“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your night,” she said, bowing her head. I looked at her demure posture and had a flashback to one of the many times we’d played together. She’d been a perfect sub, always so easy to dominate and eager to please.
“It’s fine.” I nodded once before turning away from her. Instantly, I found Alix’s eyes on me. She’d seen the exchange and was watching me with confusion in her eyes. Closing the distance between us, I smiled at Jennifer before turning my attention back to Alix. “Can I speak to you?”
“Of course,” Alix answered before moving around from behind the counter and holding out her hand in the direction of her office. I followed behind her and closed the door once we were both inside.
“She had asked me to join her for a drink and I declined. When she saw me here, she thought I’d changed my mind. I don’t think she knew you work here,” I explained before she could say anything.
“Okay,” she said.
I stepped close to her and pulled her into my arms and kissed her forehead gently.
“There is nothing there,” I spoke softly.
“I know. It’s still hard for me to know you work with your ex,” she said, finally breaking her silence.
“Don’t let it get under your skin. She doesn’t matter to me as anything other than the respite she gives me from constant phone calls and scheduling.” I ran my hand over her hair, breathing her scent in.
She nodded against my shirt, holding me around the waist. After a moment, she pulled back.
“You have to go. I have a client I’m expecting any moment. That’s actually why I was up there with Jennifer. Waiting where I’d be easier to find since I’ve never met them before.” She pushed closer to seal her lips against mine for a chaste kiss. “I’ll call you when I get off.”
“Please do,” I sighed, not wanting to let go of her. I kissed her once more then exited her office. By going straight to the elevator, I avoided another run-in with Mariah.
I had a few hours of being on call for the online counseling so I’d be stuck in my home office for the rest of the night anyway.
Chapter 11
Alix
After getting off work, I drove home and called John. We talked on the phone for over an hour before I admitted to exhaustion. He invited me over to his place for dinner the next night and I was excited to finally see where he lived. In fact, thoughts of him kept me up long after our call was over. Not all of them good, either. Although he swore there was nothing between him and his secretary, it was hard to miss the fact that he smelled of her perfume. Not to mention the little scene in the hotel lobby.
She’d touched him and acted the part of a submissive when he’d reprimanded her about whatever it had been that they’d been talking about. Knowing how long they’d been together, I tried to brush it off as habit, but it still bothered me.
Eventually, I fell asleep as I focused on my upcoming date with John. I focused on all the other times I’d been with him had been, not the confusion and questions that surrounded his ex.
The next day I was surprised to be woken by a delivery man bearing a large bouquet of flowers from John. The card was a simple note:
Can’t wait for tonight.
John
It brought a smile to my face to know he’d been thinking about me so early in the morning, or perhaps he’d ordered them after we’d talked the night before; either way they were a sweet start to the day.
Thankfully I had to work so I couldn’t sit on my couch all day and focus on what John may or may not have had planned for our time together. There was an event, too, so I’d be busier than normal getting it set up.
Knowing I was going to be seeing John that evening, I put on a sheer thong to go with my garter belt and thigh highs along with a matching black bra. I put a dress I planned to change into in a bag, then put on a dress suit, my normal work clothes. Not wanting to deal with an extra pair of shoes, I put on the most comfortable pair of four-inch heels I owned and headed out.
The event went off without a hitch and I stood in the back of the room in case I was needed for anything, which was a good thing when one of the servers let me know they were running low on the champagne being served.
I went to the back where the extra stock was kept and managed to find another box of it and had one of the men help me wheel it back to the party. When I returned to my place, I spotted a familiar blonde I hadn’t noticed before. It was Mariah. I wasn’t sure what she was doing at my event, but since she seemed to know other people there, I wasn’t going to interrupt.
“So, how are you, dear?” one of the guests was asking Mariah.
“Oh, just great. I have this really amazing boyfriend who makes me feel like a million bucks. We’re keeping it on the down-low right now, though.” She glanced from one side to the other and then lowered her head toward the other woman, but not her voice. “You know, he’s dealing with his last girlfriend. He doesn’t know how to tell her it’s over since I’ve come into his life. She’s super-clingy, always texting him when he’s at work, aggravating him, bothering him when he’s so busy already.”
“Doesn’t it bother you? Knowing your man is with another woman?” the other woman asked, surprised.
“No. I mean, I get to be with him every day and some nights. He only sees her some nights when he can’t keep her at bay anymore. Trust me, when he’s with me, he makes it more than clear he’s just waiting for the right time to break it off with her.” She let out a loud sigh. “She has to know about me. I mean, he leaves smelling like me.”
“You would think…” The other woman trailed off, obviously not sure how to respond.
“Well, one day soon. He started talking about marriage, but I told him I’m not willing to even go there until he breaks it off with her,” Mariah said, shaking her head.
“Good for you. Hopefully that’ll make him move his feet a little faster,” the other woman said, nodding.
“Well, you’d think after being together for two years before he’d know how good we are together and that’d help motivate him.” She ran her hands through her hair as she shifted and lifted her eyes right to where I was. Her face flushed and she actually looked embarrassed. “Oh, Alix, how nice to see you. I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“I planned the event, so of course I’m here,” I answered, even though I felt like fleeing from the room. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. It only confirmed the thoughts that had kept me up the night before.
“Well, you’ll have to excuse me, I have to get back to work. I just wanted to stop in and say hi to a few old friends.” Mariah smiled at the woman next to her before winking at me and leaving.
I spent the last part of the party with my head spinning. It felt like the world was falling apart under my feet. When I returned to my desk, I sat down and put my head in my hands, fighting tears.
When my phone rang, I jumped and sniffled before answering, trying to sound as normal as possible.
“Hello?”
“Precious? What’s wrong?” It was John.
“Nothing. What are you doing?” I asked, wiping my nose with a tissue. I didn’t know how to bring up the conversation I’d overheard. Who was telling the truth? Was John with Mariah and trying to find a way to break up with me? Had she been talking about another man? Why had she seemed embarrassed to find me there? It had to be John she was talking about, right? It was the only conclusion I could come up with.
“I’m between clients and needed to hear your voice,” he whispered in a husky tone. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“Is Mariah seeing someone?” I blurted out the question without meaning to.
“What? I don’t know. I haven’t asked and I don’t really care whether she is or isn’t to be honest,” he answered, sounding frustrated. “Now, what does that have to do with anything?”
“I needed to know,” I sighed. I didn’t know why I’d asked. It’s not like he’d come straight out and tell me
it was him if they were together behind my back.
“I wish you’d just forget she is around, baby. I’m looking for someone to replace her, okay? As soon as I find someone else, I’ll get rid of her. Now let’s talk about something else. I didn’t call to talk about her,” he groaned. “I have plans for you tonight. I’ll show you how important you are and how much you mean to me.”
“I can’t wait,” I breathed. All my emotions were at war within me. I wanted to believe him, but it was hard to understand what was going on with his ex. It was confusing and I felt like I was being yanked around. While I was shy and kept to myself most of the time, I wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on between the two of them before I called it quits. The fact that I was very likely in love with John made it that much harder to see him as a cheater and a liar, but if he was then I’d have to leave and never look back. My issues were bad enough without adding in more.
“Meet me at my office when you get off?”
“Okay,” I responded and hung up the phone. I had the rest of the afternoon to get myself together.
By the time I got off, I had managed to chalk up Mariah’s conversation to lies and changed into a tight black dress before heading over to John’s office. When I walked in, I was grateful to find the office empty. John’s door was slightly ajar and I knocked twice before pushing it further open. Lifting his head, he smiled as his eyes ran over me.
“Well, that’s the sexiest thing to walk into my office all day. Hello, beautiful.” John pushed back from his desk and patted his knee.
I walked over and sat on his thigh.
“I just have to write one more email and then I’ll be ready to go,” he said, placing one arm on either side of me as he tapped on his keyboard. It only took a moment before he turned the computer off and pulled me closer to him as he leaned back in his chair. I could feel the hard length of him against my ass. “I could bend you over my desk and fuck you right here. You are so hot in that dress.”
“Wait until you see what’s under it.” I looked over my shoulder and wiggled an eyebrow at him.
“Tease. You’re lucky I don’t fuck in the office or I really would do it. If I had you on my desk I’d get hard every time I sat here and that would get really awkward,” he laughed, and nuzzled his face into my neck. “Now what do you say to getting a tour of my place?”
“Let’s go.” I smiled and stood.
Resting a hand on my lower back, he locked up and escorted me to the hotel. It was odd being right back where I’d spent my day; then again, I wasn’t an employee, but a guest this time. As we waited for the elevator, John turned me around so I was looking at my vacant office.
“You know, I used to make extra trips to and from my apartment just so I could catch a glimpse of the beautiful woman behind that desk right there,” he whispered in my ear, his lips brushing against it as he spoke. “Then one day, she looked up and I knew she was doing something naughty while she watched me. Had me so fucking hard I almost came over to give you something so much better.”
“But you didn’t,” I whined, clearly remembering the encounter he was talking about.
“I didn’t. I fucking jacked off thinking about it three times that night, though.” He bit down on my earlobe as he rubbed his erection against my back. “Hell, I still do sometimes.”
“You masturbate?” I gasped in surprise.
“Of course,” he said as the elevator dinged with it’s arrival. He pulled me into the elevator by my hand and pushed the button for the top floor.
“But…” I couldn’t believe he was allowed to when I wasn’t.
“I don’t do it obsessively. It’s like the difference between a casual drinker and a drunk. I do it maybe twice a day while you did it a hell of a lot more than that, didn’t you?”
I frowned and lowered my head. I didn’t like the way the conversation was going. While it was arousing as hell to imagine him touching himself, I hated feeling like the odd man out once again because of the addiction that plagued me.
“No, don’t.” He lifted my chin with a finger. I refused to meet his eyes though. “Look at me. Now.”
It was his Dom voice and I instantly looked up.
“You are perfect the way you are. There is nothing wrong with you. Think of it this way, you can drink alcohol while I can not. Everyone has something that is their weakness.”
I could tell from the flash in his eyes that there was more behind what he was saying.
“You can’t or won’t drink?” I had always thought it was simply a choice he made.
“Won’t. I refuse to.” It was his turn to feel uncomfortable.
“Why?” I pressed.
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.
“It’s not a conversation I want to have in an elevator. It’s not a pleasant story. I will share it with you another night. I simply want to enjoy your company tonight, not deal with such deep issues as the ones we’re getting into with our pasts,” he finally said as the elevator arrived at his floor.
I was curious and wanted to know more. We would have to talk about it at some point if things were to ever get further than they were between us.
“Another night, okay? Promise.” He lifted my hand and placed a kiss on my knuckles before leading me to his door. Pushing it open, he let me enter first.
My mouth dropped open. I had no idea there was a place in the entire building so extravagant as his apartment.
John took the time to show me all the rooms. It wasn’t huge, but everything looked expensive and fragile, not exactly the way I imagined the place he lived. By the time we returned to the living room, I didn’t know what to say about the place.
“It’s, uh, wow…” I trailed off with a shrug.
“I know, it’s a bit over the top. It’s not me, but I don’t normally spend much time here. I had a designer come in and fix it up about a week ago when I realized how boring it was. I didn’t want you to think I lived in a crappy shack or something,” he said, smiling embarrassedly.
“It’s lovely, but I don’t care about all that. I care about you,” I said, wrapping my arms around him.
“Mmm, I care about you too.” He kissed my lips before stepping out of my embrace and pulling me by the hand toward the kitchen. “Come, I had some food put in the oven to keep it warm for us.”
“Oh?” I was surprised. Apparently he had staff of some sort to help him. I knew how busy his life could get so I didn’t say anything about it. He acted almost like the fact he had such a nice place to live in, with help, wasn’t something he was particularly proud of.
He pulled out two plates from the oven and set them on the already prepared table before holding a handout showing me where he wanted me to sit. Walking over to the table, I sat down as he helped tuck the chair under me. He sat next to me and a wicked smiled played over his features.
“I can’t wait to have you here for a party with some, er, like-minded individuals. There is something I’ve been planning for you and you’ll enjoy it. Another night, though.”
It seemed he had many plans for the future and it made my heart skip a beat to know he had no intention of letting me go any time soon. I didn’t want to let go of him anytime soon.
After the hint of something incredibly naughty in the works, the rest of the conversation turned to mundane topics as we got to know each other more over dinner. It turned out he didn’t have many people over to his place, so the fact that he wanted to have a party sounded a bit odd, but I’d do anything he asked. Anything for him. Always.
Once we’d both eaten our meals, he pushed away his plate before holding a hand down for me. Slipping my hand into his, I let him lead me down the hall toward his bedroom. My heart raced and my breathing accelerated as we drew closer. I never knew what he had planned for me and it kept me on the edge between scared and aroused.
Closing the door, he slid his hands into his pockets and spread his feet shoulder-width apart. I knew the look immediately. It was his
Dom stance.
“Take off your dress, Precious.”
I peeled my dress off, revealing my sheer bra and panties. A groan rumbled from him and I slowly turned in a circle for him. When I turned to face him again, I slowly dropped to my knees, spreading my legs so he could see all that I was offering to him, resting my hands on my thighs.
He stepped away and I heard an odd sound, but shortly that after a new smell came over me. It was incense of some type, and it smelled exactly like John.
“Tonight we are going to play with your senses. We have already mastered the blindfold, so I will leave that off as long as you behave, Precious.” He stepped in front of me again so I could see he’d removed his shoes, but his slacks ended perfectly on top of his feet so I knew he hadn’t completely stripped. “You will be able to see; however, that is all you will be able to do besides feel. I have headphones you will wear and I am going to restrain you. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” I murmured, feeling my body heat rise simply from his words. I’d never had my hearing restricted before so I wasn’t sure how much of a difference it would make. I trusted him, though.
“Climb on the bed,” he instructed, stepping back.
I pushed to my feet and without looking in his direction, I went to the bed. Centering myself, I lay on my back.
“Stomach.”
I rolled onto my stomach, turning my head so I could breathe. Then I felt the bed shift as he knelt next to me. I could see from the corner of my eye that he had already removed his shirt and was dressed only in his pants. His abdominal muscles flexed and shifted as he moved both my wrists behind my back, clasping them together with a leather binding. Moving down the bed, he bent my legs and bound my ankles together as well.
His palms pressed my inner thighs apart so they were spread, revealing the most intimate parts of my body before I felt the bindings on my wrist attached to the ones on my ankles. I was efficiently restrained and at his mercy.
“Is that uncomfortable in any way?” he asked, moving back to kneel next to my chest.
Fiend (An Erotic BDSM Romance Novel) (Cravings Book 2) Page 9
