“I’m not really all that familiar with BDSM,” is the first thing I tell him, my gaze still on the crop.I’m not exactly wary of the toy, mind you. I’m mostly curious as to why we’re traveling this path. In my limited experience and snippets of knowledge, I’m aware that there’s a relationship between a dominant force and a submissive one. I figure it has to be developed over time.Time is neither a luxury for us, nor part of the agenda.So perhaps it’s just the titillation of us temporarily delving into these roles that arouses Jameson tonight. Another fantasy to explore while the opportunity exists.As he returns to the bed, he grips one end of the crop and lightly smacks the short, narrow, bendy leather strip against the palm of his hand. That end looks rather flimsy and makes a mere wisping sound as it connects with his skin, indicating this isn’t quite a hardcore or “official” accoutrement that one might find, say, in a dungeon or an adult playroom, where people are quite serious a
My blood sizzles and my heart races.He tenderly taps the strip against my clit, in rapid succession.“Oh, fuck,” I murmur on a sliver of a breath.The mere notion of what he’s doing to me heightens my arousal; but it’s the sharp tingle along such a sensitive erogenous zone that is the true aphrodisiac.“You like that,” he muses, desire fringing his voice.I can barely breathe, let alone respond.Fortunately, I don’t have to speak. He can see in my eyes that this is doing all kinds of amazingly fantastic things to my body.His tapping sets every one of those eight thousand nerve endings between my legs ablaze.When he adds a slightly harsher flick of his wrist, I cry out from the elation that shoots through me.“Like that,” I insist in a rasping tone. “Just like that. Do it again.”His brow jerks upward.Jesus, even his admonishment of my slip from submissive drives me wild.He is so sinfully delicious and I really want to crawl all over him. Dig my nails in and glide them from the sw
I’m not sure how to respond. Mostly because I know what my answer is. And it’s neither a sane nor a sensible one.I want more of him. That is the plain and simple truth.Hell, I can take this ball to the end zone and declare I want all of him.But if I confess this aloud, I’ll find myself in an even more vulnerable and compromising position than what I’m currently in.Without doubt, I now possess a raging need for this man that goes well beyond the infatuation I’ve had since the day I’d met him. I’ve only had a taste of what he has to offer, and it has me burning for so much more.Which is why his comment is as poignant as it is alarming.He’s absolutely right. And the reality of our twisted fate this evening leaves me with a glaring, two-fold concern.The first is that… If we get in any deeper with each other, I’m not sure I’ll be able to overcome my secret, buried infatuation. It will stare me in the face, every single fucking day. There will be no hiding from it, as I’ve done these
I leave in what I pray is a dignified and shameless manner, meaning we’ve both gotten what we wanted out of this deal and it is officially put to rest, with no one possessing the ability to lord something over the other—as I’d worried about previously.Like he’d said from the onset, come Monday morning, this never happened.I keep my head high and my shoulders square as I work the maze of corridors to the mezzanine and then descend the stairs. The butler is there to open the door for me and bid me farewell. Jameson’s driver has a limo pulled ‘round and he tucks me inside before getting behind the wheel. All very proper and polite like.I force myself not to think of anything other than my explanation to the security staff at my building, and the process of photo recognition on the computer and signing an affidavit of identity that releases the management of all responsibility, should I not be who I claim to be.The head guard rides with me in the elevator to my floor and lets me in, t
I’m still pondering the million-dollar question as I step off the subway, ascend the stairs with a rush of morning commuters and make my way toward Lexington Avenue. The air is brisk, a crisp snap of winter accented by light flurries. My hair is in its tight bun, with a few curled strands loose at my temples to frame my face. I’m able to pull the big hood of my full-length black coat over my head, in lieu of using a cumbersome umbrella.The strap of my laptop bag is slung over one shoulder, even though I didn’t get a jumpstart on the communications I was planning to draft this weekend, to get ahead of my To-Do list. From the moment I’d left the office on Friday until right this very second, there was absolutely no way in hell I could even begin to form mock conceptualizations in my head. My thoughts had been solely on the auction. Then Jameson. Also… My sister.I’m still incapable of latching onto business as I permit all sorts of sexy fantasies of Jameson to ran rampant through my mi
“What all did he say to you?” Jameson quietly asks.“Basically, that he picked the wrong sister as another partner in crime. And he thinks Ria’s my younger sister—it’s the opposite. Not that that matters.”“He wants more money from you.”I’m aghast. Not over the obvious conclusion Jameson has drawn, but over the asshole actually considering I’d take out a second loan or otherwise utilize what resources I’d relied on this time around—and hand over additional cash to him. Surely, that’s what his confrontation was all about.“Did he say anything else?” Jameson prompts in his low, rich timbre. The sound is so sinfully delicious, it oozes down my spine like molten honey, inciting a sensual shiver and causing my breath to catch.It would be wise of me to inch away from him. Not stand so close that I can smell his cologne and feel the heat radiating from his skin. His head is bent to mine, keeping our conversation between us, though the elevator operator/security guard is ultra-discreet and
This thought brings on a hint of confidence I’ve lacked in this area—the financial aspect of my life.It does not, however, coax me into putting all my eggs in one basket.I.e., Jameson Richards’ basket.When the elevator smoothly halts and the doors open with a wisp of a woosh, I precede him out, a couple of steps ahead so that his hand on my back falls away. We’re deposited into one of the corridors of the executive wing, located behind glass doors and up a floor from the remainder of the corporate divisions of his main headquarters, as well as other companies operating under the Richards Corp. flag.We’re here before the hustle and bustle begins. There’s no one to witness me having been invited into his private elevator. Yet we instinctively, instantly go our separate ways. His corner office is closest and mine is across the hallway and farther down.As I continue my own path, I lament that we didn’t resolve our convo. Nor did he outright acknowledge and accept my gratitude for pre
I gape.I mean… Of course, I do.Jameson is neither surprised, nor fazed by my instant and unchecked reaction to his “news.” He continues as though he hasn’t just torn through my life in cyclonic force and caught my house in its spiraling center. So that I’m literally dizzy and must ease into a chair in front of his mammoth, glass-topped desk, so I don’t fall over as my knees threaten to buckle.“We leave this afternoon. If you have pets to arrange care for or delivers that need to be accepted, Mari will handle personal details for you. She’ll have someone water your plants and clean your apartment. Take out your trash, if you don’t have time. Whatever.”I have no words.So ironic, considering I was wholly fixated on the ones Mari had said not more than five minutes ago, when she’d come to collect me.Mr. Richards wants you in his office, Nikki.It’s difficult enough to not fantasize about a different subtext for that summons.But now I have to wrap my mind around this unexpected twis