He’d give anything to know what she was thinking right now, what fantasies she was creating in that fertile imagination—and if, by any chance, he figured in any of them. Had she ever picked up on the Dominant traits he’d shown around the office?
The enchanting little sounds she was making were becoming slightly wilder now, less controlled as she began to approach the point of orgasm, and the erection he was sporting was correspondingly growing more uncomfortable.
Alex had always prided himself on being a good Dom, taking care of his subs’ needs, respecting their limits while at the same time testing those limits within reason—and trying to teach his subs self-control, among other things. Perhaps Miss Harrison would benefit from one such lesson.
As stealthily as he’d entered—wasn’t it strange how military training could come in handy in civilian life?—he moved slowly backwards, to the point where he could make out that he’d only just arrived. In silence he opened the front door again, then slammed it shut, at the same time yelling out, “Beth, I’m back—you’d better be decent!” with a wickedly playful tone to his voice.
And lo and behold, there she was, sitting up and looking as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. Even if butter wouldn’t, he thought ruefully, he very well might. He decided not to make any comment about the warm, delightful scent of aroused woman that he detected in the air. He’d put money on the fact that he’d managed to prevent her achieving her climax, and if he had, then she would be one deliciously frustrated female.
“I’ve got your laptop, so that should keep you out of mischief for a while,” he said, feigning complete innocence as he placed the computer bag beside her on the sofa. “I’ll just take your clothes into the bedroom. Would you like me to clear some drawer space for you?”
The play of emotions across her face when she looked around at that comment was interesting. She was a little flushed, which was hardly surprising, and her expression spoke volumes about trying to work out what her answer should be.
“Um, no, it’s okay, thanks. I mean, it’s not like I’ll be here long, is it?”
If she wanted to think that, he wasn’t going to argue the point—for the time being. She’d need time to adjust to her new position in his life, as well as his position in hers. “Give me a few minutes, and then you can get changed into something less comfortable—if you really want to.”
When Alex emerged from the bedroom, his guest was busily typing away. From the speed at which she was typing and the lack of any apparent pauses for thought, she was clearly deep in concentration. He hoped she was working on her manuscript. Sneaking up behind her for a look over her shoulder would be easy.
His eyes narrowed as he scanned the screen. She really did write very well. Her prose was both fluid and descriptive, and clearly came from the heart, even if it wasn’t entirely factually accurate. Now facts were something with which he could help.
“You write beautifully, Beth, and while what you’ve written could happen, owned subs would never indulge like that without their Doms’ permission—not unless they were bratting and actively seeking to be disciplined. And depending on their Doms’ moods, the form of that discipline may end up not being what they were hoping for.”
As he stepped down over the back of the sofa to slide into position by her side, Beth slammed down the lid of her laptop, her face drained of colour. The waves of tension emanating from her body were off the scale.
“Beth,” he said quietly, “don’t shut me out, and don’t be ashamed. Talk to me.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Her knuckles were white, where she was gripping the laptop. “It’s rubbish, just…stupid rubbish.”
“It isn’t.” Very carefully, Alex sat back, his posture as non-threatening as he could make it. Now was as good a time as any. “Do you know what I am?”
“Of course I do. My employer, and now…“ Her voice trailed off and she was staring straight ahead; even the least observant person in the world would see her stress levels were rising with each passing second. At any moment she could bolt for the refuge of the bedroom with its lockable door.
“Beth. My woman. Am I going to have to put you over my knee and give you a good spanking? I know I’d enjoy it, but the question is, would you?”
Now that got her attention—and the colour flooding back into her cheeks. Her eyes were wide, her mouth frozen with the sharp intake of breath. Even so, Alex could see the truth dawning in her eyes. Now she knew.
“Yes, Beth,” he said, with the gentle authority he wanted her to accept. “I’m a Dom, and when I call you my woman, I mean it. I can teach you all about the beauty of submission to your Master, and you’re going to teach me all about you.”
While her stomach performed Olympic-standard gymnastics, Beth digested the confirmation of what her subconscious mind had always suspected, right from the very first day she’d gone to work for him—that Alex wasn’t just a dominant personality, and that was why he’d provided the perfect model for the central male character in her book.
“Beth? Look at me. I know this is a daunting conversation to have. I’ve already thrown a lot at you today, but if you’ll let me, I can help you to accept what I see in your eyes. Don’t be afraid.”
She couldn’t help herself—she had to obey him. The look she saw in his eyes was like a laser beam searing the depths of her soul, laying bare all the things she knew were there but had shied away from for so long.
“You can’t be a Dom.” There was a hint of desperation in the denial. If it wasn’t true, then she could retreat back into the safety of her ordinary little world. Her fantasies could remain just that. “You can’t be.”
“Why not, Beth? You’ve clearly done your research. You know D/s exists. And for it to exist, there must be practitioners of it. Is it so difficult to believe that I’m one of them?”
Beth set her laptop down on the coffee table. She really needed to go and get dressed properly. If she did that, sanity would surely return to this conversation.
“Where are you going, sweetheart? Don’t run away.” He caught hold of her wrist. “Tell me what you want.”
She closed her eyes, trying to shut out that insistent but gentle, understanding voice. But it wasn’t just his voice, nor was it just his words—there was an additional element in his tone that was communicating with her in a way that she felt rather than heard. He was weaving a hypnotic spell around her that was nearly impossible to resist. Standing in front of him, she had to try just one more time to stop the juggernaut, even if it meant their personal relationship was over before it had a chance to begin.
“Alex, I’m not what you want,” she said, not sure who she was trying to convince more, him or herself. “I’m not glamorous, I’m not skinny and I’m not beautiful.”
A solid lump of grief settled in her stomach. “Look at me, Alex—look at me for what I really am.”
5
“Since you insist.”
With that, Alex pulled Beth towards him so that she straddled his lap, grasped the hem of her T-shirt and in one swift movement, before she could work out what he was up to, removed it from her body and flung it to one side.
He looked, just as she’d asked him to, and he saw what she really was—she was incredible. Her body was as gloriously, gorgeously imperfect as he could have hoped for. Her breasts were soft, natural curves, just like the gentle swells of her belly and hips; her nipples, hard and tight, invited a man’s mouth to take them. It didn’t take much to imagine how she’d look with the adornments of bondage.
Glamorous, skinny and beautiful—she seemed to think that they were the attributes a man sought in a woman. How wrong she was. Glamour could be bought from any department store, in women’s wear and cosmetics—it was nothing more than a shallow quality that had nothing to do with the woman beneath the clothes and make-up. As for skinny—so overrated. No man in his right mind wanted a woman who looked like she’d break in two if they tried an
ything other than gentle, missionary-position sex.
And not beautiful? She was so wrong—she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known, because her beauty was inside as well as out. And he would find great pleasure in teaching her just how beautiful she was. He’d been a fool to fear this connection for so long.
Right now, though, her face told a different story, one that broke Alex’s heart and gave him his first goal. Her expression was stricken as she tried to cover her breasts and pussy as if they were something to be ashamed of. He was going to make sure that one day, she would be in a place where that expression was consigned to the past. With the utmost care, he took hold of her wrists and held her arms away from her body. Her head fell forward, a lustrous brown cascade covering her shoulders and breasts.
“Don’t, please. I should be –”
“You should be who you are, no more, no less,” Alex cut in, his voice calm but firm. He pressed a kiss against the inside of each pale wrist. “Do you know what I see when I look at you, Beth? I see femininity, I see loveliness—and I see a woman who has been in conflict with herself for a very long time.”
He studied her face for a moment. “I can take that conflict away and give you something that will let you be at ease with who you really are. The woman you’ve always been but have been too scared to acknowledge. I would consider it a privilege if you would allow me to do that. I know what a sensual, sexual being you are already. It’s there in your writing, in the way you were enjoying your body before I came back –”
“Oh, God, no!” Clearly horrified, she struggled against the hold he had on her.
“Beth, stop it.” His voice held a warning he knew she couldn’t ignore. “What I saw was exquisite. I wanted to watch you bring yourself to orgasm, and one day, I will.”
Her pussy was still wet when he grasped both of her slender wrists in one hand, so that he could slip the other between her legs, his gaze never leaving her face as he eased his fingers between her folds to stroke her still-swollen clit. Her response was a soft little grunt of reaction that sent a new shaft of desire through his body.
The play of emotions that she was experiencing was plain to see. She was torn between wanting what he was doing to her, wanting to listen to him, and wanting to fight everything. Alex had met more conflicted subs in his time than he could shake a stick at, so he knew exactly what was going through her mind—nice girls weren’t supposed to let strangers do things like this to them, nice girls weren’t supposed to actually want or even like sex at all. He’d seen it all before, heard it all before, but this time, because it was Beth, it was different. He wanted so much more for her…for both of them.
“Why are you doing this to me, Alex?” she whispered, trying to move her pussy away from his hand.
The answer to that was simple. “Because you’re mine. Tell me how you feel. Right now, Beth—tell me. No filters.”
Her eyes were haunted in the moment before she turned away from him. “Ashamed. I feel ashamed.”
Alex swore under his breath. Shame was the last thing he’d intended her to feel. “That stops right now. No one should be ashamed of their desires, their needs. I can teach you never to be ashamed again. Will you let me teach you?”
“Train me, you mean?” Now she was prickly and defensive. Oh, he was going to love learning all about this woman. She’d keep him on his toes, all right.
“I’ve used that word, yes, but it’s not the way I work. Some Doms do, but I prefer to think of it as teaching, because it’s as much about you teaching me as it is about me teaching you. For example, I would need to learn your limits, both soft and hard—the things you won’t do now but might do in the future, and the things you’ll never do.”
And the first thing he needed to teach her was the necessity for clear communication in their relationship. It was something a lot of subs knew about, but confronting them with it often came as a shock.
“Now—when was the last time you had a lover? When did you last have a man do this to you?” He tapped her clit, felt her body tremble in response.
She reacted much as he expected. Eyes wide and with colour blooming in her cheeks, she was clearly lost for words. Alex felt almost primitively pleased that there was no instant response. He was even more pleased when she somewhat hesitantly admitted that the brief relationship had both started and ended in the two months before she’d come to work for him.
“And you dumped him, didn’t you?”
She went still. Alex could tell by her expression that he was right. His Beth needed a strong man to give her what she really needed from a relationship. He wanted to be that man for her.
“And no lovers since,” he concluded thoughtfully. “A woman like you is made for sex, Beth. You need to be fucked hard and often.” How she blushed even more delightfully at that! “Does masturbation really satisfy you, or do you miss having a flesh-and-blood cock inside you?”
He could see that the bluntness of the question shocked her. While he wanted her to reach the point where they could both talk so frankly with ease, there was a small part of him that took delight in verbally head-butting her sensibilities. He started to stroke her pussy again, noting with approval that she was considerably wetter than she had been a moment or two earlier. On the face of it, it would appear that she did need a cock—his cock—to satisfy her need for sex.
So where did he go from here? He could take her into the bedroom, begin to prove to her that she was a natural sub and scare her to death, or he could keep her by…letting her go. In one fluid movement, he released her wrists and stood up, carefully setting her back on her feet as he did so. Without giving her a chance to speak, he replaced the T-shirt, but before he spoke there was one more thing he had to do—he lowered his mouth to hers to place a gentle kiss on her lips, the kind of kiss a man gave to the woman he cherished above all others.
“Go and have a shower now, love, and dress up—I’m taking you out for dinner. Think about what I said, and we’ll talk about it again tomorrow.”
Standing under the shower, Beth was a bundle of nerves. This wasn’t her life; there’d been a terrible mistake, and somehow she’d been transported into someone else’s life by accident. Otherwise, she’d have to consider all the things Alex had just said and done to her, and none of that could possibly be true.
After a leisurely shower—leisurely to give her time to think—Beth returned to the bedroom and delved into the bags Alex had left for her. She was expecting to find the clothes she’d asked him to collect from her apartment. They were there all right, along with some things she didn’t recognise: a cocktail dress in teal satin and black lace, with a pair of stylish peep-toe black patent heels and a matching evening bag.
This must be what he meant her to wear for their dinner date.
I’m going out to dinner with Alex Lombard. Beth rolled the phrase around in her mind but it was still difficult to relate it to herself. She wondered how long it was going to take her to get used to the idea that she was his latest conquest.
“Now you’re getting silly!” she muttered under her breath. Conquest, indeed. More like charity case.
She could be stubborn and uncooperative about it, she supposed, and put on the jeans and baggy top that she’d also found in the bag. The truth, though, was somewhat different—she didn’t want to be stubborn and uncooperative. Now that she’d calmed down a bit, she found herself wanting to please him. And the dress was very beautiful.
It was just a pity he hadn’t thought about underwear as well.
“You don’t need it, Beth,” came his amused voice in response to her murmured comment. He was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded and legs crossed at the ankles. “The bodice will support your breasts and the knickers stay off—as my woman, you’ll only wear underwear when I give you permission to do so. Now get ready. You’ll wear the dress, the nylons and the shoes. And don’t overdo the make-up.”
And with that, he walked past he
r without a backward glance, on his way to the bathroom.
Simmering with affront, Beth stared after him. As if she would overdo the make-up! All of a sudden, a strange feeling came over her, as if her skin didn’t quite fit right any more. This was the Alex who’d taken charge of the situation back at the office, but somehow…intensified. Was this the side of him that all his previous girlfriends had seen? Was this a glimpse of Master Alex? She suspected it was—and the shiver that went through her then was one of excitement, rather than fear.
She wasn’t used to going without underwear; the feel of the fine fabric on her skin was downright sinful. And Alex was right about the bodice. It was almost like a corset, while the skirt had just enough material in it to allow her to walk comfortably. Well, comfortably enough—she certainly wouldn’t be going anywhere in a hurry in this dress.
With just a touch of lipstick and a quick flick of mascara, she ran the brush through her hair and took in her appearance in the full-length mirror. It was like looking at a total stranger, but instead of being shocked by the transition, Beth felt completed by it, as if she were looking at someone she was always meant to be.
Having left the bedroom to Alex, she was in the main living area, standing at the huge windows so she could take in the awesome view of the city, when she heard movement behind her. That would be Alex—and if she were dressed up to the nines, would he be similarly attired? He’d scrubbed up quite well for the office Christmas parties, she recalled, even though he’d only stayed long enough to make sure everyone was having a good time.
Talk about suited and booted. Quite simply, he was stunning. All of a sudden her ideas about this dinner date ratcheted up several notches on the casual to formal scale. The man could surely make simple black and white look like the sexiest fashion combo on the planet. He was clad in an immaculate black dinner suit, the quality unmistakable, with a dazzling snow-white shirt, a black tie, and gleaming black leather shoes. With his height and build, and the commanding air that he wore like a second skin, he couldn’t help but attract attention. He certainly had hers as he made his way towards her.
The Velvet Ribbon Page 7
