She never wanted him to stop touching her.
“Now tell me why you need this from me.”
His words hit her like a bucket of ice water. Egomaniac. Why did he care? He’d bullied her into submitting to his punishments, but no way was he going to get away with demanding her thoughts. She angrily pushed herself off the stool and shoved her glasses on. A wave of dizziness swept over her. She shook it off and pulled her shorts up, grimacing as the fabric scraped across her welted skin like sandpaper.
“I can tell you what I don’t need. I don’t need this shit. You can play your fucked-up games with someone else.”
“Are you done?”
She turned and faced him, trying to hold on to her outrage. But it was damn hard when the look he gave her made her want to cower at his feet. Unable to meet his eyes for one more second, and see his disappointment reflected back at her, she looked past him. Sometimes her submissiveness worked against her. She hated the sudden urge she had to apologize to him. She didn’t owe him that. He’d never asked her to be his submissive. No, he’d taken it upon himself to force it out of her. That was about to stop.
“I am definitely done. In fact, I quit.” She tried to brush past him, heading for the door.
“
Stop
,” he barked and she froze. “You’re so afraid of how you feel that you’re ready to quit? I thought you had more courage than that.”
In a fury, she turned toward him and jabbed a finger at his chest. “Who the fuck do you think you are? You don’t know me. I’m not afraid of—”
Lightning fast, he snatched her by the arms, pulled her to him and claimed her mouth with a kiss that made her insides melt. His lips were rough and hungry, punishing her until she opened for him. And open she did. How could she not? She’d been fantasizing about this for weeks and weeks. He tasted so good, like dark beer and danger. His hand snaked up and possessively gripped the hair at her nape. He tilted her head back and plunged his tongue into her mouth, dominating her even with something as simple as this. Little whimpering noises escaped her as she tried to press closer to him. The long, hard length of his body felt strong and volatile against her small frame.
Abruptly he released her, leaving her gasping for breath. He ran the pad of his thumb over her swollen lips with such tenderness she almost leaned into his touch. She’d had no idea he was capable of that kind of heat, nor the calm gentleness he offered her now. He’d always seemed so cold, so reserved. She wondered what else he was hiding.
“Genevieve.” He sighed. “This has nothing to do with your employment, in case you haven’t figured that out yet. It’s about you submitting to me, obeying my commands. That’s how these things work.”
“Oh really? Because I could have sworn it was about sexual harassment.”
His jaw was hard set as he glared at her. Good. He wasn’t the only one capable of provoking anger.
“I know how these things work, Brian. This isn’t my first trip to the circus.”
“And what, pray tell, is the extent of your vast experience?” he asked in a mildly condescending and completely possessive tone.
Was he jealous? “I’ve been to a few fetish nights. Not that it’s any of your business. It was just sensation play, nothing more than make-believe, really.”
“And that’s not what you want?”
“No,” she admitted. “It’s not.”
I want so much more than that.
“What if I were to tell you that’s not what I want either?”
“So…what do you want?” She was afraid of what he would say. Afraid she’d like his answer.
“Power exchange. Is that something you think you might enjoy?”
Yes.
“Maybe. It depends on what you’d expect from me. I’m not really an agreeable person, in case you haven’t noticed.”
He chuckled. “I’ve noticed. I have a feeling you would enjoy submission more than you might think.”
You have no idea.
“Oh?”
“Mm.” He crossed his arms over his chest and appraised her. She knew that look well. It was the very same one people used when they were considering her art. Brian studying her that way was strange and very erotic. “You see, I want to own you. I want to be able to use you, fuck you, punish you as I see fit.”
Oh my god.
Her whole body throbbed with desire at his words.
His gaze was troubled as he raked a hand through his hair. The suave, controlled man she’d come to know suddenly seemed frustrated and uncertain. His icy veneer was beginning to crack.
“I haven’t exactly handled this with finesse, have I?” he asked with a boyish grin that was completely un-Brian-like.
She didn’t think he really wanted her to answer that. Her ass was tender enough as it was.
“You can’t quit. I won’t allow it. Let’s at least finish inventorying the bar. After that, I’d like to take you to get something to eat. We can discuss our arrangement then. In the meantime, I want you to think long and hard about what I’ve said.”
As if she could do anything else. The very idea of an arrangement with Brian—this warm yet strict, passionate yet frightening Brian who was completely unknown to her—terrified as much as it excited her.
He walked back behind the bar, glass crunching underfoot. “And clean this up.” He gestured to the remnants of the
Connemara
on the floor.
“Yes Sir.”
* * * * *
Making her wait for their little talk was a petty pleasure. Brian liked watching her fidget as she brimmed with nervous energy. Her gaze flicked back and forth between him and the half-eaten peach pie she pushed around her plate with her fork. He wasn’t too keen on diner fare, but options were limited at two in the morning. They’d ended up at this greasy spoon, sitting in a quiet booth in the back. The food was decent enough. It was clean and the service was amiable. He didn’t have cause for complaint.
He watched as she rested her elbow on the table, nibbling on her pinky finger, and had serious trouble keeping the vision of her rosy ass gorgeously framed by those delicate panties out of his mind. Knowing she’d worn something so deliciously feminine beneath her simple, comfortable clothes made him a little crazy. She really had no idea how sexy she was.
He was as anxious as she appeared to be, maybe even more so. Anticipation caused a hint of adrenaline to course through him. How long had it been since he’d felt this way about negotiating with a sub? He knew very well he was on the verge of something that had the potential to change him, or at least shake up his life. How he’d arrived at this decision, he wasn’t sure. Just yesterday he’d been leading a quiet, mundane existence and today he was about to persuade Genevieve to enter the type of relationship he’d always avoided.
An old, familiar pain stirred in him, but he buried it before it had the chance to fully resurface. Now was not the time to think of Danielle, his first submissive. The past was behind him, and it served him no purpose to dig it up. “Have you thought about what I mentioned earlier?” He studied her, waiting for her reaction.
She didn’t miss a beat. “You mean the arrangement you thought you’d bully me into by threatening to fire me?”
“You have to admit, it had a rather positive effect on your work performance.” The hot little scowl she gave him sent a surge of lust to his cock.
“Do you get off on irritating me?”
“Maybe.”
For as long as he could remember, his desires had held an edge of darkness. He’d been the boy pulling pigtails and pinching the girls he liked, loving the shocked, excited expressions on their faces. He’d just never grown out of it. He was a bit more refined now, and a bit less so, depending on how you looked at it.
“Great,” she grumbled.
“I can promise you, I’ll get off on making you come just as much.”
Her fork clattered to the table. She scrambled to retrieve it, nearly knocking over her diet soda before she had it clenched tightly in her little fist. She blew out a breath. “If you can’t tell, this whole thing makes me a little nervous. You basically harassed me into allowing you to spank me, and now you’re asking me to consider a serious D/s relationship with you?”
He shouldn’t have spanked her under those circumstances, but he had. Too late to take it back now, not that he would if he could. The opportunity had been far too tempting and the end result too satisfying. He was only human after all, and an incredibly selfish one at that. “Although I can’t say I regret it, it was my mistake to begin this the way I did. I apologize for that.”
“You’re apologizing?”
“Yes.” He chuckled. “I am capable of admitting when I’m wrong.”
She contemplated him for a long moment. “This isn’t another one of your games, is it?”
“Of course not,” he assured her. “I won’t fire you if you decline. I’ll still expect you to show up on time and do your job, but I’ll treat you as I do any other employee and write you up when you’re out of line. You’ll still be on probation, of course.”
“So I won’t lose my job if I say no?”
“No, you won’t.”
“Then I accept your apology.”
“Good. Now, I’d like you to be discreet about this. We work together and I’d rather the staff didn’t know my personal business, or the Chamber of Commerce, not to mention my other business contacts. As you well know, the vanilla world can be less than accepting when it comes to the things we like to do.”
“What about Ivy? I’m not sure I’ll be able to hide this from her. She knows me too well. She’ll figure it out.”
“Can you trust her?”
“Yes. She’s good at keeping secrets.”
He wondered what secrets Ivy was keeping for her.
“You know, it’s weird. Two days ago I had no idea you were into this kind of thing. Ivy called it. I always thought you were just an ass—um, stern. You’ve always been stern.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “You were going to say asshole, weren’t you?”
“So, have you been to the clubs? I’ve never seen you there.”
He laughed at her blatant change of topic. “You and I run in different circles. I prefer the private establishments when I feel like venturing out. Which isn’t very often.”
“Well aren’t you the snob.”
“Fetish nights at the clubs are for attention whores and tourists.” He would never understand the appeal of the freakshow-like atmosphere—people putting on costumes and personas, playing at BDSM like children. It lacked intimacy and sincerity.
“Hey! I happen to like fetish nights. Are you saying that I’m an attention whore, a tourist?”
She was so cute when she was angry. “I don’t know, are you? I remember someone saying that it was nothing more than make-believe, or did I hear that wrong?”
She deflated with a sigh. “No. You’re right.”
“There will be nothing make-believe about our arrangement.”
“And what would this arrangement entail, exactly?”
“You submitting to my whims, whatever they may be. You’ll obey to the best of your ability, and if you don’t, you’ll be punished for it.”
“So you’ll hurt me?”
“Yes, but no more than you’ll want me to. And you do want me to, don’t you?” He couldn’t wait to mark her, watch her writhe under the strict punishments he would inflict upon her.
She lowered her eyes. “Maybe.”
“Answer the question yes or no, Genevieve.”
Her gaze snapped to his. “Yes, okay? Yes, I’m a complete perv and I want you to hurt me. Happy now?”