by M. S. Parker
Cynical amusement welled inside me. I wondered if she was fucking him yet.
She slanted a look at me. “Would you care for some coffee, Dominic? Andre is a wonder with it.”
“No. I’m fine.” I gave the boy a smile, but he didn’t notice, eager to do his mistress' bidding. “How old is he, Penelope? Eighteen?”
“Nineteen, I think.” She shrugged. “What does it matter?”
“Since you’re fucking him, I’d hope he’s at least legal.”
The look on her face answered my unspoken question. “You’re so crude. But of course he’s legal.” She fussed with the cuffs on her robe. “I never imagined you’d be concerned about my personal life, Dominic.”
“I’m not.” Giving her a hard look, I leaned forward. “But concerned about a boy who looks like he just might be a boy? Yes. That does bother me. Perhaps you can imagine why.”
She straightened, swinging her legs around to the settee and giving me a cold look. “I don’t bring children into my bed. You’re the perverse one in the room, if you’d recall.”
She sniffed just as Andre came back, a heavy tray laden with a pot, a cup, cream, sugar and a small selection of pastries. His eyes lit up when Penelope smiled and even her casual dismissal didn’t dim that pleasure. I almost felt sorry for him.
Once we were alone, I leaned forward. She sipped at the coffee Andre had prepared for her and studied me. “I assume you’re here because your…Aleena…mentioned we’d bumped into each other,” she said.
The smugness in her tone rubbed me raw, but I didn’t let it show.
“Yes. It came up.”
Her smile faded, bit by bit and I waited for it to fade altogether before I spoke again.
“We need to discuss a few things.” I checked my watch, deliberately, before looking back at her. “First, I don’t believe Trouver L’Amour is a good fit for you. Personally.”
As her eyes narrowed and her mouth fell open, I continued to speak. “We will, of course, help you with finding a match for any engagements you’ve already prearranged, provided it’s documented in your file, but beyond that, I think it’s best that you find another company, should you still be searching for…true love.”
“You arrogant—”
I cut her off. “Additionally, you need to be aware of some…personal matters.”
Her jaw snapped shut and she crossed her arms, her expression childishly petulant.
“This cat and mouse game you're playing is going to stop. You will leave Aleena alone. If you don’t…” I let my voice trail away. Up until that point, I had been smiling. Now the smile was gone and I showed her what lay behind the mask I wore for the world. “Let's just say that you don't want to find out what I'm capable of.”
The nervous titter she gave raked down my back like nails across a chalkboard. “Really. Dominic, is all of this because your precious little secretary—”
“You damn well know her name is Aleena,” I interrupted. I held up a hand when she opened her mouth. “Now listen to me, because you need to understand something. I’m in love with her. Got it? I love her. She’s mine. And perhaps you haven’t heard about how protective I am when it comes to what, and who, I consider mine.”
Her scathing sneer twisted her face into something ugly. “In love? With that little bitch? She’s only using you.”
“Bitch? Really, Penelope?” I said, tossing her phrase back at her. “As to using me, that’s more your speed than hers.”
She came up from the settee, glaring at me. Her face was pale, two splotches of color riding high on her cheeks. Her eyes were wild.
“You are choosing that ni–that woman over me?!”
“There was never a choice.” I shrugged, choosing to ignore the word I knew she'd intended to say. “I wanted Aleena from the first minute I saw her. You and I might come from the same world, but that never meant that I wanted you.”
She shrieked and grabbed a small, crystal bowl from the table, hurling it at me. It went wide, so I didn’t even bother to duck. “Why? Because I won’t kneel if you say kneel? I won’t beg if you say beg? For fuck’s sake, Dominic, is she that good at playing your sick little games?”
“Watch it,” I said. Rising now, I caught her wrist before she could pick up the cup of coffee she’d barely touched. That might hurt. She wouldn’t have to hit me with the cup for the splatter to sting like a bitch. “It wasn’t that long ago when you wanted to be exactly where she is.”
“That was before I realized what a sick, twisted pervert you are,” she said, jerking back on her wrist.
I let her go.
Her gaze drifted down to my mouth and I saw the speculation, and the calculation, in her eyes. I wanted to laugh even as something cold twisted inside me. She wasn’t the first woman to call me perverse only to decide she wanted to see how perverse I really was, first hand.
It wasn’t a surprise when she lifted her hand and placed it on my chest. I caught her wrist and squeezed. It wasn’t enough to hurt her, but it caught her attention.
“Don’t.” I kept my voice cold and flat, putting enough warning in my voice that she couldn’t mistake what she heard.
“Oh,” she said, her voice husky. “Is this how we start then?”
“No, this is how we end.” I dropped her hand and scrubbed my palm against my pant leg. I stepped away from her. “I don’t want you. I never did. I’m never going to.”
She stared at me, uncertainty on her face. I wondered if this was the first time she'd ever been so thoroughly rejected.
“This is done,” I said. “I don’t give a damn what you say about me. I don’t give a damn what you try to do to me. We both know there’s only so much you can say and only so much you can do. You’re not going to do much harm, if any.”
Then I moved a little closer, watching with interest as she reached up and closed the neck of her robe. It looked like I was finally starting to get through to her.
“I can do a great deal of damage to you. To you, to your family, your business interest, to your charitable interests…to your reputation...” I let my voice trail off. “The damage you can do to me only goes so far. You care about what your high society friends think about you, but I stopped caring what people thought about me a long time ago. Strangely enough, people put down my eccentric ways to my traumatic youth.” With a soft laugh, I continued, “Even my little perversions, as some people call them, aren’t all that shocking to people. You'd be surprised at how many people you know share some of my little kinks.” I leaned closer and murmured directly into her ear, “I wonder if they'd be as understanding about your fondness for barely legal lovers.”
She flinched, then laughed, again, the sound nervous and frantic. “Dominic, you wouldn’t...”
“Don’t try to appeal to my sympathies. I don’t have any, and I certainly don’t have any when it comes to you.”
Her mouth trembled, then tightened as she looked at me and I had the feeling that for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, she really saw me. Penelope inclined her head and then asked woodenly, “What is it that you want?”
“I want you to leave Aleena alone. You are going to stay away from her. If you run into her shopping, you can say hi to her or you can look the other way. But you will not fuck with her.” I checked my watch again. This was taking too long. “You will not sit around at your little parties and make snide conversation about her. You will not spread lies about her and you will not gossip about her.” I waited a moment and then added, “Do we have an understanding?”
After a moment, she gave me a tight nod and I headed for the door.
“Dominic.”
Pausing, I looked back at her. She stood there, shoulders slumped under her pretty silk robe, her hair hiding her face. After a moment, she looked back up at me and I saw a flicker of vulnerability in her eyes.
“Why?” she asked.
“Why what?”
“You said you loved her.” Penelope fussed with the sleeve of her r
obe. “Why do you love her? You never gave me the time of day, but you love her. What does she have that I don’t?”
Because it was the first time I’d ever seen anything remotely human in her, I forced myself to soften my voice as I replied, “She cares about people, Penelope. If you’ve ever cared about anybody but yourself, you have never let it show.”
Chapter 9
Aleena
A few days had passed and we still hadn’t gone to Olympus.
As predicted, Dominic was already getting bored with Trouver L’Amour and had been exploring his next venture. He hadn't shared it with me yet, but I was pretty sure it had something to do with diamonds. I hadn't seen him much as his schedule had been packed full and I'd eaten alone every night. I wasn't upset since I knew it wasn't because he didn't want to be with me, but I still missed him.
I'd been dreaming about him when I was suddenly pulled from sleep by the sensation of being picked up. I made a sound as I struggled to orient myself.
“Shh, baby. You're sleeping with me now,” he said softly. “Is that okay?”
I was too tired to make much of a response, but I did manage to nip at his neck and mumble, “What do you think?”
I thought he chuckled, but I wasn’t sure.
I was asleep before we reached his room.
***
The next morning dawned…differently.
I wasn’t in my bed.
And I was on my belly, facedown, with my hands bound behind me. The chill of metal and a faint clink when I went to move told me that Dominic had me handcuffed.
“There you are,” he said, a smile in his voice.
“Hmmm…?” I struggled to clear my head.
He drew me onto my knees, guiding me and steadying me, allowing my body a chance to wake up as he positioned me.
His hand tangled in my hair and drew me upright while the other stroked up my middle, dragging the silk nightshirt I’d slept in up with it. “I seem to recall you biting me last night, Aleena. Do you recall that?”
His fingers plucked at my left nipple.
A few more cobwebs fell away and I shivered. “No.”
Then I stopped and thought. Had I bitten him?
Suddenly, I was back on my hands and knees, gasping as he spanked me. Two hard, solid smacks to either cheek. I was definitely awake now.
He brought me back upright, slow, using his fist in my hair. Once he had me flush against his chest, he asked again. “Did you bite?”
I whimpered and then said, “I don’t know. Maybe? I was half asleep. I don’t remember.”
“Good girl.” He cupped my breast again and rewarded me with a quick twist of my nipple that sent an arrow of pleasure straight down my core, licking at my pussy. His hand slid down my body and I shivered when he started to stroke me through my panties. “You’re wearing underwear, Aleena.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
He laughed. “Do you want to stop wearing underwear?” he asked, amusement in his voice. “Be honest.”
I squirmed and then answered, “No.”
“Then don’t lie. Besides…” He nudged me down again. When I had my face pressed to the mattress, he started to tug on my panties, dragging the silk so that it was rubbing against me, over my clit, between the cheeks of my ass. “If you wear it, I get to play with it. Get to feel how wet I make you.” He squeezed my ass. “Take them off of you.”
I shuddered.
“We need to talk about you biting me. Was that the appropriate way to say hello?” he asked.
“I…” My mind struggled for an answer, because dammit, sometimes I just wanted to bite him. Besides, he bit me too, and I knew he liked it as much as I did.
I took too long to answer and his hand came down on my ass again. I yelped and instinctively responded. “No. No, sir!”
“Then why did you do it?” He spanked me again before I even had a chance to respond.
I gasped and lifted my butt, arousal twisting me into a hot, tight knot.
“You woke me up, sir. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Aleena...” There was a warning in his voice.
I made myself be completely honest. “Because I wanted to, sir. I like biting you.”
“Why?” The hitch in his voice encouraged me to tell the truth.
“Because I like marking you.” His hand flexed on my ass. “You're mine.”
“Fuck.” The word came out in a groan. He leaned down so that his mouth was pressed against my ear. “I am yours. And you're mine.” He straightened and delivered two sharp stinging blows to my ass. “But I think you forgot who's in charge, and I really should punish you for that.” He cupped my ass and then trailed his fingers over my hot, sensitive skin. “I’m wondering what I should do.”
I was tempted to wiggle my butt, but I was afraid if I did I would give him the wrong sort of idea. I wanted him, but I also wanted to be able to sit today. But then he smoothed his hand down the curve of my hip and I couldn’t help but wiggle, then sigh.
The sigh turned into a wail because he was suddenly inside me, deep and hard and fast. So hard and fast, it hurt. It bruised. I was wet, but not wet enough. Too tight. But it was a delicious pain and I arched my back to take him deeper. I wanted all of him.
When he was completely wedged within me, he placed his hand at the small of my back. “Be still, Aleena. Be still now.”
I moaned as he closed his hand around the cuffs that held my hands, and then he started to move. I gasped as he thrust into me and instinctively began to roll my hips, needing to move with him.
Immediately he stopped.
“I said be still.”
His cock pulsed inside me, throbbed. I could feel the orgasm hovering at the very core of me, but he wouldn’t fucking move. He held still, locked within, just waiting.
“What are you supposed to say, Aleena?”
“Yes, sir.”
I nearly sobbed in relief as he started to move again. I held there, focusing everything I had on not moving, on being still, just so he wouldn’t stop.
“That’s a good girl.” His voice was low and ragged.
I jumped as his hand came down on my ass. Hard.
Immediately, he went still again. “Be still.”
“I’m sorry.” My voice broke as I said it. I was so close. My muscles were quivering, my clit throbbing. It was agony and ecstasy and I wasn’t sure I could take anymore. “I’m sorry, sir. Please forgive me, sir.”
“Be still.”
This time, when he began to move against me hard and fast, he spanked me, alternating thrusts and sharp smacks on either cheek. Thrust in, spank. Pull out, spank. Each time, it seemed he went deeper and the blows became harder until my skin burned and I was nothing more than a burning, aching mass of need.
And I held still.
My climax was growing, swelling, a massive thing, so huge, I thought it might tear me apart.
“Please,” I started to beg, tears streaming down my face at the overload of sensations racing through me. “Please, sir, please let me come. Please, please, please!”
He bent low over me. Brushing my hair back from my ear, he said roughly, “Come for me, Aleena. Come now.”
I came for him. I'd always come for him.
As my climax crashed over me, I felt his hips jerk, losing his rhythm. Losing control. He said my name as he came and my final thought before nearly passing out was that I was going to like waking up next to him.
***
He woke me with sex and left me with a promise.
I was slumped over the breakfast bar in the kitchen when he came in nearly an hour later and pressed a kiss to my neck. “We’re going out tonight. Wear those pretty clothes I haven't gotten to see you in yet. They’ve been washed and pressed.”
“Umm.” I smiled at him, but that was about all I had the energy for.
He chuckled and kissed my cheek. I tried to work up the brain power to make words. But again, umm was all I could do.
He left me sit
ting there and I dropped my head onto the surface of the bar, thought about the pretty clothes he’d mentioned.
We were going out.
Going out…
I jerked my head up, lethargy gone under a rush of panic.
Going out?
As in…out?
Olympus.
***
Our regular car wasn’t waiting when we stepped out of the penthouse. In its place was a long, sleek stretch limo.
I looked from the car to Dominic. “What’s this?”
“A surprise. I thought you’d enjoy a little bit of luxury.”
Running my tongue across my teeth, I looked up at the penthouse and then back at him. “Dominic, I live with more luxury than I know how to handle.”
He traced his finger down my cheek and that light touch made me shiver. “I like to spoil you. Indulge me.”
“Indulge you?” I shook my head and smiled. “The last thing you need is to be indulged.” But I let him assist me into the back of the car. The driver remained by the door, making no move to help me. Even though I didn't know his name, I knew he must've been with Dominic long enough to know better.
Dominic had this thing about being the one to help me in and out when we went anywhere. The possessiveness of it thrilled me to the bone, even if it did feel silly sometimes. It wasn’t like I didn’t know how to open a door. Although, today I needed the help. The narrow fit of my skirt made it almost impossible to climb gracefully in and out of a car, even with help.
The drive through the city was an exercise in elegant efficiency. Before I'd met Dominic, driving around in a car had just been that…driving around in a car. I had driven myself from Iowa to New York, but the first thing I'd done once I’d gotten here was sell my car.
Driving in New York was for taxi drivers and the people who could afford to actually park their cars. Also for the crazy people who don’t mind the insane driving and the odd rules that only seem to apply in the city.
I didn’t fit into any of those categories.
I smiled as I stared out the window watching a trio of girls, all of them tall and skinny, all of them bedecked in black and walking on heels taller than anything I could possibly imagine myself walking in. They were laughing and talking as they walked along the street.
