Tanya nodded and raised her third mojito. “See you.”
She didn’t watch Jessica leave. Instead she scanned the bar’s patrons the best she could. Maybe there was someone who would interest her more than Austin Graham, although that was highly unlikely.
Man, she had it bad.
Friday night happy hour and Peppers had a good crowd. Most of the people probably just got off work and needed a little something to unwind. Around nine a band would start playing and the bar would be beyond crowded.
She didn’t mind being alone and checking out the place. People-watching was one of her favorite things to do.
She passed her gaze over a man in a booth and she did a double-take. It wasn’t. It was.
It was Austin.
He was on the phone and as far as she knew, he hadn’t noticed her.
For a moment she watched him. He wore a black polo shirt which made it easy to see the flex of muscle in his carved biceps as he moved. She imagined listening to his smooth, sexy voice as he spoke on the phone. Or better yet, as he spoke to her.
She thought about the pictures he looked at on his computer. What he liked might frighten some, but not her. She never would have figured this guy had these interests and it made him all the more exciting. Though she had never tried those things, many women had to like the thought of being helpless at the hands of a strong man. She liked knowing his secret.
She considered fleeing before he saw her in her too-short skirt and busty blouse. Or maybe it was the perfect time to sit with him and talk if he invited her to. He was probably meeting someone, but why not give it a try? She swallowed. She wanted a relationship with Austin and that was never going to happen if she didn’t try to get to know him better, and for him to get to know her better.
She’d better hurry. She didn’t want him to leave. Tanya looked down at her almost full drink. She usually didn’t drink this fast, but here goes, she thought. Nothing like mojito courage.
Tanya slid off the bar stool, smoothed her skirt, and adjusted her blouse so that she wasn’t spilling out of it. She didn’t have a perfect body by a long shot and she wondered what Austin thought about imperfect figures. She glanced in the mirror behind the bar and took a deep breath.
“Austin, here I come,” she murmured under her breath as she wound her way through the crowd. Jessica had said the short skirt showed off her long legs, which she had been told were one of her best assets.
He pressed the OFF button on his Blackberry just as she reached the table. As he slowly looked up, he examined her from her legs to her breasts and then his dark eyes met hers and recognition flashed in them. His smile was so sexy it almost made her squirm.
“Tanya.” His voice was low, sensual.
She lowered her eyelids. “Hi, Austin.”
He glanced over her shoulder. “Are you here with someone for happy hour?”
“Not now.” She shook her head and let her hair slide over her shoulders. “Jessica left a few minutes ago.”
“My meeting just canceled.” He raised his Blackberry as if to say he’d just been talking with the person who had canceled, before sliding the cell phone into the pocket of his slacks. “Have a drink with me.”
“Sure.” Tanya felt jittery as she slipped into the booth then slid on the bench seat until she was sitting across from him. Her stomach twisted with excitement at having a drink with her boss, the man she’d had a thing for ever since he started working for the company.
He signaled for the server and when she arrived, Tanya said she would like another mojito.
“How do you like L.A.?” he asked. “Not having any family in this area must be hard.”
For a moment she was taken aback that he knew that about her since he never asked where her family lived before. He hadn’t asked much about her personal life since they started working together. She faltered for a second.
“It’s fine with just me and my calico, Amanda,” Tanya said. “I wanted a fresh start and a big change. That’s what I got when I moved here, and then some.”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Culture shock?”
“You could say that.” She smiled. “But I adapted pretty quickly.”
He studied her as if recalling something. “You’re from the Midwest and most of your family is in Kansas.”
“Yes.” Even more amazement filtered through her before she responded. “I have a few extended family members sprinkled around the country. None in California.”
He smiled. “You’re not married and no boyfriend.” She blinked. Had she told him that? No, she didn’t think so.
She pushed a strand of hair over her shoulder. “How did you know all of that?”
The server arrived and set Tanya’s mojito in front of her and Austin paid for her drink. After the server left, he said, “When I’m interested in something or someone I find it out.”
The emphasis on someone made butterflies skip in her belly. Had he meant because he wanted to know more about her as his assistant, or something more?”
Anxious to change the subject away from herself, she said, “What about you? Were you ever married, do you have a girlfriend, been here long?”
She almost felt embarrassed by asking him the personal questions, but he had opened it by talking about her personal life.
He smiled. “No, no, and I was born in Anaheim and have lived here my entire life.”
Austin picked up his glass of scotch. “You’ve been on the support staff for almost a year now,” he stated after the waitress left. “Do you like the job change as my executive assistant when I started at the company?”
“Yes.” She smiled as she leaned back and crossed her legs at her knees. She bumped his leg with her shoe and pretended not to notice. “At times it can be a little rough, but nothing I can’t handle.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. His smile was so sexual that she had to squeeze her legs tightly together. “So, do you mind the rough? I have the impression that you like that part of it.”
Her eyes widened and she tried to keep her jaw from dropping. “I—I” Her face had to be bright red. Here was her chance and she was speechless. So much for mojito courage.
He tapped his fingers on his glass. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I think you saw the pictures on my computer earlier today.”
She felt a little reckless. “I know this is the mojito admitting more than I should but I really liked those pictures. I’ve seen them before.”
He studied her with intensity in his gaze. “Where have you seen those types of pictures?”
She bit her lower lip before she spoke. “Ok, but I don’t want to get into trouble.”
He looked intrigued. “You won’t.”
A deep breath. “On your computer. You leave it connected to your home network.”
He raised his brows. “So you’ve known all this time?”
“Since day one.” She nodded, the movement making her feel even more tipsy while she wondered if she was about to lose her job. “I can’t get some of those images out of my mind.”
“Tomorrow morning I should probably be fired just for talking about this with you.” He paused and met her gaze. “So tell me. Did you think they’re hot?”
She swallowed. “Yes, thought they were hot. Exciting.”
“Would you like to be one of the women in the pictures?” His voice was low, sexy as he leaned forward in his seat. “Would you ever like to experience what it feels like to submit to someone?”
She bit her lower lip before she said, “Yes.” She felt the sudden urge to run. She couldn’t take the sensual assault anymore. She couldn’t believe that she was talking about this to Austin.
The waitress set another scotch in front of him and asked Tanya if she wanted another mojito. She shook her head. Anymore mojito courage and she might be ripping off her clothes in public.
After the server left, Tanya said, “Okay. My turn. Have you done this sort of thing?”
“It�
�s something I enjoy and have for a long time. It’s not easy finding someone who likes it as much as I do.”
“I can’t say that I have tried it,” she said. “But the pictures that I saw make me, well, they make me excited.” She paused then blurted out, “Do you actually have some of the gags, restraints, and the other equipment that was in some of those pictures?”
He held her gaze. “Yes, I do.”
“Would you show me some of your equipment?” The mojito courage had her saying things that she would never have said otherwise. Yeah, she was all out of restraint now. “I would like to see it,” she found herself saying.
His gaze was intense as he studied her. “This is getting really dangerous.”
“Please, please, please.” She leaned closer to him. “I really want to.”
He took a drink of his scotch. He set the glass down. “Do you mean come to my apartment?”
“Not unless you have it in the trunk of your car,” she said with a grin.
“Tanya…” He studied her. “Is this the alcohol talking? I won’t take advantage of you.”
Tanya straightened in her seat. “I’ve only had three mojitos and I don’t consider myself drunk. She spoke seriously, knowing this was important. “I’m relaxed enough to be honest about things I normally wouldn’t.” She leaned forward. “But I have wanted those things ever since I first saw them on your computer and I still do.”
Austin pushed his empty glass aside. He considered her for a long moment. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Chapter 3
Austin opened the door to his Mercedes for her and then he slipped into the driver’s side. The car’s ride was smooth as he drove. The entire way, fireworks erupted in Tanya’s belly. She was alone with her boss, at night, and going to his apartment and soon to be looking at his bondage toys.
“Anymore true confessions?” he asked as he guided his car onto the freeway.
“I’ve told you more than I ever expected to,” she said. “Let me ask you a few questions. What is there about BDSM that excites you? Why do you like the thought of tying a woman up?”
Austin looked at her. “The idea of total control. It’s not that I take it from you, it’s that you want to give it up. You want to trust me.” He continued to glance at the road and back to her. “I’m stronger than you, but I don’t want to take anything from you that you don’t give me.”
He continued, “The idea that you trust me and you are willing to give up all control and be put into a helpless, vulnerable position, is intoxicating. It is knowing that you love to be in that position and are willing to do it for me.
“Some people claim that it dehumanizes someone,” he went on. “It’s very much the opposite. It attracts me all the more to that person. To have an intelligent and strong-minded woman give up control to me because she wants to. It’s a high that I can’t get enough of.”
“I never thought of it that way.” Tanya found herself more intrigued than ever. “So, does it excite you to see pictures of someone who you don’t know, helpless?”
“It does when I think of specific people I would like to experience it with,” he said.
“Who in the office do you think of?” she asked, knowing that she was pushing it.
“I think of only one person.” He paused. “You.”
Flutters traveled from her belly to between her thighs. “You really think of me tied up like that?”
“Yes,” he said. “Now you know it all.”
“When was the last time you did something like this?” she asked.
“I had a girlfriend who broke up with me about nine months ago.” He shrugged. “She tried to like BDSM, but it wasn’t her thing. She preferred vanilla sex. There were other issues, but that really did us in.”
She thought about what it would be like to love something and the person you were with didn’t, and didn’t want anything to do with it. She could see how that would make things difficult in a relationship and why his relationship had ended.
“Does it frighten you off that I think of you like the women in those pictures?” he asked.
She was quiet as she thought about everything he had just told her.
“Did I say something wrong?” he asked. “I think I pushed it too far.”
“No,” she said quietly. “From the first time I saw the pictures, I have thought about being in the position of the women with you taking control. Now you know it all.”
Austin pulled up to his apartment building at the same time he was digesting Tanya’s statement. He had a feeling she was doing the same thing—thinking about what he had said.
After they parked, he helped her out of the car. As they walked, he touched his fingers to the base of her spine. A feeling like electricity sizzled between the two of them, something he had never felt with any other woman.
He walked behind her as they took the single flight of stairs up to the apartment building and he got a look at her black panties beneath her short skirt. The red ones he’d had a chance to see yesterday had been hot. These were totally sexy, too.
When they reached the first floor, he used his keycard, held the glass door open, and then escorted her to the elevator. Once they were in, he leaned up against one of the brass handrails as they rode it to the twelfth floor of the apartment building.
He didn’t say anything on the ride. After all that talk how could there be this silence, he thought. He just let his gaze drift over her, lingering on her breasts and her hard nipples before traveling down to her long legs and then meeting her eyes again. His cock was hard and he ached to get his hands on her.
They stepped out of the elevator and he walked three doors to the left and opened the door with his key. She walked ahead of him and he turned on the light. Almost without thinking about it, he grabbed her and spun her around and pushed her up against the wall, catching her by surprise. He took both of her wrists with one of his hands and pinned her arms over her head. He knew she would enjoy being controlled. It was in her eyes, the submissive way she acted around him.
Tanya’s heart beat faster and her lips parted.
As her boss, Austin had always been so professional. If she hadn’t seen the pictures on his computer, and if he hadn’t asked the questions he did at the bar, she would never have guessed he had this side to him. It made her so hot she could hardly think straight.
“I love that you like those pictures Tanya.” His voice was rough but controlled. “Would you like to do something like that?” She swallowed hard. She couldn’t speak.
“Do you want to play with me, Tanya?” His mouth neared hers, his breath warm against her lips. “I think you do.”
Her lips parted. She wanted to say yes but she couldn’t get it out.
“Tanya.” He said her name in a warning tone as he pressed his body hard against hers. “I asked you a question.”
“Yes.” She was finding it hard to breathe, her skin tingling all over. “I want to play with you.” Fire burned her and headed straight between her thighs. “I would like that.”
“I can tell.” He bit her ear lobe, hard, causing her to gasp. “From the first time you walked into my office, I thought you would enjoy a little kink. And then when I realized you had looked at some of the pictures, I thought maybe you liked them.”
With his free hand he skimmed his fingers over her cleavage before taking one of her nipples and pinching it hard. She bit her lower lip to keep from crying out as he pinched her other nipple. It was painful, yet it felt so good.
He pressed his body to hers and she felt his erection against her belly. “You know what I want to do with you?”
The thought of him taking her tonight, right here in his apartment, made her heart beat even faster. “I think so.”
“There are a lot of things I want to do with you.” He moved his mouth to her other ear. He bit her lobe, harder this time and her eyes watered. “Are you ready to find out?”
Tanya nodded.
“Tell me.” The demand in h
is voice was unmistakable. “If you have any doubts at all then we won’t go any farther. We can call it a night.”
“Yes.” Her throat felt so tight she didn’t know if she could get out the words, but she managed to. “I’m ready to find out.”
She caught her breath as he unbuttoned her blouse with one hand, exposing more and more of her cleavage until the blouse fell away from her breasts. He jerked the black bra beneath her breasts and cool air tightened her nipples even more than excitement already had.
Austin lowered his head and sucked one of her sensitive nipples and she moaned. Then he moved his mouth to her other breast and sucked it, too.
He maneuvered her so that he had her wrists clasped behind her back in one of his hands and they walked. Her breasts seemed to swell from desire as she walked with him, and cool air brushed her wet nipples.
They continued to kiss as he took her to the kitchen. With his free hand he opened a drawer and grabbed a roll of black duct tape. Thrills of unease and excitement caused her body to tingle all over as he placed a piece of tape over her eyes.
Blood rushed in her ears as he took away her sight.
He pushed her up against a wall again. This time he rubbed her breasts as he kissed her mouth.
“You’re beautiful, Tanya.” He palmed her breasts then squeezed her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. “I’ve fantasized about having you like this.” He rubbed his cock against her belly. “Have you fantasized about me?”
He already knew the answer, he had to. She nodded.
He kissed her again. “Follow me.” He pulled Tanya along and then they stopped. “Don’t move” She’d never heard so much command in his voice before and she was turned on more than ever.
She heard a door open and him rustling in what she assumed was a closet and wondered what he was doing. In moments he was at her side again. He then turned her around and around until she was almost dizzy and didn’t know what direction she was facing.
She wanted to see, but he had taken that away from her.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
Playing Rough: 3 Hot Tales of Sensual Submission Page 7
