ARROGANT PLAYBOY (55 page)

BELLAMY

Sick relief swirls in my belly
on my walk back to my office, and I stop dead in my tracks when I see Dane’s
doors wide open. I haven’t seen him since my little episode this morning. I
take a few hesitant steps toward his doors.

I’m going for it.

I’m going to take the high
road, apologize, and pray we can both move on from this and resume our
training. For twenty grand a month, I’m more than happy to swallow my pride.

“Dane?” When I enter, I see him
standing by his window, a tumbler in his hand filled with amber liquid and
stones. He turns around slowly, and the tiniest sliver of me swears his face
lights up when he sees me, but it could easily be half wishful thinking and
half my imagination.

“I’d tell you to come in, but
you’re already here.”

“The doors were open.” I point
behind me.

“Shut them.”

I follow his orders and amble
up to his side, hanging my head. “I’m sorry about earlier.”

He takes a generous sip and
says nothing for a moment, just looks down at the traffic below.

“Why did you cry this morning,
Bellamy?” he asks after a period of deafening silence. “I promised I’d never
abuse or humiliate you, and I need to know what to do so it doesn’t happen
again.”

“The accusation involving the
family friend,” I say. “And the condescending tone. They were hurtful.”

“My delivery,” he says, “isn’t
agreeable with everyone all the time. It’s something I’m aware of and something
I have no intentions of overhauling anytime soon. But I respect that I should
choose my words a bit more carefully around you. I’ll work on that.”

He leaves his empty glass on
the window ledge, and I pick it up because it seems like something a sub might
do. At the wet bar I rinse it out, pat it dry, and place it upside down on a
towel.

When I return to his desk,
where he’s staring vacantly ahead at his computer screen like he’s checked out,
my heart aches. I’m sure it has to do with his uncle, but I wish he’d open up
so I could at least be there for him.

“Everything okay?” I run my
hands behind my thighs, tucking in my skirt, and take a seat across from him.

His gaze lifts from the screen
to me, and his brows furrow as he pulls in a heavy breath.

“Take off your shirt,” he
orders. “Take everything off.”

My nipples wake in response to
his command, and my fingers trail my buttons, popping them one by one as he
pulls a black satin ribbon from his top desk drawer. It’s the same one from the
pink box yesterday, and he uncoils it in his hand before rising and coming
toward me.

“Stand.” There’s a desperate,
hurried undertone in his single, biting word. And he moves like a man who’d do
anything to feel an ounce of something normal again – whatever normal
might mean to him.

The moment my clothes are lying
in a heap on the floor, he turns me around, taking my wrists behind my back and
tying them together with the smooth ribbon. With his hand gripping the bend of
my elbow, he leads me to a leather-wrapped Chesterfield sofa and presses me
into a seated position.

His fingers work his button and
zipper until his fully erected cock is mere inches from my face. We lock gazes
for a second, and he holds the tip of himself up to my mouth. My lips part as I
accept his velvet smoothness into my mouth. My tongue runs the underside of his
head, dragging along the ridges and coming back to swirl the tip. With my hands
tied tight, I can’t control my movements as well, and I have to rely on the
steady bucking of his hips to keep the momentum going.

But maybe that’s the point. His
whole world is falling apart, at least I assume, and he needs to control
everything about this situation.

My mind reminds me to stop
psychoanalyzing him and suck his cock. I’m not here to figure him out, and
clearly I’m nothing more than a couple of holes to fill to him.

“Harder,” he says, thrusting
deeper into my mouth. It wasn’t like this the last time, and it takes
everything I have not to gag. The head of his cock hits the back of my throat
with every insertion, and my eyes water.

It was fun last time. This is
unpleasant. At least it’s not painful.

His hand grips my chin,
pressing my mouth tighter around his engorged erection and creating a tighter
seal as he pumps himself into me. His cock writhes and unloads, and the warmth
of his orgasm drips down my throat. He’s too deep in my throat for me to even
taste.

When Dane’s finished, he pulls
himself from my mouth and zips up before sitting down next to me and untying my
wrists. I wipe the tear tracks from my cheeks, hoping he doesn’t think he made
me cry.

“You know, Angel, if you’re
ever not comfortable with something, you just need to say stop. That’s your
safeword.”

“I know.” The ceiling fan above
blows cool air on my naked body, and I clutch the sides of my arms as I hunch
into a ball.

“There may be times,” he says,
“when I push you, test your limits. There might be times when I’m craving more
of an intense experience with you.”

I nod.

Dane removes his jacket and
slips it over my shoulders before reclining back into the Chesterfield. He
reaches for my arm and pulls me on top of him.

Are
we cuddling right now?

“It’s important,” he says,
“after intense moments, to offer you comfort. Help bring you down a bit. It
would be extremely irresponsible of me to fuck your mouth until you gag and
then send you on your way.”

His hand spreads his coat over
my backside like a blanket, and my bare flesh is flush with his white button
down. The warmth of his skin permeates the barrier and soaks into me.

“You did excellent.” His palm
cups my ass and hoists me into him, deeper.

I know none of this is supposed
to be romantic, but it’s a sweet gesture, and I could lie here all afternoon
and not move and be perfectly content.

“You’re coming to Golden Oak
Saturday,” he says, combing his fingers through the ends of my tangled hair.
“You’ll be staying the evening at my estate just outside of the city.”

The bar-be-que. Cortland’s
parents are coming over Saturday.

“Oh? This Saturday?” I stall,
trying to think of an excuse. “That’s kind of short notice.”

“You have plans?”

“Family plans,” I say. “We’re
having a cookout.”

His lips curl. “This is a bit
more important than a family cookout.”

“I have no doubt,” I say. “But
we have company coming, and I’m not sure I can get out of this.”

“What time?”

“I don’t know. Probably noon?”

“Okay, so you should have no
problem doing both.” Dane cups my ass and leans into my ear. “And I’m not
entirely sure why I’m allowing you to argue with me right now and speak to me
without addressing me properly, but consider yourself lucky I’m not getting the
gloves out again.”

I smile into his chest, where
he can’t see.

“What if my car isn’t fixed by
this weekend?” I know for a fact I won’t be able to hitch a ride to some
mansion Saturday night. I couldn’t come up with a plausible excuse even if I
tried.

Dane sits up, gently pressing
me off him, and I miss his warmth in an instant.

“I was going to wait, but since
you brought it up.”

He is not giving me a car.
There’s no way.

He strides to his desk, opening
the second middle drawer on the left and pulling out a set of keys with some
weird green emblem on the keychain.

“While you work for me, you’ll
drive a car from my fleet.”

I flip the keychain over and
read
Land Rover
.

“It’s a black Discovery, and
it’s parked in the underground garage in spot forty-seven. You can take the
elevator down and it’s right there.”

“Dane…Master...” The
rectangular fob is smooth and pristine cupped in the palm of my hand. “Thank
you. This means more than you could possibly know.”

No
more commuting with Cortland. That’s what this means.

“I have an offsite unscheduled
visit at one of the wind turbine factories over in Greenwood,” he says, dipping
his hands in his pockets. His gaze indicates he appreciates the fact that I’m
still very much naked.

I tug his jacket off my
shoulders and hand it back, taking my time dressing before him because he seems
to enjoy the show.

“I won’t be back before the end
of the day,” he says. “But feel free to take the afternoon if you’d like. We’ll
train a bit more the next couple days, and then Saturday night will be our
final compatibility test.”

Oh?

“It’s just as much for you as
it is for me,” he says. “Though my ability to leave a woman satisfied has never
been an issue in the past, and I don’t anticipate it being an issue for you
either.”

So that’s what Saturday is.
He’s going to screw me.

I’m going to lose my virginity…

In a mansion…

To the most gorgeous man I’ve
ever laid eyes on…

A tingling sensation fills my
chest, working up to my neck and settling in the top of my head like bubbles.
Nervous excitement expands every part of me, and there’s a hitch in my breath
accented by a flush in my cheeks. I turn so he can’t see it. I’d hate for him
to know I’m
this
excited.

Sneaking out with Cortland
always gave me a rush, but this goes far beyond anything I’ve ever felt before.

I’ll have to sneak my dress and
shoes into the house, which shouldn’t be a problem. I can shove them in the
enormous Louis Vuitton weekender bag he got me, and now it’s making sense as to
why he’d get me that bag.

He wants me to spend weekends
with him.

That might be tricky.

“Could I come over later than
nine?” I’m not sure if I can sneak out any earlier than ten. “Just to be safe.
I’m not sure how long our company is staying.”

Dane’s eyes flick up before
narrowing at me. “I suppose. But from here on, you’re to keep your weekend
schedule completely open. You’ll find I’ll almost always need you on weekends.”

He checks his watch and glances
out the window at the traffic.

“I’m going now.”

There’s no hug or kiss goodbye
of course. There’s no prolonged fanfare or scene. He just leaves. I’d kill to
know if he’s ever had a girlfriend or shown an ounce of warmth to anyone who wasn’t
a line item on his yearly accounting audit.

It felt good to lie in his arms
earlier, even if it only lasted a short while.

I roll the key fob in my hand
and leave his office, pulling the double doors shut behind me. After shutting
down my computer and locking my space, I take the elevator down to the parking
garage and find the shiny black Land Rover parked in spot forty-seven.

It makes the most adorable beep
when I unlock it. I inhale a lungful of the buttery leather and warm, new car
scent. Only when I slide into the seat, do I realize this car fits me
perfectly. Dane probably has every car imaginable in his fleet, and he chose
the one that suited me the best.

For a man who hardly knows me,
he truly does take care of my every need without me having to say a word. He
wasn’t lying about that.

I press my foot into the brake
and start the car, and thank goodness that’s the way my mom’s car starts or I’d
have been sitting here for hours trying to figure it out. The car purrs, and I
stick it in reverse before pulling out and following the green exit arrows to
the street.

Daylight floods the car as soon
as I merge into the street, and a little red box in the passenger seat catches
my eye. When I get to the next stop light, I grab it and trace my fingers across
the Cartier logo on the outside. A little white envelope not much bigger than
my hand is taped to the bottom.

I open the card first.

Angel,

This necklace is a symbol. You
are to wear an item of ownership at all times. Never fear, the items will be
classy and tasteful, just like the submissive who wears them, and this necklace
will be the first of many.

Seventy lashes if you’re not
wearing this the next time I see you.

Master

The light turns green, but not
before I drop the letter and crack the box open to see a gold necklace with a
single, bezel-set diamond charm dangling from it. I’m not a jeweler but this
looks to be, at minimum, one carat.

Any other girl would drool over
the sheer beauty of this thing, but all I see is an animal collar.

I snap the box shut and toss it
in the passenger seat.

DANE

I should’ve gone straight home
after visiting Uncle Leo again, but here I am, back in the office. The sun has
long gone down, and the drone of the cleaning crew vacuuming the hallway is the
only other sound accompanying me tonight.

My emails are sorted, and I
begin attending to the ones marked “high importance” that I’d purposefully
neglected earlier in the week.

Just as I suspected, not one of
them is
that
important.

Delete…

Delete…

File…

Delete…

Respond…

When my inbox is almost clear,
I see an email from Laurie in HR from earlier in the afternoon.

Dane,

Background
check came back clear.

Laurie

“Good,” I mutter before
forwarding it on to my guy, the one who checks on things beyond credit history,
criminal records, and identity confirmation.

I never used to run such
extensive background checks until Jenessa. Now I won’t sleep with a woman until
I know every goddamn thing there is to possibly know about her. Only I have to
go about extracting that information in roundabout ways. Asking a woman these types
of things doesn’t always guarantee the truth, and it also has a tendency of
making them think you give two shits about getting to know them on a personal
level. I’d prefer to avoid complications if at all possible.

Roger,

Full
report on this one. Need ASAP.

Dane

I attach her signed consent
form and hit send.

My phone vibrates in my pocket,
and my heart skips without permission when I wonder if it might be Bellamy,
texting to thank me for the bezel-set diamond necklace.

Nope.

It’s Beck.

YOU
EAT YET?

I type back,
NOT HUNGRY
.

ODESSA
AND I WILL BE AT TAVERN PARK DRINKING BEER AND EATING PIZZA. JOIN US OR BE
LAME.

My palate prefers a different
kind of dinner tonight, one that lies between the curved thighs of my sub. I
meant to reward her for the impeccable mouth-fucking earlier today, but I
wasn’t quite in my right frame of mind, and when I saw that I’d fucked those
cherry lips so hard she gagged, I had to bring us both down.

I’m not a man who ever prefers
cuddling, but I’m not about to subject a novice to sub-drop. I’d never do that
to Bellamy, so I held her in my arms, warmed her with my heat, and pretended
not to enjoy it when she nuzzled her cheek up against my chest.

I reach for my phone again and
pull up Bellamy, my thumbs hovering over her number. But the second I realize
I’m halfway smiling, I throw my phone down like it’s carrying the bubonic
plague.

Screw that.

I’ll see her when I see her.

In the morning.

On all fours.

Wearing the necklace that tells
the world she’s taken in all senses of the word.

She’s lucky I didn’t get her an
actual collar.