Lucas, Samantha - The Seduction of Anne Ruby [The Seduction 2] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Samantha Lucas

  She felt the seat beside her dip down as Jordan sat beside her. Her friend put a comforting arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

  “Look, Anne, I’m sorry. I’m not great at putting myself in other people’s shoes. Bit of a narcissist really, but I’ll try. Help me understand what exactly it is you’re so freaked out by, okay?”

  Anne looked up and felt tears stinging her eyes, but she started this, and in truth, she needed to talk this out with someone. She knew at the very least she could trust Jordan’s discretion.

  “Grey is a dom, he…” She licked her lips and forced out the rest. “I agreed to be his sub, at least while he’s here at the hotel, I guess…” Her heart started to race as she pushed the last of the truth out. “And I really like it. There’s something so satisfying about pleasing him, and he pushes me to be wilder than I’ve ever been. I’ve done things with him I only ever fantasized about, like being tied up, or…” She closed her eyes as the memory washed over her. “We had sex on two different rides at Harbor Gardens, and he had my breasts totally exposed to anyone who walked by at one point…God, he makes me wild.”

  She searched Jordan’s expression for any clue that she’d shared too much or that she’d exposed more than she should have.

  “Wow.” Jordan’s eyes grew very focused, and she turned to face Anne square-on. “I’m not shocked about him. Like I said, I’ve read stuff, but no, you know what, I think it makes sense. I mean, I don’t know much about the BDSM world, but I have read a few books with it in there. He protects you right? Makes you feel safe? He takes care of you and probably very explicitly tells you what he wants so there’s no guessing. I can totally see how that would be hot. I’m too much of a control freak for it, but…”

  Her gaze had drifted off, but she refocused, staring into Anne’s eyes. “I’m not demeaning you here, okay?”

  Anne shook her head. She knew Jordan so well. She was brash and outspoken and not at all warm and cuddly, but she had a good heart, and whatever she was about to say, Anne knew where it came from.

  “You’re shy, scared, inexperienced. A dom can teach you things and put things into a perspective that could really work with your personality. I think it’s awesome, Annie.” She gasped. “Son of a…God I’m sorry.” She brought her hands up to cover her mouth. “I’ve never made that mistake before. Oh my God, I can’t believe I did that.”

  Anne pulled her hands away and shook her head. “It’s not a big deal, Jordan.”

  She hated the name. Mostly because it was what her mother called her, and whenever she heard it, she felt like property. It was funny how she hated that feeling, except for with Grey. Then she longed for it, wanted to be owned by him.

  “I may be psychotic, Jordan. I mean, seriously. Look, you know how edgy I get about possessive men. You know that I can’t stand to have my power taken away. You know I stay away from men for the most part because I’m so weak-willed and let them walk all over me and—”

  “Stop it. I won’t have you speak about my best friend that way.” Jordan pressed her lips into a thin line, and her brow was furrowed. It was her most serious face and nearly made Anne laugh, but she swallowed it.

  “I’m not being…I’m not putting myself down. I’m stating facts. Am I just intrigued by this whole submissive thing because it helps me skirt responsibilities for my choices with a man?”

  “You’re overthinking, Anne. And besides, even if it was, we’re talking about a week or two of your life, and what are you getting in return?”

  That was a good question. What was she getting? Her entire body went warm with the memory of Grey’s touch, his kiss.

  “You know what I love the most?”

  “No, do tell.” Jordan looked at her like she was about to spill the recipe for Godiva chocolate.

  She rolled her eyes and gave her friend’s arm a small push. “It’s not that juicy.”

  Jordan sat back on the sofa. “Fine. But spill anyway.”

  Anne thought about the words she would choose then finally spoke.

  “It’s how turned on he gets me. He takes me to this place where I actually feel sexy. I feel like I could do anything, agree to anything, and I want everything. I’m not embarrassed or shy, I’m just…” She searched the ceiling of the room as if the words were up there then turned back to Jordan. “It’s erotic. Potent.” She shivered. “Good God, just thinking about it, I swear I can still feel his hands on me. For the first time ever in my life I actually feel like I could be good at this. Like I could be a lover worthy of…I don’t know, just worthy.”

  She grabbed Jordan’s arms, beaming, so excited about what she was about to say. “He tells me I please him. No one’s ever told me that.” Her lashes fluttered as a soft feminine feeling settled on her. “I feel like I’d give anything to hear that. From him though, not just from anyone.” She sighed. “I sound crazy, right?”

  “Holy fuck, no! You sound like one lucky woman, and if you chicken out and run away from this even one second before it’s actually done, I’ll…Well, I don’t know what, but you won’t like it!”

  Anne laughed. She was feeling so much better after having this conversation, even if it hadn’t gone anything like she’d imagined it in her head. Maybe it wasn’t Jordan’s reassurance she needed, maybe it was simply being able to talk it out and get her thoughts straight, but whatever it was, she was feeling a lot more certain. Jordan was right, this wasn’t forever—it was for, like, a week. She just needed to stay focused, keep a short leash on her heart, and enjoy every decadent minute she got to spend with him.

  She hugged Jordan tight.

  “Thank you so much. You are exactly right.” She sat back and looked into her friend’s eyes. “Listen, will you do one thing for me?”

  “Of course. You know that.”

  She did, and she smiled at how good it felt to have a real friend in her life.

  “If I start to freak out or, you know, get like me, remind me to breathe and trust Grey. I really don’t want to sabotage this.”

  Jordan stood. Reaching down, she pulled Anne up from the sofa as well and slapped her on the ass. Anne yelped and rubbed the spot she’d been wacked as it was still slightly sore from the attention Grey had paid it earlier that day.

  “Hey!”

  Jordan giggled.

  “I’ve got your back, girl. Anything you need over the next week—nothing is too much to ask—you’ve got it.”

  She hugged her tight. The unusual display of tenderness shook Anne, but she quickly returned the hug.

  “I’m so happy for you. You deserve something good, Anne.” She pulled back and smiled. “And I don’t think anything could be much better than this!”

  Anne drew a deep breath. She was so much calmer after this conversation. She was also beginning to feel a bit needy. She wanted to see Grey and wondered if she would. They’d left things so casual when she’d slipped out of his hotel room. It was bad for him to be seen with her, and inside the hotel, it was disastrous for her to be seen with him, but he’d given her one last kiss and promised her that wasn’t the last she’d see of him.

  She guessed now it was just a matter of waiting.

  “Hey, Anne, that hottie owner was up here earlier and left this for you.” She held out a note that Anne took carefully. “Whatever it is, I’d tell him no if it’s going to cut out some of your Grey time, but that’s just me.”

  Anne carefully opened the note handwritten on expensive stationary. She was impressed.

  Miss Ruby,

  My time has been more in demand of late than I had expected, but I remember our conversation from the other night and would very much like to speak with you about your experiences at the hotel.

  My wife and I are having a lunch Saturday at 2 p.m. If it would be convenient, I could send a car for you, and please bring someone with you if it would make you more comfortable. I realize it’s a rather odd request, but my calendar is booked, and you would be doing me a great favor.

&n
bsp; ~ Aiden Grand

  “Wants me to come for lunch. Says I can bring a guest, but that’s just kinda weird, don’t you think?”

  Jordan shrugged. “What do I know about rich guys? Just go then. Take Grey. Maybe you guys could sneak off to one of those fancy bedrooms I’m sure he has. Of course…” She cocked her head to the side and wrinkled her nose. “Grey must have a pretty good setup as well. Maybe you should talk him into taking you to his place.” She waggled her brows.

  Anne rolled her eyes.

  “I don’t mind talking to Mr. Grand about the hotel. He seemed genuinely concerned about making the transition easy on people, and I have no commitment to see Grey Saturday anyway, so I’ll just go.”

  She folded the note and placed it in her purse. Something about the whole thing made her think about how alone she was going to feel back in her own bed after having spent so much time in Grey’s. It was something she was going to have to face, though. Grey was fantasy, short term. She couldn’t afford to forget that. Lunch with the Grands, work, her own lonely empty bed, that was real.

  Her heart cried out, but she silenced it. Dreams and fantasies weren’t going to change the facts of her life. Grey was for now. She’d just have to figure out later…well, later. What else was there to do than that?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Anne was bent over a computer printout, trying to read the smudged ink, when she felt him. She looked up on instinct and instantly locked gazes with him. She had no idea how long he’d been standing there, but he looked completely relaxed as he leaned one shoulder against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. He stared at her with such intensity she half expected her clothes to ignite at any second.

  “Hi.” It was the only word she could squeak out, and it sounded breathy and strained.

  He smiled as if he knew exactly what she was feeling.

  “Where’s Jordan?”

  “Kitchen.” She tried to clear her head and focus so she wouldn’t sound like a mindless twit. “She’s trying to get into the pants of a new room-service waiter.”

  She shivered for no real reason and started chewing on her lower lip. He pushed off the wall and came close. She ached for him already. She was wet. This was all so strange. No one had ever made her feel the things Grey did.

  He reached down, put his fingers beneath her chin, and tipped her head back so she looked at him.

  “So we’re alone?”

  She shook her head, feeling slightly dizzy.

  “Take off your panties, Anne.”

  She choked. “Wh–what?”

  He smiled. The grin slowly spread across his face as a gleam lit his eyes, and she saw how dead serious he was.

  “You heard me.” He dropped a soft kiss to her lips then spoke against them. “However, if you need me to repeat my order?”

  “No.” She smiled nervously, not sure she could withstand hearing him order her again to remove her panties.

  “Good girl.” He stood back and watched her. “So?”

  She drew a gulp of air deep into her lungs. She was at her job. Anyone could walk in at any moment, and she was pretty sure he wasn’t talking about going to the ladies’ room to remove them. He wanted her to do it right there, in the lounge, while he watched. While her brain screamed common sense at her, the speedball of arousal he’d unleashed in her—from the moment she looked up and saw him—screamed louder.

  She couldn’t believe she was doing this, but she stood up and tried to breathe away her nerves. Looking into his eyes, watching the obvious approval there for her, made her bold. She was thankful she preferred thigh-highs to pantyhose, or this entire thing would have been wholly awkward.

  She slid up the beige suit skirt that was her uniform and reached beneath to find the waistband of her panties. She was too far gone to go back now. She hooked her fingers in the elastic and pulled them down her legs. She stepped out of them, never losing hold of Grey’s stare.

  “You please me, Anne, so damn much. Hand me them.”

  High on his praise, she didn’t hesitate. She scooped the lilac silk panties off the floor and handed them to him. He pushed them into the pocket of his jacket. She swallowed hard, realizing she wasn’t getting them back and would have to go the rest of her shift naked beneath her skirt.

  He grabbed her hips and pulled her body to his then shoved away some books on the edge of the desk, picked her up, and sat her on the desk edge.

  “Grey…”

  He pushed her legs apart and stepped between them.

  “Do you trust me, Anne?”

  “Well, yes, but…”

  He put a finger to her lips. “Shhhhh then.”

  He pushed her hips back farther on the desk.

  “Are you wet for me, Anne?”

  She was fighting the foggy lust-induced haze but wasn’t winning. She nodded that she was.

  “Tell me.”

  She sucked in air, swallowed, and answered him, “I’m wet for you, Grey.” She closed her eyes and finished, bearing her soul. “So freaking wet.”

  She couldn’t look at him. She kept her eyes closed, embracing the intoxication of his words and the sound of his voice and what they did to her body.

  “Show me.”

  At that, her eyes flew open. Not sure what exactly he meant, she panicked, but he quickly clarified, “Take your finger, and run it along your cunt then show me how wet you are.”

  She wasn’t sure that clarification made things any better. She couldn’t breathe at all now. She blinked rapidly, trying to accept what he’d just asked of her. She was shocked but more so by her own reaction than by what he asked. Something inside shifted, she found a well of boldness, and while staring him in the eye, she took her finger and ran it through her wet, slick folds, picking up her own juices along the way then held the finger up for him.

  His eyes went dark, and she caught a hint of a smile as one side of his mouth crooked just a tiny bit. He took her wrist, and just as she had, without breaking the hold he had on her with his gaze, he brought her hand to his mouth and slowly slid her fingers inside. His tongue pressed her fingers to the roof of his mouth, and he sucked hard on them.

  She wanted him so badly. She was aching, and if he hadn’t been standing between her legs so she couldn’t close them, she’d have pushed them together tight, hoping the pressure on her clit would help the neediness that was attempting to swallow her whole.

  He slid her fingers back out excruciatingly slowly. She wondered what he would do next. She desperately hoped he was going to help her with the fire he’d started. She wanted him to touch her, to make her come—despite the fact that she was at work, despite the possibility of getting caught—she just didn’t give a damn. There was a niggling at the back of her mind as to how irrational that was, but all she could truly focus on was him and her own need.

  “Do you need to come, love?”

  She nodded. “I do.” She added a silent please with her eyes, but she was trying not to beg.

  He released her hand and took a step away from her. She wanted to reach out and grab him, pull him back to her and force him to finish her, but despite what he had gotten her to do so far, she truly wasn’t that bold.

  “Touch yourself, Anne.”

  Her breath stuttered as it seemed to every time he gave her a command, and she wasn’t going to pretend it was anything other than that. He was in that dominant mode she loved so much. The one where simply the tone of his voice made her so hot and aroused that she couldn’t breathe. No one would ever understand it, but where he pushed her was so intoxicating and addictive. She didn’t care about anything else but feeling and pleasing him.

  “Do it, Anne. Make yourself come right here at your desk, while I watch.”

  She wanted to. In truth, she found the idea incredibly hot, but still she hesitated, looking over her shoulder back to the opening to the hallway of rooms and the elevator banks. Granted it was rare anyone came through at this time of night, but Jordan had to come back at sometime and
what if…

  He put his fingers beneath her chin and directed her gaze back to him.

  “You either trust me to keep you safe or you don’t.”

  The look in his eyes hurt her. There was no question about her trust. Though there was no reason for it, she trusted him completely.

  “You have a need, Anne, and I’m trying to take care of you.”

  She had no idea what she’d gotten herself into with him, but she loved it. Anyway, she was tired of playing her life so safe. Fuck it! She was going on this ride full-bore. No turning back. While staring him in the eyes she put her finger inside herself, pulling her moisture out and sliding it over her clit. She moaned deep in her throat at the first touch. It wasn’t going to take much before she came.

  “Good girl.” He stepped back. “Spread your legs more for me, I want to see your pussy. I want to watch how you pleasure yourself.”

  She swallowed and breathed in slow and allowed him to feed her courage. She spread her legs as she touched herself, soon completely lost to her own need and the coming satisfaction. She moaned and closed her eyes, writhing her way right off the edge of the desk to her own touch.

  “That’s it, love. Damn, you’re so fucking beautiful.”

  She smiled, loving his praise, craving it. She circled her clit then came under on the one side where she knew she was most sensitive and worked the nub, not thinking about anything but being in the moment with Grey, just listening to his voice, simply hearing his breathing. It was enough. It was all she needed.

  Oh God, it feels so good.

  She shifted her hand behind her, leaning back marginally, extending her arm to brace her weight while she approached the edge.

  “Grey.” Her voice was thready and thick with need, and she wasn’t certain, but she thought she was asking his permission to come.

  “Come for me, angel. Let me see you fall apart.”

  She couldn’t hold back another second even if he’d told her she had to. The orgasm spiraled outward from the deepest part of her like a tornado of flame, starting from a small pinpoint and swirling outward, becoming bigger and soon all-encompassing, until she felt that orgasm in every inch of her being. Just when she hit the peak, he was there, holding her up, pulling her close to him—keeping her safe, exactly as promised.