by Tina Donahue
“Same thing.”
Danni glared.
Sunny shrugged. “It is. That’s why I told you what was eating him and how he fought for you with poor Roger.”
Poor who? She wanted to ask Sunny how she could date the rat but didn’t want to hurt her feelings. For once, Sunny genuinely seemed to be in love. How deluded and sad. “I didn’t want Adam fighting for me. I wanted him to be honest.”
“If he had been, you would have told him to take the line and shove it and then you would have quit. Don’t you think he knew that? He fought hard for you. From what I overheard of his and Roger’s conversation, the moment Roger decided to replace you, Adam fought like a maniac for you.”
“So? What if Roger had told Adam to take a hike? Would Adam have kept pretending he didn’t know anything when I was fired? This may come as a surprise, but I don’t like being the last to know when I’m about to be fucked, all right?” She shredded another tissue. “In Vegas, Adam knew Painted Ladies had already been acquired and he’d be my new boss. But hey, did I get pissed he didn’t tell me? Hell no. I understood he wasn’t certain the acquisition would stick, and he didn’t want me to think I had to sleep with him because he’d be my new boss.”
“If you understood that, why can’t you understand this?”
Good fucking God. Her frustration exploded. “Because I’m tired of being lied to. Now I’m wondering what else he’s been keeping from me.”
“Did he tell you he threatened to resign if Roger didn’t back down?”
“What? No.” She frowned. “Neither did you. He really threatened to resign?”
Sunny nodded.
Danni didn’t know whether to be grateful or insulted. “Roger only agreed to keep me on because he’s afraid of losing Adam?”
“Do you really care what Roger thinks?”
Her anger evaporated. “No.” As far as she was concerned, Roger would always be an inconsequential gnat. “He’s damn lucky I’m here—or was here.”
Sunny fingered the lacy powder-blue bra. “You said you wonder what else Adam’s been keeping from you. Has he told you he loves you?”
Danni heart sank faster than she believed possible. She rubbed her forehead. “No.”
“No? Or not in so many words?”
She recalled the DVDs he’d made of them making love—the hunger in his eyes during the act, tenderness softening his features as he cradled her after their climax. They’d both been blissful then. It didn’t mean she had his love. “If he felt deeply about me, he would have said so.”
“Did you tell him how you feel?”
She couldn’t. It would make everything too real and intense. She might get hurt. Hell, she was hurt and freaking tired of it. “I have to look for a new job. Network. Call in some old favors.”
“If that’s what you want.”
Danni laughed and stopped abruptly at how hysterical she sounded. What she wanted was to be completely certain, one thousand percent assured, and knew it wasn’t remotely possible when it came to love. God, she was screwed. A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Aw baby.” Sunny folded her arms on the desk. “Give it time. It’ll get better.”
Wrong. Things never got better on their own. She had to fix this… somehow. She could stay and risk her heart, or she could leave and have some lasting peace because she’d never allow another man to touch her so deeply. Not after what she’d shared with Adam. Tears dripped from her chin. Before she became a blubbering mess, she grabbed her smartphone.
Sunny looked intrigued. “Who are you calling?”
“My future.”
Adam squeezed his pen, trying to focus on Tom Green’s presentation in the conference room at His Woman’s Pleasure. Adam had been there since he left his hotel—four long hours ago. This meeting was never going to end.
Greene pointed to the next chart. “As you can see, our projections for—”
Adam’s smartphone rang. “Sorry.” He stood.
The executives seated around the table looked at him.
“I have to take this. It’s important.” Danni might be calling.
He left the room and sped past the reception area into a deserted hall. He pulled the phone from his pocket, his hand shaking. He prayed Danni wasn’t calling him to say she quit and didn’t want to see him again. She hadn’t actually threatened as much when she confronted him this morning, but the look in her eyes… Once a man betrayed her trust, she didn’t give the dumb bastard another chance. Only this time she had to. No way could she deny what they’d shared. He wouldn’t let her. Dammit, he owned her. And she owned him.
He brought the phone to his ear without checking the number. “Danni?”
Static hissed briefly. “Wrong. Roger.”
Adam swore beneath his breath. “Are you calling about Danni?” She couldn’t have quit. The fucking prick couldn’t have let her.
“Hardly.” Roger’s already frosty tone dropped several degrees. “I’m at the Seattle meeting, remember? Besides, we settled that stuff with her. She stays so you stay.”
“Fuck that.” Adam wanted to slug something, preferably Roger. “She stays because of her goddamn talent.”
“I never said she was untalented, Adam. I think the world of her talent. It’s her salary I don’t like. As I’ve said a dozen or more times, she’s fucking expensive to the company.”
“She deserves a raise.”
“No. And I mean it. It’s bad enough we’re not replacing her with Kenneski who’s three times cheaper, as you well know.”
“Kenneski doesn’t have a sixteenth the talent Danni has, as you well know.”
“Which is why I wanted you to develop the girl.”
“Bullshit. You wanted me to make Kenneski’s decisions for her. With Danni, I don’t have to. She’s fucking perfect.”
“I’ll try to remember that when I’m going over the profits. Did you remember to give Greene my projections on the Rave line?”
They were in Adam’s briefcase, unopened and forgotten. “Yeah.”
“Good. How’s it going there?”
Lousy. “Great. I’ll send you an update tonight.” Adam killed the connection and had to call Danni.
Meghan, Greene’s young secretary, hurried toward him. “Adam.” Her sweet-scared voice shook. “Mr. Greene and the others are asking for you in the conference room. They want you there now.”
The meeting broke up at eight p.m.
“Hey, Adam.” Greene adjusted his tie. “We’re heading out to Spago. You can ride with me.”
“No.” Adam grabbed his briefcase. “I’m going back to the hotel to crash.”
“But—”
“I’ll grab a bite there. See you in the morning.” He shook hands with the others in the group and left for his hotel.
Forty-five minutes later, the cab dropped Adam at the Beverly Landmark Resort. Trudging through the lobby to the elevators, he kept turning his phone in his hand, aching to call Danni, worrying about what he might say and whether she’d listen or believe. Guys had done nothing but fuck her over in the past. He’d known that, and shouldn’t have lied, yet he had.
Idiot. He didn’t want to consider if there was no way to fix this. Exhausted, scared, and lonely, he stabbed the up button countless times before the damn elevator arrived.
He dragged inside and slumped against the wall. Forever seemed to pass before the doors closed. They brought him back to the elevator ride he and Danni took in Vegas. How vulnerable she’d looked. How embarrassed. At the time, he’d wanted to haul her into his arms, kiss her senseless, and enjoy her until he collapsed.
He should have told her he loved her. If she’d known when she discovered his lie she might have still trusted him. Or not. Shit. He dropped his phone in his pocket and ran his hand down his face.
The elevator stopped on his floor.
Halfway down the hall to his room, an elevator dinged. The sound returned other memories from Vegas: watching her rush down the hallway away from
him, stopping her from leaving, telling her how he’d wanted her from the moment they met, deliberately keeping the truth from her.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He fished the key card from his pocket and stopped at his door, not understanding the scarlet scarf tied around the handle.
Danni’s. He’d used it more times than he could count to tie her wrists to his bed. She couldn’t actually be here.
Heat and hope slammed through him. He shoved his key card into the slot several times before the dumb thing worked then entered his room.
Her striped black-and-white scarf lay on the floor near the bath. He’d used the item last weekend to tie her wrists to his showerhead.
Unable to breathe or think, he dropped his briefcase and ran into the bedroom. Three silk scarves rested on the comforter: the white one he used to blindfold her and the black ones she’d wrapped around his wrists then tied to the bed those times he ordered her to pleasure him.
The room shifted and his ears rang. He planted his feet widely apart to keep upright.
Where the fuck is she?
He pushed the closet doors aside.
The space was empty.
He switched on the bathroom lights.
Even the tub was deserted.
He raced from the room.
Danni stood in a small alcove which hid Adam’s door from the hall. She wore black spike heels, as he liked. Her lightweight coat fell to mid-calf. She’d unbuttoned it to reveal her nudity.
His gaze zipped up and down her, his mouth falling open, wonder in his eyes.
Precisely the response she needed. “I love you.”
He blinked then pulled her into his arms and hugged her so fiercely she could barely breathe. “Oh God, Danni, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“No.” She pressed her lips to his throat.
His breath caught. His pulse pounded.
Hers matched it. “I believe you and I trust you. Roger put you in such a lousy position. I shouldn’t have doubted your motives. I’m so sorry. I love—”
“Uh-uh. It’s my turn.” Eased back, he held her face in his hands and kissed her damp lashes. “I adore you. And I mean it in every sense of the word. I love how you sound, taste, smell, act. Hell, I even like the way you snore.”
She grinned so hard, tears glided over her cheeks. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry about the snoring. I had no idea.”
“I’ll never bring it up again.” His smile faded. “Do you really believe I love you?”
She did. Partly due to what Sunny had said, mainly because what her heart knew yet tried to resist since too many guys had battered it in the past. Only a man in love would have acted as Adam did. “You fought for me.” Tears roughened her voice. “How many guys do that?”
“No other one better try. I damn well don’t share what’s mine.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I know.” She placed his hand on her naked breast. Its warmth and weight brought new tears to her eyes.
He pulled in a deep breath and fondled her.
She eased into his touch.
He smiled. “How in the hell did you get through airport security like this?”
“I was fully clothed then.” She stroked his bristly cheek, aching to feel it scouring her thighs, his tongue licking her cleft, his mouth suckling her clit. “When I arrived here I called the office to see when you’d be coming back to the hotel. Meghan said she didn’t know but would call me the moment you left. After she did, I undressed in the public restroom downstairs. I watched as you crossed the lobby then I took the next elevator up. I was behind you in the hall.”
His gaze turned inward as if trying to recall hearing her, smelling her, feeling her. “How’d you get the scarves inside my room?”
She ran her tongue over his bottom lip.
He trembled.
She liked his response. “I had to bribe housekeeping. I told them tonight was our anniversary and I flew in to surprise you.”
His lids grew hooded. “You like surprises?”
She echoed his words in Vegas. “I enjoy giving them more.” Stepped back, she pulled her large shoulder bag off the floor. Inside were her street clothes and some goodies for tonight, which she showed him.
His eyes widened at the camcorder, karada, and the velvet-covered paddle.
She stroked his fly. “What’s next?”
Grinning sinfully, he pulled her inside his room, bolted the door, and took her bag. “Lose the coat.”
She did, standing naked, vulnerable, and willing before him, a man she trusted and loved. Their time together wouldn’t be perfect. He’d hurt her unwittingly at times, and she’d do the same to him, no matter how hard she tried to avoid it. But maybe, just maybe, their missteps would never overshadow the good they’d shared.
Like tonight.
His eyes glittered at her freshly shaved pubes. He dropped her bag and stroked her baby-smooth flesh.
Tingling coursed through her, the welcomed delight settling in her pussy. She spread her legs, inviting him to explore.
He traced her plump, slick folds parted for his pleasure and use.
She couldn’t have asked for anything better. Then again… “Take me. Please.”
He regarded her, his sole acknowledgement of her insatiable hunger. If anything, her plea made him more determined to have her obedience and patience until he granted what she desired. He disciplined her by stroking her cleft and nub, short of letting her come.
She tensed, her mind screaming for climax. To avoid crying out, she clenched her teeth and stilled so he wouldn’t suspect how close she was to the edge.
Seconds before she peaked, he pulled his hand away.
Her head fell forward, her panting filling the space. Even though she ached to have control, she willingly conceded it to him for the greatest reward.
He stepped back. “Put your hands out, wrists together.”
Breathless and wanting, she obeyed.
Once he’d bound her wrists using the striped black-and-white scarf, he tied them to the door handle. “Bend over.”
She grabbed the handle and did as he demanded. As she wanted. Legs spread, back arched, ass lifted, she presented herself to him, desperate for his touch.
He undressed slowly, making her wait, his eyes on her.
His belt buckle clinked faintly.
Her heart caught.
His zipper rasped.
Heat raced up her chest and throat.
He stepped out of his pants and underwear then tossed his shoes aside. They thumped one after the other. Fabric hissed and whooshed as he removed his jacket, tie, shirt, and socks.
At last, he pressed against her, his hot, hard cock brushing her inner thigh.
She yielded even more, unable to bear the wait any longer. “Please now.”
He squeezed her ass which he’d kissed and paddled so many times in the past. “What if I want to wait?”
“Then we will. I’ll obey no matter—”
He’d entered her without pause, filling her completely. “Not a sound.”
She shook her head and bit her lower lip.
He thrust into her ruthlessly, relentlessly, even as he fondled her breasts and stroked her nub.
Lost in the savage act, she cried out.
“Quiet. Another sound and I’ll stop.”
She squeezed her lids and gripped the handle.
He rubbed her clit, purposely arousing, pressuring her to make a sound and defy him.
She clenched her jaw.
Her orgasm tore through her.
She gasped, but didn’t make another noise, her obedience intensifying the delight.
Still breathing hard, she submitted further.
He stroked her nub and pumped his cock into her pussy. Again, he ordered her to silence. Once more, she obeyed.
Their climaxes peaked simultaneously.
He pressed his mouth to her shoulder, muting his groan, his breath heating her skin.
Melded together, they remai
ned.
In the hall, footfalls sounded and passed by. A brief cough followed, and then a door being opened. Maybe a man, his woman waiting for him inside, wanting him to tie her to the bed and blindfold her so she was deliciously helpless against his male lust.
Nothing else would do.
Danni smiled.
Adam tightened his arm around her waist, possessing her even more, and pressed his mouth to her ear. “There’s no getting away from me now.”
A command and warning rang in his voice, stronger than the times before.
Pleasure and anticipation filled her.
He flexed his cock within her pussy. “I’ll have you where I want. When I want.”
She nodded, pleased, in love, and ever obedient to her need and his passion.
The End
Tina Donahue
I’m an national and international bestselling novelist who writes passionate romance – ‘heat with heart’ – to satisfy every taste and I’m published by traditional publishers and indie. Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised my work. I’ve won Readers’ Choice Awards, was named a finalist in the EPIC competition, received a Book of the Year award, The Golden Nib Award, awards of merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competitions, and second place in the NEC RWA contests. I’m featured in the Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Before penning romances, I worked at a major Hollywood production company in Story Direction.
On a less serious note: I’m an admitted and unrepentant chocoholic, I brake for Mexican restaurants, and have been known to moan like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally while I’m wolfing down tostadas. I’ve flown a single-engine airplane (freaking scary), rewired an old house using an ‘electricity for dummies’ book, and am horribly shy despite the hot romances I write.
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