“Stop what?” he asked, his voice playful.
“You know exactly what you’re doing, and I don’t appreciate it.”
He stopped and moved a little away. “I apologize.”
His tone was sincere, so she accepted it with a nod. When he didn’t continue on, she waited. The silence stretched, and she knew that it was a power move. She had been in the life long enough to recognize it. She had used it during business meetings, but for a man like Jensen, he would use it mainly for play. He was waiting her out and even knowing that, she couldn’t resist responding.
“You said you saw something else that convinced you that this woman was me.”
His lips twitched. “Yes, I did. By the by, are you naked beneath those sheets?”
“No.” That was the truth at least.
“Back to your trip to Rough ‘n Ready.”
“I wasn’t there. You think I was there.”
He gave her a look of pity. “You can’t deny me. I know it was you.”
“How on earth do you know it was me?”
He studied her a long moment before saying. “Your eyes.”
“What?”
“It was your eyes. No one on earth has eyes that shade of blue.”
It took all her power not to cross her arms and stare him down. Of course, if she did that, she would probably expose her breasts. She sniffed instead.
“I doubt that.”
Even though she knew it was an uncommon shade of blue, especially with her dark hair.
“No one I’ve seen lately. So, do you want to explain to me why you’ve been a submissive all these years and not told me?”
She wanted to keep arguing with him, but she didn’t see a point. Still, she could gain some ground on him.
“I will but not here. I want to freshen up and get dressed first.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Okay, but don’t be long. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”
Irritation slipped through her entire body. He waited until she nodded. Then he rose from the bed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him with a click. She fell back against the pillows, her head swirling with what had just happened.
Now that he knew she was a submissive, what did that mean for their relationship? He had never made any advances toward her before this. It was one of the things that had made their working relationship so wonderful. He respected her for who she was and what she did.
She grabbed her phone and hit Serenity’s number.
It took three rings before her friend answered. “You hate me. Why do you call so early?”
“Because Jensen just invaded my bedroom and told me he saw me last night at Rough ‘n Ready.”
“What?” Serenity shouted into the phone. There was a mumble of male voices behind her. “Jensen caught her at the club. Go away and make me coffee. Go on.”
“Kind of bossy for a woman I know is a submissive.”
“Just like you. I’m okay with being controlled in bed, but I control my life. So, he caught you?”
“No. He saw me. He didn’t confront me until this morning.”
There was silence on the other end.
“Serenity?”
“Sorry. I was just thinking what his reaction was.”
“Not sure, but I’m going to punch Micah if he was the one who told on me.”
“Oh, he wouldn’t do that. Right?”
She sighed. “Before now, I always trusted him. Kind of hard not to considering our history.”
“Yeah. So how did he figure out it was you? God, you weren’t in one of the viewing rooms?”
“No. First, I would never do that. I’m not that adventurous. He saw me on the security screen in Micah’s office and said he recognized me.”
“With your mask and stuff?”
“Yes. He claims it was the way I moved through the crowd.”
“The way you moved?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”
Then nothing. “Serenity?”
“Okay, don’t get mad at me, but I’ve been thinking he’s been sweet on you for a while. The guys are convinced of it too.”
“What do they know? They’re men.”
Serenity snorted. “True, but it was the way he talked about you in front of them.”
“I think your pregnancy hormones are affecting all of your brains.”
Serenity giggled. “That or too much sex. So, just the way you moved? Kind of romantic.”
“No, he also saw my eyes.”
“That makes sense.”
“Stop taking his side.”
Another pause. “Nicola, are you okay?”
She blew out a breath and watched her bangs dance before answering. “I’m not sure. He wants to discuss it.”
“Discuss what?”
“That I hid this for all these years.”
“Your business. But I thought you did it the last couple of years on purpose. Like, you would be afraid if he found out.”
“What the bloody hell do you mean?”
“Please, tell me the last Dom you were with? Or at least how long ago? It’s been a few months and that’s not like you, babe.”
“I’m in a funk.”
“Sure.”
“Okay, so I’ve had a few…dreams.”
“I knew it. You’re in looooove.”
Fear pressed a heavy hand on her chest, and she suddenly found it hard to take a breath. She closed her eyes. She would never make that mistake. Not again. Soon enough, her breathing eased but the fear remained.
“Nic?”
“I’m here, and you’re insane.”
“Why?”
“In love? I am not that stupid.”
“Why, because you believed in the wrong man once?”
Exactly. “I don’t have time to talk about Oliver, or anything else other than what to say to Jensen.”
“I don’t know. I’d definitely offer my body up to him if I were you. I’ve heard stories.”
“What kind of stories?”
“From a few of the subs at Rough ‘n Ready. He’s considered one of the best unattached Doms.”
Damn, Serenity just had to go and say that to her. Now, she would want to know. Of course, she wanted to know. She’d been fantasizing for months about it, and now…
“Nicola!”
“What?”
“God. Okay, I am going to let you go because there is coffee and I can smell bacon. Call me later and tell me what happened.”
“Sure. Bye.”
She clicked her phone off and then decided to take a shower. She was definitely going to take all the time she could before she had to face Jensen. It made her a bit of a coward, but there was one thing Jensen needed to learn: she was a submissive in the bedroom only, but not outside of it.
9
Jensen controlled his emotions—or tried to at least. He wanted to pace his office, but decided to concentrate on his work, which lasted all of thirty minutes. He’d heard the shower turn off ten or fifteen minutes earlier, and now he waited.
Why was he waiting? Normally, he wouldn’t. As a Dom, he controlled the situation. But, as he thought the night before, this was different. She was different. Also, she was as affected by him as he was by her. She wanted him. He would never step over the line without permission.
“Marta?” Nicola called out.
“I gave her the day off,” he said just loud enough for her to hear.
She appeared in the doorway to his office. She wore her hair slicked back in what he called her battle bun. It was the hairstyle she wore when she wanted to kick someone’s arse. The only thing free from confinement were her bangs. The red sundress she wore was one he had seen before, and it was enough to drive him insane. It didn’t show much skin, only enough to entice him. The soft fabric hugged her curves. His palms itched. He wanted to follow those lines with his fingers, mouth…every single body part that would work.
“Why the hell would you do that?”
<
br /> “Do what?”
“Tell Marta not to come in?”
“I told her to take the day off, with pay. We didn’t need her.”
“Please tell me the coffee I smell was not made by you.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Your coffeemaking skills suck.”
“I only turned the coffeemaker on, Marta set it up last night.”
“Thank God,” she said, spinning around and heading to the kitchen.
“Please, just call me Jensen.”
He heard a grumble from her but couldn’t make it out. She returned just a moment later, walked into his office and sat in one of the two chairs in front of his desk.
“So, talk.”
He knew this Nicola. She manipulated a lot of their conversations. Most of the time, Jensen was okay with it. He knew she did it to move their work along. She almost always had his best interest at heart. This was different.
“I think you are mistaken about this conversation.”
She swallowed her coffee. “How so?”
“I have questions, and they will be answered.”
She frowned. Jensen didn’t care if she was brassed off. She would have to learn to deal with his authority. When she said nothing, he took that as his cue to continue on.
“First, you’ve been a sub for six years?”
She nodded but said nothing else.
“And you knew Micah before you knew me?”
She nodded again.
“How?”
“We were both in the life.”
He felt it was more than that, but he didn’t want to push her just yet. They had no agreement. “But you never thought to tell me.”
“It’s personal. You don’t tell everyone about your sex life.”
“But I don’t hide it either. Also, I hate to point this out, but you knew about my sex life.”
“True, but it’s different.”
“Why?”
“You’re my boss. I know you can’t understand that, but it’s different if I know this about you.”
“That seems hypocritical.”
“How?”
“You know everything about me, but I know next to nothing about your life.”
“First, when I was your sober companion, I had to know all that stuff about you. And let’s be truthful, you know a lot about my life. Hell, my mother sometimes texts with you more than she does with me. So you know a good deal about my life, just not this small part of it.”
“Why not?”
“Okay, do you tell Marta about your new favorite sub?”
“I don’t have a new favorite sub…yet.”
Her frown turned darker. “What the bloody hell do you mean by that?”
“We’ll get to that later. I just thought since you suggested D/s relationships to me, that you would tell me about your own experience.”
“That would have been extremely awkward. I had only been working with you for a year when you had your one setback. It’s different now.”
“And still you didn’t tell me. Was last night your first night at Rough ‘n Ready?”
“Yes, actually. I wanted to see Micah’s club.”
He thought back to the way she was dressed and knew she was lying. “No. You were dressed to play, but I saw a drink in your hand, so you didn’t.”
She shrugged. He wanted more than that. He wanted to know exactly why she didn’t go out of her way to find a Dom for the evening. He was starting to suspect she’d done it a lot, all without him knowing.
“So, which was it?”
“Both. Once I got there, no one really interested me, so I picked up a drink.”
That was the truth from what he could tell, but there was something she was holding back.
“What are we going to do about this?”
She held her cup against her lips and studied him. “What?”
That was the way she was going to play it? The woman really was a piece of work. Jensen had to hand it to her. She was always so controlled, and now he knew she was a sub, she was too wonderful to resist. He hated subs who gave over too easily, and from the way this conversation was going, Nicola definitely wouldn’t be easy at all.
“This heat between us.”
Something flared deep in her eyes, but it was gone before he could figure out what it was. “I think you are mistaken.”
Every word was enunciated with precision. It was a direct challenge, and the Dom in him couldn’t—wouldn’t—let it go.
Instead of responding, he rose from his chair and walked around the desk. He took her coffee out of her hands and set it down behind him. Suddenly, he grabbed her hand and yanked her out of the chair. Her eyes widened as he slammed his mouth down on hers. She resisted for a second or two…then she moaned.
Her eyes fluttered closed as she opened her mouth to him. Jensen dove in, taking complete possession. She tasted of the coffee she had just drunk—and surrender. He lifted his hands to her face as he slanted his mouth over hers. The moment he felt her tongue slide against his, his entire body lit up. She slid her hands up his back as he took a step closer. Her entire body was pressed up against his. He shuddered as need took over. He wanted her, now, on his desk. It had been years since he’d felt like this. The overwhelming need to conquer, to have her at his mercy.
He forced himself to pull back. Her eyelids rose revealing eyes blurry with passion. He couldn’t find fault with her. His heart was beating out of control and his cock was standing at attention.
“Tell me now that there isn’t anything between us.”
She drew in a shuddering breath, then released it. “This is not a good idea.”
“I think it’s a brilliant idea.”
Her eyes searched his as if she could find an answer to some unknown question there. “It will complicate things.”
He dropped his hands but remained close. “True, we will just have to be careful. No play during work.”
“I only listen to commands in the bedroom.”
“Only the bedroom? I thought you were more adventurous than that.”
She shook her head, but her lips twitched. “I’m still worried about what this would mean for our working relationship.”
“We can handle it. Think about it, take your time.”
“How much time?”
“As much as you want. Also, we can set a time limit on our…collaboration,” he said. “Maybe for just the remaining time in Hawaii. That way we know there is an end date so to speak.”
The moment he proposed the idea, he wanted to dismiss it. Another week was not enough with her. That is what had worried him. Nicola wasn’t a regular sub to him. For months he had fantasized about her, about them together. Now, he was giving her permission to put her own time limit on it.
“Really? You’ll agree to that? Sure you will. You are never around long enough to form a long-lasting relationship.”
They had a relationship…a friendship of sorts. She had seen the ugly side of him, especially after his one fuck up, but she still stayed around. Nicola didn’t judge him, she supported him. If he fucked that up, he would never forgive himself. Even acknowledging that, he could not just walk away.
“You admit to wanting me as much as I want you.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. It was a gesture he hadn’t seen, except in the old clips of her skating days.
“Yes, but—”
His phone rang, and he couldn’t ignore it. It was his mother and she would just call Nicola.
“This isn’t over.”
She nodded. Jensen swooped in for another kiss before he released her.
“You know you may not get your way,” she said.
He smiled over the term ‘may not’. “But what fun we will have during the process.”
“I did not say yes.”
“You also did not say no.”
The ringing on his phone stopped. A second later, Nicola’s phone started to ring.
“Cal
l your mother. I am not in the mood.”
With that, she turned away from him and walked out the door. As he watched her disappear around the corner, he almost sighed. It wouldn’t be easy, but it was definitely going to be enjoyable.
Nicola found the rest of the day almost unbearable. They had work to do, and while she wanted to just roll up in a ball in bed, she had duties to attend to. The worst thing about it was that Jensen seemed completely unaffected about the earlier kiss. She couldn’t concentrate and found her mind wandering back to the way she felt afterwards. Men had come and gone, but even her first kiss hadn’t made her dizzy like the kiss from Jensen. Even as they went over figures and information about the Johnson family, she couldn’t keep from looking at his lips. She could just imagine them as he kissed down her spine…
She consciously pulled herself away from that image.
“I think you need to call Robert. He might not be running everything now, but he’s still the patriarch of the family. He will see it as a sign of respect.”
“Very important to Hawaiians,” he said, without looking up at her.
“If there is nothing else, I need to make some phone calls.
He glanced up over those stupid reading glasses. Dammit, her panties were already damp, and it was getting worse.
“Sure.”
As she walked out of his office, she felt his gaze burning into her back. She hurried up the stairs to her room. She closed the door and leaned against it. Closing her eyes, she told herself that it was because she hadn’t had a man in months—even though she knew it wasn’t true. No man had ever been able to make her forget the entire world around her. Even the best of Doms hadn’t been able to, and she had had a lot of them.
Her eyes shot open. Speaking of Doms, she grabbed her phone and called Micah.
He picked up on the second ring. “I was wondering when you were going to call me.”
“Really? Like maybe a heads up would have been nice.”
“I thought you two should work it out on your own.”
“No, this is about Doms sticking together.”
There was a pause.
“Nic, are you okay?”
“Of course.”
“You don’t sound normal.”
“What the bloody hell does that mean?”
A Little Harmless Faith: Wulf Siblings Trilogy, Book One Page 9
