitation. Her body belonged to him. She tossed her clothes in a heap on the floor, but she didn’t turn around to face him. The dark caressed her with its velvet warmth. The tropical air infused her flesh with its softness. Her muscles relaxed into the inevitable. He walked around her the way he usually did. His profile outlined against the dark radiated its overpowering dominance.

He was the predator, and she was his prey. He caught her in his snare, and now he could consume her with devastating slashes of his jaws. Her heart fluttered, but she didn’t cringe away. Her pussy lips unfurled in luscious dewy petals. Now, at long last, he would fulfill her pent-up desire. She didn’t have to wait any longer.

He murmured in her ear. “Did you play with yourself today?”

“No, sir.”

“Are you lying to me? You know what will happen if you lie to me.”

“No, sir. I didn’t play with myself. I swear it.”

“Get down on your knees.”

She went down on both knees and sat back on her heels.

“Look at me.”

She gazed up at the outline of his head against the black hatches.

“Say it now.”

“I swear, Your Majesty, I didn’t play with myself. I serve you. I obey your orders. I belong only to you.”

He touched her cheek with a gentle touch. “Good girl. Who’s your king? Who’s your prince?”

“You are, Your Majesty.”

He croaked deep in his throat. “Say it.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Are you wet, baby?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Open your mouth.”

She opened her mouth, and something rubbery touched her lips.

“Suck it.”

She took the thing in her mouth, but not until she got it on her tongue did she realize it wasn’t any part of a human body. It was soft silicone, and it stopped there, behind her teeth. She bit down on it.

In a twinkling, he strapped it to her face and cinched it tight behind her head. Shechoked and gasped, but the deed was done. She was gagged.

“Now look up at me.”

She looked up. Her breath grated through her nose in panted gasps. Her heart fought to beat in her chest. Her whole body screamed against this outrage, but already the gag worked its magic on her soul. She was nothing but a slave—his slave. Her cries for mercy, her begging and sobbing, meant nothing to him. He wanted her body, and she no longer possessed the will to fight back.

He petted her cheeks and pushed the hair out of her face. “That’smygood girl. You know your place, don’t you? That’s right. Suck it, baby. Suck that cock in your pretty little mouth.”

He walked around behind her.

“Now get up on your hands and knees. Let me see your ass in the air.”

She planted her hands and tilted forward. He touched her ass and ran his finger through her crack to her throbbing pussy. He spread her juice up to her asshole.

She waited for the plug again, but nothing came. She braced herself for some blow, but he only fiddled with her from behind. He didn’t even stick his fingers inside her.

Out of nowhere, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her back up on her knees. She cried out as well as she could with that ball in her mouth, but he wrenched her head back and growled in her ear.

“You’re mine, baby. You’re all mine, and I’m gonna fuck you six ways from Sunday. No one will hear you scream tonight, my pretty. I’ll tie you to the bedpost and ravage your choice little body. Would you like that? Would you like my cock in all your holes?”

She sobbed in anguish, but her body betrayed her once again. She couldn’t stop herself bending her ass back in a desperate bid to rub against his cock. He dodged out of the way and gave her a wicked smack across the ass.

“Bad girl! Don’t you dare! I’ll smack your horny ass if you do that again.”

The blow came as a relief to her tortured flesh. She longed for it. If only he would touch her, she would burst into flames and dissolve in an orgasmic puddle. He jerked her head back with another awful yank on her hair. She screamed, but the gag muffled it.

Did the bodyguard hear her? The awful truth dawned on her at last. That bodyguard wasn’t there to protect her from the Prince’s abuse. He was there to stop anyone interfering with the Prince’s sexual escapades. The morethe Princehurt her, the louder she screamed and cried and shrieked, the more secure the bodyguard would hold that room. No one would save her.

With startling speed, the Prince bumped up against her from behind. He pulled her head back against his shoulder and dug his bulging crotch into her ass. He slipped his free hand around and down her belly to her nest of desire. He plowed her furrow on either side of her clitoris with two fingers.

“I’m gonna fuck you, baby. I’m gonna fuck your hot little ass. You’re gonna beg me for it. You’re gonna love it when I split you in half. Do you want that? Do you want to scream for my cock? Do you want me to destroy your ass so you can’t sit down for a week? Huh? Do you want everyone at that party to see what a hot little pussy you have?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He flung her forward so she had no choice but to break her fall with her hands. She wound up on all fours in front of him.

Before she knew what happened, he was on his feet. He paced around the room. She groaned around her gag. Whatever he had planned, it was only a matter of time. He did something out of sight. He hadn’t turned on a light since she entered the cabin.

He came back around in front of her and pulled her back onto her heels. He knelt down in front of her. Her eyes hunted in the dark for any snatch of a glimpse of his face. If only she could see his eyes, she would know whether he was a man or a monster, but she could see nothing.

He put something around her neck and buckled it into place. It hugged her neck with a fuzzy comforting tightness, but it didn’t choke her. He clipped something to it and gave it a tug. “Come here.”

She got to her feet, and he towed her across the cabin to the conservatory. The Milky way covered the sky with stars beyond the overheadhatches. He parked her in front of a big stuffed couch and guided her forward so she straddled the arm on one end. “Sit down.”

She didn’t understand what he meant until he pushed her down on something stiff and hard between her legs. It nosed into her waitingslit, and her tight muscles closed around it.

She moaned and rocked against it. Her pussy buzzed with mounting desire. She worked herself up to a crashing orgasmuntilhe tugged at her collar again. He didn’t reprimandher,but folded her forward on the couch. His cock touched her back door, and she went very still and tense.

He swirled the head of his cock in a drizzle of cold lube. She howled in rabid madness. She didn’t know whether to break free and escape or impale herself on that sharp spike.

It raided her flesh with ever increasing strength. He popped it into her tight hole, and the hard shaft in her pussy swallowed the pain in a massive injection of passionate fury. No matter how hard he shoved it in, she buried it under mounting surges from her box.

He wrapped the leash around one hand. With the other, he pressed down the small of her back so her pussy enfolded the hard tool to its limit. Then he pumped his cock down its long length into her sensitive opening.

She arched her head back and howled. Every stroke of his piston drove her forward on her seat and brought her to new heights of passion. When he withdrew, he left a vacuum in her soul only he could fill.

He escalated his invasion, but she welcomed him with open armsand open legs. She beat faster on her perch. The pain and discomfort increased, but they only brought her to fresh peaks of excitement and passion. Let him raid her. Let him destroy her. As long as he desired it, she gave herself over to it with a joyful song in her heart.

That song found its way out of her mouth. Nothing could hold it back. It sparked from every tiny hair on her body, from her lips and her eyelashes. She was all of it, and it encompassed her whole being.

Before she could stop it, the crest of the wave caught her and swept her out to sea. He filled every space inside her. His cock rubbed against that wicked tool embedded in herfleshand stimulated every nerve ending to quicken with the flooding tide. She beat herbones downon the arm of the couch, and he stroked in time to her rhythm.

“Yeah, baby, yeah. So good. Oh, yeah. Oh, fuck.”

The words rushed from her with every sucking breath. “Fuck me. Take me. Oh, God. Fuck me. Yes!”

He took firm hold of her and knuckled down to his work, but he couldn’t keep it up for long. He tensed in every sinew to the rising climax. He whined through clenched jaws. His hair swung in time with his thrusts.

Then she knew nothing more than the bright stars exploding before her eyes. Her mind eddied in torrents of rainbow colors. Her fingers dug into the couch and she shoved herself back on his penetrating thrusts. Her orgasm blasted her apart. She no longer existed except in some fantasyland of dreams and swirling emotions. His seed filled her chasm with a hot mixture of their bodily essenses, and she soaked him into her being through her very cells.

Every light twinkled on theDiamantinafrom stem to stern. The chef flew from one end of the galley to the other at a fevered pace. Tim hurried back and forth with trays of refreshments and drinks.Afterhe served them to the arriving guests, he went back for more.

Unlike every other event on theDiamantina, Veronica wasn’t there to help him. She followed Prince Said from one end of the boat to the other in her sweeping gown. She couldn’t leave his elbow.

He greeted everyone as their private choppers dropped them off and then left to make room for the next arrival. The first guests to arrive were Senator Martin and his wife. Theyenteredthe aft veranda, where Prince Said awaited them. He shook hands with the Senator. “How are you, old man? Long time, no see. What are you doing, hiding out in Southeast Asia, when you should be attending the opening sessions in the Senate?”

The Senator waved his comments aside, but his beaming face gave him away. “I never attend the opening sessions. They’re worse than a hen’s party. Southeast Asia is so much more interesting, and I can tell everyone I was doing research for the Foreign Relations Committee.”

“But you’re not on the Foreign Relations Committee.”

The Senator slapped the Prince on the arm. “Not so loud, you clod! You’ll blow my whole cover.”

The two men laughed, and Prince Said turned to the Senator’s wife. “And who is this ravishing creature? On what Southeast Asian island did you pick her up?” He kissed her on both cheeks.

The Senator’s wife blushed from ear to ear and patted his hands. “Stop it, Said. You’ll give me a bad reputation.”

They all laughed together at their own cleverness. Then the Senator noticed Veronica. “And who isthisravishing creature. Said, you didn’t tell me you had a sweetheart.”

“I don’t. This is Veronica Mellon. She’s maitre d’ on board theDiamantina. In fact, she planned this whole party for me.”

The Senator looked Veronica up and down. Her gown hid nothing from his appraising eye. “Is she really? Then I’ll have to book theDiamantinamyself sometime.”

His wife gave him a swat. “Archie!”

“Well, I will. Look at this place. No one could have done better.”

Prince Saidconducted them into the salon. “Come inside and get something to drink. There’s food circulating, and Harvey can set you up with anything you like. This ship has everything you could possiblyimagine.”

They hurried into the salon, and Prince Said turned back to the veranda. The thump of another chopper approached from the west. He caught Veronica studying him. “You look stunning, Miss Mellon. I knew you would.”

She didn’t answer.

“Is anything bothering you, Veronica? I just complimented your appearance this evening, and you didn’t even say, ‘yes, sir,’ the way you’re supposed to. Don’t tell me you want another spanking.”

“Why did you tell them about me?”

“What was I supposed to do—pretend they never mentioned you?”

“You told them I was maitre d’. You told them that I organized the party.”

“You are maitre d’, and you did organize the party. Should I lie and tell people you’re a high-priced whore from Sydney?”

She didn’t answer.

“I asked you a question, Veronica. What would you prefer I tell them?”

“Will you tell them anything else if I say I prefer it?”

“No, I’ll tell them exactly what I please.”

She lowered her eyes to the carpet. “I thought so, sir.”

The chopper touched down, and three men in expensive suits got out. They raced into the veranda and mobbed around the Prince. They all talked at once in a language Veronica didn’t understand.

The Prince waved toward Veronica more than once, and the men gabbled to each other and to her, but she couldn’t understand what they said. She couldn’t fail to understand their appreciative glances, though. The Prince had to step between her and them more than once to stop them from touching her. One of them made a grab for her breasts, and the Prince batted his hand away before shooing them all into the salon.

Her cheeks blazed with embarrassment, but she could do nothing except stand there and wait for the next guest. Who would it be this time? Another chopper already approached from the islands. Its powerful propeller wash blew her dress in every direction. She clutched one hand over her breasts and welded one arm down her leg to keep it in place. If it flew up, she would be exposed for all the world to see.

The next guests were an elderly couple Veronica didn’t recognize. They passed their pleasantries with the Prince, but he didn’t mention her or draw their attention to her. Once, she noticed the man glance at her. Then he turned his attention back tothePrince. He never acknowledged her existence again.

Nervous tension gnawed at her guts. That old man, and his wife, too, almost certainly assumed she was some floozy for hire off one of these islands. How many cheap skanks had they seen on the Prince’s arm over the years? None of them was worth mentioning or even talking to. Now she was one of them.

What was she doing with her life? How could she throw her self-respect in the gutter like this, like so much trash?

Tim’s eyes widened when he saw her in the dress, but that was nothing compared to his surprise at her behavior. He kept expecting her to move around, to supervise the service, and to communicate with the guests about their wishes and desires. That was her job, to intercede between the guests and the staff, to make sure every guest got exactly what they needed and wanted.

She didn’t do any of that. She shadowed the Prince wherever he went, and she spoke to no one but him all night long. Tim saw a lot of strange things on board theDiamantina, but never anything like this.

Her complete failure to do her job, her willingness to turn herself into a floozy for the Prince’s sake, galled her more than anything. How could she do it? How could she stand here and prostitute herself, after slaving for so many years to build a spotless reputation?

Harvey’s reaction,disturbed her far more. He responded exactly the way she expected. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He stared at her breasts swaying free under a thin layer of silk and at her bare leg gliding out through the slit in her skirt. He followed the gentle rhythm of her voluptuous ass when she walked and the slithering snake of her spine when she passed him. He undressed her with his eyes, and he didn’t have to go very far to imagine every detail of the body underneath that dress.

After all the guests arrived, Prince Said took a seat in a wicker arm chair in the salon and held court with all his guests. Veronica stood at his shoulder for everyone to see. She was his show piece, his trophy, his prize.

While he bantered with his guests, she stared across the room, straight at Harvey. His eyes roved up and down her body. He touched every inch of her with his gaze. He flicked her nipples to hard little nubs. He caressed her naked back. He glided his hands under the silk top to cradle her pendulous breasts. He slid his fingertips up her bare leg to the top of the slit where her hips lay bare and waiting.

Behind the guests’ backs, Harvey put his hand down behind the bar to adjust the erection in his pants. Prince Said showed no sign of seeing him, but while he talked with his guests about Pacific Rim politics and other subjects of general interest, he waved his hand over the arm of the chair and put it around behind Veronica’s back. He rested his hand on her round ass and moved it up and down.

None of the guests reacted, but Harvey stared with his eyes hanging out of his head. He pumped his hard cock against his hand and bit his lower lip. Veronica kept her gaze locked on Harvey’s face. He wanted to fuck her. He wanted that to be his handfondling her ass in front of room full of notable people. He wanted to be the one to take her back to his cabin and nail her into the mattress.

Prince Said and all his guests kept up their conversation for hours. Prince Said never touched Veronica again, but he kept her at his side throughout the evening, his display piece. Everyone in that room, including Tim and Harvey, knew for a fact he would take her back to his room that night and have his way with her.

This was the first event in her years on theDiamantinathat Veronica didn’t wish the guests good night and see them off the ship. She served only one master now, and she stayed at his heel. She was his obedient dog.

When the last guest left, he turned back into the salon with a sigh. He walked straight past her to the bar. Harvey looked at Veronica when he spoke. “What can I get for you, sir?”

Prince Said looked up at him with a blank look. “Hmm? Oh, thanks, Harvey, I’ve had enough for tonight. Where’s Tim?”

“He’s in the galley. He’s helping clean up now. Would you like me to get him for you.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’m tired. I’m going back to my cabin.”

He didn’t say, “Come along with me, Veronica.” He just walked away like she wasn’t there. She should have stayed to help clean up. She should have seen the flowers disposed of and the trash cans cleaned out. She should have been the last person awake on board that night.

Instead, she tagged at the Prince’s heels. He left the door open for her when he went into his cabin, and she followed him into the darkened chamber. The instant she got inside, he slammed the door and closed his arms around her. His breath blew into her nose. “You were stunning out there tonight. You surpassed my wildest dreams.”

She couldn’t answer before his mouth closed on hers. She fought for breath. This was it. This was really the moment she yearned for all these nights. He was kissing her. Something half thrill, half sob ripped through her.

What did it mean? Did he really care about her? Had he broken through some impassable barrier, and now he cared about her in a way he never did before? If he cared about her, how could he treat her with such callous disregard out there? How could he humiliate her like that, and then kiss herin this roomlike his life depended on it?

He backed her toward the bed, and they tumbled down on top of it with their lips locked. He rolled her in his arms, but he never let go of her lips. Oh, she could kiss him forever, and his kiss would only bind her to him more powerfully than the sex ever did.

His tongue danced with hers in a swaying tango of effervescent emotion. She put her arms around his neck, and he didn’t remove them. He pillowed his head on her breasts and trailed his lips along her neck and collarbone.

Intermixed with her mounting passion, tender affection dawned in her raw soul. She wanted him with all her heart, and not just his rigid cock plowing its waybetweenherlegs. She wanted him to ache for her. She wanted his heart to break at the thought of parting, the way her heart broke when she thought she would never see him again.

She folded her arms and legs and lips around him, and he lay on top of her in the dark. Their hearts beat together in timeless precision, never to break asunder.

Veronica woke in the silent hours before dawn. Prince Said slept at her side, but she slipped out of bed without waking him. She gazed down at his face, so relaxed in sleep. His shoulders rose and fell with his steady breath. If only she could give him one kiss, she could let him go in peace, but she hadn’t even earned that. She was a brief dalliance for him—nothing more. He took three whole days to get around to kissing her. He wouldn’t stoop to kissing her good-bye now.

She let herself out of the cabin on bare, silent feet. Of everyone on board, she knew best how to move through the ship without making a sound. She ran down the companionway. She still wore that flimsy dress, and the cool morning air chilled her.

She broke into her quarters and locked the door. The dress fell away from her and left her bare and exposed. She hung it on its hook while she took a shower.

When she came out, she was her old self again. She could concentrate on the task at hand with no distracting attachments to something that could never be. She laid out her clean uniform on the bed she didn’t sleep in last night, but she didn’t put it on.

She got out her suitcase from under her bunk. Inside, she found the casual civilian clothes she wore when she first came to work on theDiamantina. She put them on.

She laid the dress carefully inside the suitcase and zipped it up. She would keep that as a memory of her experience here. Maybe after she got home to Fresnoshe would decide to burn the dress. Maybe she would purge that memory from her mind. For now, though, she wanted to keep it, to cherish it.

All the rough sex faded in the light of last night, in the blessed belonging of Said’s kiss. He wasn’t a prince anymore. He was just a man with feelings and needs and dreams. He gave himself to her as a man last night. He didn’t dominate her or tell her what to do. He simply gave himself into her arms in the purity of his being.

She caressed that perfect skin of his. She gazed into his eyes where the stars shone against his gleaming pupils. She kissed his chest and stomach until he gasped and groaned. He held her head against his heart and ran his fingers through herhair.

So this was what it all came down to. All the spanking andyankingand fucking and sucking came to this. He exposed his secret desires to her, and she earned his love by accepting them. He trusted her with his deepest being, and she cradled his heart in her hands.

At long last, she understood. She was no floozy for his pleasure on a short Pacific cruise. She was so much more than that. She was his long-lost desire. He never let anyone hold him like that. He didn’t have to tell her how he felt about her. She read it in his face and eyes.

She worshiped him more than ever when he made himself vulnerable like that. He was her god, her king, her everything. She bowed before him and gazed up into her eyes. She protected his heartwithher flesh, and she would never see him again.

She took one last look around her quarters. She would probably never see themagain, either. She prepared herself through many months of anticipating this day never to see her quarters again. She even prepared herself not to see any of the staff again. Butwhat abouthim?

She spent so much time in the last few days wishing this day would hurry up and arrive. She wanted to get away from him and forget him. Now, everything changed. She couldn’t watch him walk down the gangplank onto the Honolulu docks and walk out of her life while her heart bled for him. She had to get off the ship first, before he woke up.

Never, in all her years as maitre d’, had she failed to wish the guests a pleasant journey when they disembarked. She shook their hands and received their thanks for her service. Not today. She couldn’t see him again, or she was finished.

She closed the door behind her and carried her suitcase up on deck. The Port of Honolulu lay stretched out before her, just starting to wake up, the way she knew it would be, the way it always was when this leg of their journey ended.

The skipper put out the gangplank when they docked during the night. Nothing stopped her from making her escape into her own territory—nothing but Said. He stood next to the gangplankinhis black suit and his briefcase in his hand. He surveyed the port until his eye rested on Veronica.

The morning sun shone over the mountains and touched his black hair. It made his skin gleam like gold.He didn’t smile. “Are you leaving now, Veronica?”

She nodded. So much for getting away unnoticed.

“Weren’t you even going to say good-bye to me?”

“No, sir. I thought I would get away before you woke up.”

“Why would you do that? Didn’t you want me to kiss you good-bye?”

“No, sir.”

“Why not?” His voice lilted in a way she couldn’t understand. She never heard him sound like that before.

“You don’t have to kiss me good-bye, sir. I know you have more important things to do, and I have to get to the airport. Thank you for a nice time on board, but if you don’t mind, it’s over now. I’m not bound to serve you any longer.”

His eyes searched her face. “Don’t you want to serve me any longer?”

“I won’t serve you any longer. You’ll leave theDiamantina, and I’ll go home. We’ll probably never see each other again.”

“I asked you a question, Veronica. Don’t you want to serve me any longer?”

“I couldn’t serve you any longer even if I wanted to, sir. Don’t torture me by suggesting that I could. Our time is finished.”

“Did you enjoy serving me, Veronica? Tell the truth.”

“You know I did.”

“And you want it to continue?”

She clamped her eyes shut. “Don’t talk like that. It hurts too much.”

“Very well, Veronica. Off you go to the airport.”

She didn’t move.

“What are you waiting for?”

“You go first, sir.”

“What for?”

“You got here first. You should disembark first.”

“Nonsense. I just told you to go. Consider this my last order for you.”

“No, sir. I prefer to go second.”

“May I ask why?”

“I want to watch you out of sight.”

He smiled. “Oh, all right. You want to torture yourself now, since I’m not around to do it for you.” He turned on his heel and strode across the gangway. He stepped on shore and walked down the quay.

Veronica watching his back recede into the distance. This was the end of five years of her life. Something else would happen to her now, but she could never erase the memories he left seared into her brain.

What kind of woman had an affair like this with a wealthy playboy, only to watch him walk out of her life without a word of good-bye, without a kiss, without even a “Take care of yourself?”

She wasn’t the person she thought she was. It would take her a long time to understand who she was and what she had become.

Down the quay, the Prince stopped and looked back at her. She stood in the same place on theDiamantina’sbobbing deck. Their eyes met somewhere in the middle. Then he turned around and walked back to her. “What are you still doing here?”

“I told you. I want to watch you out of sight. You’re not out of sight yet.”

He considered her for a moment. “Do you have an airline ticket for the States?”

“Not yet. I’ll buy one at the airport.”

He jerked his head down the quay. “Come with me to my hotel room.”

“What?”

“Come with me to my hotel room for the night, maybe even for a day or two. Then you can go to the airport.”

“Sir? You don’t really mean that. I’m sure your maitre d’ at the hotel can get you a new woman who will serve you just as well.”

“I told you, Veronica. I don’t want another woman. I want you, and I’m not finished with you yet. You said you enjoyed serving me. You only said you were finished serving me because our time on theDiamantinacame to an end. I’m giving you the chance to continue serving me, at least for a little while.”

She mumbled under her breath. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on Your Majesty’s hospitality.”

“Believe me, Veronica, I wouldn’t invite you to my hotel room if I didn’t enjoy your service, too. I want you to continue, at least for a few days, maybe longer if everything works out. Who knows? You’ll never know if you don’t come with me now.”

She raised her eyes to his face. “You’re serious about this.”

“I was never more serious in my life. I’ve enjoyed the last few days immensely. I especially enjoyed last night. I thought we connected in a way we hadn’t before. To tell you the truth, I haven’t connected with anyone that way before.”

Her eyes widened. “You haven’t? I thought you had a woman in every port.”

“I do. That’s probably why I haven’t connected with any of them. I didn’t know I could until I met you. I never really wanted to hold someone and kiss someone, but last night, it justsortof happened spontaneously, without either of us trying. I didn’t want to smack you around or bang you. I just wanted to hold you and look at you and be with you. Did you feel that way, too?”

She swallowed hard, but a lump stuck in her throat. “Yes, sir.”

He glanced down at her quivering lips. His husky voice grated in his throat. “You don’t know how impossibly sexy it is to hear you say ‘yes, sir,’ to me all the time. I hear that so much, but it never meant anything until you said it. It’s hard for you to say, isn’t it?”

“It’s hard for me to say it to you. You make it hard.”

“That’s what makes is so sexy. I want to keep hearing you say it. I want to do things to you to make you say it. I want to see you on your knees while you say it.”

She gazed up into his eyes. “Yes, sir. Please, sir.”

He grabbed her by the back of the neck and yanked her mouth against his lips. Then he flung her away. The next instant, he wiped the kiss off his mouth with the back of his hand. “Come with me to my hotel, Veronica. That’s an order.”

“Yes, sir.” Her heart soared, but somewhere tangled up in the excitement of a new adventure, a gnawing worm of fear and doubt twisted her guts into knots. Her pussy yawned open, and her nectar dripped out.

What would become of her now? Would she throw away any hope of a future, and for what? To serve him and his twisted whims? She couldn’t change her mind now. She made her decision and she gave her word. She would go with him.

He turned and walked away, down the quay. Veronica followed with her wheeled suitcase. She followed him out to the street, where a limo waited with the motor running. She didn’t see the Prince anywhere. The driver got out and opened the door for her. Before she could say anything, he took her suitcase out of her hand and put it into the trunk.

The door stood open, and the motor purred. The driver came back and stood behind the door. She could see nothing inside but black leather seats. He was in there. The Prince—her prince—waited for her inside that limo. What would become of her after she got inside? She still had time to walk away and go straight to the airport.

That open door implied his wishes. She still obeyed him in all things. She was still his to command. She slid into the seat. The driver closed the door and drove away.

***

THE END

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CEO’s Christmas Party

Chapter 1

Ruby Dunroy swept into the dining hall at Mackenzie Castle for the Archer Enterprises annual Christmas party. She cast her eyes around the room and waved to her friend Clarice across the buffet table. Ruby squeezed her boyfriend Tom's arm and took a deep breath. “This is it.”

Tom pressed her hand tighter. “You look magnificent, sweetheart. You'll really knock 'em out with that gown.”

The robin's-egg blue satin shimmered against Ruby's skin. It set off her curves at accentuated her full bust. It surrounded her in an envelope of heady confidence she never experienced in her business suit. Just for one night out of the year, she could be a royal princess. Every eye gravitated toward her in stunned awe.

Well, not really, but at least Clarice noticed. Tom unfolded her hand from his elbow and steered her into the room. “You go ahead and talk to your friends. Just don't forget I have to leave by ten-thirty.”

“Don't worry. I won't make you late.”

He kissed her knuckles, and Ruby glided across the floor into the sea of voices. Chandeliers shone overhead, and delicate harp music lilted amidst the murmured conversation. Clusters of friends and coworkers mingled here and there.

Ruby took a glass of champagne from the tuxedoed waiter's tray. She hurried over to Clarice, and the two young women gave each other a quick hug. Clarice held her at arm's length. “You look amazing! Where did you find that gown?”

Ruby twirled in a circle and ended with a curtsy. “You won't believe it. I found it at a second-hand store. Isn't it delicious? I've been hiding it in my closet since March.”

“It matches your eyes perfectly. I feel so underdressed standing next to you.”

Ruby surveyed Clarice's white chiffon. “You look great, too. You look like an angel on top of the tree.”

Clarice smacked her lips. “Oh, perfect. Just what I need—a sharp stick up my ass.”

Ruby dissolved in giggles. “Who else is here from the HR department?”

Clarice waved her hand toward the room. “Angela Donaldson and Christa Murchison are cruising the bathrooms in search of the perfect eye shadow, and Marsha Barkley and Caroline Sotherby are camped out over by the punch bowl plotting to take over the world.”

Ruby scanned the party with a critical eye. “And I see Charlie Montgomery from the Engineering department hitting on RitaPomperoyas usual. I guess some things never change.”

Clarice turned back to the buffet table. “Forget about them. We're here to have a good time, and I see you hitting the champagne early. That's good. Have some of this crab dip. It's scrumptious.”

“I'm not hungry, and I better tell you I have to leave by ten-thirty.”

Clarice gasped. “What for? That's not even two hours. That doesn't give usany timeat all to get into trouble.”

“I know, but Tom has to work tonight, so whatever drunken mischief you have planned, we better get started now.”

Clarice threw up her hands. “You are such akilljoy. Come on. I want to find Peter Roslin from accounting. I've had my eye on him for months, and tonight's the night.”

“You don't need me for that. You better....” The words died on Ruby's lips and she stared across the hall toward the entrance.

Clarice followed her gaze to see what made her stop talking, and a sudden intake of air hissed through her teeth.

The double doors swung open, and a crowd of people flooded into the room. One tall man in a crisp black tuxedo strode through the doors. His bright black eyes scanned the party and he laughed over his shoulder at something someone said behind him.

A dozen magnificent women surrounded him on all sides. Two hung on his arms, a cluster hovered in front of him and hurried through the doors to get out of his way. Another bunch of glittering admirers followed. Laughter and excited voices clouded around the man. He barreled into the room and headed straight for the bar. In two seconds, he seated himself on a stool and shouted orders to the bartender. The women fluttered around him like sequined butterflies.

Ruby looked him up and down. His sturdy shoulders filled out his suit, and his muscular biceps stretched the sleeves when he put his arm around one of the women. Salt and pepper tinged the hair around his temples, but his dark eyes shone with magnetic fire.Another womanleaned close to whisper something in his ear. He circled her waist with one powerful arm and kissed her on the lips before returning to the flurry of conversation firing all around him.

Drinks, laughter, and excitement created a halo of energy all around him. His eyes danced around the hall. Every face turned toward his irresistible center. His eye touched Ruby before one of his admirers stepped between them to block his view.

Clarice growled in Ruby's ear. “Oh, great. Just what we need to spoil the party.”

Ruby snapped out of her trance. “You didn't really expect him to stay away from his own party, did you? He's the CEO.”

Clarice waved her hand up and down. “Yeah, but look at him. Why does he have to flaunt his slutty girlfriends in front of the whole company?”

Ruby would give anything to turn away in righteous disapproval, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the scene. “They're hardly sluts. Look, there's Priscilla Connor. She's Archer Enterprises' wealthiest client, and she's married.”

“Then what's she doing sticking her tongue in his ear? I guess you're gonna tell me next that's her way of renegotiating her contract.” Clarice ended with a snort of laughter.

That made Ruby turn away at last. “You can think what you want about Chad Archer, but he knows how to run a business. He's built this company up to multi-billion dollar profits. He didn't do that by playing it safe. If he can't flaunt his success, what's the point?”

Clarice grumbled something aboutpropriety,like she ever cared about that. She towed Ruby away from the buffet table at last, and they wandered in the direction of the punch. Clarice found her friend Tanya from accounting who told her all about Peter Roslin's activities, but that prize of mathematical wizardry never showed up in person.

While Clarice and Tanya gabbed about people they knew, Ruby shifted from foot to foot. She looked around the dining hall, but she refused to looktowardthe bar again. She didn't want to see Chad Archer and his entourage. She couldn't get the image of Priscilla Connor sticking her tongue into his ear out of her head. His lips dragged across his admirer's mouth when they kissed, and his meaty hand caressed around her hips when she turned away.

Why did Chad Archer have to be so infuriating?Couldn't hemake a subdued entrance like any billionaire CEO? He had to show off his conquests, especially to his staff.

Ruby kicked herself for even thinking about him. Ofcourse,he would never take any notice of a lowly HR assistant like her. Still, she couldn't stop herself getting sucked into the dynamic tumult of excitement and energy surrounding him. He carried this thrilling charge wherever he went.

If he walked into HR, even without dozens of beautifulbillionairesseshanging on his arms, he sent the place into a whirlwind of excitement. Evendowagermanagers like Marsha Barkley and Caroline Sotherby rushed to his side and batted their eyelashes at him. They talked faster and raced around to fulfillhiseverwhim.

Clarice pretended to hate him, too, but Ruby knew lots of people in the company who worshiped the ground Chad Archer walked on. Even men caved under his dominating authority and admired him. No one could resist his attraction. His success, his confidence, his sheer audacity made everyone respect him and want to be like him.

Clarice laid a hand on Ruby's arm. “We're going to listen to the harp. Do you want to come?”

Ruby shrugged. “You go ahead. I think I need another drink.”

She didn't really need another drink. She hadn't touched her first, but what kind of Christmas party could this turn out to be when the best entertainment they could find was listening to a harp? She could listen to it very well from where she was.

She turned the other way and spotted Tom chatting to the engineers. He smiled and waved to her. At least she could leave with him in a few hours. She wouldn't get trapped here watching drunken women sob into their mascara when their crushes went home with somebody else. She wouldn't finish the evening holding Clarice's hair while she vomited in the bathroom. Ruby did that before at bygone Christmas parties. She thanked heaven for Tom now.

Just then, a shout went up behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see Chad Archer on his feet. He pointed across the bar and snapped his fingers at someone. He shouted orders before putting his arms around two butterflies and parading out of the room. Wonderful. Now Ruby wouldn't have to avoid looking at him.

She slipped her hands down the slippery sides of her gown. She didn't have one pocket, so she had to leave her phone at home. She didn't see a clock anywhere in the dining hall. What time was it? How long until she could make a polite escape?

Every year, she told herself she wouldn't bother with this party. Every year, she got caught up in the rapture of planning, finding herself the most spectacular dress in the world, and making her fairy tale entrance. Once she got here, she detested it until she left. Every year followed the same pattern. Why did she think this year would be different?

She had nothing left to do but join Clarice and her friends near the harp. Instead of listening to it, the HR and accounting girls bantered about which guys in the company they liked. They compared notes on which ones who had done it with and what their friends reported about the guys' performance.

Ruby cringed. She must be the only woman in the building with a steady boyfriend. “And then I told him,” Clarice was saying, “if he wanted to spank something, he could take out his monkey and spank that.”

Explosions of laughter drowned out the music. Gusts of racket shot back and forth, but no one made any attempt to include Ruby in the conversation. She had no exploits to impart, and everybody knew it. In spite of her Cinderella ball gown, she was a dump, a frump, a lump. That's all she would ever be.

She pried herself away from that nexus of enlightenment and strode across the room to Tom. She threaded her arm through his elbow and squeezed. At least she had this. His comforting presence protected her from all the buzz andflusterall around her.

Tom talked to Harvey Benton, the senior engineer. They got into a detailed discussion about hydraulics. Ruby didn't understand a word they said. She held onto Tom's arm and studied the outfits of the people around her. She gratified herself none of them wore a gown as stunning as hers. She was the belle of the ball after all, even if she wasn't a raging sex machine.

She made up her mind to interrupt themechanic'slesson. She squeezed Tom's arm again and whispered up to him. “Let's get out of here. I want to go.”

Tom nodded and finished what he was saying before he turned to Ruby. “I just want to go to the john first. I'll meet you at the front door.”

Ruby didn't let go of his arm. “That's okay. I'll come with you. I need to go, too.”

He escorted her through the hall, but they didn't get to the bathrooms without getting roped into another three conversations. The talk went dragged on. Minutes ticked by. Ruby itched to leave, but she put on a polite face. She smiled and talked to those people who stopped her.

At long last, they broke through the other end of the hall to the lobby. Tom ducked into the men's bathroom, while Ruby went into the women's. She didn't really need to go. She just wanted to get out of the dining hall for a minute. The oppressive pressure to socialize with every single solitary person stifled the air out of her lungs.

She splashed water on her face and patted it dry with a towel. She put in her appearance. She made her impression with her glorious gown. Now she could leave. She waited in the lobby until Tom came out.

He took her hand, but instead of leading her back toward the entrance, he looked right and left and steered her the opposite way to the emergency exit. Ruby cried out, “Hey! What are you doing?” but he swallowed the words with his lips covering her mouth.

He pushed her back against the wall and his weight sank on top of her. Champagne tingled on his breath when he exhaled into her nostrils. She collapsed back against the wall and let him kiss her. She closed her eyes and relaxed into his kiss. As soon as he finished, they could leave.

His tongue poked through her lips and touched hers. His pungent saliva woke hersleepingsoul. She looped her arms around his neck and hummed into his mouth. She could shelter in him. He always made her happy and contented. In three years together, he never let her down.

She fingered his hair, and the fuzzy pleasure of his kiss shimmered all up and down her body. The champagne worked on her mind to make her melt under him. His warm hands slid over her hips to her thighs and back up to her sides. He traced around her waist with his thumbs to tickle her sides.

Her body tensed under his touch. Sweet bliss twitched between her legs, and her thighs glided against each other under her gown. The smooth, cool satin excited her tender spots to make her juicy and pliant for his touch.

His hands crept higher, over her ribs to her breasts. He squeezed her chest and dug his hips into her pelvis. He breathed low into her ears. “Come on, baby. You know you drive me nuts.”

Her breasts heaved into his hands. Her body responded in a haze of alcohol and excitement. She rose on tiptoes to meet him, and his weight crushed the breath from her nostrils. She squeaked in tense anticipation.

His hands raked down her belly to her hips. They surrounded her waist and down her back to her ass. He lifted her two cheeks in his big hands to pull her off her feet. “Yeah, baby. You know you love me.”

She gasped out loud. “I love you.”

He ground his bulging crotch into her saturated mound. “Is this what you want, baby? Is this what you want me to do to you?”

She glowed all over in arousal. Her crotch ached for it, and she rode down hard on that nagging spike. He towed her toward him with both hands around her ass. He rubbed her up and down on his prick to drive her wild.

At that moment, a gaggle of voices echoed through the lobby. Footsteps tripped over the tiles. Before she could tear herself out of his arms, a mob of party-goers came around the corner heading for the stairs.

Ruby couldn't move fast enough to get Tom's weight off her in time. The mob ground to a halt right in front of them, and Ruby found herself staring straight into Chad Archer's wide eyes. He ran his gaze down to Tom's hands around her ass and Tom's cock jabbed between her legs. His eyes crept back up to Ruby's heaving cleavage pressed against Tom's dinner jacket. He saw it all in one glance.

Chapter 2

The women hanging off Chad's arms tittered into his ears and to each other. A twitter of giggles rippled through the women behind him. Ruby let her feet fall to the floor and pried herself out of Tom's hands. She smoothed her gown and passed her hand over her hair.

Tom straightened up and shrugged his jacket back into place. He took Ruby's hand, and they faced the crowd side by side. Through it all, Chad never took his eyes off the pair. He measured everything they did with his exacting gaze.

When the couple finally got themselves straightened out, another giggle went through Chad's entourage, but he never smiled. A moment later, the rapid-fire conversation broke out all over again, and his admirers whisked Chad away. The stairwell door slammed, and silence descended.

Tom let out a shaky breath. “All right. Let's get out of here. We can make out after I get home from work.”

Ruby shuddered. “I'm really sorry about this, Tom. Ishould neverhave....”

“Don't apologize. This is my fault for feeling you up in a public lobby. Come on. It's almost tenanyway.”

They reentered the dining hall and made for the door when another crowd of guests blocked the entrance. Tom and Ruby hung back to wait for an opening, but while they waited, Tom met a friend of his from work and started talking again.

Ruby listened for a little while, just long enough to find out the man was Eileen McFadden's date. In half a second, the two men became embroiled in a heated discussion on everything related to their jobs. They coveredpersonnelpolitics, the pay scale changes, and even the formatting of the new time sheets.

Ruby shifted from one foot to the other. This gown was starting to get uncomfortable, she had no one to talk to. She hated these office parties. If only she could curl up on the couch in herpajamas, waiting for Tom to get home, she would make herself a cup of cocoa and watch some late-night movies on TV.

She waited, but the conversation kept going with no end in sight. She just worked up her courage to interrupt for the second time when Clarice and her friends raced over from somewhere. Clarice grabbed Ruby's arm and dragged her away from Tom. “Come on, Ruby. We're all going up to the roof.”

Ruby stumbled after her. “The roof! Why?”

Clarice hustled her toward the stairs. “They're saying there's a jacuzzi up there. Everybody's going. Come on.”

“But none of us has a suit!”

No one listened. People glutted the stairs and shoved upward. Ruby got caught in the stampede. She barely had to move her legs. The crowd hustled her along until it spilled out a door into the sparkling frosty night.

Clouds of steam blocked Ruby from seeing anything on the roof, let alone a jacuzzi. She already knew she wasn't going in. She had nothing to wear, and once she took this gown off, she wouldn't put it back on. It took her half an hour to get the zipper up when she poured herself into it just an hour before.

No one seemed to think of that. Voices shouted all around her, and the crowd rushed forward into the night. The steam vaporized to reveal a star-studded sky. The city lights lay scattered far below. The steam and the dark combined to envelope the scene in silent mystery.

The excited crowd caught the sense of magical anticipation. Their laughter and cries subsided into tense whispers. “Where is it?”

“I can't see anything.”

“Are you sure it's here?”

“It's freezing out here. I'm not taking my clothes off out here.”

“I'm going back down.”

“Shh!”

“Where are you?”

“Hold my hand.”

“It must befurtheralong. I'm going that way.”

A bunch of people shoved into Ruby from behind. She stumbled forward a few steps and emerged from the steam into an open terrace overlooking the city. A wire studded with pendulous lamps dangled from a trellis to illuminate that part of the roof.

More steam rose from a pool of hot water under the arbor. It wafted around the lamps and drifted away to outline the scene with a fuzzy border. When she glanced back toward the door through which she just came through, Ruby could see no trace of the building, the stairwell, or anything else. She could have been dropped from space into a dream world.

The steam boiled out of a jacuzzi full of people, but Ruby only needed one glance to see everyone in thatJacuzziwas female—all but one. The same women from downstairs surrounded Chad Archer. More women wearing nothing but their bare skin slipped into the water to join the group. They sipped champagne from crystal flutes and murmured to each other in low voices.

Chad Archer sat with his back to the jacuzzi wall, but he didn't sip champagne or murmur to anyone. A woman sat straddled on his lap facing him, and her bare breasts hung in his face. She laid both hands on his shoulders and rocked back and forth to make the water splash over the concrete rim.

Ruby stared at the scene in shocked horror. Never in her life had she even imagined a scene like this, much less seen one with her own eyes. Chad lifted his face to kiss the woman on the lips. Their lips lingered in a languorous kiss, and their tongues lashed back and forth between their locked lips.

In front of Ruby's eyes, he broke away and dropped his face between the woman's cleavage. His hands broke the water's surface to cup her breasts into his mouth. The woman's head lolled back, and her lips parted to let out a ragged moan. The other women in the jacuzzi murmured encouragement to the couple, and the woman on Chad's lap rocked faster and harder. Her cries rose into the night.

People all around Ruby whisked here and there. Whispered exclamations touched her ear, but she couldn't make them out. Some people hurried back down into the stairwell. Tanya came forward, slithered out of her party dress, and slipped into the water with the others.

Ruby couldn't move. She couldn't think. She could only stare at this...this horror. What in God's name was going on here? She didn't have to ask. She could see perfectly well what was going on. They were doing it in the jacuzzi. The past two hours played out in front of her eyes. They must have come up with the idea of taking a midnight soak. Priscilla Connor must have whispered that into Chad's ear at the bar and sealed it with her tongue.

All these people walked in on her and Tom making out in the lobby. They were on their way up here to get it on in the starlight. Word spread, and now everyone rushed up here to join the fun. Ruby's stomach turned, but she couldn't stop her body reacting to the sight. That woman sat on Chad's naked lap. She undulated in open lust. She was doing it with him right now, in sight of everyone.

Ruby wanted to revolt in horror, but in her secret heart of hearts, she couldn't stop the excited pleasure titillating her all over again. Tom's hands, Tom's lips and tongue, Tom's hard-on between her legs—it all came together at this moment.

She felt his hands around her bare breasts. His lips sucked her nipples. His rock-hard manhood plowed into her from below. Her hips swayed to meet it in glorious, life-giving pumps.

Dear God, what was she thinking! She burst out of her reverie and raced back to the stairwell. What was she doing up here? She had to find Tom and get the devil out of here. What kind of pervert screwed multiple women in a hot tub on the Mackenzie Castle roof? What kind of wicked sluts would get naked and line up to take their turns with him? What came over her, that she stood there with her mouth open and fantasized about him doing it to her?

She didn't fantasize about him doing it to her. She fantasized about Tom doing it to her. Him? Never! He was a prick. He was a playboy and a charlatan and a womanizer and a toad. She would never look sideways at him, much less fantasize about him. She hated him. He was everything she hated in a man. He had no respect for women. He had no idea what real love could be. All he cared about was sex.

She dashed down the stairs. One thought dominated her mind: Tom. He would save her from this abomination. He would wash her clean and replace those terrible images haunting her mind. She would put himself into them so she could think about giving herself to him insteadof...

She wouldn't think about it. She wouldn't think about it. She wouldn't think about it. It never happened. It didn't exist. Chad Archer didn't exist. That jacuzzi never existed. No naked women dipped in and out of that pool in notorious arousal.

She hit the lobby and started searching every face for Tom. He must be here somewhere. She burst into the dining hall. She hurried from one cluster of people to the next. She found Clarice in up to her neck with Peter Roslin. “Have you seen Tom anywhere?”

Clarice didn't even look at her. “Haven't seen him. Sorry.”

Clarice went back to flirting with Peter. Ruby tripped on. Her gown slowed her down. She couldn't walk as fast as she wanted to, and most people at this party had no idea who Tom was. She finally found Eileen MacFadden's date. “Have you seen Tom?”

“He saidgoodbye. I think he left.”

Ruby gasped out loud. “He left! How could he leave? I don't have a ride home.”

She raced on through the crowd in search of Tom. He couldn't have left, not after they agreed to meet at ten-thirty and leave together. She cursed herself for every going up to the roof. She came to the bar and flagged the bartender. “Hey, what time is it?”

He checked his watch. “Eleven-fifteen.”

Ruby let out a stifled curse. Curse this Christmas party and curse the freakin' jacuzzi and curse Chad Archer most of all! How long was she up on that roof? Tom must have waited as long as he could, but when she didn't come down, he had no choice but to leave without her. He couldn't be late for work.

She blasted through the entrance doors and raced into the night, but it was no use. More cars and limos pulled up in front of the castle. More people got out and bustled inside. None of them was Tom, and he wasn't coming back anytime soon. She paced back and forth in front of the curb. She kicked herself. She cursed herself and everyone else. She swore she'd never let herself in for this again as long as she lived.

While she fumed and ranted under her breath, a valet came over between open the car doors. “Is anything wrong?”

“Wrong? What could be wrong? It's just my date left without me and I have no way to get home.”

The skinny boy smiled at her. “I'll take you home. I get off at two.”

Ruby snorted. “Thanks a lot. I'd rather walk.”

Just then, Clarice came out. She hugged her armsoverher chest and rubbed them with her hands to get warm. “What's going on, Ruby? Did you find Tom?”

Ruby rounded on her with her hands balled into fists. “No, I didn't, and thank you so much for dragging me up to that den of vipers on the roof. While I was up there, Tom left without me. Now I have no ride home.”

Clarice shrugged. “That's no problem. I'll take you home.”

Ruby threw up her hands. “That's just great. So I get to stand around and watch you stick your tits in Peter Roslin's face, and when he dumps you, you wind up sobbing and puking in the bathroom. That sounds like the most fantastic evening imaginable.”

Clarice frowned. “You don't have to get nasty about it. It's not my fault you missed your rendezvous with Tom and got ditched. You should have been watching the clock.”

Ruby wrung her hands. “I'm sorry. It's just this is the worst Christmas party ever. I wanted to leave, and we were on our way out the door when Tom got distracted by someone, and then I went up to the roof, and now he's gone. I didn't mean to lash out at you. I'm just so upset right now, I don't know what to do.”

Clarice touched her arm. “Come on back inside. I'll be ready to leave soon, but it's too cold to stand around out here whining about it.”

Ruby didn't turn around. “You go ahead. I'll be there in a second.”

Chapter 3

Clarice disappeared, and Ruby hung around the curb with her shivering arms clutched across her stomach. She never felt so miserable in her life. She could almost welcome the vicious chill cutting straight through her gown. She couldn't ask for a better punishment for being so all-fired stupid as to miss going home with Tom when she had the chance.

She couldn't spend the rest of the night out here, though. She would do just about anything to avoid going backintothat party, but the cold numbed her nose and ears. Her lips trembled until she could barely sniff. She had to go back inside, but she tarried longer and longer in the blessed silence.

She made up her mind to go face the music when the door opened behind her and laughing voices emerged behind her. A couple locked in a tight embrace came up next to her, and the man handed the valet his ticket. Ruby glanced over, but she turned away in a hurry when she saw Chad Archer with Priscilla Connor draped over one arm. Priscilla whispered into his ear, and they laughed again.

The couple fell silent, and Ruby heard them kissing. Their lips made a subtle smacking sound that went on and on in the frosty night. Priscilla sighed, and when the couple separated, she giggled.

Ruby kept her head turned. What was she doing out here in the freezing cold, listening to these two making out at the valet station? Didn't she have anything better to do with her life than this? She hated herself for rubber-necking, even if she only did it with her ears. She might as well be staring straight at them.

All at once, a man's voice snapped her out of her stupor. “Are you okay?”

She whipped around to find the couple regarding her with amused smiles. Ruby lowered her eyes to the pavement. “I'm fine, thanks.”

“Are you waiting for somebody?”

Ruby shrugged, but she didn't look up. She couldn't look at those two, so warm in their intimate embrace. “No, I'm not waiting for somebody. I missed my ride home. I'm just putting off going back inside.”

Priscilla put out her hand to Ruby “You should go inside, dear. It's freezing out here, and I don't think that gown is doing you any favors.” She burst out laughing and turned to Chad to share the joke.

Chad smiled at Priscilla and went back to studying Ruby. “If you don't have a ride home, I can call you a taxi.”

Ruby shifted from one foot to the other. Her teeth chattered, and her lips wouldn't move right from the cold. “Oh, I have another ride. My friend is inside. She'll take me home as soon as she finished flirting with her latest flame. I just didn't want to go back inside yet.”

“She's probably in there getting drunk.” Priscilla brayed with laughter.

Ruby turned away toward the curb. Another limo of party-goers pulled up and flooded around her. “I'm sure she is.”

A long silence followed the new arrivals into the castle. Priscilla paid no more attention to Ruby, but Chad stood still and watched her shiver. After a while, he patted Priscilla on the arm. “Would you go back inside, baby? It's too cold to wait out here. I'll come and get you when the limo comes.”

Priscilla whispered something to him, and her high heels tapped across the paving stones into the hall. Ruby hugged her arms and waited for Chad to leave, too. He surprised her by coming over to her side. “I really think I better get you a ride home. You don't want to be here, and I can't have you freeze to death out here. Come on. I'll send you home in my limo.”

Ruby didn't look at him. “That's all right. Thanks anyway.”

“Really. Let me give you a ride home right now. You don't have to stay here if you don't want to.”

Ruby snorted. “I'm not going home with you. That's for certain.”

He chuckled. “Touche. I don't think we've met. I'm Chad.”

Ruby snapped over her shoulder, “I know who you are.”

He stiffened, and his voice dropped to a menacing growl. “And I know who you are, too. You're Ruby Dunroy from HR, aren't you?”

Her head whipped around, and she found herself staring up into his firm, chiseled face. “How do you....?”

“I know everyone in my company by name and sight. How do you think I got where I am now? I never forget a face, and I approve every hire in my company, even when I don't take part in theactualinterview process. I know who you are, and I know every page of your employment record.”

Ruby couldn't take her eyes off his face. “I'm sorry, Mr. Archer. I should remember my manners. Thank you for the offer of a ride home, but I'll go with my friend. Please don't take offense.”

Just then, a black stretch limousine pulled up to the curb. The driver got out and opened the door to Chad. Chad waved toward it. “Look. Here's the limo. Get in. I can have you home in two seconds.”

Ruby hesitated. “Aren't you going somewhere with Mrs. Connor?”

His mouth cracked open in a toothy grin. “I think you mean she was going somewhere with me. Come on. You can't stand out here in the cold any longer. Get in. The heater's on.”

Ruby raised her eyes to his face. His last words didn't encourage or cheer her. They snapped with the crisp, short syllables of an order he expected her to carry out. She hung back. “I think I better not. It wouldn't be right.”

“Would you feel better going home alone? I can stay here with Priscilla while the limo takes you home. How about that?”

Ruby's mind spun. What in the SamHillwas going on here? She couldn't ride home in this limo. “You don't have to do that.”

“Get in, Ruby. You're lips are turning blue, and you're not making any sense. I never let one of my stafffreezeto death at a Christmas party yet, and I'm not about to start now.”

He took hold of the door and held it open. He waved his other hand into the opening. Cream leather seats gleamed inside and invited Ruby into their sheltering comfort. All she had to do was ride home. What could be the harm in that?

She cast one last glance up at his face. He waited with that casual smile touching his lips. He didn't care if he stood out here all night waiting for her to make up her mind. Did she really want to wait however many hours Clarice would take to be ready to leave? She'd made that mistake before and lived to regret it. She should jump at this chance while it lasted.

With a last ditch effort, she overcame her reluctance and strode to the curb. Chad smiled broader, and she ducked into the welcoming envelope of heat and soft leather. She slid into the seat, and Chad slid in behind her. The door slammed shutonthe cold, the party, Clarice, and everything else outside.

Ruby smoothed down her gown and looked around her.Softoverhead light illuminated the compartment. A tinted window separated them from the driver. The limo glided away from the curb, and the castle fell away into the dark.

Chad shifted in his seat to arrange his jacket around his barrel chest. He peered out the window. Ruby folded her hands in her lap. She just had to get through the next few minutes. Then she could relax.

Chad touched a button in the door, and a panel popped open near his knee. Glasses and bottles gleamed inside. “Can I offer you anything to drink?”

Ruby held up her hand. “Thanks. I've had enough for one night.”

He grinned and shut the panel. “A wise move. How did you like the party?”

Ruby fidgeted. “It was fine right up until I missed my ride home.” She cast a glance at him. “You seemed to enjoy yourself.”

“Yes, I did. I always enjoy myself. If you don't mind my asking, why did you miss your ride home?”

Ruby blushed to her ears. “I...I got distracted.”

He fixed his brilliant eyes on her. “I saw how you got distracted with that boyfriend of yours in the lobby. Was he the one who was supposed to take you home? Did he leave with someone else, or what?”

The memory of Chad breaking in on her make-out session with Tom popped into her mind. Chad examined her with that same curious expression right now. He studied her under a magnifying glass. He could see straight through her gown to the squishy hot tissues between her legs. His eyes caressed her breasts and ass the way Tom's hands caressed her. He lit her fire all over again, and he knew it.

Ruby swallowed hard. “He didn't leave with someone else. He had to go to work at ten-thirty. I...I got roped into going up to the roof with my friend andI...I guess I took too long up there.”

Chad's eyebrows went up. “The roof? I didn't see you up there. I thought I saw....” He stopped.

“I wasn't....youknow...I just went up for a second, or at least I thought I did. I didn't do anything, I just...you know....watched.”

His eyes drilled straight through her. “I see.”

Ruby squirmed in her seat. How long did this disaster of a conversation have to go on? He looked out the window for a while longer before he murmured to himself. “I guess you didn't see anything you haven't done yourself. From what I saw, you and your boyfriend probably do it all the time.”

Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “I have never done anything like that with Tom.”

He spun around to face her. “You haven't?”

She turned away so he wouldn't see her burning cheeks. “No, I haven't.”

“Well, why not? You two seemed pretty close to me, and here you are talking about going home with him.”

“We are close. I mean, we've been together for three years.”

“And you live together? So why haven't you done it?”

She waved her hand in agitation. “We're getting married in March. I'm a virgin, and I don't want to do it before we get married.”

He frowned and looked her up and down. His exacting gaze measured every inch of her inside her gown. “Oh.”

She kept her face turned toward the window. She couldn't look at him. Her cheeks and neck burned. No one ever made her this uncomfortable talking about her personal life. No one gave her any static about being a virgin. Chad Archer never gave her any static about it, either. He never said anything. He just sat there in silence and stared out his own window.

His very presence accused her, though. He did it with anything that came within his reach, and that was a lot. He never held back. He must be exactly opposite from everything she valued and held dear. He followed his own rules. If some floozy wanted to jump him in a hot tub, he gave her her own way and did it with her. He enjoyed himself, all the time, everywhere.

Chapter 4

His voice purred out of the darkness. “You make out with this Tom of yours, though, don't you? Does he turn you on?”

“Of course he turns me on. I wouldn't be marrying him if he didn't.”

Chad turned his languid eyes toward her. “What have you two been doing together in the last three years? You must be satisfying each other, that he doesn't get bored and go out and find somebody else.”

Ruby's temper flared. “Does it surprise you so much that a guy could love a girl enough to hold off doing it with her until they got married?”

“It doesn't surprise me. I respect you for that. I'm just saying. You've been living together for three years. I guess you sleep together, and you certainly make out. What do you do together, to satisfy each other?”

“I'm not going to tell you that. That's none of your business. You might be my boss and everything, but I don't have to give you all the gory detailsofmy life with Tom.”

“You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm not asking as your boss. I'm just curious how two people express their affection for each other and sleep in the same bed together for threeyearswithout having sex.”

She softened. What was she getting so worked up about? They were just talking. As long as she kept her cool, he would never know how much this conversation excited her. Here she was, riding in a luxury limo through the frosty winter's night. She was talking to one of the most powerful business moguls in the country about her most intimate sexual experiences. A jolt of adrenaline burned through her guts and thrilled her darkest desires.

“I guess we have a different kind of sex,” she explained. “We do just about everything except penetration.”

“Does he go down on you?”

“Yes, and I go down on him.”

“Does he get you off?”

Her voice cracked, and the word came out as a broken whisper. “Yes.”

“Does he use his fingers inside you?”

“Yes.”

His voice caressed her all over until her skin tingled. Her nipples tightened inside her gown. Could he see them from across the seat? “What else?”

“I sit on his leg and I ride his fingers.”

His eyes flicked down her body and back up to her face. His fierce gaze stabbed through her insides. “Does that turn you on? Does that get you hot and wet?”

“Yes.”

He lowered his voice to a rumble in his deep chest. “Are you turned on right now?”

Her lips pouted open. “Yes.”

“Would you like me to touch you right now? Would you like me to finger you right now?”

She snapped alert. “Oh, I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that to Tom. I'll just go home and I won't bother you again.”

“You saw that woman sitting on my lap in theJacuzzi, didn't you? Is that the sort of thing you'd like to do with Tom? Do you fantasize about riding his cock like that?”

Ruby floundered in confusion. Talking about this made her blood boil. She didn't know how to answer him. She ought to cut this conversation short right now, but she couldn't stop herself. “Yes. I think about it all the time, but I can't do it.”

“Did seeing me like thatmakeyou want to do it? Did you think about what it would be like to sit on my lap like that?”

“Yes...I mean, I thought aboutTom...Imean...I don't know what I thought.”

He didn't smile now. “Do you want to sit on my lap now, Ruby?”

“Yes...Imean...I don'tknow...I mean, I should get home.”

“If you're turned on right now, you should satisfy yourself. You could touch yourself and I could watch. That wouldn't be going against Tom, would it?”

She passed her hand over her burning forehead. How did this conversation turn into this? “I couldn't do that. You're my boss.”

He shrugged and turned back to the window. “That's okay. You don't have to. I just thought you might want to, for your own pleasure.”

She opened her mouth and closed it with a click. “I couldn't.”

“Oh, you definitely could. Nothing's stopping you but your own inhibitions.”

“You don't want to see that. That's nasty.”

He glanced at her. “It's not nasty, and I definitely would want to see it, but only if you really want to. I would only want to see it if you enjoy it. I don't want to make you uncomfortable.”

“What do you want to see that for? That would be disgusting. I mean, you can have anybody you want. You don't want to sit there and watch me being nasty.”

“It's not disgusting, Ruby. Don't you think you're a beautiful woman? Don't you think your sexuality and your pleasure and your orgasm are beautiful to men? Why do you think Tom keeps sticking around?”

“If he found out I did that, he would....”

“What would he do? Would he leave you?”

“Well, I don't know what he would do, but I guess he would definitely leave me if I gave my virginity to another man.”

“We're not talking about you giving your virginity to another man. We're talking about you touching yourself, giving yourself pleasure. Why shouldn't you do that wherever you want, even if it means someone else seeing you?”

The blood rushed to her head. She couldn't think. “I couldn't do that.”

“You have to stop saying that. You could. Lots of women do it, and they enjoy it. The men watching them enjoy it just as much. It's not disgusting or nasty. It's beautiful.” He snorted out a broken laugh. “Believe me.”

“So do you watch them do it?”

“I watch them do that and a lot more. If two people want to take pleasure in each other's bodies, why shouldn't they? As long as no one else gets hurt, it's the most beautiful thing in the world.”

“Well, Tom would get hurt if I did it with you...I mean, toyou...You know what I mean.”

“You're not married to Tom yet. You're not wearing an engagement ring. If you want to do it, you should.”

“I don't want to touch myself while you watch. That's for certain.”

“You said you wanted to sit on my lap. You said you wanted me to touch you. You said watching me and me seeing you with Tom turned you on. The only thing you said against it is you can't. You definitely can if you want to. Nothing's stopping you. It's not like you'll take some nasty disease home to pass on to Tom. He won't get hurt. You just have to accept someone giving you what you really want, what will really give you pleasure.”

She shook her head, but she couldn't clear her thoughts. “I can't.”

He let another torturous silence pass without a word. All of a sudden, he jumped off his seat and scooted over next to her on the seat. He surprised her so much sheleaptaside to get away from him.

He took his place on the seat at her side. His presence loomed huge and dark next to her. His head rose socloseto the lights they shone on his hair and left his eye sockets in shadow. His face turned into a ghostly mask, and his voice breathed into her face. “You're a beautiful woman, Ruby, and you're obviously a very sexual one. You're turned on right now. Let me satisfy that hunger. Let me give you the pleasure you deserve. I promise I won't do anything you don't want me to do. All you have to do is tell me to stop, and I will.”

She gasped out loud, but before she could reply, he darted in and covered her mouth with his lips. Heat and excitement flooded through her. Her body tightened all over in tense anticipation. In spite of all her protestations that she couldn't, her crotch spasmed in aching desire. Juicy wetness oozed into her panties.

At the same moment, his hand closed around her ample breast. He squeezed and massaged it in his muscular fingers until she squeaked in excited agony. Her stomach contracted in wicked desire. What was he doing to her? He wasn't doing anything Tom hadn't done a thousand times, but the forbidden nature of the act excited her beyond comprehension.

He pulled her toward him by her breast, and her body followed his directions of its own free will. She couldn't stop it. Her whole soul fell into his magnetic vortex. His hands commanded her, just as surely as his voice commanded her to get into the limo in the first place. The whole world obeyed him. She couldn't do anything different.

His tongue pushed its way into her mouth. Her gasping breath drove her breast into his hand. He scooped her toward him with his other arm. Her back arched, and her chest rose into his grasp. His mouth prodded her lips to answer him.

She couldn't stop the insatiable desire rushing through her into his hands. She wanted this. She wanted this more than anything. She wanted to experience this sexual moment in all its forbidden glory. She was kissing her boss in a limo on the way home from the office Christmas party. He was feeling her up and turning her on.

Tom flickered through her mind, but not even the thought of him and his hurt feelings could stop her. The flaming desire licking between her legs wiped out everything else. Was she drunk? No, she knew exactly what she was doing. She was breaking all the rules—her own rules.

What were they worth, anyway, those rules, if they didn't give her the life she wanted? What goodwerethey if they didn't feed her and give her pleasure? What made her want to preserve her virginity until marriage in the first place anyway?

She couldn't remember. She didn't want to remember right now, with his hand pawing her breasts through her gown and his other hand sliding down her back to her waist. Thinking about Tom only made her want to do it more. How many times did she fantasize about some dark, forbidden force taking her while she rode Tom's hand to screaming climax? How many times did she think about something else, some forgotten beast creeping up on her, while Tom kissed her and fingered her and ate her out?

She let her eyes drift halfway closed and tasted champagne on Chad's breath. A hint of perfume hovered around him, mingled with his cologne. Some woman touched him and sat on his lap in that jacuzzi. Maybe he got Priscilla in a corner and hitched up her dress to lick her dripping slit before they left the party to drive away together. Maybe he sank his fingers in some other woman's crotch while someone sucked him in the men's bathroom.

How many women had he done it with? Maybe thousands. He could get away with it. He was the dark beast, the forbidden force behind her. He was the alien monster taking her when she rolled in Tom's arms.

Now here he was, with his tongue down her throat and his thick fingers pinching her nipple to distraction. He turned her on beyond her wildest dreams. She wanted nothing in the world but to cum right now. What would his fingers feel like inside her? What would he do to her if she gave herself to him without reservation?

He let go of her breast, and his hand traveled down her hip to her thigh. He eased off kissing her to gaze into her eyes, but he kept his lips in contact with her mouth. His warm breath blew into her nostrils. His fingertips dragged down her thigh to her knee, and he tugged the glistening fabric up to reveal her bare skin.

He watched her reaction as he slipped her dress up over her knees. He slid his fingertips up her thigh and pushed the dress up to her hips. He traced up and down her thigh with his bare fingers until she gasped in startled surprise.

“Is this what you want? Do you want me to touch you like this?”

She tried to tear her lips away from him, but he held her firm. His hand slipped down between her thighs, and her flesh embraced it up to the wrist. He inched higher, closer to that slippery slit between her legs.

She resisted, and he hummed under his breath. “That's it. Nice and easy. Is this what you want? You can tell me to stop anytime you want to. Do you want me to stop? Does that feel good? Is that what you want?”

She gasped out loud. She couldn't. She couldn't allow this. She had to stop it, but he kept her hypnotized with those snake eyes of his. He kept her fixed in place while he moved in on his prey. She couldn't stop him. She couldn't speak the words to say she didn't want it when she did. She did want it! She wanted it! She wanted him to touch her. She wanted those fingers sneaking higher. They melted her defenses so she couldn't pull away.

His other hand crept around her ribs to her other breast. He pinched the nipple. “Does that turn you on? Huh? Is that what you want? You don't have to do this. You can tell me to stop. Do you want me to stop? Do you want me to touch you like this? Is this the way you like it?”

She choked out the words. “Yes. I want it.”

“Is this the way Tom does it? Is this the way he fingers you down there?”

She fought for every breath. His fingertips grazed her saturated panties and vanished somewhere. She couldn't stand this. She dangled on tenterhooks. She shouldn't. She couldn't, but she had to. Every nerve screamedYes!She had to. She had to grab this experience, just once in her life.

In a few minutes, she would go back to her old life of sweet virginity. She would clasp Tom in her arms, and they would ride off into the sunset together. He would never find out what she'd done, and she would keep her secret for the rest of her life. She would dream about the dark monster taking her. The forbidden beast would excite her fevered fantasies, and that's as far as it would ever go.

Chad slithered his tongue into her mouth one quick lick and retreated. He studied her from beyond the end of her nose. His eyes searched her soul while his fingers explored between her legs.

“Do you want to spread your legs for me? Do you want me to touch your wet pussy down there?”

She groaned in agony. She couldn't do this, but she couldn't stop her thighs yawning apart in delicious desire. His hand came to rest on her panties, and his fingertips nudged her engorged flesh. He milked the syrupy juice from her cunt.

“Is this good, baby? Is this turning you on?”

“Oh, God, yes!” she moaned.

“Is this the way you want me to touch you? Do you want me to stop? I can move back over there and not touch you again if you don't want me to.”

She cried out in tortured surprise. “Don't stop! I want it. Oh, please.”

He settled into his seat with a satisfied sigh. One hand mauled her breast and rolled the taut nipple to a hard knob while the other crossed the last inch to her pussy lying quivery and tense inside her panties. He dug around the trim and found his way inside.

Acres of juicy nectar swallowed his fingers into her delicious hole. He swirled her essence with languid strokes and flicked her petals apart. “Hmm, yes. That pussy is so damn wet. God, baby, you are so freakin' hot. Is that nice? Is that what makes your nice hot pussy feel good?”

She could only pant into his mouth. Every fiber ached for this. She had to sit on those fingers until she dissolved in a screaming, sobbing mass. She collapsed into his hands. She belonged to him. He could do what he liked with her, and she could never tear herself away.

He was just touching her, turning her on and making her moan into his mouth. She hadn't actually done anything forbidden. She hadn't cheated on Tom—not yet. Chad desired her. He desired her desire. He wanted to make her wet and pliant and orgasmic. He said so himself. Her pleasure was beautiful to him.

Chapter 5

Ruby couldn't hold back anymore. She threw herself into his hands. She opened her mouth to receive his kiss. Her tongue tasted his mouth to the limit. She surged her breasts into his grasp, and her ass answered the pressure of his hand to slide toward him on the seat. She hitched her hips against those fingers and drove them into her waiting cavern.

He sensed her compliance, and his hands took over. He plunged his fingers into her cunt, and her honeyed syrup surrounded his hand with glistening sparkly wetness. He touched the excited spots along her channel to drive her to dizzying delirium. He pumped his fingers against her G spot and banged them deep to the very limit of her anatomy.

She craned her thighs apart to draw him in. She surged her breast into his hands and devoured his mouth in raving ecstasy. She wanted this. She craved it. She needed it. She wanted to destroy herself and her precious propriety on this looming monster.

She lived her life as a good girl. She never did anything like this in her life. She looked down on girls who did things like this. If any of her friends at work told her they made out with the boss in the back of a limo after he picked them up at a party, she would have turned away in disgust. She would have labeled that girl a slut and a sleaze.

She wasn't disgusting, though. This moment wasn't sleazy or slutty. It was exciting and sweet and intoxicatingly good. She wasn't a slut or a sleaze. She never did anything like this before, and she would probably never do anything like it again as long as she lived. She might as well enjoy it while it lasted.

He pounded his fingers to the knuckle in her dripping slit. Ruby whimpered and whined. She couldn't get enough of it. She couldn't get him deep enough to satisfy her craving need. She humped her hips against his strokes, but it could never be enough. He slipped another finger in along with the first, but he couldn't fill her up.

He purred low and mean. “Hmm, yes, that's what you like, isn't it, baby. Oh, yeah. That's so good.”

She cried into his mouth, she ached so bad, but he only kept it up a few minutes before he pulled away. He gave her a luscious kiss and swiveled around away from her. She pleaded with her eyes. She longed for him, but he moved away.

In desperate agony, she watched him shift around in front of her. He went down on his knees on the floor. His hand trailed off her breast and came to rest on her knee. His other hand slithered out of her foaming slit to trace its slippery film down her thigh.

“Spread your legs, baby. Open up for me.” He pried her thighs apart and buried his face between them.

Ruby stared down at the back of his head. He snuffled among the alabaster flesh of her thighs, even as his two hands pushed them apart to make room for his head. He burrowed between her legs, and her thighs parted to welcome him in.

Her mouth gaped open in astonished wonder. Could this really be happening? Could that wet tongue really be delving into her juicy crevice to awaken her deepest need? Could he really be surrounding her curvy hips to cradle her ass in both hands? Could he really be fondling her ass and pulling her forward on the seat, leaning her back to spread her pussy to his ravishing caresses?

She scarcely dared believe it. Did she really want this? Did she really let herself fall so far as to go along with this? Did she really spread her legs for this....thisrake? Everybody knew what a womanizing playboy Chad Archer was. He never went anywhere without some dish hanging off him in open lust. He flaunted his sexual prowess for all to see.

Ruby prided herself on being the kind of girl that never fell for that sort of man. Yet here she was, leaning back on his limo seat while he ate her out deep and hot. Her head rolled to one side, and she moaned incravendesire for it. He filled her with such primal satisfaction she couldn't disapprove of herself. She wanted this. She really, really wanted this. She wanted to gush all over his face. She wanted to buck her twitching cunt all over his cheeks and chin until she screamed out her longing.

His fists tightened around her ass. He pulled her against his face and plunged headfirst into her creamy opening. He lapped her juices with vicious strokes. He circled her clitoris until she yelped before he dropped down to probe her creases with loving care.

Ruby seethed and quaked. She never experienced anything like this when Tom licked her. He brought her to orgasm every time, like clockwork. He filled her with his fingers and banged his face against her bones until she writhed in tempestuous ecstasy, but he never fired her with thrilling excitement like this.

Chad's shoulders jutted under her thighs to lift them off the floor. He hooked her knees over his shoulders and one leg around his neck. He grabbed big handfuls of her voluptuous flesh to surround himself with her. He devoured her in animal madness.

Tom never did that. He never expressed his open desire for her. He never went crazy over her flesh and her juice and her love. He never got wet up to his neck in making her thrash and moan for it. Chad loved it. He might not love her the way Tom did, but he didn't have to tell her she was beautiful. He didn't have to tell her her sexuality was beautiful and her orgasm was beautiful. He showed her. He threw himself into it with all his passion.

In the middle of it all, he let go of her ass to drop one hand underneath her. He forked up two fingers on either side of her dripping pussy to spread her clit to his ministrations. He rubbed his fingers up and down on either side of her quivering nub and slipped them inside her spasming hole.

Ruby lunged up and collapsed back on the seat. She hurled herself against him even as she retreated in horror before her own naked desire. Every touch, every lick sent her cascading over the edge into colossal ecstasy. Her climax rose up raw and fuming before her. She didn't even try to stop it. She would cum all over his face. She would ride his mouth to angelic rapture.

He filled her pussy with his digits and attacked her clit with his tongue. He matched her rhythm until they bumpedagainsteach other in rapid succession. Ruby's cries lifted to heaven in fresh gusts of pure glory.

He brought his other around to grab her heavy breast. He gave it one squeeze and looped his fingers over her gown. He yanked the top down over her breast, and the great globe tumbled out into his hand. He pulled the gown the rest of the way down to bare both her big tits to his ravenous paw.

That's all she needed to burst forth into loud screaming climaxes. The air hit her nipples even as he grabbed them between his fingers to nag them to the peak of excitement. He moved back and forth from one to the other to give them equal attention while his fingers dove deep into her blazing cunt. His tongue lashed her to a frenzy. Her nectar spilled onto his tongue to dribble with her saliva around his hand and onto her ass.

Ruby collapsed back on the seat in liquid bliss. Her head jiggled on her rubbery neck. Her whole flesh lay bare and exposed in glowing passionate pleasure. She swam in angelic clouds of ecstasy she never knew before in her life.

Chad rose between her legs with guttural growls. He wiped his hand across his mouth and glared down at her in smoldering fury. He planted his knees on the floor and dragged her legs around his waist.

Ruby sighed in the last throes of orgasmic fulfillment. She gazed up at him through a haze. What was he, this giant standing above her with his muscles popping under his jacket? He must be some cosmic angel sent to answer her deepest desires. Maybe he was the devil sent to tempt her intosinninglike this.

She no longer cared what he was. He was here, a pure raw man who desired her. He worshiped the goddess of her sexual appetites. He saw her needs and filled her up in ways she couldn't believe possible.

He brooded over her. His hands ran up and down her thighs. He massaged her quivering mound to turn her spasms into delicious warmth. He pushed her up and back on the seat with the limo's rolling movements. “I want you, baby. I want you so bad.”

He grabbed her hand and guided it between his legs. He smashed it down on the bulge in his pants. “Do you feel that? Do you feel how hard you make me? You're so beautiful. You're hot, baby. I want to fuck you right now. I want to fuck you beyond your wildest dreams.”

She could believe it. He would take her where no man ever could. He would fill her with incredible sensations she would never feel again. He would catapult her beyond her wildest dreams into a world of magic and mystery.

She never doubted that, but she couldn't let him take her. She couldn't sacrifice all these years of virginity in the back of a limo, not even with a giant like him. She just couldn't. She would have to sacrifice the rest of her life along with it if she did that.

She stared up at him. His hands filled her with delectable, fantastic images. She was a goddess. She was a demon. She was a slobbering animal. She was a craven slut and a whore. She was a shark swimming through an ocean of pleasure. She devoured anything and everything that came within her grasp.

She never considered going through with it. She let him lick her and finger her and drive her to orgasm, but that's all. She was a virgin. He probably deflowered lots of virgins in his time. She was nothing but another floozy giving her pussy to his pleasure.

He knit his brow and compressed his lips. His eyes burned in their sockets. His voice rolled out of him in brutal, snarling gasps. “Let me fuck you, baby. Let me show you what it can be like. Let me make you scream for it. You know you want to.”

He crushed her hand up and down on his rigid crotch. His cock angled sideways under his pants.

His voice broke in agony. “Can't you feel how much I want you, baby? Is that nice and hard for you? Don't you want to fuck that cock?”

She stared up at his face twisted in a mask of hideous pain. He wanted it. He wanted her. She never came face to face with a man who wanted her as bad as he did now. Tom never wanted her like this. Tom never begged her for her body like this. He accepted their limited sex life the way it was.

For the first time in her life, she understood. Their sex life might be limited, but it was also truncated, amputated, deformed. It was less than half a sex life. It might be orgasmic. It might get them through the years of virginity, but it could never truly feed them. It could never give them the life she got in the back of that limo.

She read her destiny in his eyes. She wanted it. That's all she really needed to know. She wanted a whole lot more than his fingers inside her. She wanted to experience the glorious passion of cumming all over a thick, throbbing cock. She wanted to sit on him the way that woman sat on him in the jacuzzi. She wanted to want a man bad enough to do that. She wanted to want him enough to throw away everythingona single moment.

She wanted Chad that much. She didn't want Tom that much. She wanted Chad enough to throw away everything, and this was that moment. She might never get a moment like this again. Now was the time.

She hauled herself up on the seat. He met her mouth grasping for his kiss, and both herhandsdove between his legs to that pulsing shaft inside his pants. She wanted it. She wanted everything. She found the button holding his pants together, and both hands slipped inside to find his blood-swollen meat.

A tattered whine escaped him when her warm hands closed around his shaft. She circled it with knowing fingers, and her other hand continued down to cradle his balls in a tender cup. His stomach contracted against his will. His prick pulsed in her hand with every delicate stroke.

He whined under her hand, but she wasn't finished yet. She bent down and nuzzled her face against his crotch. He leaned back, and his head craned on his neck. He whispered, “Oh, Jesus.”

That's all the invitation she needed. She slipped his pants down his hips, and the wild whip snapped free to point its snake head in her face. She welcomed it with both hands and kissed its fevered tip.

Chad stroked her hair and rubbed her shoulders. “Oh, baby. Oh, my God.”

She dropped onto her side on the seat to swallow the thing into her throat. She consumed it to its limit, and his ragged moans encouraged her to suck faster. His fingers closed around the back of her neck. He laid one big hand on her head and copied her movements up and down, up and down. She took him deep, and every stroke of her lips and tongue cost him a torn gasp.

She sucked harder. Her lips created powerful suction around his veins, and his wicked length struck deep into her throat. Hisjizzstung, and she smelled that pungent aroma no cologne could mask. She traced down his nuts to his ass, and a hissing shudder rocked through his burly frame. His hand tightened on her neck, and he snarled through gritted teeth.

She could do this. She could make him burst his banks this way. She might be a virgin, but she knew how to suck a man's cock. He might be a business mogul and a multi-billionaire, but he was nothing more than a man, a man who needed to get off. She could make him do that.

He ran his fingersthroughher hair and tightened them into a fist. Ruby tensed for the explosion. He pushed her down hard on his raging cock and jammed it in against her resistance. Hepantedin rising passion. “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.”

Ruby closed her eyes. Once he got off, that would be it. He would drop her off. He would go back to the party, and some other woman would turn his head.

He didn't get off, though. Just when she thought he couldn't hold off any longer, he yanked her head back by the hair. He dragged her mouth to the end of his shaft and popped it through her lips.

He held her head back where she couldn't reach it. He choked off his cock around the base with one hand and slathered it back and forth across her lower lip. She watched herself gaze up at him in awed wonder. How did she become this person bowing before his rock hard cock?

He let go of her hair and swept her up with both hands around her waist. He sat her on the seat and consumed her mouth. He worked his hips between her knees, and his prick aimed its unerring point at her crotch. “Come on, baby. Come on. That's it. You know you want that thing. Come on and take it.”

His eyes commanded, but his voice told a different story. A hard edge grated on his words, and the torment made his voice rise and fall in a high-pitched melody. He needed this. He needed her. He needed her as much as she needed him. Whatever else he might be, he was no womanizing rake. He was a man in need of a woman. Their bodies craved each other with the natural attraction of the ages.

Why should she fight it? Why couldn't she admit she wanted it? Why should she deny herself the natural pleasure of fulfillment in the male body? So he was her boss and she was a lowly HR assistant. So what? He adored her body. He cherished her sexuality and reveled in her pleasure. If all that was right for him, why couldn't it be right for her?

Even as she asked herself those questions, she made no effort to fend him off. Even as he moved closer, she already knew she would submit. She would fall into his hands. Her body would answer his call. She would give herself to him, and he would take to that unknown country where no man ever ventured before.

He leaned forward. His mouth gnawed her lips inever moreinsistent circles. His hands closed around her waist and drew her to the edge of the seat. His hips pressed her legs apart, and his cock touched her dripping lips. She gasped for air. Her muscles tensed for the moment of truth, but she didn't pull away.

He kept murmuring over and over again, “Come on, baby. Come on. That's it. Come on. You know you like it. Do you want that thing? Is that what you want? Come on. You know you want it. Come on. You're so sweet. Do you want it?”

Inch by inch, he advanced. He didn't wait for an answer. He saw the answer in her eyes. Her cheeks flushed and her nostrils flared. She gasped with every breath. She couldn'tbreathe. Her destiny rumbled toward her from far away. This was it. This was the moment to which her whole life led.

He seized her with both hands. His prick nudged into her opening. She cried out in anticipation, but he wouldn't be stopped. He jammed the headinhard, and the umbrella around its taut head popped over her bones. Her spongy tissues surrounded it in a tight fist.

Ruby mewed in lusty agony. He was in. He was inside her, but only for an instant before he let it slip out again. She swooned in his hands, but he wouldn't release her mouth from his dominating kiss. His fingers tightened around her gown to form two brutal clubs. He wouldn't back down now.

He crushed her against him, and his prick nudged back into her opening. It popped over the tight threshold, and this time, it stayed there. Rudy panted in desperate torment. Would he? Could he? How could she take that monster into her tight, virginal flesh? Would he kill her with his wicked weapon?

His biceps flexed to bring her closer, and the monster crept another inch into her choice fissure. She caught her breath and searched his eyes for any sign of mercy or hope. He gazed deep into her soul with a steady, powerful gaze. He knew exactly what he was doing to her.

One terrible inch at a time, hewormedhis way inside her. His every breath cost him tremendous effort, but he never wavered. About halfway in, he paused to catch his breath, but Ruby couldn't rest. Her whole being revolted against this thing occupying her very being. She had to.....she hadto...

She couldn't form the words. Her body convulsed against itself. She tossed in hishandsand racking shudders coursed down her body. Her muscles clenched in furious rage. She had to throw herself against this intruding spike. She couldn't stand this inching penetration into her deepest recesses. She had to collapse against it and destroy herself on it.

He kept still, but the overpowering cataclysm took hold of her in an unstoppable grip. She plunged onto his shaft and split herself in half to the very core. She screamed in sudden pain, but an instant later, it faded away.

The sensation washing over her to take its place dwarfed anything sheeverfelt in her life. It swept aside all discomfort and doubt in a tidal wave of sheer exuberant pleasure. It thrust her forward on that all-encompassing spike to cleave her asunder forever.

She contracted hermuscles, again and again,to hurl her hips forward. She impaled herself on that cruel lance, and it plowed in deep to her very center. It bumped her cervix and bounced off, but she already moved forward for the next stroke. She worked it in and out with all her might, but it could never be enough. It could never fill her as much as she needed it to.

She spent all her mounting energy pushing herself down on it, and when sheexpendedher last morsel, he took over. His hands gripped her gown behind her back, and he pumped his wicked thing into her glorious cunt.

Ruby lay back in his arms and howled into his all-consuming mouth. His cock stroked in hard between her rippling muscles to push her tight tissues apart. Her juices coated it in steaming clouds of sweet elixir. His balls swung against her ass with every stroke, and the nectar dripped from her slit to stick the wrinkled skin to her.

He leaned so far forward he pushed her over backward on the seat. Ruby collapsed under his weight, but he righted himself between her knees again. He planted his stout arms on either side of her hips and pumped his pelvis into her. Her legs strapped themselves around his waist, and her body bounced against his pounding jackhammer.

He gritted his teeth and growled down at her. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's so beautiful, baby.”

She turned her head away and closed her eyes. She couldn't stand this any longer. His pubic bone banged her clit while his throbbing meat filled her every inch to the limit. She needed. She wanted. She reached for her rising climax and found it.

She arched her back to crane her legs farther apart and let his body slam between her legs. His thighs slapped against her ass, and when he withdrew for the next stroke, it stuck and peeled off in torturous succession.

Ruby screamed in greatcriesof rising passion. She gave herself over to the stupendous demon ravaging her insides and prodding her to ever-higher peaks of ravenous delight. He filled her to the breaking point, and when he pulled back and left her empty, she craved him stronger and thicker than ever.

He pumped and thrust against her in primal rage. His breath grated through his teeth. His sweat stuck his hair to his forehead, but he continued on without a pause. Nothing could stop that pumping piston once it began its work. Ruby's juices flowed around it and evaporated off its smoldering heat. She wet his pubic hair, and the blood bulged in his veins. His ridged shaft excited all the special territory inside her channel to rapturous bliss.

She bounced against his pounding rhythm. She never thought again of resisting. Her body disintegrated to jelly. Her bones no longer gave her shape and form. Her thoughts no longer gave her substance and purpose. She no longer existed but to receive him.

Her gown gave him the perfect handle to move her where he wanted her. He heaved her off the seat and turned her over on her knees in front of him. His angry spike stuck straight out from his body and slipped between her upturned butt cheeks.

She whimpered in semi-conscious delirium. She looked back over her shoulder at him, and he glowered in raging fury. He nodded and started again his insistent chant. “Come on, baby. That's right. That's so good. Come on. That's right. You know you love it, baby. Do you like that cock fucking you? Is that good for you? Oh, yeah. Oh, my God, that's so good. Come on. That's right.”

He pushed against her back to bend her over. Her ass cracked open to receive his intruding prick, but she couldn't resist. He had her. He possessed her. She caved to his demands, just like everyone and everything else in the world. Hebumpedhis hips against her ass, and his cock slipped between her swollen petals. He plowed through her slippery nectar and scraped across her clit to make her moan.

“Oh, yeah, baby. That pussy is so hot and wet. Do you know how hard you make me, baby? Do you know how beautiful you are bent over like that? Oh, Jesus, I can't stand it. I have to have you. I have to.”

He laid both heavy hands on her shoulders. He pushed her down at the same time he held her up against his driving weapon. He eased it into her one minute, slid back with aching gentleness, only to slam it home a moment later and leave her shivering to her foundations with his cruel penetrations.

Ruby tossed and contorted on his twisting screw. He revolved his rod into her in maddening swirls. He wound it down into her nether tissues to drive her to the brink of insanity. Hedestroyed her with every shattering blow of his manhood against her choice flesh.

She looked back at him over her shoulder, but he only nodded and repeated, “Yeah, baby. Oh, yeah,” to all her pathetic cries. She pleaded for his mercy, but he would own her with his overpowering dominance no matter what she did. She crumbled before his might to a submissive mass at his feet.

One great hand caressed down her back from her shoulder to her ass and hovered over her cheek. He guided her movements against his hammer. The pounding drumbeat of his tool against her being rocked through her in ways she could never imagine possible. Those terrible tremors wrecked her foundation until nothing remained but a female to match his male. The trappings of her vanished to leave behind a vacuous hole to swallow his penetrating spike.

All at once, something different nagged the edge of her awareness. She drifted down from the eternal clouds of sublime ecstasy to question that distant sensation. She dragged her gaze off his smoldering visage to take in something touching her peripheral awareness. It hurt, but in the most pleasant possible way. She couldn’t understand it. Her mind wouldn’t accept it.

It forced its way into her mind. Then she noticed what he was doing. He moved his hand around to the hump along her lower back. His fingers laid parallel along her spine, and his thumb snuck down into her butt crack. She frowned, not understanding what was happening to her. He nodded again, but his twisted face made no sense to her.

That dangerous sensation pierced the fragile veil of her blessed pleasure. She couldn’t call this pleasure, but she couldn’t revolt against anything he did, either. Whatever he did to her must be right. Right? She opened her mouth to say something, but a broken howl came out instead. That curious sensation spoke through her. It came out her mouth instead of the words she wanted to say.

His thumb dug into her, into her darkest secret being. He dropped his hand back another fraction, and the sensation got stronger. His hips never stopped pounding against her upturned ass. His prick never stopped plunging into her depths, but she could understand only that overriding sensation. He was inside her, inside her in a different way. He was inside her ass.

The realization dawned on her by degrees. At first, her mind swimming in climactic tempests of orgasmic passion wouldn’t accept the truth. The dark, horrible feeling got stronger with every pump of his piston. His thumb was nudging her ass. He entered her body.

She groaned in agony, but that sensation awoke some part of her his driving shaft couldn’t touch. His thumb grazed his prick through a shimmering film of flesh to ignite her most explosive reaction. She kicked and fought. She screamed and cried. She sobbed and whined, but she couldn’t escape it. She didn’t want to have this orgasm. She didn’t want to like it, but she did.

Her mind wouldn’t form the words. Oh, my God! He wasn’t. He couldn’t. How could he do this? But he did. His thumb poked in and out with the rhythm of his thrusts. The waves of rotten delight crashed against her and blew her apart into pieces. She couldn’t stand this. She couldn’t like this. She was a virgin. She couldn’t take it in both ends at the same time.

But she did. His never-ending questions drove her out of her mind. “Yeah, baby. Is that what you want? Do you want me to stop? Does that feel good?”

Her mind screamedNo!even as her body cascaded over thousands of peaks and valleys topeakagain. She backed her ass against that black demon devouring both her holes at once. She closed her eyes, and the monster from her fantasies ate into her guts from behind. She pushed back against the thing to take it harder than ever before. Oh, God! Don’t stop! Don’t stop!

The monster’s eyes glowed blood red in the darkness. Claws dug into her flesh and pierced her bones. Slobbering fangs bit into her and tore her to pieces. Nothing could drive her to climax like that horrible monster.

Chapter 7

The limo nosed into the curb and braked to a stop. The door swung open, and Chad got out. He held out his hand and escorted Ruby up the sidewalk to her apartment house. She smoothed down her gown to cover her legs. Besides her slightly rumpled hair, no one could notice anything different from the way she looked when she first walked into the party.

Chad walked her up the steps to the door. The building stood in darkness. Only a few windows in the upper floors showed any signs of life. Ruby turned around on the steps and gave his hand a squeeze. “Thank you for the ride home….and everything.”

He stayed on the sidewalk and gazed up at her. “Are you going to be okay? How will you get into the building?”

“I’ll buzz the manager to let me in. I’ll be fine.”

He put his head on one side. “Are you sure you’re okay with what we just did? I wouldn’t feel right if you regretted it or anything.”

She smiled down at him. Peaceful tranquility glowed from her pores. “I’m fine with it. I had a really nice time. I don’t regret it at all. I’m happy.”

He drew a step closer, but he didn’t step up to her level. “You’re an amazing woman, Ruby Dunroy. It was an honor to be your first time.”

She let him draw close. His face came near the level of her breast. She could almost put her arms around him again right now. “Thank you. It was a beautiful experience. I’ll never forget it.”

He looked right and left. “Is Tom home?”

“He’s at work. He won’t be home until morning.”

“What will you tell him.”

Ruby shrugged. “I don’t know what I’ll tell him. I guess I’ll start by telling him we don’t have to hold off having sex anymore.”

“Will he be upset?”

“I don’t know. He might want to break up. I really don’t know.”

“Are you okay with that?”

“I guess I’ll have to be. I’m okay with what we did. I know I didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing that good could be wrong. Whatever he decides to do will just have to take care of itself.”

“Will you split up with him?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think about that right now. I’m too full of what just happened.”

He crossed the last little space between them. He twisted her arm around behind her with their fingers still entwined. He pulled her stomach against his chest and threw his head back to bring his face near hers. “You really are happy about it, aren’t you? You’re really okay with it.”

She laughed out loud. How long had it been since she laughed like that? “Of course, I am. Why do you keep asking that? Do you think you did anything wrong by giving me my first time? That was the best first time any girl could ever ask for. Why do you keep acting like you hurt me or something?”

“I’m just worried about you. I don’t want you to walk away from this feeling I did you wrong or coerced you into doing something you didn’t want to do.”

She shook her head. “It was beautiful and magical and wonderful. I didn’t want to do it, but now that it’s over, I’m glad I did. I can never go back to being a virgin. I don’t want to. I’ve got the rest of my life to experience that beauty and passion all over again. I can’t wait.”

He leaned in to kiss her. She hugged her breasts against his chest, and her hair fell around his face. She tasted his sweet kiss, maybe for the last time.

That kiss went on and on. Their lips danced in eternal union. His tongue slithered around hers. She savored the delicious bliss of being with him. He gave her the most priceless treasure she could imagine. She clung to him as long as she could. She wouldn’t release him until he tore himself out of her grasp.

She refused to be jealous of all the women he would do it with for the rest of her life. He was a rambling man. She couldn’t expect him to hang around with her. Besides, she had her whole life left with Tom. If Tom accepted what happened, she would stay with him. They would figure out their relationship one way or the other—or not, as the future played out. If he left, so be it. If he wanted her to move out, she could live with that, too.

She would never look back on this night with regret or shame. Nothing as delightful as this ever happened to her before. She never experienced so much beauty and pleasure and intoxicating passion. She loved it. She loved it evennowafter it was all over.

Chad’s other arm slipped around her waist. He eased himself up on the step to clutch her tighter. His fingers untangled themselves from her hand to slide up behind her neck. She relaxed into his arms. Nothing bad could happen to her there, not ever.

Both his hands glided down her sides. The slippery satin excited her to new dreams of sex and bliss. His hands slipped down her sides to her rounded hips, and he pressed his throbbing crotch into her damp mound. “Come with me, Ruby.”

Her eyes popped open. “What?”

“Come out with me. Don’t go home yet.”

“Come out with you where? Do you have another hot tub waiting somewhere?”

He blushed. “I don’t know where. Just come out with me. Don’t go home. I don’t want it to be over yet.”

She pulled away from his kiss. “Are you serious? What do you want to take me out for?”

“Tom’s not home. He won’t find out if you stay out a little longer.” He jabbed his hard-on between her legs, but the gown stopped her from opening to him. “I’m not finished with you yet, and you’re not finished, either.”

She studied him. “Are you serious?”

“Of course. If you want to come, let’s go.” He disengaged from her arms. He backed toward the limo and tugged her by the hand. “Come on. It’s cold out here.”

She only thought about it for an instant. She wanted to, didn’t she? What could be wrong with that? The moment she decided, her heart skipped a beat in delirious excitement. Her spirit soared to enjoy a few more minutes, a few more hours with him. She embraced with joy whatever this night held for her.

He stood back while she slipped into the seat, and he slid in by her side. He pulled the door closed, and the limo sailed away into the night. The moment the door closed, Chad closed her in his arms. They kissed and cuddled all the way downtown until the lights along the main streets distracted them.

Ruby peered through the tinted windows at the city scenes tumbling by. The nightlife thrilled her with endless possibilities. Could this really be happening? She was riding into the city in the dead of night. Anything could happen, and she met it with a glad heart.

Chad squeezed her hand, and she turned around to find him staring at her at close range. Her cheeks flushed, and she caught her breath. “What is it?”

He shook his head. “I’m just looking at you.”

She gave him a quick kiss. “Are you okay with this? Where do you want to go?”

Before he could answer, the limo stopped again. Chad pushed the door out and handed her onto the sidewalk. Once outside, he took her hand.

Dozens of people crowded the sidewalk, all of them dressed in evening wear. The men wore tuxedos and the women wore costly gowns cut down their backs. Everybody turned to stare at Ruby walking at Chad’s side. At least she had her party gown on, or she would have hidden her face in shame.

Chad escorted her down the sidewalk where the crowd clustered thick around a revolving glass door. Conversation bubbled in every direction, and people murmured to each other when Chad and Ruby passed by. She fought the urge to touch her hair. She was good enough for him, so she was good enough for anybody. She released all expectation about anything that happened tonight. Tonight was her dream come true. She wouldn’t let anyone or anything spoil it for her.

He shoved the revolving door, and it brushed the thick scarlet carpet to sweep them into the building. Lights flickered along the overhead mezzanine. Chad shouldered his way through the crowd and guided Ruby to the lobby elevators. He pushed the button, and the bell rang. The doors hissed aside, and they stepped into the car. No one entered with them. The door closed and blocked out the hubbub.

Chapter 8

In the quiet of the elevator humming upwards, Ruby foundavoiceto ask, “What is this place?”

“They’re having some kind of show downstairs,” Chad murmured back, “but we aren’t going there.”

She dared not ask where they were going. The car stopped, and Chad stepped out onto another crimson carpet. Golden lamps illuminated the walls, and rubber trees stood in pots around the corners of a longhall. They walked on in silence until Chad stopped again in front of a glass door.

Before she could question, he pushed open, not the glass door, but a side door in the hall leading into an ordinary hotel room. The room lay in darkness, with only the city’s million lights glowing beyond the room’s big windows. The city spread out before them in a mysterious tapestry of far distantactivity.Cars honked far below, and the low rumbling fog horn echoed off the harbor wharf. Ruby hugged her arms around her.

Chad moved around the darkened room, but the windows drew Ruby toward them. Every tiny light represented a life. Someone on the other end of each one of those lights looked out at the night and wondered about the life behind this window. Did they know about her? Did they know about her life changing right now? The crystal night stretched its magnificent beauty to the stars in the velvet sky above. Nothing could endthis perfectnight like this. She could never get enough of this night.

Chad came up behind her and slid his thick arms around her waist. His palms flattened on her stomach, and he cradled her against his chest. His broad chest radiated heat into her, and she relaxed back into him. He touched his face to her bare neck and rubbed her arms to warm them.

She gave a deep satisfied sigh. “Thank you. This is wonderful.”

He murmured in her ear. “You deserve it.”

“You didn’t have to do this. You could have left me at home, and I would still think you were the greatest.”

“I’m not the greatest. You’re the greatest.”

Ruby snorted. “Ha! I’ll bet you say that to all the girls.”

He chuckled. “Actually, I do, but with you, it just happens to be true.”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “Stop it. I’m sure you can have any girl you want.”

“I can have any girl I want, but you’re the first girl I’ve ever wanted that I wasn’t sure I could have. You had me worried there for a minute.”

“What? Only a minute?”

“I thought you would turn me down. I couldn’t live with that.”

She gave him a jab with her elbow. “Don’t lie. You’ve done it with lots of virgins before.”

He didn’t chuckle now. “Actually, I’ve never done it with a virgin before.”

“Never?”

“Never—at least, not until tonight.”

“Well, now you have. I’m another trophy on your wall.”

“I don’t have a wall.”

“Shut up. Do you think I didn’t see everything you did at that party? Do you think I haven’t seen you with dozens of women before? Everyone knows what a playboy you are.”

He rocked her back and forth in his arms. “None of those women has ever given me what you gave me tonight. They give it to anything on legs. They don’t mean anything to me, not like you do.”

She tried to turn around, but his arms encompassed her whole world. “What do I mean to you? What could I possibly give you that those women don’t give you? I’m sure they’re a lot better at it than I am.”

“I told you. You’re the greatest. Your pleasure makes me think maybe there’s hope for me after all. It makes me think maybe I’m not such a waste.”

“A waste—you? How could you be a waste? You’re rich beyond your wildest dreams. You command a business empire spanning the world. You have men and women falling at your feet wherever you go. How could you be a waste?”

He laid his cheek against her ear. “I didn’t know I was until I met you. I didn’t know anything was missing from my life until I found something I couldn’t have. You don’t know how relieved I am that you agreed to let me touch you and take you. I would have fallen at your feet and begged you if you hadn’t.”

She could only shake her head and stare out at the city before her. “I don’t believe you. You’re full of flattery.”

His voice drifted into her ear from far away. “Do you think this sort of thing happens to me all the time? Do you think I meet someone like you every day? You give me hope. You make me see my life in a whole new way. You make me see what could be possible.”

“What could be possible?”

“Run away with me.”

She whipped around fast. “What are you talking about?”

“Run away with me. Don’t go back to that cheap apartment with Tom. Let’s get out of here and find out what is really possible.”

“You’re crazy. I’ve got to work tomorrow—at your company.”

“Don’t gotowork tomorrow. It’s as simple as that.”

Her jaw dropped. “How can you say that? You’re my boss. You’re CEO of the company I work for, and you’re telling me not to gotowork tomorrow?”

“I’m ordering you, as your boss, not to gotowork tomorrow. I’m ordering you, as your boss, to run away with me and turn your back on Tom and everything you hold sacred.”

She swatted him on the shoulder. “Cut it out. You might be able to order me to ride home in your limo and you might be able to order me to spread my legs for you to fuck me to kingdom come, but you can’t order me not to gotowork tomorrow. You’re off your rocker.”

“I don’t want this to end, Ruby. I want to find out what it would be like to have nights like tonight all the time, to do it with someone I really care about. I want to take you home to my house and live with you.”

Ruby backed away. “I’m not going home with you to your house, and I’m not quitting my job, and that’s final.”

His face hardened. “Why not?”

“I’m not running away. I might care about you and everything, but I’m not running away from my life. That’s not what this is about for me. I’m not running away from my job, and I’m not running away from Tom. I’m not running away from my apartment to go off with you. No way.”

“You care about me? How much do you care about me?”

She waved her hand. “That’s neither here nor there.”

“Oh, it’s very much here and there. Do you care enough about me to want this to continue?”

“I might want it to continue, but that doesn’t mean I want to run off with you.”

A black cloud darkened his countenance. “I care about you, Ruby. I care about you enough to run off with you. I care enough to throw away everything on the chance that we could have more nights like tonight. Do you want more nights like tonight?”

“I want all my nights to be like tonight. I would give just about anything to get that, but we couldn’t get it by running away. We could only get it by facing reality and making a real life out of it.”

“I have to have you, Ruby. I fell in love with you. Don’t ask me when or how it happened. I only know I can’t let you go. My whole life has changed. I can’t let you go back to Tom.”

She smacked her lips. “Don’t go throwing around a word like love. That’s the coward’s way out.”

He bared his teeth in maniacal fury. “Did you just call me a coward?”

She took a step closer to him. “You’re not a coward, Chad, so don’t talk about loving me and don’t talk about running away. If there’s a way we can have more nights like tonight, or if there’s a way we can have this all the time, night and day, we have to do it another way, without running away.”

“What do you suggest?”

“I don’t know. The first thing we would have to do is go to work tomorrow morning.”

“Why would we have to do that?”

“To make it real. Tonight was nice and all, but it wasn’t real.”

He pulled his head down between his shoulders. “It was real to me. I guess it wasn’t real to you.”

“It wasn’t part of real life. That’s what I mean.” She came nearer and tried to take his hand, but he balled it into a fist. He stiffened his arm against her touch. “If I’ve learned one thing in three years with Tom, it’s that love is about the everyday details. It’s about waking up together and getting ready for work and coming home and cooking meals and cleaning the kitchen. That’s love. We wouldn’t get that by running away.”

“That’s why I want you to come to my house. Believe me, it’s a lot nicer than your apartment with Tom.”

“Talking to Tom is the very first thing I would have to do if I wanted to spendanymoretime with you at all. We have to face this thing head on, not run and hide in fairy tales. I have a job to do, and so do you. You have a company employing hundreds of people, all counting on you for their livelihood. You owe it to them and to yourself to show up to work tomorrow morning and not run off with some floozy from HR.”

He didn’t take the bait. He compressed his lips and turned away. “I could make you happy like that. I could love you like that and share all your days and nights. You obviously don’t love me the same way.”

She shook his stiff arm. “If I say I love you and want to make this a real thing, the first thing I have to do is get my own place. I have to meet you on equal terms, not move into your house and set up shop. I have to move out from my apartment with Tom and start a whole new relationship with you. That means we live separately and build one block on top of the other. That’s the only way we could have any kind of real love. If we didn’t do that, this thing would die a wretched death. We would start to hate each other, and we would both go back to the way we were before—maybe even worse off than we were. Neither of us wants that.”

He waved his hand. “If that’s all you want, you could move in here. This room is empty. You could stay here, and you could come to my house and I could come and visit you here.”

“That won’t work. I guess this is your room, isn’t it?”

“Sure, it’s mine. I pay for it. That’s how I know you could stay here as long as you want. Isn’t it nice enough for you?”

“It’s very nice, but it’s yours. I have to have some place of my own, where I can tell you to beat it if you make me mad. We have to meet each other as two consenting adults, not as boss and employee.”

“But if you keeping going to work every day, that’s what we will be.”

“We won’t see each other at work. We never have before, and we would be two anonymous people outside of work. That’s the best we could hope for.”

“If you don’t stay here, where will you stay?”

“I’ll have to work that out.”

He rounded on her with a tortured snarl. “Don’t go back to Tom, Ruby. I can’t stand sending you back to him after you just spent the most amazing night of my life with me.”

“I won’t go back to him, but I do have to talk to him.”

“Send him an email.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “I wouldn’t be the person you want to spend time with if I did. Besides, he knows something that could help us. Some friends of his are going out of town for a month. They asked us to water their plants and feed their pets. I could stay there until I find my own place.”

He glared at her under smoldering brows. “Are you sure you have to do this? I don’t like it.”

“I’m sure. It’s the only way.”

“So what do you have to do?”

“I have to go back to the apartment, for one thing. I have to pack some clothes. I have to get my phone, and I have to text the people about their house. I have to talk to Tom and tell him I’m leaving. I have to do all of that, and I have to do ittonightbefore I go back to work tomorrow morning.”

He growled under his breath. “Do you have to?”

She pulled away. “Yes, I have to, so come on and drive me home. The sooner I do it, the sooner we can come back together.”

Chapter 9

Ruby walked away to the vanity against the wall. She bent down and examined her hair in the mirror. She ran her fingers through it and her thumb under her eyes to fix up her mascara. Then she stood up straight and smoothed her gown down her hips.

She still looked half decent from the party, but this new plan left so many questions unanswered. Did she really want to start some kind of relationship with Chad Archer? They did it once in the back of his limo. What kind of a beginning was that?

Behind all the questions, though, her heart and soul told her this was right. She couldn’t go back to the life she lived right up until she walked into that party. She would never be a virgin again, and she didn’t want to go back to a life without the stupendous, cataclysmic orgasms Chad gave her. He was the only man she knew for a fact could give them to her. Breaking up with Tom and going with him made sense.

She couldn’t go back to that apartment. She changed too much in one night. She needed her own space from which to build the next exciting phase of her life. She would love and learn and enjoy whatever came along, but she would do it on her own terms.

She cast aside the rules by which she lived her life before this night. She would write a new rule book in the morning, but it would be her rule book. Not even the great Chad Archer could live her life for her. If he really loved her the way he said he did, he would have to accept that.

He came up behind her one more time, and when he put his arms around her, the same magical attraction pulled her against his massive body. She glowed all over with arousal and contentment. She belonged here, in his arms. She didn’t belong anywhere else.

He kissed up her neck to her ear, and tingling electricity cascaded down her skin. It pricked her nipples awake and stabbed into her crotch. She already knew what he wanted. She wanted it, too. Her heart flooded with sweet affection for him. She wouldn’t call it love. Her relationship with Tom, that she used to call love, bore no resemblance to this. This encompassed her whole world, her whole being.

She didn’t have cleaning the kitchen andgettingready for work with Chad—not yet. If she ever did, maybe she could call that love. This? This was the universe. This was heaven. This was life and death and skin and bone and days and nights and the rest of their lives. This was something so far beyond her understanding she didn’t know what to call it. Love didn’t cover it. Love was mundane. This was eternal.

She didn’t want this to end. She didn’t want to face another day without the glorious sunrise he gave her. She blessed him and worshiped him for giving her the chance to make it real.

He slid his hands down her stomach to her hips. He swayed her back and forth in his arms and melted the resistance out of her joints. Her box throbbed in aching desire. The honey flowed down her lips to sting her ass. He shoved his prick into her ass from behind, and she leaned back to nudge it to its full rigidity.

His teeth touched her neck. Ruby stiffened in alarm, but that thrill of danger only excited her all the more. He growled low, and his bite stabbed her skin. She whined in pain, but the rest of her answered his animal madness with equal ardor.

She saw herself in the mirror. His hands ranged over the blue dress. He twisted it and heaved it off her tight curves. He drove her to insanity dragging that cool satin over her skin. She hummed in erotic ecstasy. Already her pussy puffed and swelled with hot blood for his attack.

He slipped the dress up her legs, and one powerful hand dove under the hem. His fingers cut between her legs to find the slick slit between them. Ruby whimpered at those inquisitive digits exploring her wetness with exact precision. Her body opened at his command. She responded as never before.

His other hand surrounded her voluptuous breast, and his burly frame tilted her forward. Her cleavage hung open in the mirror. She opened her mouth to moan to herself. Her own glaring desire turned her on as much as his touch.

His eyes drilled into her from behind. He fixed his gaze on her reflection, and she locked her eyes on his brooding face. He glared at her while he fingered her dripping crevice. He knew he turned her on. He knew he gave her the most earth-shattering climaxes possible. He knew he owned her and dominated her with his every glance.

She moaned to him. She pleaded with her eyes for mercy, but he thrust his fingers deeper into her chasm to stir her molten lava with masterful strokes. He pumped her juices from her exotic chalice while his fangs tortured her neck in ever-harder bites.

His hands went into a whirlwind all around her. She couldn’t think of anything or see anything but her own blatant lust. The next thing she knew, he shoved her forward so hard she came down on both hands on the vanity. He tossed her skirts over her hips, and his bare rod delved between her thighs. She gasped out loud in startled shock, but he came at her faster than ever. One mighty arm looped around her waist while the other hand plowed her petals apart.

He flicked his fingertips over her clit to make her convulse in rising torment, and Ruby braced herself for his wicked intrusion. His cock stroked its length along her nether lips, and its glistening syrup lubricated it for its entrance into her welcoming orifice. She flexed her hips along its slippery passage, but each hesitant pause at the tip passed without the anticipated penetration.

His rod bumped her clit with every stroke, and she came down to angle it home, but the driving plunge never came. He slid his fingers down to her opening to guide it, but he never guided it in. Ruby went wild with pleading whines and sobbing cries, but he held off, longer and longer.

All at once, his thick middle finger dove into her twitching cunt to fill her to the brim. His palm compressed her clit and brought her to the brink of climax. At the same time, he retreated an inch, and his cock slipped all the way back between her legs.

He hovered there for a fraction of an instant, just long enough to bring a broken moan to her lips. Then he struck. He angled his hips up to poke his wicked weapon between her cheeks, and his pussy-saturated shaft slipped into her darkest hole.

Ruby shrieked in furious agony, but she already learned in the limo to like it whether she wanted to or not. His fingers kept her dangling on the brink of blistering orgasm, but this new invasion catapulted her over the precipice into unknown lands. He slammed his hand back against her clit with his fingers parting her tissues harder than ever. Those brutal strokes touched the rigid tool inserted in her ass, and the combined sensations of pleasure, horror, and cosmic release exploded through her until she couldn’t struggle anymore.

She relaxed into his monstrous attentions. She rested her hands on the vanity and watched herself succumb to his conquering passions. She backed her ass against his striking blows and gave herself over to the intoxicating waves surging through her. Let it happen. Never let it end.

How long it went on, she had no idea. He glided one commanding hand up her chest to stand her on her feet. She leaned her back against his chest and let him drill into her core. His cock touched forbidden territory in her deepest self. His other hand gripped her in tenuous rapture to melt before his fire.

Her head lolled back on his shoulder. She moved where he moved her. She felt what he wanted her to feel. She was what he wanted her to be. She always would be. His teeth sinking harder into her neck woke her from her reverie. Her eyes snapped open, and she beheld his face snarling at her in the mirror.

Every muscle flexed and bulged under his shirt. His chest hulked over her to devour her, blood and bone. His gritted teeth separated, and a primal roar ripped from his being. Sticky hot juice blasted her insides, and fragrant sweat burst out all over his skin to seal them together for all time.

An hour later, the limo stopped once again in front of Ruby’s apartment building. Chad got out and walked her up to the door. He held her hand, but he didn’t look at her. He scowled up and down the street.

The first light tinged the sky. Lights came on in the building overhead. Ruby tried to take her hand away, but he caught hold of it tighter. The words grated in his throat. “Do you really have to do this?”

She turned around. “I thought I explained all that to you.”

He shrugged and looked away. “I know. I just hate to see you go back in there.”

“It’s only for a little while. I’ll change my clothes and have a talk with Tom. I’ll beintowork later, andhopefully,by the end of the day, I’ll be staying in my new place. Isn’t that what you want?”

He hitched his shoulders up to his ears and shook himself inside his jacket. “I guess so.”

“What’s wrong?”

He cast a ferocious glance up at the building. “Don’t go in there. I’d like totearTom apart rather than have you walk away from me to go back to him.”

Ruby started to say for the fiftieth time she wasn’t going back to Tom, but she stopped when she caught sight of Chad’s face. His jaw clenched and unclenched again and again. His eyes swept up and down the sidewalk—never to her. His mouth contorted in a hideous mask of agony so she almost hated to look at him.

This was hard for him. This was a lot harder for him than it was for her. She welcomed the coming changes. She rejoiced in the new future unfolding all around her. She seized this transition with both hands. She would overcome any obstacle to become the new Ruby in all her glory.

He suffered for her sake. He wanted more than anything to bend the future to his will, but he couldn’t. He could only stand aside and suffer.

She squeezed his hand. “It’s only for a little while, and then I’ll be back with you. I’ll see you at the end of work today.”

He cast a quick glance up at her face. The voice eeking out of him searched for any sign of hope. “Do you promise?”

She came close and kissed him on the forehead. “I promise.”

***

THE END

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Billionaire’s Secret Baby

Chapter 1

“Are you all right, Ms. Kemp?”

Gina’s head whipped around and she fixed her eyes on the Skype image on her computer screen. “Yeah, sure. I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“You seem a little distracted. That’s all. Have you heard a word I’ve said?”

“Of course I have. I’ll see you on Sunday.”

Giles Pendragon broke into a happy grin. His green eyes lit up, and his bright teeth showed between his lips. He looked exactly the way Gina remembered him. The same tinge of gray marked his temples, and the crow’s feet Gina loved so much twinkled around his eyes. “I can’t wait to see you! Five months is too long to wait.”

Gina smiled. “It’ll be good to see you, too.”

His image on the screen grabbed a pen and a piece of paper. “Tell me whenyourflight gets in. I’ll pick you up at the airport.”

“That’s all right,” Gina replied. “I’ll handle it. I’ll get a cab to my hotel or something like that. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I mean it. You don’t want to take a smelly old cab. I’ll pick you up in the limo and take you back to the penthouse. You can stay there until you get your own place.”

“Naw. I’d rather just get a hotel room or something the first few days. Thanks for the offer, though.”

Giles frowned. “What are you talking about? Why would you go to the expense of staying in some rotten hotel when you could stay at the penthouse? You know it’s a lot nicer. You’ve been there enough times.”

“Yeah. I know it’s nice.”

“And riding into the city in the limo is a lot better than taking some cab. Come on. When’s your flight?”

Gina braced herself. She knew all along it would come to this. “I’m serious, Mr. Pendragon. I don’t want you picking me up from the airport.”

His jaw dropped. “Why in God’s name not? It makes no sense, and you haven’t given me one decent reason why. Just tell me why.”

Gina set her jaw. “Because I don’t want to. That should be reason enough for you. I don’t want you picking me up. I don’t want to ride to the city in the limo, and I don’t want to stayinthe penthouse. Get that through your head.”

Giles could set his jaw just as hard and straight as she could. “Now you’re making me mad, Ms. Kemp, and you wouldn’t like me when I get mad. I’m not getting off this Skype call until you explain yourself. I’m your boss, and I’m ordering you to give me a detailed explanation of your activities while on my payroll.”

“And another thing,” Gina shot back. “Once I get back to San Francisco, I’m gonna want to work from home for a while. I can do the same research and submit the same reports. I don’t want to spend all of my time in the office.”

“That’s fine, Ms. Kemp. We’ll set you a schedule of office days. Let’s say three days a week at first, and you can work your way up from there.”

“No, that’s not good enough. I want to work from home all the time. I might come into the office for important client negotiations, but I want to spend all my working time at home. I cantelecommute.”

He stared at her with his mouth open. “That’s not possible.”

“It’s going to be possible, or I won’t be coming back to San Francisco to work for you.” Gina clasped her hands in her lap. He couldn’t see them shaking. “I had an offer from Southern Mining Company. They want to headhunt me. If you give me any static about working from home, I won’t come back. I can make twice as much here in New Zealand as I can in the States.”

Black clouds roiled and fought for supremacy in his face. He glared at her in frustration. “I sent you to New Zealand because I trustedyou-you, of all people,over allmy other employees. You’ve done top-notch work there for five months. No one could fault you for that.”

“Then you should trust me on this, too. I’ll do top-notch work at home, and I’ll send it to you electronically the same way I’ve done the whole time I’ve been in New Zealand. You’ll see me once a month—or whenever you can’t manage without me—and life will go on as usual.”

He stared at her in blank incomprehension. “What in the world has gotten into you?”

She looked away from the screen again. “That’s the way it is, Mr. Pendragon. Take it or leave it.”

He compressed his lips. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to see you again? Do you know what these last five months have been like for me?”

She had to look at the screen again. She couldn’t stop herself. Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper. “Don’t do this.”

The words tumbled out of him in a rush. “You don’t know? I’ll tell you what these last five months have been like for me. They’ve been pure torture. I wanted to wine you and dine you when you got back. I wanted to take you back to the penthouse and pick up where we left off.”

“We can never pick up where we left off.”

His face spasmed in agony. “Do you know what you’re doing to me? You’re destroying the one hope I held onto all these months. I wanted to….well, you don’t care what I wanted. I guess this means you never want to see me again.”

“I never said that. I do want to see you again. It just has to be different now. We can’t go back to our old game of you nailing your secretary whenever you feel like it.”

“Is that what you think you are—my secretary?”

“Come on, Mr. Pendragon. You know what I mean.”

“Is there someone else? Did you meet some Kiwi stud down there? Is that why you’re dumping me?”

“I’m not dumping you. I just want to change a few things. What’s wrong with that?”

“You want to see me once a month. What good does that do me? What good does it do me if I can’t nail you whenever I feel like it?”

Gina bit back a smile. “Maybe it does you some good to have an employee you value. Maybe the work I do does you some good. Maybe you value something about me besides my ass.”

His twisted face softened. “Of course I value you. I value a lot more about you than just your ass—although that is….well, it’s magnificent. I wish I had my hands on it and my face jammed into it right now.”

Gina blushed. “Stop it, sir.”

A grin struggled to show at the corner of his mouth. “Say it again.”

“Stop it, sir.”

“Louder. Let me hear you moan.”

She leaned close to the screen so her lips pouted in the viewing window. She lowered her voice to a sing-song whimper. “Oh, stop it, sir. Oh, please stop. Oh, God, please.”

He growled into the screen. “Yeah, baby. God damn, you make me so damn hard. I’m gonna bend you over and smack your beautiful ass.”

She sobbed and contorted her mouth in the window. “Oh, please, Mr. Pendragon. You know I can’t stand it. I’ve been so bad and my ass needs a smack so bad.”

He rumbled low in his chest. “Are you a filthy little girl? Have you been sticking things in that horny little pussy of yours while your boss is away?”

“Oh, please, sir. I am so rotten. I know I need a spanking, but please don’t hurt me. I’ll be a good girl from now on. I swear it.”

“Bend over and let me see your ass, baby. Let me see you smack that ass of yours.”

She got out of her chair, turned around, and planted one hand on the seat. She hooked her other hand under her waistband and slid her yoga pants over her curvy hips. She looked over her shoulder to make sure her big round white ass showed in the window.

Giles panted for breath on the screen. His shoulder flexed when his arm moved up and down in front of him. He had his cock in his hand the way he usually did during these internet sex games. “Smack it, baby. Smack it like you know you want me to.”

She raised her hand and brought it down hard across her own ass. She yelped and jumped at the sudden sting. “Oh, please!”

“That’s it. Smack it one more time. Just once.”

She turned her face all the way around so he could see her scream. She lifted her hand and struck her own ass as hard as she could. The red mark showed up nice and clear on the screen. She screeched out loud and moaned in pleasure.

“Sit down on it, baby,” he grumbled. “Let me see your pretty little mouth again.”

She sat down and brought her mouth up to the camera. His arm moved faster. “Yeah, baby. I’m gonna get you on your knees.”

“Please, sir. Let me suck it.”

“Lick your lips.”

She ran her tongue around her lips.

He gritted his teeth. “That’s good. That’s so good.”

He pumped his arm harder and harder until a ragged groan escaped him. He finished himself off and collapsed back in his chair. “Do you see what you do to me? Don’t tell me I can only see you once a month. You’ll kill me doing that.”

She leaned back to her face filled the screen. “We’ll see. I will be working from home, though. That’s not negotiable.”

He sat up and fixed his eyes on her. “If I agree to this, you’ll have to give me some satisfactory explanation, Ms. Kemp. I have to understand it.”

“Call it personal reasons. That’s the best explanation I can give you.”

He frowned his post-ejaculatory frown, but he already relaxed a lot more. “Are you sure that’s all you can tell me?”

“I’m sure. Maybe someday you’ll understand why.”

He sniffed and ran his fingers through his hair. “All right. I guess I have no choice but to go along with this.”

“No, you don’t.”

“What will you do? Where will you set up shop?”

“I’ll rent an apartment in the city, the same way I did here. Everything will be the same as it has been the whole five months I’ve been in New Zealand, except now we’ll be in the same city.”

His jaw muscle tightened. “Are you sure you won’t let me pick you up from the airport?”

She smiled and started to relax, too. “I’m sure. I prefer it this way. I appreciate you wanting to wine me and dine me, but I have my own agenda for when I get back to town.”

“I can see that.”

She smiled at him. “So are we all clear?”

“No, we’re not all clear, but at least we have a way to move forward.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing you again, too.”

“When will I see you? If you’re working from home and I can’t pick you up from the airport, when will I see you again?”

Gina took a deep breath. “I’m not sure. We’ll just have to see how things work out when I get back to town.”

His frowned deepened. “I don’t like this. I just want you to know that. I don’t like this at all.”

“I know you don’t, and I’m sorry about that, but this is the way I have to do it. This is the way it has to be.”

He straightened up. “If this is what you have to do, then this is the way we’ll do it. You let me know what you need and when you plan to come into the office.”

She brightened up. “Thank you. I knew I could count on you.”

His hand moved closer to the computer. “I guess this is it then.”

“Yeah.”

“So…see you later.”

Gina put her finger on the mouse pad. “See ya.”

He clicked off first. She let out a shaky breath. So that part of this business was all taken care of. She turned away from the computer. Winnona still slept in her carry capsule. Gina picked up the capsule and gave it a soft rock. She studied the wrinkled little face inside. “Now comes the hard part.”

Chapter 2

Gina kept Winnona’s carry capsule buckled into the seat next to her on the plane all the way from Auckland to San Francisco. She took the baby out to feed and change and rock and cuddle and sing to her. To Gina’s relief, the baby slept most of the way and even let Gina sleep some.

Mostly, though, concerns about Giles Pendragon haunted Gina waking and sleeping. What would happen when she finally returned to the States? That man never took no for an answer in his life. He wouldn’t take her lunatic proposal to work from home lying down. How long could she keep up the pretense?

From the moment she walked into his office two years ago, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. He cornered her in bathrooms and broom closets. He bent her over his desk and ordered her to crawl under it to suck his dick.

Never in Gina’s life had a man fired her passions like he did. Sure, he was drop dead gorgeous in his tailored suits and his diamond Rolex. He could make her knees melt with a snap of his fingers, and he knew how to use every inch of his muscled bulk to get her to submit. He pounded her a million ways from Sunday, and she loved every minute of it—she loved every minute of it right up until that fateful minute when she read a plus sign in the results window of a cheap drugstore pregnancy test.

Holy crap—pregnant! She hadn’t laid another man since she met Giles. The baby could only be his. She wanted to get rid of it, but somehow, she just kept putting it off and putting it off until the deadline passed.

Worst of all, being pregnant made her hornier than ever. Her blood went on fire. If he flashed his deep brown eyes at her, she would feel herself get wetter and wetter until she dissolved in her office chair.

Something about her pregnant body turned him into a raving maniac. He couldn’t keep away from her. He panted after her like a dog after a bitch.He felt hersmoldering desire, and he set out to satisfy it. He drilled her in his limo. He locked her in his luxury penthouse for long weekends and left her too sore to walk. He tied her up and spanked her until she screamed with intense pleasure and begged him to give it to her.

Even thinking about those days made her wet all over again, but she could never tell him the truth. When she started to show at four months, she hid her pregnancy under floppy clothing. Her buxom form helped a lot, too, but her tits ached and her nipples itched. She longed for him to caress them, suck and tease them, and pinch them to relieve her pent-up tensions, and when he did, she collapsed into his hands. He always wound up making love to her harder and harder and sending into orgasm.

No doubt he wanted to do the same thing now. So how could she live in the same town with him howling at the moon to get hold of her before he found out she’d had his baby in New Zealand?

Hiding her pregnancy was easy, even though Giles and Gina engaged in just as much sex over the internet as they ever had in person. Gina simply took extra care not to include her swollen belly in the viewing window. She focused the camera on her upturned ass, on her fingers stroking her wet lady lips, on herself squeezing her nipples, or her mouth sucking…..just about anything she found on hand. Hiding Winnona after the baby was born was easy, too. Gina simply timed their Skype calls to coincide withWinnona'snaps.

Gina would have to take extra care once she brought Winnona back to San Francisco. She would have to locate a reliablebabysitterto take care of Winnona during any meetings Gina couldn’t get out of. Gina couldn’t exactly video conference with Giles and his clients in the same town, could she?

Winnona woke up when the plane nosed into the Bay for a landing. Gina fed her and changed her and smiled at her and cooed into the baby’s astonished face. Gina held Winnona against her chest and rocked her while the plane veered into the runway. Winnona drifted off, and by the time all the other passengers got off the plane, the baby was asleep again in her carry capsule. Now, if she would only stay that way until Gina got the luggage and caught a cab to her hotel, life would be smashing.

Gina collected her diaper bag in one hand and the capsule in the other and headed for the concourse. She noticed by the clock on the flashing arrivals board her flight got in half an hour early. Fantastic. Now there was no chance of that man turning up and making a scene in the airport.

She hurried through the immigration line to the baggage claim. She set the carry capsule on the ground with Winnona still asleep inside it, but she couldn’t stop fidgeting. A curious dread haunted her every minute. She kept glancing over her shoulder at the sliding doors leading out to the parking garage.

She moved through the crowd to wrestle her two large suitcases off the conveyor belt. She stood them on their wheels with a sigh of relief. Now she could beat it out of here and disappear into northbound traffic.

She clicked the sliding handles of both suitcases into place and took hold of them, one in each hand. She wheeled them around to trundle them back to Winnona when she spotted a familiar face out of the crowd. Her heart stood still. It was him.

Her mind whirled. She had to think of something pretty fast. In a split second, she decided to play it cool. She didn’t stop wheeling her suitcases. She wheeled them right up to him and steered him well clear of Winnona before she stopped. She stood her cases on their wheels and faced him. “What are you doing here? I told you I didn’t want you to give me a ride.”

“I’m not here to give you a ride, Gina,” Giles replied. “I had to see you. I haven’t seen you in five months.”

She set her shoulders. “Well, now you’ve seen me.”

He shifted to stand at her side. “Let me walk you out to the taxi stand. Here. Let me take one of your suitcases. They look heavy.” He laughed out loud. “I didn’t know you were such a clothes horse.”

Gina pursed her lips. “That’s okay. I’d rather do it myself, and I’m perfectly capable of catching a cab. I don’t need any help from you.”

He frowned at her. “What’s wrong with you? Aren’t you the least bit happy to see me?”

Gina glanced over her shoulder. Winnona’s carry capsule still sat in the same place. Some people milled around next to it. A woman stood closest. At that distance, anyone would believe the baby belonged to that woman. No one would believe Winnona belonged to Gina.

“Look, Giles. I’m really happy to see you again. I’m glad you came out. I really am. It’s very good to see you after so long. Now I have to get going.” She wanted to add, “Please leave,” but of course, she couldn’t do that. He was her boss, after all.

He didn’t leave. He stood still. “If you’re so happy to see me, why are you acting so cold? You haven’t kissed me or hugged me or whispered sweet nothings in my ear.”

She arched her eyebrows. “Is that what you want me to do?”

“Of course. That’s what I’ve been fantasizing about since the day you left. You know I’m crazy about you.”

“Well, things can never be like that again. I’m sorry. If you want me to kiss you and hug you, I will, but I still don’t want you wheeling my suitcases to the taxi stand. I don’t want to ride with you, and I don’t want to stayinthe penthouse.”

He flashed her a wicked grin. “What about the sweet nothings in my ear? Will you do that, too?”

She couldn’t help but blush. He knew how to push her buttons. She had to give him that. “Sure. What the hell.”

He held out both arms. “Come on, then. Hug and kiss me. Show me how happy you are to see me.”

Gina’s ears and cheeks burned. She cast one furtive glance back over her shoulder. Winnona was still asleep. How long could Gina keep this pretense going before the baby woke up and started screaming? If Gina didn’t march over and claim her distressed child, someone would call the police.

Gina faced Giles. She had to get this overwithand fast. She summoned all her resolve. She really did care for him, and she really was happy to see him again after so long. His nearness made her heartpatterwith hidden excitement. She could show him that, at least, for as long as it lasted.

She moved closer. His pupils dilated when he gazed into her eyes, and his neck twitched where his pulse throbbed in his veins. Did she excite him as much as he excited her? She already knew she did. Was he getting hard right now at the thought of putting his arms around her?

She crossed that last terrible frontier and put her arms around his neck. His thick muscled arms folded around her waist, and they met in a close embrace. His chest glowed warm and solid under his shirt and suit jacket. His powerful arms lifted her onto her tiptoes.

His presence flooded her brain with the old forgotten arousal. He wasn’t an image on Skype anymore. He was a living, breathing man, and he was right here with his arms around her.

This was how it started. It always started with an innocent handshake, a hug, a touch on her hand. It started with a brush of his sleeve against her blouse, a flare of his nostrils when he glanced down at her cleavage. His lips parted, and the color swept across her cheeks. That’s how it always started, and it always ended in sizzling, moaning, sheet grabbing sex.

Once she wrapped her arms around him and he wrapped his arms around her, the next stage happened by itself. She angled her head sideways and kissed him. His soft lipsbrushedagainst her mouth. The moment they touched their lips together, their mouths opened. Their tongues lashed this way and that in a delicious dance.

His tongue stroked her insides, all the way down her soft skin. His tongue commanded her pussy to respond, moving in and out of her deeper and faster. His tongue tingled through her mouth the same way it flickered across her lady lips and clit. She panted gasped for breath and clenched her fists in his hair.

Whisper sweet nothings in his ear? She never wanted to do anything so much. His arms tightened around her waist, and one hand pressed her spine inward. He bent her back to tilt her hips. Her ass stuck out, and her engorged tissuesopenedfor him.

His other hand glided down her side to her hip. He guided her pelvis forward and back, and he slipped one knee between her thighs. He jammed up between her legs to nudge her blazing inferno to life.

He broke their kiss and laid his cheek against hers. His voice whispered low into her ear. “Tell me how much you want it. Tell me you want me right now.”

She couldn’t contain herself. His hands and leg and lips—every part of him—burned against her skin. Everywhere he touched her he pushed greater desire, she felt a tinglethrough her body at the awakening of this side of her.

Christ, she wanted it like she couldn’t believe! How did she ever think she could live in the same town, in the same country, or even on the same planet with him and not collapse in a puddle at his feet?

Her breathdeepenedand sped up. She panted and whimpered into his ear. “Oh, yeah, I want it. Oh, please, don’t do this to me. You know I want it so bad.”

He turned his head aside so his mouth pressed against her ear. “I’m gonna fuck you, Ms. Kemp. I’m gonna fuck you just the way I used to. Are you ready for that? Is that what you want? Say you want it. Say you want my cock in your ass right now.”

She swooned in his arms. Her brain screamed to tear herself away, to grab Winnona and run for the hills, but her body wouldn’t obey. She wanted him. Her body clung to him and rubbed herbreastsinto his smooth cotton business shirt. Her body sat down on that muscled thigh and teased her clit into oblivion. She moaned in his ear. “God, I need your hard cock. I need it so bad. Oh, dear God, please fuck me. You know I want it.”

He pulled his head back, the stare of his green eyes pierced into her at close range. “Come with me. I’ll give it to you in the limo on the way back, and I’ll take you to the penthouse and give you a good hard spanking if you want? Come with me now. I’ll make you cum all over my dick.”

In a flash, cold clarity drowned out her desires. She couldn’t let this go any further, but her arms still clutched him as tight as ever. “I can’t. I want to, but I can’t.”

His eyebrows darted together, but they flew apart to their usual place just as fast. “I suppose you won’t tell me why.”

Gina caressed the back of his neck. Shepeckedhim on the lips. “Believe me, I want to. I would give anything to go with you right now, but I can’t. I can’t explain it now. I wish I could. I really wish I could confide in you. You don’t know how hard it is not to.”

He really did frown then. “What’s wrong? Are you in some kind of trouble? Let me know and I can help you. Have I ever let you down before?”

“I can’t. If you really want to help me, go get in the limo and drive back to the city. Let me do what I have to do. I’ll catch a cab—alone—and I’ll get in touch with you when I’m settled enough to start work.”

He searched her face for some answer to the burning questions nagging his eyes. When he found nothing but her eyes searching him back, he let go of her and moved back. “All right, Ms. Kemp. I have no choice but to trust you. I sure hope you know what you’re doing.”

Gina sighed. “So do I. I really hope I do.”

He shrugged his shoulders into place under his jacket. “All right. I’ll leave you alone.”

“Thank you, Mr. Pendragon. You don’t know how much I appreciate this.”

He turned away with a shake of his head. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit.”

“You said that already,” Gina muttered.

He looked around, but he didn’t leave. “Now I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t be. Everything’s fine. I just have to do this my own way. Can you understand that?”

“I understand. I only wish you trusted me as much as I trust you.”

Gina stared down at the floor. “I do trust you. It’s myself I don’t trust.”

His head whipped around, and he fixed her with that ferocious glance of his. She knew that glance. That glance meant he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted and find out what he wanted to know. That glance meant he spotted his quarry and set out to hunt it down. She was his quarry, and he would catch her in the end. He always did.

His shoulders settled lower. He would leave in a minute. She would pick upWinnona'scapsule, wheel her cases to the taxi stand, and ride away—alone—into the city. He would leave in the limo. When would she see him again? When would he touch her again the way he touched her today?

How she longed to touch him, not only to straddle his thighs and whisper dirty words into his ear. She longed to hold him, to murmur the raw truth into his ear and make him understand. She would give anything to hold his hand right now, to unburden herself to him, of all people.

He didn’t even know Winnona existed. Every moment that passed, she robbed him of the joy of sharingWinnona'slife, but she couldn’t break her silence. She couldn’t reveal the lie she worked so hard to construct.

He gave one more curt nod. “All right, Ms. Kemp. I’ll go now. But I hope I see you soon.”

“You will.” Not even Gina believed that. One lie fed into another until they tied her in knots.

He still didn’t leave. He kept hanging around. He glanced toward the parking garage, then toward the baggage carousel, then at her, then at the people milling around. Gina willed herself to keep still. She couldn’t show him how nervous he made her, how anxious she was for him to leave. She had to keep her cool. She had to show him she could still hold it all together.

Her motherly sixth sense heard the first peep behind her. Winnona was waking up. Gina went rigid. She had to get to her baby. She had to pick her up and reassure her before she started screeching to high heaven.

Giles didn’t notice. He didn’t hear a thing. He kept shifting from one foot to the other and not leaving. What was wrong with him? Hadn’t she made it clear what she wanted him to do?

Winnona gave the little twisting squeal she made when she woke up and wanted Gina. That squeal preceded the first wrenching cry. As soon as that cry echoed through the baggage claim, people would start turning around to look. They would wonder where that baby’s mother was and why the mother didn’t come for her baby.

Gina had to give Giles a kick in the ass to get him out of here. How could she do it without offending him beyond redemption? Maybe she’d already crossed that line. Maybe she’d blown her whole crazy plan out of the water.

She forced herself to smile at him. “See you later.”

He shifted again and shrugged. “Yeah. I guess so.”

Winnona squealed one more time. That squeal meant, “Get over here now if you know what’s good for you.” The carry capsule rocked and made a clunking noise on the floor.

Gina glanced over her shoulder toward the sound. Some other people, including the woman closest to the capsule, looked over, too. Thank goodness for that. Gina made it look like she was just curious about the noise.

Giles caught her looking. “All right. I guess you want to get going. I’ll see you later.”

Gina flashed him her friends-with-benefitssmilebut didn’t say anything. Nothing remained but for him to turn around and walk away, and that’s exactly what he did. He gave her one last furious glare and strode out of the airport.

Gina stayed rooted to the spot until she saw the limo glide past the entrance. At that moment, the first piercing cry ripped through the baggage claim. Gina’s shoulders slumped. She turned around, walked over to the capsule, picked it up, and carried it to a nearby bench to sit down.

Chapter 3

Gina tapped out an email on her laptop. She balanced Winnona on her lap with one knee and hitSend. She opened the progress report she was working on and got one paragraph written before Winnona started to fuss.

She lifted the baby onto her shoulder and patted the child’s back. She hunted and pecked with one hand and shushed Winnona while she mapped out the next section of the report.

She picked up her e-job where she left off since she moved into this apartment three weeks ago. Giles wasn’t happy about her spending all her time at home, but he couldn’t fault her work. He gave her better job success ratings than ever, but maybe he just wanted to flatter her.

Normally, taking care of Winnona didn’t interfere with her work, except for times like now. Winnona fussed more and started to cry. When this sort of thing happened, Gina took a break and returned to her work later. No big deal.

Winnona didn’t think it was no big deal, though. Whatever was bothering her exploded into a bigger deal than Gina ever saw. The crying turned to wailing. Gina tried to give her a bottle.Nogo. The wailing turned to bleating. Gina walked around the apartment and bounced Winnona on her shoulder. Forget it.

The bleating turned to full-volume screaming, and from there, it escalated to purple-faced thunder. Gina held Winnona close and did her best to comfort her baby. She tried all her old tricks. She put Winnona in the carry capsule and swung it around in a circle. When that didn’t work, she lay down on her bed with Winnona by her side. Dream on. She picked Winnona up and carried her out into the sunshine on the balcony. Winnona screamed to wake the dead.

Gina didn’t know what to do. She checked Winnona’s diaper. Clean as a whistle. She massaged her stomach. Winnona flailed and screeched louder than ever—if that was humanly possible. Gina wanted to cry, too. She could only keep moving around the apartment and pray for a miracle. Times like this made her cling to her baby for dear life. She ached to help this tiny person. If only she could talk to Winnona, she would do anything to relieve her distress.

As it was, she could only keep trying until the storm passed. Gina paced around the apartment. She tried Winnona in every position imaginable, but nothing helped. Winnona’s shrill screams stabbed into Gina’s ear, but she dared not put the baby down.

She wentonher twentieth circuit of the apartment. If nothing changed quick, she would put Winnona in her front carry pack and go for a walk to the beach. That worked sometimes. Gina just passed her computer, which sat open on the desk. The screen went dark, and the screen saver came on. Gina hadn’t taken the next step when the screen blinked bright again. Her report showed up on the desktop, and the little black Skype window flashed across her view. The computer made a phone-ringing sound.Giles Pendragon Calling….

Gina stared at the dots trailing sideways. Oh, please, dear God, not now. She touched her mouse pad and clicked the redHang Upbutton. The black window disappeared. Phew!

Gina started walking when the phone sound started again. She barely heard it overWinnona’scries.Giles Pendragon Calling…. Gina’s heart froze. He couldn’t be calling her now—not now, of all times. She couldn’t. She hit theHang Upbutton one more time and walked away.

That phone ringing sound cut straight through the noise ringing in Gina’s ear.Giles Pendragon Calling…..Didn’t that guy ever get the message? Not now, Giles. Get that through your head. She hit theHang Upbutton one more time. She walked away without looking back.

This time, when the phone ringing sound caught her ear, she didn’t bother to turn around. She didn’t even approach her computer. Let him sit and spin. If he couldn’t get the simple message that she didn’t want to talk right now, let him stick it where the sundon’tshine. She wouldn’t hang up. She waited for him to give up and leave her alone.

He didn’t give up, though, and he didn’t leave her alone. He called her again and again. He could see she was online. She kicked herself for not changing her status when she had the chance. She got in the habit of taking herself offline at all times she didn’t have a scheduled call with him. Then he never got tempted to call her out of the blue, like now.

She glared at her computer. That clod! What was wrong with him? She would kick him in the nuts next time she saw him. That would teach him a lesson. She took another lap around the apartment. Winnona cried herself hoarse. Gina couldn’t hear the ringing sound anymore, but she saw the blinking dots when she came back to her computer.

She couldn’t talk to Giles right now. She couldn’t hear him even if she wanted to. What was she going to do? She could send him a quick message telling him now wasn’t a good time, but that would only make him curious. He would want to know what she was up to.

Her mind whizzed through the possibilities. When you came down to the simple facts, he was still her boss. She had to talk to him. He might want to tell her something important. How could she talk to him with this mayhem going on?

She thought fast and grabbed Winnona’s carry capsule. She stuck Winnona in it and set the capsule on the floor. She rocked it with her foot, but it did no good, just the way Gina knew it wouldn’t. She took a deep breath and punched the green telephone button.

The ringing noise stopped, and the screen shivered. Then Gina heard the yelp of Winnona’s voice feeding back through Giles’s microphone. Gina winced, but she had to go through with her plan.

The viewing window appeared with Giles in it. He was in his office. He wore his hair slicked back over his ears and that crisp egg-shell gray suit she liked so much. He looked magnificent with his broad shoulders jutting out beyond his leather chair.

He screwed up his face in pain. His voice squelched across the airwaves. “Ms. Kemp? What is that noise?”

She moved her mouth close to the microphone and bellowed as loud as she could. “It’s some neighbor’s kid having a tantrum. Let me call you right back.”

His face cleared, and he nodded. Gina swallowed the lump in her throat and hit theHang Upbutton. Dear God, please oh please let this work. She gathered up Winnona and hurried to the kitchen. She stuck a bottle in the microwave and zapped it for fifteen seconds. All the time, she offered silent pleas to the great Babysitter in the Sky. Oh, please. I’ll do anything. Please let this work. Let this be the time. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and the hour of our death, Amen.

That last little bit came back to her out of her distant parochial past. This must be a desperate situation or she would never have remembered it. She snatched the bottle from the microwave and hustled back to the computer. She positioned Winnona in the crook of her arm and touched the bottle to the baby’s lips.

Like magic, Winnona opened her mouth and latched onto the nipple. Gina’s heart thumped out of her chest. It was working. It really was working. She balanced the bottle with her other hand and hit the call button. The dots started blinking, and the phone started ringing.

Winnona kept her eyes closed and sucked. Blessed, heavenly peace returned to the apartment. The viewing window reappeared with Giles smiling from ear to ear. “Did you kick the crap out of him or something?”

Gina gave a nervous laugh. “I think his dad showed up. Howyadoing?”

Giles swiveled in his chair. A little humor always put him at ease. The longer Winnona stayed quiet, the more Gina relaxed. That was a close one.

Giles chirped, “You’re coming into the office tomorrow.”

Gina’s head snapped up and her breath caught in her throat. “What?”

“You’re coming in. We’ve got a big contract meeting with Southern Mining, and they won’t negotiate with anyone but you.”

Gina let out her breath. She knew this day would come. She had to face this along with everything else. Shestrainedevery nerve to keep her voice steady. “All right. What time?”

“Eleven-thirty in my office.”

“You bet.”

He cracked a grin. “Wear that tweed miniskirt Ilikeand don’t wear any panties.”

Gina cringed. “We’re negotiating a contract, not my panties.”

His cheeks glowed. She knew exactly what he was thinking. “We’ll get the contract in the bank, and then I’ll take you out to lunch.”

Oh, of course. Lunch. How could she forget about lunch? Lunch with no panties on under her miniskirt. Of course. She knew all about that.

“Look, Mr. Pendragon. I don’t think I’ll be able to make lunch. I have a prior commitment.”

“Cancel it. You’re going out to lunch with me instead.”

“I can’t cancel it.” I can’t cancel it because I’ve got atwo-month-oldbaby at home that’s never been left without her mother. I wouldn’t be able to sit still through lunch anyways.

He leaned closer to the screen. “Just be there. If you want to wear panties, I won’t fire you.”

He clicked off before she could answer. Gina sank back in her chair. Winnona finished the bottle and sighed in her sleep. The baby settled into Gina’s arms. Gina set the bottle on the desk and gazed down at her sleeping infant.

How could she leave this tiny life, even for a few hours? She would be a nervous wreck all through the meeting, and she would race back home the minute it ended. She wouldn’t give Giles a second glance when she had Winnona to rush home to.

Gina wrapped a blanket around the sleeping bundle. “What are we going to do with you?”

Chapter 4

Gina rushed around the apartment, and she definitely kept her panties on. She gathered up every spare scrap of material the sitter could possibly need. “And here’s another pile of wipes. There are four bottles made up in the fridge. You shouldn’t need that many, but you never know what might happen. The heating instructions are on the kitchen counter, and there’s another bale of diapers in the hall closet. Here’s my front carry pack. You probably don’t want to take her out for a walk, but if you have to go anywhere, like in the event of an emergency, it might come in handy. You never know. Here’s my cell number, and here’s the number of the office where I’ll be in case you can’t get me on my cell. Come to think of it, I’ll have my phone turned off during the meeting, so only use it in case of dire emergencies. Okay? No, wait. I’ll put my phone on vibrate, so I can check if it’s you. That’s a better idea. That works, doesn’t it?”

Maggie, the sitter, stood behind the kitchen counter. A knowing smirk spread across her face while she listened to this tirade. She was aforty-year-oldmother of five teenagers from another apartment down the hall. She’d seen it all and lived to tell the tale. She could handle two hours with a newborn. Gina never trusted anyone the way she trusted Maggie, but she couldn’t stop ranting about every possible contingency.

The clock struck eleven-fifteen. Gina couldn’t delay any longer. She gathered her paperwork and her laptop and bolted. She couldn’t face Winnona to give her a good-bye kiss. If she looked at her baby daughter’s face, she would lose her nerve. This first heart-destroying separation distressed Gina far more than it distressed Winnona.

Maggie didn’t saygoodbye, either. She bent over Winnona’s carry capsule and cooed in the baby’s face. The last sound Gina heard—besides the pounding of her own heart—was Winnona gurgling back at Maggie.

That ungrateful little beast actually had the nerve to like her sitter. Maybe she liked Maggie better than Gina. Maggie had all the moves. What did Gina have? Nothing.

Gina raced downstairs to find the cab waiting by the door. She dove into the back seat before she could doubt. The cab wheeled into traffic. Gina gave the driver the address, but she couldn’t relax. In five minutes, she would face the firing squad. Would Giles be able to see the bright red letters imprinted across her forehead that readMotherfor all the world to see?

The cab pulled up in front of Infrastructure Consultants. That name didn’t scratch the surface of Giles’s multibillion-dollar contract firm. That guy weaseled his claws into every major development happening in every corner of the globe. He worked himself up from a penniless engineering student at CalTech to founding one of the most lucrative firms in the Northern Hemisphere.

He started to dig in his roots in the Southern Hemisphere, too. That’s why he sent Gina to New Zealand in the first place. He wasn’t satisfied with all the money and contracts one man could ask for. He wanted to rule the world, and he wasn’t far off it now.

Gina went on autopilot when she stepped out of the cab. She’d walked into that office a million times without batting an eyelash. She could do the same thing today, and she would do it. Everyone at Southern Mining knew she was a mother. They’d never seen her without that bright red lettering on her forehead.

Only one person upstairs worried her. She had to act casual. She had to keep it cool, like nothing between them ever changed.

He already knew everything between them changed. That was the problem. He wouldn’t accept her at the negotiating table like an old colleague with a raft of expertise under her belt. He would be on the eagle-eyed lookout for the slightest hint of disturbance in her. He would keep her under a microscope until she cracked and told him what was going on.

She’d never kept a secret from him before, especially not one as big as this. She always thought she could trust him with anything. She told him everything, but that was light years away now. Now everything hinged on her keeping the charade going. She had to talk shop and stay away from anything personal.

She thought she’d die of happiness when she met the Southern Mining negotiating team in the elevator. They chatted and joked with Gina, just the way they used to do Down Under. She asked after their wives and kids, their hobbies and challenges. They all picked up where they left off. They could have been back in Auckland instead of on the opposite side of the Pacific.

Gina started to unwind. She could waltz through this negotiation with her hands tied behind her back. She could talk to these guys, and they trusted her. She started to see the light at the end of the tunnel when the elevator dinged on the tenth floor instead of rising straight to the seventeenth where Giles kept his office. The doors slid open, and Giles stepped into the elevator.

A cloud crossed his face when he spotted Gina. The next, he wiped his countenance clear. He backed up against the wall to take his place facing the door. He nodded to Gina. “All set?”

Gina jerked her chin at the man standing next to her. “I was just telling Luke here about the results in my report.”

Giles’s head whipped around. “You haven’t even told me about them, and you’re sharing them with the other side?”

“I was just telling him the results favor both sides. We couldn’t ask for better results, and now Jerry Tompkins over there is planning to buy a new fishing boat and build abachon Lake Wairarapa.”

Giles stared at her. Gina smiled up at him. He didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. He glanced around the circle of New Zealanders, who all smiled at Gina. She spoke their language. She was one of them, while Giles looked in from the outside.

Wesley Faulkner spoke up from across the elevator. “You could come back to Wanaka on your commission, Gina. You could come out white-baiting with me and the team.”

“I would love to come back to Wanaka sometime, mate,” she replied. “Let’s get in there and get this thing done.”

The elevator hummed to a stop on the seventeenth floor. Jerry tried to bow to Gina to exit first, but she held back. “Ladies first,” Gina told him. “I insist.”

The whole team burst out laughing. Luke slapped Wesley on the back, and Wesley and Jerry embraced. They cascaded out of the elevator surroundedbya halo of glowing positivity and goodwill.

After the Southern Mining team emptied out, Gina took a few steps forward to follow them when Giles caught her hand. He pulled her back around the corner while the team moved toward his office.

Giles darted forward to murmur into Gina’s face. “I knew you were the best person for this negotiation.”

Gina’s eyes widened. “You knew? You said they requested me.”

He shrugged. “You do all the talking in there. Knock their socks off, just the way you know how to.”

“I won’t have to knock their socks off, Mr. Pendragon. The results will do all the hard work for us.”

He stared at her. A wicked glint sparked in his eyes. “Say that again.”

“Which part? The part about the results?”

“Call me Mr. Pendragon again.”

Gina blushed. His nearness played its thrilling notesalongher body. She couldn’t get into this with him right now. She had to keep her eyes on the prize. She had to do her job and get out of here so she could go home to Winnona. “I’ve always called you….that.”

He whispered low. “Say it again, Ms. Kemp. I want to hear you call me that. You know I can’t stand it when you talk to me like that.”

Gina’s blood scorched in her veins. She had to stop this thing before it started. “We’ve got a negotiation waiting for us, Mr. Pendragon…..”

She didn’t mean to say it. It just slipped out through force of habit. She’d never called him anything else in the whole time she’d known him.

A sweet blush flashed over his cheeks. His eyes widened and his lips parted. His teeth flashedbetweenthe grin on his face.He moved in closer, and he whispered under his breath. “Again. Say it again.”

She squeaked through her parched throat. “I can’t. We have to get in there. Wecan’t dothis.”

Even before she finished saying it, she realized she was whining and begging, exactly the way he wanted her to, exactly the way she did before he….

His skin radiated its heat into her being. Her crotch ached so bad, she couldn’t stand up straight. She wanted nothing more in the world to collapse against the wall behind her with his delicious weight pinning her down. Her thighs brushed each other under her skirt.

He sensed her thoughts roaming down between her legs. “Are you wet right now? Does this get you hot down there?”

His hand moved out toward her hips. His fingers twitched to touch her. Gina shied away. “Oh, please, don’t do this to me. I can’t….”

He leaned forward. One hand rested on the wall behind her so his lips hovered in front of her face. “Are you wearing any panties under that skirt?”

She could barely hold her eyes open. Her head lolled on one side, and she looked away. “Yes, sir.”

He tilted his head to meet her eyes. “That’s right, baby. Who’s your Daddy?”

She whimpered out loud. How did this happen? How did he reduce her to a puddle with a few words? “Oh, please, Mr. Pendragon. Please, no.”

He nodded. “Oh, yes, baby. You know you’re gonna love it. I’ll only do it if you want me to.”

She could only moan and wait for those fingers to slither under her skirt. He already knew she waswetterthan he ever dreamed. He already knew he had her excited and willing to do whatever he wanted.

He sniffed and shoved himself off the wall. He tugged his jacket down into place and glared at her. “Stand up straight, Ms. Kemp. You don’t want the guys to see you slouching.”

Gina’s eyes snapped to his cold, cruel face. He wasn’t going to touch her after all. He wasn’t going to stir her to screaming orgasm right here in the elevator before she had to face that negotiation team across the table. He moved back another step toward the door.

Gina’s heart sobbed. How could she want a man this much and let him walk away? She couldn’t bring herself to beg, not after she scolded herself all morning not to get too close to him.

Giles already turned his attention to the office outside the elevator. He wasn’t thinking about her, or if he was, his sexual desire for her got all mixed up in the competitive thrill of chasing another massive contract. He was never hornier than when he just won some sensational profit or made a daring purchase against all odds.

Gina braced herself to follow him. At the last second, he bent close to her ear and murmured so no one could hear but her. “I’m gonna eat ‘em for lunch.”

She started back. “Sir?”

“Your panties. I will be thinking of them as you sit across from me getting them all wet and juicy. When you look at me across the table, you think about me licking you and making you even wetter. Then, after this meeting is over, I’m taking those panties of yours home if I can’t have you.”

She could only stare at him. His eyes glowed with inner fire. His jaw tensed when he clenched his teeth. He meant every word he said. She would be thinking about those words all through the meeting. Did he really intend to take her panties home with himafterward?

She learned a long time ago not to doubt his word when he said things like this. The expression on his face told her he wasn’t fooling around this time, either. He wanted her panties, and he wanted her.

Chapter 5

When she sat down in the comfortable chair behind the negotiating table, Gina’s could feel that she was alreadywet in herpanties. How would she last the entire meeting? Giles sat directly across from her. Jerry and Luke sat on one side of her, while Wesley sat next to Giles. Her most natural sitting position brought her face to face with him.

She opened her bag and got out her report. She busied herself with presenting her results, but she knew thembackwardand forwards. They did nothing to distract her from Giles’s mysterious eyes that penetrated her with his gaze.

She gotthroughthe results, and the serious negotiating began. Giles never said a word. He left the whole thing to Gina. “So you see, Jerry, we can come to an agreement now and you can ride off into the Wairarapa sunset, or we can all go home crying how the other guydidus wrong. The choice is yours.”

Jerry and Luke exchanged glances. “Well now, I see you’ve got us backed into a corner. We’re none of us ace negotiators like you. We’re engineers. This negotiation would go so much differently if you’d come over to us instead of leaving New Zealand.”

“I would be telling you the same thing if I was on your team,” Gina told him. “Just for a second here, let’s all pretend I’m on your team. Pretend I accepted Southern’s offer and I stayed in New Zealand. I would be telling you the same thing. Any other ace negotiator you could hire would tell you the same thing, too. This is the best offer you can hope to get. I’m telling you this as your friend. I know you guys, and I wouldn’t do you wrong to line my pocket or anybody else’s pocket. Take this and be happy about it. Take this, and let’s all ride off into the sunset together. Then we can all join Jerry and Kim for a beer in their new bach.”

The Southern team exchanged glances one more time. They hung by a thread, but Gina knew her business. She stole apeekat Giles across the table. He stared straight at her without blinking. He couldn’t be thinking about sex at a time like this. He couldn’t seriously be imagining all the things he’d like to do to her while she negotiated a hefty pay-out for him and his company. Could he? What kind of man would do that?

She forced herself to relax. He wasn’t thinking about sex. He wasn’t thinking about sex. He wasn’t thinking about sex. He was a businessman—a very successful businessman who worked hard at a business he loved. He was listening to her negotiate with these guys—nothing more.

A moment later, Luke cracked a grin. He stuck out his hand to Gina. “All right, sweetheart. You got a deal.”

Gina shook his hand. “Great. I think Giles has the contract all drawn up for you to sign. Then we can shoot you the first draft plan of your development project before you leave for your hotel tonight.”

Jerry froze. “What? So soon?”

“Why not? You just said we had a deal.”

The team looked at each other. “We didn’t think you’d have the contract already drawn up. We thought we’d negotiate that, too. We weren’t expecting everything to happen that fast.”

Gina stood up. “Don’t worry about it. You can go over the contract if you want to, just to make sure it’s the way you want it. We prefer to move fast at Infrastructure Consultants. We’ve got a deal, so we want to go ahead to finalize the details. You guys won’t be in town long. The faster we get all this done, the faster we can get this development underway.”

The team hesitated a little longer. Jerry staggered to his feet, but Wesley sat still in his chair. He stared straight in front of him in stunned shock. Luke kept looking at his friends for reassurance.

Gina held out her hand to Giles, and he set a file folder in her hand. He still hadn’t said a word. He was great that way. He knew how to disappear at the right times and come out guns blazing at others. These guys would only take the hard sell from Gina. If he tried the same technique, he would scare them out of the room faster than you can say, “Cheese.”

Instead, Gina laid the folder open on the desk in front of Wesley. “Here it is. You can take this back to your hotel and spend the next twenty-four hours reading it, or you can take your new draft plan back to your hotel and spend the next twenty-four hours reading that. It’s up to you guys how you want to spend your time, but I can assure you, on my honor, there is nothing in this contract you could take exception to. Everything is by the book. All we need is your signature.”

Wesley bent over the contract. He was a speed-reader of the highest order. He flipped the pages until he came to the end. “That’s all right, Gina. We’ll sign now, and you can send us the draft plan.”

He straightened up, and the other two peered into his face. “Are you sure?”

“Sure. This is a great contract, and we never expected any better when we walked through that door.” He held out his hand. “Give me a pen. I’ll be the first to sign it.”

He scrawled his name at the bottom. Gina stole another glance at Giles. He still regarded her with that passive, inscrutable gaze of his. He never took his eyes off her to watch this lucrative contract fall into his lap.

Wesley stepped aside, and Jerry took his place to sign, followed by Luke. Giles showed no sign of having noticed, but now, more than ever, Gina understood. He was thinking about eating her out and nailing her over his office chair the whole time. That’s why he never took his eyes off her. He told her in the elevator he would be thinking about doing her, and he did.

The more adroitly she negotiated this contract, the more he wanted to pound her right thereoverthe desk. Contract negotiations like this excited him beyond belief. They made his cock throb for action andrelease.

The adrenaline of bagging big game excited her, too. It thrilled her inside out like wild sex. She could just imagine him grabbing her by the hips and pushing her down on the table right in front of Luke and Jerry. He would grab her by the hair and wrench her head back so shemoanedand whined right in their faces as he made love to her to kingdom come.

That’s what contract negotiations meant to him—to both of them. Did she really think she could run away after this? How could she go home to Winnona with this aching need digging into her? How could she look forward to a night playing with herself when she could take his throbbing cock instead?

The guys shook hands all around. They shook hands with Giles, too. He smiled at them, butstill,he didn’t speak. He left Gina to do all the talking. She thanked them and told them to watch their email for the first draft plan. They would have it in their inboxes by the time they got back to their hotel, along with copies of the contract for them to review.

She escorted them all out of Giles’s office and into the elevator. Jerry held the door open. “Aren’t you coming downstairs?”

She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “I have to debrief with Giles before I leave. I’ll catch up with you guys another time.”

He didn’t let go of the door. “How about dinner sometime?”

She laughed in his face. “Jerry, dear, you’re a married man.”

He blushed to his eyelids and dropped his arm in a hurry. The door pinged closed, and Gina turned back to Giles’s office. Debrief? Yeah. That’s what they called it.

She found him staring out the window. He turned around when she walked in the door. “You were magnificent. You had them eating out of your hand.”

She shrugged and closed the folder with the signed contract inside. “It’s easy when you know the person. All you have to do is make it personal, and they crumble.”

He strode over to the table. “I crumbled, watching you. I would have done anything for you just now. I would have sold my first-born child if you asked me to.”

Gina looked away. “Don’t say that.”

He frowned, but his face cleared right away. “Come on. I’m taking you to the penthouse.”

Gina froze. “What?”

“I can’t leave you after the way you just made me feel. You were incredible. And I saw how you looked at me too. How can we just ignore the tension we both felt just now?”

She burst into action. She grabbed her handbag and headed for the door. “I can’t. I have to get back…..I have something I urgently need to do.”

He flew around that table faster than you can blink. She never saw him move that fast. One minute he regarded her from across the table. The next he appeared in front of her to block her way. “You’re not going anywhere except to the penthouse. You’reall mine.”

She withdrew a step. “I can’t. I’m sorry, Mr. Pendragon. I have a prior commitment that I can’t get out of.”

“You said that before, but since you won’t tell me what that prior commitment is, I have no choice but to doubt your word. I don’t like to do that. I would love to believe you, but after the way you talked to me in the elevator before, I still cling to the mistaken belief that you want me. Unless I hear something from you to convince me otherwise, I’ll keep believing that.”

She searched his eyes for some slim hope. “I do still want you. I want you as much now as I ever did. It’s just….”

“Then say it.”

Gina caught her breath. “Say what?”

“Say you want me. Say you want me to do it to you like we used to.”

She gulped hard. “You know I want it.”

He gritted his teeth so his jaw muscle popped. He breathedheavilyand low in hischestand fixed his eyes on her just the way he knew would bring her to her knees. “Say it. Say it like you mean it. Say it so I’ll believe you.”

A sob broke out of her throat. Why did he have to be so damn dominant? Why did he have to be so Alpha all the time? She couldn’t resist him when he got like this. Her voice rose to a whining cry. “I want it so bad, Mr. Pendragon. You know I want you to do it to me so bad.”

He took a step closer. His whole being pulsed with masculine power. “What do you want me to do to you? How can I do it if you don’t say what you want?”

She whimpered in her pathetic shame. “Oh, please fuck me. I can’t stand this. Oh, please, sir. Ican’t dothis.”

He moved the last little inch so his bared teeth hovered before her eyes. “You’re gonna do it. You’re gonna do exactly as I say, Ms. Kemp. You’re gonna take off those wet panties of yours right now and hand them over to me.”

Her eyes popped open. “Right now, sir?”

He held out his hand, and his voice cut like a knife. “Right now, Ms. Kemp. You wouldn’t want me to have to discipline you for insubordination, would you?”

She couldn’t stop her hands trembling. What was she doing? How did she get into this—again? She set her bag on the table, hooked her thumbsupher thighs and slid her panties down. She stepped out of them and handed them over.

She shrank into a tiny ball and awaited her fate. He stuffed her panties into his pocket and sliced the air with his forefinger. “Now turn around and put your hands on the table.”

She watched herself from far away. Who was that woman in the business suit with no panties on? Whoever she was, her pussy twitched for fulfillment from his thick, cruel intrusion. She hadn’t had anything in five months. She needed this as much as he did.

She knew when she told Jerry she had to debrief with Giles that it would end this way. It always did, so why did she balk at it now? She kept hanging around in the same office. She made no attempt to leave. She could have avoided this by leavingwiththe Southern Mining team. They would have shaken her hand and maybe given her a hug outside. Theywouldhave thought twice if her panties were wet.

Chapter 6

She turned around, just like he told her to. She always obeyed when he talked like that. He only had to drop his voice a register to make her crumble at his feet. His voice alone made her sob in blissful need.

She stared down at the table. Put her hands on it? She’d done it before. She’d bent over that table more times than she could count. What made now any different?

He didn’t wait for her to obey. He grabbed her behind the neck and pushed her forward. The intensity sent a shudder through herbody. “Putyour hands down on the table, he said.”

She gasped in surprise. That gasp turned to a soft moan. His hand clamped down on her neck and brought her against his mouth. He kissed her neck, up to her ear and into her hair. He teased and bit into the sensitive skin where her neck joined her shoulder. His commanding voice shot into her fevered brain. “I’m gonna do it, Ms. Kemp. I’m gonna fuck you and suck you and lick you like only I can. Would you like that? ”

He didn’t let go of her neck while he gnawed her ear and shoulder. He twisted her head around to kiss her. His other hand dug under herskirt andbetween her legs. Heflickedher lipsaside, but he didn’t plunge into her depths. Not yet. He caressed her clit and outlined her lady lips with his touch.

She moaned and contorted to get those fingers inside her, but he wouldn’t take her. He raked his fingers, stroking up along her slit, but when he came to her clitoris, he backed off to give them a feather touch. He drove her insane with that tickling hesitation. He dangled her on tenterhooks of anticipation until she couldn’t stand it.

“Mmm. You’re so damn wet, Ms. Kemp. Is this what you were thinking about when you made those guys crawl through the muck to kiss your feet? Did you like that? Did making them sit up and beg turn you on. God, you made me so damn hard when you controlled that negotiation like that.”

He toyed with her sweet spots in every direction, but he wouldn’t give her any satisfaction. He held that in front of her face to tease her to unstoppable climaxes.

He thrust his hips into her ass from behind. “Do you want to feel how hard you made me? Do you want to feel my hard cock in your hand?”

“Oh, please, Mr. Pendragon, sir. I need that cock so bad. Let me touch it and stroke it. I swear I’ll be good. I’ll be a good girl for you.”

“That’s right,” he grumbled. “You’ll be my good girl, or I’ll spank your tight ass until you scream.”

He yanked his hand out from between her legs. He snatched her wrist off the table and jerked her hand back to touch his bulging crotch. Her fingers closed around that wicked serpent tucked under his pants. Its massive length stuck out at her to stretch his pants tight.

He moaned and panted when she got hold of it. She stroked him hard and he thrust it’s full length forward to sandwich her hand against her ass. She did her best to get hold of his zipper, but she couldn’t see what she was doing.

Faster than lightning, he smacked her hand away. “Bad girl! No, you don’t. Don’t you dare.”

The gravitational vortex of their relationship hauled her in. Whatever happened, she had to follow this until it came to its natural end. She couldn’t back out now. She pressed her ass back against him. “Oh, please, let me touch it. I’ll be a good girl for you. I’ll do anything.”

He took up her hand again and guided it back to his prick. “That’s a good girl. You do what Itellyou to, and don’t let me catch you stepping out of line.”

“Yes, sir. I won’t, sir. Oh, dear God, that cock is so damn hard. Oh, please, let me suck it. I’ll do anything.”

He leaned forward to grind his hips into her ass. Her wrist bent back so she couldn’t stroke him, but that didn’t matter. He was there. He was right there, so hard and strong and brutal. She loved him like this. She trusted him. She loved bending over for his masterful thrusts.

He grabbed her around front again, but he didn’t dig intoher. Not yet.He grabbed a big handful of her thigh and pried her legs apart. “Come on, baby. Spread your legs for your boss. I’m gonna fuck you like I’ve never fucked you before.”

She would have spread her legs for him. She would do anything for him, but he already kicked her feet apart on the floor. He took his place behind her. He pushed her forward by the neck until her spine arched and her ass stuck out.

He ripped her skirt up to expose her bare ass. He rubbed hishandacross her soft skin. He really was going to do it to her, right here in his office. He’d done it so many times before, it shouldn’t have excited her so much anymore.

It did excite her, though. It excited her as much as the very first time he pushed her face into a pile of papers and hammered her into the desk. He was her boss, and he used her body for his own pleasure. She shouldn’t let him take advantage of her like this, but she loved it so much she couldn’t stop herself.

Christ, she loved it! She wanted nothing more in the world right now. She sobbed in naked lust when he pushedhis fingers in and out of her with one hand and squeezed her breast with the other.

She gasped in alarm when he touched the spiked head to her flaming tissues. Her whole pussy yawned open to suck him inside. Dear God, yes! Oh, please, make it so hard she couldn’t stand it.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, his firm flat hand glanced across her ass. SMACK! She yelped in surprise, but when she reared back to get away, he shoved her down on her chest on the table. Downcamehis hand again going back the other way. SMACK! He knew exactly what she liked.

She wailed out loud. God, what must the office ladies think? They’d heard it all before. They must have heard him doing it to other girls before he met Gina. God only knew what he’d done in his career. Probably every desk and table and chair in the continental US bore the stains of his exploits.

SMACK! She could only lie down and take it. He was master and controller. He was the grand wizard bent over his apprentice. He was all kinds of scenarios rolled into one. And she was loving it. SMACK! Her cheeks were on fire andpinkfrom hishandprints. But she wanted more. SMACK!

She moaned and whimpered. He gripped her by the shoulder with one hand and pinned her to the table. He spoke into her ear between smacks. “Do you like that? Bad girl!” You thought you could get away from me?” SMACK! “Is this what you want? Maybe this will teach you not to cross me. Your ass is all mine. Huh? Can you feel that?” SMACK!

Holy Christ, she could feel it, all right. SMACK! Boy, had she waited a long time for this. SMACK! She arched her back, and her hips rose off the table, begging him for more. SMACK!

“You’ve missedthis,haven’t you? Did you play with yourself thinking about me while you were away? Tell me you are all mine.” SMACK! SMACK!

“Yes! Oh, please, I’ll be good. I promise.” SMACK!! “Oh, please, please.”

“ You need a big man totameyou and make you behave, and that’s what you’re gonna get.” SMACK! “Like that? Is that what you need?”

“Ow!! Yes!”

SMACK! “Who’s your boss now, baby? Who’s your master?”

“You are!”

“Say it. I want to hear you say it.”

“You’re my master! You’re my master!”

“Huh? Turn around and look at me so I can look into those beautiful eyes of yours, you bad girl.”

He loosened his hold on her just enough to let her turn around and look. He stood behind her. Beads of sweat clung to his hair, and his face flushedred-hotfrom the effort.

He let out a shaky breath and caught her around the hips. Now, surely, he would plow into her and nail her to the table with his indomitable spike. He said he would fuck her, and now he would do it.

She turned her ass up to meet his driving cock, but to her surprise, he flipped her over. He pushed her back so her ass bumped against the table. In a flash, he fell on his knees in front of her and pressed his mouth onto her wet lady lips. She gasped out loud, but he already devoured her in lusty mouthfuls. He hooked his hands under her knees and lifted her legs apart to slide her back on the table.

She stared down at his head between her legs. Her ass ached on thehardwood, but she didn’t want him to stop. It was all part of the heady cocktail of sensation he wanted to give her. His dominant nature delivered her into his hands. Her pain fed into her pleasure and brought her to her ultimate climax.

She could only gaze at his eyes whilst his nose rested against her clit, and he nuzzled into her with his hot tongue. He split her legs apart and drilled her clit to quivering insanity.

Her mouth fell open. She couldn’t hold her lips closed. Every breath hurt. She had to breathe faster and harder to keep up with his strokes. Her cataclysmic orgasm seethed out of her until she couldn’t keep still. She hurled one hand at him. She needed one hand to hold her up on the table, but the other she threaded through his hair. She held his face into her pussy so tight her climax continued to reach new heights of intensity.

She had to. She had to. She had to attack him as hard as he attacked her. She had to ride him until she came. Oh, Jesus, she was cumming! She couldn’t stop it. She needed it. She had to have it. Oh, God, don’t stop! She bucked her hips into his mouth. Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Hishandprintson her ass only excited her to steaming ecstasy. Christ, let me die right now.

She never came like that before in her life. She threw her head back and screamed to the heavens. Holy God, what was happening to her? Supernovas burst in front of her eyes. She couldn’t stand this.

In the middle of it all, he jumped to his feet. He forced his way through her already-open thighs and banged his hips into her crotch. He pressed her legsfurtherapart and leaned over to kiss her.

His eyes smoldered into her soul. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, not even when his lips nudged her mouth open and he caressed the inside of her mouth with his tongue.

She still sighed and mewed from her colossal orgasm, but he already burrowed one hand between her legs and found her clit. She couldn’t move. Her armachedfrom supporting her weight. The hand she laced into his hair slipped down to his shoulder, but he had other things on his mind.

Chapter 7

His hand stopped circling her clit to take hold of his fly. He flipped his pants open and released that stiff rod in all its throbbing glory. She knew that cock like the back of her hand. She knew it with both hands. She knew its sensitive spots. She knew just how to suck it to make it quiver between her lips. She knew exactly how it felt against every inch of her inner anatomy.

She jolted at the sight of it. How she missed it and longed for it! How could she stay away from it so long? She wanted to hold it and caress it and kiss it, but he never gave her the chance. The moment he got it out, he was too worked up to wait any longer. He thrust toward the hole between her legs.

Her other hand flew back. She needed both of them to hold her up now. He screwed the rigid tip into her, he gave her a rough kiss and looked down at his own cock working into her blessed tightness. His lips curled back from his teeth, droplets of steamy sweat dripped from his hair. He was an animal finally letting his instincts take overcompletely.

She surged back and forth to meet his rhythm. He fixed both hands behind her hips and levered himself back and forth. She bounced off his sharp intrusions, but little by little, he found his way inside.

He hesitated just inside her entrance. He rotated his hips in a corkscrew to drive her through the roof. Shewhined and flailed, but she couldn’t get away. He knew her as well as she knew him. He mapped and worshiped every micron of her passage until he knew what would send her into the stratosphere.

He weaseled it against her insides, and when she couldn’t stand anymore, he eased it all the way out, only to push it in all over again. She squirmed on the tabletop, but her ass hurt too much to move. She could only submit to his wicked treatment and cum all over that burning cock.

“Come on and fuck my cock, baby. Come on and show me how much you like it so hard. Come on. Fuck me,” he moaned.

She flopped right and left. His muscles rippled up his arms and over his massive shoulders. She would give anything to put her arms around his neck right now and cling to him. She would give anything to shelter in his kiss while he shattered her to pieces, but he didn’t want that. He wanted her shattered. He wanted her in pieces under his pounding spike. He wanted to leave her helpless and available for his devil bulk working into her deeper and harder.

He tunneled just an inch deeper to find the next spot on his journey. Heangled his hips to stab forward, and his head crammed into her G-spot. She writhed in torment, but the next moment, he plunged to his limit into her depths. He stuffed her full of his rock hardness, and his cock slammed against her cervix. She screamed out loud, but the next instant, that thick slab excited her to fresh bursts of orgasmic rapture.

He withdrew all the way to his maddening limit before he plowed it in with a spine-chilling smack. His balls spanked the red marks on her ass.

She couldn’t take this anymore. She lifted herself up to meet his body and clasped both hands behind his head. She hugged him against her, but he was already too busy to notice. His muscled back flexed, and his chiseled round ass fell back. His hard cock slithered out and blasted in again harder than ever.

She whimpered in his ear in desperate shock, but already her climaxes took her beyond that place where any of thismattered. Nothing mattered but his cock inside her. He filled her to her limit, and his taut head injected its intoxicating concoction into her brain. She accepted him and all his fury. She clenched his shaft with her inner muscles, and her life-changing orgasms sent spasms along its length. She stroked it inside her and milked the stickyjizzfrom its tip.

He sank his teeth into her ear and rumbled low in his chest. The vibrations translated down her body. Was it possible to get any higher? Did she have any climaxes left in her? What would become of her when he finally slipped out of her?

His back widened over her. He spread out his shoulders like a cobra’s hood to dominate her universe. She couldn’t look him in the eye anymore. Only once, she dared pull away to kiss him. She read her own destruction in those burning eyes. He had her exactly where he wanted her. He wouldn’t let her go.

He tore himself out of her arms and straightened up so she had no choice but to look at him. He glared down at her. His jaw clenched until he ground his teeth. He pushed her hands away and grabbed his pants where they rode low around his hips.

To her horror, he pulled up his pants, tucked his dripping prick inside, and zipped up. She leaned back on the table with her pussy split open for all the world to see. He jerked his chin at her. “Get up, Ms. Kemp?”

She staggered off the table. “Sir?”

“Get up and pull your skirt down. You can’t go downstairs like that.”

She tugged her skirt down, but her engorged pussy still yawned wide and hungry for him. What was he doing to her? He couldn’t be throwing her out—not now after one quick bang in his office.

She straightened her clothes and ran her fingers over her hair, but nothing could fill the emptiness inside her. She almost burst into tears then and there, but she stiffened her lip. She would hold it all together at least until she got home. Then she would break down.

She didn’t really want to do it with him, anyway. She should be glad he let her go and didn’t demand she go off with him for the rest of the day. She would get home just in time to relieve Maggie.

Winnona would be happy to see her. That was one person on the planet Gina could always rely on to want her around. Winnona would never throw her out like a cheap date.

Giles turned around. His pants still stuck out over his hard prick. He checked her out from head to foot and nodded. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Gina’s eyes popped. “Where are we going?”

“To the penthouse.”

Her jaw dropped. “You can’t mean that.”

“Why not? What did you think we were doing? I told you I wanted to have lunch with you.”

“I thought you meant…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He clucked his tongue. “You know better than that, Ms. Kemp. You should know what I mean when I say something like that.”

Gina turned away, but she couldn’t hide her burning cheeks. She knew what he meant, so why did she fool herself into thinking she could come into the office and get away without falling into his hands and his bed all over again?

He checked his phone. “The limo is waiting for us downstairs.”

She gulped hard. He was right. She knew all along their tryst would come to this. She would go with him and spend….God knows how much time with him at the penthouse before she went home to poor little Winnona. Good Lord, what kind of horrible mother was she, that she screwed her boss when her precious baby was waiting for her at home?

“Well, Ms. Kemp? Are you coming or not?”

Oh, she was definitely cumming. She wouldn’t miss it. “Can I at least make a phone call to inform the other party?”

He waved his imperious hand. “Very well. Just make it fast. My time is valuable.”

She brought her bag around in front of her shoulder to get out her phone. She fumbled and missed it more than once. She couldn’t stop her hands shaking. She got so wound up in what she was doing that she didn’t notice him move around behind her. She didn’t notice until he laid both hands on her shoulders and pushed her down on the table all over again.

The phone almost fell out of her hand. She looked over her shoulder to ask what he was doing, but the words died on her lips when he hitched her skirt over her hips. “Hurry up, Ms. Kemp. I don’t have all day.”

He couldn’t be doing this. He couldn’t be doing this while she called Maggie to get a few hours’ reprieve to….to what? To get fucked? This was one for the recordbooksand no mistake.

She punched her phone screen as fast as she could, but her mind roiled in confusion. He inched her skirt up to bare her assets. He yanked her shirt up to her armpits and dragged down her bra cups. He positioned her flat on the desk so her bare tits clung to the cold polished wood.

She stumbled through her phone directory and found Maggie’s number. She hit the call button and listened with bated breath. He scooted in behind her, and his burning cock dug between her swollen lips. No, please God, he couldn’t do this to her. He couldn’t really intend to….

The phone rang on the other end. He worked his head deeper into the saturated nest he just plowed to ripe purple climax. He pinched her ass to pry her cheeks apart. Oh, please, no. Oh, please, no. Oh, dear God, he was in. He hovered there on the most sensitive part of her entrance.

“Hello?”

Gina took a deep breath and held it. What could she say? She couldn’t open her mouth without panting andwhininginto the phone. She couldn’t scream in begging ecstasy withher babysitteron the line. Oh, for the love of God and all the angels, he’s fucking me! He’s got his rock-hard cock an inch into me already! Holy fuck, that cock is so hard, I can’t stand it!

No, she couldn’t say that. “Hi, Maggie.” She held her breath again to stop those screams breaking out against her will. “How’s everything over there?”

“Just fine,” Maggie replied. “She’s a little angel.”

Could she do this? Could she really pull this off without exploding in catastrophic shrieks? He worked his dick just another inch along her channel. He glided all the way out and wound it back in. Shit, that man could fuck! Holy crap, I’m gonna cum!

Her wetness flowed around his ridged veins. “Hey, Maggie, would you mind if I took just a little longer. The client…..” She paused a fraction of a second to catch her breath. “The client wants to take a little longer to review the contract, that’s all. Would that be all right? I’ll get back as soon as I can.”

“Sure thing. Take as long as you want.”

Gina gasped one tortured breath. “Great. Thanks. See you later.”

Gina jammed her wrist between her teeth and sank a desperate bite into her flesh to stop herself from screeching out. She waited until she heard Maggie say, “See ya,” before she hung up.

Gina let out a broken cry of shivering rapture and flung herself down on the table. She released the tension in her pussy to reach that climax hanging just inside her entrance when Giles slid his cock out of her with a maddening suck. His pearly head trailed over her lips and left a golden film coating all her tissues.

“Stand up, Ms. Kemp. Get your clothes on.”

Gina lay panting and wretched on the table. He did that on purpose. He teased her to the very brink of orgasm. He knew she couldn’t cum on the phone with Maggie, and when she finally got free, he pulled back and left her aching for more.

She sobbed under her breath and straightened her clothes. She tucked her phone backintoher bag. Giles stood across the room with his back to her. She couldn’t see his face. Was he mad at her? Was he as horny as she was? Did he want to hide his raging prick from her so she wouldn’t know how bad he wanted to cum all over her?

She hooked her bra over her breasts and pulled down her jacket. She got herself together, and when she looked again, he stood at the door. He held it open for her and escorted her out to the elevator.

He didn’t touch her all the way down to the street. He didn’t even look at her all the way over the expressway and up the hill to the penthouse. He held the door open for her entering the building. They stood side by side in the elevator like strangers all the way up to the twelfth floor.

Gina stopped inside the penthouse foyer. It hadn’t changed. Once Giles found a style he liked, he stuck with it. The high ceilings still curled in their ornate plaster patterns of angels and nymphs. The palm trees lining the corridor led to the enormous living room leading to the private rooftop garden on the piazza. The city spread out all the way to the Bay beyond the windows.

Giles got her attention by rattling his keys in his pocket. She turned around to see him staring at her with that ferocious glare she recognized so well. He didn’t look at her or touch her on the way here, but the same dominating passion still burned in his eyes.

He could deny himself the luxury of touching her to maintain his composure in public. The moment he got behind closed doors, that mask vaporized. He became once again the devouring predator who stalked her.

He scanned her up and down. “Take your clothes off, Ms. Kemp.”

Gina’s jaw dropped. “Here?”

“Right here. I want to see you.”

She could stare into his eyes until doomsday, and she would never read anything there but the simple fact. He had her, and he wouldn’t let her go until he got what he wanted from her.

She had to look down at the floor to get away from those eyes drilling into her soul. She couldn’t look at him while she exposed herself for his inspection. She started on the buttons of her blouse when his voice sliced the air. “Look at me, Ms. Kemp. I want to you to see me watching you.”

She squeaked out, “Sir?”

He didn’t respond. His direct gaze demanded shecomply. She fixed her eyes on his face, and when she did, her spirit sparked alight. Wasn’t she his? Hadn’t he already claimed her body and soul? He’d done her in his office, not just today, but dozens of times. What did seeing her naked have to do with it? What difference could it make in the end?

She tore her buttons open and peeled off her shirt. She slithered out of her skirt and kicked it away. She stood before him in her high-heeled pumps. He traced her curves with his eyes. She locked her eyes on his and bent her arms around behind her back to unhook her bra.

She shrugged out of the straps and dropped it on the pile of clothes. She looked up at him. He tossed the keys in his pocket again, and she glanced toward the sound. That’s when she saw the bulge in his pants. He ate her up with his eyes. He followed every swing of her breasts when she breathed. He kissed her skin and nibbled her delicious folds with his insatiable gaze.

He swallowed, and his hands in his pockets inched just a fraction of an inch closer to his cock. “Turn around.”

She turned her back to him, but her heart pounded in her head. She was powerless before him. He could take her anytime, but he would tease her and string her along for ages before he fulfilled her craven needs. He would work her into a dripping frenzy before he released her on his demon cock.

He came up close behind her, and his warm breath shivered over her skin. It tingled back and forth across her skin and up the back of her neck. She shuddered down to her saturated pussy. Dear God, let him touch her now! She would give anything for his hands exploring her insides and his tongue driving her wild.

Her heart sobbed when he moved back. “Walk downstairs. I want to see that ass.”

She stumbled a few steps forward, but once she got moving, her body took over. She strutted down the corridor to the stairs leading to the lower level. She climbed down below the living room to the master bedroom overlooking the Bay. Another rooftop piazza spread out below the living room. A bubbling jacuzzi glinted in the sun out there between the palm trees.

She couldn’t stop walking until he ordered her to stop, so she just kept going. She passed the king-sized bed with its goosedown coverlet and its puffy stack of pillows. She passed the big wall screen TV and the entrance to the master bathroom suite.

She knew every detail of the place, and she couldn’t set foot in it without this incredible erotic power sweeping over her. The place turned her on almost as much as the guy in it.

She sauntered all the way up to the big window and stopped without being told to. She couldn’t go any further without smashing her face into the glass. The sun shone on the piazza. The wind touched the trees.

What must it be like out there right now, with the sun shining on her naked skin? She could soak in the jacuzzi. Then she could sunbath naked on the hot tiles. When she got tired of that, she could come back inside, take a shower, and curl up in that bed.

That bed turned her on like nothing else. That bed meant sex. That bed meant one orgasm after another, all night long. Even thinking about curling up in that bed with Giles turned her on.

As if in answer to her thoughts, he came up behind her. This time, he didn’t hold back. He murmured into her ear. “You didn’t do as you were told, Ms. Kemp.”

She prickled all over. His breath shot waves of heat into her brain. He would punish her for disobeying his order. “Yes, sir.”

“You didn’t wait for me to tell you to stop.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You know what that means, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

He didn’t move. His massive body pulsed with angry light behind her. She had to close her eyes against the sunshine to cope with the intensity. He lowered his voice to a menacing whisper. “Put your hands on the glass.”

She laid her palms on the cold surface. Goosebumps burst out all over her skin, but she wasn’t cold. Anticipation fired every nerve ending. What would he do to her? Would he spank her again? No, he didn’t repeat himself like that. He would come up with some new torment to make her beg for his mercy.

She leaned against her hands, but he leaned into her ear. “Higher. Raise your arms above your head.”

She slid them up. She had to bend forward to reach the glass.

“Spread your legs.”

She stepped aside, and her pumps made her ass stick out toward him. Of course. This was what he wanted all along. He stood behind her. She was his prisoner.

He placed both hands on her hips. His hands warmed her against the tension. That warmth excited her all down her skin to her cunt. She felt herself get wetter and wetter all over again. He knew exactly how to tease her. God, let him touch me now! Please, dear God, let him touch me.

He stroked her hips in no particular hurry. He followed her curving waist a little higher and retreated when he got to her ribs. He eased down and cradled her ass before he came back up. Every time he went down and returned, he ventured a littlefurther, up under her breasts, down to her thighs. He covered more territory, got a little closer to those erogenous landscapes aching for his touch.

She moaned and writhed, but nothing could make him relieve her anxiety. He wouldn’t cross the boundary to deliver her next climax. In the end, he returned to her ass. He massagedhertwo cheeks and lifted them apart.

Gina’s head lolled on her neck. She sighed and groaned, but she didn’t bother to beg. What was the point? He wouldn’t do anything until he was ready. Begging wouldn’t make him do it unless he told her to beg.

Out of nowhere, his muscular arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her off her feet. He wasn’t wearing his jacket, and the crisp cotton business shirt scraped her delicate skin. He lifted her feet off the ground and set her down on his bare hips.

She hadn’t seen him open his pants. Maybe he stroked his bare prick all the way down the stairs to the sight of her ass bouncing back and forth. Maybe he yanked off behind her telling her to spread her legs.

His cock poked between her legs and laid its length in her puffy groove. The honey coated it, and her tender lips spread around it. He let her slip to the floor, and his shaft glided backward until the tip nudged her opening.

She gasped in shock, but he had his own plans all worked out. He planted his feet wide to enclose her legs. He locked her thighs around his thick cock, and her pussy was so damn wet that he pumped her full with her legs closed.

He kept his grip around her waist. He rested her weight on her hands and held her back against his plunging cock. He drilled her to her source on acres of her wet juices until he moaned into orgasm.

Chapter 8

Three hours later, the limo pulled up in front of Gina’s apartment building. She grabbed the door handle to let herself out. “I’ll email you later to discuss our next move with Southern Mining.”

He laid his hand on her arm to stop her. “Don’t ignore what we have together, Ms. Kemp. I meant what I said before. I want you to move into the penthouse.”

“I already told you Ican’t dothat.”

“That’s what you said. You keep saying you can’t. You have never once said you don’t want to. And you know I wouldn’t rather spend my time in the penthouse with anyone else. So let’s do this – for the both of us.”

“I do want to, but there are extenuating circumstances that make it impossible.”

He waved his hand. “That’s all nonsense. Nothing is impossible. Today was just a warm-up. After that session we just had, you obviously want me as much as you ever did, and I want you just as much. We could be wild, you and me. We could be going day and night.”

Gina chuckled. Mothers didn’t go day and night withanythingunless it was feeding and comforting and changing crying babies.

“I mean it, Ms. Kemp. I want you to move in.”

She squeezed his hand. She really did like him, and it wasn’t all about sex. “I couldn’t move in there. I’m your employee. If I moved in, I would be….What would I be? I’d be your kept woman.”

“You wouldn’t be a kept woman because I would move in there with you. We would be legit.”

Her eyes popped out of her head. “Are you serious?”

“I’m drop dead serious about you, Ms. Kemp. I want to go all the way with you, in more ways than one. I want to be there for you when you wake up and when you go to sleep at night. I want to occupy your space and have you in my space.”

“What about your house?”

He shrugged. “That’s not going anywhere. If things work out in the penthouse, maybe you’d like to move into the house later.”

Gina pulled away. “Now I know you’re not serious. You can’t seriously expect me to move into your house. It’s….I mean, it’s practically a museum.”

He leaned forward. “I want you, Ms. Kemp. I want your days and nights. I want your free time and your bad hair days and your dirty laundry. I want it all, and I want you under my roof with me. I’ve made up my mind. I’ve had enough of living without you. Now you’re back, and I won’t let you go again, not even to go back to that apartment of yours.”

She stared at him, but she couldn’t think of one thing to say. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be making the closest thing to a declaration of love a guy like Giles Pendragon was capable of. He couldn’t be claiming her as his own when he didn’t know she was the mother of his child.

She leaned over and gave him a kiss. “You’re really sweet. I love doing it with you, and I love working for you. I only wish it was possible, what you’re talking about. I wish I could accept.”

He sat back in the seat. “You didn’t say no, and I’m not accepting no for an answer. If you don’t come now, you’ll come later. That’s all there is to it.”

Gina’s face burned. She couldn’t say no to him. She couldn’t resist even this extravagant demand, but she had to run back to her baby. She picked up his hand and pressed a quick kiss against his knuckles. Then she ran for her life.

She slammed the limo door and bolted up the stairs. She burst into the apartment. There was Maggie on the couch in front of the big bay windows. She flipped the pages of a magazine and rocked the carry capsule with her foot. She smiled up at Gina.

Gina panted for breath. “SorryI’m late. I came as soon as I could.”

Maggie put down the magazine and stood up. “Don’t worry about it. How did it go?”

Gina brushed her hair off her forehead. “It went great. It’s all wrapped up.”

Maggie headed for the door. “I better go.”

Gina fished in her bag and held out a handful of bills. “Here’s the extra I owe you, plus a bonus for being so awesome.”

Maggie waved both hands and laughed. “I couldn’t accept that.”

Gina shoved it at her. “Please take it. I feel awful for sticking you here while I was out painting the town red.”

Maggie’s eyes shone as she stuffed the bills into her pocket. “You didn’t have to do that. The extra hours is enough. You let me know anytime you need me to take care of her. She’s beyond perfect.”

The door shut behind her, and Gina gazed down at the sleeping baby. Beyond perfect? Maybe. Too bad Giles would never find out about her.

Gina sat down on the couch. She hadn’t kicked off her shoes thirty seconds before Winnona woke up. Here we go again. Winnona would be beyond perfect for a stranger and fall apart the minute her mother walked into the room.

She picked up the baby and laid her on her shoulder. She patted between her shoulder blades and shushed into her little ear. She paced around the apartment and made two-second stops in the kitchen to decide what to make for dinner.

She had the fridge open when Winnona started to fuss—again. Gina pulled a bottle out of the fridge and stuck it in the microwave. She strolled out of the kitchen to make another lap when someone knocked on the door. Maggie must have forgotten something.

Gina added a little bounce to her step to settle Winnona until the bottle would be ready. She hummed in the baby’s ear and pulled the door open. She froze dead in her tracks. It wasn’t Maggie. It was him.

Just for a second, she couldn’t move a muscle and stared at him in shock and disbelief. This wasn’t part of the plan. Not at all. Then Winnona barked a sharp cry in her ear, forcing her to snap her out of her trance. But her heart still pounded and her chest tightened. This was it.

Here he was and he’d seen Winnona. She couldn’t undo it, and she didn’t really want to. She could not stand lying andhidingaway any longer.

At that moment, the weight of her secret lifted off her shoulders. A feeling of calm overcame her. She didn’t cringe in terror awaiting his wrath as she thought she would. The horse had left the barn. She couldn’t exactly dive for her apartment, slam the door in his face, and hide Winnona under a cushion, could she? He knew, and now she was free. She was free at long last to take her place in the universe as Winnona’s mother.

The microwave pinged behind her back. Winnona’s mother had a job to do, a much more important job than anything he could ask her to do. She shushed Winnona and went to the kitchen. She took the bottle out of the microwave and cradled Winnona in the crook of her arm. She touched the bottle to the baby’s lower lip and started feeding her.

She looked up to find Giles staring at her from the other side of the counter. He looked back and forth between her face and the baby in her arms. “What in God’s name are you playing at, Ms. Kemp.”

Clear calm protected Gina from any upset. She was where she needed to be. The sooner he found out exactly what was going on, the better. “I’m not playing. This is Winnona, my daughter.”

His eyes bugged out of his face. “Your daughter! How did you…..? Did you screw around on me before you left?”

She swayed back and forth tosoothethe baby. “I never screwed around with anybody but you, Mr……” She paused to gather her resolve. “She’s yours, Giles. I got pregnantbyyou before I left for New Zealand. You don’t know how many times I wanted to tell you, but it always… sort of never happened. One lie fed into another, and then I had her down there. Now you know.”

He stumbled back like he’d been shot. His mouth opened and closed without a sound. He stared in front of him, but he didn’t see anything. Gina stayed where she was. She could weather any storm. She would protect Winnona from anything now.

He staggered across the room. He teetered on his heels in front of the windows. The sun struck his hair and cast an angelic halo around him. If he whirled around and cursed her, if he fumed and threatened her, she would handle it. She was Winnona’s mother. No one could take that away from her.

He swayed one way and then the other. Then he collapsed onto the couch. His arms and legs hung limp, and his massive frame shrank down on itself. All the vital energy invigorating him drained away. He sat still and stared, a wrecked man.

Gina wrecked him. She wrecked him with her lies and her weakness, but she couldn’t care about that now. She couldn’t condemn herself for what she’d done. The past no longer existed. Only the future mattered, Winnona’s future, and Gina held that in the palms of her hands.

She regarded this shattered man from a distance. He’d lost everything in a single disastrous moment, but some crucial work still remained for him to do. Gina understood. When all hope seemed gone, when life dealt its cruelest blows, one touchstone kept her going. She could offer him that lifeline now.

She set the bottle on the counter and gave Winnona one more gentle rock. The baby shuddered and settled into the intoxicated sleep of blissful innocence. Gina walked around the counter. She stood in front of Giles and laid Winnona in his arms.

Forgotten instinct infused his dead limbs with new life, just the way Gina knew it would. His arms moved of their own accord to surround that baby with his protective bulk. He held her against his chest and gazed down at her sleeping face.

He stole a glance up at Gina. She smiled at him and arranged the blanket under Winnona’s chin. “She’s yours, Giles, yours and mine.”

Gina withdrew to the other side of the room. She left them alone. She set about tidying up the kitchen and getting ready to start dinner. Contented quiet filled the apartment. It was supposed to be this way. He completed the picture in ways she never imagined. He was supposed to be part of this. That heavenly aura of domestic peace hovered around him when he held his baby and watched her sleep.

Gina happened to glance over at them and saw tears streaming down his cheeks. She hurried over, but he got up before she reached him. He hugged Winnona in his mighty arms and sniffled “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I may never have known about you.” He gazed softly intoWinnonaseyes before hugging her close again.

Thenext moment, he shot a ferocious glare around the room. “Pack yourbags,Gina. You’re coming with me.”

Gina gasped. “Where?”

“To the penthouse. You’re moving in with me right now.”

“Giles, I….”

He cut her off with a shake of his head. “I don’t want to hearany more. Ditch this backwater apartment. We have a daughter here Gina, yours and mine. You’ll be a lot more comfortable in the penthouse, and we can be together there—all of us. Come on. Grab your diaper bag. The limo is waiting for us downstairs.”

Gina’s jaw dropped. “But you…you just got here.”

He fixed his smoldering eyes on her face. “Is this your big secret? Is this the reason you wanted to work from home, so I wouldn’t find out about this? Well, now I know. Nothing is going to change how I felt when I held my Winnona for the first time.

You don’t have to work from home anymore. We’re gonna work together from now on. I saw that today. You’re too good to be stuck in front of a computer doing research and writing reports. You’re gonna work with me, bagging the big game.”

“What about Winnona?”

“What about her?”

“I couldn’t leave her alone. I decided to work from home so I could take care of her.”

“Who took care of her today?”

Gina waved her hand. “Some lady from down the hall.”

He jerked his head sideways. “She’s not staying with some lady from down the hall anymore. She’s coming with us. You can take care of her at the office as well as you can at home. Bring her along. We can take care of her together.”

Gina snorted. “Do you mean take care of her during contract negotiations? Get serious Giles. You haven’t thought this through.”

Giles didn’t crack a smile. “Yes, I am serious. That is exactly what we are going to do.”

Gina stared at him. “My God! You’re serious.”

“You’re coming with me to the penthouse right now. That’s final.” He gazed down at Winnona’s face. “We’re a family, and this little girl needs her family around her.” His head snapped up, and he set off toward the door. “Come on. You’ve spent too much time here already. Where’s your diaper bag?”

Gina watched him walk away. Of all the possible reactions she expected, this was definitely not one of them. Curses, tears, threats, hatred, firing her from work—she expected those. Move into the penthouse with him? Raise Winnona with him as a real family? She couldn’t imagine it.

He walked out the door without looking at her again. He only had eyes for Winnona now. The baby encompassed his whole world. He was a father smitten with his little girl. She would always encompass his whole world from now on. They would be joined at the heart forever. Isn’t that what Gina wanted all along?

She cast a long, heartfelt glance around her apartment. When she first moved in here, this place stood for her freedom, for her ability to raise Winnona on her own with no help from Giles and his billions. She’d proved to herself she could work from home and take care of Winnona at the same time. Did she really need to keep doing this when she could have the penthouse instead?

All of a sudden, the apartment looked wretched, dingy, squalid. The food lay unprepared on the kitchen counter. Piles of papers littered her desk. Give up all this for the penthouse? Give up her lonely existence to share Winnona and her precious days with the father who adored her?

Gina’s whole soul screamed the answer,Yes!Praise to God and all the angels,Yes!She could walk away from hardship and loneliness and fear and lies to embrace love and belonging and togetherness. She could leave behind squalor for abundance and luxury and satisfaction. She could leave behind all this for Giles’s love and their future together.

She took one last look around, and this time, the litter and chaos and squalor made her happy. Her heart saidgoodbyeto the past, a past Giles didn’t even care about. Nothing mattered but their family.

Gina danced across the room, snatched Winnona’s diaper bag in one hand and her own handbag in the other, and tripped out of the room on feet lighter than air. She hopped down the stairs and out the front door to the street, where Giles climbed into the limo with Winnona still in his arms.

THE END

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Big Bad Boss

Chapter 1

Eva Charles tapped her phone and saw a new message from her favorite chat buddy, RipRoarer.How’s my sweet angel this morning?

She paused before crossing the street to punch in a message in return.First day at the new job.

Did you shave last night?

Why don’t you come on over and find out?

I just might do that. Where are you now?

Eva stopped on the other side of the street. She had to keep track of the time so she wouldn’t show up late to her first day, but RipRoarer excited her so much she couldn’t put the phone down.Corner of Second and Fulbright Streets. Where are you?

Fulbright and Park. I can be there in ten seconds.

Eva’s heart skipped a beat.On your bike?

How else?

In the three weeks since Eva started chatting to RipRoarer, he managed to make her weak in the knees with photos of his bike, his tatted-up chest, and other select pieces of his anatomy in various stages of arousal.

Eva never went in for all that internet sex, but since she found RipRoarer, he inspired her to push the boundaries in ways she never considered before. She sent him pictures of herself and even videos. Needless to say, he appreciated them. Oh, man, did he appreciate them! He sent her videos back of himself responding to the pictures and watching videos of her antics.

What are you wearing right now?

Black skirt, white button-down shirt, and black suit jacket. Black pumps. White lace bra.

I meant under your skirt. What color?

White with pink hearts. Are you coming over?

I’m right behind you. I’m watching your cherry ass jiggle while you walk down the street.

Eva whirled around, but she didn’t see any tatted-up biker anywhere in sight. She turned on her heel and started walking again, but she couldn’t escape the sensation of eyes on her back.How about now? What do you see?

I see your handbag falling down your shoulder. I see you checking both ways and pressing the button for the crossing signal. You’re such a good girl. I want to make you be bad for me.

I want you to make me bad. You make me want to be bad so you’ll spank me the way I deserve.

Are you a bad girl? Are you a bad girl hiding under that good girl exterior?

You know I am. You know I can’t stand it when you talk dirty to me. You make me do things I never thought I’d do.

What do I make you do? Tell me.

You make me take videos of me touching myself. You make me send you pictures of me bending over and video of me moaning. I never did any of that before I started chatting to you.

I’d like to see you bent over and moaning right now, baby. I’d like to bend you over the seat of my bike and see you ride it until you moan.

Oh, yeah, Daddy. You know I want to.

If I ride up to you right now, will you climb on my bike and ride off somewhere I can have my way with you?

She spun around again. What the fuck? Was he really right there, where he could see her and almost touch her? Her skin prickled.Okay. Where are you?

From somewhere out of sight, the roar of a Harley rattled the buildings. Eva stood still with her phone dangling in her hand. What had she gotten herself into? Was some biker brawler really going to pick her up and drag her off to do God knows what on her first day of work? What if he made her late? What if he turned out to be some sleazy old guy with stringy hair and a sagging ass?

The thought crossed her mind to run for it then and there. She could make it to the Rockford Communications building before he got there. She could duck inside and be sitting in the waiting room before Matlock Rockford to call her into his office.

She hesitated just a moment too long. The Harley blared to life, and the thunder of cylinders rumbled around the corner into the street in front of her. Before her eyes, a burly figure in a black helmet with the tinted visor pulled down rode up to her and eased in at the curb in front of her.

Eva stared at him in horror. This was RipRoarer, the mystery stalker she’d been texting and chatting to for weeks. He knew her most intimate secrets. He knew how her last boyfriend epically failed to turn her on or get her anywhere close to orgasm. RipRoarer knew how her ex’s cock was too small to stimulate her inner pleasure points, and he got off too fast himself before Eva even got fully wet. RipRoarer knew how she touched herself and how she got herself off when no one else was around. She’d even sent him a video of herself in the shower.

She couldn’t see anything of him behind that visor. A black leather jacket hid his chest and arms, but he was big enough. Did the body she saw in his pictures really lurk under that jacket. His powerful legs showed up thick and sturdy under his black leather pants. When he swung off the seat and stood in front of her on the sidewalk, she saw the bulge in his pants. He was definitely big enough.

A quiver of excitement tickled inside her panties. She knew what he kept hidden inside those pants. She’d seen it in action enough times. He sent her a video of himself jerking off to the video of her in the shower. That video made her so horny she sent him a video back of herself sitting on the arm of the couch and rocking until she screamed into her phone.

How could you share so much with a man you never met before? She could hardly reconcile the man she knew on her phone to this monster pulling off his helmet.First,he flipped up the visor, and she beheld those eyes. She dreamed about those eyes since the first time he sent her a picture of his face. They burned with soft light. They drilled into her soul across the airwaves.

Those eyes saw everything she kept buried in her tortured soul. They saw the devil disguised as an angel. To him, the devilwasan angel. He wanted to worship that devil. To him, the angel didn’t exist.

He unbuckled the chin strap and hooked his thumbs inside his helmet. He pried it apart and slid it over his head. He shook his curly brown hair free and faced her as the rebel bike ranger she saw on her phone. It really was him, only ten times better than she ever imagined possible.

A slight smile touched his lips. He kept his face shaved clean, but rough sideburns cut down his cheekbones and ended in sharp points aimed at his mouth. Tribal tats wrapped their geometric fingers around his stout neck.

He took a few steps toward her and stuck out his hand. “You must be Eve.”

She shook that hand with her mouth hanging open, but she could see plain as day that the body he showed her in his messages really lay concealed under his leather jacket. When he stuck out his hand, his chiseled shoulder popped out and curved down to a rippling bicep. Between the leather lapels, his muscular chest gave its unmistakable shape to his white shirt.

Was he wearing a dress shirt under his leathers? She couldn’t get a clear look at it to tell. She couldn’t see anything but that crisp white shirt tapering down to a tight waist surrounded by a black leather belt.

Daddy talked a lot about his belt. Daddy’s belt turned him on. He liked to talk about what he would do to his naughty little Princess with his belt. He warned her not to be a bad girl if she didn’t want the belt.

She tried so hard to be good for him, but she always wound up being bad, so bad! She dreaded the belt, but her very fear made her squirm with a naughty kind of enjoyment, too.

Never in her life had she even thought these thoughts. She thought women who thought like that were sick. They belonged at the Rape Crisis Center. No woman could truly want to be treated like that.

Yet here she was, begging some guy on her phone to treat her like that. She called him Daddy and told him she was a bad girl, knowing full well what he would do to her.

And here he was, the leader of an outlaw biker gang, standing in front of her in person. Should she run for it now? She couldn’t shake herself free. She could only stand there and stare at him. He was everything she imagined he would be and so much more.

His living breathing presence worked its magic on her. She was just playing around when she invited him to come and pick her up. Now that he stood in front of her, though, she realizes she couldn’t refuse.

Deep in her heart, she wanted this. She wanted to break out of her pathetic good-girl shell and be bad as bad could be. She wanted to taste that bulging cock of his and let him do whatever he wanted to her.

She would never see him again. She would get what she wanted from him and give him what he wanted from her. Then she would walk away to her posh office job and forget he existed. If she decided she didn’t like him, she would block his number and that would be that.

Just this once, she would cut loose the chains binding her. She would bend over his gleaming black Harley and let the devil take her.

He watched the wheels turning in her mind, but he didn’t say anything. He sized her up with a sweep of his eyes down to her pumps and back up to her face. He saw her tasteful layered brown hair and her crystal clear green eyes.

He saw her carefully made-up cheeks and eyelashes and just the right amount of gloss on her lips. He saw the zippered pouch in her hand and the handbag perched on her shoulder. He knew everything about her in the blink of an eye. Even if she hadn’t revealed herself to him on the phone, he already knew.

Without a word, he took a few steps back and swung his leg over the bike. He settled on the seat and rested his helmet against his stout thigh. He cast a questioning glance up at her and switched on the ignition.

Eva stood stock still, but her mind already followed the curve of his ass against the leather seat. It followed the seams of his leather pants where they traced the bulge in his crotch, down his thighs and around to his stitched leather pockets. In her heart of hearts, she understood every inch of that territory. She loved it. She craved it.

With one last kiss blown to Rockford Communications, she cast caution to the wind. She shoved her phone in the inner pocket of her suit jacket and walked over next to the bike.

Her pumps tapped on the sidewalk. Eva watched herself from a distance. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to get on a strange man’s bike, an avowed criminal and gang member, and let him drive her away? He would drive her away from the job she worked so hard to win, the future she dreamed about all these long years.

He cocked his head to one side. That maddening smile touched his lips. He threw back his head and shook the hair out of his face before sliding the helmet down over his head. He snapped the visor down, and she lost sight of those eyes, her lifeline to everything that made sense.

Chapter 2

Riproarer held out his hand to Eva and guided her across the gutter. In a dream, she lifted her leg and swung over the seat in front of him. He settled her in front of him and took hold of the handlebars.

She observed the mechanical intuition of his hands turning the ignition key, squeezing the clutch and putting the bike into gear. It didn’t lurch atallbut glided away from the curb in a deafening clatter of its thumping motor.

The chopper’s vibrations traveled up her legs and into her crotch exactly the way she imagined they would. He leaned his chest against her back, and his powerful presence infused her with a kind of madness.

She must be bad to turn her back on everything good and ride away with him like this. She must be just as bad as he said she was. The vibrations tortured her clit, and she sat down on the throbbing leather seat to press her moist tissues into her wet panties. The bike vibrated so hard it made her thighs numb, but this moment answered all the fervent dreams she dreamed since she first fantasized about RipRoarer.

How far he drove, she never knew, but it wasn’t far enough. He pulled off into an alley between two restaurants and switched off the bike. Eva stared down at his hands. Muscular fingers gripped the handlebars. He kept his hands clean and his nails trimmed. This was some kind of biker.

Her legs still vibrated from the engine between her legs long after he turned it off. She watched his hands leave the handlebars in slow motion and migrate to her hips. They traveled down her legs, and he raked his fingernails up her thighs back to her waist.

He followed the curve of her waist up under her arms. She lifted her arms to make room for him to cradle her breasts in two tender cups. Eva’s head spun in dizzy delirium when he massaged them and rolled the nipples between his thumb and forefinger.

Forget the job. This was where she wanted to be, riding some strange man to the limit of erotic ecstasy. Her twitching box hugged the mound where the gas tank rose out of the leather seat. It formed the perfect pommel to ride off into the sunset.

His hands disappeared, and a moment later, he hung his helmet on the handlebars. His bare face nuzzled into her neck and he purred under his breath. “Eve, my Eve, are you gonna give me your forbidden fruit?”

She closed her eyes. Her nipples between hisfingersand she rocked her clitoris against the gas tank. “Yes! Yes!”

“Are you turned on right now, baby? Are you wet for Daddy?”

“Yes, I’m so wet.”

His lips brushed her ear, and his hot breath rocketed through her guts to her crotch. “Let me hear you say it, baby. Let me hear you beg for it.”

“Fuck me. Bend me over right now and fuck me against your bike.”

He grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her head back. “That’s not begging, Princess. I want to hear you grovel for your Daddy.”

“Oh, please! Oh, please, I want it so bad.”

“What do you want, baby? Tell me what you want in that steaming hot pussy of yours.”

“I want your cock. Oh, please, give me your rock hard cock. I need it so bad. I’ll do anything you say.”

“Yes, you will. You’re a good little girl, aren’t you? You always do what Daddy says.”

He let go of her breasts. He pushed her forward until she lay down on her chest against the bike. The gas tank chilled her chest, but her sizzling tits hugged its curves. Her clit rubbed the seat where she straddled it.

She arched her back to raise her ass toward him. She resigned herself to the inevitable. He would take her, right here and now, just the way he always promised in his texts.

How many nights had she touched herself thinking about this moment? How he drove her nuts at work and at rest with his nasty remarks and promises of what he would do to her when he finally got his hands on her.

He pulled her back by the hips against his leather crotch. His bulge bumped into her ass. He stroked his big flat hand up and down her back to her upturned ass. “That’s nice. That’s real nice. You look so tasty lying there like that.”

He caressed her hips and thighs, and this time, when he dragged his fingers up her legs, he tugged her skirt up, too. He settled it around her hips and petted the soft cotton of her pink-patterned panties. “So sweet. So sweet and pretty.”

He touched her once down there where her legs spread for his filthy machine. He fingered the wetness saturating her panties, and that’s as far as he would go.

A long pause followed. Then Eva heard a click. She glanced over her shoulder in time to see him aim his phone at her and take a picture of her spread out for him. She gasped in surprise, but it was too late.

He kept his phone raised. “Beg for me, baby. I’m gonna take a video of you begging with your ass sticking up at me like that. Maybe I’ll yank off later watching you get off on my bike.Show mehow you rub your wet pussy on my bike.”

She couldn’t look. She craned her head back and closed her eyes. The words tumbled out of her mouth of their own free will. “Fuck me, please, Daddy. I’m so hot for your badass cock. Oh, God, it’s so hard. You’re making me so wet. Oh, God, I need you. Fuck me. Oh, God!”

“That’s good, baby. That’s what you like. You like being Daddy’s little girl.”

“Yes, oh, yes!”

He fingered her panties, but no matter how she writhed, he wouldn’t go inside to touch her further. He wet his fingers and pulled away.

After another pause, his phone beeped and he put it away. He raised her off the bike and pulled down her skirt. He straightened her up as best he could and unhooked his helmet from the handlebars. “Maybe another time, now that I know I can take you whenever I want. I have to be somewhere right now, but I’ll come back for you later,sometimewhen we have all the time we need to do you right.”

Before she could answer, the bike roared to life and drowned out allother sound. It thumped into the street and back to the same place where he picked her up. He inched into the curb and helped her off onto the sidewalk.

Neither could say anything over the noise, and she couldn’t see his eyes behind the visor. He let go of her hand, gave her a quick nod, and thundered away down the block.

Eva stood rooted to the spot. Her whole body still quivered with frustrated excitement, but she couldn’t do anything but walk away.

She paused for a long time in front of the Rockford Communications building. How could she go in there and face her first day of work after what happened? She couldn’t, but she had to. She had only ten more minutes until Mr. Matlock Rockford called his new executive assistant into his office for their first orientation meeting. She had to be there and ready when he called her.

She pulled herself together with an effort and marched through the front door. She managed to greet and smile at everyone who greeted and smiled at her, and she managed to avoid melting into a puddle of nerves when she took the elevator to the twentieth floor.

She took in the reception area with one glance. She would be spending a lot of time on the twentieth floor in the next few years or so. The receptionist greeted her with a smile, too. These Rockford people certainly were a friendly bunch.

She gave her name to the receptionist and sat down to wait. Five more minutes, and she could put RipRoarer out of her mind once and for all. Why did he have to pick right now to burst into her life? She could handle him on the phone. In person—that was another matter.

Ten o’clock ticked over. The receptionist called out to her. “You can go in now. Mr. Rockford is waiting for you.”

She pushed open the office doors and walked into what looked like a giant living room with sunshine lighting up the park beyond the big sweeping windows. At first, she didn’t see anybody else in the office until a male voice called out from somewhere in the back corner. “Come and sit down over here and we can get started.”

Even before she turned around, she recognized that voice.Eve, my Eve.She spun around and saw him sitting on the couch with one ankle crossed over his knee. He threw one arm across the back of the couch and smiled at her. It was RipRoarer.

Chapter 3

“You!”

His grin widened. “Surprised? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that to you.”

“You’re.....”

He crossed the room and stuck out his hand. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Matt Rockford, and you’re Eva Charles, aren’t you?”

She stared up at him. His hand felt alien and uncomfortable in hers. “You’re Matlock Rockford?”

“Call me Matt. Everybody does.”

She couldn’t blink. “You’re...you’re RipRoarer. You’re the one I’ve been texting all these weeks, sending dirty pictures to, and now you’re my boss? I can’t do this. I have to go.”

He jumped in front of her. “Don’t go yet, Eva. At leastsit-downand let’s talk about this. I would hate to see you walk away from this job over some silly misunderstanding.”

Her embarrassment exploded into rage. “You just trapped me outside so you could touch me and take pictures of me, all the time knowing I was on my way here to work for you. You prick! I should report you to the Labor Board. They could shut down your whole operation.”

He put out his hand to her. “I’m sorry, Eva. Please sit down. We can talk about this. If you want to, we can put the whole thing behind us and start over. You can forget RipRoarer ever existed.”

“What makes you think I want to forget RipRoarer ever existed? Maybe I want to forgetyouever existed, but I can’t even do that. I was having a good time with RipRoarer, and you had to come along and ruin it for me. I can never go back to the way it was before I found out you were really him in disguise.”

He straightened up. “I’m sorry, Eva. I shouldn’t have done that.”

His apology only made herangrier. “You know, I really cared about you. I told RipRoarer things I never told anybody. I felt things for RipRoarer I never knew I could feel, and now all of that is gone forever.” Her voice cracked.

He watched and listened. He didn’t bother to apologize again. When she finished and turned away, he murmured under his breath. “If you want to leave now, I’ll understand.”

“Yeah, great, and I’ll be back to looking for a job.”

“I still want you to work here, Eva. If there’s anything we can do to put it behind us, let’s talk about it. You’re the best candidate for the position by a mile. I don’t want anyone else as my assistant. I want you.”

Shefumedbut didn’t answer.

He waved his hand toward the couch. “Come sit down.”

She let him lead her to the corner, and he took his same place. She sat down on the couch opposite him, but she was still too mad to look at him. She couldn’t think of anything but RipRoarer. The man of her dreams, the man of her fantasies, the man she looked forward to sharing her secrets with at the end of the day—he was gone.

She would never again feel the flutter of butterflies in her stomach when she got a text notification. She would never again rush to curl up in the corner of her lounge chair with her fuzzy socks on, with her phone in one hand and a cup of hot cocoa in the other. Those tasty nights were a thing of the past. He wouldn’t make her laugh and he wouldn’t make her ache for him all over again.

He regarded her from across the coffee table. “Would you like something to drink—tea or coffee?”

“No, thank you.”

“You have a very impressive resume.”

“You said that about a dozen times at my interview. I guess that's why you hired me.”

He smiled. "You're right. It is. Would you like to go over the projects I have on the boil so you came get up to speed?”

“I guess so.”

He didn't move. After another pause, he took a deep breath. “I understand you're mad at me, but if you're going to work for me, we should put this behind us and move on.”

“I don't know if I can work for you. I've always worked for people I respect, and I don't think I can respect you after what you've done.”

“If you can't respect me, then you definitely shouldn't work here. If you can't put this behind you and get on board with this company the way you did at your interview, then I'll be happy to let you go. You respected me at your interview, didn't you?”

“You know I did. I respected you and this company.”

“I'm still the person you respected at your interview. I haven't changed.”

“No, but maybe I have.”

“Look, Eva. I had no idea you felt this way about RipRoarer. I thought it was just some fun on the side, but when it comes right down to it, I'm still RipRoarer, too. Everything you thought and felt about RipRoarer is still there.”

“I never planned to work for RipRoarer. I never planned to face RipRoarer every day at the office.”

They glared at each other across the coffee table until he slapped both hands on his thighs. “Okay, Eva. I can see I'm going to have to break this stalemate myself.”

He grabbed a stack of file folders from the side table and scooted around to sit on the couch next to her. Eva cringed at his presence, but she didn’t run away. She sat in stony silence with her arms crossed over her chest and refused to look in his direction.

He opened the first folder and spread the contents on the coffee table. “This is the building permit application for our new factory inEsmond, and these are my notes for the City Council hearing next Tuesday where I have to present our proposed budget and tell them how many jobs and public works the factory will bring to the city. I want you to organize my notes into a coherent speech that makes sense. Here are the plans for the workers’ apartment building that will be located right next to the factory. It has a gym which will be open to the public as well as a day care center for the workers’ children. It’s within a block of a public school, so the older kids can go there. The day care center will offer after-school activities, snack meals and care for the older kids until their parents get off work.”

He paused just long enough to check that she was listening. Then he opened another folder. “This is our budget forecast for next year. As you can see, we have quite a lot of income streaming in from abroad, so we have an accountant who does nothing butorganizesour exchange rate calculations and the tax on them. I want you to research the possibility of having all our overseas subsidiaries pay us their profits in US dollars so we can cut those costs.”

Eva turned her head to glance at the paperwork, but when he caught her looking, she turned away again.

“Here is my weekly schedule. You can see I have timeblockedout every day for exercise. Three days a week I go to the gym, one day a week I play a pick-up basketball game down the block, and every day I take a long walk along the GreenSpace. For the past ten years, I’ve turned off my phone during this time, but I want you to get up to speed with everything I do so you can field calls and emails redirected to you while I’m unavailable.”

Her head shot up. “You want me to check and answer your emails?”

“Just check them when I get a notification. Only answer them if it’s urgent or directly related to something you’re working on. If it can wait until I get back, don’t do anything. Same thing with phone calls. If you can handle the situation, go ahead and do it. Otherwise, take a message and I’ll deal with it when I get back.”

She stared at him. “That’s a lot of responsibility.”

“Now you understand why I wanted the best executive assistant possible.”

“Maybe it’s not such a good idea. Maybe you should just continue to be unavailable during that time. I wouldn’t want to make a mistake.”

The genial expression vanished from his face, and a firm, hard determination took its place. “I’ll decide what we do and what we don’t do. I’ll do it this way, and if you’re going to be my assistant, this will be one of your most crucial tasks. I need to know someone I trust is answering my calls and responding to my emails. If you can’t handle that, you’re not the EA I thought you were.”

“Oh, I can handle it. I’ve just never had a boss put so much trust in me, and we don’t even know each other. Technically, I haven’t even started.”

“It’s crucial that I know you’ve got my back during this time. I need to hand over responsibility for these things to someone else so I can free my mind and fully relax. This is far more important than understanding building permits and housing complexes.”

“Okay. You can count on me.”

He smiled and turned back to the folders when Eva realized. She had forgotten about being mad at him. He hooked her into being interested in the company’s work and made her forget what he did to trick her.

Her heart railed against him. She wouldn’t forget what he did, and she would never forgive him. She would walk out that door, and he could go back to answering his own stupid emails, but he was already talking about the next project.

“This is a list of all our domestic employees. It lists their names, their dates of birth and their home addresses. I want you to compile a database of notifications so the company can send them a card and a cash bonus every year on their birthday.”

Eva’s eyes popped open. “What do you want to do that for?”

“I just told you—so we can send them a card and a cash bonus every year on their birthday.”

“Yeah, but why? That’s gonna cost a fortune. That will cost a lot more than paying an accountant to figure out your exchange rates and tax.”

“Yes, it will, but this is an investment in our people. This is to show our people how much we appreciate them, that we’re connected to them in a personal way, and we care about them.”

Eva stared down at the sheets and sheets of lists. Her mind churned through all the possibilities. Today was August 10th. Her birthday was August 13th. If she constructed this database, she would probably be the first birthday to come up. Would she, too, get a birthday card from Matlock Rockford, along with a cash bonus?

She wouldn’t get that if she didn’t stay working for him. Not only that, but the rest of the work intrigued her, too. What other company on the planet constructed workers’ apartment buildings and day care centers for their employees? Maybe a few, but this was one of the rare exceptions. Most companies didn’t give a flying leap about their employees’ well-being.

The same excitement filled her heart that she experienced at her interview. She wanted to work for this company. She wanted to participate in the general sense of accomplishing great works, of being one of the good guys and building a better world through business.

This was the kind of company she wanted to work for. These were the kind of people she wanted to work with and for, people who cared about each other and showed it in tangible ways.

The whole ethos of Rockford Communications came down from the apex of the pyramid, and that was the man sitting right here in front of her. He was the one who came up with these ideas. He was the one who wanted to cut funds from accounting to give back to his workers.

She scanned the list of names. Hundreds and hundreds of names crowded those sheets. Each and every one of them had a home address and a birthday, and each one of them held his or her ownbirthdaysacred. Who but a great man would recognize that and acknowledge it—not with flowers and boxes of chocolate, but with cold hard cash, the one thing these people reallyneed?

She cast her eyes up at his face. He made a show of rifling through his papers while he let his words sink into her brain. If she came to work here, he would be her boss. His ethos and his values would come down to her, too. He would acknowledge her birthday, too.

Her heart cracked open, and a rush of feeling spilled out of her toward him. She wanted him to acknowledge her birthday. She wanted him to value her for her relentless commitment to his company. She wanted him to trust her and count on her to have his back when he needed to relax.

She didn’t say anything, but thesightof him tricking her lost its sting. She could put it behind her and focus on the job at hand. She picked up the list of employee names.

He raised his head and smiled at her. He understood, but he knew enough not to rub her nose in it. He closed the three folders and opened the last one. “Now, then, Eva, this is the last project we’ll go over for today. Then Katrina will show you to your office, and we’ll get to work. Here we have our weekly company-wide newsletter. Most of the employees get it by email, and you can see at the back we have a community notice board where people can advertise anything they want to sell, side businesses, houses for rent—you name it.”

She pointed to the front cover. “What’s this? It looks like a poem, and who’s Felicity Townley?”

“She’s the dishwasher in the cafeteria.”

Eva’s eyes popped. “What?”

“We started taking submissions for literary works for the newsletter. Any employee can submit. Sometimes people submit poetry or short prose. One of the machinist apprentices even submitted a longer story that we ran in serial. It was wildly popular, and a lot of our employees read the newsletter specifically for that.”

Evastaredfrom the newsletter to him and back again.

“I want you to compile all the submissions and turn them into a literary magazine. We’ve had this going for over a year, so we’re ready for this year’s magazine now. Then we’ll keep doing it every year. Every employee will get a copy of the final magazine for free, and if they want to, they or any member of their families or the public can buy additional copies, too. That will be another one of your projects.”

“Okay. That will be fun. I always liked writing. I’ve got some poems and stories I might even like to submit.”

“Perfect. Joyce Roth, from accounting, is our submissions editor, but she’s getting ready to retire, so you’ll take over for her. I’m trusting you not to stick your own work in there at the expense of everybody else.”

“Oh, don’t worry. It takes me forever to get a piece ready to submit. I’m my own worst critic. I can see from this poem that your cafeteria dishwasher is a lot better than me.”

“You”ll still have plenty of time to submit your own work. Some weeks, we don’t get any submissions at all. That will be the time to stick your own work in.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

“When you finish compiling the first magazine, I want you to do one more thing. I want you to apply to publishers to get it published.”

Eva stared at him. He just kept coming out with one surprise after another. “Published? What publisher would want to publish an anthology like that? I’m sure some of the work is great, but some of it will be unpublishable.”

“I’m sure some of it will be. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that the employees understand the company is working to publish their work. That will give them an incentive to improve.”

“My God! You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?”

“Of course. We have a culture of mutual benefit here at Rockford Communications.”

She shook her head. “Okay. I’m ready to get started.”

“Great.” He stood up.

She collected all four folders, her zippered computer case, and her handbag and followed him to the reception area. “Would you mind showing Eva to her office, Katrina? This is the last time you’ll have to show a new employee to their office. In the future, this will be your job, Eva. When a new employee leaves my office, you’ll show them around and get them oriented.”

“Yes, sir.”

His head shot up, and his eyes widened, but when he saw Eva smiling, he relaxed. “I’ll see you later.”

“When will you see me? Will you just contact me when you want me?”

“Come back here at one o’clock. I’ll forward my notifications to your phone before I leave the office for the gym.”

Eva headed down the hall after Katrina, but before she turned the corner, she glanced back to find him watching her out of sight. A wistful smile played on his lips. Then she turned the corner and he disappeared.

Chapter 4

Eva put her handbag and keys on the table in the hall and kicked off her pumps. She padded to her room and peeled off the office. She hung up her suit and laid out her clothes for tomorrow.

She took a hot shower and changed into her comfy cottonsweatpantsbefore she headed to the living room. In all, she had a productive day. She made good progress on the birthday database, and she fielded ten phone calls while Matt was at the gym and taking his walk. No wonder he wanted someone to take over.

She collected the folders from her zippered case and flipped through the building permit application. Nothing out of the ordinary there. The workers’ apartment building was nothing special, either, except that the company building the factory designed it for their workers.

The day care center, on the other hand,wassomething special. The design reminded her of a spa or retreat center. Natural light and materials made it soft and inviting. The sleeping area for the younger children surrounded them with comfort and relaxation. Bright colors and plants decorated the play area, and all the toys were natural materials, too. Everything in the place was designed to enhance their comfort and development.

The recreation area for the older children contained science equipment, art supplies, building blocks and Legos, even a model train set running on an electric track around the walls. Eva wished she could go there after work. The children of the factory workers were lucky indeed.

Her phone twinkled. Just for an instant, her heart skipped a beat when she saw the notification: Riproarer. Then her heart sank. What did he want?

She couldn’t start up that RipRoarer stuff again. She left it all in the past. She could get on board with the company, but she couldn’t have a text relationship with her boss.

My Eve.

How are you?

Missing you.

I’ve only been home fifteen minutes. You’ll see me again tomorrow.

I miss my Eve, not my assistant.

Yeah, I miss you, too.

I watched the video. You look amazing bent over my bike.

Stop it. Don’t do this.

Why not? Didn’t you like it?

You’re my boss now. We can’t do this anymore.

Why can’t we? We’re both consenting adults. Neither of us is touching the other.

You touched me this morning.Was it really only this morning that he drove away with her? It seemed like years.

I wasn’t your boss then. I don’t want to lose what we have.

Neither do I.

I couldn’t tell you as your boss, but I feel the same way about Eve that you do about RipRoarer. This isn’t just a good time for me. I look forward to chattingwithyou at the end of the day. I look forward to your pics and your videos. You turn me on so much.

Why did you have to lie to me?

I didn’t lie to you.

You bastard. Don’t text me again.

If you really feel that way, I won’t, but I don’t think you really feel that way. You want to keep talking to me and I want to keep talking to you, so let’s keep doing it. No one has to know. I’ll be your boss during the day, but we’ll still have this to come back to.

She didn’t answer for a while. He was right, damn him. She wanted this more than anything. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but he turned her on in person more than by text.

The secret she cherished about his real identity burned in her heart. She kept his secret like a superhero’s wife. No one knew his secret, the secret that could destroy him. She carried his life in her hands.

What would it be like, to gotowork every day with this secret haunting her every waking hour? What would it be like, to look at him across the desk and know it was him, her boss, who made her pussy tingle with unrequited lust? What would it be like to scream into her phone in orgasmic ecstasy, and know he would remember that screaming during business meetings and conferences?

He would sit next to her and dictate his notes, and he would know, as no one else in the world knew, how much he turned her on. She would be his assistant, and no one in the company would know what kind of relationship they had on the side.

Okay, I won’t text you anymore. See you later. Keep well.

Her hand hovered above the screen. She couldn’t let it end like this. She couldn’t let it go. It meant too much to her.All right. I guess we can continue with it the way it is.

I’m glad you feel that way. I loved seeing you this morning.

Which part? In your office or on your bike?

Both. I loved seeing you in my office and thinking about you on my bike. I loved having you both ways.

It is a very nice bike. Very sexy.

Did it turn you on?

Yes. Very much.

Did you like bending over like that?

Yes. You know I did.

Talk dirty to me, baby.

Daddy, fuck your little Princess. Fuck me with your hard cock.

You want it bad, don’t you, baby?

You know I’d spread my legs for youanytime, Daddy.

You horny little slut. You’re a bad girl. I always knew you were bad to the core. I’m gonna bend you over my knee and smack your sweet hot ass.

Yeah, Daddy. Bad girl needs her punishment.

Are you a filthy slut, baby? Don’t make Daddy take off his belt.

Oh, no, Daddy. Not the belt.

Yes, baby. You need it bad. I’m gonna make you scream.

Oh, please, no. Don’t hurt me, Daddy. I swear I’ll be good.

Oh, you fucking little Princess. You’re Daddy’s little piece of ass, aren’t you? Is your pussy wet right now?

Yes. Daddy makes me so wet with his dirty talk.

Send me a pic, baby. Send me a vid of you fingering your horny little cunt. I want to see and hear how wet you are.

Her heartleapedat the chance to show herself to him. Everything culminated in this moment. He made her so raging horny this morning. Then thecrushinghurt of losing him, followed by the soaring thrill of getting him back, left her breathless.

She set her phone to video mode and raised her shirt above her breasts. She hitched up her bra so her tits stuck out. The nipples stood erect, and she squeezed them forward with her arms on both sides.

She slid her sweat pants down, along with her panties. She spread her legs for the camera, and her wet lips glistened. She dabbed her fingers into her steaming hole and moaned. She worked her fingers around her clit and beat herself to a screaming frenzy.Send.

He didn’t answer right away.Oh, my God, baby. That is one of the best ones yet.

Thinking of you.She slid her clothes on and settled back on the couch. This was the stuff summer evenings were made for.

He didn’t respond for a while. She got up and started making dinner when he texted back.I just had a raging cum over that video. You totally blow me away.

She stirred her spaghetti sauce and sucked the spoon clean.Glad you liked it.

Was it good for you?

Sure.

He took even longer to respond this time. Why was she giving one-word answers? She drained the noodles and set the table for one.So how do you feel now?

She put the food on the table and sat down with her phone next to her plate. She liked talking to him during meals. He kept her company.I’m a littlesadsince you ask.

What are you sad about?

I used to fantasize about meeting you, riding off somewhere on your Harley, and you fucking me senseless. That will never happen now.

I’m sorry, baby.

Stop saying that. I can’t stand when you say that.

Okay, I’m not sorry.

I know you’re not. You did this on purpose.

Maybe I did it on purpose so we could come to something better than texting and internet sex chat.

Something better like what?

I don’t know. Something better like fucking in person where we both know everything there is to know about the other person.

You’re talking about a relationship. That won’t happen now, either.

Why won’t it?

Because you’re my boss. That’s why.

Well, I’m not giving up on it just yet. Maybe there’s a way we can have our cake and eat it, too.

I’m having my spaghetti and eating it, too.

Is it good?

Yep. Lots of garlic just the way I like it.

Don’t forget your mints tomorrow morning.

I’m just joking, honey. I can’t stand garlic.

LOL. I gotta go now. I’ll see you in the morning.

Aww.

Kisses and hugs. Sleep tight.

She turned her phone off and slid it onto the counter behind her so she wouldn’t see it. She still couldn’t reconcile RipRoarer, her fantasy man, with her boss. In her mind, RipRoarer was bigger, rougher, louder, moremuscled. Her boss was more refined, though maybe not any smaller.

Why couldn’t she see them as one and the same man? They talked the same, though not about the same subjects. Her boss’s voice had a different timber than the voice she heard on his videos and on the phone the few times she let him call her and talk to her while she got herself off. Maybe it was because she hadn’t seen histats. He kept his shirt on at the office.

Afterdinner,she curled up on the couch again, but she put her phone on the charger in her bedroom. It wouldn’t keep her company tonight.Instead,she studied the project folders from the office. She went over the birthday lists and highlighted everyone in August. She was right about one thing. No one’s birthday came before her own. She would be the first employee to receive Matt’s acknowledgment, and she hadn’t done anything yet.

She fell into a reverie thinking about the company—and him. What would it be like to unbutton his crisp dress shirt and find that chest underneath, that sexy, inked-up chest that made her mouth water? What would it be like to slide that cool Indian cotton aside to reveal the rounded pecs, the tribal patterns stitched across his abs and around the distinctive angles of his sides?

What would it be like to kiss those patterns, to lick them and bite them and suck them? What would it be like to leave a trail of her saliva from his thick neck all the way down to the trail of black hair leading from his navel to the secret nest between his legs?

She leaned back on the couch and tossed the folder on the coffee table. She let her mind drift, and her hands explore her body. Thinking about him—her boss, not RipRoarer—turned her on all over again. He made her cunt ache and her juices flow like never before. She wanted him. She wanted Matt, her boss.

She closed her eyes and let her hands range over the same territory he covered in that alley, only this time, it was Matt touching her, not some mystery biker. He bent her over his desk with his big flat hand on her back. He hitched up her skirt and took a video of her begging him to fuck her.

God, he made her so hot! She straddled him on his office couch and dug her fingernails into his chest to pump herself against his rock hard prick. She got on her hands and knees and backed up to him to take his dripping shaft to its limit. She did whatever he told her to, and she loved it.

When she touched herself like this, when she imagined what he would do to his choice little assistant, she could appreciate him for what he was. He was everything RipRoarer was and so much more. She respected Matt in a way she never respected RipRoarer. Matt offered her a way to contribute, to develop, to be part of something larger. Maybe that’s what he meant. Maybe that’s why he did what he did.

Just one minor detail failed to reconcile in her new estimation of him. She couldn’t reconcile Matt, her boss, with the wicked Daddy who wanted to punish her for her sinful thoughts and deeds. She couldn’t imagine him dominating her like that or taking his belt to her.

On second thought, he did have a very nice black leather belt. Maybe that’s why he wore it, to keep it handy in case he needed it. Or maybe it turned him on to walk around in public, in his own multi-billion dollar company building, with his favorite sex tool wrapped around his waist. He announced his domination to the world, and no one ever got wise to it.

Chapter 5

Eva took special care when she got dressed the next morning. She chose the sexiest panties in her drawer, and she gave herself a spritz of perfume she didn’t bother with the first morning. She checked and rechecked her appearance in the mirror.

Even before she left the bathroom, her pussy started leaking. She drenched her panties, but she didn’t change them. Wet panties turned her on even more. She massaged her pussy lips and squished her swollen flesh, and that’s how she walked out the door that morning.

She went straight to her office this time. Matt hadn’t scheduled her for any meeting with him. She started on the database and finished the Augusts. Then she started on the foreign exchange research. She could pick up the birthday database at the end of August. She would work her waythroughthe year, and that would leave her free to get some of these other projects finished.

Ten o’clock rolled around, and she still hadn’t heard from Matt. Was he mad at her for something? She didn’t have time to wonder before the runner came in and handed her a folder containing the week’s submissions to the newsletter. Eva turned off her computer and started reading them.

The first three were poetry. The first submission was from an admin assistant in HR. The second wasfroma gardener who mowed the grounds. The third submission came from a senior accountant scheduled to retire in two years, and all three poems were stars and stripes better than anything Eva ever wrote.

Her cheeks turned bright red when she read them. She set them aside. The next three submissions were short fiction. The first was a one-page murder mystery written by the shipping supervisor. The second was a romance with a sad ending penned by a delivery driver, and the third was a surreal pastiche about a drugged-out gangster written by the Chief Operations Officer.

Eva stared at the pages. She couldn’t stop turning them. These people could write. I mean, they could really write! She thought she could write. Now she saw plain as day she didn’t know the first thing about putting words together on a piece of paper.

Was this talent Matt’s work again? Had these seemingly ordinary people developed their talent in response to the outlet offered by the newsletter? Maybe the newsletter gave them a reason to hone their skill. Isn’t that what Matt meant about searching for a publisher? These pieces certainly deserved publication.

Eva put the folder aside. She would feed these pieces into the newsletter one week at a time. She would keep them in reserve for those weeks when no one submitted anything. She would certainly put these pieces in the newsletter before her own pathetic attempts.

Just before four o’clock, she got a text from Matt.Come into my office, please. I want to talk to you.What did he want, now that she was ready to walk out the door? Did he have another project for her?

She left all her paperwork on her desk and took only her phone and tablet with her. She walked down the hall to Matt’s office and found the door ajar. When she went in, he called out to her from the same couch in the back corner. “Come and sit down over here, and shut the door behind you, please.”

She sat across from him, the way she did yesterday. That seemed the most proper place to sit. She could fantasize about him at home, but she had to keep her head on straight at the office. She couldn’t look at the places where his shirt hugged his chest.

He smiled at her, and she smiled back. “How’s everything been going?”

“Pretty well.”

“Tell me everything you’ve been working on since yesterday.”

“I started the birthday database and entered all the birthdays for August. I’ve just been reviewing the submissions for the newsletter and starting to research the foreign exchange situation. That’s as far as I’ve gotten.”

“Great, and are you comfortable with me forwarding my calls and emails to you while I’m out of the office.”

“So far, it’s gone fine. I wasn’t sure how it would work out, but I’m comfortable with it for now.”

“Fantastic.”

She looked from left to right. “Is that all? Is that the only reason you called me in here?”

“No, there is something else I want to talk to you about?”

“What is it?”

“What color panties are you wearing today?”

Her head shot up, and the blood rushed to her cheeks. “What?”

His voice took on a razor-sharp edge. Where had she heard that voice before? She could remember only one place. She heard it when he called her and coached her into cumming for him on the phone. “I said what color panties are you wearing today.”

She went rigid in her seat. “White.”

He dropped his voice to a low rumble. She recognized that voice. Her vision blurred. She wasn’t talking to her boss anymore. She was talking to RipRoarer in the flesh. “Are they the lacy ones you showed me?”

“Yes.”

His voice cracked across the room. “What did you say?”

She choked on the words. How did her professional life turn on a dime like that? How could she wind up in this situation when she swore not to? “I said, yes, Daddy.”

“That’s my good girl. Are your lacy white panties wet for Daddy?”

“Oh, yes, Daddy. You know you get me so wet.”

“Let me see. Let me see how wet you are.”

She stared at him. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from his angular face. His eyes bored into her soul. She couldn’t move.

Her cheeks flushed burning hot. She knew exactly what he wanted. How could she do it? How could she expose herself like this? Where was her respect for her job and for herself?

None of that mattered now. He dominated her with his eyes. She had no choice to obey.

Before she finished staring at him in astounded surprise, his voice lashed her to the bone. “Did you hear what I said? Daddy wants to see how wet you are. You know how much I hate to repeat myself. Don’t make me have to teach you to mind your manners.”

Eva swallowed hard. “Yes, Daddy.”

He waited. “Well?”

With excruciating slowness, she spread her knees. She pulled up her skirt and let her thighs fall apart. Her soaking wet panties cut into her delicate petals. Her mouth fell open. Her lips pouted, and her breath caught in her throat.

He glanced down at the white triangle between her legs. “That’s it, baby. Let me see you spread your legs for Daddy.”

What was this man sitting across from her? She didn’t recognize him. He wasn’t RipRoarer, and he wasn’t the boss she admired and wanted to please. He was a completely different animal altogether.

She closed her eyes and turned her head away, but she couldn’t hide from him. He saw straight into her heart, and not because she sent him a few naughty texts and videos of her playing with herself. He would know everything about her with a single glance. His eyes read everything in a heartbeat.

He knew what she wanted. He knew she was wicked under her proper outer mask. He knew she longed to break free and explode into a fiery ball of passionate excess, and he would give her the means to do it.

His fierce gaze traveled back and forth from her tortured face to her tantalizing crotch. “What does that feel like, baby? Does it turn you on to show yourself to me?”

“Yes, Daddy. You know I want you to see me like this.”

“Touch yourself, baby. Show me how you want me to touch you.”

She dragged her fingertips up her thighs. A shudder swept through her when she grazed her heaving mound. She let her index finger brush her panties, but she dared not go any further. A ragged moan escaped her in spite of herself.

“You like that, don’t you, baby? You like getting all worked up for me.”

“Oh, yes, Daddy.”

“Do you want me to touch you now?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Beg for it, baby. Beg me to touch you.”

Wordless sobs answered him. He wouldn’t make this any easier for her. “Oh, oh, oh!”

“You have to beg me, Princess. I have to know you really want it. If you don’t beg for it, you’ll have to do it yourself. Is that what you want?”

“Oh, no, Daddy. Don’t leave me alone like this.”

“Then let me hear you beg. I want to hear what a bad little girl you are.”

“Oh, please, touch me, Daddy. You know I need it so bad.”

“What do you need, baby? What do you want me to do?”

“Fuck me, Daddy, please. I need your big bad cock right now.” She endedwitha whimper.

“Do you really want it, baby? Do you really want it bad?”

“Oh, yes, please, Daddy. You know I need you.”

“Turn over. Let me see you on your knees.”

She hoisted herself off the couch and turned around to prop herself on her knees on the seat. She clutched the back of the seat for dear life. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the bulge in his lap. His jaw clenched again and again between the words rumbling out of his throat.

She buried her face in the couch. She couldn’t look. What would he do next? Would he really touch her and end this long stalemate? She couldn’t claim any longer that she wanted their relationship to stay strictly professional.

She didn’t care anymore what happened. She couldn’t keep working at this job with him the way she was. She couldn’t work side by side with him during the day and keep texting RipRoarer at night. If it wasn’t going to work out one way or the other, she needed to know right now. Her body betrayed her. She wanted his touch, his rough treatment, more than she wanted any job.

She heard him move, but she didn’t peek.

“Pull up your skirt and take your panties off. Let me see that sweet pussy of yours.”

She kept her eyes closed while she hitched her skirt around her waist and discarded her panties on the floor.

“Now touch yourself. I want to see your juices flowing.”

Her pulse pounded in her head, but she had to obey him. She stuck her hand down between her thighs and touched her flaming lips. Theydrippedtheir honey syrup onto her hands. She spread them with a gasp. The inner passage throbbed with hot blood.

She rolled back the hood from her twitching clitoris and smeared her own juice around it. It snappedunderher fingers, and a jolt of searing pleasure brought the moans to her lips.

“That’s it, baby. Let me hear you.”

She lifted her voice with every pass of her fingers. She dabbled in her welcoming hole and massaged her G spot. Her ass twitched and the nectar oozed from her fountain.

Out of nowhere, a hand stroked her upturned ass. She jumped in surprise, but the next minute, his warm palm infused her raw skin with its delicious scent. It opened her tissues to him even further.

His fingers touched hers, and he followed her movements up and over her clitoris, back to her gaping pussy, and inside to the ridges where her pleasure bubbled to the surface.

She turned her face away. She hid her eyes in the couch and left only her panting mouth free tobreathand moan at his touch. He rubbed her clit harder and faster than she did. He plunged his fingers into her channel farther, and his thick fingers stimulated all the most sensitive spots to bring her to her fulfillment.

Before she knew what was happening, he buried his face in her cleft. His tongue joined her fingers in an erotic dance of quick flicks at her clit and long lusciouslicksof her sugary hole.

She leaned into him. His nose touched her perineum while he devoured her from below. She rocked and moaned and rose higher on wafts of unstoppable pleasure.

All too soon, he pulled away. Why did he always pull away, just when he held her hanging over the precipice of explosive orgasm? How did he know the exact moment to pull away to send her higher?

He left her bereft and aching. “Stand up.”

Sheteeteredbut managed to keep her feetunderher. Her gushing moisture flowed down her thighs. She swayed in delirious lust and waited for whatever he wanted to do to her.

He put his arms around her from behind. He manhandled her breasts and squeezed her butt cheeks. She could only endure the excruciating need burning in her soul. At last, he dropped his hand between her legs and came up into her slit with his thick middle finger.

She whined and swayed while he attacked her clit with quick, short circles, but that only made her more hungry than ever. All at once, he drove two rough digits into her cavernous hole. Evayelped, but the very next minute, molten lava flooded her from head to toe. She bucked and rocked against those fingers.

He clapped his palm hard against her erect clit while his fingers stirred her elixir in its cauldron. She lay back against his iron body and gave herself over to his ministrations when he devastated her all over again by leaving her alone.

She waited for him to say something, to give her another order, but he said nothing. He took her by the hand and pulled her toward the door. He took his leather jacketoffthe hook by the door and towed her to the elevator.

The building stood silent and empty all around them. No one saw them leave together, hand in hand.

In the elevator, he put out his hand to punch a button, but he skipped the button for the ground floor. He pushed a button with no number, and the elevator car dropped under Eva’s feet.

She did her best not to squeeze his hand too tightly, but she inched closer to him without making it too obvious. He anchored her against whatever was about to happen. He offered her the only safety against the danger of himself. She cringed from him and hid in him from the invisible danger threatening her.

The car skidded to a stop. He smiled down at her when she glanced up at him for answers. That smile reminded her who he really was. The same kind,generousboss she knew lurked underneath his cruel dominating exterior.

The doorswhiskedopen, and he pulled her out of the elevator into the underground parking garage. Not a car remained in the painted spaces. He led her toward a plain concrete wall. She couldn’t see any markings on it.

Matt put his hand in his pocket and brought out an electric door opener. One push of abuttonand the solid wall slid back to reveal that shining Harley she recognizedfrom...Was it really only yesterday morning she leaned over that bike and let him take a video of her begging for him?

That bike hummed its thumping song to her soul in the silent garage. It leaned on its kickstand and eyed her with its impenetrable headlamp. The fluorescent lights overhead glittered on itschromeand its shiny black gas tank. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. This could only end one way.

Chapter 6

Matt let go of her hand, and her palms burst out in a cold sweat. He shouldered his way into his jacket and swung his leg over the seat. He unslung his helmet from the handlebar and stuck his key into the ignition.

The deafening roar of the engine filled the garage and rattled Eva’s nerves, but Matt didn’t give her time to retreat. He yanked the helmet on and snapped the visor down. In an instant, he changed from her boss to RipRoarer again.

He put out his hand. If only she couldn’t see his eyes, she would know what to do.

He straddled his bike with the engine roaring and his hand extended to her. What was she going to do? She couldn’t back out now, but she couldn’t bring herself to take the last step forward.

He waited another long moment, but when she didn’t move, he let his hand fall. He put both hands on the hand grips and squeezed the clutch. His thumb pressed the gear shift. Was he really going to drive away from her? Would her leave here there, alone in the parking garage with a soaking wet pussy?

She would never see him again. She couldn’t face going into work the next morning if he turned his back on her now.

He let out the clutch, and the bike moved out of the hidden parking space. A second later, he squeezed the clutch in again and eased the bike to a stop right in front of her. He didn’t extend his hand to her again, but bent down and picked up the hand hanginglimplyat her side.

He pulled her toward him. Her legs wouldn’t work, so he tugged harder until she stumbled toward him. He pulled her against his leg and guided her body onto the bike in front of him.

He positioned her in the same place where she sat yesterday, but a strange calm settled over her mind this time. She knew him. RipRoarer wasn’t here. That was Matt behind her, with his strong arms around her and keeping her safe in the pocket of his presence.

He let out the clutch one more time, and the bike shot forward underneath her. His legs moved around her to the footrests. The bike rumbled out of the garage into the cool dark night outside the building. It purred down the street and left the safety of the office far behind.

This time, she watched with startling clarity exactly where he drove her. He passed down the thoroughfare to the other side of the tracks. She knew that part of town well enough. Was he taking her into greater danger now?

He turned off on a darkened street. Only one streetlight glowed over a blacktop expanse. She could see nothing beyond it but a basketball hoop standing forlorn and abandoned beyond a white outline on the blacktop.

He walked the bike into the halo of blue light and moved the gearshift intoPark. Eva’s heart thudded in her chest. If she jumped off right now, she could dash off and hide in the dark. He would have no choice but to ride away without her.

What was she thinking? She came here of her own free will to find out what lay at the end of this intoxicating mystery. She wouldn’t run away, and she wouldn’t pass through that ominous darkness alone, back to her own apartment.

He took his hands off the handlebars. In a dream, she saw them move toward her. Her body twangedtautin the palpable tension. He would touch her. He would take her, and nothing would hold him back this time. Of that, she was certain.

His hands moved back, and he hung his helmet on the handlebars. Everything followed the same pattern as yesterday morning. Only the light reminded her in all its painful clarity that this was not yesterday morning. He wouldn’t snap a few pics and drive her back to the office.

He clasped her waist and bent his head to her ear. “Do you remember this?”

She could barelywhisper,“Yes.” Calling him Daddy didn’t make sense now. This was no phone sex game.

He understood it, too, and he didn’t push her. She couldn’t turn back. She wouldn’t turn back. This was all hers. She wanted this. She wanted to discard the nice girl rules and let herself break out into pure wildness.

Above all else, she worshiped him for that. He guided her. He kept her moving forward when she would have held back. He kept her honest, and he could let her go if she really wanted to walk away from all this.

He stroked her shoulders and rubbed her neck. He smoothed down her arms to her hands and back up. The gentlest pressure on her shoulders gave her an undeniable command to lean forward. She lay down across the gas tank.

The bike whispered its feral growl into her blood. She couldn’t resist its hypnotic voice. It vibrated her bones and spoke to her engorged tissues to rise and meet it.

He ran his fingertip around her waistband. That’s when she remembered the awful truth. She’d left her panties on his office floor. He would find them when he went into work tomorrow morning. He would keep them in his pocket all day long, and he would remember her here, exposed and powerless with his raging machine between her legs.

He ran his hand down her back, just like yesterday, but he had different ideas tonight. His voice touched her ear from out of the dark. “Lick it, baby. I want to see you lick that chrome. Show me how you’re gonna lick my rock hard cock.”

She kept her eyes closed. She put out her tongue and touched it to the cold metal. Saliva squirted under her tongue. She had to suck it in fast to stop it drooling out onto the gas tank. She ran her tongue along its smooth surface, and mind-blowing desire burned down her stomach to her crotch.

She rocked her cunt against the seat and rolled her ass up and back toward him. God, she must be as nasty and dirty as he said she was if she behaved like this. What kind of person rubbed her dripping wet snatch against a wicked Harley and licked its shiny chrome when her biker Daddy told her to?

What would he make her do next? What indignities did he have in mind to tear her world apart?

Heinchedher skirt up around her waist so her thighs surrounded the seat. The night air embraced her bare skin and chilled the spattered spunk on her lips and thighs. He caressed her glorious butt cheeks in the lamplight. “Who’s my horny little Princess?”

“I am, Daddy. I’m your Princess.”

He nudged into her from behind, and her juices wet his swollen crotch. “You want that, don’t you? You want my cock between your legs.”

“Oh, yes, Daddy, please.”

“Say it, baby. Let me hear you say it like you did yesterday. Tell me how you really want it, now that you know I’m gonna give it to you hard and fast.”

“Oh, fuck me. I can’t stand this. Oh, please, fuck me hard.”

He growled under his breath. From her place on the gas tank, she heard his breath grate between his teeth. “Oh, yeah, baby. I’m gonna fuck you. I’ve waited a long time for this.”

A zipper unzipped, and the hard spike tormenting her back door changed from rough fabric to smooth, soft skin. Its rigid point didn’t change. It jammed harder into her.

“Look at me, baby. I want to see your eyes when I stick my cock in your sweet, hot pussy.”

Her eyes snapped open. What did he want to see her eyes for? Didn’t he understand she needed to keep her eyes closed? She needed to concentrate to stop herself from flying into a million pieces.

The moment she locked her eyes on his face, she understood why. His smoldering brown eyes bored into her soul. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, and she could never disobey him. She was his, body and soul, and he kept her in the palm of his hand with those impossible eyes.

Once he caught her, he never released her from his enthralling gaze. He swayed there behind her on the bike, with his prick embedded in her most delicate tissues. He kept her dangling on the brink of insanity, and she couldn’t look away. She had to watch her own destruction hovering closer, closer.

He bent down and slammed his lips against hers. She stared at his face, all blurry there beyond her sight. That was the first time he ever kissed her, and here he was, about to fuck her like some biker babe.

She lost sight of his eyes. What was he looking at? What was he thinking? Then a tidal wave of maddening sensation crashed over her and sucked her under to drown. She couldn’t stand it.

That wave rustled out from her lips and tongue, all the way to her eyelashes and earlobes. It fizzed with unfulfilled dreams. Its effervescent foam bubbled to the surface of her skin and drove her wild.

She bit at his lips in a frenzy to get hold of him. Her tongue danced around his in a courtship ritual of exotic desires. She put her hand behind his neck to draw him to her. For just a brief instant, they clung to each other for mutual aid. She would never let him go. He extended a lifeline from the surreal world of psychedelic hallucinations to the world of order and control. He would find a way to take her back there when all this was over.

That lifeline snapped when he released her. He gave her one last peck on the nose before he reared back, and Eva went spinning off again into another dimension where nothing made sense. She didn’t recognize herself or anything else. No rules governed that world save one: pleasure. Pleasure in herself, pleasure in him, pleasure in every area of her life—nothing else mattered.

He sat up straight and pressed her down hard on the cruel steel. His eyes flashed a warning. Eva didn’t move.

He ripped his pants the rest of the way open, and his thick tool sprang out. She had to close her eyes again at the sight of it. It was bigger and more intimidating in person than in the pictures on her phone. The pictures didn’t do it justice. It throbbed and strained at its pink skin. It wanted her.

He kept her pinned with one hand while he aimed his rock hard shaft between her cheeks. The closer he got, the harder he pressed her down. He kept his glare locked on her raised ass, and his jaw muscle clenched and rippled with every gasping breath.

He stirred her juices with his taut umbrella until her glistening syrup coated it. Those vapors lubricated its passage through the curtains leading to her depths. He groaned in agony and hitched his hips forward. He set up a pulsing rhythm, and with every pulse, he moved just a little farther forward on the seat.

His mushroom nosed into her opening, and she stretched to receive him. He hitched forward one more time, and her tissues strained to their limit. How could a man be so big? How could he stay conscious with so much blood in his cock? Could she handle something so big?

He came forward one last time, and his cock pushed its way into her cavern. Eva gasped out loud. When he drove his tool harder into her twitching channel, she let out a shriek of surprise at the overwhelming intensity. A distant voice out of the past cried,No!, but every other facet of her being breathed him into her.Yes, yes, yes!

God, he was so big! Her pussy surrounded him in a death grip. His every movement sent streaming hot flashesof pleasure tinged with pain through her guts. She couldn’t stand it. She had to get away, but he kept her pinned there on her chest while he drove his jackhammer into her being.

She lost all sense of time and place. She floated in her own inner world where she tangled with him in thecosmicunion. His flesh filled her to the limit, and it satisfied her long thirst for pure pleasure. She didn’t have to worry about behaving herself in that world. She didn’t have to keep quiet. No one could hear her cries beyond the basketball court.

She screamed and moaned. She drowned out his agonized grunts. He sucked his breath through gritted teeth and shoved his manhood into her depths.

In an instant, she exploded from her ethereal world intoa cosmosbright with stars. They went supernova in front of her eyes. She couldn’t hear her own screams over the thunder of her pulse in her ears—or was that the roar of a Harley? She couldn’t tell, and she no longer cared.

His bellows of rising completion joined her in harmony echoing over the field. His boiling injection overflowed her brimming font and stained the bike with her essence.

Chapter 7

Eva sat down at her desk the next morning, but she couldn’t concentrate. She sat up on her couch for hours after Matt dropped her off at her apartment door the night before. When she went to bed, her head still spun from the earth-shattering climaxes he gave her again and again, for hours. She rode him and his bike every way they could think of and neither ever got tired or ran out of steam.

When would he call her into his office again? What would she encounter there? Would he dominate her the way he did last night, or would he talk to her about her work and praise her for being the trustworthy and reliable EA he knew she would be when he hired her?

Nothing made sense anymore. She couldn’t work. She couldn’t concentrate. She couldn’t function at all. She stared at her phone. What message would come to her through it next time? She ached for him to call her again, but she dreaded the same thing.

She turned on her computer and pulled up her matches for the foreign exchange research, but the screen blurred before her eyes. She couldn’t read any of the folders he gave her or the submissions for the newsletter.

She cradled her head in her hand. She was useless, to herself and to him. In the end, she brought up the birthday database. She could enter the September names and details without concentrating too hard.

Her own name popped up at the top of the list when she opened the file. One more day to go. Did Matt even know when her birthday was? Maybe this database wasn’t the sign of his caring and regard she thought it was.

Maybe it was really just a way to acknowledge his employee’s birthdays and contributions without actually having to be aware of them at all. The name would come up in the database, some lackey would mail out a card and issue the bonus, and everything would go on as before. Matt wouldn’t even have to interrupt his exercise routine.

Eva kicked herself. What was she doing, thinking that way? Matt came up with this idea of marking hisemployees’ birthdays when the company did nothing before. That at least showed he cared.

Did he really care about her, though? Did he really care about her personally—not just as his secret sex playmate? Why did she even have to ask that? He was a boss diddling his assistant. How could he care about her? She never expected him to care.

She didn’t really care about him, either, when she thought about it. He was nothing but a secret sex playmate to her, too—and a job, of course.

She shut off the computer. What was her world coming to? She couldn’t even enter mindless data into a spreadsheet without analyzing all the interpersonal implications of every entry.

She made up her mind to go home and work there. She would turn off her phone and forget about RipRoarer and everything else that happened in the last two days. She wouldn’t come back until she could focus on her work. That might mean breaking it off with Matt altogether. If that’s what she had to do, she would do it.

She packed up her folders and picked up her phone. She put her thumb on the power button to shut it off when a notification came through. Her heart froze in mid-beat. It was him.Could you please come into my office?

If she kept working here, she would grow to dread those words. She couldn’t work in an environment where she dreaded her own boss. No matter how much she wanted him, no matter how many times he made her scream in the dark of night, this was work. She refused to do work she didn’t love.

She gathered her courage and walked down the hall to his office. She rehearsed in her mind the right words to break it to him. She had to quit. Sheshould neverhave come to work here in the first place after that disaster the very first morning when he picked her up on his Harley.

She found him standing at his desk. He didn’t look up when she walked in. “Have a seat.”

“Thanks. I prefer to stand.”

He still didn’t look up. “We have a problem with the building permits for the factory. How much have you studied our application?”

“I’ve studied it, but not the whole thing. Why? What’s up?” Every thought she had about quitting went right out of her head.

“The City Council sent back our application for changes to the draft plan. They say we have to get all the measurements redone or the application is denied. I’m sending it back to the design company, but I’m supposed to go to the basketball game in ten minutes. I put in calls to the site foreman and the surveyors to get the job done right away, but the site foreman is on an OSHA review and one of the riggers fell from a scaffolding and shattered his pelvis right in front of the OSHA inspectors. The whole site is in an uproar, and I’m waiting to hear back from everybody at the same time. I can’t leave. I need you to drop whatever you’re doing and shadow me while I handle this emergency so nothing gets forgotten or missed.”

“You hired me to cover you so you could exercise without distraction. You said that would be one of my most important jobs, so you could clear your head of stuff like this. You go to the basketball game and let me handle this.”

“I can’t do that. This is our biggest project spanning several years of investment. I can’t just turn my back on it and go play basketball.” He picked up his phone. His finger hovered over the screen.

Eva darted forward and took the phone out of his hand as gently as she dared. “You’ve been in control of everything for so long, you don’t know how to let go of the reins. Situations like this are exactly why you hired me. Leave your phone here, and go play basketball. I’ll handle it. That’s what I’m here for.”

He cocked his head. “Are you sure? You said you’re not all the way up to speed on the project.”

“I don’t need to be all the way up to speed on the project. I just need to field phone calls from the site manager, the OSHA inspectors, the designers, and the City Council.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “No problem. I can do that.”

He frowned down at her.

She returned his frown with a beatific smile. “I’ll tell you what. After you leave, I’ll sit right down here in your office and do nothing but study the project plans until you get back. I’ll come up to speed as fast as I can so I’ll be ready when the phone rings. Will that satisfy you?”

“I don’t like this.”

“What’s the point of having an EA answer your phone and emails if you don’t let me do my job? What did you hire me, if not for situations exactly like this?”

“You’ve only been here a few days. I thought you would ease into it. I thought we would start with simple tasks like making appointments and move up to the big emergencies.”

“Well, there’s no time like the present. Who knows? The basketball game might clear your head so you can handle the situation better. When you get back from the basketball game, you might be all the more ready to answer that phone.”

“I know it will. That’s why I hate to miss a game at a time like this.”

“Then off you go. Leave it to me.”

He glanced down at his phone in her hand. “Are you sure?”

She pushed him toward the door. “Stop saying that and get out of here. You’ve got two minutes to get down there.”

He stumbled out the door. He tried to turn back and say something, but she shut the door in his face. “See you later!”

She paused and listened. He didn’t come barging back in. He didn’t make a peep outside the door. He must be going.

She went back to his desk with his phone still in her hand. Well, now she’d really jumped in the deep end, and she made a promise to be ready. She hustled back to her office and came back with the building permit application folder.

True to her word, she sat down in Matt’s big cushy leather chair and started going over the application with afine-toothedcomb. She studied every sheet of paper he gave her until she understood every nuance of the application process.

Chapter 8

She got to the very last page before the phone rang. She took a deep breath. Here goes. “Mr. Rockford’s office. You’re speaking with Eva.”

A gruff voice shouted at her from the other end. Crashing and heavy equipment noises echoed down the airwaves. “Hello, Eva. Just put Mr. Rockfordon,please. This is Jeff Rorschach calling. I’m the new factory site manager.”

Eva kept her voice congenial and smooth. “I’m sorry, Mr. Rorschach. Mr. Rockford is unavailable at the moment. Is there anything I can help you with, or would you like to leave him a message?”

“Yeah, the message is that TinoPaducciruptured his bladder in the fall and is being rushed in for emergency surgery. His wife is calling a lawyer to sue our balls off, and the OSHA inspectors are threatening to shut us down. Now, if you would be so kind as to put Mr. Rockford on the phone, I would really appreciate it.”

Eva tightened her hand around the phone, but she forced herself to stay calm. “I’m sorry, Mr. Rorschach. I understand this is a distressing situation, but I couldn’t put Mr. Rockford on the phone if I wanted to because he’s not here. Is that the whole message, or is there anything I can help you with?”

“And just exactly do you think you can help me with? What could you possibly help me with? You don’t know the first thing about this building project. What are you, his secretary?”

“I’m Mr. Rockford’s confidential executive assistant, and I’m empowered to handle anything I deem necessary in his absence. I might not be able to help you, but I can at least try. If I can’t help you, I can at least pass on the message when Mr. Rockford gets back.”

The building site manager let out a shaky sigh. “I don’t see how anyone can help us. We’re done for, and now the building permit is in jeopardy, too.”

“What can you tell me about the fall? What was the injured man doing right before he fell?”

“Well, I don’t know. The guys had some loud music playing up there, which is strictly prohibited in a high-hazard area. Tino isn’t the most careful guy on the block, either. I’ve had to bust him downtown more than once for horsing around on the scaffolding. It was only a matter of time before he or someone else got knocked off. I’m actually relieved it was him, and not his loopy antics hurting somebody else.”

“Did you tell the OSHA inspectors that? Did you show them the records of you reprimanding Tino for breaking the safety policies?”

“Well, no, I didn’t think of that.”

“Are the inspectors still on the site?”

“Yes, they are. They’re drawing up their report now.”

“Show them the records. I don’t suppose you have a record of this morning’s incident, but you could probably find a witness among the other employees. You could get them to tell the inspectors if it was Tino who played the music and if he was misbehaving when he fell.”

A long silence answered her. Then she heard a slap. “You know what, little lady? You’re right. I’m going over there to talk to them right now.”

He hung up before she could say anything. Her heart pounded, but at least she handled that problem without losing her cool. She jotted down his message to pass on to Matt and hadn’t put her pen down when the phone rang again. “Mr. Rockford’s office. You’re speaking with Eva.”

“Where’s Rockford?”

“I’m sorry. Mr. Rockford is not available at the moment. Can I give him a message?”

“I have to talk to Rockford right away. I don’t care if he’s on his way to his mother’s cremation. Get him on the phone right now or I’ll have your job.”

Eva took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, sir. Mr. Rockford is not available at the moment. Is there any message I can give him?”

“Yeah. Tell him to call me right away.”

“And what is your name, please, sir?”

“It’s Wilson. I’m the liaison between Rockford Communications and the Design Associates.”

“Ah, yes, Mr. Wilson. I understand they’ve been going over the designs for the building.”

“Going over them’s not the word for it. We thought the City Council sent back the application for a small measuring irregularity. The designers went over the drawings, and it turns out the whole flamin’ package is wrong. They have to redo the whole design, including the measurements. It’s gonna cost a fortune to get the whole design and architecture reworked.”

“We shouldn’t have to pay for it if they made the mistake.”

“I already explained that to them, but they won’t budge. They already put in a couple hundred man-hours on this project, and they say they won’t do anything more for free.”

“Well, that’s just too bad. If they don’t fix it at their own expense, we could sue them for professional negligence and breach of contract.”

“They won’t listen, and the problem is we already paid them over fifty thousand dollars for this design package. They’ve already spent the money we paid for it. It would cost us ten times as much to take them to court.”

“I’ll tell you what, Mr. Wilson. I’ll pass on your message to Mr. Rockford when he comes in, but as soon as I get off the phone with you, I’ll call our legal department and get them on the case.”

“So what am I going to do about the application? We have thirty days to return the designs to the City Council for approval of our application. If we don’t get the new designs returned in that time, we have to start over from scratch and pay another hefty application fee. That’s a pretty short timeline, and we’ve got nothing to submit. There’s no way we can get the new designs completed in time.”

“Call the designers and tell them to get onto the new designs pronto. Tell them we’ll pay extra to get the new designs resubmitted in time.”

“Now just hold on a second.....”

She cut him off. “Don’t argue. Tell them whatever you have to tell them to get the designs finished in time. We’ll sort out the payment options later. With any luck, we’ll have the whole new package submitted in time and won’t have to pay a red cent.”

Mr. Wilson hungsilentlyon the other end of the phone for a long moment. Then he let out a whoop. “Hot diggity! I like the way you think. All right. I don’t know who you are or how you did it, but I’ll follow your lead. I’ll get in touch with Rockford in a few hours and let him know how I’m getting on.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Wilson. I’m certain Mr. Rockford will get in touch with you just as soon as he gets back into the office.”

Wilson hung up, and Eva’s head dropped into her hands. She could only hope against hope she was doing the right thing, but at least things were moving forward instead of collapsing around her ears.

She checked her watch. When was Matt coming back? She didn’t like all this responsibility weighing on her shoulders, and to think he dealt with situations like this all the time. Running his own multi-billion dollar company must be stressful. No wonder he wanted time away, and he couldn’t do that without the secure knowledge someone was holding down the fort in his absence.

She called the legal department and told them the whole story of the design mix-up, and they promised to follow it up. She also warned them of the impending legal action from Tino’s wife.

The minutes ticked away to forty-five minutes. Fifty minutes. An hour. An hour and ten minutes. Eva cast a sidelong glance at the phone when it vibrated across the table with an annoyed twinkle. She jumped three feet into the air and seized the phone with a pattering heart. “Mr. Rockford’s office. You’re speaking with Eva.”

“Jeff Rorschach again, Eva.”

“Oh, hello, Mr. Rorschach. How are you managing? How did it go with the OSHA inspectors?”

“I just called you to let you know you’re absolutely brilliant, and I’d like you to do me the honor of bestowing on me your hand in marriage.”

Eva gasped. “Mr. Rorschach!”

“You saved me, Eva. You saved me and the whole company with your idea. I showed the reports to the inspectors, and they agreed to stick around the site while we interviewed the workers nearest Tino when he fell from the scaffold. You were absolutely right. It was him playing music, and he was dancing around on the scaffold without his safety leash attached. He was showing off and moonwalking like Michael Jackson. He moonwalked right off the cotton-pickin’ scaffold.” He burst out laughing and let out a wild yell.

Eva gave a nervous laugh, too. “I’m glad it all worked out.”

“It did better than work out. They gave us a clean bill of operation to keep working on the site, and they’re going to lay charges against Tino. When I told them about Tino’s wife trying to sue us, they took her phone number and agreed to head her off at the pass. We’re all clear, and it’s all thanks to you.”

“Great, Mr. Rorschach. I’ll tell Mr. Rockford everything is under control.”

“I want Mr. Rockford to call me himself when he’s finished. I want to tell him what a gem he found when he hired you. I doubt even he could have come up with a solution as good as this.”

“That’s very nice of you to say, but I....”

“You tell him to call me. I gotta get back to work now. I just wanted to let you know what happened and thank you. You don’t know how relieved I am.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll tell Mr. Rockford.”

“Bye.”

She hung up when Matt walked through the door. He smiled. Even at the door, she could see the relaxed serenity on his face. He carried his shoulders lower, and his eyes didn’t dart around the way they did before. “How did it go?”

“Pretty good.”

“All quiet?”

“Sorry, no, but I think I’ve got everything under control.” She told him everything.

He blinked at her. “Wow.”

“It’s all good. The building site emergency is okay. You can call Wilson, but I think you should check with the legal department first.”

He stared straight at her, but he didn’t see anything. A thousand details ran through his mind. Then he snapped alert. “No, I won’t call the legal department. We’ll go ahead with your strategy. Now that I think about it, it’s a great idea. We’ll let the designers think we’re willing to pay for the new designs. We’ll show them a carrot of additional funds just to get the new package finished in time. Then, once we have our application filed, we’ll contest theiradditioncost. We’ll take them to court if we have to.”

“Are you sure? It’s not too harsh, is it?”

“Harsh? They don’t know how harsh it is. That’s what makes the plan so brilliant.”

Eva groaned. “Please don’t use that word.”

“What? Why not?”

She told him all about Rorschach’s proposal. Matt laughed out loud. He swooped an arm around Eva’s waist and yanked her in against his chest. He planted a passionate kiss on her lips and let her reel away. “I’ll punch him in the nose if he comes near you.”

She blushed, but she couldn’t stop smiling. “Stop that.”

He tossed his burly body into his desk chair. “So no other messages?”

“That’s all of it.”

He picked up his phone and checked it. He frowned at the blank notification screen. Then he humphed.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. You’ve done a great job.”

“You don’t look very happy about it.”

He gazed down at his phone sitting forlorn and silent on the desk. “Twenty years, putting out fires. Twenty years, looking over my shoulder and wondering what was going on while I was out of the office.”

“You won’t have to do that anymore.”

He pushed out his lips. “I’m not as relieved as I thought I would be. I’ve been thelynchpinof this company for twenty years, and now the company doesn’t need me anymore.”

“The company still needs you just as much. Now you can concentrate on using your company to do good for people instead of wasting your energy putting out fires.”

He cast a glance up at her. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He slapped his thighs. “You’re right.”

He jumped to his feet, grabbed her, and kissed her again. “What’s going on with you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve never seen you like this. You’re...you’re goofy.”

“I can be goofy sometimes, too. You don’t know all the sides of me.”

“Apparently not.”

“I want you to do something for me.”

“What’s that?”

“I want you to go out to dinner with me tonight. Somewhere fancy.”

Eva’s eyes popped out of her head. “Are you serious?”

“I’ve never been more serious in my life.”

“What do you want to take me out to dinner for?”

“To show my appreciation for what you’ve done today.”

“Do you take all your employees out to dinner to show your appreciation for what they do?”

“No. Just you.”

Chapter 9

Eva put the finishing touches on her make-up and piled her hair on top of her head to accentuate the plunging neckline of her full-length gown. Matt said he would take her somewhere fancy. She could only hope she wasn’t too fancy. She would be massively overdressed and make a fool of herself.

He better notpickher up on his Harley, either, or she would never speak to him again. She collected her handbag and put it with her keys on the hall table. She checked the clock for the thousandth time and paced around the living room waiting for him to show up.

Eight o’clock rolled around, but she didn’t hear the thump of a chopper outside. All at once, a firm knock rattled her door. She didn’t hear any car pull up to the curb, but when she opened it, her breath caught in her throat. There was Matt in a tuxedo and diamond cuff links. A black stretch limo sat at the curb behind her. She never even heard it pull up.

He raised his eyebrows at her dress, and his eyes sparkled. “Good evening. You look stunning.”

“So do you.”

He crooked his elbow and turned side-on to her. “Shall we go?”

She placed her hand inside his elbow. “Where are we going?”

“That’s a surprise.”

“I don’t like surprises.”

“You’ll like this one.”

He handed her into the limo and sat in the seat opposite her. She kept her knees together and folded her hands in her lap. He appraised her up and down with his eyes. “You don’t look very comfortable.”

“Maybe because I feel like I’m about to be the main course.”

He flashed his perfect white teeth. “I like that. You look delicious from here.”

“Is this going to be another one of your kinky sex games?”

His smile evaporated. “Nothing like that.”

“You haven’t texted me since you dropped me off last night.”

“I thought you might want a break from that after….what we did.”

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

“You haven’t texted me, either.”

“I never have. It’s always you texting me.”

“I know. Why is that?”

“I don’t know. It just worked out that way when you first got in touch with me on that dating site.”

The limo glided to a stop. Matt peered through the window. “Here we are.”

He got out first and offered her his hand. He led her up to the sidewalk to the front of what looked like a locked office building. “What is this place?”

“Only the most exclusive restaurant on the Eastern Seaboard.” He passed her hand through his elbow. “You’ll love it. I promise.”

He led her to another plain concrete wall and touched the corner seam between two concrete blocks. A panel opened, and he pushed a button. The slab slid back, and he stepped into an elevator cab with Eva at his side.

She stared at him. “What’s all this cloak and dagger stuff?”

“I told you this place is exclusive.”

“I didn’t know it was that exclusive.”

“No one knows about this place but me. It has a clientele of one—actually two now.”

The elevator closed and whizzed into the air. The G-force dragged on Eva’s legs, but the ride only lasted an instant. The doors hissed open again, and Matt stepped out onto a pebbled concrete patio set all around with trees. The starry night sky sailed high above them, and the summer wind rustled the leaves.

Thousands and thousands of fairy lights illuminated the building’s roof, but no one could tell it was the roof of a plain office building. Flowerbeds,rose bushes, and stately trees grew all around that roof and turned it into a Garden of Eden.

Matt conducted her along a beautiful walk to an opening in the garden. A small table set for twowaitingfor them between the trees, and candles lit its crisp white tablecloth and bone china.

Matt steered her into her chair before he took the chair opposite. He rang a small bell by his plate, and a tuxedoed waiter came forward with a white napkin draped over his arm. “Wine, sir?”

“Yes, thank you.”

The waiter disappeared and came back with a bottle and two glasses. He poured, and Matt raised his glass to Eva. “To you, and to a job superlatively done today.”

The heady mixture of alcohol andsugar rushedto her brain. She couldn’t comprehend all this extravagance for her sake. She’d only been doing her job today, the job he hired her to do.

She ran through a few possible excuses in her mind to explain away the work he thought was so exceptional. Anyone could have done it, but before she could decide what to say, he slid his hand across the table and picked up hers from the tablecloth. “I’ve waited a long time for this moment.”

“You have? How long have you been planning this?”

“Since I first emailed you on that dating site.”

Eva stared at him. “As long ago as that?”

“You didn’t know, did you? You thought it was all about sex for me, but it wasn’t. I knew from your first messages you were something special. Even then, I planned to bring you here. I dreamed of this moment more times than I dreamed aboutlayingyou across my bike.”

Eva turned bright red. Talking about their illicit sex life didn’t make sense at this table.

“You never thought about this with RipRoarer, did you?”

“You said RipRoarer was the leader of a criminal biker gang. I never thought RipRoarer was capable of this.”

“Well, he is. I am. I wanted you to see this part of my life, and I wanted you to share it.”

“What do you mean by share it?”

“I want us to be more than just a boss who bonks his assistant. I want us to be more than chat buddies and fuck buddies.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“You’re the first person I’ve trusted to share my business with. I want to know I can count on you when the chips are down.”

“You can count on me. I proved that today, didn’t I?”

“You proved it as my assistant. I want you to be more than that. I want you to be an equal force for leadership and change in my company.”

“If I was an equal force along with you, it wouldn’t be your company. It would beourcompany.”

“Exactly.”

“I still don’t understand what you mean. You’re not going to share your company with me. That would be unheard of.”

“You just heard of it.”

“You’re daft.”

He chuckled. “I can see this subject makes you uncomfortable.”

“Only because you’re not making any sense. You don’t intend to make me a business partner, do you?”

“No, not a business partner.”

“There. You see? I knew it. So what are you talking about?”

He rolled her hand between his fingers. “Just this.”

“You already have that.”

He turned away with a wistful smile, but he wouldn’t sayanymore. After the wine came the salad and the appetizers and finally the main course and dessert. Every dish came prepared for royalty. Eva struggled to keep her composure through each successive revelation, but Matt only smiled at her.

When it was all over, he led her on a long, winding tour of the garden. He held her hand and even put his arm around her waist, but he never took it any further. He never even kissed her.

He talked about a thousand things, but never work, and he never revisited that subject he tried to broach at the table. He let it drop and kept her at her ease throughout the evening.

After several hours, he migrated back to the elevator. Without mentioning it, he guided her down it to the street where the limo waited for them. He handed her into the seat, but this time, he sat next to her.

As soon as the limo started moving, he scooted along the seat to press against her. His thigh touched hers, and he leaned in to kiss her. He cupped the back of her neck, and his tongue slithered into her mouth.

Warm wetness drenched her between her legs to welcome his hand sliding up her thighs along the slit in her gown. He found the moist cleft and drenched his fingers in her gushing font.

She gave herself over into his hands. Wasn’t this what she always wanted, his love and tenderness. She traced the hard contours of his muscular chest. She knew the dark patterns underneath his spotless shirt. She knew everything down to the inked hooks marking the curve of his hips.

All too soon, the limo stopped and Eva pulled out of his embrace with a sigh. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She turned and opened the door—and froze. She wasn’t in front of her own apartment. She was somewhere she didn’t recognize. A huge old Victorian house jutted into the night sky, and a man in a uniform waited outside the door with his gloved hands crossed in front of him. “What is this place?”

Matt got out of the limo behind her. “This is my house. I thought you might like to see it for yourself.”

“Your house?”

So this was where the uber-rich lived. Before she could say a word, he escorted her up the long walk to the front steps. The uniformed servant opened the door. Eva looked back to see the limo disappearing down a long, curving driveway. Where it went, she never knew.

Matt pressed her hand. “Come inside. I want to show you something.”

“What is it, your underground dungeon?”

“I don’t have an underground dungeon.”

“Nothing could surprise me after that place where you took me for dinner.”

“Good. Then you won’t be surprised.”

He led the way into a high-ceilinged foyer and up the sweeping staircase. On the second floor, he turned off into a large bedroom with a curtained canopy bed in the center. Blood magenta velvet curtains surrounded the bed and hung around the windows.

Eva stared at everything in wide-eyed wonder. “What’s this?”

“This is my bedroom.” He took a step closer. “I want you to spend the night here with me.”

“Spend the night with you—here?”

He moved inonher, and that old tension, half fear, half excitement, made every breath a torture. He kissed her once on the lips. Then his powerful hands fell on her shoulders with the weight of elephants. He could crush her in one blow.

He turned her around to face the bed. He kissed down her neck to her bare shoulder. “Would you like to spend the night in that bed with me?”

She tried to swallow, but her parched throat ached. “Yes.”

His voice rumbled in his chest. How well she knew that voice! “Are you turned on for me right now?”

“Yes.”

“Would you like to bend over for me on that bed and let me take you like the bad girl you are?”

“Yes. I want you to.”

“Let me see you do it then. Let me see you display yourself to me.”

She didn’t have a chance to slip her shoulder straps down. He did it for her, and her gown dropped to the floor. He caressed down her bare back to her hour-glass hips. He propelled her forward, and she set one knee on the velvet-trimmed bed.

She crawled forward on hands and knees until she positioned herself in the center of the bed. She looked back over her shoulder to see him glaring at her. He towered over her in all his massive, dominating power.

The gentle compassion of his business personality melted away. Nothing remained but the pure animal, and she was his hunted quarry. He put out his hand and grazed her aching tissues. He came away with fingers smeared with thesparklingelixir, and he licked the juice from his hand. He bared his teeth and snarled at her.

“You’re a bad girl, aren’t you? You’re my rotten little Princess, and you know what Daddy does to bad girls.”

She gasped in spite of herself. “Oh, Daddy.”

“You know it, baby. You’ve been dying for this for a long time. You’re gonna taste my belt tonight.”

Why did she think this wouldn’t happen? She whined in pathetic tones. “Oh, Daddy, please.”

He circled his flat fingers over her burning petals. He rubbed her juice all over her engorged clit and back up over her ass. “Are you begging me to strap you, or are you begging for mercy?”

“Oh, Daddy, please.”

“I asked you a question. Do you want my belt across that sweet ass of yours?”

She couldn’t stand it anymore. She wanted whatever he did to her. “Yes, Daddy. I’m a bad girl, and I know what Daddy does to bad girls.”

He tore his belt off. It shone in the soft yellow light. He doubled it over and slapped it against his pants. It made a dull thunk against the fabric.

Eva turned her head to face forward. She closed her eye and moaned. She rocked her hips back and forth through the air and waited for the first blow to fall.

Chapter 10

Eva made sure to sit down carefully in her desk chair the next morning. Every fiber still ached from last night’s adventure in Matt’s bedroom. He didn’t hold back, but let RipRoarer loose on her nubile young flesh. He had her, he punished her for her very badness, and after it was all over, he curled up behind her in the bed and held her in his protective embrace until the morning light brightened the window.

His butler brought in a new suit for her to wear when she got out of the shower that morning, but Matt disappeared long before she got ready to leave for work. The limo drove her to the office, and no one noticed or commented when she got out of it.

She turned on her computer and brought up the birthday database. Why did she keep bringing it up to stare at her own name at the top of the list? Today was her twenty-eighth birthday. Today would offer the first test of the card and bonus system. She would play the guinea pig to see how well the system worked at marking the employees’ birthdays.

She scrolled down the spreadsheet and started entering the September birthdays. After that, she followed up on the legal department’s handling of Tino’s wife and the threatened legal action.

That kept her busy until well past lunchtime. Before she knew it, one o’clock passed without a word from Matt. He always texted her when he wanted her to take over while he went out for his exercise break.

She still didn’t receive any card, much less a cash bonus. Maybe she would get it at home. After some searching, she found the notification pathway. The database notification went all the way down to the mail room. A print boy fed the command into a computer and printed out the card. The notification released the bonus to the same bank account as the employee’s wages. And yes, the cards got delivered within the building to the employee’sworkstation.

Shecheckedbut found no bonus in her account. She would have noticed a card showing up on her desk. Her heart sank, but she turned her thoughts to something more productive to take her mind off it.

She made phone calls to foreign exchange experts she knew. Then she talked to the executives in charge of Rockford Communications’ overseas subsidiaries about transferring their profits in US dollars.

She forgot all about her birthday card and bonus until four o’clock struck. Time to go home. Then the truth hit her like a ton of bricks. She must be the only employee in the company who knew about this plan. She never expected to be so disappointed that she didn’t get it. No one else would miss what they didn’t know about. Only she would know it hadn’t worked.

She threw back her shoulders. She refused to let a birthday card from a computer get her down. She headed for the door when her phone chirped.Would you please come into my office for a moment?

Not that again. She didn’t want to face him now. He, of all people, would understand how ridiculous it was for her to grieve the loss of this meaningless birthday card.

She strolled down to his office. He couldn’t want her to spend the night with him again. Her ass couldn’t handle his treatment more than one night in a row until she worked up a thicker skin.

She pushed open the doors. Matt sat at his desk.

“You didn’t call me up to cover your exercise slot.”

“I skipped it for today. I decided I got enough exercise last night.”

She tried to chuckle, but she could only smile.

“How was your day?”

“It was pretty good, except that the birthday card and bonus system doesn’t work. We’ll have to double-check the notification pathway. There was a birthday today, and the card and bonus weren’t generated.” He looked up, but she rambled on in spite of herself. “Actually, if you want to know, today is my birthday. That’s how I know the pathway doesn’t work. I never got a card or a bonus.”

He leaned back in his chair. “You never got a card or a bonus because I have them right hereinmy desk. I kept them for you so I could give them to you in person.”

She blinked. “You what?”

He opened his desk drawer and took out an envelope with a powder blue ribbon bow tied around it. He handed it over to her.

“What’s this?”

“It’s your birthday card from Rockford Communications. Open it. Your bonus is inside.”

She slid the bow off and opened the flap. Inside the envelope, she found a regular birthday greeting card with a duck on the front. What a disappointment! Was this the way he showed his appreciation to his valued employees? She flipped the card open, but she already knew what she would find. Thank you very much for your service and commitment to Rockford Communications. Blah, blah, blah.

She stopped when her finger touched something hard. She took a closer look, and her eyes fell out of her head. Fastened to the card’s interior by a plastic tie hung a heavy diamond ring, set in gold.

She fingered the solitaire setting and the filigreed band. She couldn’t speak above a whisper. “What is this?”

He stood up and took a step toward her. “Happy Birthday, Eva—my Eva. This is your token of appreciation from Rockford Communications, and from me. I don’t want you to be my business partner. I want you to be my life partner. I never met or cared about anybody the way I care about you. I don’t want to lose you. I want us to be joined at the hip and at the head, and I want us to run this company as only you and I can. You showed me you can do it, and I wouldn’t have anybody else by my side.”

He dropped to one knee in front of her. He took the card out of her hands and tore out the ring. He slid it over her finger. “Accept this and make me the happiest man in the world.”

Eva did her best to blink the tears out of her eyes. She couldn’t speak through her quivering lips, but she nodded. She couldn’t stop nodding, even when he kissed her bejeweled hand.

***

THE END

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Chapter 1 (Hope)

“Twocosmopolitans,” Darla ordered our drinks before I could even tell her what I wanted.

“I don’t really want to overdo ittonight,” I said, sitting down beside her. “You know how I get when I’m tipsy.”

“Oh, I’m not looking to get you tipsy, Hope.” She grinned deviously.

“Don’t even think aboutit,” I warned, narrowing my eyes. “I’m not getting drunk with you again. The last time that happened, we nearly ended up in a ditch.”

“That’s not true.”

“No? Don’t kidyourself,Darla. I still have scars from that night.”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic. We got afewscratches, that’s all. Besides, we got to meet those cute police officers. Too bad we didn’t get their numbers.”

“They nearly arrested us…”

“They just wanted to see us in handcuffs.” She giggled. “Who knows, it could’ve been fun.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re nuts. Remind me why we’re friends again.”

“Because you love me and you can’t get rid of me.” She laughed, poking my arm.

The bartender returned with our drinks, smiling charmingly in Darla’s direction. She winked at the young man, leaning forward as she sipped from her glass. Doing so exposed some of hercleavage.

The man turned red in the face, adjusting the collar of his shirt. “Uh, can I getyou ladiesanything else?”

Darla was just about to say something when I cut her off. “No. We’re okay for now. Thank you.” I waited for him to leave before I turned to my friend. “Do you really have to flirt with every cute guy you see.”

“I don’t flirt withallof them, just thereallycute ones.” She said playfully. “And that guy was a cutie.”

I looked at the bartender. Sure, he was attractive. Tall, fair skin, blue eyes, but I couldn’t see what Darla saw. “He’s okay, I guess.”

“You guess?” She waved her hand in front of my face. “You blind or something? Look at that butt.”

“Will you shut up? He’s going to hear you.”

“Maybe I want him to.” She giggled, speaking a little louder.

He glanced our way, flashing a smile before heaccidentallyspilledvodka all over the floor.

“Look what you did. Now he’s all flustered.”

Darla chuckled. “It’s not my fault he can’t handle looking at the girls.” She said, adjusting her bra.

“I’ve never seen a girl so infatuated with her own boobs. That can’t be healthy.”

“Hey, if you got it, flaunt it.”

“Thank you, Miss Life Coach.”

“You’re welcome. Speaking of which, did you hear back about that Interpreter position at Periodic?”

“Not yet. They’re supposed to call me tomorrow.”

“Do you think they’re going to hire you?”

“I hope so… I could use the money.” I said, running my finger along the rim of my glass, peering down at the colorful liquid.

“What are you talking about? You make rent every month and have enough left over to indulge yourself a little. What are you worried about money for?”

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in an apartment all my life. I want my own house.”

“Don’t you want a husband or something first?”

“I don’t need a guy to buy a house.”

“Hmm…” Darla took another sip of her drink. “You’ve been going on about the whole independent woman deal a lot lately. Have you given up on men or something?”

“No. It’s just that I don’t understand why some girls think they need a guy for certain things. Why can’t I buy a house first and then find a guy later?”

Darla shrugged. “I guess you have a point. Is the job you applied for really paying that much that you think you could afford a house on your own?”

“Close to six figures a year.”

“What? Seriously?”

“Yeah. With advancement opportunities too.”

“Damn. Looks like I’m working in the wrong field.”

“You could always take a training course. It’s not that hard.”

She shook her head. “I was never very good at learning other languages. I would sound like an idiot.”

“I’d teach you.”

“Forget it, I’ll stick with my secretary job. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll find a sugar daddy to support me.”

“I hope you’re kidding.”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“Seriously, Darla, you don’t give yourself enough credit. You’re smart and hardworking. I’m sure you could achieve everything you want on your own if you just put in a little bit more effort.”

“Who’s the life coach now?” She taunted, her lips twitching into an amused smirk.

Our conversation died down and we both focused on our drinks. I simmered in my thoughts, picturing my dream home. It would be big, but not too big, with a little garden in the back. The garden would be overflowing with roses and daisies or any flower I want. In the winter, I would sit by the fireplace and enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate. It would be perfect. I just needed that job to come through…

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted when I heard Darla gasp.

“What is it?” I asked with alarm.

“N-Nothing!” She stammered quickly.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing!” She looked away quickly. “I just… brain freeze, you know?”

“Darla, you suck at lying. Cosmos aren’t even served with ice. Honestly.” I swiveled on the barstool, looking around.

My heart stopped when I spotted him.

Andre Moore.

Was it really him?

I blinked, half-expecting him to disappear from sight. Surely, he had to be a figment of my imagination. He hadn’t set foot in this town for nearly ten years… ever since college…

***

“Hey! Stop that!” I squealed as Andre grabbed me by the hips, holding me close to his body.

“What’s the matter, baby? Don’t like to be tickled?” His fingers ran up and down my side.

I squirmed, trying to escape his grasp. “C’mon, seriously, stop it… I can’t breathe…” I wheezed through my laughter.

Andre didn’t care.

He just kept tickling me until I was on the bed, his body hovering over mine. Before I could even catch my breath, he had my wrists pinned above my head, a fire burning in his eyes.

Slowly, he leaned down. As he did, his muscles rippled under his skin until his body was firmly pressed against my own.

I held my breath, our lips merelyinchesapart at this point. When he didn’t move, I pressed my face forward, trying to close the distance between us, desperate to have those sweet lips on mine.

He chuckled. “Have you missed me that much?” He asked, his husky whisper running through my mind, turning it to mush. With his lips already next to my ear, he took the time to nibble on my lobe, something that he knew drove me wild. His lips then traveled to the side of my neck until they lingered on my collarbone. When he finally reached my cleavage, he looked up at me with those dark eyes of his, sending a shiver through my spine.

My fingers tangledinhis long, blonde hair, pulling on it slightly as I tried to get him to move even further down. All this teasing was sure to drive me insane.

He smirked. “So eager…” He nibbled on my collarbone once more, leaving behind small love bites as his fingertips danced across my skin. First, my waist, followed by my hips, and finally my thighs. His hands snuck between my legs, rubbing me gently until I found myself spreading my legs for him.

I needed him. So bad.

***

“Earth to Hope, are you still with us?” Darla waved her hand in front of my face, breaking me away from the vivid memory.

I looked at her, a little disoriented. It had felt so real… like I was back in bed with him.

But, that was impossible.

“Come on. Let’s go dance. After all, we didn’t come here to just drink all night.” She grabbed me by the wrist, hoisting me off my seat.

I nearly tumbled into her, unsteady on my high heels. She was just about to drag me into the sweaty crowd of dancers when I pulled back. “I don’t want to.”

“What do you mean, you don’t want to?” She questioned, resting her hand on her hip. “You don’t actually think I’d let you mope around and stare at your old ex all night, do you?”

“That’s not what I was going to do.” I protested, crossing my arms over my chest. “What gave you that idea?”

“The fact that you’re looking at him right now.”

Okay. She had a point. But, I just couldn’t help it. I hadn’t seen him intenyears. It was like one day he was there and the next, he had disappeared off the face of the planet. Just looking at him now felt like I was staring at a ghost.

He was dressed differently. Very differently. When we were together, his outfit of preference was a pair of fitted jeans and a comfortable black t-shirt. I swear, his wardrobe didn’t contain an ounce of color. He probably didn’t even know what a dress-shirt was.

Even now, he still wore black, but his clothes looked like they belonged to an expensive fashion brand. If I had to guess, his button-up shirt was made ofsilk. I bit my lip, noticing his rolled-up sleeves, exposing his chiseled forearms. Was it me or had he gotten even more muscular over the years?

“Okay, you have to stop drooling already. Or, did you forget what that jerk did to you?”

Darla was right, but it was almost as if I couldn’t look away. Everything from his high cheekbones, to his chiseled jaw and broad shoulders, and even his well-styled manbunmade him look so well put-together. Like he had finally grown up and gotten his life together.

What had happened these last few years that could have changed him so much?

A part of me wanted to march up to him and demand answers, but at the same time, I knew speaking to him would only open the wound that had barely healed.

Before I could decide what to do, Darla grabbed my wrist once more, tugging me toward thedance floor. “Okay, so maybe he’s even hotter than he was before, even if that doesn’t seem humanly possible, but that doesn’t matter. Because you don’t need him. I’m going to make you have fun whether you like it or not.”

Suddenly, I was in the heart of the crowd. Sweaty bodies pressed against me whilst roaming hands occasionally wandered over my body, making me very uncomfortable.

Darla, however, seemed to be having a blast. She was cozying it up against a tall, dark-skinned individual with a striking smile. He already had his hands on her ass, cupping it in his palms as theygrindedthe night away.

Ugh. I couldn’t stand this. Figuring that Darla would find herself in this man’s bed by the end of the night, I didn’t feel so bad about ditching her. So, I sneaked my way through the maze of people, heading for the exit.

Once outside, I took a deep breath, refilling my lungs with fresh air.

Ah, that was better, much better.

Feeling safe under the gaze of the nearby bouncer, I fished my phone out of my purse, requesting an Uber to bring me home.

As I waited, Andre emerged from the club. He passed me by without a single glance, his stride long and confident, like he ruled the world. His expensive leather loafers thumped against the ground as he crossed the street toward the parking lot.

To my surprise, he approached a black Maserati. He paused, almost as if he knew I was staring at him. His head turned in my direction.

For a split second, our eyes locked.

And then, he got in his car, disappearing behind the dark tinted windows. I kept looking at the car as he drove away.

Chapter 2 (Andre)

It couldn’t possibly be her.

My mind was just playing tricks on me.

My fingers tightenedonthe wheel as I manually shifted gears. Once I was on the highway, I switched gears again, pushing my car to the limit as I weaved through late-night traffic at a breakneck speed.

I had always loved to drive fast, but whenever I was upset, I drove even faster.

Well,upsetmight not be the right word. More of an emotionally-heightened state. After all, I had just seen Hope, after what, ten years? It was enough to shake up a guy, even a guy like me.

Behind me, a red Ferrari was riding my tail, flashing his hazard lights at me. It was obvious he wanted to race. Funny how he thought he could beat me.

I slammed on the breaks, causing him to swerve into the neighboring lane to avoidcollision. He rolled down his window. As expected, it looked like a young college kid, out on a thrill ride. The car had probably been a gift from his father.

Knowing it was pointless, I didn’t bother to roll down my window. Instead, I pressed on the gas, doing almost double the speed limit at this point. A slow car that was cruising in the fast lane threatened my victory. Glancing quickly at the side mirror, I took my chances.

I jerked on the wheel, shifting to the middle lane, narrowly cutting off the Ferrari who slammed on his brakes, nearly flipping forward. Seconds later, I heard him peel out, trying to catch up with me.

Up ahead, the highway was framed by two 18-wheelers. I’d have to shoot the middle.

Without hesitation, I shifted into 5thgear. Just as I entered the gap, one of the trucks decided to switch lanes, threatening to sandwich me between the two. I kept my cool but pressed on the gas just a little harder.

Success.

I made it out – barely – but I did.

The truck driver honked at me, flipping me off.

The Ferrari was nowhere to be seen, but I knew he’d show up sooner rather than later.

“Police reported up ahead!” My police-scanner compatible GPS warned me.

Quickly, I slipped into the slow lane, bringing my speed to an excruciatingly slow 65.

This gave the Ferrari enough time to catch up to me. He rolled his window down, looking smug as he passed me by. But, that look of smugness quickly disappeared once the police sirens sounded.

Now, it was my turn to look cocky as I drove by, ticket-free, while he was being frisked on the side of the road.

For the rest of the ride, I stayed in the slow lane, thinking that if Hope ever found out about what I had just done, she would probably kill me. She hated it when I put myself in risky situations. Nearly had a fit when I told her I was going whitewater rafting with some of my frat buddies. She claimed I would get myself killed, but hey, I’m still alive and kicking.

She always worried too much.

Maybe that’s why I never told her about my decision to join the Navy. She would have started ranting about how I’m an idiot for putting my life on the line for a country that would never do anything for me. Shenever wouldhave understood theneedI had to go. The desire to prove my worth as a man. To make my country proud.

I sighed.

But, was it all worth it?

Was my time as a Navy Seal worth losing all the lost time with Hope? The destroyed relationship? Sometimes, I wasn’t so sure I had made the right decision, but it was too late to change things now. What was done, was done.

***

Eventually, I pulled into my new home. After serving my time in the Navy, I took advantage of every benefit they offered – including free education. I rethought my major and went into business management instead, with a minor in chemistry. The end result was a startup project in defense against chemical warfare. Already, my products were being used in war-torn countries such as Syria and Egypt. My goal was to equip every country in need with the tools and equipment required to combat chemical warfare.

My success allowed me to go anywhere in the world. I could have built my headquarters in sunny California, but instead, I came back to my hometown of Baltimore. I managed to convince myself it was becausepropertywas cheaper in Maryland, but deep down, I knew the only reason I decided to move back here wasbecauseof her. For the tiny hope that maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to see her again and reconcile everything that had happened between us.

Well, I got that chance tonight, and what did I do? I walked right past her as if she didn’t even exist.

Feeling disappointed, I got out of my car and headed inside. My footsteps echoed through the whole mansion.

What was the point of wealth and fame if you had no one to share it with?

I shook my head and took off my jacket, hanging it on thecoat rack. I then took off my shirt, draping it on the back of the couch before I settled in my recliner.

The TV turned on automatically when it sensed my presence, asking if I wanted to watch a movie.

“Yes,” I answered.

Itbrowsed through the selection before randomly picking one and showing me the synopsis.

Of course, it would be Hope’s favorite movie.The Big Heat. An old noir film starring Glenn Ford as a private eye. I honestly never understood what she liked so much about it.

“Play.”

The TV promptly started the movie.

As I watched it, it almost felt wrong not to have Hope by my side. My arm would be wrapped around her slender shoulders and her head laying on my chest, the smell of her shampoo wafting up to my nose.

Why did I ever leave her?

***

In the morning, I arrived at work, feeling like I hadn’t slept a wink last night. Hope kept haunting my dreams. I had only seen her for a second, but that was enough to make me feel all the guilt I had been trying to ignore for the last decade.

I thought coming back and seeing her again would be a good idea, but so far, it’s been nothing but a nightmare.

Thinking that work would help ease my stress, I settled myself behind my desk, waiting for my personal assistant to fill me in on any pressing matters.

Right on cue, there was a knock on my door.

“Come in.”

Cassidy tumbled in with a stack of papers in her arms.

“You know, I bought you a tablet for a reason. It was supposed to stop you from printing out a bunch of unnecessary documents.”

She blushed. “I know sir… but…”

I shook my head. I didn’t have the patience to argue with her about it now. I’d just let her do things the old-fashioned way for the time being.

“What’s on the agenda today?” I asked, making space on my desk for her to set down the stack of papers.

She nodded appreciatively, plopping them down. With herhands free, she took a moment to adjust herself. Somehow, Cassidy always had a way of looking discombobulated, no matter how much she fixed her skirt or adjusted her glasses. She was just that kind of a person.

Feeling my gaze, she quickly shuffled through the papers, finally pulling out a bright pink sticky note. “Right. Here we are. Today, you’ll have to decide on who you’d like to hire as your personal interpreter. Your Spain trip is right around the corner and I don’t think we can keep putting this off.” She said, a little hesitant, as if afraid she might offend me. “Since your schedule is pretty open today, I thought it might be a good time.”

“Very well. I expect you narrowed down the options for me?”

“I did.” Again, she shuffled through the papers until she pulled out a folder and handed it to me. “I’ve chosen ten of the top candidates, based on their level of proficiency in the languages you specified, whether they had criminal records, and of course, their overall compatibility with you, sir.”

I nodded. Since I planned to take quite a few trips overseas, to negotiate the expansion of my company, I needed someone who was comfortable speaking a wide array of different languages.

“Are these in any specific order?”

“They are. I put them in order from most qualified to least qualified.”

“Perfect. Thanks, Cassidy. That’ll be all for now. Once I’ve made my decision, I’ll let you know so you can expedite the hiring process.”

“Of course, sir.” It took her a second to realize that I wanted her out of my office, but when she did, it was like someone had zapped her with a cattle prod. She jumped forward, scooping the papers into her arms, and scampered out of the room.

I chuckled slightly before I opened the folder of applications.

To my surprise, Hope’s picture stared at me.

Hope Griffith

Masters in Language Studies from Columbia University.

Proficient in Spanish, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Italian.

Spent five years as a medical translator.

Spent two years in Paraguay in a Red Cross Relief Program.

Currently working as a freelance translator.

So, this is what Hope has been up to since I’ve been gone. Carefully, I slid out her small, passport-sized photo from under the paperclip, staring into those bright green eyes of hers. Even though her face had grown more mature and her hairstyle had changed, those eyes were still exactly the same as I remembered them. Vibrant. Full of life.

I stared at the photograph for a long time, like I was committing it to memory.

So, I saw her at the first night club I went to. Then, she just happens to show up on my desk as thebest-qualifiedapplicant. It almost felt like fate was slapping me in the face.

This couldn’t be a mere coincidence.

Maybe, this was my chance to make everything right again.

Still, I couldn’t just hire her without at least considering all the other applicants. In comparison, however, everyone else lookedsub par. Or, maybe, I was just biased. Whatever the case, Hope seemed to be the best person for the job. Now, the question was, would she be willing to take the job if she knew she had to travel the world with me?

Something in my gut told me ‘no.’

She probably wanted nothing to do with me. I didn’t blame her. Ten years ago, I had up and left without saying a word. I just couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye.

Making my decision, I paged Cassidy back into the room.

She appeared a few moments later, a coffee cup in her hand and her tablet in the crook of her arm. The charging cable was still hanging from it.

I raised an eyebrow in question, causing her to look down and realize she hadn’t properly unplugged the device. She blushed slightly, trying to remedy the situation without spilling the coffee. Things didn’t go very well.

“Cassidy. It’s fine.” I told her before she could stain my brand-new carpet.

Still flustered, she placed the coffee cup in front of me. “Two sugars and a splash of cream, just the way you like it, sir.”

“Thank you.” I took a sip, but the coffee was still bitter. Even so, I faked a smile, knowing that if I expressed any displeasure, Cassidy would fret about it for weeks. “It’s good.”

She beamed with pride before she stood at attention in front of my desk, waiting for me to say something.

“I’ve made my decision about the interpreter.”

“That was quick.”

“The choice was obvious.” I handed her back the folder. “I’ve marked who it is. Please give them a call and see if they can start Monday morning.”

She nodded. “Right away sir.”

With that, she left my office, about to give my ex-girlfriend a call.

***

By the end of the day, I had gone through so many budget reports and other mundane paperwork that I had practically forgotten about Hope.

The only thing I could think about was getting home and enjoying a few laps in the pool. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had gone swimming. Work was really starting to take its toll.

I glanced at the time. It was approaching 10 P.M. Most of my employees had clocked out hours ago. Even Cassidy had gone home early. If I had to guess, the only people still left in the building were the security guards and a couple of janitors.

With my body feeling stiff, I got up and stretched. I definitely needed to fit in a good workout before I went to bed tonight. My joints cracked. I was getting old… At thirty-two, I was no longer the energetic eighteen-year-old I used to be when I was dating Hope. Back in those days, I felt like I could take on the whole world. But when I tried, I found out how wrong I truly was.

In the elevator, I rode alone to the garage level. I was about to walk over to my car when the sounds of the city piqued my interest. Maybe it would do me some good to take a walk around town.

So, I climbed the stairs to the ground level, stepping out onto the city streets. Baltimore was a lot like New York. No matter what time of day it was, there were always people out and about.

With my hands in my pockets, I walked along the strip. People spilled into and out of the various bars and dance clubs. Women dressed in scanty clothing winked at me, but I paid them no mind. Instead, I watched the few stars that twinkled despite the bright city lights.

Hope had never been a big fan of the city. She preferred when we drove out to the countryside and laid under the stars. I wonder what happened to that meadow. They probably tore it up and used it as a location for a housing complex or something by now. That’s what happened to most of the rural areas surrounding the city. It’s a shame, really.

“Hey, handsome.” A woman tumbled out of a bar and practically fell into my arms. I held her tight, just so she wouldn’t topple over. It wasn’t even midnight and already this woman seemed to be drunk out of her mind. “Why don’t you come inside with me and you can buy me a drink?” She asked, her fingers tightening around my jacket’s lapel.

Before her foul breath could make me sick, I pushed her toward a nearby bench, trying to sit her down. “I’m not interested.”

She started to protest, but then her heel got caught on a sidewalk crack, causing her to fall down. Her body seemed to crumble as she laid there. I had no doubt she would pass out in a moment’s notice.

“You always did have a knack for attracting the drunk ones.” A deep voice I hadn’t heard in quite a while sounded behind me.

I turned around quickly, surprised to see my old Navy buddy standing there, wearing clothes that looked like they hadn’t been washed since they were bought.

“Derek?” I asked, finding it hard to recognize him. When we were both in the Navy Seals, he had always kept up with his appearance. Clean shaven. Immaculate uniform. Perfect posture. Not a single hair out of place. Now, all that was gone, replaced by a scruffy beard, tattered clothes, slouched shoulders, and a head of matted hair. “What the hell happened to you man?”

“Things have been rough…” He said, rubbing his hands together like he was cold. “You know, I was hoping to run into you.”

I raised my eyebrow, suddenly suspicious. Shortly after we retired from service, I started my business, finding success in the blink of an eye. I just got lucky, really. Derek, on the other hand, had no such luck. He had a hard time finding and keeping a job. The money it took to treat his PTSD and war-induced depression drove him to bankruptcy. In the end, he swallowed his pride and called me, asking for some money, just so he could get back on his feet.

I was happy to comply. So, I startedfundinghim with a monthly allowance meant to pay rent and other expenses. But after he missedpaymentfor three consecutive months, I had Cassidy run a report on him, only to find he had been arrested on charges of drug possession. I instantly stopped sending him money. I wasn’t about to pay for him to waste his life away.

“You have to help me.”

“And, why should I? The last time I tried, you wasted all my money on cocaine.”

He shook his head, getting closer. “I don’t do that no more.”

“I’m not an idiot Derek.”

“Seriously. Just, a few thousand. That’s all I need. I’ll go to rehab. I’ll do whatever you want me to.” He reached out to grab me, but I quickly stepped away.

“If you’re so adamant about turning your life around, why are you hanging around bars?” I shook my head, my lips pressed together in disappointment. “Call me when you’re actually ready to get your life together. And when your breath stops reeking of booze.”

I was about to step past him when he grabbed me by the wrist. “You can’t do this. You owe me for saving your life.”

“And, I’ve repaid thatdebt,” I said firmly, jerking my hand away.

Without another word, I turned on my heels, heading back to the garage.

“You’re going to regret this. Your luck will run out eventually, Andre.”

Chapter 3 (Hope)

“Darla!” I screamed, clinging onto my seat as she took a sharp turn, blowing the red light. A car honked angrily at her, having narrowly avoided colliding with her back bumper.

“What? There’s no sign saying I can’t turn on red.” Sherespondedlike she had done nothing wrong.

“Yes, there was. Even if there wasn’t, you’re supposed tolookand see if cars are coming first.”

She scoffed. “What do you know? You don’t even have a license.”

“And whoever gave you yours was obviously insane.”

She rolled her eyes. “Keep insulting my driving and see if it won’t get you kicked out.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

I kept my mouth shut. I wouldn’t put anything past her, including leaving me on the side of the road when I desperately needed to get to work on time. I still couldn’t believe I had slept through my alarm. I guess I was so nervous about starting this new job that I hadn’t been able to fall asleep at first.

“Will music calm you down?”

“No!” I said quickly, but it was already too late.

The car filled with country music. Her small Honda shook as she nearly blew out her speakers.

“Seriously, Darla! Turn it off!” I tried to adjust the volume, but she slapped my hand away, singing along with the deep-toned musicians singing about their red pickup trucks. How could she stand to listen to this?

To my horror, she dropped me off atPeriodic’sheadquarters with the music still blasting. A few well-dressed individuals shot me pointed glares, making my cheeks burn.

“Bye honey! Have a wonderful day!” She screamed before finally driving away.

I wished I could have a moment to compose myself, but I really didn’t have any time to spare. Taking a deep breath, I held my head up high and walked through the reflective glass doors. Inside, I was met with nothing but luxury and wealth. Shiny, marble floors.Twenty-footceilings. Gold-plated elevator doors. And, for whatever reason, a full-fledged water fountain in the middle of the lobby. The owner of this company definitely had a lot of money to blow on his extravagant tastes. Speaking of which, whoever the owner was, he liked to keep his identity a secret. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t come up with anything concrete about the CEO. I sure hope I wasn’t stepping right into some sort of a scam.

“Hello! How may I help you?” A friendly receptionist beckoned me forward. It was only then that I realized I had been standing in the middle of the lobby, gawking like an idiot.

“Hello. Sorry. My name is Hope Griffith. I’m here to interview for the interpreter position.”

“Oh. Right. Right. Mr. Moore has been expecting you.”

The name made me reel back a bit. It was just a coincidence, right? There were plenty of people with the last nameMoore.

“Is something wrong?”

“No. No.” I answered quickly.“Although,may I ask who might Mr…” I hesitated. “…Moore… be.” It felt strange to say the name aloud. At some point in my life, I fantasized about what it would feel like to be Hope Moore, but now, all that name did was bring back bad memories. Countless nights alone in my bed, staring at my phone, praying he would give me a call, just so I could hear his voice one more time. Or, trying to get over him, only to wake up in the middle of the night, covered in cold sweat, dreaming of all the terrible things that might have happened to him.

“He’s the CEO of the company. I was instructed to send you directly to his office.” She smiled. “You’ll want to take elevator A up to the 32ndfloor. There, you’ll see Ms. Frank’s desk, his personal assistant. Be sure to check in with her first and then she’ll direct you to Mr. Moore’s office.”

I nodded, a sinking feeling quickly developing in my stomach. My mind recalled my night at the club where I had seen him. Or at least, I think I did. I was starting to doubt myself, even though I could distinctly remember those dark eyes locking with mine, even if only for a second.

As I waited for the elevator, I tried to clear my mind. The last thing I needed was to go through a job interview, thinking about an ex-boyfriend I may or may not have seen the other night.

I took a deep breath, finding my center. And people say yoga is useless…

The elevator dinged at its arrival and I stepped inside along with a few other people. Most of them were well dressed, surpassing my plain white blouse and black pencil skirt. Had I known the dress code was this fancy, I would have worn my pant suit. Feeling a little self-conscious, I stepped into the corner, trying to disappear.

I was starting to think that applying to this job wasn’t such a good idea.

On the way up, people got off at their respective floors until I was the only one left. It was a somewhat lonely experience, but luckily, I was almost there.

As I approached the 32ndfloor, I adjusted my posture and ran a handovermy hair, just in case there were any strands with their own opinion. I rolled my shoulders, mentally telling myself to relax. It was just an interview. Everything would be fine.

The doors opened.

Immediately to the left was a large desk cluttered with various papers. The printer rumbled as it spewed out more and more documents. With each new page it printed, it shook the entire desk, making the snow globes that lined the top of it shake ever so slightly. The sparkly snow was constantly jostling back and forth.

I barely noticed the small woman hunched over the papers. Her beige-colored uniform practically made her blend in.

“Um, excuseme,” I said, hoping I wasn’t interrupting her from something.

At the sound of my voice, she jolted in her seat, a couple of sticky notes stuck to her cheek. “Ohmy…” She patted the desk as if looking for something, her eyes growing wide. “They were right here…” She mumbled. “I just wrote it down… how could I misplace it already?”

“Um… ma’am.”

She looked up at me, her eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. She lifted her hand to scratch the side of her face. Doing so, she noticed the sticky notes and took them off, along with a bit of her foundation.

I kept my mouth shut.

She glanced at the colorful pieces of paper and then up at me before she finally clapped her hands together in understanding. “Oh! You must be Ms. Griffith! We’re excited to have you on board!”

“What? I thought this was an interview? I already have the job?”

The woman nibbled her lip. “Oh dear. Did I not make that clear during our conversation? I thought I explicitly pointed out that you’d be starting on Monday – today.”

“You did… I just thought there’d be an interview or something…” I knew I should have just kept quiet and accepted that I had already gotten the job, but something about this whole thing seemed rather suspicious.

“Oh… Well, in any case, Mr. Moore has been eager to finally meet you. Let me just check if he’s available and then you should be all set to go in and talk to him.” She emerged from behind her desk, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about Mr. Moore, he looks tougher than he actually is… that’s not to say he isn’t tough… he is… but you know, don’t fret about it… sorry, I’m rambling. You’ll do great!”

I was actually kind of glad when she disappeared behind a solid wood door. Curious, I stepped forward, my heart stopping when I noticed the gold lettering.

Andre Moore.

No. This couldn’t actually be him, could it?

I glanced at the elevator, planning my escape. I could probably slip in there before the assistant came back. It would be like I had never been here. I could pretend that I still lived in a world where Andre didn’t exist, instead of trying to facea worldwhere he was back and didn’t acknowledge me.

It took a while for the assistant to return, so I sat downona nearby couch, looking out the window. From this high up, all the people looked like tiny ants, trying to run back to their safe little hill. I watched them for a while before my mind brought me back to Andre.

What was I going to do if it really was him, waiting for me behind that door? Did I pretend that everything was okay so I could get the job I wanted or did I leave and ignore him the same way he ignored me?

Before I could decide, the woman came tumbling out of the office. Her cheeks were bright red and her glasses were on the very tip of her nose.

She blew a puff of air out of her mouth before she patted her arms against her side, marching toward me. “Mr. Moore will see you now.”

I lingered on the couch for a minute longer before I got up and headed for the door. Already, my palms were sweaty. My heart was beating faster than ever. I nearly stopped myself from turning the doorknob, but I was already here, I might as well go through with it. Who knows, maybe this wasanotherAndre Moore.

The second I stepped over the threshold, it felt like I was walking into his dorm room all over again. Even though the smell of expensive cologne lingered in the air, under it all was a scent that was still very familiar to me. His scent. Subtle mint, mixed with a hint of sandalwood, and unadulterated masculinity. Even after all these years, I still recognized that intoxicating combination.

It caused me to stop, my hand still on the door, my eyes closed, reliving the few splendid moments whenever I woke up in his arms. I would nuzzle into his chest, feel his embrace tighten around me, keeping me safe. Those were the moments I cherished the most…

“Please. Come in and take a seat.” A deep voice broke me from my trance.

I looked up to find Andre staring at me with a fierce look in his eye. He had matured. Back then he was just a rowdy young adult – a boy, really – now, he was aman.

“Andre…” I couldn’t stop myself from saying his name aloud, feeling like I was caught in some kind of dream. What were the odds that I would apply for a position in his company and meet him like this?

“Ms. Griffith. It’s a pleasure.” He flashed me a professional smile that felt cold and distant. So, he was trying to pretend that nothing had ever happened between us.

Well, after ten years, I just couldn’t stand for that. I needed answers. Now.

“Look. There’s no need to pretend. I was never some dumb bimbo and you know that. You obviously hired me because you wanted to see me again.”

“You were simply the most qualified applicant. You can even ask my assistant.” He stated, his hands folded in front of him. Back then, Andre would have scoffed at the man he became. Would have said that business executives were too boring and stiff. Funny how things work out.

“So, you want to tell me that seeing me does nothing to you? That you don’t feel an ounce of remorse for what you did? For abandoning me?” I stepped closer to his desk, my fingers shaking by my side. “Do you know how hard your disappearance hit me? I nearlyfiledyou as a missing person until your mother told me you had run away to the Navy. Why didn’t you say goodbye? Why didn’t you tell me?” My eyes started to water as all the emotions I had been trying to keep at bay all these years began to surface. Anger. Depression. Disappointment. Heartbreak.

He had to feelsomething, right?

Chapter 4 (Andre)

I thought that maybe we could go through this initial meeting without stirring up the past, but I should have known that was unlikely.

Slowly, I stood up, remembering just how tiny Hope was in comparison to me. I had the urge to wrap her in my arms and wipe away her tears, like I had done so many times before, only, I had never been the one to cause them. As much as I wanted to ease her pain, there was nothing I could do.

“Hope…” It was strange saying her name after so long. I stepped forward, reaching out for her, but she stepped back like I was a carrier of a plague.

“Don’t touch me.” She snarled, her fists balling up in anger. “I want answers. Now.” She held her stance, her green eyes blazing. “Tell me why you left. Why you never bothered to call, or even write a letter. Did you think I was just going to forget about you if you were in the Navy?”

“I never said that.” I made the effort to choose my words very carefully and keep my voice calm. “I just knew that you’d never accept my decision. I knew you would worry yourself sick thinking about me on the battlefield. At least, if I made you hate me, you wouldn’t get hurt if something were to happen to me.”

She was silent for a moment before one of her fists came slamming down on my chest. “You selfish fucking idiot. Did you really think that if you died, I wouldn’t have cared? You might have disappeared from my life, but you never disappeared from my heart.” In a haste, she turned toward the door, about to book it out of the office.

Before she could get to the door, however, I grabbed her by the wrist and reeled her back. I pinned her against my body, staring into those bright green eyes I had missed so much. I was a fool for leaving her, for thinking that either one of us could forget what we had.

Without a moment of hesitation, I leaned down and kissed her. At first, we were still, like we had both forgotten the steps to this dance. But, once I pressed my hand into the small of her back and locked her hips into mine, it all came flooding back. My lips danced against hers, my head tilting to the left and hers to the right.

Slowly, my tongue trailed along her bottom lip, waiting for her to grant me entrance. I pushed her body against the wall, the carnal need to be with this woman taking over. I always knew she was the one for me and I’d be damned if I ever let her go again.

I kissed her harder, unable to hold back. A burning heat rose in my body.

But, just before I could slip my tongue into her mouth, she shoved me away. “I… can’t… do… this…” She said through gritted teeth, her chest heaving in the aftermath of the kiss.

I was stunned. In that moment, everything felt like it was falling back intoplacelike I had finally righted my wrongs. Now, the look of hatred in her eyes broke the spell, leaving me standing there, knowing deep down, that I didn’t deserve this woman. That I had truly and utterly broken her heart and she should never have to take me back.

With these thoughts, I watched her walk out the door, thinking that I would never see her again.

***

A week later, her intoxicating scent still lingered in the room. I had done my best to just push her to the back of my mind and get on with my life, but now that I had been reminded of her sweet taste, I just had to win her back.

“Cassidy.” I paged my assistant.

“Yes, Mr. Moore?”

“Get me Griffith’s file.”

“But, I thought we were no longer hiring her.”

“Just get it for me.Now.”

The firmness in my voice must have scared her because she clicked off the intercom system and a second later, she was running into my office, folder in hand.

“Thank you.”

Once I was alone, I took note of Hope’s current address. If she was going to avoid me by not accepting my job offer, then I would just have to pay her a little visit.

To be honest, I knew that the best course of action would probably be to let things go so she could move on with her life, but at this point, I was no longer thinking rationally. I had to see her, and nothing was going to get in my way.

***

Her apartment seemed to be in a nice little neighborhood. The front lawn was well-maintained. The porch was decorated with a few pieces of lawn furniture. There were evenflower boxesin all the windows. Whoever the landlord was, he certainly knew how to take care of the place.

I parked my car and got out, the sickening feeling of nervousness bubbling up inside of me. I hadn’t yet decided what I would do if she asked me to leave her alone. I guess I would cross that bridge when I got to it. For now, I just had to see her again, to find out if a second chance was even remotely possible.

With my chest tight, I knocked on the door. Soft footsteps sounded from the other side. My heart quickened slightly, anticipating her wrath.

The door opened.

Hope was standing there in a cute pajama set. The shorts showed off her long,silkylegs, while the tank top made it obvious that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

I pressed one of my nails into the palm of my hand to keep back my lust, an old trick I learned in the Navy when it was critical to control my emotions.

“Hope.”

“What the hell do you want?” She asked, her hand already on the door, ready to slam it in my face.

“I just want to apologize. For everything. I know that I can never quite make it up to you, but I just want you to know that I only left because I thought it was the right thing to do at the time, that it was my only option.” While I still had her attention, I pulled out my wallet. Tucked in one of the flaps was a picture of her that I had taken while I was still a photography major. “I carried this picture with me everywhere I went. Sometimes, you were the only thing keeping me sane when I was cold, hungry or had gone days without sleep. In times like that, all I could think about was you.”

Hope listened to my words, her eyes softening ever so slightly, but her fingers were still wrapped around the door. She was starting to open up, but she wasn’t fully convinced just yet.

“I was happy, in a way, to know that if somethingdidhappen to me, you would be free to move on with your life. That you wouldn’t have to always live your life waiting for me to come back.”

“But, don’t you get it?” She whispered, her voice soft. “That’s exactly what happened. I never stopped waiting for you…”

“Hope! Who’s at the door?” A voice I didn’t recognize boomed through the apartment. A minute later, an average-looking brunette stomped up to the door. Her eyes narrowed the second she saw me. “You? What the hell areyoudoing here? Don’t you think you’ve caused enough harm already?” She snatched the door from Hope, about to slam it in my face, but Hope stopped her.

“Darla, don’t be rude…”

“You’re tellingmenot to be rude when this guy up and ditched you without a word. Now, that’s what I call rude. Besides, can’t you see he’s just trying to sweet talk you into taking him back so he can hurt you all over again?” She turned in my direction. “Sorry, asshole, but she’s not interested.”

Just before the door could slam shut, I noticed Hope pound her fist into her outstretched palm. She then held up two fingers before she disappeared from sight, but it was all I needed to get the message.

***

It felt strange waiting by our old hangout, especially at two in the morning. I leaned against one of the bridge’s support beams, keeping my eyes peeled for any movement, a habit I had developed during my years of service. If I was ever still, then I was always on the lookout, no matter where I was.

Even back in college, this place used to be a breeding ground for crooks, drug dealers, and of course, druggies. Now that I think about it, I have no idea why Hope and I loved to come out here so much. Maybe it was the unhampered view of the stars, or just how soothing it was to listen to the water lapping against the shore. Whatever it was, I missed those days. I missed them badly.

Suddenly, one of the bushes rustled. I tensed, my hand already reaching for the weapon I didn’t have.

To my relief, however, Hope emerged from the foliage, having changed into a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt. She had also put on a bra.

“Never thought I’d be back here again…” She said with a nostalgic tone.

“Neither did I. I’m surprised you even asked me here. I thought you’d want nothing to do with me.”

“That probably would have been the smart thing to do, but I’ve never been able to stay away from you, have I?” She said before she stuffed her hands into her back pockets, walking past me and onto the bridge.

It was still mostly intact, but every now and then, a few of the wood planks went missing. Back in the day, Hope and I used to be able to navigate this thing with our eyes closed. Now, seeing Hope walk along the rickety surface filled me with a sense of dread. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if she fell through one of the many gaping holes. The water underneath us definitely didn’t look inviting. Plus, at this altitude, it would feel like concrete if either one of us slammed into it.

“I’m surprised you came to my house.” She said, balancing on the bridge’s leftmost truss, her arms outstretched like she was a trapeze walker. I swear, she was just trying to make me nervous.

“What did you expect? Did you really think I could stay away from you?”

“You managed for ten years. It’s not like anything has changed.”

“Of course it has. I saw you. Came face-to-face with the biggest mistake of my life. Walking away from you.” I said, catching up to her. “You don’t know how hard it was to keep away from you. I was scared that if I came back, I’d be ruining your life. And, to be honest, I didn’t want to know if you had moved on. At least, if I didn’t keep in touch, I could always maintain the fantasy that you were still mine.”

She turned around suddenly. “And I would’ve remained yours if you had only talked tomeif you had told me you wanted to go to the Navy. Yes, I probably would’ve tried to convince you out of it, but that’s only because I love you.” Her words felt so genuine, that they possessed me with the need to take her into my arms and never let her go.

And, that’s exactly what I did.

Chapter 5 (Hope)

Before I knew what was happening, Andre grabbed me by the hips and pulled me into his body. Seconds later, his lips pressed into mine, taking my breath away. I shivered, a part of me telling me to push him away and run far, far away before he could hurt me again, but at the same time, I needed this. Needed it oh-so-bad.

Giving in, I tangled my fingers into his hair, pulling on it slightly as I did everything I could to get even closer to him, almost like I couldn’t get enough.

His hands slid down to my ass, squeezing it gently.

I moved onto my tippy-toes, tottering on the edge of the beam I was standing on, knowing that no matter what happened, Andre would be there to protect me. Now that his arms were wrapped around me, I never wanted him to let go.

His tongue pressed against my bottom lip. With my heart beating fast and my brain screaming for me to stop, I parted my lips.

Slowly, his tongue slid into my mouth, tangling with mine, starting their erotic dance that only added to the breathlessness of the movement. Even so, I didn’t dare to pull away. Addicted to the taste I hadn’t had in so long, I kissed him even harder, both our lips burning with pent-up passion.

His fingers tightened around my ass, hoisting me off my feet and into his arms. Before I could slip out of his grasp, his hands shifted to my thighs, adjusting my legs so they were firmly wrapped around his waist. My ankles locked around him. I certainly wasn’t going anywhere now.

Even though he couldn’t see, he navigated himself over the bridge until we were standing on the edge of the draw bridge, where we always came when we wanted to be together.

Gently, he put me back down on my feet.

The moonlight was bright, illuminating every feature of his face from his high cheekbones to those dark, mysterious eyes I loved so much.

“God, I’ve missed you…” He whispered, his hands on myhipslike he couldn’t go a moment without touching me.

“I’ve missed you too.” I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

As we lingered in this moment, it all felt like a dream. A part of me expected to wake up any second now, but I never did. This was real. Andre had finally come back to me.

His hands moved up and down my back in a soothing motion, our bodies rocking back and forth almost like we were slow dancing to an unheard tune. He held me closer, resting his head on mine, breathingdeeplike he was trying to remember my scent, the same way I remembered his.

Eventually, he pulled away, taking my hand in his as he sat down, letting his legs dangle over the edge. I sat down beside him, but soon enough, he pulled me into his lap, holding me tightly, like he was scared I would fall into the river.

“You know, you don’t have to hold me so tight. I’m not going anywhere.” I placed my hands in his, our fingers tangling together. “Just as long as you promise you won’t either.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He whispered, his hot breath caressing the side of my neck. His lips danced against my skin as he teased me. “I was young back then, thinking that being a soldier was the only way I could prove my worth as a man. But now, I’ve grown past that.”

“So, what does being a man mean to you now?”

“It means keeping your promises.” He said, without missing a beat. “It means always being there for the people that need you the most. I didn’t know that then, but I know it now.” As he said these words, he squeezed my hand.

I smiled slightly, still in disbelief that I was actually in Andre’s arms again, after all these years. It felt so surreal.

“Do you see the Big Dipper?” He whispered, pointing up at the sky.

“Where?”

“Right there.”

I followed the direction of his finger, but I still couldn’t quite make it out.

“No?”

I shook my head.

“Maybe you’ll be able to see it better if you lay back.” He suggested, easing me off his lap so I could lay down by his side.

The wood was uncomfortable on my back, but being next to Andre felt so right that I didn’t even care.

I wanted this moment to last forever. Even if it was only a dream…

“Do you see it now?” He asked, still pointing at the sky.

I turned my attention upwards, mesmerized by the sea of twinkling stars. Without thinking about it, I reached for Andre’s hand, locking our fingers together as we stargazed.

We were both quiet, enjoying each other’s company. That was always one thing I really loved about Andre. He wasn’t someone who was afraid of the silence. We could go hours without talking to each other and still feel like we had a deep and meaningful conversation.

It was nice.

We laid there for what felt like forever before he turned in my direction, looking at me like I was the only girl in the world. Carefully, he pinned a strand of hair behind my ear, making me shiver with an innocent joy.

He leaned in until our foreheads touched, just looking into each other’s eyes, passing the time away. Our noses touched. The distance between our lips slowly became smaller and smaller until we were kissing once more.

My heart exploded with the feeling as I shimmied closer to him, our lips moving in perfectsynclike they were made for each other.

He pulled me closer until I was practically laying on top of him. I sat up slightly, resting my hands on his chest as I looked down at his face. I had no idea how it was possible, but somehow, he had managed to get even more handsome over the years.

As his hands ran up and down my body, it was like he had me in a trance. My body refused to move, even when his hands slipped under my shirt, running along my bare skin. Goosebumps coveredmehead to toe.

Carefully, he eased my shirt off, laying ittothe side. The way he looked at me made me feel so beautiful. His eyes ran along my every curve, drinking me in until he leaned forward, kissing my collarbone ever so slowly. Even after so many years apart, he knew exactly where my sweet spot was. He sucked on it slowly, letting his teeth nip against the delicate flesh until I was arching my back, silently begging for more. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening, that I had forgiven him enough to allow this to happen, but deep down, I knew I couldn’t keep myself away.

We both needed this.

His fingers tightened around my hips as his lips traveled down to my bra. He covered my cleavage in kisses before he reached behind me, popping off my bra. He was about to set it on top of my shirt, but miscalculated, dropping it into a nearby hole. It fell into the dark water beneath us.

“Andre!” I exclaimed as I sat up and watched the river consume my bra.

“Oh… sorry…” He smirked, flashing a set of pearly white teeth. “Did I do that?”

My eyes widened before I hit him playfully. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.” He said smugly. “Either way, you’re going to have to go home without a bra. I wonder how you’re going to explain that to that guard dog of a woman you live with.”

My cheeks instantly grew hot with the realization. “You’re the worst…”

“Am I? Is that way your nipples are all nice and hard right now?” He asked before he reached up, taking one of my nipples between his fingers, flicking it back and forth until it hardened even further.

I tilted my head back, moaning with pleasure.

He continued to toy with them, pinching and pulling until they were oh-so-sensitive. Once he took them in his mouth, I nearly lost control. His tongue flicked over them, swirling all around.

I moaned his name louder and louder, getting lost in the feeling of bliss.

“That’sit,baby, moan my name…” His hands ran down my back, lingering for a moment before they slipped into my pants, squeezing my ass through my panties. Before I could pull away, his finger hooked into the waistband, pulling on it. As a result, the thong I was wearing dug into my flesh, making me squirm.

He chuckled and rolled us over, dominating me with his powerful body. I shuddered, looking up at him with great big eyes, wondering what would he do next.

After a silent moment, we started to undress each other, trying not to lose any more articles of clothing to the river. But, I can’t say I didn’t try to ’accidentally’ misplace his boxers. Unfortunately, Andre had the reflexes of a tiger.

“Naughty, naughty. Trying to get rid of my boxers, are you?” He questioned, his voice deep andseriouslike he was interrogating me.

I shook my head innocently. “No, sir.”

We stared at each other for a moment before we both burst into laughter.

A second later, he kissed me hard, rekindling the passion between us.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him close.

He held me by the waist, his rock-hard cock pressing against me. His engorged tip teased my eager entrance, getting soaked with my juices.

I bit the inside of my lip, anticipating what was to come as I locked my legs around his waist, pushing my hips into the air, hoping to encourage him to stop his teasing.

But, I had no such luck.

With a devious grin on his face, he ran his cock up and down my slit. He reached out his hand, taking my nipples between his fingers, rolling them back and forth. My body immediately contorted with pleasure. My moans were getting louder and louder.

“Please… Andre… I need you…” I begged, my nails digging into his back, desperate for his love.

His grin deepened and without a word, he plunged deep inside of me, filling me with every last inch of his massive member.

I gasped, my lips forming into a perfect little o as my body was overwhelmed with a surge of pure pleasure. I held onto him even tighter as he stayed like that for a moment, allowing me to adjust.

When he was ready, he started rocking his hips in a steady rhythm, plunging into me harder and harder with every thrust.

“Fuck! That feels so good.”

He grunted with pleasure, pinning me down as he went at it even harder. I could tell by the wild look in his eye that he had lost any and all control, giving into his animalistic instincts. His cock twitched inside of me as his balls slapped against my pussy.

Soon, it was too much for me to handle. My body started to shake, my moans growing even louder. My pussy tightened around him, trying to milk him for every drop.

Just before I could climb over the edge, his thumb found my clit, flicking it back and forth. Even so, he never slowed down, fucking me harder and harder until…

…I exploded in sweet, sweet bliss.

***

I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, I was in his car. The feeling of the soft leather against my sensitive body made me want to stay there forever.

His hand slithered onto my thigh, squeezing it gently. “Good morning, sleeping beauty.” He teased, his voice low and seductive.

I had yet to fully open my eyes. I was afraid that if I did, this wonderful dream would melt away. So, I tilted my head back and stretched out my legs. It made me very aware of the wetness between my legs.

A part of me still couldn’t believe I had slept with him. Had I made the right decision? Would I regret what I did a week from now? Fear and anxiety started to creep in, clouding my mind.

No. I couldn’t think like that. What we had done, it was right. Itfeltright.

“You know, I remember you being able to keep up with me all night.”

“I’m a bit out of practice, youknow,” I answered, crossing my arms over my chest. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done that with anyone, let alone on an abandoned bridge.”

“Wait…” The car slowed.

I opened my eyes to find him staring at me, his expression hidden behind the gloom of the night.

“What?”

“Are you telling me that you haven’t been with anyone else while I was gone?”

I hesitated to answer, wondering if I should lie to him. Telling him the truth would make me sound like a loser. “No, I haven’t…”

“Really?” His eyebrows shot upwards. “I’m surprised.”

“Why?”

“You’re a beautiful girl, Hope. One of my biggest fears was that someone was going to snatch you up while I was gone.”

“They almost did.”

“Oh?”

“I had a few guys who were interested in me. Bought me a couple of drinks at the bar. That kind of thing. Hell, I even made out with a few of them, but when it came down to it, there was always something holding me back. It just didn’t feelright.”

He was quiet for a while, focusing on the road.

“What about you?” I finally asked the question that had been nagging at me for a while.

He laughed. “Are you kidding? I couldn’t even look at another girl without thinking of you.”

I was surprised. I half-expected him to have a whole list of girlfriends. “But, why?”

“Why? Because I loved you. It took going to the Navy to figure that out and by then, it was too late to do anything about it. I figured you already hated me and I had no chance of ever getting you back.”

I hit his arm. “You’re such an idiot.”

“I am. But at least I’m lucky. I mean, you could easily be married to some guy. Ten years is a long time Hope.”

“With two kids and a white picket fence, right?”

“Exactly, and I’d be the bitter old man with two dogs for company.”

“Named PB and Jelly?”

“You know it.” He smirked. “Except now, I hope I can get two dogsandthe girl of my dreams.”

Chapter 6 (Andre)

I felt like maybe I was pushing it. After all, we had just made up and I was already talking about our future together. Well, kind of. I was hinting at it, at least.

She laughed. “What kind of dogs are they?”

“Well, PB would be a Husky and Jelly would be his Corgi brother.”

“What if I want a miniature poodle?”

“You’re kidding me, right? I’m not walking around the neighborhood with a miniature poodle.”

“Aww, come on, she would be very cute. We could get her that pompom tail and she can have a diamond collar and a matching pink leash.”

“Nope. Absolutely not.”

She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. “Okay, what about a Chihuahua?”

“A corgi is as small as I’m willing to go.”

“A Great Bernard then?”

“You do know those drool all the time, right? Imagine going to a fancy dinner with me, dressed in a designer gown, all ready to go, and then the Great Bernard justsniffsyou… and slobber everywhere.”

She scrunched up her face in distaste. “Wait… are you suggesting you want to take me out to fancy dinners and buy me designer gowns? You know you can’t buy my love, right?”

“Of course not. Otherwise, I would’ve come knocking on your door the second my company turned a profit.”

“Speaking of which, how the hell did you manage that? You used to be horrible with money. You got fired from the cash register at the school cafeteria because your drawer always had less money at the end of the day.”

I grinned. “Honey, that wasn’t because I was bad with money.”

Her eyes widened with realization. “You mean, youstoleall that money?”

“How else was I supposed to buy you nice things and take you to nice places?”

“I always thought that was allowance money from your parents or something.”

I shrugged. “That’s what I told you so you wouldn’t nag my ear off.”

“What else didn’t you tell me?”

“Oh, that I’m an international spy, that I’m really 78, and get this, I’m actually an alien that the FBI captured and trained to act like an Earthling.”

She rolled her eyes. “I see growing up didn’t stop you from reading all those comic books.”

“A man has to somehow entertain himself.”

“Well, hopefully, you won’t be too bored now…” Her voice lowered as she leaned toward me, resting her hand on my thigh. “I’m sure we could come up with a lot of interesting ways to entertain ourselves… what do you think?”

I turned my head in her direction, our eyes locking for a moment.

Our faces gravitated together like two magnets, her lips calling to mine. She closed her eyes, anticipating a sweet kiss, but it never came.

When I chuckled, her eyes shot open. “I think that you want to see me crash this car.”

“Oh, come on, we’ve done crazier things in a vehicle.”

“Maybe you should jog my memory.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t even act like you don’t.”

“Idon’t,” I said, but there was an amused smile playing on my lips.

“You just want to hear me tell the story.”

“Maybe.”

She laughed, reclining her seat back until she was practically laying down. “Hey, does this sunroof open?”

“Of course, why else would I have a sunroof?” I pressed a button near the rearview mirror and the tinted glass slowly rolled back, revealing the beautiful night sky. A rush of wind whipped through the car, pulling her messy locks into a whirlwind over her head. She giggled, standing up so her head was sticking out the top of the car.

“What are you doing?” I grabbed her legs tightly, a feeling of dread washing over me.

“I’ve always wanted to do this.”

“You’re going to get yourselfkilled,” I warned, hoping she would come back inside before she got herself hurt in some horrible accident. The mere thought made me shiver.

“Oh, stop worrying. Nothing is going to happen.” She climbed onto the armrest so she could get even higher. Her whole upper body was outside at this point.

My hand tightened around her even harder, ready to pull her back in at a moment’s notice.

“Hope. Get down.”

“No. Drive faster!”

I slowed down, eventually coming to a halt on the side of the road. Suddenly, I yanked her back down. She landed on my lap.

“What did you do that for?”

I cupped her cheeks, forcing her to look at me. “Hope, I just got you back in my life. I’ll be damned if I lose you again because you forgot to duck when we come across an overpass.”

“Oh come on now, give me some credit.” She protested, trying to defend herself. “What happened to you? When we were in college, you were sowild. You weren’t afraid of anything.”

My expression softened, knowing that she was telling the truth. But, over the years, I had finally grown up, realizing that life could be extinguished in the blink of an eye. I caressed her cheeks with my thumbs, cherishing every moment with this woman. “Joining the Navy changed me. I saw too many comrades die in battle. I just don’t want to lose you.”

“We aren’t at war Andre.” She whispered, leaning closer, her forehead touching mine. “Nothing bad is going to happen to me so there’s nothing to worry about.”

I smiled for her benefit, but I still had the urge to wrap her in my arms and keep her safe from every evil in this world.

We were quiet for a moment as my hands ran through her hair, smoothing it down as I rocked her body ever so slightly. “I love you…” I whispered, knowing those three words were long, long overdue.

She looked up at me from under her eyelashes, her expression unreadable for a moment before a bright smile flashed across her face. I felt like that smile could light up the whole world. With her lips nearly touching mine, she wrapped her arms around my neck. “I love you too, for better or worse.” She closed the distance between our lips, kissing me ever so gently.

I savored the kiss, holding her even closer. A deep warmth flowed through her lips into my soul, trapping me in her spell. I knew, from that moment on, that I would never let her go again, no matter what happened.

***

By the time I got home, Hope was fast asleep in the passenger seat. I pulled into my garage, waiting for her to wake up, but from what I could tell, she was completely knocked out. I smiled to myself before I got out and carefully shimmied my arms underneath her body.

I picked her up with ease, carrying her bridal style into my house. Even though she was asleep, her lips were stuck in a smile. A part of me hoped she was dreaming of me.

Gently, I laid her down on my bed. Slowly, I undressed her down to her underwear so she would be more comfortable. I had the urge to pounce on her right then and there, especially with her lovely tits on display, but I restrained myself, knowing she was probably spent. If I had to be honest myself, the bed looked pretty comfortable right about now.

So, I quickly shucked off my clothes before jumping into bed beside her. I wrapped my arms around her slender body, pulling her close.

Soon enough, I fell fast asleep, into one of the deepest and most restful slumbers I’d had in years.

***

In the morning, my bed felt exceptionally empty. I stretched out my arm to find that Hope was gone. Instantly, my eyes shot open and I looked around the bedroom, already fearing the worst.

Where had she gone? Had she regretted being with me? Did something happen to her?

All these questions flooded my mind as I jolted out of bed.

Once I did, however, the smell of fresh breakfast wafted up to my nose, making me relax.

I tossed on some sweatpants before I made my way downstairs, where I found Hope standing in the kitchen, wearing nothing but my dress shirt from last night.

Damn. She lookedgood.

No. Good wasn’t even the word for it. She lookedfine.

I lingered by the door, just staring at her. How had I ever been lucky enough to have her wait for me all this time? It felt so unreal. I didn’t deserve this woman.

“So, are you going to just stand there and gawk at me all morning, or are you going to actually pull your weight and help me with these avocados?”

I chuckled, walking over to her. I slipped my arms around her, pulling her into my body until our hips were locked together. “You look beautiful…” I whispered into her ear before gently nibbling on her lobe.

She blushed, the heat from her cheek transferring to mine as I rested my chin on her shoulder, glancing at what was cooking on the skillet.

“Hope. It’s burning.”

“Oh!” She exclaimed, quickly going back to stirring the scrambled eggs she was making.

I took her hand in mine, helping her with the technique. Hope had always liked toattemptto make breakfast, but in reality, she had never been very good at it.

“Shoot, let me make another batch…” She was already heading for the fridge when I stopped her, reeling her into my body like we were a pair of professional dancers. I tilted her body back until her foot came off the ground and her hair grazed the floor. She held her breath as she looked at me, her lips parted ever so slightly like she wanted to saysomethingbut just couldn’t find the words.

I smirked before kissing her hard, my hand on her ass, gripping it tightly so she wouldn’t fall.

“You act as if you haven’t burnt eggs before…” I teased. “And not once have I complained about them, have I?”

She shook her head.

“Then, don’t look so worried. I appreciate it when you cook me breakfast.” With that, I kissed her nose, eventually letting her back up. “But, I will say, I prefer my eggs edible and not charred.” I turned off the stove and scraped the eggs evenly into two plates.

“You always were the better cook.”

“I always said I’d be willing to teach you, but you never took me up on the offer.”

“Well, maybe I finally will. We got all the time in the world… right?” She asked the question with trepidation, giving me a sideways glance as she sat down at the kitchen table with her food. “You’re not, like, going to disappear on me again, are you?”

I reached for her hand, squeezing it. “I promise, I’ll never do that again. But…”

“I don’t like the sound of that…”

“But, I do have a month-long business trip to Spain coming up.”

“When?”

“First Monday of next month.”

“But… that’s like a week from now…” Her voice grew dull and her shoulders sagged. “How do I know you won’t just stay in Spain for the next ten years?”

“Becauseyou’re coming with me.”

“Huh?”

I took a bite out of my eggs, countering the taste of burnt cheese with a chunk of fresh bread. I even sipped my coffee, looking at her over the rim of my cup. I had always loved teasing her like this.

“Andre! Answer me! What do you mean, I’m going with you?”

I continued to drink my coffee.

“I’m serious. This isn’t funny.”

Ever so slowly, I put down the cup. “Pretty funny to me.”

“You’re such a jerk sometimes.”

I shrugged. “I can’t be perfect. I mean, I do come close, but there had to be something wrong with me.”

“And still cocky as ever.” She started pouting, her arms crossed over her chest. She was so cute when she did that.

“You know you love me.”

“Yeah, I do. I must be insane.”

“Everyone’s a little insane.”

“Can you quit stalling and tell me what this great master plan of yours is?”

“Alright. Alright.” I was about to grab my fork when she slapped my hand away, shooting me a reprimanding glare. “That job you applied for, the position is still open.”

“You didn’t hire someone else, even though I stormed out of there?”

“Nope. Just couldn’t bringmyselfto do it. And, it wasn’t just because I wanted you to work for me. You were, and still are, the most qualified person for the job.”

“So, if I accept the job, I get to go to Spain with you?”

“You’ll be my personal interpreter. Didn’t you read the job description?”

“That wasn’t in the job description. All it said was a leadership position, based in Baltimore.”

“You were just looking at the pay rate, weren’t you?”

“That was… a factor, yes.”

I grinned. “You were always self-sufficient. Tell me, what were you going to do with the money?”

“Buy a house.”

“That roommate of yours getting on your nerves?”

“No. It’s not that. I just want to be independent. Darla, my roommate, is always looking for a man to help fuel her dreams. But, I honestly thought you were never coming back, and I knew I could never settle for someone else, so I was coming to accept the idea that I’d have to make it on my own.”

I frowned. “I’m sorry I made you wait so long.”

“I’ll forgive you… eventually.”

“You haven’t forgiven me yet? What was last night then?”

“Oh, you know… just a spur of the moment thing.” She twirled her fork between her fingers before taking a bite of her eggs. And just like that, the tables had turned.

“You can’t tell me it was nothing more than a spur.”

“That’s all it was.”

“You’re such a liar.”

“Am I?”

“Yes, you are.” Before she could react, I lunged forward, grabbing her out of her chair. With her in my clutches, I started to tickle her.

“Andre! Stop!” She squirmed, trying to get away from me but it was futile.

I continued to tickle her. The sound of her sweet laughter brought me back to our college days when I tackled her onto the dorm’s cardboard-thin mattress, making her squirm all night long… in more ways than one.

“Andre… can’t breathe…” She panted.

“I’m not going to fall for that.” I continued my assault before she finally managed to get away, dashing into the living room, looking for a place to hide.

Unfamiliar with the layout of my home, she trapped herself into a corner, her eyes darting left and right, looking for an escape path.

“You’re minenow,” I growled playfully.

“Eek!” She squealed right before I tackled her onto the couch, kissing her hard.

Life was finally going my way. I could feel it.

Chapter 7 (Hope)

I couldn’t believe I was actually about to board a plane to Spain. It felt surreal to be holding Andre’s hand as we waited in line to go through security. “This is nuts.”

“Why?”

“A month ago, my life was going nowhere. Sure, I had a decent job, I was paying the bills, but I wasn’t truly happy. I had nothing to aspire to. Then, all of a sudden, you came back into my life, turned it upside down and yet, everything feels right.”

Andre smiled before he kissed the top of my head. “Good thing I decided to build my headquarters in Baltimore instead of New York.”

“You think fate has anything to do with it?”

“Do you believe in that stuff?”

I thought about it for a minute. I didn’t really know. Fate was one of those things thatwashard to wrap your head around. Like, who controls fate? Is there a way to change it? Do you always have to accept it?

“I’m not sure.”

“Well, do you think it’s a coincidence that you applied to be my personal interpreter without even knowing I would be your boss? I mean, you could’ve applied to a bunch of other jobs and never even come across mine.”

“You have a point… we also saw each other at the bar.”

“Right. What are the odds?”

“I still… I don’t know. But, in any case, I’m just glad that we’re together again.”

“Me too, babe.” He squeezed my hand, a smile on his face. “We’re getting close to the front, you’ll have to get rid of that water bottle.”

I nodded, finishing it off and disposing of it in the nearby trashcan. “Kind of silly that they don’t allow you to bring it into the airport itself.”

He shrugged. “TSA has silly rules like that. And it’s only getting worse. We’ll eventually have to get you a Pre-check membership.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s like a background check. They make sure you’re not a criminal, and in turn, there’s an express lane you go through where you don’t have to take your laptop out of your bag, take off your shoes or even your belt.”

“Damn. That sounds nice.”

“It is. It’s only like $85 a year and it legit saves you half the time.” He pointed his thumb behind him where a few people were cruising through the Pre-check lane. It never took them more than a minute to get to the other side.

On the other hand, I felt like we had been stuck in this line for a long, long time. Forever, even.

Eventually, however, we made it to the front and we had to start the tedious process of unloading everything into the little trays before pretty much stripping down in front of the TSA officers.

“That wasn’ttoobad,” Andre said, grabbing our things on the other side.

“Next time, I better have Pre-check.” I teased him. “Take it out of my paycheck if you need to.”

“For a new employee, you’re very demanding.”

“Would you rather have me askasyour girlfriend? Do couples get a discount?”

“No, but kids under 12 go free.”

“Is that your way of telling me that you want to have kids with me?”

“Maybe.” His lips curled into a cryptic smile.

I sat down beside him on a nearby bench, putting my shoes back on. As I did, all I could think about was Andre as a father. I pictured him out in the yard, pushing our daughter on a swing as she giggled and told him to make her go higher and higher.

“Come on, let’s go. I’m starving.” He took my hand, holding it a little too tight, almost as if something was wrong.

“Andre?”

“Yeah…?” His voice sounded distant as he kept looking around the airport.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He answered, way too quickly.

“I know you’re lying.”

He pulled me closer, glancing over his shoulder before he towed me over to the food court. “I don’t know why… but I just have this feeling that someone is watching us.”

I glanced around, but from what I could tell, everyone seemed to be minding their own business. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Call it a Seal’s intuition.”

“Who would be watching us? You got enemies I don’t know about?”

“Of course I do. I’m a rich and powerful man.”

“Well, it’s an airport. This place is jacked with security. I doubt anything will happen. You’re over-reacting.”

“Hope, I’m telling you…”

“Look, I need to go to the bathroom. Why don’t you go ahead and order us some food?”

Even as I tried to leave, he didn’t let go of my wrist.

“Andre, seriously, you’re being ridiculous.”

He stared at me for a moment before he sighed and let go. “You’re probably right.” Still, he watched me the whole way to the bathroom. Andre had always been a bit of a worrier, but he was neverthisbad. Something must have seriously spooked him. The thought causedgoose bumpsto form all over my skin. As I got into a stall, I kept my guard up, just in case.

Before I could finish, however, someone else entered the bathroom. Their footsteps wereheavylike they were wearing combat boots or something. There was also the sound ofwheelslike someone was pushing a cart.

“Hello. Is anyone in here?” A gruff voice sounded. “I need to clean this bathroom.”

“One second, I’ll be out in a jiffy.”

I quickly zipped my pants, about to book it out of there when my stall door was kicked in, hitting me in the head. I fell back, nearly falling in the toilet before someone grabbed me, pinning both my wrists together with one hand. I was about to scream for help when my attacker shoved something in my mouth, gagging me. I tried pushing against it with my tongue, attempting to spit it out, but it was wedged in there.

“Don’t make a sound or it’ll be the last thing you ever do…” A deep, husky voice sounded in my ear. A rough hand subtly brushed against my cheek as the man pinned me to his body, his arm around mynecklike he was ready to strangle me at a moment’s notice.

Istilled, afraid for my life.

Suddenly something sharp and painful stabbed into the side of my neck. My vision began to blur and my body turned to lead. I slumped forward, my hair falling over my eyes as the man dragged me out of the stall, propping me against the sink.

I did my best to focus on him, to try and remember everything about him, but it was already too late.

As he approached me holding a roll of duct tape, everything faded to black.

***

The next thing I knew, I was in a car. Whoever was driving was swerving back and forth on the highway. My eyes widened with fear as everything came crashing back to me.

Quickly, I tried to sit up, but I had been buckled in and with my hands tied behind my back, there was no way for me to free myself.

“Ah, you’re finally awake.” A man’s slurred voice broke through my panic.

I glanced over to see a large, intimidating individual. He reeked, his clothes were wrinkled and dirty, and his face was sunk. What worried me the most, however, was his bloodshot eyes. This man was clearly intoxicated.

My struggles intensified. There was no telling what this guy would do to me.

Hegrinnedlike my fear amused him. “Andre sure knows how to pick them.”

I froze at the mention of Andre’s name.

“That’s right. I know your little boyfriend quite well. You see… I was in the Navy with him. We spent seven years serving together. We were like brothers. I watched his back and he watched mine.” As the man spoke, he looked right at me, making me incredibly nervous.

Please watch the road. Please watch the road. I mentally screamed at him, fearing that I would die in a horrific car accident at any moment. But, maybe that was preferable to whatever he was planning.

He grinned, flashing a mouth of yellowed teeth.

Abruptly, he swerved to the left, narrowly missing an oncoming car. As a result, I fell sideways, getting stuck in a very uncomfortable position.

The man didn’t bother to help me so I slowly shimmied back into place, the seatbelt digging into my neck. If he were to slam on the breaks, it would probably crush my windpipe.

The mere thought made me tremble. Why hadn’t I listened to Andre when he said we were in trouble? Maybe I wouldn’t be in this situation right now…

Tears stung the corner of my eyes.

What if I never saw him again?

Suddenly, the man took in a deep breath, letting out a loud, overdone sigh. When I looked at him, he was holding an almost empty bottle of rum in his hand.

I was dead. So fucking dead.

“Really hits the spot, you know?” He chuckled. “Do you want a sip? Might help you take the edge off.” He pulled the gag out of my mouth.

My first instinct was to scream bloody murder, but I managed to keep a level head. Screaming wouldn’t get me anywhere. If anything, it would probably get me hurt. So I wet my lips, my mouth feeling dry after being stuffed with a rag for all this time.

He pressed the bottle against my lips, tipping it upwards until it spilled into my mouth.

I shook my head, trying to prevent myself from drinking it, but he applied so much pressure against my mouth that my only choiceswere drinkor drown. Please, don’t be roofied…

“There, isn’t that better?” He asked, placing the bottle between his legs. “There’s nothing alcohol can’t fix, my friend.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I’m so glad you asked.” He looked at me, taking a strand of my hair between his fingers and twirling it. “But, before we do that, I think there’s someone who wants to see you.”

He grabbed his phone off the dashboard and dialed a number.

“Watch the road!” I screamed, closing my eyes tight as he sped right toward a crossing tracker trailer. I pictured us crashing into the side of it, the top of the car coming right off… along with our heads.

The tires squealed against the asphalt as he jerked the wheel, nearly collidingwithanother car. How I was alive right now was beyond me.

“Oops.” He laughed, the sort of laugh a villain pulls off when he had completely lost his mind.

Why hadn’t I listened to Andre?

“Anyway.” He kept dialing some number, sliding in and out of the lane he was supposed to be in.

A few cars honked at us. One man even stuck his head out the window andscreamed:“You lunatic!”

Why were there no cops on this highway? Why had no one called the cops?

Ring! Ring!

The sound of a dialing tone caught my attention. The man had placed his phone in front of me. My face was on the screen. On the top, big white letters read “Calling Andre.”

A second later, Andre appeared, looking pixelated.

“Ho… pe…” His voice was cut off like we had a bad connection.

“Andre!”

“Aww, what a happy little reunion. Too bad that you’ll never see each other again. So, you better cherish this last call.”

“You bastard. What have you done to her? Where are you taking her?” Andre’s voice was full of venom.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He grinned deviously before he reached over and pulled my hair, making me cry out.

“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her!”

“What are you going to do about it?” His hand slithered down to my chest, groping me.

“Please… stop…” Tears streamed down my cheeks. This couldn’t be happening. “Please…”

“Begging isn’t going to help you, sweet cheeks. When I want something, I get it.”

Chapter 8 (Andre)

“Hope… just stay calm. I’m going to come get you.” I said, even though I had no idea where they were.

Seeing Hope in this predicament, because of me, made my heart ache in the most painful of ways. I had to save her. If I didn’t I would never forgive myself.

“Do you really think that you can save her? What says she even wants to be with you?” Derek’s voice was slurred and groggy. By the sounds of things, he had been drinking.

I needed to save Hope sooner rather than later.

There was no telling what might happen to her if he reached his destination. Just the thought of him laying his hands on her filled me with such rage.

“Derek.”

“Hmm?” He asked, his voice almost whimsical like this was all just a game to him.

“Why are you doing this?” I had to keep him on the line if I had any chance of saving her. Already, I was tearing through the airport, leaving all of our stuff behind as I raced back to the car. Hope hadn’t been gone for more than thirty minutes. He couldn’t be that far away. I could still catch up to him… if only I knew where he was.

I kept my eyes on the screen, praying I would catch sight of some sort of landmark, or a sign, that would tell me where they were.

“Why? You act like you don’t know.” His voice turned bitter. “When I was down and out, you abandoned me. You’re living like a king and I’m a goddamnpauper. Tell me how that’s fair.”

“I loaned you money and you spent it foolishly. I wasn’t going to let you buy drugs and ruin your life like that.”

“Ruin my life?” He scoffed. “The Navy ruined my life. All these nights seeing the faces of our dead comrades. Most of the time, I wake up, thinking I’m drowning. That choking feeling that just doesn’t go away no matter how much you breathe.”

“I know, Derek, I know.”

“No,you don’t!” He snapped, suddenly jerking the wheel. The car shook and I watched Hope’s head bob so hard, I thought her neck would break.

“Derek, just please calm down.”

“Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down when I’ve been living in the streets for over a year now, and you don’t even give a shit?”

“Look, I’ll get you some treatment. We will get this all sorted out. I promise.”

“It’s too late for promises now.”

I had reached my car, revving the engine and pulling out of the garage as fast as I could. I kept watching the screen, praying for a miracle.

“Derek, if you agree to cooperate with me now, we can pretend like none of this ever happened.”

“Ha! You expect me to believe a liar like you? If I had to guess you’ve already called the cops.”

I headed north, remembering that Andre used to live in a suburb outside the city. Maybe he was headed back to home turf. I could only hope. “No. I haven’t. But, if they do get involved, it won’t be good news for you and I don’t want to send you to jail.”

“Oh really? I would have thought that’s exactly what you wanted.”

“No. Derek, you’re like a brother to me.”

He was quiet, making me nervous. When negotiating with a terrorist,silencewas always a bad thing.

“Derek… whatever you’re thinking right now. It’s not worth it.” I did my best to keep my voice calm and my eyes on the phone, all while pushing the speed limits of my car and avoidingcollision.

For a split second, Hope’s face was blurred before she came back into focus, mouthing the word “Aberdeen.”

Good job, Hope.

In a break-neck decision, I turned my car around in the middle of the highway, nearly causing a pile up as I crossed the median to the other side. If they were passing Aberdeen, then I knew exactly where he was going.

“You know, I was always jealous of you,Derek,” Isaidonce I was on the right track. “You were the better soldier by every account. You could swim faster, hold your breath longer, and shoot way better than I ever could.”

“But, what did it count for? Nothing.” He spat.

“It did count for something. How many lives did you save out there? How many times did you run out into no man’s land just to drag back the body of a fallen comrade? I was never brave enough to do that, but you were.”

“But, who’s the one living on the streets? The government doesn’t care about veterans. They treat us like shit.”

“They do.They100% do.” I agreed with him. “But, if you had just stayed away from the liquor, maybe things would have been different.”

“Don’t try to spin this and make itmyfault. I had nothing to do with this. I was just trying to cope, man.”

“I know, but this isn’t how you do it. Just stop the car and we can work this out.”

“I’m not dumb, you’re just doing this so you can save your girlfriend. Well, if I can’t be happy then neither can you.”

Suddenly, he hung up the call.

My heart sunk.

I pressed the gas pedal as far as it would go. My car whipped past all the others on the highway. I had to save her.

I weaved through traffic. I even squeezed between two cars, losing one of my mirrors in the stunt. At this point, I didn’t care about what happened to me, just as long as I got to her in time.

To my relief, I spotted a trashy car swerving through the lanes in the distance. It had to be him. Of course, Derek would pick the stretch of highway that was never patrolled by officers. He might have taken the dark path toward alcoholism, but he wasn’t stupid. He was still a NavySealand a very dangerous one at that.

I tightened my grip on the wheel. If only this thingwentfaster.

My adrenaline was pumping through my veins as I neared closer and closer.

An influx of cars poured in from an exit, making the road congested and difficult to navigate. Derek’s car was dangerously weaving in and out of lanes.

With no other choice, I shifted into the emergency lane, and when that became congested as well, I went offroad. The car tumbled and shook from the uneven terrain but I barely noticed, too focused on the red car I needed to hunt down.

Then, just when I was catching up to him, my worst nightmare played itself out in front of my eyes.

Derek must not have been paying attention because suddenly, he went crashing into a bunch of safety cones. They went flying in every direction, causing cars to stop. Tires screeched as people jacked on their brakes. Car horns kept beeping.

But, above all that, was theheart-wrenchingsound of Hope’s scream as the car she was in went airborne.

My heart stopped as the car sailed over the bridge’s railings and nosedived into the water underneath.

Before I could even see the car disappear into the murky depths, I stopped my car and got out. Without thinking, I jumped off the side of the bridge, swan diving into the water.

I hit the surfacehard. It felt like I had just been slammed in the face with asledgehammer. My lungs burned in my winded state. I tried to dive deeper, but my ears popped and I knew I’d be in trouble if I pushed myself any further.

Taking the risk, I came up for air. When I did, the choppy water tossed me around like I was a piece of dirty laundry caught in a never-ending spin cycle.

I blinked away the salt water from my eyes, desperately searching for the vehicle. It was about fifty meters away, already half sunk into the water.

With no time to waste, I sped toward the car, my body working like a well-oiled machine that propelled me through the water faster than ever before. Still, every time I looked up to check on the progress of the car, it felt like it was getting further and further away.

This was starting to feel like one horrible nightmare.

When would it end?

By the time I neared the car, it had all but disappeared under the water.

I grabbed the bumper, steadying myself before I took in a deep gulp of air and dove under.

The tires were spinningslowlyas if Derek still had his foot on the break. The impact had probably knocked him unconscious.

Faintly, through the muted sounds of the water, I heard someone banging against the window.

Hope.

I swam to the passenger side.

Her eyes widened when she saw me, her face painted with panic. The water was already up to her chest. I had to act fast.

I motioned for her to open the window.

It was our only chance.

“I can’t!” She screamed. “My hands are tied behind my back.” By her shaky voice, I could tell she was extremely scared.

Still, I pointed to my nose, hoping she got the idea that she could probably lean forward and press the button with her nose.

She nodded, leaning forward and pressing the button. To my relief, the window started to open, but then it stopped. Water rushed into the cabin of the car, causing Hope to freak out. “Andre!”

That was the last thing I heard before she started to gurgle.

Quickly, I placed my fingers in the gap between the window and the door and I pushed it down manually. I then undid her seat belt and grabbed her under the arms, hoisting her out of the car.

There was no time for me to untie her hands so I started to kick to the surface, hoping I had enough fight in me to bring us both back to safety.

A strong current tried to keep me down, but I couldn’t give up now, not when I was so close.

I kicked my legs faster and harder.

In my arms, Hope’s body had gone limp. I feared what this could mean.

The surface felt so far away…

My lungs burned for oxygen and I was starting to get light headed.

I couldn’t feel my legs.

But, Hope was depending on me, and I would be damned if I let her down.

Finally, just when I thought I would pass out, we broke through the surface. I gasped, panting for breath before I pulled Hope out of the water.

Her skin looked pale and I couldn’t see her chest move.

“No…” I choked, dragging her onto the rocky shore, already ripping her shirt open, so I could properly listen to her heartbeat.

Thump… thump… thump…

It was faint and the longer she didn’t breathe, the fainter it would get.

Quickly, I pressed my palms against her chest, giving her compressions.

“Come on, baby… breathe…”

Once I had counted to fifty in my head, I shifted over to her head, opening her mouth before I leaned down, blowing air into her lungs.

Come on…

Suddenly, her body started to shake as water spewed out of her mouth.

“That’s it, get it all out… you’re okay now.” I held her tight against my body, feeling like I never wanted to let her go.

Exhausted, she rested her head on my shoulder, her eyes closing as she shivered.

“It’s all going to be okay now… I promise.”

Epilogue(Hope)

“Bienvenidoa España!”A chipper woman at the Madrid Airport beamed at us as she handed over a pamphlet, advertising for the rental car company she worked for.

Andre ignored the woman as he wrapped his arm around my waist, towing me toward baggage claim.

“I can’t believe we’re actually here.”

“Neither can I.” Andre agreed, snatching our suitcase off the conveyor belt. “Also, what the hell did you pack in this thing? I swear it feels like we brought a couple of bricks overseas.”

“Maybe…” I giggled. “I just wanted to be prepared.”

“For what? The apocalypse? And, I thought I was supposed to be the responsible one.”

“Yeah, well, it’s your fault for buying me clothes. I didn’t know what to bring and what to leave behind.”

“If I had to guess this bag is 90% your stuff and 10% my stuff.”

“Pretty much.”

“Did you at least pack me some shorts so I don’t have to sweat my balls off?”

I chuckled. “Nope! You’ll just have to run around naked.” I winked, grabbing his hand as we headed outside.

“You know, that can be arranged. I rented us a pent house suite. It’s not like anyone is going to see us. Besides, I’m pretty sure I could find a couple naked beaches along the coast.”

I shook my head. “No way, I don’t want you ogling at other women.”

“Haven’t you learned yet that I only have eyes for you?”

“Yeah, still don’t trust you.”

“Wow. That hurts.” He pressed his hand to his chest like his heart was breaking.

“Oh, and what, you’re totally comfortable with me looking at naked guys on the beach?”

“I didn’t expect you to look. Why would you when you’re dating someone like me?”

I rolled my eyes. “You have such an ego.”

“It’s part of my charm. Don’t act like you don’t like it.” He teased.

Together, we stepped outside, where there was quite a breeze blowing. Andre managed to catch my hat before it flew away.

“Thanks.”

“You’ll have to put that away once we get in the convertible or you’re never going to see it again.”

“You rented us a convertible?”

“Of course I did.”

“Why? I thought you didn’t like them.”

“I don’t. But, I figured if I got a convertible you wouldn’t be so inclined to stick your head through the sunroof and nearly kill yourself.”

“I did thatonetime.”

“Yeah, one time too many.”

I shook my head. “I don’t remember you being so overprotective when we were in college. Pretty soon, you’re going to put me in a giant bubble.”

“You know, that’s not such a bad idea…”

“Andre.”

“What? He said innocently as he opened the door for me, being ever the perfect gentleman.

I got inside, tinkering with the radio before I found an acceptable station. I loved Spanish music. It was sosexy.Definitelythe kind of music I could find myself dancing to, especially if Andre was standing behind me, his hands on my hips, our bodies locking together.

Mmm, just thinking about it got me all worked up.

“What are you thinking about?” Andre’s voice broke me from my naughty fantasy.

“Hmm?”

“You had this look in your eye. The same kind of look you get right before you tell me you have a “surprise” and then pop up wearing brand new lingerie. So, tell me, what dirty little thought was going through your head this time.”

I chuckled, turning up the volume even louder so it reverberated through the speakers.

He shook his head before putting the top down.

A few people in the parking lot shot us a dirty look but neither one of us seemed to care as we both put on our sunglasses and cruised away.

Once we were on the highway, Andre lowered the music and looked at me. “Is there anything you want to do?”

“Yeah. I’m looking right at him.”

Even though I couldn’t see his eyes, I could sense he was rolling them at me. “I mean activity wise.”

“Sex isn’t an activity?”

“It is. But, we are finally in Spain. After two years of trying to make this trip, we finally got here without having you get kidnapped or me forgetting my passport at home.”

“Hey, I only got kidnapped once, you’re the one that forgot his passporttwice.”

We both laughed, but I could sense that Andre was thinking of that dreaded day. It made me shiver as well. I never thought something like that would ever happen to me. Never before did I see my life flash before my eyes so many times. It’s a miracle that I’m still alive.

I reached over and grabbed his hand.

He nodded, but his expression was still serious.

“I’ll tell you one thing. I don’t know if I believe in fate or not, but I know, without any doubt, that we were meant to be together.”

“What makes you so sure?” He asked, playing the devil’s advocate.

“You know, just ahunch,” I responded in a playful tone. “But, seriously. Everything we’ve been through. All the hardships we managed to overcome. If we weren’t meant to be together, then neither does PB and J.”

“Are you comparing our relationship to a sandwich?”

“The perfect type of sandwich.”

“You’re a goofball.” He said, resting his hand on my thigh, squeezing it slightly.

“You love it.”

“No, I love you.”

“You’re going to make me blush…” I whispered, already feeling the heat rising on my cheeks.

“Good. That was kind of the point.”

“So, where are we going. You’re driving like you have a destination in mind.”

“Well, I figured that you’d be indecisive about what you want todolike you always are, so I came up with a backup plan just in case.”

“What’s your backup plan?”

“It’s a secret.”

***

We drove for nearly an hour. At some point, I was convinced he was driving incircleslike he was trying to get someone to lose his tail.

“Are you lost or something?”

“No.” He said firmly. I knew he was lying.

“Do you have an address?”

“I’m not lost.”

“Why do you always have to be so stubborn when it comes to asking for directions? I’m not going to think any less of you if you use the GPS, you know that, right?”

“I’m not lost.” He repeated as he took the following exit. Doing so brought us to a quaint little town. All the houses were painted in vibrant colors. Flowerboxes decorated the windows. Elderly women sat on their front steps, conversing with their neighbors.

Instantly, I was filled with a cozy feeling.

This place was wonderful.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“This is the town ofAmpesos.”

“What are we doing here?”

“I already told you, it’s a secret.” He grinned at me, flashing his pearly white teeth.

Oh, he was definitely up to something.

Andre was just about to cut into a small street when he was met with a barrier, blocking his way. Up ahead, a group of peopledecoratedthe streets with flower petals, making some sort of path.

“What are they doing?” I mumbled, not really expecting an answer.

“It’s the feast of San Pedro y San Pablo today.”

“Oh, so it’s like a religious holiday?”

Andre nodded, backing out of the street and going down another route.

“I didn’t know you were religious.”

“I’m not.”

Okay, this was definitely getting strange. What on Earth did Andre have planned?

Eventually, after navigating our way through the town’s maze-like street system, we finally arrived at the central plaza, where Andre skillfully wedged the convertible between two cars.

He waltzed over to my side and hoisted me out, making me feel as light as a feather.

“How do you do that?” I asked.

“Do what?”

“Pick me up so effortlessly.”

“Because I actually go to the gym to work out not to look cute in workout clothes.”

“Hey! I actually work out too.” I protested.

“Sure you do, babe. But, I already told you that you didn’t need to go the gym. You’re perfect exactly the way you are.”

I blushed deeply at his words.

He smiled, grabbing my hand, locking our fingers together.

“You’re acting very strange.”

“Am I?”

“You’ll have to tell me what you’re planning at some point.”

“Sure. Sure. But not yet.” He teased before he grabbed me by the hips and hoisted me onto a nearby retaining wall, where a few other people had gathered. From this perch, we had a clear view of the church and all the activity going on around it.

A few older women, dressed in black, and with veils wrapped around their heads, were fixing the path of flowers leading up to the church doors. Inside the church itself, I could only glimpse at a few characters in the procession to come. One of which was a little kid dressed as an angel, who kept turning around and hitting someone with his wings.

I giggled at the sight.

“What is it?”

I pointed to the angel. “See that little boy?”

“Yeah?”

“Just watch him.”

The boy was still for a moment, looking up at the adult standing in front of him, who seemed to be some kind of leader.

Then, as soon as she looked away, he spun around, knocking out an older boy dressed in a dark suit.

“That’s horrible.”

“Oh, come on, you have to admit that’s pretty funny, getting slapped in the face by an angel.” I pointed out, poking his side.

“How about falling in love with an angel?” He asked, pulling me onto his lap before our lips came together in a sweet, passion filled kiss.

I lost myself against him as the sun shined down at us, making me feel warm all over.

Iswearnothing could make this moment more perfect.

Eventually, we broke away but Andre kept me on his lap, his fingers occasionally tickling my exposed tummy. Maybe it was a bad idea to wear a crop top around him…

He stopped, however, as soon as the procession came marching out of the church, spearheaded by the energetic little angel. Others came dressed in robes, imitating patron saints. What was most impressive was the giant statues that were being carried on a litter. A total of six people carried the burden, a proud look on their faces.

“Which one do you suppose is San Pablo and which one is San Pedro.”

“I’m not toosure,” Andre said, resting his head on mine.

After that, we settled into an awed silence, watching the procession march by.

By the time it was over,nightwas starting to fall and the plaza was transformed. Vending carts popped up. Kids walked around with balloons. People danced in the main square while a motley crew played a variety of string instruments.

“Would you like to dance?” Andre asked suddenly, a rose in his mouth.

“Where’d you get that?”

He didn’t bother to answer me. Instead, he swept me off my feet and onto thedance-floorwhere our bodies synced into one. My hips swayed to the sound of the music, rubbing against his body, feeling his every inch.

I swear, we danced the night away, our eyes never leaving the other.

It was perfect.

When the music finally ended and everyone started to disperse, I expected we would do the same, but Andre didn’t follow me back to the car.

When I looked back, there was one man playing guitar while Andre was down on one knee.

My eyes widened in realization.

No. This couldn’t be. Could it? Was he really…

My heart thumped as I stumbled forward, trying to keep my footing as a surge of emotions spread through my body.

“Andre?”

He took my hand and once I was close enough, he reached out, holding it tightly. “Hope.”

I watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box.

When he opened it, the diamond ring glittered like the NorthStar.

I was speechless, standing there, a dumbfounded look on my face, trying to figure out if I was dreaming or not.

“I’ve made my mistakes in the past. Mistakes that I thought you’d never forgive me for, but I’ve learned since then and I know that I’ll never again be able to leave your side. I love you, Hope, and I dream of us starting a family together, of watching our kidsgrowand then growing old together. But, I can only do that if you’re my wife. So, will you marry me?”

I couldn’t even answer him. I was so choked up that all I could manage was a nod of my head as tears streamed down my face.

When he finally slipped the ringonmy finger, I knew that we would always be together.

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Knocked Up Under Her Boss

Chapter 1

Marcus Conroy waved his hand. “Come inside and sit down, Mila. I want to talk to you about your next assignment.”

MilaGalantiosat down opposite his desk and opened her laptop. Her fingers poised over the keyboard, ready to type.

Marcus eyed the laptop. “You won't need that. Just listen to me for a second while I explain what I want you to do.”

Mila blinked. “Don't you want me to take notes?”

“No, I don't. I want you to close your laptop, put it away, and listen.”

Mila closed the laptop and set it on the next chair. She folded her hands and looked across the desk to the billionaire she worked for these last three years. He didn't want an assistant like every other corporate assistant on the block. That's why he hired Mila. He called her in every three weeks, gave her a raft of assignments, and sent her on her way to carry them out.

He gave her assignments running companies, buying cars, investigating property to acquire—anything he could think of. Everythree-weekcontract carried its own independent pay package, and in three years, Mila learned to expect anything from Marcus—absolutely anything.

Mila prided herself on being able to tackle anything—the more challenging the project the better. At twenty-seven years old, she carried her weight in confident curves around her hips and bust. She knew how to throw the right green-eyed glance at an office boy to get exactly what she wanted. She never backed down from a job until she got it done, and Marcus knew it as well as everybody else.

Now that he had her undivided attention, though, he hesitated. He hesitated even to look her in the eye. He shifted in his chair. He fidgeted right and left. He adjusted his suit jacket around his shoulders and tugged the sleeves down over his cuff links. He did everything except plunge into the next assignment the way he usually did.

Marcus Conroy seethed with testosterone, not just in his business dealings, but ineverfacet of his life. His pores oozed power and magnetic attraction. He spotted an opportunity and seized it with both hands. That's how he got so rich at the ripe old age of thirty-two.

He lifted heavy weights three times a week in the office building's basement gym, so his shoulders stood out hulking and massive under his jacket. He faced every day of work the same way he faced a huge lift. He balled his meaty hands into fists, his gleaming eyes swept the room for any sign of weakness, and his blood boiled in his veins.

Now he shrank down in his leather chair and hesitated. Mila's blood ran cold at the sight of him. Nothing intimidated this man—nothing—but whatever assignment he wanted to give her obviously worried him. She could only sit still and wait to hear what it was.

He picked up a folded newspaper from the desk and held it in front of his eyes. “There's an add in this paper for egg donors. Did you know that, Mila?”

“Sure. That add has been running for years. Infertile couples are always looking for egg donors.”

“Yeah.” He tossed the paper on the desk. “YouseeMila. I don't have any family or any children. I don't have an heir. If I kick off next week, my whole company and everything I worked so hard to build will go up in smoke.”

Mila frowned. “I don't understand what you're asking me to do. Are you asking me to run a risk assessment on your company in the event of your death?”

“No, I don't need that. I have something a little more....sensitive in mind. I have decided I need an heir. I need someone to inherit everything I've earned and worked for.”

Mila brightened up. “Are you saying you want to adopt a child?” Her eyes flew open. “Oh, I get it. You want me to find you an egg donor, or maybe a surrogate. That makes sense. I can do that. No problem.” She started to stand up.

Marcus held out his hand. “Hold it, hold it, hold it. I don't want to adopt a child, and I don't want you to find me an egg donor—at least, not that way.”

She sat back down. “You don't? Then what do you want me to do?”

He went back to fidgeting and clearing his throat and shrugging his jacket left and right. Mila stared at him in confusion. What on earth could make a guy like Marcus so jittery? He made her nervous just watching him.

“Listen, Mila. You've been a great assistant. I couldn't ask for anything better. This independent contract work you do works well for both of us, but it doesn't pay you near enough. You're worth your weight in gold, for the value you bring to my company. I want to pay you a lot more for this  next contract.”

“Well, why didn't you just come right out and say so? What's the big deal about that?”

“Don't say it's no big deal until you hear what the job is. I want to increase your contract pay rate to $50,000 for the first three months, and another $100,000 on delivery.”

Mila's jaw dropped. “Are you crazy? Why so much?”

He held out both hands. “Like I said, just wait until you hear what the job is before you decide it's too much. Once I tell you, you might decide it's not enough.”

“You know I'm game for whatever job you want to throw at me. You don't have to buy me out to get good value from me.”

“I know I'll get good value from you. That's exactly why I chose you for this job, and it's exactly because I do want to buy you out that I chose to set the pay rate so high.”

She shook her head in confusion. “What in the world are you talking about? I wish you'd just cut to the chase and get it over with.”

“YouseeMila. I don't want you to find me an egg donor or a surrogate. I want you to be the egg donor.”

She waved her hands in the air and stood up, but she couldn't stop herself from laughing. “No, no, no, no, no. I could never do anything like that. If you want to pay that kind of money, I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding another donor.”

“I don't want you to just be the donor, Mila. I want you to undergo artificial insemination with my sperm and carry the baby to term. You'll get $50,000 at the twenty-week mark when we know the pregnancy is successfully advanced, and $100,000 after the baby is born. That's the contract. Take it or leave it.”

Mila stared across at him in wonder. Now that he got his cards out on the table, his old commanding air came back to him. He fixed her with those piercing eyes of his. He threw down the gauntlet. He challenged her to take on this project and prove herself worthy of that kind of money.

Her mind whirled. A thousand questions fought to be first out of her mouth. “But why me?”

He held up the paper. “Thisadsays the ideal candidate is between twenty-three and thirty years of age, is healthy and doesn't smoke, and has never had children. You fit all those criteria, and I've watched you in action for three years. You're smart, successful, astute,educated—you'reeverything I want my child to inherit from the other side. You're a perfect match for this.”

“But thoseadsdon't offer more than $6,000 for egg donation.”

“You won't only be donating. I told you. I want you to carry the child to term. I'll put you up in a luxury condo apartment. I'll pay all your expenses and give you $10,000 spending money every month until the baby is born, on condition that you don't engage in any behavior that puts your health or the baby's health at risk. You'll have the use of my private car to go anywhere you want to go as long as you stay in the greater New York City area.”

Mila gasped out loud, and her hand flew to heart. “You can't be serious about this!”

He slid open a drawer in his desk and pulled out a stapled stack of paper. He tossed it on the desk in front of her. “It's all there in the contract. Take a look and tell me what you think.”

Mila straightened up. “I can tell you right now what I think. I'm not doing it. I'm not a baby factory, for you or anybody else. I have no plans to get pregnantany timesoon, and $250,000 won't change that. Find yourself another assistant to carry out this contract.” She snorted with laughter. “Some contract!”

Her answer didn't phase him at all. He leaned back in his chair and swiveled it sideways. He swept his eyes left the way he did when he set to work on a difficult negotiation. “I had the whole thing checked out by a team of lawyers before I presented it to you. It's all legit and water-tight. I wouldn't offer you this contract to if it wasn't.”

She stared down at him. She saw him for the first time, with his big shoulders and his chest rising with his slow breath, his chocolate-brown hair tussled over his forehead, and his green eyes flashing. “You want to inseminate me with your sperm and keep me in the lap of luxury for the next nine months? What does the contract say will happen to me at the end of nine months? I suppose if you don't pay, I'll be stuck with a kid I don't want.” She dissolvedintohysterical giggles.

“You'll have no rights whatever to the child after the term expires. You will have no right to alimony, nor will you bear any responsibility for paying child support. All rights and responsibilities will expire with the contract. I will retain sole custody, and you'll ride off into the sunset with the money.”

Mila became suddenly serious. “You're crazy. You know that, don't you?”

He waved his hand. “Why don't you take the contract and read it over? You can let me know if there's anything you want to change.”

“I won't read it over. I already gave you my answer, and the answer is no. I'm your assistant—at least, I was up until today. I don't sell myself to anyone, and if this is the way you treat me, I won't work for you again.”

She started again to turn away, but his voice caught her and held her. “It's because I respect you so much that I offered you this contract, Mila. I respect you more than anyone I've ever worked for. I know you'll take care of yourself in the nine months until the baby is born. I know you won't run around the town, blowing my money on nonsense. You're the perfect choice for this. So you don't sell yourself for anyone? What do you think you've been doing all these years? I bought your time and your energy and your intelligence. That's what I'm doing now.”

She glanced back over her shoulder, and his penetrating eyes mesmerized her with their unstoppable power.

“You'll come with me to the fertility clinic on Monday morning. You'll get a routine medical exam. I'll go in another room and deposit the sperm. You'll never see me in any compromising position. After that, the clinic will track your cycle with blood tests. When they determine you're ovulating, they'll inseminate you. Besides monthly exams, you'll have nothing else to do for the next nine months. I'm sure you can handle that.”

“So what am I supposed to do with myself during that time?”

“I don't know. Work on your Master's Thesis, for all I care.”

She gave him one last incredulous stare before she shook her head. “I'm sorry, Marcus. I really enjoyed working for you, but this is taking the whole independent contractor meme a little too far. I won't take this contract. Good luck finding someone else.”

Chapter 2

Mila sat on a park bench outside Conroy Limited. Her rolling suitcase sat on the grass nearby with her laptop case on top. She crossed her legs and folded her arms over her chest. She gazed out at the ducks gliding over the lake.

This was just flippin' great. This was the absolute capper to three years of lucrative contract work with one of New York's most powerful billionaires, and it had to go and end like this.

What was he thinking? How could he propose shehavehis baby, just like that, just like any other contact? What did he think she was—some high-priced hooker he could snap his fingers and get on her knees at his feet?

Sure, he was drop dead gorgeous. Sure, his wealth and power and magnetic personality made him mind-blowingly attractive. He knew better than anybody how many women wouldcaveat his beck and call. They would do anything for him. They would jump at the offer of $250,000 to have his baby. They would probably do it for free.

So why did he have to go picking on her? Why did he have to pick the one woman in his life who wouldn't cave at his feet whenever he snapped his fingers? She didn't have to ask. He picked her because she wouldn't cave. He couldn't respect those women. He could respect her. She did her work. She never let his attractiveness or his power or his magnetic personality distract her from getting the job done. She conducted her affairs as a professional. He didn't want some high-priced hooker, and she wasn't one.

Still, he didn't have to go and blow her whole employment situation out of the water with this lunatic scheme of his. He could have given her some other decent contract and sent her on her way.Nowwhat was she going to do? She would have to spend God knows how long finding another stupid frickin' job.

Just then, her phone twinkled. She flipped it on. “Hello, Mom. How areya?”

The familiar voice rose to a metallic screech on the other end of the line. “I'm so sorry, honey. I know you must be very busy right now. I know you're always busy at this time of the day.”

“Don't worry, Mom. Actually, I'm not busy at all right now.”

“You have to come home, darling. You have to come home right away.”

“What's going on, Mom? What's wrong?”

“It's your father. He's in the hospital.”

Mila froze. “What happened?”

“He had a massive heart attack. He was out mowing the lawn yesterday and he collapsed. I was at the Ladies' Service meeting in Hayworth. I didn't get home and find him until this morning. He's in ICU, and he's hooked up to every machine you can imagine. They don't expect him to last long. You have to come home right away. I don't even know if he'll last until you get here.”

Mila already moved the phone away from her mouth. “I'm on my way, Mom. I'll be there as soon as I can.”

Mila hung up. She snatched her suitcase handle and slung her laptop case over her shoulder. She set off at a fast clip through the park with her mind whirring in a dozen directions. With one quick glance, she scanned the surrounding neighborhood. She flagged a taxi. “Take me to the nearest car rental shop.”

A few minutes later, she slapped her credit card down on the counter. “Give me a car fast. I don't care what it is. I have to get on the road pronto.”

The young man behind the counter raised his eyebrows. “Okay. You can have that Lexus out there, but it will cost you.”

“I don't care what it costs. My father is dying. I have to get on the road now. Ring it up and give me the keys.”

The guy flew into action. In five minutes, he handed the keys across the counter. “Just bring it back with the gas tank full.”

Mila waved over her shoulder. “No problem. See you soon. Thanks a million.”

She skidded out of the parking lot and hit the highway. She cruised at ten points above the speed limit all the way down the Jerseyturnpikeuntil she came to the hospital. She threw the car into park and jogged up the stairs to her tearful mother.

Once she got into the hospital, all the rushing stopped on a dime. She held her mother, then her sister, and finally her aunt. They sat around the waiting room, waiting, waiting, and waiting some more. Nothing happened. Her father's health didn't improve and he didn't die. He just lingered.

After ten hours of waiting, Mila took a walk. She strolled down to the parking lot to buy another parking ticket. She took as long as she could before she went back to the room. She couldn't look at her father lying in the bed with tubes coming out of every orifice. He wouldn't come out of this, and everybody knew it. He might as well be dead.

She got back to find her mother sitting alone outside the room. The old lady stared down at the phone in her hand. She didn't notice Mila sit down next to her. Mila laid a hand on her mother's shoulder. “Are you okay, Mom? Why don't you let me take you home? You need some sleep and a hot meal.”

Her mother didn't look up. “That was your brother Charlie.”

“Yeah? When is he getting in?”

“He's not getting in. He's already here. He's been here all along. He's down at the house.”

“What's he doing there? He should be here with us.”

“He was here this morning before you came. He went to the house to find your father's will. Your father kept his will and mine in a special file folder in his filing cabinet.”

“Did Charlie find it?”

“He found it. He also found a lot of other papers. That's what he just called about.”

“Did he say something that bothered you? Did he find something in Dad's papers that shouldn't be there?”

Mila's mother turned her damp old eyes up to Mila's face. “That's what he just called to tell me. Your father prospected in real estate, but he never told me about it. We owned that house you grew up in for forty years. We worked our tails off to pay it off so we would never have to worry about losing it in our old age.”

“That's good, then. You've got that security if Dad dies.”

“Don't you see, Mila? Your father mortgaged the house tostakean investment in a real estate development. The development went bust. He used his pension to make the mortgage payments so I would never find out. We don't own more than $10,000 dollars equity on the house. I thought I would grow old and die in that house, but if your father dies now, I've got nothing. I'll be out on the streets.”

Mila jumped out of her chair. She paced back and forth in front of her father's hospital room. “How much do you owe on it?”

“$200,000. There's no way on God's green earth I can come up with that kind of money, and my retirement doesn't cover the mortgage payments. Charlie just found out everything going through your father's filing cabinet. He just told me. I'm finished, Mila. I'm penniless.”

Mila spotted her aunt and sister coming down the hall. She had to think fast. She dropped into the chair next to her mother. “There must be a way to make those payments.”

“I couldn't make the payments. I couldn't even afford to pay rent on a tiny apartment if I had to move out of the house. My retirement pays me $700 a month. That's not enough to survive on.”

Mila's aunt and sister stopped in front of the waiting area chairs. “What's going on?”

A piercing siren interrupted them. Milaleapedout of her chair. Everyone crowded around the room where doctors and nurses and orderlies rushed hither and thither. Even as Mila and her family watched, they all noticed the hospital staff moving slower and slower until everyone kept still. They stared down at the lifeless forminthe bed. The EKG line flattened to nothing until a nurse turned it off. They turned away to the window with a shake of their heads. Mila's father was dead.

Mila grasped her mother's hand. “Don't worry, Mom. Everything's gonna be all right. Stay in the house. I'm gonna find a way to work this out for you.”

Her mother's head shot up. “What do you mean? What are you going to do?”

Mila shook her head. “I have to go now. Just stay in the house. Keep going on with all the arrangements as if you didn't owe that money. I'll work it out for you. Don't worry.”

“How? How could you get that money? Don't tell me you're going to do something illegal.”

“I'm not going to do anything illegal. You can trust me. Just make the arrangements and call me when you schedule the funeral. I have to go work out this debt thing. Just trust me. I've got it under control.”

“Are you sure? You're scaring me, Mila.”

She smiled down into her mother's face. She couldn't let this beloved person down. “I'm sure. Everything's going to be okay. You'll have your house. You have nothing to worry about.”

Mila rushed out of the hospital. Even before she finished speaking to her mother, she knew exactly what she had to do. She phoned Marcus, and he invited her to meet him in his office. She found him in exactly the same spot. He eyed her up and down like she never left. “I've been thinking about your contract, and I've decided to accept it.”

His eyebrows shot up. “What made you change your mind?”

“That's my business. I only have one favor to ask you. I'm asking this as a courtesy to me based on three years of service to your company. I wouldn't ask you to do this if I wasn't facing extreme circumstances, but I need this.”

“Name it.”

“I want you to reverse the payment structure. I want you to pay me the $100,000 after successful establishment of the pregnancy and the $50,000 on delivery. I'm really sorry about this. I understand if you don't want to do it, but you know you can trust me to go all the way through on this contract. I won't violate your trust. I just need the money for something personal, and I need it now.”

“All right. No problem. You can have the money right now if it helps.” He plucked the contract out of his drawer and scribbled on it with his pen. “There. It's all set. I just need your signature.”

She moved toward the desk and held out her hand for the pen, but he yanked it back. “I don't like you accepting this under duress, Mila. I never thought I'd ask anyone to have my baby in answer to extreme financial hardship. I don't like it. I don't really want to go through with it under those circumstances.”

Mila hung her head. She couldn't meet his gaze. She stared down at the carpet. “Please, Marcus, don't back out on this now. I need this money. If I have to have your baby to get it, I'll do it. I can think of a lot worse ways to get money, and a lot of other people are relying on me. Please don't change your mind, now that I finally agreed to it.”

He sized her up with his glinting eyes. “All right, Mila. I know I can trust you, and your years of service to me and my company have earned you this at least. Sign here, and I'll see you back here bright and early tomorrow morning for our first visit to the clinic.”

Chapter 3

Mila rode in Marcus's stretch black limo. She gazed through the tinted windows at the city passing by, but she could think of nothing but last night in her mother's house. Tension and worry hung over the whole family. They went over and over her father's papers. They couldn't believe Mila would find a way to pay off the debt so her mother could stay in the house.

Marcus sat in the seat next to her, but he didn't try to talk to her. He sat as far away from her as he could, against the opposite door, and he gazed out the other window. What was he thinking right now? He would never know she did all this to save her mother. To him, she would never be anything but a baby factory. He would take his baby, and she would disappear out of his life. So much the better.

When this was all over and done with, when she collected her money and paid her mother's debt, she never wanted to see his face again. She couldn't look him in the eye. She was nothing to him but a means to an end. Come to think of it, he was nothing to her but a means to an end, too.

He would never be her baby's father. She wouldn't have a baby. She would go on with her life. She would work and live and meet people. She wouldn't be a mother. She would be a test tube someone used to get what they wanted. He paid her for it. End of story.

The limo moved through the city streets, but it couldn't move fast. Traffic slowed it down, but that didn't bother Mila. Everything about this situation moved in slow motion. She watched herself meet Marcus in the office. She watched him sign the bank transfer order for the first installment of her payment. She watched him escort her down the elevator. She watched herself get into the limo. None of this was really happening.

Marcus broke in on her thoughts by clearing his throat. “Thank you for doing this for me, Mila. This means a lot to me. I wouldn't want anyone but you.”

She shrugged. “Sure, Marcus. I should be thanking you, too. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. It means a lot to me, too.”

He looked over at her, but she kept her eyes trained out the window. “Whatever's bothering you, I want to say you can tell me if you want to. You can trust me. Whatever made you changeyourmind, whatever it is you need this money for, if you ever need someone to confide in, I'm here for you. We've known each other long enough. If you need help, maybe I can help you.”

She couldn't stop herself facing him then. “I know I can trust you, but I don't need help. I just need this money.” She smacked her lips and chopped the air with her hand. “Aw, what the heck. I might as well tell you. It's nothing shameful or stupid like paying for drugs or gamblingdebts,if that's what you're thinking.”

“I wasn't thinking anything of the kind. I know you wouldn't get into anything like that. I just can't figure out what grand emergency would crop up that would make you change your mind so fast. You gave me a very definite no, and then a few hours later, you came back practically begging for this contract. If you're in some trouble, I want to help you. I can't stand by and let you flounder on your own.”

“You're not letting me flounder. You're helping me. You're helping me more than I deserve. My father died, okay? That's what happened. My father dropped dead of a massive heart attack and left my mother saddled with a huge mortgage on their house. She can't afford to pay the loan payments. She doesn't have enough income to survive. I need this money to pay off her debt so she can stay in the house. That's the big mystery. That's all there is to it.”

He turned to the window. “I see.”

Mila went back to looking the other way. “Please don't thank me for this or appreciate what I'm doing. I'm just as much a mercenary as you are. I'm worse than a mercenary.”

He didn't say anything. Mila wallowed in her misery all the way to the clinic, but when the limo pulled into the underground parking garage and stopped, Mila's hand shot out to stop Marcus getting out. “Listen. Maybe this isn't such a great idea after all. You don't want your baby growing in someone who doesn't really want to do this. Maybe you should find someone else.”

“Like who would I find?”

“I don't know. Maybe you could take out an ad somewhere.”

Marcus sat back in the seat. “Look, Mila. You came clean about your motives, so let me come clean, too. I don't want anybody else. I looked long and hard for someone else, and I always came back to you. You're doing this for your mother. That in itself tells me you're the right woman for the job.”

“What do you mean?”

“The only way I could get someone growing this baby who really wanted to do this is if I got married and knocked up my wife the old fashioned way. That's not going to happen. I'm too busy even to go on a date. I have to use a surrogate, and that means you. You've got all the qualities I want my child to inherit from the mother, and you have that extraje ne sais quoiIcould neverhave hoped to find from anyone answering an ad. You're compassionate. You're family oriented. You're selfless. This situation with your mother proves that.”

Mila shifted in her seat. “Are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure I'm really the one you want?”

“I'm sure.” He took her hand from the seat. “Come on. Let's get in there. If you don't like what you see, you can still change your mind.”

His words lifted her spirits, and she let him hand her out of the limo. He led her to an elevator, and they whizzed up into the building. Somewhere on the upper floor, the doors opened on a normal-looking office tastefully decorated with couches and a table full of ordinary magazines. Mila sat down across from a couple. The man read a hunting/fishing magazine while the woman did the crossword puzzle.

Mila picked up aWoman's Weekly, but she only pretended to read while she studied the couple over the top. Were they married, trying everything under the sun in the desperate hope of bringing a child into their shattered marriage? Were they already parents of one child having trouble with the second?

The woman glanced up and caught Mila looking. The woman cast a sidelong glance at Marcus. He tapped the glass of an aquarium in the corner and smiled at Mila. That woman would never know Marcus and Mila weren't another randomcouplelike her and her husband. She would never guess Marcus was Mila's boss—or ex-boss—paying her a pile of cash to have his baby.

At that moment, a well-dressed older woman stuck her head in. “Mila?”

Mila followed her into the nicest doctor's office she ever saw. Plush carpet lined the halls, and cushy chairs sat in front of desks. The woman opened another door and motioned Mila into the seat. The woman sat down behind the desk and pulled the keyboard toward her. “So, you're here for your initial exam. You're doing standard artificial insemination with ovulation tracking. Is that correct?”

Mila turned bright red. “Yes, that's correct.”

The woman smiled. “Don't worry. It's normal to have some jitters and anxiety going into fertility treatment. We offer counseling before and after the procedure to help you process any issues you face during your treatment. Here's the counselor's card. Feel free to call her whenever you need support.”

“Thank you.” Mila stuffed the card in her pocket without looking at it. She sure wouldn't be talking to any counselor about this situation. She must be the only woman on the planet getting paid to have her boss's baby.

“Now,” the doctor went on, “I'll just check a few pieces of background information and we can go ahead and get started. What is your date of birth?”

“August 25, 1990.”

The doctor tapped on her keyboard. “Twenty-seven years old. That's perfect. Do you smoke?”

“No.”

“Have you ever smoked?”

“No.”

“Have you ever had children?”

“No.”

“What was the date of your last menstrual cycle?”

Mila's cheeks burned. “A week ago on Wednesday.”

“Great. Now if you'll just jump up on the table, I'll give you a routine pelvic exam. We'll do a quick pap smear, just like all the others you've had, and we'll take a blood sample. Then you'll be all done.”

Mila didn't see any table until the woman walked around behind her. That's when Mila saw a regular doctor's exam table tucked behind the office door. No one would know it was there. The doctor pulled the curtain. “Take off your clothes below the waist, and put this sheet over your hips. I'll wait out here. You call me when you're ready.”

Mila couldn't get over all this. Her head spun. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be taking off her clothes in an office downtown, getting ready to get knocked up by some guy she worked for. Somehow, she got through the exam. Heaven knew she'd been through enough of them, but she couldn't escape the distinct feeling she was doing something wrong.

The next thing she knew, the doctor chirped, “You can get dressed now. I'll wait for you out here.”

Mila put her clothes back on, but they couldn't hide the sticky feeling all over her skin. When she shot the curtain back, she found the doctor typing at her desk. She smiled up at Mila and pushed a ribbon-wrapped present across the desk. “Here's your treatment package for the next two weeks. You'll find some testing strips and detailed instructions of everything you have to do.”

Mila stared at the beautiful box wrapped in shiny paper. “What?”

To her relief, the woman didn't laugh in her face the way she expected. “We'll track your cycle over the next two weeks to determine the best day to inseminate you. You'll test your own urine, just the way you do when you get a UTI.”

“I've never had a UTI.”

“Well, you'll find detailed instructions inside. When you see the testing window on the strip turn purple, you'll call the clinic and we'll bring you in.”

“Bring me in?”

The woman grinned. “That's just our way of saying you'll come in for your first insemination. You'll have five inseminations, two per day for every ovulation. Once you finish one round of inseminations, we'll set up a schedule of blood tests to see if you're pregnant.”

Mila mumbled down at her shoes. “Oh, right.”

The woman stood up. “You're all done for the day. You can wait out in the reception area for your partner.”

Mila blinked. Partner? She could only mean Marcus.

Mila collected her present and went out to the reception area. Marcus wasn't there, so she picked up the half-finished crossword left by the other.....what could she call that other woman waiting for treatment? Was she a patient? Was she a client?

Before she could figure out a five letter word for 'faint', Marcus came through the same door. He looked all around him and nodded to Mila. “Let's go, if you're ready.”

Chapter 4

Marcus didn't give the present a second glance. He escorted Mila back to the parking garage through the same elevator. In a second, she found herself gliding through the city on her way back to the office.

Marcus glanced over at her. “Did everything go all right?”

She nodded. “Fine. Very routine.”

“Me, too.”

“So what did they do to you? Did you get a regular exam?”

“No exam. I went into the donation room and banked some sperm. I have to go in every day until you get...you know, pregnant.”

“What do you mean by 'banked some sperm'? How do you do that?”

He shot her a quick glance and turned away to hide his burning cheeks. “Oh, you know, it's just what you'd expect. I have to go into a room and yank off into a container. That's all it means.”

Mila opened her mouth and closed it again. Her pulse pounded in her ears. “Oh.”

He looked out the window to avoid her eyes. “It's a nice room and everything, not at all trashy. There's a big red couch on one side and a bunch of small cubicles with mirrors and chairs, and there's a bunch of nudie magazines all over the place to help you get into the mood.” He gave a nervous chuckle.

Mila stared at the side of his head. Nudie magazines? Yank off into a container? She couldn't reconcile all that with the immaculate, sterile experience she just had. “So what didyou...Imean...Forget it. I shouldn't be asking you about it.”

“What do you want to know? Do you want to know if I looked at the magazines when I did it?”

“Forget I said anything. I don't want to know.”

He rode in silence for a while. Mila looked out the window, but her heart wouldn't slow down. So he looked at a nudie magazine and yanked off into a container to bank his sperm. In a few days or weeks, they would inseminate her with that sperm and she would get pregnant. What was the big deal?

She couldn't stop thinking about it, though. The whole thing struck her as...well, as kind of seedy and dirty. Why did they have to go through all that trouble, just to get her pregnant? He wanted a child. This procedure must be the most complicated, expensive, and embarrassing way to go about it.

His voice drifted across the limo out of a dream. “I did look at the magazines. They turned me on, you know. The women in them are all perfect, but after a while, I stopped thinking about doing it with one of them. After a while, you start thinking about doing it with a real woman. I real woman, a woman with some substance, is so much more exciting and erotic than anything you see in a magazine.”

Mila couldn't turn around. What could she say to that? How could he talk about yanking himself off while looking at a magazine in a sperm bank room? Was he turned on right now? Was he still sort of hard from his session in that room?

What turned him on in there? What did he see that made him hard? She clamped her eyes shut against all those images. She couldn't think about that. She couldn't start thinking about him that way. She had to keep this arrangement strictly business or she would lose her mind.

He kept talking. Maybe talking made him feel better. “I started thinking about getting a woman pregnant by fucking her. Istartthinking what it would be like if I got you pregnant that way. That really got me going. That's what got me hot enough to cum.”

Mila's head whipped around to see him still gazing the window. “You...you thought about...about getting me pregnant that way?”

“Sure. You're a fine-looking woman. You know that. You're exactly the sort of woman I would choose if I wanted to get with somebody. I can't think of anybody I'd rather do it with.”

Mila's jaw dropped. “What are you saying? Are you saying you want to do it with me?”

“Of course not. I wouldn't presume to suggest anything like that. You're doing this contract for me. That's all. I don't expect you to have anything to do with me.”

She turned away. “Oh. I understand.”

“Don't misunderstand, Mila. I would love to do it with you. I've admired you for years. That's exactly why I wouldn't approach you for anything unprofessional like that.”

She nodded, but she didn't turn around.

After a while, he broke the silence. “Did I say something to offend you? I shouldn't have told you I was thinking about you in that room.”

“That doesn't offend me. I'm flattered, and I understand there can never be anything between us. I guess I'm just surprised. I never realized you thought that way about me.”

“Of course I did. You're any man's dream come true.”

Her head whipped around, and she found him looking right at her. “Shut up.”

“Don't you know it's true? Your brains, your body, your business savvy—you're the total package. Any man in his right mind would love to eat your for lunch.”

She blushed to the roots of her hair, but she couldn't look away. “If that's true, why can't I get a boyfriend?”

“I don't know. Why can't you get a boyfriend? You should have guys breaking down your front door.”

“I don't have a front door. I guess that's why I don't have a boyfriend. I'm too busy working and moving around from contract to contract. I never stay in one place long enough to get a boyfriend.”

“It's the same for me. I'm too busy controlling the world to get a girlfriend. I suppose that's why I have to hire someone to have a baby for me.”

“What are you talking about? You're more the total package than I am. I mean, look at you. You're master of the universe. You're built like a brick shithouse, and you're drop-dead gorgeous. I'm sure you can have any woman you want.”

“But not you, right?”

Mila waved her hands on confusion. “I never said anything about that me. We're talking hypothetically here.”

Marcus gazed out the window. “You don't want a meathead like me for a boyfriend, Mila. I understand that. You want a nice country boy in a plaid flannel shirt and scuffed blue jeans.”

“Who said anything about me getting a boyfriend? The last I checked, I'm getting pregnant in a few days. I'll have even less time for a boyfriend than ever.”

“Then we're two peas in a pod. We'll both live our lives alone.”

“Except you'll have a child to raise. Maybe you won't have a girlfriend, but you won't be alone. Or maybe the baby will make you a sex magnet for every woman in search of the perfect mate.”

He snorted. “I should be so lucky.”

Mila went back to her own window. They both buried themselves in their respective dream worlds until Marcus murmured under his breath again. “It does seem like a crazy way to have a baby. It seems like there ought to be a much simpler way to do it.”

“There is,” Mila replied. “There's the old fashioned way, but that's not going to happen between us.”

The silence got longer and longer. Mila kept her eyes fixed on the scenery flowing by her window. She didn't dare turn around to face him. So many confused thoughts and emotions and images flashed before her, she couldn't make sense of them all. Could it be? Impossible! How could she even consider it?

Maybe, just maybe. Naw, it was too far-fetched. But what if? What's the worst that could happen? Curiosity overcame her reserve. Ever so slowly, she turned around to find him turning toward her at exactly the same time.

Their eyes found each other. Mila searched his face for some answer. What was he thinking about right now? Could he really be thinking the same thing as her?

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He glanced down at her mouth and back up to her eyes. That penetrating question nagged his eyes. What if? Maybe, just maybe.

She glanced down at his mouth, his firm mouth lined with angular jaws. What would it be like...just once? Somehow, that mouth moved just a fraction of an inch closer to her. She caught his smell, rich and earthy and inviting. That smell burst into her brain, and a jet of saliva shot into her mouth. She swallowed hard.

His lips pursed. His eyes moved in a triangle from one eye to the other, down to her mouth, and back to her eyes. Out of the distant reaches of space, something broke the spell holding her in place. “Mila....”

She jolted out of her reverie. “Anyway, that's not going to happen. We're...” She broke off.

“What if we did? I mean, you're gonna get pregnant one way or the other anyway. What if we...I mean, why not? What difference would it make in the end?”

She glanced back down to his mouth. His tongue moved back and forth behind his teeth when he talked. His mouth hypnotized her. What would those lips taste like? What would his tongue taste like? What would his skin taste like and his....?

She shook herself. She couldn't start thinking about that, but the images kept invading her mind. He touched himself thinking about her. He jerked off thinking about....nailing her. What did he think about? Did he think about bending her over and drivinghis...Did he think about spreading her legs and ...with his tongue...that tongue in his mouth right now?

A squirt of sticky pussy juice gushed between her legs. She couldn't stop it. Burning excitement scorched her cunt. She squirmed in her seat to stifle it, but she wound up stimulating it to hotter heat instead. He spread her legs. He touched her aching self with that tongue. He bent her over. He shot his load inside her. He knocked her up against the limo seat with his pounding meat.

Christ! What was happening to her? She shouldn't. She couldn't. She had to keep her mind on business. He was her boss. He paid her to do a job, and here she was, thinking about that.

Another part of her fought back against every objection. So what if she did? He paid her to get pregnant, didn't he? What faster,simplerway could there be? She wouldn't have to undress in front of a lot of strangers. She wouldn't have to piss on a testing strip every day for God knows how long. Wham, bam, and it would be over.

She could think of worse ways to get pregnant. Even now, his very presence intoxicated her with all kinds of wicked ideas. He attracted her like no one else. He always did. Only their iron-clad professionalism stopped her from throwing herself at him before.

She wanted to do it with him just as much as he wanted to do it with her, but they couldn't. They wouldn't. She would get out of this limo, and they would go on with this contract. She would pay off her mom's house, and he would get his baby. They would shake hands and never see each other again.

So what was the harm in doing it, just once? If she wanted it and he wanted it, why not? She took another look at him. How did he manage to inch toward her without her noticing it? How did that mouth and those shoulders and that all-consuming presence get so big it blocked out everything else?

She looked back up at his eyes. They hovered not an inch from her face. They occupied her every thought. She couldn't fight them. They moved in on her with that determined force with which he approached everything in life. He saw something, and he went after it.

He spent three years looking at her, and he never went after her before. Now, all the years of waiting came to a head and he wouldn't hold back anymore. He read in her eyes the plain fact. She wanted it as much as he did. He crossed the last frontier separating them, and his mouth closed over her lips.

Chapter 5

Once their lips met, the dam burst. They flew at each other in a passion. Holy crap, she wanted him! She never let herself feel how hot he made her until now. She never let herself acknowledge, not in her most private moments, how she wanted to devour him limb from limb. She wanted to lick the sweat off his skin and swallow him whole.

His hands explored all over her in afuriousfever to touch every inch of her at once. He petted her hair back from her face. He tugged her toward him with his arms around her waist. He pawed down her arms and placed her hands on his shoulders.

He panted through her gobbling lips. “Mila...I wanted this sobad...You're so beautiful anddelicious...Come tome...Oh, Jesus, yes!”

She couldn't speak for his mouth all over hers. He mashed her lips apart, and his tongue darted into her mouth. Oh, it tasted just as heavenly as she imagined. Rockets exploded in her brain. She lashed his mouth all over in adesperatehurry to taste everything. She licked his saliva off his tongue. His kiss sent fresh injections of moisture into her panties.

She rocked and mewed against the limo seat, but that only tortured her delicious genitals all the more. She smeared the wicked sauce all over her lips. Devilish dreams of slamming and sticky wetness lunged her hips toward him.

She hugged his head close where she could kiss him to her heart's delight. The first fermented explosion passed away, and Marcus found those parts of her he wanted to touch. He squeezed her ribs until she heaved her heavy breasts up into his grasp. He crushed them under her jacket and kneaded the whining cries from her lips. How did she ever want anything this bad and never even realize it? How could she work for him for three years without buckling to her knees at his feet?

She scooted her hips as far toward him on the seat as she could, but it wasn't enough. She had to find a way to get closer to him. While her sex-starved brain worked on that problem, he found his way inside her jacket, but her blouse still held her away from him. Her skin screamed for his touch, for his skin, but he wouldn't do anything more than graze his thumbs over her tits in agonizing slow brushes.

She pressed her breasts into his hands until they smashed against his chest. She scraped her chest back and forth against his palms. Marcus purred under his breath in delight, but he wouldn't relieve her tortured desires. How could he kiss her like that? How could he touch her raging breasts without knowing how much he turned her on?

She squeezed him tighter. She had to have him. She had to draw him into herself. If this chance encounter never happened again, she better enjoy it while it lasted. She would probably never get her hands on a man as rich and handsome and attractive as Marcus. She had to destroy herself against the granite bulk of his muscled frame. Then she could walk away.

One hand left her breasts. Ah, now he would touch her. Now he would give her some relief from this burning need eating away at her guts, but he didn't touch her. He went back to stroking her arms until one hand caressed over her shoulder to her neck. He didn't even try to take her jacket off. Was this all just a romantic kiss for him? Maybe he didn't want to do it at all. Maybe he didn't need her the way she needed him.

His hand cradled her head behind her neck. For a moment, he guided her head back and forth against his kiss. She swam in the delicious bliss of that kiss when, all of a sudden, his greatmeathookclamped down hard in her hair. He jerked her head back away from his mouth.

Mila cried out in surprise, but he already dove in under her chin and sank his teeth into her throat. He peppered her neck down to her collar with searing love bites. Mila fought that mighty hand, but he wouldn't let her go. He tugged her in hard and devoured her neck all the way down to her sternum.

Before she knew what he was doing, he pushed her lapels apart with his chin. He mouthed his way down into her cleavage. His other hand popped the buttons open to make way for him, and the shirt collapsed out of his way in humble submission.

All the rest of Mila's being melted with it. He buried his face in her busty cleavage, and she gasped and panted her breasts into his face. His breath warmed her all the way down to her crotch. She ached and throbbed for him down there, but he wouldn't do anything he didn't want to do.

His hands found her exposed bra. He mangled the lacy cups and lifted her breasts into his adoring face. He kissed them, first with gentle pecks, getting harder and more demanding until his teeth sank into her tightening nipples.

Mila quaked and sobbed. Oh, Jesus! Oh, fuck! How could anything be so good? How could she stand to get so hot? She would explode in a second. She rode the limo seat faster and harder. She had to...she hadto...

Marcus slid one hand behind her back. He followed her natural movements while his mouth discovered all the intricacies of her bra. He came back up to her cleavage and nuzzled his way, down, down into her cups. His tongue shot out, and he licked the taut nipple once.

Mila screamed in aching desire. She couldn't stand this anymore. She grabbed his head and shoved him down into her breast. She had to cram her tits into his mouth before she died of heartache.

He obliged in his own good time. Just when she couldn't stand it any longer, he eased down her lacy cup and let the glorious little nub pop into his mouth. He sucked it in andnaggedit toscreamingpain with his teeth. He lifted it upwithhis mouth and let it sink.

She hated this. Her desires consumed her beyond tolerance. Her swollen tissues oozed against her panties. She hurt them rubbing them on the seat, but she couldn't stop herself, she needed it so bad.

With languid care, he brought that hand around from behind her back to stroke up and down her thigh. She did her best to catch him and bring him in higher against her crotch, but he wouldn't come. What was wrong with him? Didn't he realize how he tormented her with this horrible slowness? Why didn't he bend her over and smash her to pieces the way she wanted him to?

He took an eternity of sucking her nipple and rubbing his smooth cheeks against her cleavage before he worked all the way up her thigh to her box. She humped her hips along the seat in furious anticipation, but she couldn't get him to work any faster. When he finally got there, he gave her sweet nexus one quick touch and immediately backed off to stroke her thighs some more.

All of a sudden, his lips appeared on her mouth. Her tits hung out in the breeze with her shirt pushed back on either side. One nipple pricked in the open air where he left it wet with saliva. Every inch of her skin tingled with desire for him.

He whispered into her brain. “You are so beautiful. You don't know how beautiful you are. Do you want me to touch you like this? Is this what you want?”

She had to get him. She had to tell him what she wanted. “Yes, please. Please touch me. I want it so bad.”

He kissed her once, twice, little brother kisses, tender uncle kisses. Where was his passion? Where was his torrential desire? She would burst out crying in a minute if he didn't want her the way she wanted him.

If anything, he pulled away from her. He kissed her less and less. He let a longer and longer pause linger between kisses. She looked up into his eyes and pleaded for...for something. He leaned back and regarded her with cool detachment. “You want this, don't you? You want me touching you like this.”

“God, yes! I want it.” She broke off. She wanted it, but she would never get it. She spoiled her chances with him when she let him see how much she wanted it.

He kissed her one last time and hummed under his breath. He was finished. One more pass of his fingers up her inner pantsseamand he would leave her alone. She would go home and cry into her pillow, and he would never know how much it hurt.

He moved back another inch, and her heart broke. He stared into her eyes. She swallowed the lump in her throat. She didn't want him touching her leg anymore if he wasn't going all the way. His fingers trailed all the way down to her knee. He pressed his lips together. Now he would quit.

All of a sudden, faster than she could think, his hand dove in all the way and closed around her box in a masterful, crushing grip. He dug his fingersunderher ass and massaged her clit with his thumb. His face swept right up close to her eyes, and he hissed into her mouth. “I want to see you cum, baby. I want to see you bow before me. Come on. Show me how much you want it. Do you wantthat.Huh, baby? Is that what you want?”

She couldn't react fast enough. He beat his hand against her crotch. He rocked her back and forth the way she just finished rocking herself. He saw, and he knew. He must know how wet and hot she was down there, inside her pants. He closed his powerful hand around her and blew her apart into a thousand pieces.

Chapter 6

The harder he pressed, the harder he rubbed, the faster he bucked his hand against her snatch, the more fierce his growls into her face. “Cum for me, baby. Show me how you like to cum. Is your pussy wet down there? Is that what you want? Does that turn you on? Huh? Do I turn you on?”

“Oh, God, yes,” she panted.

“Did you like hearing how I stroked my cock thinking about you? Did you like hearing how I want to fuckyou?Youhot little monster. You want me to fuck your sweet little pussy, don't you?”

She could barely choke out the words. “Oh, God, yes.”

“Say it, baby. I want to hear you say it.”

“I want you to fuck me. I want you to fuck my sweet little pussy.” The last words came out as a pitiful sob.

He didn't kiss her now. He shoved his hand under her and squeezed the sugar syrup from her saturated cunt. His thumb made little circles over her swelling clit, and fiery rockets exploded through her brain. She peaked once, sagged against the seat, and launched into another monstrous climax. She heaved and tossed against the seat. She mashed her spasming snatch against his hand. “Oh! Oh! Oh!”

Marcus clenched his jaws and snarled down at her. “Fuck, yeah. That's it. Come on, baby. That's the way.”

She didn't hear him. She could only tumble over and under the breaking waves of ecstasy blasting through her. She never came like that in her life. He grabbed one breast and twisted the nipple hard, but the pain only sent her spinning higher into the stratosphere. Her soaking panties cut her slit open with their tough fibers.

She didn't get a chance to come down from that rolling wave when he tugged his hand free. In seconds, he yanked her zipper open and pulled her pants down over her hips. She hitched her hips into the air, and he slid her pants down to her feet.

Mila kicked them off in a frenzy. She had to get him. She had to have him. She had to break herself on his iron bulk. He pitched the wad of pants, underwear, and shoes into a corner and attacked her bare body with raging fury.

He scooped up her voluptuous ass in both hands and lifted her pelvis to his mouth. He drank her nectar like champagne from a glass. Mila caved back on the seat. She glared up at him in open-mouthed horror. Her orgasmic surges hadn't subsided from his hand, and here he was, mouthing her to greater peaks of carnal bliss.

He couldn't hold her up like that forever, though. He let her sink onto the seat, and her curvaceous form opened before his attentions. Her thighs fell apart, and her luscious pink petals dripped around his cheeks. He sank his face into her slit and nibbled up and down the opening.

He drilled her clit with his all-powerful tongue. He dabbled in her delicious pools until the saturated tissues squirted their elixir onto his tongue. He squeezed her thighs in tender encouragement until she rotated her hips against his mouth in desperate torment.

How could she stand this? How could she survive this constant treatment? Where would it end? Would she wind up in pieces on the floor when this was all over?

She never had time to worry. He plowed two thick fingers around her clit and down to screw into her pulsating cunt. Her cavernous channel yawned wide to receive him, but when his tongue set to work on her clit again, the muscles clamped down around those meaty digits. He flexed all the muscle power in his arms to penetrate her engorged umbra.

Mila gyrated her ass on the seat in time to those deep insertions. She bumped her cervix against his fingers while his mouth banged her clit to distraction. Dear God, that was so damn good! His fingers touched the most sensitive spots along her pussy to titillate her to sweet release.

His shoulders plowed under her thighs and lifted her legs around his neck. He settled into a long, delirious feast on her aching anatomy. He devoured her clit and slid his tongue alongside his fingers to explore her dripping depths.

He grunted and growled at his work. He enjoyed every droplet seeping down his throat and coating his cheeks with glistening goodness. Mila humped her hips against his face and rode him to screaming orgasm all over again.

How long could he go on? How long could he stay submerged in that crimson world of hot blood and foamingdesire?He showed no signs of slowing down, not even when she dissolved in fresh bursts of glorious ecstasy. He only moved lower to cover her pussy with his mouth so the honeyed juices ran onto his tongue instead of down her crack to her bumping ass.

Mila could only sigh and sob and watch in blistering astonishment when he rose towering and deadly before her eyes. His face smoldered with molten passion. Her cum shimmered on his face. His mighty hands swooped down to catch and hold her.

Oh, Blessed Mary Mother of Jesus, please God, what was happening? God and Mary and Jesus couldn't help her now. He grabbed her by the waist and hauled her up off the seat. He sat her on the very edge and heaved her legs around his waist. Every move wrung a scream from her panting lips.

Oh, Jesus! Oh, God! Oh, please! She could pray all she liked. He was in charge here. He was God, her God, and he had her where he wanted her. He had her bare legs spread. He made her wet pussy cum again and again, and he hadn't even taken his clothes off yet. His eyes said it all. He would own her and dominate her. He would bow her before him until she worshiped him, just like the rest of the world already did.

He fixed her with his penetrating eyes and ripped his pants open. “You want it, don't you? Is this what you want? Is this what you've been waiting for?”

She could only stare at him in shock. Ofcourse,she wanted it. He already knew that, but instead of bringing it out and unleashing it on her, he paused with his pants lying open. He nodded at her. “You want it? Huh? You want that thing?”

She couldn't reply. She could only put out her hands and take it. She touched her fingertips to the path of black hair leading under the waistband of his briefs. The angled ridges of muscle disappeared around hiship bones. Something evil and monstrous and wicked and huge waited for her under there. Did she dare touch it? Did she dare wake the dragon from its slumber?

She raked her fingers down to that waistband, and her wrist grazed the warm mound hidden underneath his briefs. He set his hands on his hips and waited. He could wait all day for her to be ready. He wouldn't do this for her. She had to take that step of her own free will.

She shrank from touching it. Why? Didn't she want it? Ofcourseshe did. She wanted it more than anything. She took a firm hold of herself and slipped her hand under the elastic. Soft curly hair surrounded her on all sides, but the comfortable warmth drew her down into a bed of crinkled skin and pulsing desire.

Marcus's jaw clenched tighter, but he didn't take his eyes off her. He watched her explore inside his pants until she found that whip snake buried between his legs. Her fingers choked its neck, and he contracted his abs against her wrist.

Mila watched the effect of her hand on his impassive visage. The more strain she saw, the more confident she became. She stroked his length down to his bushy patch of hair and dragged the loose skin folds up to the head.

His breath caught in his throat. “Fuck, yeah, baby. Fuck, yeah. Oh, fuck.”

The faster she stroked, the more turned on she got. This cock was all hers to do what she wanted with. She could suck it dry. She could sit on it and ride off into the sunset. She could bend over and let it drill her to kingdom come. As long as she had this, she had him. She owned him.

She tightened her grip and yanked. She could make him blow into his pants right now if she kept this up. Just thinking about that cock hidden under his briefs made her weak in the knees. She panted as fast as he did. Her pussy hungered for it.

He sucked in his breath, and when he let it out in a short, agonized gasp, his hand closed around her wrist. He clamped down so hard it hurt, and she whimpered low. “You horny little devil.You wantthat thing? You want me to give you that thing?”

He didn't wait for her answer. He dropped his pants around his hips to free the dragon from its cave. It came up in her hand, raw, pulsing, angry, brutal. She bent down to kiss its angry head, but he already moved between her legs. He cradled her ass in his two big paws, and the dragon reared its head to hunt its prey.

Mila watched it close in on her. She lost all awareness of her hand still surrounding its throbbing shaft. Without meaning to, she guided it into the delicate folds between her legs. Without meaning to, she rubbed its head up and down over her slit and circled it around her clit. She moaned and rocked her cunt toward it.

Marcus pumped his hips between her thighs. His prick slithered up between her petals, and her dribbling juices slathered down his shaft. He plowed it hard against her clit to make her squeak. When he pulled it back, he wedged it tight against her opening, and he wouldn't withdraw again. He held it there with powerful certainty. He knew where he was going. He wasn't going anywhere else.

Mila whined and cried, but he wouldn't back down. He nodded down at her. “Oh, yeah, baby. Oh, yeah.”

She heard her own voice, but she couldn't understand how it could be making those words with no help from her. “Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.”

She wanted it in there. She needed it in there. Maybe he didn't guide it there at all. Maybe her hand did that all by itself.

The next thing she knew, her world split in half. His hot thick meat cracked her flesh apart, and he leaned it into her with all his might. She convulsed all over. Her hand flew back to support her against the seat, and that left him free to plunge his massive cockintoits depths.

He didn't jackhammer her into submission, though. He went about this with the same insistent mastery he brought to every project in his life. He screwed it in, one millimeter at a time. If he encountered any resistance, he paused until it dissipated before his lordship.

He nodded with the slow passage of his snake into her quivering hole. “That's it, baby. That's so right. You know it's so good. Come on.Come on. That's right. Oh, fuck, yeah. Fuck, baby, that pussy is so damn sweet.”

Her mouth fell open. He bent over to plant a kiss on her lips, but she couldn't respond. She could only stare up into his eyes searching her soul. Holy Mother of God, that was so tight and hot and good. That cock was so thick and hard, she couldn't stand it.

He arrived at his cock's natural limit. The head nudged her cervix. All at once, he arched his back. His cock made one quick plunge out andintoits depths again. Mila shrieked, but he already started pumping. He beat that wicked dragon against her tight fissure harder and faster than she could ever imagine. His black pubis knocked her clit to smithereens. She exploded into sensational orgasms before she could stop herself.

He wrapped his muscled arms around her waist and held her sitting straight up against him. He worked his piston with mechanical expertise. His shaft glided to her very center on a slick film of sweet desire. When he withdrew to her quivering curtains, he brought a spurt of steaming nectar with him.

Mila hung suspended in his arms. She couldn't move forward or back or right or left. She didn't have to. He did all the work. He gritted his teeth and snarled in her face, but his quick thrusts came too fast and hard for him to talk dirty now.

What was he doing? Mila couldn’t tell. She knew only the overpowering intensity of his spike hammering her and her blessed tissues greeting his every stroke. She could sing and laugh and cry and pray all at once for that intoxicating invasion into her being.

He bentfurtherforward, and his pounding beat got louder. It matched the pulse thundering in her veins. His lips caught hold of her mouth, but nothing could stop him. He fell forward with his hands on the seat behind her ass, andstill,their sticky flesh slapped together, stuck, and ripped apart for another shrieking union.

Mila couldn't take anymore. She couldn't cum anymore if she wanted to. She collapsed back on the seat, and he rode her down flat. His bulk crushed her onto the black leather. She couldn'tbreathe. His mouth ground against her ear, and his scorching breath stabbed into her brain. He bellowed out loud, and a lightning bolt of hotjizstabbed into her guts. The foaming cream oiled out around his shaft.

Mila got ready to sink into a dizzy pleasure coma, but Marcus caught her up one more time and flipped her over on her chest. He pushed her face down into the seat. Mila closed her eyes. She didn't need to understand how he got his cock back inside her so fast, but he woke her up with a wicked slap on the ass.

She heaved off the seat, but another slap followed. Inch by inch, she started to understand. Those slaps came from his hips against her ass. His prick plowed her furrow deep and hard. She collapsed back on the seat in a moaning heap.

He plungedtohis depths. Her contracting muscles milked the headyjizfrom his spike. He pinned her to the seat with one hand and supported his shoulders with the other while his piston pounded against her upturned backside. Mila drifted through heavenly clouds of rapturous pleasure. His cock excited every inch of her pleasure palace, and seething oceans of orgasm cascaded over her and carried her away.

Chapter 7

Marcus passed his hand across his forehead. “Phew! That was amazing.”

He coughed and straightened his jacket. Mila hitched up her pants and tucked her breasts back into her bra. She arranged herself as best she could in the same place on the seat, but she couldn't think well enough to speak.

She kept looking out the window, but her head still spun from all those mind-blowing orgasms. What in the world just happened to her? No man ever fucked her like that. He pumped her full of his hot sauce and blew her out of the water. What was she thinking? She was supposed to keep this professional, have his baby, and see ya later, alligator.

She wasn't thinking. That was the problem. She let her body get the better of her. She let every rule sail out the window while she swizzled on his smoking hot cock. Damn, he was so hot! He must be the greatest guy in the world in the sack, and she would never have him again. He ruined her on every other guy she would ever meet as long as she lived.

She cradled her swimming head in one hand, but she couldn't clear her thoughts. How could she think about doing it with him again? Where was her self-respect? She had to get out of this limo. She had to get away from him where she could think.

His voice broke in on her confusion. “I suppose you'll want to get to your new condo. You probably want to see where you'll be staying for the next nine months and get settled in.”

Mila spun around. “What?”

“The condo,” he repeated. “You probably want to go there and unwindafter...Anyway, it's right around the corner. Where's your luggage?”

She looked around. “What luggage?”

“You're moving into the condo, aren't you? Don't you have a suitcase or something?”

“I didn't know I was moving into the condo today. I thought I would start living there when the clinic confirmed I was pregnant.”

He shook his head. “You start living there now—if you want to. You can stay somewhere else as long as you want. I just want to make sure you're all taken care of. As long as you're doing all this insemination stuff, you might as well start reaping the benefits.”

She blinked the stars out of her eyes. “All right. I didn't bring any luggage, but I suppose I can go there now. I can drop off this box, at least.”

The limo pulled up in front of what looked like an office building. He led her into the lobby, and they rode the elevator all the way to the top floor, the twenty-third floor. The elevator opened into the biggest apartment Mila ever saw. The ceiling towered high overhead. Vast windows let brilliant daylight streaming in through the roof and three walls.

The living area undulated up and down on many levels. An open-plan kitchen married into an elevated platform with couches and easy chairs overlooking the city. A luxurious bedroom sat on the mezzanine floor above the kitchen.

Mila stared at the place. “You can't mean for me to stay here for nine months.”

“Sure.” Marcus handed her a set of keys. “This one here opens the lobby door during off hours. This key locks the elevator to take you down to the parking garage. You'll find the car in space number 10. These are the car keys. You can take it anywhere you want, andhereis a gas card for fueling up.”

She stared at him with her mouth open. “You can't be serious. This is way too much.”

“It's not enough for what you're doing. Here's a bank card loaded with your spending money. I understand you want to transfer some of the spending money to your mother's mortgage, so here's the phone number for the banker handling the account. Just explain what you want to do, and he'll handle it.”

She took the card and the number. “Thanks.”

“Just do me a favor, will you? Don't transfer any money from your spending account until the following month. I wouldn't want you to be left high and dry without spending money.”

“You don't have to worry about that. There's no way I could spend $10,000 in a month.”

“You'd be surprised. Just do it this way to set my mind at ease, all right?”

“All right.”

“Good. The grocery down the street will bring you a delivery every three days. I set the order for lots of lean meats and fruits and veggies, but feel free to change the order to anything you want. Just hold off on the pickles and ice cream.”

Mila laughed. “Okay.”

He turned to go. “If you tell me where your luggage is, I can have it sent up.”

She darted forward. “Hey, Marcus.”

He turned back.

“Thanks.Thanks,for...all this.”

He whirled around. In a flash, he was on her. He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her feet off the ground. He sat her down hard on the kitchen counter and fought his way between her knees. He mauled her mouth with passionate kisses.

She couldn't do anything but kiss him back. She wasn't expecting this. What did he mean?

Atlast,he tore himself away. “I had an amazing time with you today. Almost too amazing. I don't know. I don't know what to think, but I better go now before we do it all over again. I can't thank you enough for what you're doing, and I don't mean what we just did in the limo. I should be thanking you for that, too. I never had sex like that before in my life. You're amazing. You really are.”

Before he could say anything else, he hurried out of the condo. A moment later, the elevator dinged and hummed away.

Mila slid off the counter. His lips still burned on her mouth. His tongue still tickled her taste buds. Holy fucking crap, that guy was hot! He thanked her for what they just did? She should fall on her knees and kiss his feet for what he just did.

Her knees wobbled when she tried to walk. She sat down on the couch, too inebriated to move. She could only stare straight in front of her, but her whole body quivered with excitement and arousal. Even now, after he left, she ached for him inside her. She ached for his prick in her hand and hisjizdraining out of her cunt to wet her ass against the seat.

Hisjizand her cum dampened her pants and turned her on beyond belief. What did he do to her? He turned her from a professional to a blithering sex maniac. He made her his slave. If he walked through that door right now and grabbed her, she would fall into his arms and orgasm her way to screaming ecstasy all over again.

She wanted him. She wanted all of him, all the time. She wanted to lie down here on the couch and wait for him to come back and take her. Her mind invented countless combinations and positions in which he would take her. She would cum and cum and cum, never ending. He would have to tie her to the bed to stop her attacking him the moment he walked in the door.

She panted and sobbed, but he didn't come back. He wouldn't come back. He wanted her to have his baby. That's the best way she could serve him now. She lay there for hours until darkness enveloped the city. The lights came on.

She slid her hands up her body to her breasts. She squeezed her breasts and thought about him massaging them and pinching her nipples. One hand burrowed down her pants to her saturated crotch. She beat her clitoris until she wrung one last orgasm from her exhausted body, but it wasn't the same. It wasn't as good as the countless orgasms he gave her with that wicked dragon of his.

She spent three years working in the same office with him. She spent three years on the phone with him and learning the most intimate secrets of his business. Only now did she understand what he was really like, and now she would never get him back.

Chapter 8

Three weeks later, Mila went to the Roman bathroom in her upstairs suite in the luxury condo where she now lived. She sat on the toilet and pissed on the testing strip. She set it on the sink, but when she came back half an hour later to check it, she didn't see a speck of purple in sight.

She carried the strip downstairs and called the clinic. “I'm supposed to be undergoing artificial insemination and I've been testing my urine forovulation. I just used my last strip, and I haven't ovulated yet.”

“You better come in.” The receptionist made an appointment for that morning.

Mila found herself in the same doctor's office. The doctor smiled the same reassuring smile. “This happens sometimes. We might need to test your ovaries. You might have some hidden fertility problem we don't know about.”

Mila froze. “How can I have a fertility problem? I'm twenty-seven years old.”

The doctor shrugged. “We see it all the time. You're never too young to have problems, butfirstwe'll do some routine blood work. Sit right there. I'll do the draw now, and we'll have the results in fifteen minutes.”

She tightened a strap around Mila's arm and took avialof blood. Mila pretended to read magazines in the waiting area, but her heart raced. What if she had some fertility problem? What if she couldn't get pregnant at all? Her whole deal with Marcus would be off. She would have to find some way to return the $100,000 he already advanced her. That would mean she couldn't pay off her mother's mortgage after all.

Nightmare scenarios haunted her. That was the longest fifteen minutes of her life. At last, the receptionist called out, “Mila? You can go inside now.”

She resisted the urge to run back to the doctor's office. She sat there alone for another five minutes before the doctor came in. The doctor set a file folder on the desk and smiled at Mila. “The good news is you don't have a fertility problem.”

“Really? That is good news. So why am I not ovulating?”

The doctor leaned forward. “You're not ovulating because you're pregnant.”

Mila blinked. “What?”

The doctor opened her folder. “I guess it just happened naturally. Your partner Marcus's sperm samples are all strong, full sperm samples, so he doesn't have any fertility problems, either. You're pregnant. Congratulations.”

Mila couldn't answer. How she got out of that office, she had no idea. She found herself walking down the street. People bumped into her, bounced off, and disappeared into the crowd.

She was pregnant. Should she be happy or sad? Isn't this what she wanted? Isn't this what Marcus paid her for? She already sent the first $100,000 to her mother's bank, as well as half the first $10,000 of her spending money.

Now what? Marcus would be pleased. She would go on living in that condo. She would go on working on her Masters' Thesis, just like he said she would. She would take her daily walks and work out in the gym. Nothing would change—nothing but her.

She was pregnant, but not the way she thought she would be. She didn't get pregnant from lying on some doctor's table getting inseminated with a vial of sperm. She got pregnant from fucking Marcus in the back of his limo. That shouldn't make any difference, but it did.

This baby was half her and half Marcus. This baby wasn't some test tube experiment. It was the product of their insatiable passion for each other. What difference did that make? Did the fact that they did it invalidate their legal contract?

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She couldn't go back on the contract. She didn't really want this baby. Did she? Of course not. She had a career, a life. She had her youth. She didn't want to squander that—and for what? To raise someone else's kid?

Marcus could rally all the legal eagles in the country to enforce his rights. He could drag her name through the mud so she never worked in the corporate world again. Why would she throw his generosity back in his face by nullifying the contract? She didn't even want to nullify the contract. She wanted the money, not this kid.

She found her way back to the condo, but she couldn't do anything more than sit on the couch and stare out at the view.I'm pregnant.The words kept repeating in her mind.I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant.

The world looked different to her now. All the things she used to value no longer meant anything. She would never be able to break the news to her mother. Once she started to show, she wouldn't even be able to visit her family until after the baby was born. She would have to go underground so her mother never found out she was pregnant.

Those simple logistical facts robbed her of all the joy she should have felt at being pregnant. Getting pregnant, looking forward to becoming a mother, should have filled her heart and soul with the greatest joy of her life. Instead, they left her hollow. She would never hold this child in her arms. She would never kiss it. She would never even know its name. In all likelihood, Marcus would never let her see it.

For the first time, she hated her job. She hated her career. She hated her life. She wanted nothing more than to have a child of her own—and not just any child. She wanted this child. She wanted to nurture it, to care about what she ate and how she exercised for the sake of this child. She wanted to start mothering it now, and she never wanted that mothering to end, not even when the child grew up.

She didn't want to let it go. She didn't want Marcus to take it away. She didn't want the money. Her mother could rot in hell before Mila would let this child go. To hell with the contract and everything else.

She paced around the condo in a ferment of tempestuous emotions. Nothing made sense. Here she was, eating his food and living in his condo and taking his money. She should be throwing them back in his face.

In the end, she got herself calmed down enough to think the situation through. She already agreed she would have no rights to this child. Even if she wanted to change something now and at least visit the child while it grew up, she had to talk to Marcus first.

She positioned herself on the couch and sent him a text.I'm pregnant.That said it all, didn't it?

She waited in the living room. He burst out of the elevator the way she knew he would, and she went to meet him in the entry. He exploded into her life like he never left. She hadn't seen him since that fateful day they did it in the limo coming back from the clinic, but he looked and smelled the same.

He swept the condo with his eyes, and when he saw her, he rushed at her. He swept her up in his arms and spun her around before setting her down. His rolling laugh echoed off the high ceiling. “Yay! You did it! This is great, isn't it! Yeah! What a lucky break, huh? You did it! I knew you would. I knew you'd be perfect for this.”

She tried to push him away, but she couldn't stop smiling at his joy. “Take it easy. It's great for you. It's not great for me.”

He stopped and frowned at her. “It's not? Why isn't it?”

“Don't you see? I got pregnant from us doing it in the limo. I got pregnant the old fashioned way. You didn't have to bank all that sperm after all.”

He stared at her. Then he burst out laughing. “I'm glad it worked out that way. It just got the job done sooner.” He hugged her again. “Banking all that sperm doesn't matter. I would have been jerking off thinking about nailing you anyway. I always do.”

Mila froze. “You do?”

“Sure. Don't you know you make me raging horny? Come on and sit down right here. I want to celebrate. I brought a bottle of sparkling cider. I was going to bring champagne, but then I remembered.”

She pushed him off. “What is there to celebrate? This is terrible.”

“What do you mean? This is exactly what we wanted.” He wrenched the cork out of the bottle and a bubble of carbonation erupted all over his hand. He barely got it over the counter in time to catch the run-off. “You're pregnant. I'm getting my baby. You're getting the money to pay off your mother's house. What could be better?”

“Don't you understand? We had sex. This baby was conceived by two people having sex. This pregnancy nullifies the contract. The contract states that the baby would be conceived through artificial insemination. This is a whole different kettle of fish. Legally, I have as much right to this baby as you do. We would have to go through the whole custody thing to determine who gets what and who has what rights.”

Marcus stared at her. “You want to nullify the contract?”

Mila started talking faster. “I don't want to let this baby go. We conceived this baby in one afternoon of unbridled passion. That makes this baby half mine and half yours. I never thought I would feel this way about getting pregnant, but now that I am, I feel differently. I want to keep this baby. I want to mother it and make it my own.”

Marcus slammed the bottle down on the counter. The fizzy juice ejaculated over his hand and ran off onto the carpet. He bellowed through gritted teeth. “You are NOT nullifying thecontract. I don't care how differently you feel. You're sticking to the contract. If you try to take this baby away from me, I'll drag you through all the courts. I'll ruin you. You see if I don't.”

“I know you have a lot more money and power than I can shake a stick at, Marcus, but you'll never rob me of my rights as this baby's mother. We both wanted to have sex, and I got pregnant. Your contract doesn't mean spit now. This is my baby just as much as it is yours, and I'll fight you tooth and nail to keep it. You think you'll beat me with money and power? You'll see I'm not so easily beaten.”

Marcus spun around fast. He snatched the sparkling cider bottle off the counter and sent it flying across the room. It smashed into the wall and shattered into a million pieces. Broken glass and fizzing cider cascaded onto the floor.

He spun around the other way and pointed toward the elevator. “Get out of here! Pack up and get out right now. I never want to see your face again. Make sure you have the whole $100,000 transferred back into my bank account by the end of the day or I'll destroy you with everything I've got. If you take so much as a paper napkin from this apartment, I'll have you arrested and charged with fraud and conspiracy. Do you hear me?”

Mila held up her hands. “Cool it, Marcus. Can't we talk about this in a civil manner like two intelligent adults? Let's not start this off on the wrong foot.”

He thundered into her face. “Get out of here! Get out before I smash your fucking face in! You bitch! You fucking bitch! You played me like a cheap saxophone. You saw your chance to cheat me out of my money, and you diddled me to your heart's content. You fucking bitch! Get the fuck out of my condo now beforeI...I swear to God if I ever see you again, I'll rip your fucking head off.”

Mila backed away in terror, but he didn't come after her. He grabbed up a bar stool from the kitchen counter and hurled it with all his strength at the big windows overlooking the city. Mila ducked and covered her head with both arms, but the stool bounced off the glass without doing any damage.

When she looked again, she saw Marcus's back disappearing around the corner toward the elevator.

Chapter 9

Mila slumped down on the bed in the mezzanine bedroom. She buried her face in her hands, but she couldn't get Marcus's words out of her head. This was just frickin' great. This was absolutely brilliant. Why did she have to go make a mess of this?

She couldn't sit here moping about it, though. What was done, was done. She couldn't go back on it. She didn't want to, anyway. She had a child to think about now. She had to get her act together in a hurry.

She took her suitcase out of the closet and started packing it with all the things she just took out when she moved into this condo. She zipped it up and sat down again with her phone in her lap. She curled up on the pillows one last time and dialed the number.

“Hi, Mom. It's just me checking in. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired, that's all. How are you? How's the clean-out going? Yeah, I know Dad had a lot of old stuff packed around the place. You'll manage all right. Have you heard from Charlie? That's good.”

Mila let a long pause pass by. She listened to her mother's sing-song voice. She waited for a discrete opening.

“Listen, Mom, I've got something to tell you. I'm coming home for a while, but I won't be staying. I've decided to stop working in New York for a while, but I don't think I'll work in Jersey, either. I was thinking about moving out to the West Coast. I need a change of scene.”

“Why would you want to do that?” her mother asked.

Mila took a deep breath. “I'm pregnant, Mom. I just found out. I want to spend some time with you and the rest of the family, and then I think I want to make a big change. I haven't really decided what I want to do yet. I need some time to think.”

Mila sat in silence and listened to the explosion of exclamations and tears and congratulations she knew would come when she broke the news. She smiled at her mother's promises and plans. She knew her mother would rejoice at a grandchild on the way.

How could she think of robbing her mother and the rest of her family this precious experience? She must have been out of her mind. None of them would trade this for all the money in the mint.

She got off the phone as soon as she could and finished packing. She took one last look around the condo. It sure was nice, but she never belonged in a place like this anyway. She would go home to her mother's quaint little house. She had nine months to rebuild her life and get ready for the next phase of her evolution.

She wheeled her suitcase downstairs and stood in the entry waiting for the elevator. The bell pinged, but when the door slid open, Marcus rushed out. He grabbed both her hands and started talking so fast she could barely keep up with what he said. “Oh, thank goodness you're still here. Listen, Mila. I'm a troll. I'm really sorry for saying all those things. You're absolutely right. This baby is as much yours as it is mine. I have no right to take that away from you, not after the time we spent in the limo. I don't know what I was thinking.”

“I know what you were thinking. You were thinking we had a contract, and you expected me to stick to it. I understand that. You have every right to be angry.”

He waved her comments away. “Just listen to me. I've got it all worked out. I figured out a way we can both get what we want. It's the perfect solution.”

“I'm listening.”

He took a deep breath and puffed out his cheeks. All of a sudden, he dropped on one knee in front of her. “Marry me, Mila. I'm crazy about you and I always have been. I was a damn fool to think I could go through this baby thing with you and not get attached to you somehow. Now we're both in up to our necks. This is the only way we can both get what we want. We'll both get to keep the baby. We'll raise it together instead of tearing each other apart fighting over it. You can keep the money for your mother's house. Everything will be perfect.”

Mila's jaw dropped. “Marry you? You must be out of your mind.”

He broke into hysterical giggles. “I know I am. I'm head over heels in love with you, Mila. That's why I lost it just now. I couldn't face losing you. Marry me, and let's raise this baby together.”

“I can't marry you, Marcus. You're not thinking clearly. You're in shock because I said I wanted to keep this baby. When you have a chance to think about it, you'll realize you don't really want to marry me.”

He didn't seem to hear. “We're a match made in heaven, you and me. We obviously have strong sexual chemistry. We work together well. We respect each other. It's the perfect solution in a thousand ways. I want to cherish you, Mila. I want to take care of you and support you through this pregnancy. Stay here. We can stay here together until we get all the arrangements finalized. Come on. What do you say?”

She couldn't stop shaking her head, but her eyes shone. “I'm glad you're not mad at me anymore, but you're only saying this because you don't want to lose this baby. You don't really want to marry me, or we would have connected a long time ago. We had one afternoon of wild sex and I got pregnant, but that doesn't mean we should get married.”

A shadow crossed his face. “Do you feel the same way about me that I feel about you?”

She squeezed his hands. “You're a wonderful, smart, handsome, sexy man. You're a dynamite businessman and a great boss. I never had sex with anyone like I had with you. I don't know if I'll ever be the same, but this is all too sudden. I never thought about marrying you. I was thinking about moving out West and rebuilding my life mothering a child.”

He frowned. “You can't move out West. You can't take the child away from me.”

She raised him from the ground. “Please, let's not argue about that now. We both want what's best for this child. Let's work together to give it the best life possible, but getting married? That's putting the cart before the horse, don't you think?”

Marcus nodded, but he couldn't stop frowning. “You're right. It's too sudden. I just blew up at you, and now I'm asking you to marry me. This is all too much at once. Why don't you stay here for a few more days? We can talk about this and decide what to do.”

“I can't stay here. I'm going home to my mother's for a while. I just spoke to her on the phone and she's over the moon about this baby.”

He kept nodding. His expression softened. “You're right. You need your family around you right now. Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help you. I want to be part of this. I want to help you and the baby.”

What else was there to say? She walked him out of the condo. When the elevator opened in the lobby, they parted with a simple nod. Mila wheeled her suitcase out to the sidewalk to catch a cab when an overwhelming wave of exhaustion swept over her. She reeled on her heels and had to support herself against a pole before she collapsed on a bench by the bus stop.

She cradled her head in both hands. Nausea ate at her guts, and she gasped for a breath of fresh air.A coldsweat broke out all overherbody. Did she have nine months of this to look forward to? How could she ever get through it? How could she work like this, when she couldn't even stand up? All her energy drained out of her. All her motivation to rebuild her life crumbled between her fingers.

She didn't want to deal with her mother right now. She didn't want to go anywhere. She wanted to lie down on the couch and fall asleep. She should have taken Marcus up on his offer to stay in the condo a few more days.

What if he was right? She couldn't do this alone. Even if she could, she didn't want to. She didn't want to call on her family for help. She always prided herself on running her own life. She couldn't call on anyone for help. She was alone in the world.

Only one person on the planet cared about her and this baby. Only one person cared as much as she did about giving this baby the best: Marcus. He already said he wanted to help her. He cared about her enough to want to marry her. Why didn't she jump at the chance when he offered? Why did she have to kick him in the teeth?

Did she really want to marry him? Would she want to marry him if she wasn't pregnant with his baby? No one could ask for a nicer, smarter, sexier, more successful man. He lit her fire like no one else. That she knew for a fact. Why not? Why couldn't she marry him and let him support her through this pregnancy?

Heaven knew she didn't want to fight him in court. She didn't want to scratch his eyes out over who would have the kid's birthday parties when. No kid deserved parents like that. She would do anything to spare the kid a life of constant stress and hostility. Would she really do anything? Did she care for her child enough to marry Marcus?

When she looked the unvarnished truth in the face, she couldn't deny it. She wanted him. She wanted to love him. She wished more than anything she could fall on her knees and love him the way he said he loved her. She would give anything to be able to do that. So why couldn't she?

Was it just her stupid pride that held her at a distance? She couldn't stop thinking about him as her boss. Well, he wasn't her boss anymore. He was....what was he?

Her heart searched the world for one solid anchor point to stop her drifting away into uncertainty. She found nothing to hold onto—nothing but him. He offered her everything. He offered her a lifeline.

She could cut her moorings and drift. She could kick ass and rebuild if she wanted to. She could move somewhere no one knew her, but why should she? Why shouldn't she seize the happiness staring her straight in the face?

Chapter 10

Darkness crowded the windows around the Conroy Limited building. Desks stood empty and computer screens slumbered. The elevator hissed open, and Mila stepped out into the reception area she knew so well. She tiptoed between the desks.

A single bright gleam of light shone under the doors at the far end. She paused to raise her hand, but she didn't knock. She rallied her courage and turned the knob. She pushed the doors open and walked into Marcus's office.

He sat in his chair behind his desk. The computer screen glowed, and the overhead lights lit up the room, but his face didn't light up when he looked up. He stared at her in blank indifference. She stopped in the middle of the office. They regarded each other across the desk.

Would he rant and rave and threaten her out of the building, or would he just sit and stare at her like that, like a stranger? That's what she was, a stranger. She turned against him. She took his generosity and spat in his face. No wonder he hated her.

She took a few more steps, but he still didn't respond. She had to take drastic measures. She walked around his desk, and he swiveled his chair around to face her. She went down on her knees in front of him and laid her arms on his thighs.

She nibbled up the inside of his leg from his knee toward the taut bulge inside his pants. She gazed up at him, but he only stared down at her with that hollow expression on his face. He didn't respond at all.

She took hold of his belt. She nuzzled her nose and mouth into his crotch while she slipped the tongue through the buckle. She started on his fly when his hands landed on her arms. He held her still and stopped her. “Don't do this to me, Mila. Don't torture me like this. I can't stand you touching me when you don't feel the same way I do.”

She lifted her head to meet his gaze. “I do feel the same way about you. I worship you.”

She set to work on his fly again. She unzipped him and laid the two sides aside to reveal the blue cotton triangle of his briefs. His cock lay curled in its nest underneath. She bent down and kissed it awake. A ragged groan escaped Marcus's mouth. “For Christ's sake, Mila. Don't do this. Just leave me alone. It's hard enough without this.”

“I can't leave you alone. I want you too much. I want to love you and worship you and suck you. I want us to be together and raise this child together. You're the only one I care about. You're the only one I want to share this child with. I love you. I don't want to be anywhere except with you.”

He frowned. “Are you sure? You said you couldn't, that it was too sudden.”

“It was too sudden, but only for me. That's why I said no. You surprised me, but now I know it really is what I want. I want you. I want you with me, and I want to share the future with you.”

She put her hand into his briefs and pulled out that thick rubbery sausage. It flopped in her hand, but the blood pulsed in her hand when she sucked its little head. The shaft swelled in her hand. Marcus glared down at her. She kept her eyes on his face while she sucked his cock hard.

His ferocious frown deepened and his breath grated between his teeth. His chest and stomach convulsed with her sucks until he gasped out loud on tormented agony. All of a sudden, his hand shot out. He grasped her by the hair and jerked her head back hard.

He choked off his cock around the base and ran the head across her lips, but he held her back so she couldn't suck it. Her mouth hung open to catch it, but he wouldn't let her have it. “Do you want that cock? You want to suck my cock, you wicked littlefiend?”

She gasped out loud. “I want it. I want your cock. I want to suck you and fuck you. I want to give you your baby.”

He bent over and snarled in her face. “Are you mine? Do you want to be mine forever? You're gonna be mine forever, or you're gonna walk out that door right now. You'll never touch my cock again, you little devil.”

“I'm yours forever. Do whatever you want to me. Stick your cock down my throat. I want you to.”

He hurled himself back in the chair and threw her away. He grasped botharmrests in a white-knuckle grip. “Show me. Show me how much you worship me. Show me how you want to belong to me forever.”

She fell on him with all her energy. She took hold of that hard cock in both hands and shoved it in her mouth. She rolled the umbrella over her lip until the thing pumped and throbbed in her hand. She gloried in sucking it, in seeing him ferocious and untamed up there in the chair above her.

She bent her head over his cock and set to work. She swallowed him deep into her throat and sucked him until the first pearls ofjizstung her sinuses. He curled his lips back from his teeth and fought tobreaththrough the intense waves of desire shooting up his body.

She took hold of his nuts and clamped them in avice. She tugged them down to stretch his skin tight. His head fell back on the chair, and his eyes drifted closed in a drunken revelry of pleasure. Mila drew his cock out and locked her suction around its head. She sucked until the serpent popped through her lips. She engulfed him to his limit in her throat until she couldn'tbreathe.

Her hair hung around her face so she couldn't see him anymore. He surprised her by gathering her hair and holding it out of the way. He lifted her head off his cock to face him. “I love you, Mila. I don't want to live without you.”

She devoured his precious face with her eyes. “I love you. I love you more than anything. I'll never leave you. I need you too much.”

He kissed her, but his breath caught in his throat. He pulled back to look into her eyes.

“I need you. I'm yours.”

The next thing she knew, Mila found herself locked with him in an eternal kiss. That kiss went on and on without end. She couldn't get enough of him. She gobbled his lips and swooped his tongue with hers. She hugged him against her and tackled his clothes with both hands. He tore at her with equal ferocity.

Somehow, she got her hands around his cock again. She stroked it with all the loving care in her heart. She wanted to suck it, to worship him and it, but he wouldn't let her mouth loose from his ravaging kisses.

He stripped off her jacket, and her shirt disappeared to reveal her bra lying frilly and perfect against her skin. He grappled with her breasts and gnawed them in ravenous desire. His prick pumped into her hands. The skin stretched tight against the bulging veins. He scraped his rigid spike across her stomach in a desperate race to get her clothes off in time.

He only paused long enough to rip off his jacket and shirt. His massive chest rose up high over Mila's head. He hoisted himself off his chair and knelt down in front of her. Their kisses welded them together in eternal union, never to be torn apart.

His chest met her breasts, and her nipples itched to touch him beyond her bra. He got her pants unsnapped and slid them down, but he couldn't get them past her thighs. He left them there and slid his own pants down, but his knees on the floor held them there at half mast.

Mila never let go of that cock. That cock anchored her through any hardship. As long as she had that, nothing else mattered. Marcus didn't tug it out of herhandbut left it lying there. She held him by that leash until he stood up tall and immovable before her. They knelt on the floor facing each other with their lips still tangled in kisses.

Marcus gave her bra one rip, and her voluptuous breasts flopped into his hands. He gave both nipples a pinch and his hands flew around to grab her ass. He hauled her toward him, and she guided his unerring spike between her legs.

Oh, sweet Jesus! The second time was better than the first. She never took her eyes off him or tore her lips away from his mouth. His prick dug its point into her tender tissues, but her pants held her legs together so she couldn't spread them.

He didn't care. He plowed in and overcame any resistance with his masterful hands around her ass.  He prodded her lips apart until he found the molten center where her juices flowed. He rocked his tool against her opening. Her mouth sagged open in a delighted moan, and he was in.

Her thighs held her pussy close around his beating cock. Her lips crinkled around the shaft until her elixir coated them and lubricated his smooth passage to her fiery insides. She quaked before the sheer intensity of that penetration, but she couldn't close her eyes. She couldn't escape his dominating gaze demanding her attention. He held her enthralled before his world-shattering power.

He bored to her very soul with that gaze. He owned her and commanded her to respond to him.He benther to his will, and she had no choice but to bow. He penetrated to her core with his driving spike and touched her soul to quickening ecstasy.

His pubic bone excited her clit with every slithering insertion of his manhood into her smoking hole, but she still didn't rocket into orgasm the way she did in the limo. Her whole being waited for his command. She was nothing without him. She knew that now.

Her body rounded with pregnancy to the curvy form of a fertility goddess. He completed her with his mighty phallus probing her depths. He awoke ancient dreams and visions in her soul. The energy moving through her erupted out of the lost reaches of human existence until she embodied pureunchainedsexual reality.

She needed this. Shewasthis. This was her life and her future and her highest calling. She rode down hard on that devil demon invading her body. The blistering erotic power swelled inside her until she couldn't contain the volcanic pressure any longer. She shivered. Her joints turned to liquid.

He moved her where he wanted her. He guided her hips back and forth along his length to strike deep into her fissure. Oh, how could he do this to her? How could he destroy her like this, only to complete her and make her over into something utterly new? She didn't recognize herself. She embodied insatiable lust and craven hunger for his raw throbbing flesh. Her pussy ate him up. It chewed him up and spat him out to swallow him again.

She howled into his mouth in raving demonic madness. She shuddered to her bones, but that pounding spike gave her no peace. It nagged her secrets and discovered her most delicious hiding places. It set fire to every inch of her inner territory until each stroke of his piston brought her to another tremulous climax.

Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Oh, yes! She wanted it. She loved it. She could never get enough of it, and she loved him more than ever for giving it to her. He wrote his signature on her soul. His seed planted its roots inside her and sprouted into a living, breathing person all its own. It grew into a flowering tree that gave nourishing fruit to both of them for the rest of their lives.

Just when she thought nothing could give her more pleasure, he seized her hips and spun her around to face away from her. He backed her against his spike, but he didn't bend her over or try to spread her legs. He left her pants where they were, with her thighs tied together above the knees.

He positioned her in front of him, and his prick screwed its way between her butt cheeks. He found the same saturated opening he just left behind, and her juicy cum-spattered cunt spread to welcome him in. He guided her back and started his pounding rhythm all over again.

Mila sagged against his granite frame. He pumped against her ass for a while. Then he slipped one hand in front of her and groped down between her legs to find her engorged slit. He swirled his fingers in her nectar and circled her clit in time to his cock drilling her from behind.

Her head lolled back on his shoulder, and she drifted in semi-consciousness. He took her with his hips slamming her rounded ass. His shaft buried between her thighs to pump her full of that golden light of heavenly pleasure while his fingers teased her clit to ever-increasing peaks of ecstasy.

She couldn't get any higher if she wanted to. She rippled on endless rolling tremors of climax, vision, and rapture. Her body rocked back and forth between one orgasm and the other. When one body part subsided into blissful rest, another exploded into cosmic fulfillment once again.

She rested in his arms. Nothing bad could ever happen to her there. She found the place she belonged. When he plunged his dripping spike to its hilt in her shimmering flesh, his seed scattered onfertileground to grow new life.

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SEAL’D CINDERELLA

Chapter 1

“Would you come into my office for a moment, please, Sonya?”

Sonya Holt picked up her notepad and followed Cameron O’Toole into the plush office where she found him sitting behind his big oak desk. He looked upfromhis phone when she walked in.

“Have a seat. I want you to edit my speech for the Rotary meeting tomorrow night.”

She sat down in the armchair opposite and set her notepad on her knee with her pen poised over it.

Cameron swiveled his chair around and leaned back. “You’re a very good secretary. I wasn’t expecting much from a temp, especially one as young as you, but you’ve proved your worth in the last two weeks. How would you like a permanent position here?”

Sonya rested her pen hand on her knee. She wouldn’t be taking any notes on the speech anytime soon. “Well, that would depend on the conditions, thebenefits,and pay and all that. I enjoytemping. I wasn’t in the market for a permanent position, but I’m grateful for the offer.”

He swiveled back the other way. “Think it over. I’ll email you the full offer so you can see if it’s something you want to do.”

She lifted her pen again. “Okay. Are you ready to work on the speech now?”

He got up and paced back and forth behind his desk. “I better tell you right out front that the position I want you to fill isn’t a secretarial one, either. I want you to come on as my long-term executive assistant.”

Sonya stiffened. “Then I’m certain I would have to decline that.”

“May I ask why?”

“I’m not an EA. I’m too young to take a long-term position committed to a single company, let alone a single executive. As a temp, I can go anywhere in the world, make some money, and move on. I don’t want to tie myself down to one person—or place.”

“As my EA, you would be traveling the world.”

“But I wouldn’t be free to come and go as I wished. I would have to answer to you and be at your beck and call.” She held up her hand when his head whipped around. “I’m sorry. I didn’tmeanto say it like that, but I would have to decline an offer to be your EA. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I appreciate your frankness. That’s why I offered you this job. I know I can trust you to give me the plain truth when I ask for it.”

Sonya sat silent and waited for him to say something else, but he only paced back and forth in front of the office window. Anyone could see Cameron O’Toole used to be a Navy SEAL. He barely fit into his square-cut suit, and the striations of his chest muscles stretched against his shirt when he moved his arms.

He wore his soft brown hair longer on top, but he kept the sides and back buzzed off short. His green eyes snapped when he looked around, and he clipped his words in a crisp, commanding sort of way. He snapped his eyes up and down Sonya, too, when he looked at her.

That look always made her feel like a raw recruit in front of a drill sergeant, but he never spoke to her with anything but the utmost politeness and respect. He never gave her any reason to withhold her unvarnished opinions, even when she critiqued his writing or his speeches.

While she waited for him to finish his pacing, she ran through what being his EA would be like. She enjoyed working as his temp secretary in the last few weeks. She appreciated the challenge of editing his blog posts and his newsletters. She didn’t get that kind of challenge often in a temp job.

Cameron O’Toole headed his own hand-built empire of internet consultation, motivational material, podcasts, blog, and master courses for executive teams and political hopefuls. He spent his whole life commanding. He commanded her, too, but he did it in such a way that inspired her to rise to greater success in her own career while contributing to his. He made money hand over fist making everyone in the world believe they could be as successful as he was.

At last, he sat back down in his chair and picked up his tablet. “I guess we can get started on the speech now.”

Sonya picked up her pen. No hurry. She could wait all day for him to be ready.

Instead of starting on it, though, he tossed the tablet down again. “The thing is, Sonya, I really need an EA and I don’t want another one. I want you. As a matter of fact, it has to be you.”

“Why does it have to be me? I’m sure there are plenty of others you could screen to find one more qualified than me. I really don’t have any EA experience.”

“Nope. I don’t want to screen any others. The way you’ve edited my work in the last three weeks has been invaluable.” He covered his mouth with his hand to suppress a laugh. “Do you want to hear something funny? Everyone who has ever edited my work has made me feel inadequate.”

“You? Inadequate? I don’t think so.”

“Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true. I can’t stand having my work edited, but you do it in a way that makes me want to improve it. I don’t take it personally from you. That’s how I know you have to be my EA. I’ve studied motivation most of my adult life, and I still can’t figure out what you do or how you do it, but it sure works. I can’t see any of my own methods in your approach, but I want to study it and apply it to my business.”

“Excuse me, Cameron, but with all due respect, I don’t have to be your EA. I don’t even have to be your secretary. I’m a free agent. I decide what I do and where I work and for whom.”

“I know. That’s what makes you so fascinating.”

Sonya blushed. “I’m hardly fascinating, and I came in here to edit a speech, not talk about myself.”

“Actually, I brought you in here to talk about yourself. I want to know what I can do to get you as my EA. Is it the freedom of movement you want? I can do that. Is it the independent contractor role? We can do that, too. I can tailor your employment conditions to match your requirements.”

Sonya shifted her pen and notepad into one hand. “Listen, Cameron, I already said no. If you can’t accept that as my final answer, I probably shouldn’t be working with you at all. I’ll gather up my stuff and contact the temp service to send you another secretary.”

He held out his hand, but he didn’t even try to hide his smile. “Sit down, Sonya. If you don’t want to be my EA, you don’t have to be. Come on and sit down.”

She eyed him. “I won’t sit down unless you promise you won’t mention me being your EA again.”

He laughed out loud. “I promise I won’t mention it again, and I won’t email you a long-term job offer, and I won’t compliment you on your editorial style, either.”

She did her best not smile and resumed her seat. “All right. Can we work on the speech now?”

“No, we can’t. I’m not done asking you about yourself. I want you to tell me something about your personal life.”

She let her wrist fall on her knee. “Do we have to?”

“Yes, we have to. All that globe-trotting must play havoc on your personal relationships.”

“Not really. I don’t really have any personal relationship.”

His eyes flew open. “You don’t? Well, that proves my point, doesn’t it?”

"What exactly is your point?”

“That globe-trotting plays havoc with your personal relationships.”

“I didn’t have any personal relationships when I wasn’t globe-trotting, either. I’ve got my mother in Boise, but she’s my only relative.”

“What about your friends? Do you have friends?”

“I have my best friend from college, but she got married and moved to Seattle, so I haven’t seen her in a few years. I have two other good friends, but since I moved to the East Coast, we only communicate by email and occasionally Skype. Other than that, I meet people at my postings and usually move on.”

“What about boyfriends? How do you meet boyfriends?”

“I have a boyfriend.”

His head whipped around. “You do? You never told me that.”

“You never asked.”

“So what’s his name?”

Sonya looked right and left. “Is this conversation relevant to your Rotary speech?”

“It’s not relevant to my speech, but it’s relevant to me. What’s your boyfriend’s name, and how did you meet him?”

“His name is Liam, and I met him onOKCupid.”

“So that’s how you do it. You meet people on the internet when you move to a new place, and when you move on, you leave them behind. I understand. Easy come, easy go.”

“It’s not like that. Liam and I are very close. There’s nothing easy come, easy go about it.”

“How long have you two been together?”

“I’ve been temping around Philly for three years, so that’s how long we’ve been together.”

“And are you happy with your relationship?”

“If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be in it.”

“Come on, Sonya. You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t see how my relationship with Liam can have anything to do with you.”

“I want to know how you can stay in a relationship with a man for three years but you won’t commit to a job for the long term.”

“I haven’t committed to Liam for the long term, either. We aren’t married.”

“Are you monogamous?”

“What!? What are you talking about? Now I know you’re messing with me. I’m outta here.”

He didn’t jump up to stop her walking out. He didn’t even lean forward in his chair. He fixed his sharp eyes on her. “I’m trying to assess your ability to commit to anything, animal, vegetable, or mineral. Are you monogamous with the Liam of yours or not?”

She sank back into her chair. How did he manage to deflate her so fast? “We haven’t had that conversation.”

“You haven’t had that conversation in three years? That means you’re not monogamous.”

Sonya’s cheeks burned. She looked away.

“That bothersyou, doesn’t it? It bothers you that you’re not monogamous.”

“It doesn’t bother me.”

“Then why are you so mad at me for saying it?”

“It doesn’t bother me that we’re not monogamous, and I’m not mad at you for saying it. I mad at....I’m not mad at anything.”

“You’re mad at Liam about something, something related to you’re not being monogamous.”

She muttered down at her pen. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“I’m only asking because I care about you, Sonya. I wouldn’t like to think anyone was taking advantage of you.”

She couldn’t lift her head to look at him. “Liam is not taking advantage of me. He’s cheating on me.”

Chapter 2

Cameron sat perfectly still. He didn’t swivel in his chair, and he didn’t say a word. How did he worm that confession out of her with so many pointed questions? How did he know? He didn’t know. That was the thing. No one could weasel his way into a person’s brain like Cameron. He aimed for the heart of everything, and he hit it.

Sonya glanced up at him. “I guess cheating on me isn’t the right word for it since we never had a conversation about being monogamous. I never minded being non-monogamous, as long as I knew that’s what we were. I just wanted to know that’s what we were. I wanted everything to be out in the open, above board, with no secret agendas. You know?”

“What does he do?”

“He doesn’t do anything. He just lives his normal life. He loves me and cares about me and takes me out on the weekends and everything. I just suspected for a long time he was seeing other people on the side. ‘Seeing them’ isn’t the right way to put it, either. He just shags other women when the opportunity arises, whenever he feels like it. For all I know, he’s still usingOKCupidto find people.”

“Are you satisfied with your relationship with him?”

“I’m satisfied with everything except that. I wouldn’t even mind him screwing around, as long as he was upfront with me about what he was doing.”

His eyes drilled into her being. “Would you like to screw aroundonhim? Would you like to shag other men on the side, whenever you felt like it?”

“No, I wouldn’t. I’m a one-man woman.”

“Are you? Do you really think Liam deserves that?”

“I deserve it. I don’t want to screw around. I never have, and I never will.”

He swiveled sideways then. He was Cameron O’Toole, the world famous psychoanalyst analyzing the weak and helpless unsatisfied housewife. “How often do you have sex?”

She brushed her bangs off her forehead. “What difference does it make?”

“It makes a difference if you’re not satisfied.”

“I am satisfied. I just told you I was satisfied.”

“Just tell me. How often do you have sex?”

“Maybe twice a week, sometimes three.”

“Is that enough for you?”

“It’s more than enough. I don’t want any more.”

“Does Liam want more?”

“He doesn’t say he does. He just leaves it as it is.”

“Is that what makes you think he’s screwing around?”

“Not really.”

“Then what makes you think he’s screwing around?”

“Nothing in particular. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s that he never says anything about us doing it more or less or anything. He just accepts the relationship as it is.”

“And that strikes you as unusual? You think he shouldn’t accept it.”

“I find it hard to believe he would accept it without a word, without any discussion at all. He would only do that if he had something else going.”

“I see. And what about you? Do you accept the situation as it is, with no discussion or anything?”

“I just said I did. What am I talking to you about this for? It’s none of your business.”

“You’re my business, Sonya. If you’re unhappy, I want to fix it. That’s my business.”

“I’m not one of your clients. I’m your secretary, nothing more.”

“You’re a human being. I can’t live in the world without trying to help the person in front of me. That’s just the way I’m made.”

“Well, I don’t need your help. I’m just fine the way I am. I’m perfectly happy with my life and my job and my relationship, so we can work on your speech now.”

“If you’re perfectly happy, why can’t you smile when you talk about Liam screwing around whenever he feels like it? Look at you, Sonya. You’re miserable.”

“I’m not miserable. I might not be happy about it, but I’m not miserable.”

“Then there’s only one thing for you to do. You have to screw around with another man and not tell Liam about it.”

Sonya snorted. “And I suppose you think I should screw around with you. Well, forget it, and this conversation is over. I quit. I’m not your secretary anymore. I don’t screw around with my boss. I have some scruples, you know.”

“If you quit and you’re not my secretary, then you won’t be screwing around with your boss. You quit, so I’m just Joe Blow from down the block. There’s nothing in your scruples to stop you screwing around with me. What do you say now?”

“I say you’re soft in the head.”

“Does Liam satisfy you sexually? Tell the truth, Sonya. Does he light your fire and leave you breathless, or is the sex just sort of so-so?”

“Go jump off a cliff.”

She threw her notepad and pen on the desk, but for some reason, she didn’t get up and walk out of the room.

“Does Liam get you all hot and wet two or three times a week in between nailing his secretary in the toilet stall of his office building? Do you lie naked on your bed waiting for him to come home in the afternoon in breathless anticipation of him doing it with you? Do you crave him more than anything?”

She stared at him with saucer eyes. His eyes glittered with a knowing spark. How did he know? How did he read the situation with such unerring accuracy, just from the little she told him about it?

Did she get hot and wet waiting for Liam to come home from work in the afternoons? She didn’t even have to ask. Sex with Liam meant as little to her as it did to him, so why did she call herself a one-man woman? That was a joke. That was her way of avoiding finding someone she did crave more than anything.

She didn’t have time to crave anyone. She never let herself have time for it. She wasted her time with the Liams of the world so she could tell herself she wasn’t avoiding relationships.

Cameron knew it all. He put the puzzle pieces together and knew. That was his job. He judged people and sized up their problems for a living. Why did she think she could work for a man like that and get away with not being sized up along with the rest of the human race?

She ought to run out of that room, leave town, and get herself another temp job in a city on the other side of the world. She ought to leave Liam behind and find herself another OKCupid to shack up with. She’d done it dozens of times, and she could do it again.

So why didn’t she run? Why did she sit there like a deer in the headlights and let Cameron O'Toole hypnotize her with his snake eyes? Why did she let him continue to interrogate her about her personal life when she had no intention of baring her soul to him?

He didn’t swivel back and forth in his seat anymore. He sat still and returned her stare with his direct gaze. “Would you do it with another man if you knew he could satisfy you the way Liam doesn’t?”

She had to swallow hard before she got the words out. “I don’t know. Probably not.”

“What would it take to get you to sleep with another man?”

“I don’t think I would ever sleep with another man—ever.”

“Never? Not even if it meant you could feel the pleasure and fulfillment of a satisfying sexual experience?”

“I don’t associate fulfillment with sex.”

“You don’t? Now I know you’re not satisfied with your sex life. That’s what sex is. It’s all about being fulfilled and complete, not just in the other person, but in yourself, in receiving pleasure and satisfying your needs and desires.”

Sonya blushed. She didn’t have her notepad and pen to look down at, so she studied the cuticles of her fingernails instead. “I’ve never had sex like that.”

“Would you like to?”

She couldn’t help but smirk at him. “That’s what this whole conversation has been leading up to, hasn’t it? That’s the whole reason you brought me in here, so you could proposition me for sex.”

“If you want it, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get it. If you haven’t had fulfilling and satisfying sex, what’s to stop you having it now, with me?”

“I just told you I don’t screw around. I would never do it with another man as long as I was with Liam. I would have to break up with him before I did it with anyone else, and I wouldn’t do it with you, anyway. I would do it with someone else.”

“You wouldn’t have to do it with me. I could give it to you without ever touching you.”

Her eyes popped open. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t believe me because you haven’t experienced it before, but it’s not about doing it with someone else. It’s about you and your desires. You could experience it simply by giving in to your desires.”

“I don’t desire you.”

“Do you desire?”

“What do you mean? Do I desire what?”

“Do you desire fulfillment and pleasure and satisfaction? Forget Liam and me and every other guy in the world. Just think about yourself.”

She tried to say she wasn’t thinking about sex in some horny executive’s office, but she couldn’t say anything. He worked his magic on her so she had to think about what he told her to think about. She couldn’t think about anything but her own hidden desires. What did she really want? What would really satisfy her and please her?

No guy had ever asked her those questions in her life, and here was her boss, asking them from behind his desk. What harm could come from just talking about it? As long as he stayed over there in his chair, with both of them fully dressed, she wasn’t actually cheating on Liam, was she? They were just talking.

His voice rumbled low in his chest. She could barely hear him, but the deep vibrations worked through her skin to the muscle and bone hidden underneath. His voice made her flesh creep and the tiny hairs stand up along her spine. “Do you want to experience sexual pleasure, Sonya? Do you want to experience more sexual fulfillment than you’ve ever experienced in your life?”

Her lips formed the word, “Yes,” but no sound came out.

“Are you hot right now, Sonya? Are you wet right now?”

She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but that bubbly mixture of toxic juices seethed between her legs. What did he do to make her burst into flame like that?

“Do you like me talking to you like this, Sonya? Does this turn you on?”

She looked around in confusion. Did she like it? She couldn’t say she exactly liked it. She didn’t like it at all, but it did turn her on. It turned her on more than anything Liam ever did.

Her cheeks burned, and her lips pouted open, but she couldn’t move. She could only stare at Cameron. Even then, she couldn’t see any of him but his burning eyes. “I asked you a question, Sonya. Does this turn you on?”

“Yes.”

“I want to hear you say it. Say it turns you on.”

“It turns me on.”

“You’ll have to do better than that, Sonya. Make me believe it turns you on. Make me believe you’re not just saying that for something to say.”

She swallowed hard. She had no idea what he wanted her to do. What could she do to make him believe it?

“Spread your legs for me.”

She blinked. What did he just say?

He purred under his breath. His voice stroked down her skin from her eyelids to her knees. “That’s it. You can do it. Lean back in the chair and spread your legs. Let me look up your skirt to your panties. Let me see how wet you are.”

His voice commanded her. She saw him work this trick on his audiences until he held them in the palm of his hand. She leaned back until her head touched the chair back. When she did that, her legs stuck out in front of her so she couldn’t keep them together. They groaned apart to stretch her short skirt against her thighs. Her knees pointed straight at Cameron.

His eyes darted down to her crotch and back up to her face. “You’re not wearing any underwear.”

“I never wear it.”

He shook his head, and his jaw muscle clenched once. “Now I know you’re dying for it. I thought you were a repressed little secretary who needed a good fuck, but I can see now you’re raging horny. How did you ever stand to spend the last three years of your life with out-of-touch Liam?”

How had she stood it? She told herself she never wore underwear because it was more comfortable. She told herself she never thought about sex when, all the time, something monstrous and horrible lurked beneath the surface, just waiting to rear its ugly head and devour her.

One time, five years ago before she ever met Liam, she rode the New York subway on a drowsy summer afternoon. People packed the car so she could barely find space to squeeze in. The door closed against her back, and the train lurched away when a hand slid up her skirt to find her raw, vivid pussy bare and open to the world.

Those fingers delved and explored her engorged slit for half an hour before the man sitting next to her got up and left at a wayside station. He left her aching and hungry for more, but what could she do? She didn’t take the next train downtown to pick up a man to peg her in an alley behind a bar. She didn’t call up one of the guys from work who constantly hit on her and asked her out. She could have gotten laid then and there without further ado.

She didn’t do any of that. She went home and changed into herpyjamas. She curled up on the couch in front of the TV and watched the latest episode ofHard to Hold. She didn’t even touch herself when she went to bed. She left herself completely unsatisfied.

What was wrong with her? What kind of disease prevented her from seizing the pleasure and happiness she craved in her deepest soul? Was she completely beyond redemption, that she didn’t even try to make herself happy? If she didn’t care enough to win her own happiness, she must not deserve it at all.

Cameron’s chair creaked, but she never moved her eyes away from his face. He told her to do this, so she did it. He wanted to see, and he was going to see. He would see how disgusting and unholy she was. Then maybe he would leave her alone.

Chapter 3

“Pull your skirt up so I can see you better.”

She didn’t hesitate. She was in this. She spread her legs and let him see her slit. She might as well go the distance. She lifted her ass off the chair enough to hitch her skirt around her hips. She sat down, and she could spread her legs farther. Her nether lips blipped open against their wetness.

“That’s good. Now lie back so I can see how hot you really are.”

She leaned back in her chair, and the hot wetness of her cunt spread over her whole body. It softened the stiff tension of their first conversation. When she relaxed a little, she could feel her own arousal for the first time. Her eyes half-closed, and she panted through parted lips.

“You’re hot for it, aren’t you? You’re hot and wet. Your pussy is red and swollen.”

She let out a gasp of pleasure. She wanted him to see her. She wanted him to see how horny and turned on she was.

“Unbutton your shirt. Let me see your sweet tits.”

She didn’t see him clearly through her sagging eyelids. She saw only herself in all her burning glory. She was more turned on right now than she’d ever been in her life. Her tissues throbbed in naked lust, and the sticky nectar oozed from her engorged cunt to evaporate on her quivering ass.

She flicked open the buttons holding her shirt closed. She spread the two sides to expose her lacy white bra. She unhooked the front clasp, and the cups fell away from her pendulous globes. Her breasts flopped free, and the nipples tightened in the open air.

“That’s so nice, Sonya. You’re so beautiful like that. That’s good. Lie back. Let me see you like that.”

She spread herself out for his inspection. She seethed in tormented agony. She wanted sex. She smelled the vapors rising from her own sore pussy. She longed for something to fill her up and drive her wild. She hungered for something she couldn’t identify, something that would release her from her long torpor and make her fully alive for once in her life.

She draped her arms over the chair. Her thighs twitched all the way up to her precious pussy. He could see how wet she was. He could see how much she wanted it.

“Touch yourself.”

Her eyes snapped open to stare at him. “What?”

“Touch yourself. Show me how you pleasure yourself. I want to see you get yourself off.”

She couldn’t move. Get herself off? When was the last time she did that? She never did it since she got together with Liam. She let him do it for her when she got off at all. How exactly did she do it?

The gentle softness vanished from his eyes. “I told you to touch yourself, Sonya. Did you hear me?”

She nodded. She couldn’t speak to save her life.

“Touch yourself, Sonya. Touch that wet pussy of yours. Let me see you cum.”

She moved her arms on the chair, but she couldn’t bring herself to inch her hands in the direction of her crotch.

He swiveled his chair sideways with a shake of his head. “Don’t do that, Sonya. Don’t throw my orders back in my face. That could go very badly for you, and I wouldn’t want that. Put your hand on your pussy and play with your clit.”

She still didn’t move. He took one look at her mouth hanging open.

“All right, Sonya. I can see you’re not used to this, so I’ll make it easier for you. Put your hands on your knees.”

She could manage that much. She moved her hands and covered her knee caps with her fingers.

“Now rock them back and forth and let me hear you moan. Tell me how much you want it.”

She swayed her legs back and forth. Moaning was easy. The desire roiling inside her came up through her throat of its own accord. Her eyelids weighed a ton, and her skin tingled all over. She let out a long breath, and the sound of her own moaning carried her forward to greater and longer moaning.

Her thighs melted. Her hips turned to jelly and dribbled between her legs in puddles of wet. She sighed and mewed in craven lust.

“Are you turned on right now, Sonya? Do you want me to see you touch yourself.”

“Yes.” God, how she wanted him to see her! She wanted to rise to the heights of climactic desire. If she couldn’t take herself there, he could.

“Tell me how much you want it.”

She closed her eyes the rest of the way and gave vent to her torturous emotions. “I want it. I want you to see me. Oh, God, I can’t stand this. I need it so bad.”

“Run your fingertips up and down your thighs. Turn yourself on, Sonya. Get yourself hot and wet.”

She trailed her fingertips up and down the inside edge of her thighs. Sparkles of passionate desire tickled up her ass to her cunt. “Oh, my God! That feels so good. That makes me so damn hot.”

“That’s it. Make yourself so hot you cum for me. I want to hear you sing.”

She ran her fingertips all the way up to her hips, but she didn’t dare touch herself without his say-so. She lingered over her swollen mons in a ferment of anticipation.

“Do you want to play with yourself now? Are you ready to touch yourself?”

“Yes. I want it.”

“Do you want to cum, baby? Do you want to scream for me?”

“I want to cum so bad. I want you to hear me scream.”

“Do you know how beautiful you are right now, Sonya? Do you know how hot you make me? Any man would want to fuck you right now.”

“I want to turn you on. I want to make you hot for me.” Where did these words come from? Where did these cravings come from? They spoke out of their own raging heat, without any impetus from her.

“You make me so hard, Sonya. You always have. I wanted to fuck you the very first time you walked into this office, but I could see you weren’t ready for that. Do you want me to fuck you now?”

“Oh, yes! Oh, God, please fuck me. I need it so bad.”

“Not yet, baby. You’re not ready for that just yet.”

“Oh, please.”

“Touch yourself for me first. I want to see what you’re like when you cum. Can you feel me licking you? Can you feel my fingers inside you?”

“Oh, yes, that feels so good.”

“Show me, baby. Show me how you touch yourself while you think about me licking you and getting you off.”

She let her hand fall on her sweet mound. She heaved once at the first touch, but in another moment, her fingers found the saturated slit between her petals. She gave her clitoris a feather touch. It didn’t needanymore. Itleaptunder her finger, and the honey flowed from her fountain when she circled it.

She wanted so much more than her clitoris could give her. A burning itch ate into her from the inside. She had to scratch that itch with all her strength. She dabbled in her slit and stirred the sauce around her lips. She spread it up over her clit, but the vacuous hole yawning open called herfurtherdown.

She dipped her fingers farther in to find the pleasure spot just inside the opening. She could work that spot all day long, and it would only grow and grow with ever-increasing hunger. It needed. It needed everything she could throw at it and never be satisfied. It would never give up its devouring need until itgot...

She stopped short before she allowed herself to complete that thought. What did it need? It needed something thick and hard and mean, something dangerous and penetrating and destroying. It needed something a lot bigger than her finger to burst her wide open and send her over the moon.

He read her thoughts. “You need it, don’t you, baby? You need something inside you. You need my hard cock nailing you to the wall.”

“Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I need it.”

“Say it, baby. Say what you need.”

“I need your cock. I need your hard cock. I need it big and hard. Oh, God, don’t do this to me. I can’t stand this. I need it so bad.”

“Beg for it, baby. Beg me to fuck you right now.”

“Oh, fuck me. Oh, fuck me hard. I can’t do this. I can’t stand this. Oh, please.”

“Finger yourself, baby. Stick your finger in your pussy and tell me how much you like it.”

She plunged one finger in as far as it would go, but that wasn’t enough so she added another one. She couldn’t reach her cervix buried deep inside, so she attacked that pleasure spot near the entrance. She hooked her fingersagainstit, but no matter which way she turned, she found another place that brought her to the brink of insanity. She worked right and left, and everything she did made her moan and writhe and sob.

He watched from behind his desk. She couldn’t see his hands gripping the chair arms with white knuckles, but she imagined the pulsating bulge tightening against his pants. If only she could get to it, she would go to work on that thing with all her tempestuous passion.

Never before in her life had she known what to do with a stiff cock, but she knew now. She knew how to touch and suck and take that cock until she reduced herself to a sweating, screeching mess. He was right. This had nothing to do with any man. This was all about her and what she wanted.

She buried her whole hand in her steaming pussy, but she could never satisfy herself. Her G spot swelled under her continuous attention. It puffed to fill her whole cavern with its blood-saturated flesh. It clamped around her fingers so she couldn’t bend them anymore, butstill,she yearned for more and more and more.

“That’s right, baby. You’re a horny little beast, aren’t you? Let me see how you cum all over those fingers of yours.”

If only she could cum, she could get some relief from this killing ache. She hovered on the very limit of endurance, but she couldn’t cross the boundary into the world of bottomless ecstasy.

He waited, but atlastshe sank back in the chair in defeat. Her hand hunglimplyover her mound, and she let her heaving breath subside.

Cameron broke in on her reverie. “What’s wrong, Sonya? You said you wanted to cum.”

“I can’t. I’m sorry. It’s just that...I don’t know. It’s just...”

“It’s just what?”

“It’s not enough. I need more. I don’t know why.”

He shook his head. “Do you need even more help? I’m surprised at you. Here. Try this.”

Chapter 4

Cameron slid open his desk drawer and drew something out. He handed it across the desk before Sonya got a good look at it. He set it on its base so it stuck up toward the ceiling, shiny and pliant and bright purple.

She stared at the thing. She’d heard aboutthem,but never seen one in real life. It looked like an enormous purple dick, real in every respect except the simple fact that it wasn’t attached to any living body. What was she supposed to do with that?

“Take it. I think you’ll find it does the job.”

She picked it up and twirled it in her hand. It lay cold and dead and rubbery in her hand, not like a real flesh-and-blood cock at all.

“Stick it inside your pussy.”

She turned it to point toward her, but that made no sense at all.

“Stick it in your pussy, Sonya. I want to see your sweet juice covering its head.”

That convinced her. She could follow any guidance when he told her what to do. She lowered it between her legs. It sizzled against her fingers and seemed to leap to life when it came near her. She inched it closer to her slit, and a shiver of excitement went through her guts.

She touched the lifeless rubber to her burning leaves. Her clit spasmed at the touch. Her body could imagine a real man attached to that thing, that tool moving in on her to split her wide open.

She circled her opening with the thing’s rounded head. She coated it with her nectar. It didn’t feel lifeless and alien now. It wanted her, the same way a real man would want her. It could bring her to her climax as well as any man.

She had a man, though, didn’t she? Cameron was here, right over thereacrossthe desk. He gave her this gift—not that rubbery thing, but this moment. He gave her the pleasure as certainly as if he took her himself.

She dug the thing deeper into her gash, and the thick flesh around her opening welcomed it in. She angled it around in a circle to nudge every available spot. Her mouth fell open in a ragged groan of deepest desire.

“That’s the way. Nice and easy. Work that thing into your cunt, baby. Does that feel good? Does that make you want to cum, little girl?”

She lost all awareness of the man across the room. She spoke to herself, to the tool in her hand. “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That’s so good. It’s so big and thick and hard. God, I want your cock. I want it so bad. Oh, God, I want to fuck. Fuck me. Oh, fuck me hard.”

When did she learn tobeglike that? When had she ever wanted anyone or anything to fuck her like she wanted it now?

Never. That’s when. She never said a word during sex before, but now her own words sparked her raging climax to rise from the bottom of her being. Her enormous primal power burst out of her with mind-boggling intensity. She sank that tool to its hiltintoher cunt as far as it would go and rode it down hard. She bucked her hips and rubbed her clit with her fingers. Her mouth gaped open in loud, lusty screams of orgasmic fulfillment until thejizgushed from her font.

She tossed her head from side to side against the chair and let her screams come hard and fast. She surfed one wave of exploding release after another. No sooner did she soar down one long sloping wave than another lifted her up to the crashing peaks of ecstasy again.

She fell apart and came back together again on that inhospitable tool. She sat down on it to her body’s natural limit. It touched every placealongher channel with its ridged surface to give her whole body the inner massage it needed with such desperate fury.

Fireworks ofgloriouscolor burst before her eyes and extended their tendrils out to her fingertips and toes. Her whole body glowed with vibrant life. Was she alive, or had she erupted into some supernova of carnal satisfaction? She didn’t know. It didn’t matter anymore.

When the last wave lowered her down to Earth once again and she lay shattered and limp on her chair, she lacked the strength to remove the purple shaft from her folds. She left it where it was and let her life drift away from her.

What would her life become after this? She could never be the same. She could never be satisfied with anything short of this. If she never touched another man again, she could get this by herself. Some several dozen shops downtown sold these sex toys. She could get one there or online and never depend on a man for satisfaction again.

Before she could pull herself together, she heard Cameron’s voice murmuring to her from close by. “That’s right. That’s so good. You are so hot, baby. I knew you could do it.”

Something prodded her between the legs. She kept her eyes closed and her head turned away so she didn’t have to see what was happening. Whatever happened, the change in her would be permanent.

Something soft touched her sensitive folds. Before she could fully understand what was happening, luscious warm wetness filled her soul to the brim. His hair touched her thighs, and his hands closed around her ass where her syrup stuck her to the chair. He pulled her against his mouth, and his tongue titillated her to overwhelming arousal all over again.

She arched her back to reach him, but he held her in place with hands and mouth. He munched her bleeding gash with masterful strokes until she whimpered and whined. Her hands found their own way to his hair to guide his movements against her cunt, but he knew what he was doing.

He sucked her clit into his mouth and flicked it with his tongue. Every undulation of her hips to catch his rhythm drove that purple cock deeper into her engorged box, and she took it for all she was worth. She loved it. She drank it to the dregs. It fulfilled her beyond anything she could imagine.

He lapped her nub stronger and harder, but since she just experienced the most profound orgasm of her life, she didn’t rise to the same heights the second time. She kicked and thrashed against his treatment, but she didn’t come close to exploding in spurting cum again.

He slid his hand up to her breast and pinched her nipple hard. He rolled the crinkled flesh between his thumb and finger, and bolts of lightning shot down her middle to the foaming nest between her legs, but nothing would take her beyond the tension to full release.

After an eternity eating her out, he settled down and gave up. He kept eating, but he didn’t maul her up and down the way he did before. His rhythm slowed, and she prepared herself to settle down. She had a good time, but it was bound to end sooner or later.

He brought his hands back down to cradle her ass. He lifted her hips to his mouth and swam in acres of her sauce. She followed his movements with her hands. She stroked him and caressed him in her post-coital glow.

She opened her eyes and gazed down at him, there between her legs, and found him staring up at her. What did he see? Did he see her unchained heart broken loose from its cage? Something wild haunted his eyes.

All of a sudden, he shifted one hand away from her buttocks. She couldn’t see what he was doing. Was he playing with himself down there? Before she could wonder, he swizzled his finger through her dripping curtains, from her clit, down her slit, and drove it into the back door lying tight and dark below. Her steaming concoction lubricated its passage into her depths.

Sonya was so surprised she couldn’t scream. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t comprehend what happened. She froze in terrified astonishment, but he only devoured her clit with fresh gusto. In an instant, the combination of his lips on her clitoris, the purple tool buried in her cunt, and his finger exploring her brown hole took her over the edge into great blasts of rising tempests.

It started as terrible gasps racking her body from top to bottom. She couldn’t get enough air. She clawed his head and clenched her fists in his hair. She forced herself on him, on his face, on his hand, on the toy he put inside her.

She rocked against the chair and pushed his finger deeper into her ass. She crushed the toy into her pussy, and its fake purple balls put even more pressure on its rigid shaft and Cameron’s hand. She ground her clitoris against his face.

The waves crashed over her. Her ass ached, but she couldn’t stop it responding to his penetrations. Her panting gasps escalated to howls and last to screams. She couldn’t stand this. She would fly into pieces and die.

Nothing could prepare her for this. No man could take her to this place of cosmic completion. What had she been doing with her life all these years? What had she been doing with Liam and other tame characters she met onOKCupidand every other stupid internet dating site under the sun?

All that lay behind her. The endless desert of her past life ran awayintothe past, never to bother her again. She hated what she had been and would never be again. She would blossom into something new, something whole and alive. She would be someone deserving of Cameron’s affection.

No wonder he didn’t do anything with her when she first walked into his office. A man as astute as he was could see plain as day she was barren and repressed and dead. She blessed him in her heart for saving her from herself.

Cameron rose between her legs, and his face smoldered in cruel carnal power. His mouth twisted in a vicious grimace, even as her nectar spattered his cheeks and dampened his eyebrows and chin. He pushed his way between her legs so her knees surrounded his hips on either side.

That’s the first look she got at the giant between his legs. His pants bunched around his thighs, and his enormous, rock-hard manhood stuck straight out to assail her. She shuddered to her soul. How could she take that thing, even with the purple dagger preparing her for it? She couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

He growled low. “You like that, don’t you?You likeit in the ass? I’ll give you what you want.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but he reacted faster than she could think. He snatched her bodily off the chair and flipped her over on her chest. He shoved her down on the seat and jammed his hips against her ass from behind.

She glanced back over her shoulder at him and immediately regretted it. He snarled down at her with that raging black countenance. His lips curled back from his teeth, and he clenched his jaws. “I’ll teach you. I’ll teach you what cumming really feels like.”

He gave her one quick touch between her legs. His fingers registered the toy in its place, but he didn’t withdraw it the way she expected him to. He just checked its position before he buried his spike in her crevice.

She threw her hand out behind her to push him away. She couldn’t, not in the ass. He would kill her. He would rend her limb from limb. She pleaded with him with her eyes, but he locked his indomitable glare on her and plowed in hard.

“That’s right, baby. You know you want it. You know you want to cum all over my cock. You know you want to scream for it. You said you wanted it. Here it is. Bend over. That’s my girl. Let me see your sweet ass. Oh, yeah, that’s what I like. Come on, baby. Take it hard.”

She pushed him back, but he wouldn’t be stopped. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and craned her around to face him even as he pushed her forward to bend over the chair. She tensed, but it was too late. His prick poked its unerring head into her cleft and found the moist opening he softened with his finger.

Her juices surrounded him, and her muscles swallowed him whole. He screwed it in slow but steady, twisting and working in and out, in and out a little deeper now, never too hard to hurt her.

She braced herself for the most horrible and wretched experience of her life, but to her surprise, her pleasure came boiling back to the surface stronger than anything he did to her before. His cock found the toy in her pussy, and the two shafts spoke to each other and ignited her flesh to a blazing inferno.

He took hold of her hips in his monstrous grip and doveintohis hilt against her ass. His pelvis bumped into her voluptuous curves and made her quiver all over. She stared at her destiny in his eyes, but he never released her. He hammered her clitoris against the chair even as the two demons did their worst on her insides.

What was happening to her? What was this? Nothing made sense. She always thoughtback-doorplay was sick and perverted, yet here she was blowing past every signpost she knew to a land beyond her comprehension.

He stroked his cock into her with greater ferocity. His hand crushed her neck in a death grip, but she wouldn’t be released for all the tea in China. That hand held her steady against the storm threatening to smash her against the rocks.

“That’s it, baby. That’s it. Oh, Jesus, that ass is so tight and hot. Oh, God, give me that ass, you dirty little thing. Come on, baby. You know you make me so hard. Can you feel my cock inside you? Do you like that? Is that good for you?”

She moaned, but before she could respond, he jerked her head around with a hard clamp of his hand.

“Come on, baby. Let me hear you say you like it in the ass.”

“I want it. Oh, God, it’s so tight. Oh, my God, I need it.”

“That’s right, baby. You need it hard.”

He thrust his cock in against her tight cheeks. Every pounding beat knocked her into the stratosphere of intoxicating bliss. She knit her brows against the torturous treatment, but she wouldn’t get away for anything.

All at once, she couldn’t endure anymore. She couldn’t look at his smoldering eyes one second longer. She clamped her eyes shut against the bombs going off in her being. She let out a shriek and tumbled into the abyss of endless completion.

He watched her collapse under him, but he couldn’t match her, either. He hurled himself into her with one final master stroke, and the molten lava of his seedy cocktail filled her to overflowing. The salty eruption gurgled out of her hole witheverlast pumping thrust of his cock, and her spasming muscles milked thejizto the last drop.

Chapter 5

Three weeks later, Sonya left the office of her latest temp posting and headed for the bus station to ride home to her apartment. She set her bag over her shoulder and lifted her nose to the breeze. She caught a hint of summer when she heard a roaring noise coming down the street behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see a huge gleaming Harley storming down the street.

She rummaged in her bag for her bus pass. She never gave the Harley a second thought until it slowed and rolled up at the curb next to her. She only glanced up between snapping her wallet closed to catch sight of the black helmet concealing the rider’s head.

The rider stared at her from behind his tinted visor. Sonya found her pass and kept walking. The engine noise followed her down the street. That’s just what she needed right now, some biker freak stalking her.

The Harley’s engines exploded to life once more, and she was just starting to relax into the assurance that he was driving away when she saw him drive a few feet ahead and stop again. He shut off the motor and waited for her to catch up.

She compressed her lips and squared her shoulders to deal with this creep when he whipped off his helmet. A tussle of brown hair fell over his eyes, and he combed it to one side with his gloved fingers. He looked back over his shoulder at Sonya as she came up to him, and she recognized Cameron O'Toole.

She stopped dead in her tracks and stared. What was he doing here? His padded leather jacket made his shoulders look wider and bulkier than ever, right down to his steel-toed boots. He rested his helmet on his hip and crossed one arm over the dome. “Hello, Sonya. How are you?”

She looked him up and down. “What's this, your Halloween costume? I didn't recognize you without a suit on.”

“Actually, this is what I call my Harley. How would you like to go for a ride?”

“I don't think so.”

“Why not? You'd be perfectly safe with me.”

“Safe with you? Yeah, right.”

He bit back a smile. “That's what I like about you, Sonya. You never pull your punches. I only meant I would drive safely. I've got a spare helmet here.”

“No, thanks. I'm going home. I'm glad to see you're doing well. I'll see you later.”

“When will I see you later? I haven't seen you in three weeks.”

She started walking again. He hopped off the bike, hung the helmet on the handlebars, and came up next to her. “Why won't you even talk to me? Did I do something to offend you?”

“You didn't do anything to offend me. I just have to go.”

“If I didn't do anything to offend you, why did you quit like that, without a word to anyone?”

She rounded on him. “You know very well why I quit. I quit because we had wild sex in your office. I told you I don't do that sort of thing at work. I couldn't work for you after that.”

“If I had known you were going to quit, I never would have touched you.”

She set her hands on her hips. “Like you said, you didn't have to touch me. You could mess around with me sitting behind your desk, and I would have no assurance you wouldn't do it again if I kept working for you.”

He leaned back. “All right. If that's how you feel about it...”

“It is. I better go.”

“Just tell me one thing before you go, Sonya, if you don't mind.”

“What is it?”

“Did you like it? Was it good for you?”

“You know it was.”

“If I knew, I wouldn't ask.”

“Well, it was. You don't have to worry about that. I'm sure you have all the girls drooling over you. You can put your mind at rest. Your reputation as a lady killer remains untarnished.”

“I don't have a reputation as a lady killer, and I don't want all the girls drooling over me. I  just want to know if I pleasedyou,if you enjoyed your time with me.”

“I did. I liked it a lot.”

“But you never want to do it again?”

“I want to do it again, but not with my boss.”

“Then why don't you come for a ride with me? We could do it again, now that you're not working with me.”

“I don't want to do it again with you at all. Thanks for the offer, and thanks forthe good time.”

“How are things going with Liam?”

She started to walk away, but at the mention of Liam, she glanced back over her shoulder. “I dumped him.”

Cameron stopped walking. He didn't say anything. He stayed where he was and let her walk away. She got halfway down the block before she paused. She looked around. He wasn't with her anymore. She looked back and saw him standing far away.

She turned around and walked back to him. “What's the matter? What's so shocking about me dumping Liam?”

“What made you do that?”

“You did. Don't you know that?”

“How could I know? What did I have to do with it?”

“You changed everything. You made me see what I was missing. I couldn't go back to Liam after that.”

“I didn't think what we did was that earth-shattering for you.”

“Yeah. I never knew it could be like that. I never thought it could be about my own pleasure instead of keeping some shallow relationship going. You changed my whole way of looking at myself and my life.”

“Do you have a new boyfriend, or do you have other guys you're seeing now, to please you?”

“No, I don't have any other guys.”

“If you're not with Liam anymore and you don't have any other guys, how have you been satisfying yourself?”

“By myself.”

His eyes popped open. “By yourself? What do you mean?”

“You showed me I could do it to myself, that I could tap into my own desires and satisfy them with no help from anybody, so that's what I've been doing.”

He smiled downather. “I see.”

“I suppose you think that's really funny. You probably think I'm turning into a hermit or something.”

“I don't think it's funny. I just wish I could be a part of it.”

“Well, you can't. You did your job. Now go find someone else to be a part of.”

“You don't have to do it by yourself all the time.”

“I know, but I'm not going to waste my time with any guy I don't know can really do it for me. I'm not going to sell myself short with any OKCupids or anything else. If someone can't get me off as well or better than I can get myself off, I won't bother.”

“What about me? Do you think I can get you off as well or better than you can do it yourself?”

“Oh, I know you can.”

“Then what's the problem?”

“The problem is we have ahistorytogether. That will get in the way of me really giving myself to you—I mean, to the situation.”

“Isn't that history the same thing that tells you it would be good for you? You had a good time with me once. Maybe you would have a good time with me again.”

“You never give up, do you? You never take no for an answer.”

“I don't give up—not ever—but if you really are saying no, I'll let you walk away and never bother you again. I just want to know I'm doing the right thing by you.”

“You are. You already have.”

“I'm glad I could give you that. I'm glad you're happier now.”

“I am.”

“Okay.Goodbye. Have a nice life.”

She didn'tmove,but regarded him. “You're just going to let me go like that? You're giving up?”

“You said you were happy. That's all I want.”

“What will you do if I do go with you?”

“I haven't thought that far in advance? You haven't said yes. You probably never will.”

“I don't want to settle. That's all.”

“Would you be settling with me?”

She put her head on one side. “I guess not. You're not like any guy I ever met before. I mean, I've met executives like you before at work, but I've never been involved with one before.”

“How am I different?”

“You care about making me happy. You would willingly walk away from me if it meant making me happy. That's exactly the opposite of what most guys do.”

“I'm not most guys, and I do care about you, but I'm not here to tell you what will make you happy. If you say walking away from me will make you happy, I have no choice but to take your word for it. I'm not going to tell you any different.”

“That's not what you did last time. I said I didn't want it, but you convinced me to go through with it so I would realize I did want it. Maybe the same thing is happening now. Maybe what will make me happy isn't the same thing as what I think will make me happy.”

“Are you happy pleasuring yourself alone? There's nothing wrong with it if you are.”

“I'm satisfying myself. That's certain.”

“Would you rather have a guy to please you?”

“Of course I would.”

“Tell me what you're doing.”

“Doing?”

“With yourself. What are you doing when you please yourself?”

“I got some toys like the one you showed me.”

“The dildo?”

“Right.”

“And?”

“And I sit on it and ride it, and I got some butt toys, too.”

His eyes burned. Why did he look at her like that? “Yeah?”

“And I sit on both of them at the same time.”

His nostrils flared. “I'd like to see that.”

She blushed and looked away. “I know you like to watch.”

“I've had enough watching you. If you come with me, I won't watch anymore.”

“I haven't said I would come with you.”

“What part of what we did together was the most life-changing for you? Was it the anal play?”

“Not really.”

“Had you done any anal play before?”

“No. I never considered it before you did it to me. Ithoughtit was dirty and painful, but you showed me it wasn't. As long as I havesomething...I don't want to talk about this with you anymore. I'm going home.”

When she turned away this time, he hurried to fall in at her side. “If it wasn't the anal play, what was it?”

“I told you. It was just putting my own desires first. It was realizing my desires matter, and turning myself on enough first that I can cum every time, sometimes more than once. I never thought it could be like that. With Liam, it was just wham, bam, thankyou,ma'am. He never bothered with getting me turned on beforehand, and I never bothered with it, either. I just didn't care.”

“Ilikedturning you on beforehand. I liked watching you play with yourself and listening to you beg me to fuck you. That was incredible.”

She smacked her lips. “Come on. You don't really expect me to believe we had anything special for you. I'm just a notch on your belt.”

“I don't have notches on my belt, Sonya, and I never do that sort of thing with just anybody, either. I don't want to settle, either. I haven't been with anybody else since you left.”

She drew up short and confronted him. “You're lying.”

He raised two fingers. “Scout's honor. I've been taking care of myself, but it's nowhere near as good as it was with you. You can probably please yourself with your toys as well as I could, but I can't please myself with my hand as well as you could with your body.”

“Shut up.”

“It's true. I've been going out of my mind since you quit, and I've spent you don't know how many hours tracking you down.”

“You didn't have to do that.”

“I did have to do it, and I did it, and I don't regret it one bit. If you walk away right now, I'm still glad I had a chance to see you again and hear it straight from you why you left. I can let you go now.”

“What will you do? Will you try to find someone else?”

“I don't try to find anyone. I wait for the right person to come to me. I thought the right person had come to me when you came to work for me, but I can see I was wrong.”

“If I was working for you, I wasn't the right person.”

“I understand that now. I see your point, and I respect you for sticking to your guns.”

She waited in silence.

“Well, aren't you going to go home?”

“Why don't you give me a ride home?”

His head shot up. “Are you sure?”

“Sure. What the hell.”

Chapter 6

Cameron swung his leg over the Harley and kicked the kickstand out of the way. He handed the spare helmet to Sonya and unhooked his own from the handlebars. She looked at it. “I've never done anything like this before. How does it work?”

He took hold of his own helmet straps and held them out in front of her so she could see what he was doing. “You stretch the helmet open with these straps and pull it down over your head like this.”

He slid his head between his hands, and the helmet covered his face. She copied him and got her head wedged into it. It hugged her cheeks and ears, and it muffled the roar when he turned the key to fire up the engine.

He squeezed the clutch and revved the throttle. Sonya stood well back until he held out his hand to her. She couldn't hear if he spoke to her. He tugged her toward him. When she hesitated, he laid his handalongher thigh and guided her toward the seat behind him. She lifted her leg and climbed into place.

The bike vibrated under her until her thighs went numb. She put her arms around his padded sides and just found a firm grip around his waist when the bike eased forward with a powerful roar. She flailed with her feet until she found two places to rest them.

The bike purred down the street and around the corner, but Cameron didn't drive her anywhere in the direction of her apartment. He headed onto the highway and rumbled through miles of landscape.

In three weeks on her own, she experienced one mind-blowing orgasm after another. She could please herself with her toys and never come down, but she never experienced the thrill of excitement she got in his office—until now.

The bike lifted off the ground and soared over the countryside. She flew on steel wings into a sky bright with prism rainbows. Her whole body shivered in quaking excitement to see what would happen next.

Cameron handled the bike with expert care, but true to his word, he didn't do anything wild or fancy. He drove with delicate assurance so she never worried about her safety. Her arms hugged him to her, and he enveloped her in a halo of safety. She could rest in his presence. As long as she was with him, all roads led to pleasure and happiness and contentment. Of that, she could be certain.

He drove far out of town where the city lights faded and disappeared. Night settled over the land until he turned off into a gateway lighted with lamps on stone pillars on either side. He drove up the driveway to a big old mansion on a hill.

As soon as the bike stopped, Sonya jumped off. She tugged her helmet off. “Where are we?”

Cameron killed the motor and hung his helmet on the handlebars. “This is my house.”

“I thought you were giving me a ride home.”

“I did. This is home.”

“Not to me.”

“Why don't you come inside?”

“So what? So you can have your wicked way with me?”

“From what you said, it's you who will have your wicked way with me.”

“Whatever.”

“Come inside, Sonya. I promise I'll make it worth your while.”

She hesitated. “All right.”

He led her up the stone steps and through the front door. A huge lighted hall welcomed them into the place, where a sweeping staircase rose from the checkerboard tile floor into the atmosphere beyond sight.

Sonya struggled to take ineverydetail of her surroundings, but Cameron took her by the hand and urged her forward. He escorted her into a quiet bedroom behind the stairs. A regular metal bed frame occupied the center of the floor, with plain white dressers and wardrobes lining the walls.

He closed the door behind her and peeled off his leather jacket. He wore a skin tight black T-shirt underneath.

“Is this your room? Where's the skull-and-crossbones flag?”

“This is the guest room.”

“Am I a guest?”

He took a step toward her. “You're much more than that.”

His massive brooding presence made her shrink down inside herself. Her voice sounded small and uncertain to her ear. “What are you going to do?”

His hand landed on her shoulder and crushed her under its weight. “I think I know what you need.”

“Are you going to do what you did last time?”

“You're already doing that on your own. I don't need to do it again.”

She swallowed hard. That sizzle of adrenaline burning through her chest—was it fear or excitement?

He bent over and kissed her. She didn't realize until his lips touched her mouth that he'd never kissed her before. That kiss carried none of the sappy romance she read about in books. It didn't give her visions of happily ever after.

It gave her visions of screaming, exploding sex. His being dominated her whole consciousness so she could think of nothing else. He wasn't here to woo her and flatter her and ride off into the sunset with her. He was here to take her, to possess her, to smash the last remains of her boundaries and send her to heaven in a golden chariot.

His hot breath seared her nostrils. His other hand materialized on her other shoulder, and he turned her to face him. He squirreled his tongue into her mouth, and the heat clouded her thoughts. She couldn't think. She couldn't do anything but fall under his inexorable hands.

He pulled back to gaze into her eyes, and his lips trailed away from her mouth in a spider's web of saliva. “You're beautiful, Sonya. You don't know how many nights I dreamed of you.”

Her cheeks throbbed with blood. Her pulse pounded in her neck.

“Did you think about me? Did you dream about me when you played with your toys?”

“Yes. I dreamed you were doing it to me. I dreamed you were behind me again.”

His hands lifted off her shoulders, and he squared his big shoulders. He crossed the room to a dresser and opened the top drawer. He took something out and came back toward her. He took one of her hands and wrapped something around her wrist.

Sonya looked down, but she couldn't comprehend what his hands were doing. He buckled something around her wrist, and then around the other one. “What are you doing?”

“I’m taking it to the next level. You're ready.”

Something metal clicked, and she found her wrists manacled together by a dog clip. Two padded leather cuffs wrapped her wrists in black comfort, but she couldn't separate them. She glanced up at his face and read her fate printed there.

He glared down at her with black fury written across his face. He knit his brow at her, and his jaw clenched in terrible intensity. She couldn't speak to that face. She could only succumb and submit to his dominance.

“You want this, don't you? You want to give yourself to me and let me take you higher. You went there once before. Now I'll take you there again. Just give yourself to me, and I'll take you where you want to go.”

He silenced her answer with his kiss, but those manacles around her wrists changed everything. That kiss meant so much more, now that she was bound and couldn't get away. She was his, his possession.

He knew it as well as she did. His kiss changed. That kiss contained less passion, more care. He studied her eyes when he kissed her. He checked to make sure she was excited and willing. She gazed up into his eyes, but her usual stout resistance melted before his power. She couldn't fight back. She couldn't resist. She could only melt.

He took her by the shoulders with both hands and turned her away from him. His chest radiated its monstrous heat into her back. He ran his lips down her neck to the bare place on her shoulder. “You like this, don't you, Sonya? You like being mine to do with what I want. You like being my plaything and my sweet surprise.”

She gasped for every breath. His presence crushed the air out of her lungs. She couldn't see through the blood rushing to her head. “I like it.”

“You want me to take you higher, don't you? You want me to show you how good it can be.”

“I want you to. I want you to show me. I want you to do what you want with me. I'm yours.”

His hands slid around her waist. He ran his palms up her sides and under her arms. He lifted up her manacled arms to extend them over her head. He pushed them behind his head and hooked them behind his own neck.

He stroked down her exposed sides to where her breasts stuck straight out into the air. He buried his face in her neck. “Are you wearing any underwear under that skirt?”

She couldn't speak above a whisper. “No.”

He chuckled low. “Do you get turned on walking around with no underwear on?”

“Yes. I get wet and horny thinking about you taking me in your office.”

“Do you touch yourself?”

“I go into the bathroomatwork and get myself off on my break.”

“Does anybody know you aren't wearing any underwear?”

“No one knows.”

“No one touches you?”

“I never see anybody.”

“I bet the guys at work would like to touch you. They'd like to run their hands up your skirt and finger your wet pussy.”

“I think about them touching me.”

“Is there anyone at work you like?”

“I don't like anyone enough to do it with them.”

“Do you like me well enough to do it with you?”

“Yes. I want you to.”

“Do you want whatever I can do to you?”

“Yes. I want you to do something I've never done before. I want you to do something to take it to the next level.”

“Are you sure that's what you want? Don't ask for it when you don't know what it is.”

“I don't care what it is. Just do it.”

He massaged up her ribs to her breasts. “Do you want this?”

She heaved up into his hands. “Yes. Oh, please.”

His hands closed around her breasts. He kneaded them back and forth until excitement shot the nipples between his fingers. He twisted them hard until she roiled in agony. She threw her head back on his shoulder, but she couldn't bring her arms down to protect herself. She was helpless in his hands. He could do whatever he wanted with her.

He brought the squeals of excitement and anxiety to her lips. He smoothed down her shirt to her waist where her hips arched and rubbed against him behind her. His cock nudged into her ass. How she wanted it! How she wished she could get on it and ride into oblivion, but he had other ideas.

He unhooked her wrists from his neck and moved back where she couldn't see him. When he reappeared, he took hold of the dog clip holding her wrists together and snapped a climbing carabiner to it. A black rope ran away from the carabiner to somewhere she couldn't see. Where he got it, she couldn't tell, and she couldn't guess what he would do.

When he moved away a second time, he took a place by the wall where the curtains hung next to the window casement. He withdrew the other end of the rope and hauled it in. Sonya followed it through two pulleys to the ceiling over her head, where it raised her wrists up.

He coiled in the rope hand over hand until her manacled wrists stretched her arms over her head. Her feet stayed flat on the floor and she could twist one way and another, but she couldn't do anything else.

He tied the rope to a cleat on the wall and sauntered back over to her with excruciating slowness. He eyed her up and down and walked in a complete circle around her. He trailed his fingertip across her belly to make her suck in her breath with a hiss. When he passed in front of her face and caught her eye, a twitch of a smile touched his mouth. “Are you excited right now?”

“Yes.”

“Is this what you like?”

“Yes.”

“Do you like being my puppet on a string? Do you like dancing when I say dance?”

“Yes, I like it.”

“What would you like me to do to you right now?”

She gasped out loud. “Touch me.”

“Is that all?”

She floundered in confusion. She didn't know how to ask for what she wanted. She couldn't imagine all the things he could do.

He walked around behind her and murmured in her ear. “Don't worry. I'll make sure you're taken care of. I'll show you how good it can be.”

Chapter 7

Faster than thought, he was on her. He wrapped his arms around her, and for a fraction of a second, his hands explored her breasts the way they did before. His speed and power knocked the breath from her lungs. He only stayed on them a moment before one hand came up to her neck. He surrounded her neck with his cruel fingers and traveled on to her mouth.

One thick finger touched her lips. “Open your mouth, baby.” She opened it, and the finger slipped inside. “Let me see you suck it. Suck it like you want it, baby.”

Sucking that finger sent her into a raging passion. She sucked it for all she was worth. She sucked her own pussy and his cock all at once on that livid finger.

“Yeah, baby. You suck it so good. Oh, God, you make my cock so hard.” He dug it into her ass. “Can you feel how hard that is? Can you feel how much I want to fuck your tight hot ass?”

She couldn't stop sucking. She wanted it so bad. Filthy words filled her mind.Oh, God, yes. Oh, please, fuck me. I want your cock so hard.

How could she go three weeks without this? How could she walk away from him like that? How could she live another moment without this intoxicating thrill?

His other hand worked down to her waist and came up under the hem of her skirt. He found her pussy-spattered thighs. His hand dissolved in miles of honeydew. He explored among her quivering leaves until he found the molten hole of her cunt and the ragged nub of clitoris at the top.

He swirled one hand in her opening and spread the creamy mixture around her clit. He flattened three fingers against her clit and circled until she thrashed and contorted in her bonds. She undulated between sucking the finger in her mouth and riding against the hand touching her crotch.

All the while, he growled into her ear. “Yeah, baby. That pussy is so sweet. Come on, baby. Suck that thing. Suck it like you mean it. That's good. Oh, that's so good. Yeah, baby, you are so wet down there. Do you think about your boyfriend touching you like this? Do you think about him sticking his hand up your skirt and finding out how wet you really are? Would you like to sit on his lap during your break? Would you like to get him in the bathroom stall and suck his cock like this?”

The more he talked, the hotter she got. She couldn't stand this much longer before she came all over his hand. Just when she thought she couldn't tolerate the intensity rising out of her clit, he left off circling and buried two big fingers in her pussy. He brought them up hard on her G spot and worked them back and forth inside her delicate cavern.

At this vicious intrusion, she really did blow her lid. She couldn't suck his fingeranymorebut screamed out loud in lusty delight. She bucked and fought to grab his fingers with her love muscles, but he already held them as tight and strong inside her as they would go. Her juicy cunt squeezed and stroked his fingers with powerful clenching action.

He dragged her lower jaw down with his saliva-wet finger. He compressed her tongue to make her gag, but she didn't feel anything but her overpowering climax. Her juices gushed over his hand to drip down her thighs.

“Good, baby. That's so good. Yeah, you know you want to cum for me. Scream, baby. Let me hear you scream. That's it. You know you want to. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna make you cum like that on my dick.”

Before she finished, he vanished and left her hanging raw and bleating from her rope. Where was he? She couldn't see. There he was in front of her. She sighed and sobbed in the last throes of ecstasy, but he fixed her with his eagle eye. He waited for her to come back down to earth, but he didn't move toholdher. She would have collapsed in a heap if the rope hadn't held her up.

When she could see again, she noticed him standing with his hands on his hips. His chest muscles flexed under his shirt, and his rippling abs showed up clear and strong under the cotton. What would he do next?

Infront of her eyes, he grabbed his belt buckle and flipped the tongue out. He yanked it free of the buckle and tore his belt off. He doubled it up and slapped it against his hand before tossing it on the bed.

He attacked her buttons and stripped the shirt off. He lifted it over her head, and she never saw it again. He looped it over the dog clip between her wrists, and it hung there for the rest of the evening.

He had no such trouble with her skirt. He slipped it down to her ankles, and that and her shoes vanished into a pile on the floor. In a split second, she hung naked and exposed before his eyes.

He took another walk in a circle around her. He examined her in all her glory, and nothing could stop him. He nodded and clucked his tongue to himself. “Magnificent. I love seeing you like this. Are you ready for me, baby? Are you ready for this?”

She couldn't answer. She gasped and cried. Her shoulders ached from being held above her head so long, but she dared not complain. He came up close to her face and breathed into her gaping mouth. “I'm gonna fuck you, baby. I'm gonna fuck you like you've never been fucked before. I'm gonna make you cum to the ends of the earth. Are you ready for that? Do you want me to take you like that? Do you want to cum all over my big cock?”

Before she could answer, he covered her mouth with his lips. He mangled her lips with his teeth and his gnawing attention. At the same time, his hands discovered all the erotic territory of her body. He cupped her breasts in his warm palms. He lifted her off the floor by the armpits to set her on her feet again. He cradled her voluptuous ass in both hands and craned the two globes apart to expose her dark crack to the air.

Sonya hung on tenterhooks. She could only fall under the spell of his devouring kiss. She caught at his tongue in desperation. She needed his kiss. She needed him. She needed everything.

He touched around her thighs to her pussy, but he didn't attack and manhandle it the way he did before. He grazed her mound and trailed his fingers through her curly hair. Then he went back to stroking her skin up and down. He came back up to her cheeks and caressed her face in tender strokes.

When he moved away and left her bereft, she kept her eyes on him. Each time he moved away, some new experience awaited her beyond her wildest imaginings. He went over to the bed and grabbed something behind the fluffy pillows heaped at its head. He brought out another carabiner attached to a different rope. He stretched it toward her and laid itacrossthe bed.

He moved around the room with methodical exactness. He went back to the cleat by the window and unwound the rope holding her wrists in the air. She lowered her arms in blessed relief, but Cameron didn't give her a chance to rest.

He unclipped the carabiner from the dog clip and hooked it instead to the carabiner on the bed. He gave the rope a tug, and it retracted on a hidden spring behind the bed. The spring pulled her forward so she couldn't get away.

He nudged her toward the bed, but when her knees bumped into the mattress, he pushed her down in front of it until her hips touched the duvet. He laid one hand on her back and the other on her hips to position her where he wanted her. Her ass bent over the edge of the bed, and the rope pulled her wrists forward until she lay down flat on her chest. Her legs dangled over the side to the floor.

His hands covered her back, her ass, down her thighs, and back up to her neck. “Good girl. That's right. Bend over for me like that. That's right. That's a good girl.”

She moaned out loud. She hated to think what he would do when he got her where he wanted her, but she would find out one way or the other, no matter what. He leaned over her from behind and kissed her neck up to her ear. “You want this, don't you? Does this excite you?”

She could only moan, but he didn't really want an answer. He pushed her head down on the bed. His hands told her to stay here she was. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him pick up the belt lying a few feet away.

Lightning bolts of fear rocketed through her. What in the name of God did she let herself in for? Was he some kind of sadistic freak who brought lonely women to his house to torture them?

She couldn't get away from him now. His hands gave her one last stroke on his way off the bed. He surrounded her ass with his soft caresses. “Yes, baby. You know you want it. I'm gonna make you so damn hot you can't stand it. Your ass is so beautiful, baby. You don't know how beautiful you look right now.”

She tensed for the worst, but instead of torture and mayhem, his hands made their way between her legs to her aching slit. He fingered her clit to a raw quivering bud and forked her pussy lips aside to find her pulsing channel.

He inserted one finger to tap her G spot erect, and when she groaned and whined in an ecstasy of rising lust, another hand fell down on her ass so heavy she could barely contain her excitement. One hand kept her pussy pulsing and squishy while the other trailed down her crack to the other hole made wet and ready by his constant ministrations.

She hurled herself on this new penetration. The two invasions together married into that mind-blowing concoction leading to her ultimate fulfillment. She raised her head and stared straight in front of her with raving eyes. Her mouth hung open in stunned silence. Could this be? Every time brought her to new heights of life-changing pleasure.

He answered her thoughts with his encouragement. “Yeah, baby. You know you like it. You know you want it hard. Come on, baby. Let me hear how much you like it. Say you want it in the ass.”

“Oh, my God. Oh, my ass. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Give it to me. You know I need it. Oh, Jesus. Oh, oh, oh!”

He copied her words until she cried out to the rhythm of his fingers delving into her from both sides. “Your ass is so tight and sweet. I'm gonna fuck you, baby. I'm gonna fuck you so hard you cum all over my prick. God, you are so hot, baby. You make my cock so hard.”

She couldn't hear him over her rising cries. All at once, the finger slipped out of her ass and something cold and rubbery took its place. She glanced back to see him workingoverher in scientific concentration. The thing intruding on her back door was too big to be a finger, and he didn't have his hands close enough to her to be using them.

When the thing buried its bulk in her body and stayed there, she didn't have to wonder. It was another toy—a big one, too. It was bigger than anything she dared use on herself, and it filled her with a comforting feeling she never thought possible. It filled her whole being so she couldn't think. It occupied her whole life. She could only stare into the distance of space and experience its wicked presence.

Cameron gave her pussy a few strokes with his fingers, but the butt toy made her respond stronger than anything she could imagine. Every touch on any inch of her body exploded through her addled brain. She could only repeat in the privacy of her mind,What is happening? What is happening?

She knew what was happening. He moved around behind her, and his voice tingled along her skin. “Oh, yeah, baby. That's nice and tight, isn't it? Is that good?”

“Oh, it's so good. It's so tight. Oh, my ass. Oh, please.”

“Say it, baby. Let me hear you beg for it.”

“Fuck me, please. Fuck my ass. I want it so bad. I want your hard cock.”

He came up close behind her and plunged his fingers into her cunt. “Is this what you want? Is this what you need?”

“Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, please, give it to me.” She ended with a pathetic whimper.

He didn't fuck her, though. She sobbed when he moved away again. He stepped around next to her and stroked her ass in wideswathes. All at once, his hand fell down hard on her ass with a resounding smack.

She jumped clear off the bed, but the rope dragged her back down. Her breasts squashed against the duvet, and her ass stuck up at him for another smack. In a flash, he brought his hand down again. The noise cracked across the room and echoed against the walls.

Sonya screamed out loud, but the moment her mind registered the pain, he covered the smack with his hand and rubbed it away. He replaced the pain and shock with that warm melty sensation worming through her innards.

The plug inside her soothed her to a compliant mass of quivering carnal desire. He could do what he wanted with her, and she would love it. He said so. She said so. The plug said so.

His voice rumbled deepinsidehis chest. “You're a good girl, Sonya. You know you love it. You love being my little bitch, don't you? You love bending over for me, showing me that sweet ass. Oh, my God, I'm gonna love fucking you. Oh, Jesus, I can hardly wait to stick my cock in that juicy cunt of yours. Is that what you like? Do you like being my bitch?”

Before she could answer, he smacked her again, and again. She screamed to make herself hoarse, but he didn't notice. If he did notice, it only encouraged him. “That's right, baby. No one can hear you. No one can help you. You're all mine.”

Smack! Smack! Smack! He didn't bother rubbing away the pain now. He clenched his teeth, and all his great muscles worked to their limit delivering those stinging smacks against her pearly white flesh.

In the end, he grunted with exertion at every stroke. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Sonya couldn't say a word. She could only shriek to heaven for mercy. She certainly wouldn't get it from him. His eyes smoked, and his lips twisted to bare his sharp teeth.

All of a sudden, the blows stopped. Sonya cried and screamed as much when he stopped as when he smacked her. She howled against the injustice of the punishment she didn't deserve. She raged against his cruelty and his power over her. She yanked at her bonds that wouldn't budge an inch to let her free to defend herself.

Chapter 8

She didn't notice he had stopped until delicious wetness filled her throbbing pussy. She looked over her shoulder. Cameron was gone. Then she noticed him on his knees behind her with his face buried in her cunt.

In one blinding instant, her pain and rage and hatred turned to rabid consuming lust. She threw her tortured ass against his face. The plug bumped against his nose and sent shock waves through her insides.

He ate her pussy in great lashing strokes of his tongue and touched her inner channel with his probing fingers. He guzzled the juices spurting onto his cheeks as her orgasms rocked through her, one after the other.

She barely noticed when he rose up to take his place behind her. She didn't notice at all when he pulled his T-shirt over his head to reveal his rock-hard muscles flexing and beating with every seething breath. His biceps twitched when he grabbed her by the hips and swung her toward him.

His leather pants he discarded along with Sonya's clothes. His swollen cock sprang out at her in its burning need to reach her, to touch her, to invade her. Pearls ofjizdripped from its tip to glisten the spunky injection before it entered her.

He worked the tip into her folds, but the plug made her so tight he couldn't get it in right away. He paused on the threshold with the knob against her bones. She quaked to her foundations. This was it. This was the moment to which everything else led. She was his for the taking. She lay exposed and ready, tied and bound and spanked and eaten. Nothing separated them but one quick hitch of his hips in her direction.

He waited. He didn't nail her. Between gasps, she heard him groan in agonized tension. Every fiber clung to her in the glorious anticipation. He waited until the overwhelming surges of desire overtook her and forced her back against his spike.

He held his cock stiff and straight against her opening, and she rocked against her restraints to impale herself on that ferocious implement. Every move she made caused him to croak in perilous torture, but he kept his position and waited until she did it all by herself.

The plug tightened her tissues around his shaft to crush him to smithereens, but she drove herself backward harder than ever. She would have it. She needed it. She dreamed of this moment. All her fantasies came true in this.

Inch by inch, she took his horrible prick into her red hot box. Her spongy swollen G spot shivered when the umbrella head dragged over its aching center to find its place in her deepest recesses. Her mouth sagged open in naked craven hunger. She would take that massive monster to its hilt. She would destroy herself on its dripping tip.

Once she screwed it all the way down to the hair, he took over. “That is so good, baby. Take it hard. Can you feel that? Is that good for you?”

“Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, I want it.”

“Is it hard enough for you, baby? Do you like that cock inside you?”

“Oh, my God. Make me cum. Oh, oh, oh.”

He crushed her hips in his fists and pumped it in hard. His huge shaft banged against her cervix when it plunged to its limit, and she leaned back against it to grab every inch of its manhood.  Her sex closed around it, and her muscles fluttered along its length to drive him out of his mind.

He stroked his cockin toprod her cervix. Then he drew it out to swirl around her G spot. Her tissues swelled so tight he could barely move, but he rotated his hips to stimulate every spot around her molten crater. Only when he reduced her to a screeching harpy of nagging desire did he plunge his lance into her gash again.

Faster and faster he thrust until his hips smacked against the ass made red and raw by his hand. Every smack delivered her into the jaws of sulfuric brimstone to burst into flame. She hit back at his strokes to meet his pounding piston. His pubic bone hammered the plug into her ass while his cock touched every inch of her channel from the inside.

Terrible energy flooded over her. It consumed her every thought and took control of her actions. She went wild and out of control. She jerked her wrists against her restraints, but they wouldn't give an inch. The soft padding against her skin stopped her from hurting herself or she would have torn her skin in her desperate fury to get free.

What would she have done if she could get free? Where would she go? She wouldrendCameron to pieces with her teeth. She would devour his limbs and his cock and his lips with everything she had. She would turn into some raging force of nature with no destination and no mind left at all.

He was her journey and her destination. He was the beginning and end. He filled her body with himself and her mind with passionate fulfillment. Why did she resist him? Why did he have to use all his powers of persuasion to convince her to come here with him to experience this pleasure? Didn't she know by now she wanted it? When would she ever learn?

He taught her. He taught her the meaning of pleasure with his thing inside her. His cock knew its way to her soul.

“God damn, baby. Oh, God, that's it. Oh, fuck. Fuck, yeah. That's it. That's it. Oh, yeah.”

She only stared and screamed in the rising crescendo of climax exploding through her. He took hold of her neck and turned her around to stare at him instead of straight ahead at nothing.

The moment their eyes locked, she floated away into a blissful atmosphere of pink puffy clouds and angels singing on high. She stared into his eyes, but the vastness of space stretched out before her. Stars twinkled in the heavens, and majestic forces moved over galactic distances. Nothing could touch her out there.

He stopped talking to her. She was a billion miles away and not coming backany timesoon, but his steady pounding beat held her suspended there in orbit while the nebulous tremors rocked through her without end.

His grip slackened, but she stayed where she was as if he still held her. She froze in place while he searched her eyes for any sign of recognition. She stared into the distance, beyond Earth, beyond humanity, beyond the universe.

His eyebrows jumped. His lips contorted. His jaw clenched, and his mouth formed a round O of horrendous shock. His hands didn't move, and he lost his hold. His hands hovered over her inlostagony. A moment later, he bellowed a thunderous roar that shook the house. No one could hear him, either, and she couldn't pity him after the terrible orgasms he gave her.

He glared into her eyes in burning fury. He jammed his cock against her bones and hovered there. He pulled it back and plowed in one more time to stay. He groaned in one continuous agony, and the steamy ejaculation spurted into her depths.

Once it started, he came back to awareness and set up his driving rhythm again. He pumped his pulsating cock into her saturated cunt to squeeze the last precious drops from his spike. He roared in her ear, and their combined juices mixed with sweat to stick their skin together with each smacking stroke.

Sonya soared down from her cosmic orbit to see him leaning in toward her. He squashed his hips against her ass, and their lips met somewhere in the limitless distance between them. She caught his mouth, and they danced in the steamy warmth surrounding their tongues.

Cameron hummed into her mouth. His chest stuck to her back. Jiz sealed his hips against her ass, and cum ran down her thighs. She couldn't turn around to meet him with her hands bound. He leaned an inch farther and flipped open the gate on the carabiner holding her.

The rope snapped back against its spring. The manacles still held her wrists together, but she could turn to kiss him better now. She arched her back, and he moved with her. He pushed her forward to lie down on the bed, and he moved up next to her.

With their eyes and lips locked in eternal harmony, they crawled up onto the bed. Cameron kept Sonya facing away from him with his big chest pressed against her back, but he wouldn't release her mouth.

At length, she came to rest on her side with him behind her. He wrapped one hand under her neck to support her and hugged her tight in a tender embrace. She settled into a position more comfortable than any she could remember in a long time. So many cosmic orgasms in a row reduced her to a soggy mush. She could barely move in the hazy softness of complete satisfaction.

Their tongues snaked around and around each other back and forth, and his hands covered her tingling skin with warm caresses. He admired her breasts and nipples, and he tickled up her ribs and down her belly to the sensitive triangle between her legs.

He flicked her clitoris to make her squeak until she worked her tortured ass against his damp crotch. He left off nagging her clit to pull the plug on her ass. She groaned against the intensity, but like a shot, he was back at her. His fingers spread her tissues one more time and plunged in to stir her tofreshexcitement.

With his fingers occupying her pussy and squeezing spurts of honey from her fountain, he nudged his swelling cock into her ass. He held her back against him with his hand and swallowed the ecstatic shouts from her lips. He loomed large between her cheeks, but the toxic elixir made the passage easier. Her dark hole opened for him the way it opened for the toy, and his fingers titillated her back to the dizzying heights of pleasure.

She heaved against his iron grip, but she didn't resist anymore. She gave herself to the intoxicating blend of pleasure and pain, of isolation and belonging, of sweet togetherness with him.

She became aware of the room around her, but the downy duvet warmed her in place of Cameron's seething bulk. She blinked herself awake and groped around the bed, but couldn't find him. When she opened her eyes, she spotted him standing by the bed. His arms flexed as he buttoned up his pants.

She put out her hand to him, and he took it. He let her pull him back down on top of her, and their mouths closed in that endless kiss that could go on and on forever. His chest warmed her breasts. He mouthed down her neck to her chest and sucked her nipples erect. He nibbled all over her naked deliciousness until she humped her body against him in craven arousal.

He surprised her by hitching himself up on his elbow and facing her. “I have to go.”

“Go? Go where?”

“I have to be at the airport in a few hours.”

“What? What for?”

“I’m on a four-month speaking tour in Europe. My plane leaves at nine-thirty this morning, and it’s already quarter after four now, so there’s no reason for me to go to sleep.”

“What about me? You’re just going to walk out on me?”

“The limo will take you back to your place. You don’t have to get up and leave until you’re ready, and you’ll find breakfast waiting for you downstairs.”

She stiffened. “So that’s it? You have to go, so see ya later? Did you know all along you were leaving when you asked me to come here with you? You thought you’d have a good time with me and then have your limo drive me home? That’s just great.” She turned her back on him and pulled the duvet around her bare shoulders. All of a sudden, she couldn’t stand the cold.

He cuddled up close to her back. “It’s not like that, Sonya. I’ve been searching for you for weeks. I had no idea I would find you last night, and when I did, I had no idea you would agree to come here or do anything with me. It was just a lucky break, but I can’t back out on this tour. It’s been planned and booked for over three years.”

“Just go and leave me alone. You’re one disaster after another.”

“I don’t want to just go and leave you alone. Do you really think I have nights like last night all the time? You’re one in a million. I wouldn’t leave at all if I could help it.”

She whipped around to confront him. “Do you really expect me to believe that? You’re going to be gone for four months. I’ll probably never see you again.”

“You’ll see me again. I don’t want to let you go.”

“You’re letting me go right now. Go on. Go catch your plane. I’ll get breakfast downstairs and go back to my life as a temp. You never have to think about me again. You’ll find some other tramp in Europe to stick it to.”

“Don’t talk about yourself like that, Sonya. You know I care for you.”

“You obviously don’t care enough to do anything about it.”

“What could I do about it?”

“You already said you can’t cancel the tour, so don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine with my new toys. I don’t need you.”

“You need me, Sonya. You need me just as much as I need you. You wouldn’t be so upset about this if you didn’t.”

“Leave me alone. You’re a prick.”

“Come with me.”

“Blow yourself.”

“I mean it. Come with me to Europe. This doesn’t have to be the end. You always said you enjoyed traveling the world and not being tied down to any one job. Come with me. We can have a good time in between my speaking engagements.”

“We can have a good time editing your speeches. Isn’t that what you mean? I won’t be your EA, so you can forget about that.”

“I don’t want you to be my EA. You’ve gone way beyond that.”

“What would I be—your sex kitten?”

He burst out laughing. “My sex kitten? Is that what you think this is all about?”

“What would I be to you if I came to Europe, then? You’d keep me tied up in your hotel room so you could come back from your speaking engagements and bang me to your heart’s delight. That’s all.”

He leaned in close and kissed her on the nose. “We could have that and so much more. We could see the sights, go out to dinner, take gondola rides in Venice—you name it.”

“You still haven’t answered my question. What would I be? If I’m not your EA and I’m not your sex kitten, what would I be to you?”

“I don’t know what to call it. You would be my...I don’t know…my girlfriend?”

Her eyes popped open, and she guffawed with laughter. “Cut it out. This is serious.”

He pressed his lips together to stop himself smiling. “I am serious, Sonya. I’ve never had a relationship like this before, so I don’t know what to call it. You wouldn’t be any of those things to me and I wouldn’t be any of those things to you. I wouldn’t be a boyfriend like you’ve had in the past, and I wouldn’t be your boy toy or your boss or anything else. I would just be me, and we would be together.”

“Together…as in a relationship?”

“Call it whatever you want to. I don’t want to walk out that door without you. If you don’t come to Europe with me now, I want to know you’re still here, that you didn’t feel like I had my way with you and abandoned you. I want this to continue in whatever form you’re comfortable with. I want you in my life, one way or the other.”

She stared at him. Who was this man? What in the world was he talking about? Europe—could she? This didn’t happen. You didn’t go home with a strange man and whizz off to Europe the next morning, just like that. That sort of thing happened only in books, never in real life.

He shifted around on his elbow. His barn-door chest stood up straight and tall in front of her. “Get up and get dressed, Sonya. We’re going to the airport.”

“You’re serious about this.”

“I was never more serious in my life.”

“What about my job? They’re expecting me to show up in the morning.”

“Call in sick. You’re a temp. You can call in sick and then report to the placement agency that you withdraw from the posting.”

“That doesn’t happen. I’ve committed to finishing the posting.”

“Then quit the agency.”

“I would lose my reference.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t betempinganymore.”

“Are you trying to ruin my life?”

“No, Sonya. I’m trying to make it. Are you really happy with these fly-by-night temp jobs? Why don’t you try for something you’re really passionate about or talented at? Why don’t you go for the brass ring?”

“With you, do you mean? Is that what you mean by the brass ring?”

“I have nothing to do with this. This is all about you and what you want. It’s the same thing you went through the first time we had sex in my office, except now we’re talking about your life. What is it you really want? Do you want to work for Liam as a temp, or do you want to grasp your fulfillment with both hands? You could take control of your own destiny and never have to depend on anyone else for your happiness. You wouldn’t have to depend on me for it, either. If you don’t want to go to Europe with me, just say the word, but don’t stay here and languish in some temp agency.You’relife isn’t worth that.”

She sank back on the bed, utterly deflated. What was her life coming to? Did she really have to be told this by some self-styled life coach? She had to have her own sexual malaise shoved in her face along with several dozen high-powered orgasms before she realized she was living someone else’slie. She took that bitter pill and jumped in with both feet to the deep end of taking care of herself.

Now here he was, Cameron O’Toole, telling her to do the same thing with the rest of her life. She could walk out of this gilded cage and never see him again. She could go back to her solitary apartment and her sex toys, but she could still claim a life for herself, a life beyond agencies and employers and time sheets. She could do more than take dictation and screen executives’ emails and write other people’s blog posts for them.

What exactly did she really want to do with her life? Why did it take Cameron O’Toole asking that question before she ever asked it of herself? No one in her life, least of all a man with whom she was sexually involved, had ever asked her that question in such a way that she couldn’t avoid answering it.

She couldn’t look at him without answering it. She couldn’t look herself in the mirror without answering it. She couldn’t live another day without answering it, at least for herself.

She blinked, and Cameron came back into focus. He regarded her with his direct gaze. He wasn’t going anywhere. He could wait for the next decade for her to answer that question, and whatever answer she came up with, he would accept it. He would be there, either in Europe or when he came back.

Of one thing and one thing only was she certain. She didn’t want to let him walk out of her life. She didn’t want to lose him, either. If she didn’t go with him now, she wanted to know he would be there when he got back. She didn’t want this to end.

Did she want to spend the next four months thinking about what she wanted to do with her life? Did she really want to spend the next four months temping before she did something about it?

She already knew she didn’t want to temp for the rest of her life. So that was another thing of which she was certain. Temping was to work what Liam was to sex, so Cameron was right about that, too. Why did he have to be so God damn right about everything? Didn’t he have any flaws at all?

Of-coursehe did. He wasn’t some glorified life coach, and he wasn’t a master wizard or a sex god. He was just a man with flaws like every other man, and she would find them out if she had anything much to do with him.

That was okay. She could accept him as a flawed man, even if his body was stinkin’ hot. She could fuck his brains out while she decided what she wanted to be when she grew up. If his flaws proved more than she could stand, she could move on to something more fulfilling.

It all came down to that, didn’t it? Sex, work, relationships—it all came down to fulfillment. Fulfillment, pleasure, and happiness. What was life for if not that? She could accept it from him.

She pushed herself up on her hands. The leather restraints still hugged her wrists, but the dog clip no longerheldthem together. She wasn’t his bond sex slave anymore—if she ever had been. The chrome D ring clicked when she moved her hands.

She looked up to find him watching her. “All right. I’ll come with you.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

He swung his legs over the bed. “Great. Get dressed. We’ll have breakfast and sleep on the plane.”

She got out of bed and pulled up her skirt. “I guess there’s no time to stop by my apartment.”

“What is it you want from there—your toys?”

“I do have some valuable stuff there. I don’t like walking away from that.”

“I can give you the money to pay the rent until we get back. Your stuff will be safe.”

“I have enough money to pay the rent. I don’t need to accept it from you.”

“I only meant….”

“I have savings. I made good money temping in the last few years, and I put it away.”

He rounded on her. “Listen, Sonya, I don’t want you to think I’m trying to buy you with my money just because I’m paying for this.”

“I don’t think that. I just don’t want you to think I’m mooching off you. I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can. That’s what I respect about you. I wouldn’t offer to pay for things if I thought you were mooching.”

“Good. Well, we got that cleared up.”

“So, are you okay with paying the rent for the next four months?”

“Actually, I don’t really want to. There are just a couple of things in the apartment I would want to keep. The rest of it, I could walk away from.”

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll have my man go around and pack everything up. He’ll put it in storage for you, in case you ever come back.”

“Your man? Is that some kind of servant?”

“Actually, he’s a concierge.”

“Oh. I get it.”

“So is that all right, if hepacksup your stuff and stores it somewhere for you?”

“I suppose so.”

“That way, we won’t have to spend time going through your apartment before we go to the airport. Besides, we might not come back to Philly right away.”

“What would we do?”

“I don’t know. It depends on how we feel after the speaking tour. You might decide you want to go somewhere completely different, or we might decide to go somewhere together.”

Sonya brightened up. “That sounds good.”

“Great. Now put your shirt on before you give me a hard-on and I nail you all over again and we miss our plane.”

***

THE END

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Secret Quickie

Chapter 1

Roy Fontaine jerked his chin toward the bride’s side. “Who’s the tart?”

Ben Poppins glanced over his shoulder. “That’s my sister Bridget.”

Roy’s eyes widened. “Your sister! Dang!”

Bridget turned her back on the scene and muttered to Sheila, the other bridesmaid. “Did you hear that? That scumbag just called me a tart.”

Sheila batted her eyes at Roy over Bridget’s shoulder. “He’s not too bad, though, is he? I wouldn’t mind him calling me a tart.”

Bridget didn’t turn around. “He’s kinda old, isn’t he?”

Sheila cocked her head and grinned. “He can’t be too old. He doesn’t have anygrayhair, and those crow’s feet around his eyes make him look distinguished.”

Bridget smoothed her dress down her hips. “You can have him, then. He’s all yours.”

Sheila’s eyes popped open. “Oooh! Do that again! He’s checking out your ass.”

Bridget flushed. She hadn’t meant to show off her swerves to her brother’s best man. She only wanted to look good, and this dress clung to her tighter than she expected. It left nothing of hervoluptuous curvesand full bust to the imagination. Every guy in the wedding checked her out every time she turned around.

Just then, the minister called everyone’s attention. “Is everyone in their places? Okay, I’ll just go up front with you, young man.” Hetapped Ben on the shoulder. Once the groom’s party gets into position, we’ll start the music and the bride’s party can walk down the aisle.”

He left with Ben and Roy and the rest of the groom’s men. The weight of all their eyes lifted off Bridget’s shoulders. She sighed with relief. “I don’t understand why we have to wear all our fancy clothes for the rehearsal anyway. Why can’t wejustwear our old blue jeans.”

Sheila ran her finger next to her mouth to remove any stray lipstick. “You wouldn’t want to get dressed on the day of the wedding and find out your dress didn’t fit, would you? Besides, I just love seeing all those guys in their tuxes. Which one do you like best?”

Bridget blushed again and faced front. “I wasn’t looking.”

Unfortunately, when she faced front, she found herself looking at all of them lined up in a row like penguins on a beach. Her brother Ben stood nearest the minister with Roy at his side. The other groom’s men trailed off into the background, but she couldn’t help noticing Roy. He stared straight at her with hispiercinggrayeyes.

Okay, so Sheila was right and he looked smashing in his tux. They all did, but for some reason, Roy stuck outtoher. He stood three inches taller than all the other men, and his shoulders filled out his jacket so he occupied more space than any other two. He made Ben look tiny and fragile standing next to him.

Roy’s eyes burned into Bridget’s face. He scanned her up and down in her tight bridesmaid’s dress. Maybe she should tell the fitter to let the dress out some, but that might make her look even bigger. To hell with him. Let him look. Once her brother got safely married, she never had to see him again.

She tried to face him, to stare him down, but she had to drop her eyes to the floor before that direct, determined gaze of his. Ben tried to copy him by swelling out his chest and throwing his head back, but no one could match Roy’s size and raw muscle power.

She didn’t have to look at him again. She already knew what he looked like. His close-cropped brown hair surrounded his head, and he wore his own tailored tux instead of a rental like the others.

She could understand now why Ben talked about Roy nonstop ever since he started working with him. Roy had more money than God, and he took Ben under his wing to mentor him in his multi-billion dollar consultancy firm. Ben told some pretty outrageous stories about Roy and his exploits, but he wanted to be just like his older friend.

Bridget let out another sigh of relief when the music started, but that posed a whole new problem. She wouldn’t have to stand there in the vestry with him staring at her anymore, but now she had to walk down the aisle while he watched.

He didn’t even look at the flower girl or Sheila sashaying into their places. Bridget could just imagine Sheila eyeing Roy all over and grinning like a tiger. That girl had no scruples about throwing herself at a rich and powerful man, and Sheila heard Ben’s stories the same as Bridget. They made her mouth water to get her hands on Roy.

At last, Bridget’s turn came. She couldn’t put it off any longer, and she couldn’t get out of it, either. Not only would she have to strut her curvy body in this skin-tight dress in front of him, she’d have to do the same thing at the wedding tomorrow, too. She would have to show her stuff now and deal with him for the rest of the weekend until one of them made a discrete exit at the end of the wedding.

She couldn’t exactly bail on her brother’s wedding, but if Ben and Larissa got married in the citylikecivilized people, Bridget could go home between major events. Instead, all the guests and participants got locked up in a luxury resort in the Berkshires for a whole weekend. Friday wasn’t over yet, and already Bridget wanted to escape.

She started down the aisle. She could only face the firing squad and get it over with. Ben smiled at her, but that did nothing to bolster her nerves. Roy didn’t smile. His eyes smoldered out of his chiseled face. Halfway down the aisle, she could see his shoulders rising and falling with his breath. His whole being seethed under his tux.

A thousand eyes burned into her from all sides, but she couldn’t escape his penetrating gaze. He looked right through her dress to her flesh underneath. He peeled off every layer to her stomach, her hips, her rounded ass, her breasts, her cleavage above the ribbon neckline. Her guts flipped a somersault. She would NOT let this raving pig intimated her.

By the halfway mark, her embarrassment turned to anger. Her natural spirit flared. If he wanted something to look at, she would darn well give it to him. She raised her chin, stuck out her chest, and stared right into his eyes. She threw out her hips when she walked and straightened her back. She imagined she was a model strutting down the runway with dozens of flash bulbs blowing all around her. She twisted her mouth up in a wicked smirk. She knew exactly what he was thinking, and she would let him think it to his heart’s content.

His eyes flashed sharper than ever. He clenched his jaw, and his knuckles turned white where he clasped his hands in front of him. He watched her hips sway and her breasts bounce with every step.

She got to the altar and turned to take her place with the other bridesmaids. At least that ordeal was over. As soon as Ben and Larissa finished pretending to say their vows and exchange rings, everyone would file out of the church. Bridget couldfreeherselffromout of this dress and get her own comfortable clothes back on. She made a note to herself not to sit anywhere near Roy at the rehearsal dinner after this and to avoid his room like the plague.

As soon as she turned aside and lost sight of Roy’s eyes, the minister’s voice stopped her dead in her tracks. “Umm….wait a minute, Bridget.”

She spun around to face that long line of black-suited men all over again. She stood right smack dab in front of Roy. They looked straight into each other’s eyes.

Bridget floundered in confusion. Her cheeks burned, and her pulse pounded in her head. “What’s wrong?”

The minister looked all around. “Umm….I think you should be over here with the groom’s party, shouldn’t you?”

Bridget fidgeted from one foot to the other. “Are you sure? Shouldn’t I be with the bride’s party?”

Everyone looked around at each other—everyone except Roy. He stared at Bridget with those hypnotic, unwavering eyes. Everyone fell into a lengthy discussion about which side of the altar Bridget should stand on. Half the people said she should stand with the groom. Wasn’t she the groom’s sister? The other half said she should stand with the bride? Wasn’t she a bridesmaid, after all?

She had to stand there between them, one agonizing minute after another. Roy stared at her and ran his eyes up and down her body while everyone argued the question out. Voices started to rise. Disagreements heated up until the minister raised his hands. “Okay, okay. Why don’t you stand with thebridefor now, Bridget? We’ll finish the rehearsal, and maybe the Good Lord will send us some Divine Inspiration before tomorrow.”

Bridget slunk off to the end of the bride’s line. Now she could really relax and watch Larissa and her fatherwalkdown the aisle. She could appreciate the loving smile passing between Ben and Larissa and the excited blush on Larissa’s cheeks. In the end, nobody cared if the groom’s sister’s dress was too tight, or if she needed to lose a few pounds, or if she stood on this or that side of the altar. As long as Ben and Larissa got happily married, who cared about anything else?

Chapter 2

Bridget tugged on her tights and straightened her miniskirt over them. She slipped into her ballet flats and fluffed her curly copper hair around her shoulders. Her woolen top molded to her curves morecomfortablythan any shiny dress. She began to unwind the tension knotting up her shoulders. She never worried about her figure until she put on that infernal dress. Now that she got into her own clothes, she liked her body again.

She checked hermakeupin the hotel room mirror and tucked her hair behind one ear when someone knocked on her door. She opened it and Sheila bounded in wearing her little black dress. Bridget’s eyes widened. “Aren’t you a little dressed up for this?”

Sheila pirouetted in a circle. “I want to look good for the dinner. Aren’t you at least going to change your clothes? These are the same clothes you drove up in.”

Bridget pushed her out of the room and closed the door behind her. She hooked her arm through Sheila’s elbow and guided her down the hall. “Unlike you, I’m not here to pick up guys. I’m here to celebrate my brother’s wedding. You’re bringing down the whole bridesmaids’ team with your antics.”

“Nonsense,” Sheila shot back. “What are weddings for if not for picking up guys? Your brother’s party is the best hunting ground I could ask for.”

Bridget groaned. “Don’t give me that about my brother’s party. You’ve got your eye on Roy. Don’t lie about it.”

Sheila turned red. “I won’t lie about it. He’s prime meat, and I’m gonna get him.”

Bridget covered her eyes. “Could you please not use the word ‘meat’ in the same sentence with a man? It’s really crude, you know.”

Sheila cackled with glee. “I know. Isn’t it great? I bet he’s got the best meat on the block. I have an idea. How about I find out and let you know?”

“Don’t you dare! If you get anywhere close to Roy Fontaine’s‘meat’, I don’t want to know about it. You keep all the gory details to yourself. Do you hear me?”

Sheila didn’tanswerbecause,at that moment, they entered the hotel’s main lobby. Voices rose and fell from the dining room to one side. Bridget and Sheila got their noses through the door when the hubbub exploded intovivaciousdebate.

Bridget’s mother hustled between tables. She assigned everyone a specific seat marked with a name tag. Half the guests got to the dining room early and already sat down at the wrong places. Bridget’s mother made them get up and move to the right places to make room for people arriving.

Bridget hung back. “Oh, great! Another disaster.”

Her mother caught sight of her and waved her forward. “And you’re here, Bridget, and right next to you is Roy. Where is he? Oh, there you are. Right here, Mr. Fontaine. Yes, that’s right. Have a seat. We’ll have this sorted out in no time.”

Bridget froze with her hand on the chair back. Sit next to Roy? She glanced toward the door, but more people clustering around the entrance blocked her escape.

Roy pulled out hischairand sat down. He wore a perfectgraywool suit now to match his eyes, and he straightened his jacket. His back spread farther than either side of the chair back. At that close range, Bridget got her first sense of his sheer size and mass. He intimidated her just sitting there.

Her mother ushered people to their seats. Pretty soon, the glut dissipated and people sat down. The hubbub died to a gentle ebb of conversation. The dining room settled into a happy hum. Bridget had no choice but to sit down, too.

She yanked out the chair, sat down, and scooted up to the table. She could get through a meal without talking to the hulk next door. She would eat and run. The waiters started making the rounds and handing out plates and drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Cutlery clinked and jaws chewed.

Bridget pulled her plate toward her, all set to work fast when Roy leaned over and murmured in her ear. “What did you think of the rehearsal? Which side of the altar do you think you should be on?”

She cast a quick glance his way. Then she locked her eyes on her plate. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess it doesn’t matter much.”

That should shut him up. She took a bite of a deviled egg when he leaned over to murmur in her ear again. “I agree with you. You should be on the bride’s side.”

She didn’t answer. Maybe if she ignored him, he would get the message and go away.

A polite silence followed. Then he tried again. “Ben and Larissa sure seem happy together. I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time. How about you? Don’t you think he seems happy?”

She took a deep breath. She had to shake this lamprey off once and for all. “Yes, Ben and Larissa seem happy, but I guess that’s to be expected. They’re getting married, after all.”

She stuck a forkful of cheese blintzes in her mouth and relaxed into the silence, but he wouldn’t quit. His voice came just a hint louder this time. “You’re supposed to make polite conversation at wedding functions. That’s all I’m trying to do here. I didn’t mean to bother you.”

Bridget’s head snapped sideways to face him. “I’m not making polite conversation with you. Do you think I didn’t hear you call me a tart in the church? Talk to Maury Jensen on your other side over there if you really want to make polite conversation with somebody.”

She faced front.Nowwhat in the sam hill made her react like that? Why did she have to blow her cool by reminding him? She should have kept up her one-line answers until he gave up and left her alone. Then again, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who gave up on anything. Come to think of it, she wasn’t the kind of girl to let something like that go. Better to give him his walking papers now so she could enjoy the rest of the weekend.

He set down his knife and fork and leaned back in the chair. He set his hands on his hips. “You are a tart, Bridget. You looked incredible in that dress. I can’t wait to see you in it again tomorrow. And the way you strutted down the aisle? Shoot! I wish I had that on camera so I could watch it every day.”

Bridget’s ears and neck burned. She should have known strutting down the aisle would come back to bite her. When would she ever learn to control her temper? “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m sure every other guy in the groom’s party enjoyed it, too. I only did it because you were staring at me like that.”

“I couldn’t help but stare. You’ve got a body to make any guy drool. You know that.”

“I don’t know any such thing. I wish I didn’t have to wear that stupid dress. It doesn’t fit me.”

“It fits you great. You look ten times better than Larissa.”

“What are you talking about? Larissa is a stick. She would look good in anything.”

“It’s because she’s a stick that she doesn’t look good in anything. She looks like a stick wearing a bridal gown. You on the other hand….”

She couldn’t stop herself turning in his direction. “What about me?”

He met her gaze for just an instant. Then he swept his eyes down to her feet and back up. “You look good in everything. You look just as good now in those tights as you do in your dress. You’re not a stick. You’re a woman. Men like women, not sticks.”

Bridget blushed to her eyelashes, but she had to admit his words made her heart beat faster. She never wanted to be a stick. She liked her curves, but it was nice to hear someone else did, too. All she ever heard from everyone and everything was stick, stick, stick. Sticks stared out at her from billboards and TV screens. The media slammed sticks in her face everywhere she turned.

Roy smiled at her. “You’re just perfect the way you are. I like a woman with some meat on her bones. It gives you something to hold onto.”

Now she really did blush. She blushed so bad she had to turn away. She pushed her food back and forth on her plate. “Yeah, well, you never will, so take a good look and go find yourself another tart to eat.”

“I don’t want another tart to eat. I want to eat you.”

Her head spun around on her neck. She took one look at those piercinggrayeyes and she couldn’t look anymore. She whirled around the other way and jumped out of her seat. “Dude, you’re sick. I’m outta here.”

She grabbed her plate and raced out of the room. She dumped her plate in the bus tub by the door and beat it out of the hotel in a hurry. She didn’t slow down until she got out into the garden. Just before she left the dining room, she cast a furtive glance toward her table. There was Sheila sitting down in the chair Bridget just vacated. Good. Sheila would keep Roy occupied. She would take his mind of Bridget and…..

Aw, forget it. She wouldn’t think about him anymore and the ridiculous things he said. What was he doing, hitting on her at her brother’s wedding? He was supposed to be the groom’s best man. Had he no shame at all, cruising for whatever and hitting on her at the rehearsal dinner?

She sat down in the sun among the roses, but she couldn’t get away from what he said. He liked her body. He liked the way she looked in that dress. She wasn’t fat and ugly to him.

She would have to make sure not to strut in front of him tomorrow, though. She didn’t want every other guy in the groom’s party drooling over her, too. She walked around the gardens for an hour or more until the sun started going down. Dance music lilted out of the hotel. She cast a longing gaze toward the doors, but she couldn’t go in there.

She wished she could find a guy like Ben and Larissa found each other. Loneliness seized her heart. No one waited for her in that hotel. No one waited for her back in the city, either. No one waited for her anywhere. What would it be like to face every day with someone…someone who appreciated her?

Roy appreciated her—at least, he appreciated her body. That didn’t mean he appreciatedher. What would it be like to be with someone who appreciated her body? What would it be like to revel in being big and curvy, to release herself with someone who wanted her like this?

She meandered back toward the doors, but she didn’t go inside. She heard the music louder now and caught a glimpse of Sheila dancing in the cleared-out dining room. Sheila was probably in there dancing with Roy right now. From the stories Ben told, Roy picked up a girl every day of the week. He couldn’t fail to see Sheila coming at him a mile away.

Bridget’s heart sank. So all that talk about liking a curvy woman was just so much smoke blown up her skirt. He would say anything to get in a girl’s pants. That’s what Ben said…or was it? Actually, Ben never said that. He said Roy could have any girl he wanted, that Roy set his sights on a girl and got her. He never said Roy lied to get them.

Ben worshiped the ground Roy walked on. He called Roy a prince and a saint and a king and a genius. Bridget didn’t pay enough attention to their business dealings to understand what made him say that, but Ben couldn’t say enough about Roy. She knew Ben well enough to know he wouldn’t admire a guy who lied to get a girl in the sack.

She just started feeling really sorry for herself and turned to walk away again when a figure stepped out of the lobby. Roy walked over to stand next to her. He peered through the door at Sheila parading around with abevyof penguins in tow.

Bridget shot him a sidelong glance. “I thought you’d be in there breaking it down with the rest of them.”

His eyebrows went up. “Me? No, I don’t like that kind of dancing. That kind of dancing is for drunk people.”

She had to smile at that. “Thanks for saying what you said before. I appreciate it.”

He faced her. “What did I say?”

“You said I was a woman, not a stick, and that you thought I looked good in my dress. I appreciate you saying that. I don’t hear that kind of thing very often.”

“You do look good in your dress. You look good like this, too. You’re drop-dead hot. Don’t you know that?”

“I guessnotif I’m thanking you for saying it.”

“Well, you are, so you don’t have to thank me.”

She turned away. “Thanks.” Then she caught herself and laughed.

He smiled and surveyed the lobby. “I don’t usually come to places like this. I wouldn’t have come if your brother hadn’t asked me to be his best man.”

Bridget’s eyes popped open. “You don’t? I thought a billionaire like you would be going to places like this all the time.”

He shrugged. “Naw. This isn’t really my scene.”

“So why did Ben ask you to be his best man? I mean, I know he admires you and everything. It’s just…you know, you guys aren’t exactly friends.”

“That’s what I thought, but he told me I’m his best friend. I wasn’t expecting it. I told him I would be honored to be his best man, and he seemed pleased with that. That’s what I’m doing here.”

She didn’t know what to say. She watched the dancers for a while. She had to say something, but she couldn’t think of anything appropriate to get her out of this awkward situation. “So what kind of dancing do you like?”

“I like slow dancing with someone I care about. I like holding someone close and sharing a private moment, not throwing myself around in front of a drunken crowd.”

At that moment, the music changed to a swaying rock ballad. The excited hoots died down in the dining room, and Bridget saw Sheila fall against one of her penguins

Roy leaned over. “How about it? Would you like to dance with me?”

She stared up at him. “What….here? Now?”

“Why not?” He took her hand and gave her arm a tug.

She resisted. She didn’t really want to dance, especially not with him. Well, why not with him? Wasn’t she just mooning over having a guy that appreciated her? Here he was, asking her to dance—not in front of a drunken crowd like Sheila, but right here, in the privacy of the hotel doorway.

No one was around. Potted trees and wisteria surrounded the doorway. The musiclappedinto the garden. His hand squeezed hers, and his iron bulk rose up big and high all around her.

What would it be like…just once? What the heck. What could go wrong? So heappreciatesher body. She could enjoy dancing with him, just for a minute. Then she would split. She didn’t want to have anything to do with a guy who called her a tart and said he wanted to eat her. That kind of guy would eat dirt and die.

She couldn’t break free of his hand holding hers anyway. Some undeniable force pulled her toward him. That undeniable force came from him, from his massive, unstoppable self.

So this was what Ben saw in Roy. He locked his eyes on what he wanted, and nothing could stop him. He liked her, he appreciated her body, and he wanted to dance with her. Gravity towed her toward him. She couldn’t break away.

She didn’t want to break away. She wanted to dance with him. So he was a bombastic prick. He considered her something to eat. She wasn’t marrying him. She was just dancing with him for a minute.

He dragged her toward him, and he pushed her hand behind her back to hug her against his broad chest. Her top pressed against his jacket. He took her other hand and started swaying to the music.

She sank into that undertow, and her body followed his movements. His overpowering presence dwarfed her and sheltered her. She leaned into him, and she rested her head on his chest. He settled his cheek against her hair and kissed her forehead. She should havestartledaway at that. What was he doing? He couldn’t actually care about her, could he? What was he kissing her forehead for?

She didn’t startle away, though. For some reason, that kiss seemed just right, in just the right place at just the right time. It fit with this slow dance with no one around to see.

They eased back and forth. You couldn’t call it dancing. They just shifted their weight back and forth in time to the music. Before Bridget knew it, the song ended, and the thumping beat of jumpy dance music took its place. She let him go with a sigh and stepped back.

She smiled up at him and gave his hand a squeeze. “Thanks. That was nice.”

He let her hand go. “Anytime.”

Chapter 3

Bridget set off down the hall toward her room. Around the corner, she spotted Larissa and the other bridesmaids with their heads together. Sheila looked up and waved to Bridget. “Bridget! Come here. We’re taking pictures of just us bridesmaids for Larissa’s scrap book.”

Bridget slouched over to them. “All right.”

She sat still for the picture, but when she got up to leave, Sheila yanked her back. “Where have you been? We’re going down to Tommy’s room to play spin the bottle.”

Bridget tugged her arm free. “I don’t want to play spin the bottle, and it sounds like it’s just you and Tommy playing, anyway. I saw you dancing with him downstairs. You go ahead and have a good time.”

Sheila wouldn’t let her go. “Why are you being such akilljoy? We’re here to have a rocking good time, not sit in our rooms and watch late-night movies while we sob into our tequilas. You’re coming with me. Tommy won’t be the only guy there. Maybe Roy will even be there.” Sheila ended with a wicked laugh.

“Are you trying to make Tommy jealous by kissing Roy? Which one of them are you going afteranyway?”

“All of them!” Sheila shrieked. “Come on. You’re my responsibility, and I’m here to make sure you have a good time, too.”

She wouldn’t hear any moreprotestbut hauled Bridget back the other way down the hall. She shoved Bridget into the room and slammed the door behind her. Sure enough, most of the groom’s party mingled around the room. The guys turned to look at Bridget when she walked in.

Bridget froze. “What’s going on here—the bachelor party?”

Ben came over to her side. “Bridget! Good, you’re here. We need a few more girls to play spin the bottle.”

“I’m not playing spin the bottle, and neither are you. You’re getting married in the morning.”

“No, I’m not playing,” Ben replied. “I’m the referee. I arbitrate disputes and make sure everybody plays fair.”

Bridget migrated to the side of the room. “Good. Then you can make sure nobody includes me in the game, either.”

Sheila stuck a glass in Bridget’s hand. “Stop talking and start drinking. We’re here to have a good time, not flap our jaws.”

Bridget found a seat for herself on the dresser top. Guys occupied every other seat in the room except Sheila on the couch arm and Betsy sitting on the floor next to her boyfriend Jason’s knee.

Bridget sipped her drink. It was a cheap screwdriver of orange juice and vodka, but it did the trick of making her head buzz with make-believe excitement. She spotted Roy tucked into a corner, but she kept her eyes turned away from him. He wasn’t drinking anything and he kept quiet.

Ben held up his arms. “Well, we’ll just have to get started and hope some more girls come soon.” He laid an empty bottle in the center of the room. Everybody backed up to form a circle. “Now you all know the rules. If you spin, you have to kiss whoever it points at. Noexcuses,or I will have no choice but to administer corporal punishment.”

Raucous laughter and wolf whistles answered him from every side. He stepped back. “Now, I’ll spin the bottle just to see who gets to go first. I’m not going to kiss anybody. Understand? This is just to get the game started.”

The crowd shouted racy insults and offers of sexual favors at him. Ben laughed and bent down to spin the bottle. Bridget took another sip of her screwdriver. She thanked her lucky stars she wasn’t getting involved in this stupid party gag.

The bottle spun and stopped pointing at Sheila. The room erupted in wild conversation. Guys shouted suggestions and propositions if she spun to land on them. Sheila bolted a shot of gin and moved forward. She squatted down in the ring.

“Spin it to me, baby,” Tommy called.

Jason elbowed him. “She can make it spin anywhere she wants. Don’t you know that by now?”

“Spin, Sheila,” Ben told her.

“And no cheating,” Tommy called.

Sheila laughed, lurched sideways, and steadied herself. She took hold of the bottle and gave it a spin. It stopped pointing somewhere between Jason and Tommy. Jason held up his hands. “I’m not kissing her. I’m taken, man.”

Tommy held out his arms. “Come on, baby. Take your medicine.”

Another voice interrupted from somewhere. “Referee! Referee!”

Ben stepped forward. “In a situation like this, since Jason isn’t willing, I have no choice but to declare Tommy the winner.” He bowed and swept his hand across his stomach. “You may now kiss the bride.”

The guys screamed and chanted. “Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!”

Tommy stood up and moved in on Sheila. She pretended to resist, but in the end, she lunged into his arms and planted a sloppy kiss on his mouth. They resumed their seats, and the bottle passed to Bridget’s cousin Rex. He spun the bottle, and it wound up pointing at Ben himself.

“Asreferee, I can make an exception just this once.” Ben opened his arms to his cousin. “Come on, Lover Boy. Give us a big kiss.”

The two cousins embraced and kissed each other on the lips in front of everybody. Even Bridget cheered. The vodka softened her so she started to enjoy the spectacle.

Her blood ran cold when the bottle passed to the next person sitting on the couch. A hush fell over the room when Roy took hold of it and moved forward. Someone broke the spell by murmuring to Ben, “Are you gonna kiss him, too?”

Snickers and snorts of laughter hummed around the room. Ben chuckled. “Larissa gave me a limit of kissing one guy per day. I can’t go over that.”

Roy shifted onto his knees in the middle of the floor. His eyes swept the circle of faces, and everyone held their breath to see what would happen. He gave the bottle a decided spin. It flashed in the dim light and stopped.

Every eye in the room turned on Bridget. Even Ben stared at her. His eyes shone wide as saucers. “That’s you, Bridget. You have to kiss him.”

She set herdrinkdown and jumped off the dresser. “No, no, no. I told you I’m not playing. Make him spin again and get someone else.”

Roy stood up and faced Bridget. He towered over the game in all his magnificent power. Ben recovered in an instant. He stood up straighter, too. “You have to kiss him, Bridget. That’s the rules.”

She rounded on her brother. “I told you. I’m not playing, and I’m not kissing him. I never wanted to come to this stupid stag party anyway. I’m going back to my room.”

Ben’s hand shot out faster than lightning. He caught Bridget’s arm and spun her around to face the room. “If you don’t kiss him, I’ll have no choice but to punish you. Is that what you want? Do you want me to turn you over my knee and spank you in front of everybody?”

The guys guffawed with laughter. A hint of a smile touched Roy’s lips, but he didn’t say anything. Bridget glared at them all and growled through gritted teeth. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Ben waved his hand. “Maybe you’d like it better if Roy gave you a spanking. Maybe he would forgo the kiss in favor of that. What do you say?”

Bridget’s eyes darted to Roy. The slight smile vaporized off his face to become a hard mask of fixed determination. He glanced down at her body and back up to her face. In that moment, she never entertained any doubt what he was thinking. He would gladly exchange an innocent kiss for the chance to spank her over his knee. He would relish it.

Ben returned her gaze with the same direct expression. He wouldn’t back down. For just a second, she couldn’t recognize him. Roy’s magnetic force surrounded him. Nothing could stand against him when he faced the world like that. What did Roy teach him to overpower her with a simple glance? She looked at Roy. He waited for her. He could wait forever if he had to.

She rushed forward. “All right. Just this once, and then I’m leaving. You perverts can have an orgy in here for all I care.”

She only made it two steps into the ring when Ben’s voice sliced the air. “And make it a good kiss. No grandmother peck on the lips. Make sure you give him a good kiss.”

Bridget pulled up short, but she couldn’t see Ben or anyone else now. She couldn’t see anything but Roy. He stood right in front of her, all ready to kiss her. She searched his eyes for any sign of help, but he didn’t give it to her. She danced with him outside the dining room. She danced with him just for a lark, just for a moment. It didn’t mean anything.

She could kiss him the same way. She would give him a kiss and leave. It meant nothing and it never would. She crossed the last few inches, but when she took her place in front of him, her nerve failed. She stared up into his eyes. What was he thinking right now?

She took a look at his lips. Could she really kiss those lips? What would they taste like? What would his tongue taste like? Before she could make up her mind what to do next, his arm shot out. He planted his big hand on her back and yanked her in against his chest. Her breath caught on her lips, and she squeaked with surprise.

She didn’t hear the room go deadly quiet behind her. She didn’t hear anything but the thump of her pulse in her veins. His body quaked under her. She couldn’t lift her hands to push him away or even rest them on his shoulders. His eyes burned into her from inches away.

As suddenly as he pulled her in, he leaned forward and kissed her hard. He crushed her breasts against his chest, and his lips nudged her mouth open. His tongue snaked inside and touched hers.

Her whole being surged in sudden shock, but she couldn’t tear herself away. He held his mouth pressed against hers. His tongue explored and licked her fevered mind. His commanding hands, his masterful lips, his rock-hard nearness exploded through her in a million rocket blasts. He excited her. He attracted her. He had his arms around her and he was kissing her right now!

That fast, he let her go. His hand dropped away from her back. His lips vanished, and he became once again a regular man standing in front of her. Bridget could never be the same again, though. His chest smashing against her tits, his hand guiding her hips into his, his tongue sending wetness through her panting tissues—all created a whirlwind of tempestuous emotion she couldn’t ignore.

Titters and whispers went around the room and woke Bridget from her trance. Roy glanced sideways and smiled down at Ben. He turned back to Bridget with an innocent smile. He hadn’t done anything. He was just playing around.

Bridget couldn’t wait around anymore. She raced to the door and rushed down the hall to her room.

Chapter 4

Bridget punched the button to call the elevator. She paced back and forth while she waited for the bell to ring. Whatthe devil gotinto her? What did she ever let Sheila drag her to that room for in the first place? She never drank. This was the natural conclusion to a series of idiotic decisions. She had no one to blame but herself.

She couldn’t get Roy and his kiss out of her head. What did he have to kiss her like that for? His eyes and hands and mouth all told her the same story he told her himself.I don’t want another tart to eat. I want to eat you.

Eat her! He wanted to do a lot more than that. He wanted her. Why else would he yank her against him like that, to make her gasp right before he kissed her? Holy cripes! She had to get away from him.

She wanted him, too. That was the worst part. No one ever kissed her like that before in her life. She never imagined anyone would kiss her like that. No one ever came right out and told her point blank they wanted to…..to what?

Forget it. Just forget the whole thing. That was the best plan. Just forget Roy Fontaine ever existed. So she kissed a guy playing spin the bottle. Who cares? Nothing happened, and now she was on her way up to her room for the night. Ben would get married tomorrow, and they would all live happily ever after. The end.

The elevator bell rang. Thank goodness for that! She rushed into the car and punched the button for her floor. She leaned her back against the cold steel and let out a shaky breath. The doors started to slide closed when an arm shot out and blocked them. “Hold the door!”

She could only stand in frozen shock when Roy ducked into the car along with her. She stared at him with her mouth open. The doors closed, and they rode alone—all alone—uptothe hotel.

Roy turned to face her. “Sorry about that. You ran out of the room in such a hurry I didn’t get a chance to tell you. I hope I didn’t overdo it.”

“Overdo it! Is that what you call it? You overdid it on purpose. You didn’t overdo it. You did exactly what you wanted to.”

He squared his shoulders. “You’re right. I did, and I’m not sorry I did it, either. I wanted to do that and a lot more ever since I saw you at the church.”

“So you’re not sorry. What the flippin’ hell are you apologizing for, then?”

“I’m only sorry if I offended you. I never meant to do that.”

She faced forward. “Well, you didn’t offend me. I never expected anything less from a guy like you. I only want to get away from you and get back to my room.”

“What do you mean—a guy like me?”

She rounded on him with flashing eyes. “You know perfectly well what I mean. A guy like you—a guy who would kiss a girl like that in a game of spin the bottle.” She jabbed her finger in his face. “You know, I can almost believe what Jason said and you made the bottle point toward me on purpose.”

“He’s right. You can make it point wherever you want.”

Bridget narrowed her eyes at him. Her gaze could cut marble. All of a sudden, she whirled away. “Forget it. Just forget it. It happened. It’s over. Now I’m going to my room. See ya later. Have a good night. See you at the wedding tomorrow.”

The elevator pinged again, and the doors slid open. She dashed out and hurried down the hall. Roy strode after her and caught up to her. “What’s wrong, Bridget? You keep saying it was nothing, that you shouldn’t have expected anything else from me, but you’re acting like you’re mad at me. Whatever I did to make you mad, I said I was sorry.”

She didn’t stop walking as fast as she could to avoid breaking into a run. “You said you weren’t sorry for kissing me. That’s what you did, but it doesn’t matter. You’re my brother’s best friend, and you’re also his boss. I wouldn’t want to do anything to spoil that, so let’s just call it a draw and say good night. Okay? Can we stop talking about this now?”

He fell inather shoulder. “I don’t want to stop talking about this. I don’t want to stop talking to you at all.”

“So what do you want?”

“I want to kiss you again. I want to kiss you like I just did.”

She spun around to face him. “Well, that’s not going to happen. Iwould neverhave kissed you in the first place if they hadn’t been playing that stupid game.”

He ran his tongue back and forth inside his mouth. “I want to take you back to my room for the night. I want everything I saw at the church.”

The image of him standing at the altar with his eyes scanning her up and down flashed before her eyes. He saw what he wanted. “Well, you can’t have me. You think I’m a tart. You think I’m a sleaze and a slut you can snap your fingers and order back to your room. Well, I’m not.”

He leaned back. “I never thought you were.”

“Then what did you mean when you called me a tart.”

He glanced down at her mouth. Hepausedandhis voice dropped to a raucous tone.“I called you a tart because you are so incredibly fucking delicious, Bridget.” He took a step forward. He stepped right up to her so she had to back away from him. “Can’t you see it? Youareso delicious Iwouldeat you upyou up in one bite. I’d like to split you in half and lick thesweetnessout of you right now.” He inched forward again. She couldn’t back anywhere except right against the wall. “Come back to my room and let meshow you. Let me get my handsonthatbeautifulsweet ass of yours. Fuck, you make me so damn hot, you can’t imagine.”

She panted through parted lips. She could only stare up into those mesmerizing eyes. He gazed downather from above. His mountainous shoulders blocked out her view of the hall behind himas he moved in closer for another passionate kiss.

His words hissed between his teeth, and he sucked his saliva into his mouth with a click of his tongue. “I need you,Bridget. I wantall of you here,right now.”

Thatgoldenvoiceof hisseducedBridgetto the core. Shemoved backward with his touchand banged into the wall. He leaned forward, and his massive weight fell on top of her. Hislipsand his dirty talk terrified and excited her all at once.And she loved it.

She danced with him. She kissed him. Where did she think it would lead? She knew he wanted her when he watched her walk down the aisle in her dress. Now he had her pinned to a wall outside her hotel room. What would he do to her?

She already knew, and she didn’t care. She wanted it, too. Her flesh crawled to collapse under his weight. Hisbroadshoulders, hischiseledstomach, those lips, that voice, all sent her into a frenzy of excitement.

.

He planted his feet against the floor and wedged all his muscle into her. He drove her up against the wall and lifted her feet off the floor. He murmured low in her face. “I’m gonna fuck you, baby. I’m gonna fuck you ‘til you scream for my cock. Huh? You want it, don’t you?”

He didn’t wait for her to answer. His lips landed on her mouth and pried her jaws apart to make room for his tongue. She couldn’t resist. She closed her eyes, but it happened anyway. He plowed into her mouth andthrusthis hips between her legs. His hands surrounded her ass on both sides to lift her off the floor.

Bridget’s heart raced. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be falling into this guy’s hands. He just said he was going to fuck her. Was he going to do it right here, in the hall? What if someone came along?

No! She couldn’t do this. As excited and hot andwetas he made her, she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t bang her brother’s best man in the hotel hallway.Jiminy! What kind of a slut was she turning into?

With one massive effort, she tore herself out of his hands. She dashed away at top speed. “Sorry. I can’t.”

She ran all the way to her room and slammed and locked the door behind her.

Chapter 5

Bridget made it through the night in one piece, but she didn’t get much sleep. She dreaded the next day and facing Roy with that dress on again. How could she avoid him so this disaster didn’t happen again?

Strategy #1: Don’t go to any more drunken parlor games.

Strategy #2: Don’t go anywhere people are dancing and music is playing.

Strategy #3: Don’t look at him with that dress on.

She had to look at herself in the mirror when she put it on, though. She never knew putting on a dress could be sodifficult. She saw herself in the mirror, and she saw what he saw when he looked at her. He saw her ass jutting out over her voluptuous thighs. He saw herbuststicking out below her deep cleavage. He saw her ivory neck rising from her sloping shoulders.

She turned herself on looking like that. No wonder he wanted to touch her. She had to hold back from touching herself thinking about him. She caught herself turning around to look at her ass. She thought about sticking it out for him to admire.

She could keep all those thoughts to herself. She could keep them all locked up in her heart and body and mind so he never knew how much she really wanted it. Once she got home to her apartment, she could touch herself all she liked.She didn’t need a man like that to do it for her.

She got herself dressed and her hair done up in time to meet Sheila at the elevator. As long as Bridget stayed in Sheila’s company, nothing could happen to her, right? She stuck close to her friend all the way down to the dining room. Family and friends from both sides clustered around the bride and groom. Rapid fire conversation bubbled through the room.

Bridget glanced around, but she didn’t see Roy anywhere. Her heart sank. Why on earth should her heart sink? Didn’t she just resolve to avoid him with extreme prejudice?

She shouldered her way through the crowd to Ben’s side. “What did you decide about where I should stand? Do you want me to stand on the bride’s side or the groom’s side?”

Ben glanced around. Then he blushed. “We didn’t decide anything. We forgot all about it.”

“Well, what do you want me to do? You have to decide before the ceremony.”

The whole place erupted in conflicting opinions. Bridget waited, but they didn’t come to any decision. The minutes ticked by, but no one came any closer to a decision.  Benwavedboth hands. “I don’t care. Just stand wherever you want to.”

Bridget relaxed. “Great. I’ll stand with the bride.”

He nodded. “Good. That’s settled.” He turned away to talk to Tommy.

Tommy restarted the glorious tale of his exploits with Sheila last night. Bridget couldn’t listen to this. She moved through the crowd, but something kept her restless. Wedding jitters, maybe?

All of a sudden, Sheila bustled up to her. She gasped out loud. “You forgot your corsage, Bridget.”

Bridget spun around. “What corsage? I never knew I had a corsage.”

“Everyone in the wedding party is supposed to have one. See?” She stuck her bust in Bridget’s face to show the flower arrangement. “Didn’t the florist put it on the table in your room?”

Bridget didn’t know which way to turn. “I never even knew it was there. I didn’t know to look for it. Are you sure I’ve got one?”

Sheila shoved her toward the door. “Quick! Go get it before the ceremony starts.”

Bridget dug her heels into the carpet. “There isn’t time to go racing all over the hotel. I have to be here to take my place in the vestry.”

“Go!” Sheila hissed. “The sooner you go get it, the sooner you’ll get back. Everyone in the wedding party has to have one so we all look the same.”

Bridget hurried out of the dining room and back to the elevator when she thought better of it. She didn’t have time to stand around waiting. She took the stairs instead. She ran all the way up to her room, but when she flung the door open, she didn’t find any corsage on the table. She gave the room a quick inspection and left.

She didn’t run back down the stairs, though. She walked. Already her dress stuck to her body with her sweat, and her cheeks flushed rosy red. She cursed Sheila in her heart. Sheila sent her on a wild goose chase for somenon-existentcorsage.

She got to the bottom of the stairs and exited into the lobby on her way back to the dining room when she caught sight of Roy coming the other way. He saw her at the same moment. His eyes danced down her body to her dress swishing over her curves and back up to her face. The same admiring glint shone in his eyes.

This time, she didn’t lower her gaze from that appraising stare. What did she have to shrink from? Why couldn’t she just admit she wanted him the way he wanted her? Why couldn’t she have him if she wanted him?

So he saw what he wanted and took it. She could do the same thing. He was the hottest, most domineering, most self-assured man she ever met, and he wanted her. He worshiped her curvy form. He tasted her delectable kisses and danced with her outside the dining room.

She wanted him. Her whole body screamed for him. Why fight it? Her eyes darted down his sturdy frame. His skin lay secret and warm under his tux. A thick cock tucked inside his pants. He was pure, primal male.

She wanted to devour him. She wanted to crack him open andhave her way with him.Nowhe was something to eat to her, something delicious. He made her so damn hot. Everything he said and didmadesense, from the moment he called her a tart in the vestry.

She never slackened her stride. She headed straight for him, and he moved toward her with his steady swinging gait. He saw. He knew. She was coming for him, and he was coming for her.

Her heartbeat quickened. Could she do it? Yes! She could and she would and she would love it. At the last second, her hand shot out to grab his. She pulled him behind a potted palm tree and backed against the wall.

He was on her so fast he sucked the air from her lungs. She threw her arms around his neck, and their mouths crashed together in torrential kisses. He let out littlemoansof excitement. He mauled her mouth harder and faster than ever. His tongue marauded through her mouth on its campaign of conquest.

Hismuscledchestcompressed her breasts into her. Her cleavage heaved out of her neck line, andhisstronghandsgripped her around thewaist. He picked her up andthrusther against the wall. She squeaked in open desire. Oh, yes! Oh, yes! She would never hold back anymore. She would take him. She would take everything she could getofhim.

He rubbed his crotch against her dress, and the bulging monster inside pricked her through the fabric. It dug into her thigh, and she moaned in delirious delight. How she wanted that cock right now! She wanted it hard and fast and deep.

She pressedherself against him and nudged hisprick. She moaned into his mouth and swam her tongue around against his. His hands slid down her sides to her hips, and he rocked her against his pelvis. He tightened his grip one more time, and when he picked her up this time, he tried to force his hips between her legs. Her dress blocked him. She couldn’t spread her legs.

She undulated against his seething bulk and he prodded her with his hips, but they couldn’t go any further. He kissed her a little more, but his energy faded. Bridget’s heart sobbed. It couldn’t end like this. They couldn’t work each other up to a frenzy, only to drop it all to rush off to the church. There had to be a way.

He eased off her and stepped back. He looked around, but there was nothing more to do. He gave her a kiss, paused, and kissed her again. He took her hand and let out his breath.

Every fiber of her being screamed, No! This couldn’t be happening, not when she just made up her mind to take him for herself. She didn’t care what he wanted. She wanted him. Why should circumstances deny her that?

She squeezed his hand. Her whole family waited for her back in the dining room. Pretty soon, the whole party would head to the church. She couldn’t go like this. She couldn’t face the rest of the day with this desire burning a hole inside ofher.

She looked around. There was only one thing to do. She tugged his hand, and his eyebrows shot up. She inclined her head down the hall, away from the dining room. “Come on.”

She raced past the elevators holding his hand. Roy strode after her. He didn’t question. She ducked around the stairwell and pushed open the door to the janitor’s closet. She fought for every breath. She pulled him inside and shut the door behind him.

Chapter 6

Bridget stared up at him. Her lips drawnapart. The blood rushed to her cheeks, and she panted out loud. Roy’s shoulders heaved above her. He glared down into her eyes. His whole being roiled in turmoil.

He took a step toward her. He murmured low under his breath. “You want it?”

She couldn’t answer. She could only nod. Her destiny moved in on her with his granite form. She wanted it. Now here it was, right in front of her. She asked for it, and now she got it.

He looked down at her cleavage. He compressed his lips. He didn’t kiss her now. His body radiatedhismonstrous power and raging sexual energy. He clenched his teeth and raised his hands.

He barely touched her. He grabbed her neckline and gaveit a passionate tugdownward. Her breasts bounced out to point their round tips at him. Bridget cried out in stunned shock, but his rough hands sent her reeling into rapturous delight. The air tingled on her bare nipples.

He fixed her with his most ferocious glare. Did she want this or not? Was she his or wasn’t she?Shouldshe give herself to him, and let him satisfy his primal craving its limit?

Oh, yes! God, yes! He caught her breasts in both big hands andkissed them intensely with his mouth. He ravaged them in animal madness. Hesuckedher nipples and grappled their heavy flesh between his fingers. He sucked the nipples hard until her head fell back in agony.

She hugged his head against her.She felt a wetness waiting for him between her legs, he turned her on so bad. How could she stand this? How could she do this on the morning of her brother’s wedding?

She was doing it, and she wouldn’t retreat now. God, no! Not with hishands andmouth all over herbreasts,and hiswarmbreath heating her cleavage. She needed this. She needed everything he would do to her and more.

She whinedand moanedagainst his face. He kneaded her titsand teasedher erect nipples until they hurt. Her head flopped sideways. She wavered between closing her eyes against the terrible intensity and staring at his blazing eyes stalking her. Those hardgrayflints drilled her from her chest level while his teeth and mouthconsumedher.

She couldn’t cope with this.Noand Yes fought to take over her brain. Could she really go through with this? All the time, her pussy achedfor him. That ache traveled down herbody from the tips of her nipples, all over her breasts, down her belly to her panties.She longed for some release in him.

Hemoaned and foughtfor every mouthful of alabaster flesh. Heworkedoverher like some ravenous animal tearing itsprey. He stuffed her tits into his mouth in maniac frenzy and pawed down her dress to her hips.

He caught hold of her skirts and flipped them up. One hand dove underneath, straight upher leg a driven fury. He fingeredher panties just long enough to feel how wet she was for him. Hepantedina feral warning, but she never had time to prepare herself. He tugged the flimsy cotton out of the way, and his fingers flattened against her clitoris.

Now she had no choice but to close her eyes and submit to her fate. She clung to his jacket collar while his fingers swirled through her molten pools. He stirred her clit in lashing waves ofdesireuntil she pitched and tossedin his arms.

He ground his rock-hard prick against her leg. She could never mistake his intentions. A low, steady vibration rumbled out of his chest, and his shaft throbbed inside his tight, rounded crotch.

He leaned so far forward he craned her back against….she didn’t know what. She couldn’t see behind her and she didn’t care. Something stopped her leaning back any farther, but he kept pushing her down. Her hips struck something solid, and her shoulders kept going until they came up against some flat surface she could lean on.

Her mind wouldn’t function well enough to look around. She was in some broom closet, getting fingered by her brother’s best man. She didn’t have time to think anything more before he pushed two thick fingersinside of her.

He excited all the tiny nerve endings dancing down her sides, and his massive digits found their way to her anatomy’s glorious extreme. He pumpedand caressedher full to hisknuckles.

She floated on ever-expanding surges of delicious delight. The higher she got, the more her dress got in her way. She couldn’t spread her legs for him the way she wanted to. He got frustrated with the dress, too. Heprised himself away from her breasts for just longenoughto deal with that dress.

He hitched her skirts over her hips, and her thighs parted before his majestic power. He glanced down at his hand buried between her legs and returned to glare into her startled, glazed eyes. He had her right where he wanted her. She was his tart, his dessert.

His palmhit her clitoris.He thrusthis fingers into her and lifted her back on the hard surface. She swam in clouds of rapture on that rough intrusion. All her pent-up tension flooded out of her.

He leaned in close to her face with his teeth bared. “Is thatgood?That’s it. Oh, yeah.”

She couldn’t form the words to answer. She could only moan in asteadyrhythm to that hand beating against her bones. Her mouth hung open in wordless astonishment at his mighty bulk towering over her. She cringed from his smoldering presence even as her heartleaptto meet him in carnal oneness.

From far away, she started to register where she was. A waist-high shelf poked her hips from behind. Her shoulders rested against a dusty wall of pigeon holes. No sooner had that fact sunk into her sex-addled brain than Roy whipped his hand out of her snatch and grappled her around the hips. He took two big handfuls of ass and hoisted her up to sit on that shelf.

Her white thighs sailed in the breeze. Her mouth gaped in inarticulate whimpering sobs of saturated ecstasy. She couldn’t move from the position in which he put her.

He dove in for a kiss and fell onto his knees in front of her. With one wrench, he ripped her panties off to expose her sat. She stared down at his head between her legs for one shocking moment. The next instant, cataclysmic surges of wet sugar flowed into her tortured slit. He clamped her thighs in both hands and looped her legs over his shoulders. Hehadsplit her body in half and set to workon her sweet cunt.

She held herself up on her hands. Her fingers tightened around the shelf, but the rest of her dissolved in hot rivers of juicy desire. He touched his fiery dragon tongue to her engorged clit and set off a domino effect through her being. She jerked back andforthon her seat, but he wouldn’t let her come any closer.

Her ass scraped the rough wood, but that sensation only joined all the otherintense andmysterious sensations rocketing through her. Her family and friends waited outside to escort her brother to the altar. They couldn’t do that without the best man, and here he was with his face between her legs. He showed no signs of quittinganytimesoon, either. How long would he go on?

He said he wanted to fuck her, but he sure took his sweet time about it. He dabbled around her clit and nosed his whole face into her slit.Heworked around every part of her, paying close attention to every spot she loved. Then,he delved lower into her butt crack to surprise her out of her mind.

Bridget arched her back against the pigeon holes, but she couldn’t go anywhere. He had her. Now he would get his way with her. She could only crack open and let him in. His fingers joined his tongue and face on their mystical journey through her frillytissues. How could her body experience so much pleasure?

He slipped his fingers inside and tickled those sensitive spots inside her cavern. His tongue beat around her clit, and the two sensations togetherformeda burning concoction eclipsing everything else.

She cast a quick glance down, but she didn’t see the top of his head the way she expected. Those eyes, those dominating eyes stared back at her above her heaving mound. Her pussy welded against his face. His mouth lay buried under her, and those eyes, those demon eyes forced their way into her consciousness above it all.

He impaled his fingers to their limit, but he didn’t pump them in and out anymore. He hooked them deep against her insides and nuzzled her deepest spots to distraction. All the time, his mouth mauled her clit until she couldn’t keep still anymore. She bucked her hips against his face, and her screaming climax crashed over her in raw orgasmic heaven.

The shelf dug into her bare ass, but she didn’t care. She pushed her pussy into his face to ride his tongue skyward. Wave upon wave of ecstasy shattered her to pieces. Her tortured pussy spasmed in concert with the undulating muscle contractions stroking his fingers inside her.

She hadn’t finished exploding into the clouds when a sharp point stabbed her to the core. She shrieked out loud, but she couldn’t figure out what that thing was. Her whole being struggled against the tightness. When she rocked forward to rub her clit against his mouth, she wound up sitting down harder on the alien invading her.

She froze in horror, but he already started flexing his heavy arms to stick it in harder. Her ass ached, but her climaxes only crescendoed higher than ever. The terrible reality fought its way into her mind. He was in her ass!

His finger tore broke open her dark opening. That uncomfortable tightness held her frozen. His tongue’s constant pressure on her clit, his fingers in her cunt, and his steamy saliva dribbling down her ass overrode everything else.

In an instant, another monstrous wave of orgasmic rapture curled over her and towed her off her moorings. That finger in her ass struck to her very soul. It joined the other forces completing her and fulfilling her as never before.

One orgasm after another snapped her out of her trance. She hurled herself right and left, but she couldn’t shake off those controlling hands. He held her firm with some part of him in every hole. He moved her where he wanted her. He sent her into blinding climax whenever he wanted and however he wanted. How could she stand a man like this? How could she survive this?

He rose to his feet before her eyes. He inched his hips between her legs, but his demonic eyes kept her fixed in one spot. She couldn’t get away from a man who looked at her like that. She read her destruction in his face.

He knew he had her. He knew she couldn’t get away. She didn’t want to get away. She could only fall under his massive manhood.

He shoved her thighs apart with his hips. He hadn’t touched his clothes. He crammed his swollen crotch against her slitandswept back andforthacrossit.

Her fevered blood rushed to her cheeks. Her lips pouted open, and her eyelidsdropped. Every move he made erupted through her on geysers of boiling lava. His hands closed around her ribs, and he knocked her back against the wall.

His voice rumbled so low she could barely hear it. “Give it to me, baby. Give me your sweet pussy. Huh? Yeah, baby.”

Bridget couldn’t hold back anymore. She wanted him. She wanted to give herself to him and to take him for herself. She got herself into this situation. Now she had to grab it with both hands and make it her own. She might as well enjoy herself to her limit.

She pushed herself up to kiss him, and her hands found his waistband. She towed him harder between her legs and ground her pussy against his bulge. His breath caught on his lips, and he sucked the saliva back with a sudden hiss.

Her hands moved of their own accord. They danced over his button and eased down the zipper. She plunged her hand into his pants and unleashed the dragon from its hidden chamber.

Chapter 7

Bridget eyed the wicked monster throbbing in her hand. Its veins stuck out sharp and dangerous along its length. A single drop ofjizzglistened on its one eye. Her other hand came forward, and she cradled it between her cool palms.

Roy’s mouth fell open in a silent O. Bridget fixed her eyes on him. The more she moved her hands back and forth, the more his power flowed into her. Their positions reversed. She had him where she wanted him. He was her dessert, her treat, her sweet reward.

She massaged the devil between his legs and eased his pants down to his chiseled thighs. His stomach showed up in a firm tight triangle pointed downtowardwhereher hands clamped around his base.

His eyes burned as hot as ever, but now she answered them with her own power. She owned him. She had him byhis very manhood. She cupped hisballsin one hand and squeezed until he gasped out loud.

As she moved her hand, she drew backthe skin back from his head and enjoyed the ragged groan torn from his lips. “Stroke it, baby. Stroke it hard. Fuck, I want to be inside you so bad right now.”

She tried to guide it between her legs, but he hung back. He growled low. “Come on, baby. Make me so hard. Oh, Jesus, that feels so good. That’s right. God damn, don’t stop.”

Sheworked itharder and faster. She cinched one hand around his base and stroked the skin over his shaft. That wicked head poked out to stare at her. She loved it so much. She needed it inside her. She couldn’t decide whether to bring it inside her or fall down and suck it.

He made the decision for her. He took a tiny step forward, and his monster cock came up against her pussy. She could only follow it in. His taut umbrella nudged her quivering lips aside, and the glistening film smoothed over its head. Roy panted for breath. “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.”

She could only stare at the thing working into her welcoming hole. Her tissues surrounded it in luscious furling petals. Her flesh sobbedopento receive that one-eyed monster.

He moved forward one inch at a time. He gyrated his hips to screw it in. Every inch cost her a whining sob. He nodded down at her and snarled. “Is that good for you, baby? Is that nice? Does that feel good? Come on, baby. Come on. That’s it. You like it, don’t you?”

She didn’t answer. She frowned up at him. Then her frown changed to a pathetic pleading whine. God, that felt so good! Her whole being hungered for him to fill her up. She held her breath to get him inside her, but not too fast. She wanted to savor every pulsing inch of his thickcockworkingintoits hole.

Just when she thought he would thrust it home, he eased back. He lingered near her opening until she couldn’t stand it.One micron at a time, he found his way up that golden path to her warm nest. She dangled on the brink of colossal climax more than once, but she couldn’t leap out and grab him. She leaned back against the wall and let him drill in nice and slow. When he came to the tightest end of her passage, he rotated his hips in a circle and side to side to excite her hidden places.

She howled in glorious ecstasy. Now that he was in, he started punchinghis toolinto her depths. Atfirst,he gave her only quick short bumps. The skin caught against her flesh so he stroked inside himself with no friction at all. Their excited tissues layskinon skin. Only a subtle thump of his manhood against her bones knocked her back to the wall.

Her thighs waved with every soft pulse of his hips. Her ass squashed flat into the shelf. He moved just a little faster. His skin dragged through her throbbing channel until she couldn’t stand the intensity. He angled one way and then the other to stab right and left. He excited every part of her to delirious pleasure.

Once he got his full range of motion going, he anchored his fists on the shelf next to her hips. He pushed his chest against her bare breasts and drove his hips between her legs. Now his prick withdrew its whole length untilithooked behind her pubic bone. Then he pumped it in deep to make her leap away with a squeal.

He laid his big head against her cheek and pounded his piston through theflowerydarkness to ignite her orgasm again. He muttered wordless curses into her ear. Some primal part of her understood those devilish suggestions. That animal part of her wanted to root and hump and roll with him through the dirt and muck and steaming jungle of appetite and desire. Her panting moans answered him in the same language.

His hips struck her thighs to bounce them upward each time he nailed her. Her ass scraped the shelf raw, but nothing could stop his rhythm. His hot breath burned her ear and in against her brain. Once his tongue slipped into her ear, and the incredible hot wetness screamed to her soul.

She couldn’t lean back any further. Her shoulders hurt from banging thehard wood. She threw her arms around his shoulders and hung on. His iron muscle supported her and protected her, even as his bulk plunged through her defenses to lay her bare. She needed him. She needed him in there. She needed him against her.

She sank her teeth into his neck.The scent of the cologne on hisskin melted in hersenses. She could eat that candy every day and never get tired of it. It infused her mouth with his wild masculine energy, his intoxicating maleness.

God, that thick cock stroking through her cunt destroyed her like nothing else. It hurt beyond endurance with its inflexible hardness, but her pussy hugged it closer. Every icy thrust sent contacting waves down his length to tighten her around him. His ridges and veins popped over muscles until she exploded.

She bit his neck. His teeth clamped on her ear, but nothing could stop the climax tearing her apart.Hethrust into her against thewallwith all his power,which sent herdown his cock faster and hotter than ever.His balls whipped into her crack to spread thejizzover her cheeks.

She screamed against his skin. She screamed her heavenly orgasm to his blood. She wept and cried for mercy, but she wouldn’t get it from him. He only plowed his piston harder against her saturated cunt to blast her to pieces.

His fingers crept a little further under her ass. He dug between her cheeks to find that black hole to her inner self, but he didn’t stick it in. He lifted her ass off the shelf to bring her to him. He coordinated his hands and hips together so she swayed in his arms. He worked his rod through her climactic convulsions to excite his shaft in her cunt.

She went limp under his masterful treatment. She let him slam her into his hips and split her furrow in half. She let him shoot her into space on his rocket blasts plunging into her being. She came all over hiscock until it emerged out of herand collectedaroundher lips.

He wasn’t finished with her, though. Not by a long shot. He would never be finished with her. She would have taken his hot load and gone back to the church with hisjizzdripping from her cunt, but she never even got her dress pulled down.

He bumped off her and his snake whipped out of her swollen cunt. The air chilled her damp flesh, but only for an instant. He lifted her ass all the way off the shelf to stand in front of him. He gave her a kiss, spun her around, and pushed her down face first on the same shelf.

She cried out in surprise, but she couldn’t fight back. What was the point when she really did want it? She really did want him to keep taking her and taking her, forever. So what if she missed the wedding? So what if Ben never spoke to her or Roy again for fucking in the broom closet instead of coming to the church where they belonged? Who cared about anything when he held her down and invaded her from behind with that expert prick of his?

His fingers laced through her hair. Who cared if he messed it up and she went to the church looking like a street walker after a rough client? With one yank, he reined her head back so her spine arched up. Her ass stuck up in the air, right where he wanted it.

He growled through his bared fangs. His other hand pushed her waist down to hyperextend her shoulders. He probed between her thighs until he found the openslitwhere he belonged.

She groaned and whimpered, but he was already there. He already started his torturous circles, creeping his tentacle into her to make her scream. His cum-stained prick ate its way intoher insides. He repeated the same trick of laying his skin folds along her puffy channel and rocking just enough to stop the shaft sliding. He bumped his wicked tip against her cervix. Oh, Jesus, don’t do this to me.

He was already doing it. He reveled in her moaning sighs. He wanted her wet and panting and wide open to his driving shaft. The harder he thrust, the faster he beat his hips against her voluptuous ass, the louder he gasped for breath.

He wrenched her head around, and his fierce eyes caught her under their spell. “Look at me, baby. Look me in the eyes.”

She sobbed louder than ever. She collapsed in his hands under his burning gaze. He wanted to see her reduced to his craven slave, and that’s what he got. His eyes bowed her before him. She bent over to take his meat into her already-quivering cunt. She was his. She was ruined.

He didn’t wait as long this time. His excitement came to its natural limit. His engorged cock needed completion in her aching cunt. He pulled her back by the hair to pound his hips against her ass. Her flesh rippled across his blows, and his dragon prick buried its head in her delicious folds. Her spasms stroked his length. Her luscious wetness mouthed along his shaft.

A feral roar rose out of his being between his teeth. He closed his eyes and threw his head back. He kept her head turned so she had no choice but to watch him get off. His body kept working on its own, even after his mind stopped functioning. He plowed his lance intoher tomilk the last drops.

Chapter 8

The flower girl and then the other bridesmaids walked down the aisle to take their places by the altar. No one remained in the vestry but Bridget and Sheila.

Ben waited at the altar with his men lined up at his side. Roy stood stock still at Ben’s shoulder. He clasped his hands in front of him and fixed his eyes straight ahead—straight ahead at Bridget.

She had to walk down that aisle, too. She had to stand here and listen to the music playing while he stared her down. Of everyone in the church, only he knew her pussy still twitchedand tingled betweenher legs where he fucked her senseless not ten minutes before.

She dared not smooth her dress down or touch her hair now. Every eye in the church turned around to stare at her. Her breasts lay appropriately covered up under her neckline. Her cleavage showed up white and soft below her neck. She already checked her hair in the vestry mirror, and it looked fine, too.

Still, she couldn’t stop Roy’s eyes exposing her body under that dress. To him, her tits still hung out bare and excited for him to grab and devour. To him, the curvy ass under her taffeta gown stuck out for him to pinch and squeeze and fuck.

Holy crap! What was she thinking, fucking this guy within minutes of escorting her brother to the altar? Did she smell as much like sex as she felt? Could every guy in the bridal partytell what she had just been doing?

There was Roy with his hard steel eyes. He might as well be fucking her right now. She never doubted for an instant he thought about it. Holy God! Right in front of her eyes, he opened his mouth and ran his snake tongue over his teeth in open lust. No one saw it but Bridget. Everyone turned their backs on him to stare at her. What was she going to do? How could she walk down the aisle with him licking his teeth like that?

His tongue made her inner lips quiver all over again. Christ, no one could fucklikehim! How could she get through this weekend without caving into his hands again….and again….and again?

The time came. She had no choice but to start walking. She took the first step and then the next. Once she got going, her legs moved by themselves. She could concentrate on the burning wetness between her legs. Man, if only she could get him down there again, she would.

Once people faced the front again, he didn’t stick his tongue out anymore. He resumed his impassive composure, but he didn’t fool her. He still thought about her. He still imagined her spread wide open with her tits hanging free in his hands. He fucked her. He nailed her silly and he would do it again at the first opportunity.

She glided into place without falling on her face. She moved over to the bride’s side, but when she took her place behind Sheila, she realized her mistake. She found herself facing him again. She should have chosen to stand with the groom’s party. She would have been behind him where he couldn’t see her.

The ceremony started, and the minister lectured the audience on the sanctity of marriage. Roy’s eyes tiptoed down Bridget’s front with languid slowness. He inspected every square millimeter of her skin, her lips, her hair, her dress, her tits, her stomach, herhips,and ass, all the way down her legs and back up to her face. He could take all the time he wanted, and she couldn’t move.

To everyone else, he remained solid and immovable. He backed up Ben and kept him solid through the vows and the rings and the sermon. No one could ask for a better best man.

Only Bridget saw what really went on in his mind. He undressed her and ate her up with his eyes. His shoulders rose and fell with his breath. He didn’t move his tongue inside his mouth or purse his lips. All the other bridesmaids faced him, and he never gave them any reason to suspect.

Bridget saw, though. She couldn’t help but see that hard glint in his eyes. His eyes crawled all over her. They squeezed her tits,smacked her bent-over ass, andfingeredher slit. They pinched her nipples ‘til they stuck straight through her dress. Did the rest of the groom’s men see her roiling in anguish?

The moment came when Ben and Larissa faced the ecstatic church full of their loved ones. They joined hands and ran into the sunshine amid a shower of confetti.

The bridesmaids and groom’s men had to run out behind them, but Bridget wasn’t anywhere near Roy. He curved out of his place into the aisle, broke into a big grin, and grabbed Sheila’s hand. Sheila laughed, and they ran out together behind Ben and Larissa.

Bridget hated Sheila for that. How could she, Bridget Poppins, be so childish as to begrudge her friend the pleasure of Roy’s attention? Sheila concocted every subterfuge imaginable to get Roy to notice her, and now he had. Why did that infuriate Bridget so much? Why should she care if Roy looked at another woman? She should be relieved.

Bridget found herself next to Tommy. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. Now she really was relieved. She could take his hand and run out into the sunshine, too. She didn’t have to worry about falling into his hands.

The sun blinded her and brought her to her senses. She ran back to the hotel, but she couldn’t change out of this dress just yet. She had to get through all the pictures, the whole reception, and every other God-forsaken part of this wedding before she could take it off. She couldn’t even sneak off to her room to get herself a fresh pair of panties. She even had to sit next to Roy during the dinner.

She didn’t have to face him for the pictures, though. All she had to do was stand there and smile. Would she look backatthese pictures and remember her escapade in the broom closet? Would she have to remember, every time she looked at them, how fucking horny she was through the whole ceremony? Her brother’s wedding would forever symbolize sex and her own unbridled passion.

To her eternal relief, the part of the picture-taking in which she had to participate ended soon enough. She faded into the crowd while Ben and Larissa took more pictures by themselves. She started thinking about making a discrete exit when Roy crossed her path. He turned to face her. Without saying a word, he inclined his head toward the hotel.

She shook her head. She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t run off with him, not now. She already almost blew the whole wedding. She couldn’t run the risk of Ben finding out—or worse yet, her parents.

She almost bolted then and there, but before she got a chance, Rex shouted from the crowd, “To the reception!”

The mob crushed against Bridget, and she lost sight of Roy in the commotion. Sheila appeared and linked arms with her. The crowd swept her along. She could be happy then with a hundred bodies protecting her. None of them wanted her to have sex with them. She let out a shaky breath.

Ben threw his arm around her shoulder. His cheeks glowed. He hugged and congratulated everyone in sight, but he split off when the crowd got near the garden. Everyone rushed into the dining room while he and Larissa stayed outside.

The moment she stepped through the doors, Bridget’s mother caught her by the arm. Shouts and cheers and conversation flew every which way, and her mother guided her toward her seat. Bridget’s blood ran cold. That broad back in the chair next to hers meant only one thing. He was already there. He was waiting for her.

Her heart sank. Her mother shoved her forward. “Sit down! We have to be ready when Ben and Larissa make their entrance.”

Bridget dug in her heels. “Can’t we stand?”

“No!” her mother hissed.

Her mother whizzed off to the next guest in need of management. She left Bridget no choice. She had to sit down. She had to sit down right next to Roy. He didn’t turn around. He didn’t look at her. His silent back did the work his eyes did in the church. They excited her already saturated tissues. They nagged her to fresh gusts of arousal.Shethrobbed for….for him.

She stumbled forward when Betsy rushed at her from one side. She hugged Bridget and shouted something Bridget didn’t catch. She wiped tearsfromher cheeks. The words, “…so happy….” drifted to Bridget’s ear above the noise before Betsy raced away.

Bridget came back to staring at Roy’s back. Aw, what the hell. She might as well bite the bullet. What’s the worst that could happen? He couldn’t exactly fuck her here in the dining room surrounded by wedding guests, could he? He was too much a gentleman to try it.

She gathered her courage and marched up behind him. She pulled out her chair and collapsed into it. He didn’t move. He didn’t even glance over at her. He pretended he wasn’t waiting for her, that he hadn’t just given her a silent suggestion with his head, that he hadn’t licked his teeth at her in the church. What kind of maniac was he?

She glanced over at him. His calculatinggrayeyes darted left to meet hers. Then he went back to staring straight in front of him. Bridget took a deep breath. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. They were just two members of the wedding party, sitting down to the wedding dinner. Right? What could be more normal than that?

She set her bouquet on the table and leaned back in the chair to relax. That frolic in the broom closet was just a fluke. It meant nothing. It was just sex. Ofcourse,a tycoon like him wouldn’t want it to be anything else. How could he want anything else? He didn’t know her from Adam.

She made up her mind to break the ice and talk to him. That’s what you did at weddings, wasn’t it? Making polite conversation, he called it. She opened her mouth when Rex’s voice boomed over the crowd again. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mister and Missus Benjamin and Larissa Poppins!”

The place erupted in wild applause. Everyoneleaptto their feet and cheered the couple making their grand entrance. The noise startled Bridget out of her reverie. She jumped to her feet and clapped and cheered along with everyone else. So did Roy. Ben and Larissa took their places at the table in front of the dining room, and the waiters circulated to serve the dinner.

Voices rose and fell all around Bridget. Roy didn’t say a word. For some reason, Maury Jensen wasn’t there, so they ate in silence. None of the other people assigned to their table appeared, either.

The longer they sat without talking, the more Bridget relaxed. Roy must not want to continue anything outside the broom closet, either. He might want to go back there with her, but he didn’t want to have anything to do with her in real life. That’s the message he tried to give her by not talking to her now.

She could live with that. She could get on board with having nothing more to do with him for the rest of her life. She could look forward to life returning to normal after they went home from this wedding. So she had a wild fling with a guy at a hotel in theBerkshires. This was one for the record books. File this under ‘I did something crazy once’.

Tommy got up and gave a silly speech about the time he and Ben stole his father’s car and got arrested on the freeway. Ben turned red and Rex yanked Tommy back into his seat. Then Jason got up and started talking about….something. He rambled and gabbled. Bridget lost track of what he was saying.

Out of nowhere, Roy’s low voice touched her ear. “I had a really good time with you just before. You’re hotter than I ever dreamed. Why don’t you come to my room tonight so I can finish the job?”

Bridget’s head whipped around, but she managed to keep her voice low so no one could hear her. “Finish the job? Didn’t you finish the job before?”

He didn’t smile. His eyes shot daggers into her heart. “I’ll never finish the job with you,Bridget. Icouldworkyouto kingdom come and never go soft. You were made in my dreams.”

She turned away and concentrated on her food. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We had a quickie in the closet. Let’s leave it at that.”

“I don’t want to leave it at that. I want to do it with you again. I want to do a lot more than that with you, too.”

She looked up. “Like what?”

He leaned closer.Hismintybreathbrushed her cheek. “Like slow dancing. Like talking to you about whatever you want to talk about. Like spending some time with you. I don’t want to let you slip through my fingers.”

She cast her eyes down at her plate. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“You said that, but I do think it’s a good idea. I think it’s a great idea. Didn’t you like dancing with me?”

“Of course.”

“And you liked fucking me in the closet. Don’t say you didn’t.”

Her cheeks burned.“You know I did.”

He lowered his voice. “Tell me how much you liked it.”

Her lips smacked when she caught her breath. “It was the best I ever had. Don’t you know that?”

He leaned just an inch closer. He whispered in her ear. “It could be like that again. It could be like that all night long.”

She shook her head, but she couldn’t clear her thoughts. How did she know this would happen? She knew she wouldcavethe very first time he put out his hand to grab her. She couldn’t resist him.

He sat back in his seat. “That’s my cue.”

She looked around. Everyone in the room turned around to stare at her. Roy got to his feet, and she understood. They weren’t staring at her. They were looking at Roy. He picked up his champagne flute and held it out toward Ben. His voice filled the whole room.

“I’veknownBen for four years now. I’ve been his boss. I’ve been his mentor, and now, I’m honored to say, I’ve been his friend. We’ve faced triumph and tragedy. We’ve fought and bled and failed together. We’ve worked side by side in the trenches every day for four years, and I am here to say, categorically and positively, I have never seen Ben happier than he is today. Every since he met Larissa, he’s gotten happier and more confident. He’s become steady and certain. He’s a man after my own heart, and we have you to thank for that, Larissa. I never knew a woman could make a man that happy, or that a woman could do a man so muchgooduntil I saw what you did to him. It made me envy him, and I don’t generally envy people. I have what I want, and when I want something, I can get it without much trouble. When Ben met Larissa and I saw what that love did to him, I realized there was something in this world I wanted that I couldn’t have, and I wanted it bad. It made me look around at my life, and I realized my life was poor and lonely compared to Ben’s. He had this big happy, loving family. He had the woman of his dreams. He had all that and a brilliant career besides. What did I have? Nothing. I had the career, but that meant nothing compared to his happiness and his confidence and his steady certainty. Damn, I wished I had that. I stand here today in awe of you guys. You’re an inspiration to everyone around you, and I look forward to the honor of being your friend for a long, long time to come.”

Through his whole speech, Ben and Larissa squeezed each other’s hands. Larissa sniffed back tears, and even Ben’s eyes misted over.

Roy raised his glass one more time and sat down. The dining room rocked with thunderous applause. The music started, and Ben and Larissa moved into the middle of the floor for their dance. Bridget swallowed the lump in her throat. She murmured to Roy. “Did you mean all that?”

“Do you think I would lie to your brother on his wedding day?”

She stared at her hands in her lap. “I didn’t know you felt that way.”

“I do.”

“I hope you weren’t talking about me.”

“Why do you hope that?”

“Because I’m not going to be that woman. I’m not going to be the woman who does for you what Larissa did for Ben.”

He turned to look at her with a very different expression in his eyes. That glittering rapacious hunger no longer drilled into her. He was just a man.

He looked for a moment. Then he turned back to his food. He didn’t say anything.

Chapter 9

Bridget left the dining room when the dance music started thumping again. After the cake and the speeches, Ben and Larissa ran off to their limo. They rode away to their honeymoon, while Tommy and Sheila and all the young people and even some of the oldsters busted a move on the dance floor. No one could hear themselves think, much less speak.

Bridget’s dress started to chafe. She had to change. She headed for her room, but she paused at the door to watch the sun go down over the garden. She hadn’t seen Roy since his speech. He got up to refill his champagne glass and didn’t come back to their table.

Bridget waited for him for more than half an hour. What the deuce did she have to wait for him for? Didn’t she tell him their quickie in the closet was nothing more than that? She told him, and that’s what it was. She didn’t have to wait for him. She didn’t even want to see him.

The music changed fromtheraucousracket, and high-pitched guitar strained through the still air. A voice made her spin around. “May I have this dance?”

She found herself looking at Roy. “What’s the point of that? Why do you keep chasing after me when I already told you I didn’t want to take this any further?”

He shrugged. “I’m not chasing you. I just asked you to dance. That’s all.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you sure that’s all it is?”

He held up his hand. “Scout’s honor.”

She snorted. “You were never a Boy Scout. I’m sure of that.”

He only smiled and held out his hand. She glared at him. Why did he have to be so infuriatingly persistent? The song was half over. If she was going to do this, she better do it now. “I don’t think this is a good idea. You better forget about me.”

“I’m not thinking about you. You’re just the only woman here I can dance with. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not asking for a lifetime commitment the way you seem to think I am.”

He stillheldout his hand in front of her. Should she take it? Should she find shelter in his arms one more time? Her resolve weakened, but just as she started to lift her hand to takehis, the music changed again. It started singingYMCA. Roy let his hand drop. She’d missed her chance. Her heart sank into her shoes. Now he would walk away, and he would never ask her to dance again. Her bright idea bit her in the ass.

He didn’t walk away, though. He raised his voice above the music. “Come to my room.”

Her head shot up. “What for?”

He didn’t answer. He inclined his head toward the lobby and walked away. She staredathim. What did he mean by that? Go to his room? She would have to be daffy to do that. She just said no. She turned down his offer to dance. She wouldn’t find anything she wanted back in his room.

He didn’t look back. He ducked behind a potted plant, and the hotel swallowed him up. Would she ever see him again? All the guests would leave for their homes tomorrow morning. She might see Roy with Ben sometimes, but she would never get another opportunity to spend any time with him. She would never get another experience like she got in the closet.

Her body ached for more of that. Did she really want to look back on this experience with nothing but the broom closet to show for it? She threw caution to the wind and hurried after him.

She found him waited in front of the elevator. She stopped to confront him when the elevator doors opened with aping. He didn’t hesitate. He took her hand and escorted herin.

The doors closed, but he didn’t let go of her hand. He didn’t speak or try to kiss her or do any of the millions of things she thought he might do. He stood still while theyrode up into the hotel.

The doorswhooshedopen, and they stepped out into the hall. Bridget snapped alert. She pulled her hand out of his. “I better not do this. You go ahead. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He rounded on her with that calm, clear expression in his face. No smoldering sex machine here. “You won’t see me in the morning, Bridget. If you say no, you’ll never see me again. I can promise you that.”

She stared at him. “You’ll still be working with Ben.”

“Yes, I’ll still be working with Ben, but you won’t see me. I’ll make sure of it. Ben will continue to benefit from our acquaintance, but I won’t bother you.”

“You’re not bothering me.”

“No. I’m asking you to come to my room for the night. I’m asking you to spend one last night with me. You want it and I want it. This could be our last and only night together. That’s all I’m asking, but if you keep saying no, I’ll accept it. I won’t ask again.”

She stood rooted to the spot. She wanted it and he wanted it. Of-courseshe wanted it. She wanted more of that wild, orgasmic sex she had in the closet, only this time in the comfort of his hotel room. She wanted his body and his hands and his mouth. This could be their last and only night together. Those words burned a hole in her soul. How could she turn her back on that? She wasn’t marrying him.

She met his eyes, but he didn’t wait for her to answer. He put out his hand the way he offered to dance with her. “Come on. Come with me.”

They were dancing—nothing more. They moved around each other and came apart. They went off to dance with someone else, and neither held on tight enough to get hurt.

This time, she put out her hand and let him grasp it. She followed him down the hall and into his room. He closed the door behind him.

Bridget strode into the room and gazed out the windows at the land rolling beyond the resort. The setting sun bathed the scene in soft pastel light. Her eyes softened at the sight. In less than twelve hours, she would return to her old life, her old self, her old routine. Nothing would remain of this weekend interlude.

Out of nowhere, soft jazz music filled the air. She looked over her shoulder to see Roy bent over the radio. He adjusted the knobs, and the delicate strains cast their spell over the room. He came up behind her and took her hand. “Come on.”

“What are you doing?”

“We didn’t get our dance downstairs, so we’re having it here.”

She looked around. “You want to dance…here? I thought you wanted to…”

He cocked his head. “You thought what? I didn’t bring you here to rip you to pieces. I told you I want to spend the night with you. I want to have a nice time with you.”

She couldn’t answer. She could only melt into his arms. The gentle music relaxed her tensions, andtheyswayed together in front of the window. One tune blended into the other, but neither pulled away. They kept dancing, locked in an eternal embrace.

Chapter 10

Bridget picked up her dress and let it fall on her bare lap. “I never want to see this thing again as long as I live.”

Roy folded his arm under his head and leaned back on the pillow. “You ought to have it framed. You look great in it.”

She snorted. “I guess I have to put it on. I have to wear it back to my room so I can pack up and go.”

He grabbed her wrist. “Don’t go. Stay here with me for a couple of days.”

Her eyes popped open. “A couple of days? Come on. You said we would have this night together and walk away. Now you’re saying make it a couple of days. What’s next—happily ever after?”

“Would it be so bad if it was? I don’t want to leave just yet—I mean, I don’t want to leave if there’s a chance I can spend some more time with you.”

“I don’t want to stay here. I don’t want to keep doing this. I want to go home to my own life. If I stayed here, my whole life would collapse into turmoil.”

“Are you saying it would collapse into turmoil if you stayed here, or if you had anything more to do with me?”

“Both. I don’t want to have anything more to do with you. I told you that. I want to go back to the way my life was before I met you.”

He swung his legs over the bed and set them on the floor. “Way to throw a bucket of cold water on a guy. We just spent a passionate night together, and now you’re saying you don’t want to have anything more to do with me.”

“Well, crikey, what did you think I was going to say? You didn’t think I would fall at your feet and beg you to run away with me, did you? We had a great time. I’ll admit that. You’re a rock star in bed. You know that. That doesn’t mean I want to commit or anything.”

“I never said anything about committing. I said spend a few days here with me. What could be wrong with that? I care about you and you care about me. We have great sex and we like dancing. We could have a good time together, you and me.”

“I don’t care about you like that. You’re my brother’s mentor, and he considers you his best friend. That’s it. We had a wild weekend together at my brother’s wedding. End of story. I’ve got a life and a job and a plan back home. I don’t want to throw that away over anybody. No offense against you. It’s just my life comes first.”

He turned around to face her. “Are you really going to sit there and tell me you don’t care about me?”

“You make it sound like jumping you at a wedding is some kind of prelude to a long-term relationship. I don’t want that. It’s nothing against you. I don’t want it with anybody. I don’t want anybody comingbetweenme and my life.”

He grabbed his pants. He stood up into them and buttoned them below his washboard abs. “You’re lying, Bridget. You care about me just as much as I care about you. I know you do.”

She stared at him. What could you do with a guy like this? He was off his rocker. “What do you mean by ‘care about you’? You don’t honestly think there could be anything between us, do you? You banged me at a destination wedding. You’re a frickin’ billionaire businessman. What could you possibly want to care about me for? I’m nothing to you. I’m a good time and a wild weekend. Nothing else.”

He yanked his shirt off the chair back. “I don’t believe you. I don’t believe you don’t care about me. You want me to think this was all about sex for you, that you don’t want anything more with me than a wild weekend? Okay. You said it, so I have to take your word for it. Just so we’re clear, though, I’m not buying it.”

“Why won’t you believe me? Why would I lie about it? If I really cared about you, why would I go to all this trouble to kick you in the guts?”

“I don’t know, but if that’s the way you want to play it, that’s the way we’ll do it. You get dressed and go pack your suitcase. I’ll see you later, or maybe I won’t. I really enjoyed last night. Have a nice trip back to the city.”

He propped his hands on his hips and watched her slide into her dress. She didn’t look at him. She didn’t bother to straighten the dress or fix up her hair. She had to get to her own room. Nothing else mattered. Once she got there, she could change her clothes and make herself decent.

She got covered up and paused on her way to the door. She looked back. He stood in the same place with his hard,grayeyes piercing her to the core. “See you later.”

He didn’t say anything. He just stood there, impassive.

She hurried out of the room and shut the door behind her. Phew! That was over with. She turned her steps to her room. She changed her clothes in a rush, tossed everything into her suitcase without folding anything, zipped it up, and bolted.

The elevator took a long time to come, and when she got to the lobby, she found out why. Departing wedding guests cluttered the lobby. Everyone wheeled suitcases, and the valet boy worked double-time trying to get everybody out the door at once.

Family and friends embraced and shed tears all over again, which slowed things down even more. Bridget’s parentsre-enactedevery conversation they had throughout the whole weekend. Everyone wanted to exchange phone numbers and email addresses. Thousands of promises to keep in touch flew back and forth before people got in their cars and drove away.

Bridget milled around the back of the crowd, but she couldn’t escape her share of the well-wishes. At least Ben and Larissa weren’t there to complicate matters. A couple of hours passed before Bridget finally handed the valet boy her ticket. She parked her suitcase next to the curb to wait when a magnificent stretch limo pulled up in front of the hotel. Bridget couldn’t help gawking at it. What would it be like to sail back to the city in that?

Before she could concoct a fantasy about what it would be like, a couple strutted out of the hotel and stopped in front of the limo. The man opened the limo door for the woman, but the woman threw she threw her arms around him and started to kiss his neck.Bridget couldn’t believe the evidence of her senses. She gaped at the two people tangled in each other’s arms. “Sheila! What are you doing?”

Sheila folded at the waist to give Bridget a lecherous leer. She draped over Roy’s arms so he had to hold her upright. “Look what I got, Bridget! How do you like them apples?” She chortled with glee.

Bridget gasped out loud. “What are you doing? What are both of you doing?”

“Can’t you see?” Sheilacrowed. “I’m riding back to the city with Roy. Didn’t I tell you I’d get him? Isn’t he a fine specimen? I know what I’m having for lunch today.”

Bridget’s jaw dropped. “How can you do this? How can you two…hook up like this?”

Roy cast a disgusted glance Bridget’s way. “What’s the matter, Bridget? Do you see something here you don’t like?”

Bridget waved her hand up and down in front of the couple. “Look at the two of you. You’re all over each other. How can you do this… now?”

“What do you mean now?” Roy asked. “The wedding’s over. We’re both free agents. I’m going home with Sheila. I think she’s perfectly willing, aren’t you, darling?”

Hewrappedhis arms around Shielas waist. She purred and sagged in his arms. She was all over him.

Bridget exploded into a rage. “You pig! You filthy fucking cocksucker! I should have known you would pull something like this. You gave me a big song and dance, and now you run off withher! You’re just as much a lecherous prick as everyone said you were. Ishould neverhave had anything to do with you.”

Roy disengaged himself from Sheila’s arms just enough to lean toward Bridget. “You’ve got nothing to be indignant about. You just said you didn’t care about me, that this was nothing but a wild time for you. What are you making a big deal about this for? You don’t care if I go off with someone else. Go home. You don’t want me or Sheila or anybody else coming between you and your precious life.” He turned back to stick his tongue down Sheila’s throat. “I wouldn’t want anything to do with your precious lifeanyway.”

Bridget fumed and ranted. “You son of a bitch! You know good and well I would blow up if I saw you with….withher! You spun me a bunch of big tales about….Oh, what’s the flippin’ point? Ishould neverhave given you the time of day. I wish I never laid eyes on your ugly face. Get out of here! Go fuck her until she bleeds. See if I care.”

He gazed at her with those fierce eyes of his. He could cut glass with those eyes. Bridget whirled away so she wouldn’t see them. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. Where was that stupid valet boy anyway? How long did it take to find a frickin’ car in a parking lot?

She kept her eyes trained on the parking lot. He would show up any second, and she would ride off into the sunset. She would pick herself up a voodoo doll and stick Mister Fancy Pants Roy Fontaine full of pins. Then she would throw the voodoo doll in the trash along with all the hot memories of last night.

She couldn’t fail to see the pair of them groping each other on the curb out of her peripheral vision. They eased toward the open limo door. Whispers flickered back andforthbetween them. That dick weed! What a player he turned out to be! A lying, stinking, womanizing player. That’s all he ever was.

The limo door slammed. Now Bridget could turn around and look. She gasped out loud at what she saw. There was Roy with his hand on the limo door, the closed limo door. Sheila was nowhere in sight. Bridget’s eyes dropped out of her head. The limo glided away from the curb and angled down the driveway and there was Roy standing on the curb in front of Bridget.

She opened her mouth and closed it again. “What are you doing?”

He squared his shoulders at her. “I’m sending Sheila back to the city in the limo. I’m staying here with you.”

Bridget couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. “But you…what are you…How could you…?”

“You said you didn’t care about me, that last night didn’t mean anything and was all about sex. Now we both know that’s not true.”

“How could you…?” Bridget narrowed her eyes. “Did you get Sheila to pose for me just now, to make me jealous?”

“I didn’t do anything. You’ve seen Sheila hitting on me all weekend. All I had to do was suggest she ride back to town with me. She was more than willing. If you didn’t care about me and last night was just a fling for you, you shouldn’t have anything to say about me going with Sheila. You had a good time with me. Are you really willing to let me walk away without a word?”

Bridget blinked. “I guess not.”

He took a step toward her and picked up her hand. “Neither am I. I don’t want to walk away. You wouldn’t have blown up just now if you didn’t care.”

She reeled on her heels. Was this really happening? Could she really care about this guy? Last night was fun and all, but it went way beyond sex. The dance, the hours spent holding him in bed, the kissing—it all added up to something bigger than both of them.

He tugged her arm. “Come inside with me. I still have my room.”

She hung back. “Are you sure about this?”

He faced her. His broad shoulders swelled. “Don’t come inside with me unless you’re sure. Look. Here comes your car. If you’re not sure about this, get in your car and drive away. You lose nothing. If you are sure, come up to my room with me. We’ve got so much more we can do together than great sex. We’ve got the rest of eternity to find out how far we can go together.”

Her car pulled up, and the valet boy handed her the keys. What did she really want to do? Did she really want to drive home and let this opportunity slip away? What waited for her upstairs in Roy’s room? She already knew that.

She lifted her eyes to his face. “I’m sure.”

He smiled and hooked his arm around her shoulders. He turned to the valet boy and handed him a hundred dollar bill. “Sorry. We won’t be needing it now. Thanks anyway.”

The valet boy jumped, but Roy already turned Bridget away. He ushered her back into the hotel, and the door closed behind them.

THE END

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SINGLE DAD BOSS

Chapter 1

“There must be some mistake.” The doorman frowned when he studied his clipboard. “There's no Abigail Townsend on here.”

Abbie shifted from one foot to the other. “Are you sure? I have an appointment for nine o'clock. It's my first day of work.”

He sat down on the stool behind his podium. “I'll call up and see.”

Abbie wandered around the condo apartment building lobby while the doorman murmured into his phone in hushed tones. It sure was a nice building. The outside looked like any run-of-the-mill apartment building. Inside, stately potted palms dotted the checkerboard tile floor. Deco brass railings and stained glass offset the magenta carpet and burnished wainscoting.

Atlast,he hung up and waved her back over to his podium. “All right. You can go up.”

“What happened?”

“I don't know. Maybe they just forgot. You can go up now, but I'll have to use my key to set the elevator.”

Abbie didn't understand what that meant, but she didn't tell him so. She followed him to the elevator and waited when he pushed the button to call the car. He smiled a fake smile when she caught his eye. He ran his eye up and down her curvy form. Her khaki slacks hugged her hips, and her smart matching jacket set off her full bust. She carried all her paperwork in a leather satchel over her shoulder, with a rolling suitcase at her side. Her curly platinum hair bounced around her shoulders.

When the doors opened, he stuck his head in and inserted a key from his key chain into the control panel. He turned it and bowed to her with a flourish. “After you, Madam.”

Abbie pretended to laugh, and when she stepped inside, the door closed him out in the lobby again. A blessed silence accompanied her up into the building. The elevator showed the same signs of modern luxury as the rest of the building. She hesitated to ride in some of the decrepit elevators whizzing around this city. Their gears crunched, and rust surrounded their control panels like they hadn't been maintained in years.

The car sailed into the sky and glided to a stop without a peep. The doorswhooshedopen, and Abbie stepped out into a high entrance foyer leading down carpeted stairs into a long hall. Not a sound welcomed her out of the elevator. Three marble statues of naked nymphs smiled down at her. Sunlight glowed down on their heads through skylights and gave them an angelic halo.

Abbie paused in the foyer and waited. No one appeared. No one spoke inside this...this place. She couldn't even recognize what sort of place it was. Was it an apartment? Too big. Was it a museum? More likely.

She was supposed to meet her new employer and start work this morning. She always made sure to be on time, perfectly groomed and tastefully made up, so why didn't her employer give her the same consideration? This did not bode well for a profitable working relationship.

She parked her suitcase by the elevator. No need to make herself comfortable when she might be leaving in a few minutes. Maybe the doorman was right. There must be some mistake. Maybe they didn't want her working here after all. Maybe she got the address wrong. If that was the case, why did they agree to let her come up in the first place?

She took one step along the beige tiled floor and called out, “Hello?”

Nothing. She waited a few minutes longer and ventured another few inches farther along. She stopped before she stepped on the carpet. “Hello? Is anybody here?”

Not a sound answered her. She peered down the stairs and caught a glimpse ofsunshining through windows down the hall. Her prospective employer might be down there somewhere. Maybe he or she couldn't hear her for some mysterious reason.

She bent down to the first stair and called. “Hello? It's Abbie Townsend. Is anybody here?”

By now, she didn't expect to get any answer. Anyway, she was here so she might as well find out what sort of place this was. If she could work out exactly who or what she was supposed to be working for, maybe everything would work out in the end after all. She ought to take a look, anyway, before she left in defeat.

She put her foot down on the first squishy stair and climbed down into the hall. Photographs of idyllic family life lined the hall, but she couldn't discern any clues from them. They could have been stock photos taken from the internet for all she knew. She crept all the way down the hall. Nothing stirred in any of the manicured rooms on either side. Those rooms stood perfect and yawning empty. If they stood that way since the beginning of time, with no one setting foot in them or folding back the bedclothes, no one would ever know the difference.

She came to the end of the hall and craned her neck around the corner. As she foresaw,sunstreamed through enormous windows overlooking the whole city. A living room flooded in sun sunk another level below the hall. The windows sparkled, and the room gleamed with leather and crystal. Now that she saw the place in its entirety, she recognized a massive luxury condo, bigger than most houses she worked in.

Abbie called out one more time. “Hello? It's Abbie Townsend, from Personnel Solutions. Is anybody here?”

Her voice bounced off the windows and echoed through the condo. It rose to the high ceiling. That was the only sound in the place. She took one more step into the living room and looked around with a heavy sigh. She might as well leave. She wasn't starting work in this place this morning.

Just then, a slight movement caught her eye. She took another look down into the sunken living room. A head of straight brown hair shook on the leather couch and went still again. Abbie inched forward. “Hello?”

The head didn't turn. One more step closer, and Abbie finally saw the head belonged to a young girl. She sat on the couch with her back to Abbie, facing the windows. Abbie lowered her voice to a more conversational tone. “Hello?”

Still nothing. The girl didn't turn around or acknowledge Abbie in any way. So this was the condo's mysterious occupant, but this girl certainly hadn't hired Abbie to come over this morning. She couldn't be more than thirteen or fourteen.

Abbie stole around the sunken living room in front of the girl. From her new vantage point, she clearly saw two wires rising from a cell phone in the girl's hand to enter her ears. Her thumb moved back and forth across the phone's screen. So that's why she didn't hear Abbie come in.

Abbie bolstered her courage to face the firing squad and stepped down into the sunken living room. She stopped right in front of the girl where the girl couldn't fail to notice her.Still,the girl didn't look up from her phone. Abbie passed her hand back and forth in front of the girl'sfacebut got no response.

Abbie pursed her lips. So this was how it was going to be. Abbie could handle this. She'd handled much worse in her time. She backed off and sat down on the couch opposite the girl. The girl kept twiddling with her phone. In the silence, Abbie could make out thetinnyruckus coming from her earphones.

Abbie crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. She settled in to wait it out. This could take a while. She sat for an hour or longer. She didn't dare take out her own phone, although it buzzed in her pants pocket more than once in that time. That might be her employer trying to get in touch with her to explain why he or she wasn't here to meet her.

The girl never moved except for a few sideways sways of her head in time to the music. Her thumb made a continuous circuit of the phone screen, again and again without stopping. She must be playing a game or something.

Every time Abbie came close to getting up, she told herself to wait just a little longer. This couldn't go on all day. After another half hour of putting off the inevitable, though, her natural fiery spirit took over. If her would-be employer didn't have time to meet her, she didn't have time to sit around waiting, either.

She hoisted herself off the couch and strode over to the girl. She yanked the wires out of her ears and the phone out of her hands before the girl could cry out, “Hey!”

Abbie tucked the phone and wires into one hand and smiled. “Hi. I'm Abbie. I'm supposed to start work this morning.”

The girl sank backonthe couch and held out her hand. She snarled at Abbie with narrowed eyes. “Give me back my phone. That's not yours. That's stealing.”

Abbie squared her shoulders. “I'm talking to you. You've ignored me for an hour and a half, and now you're going to talk to me. I'm Abbie. I'm supposed to start work this morning. I'm a nanny, and I'm here to take care of some child, so I guess that'syou,unless you know of some other child in this place.”

“Great. So you're a nanny and you're here to take care of some child, but I'm not a child and I don't need taking care of. Just give me back my phone and leave me alone.”

“I won't give your phone back until I get some answers, and from what I can see, you're the only person around here who can give them to me.”

The girl crossed her arms over her chest and glared out the window. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

“You can start by telling me your name.”

“Trina. Katrina, but everybody calls me Trina.”

Abbie smiled. “All right, Trina. Now we're making progress. I'm guessing you didn't hire a nanny to take care of you, so who did?”

The girl waved her hand, but she still didn't look at Abbie. “I guess that's my dad. Hiring a nanny to take care of me is just the kind of idiot maneuver he would come up with.”

Abbie started to relax. “Where is he now?”

“How should I know?”

Abbie looked around one more time. “If he's not here, who's taking care of you now?”

“No one. I told you, I don't need taking care of.”

“So you're dad went off and left you alone?”

“He always does. He's too busy to hang out here doing nothing all day.”

“What does he do?”

“I couldn't care less.”

“What's your dad's name?”

“Malcolm Malloy.”

“It seems your dad forgot to tell the doorman I was coming over today. Did you tell the doorman to send me up?”

“I never would have told the doorman to send you up. I would have told the doorman to kick you out on the street. I don't need you hanging around bugging me. Anyway, the doorman doesn't consult me about who comes up and who doesn't.”

“Then he must have called your dad. He must know I'm here.”

Trina didn't reply.

Abbie tried one more time to thaw the ice. “What do you do all day while your dad's not here? Do you go to school, or what?”

Trina gave an imperceptible shrug. “I used to, but I don't anymore.”

Abbie set her jaw. So Trina didn't go to school anymore. Maybe she got into trouble. Maybe she got expelled. “Okay, Trina. Thanks for telling me all that. Here's your phone. I'll leave you alone now.”

Chapter 2

Abbie retreated up the steps out of the sunken living room. She wandered around the condo and had a good look at everything.

She found the open kitchen on the upper level. The photographs on the wall made a lot more sense now, with Trina and an older man laughing on the beach with a beautiful bleach-blonde younger woman. Abbie wandered all the way back to the entrance foyer. Her suitcase still sat by the elevator.

What should she do? Should she leave? Trina certainly wasn't in any danger by herself. Abbie couldn't wait all day for this Malcolm Malloy to show up. He obviously hired her to do something with Trina, even if that was nothing more thanstandaround watching her play on her phone.

Abbie made another complete circuit of the condo. He had money. That was for certain. This place must cost a fortune. The big living room windows commanded a sweeping view of the city in three directions, all the way out to the ocean and up the river to the smoky horizon.

Abbie lingered around the kitchen. From the open counter tops, she looked down on Trina's head. She wandered around, investigating rooms and opening drawers, for another three hours before she lost her patience. She better leave. Malcolm Malloy could get in touch with her to arrange some other meeting time. She checked herphonebut found no message from him. She headed for the elevator.

She got up the stairs to the foyer when the elevator opened in front of her and a broad shouldered man with buzzed hair stepped out of it. His green eyes brightened when he spotted Abbie. “Oh, Miss Townsend, you're here. That's wonderful. Did you find your way around all right? How are you getting along?”

Abbie stiffened. “I thought you were going to meet me here. I've been waiting almost four hours.”

The man strode past her to drop his keys in a dish on the side table. “I figured you could work it out for yourself. Did you meet Trina? Meeting her is much more important than meeting me.”

“I metherif that's what you can call it, but she's not my employer. I thought I might be trespassing when no one met me or even invited me in.”

The man's expression softened. His whole face lit up when he smiled. That smile meltedAbbie'sheart. “I'm sorry, Miss Townsend. You're absolutely right. I should have been here to meet you and show you around and introduce you to Trina. I made a mistake thinking you could just walk right in and make yourself at home. Let me make it up to you now. Come inside, and I'll show you around.”

“Please call me Abbie. I can't stand people calling me Miss Townsend.”

He held out his hand. “All right, and you can call me Malcolm. Are you hungry? How about some lunch?”

“Before I start making myself at home, maybe you can explain what I'm supposed to do here. Is it Trina you want me to take care of? I usually get hired to take care of much younger children.”

“She's the only child here. She's thirteen going on thirty-five, but she's still too young to stay alone for any length of time. She can entertain herself for a few hours, but I have to go away on business sometimes. I need an adult around to cook meals and be available in case of emergency.”

“I can handle that, but Trina says she doesn't go to school. What does she do?”

Malcolm cringed. “No, she doesn't go to school. She's been kicked out of three schools in ten months. She doesn't want to go to school. I'm not sure what to do about that.”

“Well, you can't do nothing. That's not an option. She should be studying at home with a tutor if she doesn't want to go to school.”

Malcolm waved that aside. “You don't need to worry about that. I'll work out what to do about that another time. For now, I just want you to hold down the fort while I'm away. If you make any headway towards getting Trina to socialize with you, I'll be impressed. That's as far as I want you to go.”

“Okay. That's no problem.”

“Good. Come on. I'm hungry. I'll make you a sandwich, and one for Trina. After that, I have to get back to work. You'll be in charge for the rest of the day, and from now on.”

He led the way back to the kitchen. He took bread, sliced meats, lettuce, tomato and pickles out of the fridge and spread out his sandwich operation on the counter. Abbie watched him assemble three magnificent sandwiches and spread mayonnaise and mustard on the bread. He laid them on three separate plates and pushed Abbie's toward her.

Malcolm leaned against a bar stool at the counter and took a bite of his sandwich while Abbie ate standing up. The third sandwich sat alone and forlorn on the plate. Trina sat in the same place with her earphones on.

Abbie lowered her voice to a murmur, even though Trina couldn’t hear her. “Is it always like this?”

Malcolm nodded. “She spends pretty much every day doing the same thing. She didn't want to come here. She would rather live with her mother in Malibu. That's where all her friends live.”

“Why is she here, then?”

“The court makes her stay with me half the year. She sits there with her headphones on the whole time and waits until it's time to go back.”

Abbie couldn't help herself. “Poor kid.”

“Yeah, I know, but there's nothing I can do about it.”

“Does her mother have the same trouble getting her to go to school?”

“As much or more, but her mother takes a hands-off approach. She wants to let Trina work out for herself what she's going to do and how she's going to do it. That's why I'm not going out of my way to push her into school. I'm going along with her mother's plan until we see how it works out.”

“I see.”

“I can see you don't agree with it. I don't really agree with it, either. I'm just going along with it until her mother realizes it won't work. Then we can try something else.”

“I get it. Maybe that's not such a bad idea after all. If Trina's so hostile toward school, she won't let herself learn anything.”

“She's hostile toward school. She's hostile toward me. She's hostile toward everything.”

“Do you have any idea why? Is she hostile because her parents split up? That happens sometimes.”

“I have no idea what caused it, but it wasn't the break-up. She was okay until about a year and a half ago. She even enjoyed coming to live with me for half the year. She made friends at the local community center and went to school. Then all of a sudden, everything fell apart. She's been withdrawn and hostile ever since. No one can figure out why.”

Abbie took another bite of her sandwich and gazed down at Trina. The girl certainly posed an interesting puzzle. Every hostile kid Abbie ever met harbored some terrible secret eating them up from the inside. They attacked anyone who came near to protect themselves and their loved ones from uncovering something too horrible to see the light of day.

Abbie made up her mind then and there to find out what was bothering Trina. Maybe her mother got a new boyfriend who molested her. Maybe she had an unpleasant encounter with a boy she liked who didn't like her the same way. Any of a thousand possibilities could turn a good kid bad.

Malcolm wiped the crumbs off the counter with his hand. He swept them onto his plate and took the plate to the dishwasher. “Come on. I'll show you around.”

Abbie put her plate away and followed him over all the same territory she just covered. Now he brought the place to life explaining every photograph, statue, andnicknackon every surface of the condo.

At last, he showed Abbie into one of the unused bedrooms. “I thought you could use this room, but feel free to take one of the others. Trina's room is off the living room, and mine is upstairs. I've got a home office there, and I work from home sometimes. You'll probably never have any occasion to go up there, but if you need to find me, that's where I usually am.”

Abbie nodded. “This room will work just fine. I'll bring my suitcase down here later.”

“There's also a gym downstairs. I don't know if you want to use it, but it's available if you want to.”

She smiled up at him. “That's okay. Thanks.”

He blushed and turned away. He really could knock 'em dead with that smile of his. He must know how incredibly attractive he was, even if he was so much older. His hair turnedgrayat the temples, but his face shone bright and cheery as ever in spite of the creases around his eyes.

He walked the rest of the way down the hall, back up to the foyer. “There's a lot of storage space downstairs, too. I don't know if you want to put anything in storage while you're here. Maybe you just want to put your suitcase there to get it out of the way. If so, help yourself. Now I better get going. The office was a mess when I left.”

Abbie nodded. Why did she get uncomfortable facing him? The silence when neither of them said anything gave her a gushy feeling in her stomach. She couldn't think of anything to say. She nodded up at one of the nymphs. “These are really beautiful.”

“Not half as beautiful as you are.”

As soon as he said it and Abbie's eyes flew open, he turned bright red and looked away.

“What I mean is, they're just statues. They aren't as beautiful as a real person.”

Abbie's pulse beat in her head. “Oh. I understand what you mean.”

He pushed the elevator button. “Anyway, I'll get going. Don't worry if Trina doesn't talk to you at first. Just leave her alone.”

The elevator arrived and swept Malcolm Malloy away. Abbie followed his instructions and left Trina alone. The girl didn't say anything all day. She got up, got her sandwich, ate it, put the plate in the dishwasher, and went back to her couch without acknowledging Abbie's existence. Silence enveloped the condo.

After several hours of this, Abbie got bored of waiting. She got her suitcase and moved into the room Malcolm assigned her. She got out her computer and put in a few good hours working on her novel before she went back out to the living room to check on Trina. The girl hadn't moved.

Abbie sighed. A lot of time could pass like this. She could keep working on her book while Trina played her games. They could live alone in the same house for months until Trina went back to her mother's.

Abbie didn't bother going down to the living room. She stayed in the kitchen and observed the girl from behind. Whatever kept her locked in a private world of her own must be pretty serious. Abbie's heart went out to her. She needed a friend, someone she could confide in.

Abbie was a lot closer in age to Trina than to Malcolm. She could find out Trina's secret and bring her out of her shell. Then again, she could make Trina a life-long enemy by prying into her private life. Teenagers didn't usually appreciate that, especially from strangers barging into their homes uninvited.

Abbie couldn't think of anything better to do than work on her book, but she hated going back to her room with Trina on the couch. If Trina really wanted to be alone, she could listen to her music and play her games in her room. Instead, she spent the day on the couch. Her presence sent up an SOS flag. She needed help. She wanted help. She wanted contact with people. She just didn't know how to get it.

Abbie made up her mind. She wouldn't force herself on Trina, but she wouldn't lock herself in her room, either. She fetched her laptop and set up shop on the kitchen counter. She worked on her book and left Trina alone, but she sent up a flag of her own. She was there. She was there and available whenever Trina needed her.

Chapter 3

Abbie snapped her laptop closed. That was one of the most productive days she spent in years. She put the machine away in her room and came back to the kitchen. She hunted around and started making dinner.

At five o'clock, Trina got herself off the couch and took herself off to her room. Abbie didn't see her again for the rest of the evening. Abbie busied herself frying ground beef and sautéing vegetables and gave Trina no further thought. She wouldn't let a depressed teenager drag her down and spoil the enjoyment of cooking a hearty meal.

She was just starting to enjoy herself when she heard the elevatorwheeshtopen. Someone tossed keys into the foyer dish, and footsteps tripped down the stairs. Malcolm gave her a brilliant smile when he walked into the kitchen. “Something smells good. You don't know how good it is to come home to a home-cooked meal after ten years of take-out.”

Abbie couldn't stop herself from smiling back at him. “How was your day? Did you get the mess cleaned up?”

He rolled his eyes and laughed. “I'll never get it cleaned up. It's a perpetual mess. That's the nature of the business.”

“What business are you in, anyway?”

“I'm a foreign exchange trader. I run my own trading house with about fifty traders under me. We have clients all over the world and process billions in trades every day.”

“Wow. Sounds messy.”

He laughed again. His cheeks shone with vitality. He whipped off his jacket and slung it over the bar stool before leaning his hip against it. His muscles bulged under his shirt sleeves. His broad back tapered down to a firm waist with not a scrap of flab in sight. Abbie forced herself to lower her eyes to her frying pan. She couldn't start gawking at him now.

“How was your day? Pretty quiet, I guess.”

“Very quiet. I did what you said and left Trina alone. I worked on my own project and got a lot done.”

“I guess that's why you're so chipper. You wouldn't be if you tried to talk to her. So what's the project?”

“I'm writing a book.”

His eyebrows went up. “Really? What about?”

“It's a fictionalized account of my seven years in Guatemala during the war.”

He stared at her. “What were you doing in Guatemala during the war?”

She waved her hand at him. She couldn't stop her eyes sparkling. “Silly. I was too young to be involved in the war. My parents were doctors with the Red Cross, and I went there with them.”

He shook his head. “That's amazing. I'd love to read the book.”

“It's about half done, but if working here is anything like today, I should get it done in no time.”

“I hope you get a lot done here. It sounds like a very interesting book.”

“I hope the book is interesting. I hope it's a lot more interesting than my time there. That's why I'm fictionalizing it.”

“Wasn't the time interesting? Maybe you should write an autobiography.”

She shook her head. “It wouldn't be as interesting. When you're in a situation like that, everything seems normal. Maybe it seemed that way because I was a child. I played with other kids and went to school. I don't think any of us really understood what was happening around us. I sure didn't. You just adjust and deal with the new reality.”

“And is your book not like that? Do the characters understand what's happening all around them?”

“Definitely more than I did. The book is about young adults, not children. It has action and danger and romance. It's not about kids during wartime.”

“Is this your first book?”

“My first, and it could be my last. I don't know if I'm a very good writer.”

“Why would you doubt yourself? I'm sure you're a great writer.”

Abbie blushed. “Don't say that until you read the book.”

“Anytime you're ready.”

“You just have to promise not to criticize it. I don't think I could handle that. It's my baby.”

“Whatever you want. I'm just interested whenever you want to show it to me.”

“What about you? Do you have any hobbies?”

“My business is my hobby. It takes all my time and energy.”

“That doesn't leave much room for a family.”

“I wasn't running my business when I had a family. I started it after I split up with Trina's mom. That was ten years ago. I guess I started it to take my mind off losing my family.”

Abbie looked around. “You certainly have done well for yourself. This place is incredible.”

He shrugged. “I got this place for Trina, so she would have a nice place to stay when she came to visit. She doesn't seem to appreciate it as much as you do.”

“Maybe she'll come around to liking it again.”

“Maybe.”

The conversation trailed off while Abbie put the food on plates. There was no table, so she set Malcolm's plate in front of him at the counter. “Do you ever think about getting a dining table? Maybe you could share meals with Trina. That might help to break down the barriers.”

“I used to have one, but we never used it. I mean, we used it before when she would talk to me. After a while, though, it just took up space, so I got rid of it. Maybe now that you're here, we could try again.”

“I'd like that. I always say family meals bring people together.”

“If you say so, I'll try it. I don't think it will make muchdifference,since she won't come to the table to eat, but I'll try it.”

“So when does she eat?”

“Just leave the plate out on the counter. She'll wait until we're gone. Then she'll come and eat.”

Abbie shook her head. “This is really bad. It's terrible.”

Malcolm shrugged. “If she wants to be miserable, I won't try to stop her.”

“Don't say that. Don't say that about your own daughter. You want her to be happy, don't you?”

“Sure, I do. I love her more than anything, but I've tried too many times and gotten kicked in the teeth. She wants it this way, so that's what she's gonna get.”

“I don't believe that. I don't believe she does want it this way. She wants help. She just doesn't know how to get it.”

“I've tried to help her. I've tried to talk to her. I've tried tough love. I've tried it all. So has her mother. Nothing works.”

“I'll try, too. Maybe I can get through to her.”

“You won't. You'll only make yourself as frustrated as I am. You're a stranger. She'll never even talk to you.”

“Sometimes a stranger can do things a parent can't. I'll try anyway. I've got nothing to lose.”

“Good luck.” Malcolm got up, snatched his jacket off the stool, and headed for the hall. “I'm going upstairs. You can find me in my office if you need me.”

Abbie fetched her computer and opened it on the counter again, but she couldn't concentrate on her book. The sun went down and the lights came out in windows across the city. White and red lines of lights inched along the highways.

Abbie put the computer away and enjoyed settling into her new digs. She never worked anywhere as nice as this before. Despite Trina's silent hostility and Malcolm burying his head in his work all the time, this was the closest she ever came to being included in a family. She usually took care of the kids in some back nursery before retreating to a dismal servant's room when they spent time with their parents or went to bed.

She might as well be a guest in this condo. She would spend her days in the sunny living room and kitchen, and her room adjoined the living area. Malcolm told her she could move to any other room in the place that suited her better. No one ever said that to her before. Most employers barely spoke to her at all, much less asked her enough about herself to find out about her book.

Malcolm did all that on her very first night in his house. She couldn't help remembering the look on his face when he walked in on her making dinner. She might as well be his wife instead of his daughter's nanny. The only thing missing was a kiss on the cheek.

Abbie blushed and turned her head away from the windows. What was she thinking about that for? She didn't want to be married to anybody, especially not a man so much older than herself. She had no time even for a boyfriend, what with zipping all over the world to take care of wealthy people's children.

Still, she couldn't stop imagining. What would it be like to meet a man coming home from work with a kiss and a hot meal? What would it be like being the comfort a man came home to at the end of a long day? What would it be like to call a condo like this home?

She went back to her room, but when she got there, she found her suitcase still open on the bed. She put the last few things away and stood the empty suitcase in a corner when a strange thought nagged at her consciousness. She shouldn't presume, but curiosity devoured her until she couldn't resist. She parked the suitcase in the foyer, stole along the hall to the stairs, and tiptoed up them to the upper mezzanine above the kitchen.

She found herself in another carpeted hall. A voice murmured down there somewhere. She followed the sound to a closed door. Malcolm's voice rose and fell beyond that door. She waited until it stopped before she knocked.

“Come in.”

She pushed the door open and peeked around the corner. Malcolm sat behind a big white table piled with papers and computers. He set his phone down. “Miss Townsend! Sorry, Abbie. What can I do for you?”

“Sorry to bother you up here, Malcolm. I was just wondering if you could show me that storage area where you said I could put my suitcase....just so it's not cluttering up my room, you know.”

He jumped out of his chair. “Of course! Sure. Let me just....” He trailed off shuffling papers around.

Abbie looked around the office while she waited for him to do whatever he was doing. Filing cabinets and shelves of binders lined the walls. Computer screens surrounded his chair in a glowing arch. From what she could see, he didn't do anything more than move one stack of files from one side of his desk to the other before he came around the desk to join her. He gave her a big smile and guided her toward the door.

“So this is where it all happens. Now you know I'm just a pencil-pusher like everyone else.”

Abbie beamed back at him. “Master of the universe is more like it, I would say.”

He blushed and led the way downstairs. “Hardly. I'm just a guy trying to make a living.”

“You're doing a lot more than that. You're moving billions of dollars, aren't you? I'd say you're doing more than making a living.”

“You're right. I want to do a lot more than that. The more you do, the more you want to do.”

He reemerged into the entrance foyer and pushed the elevator button. He got his keys out of the dish, and when the elevator opened, he put his key in the same hole the doorman used. He pressed a button, and the car hummed away.

While they rode downward, Abbie glanced over at him and found him glancing over at her at the same moment. They both immediately returned their eyes to the front, but Abbie's stomach turned a somersault. What was he looking at? What wasshelooking at? He was her boss. She had to keep her shorts on and not get flustered and stupid.

The elevator opened on what looked at first like a garage. One giant open floor spread out before them. Large windows rose from floor to ceiling at the far end and offered the same view Abbie saw from the condo living room. Nothing else filled the place—no walls, no kitchen, nothing.

Boxes and containers stacked on top of each other to fill one corner near the elevator. Malcolm stopped in front of the pile. “Anywhere in here is fine. As you can see, there's plenty of space. Help yourself.”

Abbie set down her suitcase near the stack. “What is all this stuff?”

He kicked a box of loose paper. “It's mostly junk, old school projects of Trina's, odds and ends from when I lived with her mother—all that sort of thing. I should get rid of it. It's not doing anything but taking up space down here.”

Abbie flipped a box lid back. Reams of colorful drawings filled the box. She lifted out the first sheet and studied it. “Did Trina do this? It's very good.”

He opened another box. “Yeah, she used to be really into art. She could sit and do nothing but draw all day long. Take a look.” He picked up a spiral bound notebook and held it out. “She hasn't done it in years. She gave that up along with everything else.”

Abbie flipped the notebook pages. Beautiful, elaborate pictures and designs filled every page. Page upon page of complicated artwork left not one visible centimeter of white space on both sides of every page. “This is amazing.”

Malcolm took the notebook out of her hands and pitched it back in the box. “I think you mean itwasamazing. She doesn't do it anymore. The wonderful little girl who drew these doesn't exist anymore. Now all I've got left is that monster upstairs.”

Abbie studied him. She could spend hours looking at those masterful drawings. Her hands itched to get hold of them again. For a fraction of an instant, she could look into the mind of the person who drew them. That person, that artist, remained imprisoned inside Trina's tortured soul. If only Abbie could find a way to free Trina from her torment, that artist could come to life again.

Underneath Malcolm's frustrated bluster, Abbie sensed another tortured soul dying to breathe free. He called his daughter a monster and refused even to look at her old artwork. He grieved the loss of the little girl he loved. He wanted her back. He didn't want to face the cruel reality that Trina was in trouble.

Malcolm turned away. “There you go. You can come and get your suitcase whenever you want, or you can bring more stuff down here.”

“I'll need to borrow your key, though.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, that's no problem.”

Abbie looked around the empty space. “What is this place, anyway?”

“It's supposed to be another condo, but I haven't taken the time to develop it yet.”

“You?”

“I own it. I bought both floors. I thought I'd fix 'em both up and sell this one, but I haven't done it yet.”

“What's stopping you? You seem like you can do pretty much whatever you want when you set your mind to it.”

His face brightened. “You're right. I can. I would have to get rid of all that stuff first. I suppose that's what's stopping me.”

There it was again. He couldn't move forward. He had to cling to the last vestige of his daughter's past. He couldn't get rid of her artwork. Abbie’s heart softened toward him, but she stopped herself from putting out her hand to touch him.

His head whipped around and he caught her looking at him. “What?”

She shook herself out of her reverie. “Nothing. Just listening.”

He strode over to the big windows. “It could be a great condo.”

“I guess it would be just as great asyoursif you ever build it.”

He cocked his head to look at her. “Do you think I should?”

“Sure. Why not? If you want to, you should do it. I'm sure there are lots of places you could store Trina's stuff if you didn't want to get rid of it.”

He frowned. “You're right. I never thought of that.”

Abbie looked right and left. “So....do you want to go back upstairs? I know you're busy.”

He scrutinized her closer. “I'm not too busyto....I mean, I'm enjoying talking to you. I don't get to talk to peoplemuch...I mean, I don't get to talk to people much about things besides business. I guess I don't get outmuch...I mean, I don't get out much to talk to people outside my work.....I mean, I....”

Abbie laughed at him. “That's okay. I'm enjoying talking to you, too.”

His eyes widened. “You are?”

“Sure. You're a good conversationalist.”

His face fell. “Oh.”

“Okay. Remind me not to compliment you again.”

“I didn't mean that. I just thought...well, I don't know what I thought.”

“I'm getting a better idea of you and Trina's situation, but it's nice to talk about something besides her.”

“You're right. I spend entirely too much time and energy thinking and worrying about her. That's why it's so interesting to talk about your book and your experiences. I haven't met anyone as interesting as you for a long time.”

Now Abbie blushed. “Stop it. I'm nowhere near as interesting as you. You're a captain of capitalism. I'm just a nanny.”

His cheeks turned red. “Don't call me that. I'll start to think you're flirting with me.”

Abbie turned away. “I wouldn't want to do that.”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. He pulled her back so hard she took a stumbling step and wound up closer to him than she should have been. “Don't leave yet, Abbie. I don't want to go back upstairs yet.”

She found herself looking at the fine grain of his clean-shaven face. His breath filled her head with dizzy butterflies. “Malcolm, I....”

His mouth hovered close to hers. “You're a beautiful, interesting, captivating woman, Abbie. Don't say you're just a nanny. You're so much more than that.”

She tried to draw back. “What are you doing, Malcolm?”

The color flashed across his face, but his deep brown eyes burned into her soul. “I don't know what I'm doing. I only know I have to do it. I have to.”

He leaned closer, but Abbie backed away against the hand gripping her arm. “Don't, Malcolm. You're my boss.”

His voice murmured into her brain. “I have to. I need to. I need you. I don't know how I've lived my life all these years without this, but I won't do live like that anymore.”

Before she could answer, his mouth closed over hers. Heady delirium swept her off her feet. She ought to struggle to get away from him. She just started working for him this morning. She was his nanny, his servant. She couldn't kiss him now.

She couldn't tear herself away, though. She melted into his grasp. The quivery excitement burning through her guts thrilled her to her bones. Her knees wobbled, and delicious desire twinged her between the legs. His warm lips infused her with sweet arousal. His breath lit her on fire to respond to his attentions.

He dragged her toward him with his great paw clutching her arm, and he pressed his other hand against her back. He crushed her breasts against his chest andawokeher latent dreams to intoxicating reality.

His lips nudged her mouth open, and his tongue slithered inside. He licked moist kisses from her. His muscles hardened against her voluptuous breasts. His breath tensed in his nostrils, and he panted for air.

Abbie stared up into his smoldering eyes. He glowered down at her, even as his mouth explored her in a sea of delicious saliva. He gave her back another determined press, and the bulge between his legs dug into her crotch. He squeezed a drizzle of juice from her snatch, and a quiet mew from her lips.

All of a sudden, he dropped his hands and stepped back. “You're right. We shouldn't.”

His absence left her cold and alone. She tasted his kiss on her lips and his prick hard and determined against her flesh. The fire he ignited inside her didn't die when he backed off. If anything, it blazed brighter than ever. It hungered for him against her better judgment.

He nodded down at the floor. “I didn't mean any disrespect. It's just.....well, it's been a long time since any woman turned my head like you do. I guess I got a little carried away.”

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. What could she say? She couldn't say that's okay, I wanted it, too. She couldn't say that's okay, anytime is fine with me. She couldn't say anything.

She followed him back to the elevator with her heart in her shoes. What was her life coming to, that she had to go kissing her boss in some deserted storage locker? She didn't even know this guy.

The elevator carried them both back upstairs to the condo, but neither smiled or glanced at the other. They stared straight ahead, and when the doors opened in the foyer, Malcolm raced out and down the hall to the living room.

Chapter 4

Abbie hesitated in the hall outside her room. She should go in there, shut the door, and go to bed, but she didn't. It was only six-thirty in the evening. She couldn't resign in defeat. She waited until the sounds died out in the living room before she ventured there herself.

She found Trina's empty plate in the dishwasher along with Malcolm's and her own. So Malcolm was right about that. Trina ate her dinner and put her plate away. Trina's bedroom door was closed.

Abbie gazed out the windows at the city. A thousand thoughts and emotions tumbled in her mind. She didn't hear anything until Malcolm called out from the kitchen behind her. “Come over here, Abbie. Come and have a glass of wine with me.”

She turned around to see him moving behind the counter. He took two glasses out of a cupboard and uncorked a bottle. She wandered over and sat on a bar stool. “You look happy. Did you just make a good trade or something?”

He poured the glasses full with a chuckle. “I always make good trades, but I'm all done with work for tonight. How about you? Have you been working on your book?”

“Not tonight. I've just been thinking.”

“About what?”

Abbie waved her hand over the condo. “About this place. About what it's going to be like to work here.”

“And what's the verdict? Can you stand it?”

“I think I might be able to stomach it for a little while.”

“Great.” He set a wine glass in her hand and clinked it with his. “Here's to stomaching it for a little while. I promise not to make it any more nauseating than it has to be by trying to kiss you again.”

Abbie set her glass down. “Listen, Malcolm. Today is my first day working for you, so let's just get one thing clear.”

He held up his hand. “Don't say it. I know what you're going to say. You're a professional, and what I did just now was about as unprofessional as you can get. I'm sorry, and I promise not to do it again.”

“You don't have to apologize. I guess I wanted it as much as you did, and I guess I encouraged you the way I was looking at you in the elevator.”

His head shot up. “You did? You wanted it as much as I did?”

“Sure. You're a very attractive man. You're the most attractive man I've ever worked for, and you're a great kisser.”

He glanced down at her mouth. “Did you like it?”

“Of course I liked it. Couldn't you tell?”

He stared down into his glass. “Well, I won't do it again...if you don't want me to, that is.”

“Look, Malcolm. I might want you to. I might want a lot of things. That doesn't mean we should do them. I'm your nanny. I have a job to do here. It wouldn't work to get involved with you on the side.”

He swirled his wine around his glass. “You're right, of course. That's how I know you're a professional. A professional wouldn't put up with that. It sure was nice while it lasted, though.”

Abbie took a sip of her wine. “Yes, it was.”

He sipped his wine in silence for a moment. “I suppose you have a lot of guys chasing after you. I guess you can have any guy you cast your eye on. You wouldn't want an old geezer like me.”

“You're hardly a geezer, and I don't have a lot of guys chasing me. I don't have time. I'm always locked up in a room with some rich person's kids. I haven't had a boyfriend in five years. You're the first guy I've kissed in three years.”

His mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”

“Sure.”

He clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Now that is what I call a tragedy. A woman like you should have dozens of guys falling at her feet. How do you stand the frustration? Don't you get lonely....and bored?”

“I guess I stand the frustration the same way you do. I bury myself in my work, which only isolates me more. It's a disaster in the making.”

He grinned at her. “You're right. We're both disasters.”

“Now, hold on. I didn't say I was a disaster. I said...”

“I know a disaster when I see one, and a woman like you not having men at her beck and call for five years is what I call a disaster.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“Well, for a start, I'm glad I could break your drought by kissing you. It's an honor and a privilege to serve.” He closed his eyes, raised his glass, and bowed with his hand on his heart.

Abbie laughed. “Stop it. The next thing you'll be telling me is that you would be honored to break my drought by doing it with me, too.”

His eyes snapped open in a hurry, but he didn't smile or joke. “I don't even want to know how long it's been since you did it with anybody.”

“If you don't want to know, I won't tell you.”

He waved his hand. “Okay. Go ahead and tell me.”

“Nine years.”

He winced in pain and clamped his eyes shut. “Now that is a tragedy. You can take it as a big joke, but I would be honored to break that drought. I understand why you wouldn't want to do it with me, though. I understand, and I agree with you. I just wish there was some way to make you happy.”

“I am happy. I'm very happy. I don't miss it....not really.”

He took another sip. “Hmm. Well, there must be some way to rectify the situation. Maybe I could hire someone in for you.”

Abbie screamed out loud. “Hire someone in! Are you out of your mind?”

“I mustbeif I'm talking to you about this. I made a mistake by kissing you just now, but this conversation is definitely unprofessional—a most inappropriate conversation between employer and employee.”

“Having a glass of wine doesn't really qualify as appropriate, either. Where's Trina, anyway? If she overheard us, that would be the end of my authority around here.”

“She's in her room and she won't come out. When she goes in her room in the evening and shuts the door, she doesn't come out again.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Very sure.”

“Then,by all means, carry on with what you were saying. You want to hire someone in to take care of my bodily needs, and....”

“I would be neglecting my duty as your employer if I let this state of affairs continue. I could get reported to the Labor Board.”

“Who did you have in mind?”

“I don't know. Some young stud ought to do the trick. Someone with a lot of tattoos and piercings and whips and chains.”

Abbie guffawed with laughter. “That sounds more like your speed, doesn't it?”

He fixed a piercing gaze on her. “What about you? Do you like it rough?”

She waved her hand, but she couldn't stop her cheeks burning. “Do you know something? It's been so long I can't really remember. Isn't that pathetic?”

He tossed back his head and drained his glass. “There's only one thing to do.” He marched around the counter and stopped in front of her. “I'll have to do it myself.”

Abbie froze. She stared up at him in stunned surprise. “What?”

He took the wine glass out of her hands. She wasn't drinking it anyway. He moved close enough to touch his thighs to her knees. He leaned close, and his wine-scented breath blew in her face. “You're dying for it, aren't you, Abbie? I could tell when I kissed you downstairs. You're on fire. You need it, and so do I. Come on, Abbie. Let me give you what you need.”

She gazed up at him. Her breath caught on her lips. “What are you talking about, Malcolm? We're just joking around here. You know we can't do it. That would be...”

He didn't give her a chance to finish. He swept his arms around her and lifted her off the stool. His mouth devoured her lips. His tongue pushed into her mouth, and his body tensed all down her front to tingle her skin.

His breath burst into her mouth. “Don't talk about how we can't. I want you, and you want me.”

He spun her around to set her feet on the floor. He rested his butt against the stool and put her down between his knees. One big hand slid up her back to her neck. The other slid down to her ass. He squeezed one round cheek while he probed her mouth with his tongue.

Abbie swooned in his embrace. Her whole mindscreamed,We can't!but the rest of her didn't listen. She did want it. That was the problem. She wanted it bad. He drove her mad with those wicked kisses. His rock-hard bulk overpowered her with dominating magnetic attraction. She went without this delirious delight for so long, he burst the dam and sent it cascading over her. She couldn't resist his hands all over her.

Hisfistmanhandling her ass massaged the juices from her slit. Hot blood rushed to her crotch, and her leaves puffed open to drip into her panties. She ached all over for anything he would do to her. How could she survive all these years without this?

His hands appeared everywhere, all over her at once. Now they traveled up her back to cradle her neck. Now they glided around her ribs to tickle her belly. Now they swept up her chest to mangle her breasts to distraction. Now they pried her butt cheeks apart to torture her raw tissues to a sweet inferno.

Abbie moaned out loud into his ravaging mouth. Her flesh raved for his every touch. His heat scorched her to a cinder, but she craved it more than ever. She stared into his burning eyes. Maniac animal lust smoldered there. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. He would never give up until he got her. He had her, and now he would follow his monster craving to its limit.

He heaved her closer between his legs until her twitching mound touched his crotch stretched tight inside his pants. Abbie quailed before that throbbing beast. She knew full well what demon lay imprisoned behind his zipper. One flick of his hand would unleash it on her in all its fury.

He wouldn’t let her cringe from it. He dragged her right and left to scrape that fiery spike across her aching cunt. He raked her most sensitive territory with his wicked tool, and the thingleaptup to maul her. His fists tightened around her clothes, her ass, her tits—anything they could get hold of.

She rocked on her heels. She couldn’t hold herself up, and when he steadied her, he pulled her in tighter so her sweet cleft crushed against that hardened iron rock. A ragged cry broke between their mouths, “Oh, God!”

He snarled up into her face. “Oh, yeah, baby. Yeah, that’s so good. Do you know what you do to me? Do you know how much you make me want you? I don’t know how I ever lived without you before, but I’m gonna do you like you’ve never been done before. Don’t think you can get away from me.”

She whimpered in vain. Her hands came to rest on his shoulders, but she couldn’t push him away. Those granite muscles cut through his shirt. She sensed the molten rabid lava of his craven need through the blood seething in his veins. He was a colossus. He was a beast. He was an animal inheatfor his prey. His teeth closed around her flesh, and he consumed her in two gobbling bites.

In a flash, he spun her around. His lips left a trail of wet slicked across her cheek, but that only fired her desire hotter than ever. He faced her away from him and leaned her back between his spread legs. His hands attacked her with renewed vigor, and he dug his evil knob between her butt cheeks to nag her curvaceous ass.

One hand grabbed her pendulous breast all ready for his attentions. He fondled it through her blouse until the nipple puckered up through her bra to meet his fingers. He tortured her nipple until she mewed in mournful delight.

His other hand slipped up her thigh to discover the soaking crease between her legs. He ground her tight pants seams into her sodden lips. Fresh spurts of delicious juice squirted out to stick her panties to her lips. She couldn’t bear the aching agony any longer. She bore down on that hand and mashed her engorged pussy into his hand.

He planted his lips against her ear and growled into her fevered brain. “So good, baby. That’s so hot and sweet. Is your pussy wet? Does that make you hot? Huh? Do you want that? Oh, yeah, baby, you want it. You want it so hard, don’t you?” And he gave her ass a hard jab with his prick.

Oh, dear God, how she wanted it! She couldn’t say the words out loud. She couldn’t let him reduce her to a slobbering animal like this. She couldn't fall under his spell and submit to those masterful hands.

Those hands dismantled her defenses one by one. They yanked her shirt from her waistband and laid one warm palm along her shivering belly. They glided up her stomach to her bra and found their way inside. Her breasts heaved into his grasp, just like every other part of her. Her very cells ached for his touch.

His other hand burrowed under her waist band to sink into a soggy marsh of fluffy damp tissues and curly hair. One thick finger trailed down her precious slit to the nexus of wetness between her legs. He caught her clitoris in his excruciating journey into her vacuous hole, and she groaned in desperate longing. She couldn't fight it. She pressed her ass against his chiseled manhood and heard the breath catch in his throat.

His finger delved deeper into her soul's dark recesses. He stirred her blessed concoction to shimmering heights and hauled her back against his pelvis. His pulse beat through his distended veins.

He left off stirring her pussy juices to focus on her clit. He slathered her nectar over it until no friction bothered her dizzy exhilaration. He circled it in tight, quick dashes. Every movement extracted a squeak of excitement from her parched throat.

He pinched her nipple between two fingers, and the charge shooting down her body to her cunt sent her rocketing over the precipice into climax. She bucked against his hand and threw her head back against his growling mouth. She sobbed and moaned, even as she rode his hand harder. Her saturated pussy filled his hand with its perfumed elixir.

The moment she finished, he spun her around and planted his cruel mouth on hers. He drank the satisfied sighs before she could give themvoice, but his prick dug in tighter against her crotch. He wasn't finished with her. Not by a mile.

He pulled his hand out of her pants and stuck his fingers in his mouth. His eyes blazed, and he locked his ferocious gaze on her face while he sucked the juice off his hand. He murmured under his breath. “Mmm-mmm.”

She teetered on unsteady legs, but before she could fall, he caught her in both stout arms to kiss her again. She tasted strawberry delight on his lips, and her head swam more than ever. In an instant, heleaptoff the bar stool. Abbie reeled once, and he caught her around the back. He knocked her off her feet and scooped her up in his arms. One bulging bicep hooked under her knees. The other arm strapped around her back.

She cried out in surprise, but the mind-blowing orgasm he just gave her wiped out all thought of resistance. His delicious kiss filled her whole world with nothing but him. She relaxed into his arms and let him move her where he wanted her. He caught her up, off her feet, and carried her out of the room.

She didn't see where they were going until he started climbing the stairs. The lights faded behind them, and carpet muffled his footfalls. She opened her eyes just enough to see him staring at her while he kissed her. The upstairs hall passed her peripheral vision. A door opened, and he shut it with his foot.

Chapter 5

All of a sudden, Malcolm tore his mouth away with a pop. He tossed Abbie out of his arms. She shrieked, but before she could recover, she landed on her back on a big, soft bed. A dark brown satin duvet cushioned her fall, and a bunch of beige and brown throw pillows bounced around her.

She got her hands under her to push herself up. She was in a luxurious bedroom. A king-sized bed occupied one side. Hewn wooden dressers and end tables gave the room a decidedly male atmosphere, and two lamps glowed on either side of the massive wooden headboard.

Far away, set against the tall windows, a large sunken bathtub, wet-floor shower, and glass-block toilet stall completed the suite. Blocking Abbie's view of it all stood Malcolm, towering, volcanic, massive. His powerful shoulders swelled around his muscular arms. His face glowered in tumultuous fury. He loomed large and foreboding over the bed, and his hands flexed in rhythmic tension.

Abbie took in the scene with one glance, but she couldn't escape that mountain of a man standing over her. His chest rippled under his shirt with chiseled muscle. He snatched it out of his waistband and stripped it off in a flash. The shirt landed on the floor, and he menaced her in all his animal might.

He tore off his belt next and tossed it away. Abbie gasped for breath. Her mouth sagged open, and the blood rushed to her cheeks. What was he going to do to her? She didn't have to ask. She was lying on her back on his bed. Her pussy oozed with the honey he milked from her twitching font. Her breasts lay exposed under her shirt where he left them outside her bra.

She understood even before he leaned over the bed togrowlinto her face. “You're mine.”

His hand descended over her. She couldn't resist. She was already his. He caught her around the waistband and heaved her toward him. Her ass scooted along the bed and her hands came uprooted under her. She fell on her back, and her arms tumbled sideways. Her breasts jostled upward and came to rest.

Before she couldpantanother breath, he set to work on her pants with expert fingers. He unfastened the button and unzipped the zipper. He peeled back the sides to bare her soft belly to his ravaging mouth. His face sank into her tender body, and his breath infused her with his heat. That heat traveled down to her excited crotch. Her inner muscles ached and clenched for something solid inside her.

He trailed his tongue through her navel and down, but the next moment, he climbed onto the bed to kneel over her. He tugged her pants around her hips and slid them down her legs. He dragged her panties with them, and the air touched her tortured cunt.

“Yeah, baby,” he murmured.

His hands landed on her knees, and he slipped upward to ease her legs apart. Her pussy cracked open to wink at him, and he dove between her legs to attack her juicy delectable morsel. Abbie seethed and moaned back and forth on the bed, but he pinned her in place with his all-consuming mouth. His tongue lashed her clit, and his fingers spread her wide.

Her legs found their natural position around each side of his head. His short hair tickled her sensitive thighs and made her cry, but that velvet tongue kept circling, circling. His fingers swished and swirled her petals apart and plowed in tight against her box.

Another cataclysmic climax threatened to inundate her. She couldn't do this. She couldn't lie here and let him lick her to another screaming fit of ecstasy. Oh,dearGod! How could she? How could he? How could he finger her and eat her and make herpeaklike this on her first day of work? How could she look at herself in the mirror after this?

Maybe she wouldn't be able to look at herself in the mirror after this, but right now, she couldn't stop it. She kicked her hips against his face....and succumbed. Another blistering orgasm rocketed through her. His fingers plunged inside. That orgasm went on and on and on, never ending. Every beat of his tongue along her spasming clit, every insertion of his fingers along her satin channel, every pinch of his hand around her quivering ass wrung another peak of delight from her already willing flesh.

She had to. She had to do this. If she never worked as a nanny again, she had to give herself to this moment. She had to seize this pleasure with both hands while it lasted. Who knew how many years of living death she would have to suffer before she ever got this again.

His free hand snuck up her side to push her shirt up to her armpits. Her tits flopped free into his hand, and that added to the intoxicating bliss pouring from her skin to melt her into the bed. Malcolm grunted and moaned between her legs. He swam in endless seas of steamy vapor. He rooted his head side to side to spread her essence all overhisface.

Abbie arched her back against his insistent attentions. His hands and mouth and dominating presence drove her out of her mind. Her eyes drifted half-closed. She couldn't see anything but the golden light surrounding her on all sides and the swimming haze of her own climactic completion. Oh, God! That was so good. So, so good.

In the middle of her tempestuouswrithing, he reemerged to rise on his knees between her legs. Her cunt lay spread and waiting for him. He could do what he wanted with her, and no one knew it better than he did. His glowing eyes bowed her to his will.

He hummed under his breath while he unbuttoned her shirt and unhooked her bra. He discarded her clothes along with his own. They no longer concerned him in the slightest. Nothing concerned him but her naked form spread out on his bed.

He lowered himself onto all fours over her. His shoulders formed a solid wall all around her to shelter her from the outside world. His head hovered over her, but he didn't drop down on top of her. She studied him in all his primal passion.

He whispered low. “Is this what you want?”

She raised her hands to circle his neck. She scratched her fingernails along his scalp and wrapped her bare, spattered thighs around his angular hips. His pants still rode low around his hip bones, and the triangle of muscle rising from his dark hair led the way down to the tight package inside his pants.

The words tumbled out of Abbie's mouth with no help from her. Her very heart spoke to him in words she couldn't understand. “I want this. I want you. I want it all. I want everything.”

He moved up and back, up and back, in a slow rhythm, but he made no move to lie down on top of her. He hung suspended in the air above her in all his rock-hard magnificence. “Show me. Show me how much you want it.”

How could she show him? How could she expose her heart to a stranger? Her eyes danced down to his mouth. She reared up to kiss him, but that wasn't enough, nowhere near enough.

She explored his skin with her hands. She cradled his cheeks with both delicate palms, down his neck to his chest. She caressed his huge pecs. Then she understood where she was going and what she had to do. Her fingers crept down his abs to his fly. He was in there. He lay slumbering inside those tight pants, and he wanted her to free him. He wanted her to show him where to go, where she wanted him to go.

She worked the button open. Malcolm loomed over her. His eyes searched her face. She gazed back into their depths. She could only show him how much she wanted him, how much she longed for him.

She got the button open and slid one hand inside. He groaned when her fingers clasped around his pulsating shaft. His eyes rolled back in his head, but the next moment, he snapped them open and glared at her. She choked it off around the base and tugged the loose skin up around the head.

He gritted his teeth, and his lips curled back in a feral snarl. “Is that what you like, baby? Is it hard enough for you?”

She could only nod and move her hand along its length. Her fingers didn't even meet around its heavy girth. Her stomach fluttered in excitement at its sheer size. Man, it was so hard and thick and mean!

She stroked faster, but his pants cut into her wrist so she couldn't move very well. She unzipped him with her other hand, but even that didn't help. She had to take her hand out to scoot his pants down his ass.

His cock sprang out to find her hand. He kicked his pants off, and she beheld his whole naked beauty. She stroked him with all her ardor now. Her other hand cradled his swinging nuts, and he pumped his cock into her hand. Every stroke pushed the skin down to the base to reveal the tight head hidden underneath. Malcolm whined louder. “Fuck, baby, yeah. You like that piece of meat, don't you? Yank that thing, baby. Yank it hard.”

She pulled harder. He gasped for breath every time she glided the skin over that taut mushroom. She gazed up into his grimacing face. His hard visage shone with more beauty than she could ever imagine. She adored him like this, raw and uninhibited. Nothing separated her from him. She held him in her hand. She touched his boiling blood with her bare hands.

“Is that what you want? God damn,Iwant to be inside you so bad right now.”

She tilted the thing downward and slithered it through her glistening lips. She covered it with her slippery juices and plowed its tight head against her clit. She stimulated herself with it until she moaned. “I want you. I want you inside me. Come on. I need you right now.”

“Do you want me to fuck you, baby?” he growled. “Is that what you want? Let me hear you say you want it.”

“I want you to fuck me right now. I want your cock inside me. Oh, come on.”

She pushed him back to wedge his hard-on into her waiting fissure, but he held back. He wouldn't advance no matter what she did. She jerked her hand up and down his shaft to keep him hard. She mixed her frothing pussy with his cock. She moaned out loud and undulated across the bed.

“Let me hear you beg for my cock, baby. Beg me to fuck you. I won't do it if you don't beg.”

Her eyes flew open. Beg? No one ever made her beg for it before. Most guys begged her to let them near her. She never met a man strong enough in himself to hold off until she showed him how much she wanted it.

His overpowering dominance, his smoldering masculinity, thrilled her like nothing else. Burning excitement stabbed her guts. She had to have him. She would do anything to get him. She would grovel if he wanted her to. “Oh, please. Please fuck me.”

“Louder, baby. Let me hear how much you want it. Beg me to nail that sweet pussy of yours. Do you want that cock? Do you want that cock to make you scream? You won't get it if you don't beg for it.”

His urgings drove her into a state of madness. Her mind switched over to some forgotten animal lust she never knew she could experience. Before she knew it, she broke down and begged like a craven slut. “Oh, please. Oh, please. Oh, fuck me. I want it so bad. Give me your cock. I can't live without it. I need you to fuck me so bad.”

“Yeah, baby? Do you need it?”

“Oh, yes. Oh, don't tease me. I can't stand it. You know how much I need it.”

“Like this?” He punched it one inch into her hole and pulled it back out just as fast.

She screeched in wild ecstasy. “Yes! Yes! Like that. Oh, God, please fuck me. Oh, my God, I need it so bad.”

Her cunt ached so bad for it. Her muscles twitched along her swollen channel. Every corpuscle screamed for him, for more of his beating cock.

He angled his hips sideways. He poked it in another inch, brought it out, and in again.

Abbie shrieked and thrashed. She tugged that cock with everything she had until Malcolm roared between gritted teeth, but he still held off. “I'm gonna fuck you, you wicked little beast. I'm gonna nail you so damn hard. Is that what you want? Is that what your sweet little pussy wants?”

She couldn'tbeganymore. She couldn't think. Her own raging desire sent her catapulting into the stratosphere. She orgasmed right there with his cock in her hand and his tight umbrella stuck into her opening.

She clamped her eyes closed so she wouldn't see him moving in on her. She already deteriorated into the most wretched mess imaginable. She couldn't stop her body pulsing with light and ecstatic sensations. One more scrap of stimulation would explode her beyond comprehension, and every glance of his blazing eyes stimulated her more than she could stand.

Her hand kept up its incessant rhythm on his shaft. She lost all awareness of what she was doing until he plowed it in hard against her contracting muscles. Her hand collapsed, and he took up the pace where she left off. He lowered himself into her with gentle spiral corkscrews. He rotated his hips to hit all her spots, but she was too far gone to appreciate it.

He dug his prick into her swollen box, and her muscles clenched around it in a death grip. Her legs surrounded his hips, and her ankles locked behind her back. Every expert thrust of his manhood into her blazing hole rocked her hips up against him to bang her bones against his pelvis.

She howled and screamed in cosmic release. She gushed her sticky elixir over his tool to lubricate it all the way in against her cervix. He withdrew to his limit every time and moved his hips side to side to torture her G spot to new heights.

She couldn't look. She couldn't see anything, anyway. She could only see the inky night outside his windows and the great vacuum of space sucking her down into deeper depths of raging desire.

She welcomed his weight on top of her and hugged him to her heart. He hid his face in her neck and growled low while his hips kept up their monstrous pumping between her legs. His cock jammed to its deepest extreme in her pussy and flooded her being with the most delicious pleasure she ever experienced.

He covered her face with his hands, and his lips nibbled down her neck to the hidden place near her collarbone. Before she knew it, he moved his hands all the way down to her waist and down around her ass. He crushed her cheeks in both big paws and guided her hips against his pounding hammer.

She relaxed into his commanding movements. She was nothing but one sweeping orgasm after another. His fingers massaged her ass. He stirred her in circles to nudge his cock down either side of her chasm and into its bubbling bottom.

All at once, something stabbed her hard against the ass. She started in his arms, but his fingers crept closer around to the dark crevice behind her back. When he slammed his meat into her very core, she collapsed back against that wicked probe. Inch by inch, he eased it into her back door with every pounding beat of his cock.

Abbie braced herself against the intrusion, but once he got it in, it blasted its fiery licks into her being. She sat down hard on it and let the oncoming tidal wave wash her away. He hooked his fingers into her flesh, even as his burning rod destroyed her from the front. His pubic bone smashed her clit to smithereens and sent her spinning away in delirious ecstasy over the next peak.

She rocked in his arms against everything he did to her. Her joints liquefied to rubbery quiescence. She hugged his head into her neck, and his hot breath burned her skin to fresh intoxication. His breath came faster, hotter. Every panting gasp snagged in his throat so he had to moan to get it out. His voice rose in her ear to a crashing roar before his spunk filled her to the brim and overflowed over the bed.

Chapter 6

Abbie woke up alone and sore in Malcolm's bed. Venetian blinds sliced the sun coming throughthewindows. She eased out of bed as best she could and grabbed a shower in Malcolm's posh open bathroom before she headed downstairs.

She didn't bother to go down to the sunken living room when she spotted Trina in the same place on the couch. She made herself a good breakfast, but too many questions bothered her to work on her book.

She studied the pictures covering the walls. Every one of them showed Trina as a little girl. Not one marked her transition into adolescence. In her circuit around the condo, Abbie found a single key lying in the foyer dish. A scribble note next to it read,Storage key. Help yourself.

That gave her an idea. Without going back to the living room, she punched the elevator button and rode downstairs. She found everything exactly the way she and Malcolm left it. She hunted through theboxes,but didn't find anything different than what Malcolm already showed her. Half the boxes contained old notebooks packed cover to cover with Trina's elaborate drawings. Vibrant colors popped out of every page, in crayon, colored pencil, and pen.

Abbie selected a box at random and lugged it upstairs. She set it on the counter and started studying the pages. There must be something in here she could find to unlock Trina's mystery problem. Hours passed. Trina never looked up long enough to notice what Abbie was doing.

Abbie made lunch and left Trina's sandwich on the plate as usual. Malcolm didn't come home for lunch. He never called or anything. Did he regret last night? Was he planning to let Abbie go this morning, now that he had his way with her?

He had his way with her, all right. He had her every which way, all night long. Just when she thought he couldn't get hard again, he rolled her the other way and worked her back to a fevered pitch with his fingers, tongue, and body.

Just thinking about him leaning her hands on the bed and bumping into her from behind gave her butterflies. When would she ever find a man like him again? He never did anything until he made her cum all over herself in screaming delight. Then he took her in the dizzy afterglow of her own orgasm to make her cum again and again. He kept her pussy wet and responsive, and he made her look him in the eye, even when she had to turn around to see him. He never left her in any doubt he was the one who took her there.

She found herself gazing out the window and reliving the night, one position at a time. She even imagined new ones and what she would do and experience if she ever found her way back to that bedroom.

He picked her up in his arms and carried her off to his cave den. He stuck her full of his rock-hard meat until she collapsed in endless pleasure in his arms. His concoction filled her to the brim and foamed from her mouth and cunt and ass to bathe her clean.

She pushed a golden curl out of her face with a dreamy sigh. What a man he was! He was a stud, a master. He owned her, body and soul. He could make her beg and crawl and lick his feet with a crook of his little finger.

She turned back to Trina's notebook. She studied the progression of Trina's artistic development from one year to the next. Every notebook showed some new thought entering her head for the first time to become a shape or a theme winding its way through the whole notebook.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a hand slammed down on the page in front of her. Abbie started out of her reverie to see Trina glaring at her. “What do you think you're doing?”

Abbie floundered out of her confusion. “Your dad said I could look at your old notebooks. He said you don't draw anymore.”

Trina yanked the notebook out of her hands. “You have no right to look at these. Don't let me see you looking at these again. Stay away from me and get out of my life.” She tucked the notebook under her arm, grabbed the plate with her sandwich, and retreated to her room.

Trina didn't come out again for the rest of the day. She didn't notice the box with twenty other notebooks sitting on the floor at Abbie's feet. Abbie sighed. Well, she'd gone and blown it for real this time. Trina would never let her in now. She might never come out of her room for the next six months. Then Malcolm would have no reason to keep Abbie in the condo. He would send her back to Personnel Solutions and get himself a high-priced escort when he wanted someone to mess around with.

She dragged the box back to her room and got another one from the storage level. She stayed in her room for the afternoon. Trina wouldn't see her looking at them there, but when she took out another notebook, Abbie hesitated to look at it at all. She didn’t see anything in this notebook she hadn't already seen in dozens of others.

She tossed the notebook back in the box. She was about to throw herself down on the bed when some writing caught her eye on the back cover. It surprised her. Why? In clear, flowing cursive read the words,Trina, 6thGrade.

No sixth grader ever wrote that neatly. Some adult must have written it. Abbie checked the other notebooks. Each one bore Trina's name and the age at which she drew the pictures, going all the way back to second grade. On every one, the same neat handwriting stood out clear and clean.

Why did that writing startle Abbie so much? Trina's mother must have written it, so what was the big deal? She snatched a notebook out of the box and flipped the pages faster than ever. When she got to the last page, she threw it away and grabbed another. The more pages she turned, the faster she worked. Her heart raced. This must be it.

Page after page showed Trina's artwork. Pictures, patterns, color combinations—everything, but no writing. No writing anywhere, right up to seventh grade.

Abbiepackedup the notebooks and carried them back to the storage area, but her mind wouldn't keep still. This must be the answer. It couldn't be anything else.

The elevator took longer to come back this time. Abbie started to get worried when the door hissed open. She tossed the key in her hand while she waited for the car to take her back upstairs. She couldn't wait to tell Malcolm what she found.

The door slid open and she heard Malcolm's voice somewhere in the condo. The sound thrilled her guts all over again. All of a sudden, she halted in mid-step. Maybe she shouldn't tell Malcolm anything until she had a chance to talk to Trina herself. Trinahidthis secret all these long, hard months. Maybe she wouldn't appreciate Abbie blabbing it to her father right away.

She smiled at him when she walked into the kitchen. Then she frowned. “What are you doing?”

“I'm making dinner. You cooked yesterday, so I came home early to take my turn.”

Abbie stared at him whizzing around the kitchen. He pulled this and that out of the fridge and worked over the stove like a master chef. “You didn't have to do that. I would have cooked. I've been home alone all day with nothing to do while you've been out there conquering the world.”

He grabbed her around the waist and gave her a quick kiss. “I want to, and if I'm going to conquer something, it's going to be you. Now get a bottle of wine out of the cupboard and pour. I'm parched.”

Abbie poured two glasses of wine and handed him his. “You're awfully happy. You must have had a good day.”

“I'm happy because of last night. I couldn't stop thinking about you all day.”

She sipped her wine. “I thought about you, too.”

“I can't wait to do it all again tonight.”

Abbie cringed. “Listen, Malcolm, I don't think we should do it again tonight.”

He froze with his tongs suspended over his frying pan. “Why not? I guess I should have expected this. I'm too old for you. You need someone younger.”

“It's not that. I had a great time last night, and I would like nothing better than to do it again and again, everynight,if I thought I could keep up with you. It's just that I'm working here. I'm supposed to be Trina's nanny. Besides, if we did it again tonight like we did last night, I don't think I would be able to walk tomorrow morning.”

He flashed her a wicked smile. “Then you'd just have to stay in bed. I could come home at lunchtime and kiss your sore places.”

Abbie squirmed on her stool. “I'm sure you would. I'm sure you would make me all squishy and hot all over again, and that would only lead to more of the same thing.”

He came around the counter and took the glass out of her hand. “You bet it would, baby. I can't get enough of you.” He pushed between her knees and lapped up her kisses with his languid lips.

Abbie seethed up into his arms and pressed her breasts against his chest. “You know you drive me crazy. You know you're ten times the man as anyone half your age.”

He shoved his swelling hard-on into her spongy crotch. “If I can be enough of a man for you, that's all I want.”

“I mean it, Malcolm. I don't think we should do it again tonight. It's not good for the job.”

He pulled back. “Maybe you think we shouldn't do it again ever.”

“Actually, we probably shouldn't. It's not that I don't want to. It's just I'm still your employee. You're my boss, and here we are, having dinner together and drinking wine.”

He went back to his work. “I don't care who or what we are. I want you, and I'll take any of you I can get. If you're too sore to do it with me tonight, I'll just have to wait until you're fully rested. Just so you understand, though, I will never give up on trying to do it with you again. I'll never give up on getting you into my bed for good.”

Abbie stared at him. “What do you mean, for good?”

He set his hand on his hip. “Look, darling. I won't lie to you. I'm over the moon for you. I can't get enough of you. I'll never keep my hands off you unless you tell me not to. If I can get you in my bed or in my life, I'll do it. I don't care what it takes. I have to have you. I've lived without you too long. I'm gonna make you mine, and that's all there is to it.”

She smacked her lips. “Cut it out, Malcolm. I'm a nanny. I'm not cut out to be your....what do you call it?”

He raised his eyebrows. “My what?”

“I don't know. Your girlfriend or whatever you're talking about.”

“I'm talking about the whole nine yards, baby. I'm talking about the gold ring and living happily ever after.”

Abbie gasped. “You're crazy.”

“Crazy about you. I'm going crazy thinking I might never have another night like last night. I want you. I want all of you. I want the rest of your life. I want your sweet sighs and your legs around my neck and having dinner with you every night. I want it all.”

Abbie stood up. “I think you better find someone a little better suited to you than I am. You're a billionaire. I'm your servant.”

He fixed her with his glinting eyes. “Then I'll make you my servant. I'll make you bow and call me sir. I'll tie you to the bedpost and take you whenever I want.”

Her eyes widened. “You wouldn't dare!”

“I would dare that and a lot more. Don't tempt me.”

She sank back into her seat. “You're the devil incarnate.”

“I'm the devil, and I'll make you my slave to sin. Now eat your dinner and don't argue with me, or I'll give you the spanking of your life when we get back upstairs.”

Abbie's blood rushed to her cheeks. She couldn't figure out if he was serious or not. He wouldn't really tie her up and spank her, would he? He wouldn't really leave her panting and moist and come back for her on his lunch break to lick her to screaming passion all over again. Would he?

Oh, yes, he would. She could tell by the look in his eye. He was capable of the most wicked sins, and he would make her cum all over his face and gush her cream all over his cock while he did it. He commanded her body, and he knew it.

He dished the meal onto the plates and set Abbie's in front of her. The fragrant steam wafted into her nostrils and made her senses spin. Then she spotted him putting Trina's plate aside, and she remembered.

“I'll go tell Trina dinner's ready.”

“Don't bother. She'll come out later and get it.”

“That's okay. She's been in her room all day, and I have something else to say to her, anyway.”

Abbie walked down to the living room and tapped on Trina's door. She received no answer. Trina must have her headphones in again. Abbie could knock all day, and Trina wouldn't hear. She tapped again and turned the knob.

Trina sat on her bed with her back to the door. Her phone lay on the bed at her side with the earphone wires angled into Trina's head. Abbie walked around the bed to get in front of her when her eye fell on the bed.

A spiral bound notebook rested on the coverlet in front of Trina. A zippered case full of colored pens and pencils sat open to one side. Trina moved a red pencil back and forth over the page to fill it with brilliant color.

In an instant, Abbie recognized Trina's signaturestyle,but developed the next level higher than the art she saw in Trina's old notebooks. In a flash, she understood. Trina never gave up art. She merely kept it hidden from everybody so no one would see what she was doing.

Abbie stared down at the hands moving over the page. She was so stunned, she didn't react fast enough when Trina whipped around to confront her. Trina yanked the earphones out of her ears and shrieked. “What are you doing in here? I told you to stay away from me. How dare you barge into my room without knocking.”

Abbie opened her mouth. The most pathetic mumblings came out. “Trina! You're drawing!”

Trina scooped up the notebook in one hand and hurled it across the room. It slammed into the wall and crumpled to the floor. Trina jumped off the bed. Her voice echoed out the door into the living room. “Get out of here! Get out and leave me alone! I hate you! Don't you ever come near me again! You bitch! You tramp! Youwitch! I'll kill you if I ever see you again.”

Abbie beat it out of that room as fast as she could, and Trina slammed the door in her face.

Chapter 7

Malcolm kissed Abbie by the elevator. “Are you going to be okay?”

Abbie smiled. “I'll be fine, but I think I better take a day off.”

He let her go and pushed the button. “I'll skip the lunch break. Take it easy today. I'll see you for dinner tonight, and don't bother about Trina. She'll come out of it eventually.”

She gave him one last kiss, and he disappeared into the elevator. Abbie sighed and hobbled to her room. She needed to catch up on sleep after a second night with Malcolm. This couldn't go on. He bruised her body with his all-consuming passion. She didn't notice it in the throes of massive orgasm. She only realized how sore and battered her body was when he left her alone.

She stretched out on her bed, but when she closed her eyes and relaxed, the same intoxicating images nagged her mind. A parade of sexual positions made her pussy wet all over again. If he walked into this room right now and prodded her knees apart, she wouldn't be able to resist cumming all over him. He turned her on as much when he wasn't here as when he was.

She started alert when she heard a door open and close in the direction of the living room. She didn't want to get up and go in there. She would much rather lie here and fantasize about last night. Malcolm took her to incredible heights of erotic delight. He screwed her harder than any man she ever met. His enormous cock rattled her very bones. She couldn't help but ride him to heaven and back.

She had to get up, though. She had to finish what she started, even if it didn't work out the way she hoped. She winced when she sat on her swollen, aching tissues. Once she got on her feet, it wasn't so bad. She crept down the hall.

There was Trina, back in her same place on the couch. Abbie paused near the stairs. She pitied Trina. This poor kid got lost in her own world with no one to pull her out of it. She could spend the rest of her life trapped in an internal hell of video games and wordless pictures.

Abbie tiptoed down the stairs, walked over to the couch and sat down next to Trina. Trina jumped to her feet faster than lightning, but Abbie moved faster. She plucked the phone out of Trina's hand, and when Trina darted for her room, the earphones popped out of her ears.

Trina whirled around with her teeth bared. “You give me that back.”

Abbie wound the wires around the phone and closed it in one hand. “Sit down, Trina. I want to talk to you.”

“I will never talk to you,” Trina snarled. “I hate you. You're a fucking bitch whore. Do you think I don't hear you fucking my dad all night long? Don't even think about giving me that fake nanny act. You're nothing but a tramp.”

Abbie colored, but she couldn't let Trina turn the tables on her. Trina kept everyone at arm's length. If Abbie backed down now, Trina would never find a way out of her depression. “Sit down, Trina. We're going to talk.”

“I don't have to talk to you. I'm going to my room.”

Abbie kept her voice calm and low. “If you don't sit down right now, you'll never get this phone back. You can go to your room, but you won't take the phone with you.”

Trina frowned down at her. Then she smacked her lips and threw herself down on the couch. She crossed her arms and glared out the window. “Say whatever you have to say and get it over with.”

Abbie took a deep breath. “You can't read, Trina. You're a brilliant artist, but you can't read or write. I guess you're worried about somebody finding out. That's why you keep so much to yourself. Something went wrong, and you slipped through the cracks. You've been hiding it all this time, and now you're so far behind you can't go to school anymore. Isn't that true?”

Trina went very stiff and still, but she didn't turn around. She stared out the window. Abbie waited with bated breath. “How did you find out?”

“I thought of it while I was looking at your artwork. You drew all those incredible pictures, but there's no writing. I've taken care of a lot of kids in my time. I've seen seven-year-olds writing novels in their art books, along with full-color illustrations. Once a kid learns to read and write, they don't stop. The words andand picturesget all mixed up together, but you don't have that. Your art kept developing, but therewereno words, no letters, no math. That's how I figured it out.”

Trina held her shoulders perfectly still. All of a sudden, she sank into the couch with a tense outrushing of breath. “Does my dad know?”

“I haven't told him. I guess you've kept it secret from your mother and everyone else, too. I didn't want to tell your dad until I talked to you first.”

“If you ever tell him or anybody else, I'll kill you.”

Abbie pursed her lips. “Listen, Trina. You can keep this secret and continue living in your own private nightmare, or you can come clean and learn to read. You don't have to go to school to do that. I can help you here. I can work with you to bring you up to speed so no one ever finds out, but you have to learn to read. You'll never live a decent life if you don't.”

Ever so slowly, Trina turned around to face her. For the first time, Abbie saw a light come on in the girl's face. “I know. I want to. I just don't know how.”

Abbie's heart beat faster. “Do you want me to work with you and teach you? We can do that during the day, and your dad never has to find out.”

Trina's eyes widened. “You would do that? You would keep it a secret from my dad?”

“Of course. I won't tell him if you don't want me to. I only want to help you. Nothing matters as much as that. I know your dad would agree with me. If he knew what we were doing, he would want me to keep your secret. He wants you to be able to trust me, and I'll do anything to make that happen.”

Trina blinked back tears. “No one has ever done anything like that for me.”

Abbie held out the phone. “Whatever you decide to do, it will help you to have one person in the world who knows the truth. When your dad is out of the house, we can work together to get your reading skills up.”

“What about when I go home to my Mom's? What will happen then?”

“If we start right away, you'll be reading by the time you go home. If we work hard, we can make it so no one ever finds out.”

Trina bowed her head and nodded down at the phone in her lap. “Okay. I'll do it. Just don't let my dad find out.”

“Don't worry. You can trust me. Now tell me. How much you do you know? Do you know the alphabet?”

“I know the alphabet. I got stuck trying to figure out how to put all the sounds together to make the words. Myfirst-gradeteacher got frustrated with me, and she had too many other kids to work with to spendanymoretime with me. She told my mom not to worry about it, that I would figure it out in time, but I never did. One year after another passed, and I managed to get everyone focused on my artwork so they never noticed I couldn't read.”

“And did you quit school when you couldn't hide it anymore?”

Trina nodded. “My last teacher wanted me to write a report on an art show in town. I didn't do it, and she said I had to do it as a punishment. She said I couldn't come back to school until I did it. That's when I said I wouldn't go back. My mom never found out the real reason why.”

“I see. Well, let's start with the basics. Let's get some paper and a pencil, and we'll start going over the sounds of the letters.”

Abbie got a notepad and a pencil from her room and settled on the couch next to Trina. Trina still cuddled her phone in her hand. Abbie wrote a big A in pencil. “What's that?”

“A.”

She went through the whole alphabet and even mixed up the letters. Trina got them all right. “That's very good. You're good at this. You're halfway there.”

Trina brightened up. “Really?”

“Sure. It's great you know the alphabet. That's half the battle right there. Now I'm going to point to a letter, and you tell me what sound it makes.” She pointed to the letter B.

“That's a B. That says B-uh.”

“Right. Great.Now,what's this?” Abbie pointed to the letter F.

“F-uh.”

“Terrific. You're doing great. What about this one? This is a hard one.” She pointed to the A.

Trina frowned. “AsaysAye.”

“That's great. I knew you would be good at this. If you can get A, you can get anything.”

Trina looked up at her. “Are you sure that's right? My old teacher said A says Aah.”

“It does, sometimes, but that's nothing you need to worry about. Keep telling me the sounds. What about this?” She pointed to the O.

Trina laughed for the first time. “That's another easy one. That says Ooh.”

Trina's laugh made Abbie laugh, too. “You're too good for me. Since you're so good, let's move on to something more complicated. What's this?”

Abbie wrote TO. Trina scowled down at the page. “I don't know that. That's too hard for me.”

“Think about it. You just told me the sounds of both these letters. What sound does T make?”

“T-uh.”

“And what sound does O make, Miss Smarty-pants?”

Trina's face cracked open in a big grin. “Ooh.”

“Now put them together. Smear them together like you're spreading jam on a piece of toast.”

Trina couldn't stop grinning. “T-uh...Ooh.”

“Faster.”

“T...oe. Toe.”

Abbie burst out laughing. “Very good. That's excellent. It actually says Too, but you didperfectly. You said the sounds together perfectly. You're gonna be a great reader.” She put the notepad on the coffee table.

Trina looked back and forth between the notepad and Abbie. “Is that it? Aren't we gonna keep doing it?”

“That's enough for today. You did very well. If you keep going like that, you'll be reading in no time.”

Trina frowned again. “I want to keep going.”

“You don't want to do too much, too soon. If you want to do something, you can practice in your art book. Try writing the letters and putting the sounds together. That's the best thing you can do.”

Trina hopped off the couch. “Okay. I'll do that.” She picked up the notepad. “Can I take this and copy it?”

“Sure. Let me know if you need help with anything.”

Trina disappeared, and when Abbie peeked through her open bedroom door an hour later, she spotted Trina covering page after page with letters. Her lips moved with her pen.

Chapter 8

Abbie went back to her room, and when she rested her aching limbs on the bed, she fell sound asleep. She woke up in pitch darkness. The condo stood silent and empty all around her. She sat up and listened, but no sound came from outside her room. She poked her head into the hall. No lights shone in the living room.

She crept out to the kitchen and found a plate of dinner in the fridge. Malcolm must have left it there for her. She found two dishes in the dishwasher, one for him and one for Trina, so they both must have already eaten. The clock read eleven-fifty-seven. Dang, she must have been a lot more tired than she realized.

She tiptoed back down the hall to her room, but she paused on the threshold. Was Malcolm upstairs waiting for her? Did he decide to leave her alone for the night? Maybe he wasn't interested in her anymore.

Never mind. She had her work to do with Trina. That's what she really came to this condo to do, and she wouldn't leave Trina alone, now that Abbie uncovered her deep, dark secret. She would see Trina through until she could read well enough to go out on her own.

Mischievous excitement sent Abbie's blood singing. What if Malcolm was upstairs right now? What if he was lying on his bed with a raging hard-on? What if Abbie walked in and climbed on top of him? What if she rode him to glorious rapture all over again? What if he grabbed her by the back of the head and sprayed his seedy mixture up into her?

Her pussy oozed open, and her lips dripped into her panties. She could just steal up there and find out. She eased up the stairs to the upper level and down the hall to his door. Her heart sank when she found the door open. The room was pitch dark and the bed neatly made. No Malcolm, no hard-on, no glorious rapture.

Abbie wandered over to the big windows and watched the city lights for a while. Where was he? Was he out there somewhere right now? Was he dreaming of her the way she dreamed of him?

She turned around and surveyed the bathroom suite. It sure was a nice bathroom. She wouldn't mind enjoying it, just once. Her pussy and ass could use it right about now. She turned on the tub water and checked the temperature. She rested on the bed while she waited for the tub to fill. She left one bedside lamp burning so the bathroom remained in darkness. Only the city lights glistened on the churning water.

Just then, footsteps approached along the hall and Malcolm turned into the bedroom. He smiled at Abbie and the filling bathtub. “I thought I'd find you up here. Taking a midnight soak?”

Abbie nodded. “I need it. Where have you been?”

“I went out for a drive in town.” He sat down next to her. “I took Trina to the airport.”

Abbie gasped. “You what?”

He sat down on the bed next to her. “She told me everything. She told me all about what happened, and how she never learned to read. She went back to her mother's, but she says she's going to tell her mother the truth, too. She's going to work to learn to read so she can get back into school.” He took her hand. “I don't know what you did, but you did it. You got through to her. She thinks you're the greatest thing since sliced bread.”

Abbie hung her head. “I wish she hadn't left. She was doing so well this afternoon.”

“She's ready to go ahead on her own. She's ready to face this and beat it. Her mother and I will work with her and get her back into school.” His voice cracked. “She's happier than I've seen her in years. You did it. You gave me my little girl back.”

She put out her arms to fold him in a tight embrace. “I was only doing my job. She deserves so much better than to sit on the couch playing games all day, but if she's gone home to her mother's, you don't need me anymore. I don't have to work here as your nanny anymore.”

“You won't be Trina's nanny anymore, but I need you more than ever, Abbie.” He kissed her hand. “Don't you see? Now that you're not working for me, there's nothing to stop us being together for real. You can stay here with me. You don't ever have to leave. You can stay in this room and make your home here—with me.”

Abbie caught her breath. “Are you serious? You really want me to stay?”

“I never wanted anything more in my life.” He touched a tear from the corner of his eye. “I thought you came here just for me. I thought you came here as an answer to my prayers. I didn't know you came here to save Trina, too. You must be some kind of angel from heaven.”

She met his lips in a passionate kiss. His hands grasped around her back, and he pulled her toward him on the bed. Her swollen genitals raked the duvet and excited her topantingquivering wetness.

His tongue unfurled in her mouth, and their lips smacked in luscious infatuation. Abbie couldn't stop herself from responding. Her cunt ached, and her body buzzed in delicious lust. His hand fell on her knee and probed up her thighs to her tortured slit. She bucked against his hand, and her pussy leaked into her pants.

He purred into her mouth. “How about a bath?”

She moaned in deep delight, and he went to work undressing her. He slid her shirt over her shoulders and her pants down to her ankles. He held them open while she stepped out. He stroked up and down her ivory thighs and nuzzled his face into her saturated panties. Her legs creaked open withan agonizinggroan.

He came back up to worship her glorious tits. He left them cradled in her lacy yellow bra and heaved their hefty handfuls in his big paws. His heat melted her resistance. She surged into his hands and moaned in delight.

He left her bra and panties on and led her by the hand to the waiting tub. He turned off the water and checked the temperature. He stood back and undressed while she panted in breathless anticipation. His naked bulk towered over her, and his prick stuck straight out to discover her.

He stepped down into the tub, and thejetsroiled the water around his legs. He splashed the steamy water on his thighs, and it evaporated on his blistering shaft. His chest bulged with muscle, and his piercing gaze set Abbie's blood on fire. He took her hand and drew her to the water's edge. His head came up to her chest. He nuzzled in close to kiss her, and she mewed in sweet desire. Her whole body quaked in open hunger for him.

He slipped his hands down her ass to glide her panties down, and he unhooked her bra to free her tits from their confines. He pulled her down into the water with him, and she sank onto his lap in the swirling brew. The water lapped around her breasts and stung her fragile cunt. All those sensations stirred her to fresh devouring hunger for him, for everything this new life could offer her.

His arms closed around her, and he positioned her over his hips. Her legs circled his hips, and his prick slipped between her engorged lips. She moaned against his mouth. Her breasts floated on the water to bump his granite chest.

He swayed her back and forth through the rumbling water. His lips sparked her drunken desires, and the water washed her away into dreamy mists of contentment and fulfillment. He lowered his face into the water to nibble her nipples to burning torment. He cupped her ass to rock her hips against his wicked jackhammer. His fingers slithered around behind to distract her darkest hole.

That most forbiddenecstasyblasted her apart into tempests of primal orgasm. She crushed her clit against his manhood. Her head lolled back, and her loud screams of climactic release broke free. She didn't have to worry about Trina or anybody else hearing her. Her voice echoed against the ceiling and out to sea.

He called out over the noise, “Come on, baby. That's it. Let me hear you cum. God, you are so fucking hot. Come on, baby. I'm gonna fuck you so damn hard.”

She never had a chance to come down from that peak before he caught her in his commanding grip. He floated her around and sat her down on his lap facing away from him. She seethed insighingdelirium. He closed his arms around her stomach and took control of her hips. Hisroddug between her legs and jabbed her opening.

He didn't enter her, though. He cupped one hand around her pussy and lifted her on the water's bubbling current. His finger's dove between herlegs,and one fat finger came up inside her quivering box. Abbie whined in blessed pleasure, but he didn't stop there. He pumped his fingers deep into her hole until she copied his rhythm. She humped his hand to bring herself back to fainting bliss.

His cock stabbed her clit, and her destruction reached its peak. She grabbed his meaty forearm for support. The waves tossed her sideways and back and forth. They never let her come down until, all at once, he lifted her higher with his hand underneath her and sat her down hard on his upthrusting spike.

She froze in tense confusion, but he knew exactly what he was doing. He drove his iron tool into her ass, even as his fingers titillated her to the most profound climaxes of her life. He buried his rod in her tightest hole and pumped her full of his smoking meat.

She supported her heavy head with one hand. How could she stand this? How could he do this to her? How could he split her apart like this and keep her suspended in the heavens with his insistent fingering at the same time?

She sensed the tight intrusion, but her mind wouldn't register pain or discomfort. His fingers inside her, his powerful palm against her clit, his hips slapping against her rounded ass to splash the water out of the tub—all those sensations mingled with the impossible tightness to create the perfect storm of erotic cataclysm and explosive ecstasy. He filled her so full nothing remained but to ride him.

He jostled her up and back against his tormenting piston. Her tits flapped in the boiling water until he caught one and nagged the nipple alert. “Does that turn you on? Is that dirty the way you like it?”

“Oh, God! Oh, sweet Jesus! Oh, my God, that is so tight. Oh, don’t! Oh! I can’t. Oh, please.”

“Beg for it, baby. Beg like you want it.”

Her head teetered on her neck. She couldn’t think. She could feel nothing but him filling her to the very limit. She couldn’t stand it, but she couldn’t get away. She wanted nothing but to collapse into his hands, to take his plunging cock inside her and never let it go.

His fingers clamped down hard on her nipple. A spasm of pain scorched down her belly to his other hand bumping her aching box. The water swallowed her gushing squirts of blissful rapture, but the sugar syrup soothed his passage into her deepest caverns. He crushed her in his monstrous grip, and his cum foamed into her welcoming receptacle.

He hugged her tight against his chest, but his rocking penetrations against her ass dangled her on the most intoxicating waves she ever knew. She embraced him with her muscles to hold him there just a little longer. She heaved and moaned in his arms. She would never let him go.

His lips grazed her neck andlitthe rising fire. She rotated her hips to catch him and excite him to fresh gusts of volcanic passion. His teeth sank into her skin, and they galloped away into the velvet dawn rising to take them home.

THE END

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BILLIONAIRE PLAYBOY’S PLAYTHING

Chapter One – Maya

There aren’t many things that get cleaner with history. That’s what I’m telling myself when I walk into the offices ofStorm and Associates.It’s one of the oldest consulting firms in town, upwards of 200 years, or so the legend goes. But it’s spotless. Every surface is either white or silver. Everything gleams. There are few hard edges because everything is space-aged and sleek. Even the chairs have unexpected curves. They look more like lozenges.

Nope. The march of time hasn’t put one spot of grime on this place. Now, the same cannot be said for its owner, Conrad Storm. He’s got a reputation as a billionaire playboy that makes Bruce Wayne look like a shy, fumbling teenager. Conrad Storm, or so the legend goes, is richer than God, the most gorgeous of God’s creations,doesnot believe inGod,and has a bottomless appetite for women.

A dirty man in this clean place, in other words.

So why, oh why, did I get invited to apply for a job here? I’m hot and I know it, but there’s hot and there’s otherworldly. Like, say, the woman working the reception desk. Blond. Maybe eight feet tall, which I can tell even though she’s sitting down. Legginess is a state of mind as well as a measurement. She looks like she stepped out of a magazine, airbrushed, but here she is, in person. She’s sizing me up. It’s what we do. But she knows she’s got me beat on this one.It’s no surpriseat all to see that her name is Zima. It was always going to be something like that.

“Can I help you?” she says in the bored, slightly wary tone of voice that makes me feel like I wandered in wearing a garbage bag and pushing a shopping cart.

“Yes, I have an appointment for—”

“Send her up please, Zima.”

Hmm. The voice that filters into the room isn’t like the usual robotic voices you hear on the phone menus when you call to pay an overdue bill. It seems to come from everywhere. It’s warm, unmistakably male, and commanding. Zima, a couple of women sitting on the lozenges in the waiting room, and I all sit up a little straighter and start fiddling with our hair. It occurs to me that these other women might be here to fight for what I’m already thinking of asmyjob. Even though I have no idea what the job is. I was at home a week ago when my phone buzzed. A text. “We are interested in interviewing you for a position at Storm andThorston.” It listed an address and a time. That was it.

“Right away, Conrad,” says Zima to the ceiling. Or maybe she’s looking up at Heaven. Conrad’s rich enough that he may be a majority owner in Heaven at this point.

Zima glares at me. She jerks her head at the elevator door that is suddenly opening in the wall. She jerks her head with such venom and force that her hair whips around and covers her face. Feeling a satisfaction that I haven’t done anything to earn, I walk to the elevator, enjoying the fact that everyone is watching me get on so I can…well, what exactly, I don’t know.

The elevator doors close behind me. Well, this is weird as hell. There aren’t any buttons in here. Maybe this was a huge joke and will be my version of being buried alive. I’ll never get out of this elevator and those women in the lobby will get my job and Zima will laugh and laugh. I’ve got to keep it together. He’s probably watching. With that thought, I use the reflective surfaces of the silver walls to do one last mirror check. I chose a gray dress with sharp lapels and a small red sweater on top. My black hair is cut into a modern bob that always delights my hairdresser. He says I’m his favorite and it might even be true. I’ve got a subtle but commanding shade of red lipstick on and the whole package is nicely offset by my pale skin. This is probably the best I’ve ever looked. I know everyone says that when they’re 25, and it’s usually true, but it’s really true today.

Anyway, if I don’t get the job, at least I know it’s not because I dressed wrong.

The elevator is moving. That means someone is controlling it. That someone is probably Conrad. This means that he gets to choose where I get off. And that unfortunate phrase,“get off,” reminds me of the latest bit of Conrad press that hit the Internet. He had gotten pulled over for speeding. The details as to what happened next are unclear, but what was happening two minutes later is as clear as it gets. The cop was a woman named Cindy. Conrad tempted her into his car and they started making out where he was parked on the shoulder. They were there for so long thatanothercop car pulled over to see if a fellow officer was in danger. That poor—albeit satisfied—woman is now under investigation by her own department. “Why didn’t you show some self-control?” they keep asking her in interviews. And every time, she smiles and says, “You’d have to be there.”

She doesn’t seem sorry in the slightest, even after she lost her job for her refusal to admit she acted unprofessionally. Whatever he said to her, whatever he did to her…it was all worth it to her. She also seems totally crazy, which has kept everyone glued to the TV when she’s going to be on.

Conrad’s response was simple. “It was part of an experiment.”

That’s when the elevator doors open silently. I’m looking out onto an expanse of white carpet so vast that I feel like I might go snowblind. The office is so big it feels like a joke. Way down there at the end of the enormous office is a desk. Sitting behind the desk is a man in a dark gray suit.

I don’t have the best eyesight in the world, but even from this distance, I can tell two things.

One: he’s as gorgeous in person as he is on camera.

And two: he’s grinning like I just stepped into a trap.

“Come in,” he says, and it doesn’t feel like I have a choice. I ponder, for exactly two seconds, how I might stay in the elevator and get out of here, but there still aren’t any buttons. Anyway, I can’t let him see how nervous I am.

As if I own this building, this firm, the world, and everything in between, I walk towards him with my shoulders back.You don’t scare me.I try to make it obvious in every step. But as he grins wider and wider, it’s obvious that he knows exactly what effect he’s having on me.

Chapter Two - Conrad

She’s trying to play it cool. They always do. I love that she thinks this is a once in a lifetimeopportunitybut has no idea what the opportunity is. With every step she takes, she’s getting more excited, more nervous, and more curious. Nothing shows you what people are like quite like a pressure test. Here she is. In front of my desk. She’s folding her arms across her chest and trying to look like she doesn’t have time to mess around with me.

“Have a seat,” I say.

She looks around. The only other chair in here is over by the wall. Is she going to go get it?It took the custodians a while to empty this room out for the interviews. It’s already worth it.

“I’ll stand,” she says with a smirk. Maybe she thinks she knows what I’m up to. Maybe she’s right, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

“You probably know why you’re here,” I say.

“I’m here about the job.” She can’t figure out where to look. Her eyes dart from eye left eye to my right eye, down to my mouth, and then starts over.

“Which job is that?” I say, leaning back in my chair, stretching out my legs, and crossing my ankles.

“The, uh—”

“Hey, isn’t that the dress you were wearing when you won nationals?” I say. This is how you learn who people are. You shove them out of their comfort zone and pay attention to how they react before they can put on whatever mask feels appropriate. She’s better than most, I’ll give her that. Cooler. Her eyebrows shoot up for a second, but then she finds the mask. She’s calm. Tranquil. She’s seen it all.

As if.

“Yes,” she says. And there’s the tell. Her voice has changed. There is still uncertainty in it, no matter how serene and unruffled her face looks. “How did you know?”

“I see a lot,” I say. “I like games.”

“You don’t say,” she says, looking at the chair against the wall. “I never would have guessed.”

“I do. You want to know the secret to success?” I watch her look around the office. She wants to know how I got all of this. She just won’t admit it. “It’s that you treat it all like a game. Or like an experiment.”

“All of what?”

“Life. Everything. All of it. You play to win. You play to have fun. You learn the rules so you can break them when it suits you. You smile. That’s it.”

She smirks. She knows what she’s working with, but she doesn’t have any idea just how good she looks. I can tell she’s never been with a real man. Not like me. “You should write a self-help book,” she says. “A thousand ways to be annoying.”

I laugh. I’ve never been talked to like that in here. It’s intoxicating even though she’s horrified. She literally claps her hands over her mouth as if she can’t believe the words that just popped out of her. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry!” she says. “I’ll go. Give the job to someone who’s not insane.” She turns to walk away.

“I like insane,” I say, getting to my feet. I fetch the chair for her and carry it over to my desk. “Have a seat.”

She sits. Still blushing.

“So, you probably want to know how I found you,” I say.

“That would be nice. But I assumed that you had someone hack into the phone system and send a massive storm of texts to everyone who fit your profile. I can’t imagine you had time to sit around watching all my videos, just to see if I’d ever mention my address.”

“What makes you think I wouldn’t do the hack myself?” Not that I could. I’m good at what I do, but I doubt I could even learn basic HTML. She’s closer than she knows on the videos, though. “And what profile do you think you would fit?”

“Well,” she says, looking at the ceiling for a moment. I can see the wheels turning. She’s going into debate mode. This is why she’s here. “Given the appearance of the women in your lobby, not to mention Zippy or Lima or whatever her name is behind the desk, you like them young, physically attractive, and, if I’m any indication, ambitious. You also put stock in risk takers. Not everyone would respond to an advertisement as cryptic as your text message, but I’m guessing that you knew that, and I’m guessing that the majority of the people you sent it to didrespondbecause you knew they would. You don’t ask questions you don’t know the answer to, at least not often, and you don’t invite people to visit you who will say no. Even with that lunatic cop on TV. And because you said you like games, you need other people to play with, and those need to be people who will accept your version of therulessince you will undoubtedly be in the position of power. On the surface, at least.”

She’s good. She knows it. And that’s good for both of us. This is going to be fun.

“You’re hired,” I say. I reach into my desk and pull out an ancient bottle of whiskey with two glasses. One inch for her, two for me.

“Really?” She laces her fingers together and her eyebrows shoot through the roof.

“Really. To us,” I say. We clink our glasses together.

I tell her that she’s going to start on Monday. I tell her when and where. She writes it all down. It never occurs to her to ask what the job actually is, which suits me fine.

The job was never the point.

The game. Always the game.

“This will be a good experiment,” I say. She frowns, wondering why that sounds familiar to her.

Chapter Three - Maya

When I step out of the elevator I’m thrilled to see the women packing their things and heading for the door. Zima is glaring at me like she wants to scalp me. Word travels fast here, and the thought thrills me.They all know it’s me. I got it. How did he tell them? Was it the robot voice saying “It’s over, all of you get out!”

I walk over to Zima and tell her to put me on the books for Monday. Looking like she’s chewing on lemons, she types something into her computer and tries to act as if the world bores you when you are Zima, goddess of the reception desk. As I turn to leave she says, “Hope you last longer than the last one. Or not.”

What the hell did that mean? As if I’m going to ask her.

“I’m sure I’ll do fine. Hey, are you going to be my receptionist as well?”

Zima ignores me with a storm of keystrokes. I show myself out and text my best friend, Angela, who, just as I knew she would, insists that we meet immediately for drinks and gossip. Ten minutes later I sit down at a café down the street and wait for her. After telling the waiter that I’ll be ordering soon, I Google Conrad to see if there are any updates about him and the cop.

Nope. Just more of the same.

“Oh my God I was going to ask you about that!” says Angela, who has just appeared and has apparently been looking over my shoulder. She pulls back her chair and sits. “What did he say about it?”

“Angela. It was a job interview, not a chat. Why would he bring that up?”

“I assumed you would bring it up. I assumed you would want to know.”

“Again, how many job interviews have you had where you walked in and started asking questions about the gorgeous man who was interviewing you?”

“Now you’re talking,” she says. “So he’s gorgeous? I knew it.” Ofcourse,she knew it. We all know it. We’ve all seen his picture. I wonder how many of his pictures are serving as screen savers this very minute.

“Yes. But the pictures don’t do it justice. He’s got a…” I picture him in that office, his gray suit contrasting with the white carpet. His dark tie contrasting with his light blue eyes. The dark stubble on his jaw contrasting with his blond hair. “…a presence. Yeah. That’s it.”

“So what did he ask you? Did he flirt? Did he ask you to join a harem?”

“You know, there wasn’t really any of that. I wound up…I guess I wound up describing what I thought was his ideal type of woman.”

“Whoa! How did that happen?”

That’s when it hits me. I’m not sure how it happened. Worse, I still have no idea what I agreed to. “Oh shit,” I say. “Angela. He hired me and I didn’t even ask what the job was.”

The waiter appears.“She wants two mimosas,” said Angela. “She works for Conrad Storm now and it’s taking a terrible toll on her.”

The waiter is impressed. “Wow. What are you going to be doing for him?” He wiggles his eyebrowssalaciouslyas if I just got back from the casting couch. Oh hell, for all I know, that’s what I did. Who the hell takes a job without the faintest idea of what it is?Yourstruly. Not only that, I don’t know what the salary is.

“She’s going to be his executive assistant,” says Angela. “It’s got to be something like that, right? I just know it.” Glad someone knows what’s going on with my life. But she’s probably right. The waiter leaves and I tell Angela that he knew about my dress. That he had seen it on me before in my debate video.

“Oh my God! I bet he’s some insane stalker! But why was he watching your debate video?”

I’m proud to say that a lot of people watch that video. It gets taught in classes. That video led to hundreds more.  I really nailed that one, but you’ve got to be careful when you show people what you’re good at.Otherwise,they want more. “I’m not sure,” I say. “But he said he likes…”

Games. He said he liked games. My debate had been about various experiments involving game theory, and how they could be used to exploit others. My point had been that game theory gets misused when people are pursuing romantic relationships. My opponent had said that not every interaction has an incentive. I had disagreed and mopped the floor with him. Was that what Conrad wanted from me?Someoneto butt heads with? That video made such a splash that I released a follow up on Youtube, where I talked about how one of my relationships had gone wrong. It got shared. A lot. So did the others. A lot. It didn’t pay much, but it was crazy how people--mostly women--were suddenly listening to what I had to say.

“Likes what? I bet he’s going to like everything about you. Do you think you’ll have to, like pick up his dry cleaning for him? Do you think you’ll get to see his house?”

“I don’t know, Angela. I don’t know anything.”

Icarryher questions for another 30 minutes before I head home. When I get to my apartment building, the elevator’s broken. I bet the elevator at Conrad’s office never breaks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a teleporter on site. He could step into it and appear anywhere he wanted. He could be in my bedroom right now, waiting for me. Mmm. There’s a moment when I open my bedroom door that I almost convince myself that he’s in there. But no. It’s just my four walls, my bed—unused for too long for anything but sleep—and a stack of books on a night table. The drinks are kicking in and I’m tired. I fling myself down on the bed, expecting to fall asleep quickly, just short nap. But then I start to dream, and the feeling of Conrad’s hands makes me squirm. I get myself off. It’s been a while. Hmm...what would it be like to have his weight on me, pushing me down into the soft white carpet? What would his back feel like if I was lucky enough to get my handsunderthat shirt? What would he sound like when he slipped himself between my legs and we started to move together?

After, I take a shower. This weekend is my last chance to back out. Am I getting myself into something crazy? No, no, not at all. He’s just a guy with a lot of money. Sex? No. Of course, that won’t happen. I’m not forsaleand he certainly wouldn’t have to pay anyone for sex.

I just want to see what he’s like. I want to see what he means when he talks about games. So I’m not a billionaire, okay, but I know how to play.

And I’m not going to be a pieceonanyone’s chess board.

Chapter Four - Conrad

“You’re late,” I tell her on Monday morning when she walks into the lobby. Seriously, this intercom is one of the best things in my life. Maya and Zima look up when my voice comes through the speakers. I never get sick of seeing the surprise, the masked delight. But I don’t like the look Zima is giving her. It may be time for her to move on. We’ve had a lot of disagreements over the years and have been through a lot together. We’ll see.

Maya is shaking her head. She points her finger at the ceiling, at whatever camera she imagines I’m watching from. She taps her watch and shakes it at me. I know damned well that she’s 15 minutes early. But this is where you learn. In the reaction. Zima’s clenched jaw and inability to relax, combined with her insistence on looking rapturously at me whenever I’m around—there’s no challenge there. Even when she acts miffed she’s too eager to please. Uncertainty is whatgiveslife its exhilarations. There’s no uncertainty there. Not like with Maya, who has now marched over to the wall and is waiting for the elevator to open.

“I’ll bring you up in a few minutes,” I say. “You’re fifteen minutes early. I can’t just drop everything because you’re here.” I turn off the video feed and lean back in my chair. It’s more fun to imagine their reaction, sightunseenthan to watch it. But I’m not feeling as good as I’d hoped. I can do the devil may care thing all day, but the truth is that I care deeply about some things. You don’t get to be a billionaire by not caring.

“Okay, come on up,” I say, turning the videofeedbackon. The elevator slides open and Maya steps in. 10 seconds later she’s stepping into my office, prepared to be defiant. But that fallsfromher face when she sees the new arrangement. I brought in a big desk that we’ll work at. There are two black couches. Who knows what will happen on those? The possibilities are endless.

“Redecorating?” she says, looking at the art that now hangs on the walls.

“When you were here before I was having the walls treated,” he said. “Had to take the paintings down. They’repricey.”

“Oh, I bet. What were you doing to the walls?”

I grin.“Sound proofing them. If these walls could talk, you know. That sort of thing.”Apparently,she doesn’t find this roguish or charming. She justlooksannoyed with me. It’slike adrug. She’s trying so hard to show me that she can take this or leave it, but she’s dying to know what’s going on. Soon enough, Maya, soon enough.

“What exactly do you consult for?” she says. Another unexpected turn.

“Huh?”

“You’re a consulting firm. You and your associates, although it looks like it’s just you up here. What do people want to know from you?”

“Oh. They want to know how to do what I do. I pretend they can, but while teaching them that they can’t, they make more money than before, so they leave happy.”

She takes off her purse and sets it on the floor.“Am I working for you, or the associates also?”

“After a manner of speaking. I don’t know how to say this, but…well, there really aren’t any associates. In myposition,I’ve had to make certain legal moves to protect myself.”

“From what? International assassins?”

“You might be surprised. But no. I have plenty of enemies here. Plenty of things to protectmefrom right here at home. Including protecting me from myself, as it happens. And that’s where you come in, assuming you still need the job.”

“I never said I needed it. But I’m here. The first thing I have to say is that I’m no intern and I’m not going to be some bullshit assistant fetching coffee for you.”

“No. That’s Zima’s job. But I hired you to be an assistant, so that’s what you will do. You will assist me.” Before she can say anything else I gesture to one of the couches. “Please sit. We need to have a talk before we go any further.”

Her eyes dart to the couch.“I’m--”

“If I was trying to seduce I would take you somewhere else,” I said. “Just sit. Quit worrying.”

“I’m not wor--”

“Yes,you are. You don’t have the hold on your body language that you think you do, but that’s something I’ll be able to help you with. If you like.”

For an answer, she sits. “Okay,” she says. “What are we doing?”

“I’m in an odd position,” I say. “I’m a bit of a scientist and I’ve hit the wall with a new experiment. It’s something I need help with, and I think that you are in a unique position to help me learn some things.”

“About?”

“About myself. The world. Life. I’m not joking and I’m not understating how important this is to me. I think I’m in a position to bring about something that matters.”

Is it possible that she doesn’t know how good she looks? My God, the way she fills out that dress. I can tell she tried to downplay it. To look understated and professional. Suddenly it feels like I made a huge mistake saying that I had no intentions of seducing her here on this couch. But that might not be the only mistake I’m making.  I’m nervous. I want this to work. One way or another, I’ve got to prove myself wrong. Or right. I can admit that I want her, I just can’t show it to her yet, and I can’t let it get in the way of my goals.

“First I need you to answer a question for me,” she says.

“Sure.”

“Zima said that she hopes I last longer than the girl before me. What did she mean?”

Oh brother. “The assistant I had before you didn’t care about a damn thing I wanted to do. All she wanted to do was fuck me. That’s as honest as I can be about it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you’ve done your research on me. There aren’t many things I enjoy more than a willing woman, but she couldn’t focus on anything else. That sounds like the sort of problem any guy would love to have, but I actually have shit to do. Believe it or not, you’re here to keep me from getting distracted. Zima’s protective, that’s all. She wants what’s best for me.”

She bites her lip and raises one eyebrow. I obviously made the wrong choice. She’s distracting as hell.

“So here’s what I want to do,” I say.

Chapter Five - Maya

I couldn’t have been more surprised if he’d said he wanted to become a balletdancer.

“A book?” I say. “What do you mean a book?”

“You know. It’s a rectangle made of paper, usually. There are words in it. You read them.”

“No, I know what a book is, but what does that have to do with me? Are you looking for a ghostwriter?” Of all the things I might have guessed at, this was far down the list. I’m not sure why it surprises me, though. Everyone with money is always looking for more, and a book that promises other people they can also be billionaires is a new income stream, especially when you can just throw money at a writer. “Because that’s not really what I do.”

“Are you kidding? You think I would let someone else write for me? I’ve got some self-respect, Maya, believe it or not. I have ideas. If they don’t come out in exactly the way I mean for them to come out, they’re not my ideasanymore. No one gets to think for me. But you might be able to think with me in a way that helps.”

I’m not ready to believe that this is a man of unsounded depths. Maybe this is all part of the game. You know, like a higher stakes version of “You’re fifteen minutes late even though you’re actually fifteen minutes early.” But I’d be lying if I said this isn’t getting a lot more interesting.

“So am I going to be a research assistant? A proofreader? What do you actually want me to do?”

He stops pacing and sits on the couch next to me. I can’t help but think about what his weight would feel like, pressing me down into the cushions. “I want you to argue with me,” he says. “I want to see how I might be wrong about my ideas. You wrecked that guy in your debate and that’s what I need. See if you can take my arguments apart and I’ll write accordingly. If you can show me that I’m wrong, then there doesn’t need to be a book. There just needs to be more thinking on my part. And I’ll tell youthisif I’m right about you, and I am, then you and I are going to reach a very interesting conclusion together.”

He looks at me and holds my gaze. I’m determined not to look away first, but I can’t help it. In this moment there’s no posturing or bravado. He cares about…something. “What’s the book about?” I say, wondering what could make him this passionate.

“It’s about love and trust,” he says. “And don’t you laugh.Do you wantto know why the other girl didn’t last? I wasn’t lying when I said all she wanted to do was fuck, but she wasn’t able to think at all. I’d start talking through ideas with her and her eyes would just glaze over. Have you ever heard about playing down to the competition?”

“Yes.”

“I wasn’t quite there with her, but she certainly didn’t keep me sharp or challenge me.”

Am I supposed to be his competitor?

He leans forward and puts a hand on my knee. Oh shit, here we go. But he doesn’t seem to know he has done it, and it doesn’t seem apushygesture. He’s just connecting. Connecting his hand to my leg. “You’ll able to compete with me.”

I swallow hard. I want to grab his hand and put it between my legs. Nothing like turning yourself into an instant cliché, right? “What’s the other thing?” I say. “You said you need something else.”

Conrad blinks. Then the awareness returns.“Oh shit. Right. Look, I’mgoingto be honest with you about consulting. I can’t say too much, but I’ve made my name and my fortune as a personality expert. Types and archetypes. I’ve devised a system that has allowed me to work on everything from dating websites to counter-terrorism. I know people and I know how to match them with each other, or turn them into enemies.”

He gets to his feet and looks out the window. It seems like I should do the same so I go and stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Well, it’s more like head to shoulder. I can’t believe how tall he is. They say that tall men earn something like an extra $10,000 per year per inch of height. Conrad, with his bank account, projects like he’s about 20 feet tall. I want to look up at him but I’ve got to keep my cool.

“I think your videos demonstrate that you have an innate understanding of human nature,” he says. “And I think that will make you invaluable to the experiment. And that’s what the book will be about, ultimately. The success of the experiment. But I don’t know if this is the best place for us to start. Any chance that we can get out of here and talk over some food?”

I remember him saying that if he wanted to seduce me he would take me somewhere else. But this doesn’t feel like that. “Do I need to bring anything?” I say.

“Just your brain.”

Even if she can’t admit it, that’s one of the things that every woman wants to hear.

“And something to take notes with.”

Okay. Nice and practical. Nothing wrong with that.

“And don’t change a thing about how you look right now. It’s really working for you.” He winks. “And for me.” Now we’re back in familiar territory as far as the dance between powerful, irresistible men, and the women who try to keep them at arm’s length. But who am I kidding? It’s been less than five minutes since I wanted to put his hands up my dress. He can flatter my mind all he wants, I’m smart and I’ve earned it. I’ve still got a body though, and right now it wants to do all sorts of things to him.

I spare him this internalmonologand roll my eyes. But can I tell you that when he and I step out of the elevator together, the look on Zima’s face is something I wish I could put in a bottle? She was practically vibrating with hatred.

“If you have clients,” she says, “Should I tell them you’ll be back?”

“It’s hard to say, Zima,” he says. “That’s all going to depend on how Maya responds to our date.”

There’s a town car waiting for us outside. A date? Is that what I heard? Remember, I tell myself, this is the man who says he treats life like a game. What better con could there be than for him to tell me he wants to write about love? Especially if he’s going to use me for research. Maybe his plan is to turn me into the cautionary tale.

Let him try. I’m ready for him.

Chapter Six - Conrad

We don’t talk on the drive to the restaurant. There are days when I want to throw my phone into a puddle and walk away. Honestly, there have been days when I do that very thing. But one of the problems with being rich is that you can’t say that you can’t afford a new…anything.

I can tell that Maya wants to ask questions. I’d probably answer them. She obviously doesn’t know what to make of me, and that makes two of us. Well, that’s not true. I’m the one who knows our personality types. But I’ve gotten so restless. There’s just no sport in anything. And I want to feel something real. It doesn’t make sense to me yet, but there was a hint of it when I saw Maya on the video. Some ancient, animal part of me that wasn’t sexual sat up, took notice and said,Jesus. Who is that?It makes me feel, if not vulnerable, then as close to it as I can come. She is uncertainty. But enough of that for now. I know her potential. It’s up to her to show me she can deliver on it.

My driver Mike--who also doubles as my helicopter pilot at times--lets us out at the best restaurant in town. I know because I own it. I own it because I wanted something within close driving distance to my office. I wanted something within close driving distance to my office so I could bring clients here. I bring clients here because of the exact look on Maya’s face right now.

“Arturo’s?” she says.

“Yes.” I know what she’s thinking. Arturo’s is infamous for being so obscenely expensive that no one can eat there and for not taking reservations. You can look like a vagrant or like me, but if you’ve got the money there’s a seat for you inside. It works. “You’ve never been here?”

“No. I’m guessing you know that.”

“Well, maybe, but today’s your lucky day. I told Arturo to make something for us.”

“You know him?”

“This is my restaurant,” I say. “I know everything that happens here.” I take her through the front doors. She gets to meet Arturo and she’s obviously starstruck. His cookbooks are fixtures on the bestseller lists, and this restaurant is a popular spot for eating-based reality TV shows. I take her to the back of the building and we descend a staircase to the VIP room.

“I don’t feel like a VIP,” she says.

“Here, VIP is code for ‘no one gets to come in here but me.’ So, you qualify since you’re with me.”

We go into the room and I pull out her chair for her. Then I leandownbefore she can react, and I kiss her. If my calculations are correct, this is going to help.

Chapter Seven - Maya

So much is going on that I don’t even know what to pay attention to. The restaurant, Conrad, Conrad’s eyes, Conrad’s suit, and now…his lips. On mine. Out of nowhere. But even more surprising is that he backs off immediately, sits across from me, and then says, with cyborg-like detachment, “What was that like for you?” This is even more annoying since he’s already admitted that he doesn’t ask questions he doesn’t know the answer to.

This stoic delivery choked off any shouting I might have done.“Are you talking about the kiss?”

“What else?”

“What makes you think you just get to kiss me?”

“You’re not answering my question. What was it like for you?”

What should I tell him? If I tell him that it was amazing, that it turned my insides to goo and lit my skin up like a blowtorch, he’s going to get the wrong idea. But what’s the right idea? If I tell him that I want him to do it again, right now, but I want him to go slow so I can see it coming, and sink into myself when his lips touch mine, what’s that going to teach him?

“It was surprising,” I say. This much is true and I don’t see how it could lead us anywhere bad. “But you’re not paying me to kiss you. Don’t think for a second that--”

“You didn’t kiss me. I kissed you. Was it good surprising or bad surprising?” He laces his fingers together and furrows his brow like a philosopher. “Just tell me, and then I’ll tell you why I ask.”

“If I had been looking at you when you did it, it might have been good. Or, better. As it was, I barely had time to register the fact that it was happening before it was over. Then you put me on the spot and started badgering me with questions.”

“I hired you to help me. To argue. This feels like an argument.”

“Kissing me doesn’t get your book written. I don’t see any words on the page, do you?”

“Why do you think that it starts with kissing? I’ve always felt that most relationships go fromtalkingto maybe holding hands. But it’s when two people have kissed that it really gets going. It’s a line that not everyone should step across.”

Whatkind of bizarre interrogation wasthis? The most delicious man I had ever laid eyes on was quizzing me about a kiss he just stole and now, oh boy, here comes the most famous chef in the city with a plate for me.

“Madame,” says Arturo. “I know you’ll like this.” He squeezes Conrad’s shoulder and is gone as quickly as he came.

“You eat, I’ll talk,” says Conrad.

I’m about to interrupt him. I’m about to tell him where he can go. After all, he hired me to argue with him. “I’m not hungry,” I say. Then my stomach growls and Conrad throws back his head and laughs. It’s a perfect sound, a boyish sound, and I hate that I can’t stay mad at him. I’m trying. I really am. So, while I formulate my thoughts, I start to eat what turns out to be a roast beef sandwich that flew down from Heaven. It is so good that it almost makes me blush. While I chew, Conrad keeps chattering.

“People still don’t know why they kiss,” he’s saying. “There are cultures that don’t do it. What do you think about that?”

I wipe my mouth with my napkin. I don’t know what comes over me, but I get to my feet, lean across the table, and kiss him. It doesn’t last as long as I’d like, but I can’t let him get a big head. Or, a bigger head. “I think those cultures are missing out. Now tell me more about the damned book.”

Chapter Eight - Conrad

I hadn’t planned on kissing her, despite mycalculations..Not yet, at least. I had figured that we would eventually get there, but it took me by surprise. That’s not to say that I didn’t mean what I said to her. As I try to organize my thoughts for the book, they race away from me as soon as I shine a light on them. They say that sunlight is the best disinfectant, but tell that to a fleeing cockroach.

It surprised me more when she kissed me, although it wasn't’ totally out of keeping with her type. After that, just watching her dab her mouth with the napkin made me want to lay her down on the table. I think she knew it, too, because that’s whenshestarted asking questions. “This is how I would prepare for a debate,” she kept saying. “So you owe me the background material.”

“Conrad, what makes you want to write a book about love?”

“Because I don’t understand it as well as I would like to. I’m not sure anyone does.”

“Conrad, how do you define love?”

“I don’t. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt it. I just know what people are like.”

“Conrad, how is love, at least, different than lust?”

“Lust is something I know all about. But I’ve also had enough of it to know that it’s hollow on its own. After a while, of course.” She smiled back at me and bit her lip again. I was about to make an indecent proposal but she cut me off.

“We should probablybe gettingback. I think Zima is going to be worried about you.”Not so fast. She can ask the questions, she can ambush me with a kiss, but she’s not going to set my itinerary. “Not yet,” I say. “There are a couple of other things I need to show you. For research, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Did you take any notes?”

She looks down at her clipboard.“Want to see? I’m going to run to the ladies’ room real quick. Take a look if you want.” She holds the clipboard up, covering her face for a moment. After she excuses herself I grab for it.

The page is blank except for the faint red outline of her lips. She must have done that right now. Jesus, my heart is pounding. At this rate, we’re never going to write a damned word. Hell, at this rate, we’re not even going to make it back to the car. I start daydreaming about all of the things I want to do to her. I’m wondering about the noises she would make. Eventually, I start wondering where the hell she is. I check my watch. She’s been gone for 10 minutes. When I go upstairs, Arturo says she left. He’s laughing. “She looked like she knew a secret,” he says.

Game on. I go outside, thinking she might be waiting on the curb. She’s not. My driver’s there, but she’s obviously gone. Then my phone buzzes. It’s a text from Maya. “I went back to the office. Had an idea for your project. No time to waste.” That was it. Now she wants to see what I would do. Will I rush back to the building to see her? Will I yell at her? Fire her? Honestly, I consider doing all three, in various orders. But I’m having fun. She shows all of the signs of unpredictability and impulsivity, but there’s no telling what she will do next, which means there is no telling what I will do next. And it’s been a long time since I’ve felt that way.

“Where to, sir?” says Mike.

“Back to work.” On the drive, I’m having fantasies of Maya being in my office. In this nice little daydream, I march in, grab her hips, lift her onto my desk, and demand that she explain herself to me. I’m instantly hard. By the time I get to the building I’ve calmed down a little, but that changes when I go inside and Zima reports that Maya had just left. “She said to tell you she’ll be working from a remote location today,” she says. “Conrad?” she says in the background while I start to laugh. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

I turn. Zima is walking towards me, wanting to talk, but I don’t have time for her concerns right now.  “No, I say. Just don’t forward any calls to me for a couple of hours.”

When I’m at my desk I open up a spreadsheet and start making a list. After a fewminutes,I text Maya. “I’m willing to let you work from home today,” I say, “But I need you here tonight. Non-negotiable. Come at 9.” It takes her a while to respond. When she does, there’s nothing defiant about it. “I’ll be there,” she says. “What should I bring?”

“Bring a change of clothes,” I type. I look at the words, not sure if I mean them. “It might be a long night,” I add. There. She won’t know what to make of that. I’m not even sure that I know what to make of it.

But I’ll figure it out by the time she gets here.

Chapter Nine - Maya

“I’m not sure what got into me,” I’m telling Angela, who is sitting across from me at my kitchen table, open-mouthed and stupefied. “When he kissed me, it really set me off. And it wasn’t just that, it was that robotic way he handled itafterward. I just had to show him something. He acts like he knows everything, not to mention everything about me. I get the feeling that he’s never surprised by anything. That he feels entitled to do whatever he wants. I mean, he just kissed me.”

Angela sighs.“Tell him to come kiss me. I won’t complain like this.” She makes it sound like I’m the most ungrateful person on earth.

“I’m not telling him that. He didn’t hire you. But that’s when I kissed him back. He was going on and on and suddenly I just wanted him to see how it felt.”

“Whoa! What did he do?”

“He was surprised, but it was a real kiss. He probably wasn’t as surprised as I was. You know me. That’s really not me.”

“No. It’s really not.”

It also surprised me when I left. And texted him. And then when I left the firm. I was playing a game that I was creating as I went along, following rules that I couldn’t see. There was no plan. I’ve always been the one with the plan. There was something liberating about it. Of course, there was also something terrifying about it. Like, say, losing a job that paid a ton of money for doing little more than eating at Arturo’s.

“And so you’re going back tonight?” says Angela. “Oh my God, I’m so jealous. I bet he’s planned something so freaky. I wonder why he wants you to bring a change of clothes. I wish I could hide in your purse and spy on you.”

“It’s nothing like that,” I say. Was it something like that? I was the one goading him, daring him to raise the stakes. “But I’m going. I’ve got a job to do.”

Angela and I spend the rest of the afternoon creating increasingly insane scenarios about my upcoming night with Conrad. We debate whether my change of clothes should be something comfortable, like yoga pants and a sweatshirt, or professional. Or sexy, I ask myself without telling Angela. She knows, though. The excitement is practically rising from my skin in waves.

Angela goes home after dinner and then I’ve got a couple of hours to kill before I go to meet Conrad. I decide to nap. If it’s going to be a long night, I’m going to need stamina. When my eyes pop open an hour later, I take the curlers out of my hair, brush my teeth, double check my night bag, and I take a car to the office. The building is dark except for the faint light coming from the lobby. Before I can touch the door it slides open. The desk is empty. Poor Zima. She’s probably out somewhere auditioning for a commercial for Rolaids.

The elevator doors slide open. Conrad still hasn’t said a word. As the elevator begins to rise something feels different. It’s either going faster or slower than usual. Or, I notice when the doors open, it’s stopping on a different floor.

This room could not be more different than Conrad’s office. It looks like the den at a ski lodge. The walls are covered in dark wood. A fire is going in a stone fireplace. I realize that every room in the building might be some sort of adult playground. Conrad is sitting in a chair by the fire looking at a book that is propped open on an ottoman. I reach for a joke, something witty, but when he looks up at me, my breath catches in my throat. “Come here,” he says.

As if my body is not my own, I walk towards him. He picks up the book and sets it aside.“Sit.” He pats the ottoman. I should stop him. I should stop this. But I don’t. I set my bag on the floor and I sit. Facing him. He’s only three feet away. He reaches out and grabs the sides of the ottoman, pulling it—and me—closer. Now it’s only two feet. No, less.

Conrad moves out of the chair and kneels. He leans towards me and I open my legs to legs to let himget closer. He puts a hand on my shoulder, but his hand is so large that it feels as if it’s covering my entire chest. He squeezes lightly and something in me moans. In a quickmotion,he raises his palm from my skin so that only his fingertips are touching me.

“You shouldn’t have left me there,” he says. “And now I need to touch you. But I think you’ll let me.”

I can’t say anything inreturnbecause he is close enough to kiss me. He presses his lips against mine and puts a hand in my hair. He lightly pulls my head back so I have to look into his eyes. I know that in this moment I will do anything he asks. Anything he wants. This is not me but it feels so good that maybe stepping out of myself for a while isn’t a bad thing. He moves back in, parting my lips. Our tongues dance around each other and then he withdraws, getting to his feet. It feels like I could come at any second, and we’ve barely touched each other.

I can see how hard he is through his pants. Instinctively, I reach out and unzip him. I put my hands on the backs of his thighs and guide him towards me. I would say it’s like an out of body experience as I reach through his fly and put my palm against that massive cock, but I’m nothing but body right now. His hand is back in my hair, tightening, pulling me closer.

But no. It’s actually pulling me the other way. What the hell is he doing? I look up at him, up, up, up, and it’s the most annoying thing in the world to see that he’s smiling. I can tell he wants this as badly as I do, I canseeit in his pulsing body.

“That’s enough for now,” he says. “I’m kind of tired. I don’t think I want to work tonight after all. You can sleep on the couch.”

“Are you fucking serious?” I say. My voice is throaty, husky, full of a wanting that is so desperate it almost hurts.

“Oh, I am, Maya. You haven’t earned that yet. We’ll see what happens. Feel free to use that change of clothes however you want. There’s a refrigerator over there. If I change my mind about anything, I’ll come back down in a bit and check on you.” He winks and gets on the elevator. Goddamn him.

Chapter Ten - Conrad

Any time you show someone that they can get the upper hand on you, guess what they’re going to do?You got it.It’s not just in business, either. You can’t afford to let people score a point without getting one back. Now Maya knows it. I know she’s down there right now, squirming, wishing that I were all over her. Don’t get me wrong, it would be nice. Even the kiss was intense. But I’m in charge here and she needs to remember that. I can’t let anyone else run the laboratory.

I turn off the light and sleep like a baby.

In the morning, I go back down to check on her. She didn’t call 911 or run through the room shrieking, so she must not have felt like a captive. When I step out of the elevator into her room, though, I’m surprised to see that she’s sitting at a table, writing in a notebook. She looks up and nods. “Conrad, I trust you slept well?”

Is this a joke? Why is she suddenly talking like a British governess?

“Yeah, I slept fine. And you?”

“Not so good,” she says. “Not that it’s your problem.”

“Yeah, well. Sometimes the world is mysterious. So listen, I need to do something different today. We’re getting out of here for a while. If you can swing it, it’s going to take about two weeks. Part of the project.”

She nods again. “What do I need?”

“You’ll tell me. For now, bring your bag. Once we’re there I’ll get you sorted out. Oh, do you have any problems with flying?”

30 minutes later we’re on top of the building. We board the helicopter and Maya grips my knee as Mike takes us up into the sky. She’s not scared, but she isn’t comfortable. Good. Comfort leads to complacency. Mike takes us 15 minutes outside of town, up into the mountains. I have him land at the helipad near the cabin where we’re going to spend the next few days.

“Do I even need to ask if this is yours?” she says.

“Only if the muse moves you,” I say, taking my bag out of the helicopter.

“What are we doing here?” she says.

“Research. More research.”

“Like last night?” she says. I hear the mixture of hope and irritation in her voice. Perfect. Let her keep smoldering. It’ll be more fun when she finally blows her top. So far everything is going according to plan.

“We’ll see,” I say. We go inside and set our stuff down in the foyer. The cabin belonged to my father. Lots of people say they need a way to “get away from it all,” but dad meant it. He proved it. This cabin traverses the boundary between isolation and solitude.

“It’s gorgeous,” says Maya. “How long are we going to be here?”

“Two weeks, if I’m right about certain things. But how long can you afford to be here?” I say. “We might be hiding out for a while. That wild cop is still out there looking for me, you know. I need to lay low.”

Maya rolls her eyes.“Conrad, seriously. What are we doing here? Can we just talk like adults for a few sentences? Without riddles?”

“Yes.Yes,we can. We really are here to do some research, Maya. That doesn’t mean it’s all going to be doom and gloom, or fun and games. There will probably be some of both.” I thought about how it had felt when she reached into my pants. “But right now I want to take a quick nap. I’ll explain some things to you later. Your bedroom is to the right at the top of the stairs. If you want to go for a walk or sit outside there’s a pond in back. It’s impossible to miss. Before we start working tonight, there’s something I need you to think about for me.”

“And what might that be?”

“I need you to think about whether someone can actually learn to become a good person.”

That catches her off guard. She’s always prepared to respond to something flippant with something brassy. She’s not as good at handling sincerity. When people are off balance, that’s when you really need to watch them.

Before she can say more I go to my room and lie down. I got plenty of sleep last night, but something about her takes it out of me. In a good way. But when I get in bed my eyes won’t shut. I think about the first time I saw her. She has no idea that she was there when a piece of the old me died.

I’ve spent so many nights in this room. I miss my dad. I can admit it. We understood each other. When you have as much as I do, the ability to make small talk with people disappears. It’s tough to know what people want from you, but they all want something. So many people act as if we’re great pals, but in the end, they always ask for something. It sounds like such a cliché, but is it so wrong that I want toknowthat someone wants me because I’m me, and not because of what I have?

Well, Maya wants something I have. More than one thing, in fact. That’s not a bad thing. She’s here because she’s curious. She’s here because she’s part of my story. She doesn’t even know.

But she will. Tonight, she will. And it’s going to feel good to get a few things off my chest.

Chapter Eleven - Maya

I go for the walk. I didn’t sleep much last night and he damn well knows it. But I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of listening to me yawn all afternoon. It’s lovely out here. I can’t tell if I think it’s lonely or not. I wonder how often Conrad comes here, and what he gets out of it. Thoughts of him from last night rush in between every breath I take. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here. I also don’t know how I’m supposed to get through the next few days without my stuff. I’ve got a toothbrush and my change of clothes. That’s about it.

The pond is the color of the cloudy sky. It’s so quiet out here. You can get used to anything, and the background noise of the city barely registers to me anymore. Until I’m in a place like this, where I can actually hear the water stirring in the slight breeze. It’s the kind of place, and moment, that you want to share with someone. It’s been a long time since I’ve shared anything real with someone besides Angela. My most serious relationship had been with a guy named Ian. It was good but not great. Still, I thought we might wind up together. When Ian told me he was leaving me for someone else, I couldn’t believe it. It hurt, it always does, but once he was gone, it wasn’t just him that I missed. I thought about how we would never do certain things together again. Even if there were a million perfect moments in my future, there was no longer any guarantee that anyone would be there to share them with me. In a way, it felt like I had stopped existing, and I don’t mean that in the “You’re not complete without a man” way. But other people prove to us that we’re here.

Which brings me back to here. Where is here? What are we doing? I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for a real mystery. Now I’ve got one. Of course, the mystery could turn out to be why I let myself get talked into any of this.

There are ducks on the pond. I didn’t see when they flew in, but now they’re drifting around in a lazy circle. Now I see a frog on the bank. It’s a regular wildlife party out here. But now I’m thinking about Conrad and his hands, and shoulders, and how he’s lying in a bed—or so he says—thirty seconds from where I sit. The real animal is in the cabin and I still don’t know what he wants from me.

I turn to look, half expecting to find him watching me from the upstairs window like a serial killer. But the window is empty. Conrad’s not in his bed anymore, though, he’s walking down the trail towards me with a smile on his face.

“Here,” he says, handing me a bag of bread slices. Then he whistles.

“You can’t whistle for ducks,” I say. “They’re not like—”

At the sound of his whistle, theducksturn and glide towards us. Shows what I know about ducks, I guess.“Wow, I say. You’re like the duck whisperer.”

“Maybe that’s the book you should write,” he says. “The Man Who Loved Ducks.”

I tear a few pieces of bread and toss the chunks into the water. The ducks go wild. They were obviously expecting this.“What makes you think that my book would be about you?”

“I think there’s a big role for you in it,” he says. Conrad sits in the chair next to me and sighs. Then he takes my hand. I turn my head to look at him, but he’s staring at the lake. I don’t take my hand away. Whatever this is, it’s a shared moment.

“Are you happy?” I say.

He laughs.“I’d have to be a pretty ungrateful, crazy bastard to say no, right?”

“Does that mean you’re a crazy, ungrateful bastard?”

He turns towards me.“The truth is, I’ve never been that interested in happiness. I’m not sure what it means. At least, that’s what I thought. I always had a plan. I always knew what was going to be next. So I executed the plan and I got what I wanted. Did that make me happy? I didn’t really think about it like that.”

“You’re talking about it in the pasttenselike something changed.”

Conrad smiles. He squeezes my hand.“Something has. Something did.”

“What was it?” The sun is starting to set behind him and it’s making his blond hair look like it’s on fire.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” he says, taking his hand away. “Now, you’re still my assistant. It just so happens that I need some assisting this evening.”

“After thestuntyou pulled last time, you think I’m going to come anywhere near you?”

“Yes. I think you will. It’s my job to know what people are like.”

Whatever it is, it’s a shared moment.

“Come on,” he says. “I’ve got a couple of things for you. Then we’ll eat. Then we’ll get to work.” He stands up and takes the bread from me, which I had forgotten about. He throws the slices into the pond like they’re Frisbees. Theducksrush back into the water in a quacking mob. I watch his broad back as he strides back to the cabin. There’s nothing to do but follow him. To see where this leads.

When I get inside, the kitchen table is covered in toiletry supplies.“I know we left quickly,” he says, “and I wasn’t sure how long we’d be here, so I had my pilot go into town and get some supplies for you.”

It looks like enough supplies to keep us here until Judgment Day.“So, we might be out here for like…a year?” Is this going to turn into a horror movie? Does he know something I don’t? Has the world I knew been destroyed by nuclear radiation and we’re the last people in the world?

“Not a year. We don’t have enough food for that,” he says, getting into the refrigerator. “But what we do have, I’m about to cook for you. So strap yourself in.”

As shared moments go, even if we’re about to plunge into the apocalypse, there are worse ones than having a hot billionaire cook for you in a cabin. “I’m strapped,” I say. “But I still want to know what we’re doing out here. What are we working on?”

“Well,” he says, “Isn’t it obvious? We’re just trying to get to the bottom of it all?”

I ask him what in the world he’s talking about. He happily ignores me.

Chapter Twelve- Conrad

Now that she’s here, I’m having second thoughts about telling her. But I’m going to. She’s been more than patient with me. But first, I’m going to cook. She’s sitting in the living room reading something. I keep sneaking glances at her. I’m sure she knows.I'm worriedabout how natural this feels. This is what people do, right? They spend time at home together. They eat dinner. They talk. They reveal themselves.

I’m not in the habit of revealing myself. What people know of me is what I show them, and it’s always a calculation.

While the steaks are cooking, I ask Maya to go into the wine cellar and pick whatever looks good to her. She comes back up with two bottles of red and astonishment on her face. I take a bow. I’ve got a hell of a wine cellar. Then she goes back to her book and I finish cooking and set the table. After lighting two candles I call her in and pull out her chair for her. I have outdone myself, but right now I don’t understand it much better than she does. I did more than I needed to.

“So,” I say, after we ooh and aah our way into the steaks. “I have a bit of a confession to make.”

Maya takes a sip of her wine, holding my eyes over the rim of her glass. She isn’t going to make this easy for me. She isn’t going to ask. She thinks she can outlast me, and maybe she’s right, for now.

“I wasn’t hiring for an assistant, although I really do want to write the book. The truth is…I put out that ad so I could meet you.”

She sets her glass down.“What? Why would you want to meet me?”

The fact that she has to ask means that she can’t see what I see. “Once I saw you on that video, I knew that you were someone I wanted to know. In person. This isn’t easy for me to say, Maya, but I feel like I already know you.”

“After one video, a couple of times together, and running out on me after getting me so horny?” She’s smiling, but she’s confused as well. Wary. Wariness is a sign of intelligence.

“That’s the other part of the confession. It wasn’t just that video. It was all of them.”

“Wait, you watched all of my videos?”

“As many as I could find.”

“Conrad, there are over five hundred hours of my lectures on Youtube.”

“Then yes, I’ve watched them all. Don’t you think you’re worth five hundred hours?” I’m starting to feel the wine. I’m starting to feel how she would feel in my hands. How she would taste on my tongue.

“I’m flattered. I think. But why did you watch them all?”

“Because of the way you talk. Because you’re trying to understand the world. Because it’s my job to understand what people are like, and how they fit together. And to knowifthey’ll fit together.”

“That’s all?”

“It’s enough. Most people just don’t care. They think that they live a passionate life because they have a favorite show. You aren’t like that. I couldn’t stop. I felt creepy, honestly, like I was a stalker.”

“Well, I put them online so people would watch them. That’s what they’re for. I just didn’t think that any playboy billionaires were going to be watching them.”

“You were saying things that I needed to hear.”

She takes another sip of wine. It’s no secret that everyone looks good in candlelight, but she is angelic. Is it wrong to feel lust for an angel? Either way, it’s happening.

“And everything I know tells me that we’ll fit together,” he says.

She puts down her glass. “Okay. But now, Conrad, I need you to hear something from me. And I want you to really listen.”

“I’m listening.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m listening.” What the hell is she playing at?

“Tonight we’re going to talk about your project. I’m still willing to be your assistant. But first I need something from you.”

Is she going to ask for a raise? Does she want a credit on the book?

“I want you to takemeupstairs and do whatever it is you’re dying to do to me. Are we clear?”

Now she’s speaking my language. She’s bold, but she has no idea what she just let herself in for.

“Crystal clear,” I say, standing up so fast that my chair falls behind me. Within seconds I have tossed her over my shoulder and I’m heading upstairs, taking them two at a time.

Chapter Thirteen- Maya –

Conrad tosses me onto the bed like I’m lighter than air. “Don’t move,” he says, starting to unbutton his shirt. When he’s done he drops it to the floor. His body is better than I had imagined it would be, and I had imagined a lot. His abs are as good as his shoulders are as good as his arms are as good as his jawline are as good as his traps. When he unbuckles his pants I have to disobey. “Let me,” I say, moving despite his commands. I’ve got my fingers in the waistband of his shorts and now I’ve got them off of him.

If I was a worshipping type of girl, this cock might be the kind of thing that would get me to go to church. Hell, if it feels as good as it looks, I might convert here on the spot. I take him in my hand and he’s so hard. He’s so ready. But he slaps my hand away. “Turn around,” he says.

I do what he says and position myself on all fours.  He pulls up my skirt and yanks down my panties. He leaves a trail of kisses down my back, over my ass, and reaches beneath me, filling his hands with my breasts. He unzips my blouse and undoes mybra inseconds. He puts his fingers in his mouth and wets the tips, which he then uses to play with my nipples. I’m pushingbackwardwith my ass, trying to find a touch of his cock, but he moves, enjoying my search.

There is a sharp sound and mild sting when he slaps my ass.

“Do it again,” I say,moaning.

He spanks me again, a little harder.

“Oh my God,” I say. “Please. Conrad, please, I need it.”

He clamps his hand down on the backofmy neck. The other hand grabs my ass and moves me into position. His cocksslapsagainst my ass and the thought of it in his massive hand makes me quiver. Just when I start to beg him again he rubs against my wetness with the tip of it. He puts it in an inch, thentwo,then withdraws. When I open my mouth to talk he reaches up and puts his thumb in it. I taste it against my tongue, suck hard, and he thrusts himself inside of me. I nearly explode with a sensation so strong that it hardly registers as pleasure. I’m lost, knowing only that my waist inhishands, his cock is slamming into me, and I can hear myself making noises that I’ve never heard.

He reaches around and starts toying with my clit. I push myself back against him. I can’t touch him enough. I can’t feel him enough. But I also feel buried inside of him. He leans forward and presses his chest lightly into my back. His hands slam down into the mattress outside of mine. He begins to thrust faster, harder, and he’s growling in my ear.

“Don’t ever stop,” I say.

“I wouldn’t know how,” he says, licking my earlobe lightly. I come as hard as I ever have, and I’m terrified that I’ll never have this experience again. Maybe if I close my legs around him tightly enough he’ll never be able to get away. Then I come again and I feel him pulsing inside me, but I’m not ready for him to stop. It takes allofmy willpower to crawl forward a couple of feet. The feeling of him withdrawing is agony, but I know what he needs now. It won’t be long.

Conrad -

When she pulls away I’m so frenzied that I nearly chase her down. But she returns to me within seconds. She puts her handsonmy chest and pushes until I’m lying on my back. She runs her tongue the length of my cock,thenclimbs on and straddles me. I cup her ass in my hands and she begins to rock.

I sit up and put a hand in her hair. I pull her head back and put one of her nipples in my mouth, sucking gently, then not so gently. Her moans grow louder, then start to become screams. I spank her lightly, then not so lightly. I put my hands under her ass and lift her, guiding her up and down my shaft. She puts her arms around my neck, completely surrendering. Her hips driveagainstme over and over. I kiss her neck pull her down harder. She’s taking it all and my only regret is that there’s no way to go deeper.

When I want a different view I lie back and tell her to ride me hard. She puts her hands on my chest while I run my fingertips up and down the insides of her thighs. I get her off once, then again. The sight of her shivering, shuddering body nearly puts me over the edge, but I’d neverforgivemyself if I let this end now. Not yet. Just when she begins to slow her movements, I reach back and lightly press against her ass with one fingertip. She stiffens, then relaxes, and now I’m inside her in one more way. With my cock inside of her and my finger playing with her ass, I sit up once more and kiss her. She bites at my lips and chin. It’s a hell of a thing, to see two people reduced to appetites. It’s the best thing there is.

Finally,there’s no way to resist. I flip her over onto her back so I can look down at her. She grabs my ass and pulls me deeper. I’m afraid I will hurther but sheis begging for it. There’s nothing I can do except thruster harder, and harder, andfaster,until the world explodes and I collapse onto her glistening body, as emptied out as it is possible for a man to be.

Chapter Fourteen - Maya

I wake up twice during the night. The first time, I’m afraid for a moment. I don’t know where I am, or why the shadows on the wall are so unfamiliar. I don’t understand why there is a body next to me. But when I reach out to feel the body--thatbody--it all comes back to me. It’s all I can do not to wake up him for another round. My God, how does a person come back from something like that?

The second time, I wake from a dream in which all of my exes are standing in a line, trying to get my attention. In thedream,I’m wearing the stupid lab coat that Conrad and I keep joking about. He’s standing at the end of the line and knocks them all down with a swipe of his arm. I wake, giggling. Conradstirs. “What’s going on?”he mumbles.

“Nothing,” I say, running my nails lightly down his back. He turns onto his side and I scoot up behind him, pressing my chestagainsthis back, trying to get as close as possible.

I wake up feeling like I’ve been run over by a truck that was full of all my favorite foods. There’s no better feeling. If I could put this feeling in a bottle I wouldn’t have to worry about work, that’s for sure. Conrad is snoring lightly beside me. You know how they say that what you see in a person is only the tip of the iceberg? How everything real lies below the surface? I see now that there is a lot more to Conrad beneath the surface. More than most people. I keep thinking about how he said that it was all a game. Now it just looks like something he wants to reassure himself of. I don’t think he really believes it.

I keep thinking about shared moments. I’m not sure if last night was something we shared. Did he take it? Did I? Did we share it, or each other? It felt kind of like a showdown, but with very different stakes. In any case, I’d say we both won.

I don’t want to wake him up, so I tiptoe out of the room and go downstairs. Something was bothering me yesterday and now I see what it was. There aren’t any pictures here. The cabin is obviously occupied, but there are no hints, or knick-knacks, or pieces of personalization that would give you any sign about what kind of person lives here. Someone with money, yes, but that’s all you would know. It makes me sad. There’s no texture. No richness. This is just a place and I want to know its owner better. I look out the window. The ducks are gliding on the surface of the pond. I wonder if their night was as good as mine. Angela is going to lose her mind when I tell her about it, although my powers of description aren’t going to do it justice.

Suddenly his arms are around me from behind. How does a man his size move so quietly? He kisses the back of my neck but says nothing. Then he’s carrying me back upstairs to the shower. I had thought that things could not possibly get hotter than last night. Shows what I know.

After, we go downstairs to find breakfast on the table.“I feel like we’re out in the middle of nowhere,” I say. “Where do these elves keep coming from that are making all of these deliveries?”

Conrad smiles, but he seems preoccupied.“I think I’m ready to tell you about what I’m doing out here,” he says.

“Okay.” I sip the coffee, which is so good that I feel like I’ve never had coffee before. A whole new world opens up when you’re on his arm. But now I’m nervous. He looks so serious. I know that this is all temporary, but I’m not ready for whatever it is to end yet. I don’t want him to say anything that will change it. And if I’m being honest, I don’t want him to say anything that’s goingtomake me less horny. I can’t believe it, but I’m ready to go again.

“I wanted to see if I could fall in love,” he said. “That was originally going to bean ideafor the book. Something like ‘Two weeks to fall in love. Is that super cheesy?”

“No.” But I’m not sure if it’s cheesy or not. I’m not sure what it is. “Does that mean we’re going to be here for two weeks?”

“Well, that’s what I’m trying to decide. I wanted to see if it felt cheesy once I tried.”

“Conrad, there’s one important question here. What do you think love is, and how are you going to recognize it once it shows up?”

“I was hoping you could help me with that. But another answer is that, given all the research that I’ve done, weshouldfall in love. This should be enough time. Given our personality types, and all of our sub-modes, and the obvious physical attraction, and our ages and so on, this should work. Whether it does or doesn’t, that’s what I want to write about.”

Jargon aside, transactional conversation aside, I’m well aware that this might be the most vulnerable that anyone has seen him. Maybe it’s just the oxytocin flooding through me, but it feels like a privilege. No one who follows his exploits in the tabloids would believe this for a second.

“I had this idea of turning this cabin into a laboratory,” he said. “I came out here and decided to fill it with everything a woman would want. Something that would make it, and me, irresistible in the long term. But I immediately realized I was in over my head. Every time I thought about putting the experiment in motion with someone I liked…it never even got far enough to come out here. It was all too easy. Every woman acted like I was perfect, her dream man, within five minutes of meeting me. They didn’t have any interest in knowing me, so I’d get bored right away.”

I can’t decide if I’m annoyed or charmed by all of this. It’s a lot to take in. When you perform an experiment, you start with a hypothesis and then try to prove it wrong. “I’m not some lab rat,” I say. Was his hypothesis, “I can make her fall in love with me?” Or was he telling the truth and it was something closer to “It is possible to fall in love during two weeks of isolation, given that you’re with the right person and you have just fucked each other nearly to death?”
I can’t focus. My God last night was good.

“No,” He says. “You’re no lab rat. Although if you were, you’d be the sexiest lab rat in history.”

“So what now?” I say.

“Now we just spend time together,” he says. “I want to talk through the ideas I had. I want you to help me think about them. Then we see if there’s any overlap. We decide if we think it’s real. Assuming that you’re interested in following the method to its conclusion, of course.”

“I think I could be persuaded,” I say. How can anyone look this good in a robe? Conrad makes flannel look like ablacktie. “Walk me through the method, professor. Exactly how do you see this going?”

He nods.“It’s simple. You form a hypothesis. Your claim. If this was athird-gradescience fair project it could be somethinglikeWater Boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.” Then you’d heat up a pan of water to 212 degrees. If it boils, you conclude that your hypothesis was right.”

My current hypothesis would be something like,“Hints of an orgasm appear within 20 feet of Conrad Storm.”

“And then?” I say.

“Then, if you’re wrong, you tweak something. You make a new hypothesis. You test it again. And you repeat until you can reproduce the same result over and over.”

“So what’s your hypothesis here?”

He pours himself another coffee. His hair falls over his forehead and he brushes it away.“That we can fall in love before you leave.”

“And what would the conclusion be, if you had to guess?”

“We experiment so we don’t have to guess. But I know the conclusion I would want.”

“And?”

“You wouldn’t leave. And that’s what all the signspointtounless I’m wrong about everything.”

I take a deep breath.“So where do we start? Do I need a lab coat?”

“I like you best with the fewest clothes. But there might be a lab coataroundhere somewhere.”

Chapter Fifteen - Conrad

Well, here we go. After cleaning up breakfast and getting dressed, we go for a walk in thewoods.There’s something I want to show her. As we step onto the trail I take her hand. When she looks at me, I say, “We have to know what we’re working with. People hold hands, right?”

“Yes.” There’s a lightness in her tone that I love. “So let’s examine the sensation, professor. How does it make you feel?”

It feels like she’s delicate. Her hand is so small. The bones are fragile. “It reminds me of how small you are. I like the feeling of your skin on mine. It makes me feel protective. I don’t know how you feel about the white knights that want to swoop in and save every woman, but I mean it. I’m bigger than you and holding your hand makes me feel like I’ve taken responsibility for you.”

“But,” she says, stepping ahead of me and pulling me along, “It looks like I’m leading you. That means I’m in charge, right?”

I catch up.“Maybe. I’ll make a note of it.” The leaves are changing. The forest is a riot of vivid color.

“Where are we going?”

“I know a spot.” I haven’t been out here in a long time, and there’s a reason for that. But there’s a peace that you can’t feel anywhere else. “I’ve always loved stepping into the trees,” I say. “Doesn’t it just make you feel like you should whisper? It’s kind of like going to church.”

“Are you a churchgoinglad?”

“Oh no, not me. My parents took me when I was a kid. Catholic. I don’t have anaxto grind, but it wasn’t for me. Hey, look.” I point up the trail, which is opening into a clearing. It’s been so long, but the giddiness comes back like I stepped into a time machine.

“Whoa!” says Maya, stepping into the clearing. She looks up, and up, and around.

The clearing is ringed with totem poles. They’re each at least 50 feet high, but some are upwards of 100. My favorite is painted blue, yellow, and red. “You’re not going to believe this,” I say, “But my dad carved these.”

“No way!” She’s practically hypnotized and I know the feeling. “What got him into that?”

“This all used to be a Boy Scout camp,” I say. “He bought the land and developed it as a surprise for a friend. He just loved the scout organization. Family tradition.”

“That’s quite a surprise.”

“He was quite a friend,” I say. “But even for all the money we had, my dad liked to work with his hands. He was always making things. He didn’t like to just ‘do deals,’ as he put it. Didn’t really fit into the knowledge economy. So we’d come out here, chop down a tree, and he’d get to work. It’s incredible.”

She runs her hand along the beak of a fierce-looking head. Then she looks at me.“How exactly does this fit into our experiment?”

“They say that one’s parents are the windows to the soul, right?”

“No, I think that’s eyes.”

“I like mine better. So, I’ll go first. My relationship with my parentswaspretty near perfect. It might have been helpful if they had made me struggle a little more. I work because I like to work, but I think they would have been happy to let me sit around and read or play all the time if I had been the kind of kid who just wants to be idle.”

“I’m sure they were wonderful,” she says. “This is good data.”

“What about you?”

Maya frowns.“There’s not much to say. I had a good, short relationship with them. They died when I was ten years old.”

“Maya. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Of all things, it was a boating accident. I was staying with my grandmother while they were deep-sea fishing. That was my dad’s real passion. I didn’t go because I get motion sick on the water. If I had, then…anyway, my grandmother raised me. I had a happy childhood, I just didn’t get to have it with my parents for as long as I would have wanted.”  She looks up at the poles again. “My dad would have loved this. He said that people who can’t work with their hands don’t know what they’re worth.”

“What did he do?”

Maya doubles over laughing.“Actually, he was a journalist. He typed, but it wasn’t what I would call working with his hands. His soul wasn’t shaped in a workshop or anything.” She’s quiet for a moment. Then she smiles and walks towards me. “If I want to jump your bones right now, does that mean we’re falling in love? Or am I just feeling crazy because you make me feel crazy?”

I pull her close and squeeze her ass. “It could be a little of both. I have to say, I feel similarly. We should probably wait and see if it fades.” I let her go, take her hand, and keep walking. “I’ve got something else to show you.”

“Aw. Can’t you show me out here? I think I’m ready to see it again.”

Maya is turning out to be far better than I could have guessed, even though I’ve been working off of the most sophisticated models known to mankind. Brilliant, gorgeous, and freaky. But I’m being serious when I say, “Not here. I don’t think I could live with myself if I did anything dirty in this place. But that doesn’t mean I’m forgetting.” I pull her into the trees and we keep walking. The silence is comfortable. Most people don’t know how to be quiet. Maya seems as if she’s totally happy with her own thoughts. Must be nice.

“So what’s the deal with Zima?” she says finally.

I start laughing.“Zima makes me laugh. She does herjobokay, but I keep her around because I like her, and also because she reminds me of something.”

“What’s that?”

“That I don’t want to be used. Zima’s a user. Just trust me on this one. And I’ll tell you something else. People who are willing to live their lives with someone else’s money don’t know what they could aspire to. It cuts off their ambitions. And I want to see people reach for things they want.”

The way I reach for her now. Now that we’re out of the clearing, I have no guilt and wrapping my arms around her and kissing her.

Chapter Sixteen - Maya

So, it looks like we’re camping. One of his phantom forest elves has set up a tent in yet another clearing ahead. But calling it a tent is like calling the pyramids mere triangles. The tent is the size of a house.

“Ever been in a yurt?” says Conrad. Of course, he knows the answer, which is no.

It’s even more impressive inside than out. Except for the round shape, you’d have no idea that it wasn’t a house. The walls are paneled, hiding the poles that support the structure. There’s a firepit in the floor, functional no doubt, and a stove in the corner. No, yurts don’t have corners, but it’s over there against a wall. There’s even a cooler full of drinks.

“I had them set this up for us,” he says. “I think we’ll be able to do some very good work here.”

It looks that way.

One thing I’ve always been sure of is that men are uncomplicated. Exasperating, yes. Infuriating at times, sure. But I’ve always felt like I knew where I stood when it came to whichever guy was next to me. He wanted something from me, and I wanted to believe that he was as interested in getting to know me as getting into my pants.

Conrad is complicated. You hear that we’re all made of many selves. Angry you, lustful you, petty you, generous you, cruel you, and so on. The light and the dark have to fight for center stage and if you’re lucky your good attributes spend the most time front and center. Conrad seems like he’s got a million sub-modes battling inside him. It feels like he wants me to figure out who he is. Or maybe, who he could be. He said he feels protective of me, but I feel the same way. Is that crazy, feeling protective of a man who has so much money that money has essentially ceased to exist for him? A man with such resources that he has unlimited options? A man with such good looks that he could fill this yurt with a grateful harem at the snap of his fingers.

I watch him start the fire and it doesn’t seem crazy at all. He knows what he is. He knows what he’s not. He’s curious about who he might become. It’s hard not to respect that. It’s impossible not to want it for him.

“Is this going to help us fall in love?” I say.

He looks around the yurt.“Oh yeah. This is kind of like a primitive atom smasher. But in here, instead of atoms, it’s all of those pesky inhibitions that make people put up their walls get destroyed.”

Once the fire’s going, he sits in a wicker chair and pats his knee. “This is what people do,” he says. “Come sit on my lap. You’ll be overcome with desire and emotion.” He throws back his head and laughs. “Please don’t ever tell anyone I said that. I just had to see how it sounded out loud.”

I sit on his lap. I put my arms around his neck. He can laugh all he wants, but I’m overcome with desire and emotion. “You know, I think that all of this touching can really confuse the issue.”

“You might be right. It’s tough to experiment in a vacuum.” He kisses me and I put my hands in his hair. It’s hard to believe that the normal world is only 15 minutes away. By helicopter, that is.

When we separate I say,“You know, I thought of something that might help. It’s straight of the girl’s guide to falling in love.”

“Is that a real book?”

“Probably. And one of the non-negotiables. You’re supposed to meet my friends so I can get their opinion on you. The good news is that right now I really only have one friend, so this will be easy.”

“If we’ve got two weeks out here, how long would you need for your friend to give me an evaluation?”

“No more than a night or two.”

“All right, give her a call. If she says yes, I’ll have someone go get her.”

Angela screams so loudly into the phone that the yurt nearly collapses. I don’t give her the details; I just present it as an invite. She wants to know when we’ll be getting married. She wants to know if she can marry him. She wants to know what he looks like naked. Conrad can hear the whole thing. He looks like he’s regretting this decision. When I hang up, he says, “We stay here tonight. We’ll bring her up to the house tomorrow afternoon.”

“And what are we going to do in the meantime?”

“I need to spend a couple of hours writing. I want you to do the same. Then we need to add another layer to the experiment.”

“What should I write about?” I say.

“That’s up to you, Maya. But it might be helpful for you to write about what you want from a man in your life. Then you’ll have a better way to gauge whether I can be that man or not.”

He delivers this speech like he’s Spock. But I know he’s just trying to appeal to my analytical side. It’s not a bad strategy. I know I said it before, but it bears repeating: when you find a man that encourages your mind, you don’t just throw everything away and worship him just because he’s not fixated on your body, but it’s an uncommon thrill.

As I put the pen on the paper, it is quickly apparent that I know much more about what I don’t want than what I do. Other than my night with Conrad, the rest of the men in my life haven’t exactly set the cosmos on fire. Let’s see:

You already know about Ian. Cheating, charming, cowardly.

Tim had been a waiter with a screenplay in a desk at home. He called him mom three times a week and cried when he couldn’t pay his bills on time.

Nick had been inthe cityfor a summer before returning to an oil rig somewhere in the ocean. He had been an adorable moron whoseT-shirtsall had words on them.

There had been a philosophy professor whose name I couldn’t remember. He usedwordslike “Kantian” at the breakfasttablebefore the sun had come up. He had approached sex like he did his classes: painstakingly, clinically, as if he thought Socrates might show up and judge him.

Other than them, there had been a few boyfriends when I was a teenager. What I wanted was what they were not. I want ambition. I want stability. I want someone who adores me and challenges me. I want someone independent who has passions of his own. I definitely want someone who had a body,  a pair of eyes, and ass like Conrad’s. I’m not proud, I can admit it. The thing I want most of all, I think, is for someone to know everything about me. Not that I’m overflowing with unshared secrets, but I’ve never beenin a relationshipthat passed beyond that guarded stage where you’re not even you, you just send your representative to date in your place.

Conrad will knowmeif I let him. But I guess we have to follow the experiment to its end. GoodGod,this is all so weird and wonderful. Angela is going to lose her shit when she gets here.

He’s writing. He hasn’t looked up once. Now and then he pulls on his lower lip when he’s trying to concentrate or work through something. He occasionally sighs and I wonder what he’s remembering, or if he just had a flash of insight. Then I’m done wondering because I get so wet that I’m going to die if I don’t deal with it. Slowly, so he can’t hear me approaching, I put down my notebook and crawl towards him. There’s a layer of cushion on the ground, so I’m silent.

Conrad looks up and notices me at the same time as I’m reaching for his zipper. I push him back against the chair he’s in and his cock is in my mouth before he can protest that I’m interrupting his literary masterpiece. He pulses against my tongue, and I take as much of him in as I can. His hands are in my hair. My hands are on his muscular thighs. Soon he’s moving his hips to meet me, lifting slightly off of his chair. I’m lost in the moment, dimly aware of myself, more aware of his moans. It’s a delicious sensation, being nothing butbody, focused solely on someone else’s pleasure. And maybe I’m being selfish, but part of me knows that if I make this memorable enough, I’m going to get something in return for my efforts. When he comes I make no effort to pull away.

“Jesus,” he says, finally releasing my hair. He leans back, eyes closed. When they open again, he looks like he’s starving and I’m the first bit of food he has seen in a week. He moves out of the chair and pushes me against the ground. One hand pulls my blouse open, squeezing my breasts, while the other yanks my skirt up. He pushes lightly against me with his palm, grinding slowly. I thought I was wet before, but nothing like this. He slips a finger under the cups of my bra and toys slowly with each nipple, just as he pulls my panties aside and slips another finger inside me. I try to sit up, ready to beg him to put his cock inside me, but he takes his hand out of my bra and softly covers my mouth. “You don’t want the ducks to hear,” he says with a devilish grin, before he disappears, kissing down the length of my body, settling between my legs.

It’s no surprise to find that he’s a bit of an artist down there. His tongue directs me to arch my back, to grind my teeth, to moan and whimper and I can tell my eyes are rolling back in my head. He slips another finger inside me while he works my clit with his tongue, and now his fingertips are pushing against my ceiling from inside. I come in under a minute, then again. It shakes me so hard that I worry I might not ever come back to reality. Then it gets even better and I worry that this might stop. Reality no longer has any charms for me.

When he finally lets me go and sits back, smiling down at me, I feel like I’ve been wrung out. I am so deliciously empty and sedated that I feel like I must weigh a thousand pounds.

I want someone to really know me, inside and out. Conrad certainly knows me better than anyone else ever has. My God, with the way he works my body, it’s like he’s always known me. He’s just been waiting for me to show up.

“I think you were really inappropriate tonight,” he says. “I’m starting to think the experiment is going to fail. We aren’t sticking to rigid methods. This is kind of all over the place.”

“Meh,” I say. “Some of the greatest breakthroughs were accidents, right? People who just said fuck it and did what they wanted?”

“You certainly did what you wanted tonight.”

He’s right about that. And it wasn’t enough. And I worry that it might never be enough. It’s not the worst problem to have. Conrad stokes the fire and opens a wooden chest. He takes two blankets out and lays them over us. At some point in thenight,it begins to rain. I wake with him pressed against me from behind, his hand resting on my hip.

A shared moment, even though he’s asleep.

Chapter Seventeen - Conrad

From the way Maya described her, I figured that Angela was going to be a livewire, but holy shit! She’s a walking case of Red Bull that just did a bunch of speed. We came back up here to the cabin in the early morning. It was a bit of ahikesince we were both still feeling wonderfully battered and shattered from what we’d spent the evening doing to each other.

When we arrive, Angela is walking up the trail, followed by my pilot. She screams and screams and throws her arms around Maya, who laughs and laughs and I’m instantly exhausted by it all. But I’ve got to make a good impression, right? Not that that’s going to be any problem. As soon as she’s done hugging Maya, Angela throws her arms around my waist and shakes me back and forth like I’m a tackling dummy.

“I can’t believe this!” she says.

“I believe you,” I say, trying to release myself.

Maya takes her inside and gives her a tour of the cabin. There is so much shrieking that I put headphones in while I try to get a little work done. That doesn’t last. Someone grabs the headphones off my head and says, “All right you, let’s get to it. Maya’s going to take a nap while we talk. What the hell did you do to her? She’s moving like a zombie!” She sits across from me.

“She started it,” I say, smiling at the memory. She started it, but I finished it.

“OhI bet she did. You know all the fucking losers she’s been with? Most of the guys she’s dated have been about as fun a shoe. And way less interesting. So you’ve got to be careful with her. She said that you’re into games. You better not be conning her. If you break her heart I’m going to break your face. I don’t care how rich you are or how nice your face is.” Angela crosses her arms and squints. I wish that I had ever felt this much conviction about anything.

“We feel the same about Maya,” I say. “I don’t know what she told you, but I hired her to help me work on a book.”

“Yeah, she mentioned it, but when I look around this place, and at thewayyou two are looking at each other, I can’t picture a lot of writing taking place. You know what? I think you’re too charming. What do you say to that?”

She hasn’t given me a chance to say one word. I haven’t had a chance to act like an asshole or a charmer. “I say that I like Maya more than anyone I have ever met. I’m glad you’re here. It’s important to me to make a good impression.”

“For the sake of the experiment, right? For the book?”

“I’m just trying to do this right. I’ve never done it right. Women have always made it too easy for me so I’ve never had to work for anything. Coming up with this kind of structure is supposed to keep me honest.”

Angela laughs.“Spoken like a true billionaire. Maybe that should be the title of your book. Look, I’m mostly kidding. You seem amazing and she’s crazy about you. But please, please,please,if you’re going to act like you’re crazy about her,becrazy about her.”

“I will,” I say. “You have my word.” I’m distracted. Something’s bothering me. I can’t figure out what it is. Something’s wrong. Angela chatters away about how nice the cabin is, and how nice the world is, and how nice everything is, and then it hits me.

Mike neverleft. I never heard the helicopter take off.

Chapter Eighteen - Maya

I meant to sleep, but Angela’s rapid-fire interrogation downstairs is too good (and too loud) to miss. Conrad’s disappointingly monotone and monosyllabic, but that’s what happens when you talk to Angela: you wind up looking less than colorful against her onslaught. What can you say? She lives her truth.

I might as well join them. I get up and check myself in the mirror. Wow. I’ve come a long way from the day I stepped into that elevator looking likea zillion bucks. But I look happy. This is one more thing I wish I could put in a bottle.

There’s a noise behind me. The unmistakable sound of a window being opened. When I turn around I’m not alone. A familiar-looking woman is in my room, pointing a gun at me. I don’t know what the hell she’s doing here, or what she has to smile about, but she looks like she just won the lottery.

“Let’s go downstairs,” she says, and then she puts a finger to her lips.Shh.“You go first.”

“What do you want?” I can’t figure out where I’ve seen her.

“I already told you. I want to go downstairs and I want you to go first. Let’s go see Mr. Man down there. It’s time for a little chat.”

There’s no way to warn him. I go to the door and open it. I wonder if there’s any way to get a hand on her and knock her down the staircase. But no, she’s anticipating it. I can tell by the excitement on her face. Maybe she’s even hoping for it. What the hell is this?

Conrad must have heard myfootstepsbecause he comes to the foot of the stairs and looks up. I see two things on his face. First, the fear of seeing me in danger. And second, the shock of familiarity.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he says.

The woman behind me leans forward, putting her chin on the top of my shoulder while digging the gun into my back.“What’s the matter, Conrad? Don’t you recognize me without out of uniform?”

Chapter Nineteen - Conrad

How could I have been so stupid? For all the shit I’ve pulled, and all the games I’ve played, ofcourse,something was going to come back to bite me. But I don’t want it to bite Maya. “Where’s Mike?” I say.

“Don’t worry about him.”

Angela jumps to her feet.“You’re that fucking crazy cop!”

Maya lurches. I can tell that Cindy just pushed her in the back.“You’re goddamned right I’m that fucking crazy cop,” she yells. “And guess what happens next?” She pushes Maya again. My fists are clenched so tightly that I feel like they’re going to explode.

“Don’t you do it,” I say. “Don’t touch her again.” But I’m worried. Not only is Cindy crazy, she’s trained. Of all the women who might have come for some payback, she is the one who can do the most damage.

“I remember you telling me what to do,” she says. “That’s over now.” She pokes the back of Maya’s head with a gun, proving it. Maya’s gritting her teeth. I see her thoughts tumbling over and over. She’s trying to figure out how to make a move. I can’t allow that. “It’s all over now. They won’t let me work. They say that I need to go in for apsycheval. Why couldn’t you just have left me alone?”

“I remember you doing it,” I say. “Gratefully. No one made you get into that car. If you lose your badge, that’s on you. And you said no one had ever made you feel like that, and we both know it’s true.”

Maya is watching the floor. Something ugly is flashing in her eyes. If she gets a hold of Cindy, I don’t envy her, cop training or not.

“It was fake, though,” says Cindy. “Just like you’re fake. You think you can treat people like toys. You think you can buy us all just because you have more money than God.Well,you can’t. Maybe you can have all the toys. But I can break them. I can make sure you never get to play with this one again.”

Several things happen at once. Angela screams. Cindy gives Maya another shove in the back. As Maya spins to face her, Cindy raises the pistol and aims itatMaya’s face. I’m in motion at the same time I realize that I’m moving. There’s no plan. There’s no time. There is only the prayer to an unknown God that I can decrease the distance between us.

Chapter Twenty - Maya

This crazy bitch. I’ve been planning for minutes how to turn and knock her teeth out, but there’s no time. I close my eyes, wondering if I’ll feel the bullet, wondering why my life isn’t flashing before my eyes. The roar of the gun tears through the world and I can’t believe that this is how I die.

Then I open my eyes as two heavy objects hit the floor. One is Cindy, pinned beneath Conrad. The other object is his bleeding body. The bullet entered his torso and left an exit wound in his back, just above his belt. I rush forward and take the gun, which has fallen on the floor. Angela is scrambling for her phone. I hear her calling 911. The last thing I see before everything goes dark is Mike, the pilot. He’s standing in the doorway.

30 minutes later I watch the EMTs load Conrad into a helicopter. They’ll life flight him to the closest hospital. I’m sure he has an army of private doctors he could pay, but not out here. Mike drives me and Angela. The police have already taken Cindy away. I might feel sorry for her later, but right now I just hope they lock her up. They can get her the help sheneedsafter they lock her up.

That stupid man, Conrad. He saved my life. I can’t believe how close I came to dying. And now I’m driving to the hospital to see him. The EMTs wouldn’t tell me anything about his status. They lookedworried,unless I’m reading too much into it. If he dies protecting me I don’t know what I’m going to do, or how I’m going to live with that.

“He’s going to be fine,” says Angela, as if she can hear my shrieking thoughts. As if she can feel that future guilt and wants to snatch it away from me. “He’s a tough bastard. You’re lucky, in more ways than one.”

I turn to look at her.

“Not everyone has someone who will die for them, Maya,” she says. “He did that to protect you, and he’s paying for it. But you know what? I bet he’d do it again, a hundred times out of a hundred.”

Maybe. I just want him to be okay.

When we get to the hospital they tell me that he’s in surgery. I won’t be able to see him for a few hours and they won’t tell me his condition. So Angela takes me upstairs and we set up camp in the most depressing cafeteria ever. Even though my nerves are raw, I manage to doze under the fluorescent lights. When I wake up someone has joined us at the table.

It’s Zima. She’s obviously been crying.

“What is it?” I say, fearing the worst.

Amazingly, she takes my hand.“No, it’s not that. He’s not out of surgery yet. I’ve just been upset.”

“How did you hear about it?”

“I’m his sister. Mike called me. God, I’m so scared. He must really love you, you know. I hope you appreciate this.”

Hissister?

“Why are you working at the firm if you’re his sister?” I say. “Shouldn’t you be off doing billionaire things?”

“I’m not a billionaire,” she says. “I’m just someone who wants to work hard and stay close to her brother. I fucked up a ton when I was young and caused our parents a lot of grief. I needed a lot of help, and I thinksometimeshe has resented me from how much hurt I caused them. He saved my life. He was always there when I needed him. I’m protective of him, so sue me. You have no idea how badly he’s been hurt. Women use him. He can’t let anyone get close. But I can’t tell there’s something different with you, about how he looks at you. You better not be jerking him around.”

“Don’t worry,” I say, squeezing her hand. “I’m not. Let’s just get through the next part.” The next part takes three hours. Zima and Angela get to know each other. I get to know my anxiety and guilt even better. I entertain all sorts of nightmare scenarios. There are reality shows likeAnesthesia Nightmaresfor a reason. These doctors had better be competent. These surgeons had better not mess up. I start thinking about the horrible things I’ll say about this hospital in my videos if anything happens to him. They’ll never know what hit them. They’ll...

Finally,a doctor appears. He tells me I can see Conrad. I want to cry when I see him in the hospital bed. He still looks enormous and muscular and virile, but no one looks their best in a hospital gown and an IV in their arm. Zima kisses his forehead and he winces when she punches him in the shoulder.

“Hey you,” he says to me.“How’sthings?”

“She’s been really worried,” says Zima. “We both have.”

“Do you know what they did with the bullet?” says Conrad. “Tell me it wasn’t a clean exit wound. I really wanted that bullet. I could make it into an earring, or gauge my ears and wear it as a warning to all of my enemies.”

Zima takes her cue and leaves, promising to be back soon.

“How are you feeling?” I say.

“This wasn’t part of the experiment,” he says. “But I think I know what I needed to learn. I think I learned it.”

“Conrad,” I say, taking his hand. My voice is shaking. “You probably saved my life.”

“Think it might be worth writing about?” he says.

“How do you feel about it, tough guy?”

“I feel a little bummed out that we’re going to have to end the experiment early,” he says. “We were supposed to have ten more days out there at thecabin.”

“Who says we can’t? The doctor says that you’ll be able to go home soon. I’m sure you could pay a bunch of hot nurses to come tend to you out there.”

“I don’t want a bunch of hot nurses and there’s no point to testing it out for another ten days.”

“Why not?” Maybe I’ve been wrong about everything. Maybe what we felt was temporary, or imaginary.

Conrad rises up in his bed like a macho idiot.“I feel like I didn’t need two weeks to fall in love with you. I didn’t need those videos either. Or the research. I just needed to have you around. Will you stick around?”

Maybe I just don’t know myself as well as I thought. Or him. Not many things are as exciting as not knowing what’s going to happen next, provided that you’re with the right person. This is a shared moment.

I lean down and kiss him.“I’m not going anywhere.”

This is a moment that belongs to us. There will be other experiments we can try. Together.

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Billionaire CEO’s Beauty

Chapter 1 (Elaine)

It was my first day on the job. I was both excited and frightened, my stomach tightening around the bagel I had forced myself to eat that morning. I stood at the entrance ofFly Tech, my head tilting back just so I could see the top of the looming skyscraper.

The sky was a bright blue. A few fluffy clouds lingered here and there, making the scene look almost like a painting. A large passenger plane flew overhead, about to land at the local JFK airport.

“Excuse me.” A man in a purple polo walked past me, a leather messenger bag slung over his shoulder. With an air of confidence, he grabbed the door handle and swung it open. “Are you coming in?” He asked, glancing back at me.

He looked around my age, a head full of shaggy blonde hair. His eyes were a murky green, swimming with intelligence. In his shirt pocket, a fancy-looking pen reflected the early morning sun.

“Oh! Thank you.” I followed the gentleman inside.

Instantly, the New York humidity faded away as I stepped into the air-conditioned lobby. My heels clicked against the polished tile floor.

“Wow…” I mumbled to myself, taking in the luxury of it all. A two-story water fountain with a built-in LED light display. State-of-the-art touchscreen devices lined the back wall, allowed employees to clock in with a single tap or guided confused customers through the building.

The man in the purple polo had his palm pressed against the screen. “Um, excuse me.”

He stopped and turned around, the screen behind him flashing his employee picture and full name.

Lopez, Fredrick.

“Uh… I’m new here.”

“Ah.” His eyes wandered up and down my body, almost as if he was checking me out, but in an oddly, non-sexualized way. “So, you must be the summer intern.” He stuck out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Name’s Freddie.”

“I’m Elaine.” I stood there, waiting for him to say something else, but he just kept looking at me, as if he didn’t know what to do in the presence of a woman. I sighed softly. This had to be yet another computer science nerd whose brain turned to mush whenever they were approached by a decent-looking girl like myself.

Maybe that was the reason I had never started dating. Studying software development had always been my passion, but it didn’t bring me in contact withmen. Someone who knew exactly what he wanted, how he wanted it, and exactly how to get it.

“Um, do you mind giving me a hand? I’m not really sure where I’m supposed to go for employee orientation.”

“Oh. Right, right. I’ve been here five years, you know. I’ve almost forgotten how confusing it can be on your first day.” He boasted. “Do you have your ID number?”

“Yes… give me a second.” I rummaged through my bag, looking for the email I had printed out this morning with all my information. I cursed myself for not being more organized.

Finally, I found it, hiding at the bottom of my purse. There was a red stain in the corner, probably from the fruit snacks I never finished.

“Um… X556BHJ2.” I said, squinting at the number. “I think.” The ink was a little smudged.

“Okay. Well, you punch in that number here and then it’ll prompt you to place your palm on the screen, but since you probably aren’t in the system yet, I’m sure it’ll direct you to Mrs. Kilroy’s office. She’s the person that handles all the newbs. Now…” He paused to look at his watch, which looked suspiciously like it belonged on the set of a 90s cartoon. “… I really should get going. I’m debugging the latest software update so I have my work cut out for me. I hope to see you around the office.” With a friendly smile, he waved before disappearing down a hallway.

Beside me, a woman in a black pencil skirt and a tight white blouse punched in her number. Her hair was done up in a perfect bun. Not a single strand of hair was out of place. Her red lips were pursed together, connoting her seriousness. Her black heels were spotless.

Suddenly, I felt inadequate in comparison. I had on some maroon slacks and a black peplum shirt. It was the best I could come up with that could pass as business casual. I definitely didn’t own a pantsuit like some of the other women that walked by.

I gulped down my anxiety.It’s going to be okay. I’ll make it through this.I mentally pep talked myself.

Finally, I entered my employee number. A loading symbol spun on the screen before a generic profile picture appeared, along with my position, shift, and break times.

Welcome!

Warren, Elaine.

Please proceed to Mrs. Kilroy’s office.

A map replaced the prompt. A blue line traced the path I was supposed to follow. I committed it to memory.

I was just about to walk away when the screen changed.

Would you like to take your employee ID picture?

Yes. No.

Feeling obligated to do so, I pressed the bright green button labeledYes.

My face appeared on the screen. Even in ‘Portrait,’ it looked huge on the 72’ display. As expected for a company like this, it was of the highest quality, putting all my imperfections on display for everyone to see. My pores looked outrageously big. My eyeliner crooked. My eyebrows unkempt.

I looked around, praying there was no one else in the lobby. Thankfully, the only other person was a cleaning woman who looked much more interested in her phone than my picture.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped back, standing on the little X marked on the floor. Once I was in the appropriate position, a bright light flashed, along with the familiarclicksound.

I blinked, trying to regain my vision.

Thank you! We hope you enjoy working at Fly Tech!

Once the picture was taken, there was no option to try again. The machine started to make a loud noise before a fresh ID card was printed below the screen.

I grabbed it, feeling the warm plastic between my fingers before I glanced at the screen one more time. It was back to its default setting, waiting for the next employee to step forward. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a line of irritated workers, tapping their feet as they waited for me to finish.

Quickly, I scrambled out of the way and down the hall, toward the elevator I was supposed to take. The woman in the black pencil skirt was still there, her lips pressed into a disapproving scowl like she was annoyed that she would need to share the elevator with me.

Ding!

The elevator arrived and we both got in. She pressed the button to herfloorbut didn’t bother to ask me where I was going. Sighing, I pressed the button to the fifth floor. As we started our ascent, I felt my stomach twist into a knot and sink to my feet.

I counted to ten in my mind, trying to calm myself down. I had already gotten the job, there was nothing to worry about.

Ding!

I reached my floor and stepped out, not bothering to glance at the woman who stared a hole into the back of my head. Once the elevator doors closed, I realized that I had no idea which way I was supposed to go.

Left… or right?

Cursing myself for my bad memory, I looked up and down the hallway, looking for some kind of a hint.

Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed through the cavernous hallway. I turned my head and spotted a very handsome man in a black suit, slicked back hair, andthe most gorgeouseyes I had ever seen. He walked with his hands in his pockets, his manner nonchalant and yet somehow serious, as if he owned the world and knew it.

“Um… excuse me…” I stepped forward, hoping to get his attention.

He stopped and faced me, raising an eyebrow in question, but not saying a word. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“Do you mind telling me where Mrs. Kilroy’s office is?” I asked, hoping that this wasn’t someone important. I really didn’t want to make a fool of myself on the very first day.

The man grinned, the hard lines of his face softening ever so slightly. The corners of his eyes crinkled, his high cheek bones dazzling in the overhead light. He just seemed to stare at me for a moment before he thrust his thumb to his left. Right beside me was a door marked ‘Kilroy.’

My face turned red at the realization. “Oh… um… sorry, I don’t know how I missed that…” I stammered, hoping this man didn’t think I had asked him for directions just because he was attractive.

He nodded before disappearing down the hallway, leaving behind an air of mystery. Who was that man? Why hadn’t he said anything? These questions buzzed around in my mind until I heard the sound of a door opening behind me.

I turned around to face an older woman with blotched skin and glasses that were much too big for her face. Even as she stood there, they slid down her nose. “Ah! You must be Miss Warren. Please, come in.” She pushed back the door, revealing an extraordinarily neat room. “I thought you had gotten lost.”

Quickly, I shook my head. “No, I’m sorry I took so long, there was a bit of a queue for the elevator.” I lied, hoping she would believe me.

“Ah. That happens sometimes.” She nodded, grabbing a colorful pencil from a cup on her desk. “Okay, we just have to get you properly set up in the system and then I’ll show you to your desk.” She started to type, using the end of the pencil to press the keys. “It looks like you already took your company photo and had your ID printed out.”

It was only then that I realized I still had the plastic card in my hand. “Oh, yes.” I nodded.

“Good, good. That makes my job a little easier. Now, for some questions.”

***

After what felt like hours, we were finally finished. Mrs. Kilroy clapped her hands and got up in a flurry, her large, colorful skirts turning into a blur. “Come along now. You’ll be working on the 7thfloor with all the other IT people. They’re a nice bunch. You should have no problem getting along with them, but if you do encounter anything… troubling… just let me know, and I’ll take care of it.” She smiled, looking back before she opened the door to the stairs. “I don’t like the elevator, I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, no. It’s not a problem.” I answered, but I soon found myself struggling to keep up with the overly-energetic woman.

By the time we got to the seventh floor, I was out of breath. I didn’t know if I was just severely out of shape or if this woman had lungs of steel.

“Alright. This way.”

Once I made it through the door, I was met with a large room filled with cubicles. People worked away, typing furiously on their keyboards. Lines of code flashed across their screens. Some people were vehemently clicking, threatening to break their mice at any moment. Others were quietly playing minesweeper, hoping no one would notice.

“Here you are.” Mrs. Kilroy showed me to a small cubicle near the corner. She then stepped to the side. “Freddie, do you mind coming over and meeting your new mentee?”

Freddie stood to his full height, his head peeking over the wall of his cubicle. “Ah, we’ve already met, actually.” He chuckled. “Helped her with the sign-in process downstairs.”

“Perfect, then I’ll just let you two get to work.” She smiled once more before she disappeared.

“Looks like we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other.” He grinned, seemingly pleased by the idea.

Chapter 2 (Leo)

The new intern took me by surprise. When I asked Kilroy to find someone for the summer project, I assumed she would hire another college CS major, looking for a well-paying job. After all, 90% of my IT personnel were male. Those few whoweren’tcertainly didn’t look like the woman who had stopped to ask me for directions.

Soft, pearly white skin. A cute button nose. Warm chocolate brown eyes. Luscious brown hair that ran down her back in ringlets. Hair that would be perfect for a wild night in bed. I loved a girl with long hair.

As I walked away from her, I grinned to myself, my mind already coming up with all the different ways I could make her scream my name. All the different positions I could put her in, testing her flexibility. Oh yes, I could have quite a bit of fun with her.

While I was on the 5thfloor, I stopped by the printing room, grabbing a few documents I needed. Usually, my personal assistant did such tasks, but she had fallen sick and had taken the week off. I assumed she was close to retiring anyway. I mean, the woman was almost 67. Maybe it was time to look for a new assistant…

A much younger, and sexier one.

I grabbed my documents and walked out of the room, knowing that soon enough, the beautiful woman I had just met would be as good as mine.

***

The following day, I was in my office, looking over some expense reports when there was a knock on the door. A mischievous smirk appeared on my face. I knew exactly who it was.

“Comein,” I called out, closing my laptop, my hands folded over it.

There was a moment of hesitation before I finally heard the doorknob rattle. She peeked in herheadas if to make sure it was safe before her whole body appeared in my doorway. She was even more gorgeous than I remembered, or maybe it was her change of attire.

Yesterday, she had worn something a bit more casual, but today, she wore a tight pencil skirt and a white button-up blouse. Unfortunately, her long hair was pinned in a bun.

That would have to be addressed.

She stood there, looking unsure, avoiding eye contact. She moved from foot to foot, tottering her weight back and forth. As she did so, her hips swayed ever so slightly and I could already feel my hormones coming to life. This woman had the sex appeal of a goddess, even if she didn’t seem to realize it.

“Please, sit down.” At the prompt, she immediately crossed the room and sat in the chair in front of me.

Obedient. Good.

The corners of my lips twitched ever so slightly. I waited for her to settle herself before I leaned forward.

“Hello, my name is Leonel Jacobsen, CEO of this company.”

She nodded in the cutest, timid manner. I wondered, for a moment, what must be going through her mind. Was she nervous to be sitting in my office? Was she embarrassed about yesterday? Or, was she secretly aroused, her panties getting soaked under that sexy skirt of hers? I knew the last scenario was unlikely, but a man could dream, couldn’t he? Besides, it would only be a matter of time before I had her in the palm of my hand.

“I like to personally meet each one of my employees. I don’t want them to feel like that this is a company where the CEO is detached from internal affairs. In fact, I encourage my employees to develop apersonalrelationship with me, if they want to, of course.” I smiled at her, flashing a set of pearly white teeth. “I hope that in the future, you andIcan get to know each otherverywell.” I noticed she was fidgeting in her seat as I dropped the subtle hints.

Her fingers twitched, pulling and prodding at the leather upholstery.

I got up and walked around my desk, approaching her. She looked at me with great big doe eyes. “There’s really no need to be nervous. I’ve taken a look at your resume and I have no doubt that you’ll do great here.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her into my chest. As I did, I caught thescentof her cherry blossom shampoo. It was subtle scent, but definitely an intoxicating one. I tightened my hold, feeling like I never wanted to let her go.

She looked up at me, her eyes locking with mine. She seemed uncertain, almost as if she didn’t know what she was supposed to do in that moment, but at the same time, I noticed something of an excitement deep within her irises. Lust maybe?

It was a thought.

I let her go and she seemed to deflate back into her seat. “So, do you have any questions for me?” I leaned against the edge of my desk, towering above her. She lowered her eyes in an almost submissive manner.

“Um…” She struggled for words, wringing her fingers together in her lap. “I… I don’t think so…” She stammered.

“In that case, would you mind doing something for me? I know you’ve gone through basic training with Mrs. Kilroy, but I like to test my employees before they start on any major project. Call it quality control if you’d like.”

Elaine instantly looked flustered, her face turning red with nervousness.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure a woman such as yourself will have no problem completing the task.”

Shenoddedbut kept quiet.

“Please, sit in my chair. You’ll be using my laptop.”

I waited for her to get up and approach me. I pulled out my chair for her, acting like a perfect gentleman, but at the same time, as I guided her into her new seat, I didn’t miss my opportunity to cup her ass, squeezing it ever so slightly.

A soft mewl escaped her lips, but she still didn’t say a word. Had she just moaned or was it simply a sound of surprise, I wondered.

With this thought in mind, I leaned over until my chest was pressed against her back. I wore a thin shirt so I had no doubt she could feel the full extent of my body against hers. Was my muscular torso turning her on like it had so many others?

She shivered, goosebumps running up her arms.

Whatever she was feeling, I was definitely getting a reaction out of her.

With my lips nearly touching the side of her neck, I opened my laptop and signed in. I then pulled up a simple program,which,however, was full of bugs planted by some of my best IT professionals. It would be difficult for anyone to make the code fully operational.

Her eyes were already scanning the screen, her fingers jittery as if she was just dying to attack the problem.

“Alright, do you think you could take a look at this for me? You have thirty minutes. The faster you solve it, the more you get paid this summer.” I whispered, my tone soft and husky, almost like I was whispering sweet nothings in her ear.

Again, she shivered. “Do… do you just want me to debug this?”

“Do whatever you have to do to make the codework,” I explained, dragging my hands away from my laptop until they gently touched hers.

Her fingers twitched, but she didn’t pull away. “O-Okay…” Her voice wavered and she took a deep breath.

I finally stepped away, giving her the space to work. While she was typing, her eyes focused on the screen, I walked to the back of the room.

Once I was next to thecoat rack, I cleared my throat, getting her attention. I took the opportunity to shrug off my suit jacket, hanging it up. I then undid my cufflinks and rolled up my sleeves, showing off my muscular forearms. I could see out of the corner of my eye that she was watching me, almost as if enthralled by my physique.

I rolled up my other sleeve nice and slow before loosening up my tie and throwing it on thecoat rackas well. With her eyes still on me, I undid the topmost button of my shirt before I lifted my eyes to meet hers.

She quickly realized I had caught her staring and immediately went back to work.

I grinned to myself, knowing that deep down, this woman was just as interested in me as I was in her.

This was going to be a very interesting summer indeed.

Chapter 3 (Elaine)

When I left Leonel’s office, I was sweating bullets. I had only been in there for about fifteen minutes, but it honestly felt like an eternity. I couldn’t be certain, but it seemed like he was toying with me. The way he leaned against me, whispering in my ear, or when he grabbed my ass. Surely, he was gettingverypersonal.

And, what about the light striptease he did in the back of the room?

He was obviously trying to get me to look at him and it worked. But, what was I supposed to do? It wasn’t like I could look away. He’s the most attractive guy I had ever seen. Besides… when he rolled up his sleeves, I almost lost it.

Even after leaving his office, I could feel the burning in my belly, my primal lust trying to take over the rational side of my mind. I knew it was an exercise in futility to try and pursue my boss. It would never work out. He’s probably just playing with me because he gets some sick power kick out of it or something.

“Hey, how was your meeting with Mr. Jacobsen?” Freddie asked once I returned to my cubicle. He was leaning back in his computer chair, twirling a pen between his fingers.

“I’m… not sure.”

“Did he have you debug some mess of a code?” He asked.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t worry if you didn’t get it. Most people in here don’t.”

I shook my head. “No… that wasn’t the problem.”

“Wait…” Freddie leaned forward. “You actually managed to debug the whole thing?”

“Yeah. I mean, it wasn’t all that hard. There were a few parsing issues and those arrays were god-awful, but other than that, it really wasn’t that bad.”

Freddie stared at me like I had three heads. “How long did it take you?” He asked.

“Um…” I tried to think back to what Leonel had said, but my mind was still in a jumble. The image of his body was the only thing I could picture. I blinked before I remembered the question. “Little over ten minutes, I think.”

Freddie’s mouth hung agape. “Tenminutes? You’re pulling my leg.”

“Seriously. Why, is that bad?”

“Bad… I finished the same thing in 28 minutes. The record is 17. Well… it was…”

My eyes widened. “Oh…”

He chuckled. “I hardly think you need a mentor if you’re some coding prodigy.” He teased, poking me with his pen.

I forced a laugh, but then felt strange all of a sudden. “Maybe I should get to work.”

“Sure, sure. Your first assignment is on your desk. It just came in. It’s due Friday.”

I nodded. Soon, I was settled in my cubicle, getting started on the tracking software for the newestFly Techdrones. It was a bit buggy, causing issues with the GPS signaling, the accuracy of map coordinates, and overall flight path recognition.

I was getting into a good rhythm when I heard footsteps behind me. I swiveled in my chair, coming face to face with Mr. Jacobsen.

At once, my heart started to beat a little harder. My palms itched with perspiration. “S-Sir…” I stammered, surprised to see him.

“Elaine.” He smiled. “I need you to do this new assignment. Due tomorrow. Do you think you can do that for me?” He plopped down a thick folder on my desk.

“Yes,sir…” With that, Leonel disappeared.

***

That wasn’t the only time the CEO showed up in my cubicle and demanded I finish something in an unreasonable amount of time. It was like he was trying to push me to my limits, giving me harder assignments each time, until I was developing software all bymyselfwhen realistically, I should have been working with a whole team of developers.

“Hey, Elaine, do you want to grab lunch with me? It’s Friday, so there’s free pizza in the breakroom, but if we don’t hurry, the only thing left will be cheese.”

I wondered, for a moment, what was so wrong with cheese pizza before I noticed all the work I still needed to finish by the end of the day. “Um… I don’t think I can.”

“Oh, come on, this will be the third time this week that you skip out on lunch.”

Before I could say anything, he had already marched over to my desk. He grabbed me by the arm, hoisting me out of my seat.

With no other choice, I followed him to thebreak room. It was only when I sat down with two slices of pepperoni in front of me that I realized how hungry and tired I really was.

“Mr. Jacobsen is working you pretty hard, huh?Usually,the interns have it easy. They go on coffee runs, debug some code here and there, but generally, they have more than enough free time to lounge around in the game room. Have you even tried out the ping pong table?”

“We have a ping pong table?” I asked in confusion.

“Of course. As well as a billiards table, darts, and all the newest consoles. We hold aStreet Brawlertournament every Friday afternoon. I can probably get you a spot if you didn’t already sign up.” He said enthusiastically.

“Nothanks,” I said politely.

Our conversation died down as I ate my pizza in silence. It was actually pretty good and I was about to note the brand when Freddie let out a sigh.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing.” He was looking at his phone. “The world is just so messed up, you know? So many peopledyingevery day.” I glanced over. He had some news app pulled up, a headline flashing across the screen.

113 dead in thecatastrophicfire: Firefighters struggle to combat the flames!

“But, I don’t want to depress you with such issues. How are you liking your first week here?”

“It hasn’t been bad… but I think Mr. Jacobsen might be taking advantage of me.”

“Oh?” Freddie cocked his head to the side in question. “How so? He hasn’t… you know?”

I shook my head. “No, no. Nothing like that.” I responded, but I couldn’t help but think back to our encounter in his office. In fact, every chance he got, he did manage to touch me. A lingering caress on my arm… or his fingers would brush against mine. Was he trying to send me a message?

“Then what?”

“I don’t know. I feel like, he’s been overworking me. I mean, every day, he comes into my cubicle, drops off an assignment, tells me to finish it by tomorrow, when realistically, I should have a week to get it done, and not once have I heard a ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ out of him. I’m starting to think that he’s incredibly rude.” I didn’t know I had such resentment for the man, but as I started to complain, my true feelings came to the forefront. “It’s like he knows I’m attracted to him and he’s using that against me.” By the time I realized what I had said, it was already too late.

“You’re attracted to Mr. Jacobsen?” Freddie questioned.

“I… I didn’t saythat,” I replied quickly, my cheeks turning red. “What are you talking about? I could never like an egomaniac like him. He’s just some rich jerk who thinks he can use women. That’s all he is. I don’t like him at all.” I lied through my teeth, trying to make a case for myself. But, the more I replayed my own words in my head, the more truth they seemed to have to them.

“You hate him that much, huh?”

“Yes,” I said firmly, and a part of me believed it.

***

Yet, for the rest of the day, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Even if I wanted to convince myself that I hated him, he was still incredibly attractive. The mere sight of him got me all hot and sweaty. No man had ever had such a profound effect on me.

Still, I tried my best to ignore him, knowing he would do nothing but use me if I decided to develop apersonalrelationship with him.

I struggled with these conflicting thoughts all day, even as everyone filtered into the game room for their tournament. I was the only one still working, trying to finish my assignment. I had to work through their shouts of excitement.

To be honest, I didn’t know why I was trying so hard to please Leonel, but for whatever reason, I didn’t want to let him down, even if he made me feel unappreciated.

Soon, I was the only one left in the office. It was getting so late that even the lights went out, forcing me to turn on my desk lamp. I was so close to finishing the piece of software I was working on. All I needed was a little bit more time…

By the time I was finished, it was almost ten o’clock. I sighed, gathered my stuff and finally headed home.

Chapter 4 (Leo)

After a long day at work, it was finally time to go home. I grabbed my jacket and slipped it on before I grabbed my briefcase. Using my ID card, I called up the elevator.

Ding!

Once inside, I pressed the button for the garage, knowing there would be no one left in the building at such a late hour.

Stepping out, I was surprised to find another car in the lot beside my own. It was a small white Camry. The hood was popped, and there was someone bent over, looking at the engine. From the hourglass outline of their figure, it was obviously a woman.

“Do you need some help?” I asked, approaching her.

She stopped tinkering with the AC line and turned around.

Elaine.

I smiled slightly in the gloom of the parking lot. “Everything okay over here?”

She took a minute to answer as she bit her bottomliplike she was carefully choosing her every word. “My car won’t start… I don’t really know what’s wrong with it.”

“Let me take a look.” I placed my hands on her hips, letting my fingers dig into her supple flesh before I pushed her away. “I know a thing or two about cars. Just, do me a favor.”

She nodded.

I handed her my phone. “Turn on the flashlight and hold it for me so I can see properly.”

She did as she was told. She was always compliant. I liked that about her. In fact, I liked it a lot.

As she turned on the light, I inspected the car, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Everything seemed to be in order so I rolled up my sleeves and started to feel around. Maybe something was leaking.

My arms quickly got covered in grime and grease, but I didn’t mind. Getting your hands dirty was never a bad thing.

“Did you find the problem?” She asked, leaning against me. The feeling of her petite body against mine made me want to push her against the car and take her right then and there, but I curbed my sexual appetite – for now.

“I’m not sure.” I straightened back up and rubbed my hands together to get rid of some of the grime.

“Great… I have to call a tow truck, don’t I?” She was shivering in the unusually cold summer night.

“Not necessarily.” I bent down and picked up my jacket, handing it to her. When she wouldn’t take it, I draped it around her shoulders to keep her warm. “Stay here. I’ll go get my car. Maybe all you need is a jumpstart.”

I hesitated to leave her alone. The way she stood there, hugging herself, she almost looked vulnerable. I wanted to take her in my arms and protect her from the whole world. The feeling inside my chest was strong and powerful, like nothing I had ever felt before.

I lingered on it, wondering why I was feeling this way as I got in my car and pulled up in front of hers.

I popped the hood open and grabbed the jumper cables from the trunk, hooking them up. “Alright, try starting it up.”

Her eyes widened when she realized I was talking to her. Quickly, she scrambled into her car and turned the key. The engine sputtered for a moment before it roared to life. I unhooked the cables.

She got out of the car and stood by her door awkwardly, my jacket still draped across her shoulders. “T-Thank you…” She said in a soft whisper.

“Don’t mention it.” I smiled, closing her hood for her.

The sudden loud noise made her jump, causing her to almost trip on her high heels. I caught her before she could fall, pulling her closer to my body.

Naturally, I pushed her against the side of the car until our hips were locked together. I could almost feel the wild beating of her heart as she looked up at me with great big eyes.

I leaned in closer, watching as she closed her eyes and puckered her lips ever so slightly. I knew she was preparing herself for a kiss and damn, I wanted nothing more than to bend her over this car and kiss her until her lips turned blue, but as I held her a little closer, I knew it would be much more fun to tease her. To make her want me, so much so, that she would be on the verge of begging for it. I grinned at the thought, imagining her on her knees before me, her pink lips in a cute little O, just waiting for me to make the next move.

With this thought, I let her go. “Well, I hope you have a safe ride home.”

A look of disappointment painted her face. She frowned slightly before nodding. “Thank you.” She disappeared inside her car and drove away. I stood there a little longer, a smirk flashing across my face. I had no doubt in my mind that she wanted me. It was written all over her body, from the way she looked at metothe way she acted around me.

Soon enough, she would bemine.

Satisfied with myself, I got in my car and headed home. Taking the highway, I stayed in the fast lane, going well above the speed limit before I pulled off into my exit. It wasn’t long before I reached the affluent part of town. Mansions loomed on either side, decorating the street as far as the eye could see.

I turned into a small side street. Here, the mansions were even bigger.

And then there was mine, the biggest of them all.

I pressed a button on my steering wheel and the automated gates swung open. Slowly, I drove up the driveway, admiring my home as it came into full view.

Just a few years ago, I would have never imagined myself living in such a place.

It was funny how fast fortunes could change.

Chapter 5 (Elaine)

I went to work the following Monday, wondering what the week would bring. I walked up to the screens at the back of the lobby and pressed my hand against the palm reader, getting used to the sign-in process.

Welcome!

Warren, Elaine.

Have a fantastic Monday!

I barely noticed the generated log-in messages because I was already on my way to the elevator, joined by a few other people.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Leonel in his dark-colored suit and I was instantly reminded that his jacket was still in my car. On the ride up, I replayed the events of that evening in my head.

It had beensurprisingto see the CEO doing his best to help me out. I didn’t expect such a man to want to get his hands dirty, but he did fix my car with relative ease, almost as if he had done such a thing thousands of times before. Maybe he had. Maybe there was more to Leonel than met the eye. Maybe I had been too quick to judge.

As I kept thinking about it, the moment he had pushed me against the side of my car flashed before my eyes. I was so surprised in that moment that I had no idea what to do. It was like I was frozen in place, my heart beating so fast I thought it would explode.

I was sure he was going to kiss me, but he never did. The way his body pressed against mine, his fingers digging into my hips, and his face leaning closer, all seemed like signs he was into me. But, then again, it was foolish of me to believe that a successful CEO would ever go for his summer intern. It just didn’t make sense. And yet, I couldn’t get rid of the tiny spark of hope that flared inside of me.

For the rest of the day, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Right before lunch, Freddie appeared in my cubicle, a slight grin on his face that I had never seen before. “Hey, Elaine.” He said in his usual manner, but there was definitely something odd about him today.

“Hey,” I said, glancing at the time, but it was still too early to grab lunch. “What’s up?”

“Mr. Jacobsen wants to see you.” He paused. “In his office.”

I tilted my head in confusion. Usually, when Leonel needed me, he would just come down and talk to me himself. Aside from that first day he called me into his office, I haven’t even set foot on his floor. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I just got back from there myself and he told me to give you the message. He seemed pretty pissed about something.” He frowned. “I hope everything is okay.” Even though he sounded sincere, there was a part of me that thought he was actingstrangely.

“Okay.” I finally said, trying to keep my thoughts calm. Already, I was conjuring up the worst possible scenarios. I had probably screwed up one of my assignments in my rush to finish them. Or maybe he was going to frame me for stealing his jacket and make me pay for it. Or, worst case, he was going to fire me.

The last one made me cringe. I needed this job. It was the only way I was paying my bills. Besides, with the money I was making, I even had enough to put some in the bank. Maybe, I’d be able to buy my own place soon. I was sick and tired of living in an apartment building, especially with noisy neighbors such as mine.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on his door.

I heard footsteps and a second later, he was standing in front of me, a stern expression on his face. “Elaine.” His voice was ice-cold, making me shiver.

I gulped. This was it. He was about to fire me. I could almost feel it.

“Please, take a seat.” He said, pushing me toward the leather chair. His hand was on the small of my back. Most of the time, his hand was much lower. Had I just imagined him flirting with me?

I sat down, fidgeting slightly under the heat of his gaze.

“Someone has just told me that you’re not happy with me.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“I… I don’t know what you mean…?”

“Fredrick White was up here and he told me that you had a conversation in the breakroom. Apparently, you think I’m an egomaniac that only uses women for his own gains.” He leaned in, getting closer to me. His nostrils flared slightly, almost as if he was a charging bull. “Now, is that true?”

I didn’t know how to respond. It was like my tongue had swollen in my mouth, making it impossible for me to utter a word.

“Answer me!” He bellowed in a harsh and dominating tone.

My eyes widened and I jumped out of my seat. “I…I…”

He grabbed me by the chin, his fingers pressing a little harder than they needed to until I turned and faced him. His hot breath escaped his lips and onto my own. I was terrified, but at the same time, this rougher side of him… excited me.

“If you don’t answer me this instant, I’ll make sure that you never get a job in the software industry ever again.” He snarled. “I donottolerate slander, so I suggest you tell me the truth or youwillregret it.”

I could already feel the droplets of sweat running down my neck. My fingers twitched, toying with the hem of my skirt in nervousness. “I…” Again, I stammered, silently cursing myself for my inability to speak. Taking a deep breath, I counted to ten in my head, trying to calm down. “Y-yes…” I finally admitted.

His eyes narrowed.

There goes my job…

Nothing happened for a minute. It was like the whole world had come to a screeching halt. Even my heart had stopped its wild hammering. I held my breath, just waiting for him to dismiss me.

Finally, he straightened his posture, fixing his cufflinks. “Usually, your contract would be terminated immediately. However, I’m willing to give you a second chance, as long as you do something for me.”

There was something in his voice that made me weary. What would he make me do?

He finished adjusting his cuffs and it was only then that I noticed his tuxedo. He even wore a black bowtie. I was so worried that I hadn’t realized.

“W-What do you want me to do?” I asked, trying to keep a level head. “I-I can’t lose this job.” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Great, now I sounded desperate.

A grin flashed across his face. “Oh, if you’re a good girl for me, I’ll make sure you don’t.” His grin deepened.

“Good girl?” I repeated, getting the impression that he didn’t mean that in the professional sense.

“Oh, yes.” He stepped forward, his hand on the top of my head, gently petting my hair in a soothing manner. “You’ll do that for me, won’t you?” He asked in a coaxing voice.

I found myself saying yes even before I could think it over. It was as if his voice had the ability to wrap around me and pull me into a spell. I leaned in closer to him as if my body needed his.

“Good.” He praised, his bright blue eyes shining with mischief.“BecauseI need a date.”

“Huh?” I blurted in utter disbelief. Why would a man like Leonel be asking me on a date? He could probably get any girl in the world, why me of all people?

“I have a military ball to go to and I need someone to accompany me.” He said, his tonestoicas if everything he was saying was completely obvious.

“B-But… why me?”

“Because you’re no longer in a position where you can refuse.” He chuckled. “Oh, and one more thing…” He trailed off as he walked behind his desk, bending over to pick something up. “You’ll be wearing this.”

He stood up, holding a box in his hands.

When he placed it on my lap, it felt heavy. “Wait… how did you know to get this? Better yet, how did you know my size?” I started to rant, hoping for answers, but he just looked at me with this mysterious smile on his face. “Um… do you want me to get dressed now?”

“Yes. The ball starts at four and it’s quite a drive away.”

I nodded. “O-Okay… I’ll be right back.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked in a curt tone.

“To get changed in the bathroom?” I tilted my head, wondering what he meant.

“There’s no need for that. Do it here.”

I froze, my cheeks turning red. “H-Here?” I stuttered, my heart kick-starting in my chest.

“Is that a problem or should I find someone else?” He pulled out a stack of papers from his desk drawer and plopped them down. “That’s all the people who want your position. I’m sure I could find someone to take your place.”

My eyes widened. “No! No… I’ll do it.” I said quickly.

“Good. Get on with it then. We don’t have all day.” He leaned against his desk, his arms folded over his chest as his piercing gaze fell upon me like a hawk stalking a mouse.

With my heart working overtime and my fingers shaking, I started to undo the buttons on my blouse. I felt so naughty doing this in front of my boss. What if someone walked in on us? What if someone in the building across the street saw us? All these questions flooded my mind, making the process of undressing excruciatingly slow.

“If you keep up that pace, I might need to take matters into my own hands.” He said, his voice a husky whisper. “Or, maybe that’s exactly what you want. You’re teasing your boss on purpose, aren’t you?” He closed the distance between us.

I stepped back until I was pressed against the wall, his body dominating my own. Even though the rational part of my brain was telling me this was wrong – so very wrong – the kinkier side was loving every second of it. In fact, I was already picturing him ravishing me, his hands all over my body, making me scream for more.

“You’ve been teasing me since the first day I saw you. Skimpy little outfits. The way you bat your eyelashes. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. Youwantme.” His lips were so close to my neck that I could feel his hot breath caress my skin. I shivered in pleasure as his hand ran down the side of my body, from my chest to my hips. His hands rested on my ass, squeezing it so hard that I was forced onto my tippy toes.

A small moan escaped my lips as my body took control. I was done trying to suppress my instincts. If this man wanted me, then he could have me. Every inch of me.

Slowly, he unzipped the side of my skirt, pulling it over my wide hips. He then ripped open my blouse, exposing my large chest. “Mmm, even better than I could’ve imagined.” He leaned down, kissing my cleavage before he reached back, unclipping my bra with a skilled hand.

Before I knew it, I was completely naked in front of this man, my milky flesh covered in goosebumps. He stepped back and looked me over, licking his lips. It almost looked like he wanted to take a bite out of me. My heart thumped in anticipation, waiting for him to make a move, but all he did was pull a dress out of the box and toss it in my direction, letting me put it on myself.

As always, he left me wanting more.

Chapter 6 (Leo)

I could tell she was dying for my touch, for me to give her exactly what she wanted, but I wasn’t done toying with her just yet. I was only just beginning to wind her up. By the time I was done with her, she would be begging for it.

“You lookstunning,” I said, completely floored by her appearance. The shimmering black dress I had bought her fit her like a glove, hugging those enticingly wide hips of hers. The sweetheart neckline accentuated her breasts to perfection. She looked a little unsteady in the heels I had gotten her to match the dress, but her legs looked amazing as a result. “I could just push you against the wall and take you right here and now…” I whispered, knowing it would drive her crazy. As I said this, I ran my hand along her thigh, getting closer and closer to her pussy.

She moaned ever so slightly. It was intoxicating, causing most of the blood from my head to rush down between my legs. My erection rubbed against the thin material of my pants in an uncomfortable manner, but I ignored it, knowing I had to wait until later to have my fun with her.

“Shall we?” I asked, holding out my hand. We were just about to leave when I noticed something still inside the box. I clicked my tongue in disappointment. “Tsk. Tsk. Looks like we forgot something.” I said, reaching into the box and pulling out a thin black collar. This was how I would truly test her. While the collar could pass off as a choker, it was obvious that it wasn’t, especially since it had a D-ring in the front.

I handed it to her, wondering how she would react.

She took it and turned it over, her fingers running along the soft leather. After a while she handed it back and held up her hair, exposing her neck for me.

I smiled.

So, she really was submissive. Excellent.

Slowly, I wrapped the piece of leather around her neck.

Click.

I lockedona tiny padlock, letting it fall onto the nape of her neck. For now, the metal was cold, but soon enough, it would warm to her body heat.

She shivered and closed hereyeslike she knew she had just sealed her fate.

I leaned in, brushing her hair behind her ear. “You’re mine.”

***

When we arrived at the ball, we were one of the last couples to arrive. It probably didn’t help that I was teasing her throughout the whole car ride. My hand kept creeping further and further up her leg or fondling her breasts. I was sure that underneath her dress, she was soaking wet.

Good. That’s exactly how I liked it.

By the time I parked in front of the function hall, she already had this almost glazed-over look in her eyes. It was a look I knew very well – the look of utter lust and ecstasy.

“Come,” I said, holding out my hand to help her out of the car.

She looked confused at first, probably thinking I had saidcum. I chuckled under my breath and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the car.

Holding her hand as if we were an official couple, I guided her up the long walkway that led to the lavish seaside mansion.

There was a look of amazement on her face, her eyes taking in the scene. “Wow…” She whispered.

“You haven’t seen anything yet…” I pulled her closer, my arm around her waist, holding her tight.

Inside, the ballroom wasexquisitely decoratedwith white and gold streamers, fine china, and of course, a large ice sculpture in the shape of a swan.

“What… what is this?” She finally asked, her eyes scanning the function.

“A military ball. Everyone you see wearing colors has served in the army.” I showed her my own badges, pinned to the lapel of my tuxedo. “We’re here to raise money for our brothers in arms.”

Elaine nodded. “So… you were in the military?”

“Sevenyears,” I answered as I guided her toward thedance floorwhere other couples were waltzing to the tune of the music.

“Whoa… really?”

“You sound surprised.”

I rested my hands on her hips and pulled her closer until our bodies were pressed together. Her eyes widened when she felt my large member rubbing against her leg. Before she could say anything, I had my hand on the small of her back, applying pressure until her posture was ramrod straight. With my other hand, I laced our fingers together and started to guide her through the motions, our bodies moving in perfect sync.

Her dress flowed behind her like a shadow. Her eyes glittered like diamonds. There was no denying – she was absolutely breathtaking. I held her a little closer, getting high off her scent, off her mere presence. Never before had I felt such a strong bond with another person.

We continued to dance, my eyes occasionally glancing downward at her lovely rack. As the tempo increased, we moved a little faster, causing her chest to jiggle ever so slightly. If we were alone, I would have leaned down andsuckledon her delicious breasts, letting my lips and tongue travel all over them until she was begging for me to stop.

At the end of the song, we came to a standstill, looking into each other’s eyes. She smiled and leaned forward as if she was about to kiss me, but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone who looked rather familiar. I broke away from her gaze and scanned the room.

In the back, there was a man standing against the wall, wearing a white tuxedo. His eyes were low, almost as if he was staring at something on the ground, making it impossible for me to ID him. He had one leg crossed over the other, his hands in his pockets.

Suddenly, he looked up, locking eyes with me. My blood ran cold.

It was him.

I blinked.

He was gone.

Chapter 7 (Elaine)

“Leo… what’s wrong?” I asked, seeing his distant gaze. He was looking at something, but when I followed his line of sight, it seemed like he was staring at the punchbowl. “Is everything okay?” I placed my hand on his chest, tugging on the fabric of his shirt ever so slightly. I couldn’t help but think that maybe, I had done something wrong.

Suddenly, his hands wrapped around my wrists, holding them tight – too tight.

“Ow, Leo… you’re hurting me.”

“We have to go.”

“But… we just got here.” We had driven almost three hours to get to this place and now, we were leaving after only one dance? He tried to pull me along, but I dug my heels into the ground, refusing to budge. “Was it something I did?”

He looked back at me with an almost crazy glint in his eye. “I said, we have to go.” He growled, his grip tightening. He kept looking over his shoulder as if afraid of something.

“What do you keep looking at? What are you running away from?”

He didn’t bother answering me. Instead, he tugged on my arm and yanked me forward. We barreled through the crowd of people. A few of them stared at our hurried departure, wondering what was going on.

Once we were outside, Leo once again looked over his shoulder.

“What’s the matter?” I asked one more time.

“Nothing.” He answered, his posture relaxing a tiny bit. “Nothing…” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Just… an oldfriend…that I don’t want to see.”

“So, you’re running away from someone?”

“No.” He said firmly, his free hand tightening into a fist like he was trying to suppress his emotions. “Idon’trun away.” He said the words through his teeth. I could tell that there was something he was hiding from me.

“Look, whatever is going on, you can tell me.”

“Shut up.” He hissed as he slammed me into the side of the car. His lips were on mine a second later, taking my breath away. The kiss was rough and desperate, his hands roaming all over mybodylike he was going to undress me right there on the side of the street.

His hand crept under my dress, reaching for my thong. He pulled on the waistband until the flimsy fabric was lost between my wet folds. I moaned, my cheeks turning red, knowing that anyone who passed us by on the sidewalk would immediately realize what we were doing.

“Leo…” I whispered, slowly pushing him away. I was loving every second of his body on mine, of his hands exploring my secret places, but I couldn’t do it on the side of the street. “Maybe we should…”

He seemed to be reading my mind because he opened the car door and helped me inside. A second later, he was in the driver’s seat, peeling away from his parking space and onto the highway. Once we were in the fast lane, he glanced over at me, his eyes darker than before.

I shivered, the sexual tension inside the car thick and suffocating.

“Pull up your dress.” He commanded.

“What?”

“Pull up your dress. I want to see how wet you really are.” He repeated. “Don’t make me tell you a third time or you’re really not going to like the punishment I have planned for you.”

His words sent me into a sexual frenzy. I knew I couldn’t refuse this man. I wanted him way too much. I needed him.

Feeling a little embarrassed, I hiked up my dress, exposing my legs. Soon enough, it was bunched up around my waist, my black thong on full display.

“Play with yourself.” He commanded.

My eagerness faltered for a moment.

“If you keep hesitating, I’ll use your collar to chain you to the closest rest stop and leave you to the truckers.” He sounded absolutely serious which sent an inkling of fear crawling under my skin.

“You wouldn’t…”

“Try me.”

Not wanting to find out if he was telling the truth or not, I slid my hand under the tiny triangle of fabric. My fingers were instantly met by my own wetness.

Trying to pretend I was in my own bedroom, where I had done this countless times before, I started to run my fingers up and down my slit, getting every inch of it completely wet.

“I don’t hear you moaning.” He growled.

I jumped at his voice and instantly started to push in my middle finger. I moaned ever so softly under my breath, bucking my hips into the air to allow my finger even deeper entrance.

“Faster.”

I obeyed his command, pumping my finger in and out of my wet pussy as fast as I could. The sound of my juices sloshing in and out of me echoed through the interior of the car. The thong did little to prevent my juices from dripping down my thighs and onto the seat, creating a puddle.

“Two fingers.”

I took a deep breath before I pushed in a second finger inside of me, going a little slower now that I was being stretched ever so slightly. Since I was a virgin, my pussy was still incredibly tight, making even two fingers a bit cumbersome. I could only imagine what it would feel like to have someone like Leo inside me. I had only felt his cock against my thigh for a moment, but from what I could tell, it washuge.

My fantasies took over, imagining him hovering over me, completely naked, his body like that of a god. The tip of his cock against my pussy, about to penetrate me and bring me intoa worldI had never experienced before. The bed rocking. My moans so loud, the neighbors would hear me scream. Only this time, the screams would be ones of pleasure…

I was so entranced by my own fantasies that I didn’t feel his hand creep onto my thigh. Before I knew what was going on, he had ripped the thong right off my body, flinging it onto the back seat. I gasped from the recoil of the elastic.

Now completely exposed, I shivered as the AC blew over my pussy lips. He seemed to realize this because he cranked it up even higher. The cool air also caused my nipples to grow rock-hard, poking through the fabric of my dress.

“You’re so wet…” He mused, running his fingers along my slick pussy. He pressed the tip of his finger against my entrance, teasing me with it, but just when I thought he was going to penetrate me, he pulled back, letting his thumb rub circles into my clit. I moaned louder than ever, lifting my hips off the seat and grinding into his hand, silently begging for more.

“Leo…” I moaned softly, my heart beating fast.

“I bet you’d do anything for me to fuck you right now, wouldn’t you, you dirty little girl?” He reached over and opened the glove compartment. He grabbed something before I could see it, placing it on his lap. When I looked over, all I could see was his growing erection through his pants. A sudden urge washed over me.

I reached over and started to fondle him, getting a feel for his length.

“Don’t tease.” He growled. “If you’re going to do it, do it.” He said, pushing my head down until I was practically laying on his lap.

Carefully, I unzipped his pants and freed his cock. It was even bigger than I expected. My fingers could barely wrap around its thick girth.

“That’s it, baby, rub it nice and slow for me.”

I did as I was told, rubbing his member up and down until he was rock-hard. I noticed a drop of precum on his tip. Before I could stop myself, I was leaning down, lapping it up. I didn’t stop there. My tongue continued to explore his cock, running along his underside while my hands fondled his balls. Somehow, all this came naturally, even though I had never been this intimate with a man before.

His fingers ran through my hair, sending a shiver through my spine. “Good girl…” He cooed, only adding to my excitement. The thought of pleasing this man made me want topleasurehim even more.

My tongue wrapped around his tip, teasing him ever so slightly, seeing how far I could push him.

“Open.”

I didn’t think twice as I opened my mouth for him. With a slight thrust of his hips, he was inside my mouth, filling it to the brim. My cheeks puffed out slightly, trying to accommodate the massive member.

Leo, however, did not give me time to adjust. Instead, his fingers locked around my hair, using it as a handhold to move my head up and down his length, pushing himself so deep that the tip of his cock slammed into the back of my throat, causing me to gag.

I tried to pull away, but his hold was firm, forcing me to deep-throat him. When my teethaccidentallygrazed against him, his hand left my hair and spanked my ass so hard that I jumped, pulling away from his cock. “Bad girl.” He said, spanking me again and again and again until I finally managed to wrap my lips around him once more. My ass was on fire and my eyes were starting to water, but deep down, I was loving every minute of this.

Once again, he started to face-fuck me, harder and harder until my drool was running down his length. I was getting lightheaded from the lack of air, but I didn’t dare to pull away.

His hand left my hair once again and I thought we were about to stop, but he spanked my ass the moment I slowed down. “Keep going.” He prompted.

So, I kept my lips around him tightly, bobbing my head up and down as best I could. It was hard to focus on sucking him off while his hand ran down my body and onto my ass, squeezing the tender flesh. His fingers danced against my skin for a moment before he reached down, finding my dripping wet pussy. Without warning, he shoved a finger inside of me.

I howled, moaning against his cock while it was throat-deep inside of me. My back arched and my toes curled inside my shoes.

“You like that, don’t you?” He asked as he started to finger-fuck me hard and fast. It felt so good. Soon enough, he added another finger, going just as fast, stretching me out. I was panting and struggling to keep up when he added a third, stretching me to the point where I thought I would rip in half. Leo was merciless, going so hard that I could barely control myself.

In an explosion of ecstasy, I climaxed –hard. So hard that I could not think, see, or function properly for a good minute. While I was in this sex-induced daze, he pulled me off his cock by the hair and sat me up on my seat. Before I could react, he had cuffed my hands together in front of me. A second later, he attached a small chain from the cuffs to the D-ring on my collar, making it impossible for me to lower my hands and touch myself. Again, he reached into the glove compartment, pulling out a bullet-shaped object. Without a word, he shoved it inside my already sensitive pussy, turning the vibrator to its highest setting.

I was just coming down from my high when he locked the collar to the headrest, making it impossible for me to move very much without choking myself.

“Enjoy the car ride.” He chuckled, both hands on the wheel now as he moved into the slow lane, taking his speed down to the proper limit.

My eyes widened and I started to struggle against my bonds. “You can’t just leave me like this!”

I bucked my hips into the air, the movement causing the chain to rattle.

“Keep moving and I’ll just have to tighten your bondage.” He threatened, but I could barely even hear him. The vibrator was driving me wild. I wiggled my fingers, trying to reach the lock on my collar, but it was impossible.

When I wouldn’t stop, he reached over, buckling my seatbelt. It locked into place, keeping me trapped in my seat.

I groaned in sexual frustration, my breathing ragged and my heart working overtime. My whole body was surging with pleasure. I squirmed, getting close to the edge, but before I could climax for the second time, he switched the vibrator off.

“Leo…” I looked over at him with great big eyes, hoping he would take pity on me, but he just smirked at me with a look of satisfaction.

For the rest of the ride, he kept toying with me in this manner. He would turn down the vibrator and calm me down before he would spike it back up and send me to the edge. It was torture. Sweet, sweet, torture.

Before we got home, however, he pulled into a vacant rest stop. We were the only car there. He got out and opened the passenger-side door with a smirk. “Quite the pinch you’ve gotten yourself into, haven’t you?” His grin deepened as he turned up the vibrator.

I moaned loudly, tilting my head back and bucking my hips, dry-humping the air in desperation. My fingers tightened into fists, thinking that maybe, just maybe, he would let me cum.

Nope.

He turned it off again just as I felt a wave of pleasure course through my body. Without warning, he pulled the small bullet out of me, leaving me feeling empty. Slowly, he unlocked my collar from the headrest and unbuckled my seatbelt, pulling me out. Leaning me against the car, he held my cheeks in his hands, almost in a caring, romantic fashion. “Now… what should I do to you? Hogtie you and bend you over the hood of my car and fuck you from behind? Or tie you to a nearby tree, fucking you hard until your back is all red from the bark. Or would you rather I leave you here for the next guy that comes around…?”

“No!” My eyes grew wide. “Don’t leave me here.”

“Then beg for it.”

“Beg?”

“Beg for me to fuck you. Don’t think you can hide your lust from me. You’re practically dripping down your legs just thinking about it, aren’t you?” With his words, he reached between my legs, running his fingers along my slit. He flicked my clit ever so slightly, causing me to moan in white hot pleasure. I was so sensitive from the vibrator that a simple touch was enough to send me over the edge. “Tell me how you want it, you dirty girl.”

He pulled his fingers away from my pussy and pressed them against my lips.

“Open.”

Hesitantly, I parted my lips and he pushed his fingers into my mouth. I was forced to taste myself, something I had never done before. My cheeks turned red with humiliation, but somehow, I felt myself getting even wetter. I was loving this. Maybe I really was a dirty girl…

“You have thirty seconds to start begging before I tie you to that pole over there, completely naked, save for your high heels. There’s no telling what kind of men might pass by here and find a pretty thing trussed up for the taking…”

I shivered at the threat and shook my head. “No…”

“But, tell the truth, you aren’t scared of some guy taking you. No, you’re scared of not getting to be with me.”

I nodded. “Yes! God… I want you so bad… please… please don’t leave me here. I… I want to be with you.” The words came spewing out of my mouth without my meaning them to. “I want to feel your cock inside my pussy. I want it so, so bad. I can’t think of anything else…Please,Leo. Fuck me!” I begged desperately, moving closer to him, pressing my body against his.

He smirked and before I knew what was happening, he had me bent over the hood, my ass in the air. He squeezed it harshly before spanking it even harder, leaving behind an angry red handprint.

Within minutes, I was hogtied on the hood of the car. It was warm against my now naked body. I could feel my heels pressing against my ass.

Leo stepped back and I feared he was going to leave me there, but instead, I heard something rattling. Seconds later, the car started and the vibration of the engine rolled through my body, causing me to moan even louder.

Faintly, I heard the sound of his pants being unzipped and then his hands were on my thighs, prying them apart. He dragged me to the edge of the hood, my breasts rubbing against the warm, smooth metal, my nipples so hard they ached.

He spread my legs as much as mybondageallowed, his fingers running along my slit once more before I felt his cock against my entrance.

I closed my eyes, squeezing my fingers together.

All of a sudden, he rammed into me, tearing through my virginity without hesitation. I screamed at the top of my lungs at the shooting pain, but it was quickly replaced with pleasure as he started to rock his hips in and out of me, dominating every inch of me until I was screaming his name.

He pulled on my hair, using it for leverage to get even deeper inside of me. I was struggling to keep up, my mind turning to putty, my breathing ragged and my hormones out of control. I never thought I would love this as much as I did, but he was driving me absolutely insane, winding me up until I thought I couldn’t take it anymore.

I could feel his every inch. His every bulging vein. His throbbing member as he tore right through me.

Soon, it was too much for me to handle and I screamed in pleasure, climaxing for the second time that night.

Leo continued to fuck me, harder and harder, and I could tell, he wasn’t even close to being done.

It was going to be a long, long night.

Chapter 8 (Leo)

I had fucked Elaine a week ago and still, the thought of her lithe body on the hood of my car was enough to drive me absolutely insane. Work made it impossible for us to have any more fun after that night, but that didn’t mean we didn’t sneak in the occasional break time treat. Even yesterday, she had been in my office, sucking me off underneath my desk as I took a very important conference call. It had been difficult to keep my composure, especially when she started to fondle my balls, but somehow, I managed.

She was definitely getting better and in time, she would be the perfect little pet.

I glanced at my watch. It was already 11:30. Hoping to catch Elaine before she went down for lunch, I got up and headed for the seventh floor. I navigated through the maze of cubicles until I reached Elaine’s. The one beside hers was now empty since I had discharged Freddie shortly after he snitched on Elaine. No one liked a snitch.

To my surprise, her workspace looked untouched, like she hadn’t come in. I walked over to a neighboring cubicle. “Excuse me, has Elaine come into work today?” The older man looked up in surprise. He quickly minimized something and tried to appear professional in front of his boss. It was obvious he was looking at porn. Half the traffic in this department was for porn sites.

“Uh… Elaine?” There were beads of sweat on his temples.

I rolled my eyes and left, heading for the fifth floor instead. There, I knocked on Mrs. Kilroy’s office.

“Come in!” She called.

I walked in to find her in her usual colorful attire.

“Oh, Mr. Jacobsen…” She said, scrambling to tidy up her desk in my presence. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here until Monday morning. I haven’t finished those reports yet… but they will most certainly be done on time.”

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“Oh?” She asked, looking confused.

“Can you check if Elaine Warren clocked into work today.”

“Of course.” She logged into her computer, using a fancy pen to type. I always thought her typing method was strange and impractical, but Mrs. Kilroy was a good worker and I wasn’t about to judge. “It looks like… she hasn’t.”

“Has she called in sick?”

“Not from what I can tell.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

“Certainly!” She called out, watching me leave.

Outside her office, I grabbed my phone and dialed Elaine’s number. I started to walk down the hall, but by the time I reached the elevator, she still hadn’t answered.

“Hello!”

“Elaine –”

“You have reached my voicemail! Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks! Bye!” Her voice was high-pitched and strange-sounding in the recording like it was a younger version of herself.

I shook my head and dialed again, starting down the hallway once more.

For a second time, I was sent to her voicemail. Why wasn’t she answering her phone?

I called the elevator and rode back up to my office. I had access to all my employee’s information so I quickly looked up Elaine. I dialed her home phone number, hoping to reach her that way, but had no such luck.

Where was she?

In the pit of my stomach, I felt the weight of worry. What if something had happened to her?

I remembered the military ball. What if…?

No.

It couldn’t be.

***

I drove as fast as I could to her home. She lived in a decent enough neighborhood where the lawns were green and most houses were fenced-off withwhitepicket.

“124… 126… 130…” I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. Where was 128?

I put the car into reverse, thinking I had missed something, but it was like Elaine’s house didn’t exist.

So, I entered the address into my phone’s navigation.

You have reached your destination!

Growing frustrated, I parked the car and decided to go on foot. As I did, I noticed a small, narrow driveway that led to a house hidden behind the others.

128.

I jogged up to the door. Elaine’s white Camry was in the driveway. Maybe she was home after all.

On the porch, nothing looked out of place. The rocking chair needed a little varnish and the coffee table had a stain on it, but nothing looked broken. Even the windows seemed to be untouched. Maybe I was worrying over nothing.

I rang the doorbell, hearing it echo through the home.

I waited and waited and waited.

Nothing happened.

I reached for the handle, but the second I did, the door swung back like it was already open. “Elaine?” I called out, slowly pushing the door back all the way, revealing a dark hallway. I crossed the threshold slowly, my military training coming to the forefront. There was obviously some sort of a break in. A very sophisticated one at that.

I ground my teeth together, already thinking the worst, but I couldn’t jump to conclusions just yet. Maybe Elaine was just sick… and hadaccidentallyleft the door open.

Once inside, I grabbed an umbrella from a holder behind the door, planning to use it as a weapon if need be. It wasn’t much, but if used correctly, it could cause quite a bit of damage with its steel tip. I tip-toed slowly, keeping to the shadows in case the intruder was still inside.

I crept along the wall, heading toward the back of the house. “Elaine?”

There was no answer.

I walked into the kitchen, but there was still no sign of her anywhere.

As I stopped by the window, glancing into her backyard, I heard a soft buzzing noise.

It sounded familiar. Too familiar.

Swapping the umbrella for a kitchen knife, I headed outside, keeping my guard up.

Scanning the area, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

The buzzing, however, continued.

I looked up to find a drone perched on the roof. One ofmydrones.

My eyes narrowed in suspicion.

The drone moved, angling its camera toward me. Whoever was operating it was obviously watching me. My fingers tightened around the knife’s handle, my anger growing. Someone had gone after Elaine to get to me. I had put her in harm’s way.

“I always knew you were a coward,Anthony,” I shouted at the small aircraft. “That’s why you can’t face me like a man. You have to hide behind a drone.” Uttering those words felt wrong in a way, memories springing forward from the deepest, darkest recesses of my mind.

***

We were in the middle of Afghanistan. The sound of military artillery was a constant background noise. Men shouted at each other. Bombs went off. Whole buildings collapsed to the ground.

Nearby, a mother held her daughter tight against her chest, trying to shield her from all the debris. When I had first enlisted in the army, I had tried to help the civilians, feeling sorry for their state of affairs. Their misfortune touched my heart in a way I couldn’t quite understand.

Then one day, a little girl stabbed me. Luckily, I was wearing a protective vest so I wasn’t badly injured, but from that day forward, I was no longer so quick to trust.

“We have to stop them before they level the whole camp.” My partner joined me behind the overturned tank I was using as cover. “I just got word they’re sending in suicide bombers. If we don’t do something now, we’re all dead.”

I nodded, trying to pick up my gun, but my fingers were shaking. I had been awake for 48 hours, trying to stay alive. The danger of being shot or even blown to pieces was lurking around every corner. I had seen it happen to my comrades, their body parts flying in different directions. I had pressed my hand to gaping bullet wounds, my hands turning crimson, only for them to die in a matter of minutes. I had dug more graves than I could count, one of my vest pockets filled with dog tags that would hopefully make it back home to their families.

“You can’t go out there.” Anthony placed his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it slightly. He tossed a heavy box in my lap. “Stay here. Fly the drone. I’ll cover you.”

I shook my head. “You can’t. You’ll be killed. Let me do it.”

Anthony just smiled. “Nothing can kill me. Do you know how many times bullets have whistled past my ears and I’m still standing to tell about it? Don’t let me down.”

Without another word, he got up, charging into the heat of battle.

I gulped, knowing I had no choice but to man the drone. I opened the control pad and started it up. I had only flown a drone once before and it was in a controlled practice field. With my fingers still shaking, I guided it in the right direction, determined to wipe out the threat with one well-aimed blast. That’s all we needed.

Boom!

A grenade went off no more than a dozen feet away from me.

I ducked for cover, covering my head with my arms, cowering in fear. My ears were ringing, my body shaking.

“What the hell are you doing?” Anthony grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt. “You idiot!” He screamed, grabbing the control box, but the signal was already lost, the dronecrashedintothe side of a mountain. “That was our one shotatgetting out of here alive.” He threw the box down in frustration. “You fucking coward.” He kicked me as hard as he could before taking my gun and abandoning me by the tank.

In the end, I was the only one from my platoon who survived the shootout. I had stolen a gun from a fellow soldier, using it to force my way back to safety. My mind was numbed by my own failure, functioning like a suicide bomber with nothing to live for now that I had lost my pride and valor.

I didn’t care who was in my way, as long as they weren’t American, I shot them down, trying to make up for what I had done, but no amount of bloodshed could ever bring back the dead.

***

I shook my head, trying to chase the memory away.

I had been so sure Anthony had died that day. He never came back to the platoon and he was pronounced MIA shortly after. It was only logical to believe he had perished. But now, he was back from the dead, punishing me for the mistake I had made so many years ago.

The drone flew down, hovering beside me. Attached to it was a piece of paper.

I pulled it off, reading the note in a familiar hand.

Leo,

So, we meet again. I guess you thought you would never hear or see me again. I bet you thought I was dead, like all the other men you murdered with your cowardice, but like I said so long ago, nothing can kill me – not even you.

I think it’s about time you pay for your crimes. Hell, the American government deemed you a war hero, but they don’t know the truth. They don’t know that you’re nothing more than a dirty coward.

I’ve been watching you. For longer than you can imagine,waitingfor the perfect chance to exact my revenge. And that day is finally upon us! You seem to be rather fond of this girl. Can’t blame you. Pretty.  Might have some fun before I dispose of her. Don’t worry I’ll make it quick and painless. If she stays with you much longer, she’ll end up dead anyway.

But, if you want to see her one last time, meet me at the docks immediately, and maybe we can work out your redemption.

See you soon,

Anthony.

Chapter 9 (Elaine)

I felt like I had just been hit by a freight train. My head was killing me and there was a constant throbbing in my temples. I tried to move my head but as I did, it rolled on my neck, causing a surge of pain to rip through my spine.

My eyes felt like they were glued together. I groaned loudly, trying to move my body. To my dismay, I seemed to be restrained in some fashion, my hands tied behind my back. Rubbing my wrists together, it felt like there was coarse rope wrapped around them.

Whatthe hell wasgoing on?

***

The last thing I could remember was getting ready for work in the morning. I was waiting in the kitchen for my coffee to brew. Already, the smell was filtering through the air, slowly waking me up.

Opening a cabinet, I grabbed a mug and placed it under the dripper.

I then headed to the living room and tidied up a bit, folding the blanket I had cuddled under while reading my favorite book. By the time I went back to the kitchen, my coffee was done. I added some cream and sugar until it was absolutely perfect. I took a sip, enjoying the fresh taste.

I closed my eyes, my taste buds exploding.

Suddenly, I heard a noise, like someone was upstairs. How was that possible? Had someone broken in?

With my heart thumping, I grabbed a kitchen knife and headed for the stairs. I was shaking with fear as I climbed the steps one at a time.

Everything was eerily quiet. I held my breath and tried to calm down. My heart was beating so fast that it was drowning out every other sound.

Creak!

I whipped around toward my bedroom. The door was slightly ajar. I was sure I had closed it when I went downstairs…

So unless the wind had opened it, there was definitely someone inside my house.

I thought about calling the cops, but my phone was on the kitchen counter.

Taking a deep breath, I walked forward, adjusting my grip on the knife. Sweat formed on the nape of my neck as I pressed my hand against the door, pushing it open.

I didn’t even have time to step inside when someone rushed me, slamming me into the wall. I was winded, gasping for breath, his knee pressed against my stomach.

I tried to get a good look at my attacker, but his large, meaty hand was pressed against my face, making it impossible to see. Running on adrenaline, I bit down as hard as I could, breaking through his skin.

“Argh. You’re going to pay for that, you little bitch.” He growled, slapping me across the face. My eyes watered and my cheek stung like fire. Before I could regain my composure, a large piece of tape was pressed against my mouth, gagging me. A second later, a strong-smelling cloth was pressed against my nose.

I struggled to get free, realizing it was drenched in chloroform. I did everything I could to get away, kicking, scratching, but the man was much too strong and soon enough, I fell into a deep, deep darkness.

***

Knowing I had been kidnapped, I forced my eyelids apart. Instantly, abrightlight blinded me, forcing me to close them again. I tried again, slowly this time, adjustingtothe brightness.

Once my vision was restored, I discovered I was on the prow of a ship. The wind was whipping salty mist into my face. My lips, still hidden behind the duct tape were chapped, my mouth unbelievably dry.

I wiggled around, trying to get free, but I was bound to one of those fishing chairs that were bolted to the deck. I moaned loudly, hoping someone – anyone – would hear me and come to my rescue.

Just then, a large, muscular man appeared. He was wearing nothing but a pair of low-hanging jeans. His toned torso was covered in tattoos and scars. A set of dog tags were hanging from his neck.

I stared at them a moment, thinking they were some kind of a clue, but my mind was still hazy.

“Ah, you’re awake.” He said in a deep voice. “I thought I’d have to wake you up myself.” He chuckled, running his fingers through his slicked back hair.

As he approached, he walked with a certain amount of swagger, like he thought he owned the world.

“I bet you’re wondering why you’re here.” Standing before me, he reached out a finger, tracing the outline of my jaw.

His touch disgusted me and I pulled away as much as my restraints allowed.

“You know, you really shouldn’t do that.” His tone took a threatening edge as he grabbed my seat and spun it around and around and around. I felt like I was going to hurl. “Because if you throw up with that gag around your mouth, you might just choke on it.”

My eyes widened at the realization and I did everything I could to keep down the bile.

“Now, I suggest you be a good girl for me. Your knight in shining armor should be here soon.” His hand moved from my cheek down to my collarbone, his fingers dancing along my skin. “Only, this isn’t a fairytale. No. This is the real world. And in the real world, bad things happen. Very bad things.” He chuckled, pulling out a gun from the back of his pants.

My eyes widened even more and I struggled like crazy.

This man was going to kill Leo!

I shook my head.

“What’s the matter?” He asked, his voice mocking. “Don’t tell me you actually fell in love with that scumbag.” He brought another small chair and sat down beside me. Even so, he towered above me in his great height.

I stared at the man, trying to figure out if I had seen him before.

Why had he kidnapped me? Why did he keep talking about Leo?

He suddenly chuckled, the sound raspy and repulsive, like nails on a chalkboard. “You know, Leonel was always the lady’s man. I was always competing with him for the prettiest girl and in the end, they always chose him, even though I had so much more to offer…” He trailed off as his hand ran up the side of my leg, getting closer and closer to the hem of my skirt. Already, a few of the buttons of my shirt had come undone and I was terrified that this man was going to do horrible, horrible things to me.

His hand rested on my knee as he leaned forward, his acidic breath blasting into my face. I was so scared that I could barely move my body. All I could do was whimper pathetically through the gag.

“But you know, the funny thing is that once we went to war together, I discovered that he was nothing more than a coward. He didn’t even know how to hold a gun properly. Practically crapped his pants whenever he heard a bomb go off. He was a mess…”

I wondered why this man was telling me all of this. Was he trying to make Leo look bad? To what end?

“And he was the reason our whole platoon was blown to bits.” His tone took an icy edge as his fingers tightened around my knee. I gasped, pain radiating through my leg. I mumbled through the gag, trying to get him to stop, but he just gripped me even tighter, like he was trying to crush my kneecap with his bare hand.

“He was supposed to fly in a drone and stop the threat, but instead, his cowardice caused that drone to fly into the side of a mountain.” He moved even closer, his hand finally letting go of my knee, only to grab my chin with extraordinary force. “Tell me, is that the kind of man you want to be with? Someone who kills his comrades with his own incompetence and then comes back pretending he’s some kind of a war hero?” He spat the words, his lips getting dangerously close to where my mouth was hiding under all the tape.

Suddenly, he harshly ripped that tape right off my face.

I screamed.

“I’ll make you a little deal –”

“You can go to hell.” I spat, my anger getting the best of me. I couldn’t stand this man talking shit about Leo.

He grinned ever so slightly, his lips twitching in amusement. “A feisty one. No wonder he’s kept you around. He always liked a girl with a bit of fire in her soul. Tell me, did he happen to mention the slew of girlfriends he has had in the past? All of them just like you. Girls he hires and then manipulates into sleeping with him. Pretty low if you ask me, don’t you think?”

“Leo would never do that!” I shook my head.

“So, you’re telling me that Leo didn’t threaten to fire you if you didn’t go to the military ball with him?”

“H-How did you know that?” I asked.

“Oh…” He got up and circled around me like a predator about to pounce. Before I knew what was happening, I felt the cold edge of a knife against my shoulder, digging into my skin ever so slightly. He slid it under the fabric of my shirt before tearing through it like butter.

“Stop! What are you doing? Don’t you dare touch me!” I screamed, my shirt being ripped off my body until I was wearing nothing but my bra and skirt. “Help! Help!” I started to scream at the top of my lungs, hoping someone would hear me.

He smacked me across the face so hard that I saw stars before my eyes.

“Scream all you want, bitch, but no one is going to save you. It only takes twenty minutes to get from your house to the docks. Leonel was at your house over an hour ago. Don’t you think that if he wanted to rescue you, he’d be here by now?” He pressed the knife under my chin, tilting my head upwards until I was forced to look him in the eye. “Face it, Leonel doesn’t give two shits about you. He only ever wanted you for the sex, to truss you up like a little sex doll for his own pleasure.” He laughed, tilting his head back like he had lost his mind. “Just like he did to all the other girls…”

I shook my head. “It’s not likethat,” I said firmly, trying to convince myself that there was more between Leo and me than just lust. When he had teased me in the car, when he had done all those things to my body, it was more than just pleasure. There was a need to be with him – to stay by his side.

“Sure, sure. You keep telling yourself that. Wait until the next cute intern is hired and you’re nothing more than yesterday’s garbage.” He reached forward, grabbing my breast, fondling it through my bra. “But I could give you so much more.”

“Don’t touch me.”

“You really are in no position to give me orders, missy.” He grinned, his knife between my breasts. “All I have to do is cut this little string here and you’re as good as mine. No one will hear you scream and no one will come to your rescue.”

As he got closer, I glanced at the dock, praying for a miracle, but we were all alone. Maybe Leo really wasn’t coming. Maybe I wasn’t worth the trouble…

These thoughts haunted me, pulling my heart into a vice.

Meanwhile, the psychopath who had kidnapped me came closer and closer…

Chapter 10 (Leo)

I hoped my little detour wouldn’t cost me Elaine’s life. I knew Anthony would play dirty – he always did. On the back seat of my car was an arsenal of guns as well as my old bulletproof vest. It felt like I was gearing up for war once more, only this time, I wasn’t fighting a group of terrorists, I was going after an old-time friend. A friend I once trusted with my life.

On the highway, I was going almost double the speed limit, whizzing by cars and tractor trailers, hoping I didn’t run into any cops on the way.

I tightened my grip on the wheel, thinking about Elaine.

The mere thought of her with that man made my blood boil. If he had so much as laid one finger on her, he was as good as dead. My anger rose to exponential levels and I had to take a deep breath to keep from exploding.

She was okay. She had to be.

Approaching the docks, I slowed down, parking my car up the street so he wouldn’t hear my approach.

Anthony was clever. Taking her to my private dock so no one would find him. Using my own property against me. My own technology. The note he had left me was on the dashboard.

How long had he been spying on me? How long had he been planning his revenge?

I always knew Anthony was vindictive, but I never thought he would take it this far.

In the distance, I heard what sounded like a scream. I nearly bolted in that direction, prepared to fight tooth and nail for Elaine’s sake, but I wasn’t about to charge in there unarmed. Such reckless actions would just get me killed and that wouldn’t help anyone.

I put on the vest over my suit and grabbed my automatic. It felt strange holding a gun after all these years. Honestly, I didn’t think I would ever need one again.

I then grabbed my other weapons, clipping them to my vest before I started down the private road, keeping to the shadows so Anthony wouldn’t be able to spot me.

“Help! Help!” Elaine’s pitiful cries echoed, ripping a hole right through my heart.

I stopped, trying to pinpoint the sound.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a bit of movement coming from the prow of my boat. Anthony’s tattooed back came into view and as I tiptoed closer, I saw that he was hovering over her, about to make a move.

“Please! Someone!” Elaine continued to call out, her voice desperate.

Knowing he would be distracted, I rushed forward, moving onto the dock and pressing myself against the side of the boat. I listened for footsteps, but it seemed he hadn’t noticed me.

Good.

Trying to be as silent as possible, I edged toward the back of the boat, climbing onto the deck. Through the captain’s cabin, I could see Anthony fondling one of her breasts. My rage grew out of control and I could no longer think rationally. I rushed forward, tackling him to the ground. The knife he held in his hand skidded to the edge of the deck.

I was just about to pin him down when he slammed his fist into the side of my face. For a second, it felt like my jaw had dislocated, the taste of copper already overwhelming my taste buds. I staggered to my feet as Elaine screamed and squirmed in her bondage, trying to free herself.

With my vision still blurry, I pulled out my sidearm, determined to end this right here and now. Before I could get my finger on the trigger, he kicked it out of my hand, causing it to fall overboard.

“Fight me like a man.” He growled, throwing another punch in my direction. I ducked just in the nick of time, sweeping his feet until we were both on the ground. His legs wrapped around my waist, keeping me trapped.

Before I could stop him, he managed to wrap his hands around my neck, squeezing harder and harder. The look in his eyes was one of pure hatred.

I tried to grab his neck, but it was just barely out of reach. To my left, I noticed his knife and tried to grab it, but without success. I was starting to get lightheaded from the lack of air, but Elaine’s screams reminded me that I wasn’t just fighting for my own life – I was fighting for hers as well.

I strained my arm span and grabbed the knife, jabbing it into Anthony’s forearm. It was so sharp and deadly that it pierced right through his flesh.

He cursed loudly, letting go of me. I coughed, rubbing my neck as he pulled the knife out of his arm like a madman.

Was this man made of steel?

He lunged toward me, knife in hand, determined to kill me. I grabbed his arm and flung him into the captain’s cabin with a spin. The glass shattered and he fell onto the control panels. I pulled out my combat knife from its holster and rushed to Elaine’s side, hoping there was enough time to get her free before Anthony could get his bearings.

I had almost finished cutting through the rope around her wrists when I heard Anthony clear his throat, getting my attention.

When I looked up, he was pointing a gun right at my head. “One more move and you’re dead meat. And after that, I’m going to have some fun with this sweet piece of ass here.”

I held up my hands, but not before subtly leaving the knife in Elaine’s hand, hoping she could free herself. “Okay Anthony, you win. Just tell me what you want and we can talk this through.”

He laughed, guiding me toward the bow, turning his back on Elaine, almost as if he had forgotten about her. “You really think that I want to talk to a man like you?” He pressed the barrel against my forehead. “I’m done talking. It’s time I get the justice our comrades deserve. The comradesyoukilled.” He growled, cocking the gun. “For years, I was stranded in that wasteland, because everyone thought I was dead. Well, now I’m back and I’m going to make you pay for everything.”

The barrel was pressed so hard against my skin that I was sure it was leaving an indent. My heart was beating fast, but I looked him straight in the eye. Yes, I had made a mistake. A big mistake. And I never forgot about it. But I also paid my debt. I had served five more years after that incident, never again cowering at the sound of a bomb. I came back to the states and started a company that developed high-end military drones that could navigate without a human pilot.

I owed this mannothing.

I was just about to attack him when I heard the sound of heels clicking against the boat’s deck. I was sure that Elaine was running to safety, butinstead,she was running right toward us, knife in hand, jabbing it into Anthony’s side.

“Son of a bitch!” He howled, backhanding her with the gun, throwing her to the side. He pointed the gun at her fallen figure, about to shoot when I charged at him. The gun went off, thankfully missing her.

We grappled for it. Finally, I managed to grab it, so blinded by rage that I couldn’t even be bothered to shoot him.Instead,I kept hitting him with the butt of the gun, over and over and over again, until he was lying in a pool of his own blood.

Eventually, Elaine pulled me off him, holding my arm gently. “You’re going to kill him…” She whispered. I looked down at the bastard and I had a feeling that he deserved to die, but maybe, he would be better off rotting in jail. That way, his suffering would last a lifetime.

***

After spending a few hours at the hospital, we were discharged without any major injuries. It was a miracle, really.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked her, gently touching her bruised cheek. “I should’ve killed him for what he did to you.”

She had my blazer around her shoulders, covering up her lack of shirt. She smiled slightly before placing her hand on mine. “You saved my life… there’s no telling what would’ve happened if you hadn’t shown up.” She stopped and pulled me closer before her lips pressed against mine.

It was the sweetest kiss I had ever experienced. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her even closer. Deep down, I felt a stirring of emotions like nothing else before. Usually, when I kissed a woman, all I felt was lust and desire, but now, there was something more.

Was this love?

We pulled away and I looked into her eyes, feeling like I could search their depths forever. With my thumb, I caressed her cheek ever so slightly.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

She nodded, taking my hand in hers. Together, we walked out to the car. I opened the door for her and helped her inside in my usual manner.

Once I got in the driver’s seat, I turned on the music and drove off toward my home. Elaine had never seen it before and I hoped she would like it.

During the car ride, we were both relatively quiet, probably thinking over what had just happened.

Elaine kept fidgeting in her usual nervous manner. I reached over and grabbed her hand, lacing her fingers with mine. “There’s nothing to worry about. Anthony is in custody and he can never hurt you again.”

She looked over at me. “It’s… not that… I just can’t believe I stabbed someone. It’s like… I know my hands are clean, but they still feel like they have blood all over them.”

“What you did was extraordinarily brave. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to do the same thing in your position.”

She bit her lip. “Do you really think so?”

“Of course, you risked your life.”

“Only because I thought you were going to die…” She whispered.

I squeezed her hand. Never before had a woman cared about me this deeply. I would be a damn fool to ever let her go.

Elaine was starting to look tired, her eyelids drooping, probably an effect of the painkillers they gave her.

However, as soon as we got off the highway and into my part of town, her eyes widened, her expression changing to one of pure amazement. When I turned onto my street, her eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

“You… you live here? This place is like a palace!” She exclaimed, inching forward.

“What did you expect? I’m a self-made billionaire. It’s not like I would still be renting an apartment.”

“I know… I just didn’t think… Actually, I don’t know what I thought… but this… wow…” She seemed to be struggling for words as her nose practically touched the windshield.

I chuckled at her reaction, pulling into my four-car garage.

She still had this dazed look on her face when I pulled her out of the car and into the main part of the house. “I think we should grab a nap. We’re both tired and the doctor said you might be a little drowsy from your medication.” She nodded, staring at everything with awe. “Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to drool over the crown moldings later.” I teased.

Before she could answer me, I grabbed her in my arms, carrying her bridal style up the spiral staircase.

“Whoa!” She squealed before she wrapped her arms around my neck, her fingers tanglinginmy thick hair. “You’re strong.” She giggled.

“Of course I am.” I winked at her.

Soon, we were on the top floor. I carried her down the hallway to the master bedroom, pushing the doors open with my foot. The light from the hallway seeped into the room, illuminating some of its features from the four-poster bed to the ornate wallpaper and lavish Persian rug.

“Wow…”

I chuckled before gentlylyingher down on the mattress.

“It’s like laying on a cloud…” She moaned, closing her eyes.

I crawled in beside her, wrapping my arms around her body and pulling her close. We were both so tired that we didn’t even care that we were fully clothed. The second the duvet came over us and we cuddled together, we fell asleep almost instantly.

***

I woke up long before Elaine. The sight of her beautiful face as the first thing I saw in the morning was definitely something I could get used to. I couldn’t resist leaning forward and planting a little kiss on her cute pink lips.

She was so tired that she didn’t even stir.

Perfect.

With lustful thoughts already running through my mind, I started to take off her clothes, piece by piece, trying not to wake her. Soon enough, she was completely naked, her perfect body on full display before me. I ran my hands along her curves, feeling like I could just take a bite out of her. She was so perfect.

I kept the duvet over her so she wouldn’t get cold before I started to undressmyself. I was about to give her an experience she wouldn’t soon forget. I gathered up the items I would need, placing them on the nightstand.

“Hmm…” I rubbed my chin one more time, feeling like I had forgottensomethingwhen it suddenly hit me.

Oil!

I grabbed the bottle and ran downstairs, popping it into the microwave so it would be nice and warm on her skin.

When that was also on the nightstand, I got back on the bed, pulling the duvet back. I took a moment to admire her body, from her perky breasts to her wide hips. I licked my lips, knowing I was about to have a fun morning.

Gently, I tied a silk scarf around her wrists, tying them to the headboard. I thought about blindfolding her, but after theexperienceshe had just gone through, I thought it might be better if she saw me when she woke up.

I then grabbed the thin leather collar she had worn to the military ball and wrapped it around her slender neck, locking it into place. I don’t know why, but it made her look so much sexier. I had to resist the urge to plunge into her right then and there.

With her still asleep, I grabbed the oil and dripped some onto her chest, starting to massage it into her skin, until her flesh was all nice and tender.

I took her nipples between my fingers, twisting and rolling them back and forth.

Elaine started to moan in her sleep, her hips lifting into the air as her body started to beg for it. I grinned to myself, continuing to toy with her breasts as my other hand slid down to her thighs, getting them nice and slippery.

When I thought she was on the cusp of waking up, I grabbed a pair of nipple clamps and snapped them around her hard little nubs.

Her eyes shot open and for a moment, she looked scared before she locked eyes with me and her whole body relaxed.

She tested her bondage, her hands wrapping around the silk scarf. I hadn’t tied it all that tight so if she really wanted to break free, she could do so.

“Leo… what’s going on?” She asked, her voice a soft husky purr.

I didn’t answer her. Instead, I pulled on one of the nipple clamps.

Her reaction was perfect. Her eyes widened, her back arching ever so slightly, her lips stuck in a cute little ‘O.’

I kept tugging on the little chain until she started to squirm. I moved down to her thighs, rubbing in some more oil. “I’msorry butwhen I saw you sleeping by my side, I just couldn’t control myself. You’re just too sexy to resist.” I said, my hand moving closer and closer to her pussy.

Naturally, she spread her legs for me.

I grinned, running my finger along her already wet slit, giving her exactly what she wanted. She moaned, tilting her head back into the pillow. I teased her a bit more, my finger pressing against her eager hole before I pulled away. I wanted to keep toying with her, but at the same time, I simply couldn’t ignore the pure lust and desire that coursed through my veins.

With my hands on her hips, I pulled her toward me so her body was fully stretched and vulnerable before me. My tip pressed against her tight little pussy, teasing her with it for a moment before I thrust forward, penetrating her.

Once I felt her silky, wet folds around my cock I just couldn’t help myself. I started to pound into her hard, so hard that the bed began to rock. She screamed with pleasure, begging me for more so I gave her just that, rocking her whole world.

I filled her every inch until my cock was throbbing with pleasure. Occasionally, I would lean down and tug on her clamps, making her howl even louder.

As she reached her orgasm, her pussy tightened even harder around me, pulling me into a vice grip, threatening to milk me for every last drop. I held her tighter, my fingers digging into her flesh for leverage as I slammed into her harder than ever, my balls slapping against her.

The sounds of our ecstasy swirled around the room, getting louder as our passion intensified.

“Leo!” She screamed my name and soon enough, it was too much for me to handle.

Growling, I pinned her down, dominating her before my lips smashed into hers. With one last thrust, I forced myself balls-deep inside of her before I exploded, filling her up with my hot sticky cum.

The euphoria that rushed through me was like none other. I collapsed on top of her, instantly taking her into my arms and pulling her close, our bodies locking together like two puzzle pieces.

I unwrapped the scarf from her wrists and gently took off her clamps, eliciting some soft mewls from her lips.

She looked at me with a bright smile on her face before she cupped my cheeks and kissed me, all her passion, lust, and love pouring into me.

In that moment, neither one of us needed to speak a word. We both knew that from that moment forward, we would be inseparable.

Epilogue(Elaine)

Even though I had been together with Leo for over a year, sometimes, it still came as a shock when I woke up beside him in bed. I guess I never thought I would end up being the CEO’s girlfriend.

Turning over, I looked at Leo’s sleeping face. Usually, he was so serious-looking with his sharp features, dazzling eyes, and stern expression, but when he slept, he looked so different. His face was relaxed, making him seem like the cuddly cinnamon roll I knew he could be on occasion.

I snuggled a little closer to him, fitting perfectlyagainstthe groove of his body. I rested my head on the crook of his arm and thought about how great things had been these last twelve months.

As the memories flashed across my mind, I ran my fingers along his body. He had quite a few scars. A long one ran along hispecks, nearly all the way down to his navel, almost as if he had gone through open-heart surgery. Maybe he had. I didn’t know. On his side was another large scar that didn’t look like it had healed properly. I traced it gently with my finger, wondering what its story was.

I never dared to ask, not wanting to bring up bad memories. After all, if someone like Anthony came from his past, I didn’t think he would want to talk about it.

My fingers ran up his spine, eventually reaching his shoulder where there were smaller scars that had almost faded away. They were probably old.

I moved even closer, my lips getting dangerously close to his. I decided to kiss him.

As I did, his arms wrapped around me, trapping me in his embrace.

“Mmm…” He moaned through the kiss, his tongue tracing my bottom lip, asking for entrance. I parted my lips, his tongue sneaking into my mouth, tangling with mine.

The kiss quickly became heated as he grabbed my hair, tugging on it as he loved to do whenever we were in the moment.

Finally, when we were both completely out of breath, he pulled away. “I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of waking up with you by my side.”

“Good. Because I want to stay here for a very, very long time.”

“Until we’re gray and old?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Even longer than that.”

“Until we’re both ghosts, haunting our children?”

I chuckled. “More likely haunting our cat.”

As if on cue, Frisky, our Calico jumped onto the bed and joined us. I ran my fingers along her thick fur and she arched her back, purring loudly before she looked at Leo, as if demanding him to scratch her as well.

He laughed. “Damn cat.” He scratched her behind the ears.

“You know you love her.”

“That’s right.” He leaned forward and kissed me. “I love you.”

Frisky meowed, getting bored of us. She sauntered out of the room, about to meow at the can opener until we fed her.

“How long have you been awake?”

“Just a few minutes.”

“What have you been doing? Just staring at me?”

“Pretty much.” I laughed. “Can you blame me? I sleep with a god.”

He smirked.

“But, can I ask you something.”

“Sure, go ahead.” He rolled over and pulled me on top of him so I was straddling his body.

“What’s your story?”

“What do you mean?”

I ran my finger along his biggest scar. “Like, how did you get all these scars?”

His face darkened and I instantly regretted asking the question. I was about to say he didn’t have to tell me when he shook his head. “There’s no point talking about the past.” He placed a hand on my cheek and rubbed it ever so gently. “When we have such a bright future ahead of us.”

I blushed deeply at his words.

“You know, I was going to wait and do this at the perfect time, but nothing is ever good enough, so I might as well do it now.” I watched as he reached over, opening the top drawer on the nightstand. He fumbled around, looking for something and I thought we were about to have some early morningfunsince he usually kept most of our toys in that nightstand.

But, to my surprise, he pulled out a small black box. I stared at it, the realization not yet clicking in my head.

He opened it and my heart almost stopped when I saw the huge diamond ring that sparkled in thefaintlight that trickled in through the curtains.

“Elaine, will you marry me?” He asked, a look of utter adoration on his face as he looked into my eyes, waiting for me to answer.

I gasped, my brain refusing to work for a second.

Was this really happening? Was he really asking me to marry him?

“Yes! A thousand times yes.” I hugged him tightly, my arms wrapping around his neck. We kissed and I knew, deep down, that I had truly found the man of my dreams.

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