Strictly Confidential
Page 24
“I’m not stupid, nor do I have a death wish,” she informed him, sitting back. Her hand was oddly cold when she removed it from his arm. The chill crept beneath her skin to smother the heat that’d just been there. “I want this—with you.” Just you.
Even she couldn’t answer why that last point was so important. It just was.
It had to be Jacob or no one.
That buzzing restarted beneath her skin, humming at an increased frequency that throbbed against her chest the longer he remained silent. Her leg bounced, nerves spiraling until she forced herself to still. Her pulse still pounded and sweat trailed down her side, but she was well versed at hiding the urgency that even she didn’t understand.
Questions crowded his expression, but none of them spilled out. Did he think she was crazy? He wouldn’t be the first or likely the last.
“Please,” she finally whispered, the single word lifting on a plea that felt like her last safe hope.
She could go elsewhere. Hunt down a different guy, place, environment that would feed the urge that never seemed to quiet. But she was actually trying to be smart here. Trying to be cautious when her default was the opposite.
Jacob swiveled his head in a slow arc that could’ve been rejection or resignation. “I’m not taking this lightly,” he finally said, serious. “You’ll still have a safewo—”
“No!” Her refusal snapped out before she could stop it. His eyes widened and her hopes dropped. Damn it. She bit her tongue, swallowed. His eyes narrowed again, and she had to clear her throat of the regrets and insecurities before she could finally add, “I won’t use it.”
“And that right there is why this is so damn risky.” His voice had hardened. “You are giving up too much.”
Am I? Maybe. Yet she couldn’t get herself to back down.
A calm settled over her as she accepted the truth of his words. She leaned in, meeting him halfway in the little space between their bar stools. She made sure he could read the conviction that’d taken root with her determination.
“I’m giving you everything.” His nostrils flared again on his deep inhalation. She waited for him to exhale. “Only you.”
“Fuck.” He hung his head, grimaced, but heat simmered beside resignation when he scratched his name over the bottom of the contract. She sat back, her muscles going slack with the relief that swooped in. He’d done it.
The contract was signed.
He pinned her with the steady intent that’d first drawn her to him. He came across as affable, charming even. The easygoing guy who was the first to step up or lend a hand. Yet there was something steady and focused beneath his friendly demeanor, something deep when she felt so shallow.
“Don’t make me regret this.”
His warning stoked the rebellious side of her that never seemed to die. She flicked her brow up, swallowed the last of her drink before sliding from the bar stool. Her chin was lifted, pride holding her shoulders back when she nailed him with the same hard intent he’d handed her.
“Don’t make me regret this,” she said before she strode from the bar without a backward glance. Her nape prickled with awareness as he tracked her departure, but she held strong in her refusal to show more than she already had.
Jacob Anders was the only man she trusted her life with, and that wasn’t her being dramatic. He could seriously hurt her in numerous ways, and she’d just signed a contract giving him permission to do so.
Chapter Two
Jacob set the last tool down on the credenza. The leather straps slicked against the wood in a series of soft taps. He eyed the arrangement and mentally reviewed the use and handling of every item. Did he need them all? No.
But the options were there.
Nerves clustered in his stomach along with the hum of excitement. It’d taken him three weeks to make the arrangements. Three long, intense weeks of research, practice and lessons before he’d felt even remotely close to carrying off this scene.
Bailey was asking for everything, and he planned to give as much as he could.
“Are you ready?”
Jacob snapped his head up. Tension laced through his shoulders when he spotted Trevor James, the Boardroom founder and overseer. “Yes.” He kept his voice strong, which was the only way to handle him.
Trevor entered the room, scanning every inch before he stopped in front of the credenza. “I reserve the right to stop this at any point.”
“Of course.” Jacob hadn’t balked at that line in the contract. No, he’d welcomed it. There was no telling where the scene would go or how deeply they’d all sink into it.
Trevor flicked a brow up, but his apparent question remained unasked. He returned to the doorway, his controlled calm weaving into the room to layer over Jacob. He had this, or he wouldn’t be doing it. It was really that simple.
And Trevor wouldn’t have let him if he didn’t trust everyone involved.
“I’ll send the men up when they arrive,” Trevor said. “Bailey’s already here.”
Jacob nodded, not at all surprised that she’d arrived early. Bailey Brown was a fireball of energy and sexuality that wasn’t tempered one bit. She could be intense, coy and demanding, but she was also funny, lively and exciting. It all depended on what one focused on.
And she’d come to him with this request.
That in itself wasn’t unusual. He liked helping people and that included people in the Boardroom. He didn’t mind fulfilling scene desires or being the guy people sought out when they needed something unique. But this had been different from the moment Bailey had approached him.
He rolled his shoulders and swung around to study the evening skyline. Trevor had insisted they use his corporate boardroom, and the view was stunning, day or night. Buildings crowded around them to offer the possibility of intrusion without being obvious. Beyond them, the Bay Bridge was a line of lights in the distance over the black expanse of the water.
A deep breath pulled him into the headspace he needed. The darker, harder place that nudged aside protocols and conventional thinking. Right and wrong wasn’t always a clear line, especially when viewed from another perspective.
He dug into desires he rarely released, the ones he’d been raised to shun. The ones society claimed to be repugnant. They wove through him on a note of hunger. He rarely engaged in this level of play, yet he understood it, wanted it.
Bailey’s request had blown open the door he’d only peeked through before.
“Hey.”
Jacob turned to give the newcomer a nod. “Glad you could make it.” Another long-term Boardroom member, Drake Hanson had a rougher edge to him that hinted at the dark things he could do.
“I wouldn’t miss it.” His smirk highlighted the calm eagerness rolling off him.
“Me either,” Kellan said as he entered the room. He flashed a smile at Drake, stepping up to shake his hand. “It’s been a while.”
“I didn’t know you were back in town,” Drake said.
Kellan gave a dismissive shrug. “It’s only been a few weeks.” He motioned to Jacob. “It was pure luck that I ran into him.”
Had it been luck or fate that he’d literally run past Kellan on his morning workout the day after Bailey had approached him? Younger than Jacob by a few years, Kellan had never come across as such. Hard would be the best term to describe him. He was pleasant enough to most, and deeply loyal to those he called friend.
“Timing’s everything,” Jacob said, only half joking. He wasn’t sure if he would’ve accepted Bailey’s proposal if she’d come to him even six months ago. “Are you both clear on the rules?” He shifted the discussion to the scene, nerves snipping at the edge of his calm.
“Crystal,” Drake shot back with his customary snark. He adjusted his tie. “Shirts on or off?”
“On for now.” Bailey wanted the power dynamic. “Did Trevor take your phones?”
“No.” Drake lifted his from his pocket. “But mine’s off, like usual.”
“Mine too.
”
They both flashed dark screens, which didn’t mean shit, but he trusted them. “Follow my lead, but feel free to do what comes natural. She’s signed her rights over to me for the night, so—”
“She did what?” Kellan broke in, scowling.
Jacob stilled, returning his direct gaze. “Bailey belongs to me.” The words alone brought a rush he couldn’t explain. Power whispered in his chest and teased at things he’d barely acknowledged until she’d spoken the words to him. I want you to own me.
Drake’s low whistle broke the tension that’d crept into the room. “You’re a lucky bastard.” Envy shone unchecked and carried in his voice.
I am. He couldn’t disagree one bit.
“I hope you don’t plan on using all of those.” Kellan flicked his chin at the credenza, his frown still in place.
Jacob’s quick snort shot out ahead of his low laugh. “God, no.” He wasn’t a sadist. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, those damn nerves invading further. “Some of those are for you.”
The corner of Kellan’s mouth curled up in a slow smirk that was both cunning and devious. “I was damn lucky to run into you that day.” Of the three of them, Kellan was probably the most experienced with the tools.
Drake came around the table to study the items Jacob had laid out. “Fucking is in, right?”
“Yes.” Jacob inhaled. “If I okay it.”
He jerked his head around. “I sure as hell hope you do.”
“I bet.”
“Oral?” Kellan asked.
“Yes.” A visual popped into his head, singeing the images that’d been blasting his mind for weeks. “Both ways.”
That smirk of Kellan’s grew into a full grin that wasn’t at all humorous. Yeah, he’d picked right for this scene. Bailey had joined the Boardroom after Kellan had moved away, so he’d be entirely new to her. Unexpected, an element she wouldn’t have been able to anticipate.
A sound came from the hallway, drawing Jacob’s attention. His breath hung in his lungs at his first sight of Bailey. To say she was beautiful would be too simple. From her fiery hair to her pixie features that matched her petite form, she was distinct when compared to the standard definition of beauty.
“Gentlemen,” Trevor greeted before he receded to the corner at the far end of the room.
“Bailey,” Jacob said after he’d found his voice. His pulse set a hard beat in his ears, his longing crashing against the desire he’d held in check since their very first scene together.
The Boardroom was a place for safe, uninhibited sex in a public space. It wasn’t a pickup zone or an extreme version of an elite dating service. Exclusivity was rarely applied between members, even married ones.
He had no hold or right to Bailey—except for tonight. This one night.
“Jacob.”
The breathy note in her voice twisted around him on the temptation it was. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders in waves of red offset by yellow and orange strategically placed to create the perfect image of flames. Her eyes were outlined in dark makeup to accentuate the sultry smolder in them. The hard tips of her nipples showed beneath her dark green slip dress in a tease that continued to the crotch-length hem. Her bare feet finished the sexy forest nymph impression and had his dick stirring already.
His heartbeat increased in incremental notches as the reality of the moment sunk in. He was finally going to live out his darkest fantasy with the woman he’d love to claim for real.
And then he’d have to let her go.
Don’t miss Signed Over by Lynda Aicher, available wherever Carina Press books are sold.
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Copyright © 2018 by Lynda Aicher
About the Author
Lynda Aicher is an RWA RITA® Award finalist, RT Reviewers’ Choice Award winner and two-time Golden Flogger Award winner who loves to write emotionally charged romances. Prior to becoming an author, she spent years traveling weekly as a consultant implementing software into global companies until she opted to end her nomadic lifestyle to raise her two children. Now, her imagination is the only limitation on where she can go, and her writing lets her escape from the daily duties of being a mom, wife, chauffeur, scheduler, cook, teacher, cleaner and mediator. You can find her online.
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Also available from Lynda Aicher and Carina Press
The Boardroom series
Done Deal (Memo #1)
After Hours
Blind Trust
Signed Over (Memo #2)
Strictly Confidential
Free Trade (Memo #3)
The Wicked Play series
Bonds of Trust
Bonds of Need
Bonds of Desire
Bonds of Hope
Bonds of Denial
Bonds of Courage
Shattered Bonds
The Power Play series
Game Play
Back in Play
Penalty Play
Also available by Lynda Aicher
The Harder He Falls
The Deeper He Hurts
The Farther He Runs
Want something short and sexy by Lynda Aicher? Check out the erotic-office novella series The Boardroom Memo.
DONE DEAL (The Boardroom Memo, novella one)
SIGNED OVER (The Boardroom Memo, novella two)
Or catch up on Lynda Aicher’s full-length erotic office romance series The Boardroom.
AFTER HOURS (The Boardroom, book one)
BLIND TRUST (The Boardroom, book two)
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ISBN-13: 9781488097133
Strictly Confidential
Copyright © 2018 by Lynda Aicher
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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