Max helped her to her feet. She stared at him. His chilseled lips were parted slightly and he said, “Tell me again that you want to kiss me.”
“I want to kiss you,” she said in a hoarse voice.
He nodded, “Good.”
Then he walked out.
She stared at him, her mouth hanging agape. He had just spanked her in the most delightful way possible, made her admit that she wanted to kiss him, and walked out all without kissing her?
What kind of man did that?
The kind that had just done it. A dangerously sexy man with plenty of power and wealth and no compunction about going after exactly what he wanted, which at the moment anyway, seemed to be her.
She grabbed her stuff and ran.
**
Later that night, seated on her sofa with a n ice pack under her bottom Jill considered her options. She could quit. She could also keep showing up and being a part of what was undeniably the most powerful corporation in the country despite its youth.
She could tell Max she didn’t want anything to do with him too and that was probably her best bet. That spanking had scared her and not because of the pain it had delivered.
Because of the pleasure she had felt from it and during it.
What kind of freak liked that stuff?’
Her kind of freak apparently.
How could that even be possible?
Granted she had never found sex to be all that exciting before and maybe it was just the novelty of that spanking that had done it, sent her spinning into the most powerful orgasm of her entire life.
Or was there an even simpler and yet more sinister explanation? Was it possible that she had found sex boring simply because nobody had ever spanked her?
Either way she was in way over her head. Max was too hot, too rich, too powerful, and way too capable of making her body respond to his with just a touch.
She definitely needed to find the brake pedal and apply it.
Hard.
Hard and fast.
Naturally that thought just made her even more excited.
It brought up an image of him making love to her in just that way and with a little more spanking and maybe even some hair pulling tossed in for good measure.
That was so hot the temptation to masturbate rose up and she only barely managed to stay right where she was with her legs firmly closed.
Determination filled her. She was going to resist him, no matter what it took. She was not going to give in at all. She was going to go to work and do her job and she was not—repeat not—going to do Max.
Nope.
Not even once.
**
Days passed. Max kept his distance and Jill was confused and a little irritated. Why wasn’t he trying to get her to let him spank her again? Had he decided he didn’t want to? Her own resolve to not let him touch her had crumbled long since and the more he didn’t touch her the more she wanted him to.
It occurred to her, finally, that that might be exactly how he wanted things. He played his hand however he felt like it and he probably assumed that she was going to play right along.
Boy was he wrong. Every day that went by she wanted him more and more but with each day that went by she was also way more determined not to give him to him either.
The end of the week loomed up and she was exhausted in a good way from work and in a bad way from all the crazy thoughts in her head, all of which centered around Max, spankings, sex, spankings and sex with Max, and so forth.
She worked late that evening, keeping her head down toward her drawings. It was thrilling to see her design, modified by Max, slowly starting to come to life. She could start building the model for the investors meeting the next week first thing Monday, as long as Max approved her final blueprints and she was sure that he would. They were great, the very best thing she had ever done.
“Working late again?”
Her head jerked up. Max stood in the middle of her office, his black suit fitted to his body like an expensive glove. She glowered at him. He probably thought she had stayed late in the hopes that he would do just what he had done and come walking into her office.
“Yes.”
She bent her head back to her drawings, knowing the gesture was both rude and dismissive but not caring. Two could play the cold shoulder game as far as she was concerned.
He walked up to her desk, on the opposite side, and looked down at the paper spread across her desk. “Nice, that’s very good. I see you considered the carbon footprint when you planned this wing of it as well, that’s great.”
“Isn’t the real purpose of this building? To put sustainable energy at the forefront of corporate business, not by selling green energy but by using it?”
His smile was genuine. “It is. How are the estimates on those new and improved solar panels coming along?”
She tapped a finger onto the desk, “They are still coming in higher than you would like. If you are adamant about buying from the US it is going to cost you more.”
“I am adamant about that. We have a solar energy company here in the city that needs a big boost. Why not keep our money in the city? It would be cheaper to buy overseas, yes, but it would cost us goodwill and business in the future.”
“Do you always think about everything like that?”
It wasn’t a sarcastic question. She wanted to know. Had he considered that little tryst they had shared just another part of the way he did business? Did he assume that he had earned her loyalty that way?
Had he earned her loyalty with that spanking?
“No,” he said softly, “Not always. I go after what I want pretty fiercely and sometimes I go after who I want like they are an acquisition, which doesn’t seem to have done me any favors.”
Her heart beat a little faster. Was he talking about her?
He reached out of her hand and captured it. “I also don’t go after those who don’t want me. You see I believe people should be able to say what they want, and be decisive enough to know if they really want something, and if they think that thing or person is worth it. I can’t really read you.
“Now I know you said you wanted to kiss me and for me to kiss you. I also suppose you are wondering why I walked out after without kissing you.”
She took her hand back. She didn’t want to admit it but she did wonder that very thing. “No, not at all. I figured that was sort of like you spanking me. It gave you some power, and you like dit. It had nothing to do with me at all really.”
“Oh that is where you are wrong,” he said, “It has everything to do with you. But yes, it gave me power. The question is, are you strong enough to use your own power?”
She blinked at him, “What do you mean?’
His voice was low and warm. His breath washed across her cheek and neck as he leaned close to her ear and whispered, “All you have to do, is ask. But you have to be strong enough to ask because I don’t like weak or indecisive women. I like women strong enough to decide what they want and go after it, women strong enough to ask for what they really want, way down deep.”
What was he saying? Did he expect her to ask him to spank her? She stared at him, unsure and wary. She said, “Maybe so.”
His smile got wider. “Do you want dinner?”
“With you?”
His grin became rueful, “Yes, that was sort of implied I thought.”
“I don’t do implied.” Now the shoes was on the other foot.
Or so she thought. He neatly turned the tables by saying, “Good. Then would you like to go to dinner with me right now?”
She went hot. “I wasn’t fishing for an invitation.”
“No, you weren’t and even if you were I’d already offered one up.”
Dammit! The man was entirely frustrating and irritating and…and hot. So hot. But it wasn’t just the sexual charisma pouring off of him that made her want to say yes. It was something in his face. He looked hopeful, something she never would have thought he even could l
ook.
She said, “I’d love dinner.”
He nodded, “Good. I was hoping you’d say yes.”
“What if I had said no?”
He shrugged, “I would have ordered food and brought it in here and ate it, hopefully you would have joined me. I would hate to think you are stubborn enough to go hungry.”
Her lips twitched. “It depends on what’s on offer. I would probably kill for good Thai and Indian food but if you order pizza you better order a small because I hate it.”
He actually looked flabbergasted, “You hate pizza?”
“I do. I worked at a pizza place all through high school and college. I was broke through college so I ate at work, where I could get a discount. I hope to never see another slice of pizza as long as I live.”
“That makes sense. I worked as a dishwasher before I got a job at a lawn service. You won’t catch me washing dishes or pushing a lawnmower.”
It was her to turn to be astonished, “You were a dishwasher?”
“I was. I grew up the same as the other guys—over on the West side. And not the West side the way it is now. It’s been fixed up some since, and we had a big hand in that. We grew up dodging drug dealers shooting it out on the streets and people selling liquor out of the back doors of cars. Going to school meant running a gauntlet of hookers and johns and cops. Being a dishwasher was actually a step up from what I could have been.”
She hadn’t thought she would admire him. She’d known he came up hard, as had all the partners. She just hadn’t known about the West Side of the city. She’d never been there, and she had no intention of going either. The partners might have had a hand in getting it pulled back from the brink of actual disaster but it was still a highly unsafe area, one a woman on her own had no business going into.
“I see.”
“How about you?”
She said, “I grew up in a rough neighborhood in a small town. That means I grew up in the worst house on the worst street in a small town. I can’t say it was that bad, not as bad as you had it, but I get it.”
His full lips curved upward, “And yet here you are.”
“And here you are.” She picked up her bag and asked, “Are we going to dinner?”
“We are.”
He took her arm and guided her out of the office and down to the express elevator. They stood still and quiet but her emotions were anything but quiet. Max was turning her on just being near her and what was more she wanted to know more about him. A lot more. She asked, “How did you get into real estate?”
He shrugged. I saw a condo for sale. It was crap. I saw it because I was on the lawn crew that did their maintenance. I called, found out the bank had given up selling it and I went to the bank and used every dime in my savings as a down payment and then financed the rest. I did a DIY fixup that was really an eye opener. I also got a real estate license because it was cheaper to get a license than hire a realtor. One thing led to another. I sold that condo, paid it off and used the cash to buy another place and do the same thing. Plus I started selling houses for other people so I learned plenty and that translated well to this.”
“You have a good eye. The things you added to my design were incredible.”
He asked, “Did it really bother you that I added to it the way I did?”
“Yes,” she said honestly.
“I see. I will be sure to be more cognizant of that in the future. You obviously work hard and I didn’t mean to make you feel like I wasn’t respectful of your work but I can see how what I did would come off that way.”
Again he had just flummoxed her. She murmured a thank you and they got into the elevator then off again. They headed through the lobby and outside. Max said, “There’s a great Italian place right around the corner.”
“I like Italian,” they set off walking. His hip brushed against hers as they walked and she found herself moving slightly closer to him. He walked fast but not at a pace she found bothersome to keep up with. Their legs were almost perfectly matched and so were their strides and she found herself wondering what else about them might match perfectly like that.
They had dinner, and to her surprise she enjoyed his company. All the anger she had had toward him evaporated like dew. She finally got it. He had been waiting for her to tell him what she wanted, and she had been waiting for him to tell her what she wanted.
They left the restaurant and Max said, “Would you like to have a drink at my place? I live in the towers there.”
The towers. The soaring and terribly expensive condos right off the city’s most expensive shopping strip. She stared up at the lines of the building with some misgivings. Not about him, about herself. She was a girl from a poor neighborhood. Did she really belong up there?
He belonged up there so why not?
Taking a deep breath she said, “Yes, I would.”
He took her hand. Little thrills shot through her body, making her nipples stiffen into hard taut peaks as they crossed the street at the light and headed into the lobby of the building. She said, “So you can walk to work every day.”
“Yes, it’s part of why I chose it.”
As soon as he opened the door to his apartment she knew the rest of why he had bought that penthouse. The city lay beneath them, spread out like a glowing jewel. The lights flickered and danced against the mist rolling in from the river and she gasped as she stared out at the stunning vista.
“It’s beautiful!”
“Not as beautiful as you.”
His hands rested on her shoulders for a moment. In the clear glass of the windows she could see his face, right above her slender shoulder. His face held a pensive look that made her insides melt.
He turned her around and their mouths met. His hands slid down her shoulders and along her back, his fingertips pressing hard into the pressure points just below her shoulder blades.
Tension she hadn’t known she had released, leaving he rlimp. His hands slid downward, cupping her bottom. Her mouth met his and the kiss was so ferocious it took her breath and left her senses reeling in all different directions.
He broke the kiss off and said, “Tell me what you want.”
She stared at him, trying to form words. She finally said, “What you did before but…but more.”
His eyes held hers. What did I do?”
She swallowed hard. “You spanked me. But you didn’t make love to me.”
“Fuck you.”
Her face burned but the words made her hotter than she had ever bene before in her entire life. “You didn’t fuck me. And…and I want you to.”
Oh God. She’d never said that to a man before. Her body was humming with energy and penned in need. She wanted him almost desperately but what was wanting him going to do to her?
She was already falling for him, no matter what she might tell herself to the contrary. She wanted him, and she wanted him badly enough to do exactly what he wanted her to do, and how.
But it was how she wanted it too. She wanted to feel his strong hand on her bottom. She wanted to feel his hard thick cock inside her body, thrusting hard and fast.
She opened her mouth and said, “I want you to spank and fuck me.”
He was pleased, that was easy to deduce by the gleam in his eyes and the sudden bulge on his pants. He drew closer and then he took his tie off. She didn’t understand what he was doing at first. Then he knotted the tie loosely around her face, leaving her blinded. Fear shot through her followed by a jolt of utter need.
His hands stripped her clothes away and she shivered as his hands ran over her body, exploring every curve and turn. Her breath came in fast panting gulps.
His body pressed against hers. The fabric of his shirt and slacks met her bare flesh, bringing fresh sensation to her body and skin. His hands slipped across her skin and then his mouth went to her breasts. His tongue moved across the tight peaks, licking and sucking until they stood up even higher. Her toes curled and she whimpered.
Her hands went t
o his body. Even blindfolded she knew exactly how to find the button and zipper of his pants. His staff sprang free, filling her palm with thick meat and heat that left her crying out. She made a loose fist and ran it along the throbbing silky flesh, relishing the feel of the thick and rigid muscle below.
His mouth met hers. His tongue darted in and out of her mouth, a slow but insistent thing that made her respond. Their tongues met and parted and she ground herself against him, feeling his erection, still in her palm, thicken and twitch with every slow rotation of her hips against his pelvis.
He flipped her around. She ended up facedown, ass up on the sofa. Her arms went out over her head and she buried her face in the sofa’s expensive leather cushions as his hands kneaded and lifted her ass cheeks one by one. His thumbs pressed deep into that flesh, sending pain and pleasure streaking through her ass and up her spine.
His fingers continued ot knead and massage her cheeks. Her ass switched from side to side as she tried to entice him to do itk to spank her already.
His hands cracked down, both of them hitting each cheek with a sharp report and leaving behind a deep and aching sting that worked its way past the muscle and right into the tissues below. Her eyes, behind the tie, widened and she let out a muffled swear word.
His hand came down again. That time he spanked her ass cheek on the right then he swatted the left, making her flesh jiggle. Fluids leaked from her body and her mouth opened and closed as she fought to stay steady, to take that pleasurable torment that he was dishing out so well.
His fingers slipped between her legs. His fingertips ran up along the parted outer lips of her labia, dipped into her body so fast she barely had time to register their presence inside her before they were gone. She whimpered, her fingers clawing at the sofa as his fingers went further up, moving along her clit in a swift and heavy circles that made her hips thrust up and down in a hard pumping motion.
She ground her pussy against the sofa, desperate for some relief. He chuckled and swung his free hand against her bottom again then he tweaked the flesh of her clit, pinching it just slightly. The response was immediate and intense pleasure that rolled through her body like a cresting ocean wave and left her clinging to what little bit of rationality she could find there in the darkness and beneath his clever tempting fingers.
Protected By The Highlander (Medieval Romance) Page 76
