Shades of Submission: Fifty by Fifty #1: Billionaire Romance Boxed Set

by Hunter, Adriana

  “It should flow when you walk,” Heidi explained to the model. “Like water.”

  The brunette raised her eyebrows in surprise and Heidi flushed.

  “Heidi!” It was Kaiser. Oh god. What was she going to tell him?

  “I’m sorry.” She was apologizing before she even turned around to face him. “I don’t—”

  “Come with me,” he ordered, taking her hand and literally pulling her with him. “I’ve been calling you for fifteen minutes! Don’t you answer your phone?”

  She looked down at the cell in her hand—the reception wasn’t the best—it was blinking with more messages. She hadn’t quite gotten that far. Kaiser led her up a flight of stairs—she nearly fell twice trying to keep up with his long strides—and down another hallway. The sound of the crowd was almost deafening as he pushed her in front of him down the front row, putting her into one of two empty seats.

  “Stay,” he directed, sitting beside her as the crowd applauded again enthusiastically. A model—tall, blonde and quite familiar—came out wearing one of Andrea’s dresses and Heidi gasped. Daniella! She hadn’t seen her since that photo shoot on the beach a million years ago. She was so surprised she almost didn’t hear the announcer’s words.

  “Kaiser’s debut line by new designer, Heidi Bauer!”

  The crowd’s applause turned thunderous. She turned to Kaiser, eyes wide, and he smiled, reaching for and squeezing her hand. Across the catwalk, Carvel sprang up from his chair, his face a cloud of anger, but it was too loud for anyone to hear what he might be saying. His wife, Eve, pulled him back to sitting and Heidi’s attention shifted again as another of her designs, a stunning midnight blue, floated by.

  “Happy?” Kaiser leaned over to ask.

  “Beyond,” she replied, the rest of the show a stunning blur, but she still didn’t understand. When they announced her at the end and Kaiser led her down the catwalk—now she knew why he had insisted she wear the Rene Lacoste!—raising her hand in triumph, she looked up at him through tears.

  She thought she couldn’t be any more surprised, until Lenny appeared in an Armani suit, handing her a dozen red roses from the end of the catwalk. Leaning down to take them, she immediately understood and hissed, “You told him!”

  He grinned, shrugged, and gave Kaiser a little salute as he stepped back into the applauding crowd. Just when she thought she couldn’t take another flash bulb, Kaiser led her off the catwalk to more thunderous applause.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured into her ear, hugging her close. “I wanted it to be such a surprise.”

  She laughed. “You succeeded!”

  “Kaiser!” Carvel stormed toward them, red-faced. “What the hell is this nonsense? Those are Andrea Paxton’s designs!”

  “I’m afraid they aren’t,” Kaiser replied coldly, keeping Heidi beside him even though she was trying to melt into the floor. “I received definitive proof that they were stolen from Miss Bauer. Andrea even admitted as much to me.”

  Both Carvel and Heidi stared at him, aghast.

  “I assume this means you’re sticking with Kaiser?” Carvel asked, frowning at Heidi.

  “Like glue,” she agreed, linking her arm through Kaiser’s.

  “She’s a willing little whore, but not worth my time. You can have her,” Carvel scoffed, turning to leave, and Heidi gasped when Kaiser grabbed the old man’s shoulder. Neither she nor Carvel had any idea Kaiser had such a hard right hook, not until Carvel was picking himself up off the floor.

  “You didn’t have to do that!” Heidi hissed as Kaiser pulled her down the hall.

  “I didn’t have to,” he agreed, grinning. “I wanted to.”

  She stopped then, throwing her arms around him, and kissing him wordless. When they broke off, both of them breathless, she whispered the words she’d said last night, this time looking into his eyes and knowing he heard them.

  “I love you, Kaiser.”

  He blinked, frowning, touching her mouth with his fingers and then quickly kissing her again.

  “You didn’t have to say that,” he murmured against her ear, pulling her close.

  “I didn’t have to,” she agreed happily, letting him hold her so tight she could barely breathe. “I wanted to.”

  Epilogue

  “I think Paris must have been a dream.”

  “He hasn’t said a word about it since you got back?” Lenny asked, incredulous.

  “Nothing.” Heidi sighed, pushing the “door close” button on the elevator and crooking her cell phone against her ear. “It’s like nothing ever happened. I’m still just… a secretary.”

  “But your designs, your dresses…”

  “I know!” She pouted, leaning against the back of the elevator as she rode up. “I don’t know what I expected. My own office, maybe? Something. I mean, there are things to do, decisions to make…I mean, I think there are…”

  Honestly, she hadn’t really thought much past the design aspect of her dresses. The business end of the business had never really interested her.

  “Well… maybe he’s got something else up his sleeve,” Lenny said, giving Kaiser the benefit of the doubt. He’d been doing that since Paris and it was driving Heidi crazy! “He really isn’t such a bad guy, you know.”

  “So you keep saying,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Has Saint Kaiser knighted you yet for your selfless deeds?”

  “Hey!” He sounded genuinely hurt and she was instantly sorry and said so.

  “I really do appreciate what you did,” she went on. Of course she did. Never in a million years could she have gotten into Andrea Paxton’s apartment, found her old sketchbook, and smuggled it out. But somehow, Lenny had.

  And then, of course, he’d presented it to Kaiser as “proof” of Andrea’s deception.

  “You better,” he mumbled. “You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through. That Andrea is a wildcat in bed. She had me—”

  “Lenny!” Heidi admonished. “Please! I really don’t need the details.”

  He laughed. “All right, all right.”

  “Listen, I’m here, I gotta go.” She clicked “end” on her cell phone and pocketed it as the elevator doors opened. She noted the time with a sinking feeling in her belly—nine-oh-five. She was five minutes late.

  She barely had time to stash her purse under her desk before he called her.

  “Heidi, come into my office.”

  Standing beside his desk, she waited as he finished writing something and turned toward her.

  “Get on your knees.”

  Heidi sank down, head bowed, her heart hammering. What sort of punishment would this be? She felt his hand in her hair, stroking gently, and she looked up at him in wonder. He hadn’t touched her since Paris—even to punish her. What was this, then?

  “We have a great deal of work to do.” His eyes were soft as he studied her face. “And I’m afraid the way we do it is going to have to change.”

  She blinked at him, giving him a puzzled look, but not speaking.

  “This is where you belong, Heidi.” His hand bowed her head, easily. “We both know it.”

  A lump grew in her throat, and she did, she did know. She would be on her knees for him, in front of him, worshipping him, forever if he let her. It’s all she’d ever wanted, and she wanted it even now.

  When Kaiser sank to his knees beside her, Heidi gasped, her eyes growing wide. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something delicate and beautiful—a silver choker.

  “I want you to wear this.”

  She bowed her head, letting him put it around her neck and fasten the clasp. Her heart swelled when she realized his hands were trembling.

  “To remind you, and me, whenever we have to stand shoulder to shoulder and work side by side. Do you understand?”

  Tears filled her eyes and she nodded, touching the collar at her throat.

  “I think it’s the most important thing,” he murmured, reaching into his pocket again. “Even more important than this
.”

  The velvet box contained an antique platinum ring and Heidi’s tears began to fall then, making fat, wet spots on her Marc Jacob skirt.

  “Kaiser?” she asked, looking at him through her tears, questioning.

  “I want you to become my wife.”

  It wasn’t a question. Of course it wasn’t. Kaiser didn’t ask her questions. Kaiser gave her directives. And Heidi, the girl they said would do anything, did, as always, exactly what he told her to do.

  The End

  ABOUT SELENA KITT

  Selena Kitt is a bestselling and award-winning author of erotic and romance fiction. She is one of the highest selling erotic writers in the business with over a million books sold!

  Her writing embodies everything from the spicy to the scandalous, but watch out-this kitty also has sharp claws and her stories often include intriguing edges and twists that take readers to new, thought-provoking depths.

  When she's not pawing away at her keyboard, Selena runs an innovative publishing company (excessica.com) and in her spare time, she devotes herself to her family--a husband and four children--and her growing organic garden. She does bellydancing and photography, and she loves four poster beds, tattoos, voyeurism, blindfolds, velvet, baby oil, the smell of leather, and playing kitty cat.

  Her books EcoErotica (2009), The Real Mother Goose (2010) and Heidi and the Kaiser (2011) were all Epic Award Finalists. Her only gay male romance, Second Chance, won the Epic Award in Erotica in 2011. Her story, Connections, was one of the runners-up for the 2006 Rauxa Prize, given annually to an erotic short story of "exceptional literary quality," out of over 1,000 nominees, where awards are judged by a select jury and all entries are read "blind" (without author's name available.)

  She can be reached on her website at www.selenakitt.com

  The Billionaire’s Command

  ByVictoria Villeneuve

  I stood in front of my bed, frowning at the suitcase I’d hoisted onto it, trying to decide which bathing suit I was going to take with me. I mean, I know, it’s the ultimate first world problem. The red one piece with black polka dots that covered up more of my body, but would ultimately make me look like a bit of a prude who didn’t dare wear a bikini, or the black and gold striped bikini that was undoubtedly sexier, but definitely not me?

  I sighed, then tossed the one piece into the suitcase. I wouldn’t be comfortable in the bikini. I didn’t even know why I bought it. Sure, I’d look like a prude, but let’s face it, I was the prude of the group. Everyone else who worked in the branch of my office was either already married, many with kids to prove that they had more sex than I did, or still single and living it up in bars on Friday nights.

  God, cheer up Caroline. You’re going to Hawaii, it’s not like this is a chore I scolded myself as I moved onto figuring out how many pairs of socks this trip was going to require.

  In all honesty, I was really looking forward to this trip. It had all started three months earlier, when the company I worked for, Alistair Investments, put forth a contest. The branch which brought in the most new business in June would win an all expenses paid vacation to Hawaii for a week in August at a luxury resort.

  I didn’t really have all that much to do with winning the contest. I worked as a financial analyst, which is a pretty fancy way of saying I’m a glorified accountant. I look at numbers, and I decide if those numbers are likely to go up or down. I have an office in the back of the building, where I confer with my fellow analysts, but we’re not the ones who go out and find new clients for the branch. We don’t bring in the new money, we keep the money that the sales staff bring us loyal.

  Luckily for me, however, our sales staff was second to none, and we blew away the rest of the competition for the duration of the contest. That’s how I managed to get a free vacation to Hawaii without really needing to do anything for it. Whatever. I worked really hard to get where I was, and I was going to enjoy this little treat, even if I didn’t really earn it per se.

  My best friend, one of the salespeople in question, Lisa, always told me I should be appreciative.

  “You never take any breaks, Caroline. You work like a madwoman. You don’t have boyfriends, you don’t really go out and party with people, you need an outlet to let off some steam every once in a while.”

  “Yeah, well, I still feel like a cheater going on this vacation I didn’t earn. I mean, you did like, half the sales for our branch for the quarter.”

  “I did, but whatever. We knew from the start that everyone in the branch would get to go. It’s not like you’re cheating your way in or something. Come on, Caroline. Have some fun, let loose. It’s Hawaii, all expenses paid! I went there with Rob for our honeymoon and we spent a ridiculous amount of cash, this is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip.”

  “I guess so,” I replied, succumbing to Lisa’s positive energy. I wished I could be like her. Lisa was so strong, so confident. She had grown up in the suburbs here, her father was a former athlete who had almost gone pro until a knee injury ended his career before it had even started. He bought a coffee shop in town and ran that, while Lisa’s mom taught kindergarten at the local elementary school. Lisa basically had the perfect upbringing I had dreamed of having.

  She visited her parents every Sunday. On the other hand, I had basically escaped from mine and spent most of my time trying to make sure I couldn’t be found.

  I never knew my father, he left my mother before I was born. But I had the kind of overbearing mother that never lived the kind of life they wanted to, and so took it out on their kids. Unfortunately, since I was the only one she had, one hundred percent of that energy turned into making sure I was the perfect child, that I lived the figure skating dream my mother had hoped for herself.

  Twenty two years after she put me in my first pair of figure skates, and it had been eight years since I had worn a pair. I was twenty four now. A woman in my own right. I had escaped the clutches of my mother’s fingers, I had gotten away from the life she wanted for me, and I had carved out the life I wanted for myself. When I got to my late teens I realized I was never going to be a professional figure skater. I was pretty good, absolutely, but I didn’t have the natural talent required to really make the national team. I was lanky, I was a little bit awkward, and while I absolutely had the work ethic, I realized it just wasn’t going to happen. If only my mother had accepted that.

  Unfortunately, wounds to the soul don’t heal nearly as quickly as wounds to the body. I was thankful for Lisa; she was my only friend, really. I had a hard time trusting people. Most people would ask about my past, want to know everything when I told them about how I used to figure skate. Not Lisa. She never asked. She realized immediately it was a touchy subject and never brought it up again. We didn’t speak about anything that happened before we met.

  It’s also part of the reason why I never had boyfriends. I mean, I wasn’t a virgin. But I never allowed myself to get close to someone. We would go on a couple of dates, it’d be fun, maybe I’d even invite him over for the night, but eventually, he always got too close. He always wanted to know, to really discover me, and the thought of it terrified me. I always ended up pushing men away. My last boyfriend was even worse than that, and that’s when I gave up on romance. It wasn’t for me. I would live out my days a single woman. Career-oriented, they would call me, and I was happy with that.

  I forced the thoughts out of my head. I wasn’t going to dwell on the past. I was my own woman now. I had gotten good grades in high school, gone to college, graduated, and now found a great job that paid pretty well and was now treating me with a week in Hawaii. Right now, I didn’t have a lot to complain about when it came to my life.

  Twenty minutes later I was done packing. As I climbed into bed, my suitcase on the floor, ready to go the following afternoon, I was getting excited.

  Travel had never really been the sort of thing I’d been able to do in my life. I mean, that’s not strictly true. Growing up I’d gone all over the country takin
g part in figure skating competitions. But driving around the northern part of America with my mom in a van, sleeping in the back seat, sometimes getting a hotel room, wasn’t exactly what I called “travelling”. Usually I never saw more than the arena and maybe one major landmark wherever we went.

  After I broke away from my mother’s clutches, I was on my own. When I went to college, I had to pay for everything myself. My two part time jobs paid for my food, and some of my rent, but not much else. I lived off student loans, and still had about $20,000 worth to pay off. I had decided when I finally paid them off and saved some money I would go travel around Europe for two months, but that was a long way off. This was going to be the first time I’d ever been on a plane. The first time I was ever going to be somewhere tropical.

  I met up with Lisa and the rest of the staff from our office at the Minneapolis airport the next day. I grinned at her as I came up with my suitcase, all of us waiting for our manager, Tom, to come over and organize check in.

  “Hey,” I told Lisa as I went up to her. “Excited?”

  “Oh my God, yes. You have no idea how jealous Rob is of me right now. It’s amazing. I can’t believe this is actually happening. I love Hawaii so much, and I know you will too.”

  “Yeah, I’m definitely getting excited, the closer we get to it.”

  We didn’t have a chance to say any more as at that moment Tom came up and organized us all. He’d checked us all in online before, handed out boarding passes, and we all lined up to check in our luggage.

  “So I was looking up the place we’re staying at online the other day,” Lisa started as we waited our turn to drop off our luggage. “It’s basically the most amazing place ever. Every room has a view of either Diamond Head, or the beach. We’re right in the middle of Waikiki, where all the action is.”