by Hamel, B. B.
I walk with Paige for a block while the driver shadows us.
“That was good,” I say to her once the Monacans are completely gone. “That was very good.”
“You think so?” she asks. “Maxime seems like he was just humoring me.”
“That’s how he is,” I say. “The man can’t help himself. He’s more of an entertainer than a businessman.”
“Then that would make Cerise the brains of the operation.”
“That’s right.”
She purses her lips. “I can see why you didn’t want to piss her off then.”
I laugh softly. “She’s not a woman to be trifled with. Turning her down without a good excuse would have ruined all my hard work… and made an enemy of a woman I definitely don’t want to piss off.”
Paige yawns again and smiles up at me. She’s tipsy, but not drunk. I noticed that she stopped drinking an hour ago after only two glasses of wine.
I put my arm around her shoulders. She looks surprised but she doesn’t try to pull away.
“Do you think this is sustainable?” she asks me. “I mean, this farce?”
“Do you?”
She glares at me. “I asked first.”
I think for a second, just considering. “I do,” I say finally. “It might be hard. But there’s no reason we can’t make it happen.”
“And then what? How long do we make this happen?”
“Until the hotel is built. Then we can have a public and nasty breakup.”
She laughs at that. “Oh, lovely. You’re going to cheat on me and I’m going to throw all your clothes out a window.”
“No, thank you. You’re going to cheat on me and I’m going to leave you with dignity.”
“No way. I’m going to scream at you, blame you for everything wrong in my life. It’s going to be magnificent.”
I chuckle and pull her tightly against myself without thinking. We walk like that for another half block before I realize that we don’t need to be faking this anymore.
I let her go with a frown. “Sorry. I didn’t even realize…”
“It’s okay,” she says. “I didn’t mind.”
There’s a short silence as I step over to the car. I pull open the door and she steps inside. I follow her in and sit next to her, our legs touching. She smiles at me and, damn it, I can’t help but smile back.
The driver takes her home first. We pull up outside of her apartment and I walk her to her door.
“You don’t have to,” she protests. “We’re not faking anything now.”
“I’m not faking,” I say, taking her hand. “Come on. I’m walking you home. If you’re going to be my fake secret girlfriend, I’ll at least treat you like it.”
She blushes a little as I take her up to her door. I stop there and face her.
“Well,” she says softly. “That was nice.”
“It was mostly boring.” I smirk at her and tilt her chin up toward me. “But you did well. I’m proud of you.”
Her eyes spark to life. “Really?”
“Really.” I cock my head, moving closer to her. She puts her hands on my hips gently, looking up into my eyes. “I want you to call me sir,” I whisper.
“Right now?” She’s blushing slightly in the dim light filtering in through a hallway window.
“Right now,” I say.
“Yes, sir.”
I can’t help myself.
I pull her against me and I kiss her.
It’s the last thing I should do but as soon as my lips touch hers, I know it’s too good to stop. I let my tongue roam against her tongue, tasting her, feeling her.
The kiss lingers full and deep before I finally break away.
“Good night, Paige,” I say.
She blinks as I step away. “Good night.” She sounds breathless and off balance.
I’m smiling huge as I turn and leave her there outside her door.
Let her think about that kiss.
I know I just took this already blurry situation and made it much more confusing. I just made the lines between what’s real and what’s fake much more malleable.
I just don’t care. She looked too good not to taste tonight. Maybe we’ll never kiss again during all of this…
But I have a feeling that was just the first.
5
Paige
I swear I can still taste him the next morning when I show up for work.
I don’t feel quite so ebullient today, more just… confused. I mean, I don’t know why he kissed me, why he put his arm around me, why he keeps looking at me like he wants to fuck me one second and glaring at me like I’m an incompetent moron the next. I don’t know what he wants or if he even knows.
All I know is, this is complicated as hell.
Because that kiss…
Holy shit, that kiss.
There’s something special about a man who just knows. You can send all the signals you want sometimes, but some men are just clueless.
Leon, though, he just knew. He knew what I wanted.
And god, I wanted him to kiss me.
Flirting with him all night was fun. I mean, I enjoyed it, I can’t pretend like I didn’t. We ate good food, drank good wine, and I had good company. Sure, Cerise seems like a crazy mega-bitch and Maxime is equally crazy, but at least they’re fun.
And then there’s Leon, my fake boyfriend. He’s gorgeous and when he’s not being my boss, he’s actually nice to be around.
So the whole thing is just a mess, basically. I wanted to be kissed and I was kissed and now all I want is to be kissed again and again and again but no, we can’t, we’re in a business arrangement.
Well, business can suck it.
I get in early like always and arrange his desk. Just before he comes in, I put his coffee down and sit in my customary spot.
He sweeps into the room. He glances at me, sits at his desk, and sips his coffee. He frowns slightly.
“What did you do?” he asks.
I blink. “Excuse me?”
He holds the mug up. “What did you do to this?”
“Nothing. I made it like always.”
He shakes his head. “It’s disgusting. Try again.”
I frown, a little taken aback. He’s never complained about his coffee before, well, except to say that it’s not hot enough. I get up and take it into the break room and make a fresh cup. I bring it back and put it down as he checks his emails.
“I have filing for you,” he says.
“Okay,” I answer and stand there for a second. “Is it here, or…?”
He glares at me. “Clearly it isn’t here,” he says to me. “It’s in the conference room.”
“Right. Got it.” The way he’s treating me is like a total flip from last night and it’s leaving me dizzy. “I’ll get right on it.”
“See that you do. Please take care of it in an hour. I have a meeting I need you to sit in on.”
I nod once and leave his office. I head into the conference room only to find two of his junior associates dumping huge files onto the table. One of them gives me an apologetic look.
“He told us not to help,” the guy says softly. “Sorry about that. Good luck.”
They leave without another word. I stand there and stare at the mountain of files.
There’s no fucking way I’ll get this done in an hour.
I almost storm back into his office. He’s fucking with me and he knows it. This is unreasonable, even for him. He’s deliberately setting me up to fail so he gets to chew me out.
Well, screw him. I’m not going to give in just because he wants to mess with me suddenly.
I get to work. I let the image of that smarmy, cocky jerk sitting in his office with a stupid grin on his face push me. I organize the files as best I can, going alphabetically, but it’s slow. Some names aren’t clear and some have multiple names attached. I make piles, sort them, resort them, and soon the hour is up and I’ve only gotten through half.
I hurry back
to his office.
“Well?” he asks as I step inside. I know better than to linger on any task longer than allotted.
“I’m not finished,” I say, keeping my face as neutral as possible.
He frowns slightly. “Of course you’re not. Come on, sit down. I have a call.”
I clench my jaw but I sit, take out my notepad, and I get to work as the conference call connects.
I swear he’s doing this on purpose. He just wants to see me squirm. He thinks he owns me because he’s paying me more.
But he doesn’t own me, as much as he thinks he does.
This is all temporary. I put in my time with him, deal with all his bullshit, and move on. I don’t have to stay with him forever. Just long enough to get paid.
And then, freedom.
It’s hard not to think about that freedom, what I might do with it. But even that feels too abstract to really understand.
I mean, I’ve never had real freedom before. I’ve always been working and going to school or just working. My parents didn’t have a ton of money growing up so it wasn’t like I could ever afford to do anything but work my butt off.
This money could change my life. It could change everything.
I just have to put up with this arrogant asshole…
He finishes the conference call and looks at his computer. “Type up those notes and get back to filing. I want it done by the end of the day.”
I stand. “Yes, sir.”
He glances at me. “Get to work. And skip your lunch. I don’t think you’ll have time for it.”
I bristle at that but just nod sharply. I leave and head back to my desk, type up the notes, and disappear back into the conference room.
I don’t know how long I’m in there. Every time I want to quit, or my stomach rumbles, or I want to scream at how stupid and pointless this task is since these are probably all digitized anyway, I think about that money. And the look on his face when I show him that even his impossible tasks are still possible.
People pass by the conference room. A few even stop in to say hello. Not everyone that works for Leon is a total asshole, as it turns out. I actually like some of the people I work with.
But I don’t stop to chat. I don’t lift my head up.
I just file, one document after the next.
By the time it’s finished, I’m exhausted.
I didn’t know filing could be so physically demanding, but I’m actually sweating, just a little bit. I’m out of breath as I place the last stack of documents in their rightful place. I step back and survey my work, a little smile of accomplishment on my lips.
I actually did it. I didn’t really think I could, but here it is, actually finished. I let out a long breath, more of a sigh of relief, before turning away and stepping out into the main office.
There isn’t a single person left in the room.
I blink and stare around me. I expected to see a few people left. I mean, I know it’s late, but I didn’t realize…
I walk down to the office next to the conference room. It’s dark, but I can see out the window.
It’s pitch-black outside.
“What the hell?” I whisper to myself. I walk quickly to my desk, pick up my phone, and stare at the time.
It’s after eight in the evening.
“Shit,” I say softly.
I hurry to Leon’s office. I lost track of time in my stupid pig-headed desire to get all this finished. I think I was working in there for… god, for hours.
I can hear him still typing at his desk. I halfway expected him to be gone for the night… hoping he’d be gone… but there he is.
I knock on his partially open door and step inside.
He looks up at me and squints slightly in the dim light. “Ah,” he says. “There you are.”
I frown and step into his office. I shut the door behind me. “I lost track of time. But I’m finished.”
He nods once and looks back at his computer. He starts typing again and leaves me standing there like an idiot.
Doesn’t he know that even getting all that done in a single day is a huge accomplishment? I know I’m late, that he probably wanted it done by five, but that was impossible. Getting it done at all is a big deal.
He doesn’t look up. He keeps typing until he’s finished, but by the time he finally does look me in the eye, I want to scream at him.
“You’re finished with it all?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say. “I skipped lunch, skipped dinner, worked late, and I got it done.”
“I wanted it done hours ago.”
That’s it. I can’t take it anymore. “Oh, sorry I didn’t finish your stupid impossible task in your insanely unreasonable timetable. I must be such a bad employee. You’re lucky it’s even done today at all, you asshole.”
He sits there with one eyebrow quirked as I finish. As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I regret them immediately. I wish I could shove them back in, but too late. My temper wins again.
“Anything else you want to say?” he asks.
I could apologize here. Probably should.
“No,” I say stubbornly.
I’m not wrong, after all.
He stands up.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I got your stupid job done. You should be happy about that.”
He sighs but there’s a little smile on his lips like he expected this and he’s happy I’m giving him what he wants. He comes around the desk and walks toward me.
I feel my knees tremble slightly. He’s giving me that look again, the starving, insanely hungry look. His smile gets slightly bigger as he comes closer to me.
“You can’t help yourself, can you?” he asks softly.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean, you can’t watch your mouth.” He stops in front of me and reaches out, taking me by the chin. He stares into my eyes and I almost want to hit him.
But what I see there stops me. It isn’t malice that’s driving this.
It’s pure, intense passion. I can see it all over his face, all over the way he’s standing in front of me, far too close for a professional setting… far too close for any setting, aside from a bedroom.
“I can’t when I’m right,” I whisper.
“But you don’t understand yet, little Paige. I own you right now. I own everything about you. If I tell you to do some bullshit, meaningless task, you’d better do it with a smile.”
“That’s not how I operate. And you don’t own me.”
He chuckles then releases my chin and reaches back to grab my hair. He holds it tight in his hand, pulling my head back. I gasp at the slight pain as it surprises me and sends a thrill down my spine.
“I do,” he whispers, his lips next to my neck, my throat. “I’m paying you far more than you deserve and you know what? I think you’d better earn it.”
“Don’t,” I whisper, half a moan.
“Don’t?” He chuckles. “I’ll stop if you really want me to.” His lips linger inches from mine.
I stare into his eyes and don’t say a word.
His smirk drives me wild.
His kiss makes me lose my mind.
I know I shouldn’t. He doesn’t own me, he won’t own me, but god…
The way he treats me. The way he controls me.
It drives me crazy. It makes me weak, stupid with need for him. I can feel it pooling between my legs as his tongue rolls against mine, his taste flooding my mouth. He floors me, destroys me, and makes me want it all over again.
He turns me toward the desk and I stumble back, my hands on his hips. He pushes me then. I stumble away from him, surprised, and slam into the desk. It bites into my ass and I grip the wooden edges.
“Hey,” I gasp as he steps closer.
He grabs my hair again. This time, he spins me around, wrapping my hair around his palm and grabbing tight. I gasp at the pain as he bends me over.
And slowly I feel his other hand lift
my dress up.
“Leon,” I groan. I’m dripping wet now, pulse racing, excitement rolling through me. I know this is wrong, I know I should resist. I can’t let him think he owns me.
But I don’t want to resist. I want to submit to him, down on my knees, begging for more.
“Fuck,” I groan. I feel his breath, hot against my neck.
“You need to learn,” he whispers softly, kissing my ear. “You need to learn who your Daddy is.”
There’s that word again.
Daddy.
“What?” I groan, not sure of anything right now.
He hikes my skirt up over my hips, exposing my ass. I’m wearing a thong today. I wore it on purpose, if I’m honest with myself. I wanted to wear something sexy after last night, something I felt cute in. I didn’t think he’d actually see it.
I hear him take a sharp breath. “Look at your ass,” he says. “Perky, firm, round. You’re fucking sexy, you know that?”
And then he spanks me.
I gasp, eyes wide, looking over my shoulder.
“Leon,” I say.
“Daddy,” he corrects, and spanks me again.
“Leon,” I groan.
He spanks me again, harder this time. “Daddy.”
I moan as he spanks me again and again. He switches to the other cheek and spanks me harder.
“Say it,” he growls in my ear.
I know if I say it, I’ll be giving in to him. I’ll be submitting. It’s what I want, what I really crave, but there’s a part of me that’s resisting. I shouldn’t want this, it shouldn’t feel so good…
He drops to his knees behind me, releasing my hair. I gasp with surprise as he yanks my thong down. He pushes my legs open wider, stretching the underwear until I can feel it biting into my skin.
His hands spread my ass apart and then he licks me.
I gasp again with surprise and pleasure. He licks my ass and down to my pussy, rolling his tongue inside of me. I groan as his hands grip my hips and hold me there, bent over his desk.
“Say it,” he growls as he tongues me. “Call me Daddy and I’ll give you what you want.”
I’m moaning, I realize dimly. I’m moaning and I can’t stop.
“What do I want?” I gasp.
“You want to come,” he says, almost harshly. “You want to have a big, fast orgasm all over my mouth. You want me to taste it, don’t you?”
