Shades of Pleasure: Five Stories of Domination and Submission (4 page)

Sometimes freedom can only be gained through captivity…

Elena Caine has secrets. The kind that could devastate her
life if they’re revealed. And now a selfish bastard is dragging the skeletons
out of her closet. She’s being blackmailed. There’s no way out. Then the
quietly seductive Dom Kyler Pierce decides to blackmail her too. As Kyler and
Elena face their common enemy, overpowering sexual heat sizzles between them.
They want each other. Need each other. But happiness may be beyond their reach.
For this determined Dom and reluctant submissive to have any chance at love,
Elena must learn the most essential lesson of Dominance and submission—to trust
her Dom. Especially when she is on her knees…and her world is tumbling down
around her.

(Previously published as Blackmailed)

Length: Long novella, approx. 30,000 words

SAMPLE

“Will you tell me why you’re so angry?”

He looked away.

Her nerves crawling, she watched his throat work as he
swallowed. Nothing.

“You won’t give me a chance to explain?”

“I don’t know if I can believe anything you say.”

Where did that leave her? This man, whose eyes were cold as
icicles, held her job in the palm of his hand. Her job, the medical insurance
that paid for her brother’s treatment. Her entire future. She couldn’t get any
more desperate than that. “What will it take to prove to you that I can be
believed? I stayed. Right? You didn’t lock me in. You won the bet, and I didn’t
leave, even though I wanted to.”

“Yeah, well, that could also be because you didn’t want your
pretty little ass hauled to jail.”

“I’m not sure that would be any worse,” she said, frankly.
“I mean, you’re throwing these threats around, acting one way one second,
totally different the next. It’s confusing. Scary.”

Her eyes were burning, darn it. Her nose.
Don’t cry.
He’ll think you’re trying to manipulate him.

She blinked several times.

His eyes narrowed, his gaze becoming even chillier.
Sub-arctic. “There you go with the waterworks again. I see now. Whenever you
get backed into a corner, you throw the switch, the tears start to flow, and
you’re off the hook.” He crowded her, grabbed her chin, and glared into her
eyes. “It doesn’t work with me anymore. I know the truth about you now. I know
you’re fucking Matt Becker, and you’re itching for a promotion—from the whore
of a sales manager to the whore of a vice president.”

She felt sick. Was that really what he believed? “No, I’m
not sleeping with Matt. You’re wrong.”

“Funny.” He dragged his thumb over her lower lip. He walked
her backward, until her back hit the wall. He thrust his arms forward, caging
her head between them. “But if you’d just come to me, I’d have fucked you. You
could’ve had your vice president. In fact…” He dropped his head and kissed her
roughly. His tongue thrust into her mouth, in complete domination.

Instantly, her body was on fire. Yes, this was what she’d
wanted last night. Pulses of liquid heat pounded down her torso to the juncture
of her thighs. Despite her confusion, she kissed him back, letting the searing
heat of the kiss burn away everything.

Insanity! This was complete craziness. But she couldn’t help
reacting to his kisses. She’d been waiting, ready. She moaned, stroking his
tongue with hers. Exploring the sweet depth of his mouth.

He bent his elbows, crushing his hard body against hers.
Wedged a knee between her trembling thighs.

Crazy!

She moaned, rocking her hips back and forth, desperate to
rub away the ache building between her legs.

He suckled her tongue and she slid her hands up his stomach,
whimpering.

Her head was swimming. Her body melting. Her brain
short-circuiting. She was falling, sliding down the wall, unable to remain
standing another second. Her pussy rested on his knee, a support. Oh, the
sensation. The glory of that hard leg against her soft, swollen tissues.

Insanity!

He caught her up into his arms and carried her to the bed,
laid her on it and then climbed over her. More of those amazing
nuclear-reactor-hot kisses. He gave her more, and she accepted him, eagerly.
His hands started at the sides of her face but—much to her joy—didn’t remain
there for long. Down her neck they traveled, to her shoulders, lower. He cupped
her breasts and she arched her back, pushing her breasts into his hands.

I need to stop this. Right now. Stop. Now.

She tried to turn her head, but he caught her face in his
hands again, kissing her until she couldn’t move, didn’t want to move. Wanted
nothing less than his hands on her naked body, his cock buried deep inside her
wet pussy.

She’d be sorry for this later, no doubt about it. But for
the first time in years, she just wanted to forget about shoulds and
should-nots and let go, follow her impulses instead of her head.

“Let me guess, after last weekend’s date with a bug-eyed,
tentacled alien, you can’t stop fantasizing about octopi?”

Elena Caine snapped to, realizing she’d been blindly staring
down at a pan of…was that squid? Eww!

“Huh?” She hurried down the Asian buffet, past steaming pans
of fried rice, sweet and sour shrimp, and moo goo gai pan, following her best
friend Ashley to a table in the corner of the restaurant. “No. Trust me,
tentacles do nothing for me,” she joked. “But horns? Yum.” The contents of her
jacket pocket bounced against her hip as she dodged a toddler in a high chair,
reminding her why today had been the worst day of her life.

She’d always thought politicians, judges, lawyers—those
kinds of people—were the only ones who got blackmailed. People who were bad. Or
had money. Or power.

But your run of the mill office manager? With no money, no
power? Not hardly.

So why was she being blackmailed?

“Earth to Elena. Are you with me? What is with you?” Ashley
waved a hand in front of Elena’s nose. “I haven’t seen you this dazed since
that party in college. Are you high?” At Elena’s fervent shake of the head,
Ashley asked, “Sick? Or did you OD on allergy medicine again?”

“Well…” Elena wanted to tell Ashley about the letter in her
pocket. It was so tempting, but the jerk who’d sent it had warned her not to
tell anyone. Not a single person. If she did, he claimed she’d be the immediate
recipient of a pink slip. And a free ride downtown…in a police cruiser.

Considering who she was dealing with, she believed him.

The way she saw it, she had no choice but to play along with
his twisted scheme. The jerk had done his homework, known she couldn’t afford
to lose her job or risk going to jail. She certainly couldn’t go to the
authorities, not when the bit of information he held over her head was
so…sensitive.

He had her by the so-called balls.

Yep, worst day of her life.

“Whooo hoooo? Gone on another trip, or are you still here
with me?” Ashley, queen of exaggeration, waved her fork in the air.

Elena knocked Ashley’s hand away. “I’m here. Just really
tired. It’s been a hellacious week at work, and I’m ready to go home and go to
bed.” She lifted her diet cola and took several swallows, trying to avoid eye
contact with her best friend.

She knew that look. Ashley was going to pry.

Ashley shoved her plate away and dropped her wadded up
napkin on the table. Her gaze was razor sharp and probing. “I’m worried about
you.”

“Don’t be.” Elena faked a smile.

“You’re pale. I don’t think you’re just tired. What else is
going on? Why won’t you tell me? Don’t you trust me? Is it your boss again?
PMS? Your little brother?”

The questions came fast and furious, like balls being spat
from a pitching machine gone haywire, and Elena fielded them like a world-class
ballplayer. Quickly and efficiently, expending as little effort as possible.
One word answers. That was all Ashley got.

Finally, Ashley gave up and went back to chattering about
the new guy in the cubicle two down from hers. The one with the great butt and
new ‘Vette.

Pretending to listen, Elena picked at her dinner—what had
made her decide the Chou Dofu was a good idea today? A little while later,
Ashley heaved the sigh of the weary friend who felt neglected and did the
little shooing motion she used on stray dogs and pigeons. “Go home and sleep.
I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay. ‘Night.” Elena shrugged into her coat, dug her keys
out of the bottom of her purse, gave her friend a quick hug and hurried out to
her car, one hand in her pocket, her fingers curled around that damn letter.

It was dark outside already—she hated fall! The restaurant’s
parking lot was murky and slushy, thanks to an early snow. It wasn’t even
Thanksgiving yet and already they’d had their first heavy snowfall of the year.
Winter was bearing down on Michigan like a frigid white demon. She slipped and
slid to the back where she’d parked. Unlocked her door, flung her purse onto
the passenger seat, climbed in and cranked the engine. It started with a
sputter and cough, threatening to stall. Like its owner, her ancient Volkswagen
hated the cold.

Elena hit the gas and flipped on the heater, shivering and
cursing her temperamental vehicle for making her freeze her butt off while it
warmed up.

As she pulled the letter from her pocket to reread it for
the bazillionth time, the passenger side door swung open. Assuming it was
Ashley coming to keep her company—aka harass her some more—while she waited,
she stuffed the letter back into her pocket and pulled her purse off the seat,
depositing it on floor. But the body that slid into the seat was not Ashley’s.
It wasn’t even female.

Oh God. “Kyler? Hi.” Could it be a coincidence that the
extremely attractive man on receiving end of her blackmailing jerk’s devious
plan had just plopped into her front seat? In a dark restaurant parking lot?
Probably not but she could always hope.

Then again, they’d shared quite a few looks in the office
the past few weeks. Whether she was hallucinating or hopeful, she sensed there
was some chemistry between them. Maybe he had been in the restaurant and she
hadn’t noticed, and he’d been dying to talk to her about…something…and he’d
seen his opportunity…

Okay, so she was really reaching. The expression on his face
wasn’t exactly screaming
Hey baby
. Nope. More like,
You bitch.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

His smile wasn’t even close to genuine. “I thought this
would be the perfect place for a chat.”

She was chilled before but now she felt like a human icicle.
Maybe this was his way of asking a girl out? If that was the case, his brand of
seduction bordered on creepy.

“Well, I’m really flattered you wanted some private time,
went to all the trouble of tracking me down in a dark parking lot.”
Yikes!
“But
I’m not feeling very well and now’s not a good time, so couldn’t we continue—”

He planted one hand on the steering wheel, the other on the
headrest of her seat, basically caging her in with his arms. “Now. Is. The.
Per-fect. Time.” He enunciated every single syllable.

“Okayyyy. So what do you want to talk about?” she asked,
shooting for a casual tone as she ground the back of her head into the
headrest.

Strangely, as she sat there, concentrating on regularly
inhaling and exhaling, she couldn’t help but be aware of how good looking Kyler
Pierce, VP of Sales and Marketing, was. There was good reason why every single
female in the company, married or not, lusted after the man, at least a little.
But she would never have expected him to make her so incredibly hot when he was
more or less holding her hostage.

A part of her thrilled at the thorough once-over he was
giving her right now. He had the most amazing eyes and smelled sooooo good. And
his mouth. Perfect lips.

He inched a smidge closer. “I know what Matt’s up to.”

Her stomach dropped to her toes. Crap! Now what? Beg
forgiveness and hope he could somehow dig her out of this mess? But that would
require her telling him everything.

Oh God! She couldn’t!

“I don’t know what you mean. Up to? Isn’t Matt always ‘up
to’ something? I wouldn’t think that would be worthy of wandering around in a
dark parking lot—”

“It most definitely is.” He inched back a bit. Not enough in
her opinion, but a little. She was grateful. “What’s he got on you?”

“Me? Nothing.” Her face flamed, totally giving away her
guilt.

“Then why are you going along with it?”

“With what?” She was an absolutely terrible actress. The
worst. But sadly, she couldn’t give up the act.

Anger flared in his deep blue eyes, the shade of a night
sky. He slammed his fists against her seat, one next to her shoulder, the other
down closer to her waist, and she froze. The breath she’d just managed to suck
in blasted up her throat.

She’d known Matt was playing uber-dirty, that the eventual
outcome would mean the worst for Kyler—the loss of his job. A position that probably
paid a lot. But did that give the man any right to bodily threaten her?

No. But she still had no idea what she could—or would—do
about it.

She wanted to cry. She was trapped between these two
power-hungry, manipulative jerks, out to ruin each other. And it was so unfair!
She was just the office manager. The girl who filed their paperwork and
answered their phones. She shouldn’t be ducking punches and evading blackmail
threats.

If only she had a way out of this!

She felt her eyes filling with hot tears. Her nose burned.
She blinked, focusing her gaze on the radio’s display, the glowing numbers
blurring as the tears built up. She dragged a hand across her eyes and waited
for him to say something. She wasn’t going to speak. She couldn’t.

“Fuck,” he grumbled.

She’d agree with that sentiment.

Kyler inched back a little more. “Don’t cry. I can’t stand
it when women cry.”

“Believe me, I’m trying not to.” Still staring at the radio,
she sniffled, wiping some of the annoying wetness from her eyes again.

“That fucking bastard.”

She’d agree with that sentiment too.

He turned, slumping back against the passenger seat, and she
inhaled her first full breath in ages.

What now? The silent but vulnerable thing seemed to be
working for her. Kind of. No sense switching gears now.

“His plan won’t work without you.” Kyler seemed to be
thinking aloud. Thus, she didn’t comment, just let him continue following his
train of thought. “So, if you aren’t there to help him, he’s SOL.”

Sounded like a good plan to her, but what exactly did that
mean? If she didn’t show up to work on Monday morning, as planned, and plant
the evidence he was supposed to deliver to her this weekend, Matt Becker was
taking the proof he had about her to Human Resources…and the entire board of
directors…

And the police.

* * * * *

Kyler wanted to punch something—no, someone. That fucking
shithead, Matt Becker, that’s who he wanted to beat.

Using the office girl. The adorable, sweet and very
proficient office girl. Manipulating her. Not only was it illegal but it was
low. Showed exactly what kind of guy Becker was.

Competitive, Kyler could respect. Coldhearted criminal, he
could not.

Sad thing was, if a friend hadn’t tipped him off, Becker’s
scheme would’ve worked, and he would’ve found himself without a job within a
couple of weeks, regardless of the ten years of hard work he’d put in with this
company. A flawless record and sixty percent growth in sales since he became VP
wouldn’t save him. He’d lived and breathed that fucking place to get it to
where it was. Becker was not taking that away from him.

He sensed Elena was being forced to go along with Becker’s
plan, but she wasn’t talking. Why? If he were in her shoes, he’d have spilled.
VP of Marketing and Sales trumped Becker’s Regional Sales Manager. She should
be grateful and relieved that he’d found out, telling him everything and
letting him clean up whatever mess Becker had already started making.

Instead she was sitting there crying. Not that she was
blubbering and bawling. No, she was sniffling daintily, little chin quivering,
and swiping at tears seeping from a set of pretty brown eyes that were wide and
innocent and wary.

Crying women made him melt, dammit. Especially this one.

Becker had something bad on this girl. Bad enough that she
didn’t trust him enough to say what it was. What the hell could it be? The
little office manager was so quiet, with a demure demeanor, soft voice that
made him warm, and a sweet face that seemed so guileless. Lately, he couldn’t
seem to stop looking at her.

Then again, knowing Becker, maybe whatever he was holding
over her head was completely made up. Just like the shit Becker was trying to
pull on him—planting bogus evidence that he was stealing money from the
company.

“Do you have any vacation time coming?” he finally asked,
deciding on a plan of attack. First thing he had to do was remove Becker’s
primary tool against him—Elena. Then he’d worry about whatever problem Becker
had created for the office manager.

“Yes, a few days, but I can’t take time off now.”

“Because Becker’s blackmailed you into helping him? And if
you don’t show up on Monday, the shit’s going to hit the fan?”

Silence. Then a soft, “Yes.”

“Want to tell me what he’s using to blackmail you?”

“No.”

“Okay.” He sighed. Dammit, he wished she’d trust him, but he
could understand why she didn’t. Standing in her shoes, he and Becker probably
looked like a couple of battling, territorial bullies, one no better than the
other. “I can’t let you go to work on Monday.”

Her gaze dropped to her hands. He watched her toy with the
button on her coat. “If I don’t show, I’ll be out a job by Monday afternoon.”

Shit. “I can get the vacation time pushed through Human
Resources,” he offered. “You can tell them it’s a family emergency.”

She shook her head. “That’s not going to help.”

“Or you could call in sick.”

“Again, not going to help.”

Desperate to get something out of the pretty office manager,
a hint, anything, he leaned forward, took her hand in his. She still refused to
look at him. Dammit, why was she hiding? What was she hiding? “What is Becker
holding over your head? Please, I don’t just want to think about myself here. I
want to help you too.”

“I can’t tell you. I can’t tell anyone,” she said to her
clasped hands.

He wanted to scream. “Then how can I help you?”

Silence. The tense quiet dragged on for several agonizing
seconds. “I guess you can’t.”

He sighed. “All right.” Fuck it! He couldn’t worry about
something he didn’t know about. “I didn’t want to do this, but…” He unfastened
her seatbelt, grabbed the vehicle’s key, and gave it a twist to cut off the
engine.