Her Dom (Dominic Powers #1)

by A. D. Justice

“Dom,” her tone warns back.

  We’re back in the swing of things at work today. It’s already past lunchtime and I haven’t stopped since I walked in the door this morning. Everything that wasn’t handled yesterday has piled on top of what must be finalized today, so I’m working double time to get through all the documents and emails that require my final signoff.

  When my stomach growls, I decide it’s time to grab Sophia and have lunch together. As I approach her office, I see her on the phone. Her gestures are very animated and it’s clear she’s giving someone an earful. Just before I start to open her door, Shadow and Tucker approach me.

  “We need to talk, Mr. Powers,” Shadow says in a very serious tone. “In private.”

  “Sure, let’s go in my office,” I say as I turn and walk back down the hall to my office. As I pass Dana, I instruct her to hold all my calls and keep anyone from interrupting us. This can only mean that Shadow has been successful in getting the information he needed to start unraveling what the hell has been going on.

  Shadow and Tucker follow me into my office and both men take a seat in front of my desk. As I sit, I draw in a deep breath and say, “Let’s have it. You must have something pretty good to tell me.”

  Tucker’s eyes cut to Shadow but he doesn’t return the look. Shadow is in all business mode and there’s no hint of the jokester that I know him to be in the man sitting across from me. The pit of my stomach drops and I instantly sense that whatever he is about to tell me will change my life.

  “Do you know a Harrison Dictman?” Shadow asks.

  “Yes, I know him. Why? You think he’s behind this?” I ask disbelievingly. Harrison is a dick, but I’ve never pegged him for someone who would be smart enough to pull all this off.

  “Does he have any grudges against you?” Shadow asks, ignoring my question.

  “Yes, he hates me and the feeling is mutual. He thinks I’m the cause of his sister’s death,” I state flatly.

  “Are you the cause?” Shadow asks.

  “No,” I don’t elaborate.

  “He has a serious vendetta against you, Mr. Powers. He’s been trying to recruit some real low-life thugs to manhandle you. The most concerning thing I’ve found about this Harrison Dictman, however, is that he has very strong ties to Sophia,” Shadow drops an atomic bomb on me.

  “What the fuck do you mean, ‘strong ties to Sophia,’ Shadow? Spell it out,” I growl.

  “Did Sophia tell you she had previously been trained as a sub?” Shadow asks.

  “Yes, she told me. Wait a fucking minute, you’re not saying that Harrison was her Sir, are you?” My blood pressure is about to make my head pop off my shoulders.

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Shadow replies, still in his business tone. “I’ve pulled all her phone records. Every Sunday night, without fail, Sophia and Harrison have had lengthy conversations. The only exception is this past Sunday night, when you almost died in a house fire.”

  Shadow hands me the phone records and I pour over the numbers listed. Every Sunday night, when she was at her condo, she was on the phone with Harry Dick-man.

  “They’ve been plotting together? All of this was a setup? For what?” My tongue trips over all these questions as they pour out of my head, unfiltered, unbidden, and without a plausible answer. This isn’t happening. “He showed up at the restaurant one night when Sophia and I went out. We got into a fight. She never acted like she knew him.”

  “She wouldn’t, Mr. Powers, if she’s in on this. It all looks very suspicious. There may be a plausible reason, though I can’t think of one right now. Until we know exactly what the end game is, you need to continue on as usual. Don’t tip her off and reveal our hand. If they think we’re still in the dark about them, it gives us a tactical advantage to trip them up.”

  “Exactly how in the fucking hell am I supposed to pretend I don’t know any of this? How am I supposed to pretend I believe in something I know isn’t true? The woman I fell in love with, and who supposedly loves me, has been conspiring with Harry Dick-man against me!” I roar.

  “Dominic,” Tucker interjects, “trust us. We are doing everything we can to make this move as quickly as possible.” Tucker’s use of my first name is intentional. It reiterates the brotherly bond of trust we’ve developed over the last several years.

  I quickly stand, sending my office chair rolling backward and crashing into the credenza. I don’t even care. I just want to break every fucking thing in my office right now. Pacing back and forth like a caged animal, it occurs to me that phrase accurately describes my circumstances. I feel caged and backed into a corner, unable to do anything else but pretend that Sophia hasn’t been conspiring with the enemy. And I feel like a fucking animal, ready to pounce on Harrison’s head and rip him limb from limb.

  My Angel has been sleeping with the fucking enemy.

  My office door swiftly swings open, without warning and without Dana’s normal knock. A man wearing a suit and tie comes strolling in like he owns the place, followed by my corporate lawyer, and lastly, followed by Dana who is trying to corral them all out of my office.

  “Do you know how to knock?” I bellow at the man who dares to enter this lion’s den.

  “Mr. Powers, I presume?” he replies arrogantly.

  “You barged into my office. You tell me,” I challenge.

  “Consider yourself served, sir,” he says with a smug smile as he hands me an envelope and turns to walk out.

  Looking at my lawyer, Cheryl Kealey, I hold the envelope out and yell, “What the hell is this, Cheryl?”

  Can this day get any fucking worse?

  “You’re being sued for sexual harassment, Dominic. You and your company are both named,” Cheryl says solemnly.

  “Sexual harassment?” I ask, bewildered. “Who?”

  “Sophia Vasco,” Cheryl replies. “We need to talk, Dominic. Alone.” Cheryl looks at Shadow and Tucker but neither of them budges.

  “Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of them. They are my security professionals and privy to all of my information.” Especially since this is no doubt why Sophia is linked to Harrison.

  Cheryl continues, “This is very serious, Dominic. Those papers name all the employees who have seen and heard inappropriate comments and behavior from you toward Miss Vasco.”

  Cheryl moves across my office, opening up my line of vision to the hallway outside my office. Sophia is standing in the hallway just outside my door and has apparently witnessed the entire scene.

  I don’t even see the woman I shared my bed with this morning.

  The woman who saved my life is nowhere to be found.

  The only person I’ve allowed to call me by the name that was reserved for my soul mate has disappeared.

  Before me now is the black widow who has poisoned me with her venom. She is the witch who put a spell on me and the blinders have finally been removed. She has become the snake who hid in the grass and bit me when I was least suspecting. Sophia’s name is now linked to something dark and evil, something wicked that must be eradicated and vanquished.

  My stride has purpose and my feet swiftly carry me across my office. When Tucker sees Sophia standing almost in the threshold of my doorway, and my determined gait toward her, he calls out my name in an urgent warning. He needn’t waste his breath, though. When I reach the door, Sophia stares at me, speechless, her eyes wide and her lips parted.

  Staring back at her and not giving away my intentions, I flick my wrist and slam the door in her face. When I turn back to face the others in my office, Tucker’s shoulders visibly slump as he releases the breath he was holding as he waited to see what I would do. Moving to the bar at the other end of my office, I quickly pour four shots and pass them around.

  “Now, Cheryl,” I speak after downing my shot of whiskey, letting the burn in my chest make my blood pump since my heart has been ripped out, “bring me up to speed.”

  “Miss Vasco has alleged that you forced her into a sexu
al relationship with her in order for her to keep her job. She claims that you have placed inappropriate demands on her, of a sexual nature, both in and outside the office.

  “She claims that you required her to become your submissive in every way. She is not allowed to wear undergarments, she must wear high heels, she must dress in the way you desire, and she must live in the executive condo where you will have access to her at any time.

  “The suit alleges that you have inappropriately touched her on the job, at the condo, and at your house. It also alleges that you coerced her into having sex in your office,” Cheryl reads off the list of allegations against me.

  She has taken our relationship and turned it against me. The relationship she pursued, that she instigated with her kiss on the plane, and is now attempting to ruin me with it. That gold-digging, money-hungry, lying, conniving whore!

  In an uncharacteristic display of emotion, Tucker leaps to his feet and vehemently declares, “Bullshit! That’s all lies!”

  “Well, I’ll just tell the court you said so and I’m sure this will just go away,” Cheryl pins him with her glare.

  “What Tucker is trying to say, Cheryl, is that Miss Vasco and I were in a committed, consensual relationship up until about ten minutes ago or so,” I explain much calmer than I actually feel.

  “Mr. Powers, I think it’s time I share all the information I’ve found with your lawyer. Most of it will be pertinent to this sexual harassment claim,” Shadow interjects.

  “By all means,” I reply with a wave of my hand.

  While listening to Shadow reiterate the entire sordid story, along with a few additional pieces he didn’t tell me before, my mind drifts back through all the time I’ve spent with Sophia. The very first time she walked into my office, our ocean lovemaking session that marked our first time together, introducing her to my parents, and collaring her as mine—all these scenes play over like a movie in my mind.

  She ran back into a burning house to save me with no regard to her own safety.

  Was that just to make sure that she could get to my money? Is that the only reason I’m still alive?

  That can’t be it—it doesn’t add up. Why put the assassination device on my car then? That was an overt attempt to kill me.

  “Dominic, do you agree?” Cheryl asks, obviously not for the first time.

  “With what?” I ask, my tone revealing my boredom with this whole conversation. I’ve checked out.

  Cheryl sighs disapprovingly, but restates the pertinent parts I’ve missed. “Since you’ve publicly named Miss Vasco as your ‘right-hand person,’ it makes it difficult for the two of you to continue to work together.”

  “You think?” I snap.

  Cheryl ignores my outburst, “The law is clear that you can’t retaliate against someone for claiming sexual harassment. The best course of action is for you to take an extended vacation while your security professionals continue to investigate and gather evidence against her. If you take a leave of absence, it will make you look guilty. However, with your recent wreck, then the house fire, it would make sense for you to take some time off.

  “You are not to have any contact with her during that time, Dominic. I don’t care what she wants. I will talk to her and she will begin reporting to Darren Hardy while you’re away. Whatever work requests she submits will have to be approved by him. Legally, she can’t keep you from your own business, this is your livelihood, but this plan keeps everything as uncomplicated as possible. I’m filing a request for a gag order with the judge as soon as I get back to my office.”

  Cheryl raises her eyebrows at me, clearly expecting a verbal agreement to abide by her rules.

  “Fine. I’ll take two weeks off and then the third week I will be back onsite in Tennessee. Tucker, call Christine and have her pack all of Miss Vasco’s things and have them delivered to her executive condo. If I find anything of hers in my lake house, I will have to burn it to the ground, too.”

  The three of them file out of my office, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my own turmoil. I feel like I’m back in that same spot of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole—the pieces are just not fitting together. All the events are not adding up. There has to be more to this mystery, though I have no doubt that she’s intimately involved in it.

  I call Dana into my office with a new resolve—a new spring in my step.

  “Yes, sir?” she asks as she enters.

  “Dana, I need you to book me a two-week vacation. Have the yacht readied—I’m taking a cruise to Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Virgin Islands. I want to leave right away, so have Christine pack my things,” I instruct and Dana hurries back to her desk to make the preparations.

  Moving over to the floor to ceiling window, I continue to mull it over, turning it and examining it from every angle. The only thing that keeps coming back to my mind is how Harry Dick-man thinks he’s a Dominant. That is laughable—if I wasn’t pissed off enough to choke the life out of him. He’s only playing at being a Dom, pretending to be something he wasn’t born to be.

  He accused me of controlling his sister, of abusing her for my own pleasure, and for her death. So he took Sophia, who was young and lost, and made her his sub. But he was wrong about one major point.

  He was never her Dom.

  If they want to see a real Dom, I will show them a real fucking Dom. Like they’ve never seen before. Run and hide if you can—the real Dom is back.

  Epilogue

  Sophia

  Looking in the mirror, I only see a shadow of the woman I used to be. A ghost has taken her place—gaunt, sick, and bereft of everything that holds any significance. Thoughts plague my mind, nightmares have taken my ability to sleep, and the world that had once been so beautiful, so colorful, has now turned to a drab shade of gray. Nothing vibrant is left in me or in anything around me.

  Who am I?

  What have I done?

  Sophia Vasco is who my DPS badge says I am. Even that reminds me of what I’ve lost. When I look around, all I see is him—the man who is my world. The sounds I hear are all echoes of his voice. My skin feels his touch when he’s not there. He’s been away for days now. I can’t even catch a glimpse of him at the office.

  Cheryl, the corporate lawyer, told me that the court has agreed to a gag order on the sexual harassment lawsuit. I have no one to talk to about it anyway. She also had my office moved off of the top floor. She said it was to protect me, but I’m sure it was to protect him, too.

  It’s killing me to stay away. I am stricken through and through, and I only have myself to blame. I’m not strong enough to face this. I’m not strong enough to stay away from him. My heart is chained to him, belongs to him, and cries out for him every second of every day.

  My Dom has left me and taught me the most painful lesson of all.

  The End

  Coming Up

  2014 - 2015

  Steele Security Series

  Wicked Nights – Book 2.5

  Wicked Intentions – Book 3

  Wicked Shadows – Book 4

  The Crazy Series

  Crazy Baby – Book 2

  Crazy Over You – Book 3

  Crazy Love – Book 4

  Dominic Powers

  Her Dom’s Lesson – Book 2

  Completely Captivated

  About the Author

  A.D. Justice is happily married to Jody, her husband of 25 years. They have two sons together and enjoy a wide variety of outdoor activities. A.D. has a full-time job by day, with a BS degree in Organizational Management and an MBA in Health Care Administration. Writing gives her the outlet she needs to live in the fantasy world that is a constant in her mind.

  A.D. would love to hear from you! Find her on Facebook, Twitter, her website, or email her at adjustice@outlook.com.

  Thank you for reading and supporting A.D.’s books! Please take a moment to leave a review of this work.

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adjusticeauthor

&nbs
p; Twitter: https://twitter.com/ADJustice1

  Web: www.adjusticebooks.com

  Shelter Me

  By

  Kathy Coopmans

  © 2014

  Chapter One

  I sit on my beach looking out at the beauty of Lake Michigan, absorbing all of its exquisiteness while remembering how I used to come here all the time as a child.

  This beach, my beach, has always been a safe place for me. Somewhere that allowed me to escape the reality of life.

  Even as a child, I felt the hardships of the world. My mother was a selfish person and my father was nonexistent. From an early age I claimed this beach, finding the comfort of coming here late in the afternoon to feel the warmth of the sand between my toes. Owned by the serenity of the softly clashing waves.

  As the sun would set and the sand became cool, I would walk into the water and revel in the tickling feeling you get as your feet slowly sink into the wet sand beneath you. I loved escaping at night when the world became too much; lying down in the soft, cool sand to gaze up at the stars. They became my wishing well. I would talk to them, reveal my secrets and hidden thoughts. Ask questions I wouldn’t dare ask the people who could answer them.

  This is also the same place that I shared with someone I held near to my heart. No, who owned my heart. Someone I thought loved me back with the same intensity. I introduced him to my haven and let him have something I could never give away again...my virginity. But he couldn’t have loved me. Not really. Don’t think about him, Shayne. I wish it was that easy.

  I left my beautiful little beach town and told myself I would never return again. Life though, chose a different path for me.

  After I left home, I never came back. It was a promise I made to myself, and one I kept. But a week ago, my aunt died at the age of fifty-two from a car accident. Now that she’s gone, I feel guilty and remorseful. I should have come home to see her, should have put my past behind me and made that leap. She knew my reason for not coming home and never faulted me for it. She actually made the extra effort. I only wish I would have been brave enough to do the same. Every day, I thank God that she visited me in Texas. That she was able to spend every Christmas and a few weeks in the summer with us.