ARROGANT PLAYBOY (59 page)

Sniffling fills the voids
between soft cries.

I’m not good at this.

I’m not good at soothing people
when it’s not immediately following an intense sexual scene.

“Stop.” I rake my hand along my
jaw, my gaze flicking up. “Stop crying, Bellamy. Stand up. Have a little more
respect for yourself. Show me the girl I met. The one drinking champagne on a
Tuesday and ignoring the handsome stranger who dared to ask her name. Give me
her. I want
her
.”

Her shoulders shake, harder
now, and her palms slick away against her wet cheeks until she drags her eyes
to meet mine. She takes a moment and pulls in a long drag of cool air to quell
the crying.

“She was a lie.” She focuses on
my shoes, refusing to make eye contact. “She never existed.”

BELLAMY

I’m in my office, but I don’t
remember how I got here. I think I bolted away from Dane before he had a chance
to say another word. I’ve tangled myself into a web of lies, and there’s no one
else to blame but myself.

Dane’s an arrogant, pretentious
asshole, and all things considered, I don’t even deserve him. He deserves better
than some wanna-be sophisticate who’s nothing like the girl she pretends to be.

I walk up to the mirror and
grab a tissue, smearing off the Chanel lipstick I’d slicked on for him this
morning.

I’m a humiliated fool, no
doubt. I thought I could waltz into his office, fall on my knees, take him in
my mouth, and redeem myself, but clearly that’s not how he operates.

All the pretty things hanging
in my closet will stay there. The makeup. The jewelry. The car. None of it was
mine, but it was pretty amazing to step into someone else’s shoes for a change.
I take one final look at them, running my hands along the intricate beading of
a silk chiffon camisole in twenty shades of ivory I never had a chance to wear.

I shut the closet. It’s not the
fancy things I’m going to miss the most. It’s the way I felt when I was his for
one whole week of my hopeless life. For a week, I was treasured, lavished,
ravished, and needed.

And for one whole week, freedom
from Cortland and freedom from my father’s religious rule was beginning to be a
fingers-reach away for the first time in my life.

Plan B.

I’ll keep trying.

I’ll find something else.

I’ll never give up.

I empty my things from one of
the fancy bags I’d used over the weekend, carrying my wallet and leaving the
Land Rover keys and my cell phone on my desk, next to my laptop.

“I’m not a believer in second
chances.”

I glance up to see Dane
standing in the doorway.

“And I’ve never chased after a
woman.” He folds his arms. “Ever.”

“This is you chasing after me?”
My knees weaken, and after the morning I’ve had, I need to sit down.

“I’m not letting you leave,” he
says, “when clearly you’re in dire straits. I was hoping to make you work for
it a bit more, but seeing as though you’re on a tight timeline, I’m not sure
you can afford to wait.”

I nod, squeezing my eyes. My
fist tightens, pressing against my lips.

“Can I just say something?” A quick
inhalation bottles in my chest. “I’m so sorry for lying. I’m sorry for
everything.”

He chuckles, shutting the door
behind him and taking a seat across from me. “Blanket apologies are half-assed,
Bellamy. I’m happy to offer you assistance, but you won’t receive my
forgiveness unless you offer a better apology than that.”

He’s right.

I’m going to have to confess…

Everything.

“Several months ago, I met this
guy at church.” My eyes close as my fingers drum on the table. “We started out
skipping Bible study and fooling around in the backseat of his car. Long story
short, he’s threatening to tell my father everything if I don’t court him and
subsequently agree to marry him.”

I peek through one eye, to see
Dane’s narrowed expression as he rests his chin against a balled fist while he
studies me.

“So I’ve been courting him a
couple months now. It’s awful.
He’s
awful. The thought of him touching me again makes me sick.” My tongue smacks as
a wave of nausea hits. “He’s a monster, Dane. And my family
loves
him.”

“You’re an uncompromising
woman, Bellamy. I’m finding it hard to believe you’re being strong-armed by
some religious nut you met at Bible study.”

My head tilts. “There’s so much
more than you know, Dane. Girls have been married off in my ward. Married off to
old men with dozens of wives. My father associates with those people. Shares
the same believes. You don’t understand what he’s capable of. He’ll do anything
to protect the family’s reputation. He’d kill to be a quorum member too.
Proving to them that he can raise a whole soccer team of children to walk the
divine path would be a quick ticket in for him.”

“I’m not discrediting you.” He
sits up, pursing his lips. “What’s his name? The guy you’re supposed to marry?”

I want to ask what he’s going
to do with that information, but instead, I offer it up on a silver platter.
“Cortland McGregor.”

His name puckers my lips and
sends a sloshing sensation to my stomach.

“The salary you were paying
me,” I say. “I was going to save it all until I had enough to buy my own car
and afford to move out.”

Dane is as quiet as he’s ever
been in the short amount of time that I’ve known him. His fingers rake across
the downturned corner of his mouth and the hollow spot above his jaw flexes.

“You were selling yourself to
me,” he says.

“Willingly,” I add.

“And what did you plan on doing
once you’d achieved your goal?” His gaze tightens. “Once you were done with me,
done doing what needed to be done.”

“I didn’t think that far.”

I wish he’d look at me.

He rises. “I’m not fond of
being used, Bellamy. I’m not fond of being lied to or manipulated.”

“I understand. And I’m so
sorry.” I get up and saunter around the desk until I’m face to face with him,
and then I slowly lower myself to my knees once more. With my hands clasped
tight against my heart, I glance up into his blue-grey gaze and pray he doesn’t
hate me after what I’m about to tell him. “Randy Mutchler never offered me a
job, which I know you know. I had an interview that day, and I missed it.
That’s how I ended up at the bar. And then you walked in, and everything
happened so fast. I needed a job in the worst way, Dane. And by the time I
realized what I’d agreed to and you offered me such a generous salary, it was
too late to mention to you that I was a virgin.”

“Wait. What?”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s something that needs to
be discussed before you’re about to have sex with someone.” His jaw clenches.
“When were you planning on telling me? Before or after you were about to bleed
all over my sheets?”

“I’m sorry.” There’s nothing
more I can say.

“Get up,” he says. “Unless you
have anything else you need to confess to. If there’s anything else I should
know, say it now.”

“There’s nothing else.” I shake
my head. “That’s everything.”

“I’m going to help you,
Bellamy.” He reaches for my hand, helping me up. “But you cannot lie to me
again. About anything. Do you understand that?”

“I do.”

“I will not give you another
chance. This is it.”

“Understood.”

My hands feel small in his, and
it’s only then I realize he’s still holding them. I don’t know why he wants to
help me all of a sudden. I don’t deserve it, but I’m not in a place to turn it
down.

“Where do we go from here?” I
hold my hands still in his, wanting him to keep me there just a moment longer.

“Not sure yet, but we can’t pick
up where we left off.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not going to force you to
sleep with me, Bellamy, knowing you’re only doing it to free yourself from a
life of oppression.”

“That’s noble of you.” My voice
drops. “But I’m fine with the arrangement we had. I was starting to enjoy it.
The thrill. The shiny and new. It’s a nice distraction from…everything else.”

I’d give anything to brush my
cheek against his suit and breathe him in one more time. All those times I’d
imagined his weight pressing me into a plush mattress covered in thousand
thread count sheets were for nothing.

Forever a fantasy.

“You understand our dynamic has
shifted,” he says.

I shake my head. “It hasn’t.
You’re still in control of this situation. Of everything.”

“I can’t take your virginity,
Bellamy.”

“Why not? It’s just sex. And
I’d rather my first time be with a man who knows what he’s doing and not some
awkward, virginal husband on my wedding night.” I fold my arms, then add a
quick disclaimer. “Not that I intended on waiting until my wedding night.”

“If I take your virginity, and
I’m not saying I will, it’s not going to mean anything. You know that, right?”

“You’re afraid I’m going to get
attached. Believe me, I’m
not
looking
for love or fireworks or anything meaningful.”

“You think that’s the first
time I’ve ever heard that?”

“I’m not going to beg. If you
don’t want me, you don’t want me.”

A wolfish smile claims his
lips. “Who said anything about not wanting you, Bellamy? I want you. Fuck, do I
want you. I want you on all fours. I want you spread eagle. I want you on your
knees. I want you tied up. I want your ass so red and raw you can’t sit for
days. I want you screaming my name and surrendering to me every hour of every
day until you forget there was ever a time we were strangers.”

I’ve stopped breathing for a
moment, and Dane releases me from his grasp.

“And you will beg, Bellamy.
You’ll beg every minute of every hour of every day in my presence. And you’ll
continue to do so until I’ve decided what I’m going to do with you.” He cups my
chin, leaning in and angling my lips in his direction. “Consider yourself in
punishment. Redemption is possible, but it won’t be easy.”

A large lump presses against my
throat. “Okay. Yes.”

So he’s not done with me.

Thank God.

Dane leans in even closer, the
heat of his lips radiating against mine. “You’re going to be begging for a
sweet release by the time I’m done with you, and I’m going to love every
fucking moment of it.”

I nod once before licking my
lips. I want him to kiss me like he did last week, by the window in his office.
A toe-curling, panty-melting, lip-smashing kiss.

But he releases me and backs
away, causing my heart to sputter and cough. We were so close.

“I need to be punished,” I say.
“I fully accept that.”

“Never lie to me again,
Bellamy,” he says heading toward the door. “I want to help you. I’m going to
help you. But you need to be honest with me about everything, even if it
terrifies you. Or else we’re done. And that’s a promise.”

“Yes, Master.” I struggle
against the smile that tugs on my lips, my relief threatening to shine from
every atom in my exhausted body. If this is going to work, I have to take it
seriously. I need to do everything he says because every part of me believes
his promise.

“Clean yourself up,” he says,
pulling the door open. “Come to my office in two hours. No sooner, no later. I
have some work to finish.”

DANE

A clear glass dildo is centered
on my desk.

I end my call with a Midwest
wind turbine supplier just in time to hear a knock at my door.

“Come in.”

Bellamy slips in and shuts the
door behind her.

“I appreciate that you
remembered to knock.” I stand up and make my way to her, cupping her face in my
hand and examining her flawless makeup. The mascara streaks are gone. The
disheveled hair is combed into place. A fresh spritz of perfume wafts from her
warm body. “You clean up well.”

“All the better to please you.”
Her gaze travels past me and lands on the glass cock.

“Yes, Bellamy. That’s for you.”

“May I?”

I nod, watching as she reaches for
the nub-covered wand.

“It’s freezing,” she says,
trailing her fingertips across the varying bumps and swirls that cover the
exterior of the seven-inch dildo.

“You don’t miss a thing.” I
smirk. “And it’s not frozen. It’s lightly chilled. I believe it makes for more
of an intense experience.”

She warms it in the palm of her
hand.

“Don’t do that.” I take it from
her. “You’re going to be warming it up a different way.”

Her mouth curls up on one side.

“Do you think this is funny?”

Her expression ashens, and her
lips form a straight line. “No.”

“Disrobe.” I step around her.

Bellamy chews on her bottom lip
as she slips her blouse over her head. With delicate fingers unsnapping the
back of her bra, she lets it fall. My fingers graze the side of her left breast,
skimming across her nipple until it comes to a hard point. She works her pants,
letting those fall to the ground as well. Two fingers slip beneath the
waistband of her pink lace thong, wiggling it down her hips and kicking them
across the room. When she’s all finished, she wears nothing but the look of a
woman who’s confident she’s just pleased her master.

That’s
where you’re wrong, my sweet Bellamy. Redemption isn’t going to be that easy
for you.

I drag a finger down her
stomach, past her hips, and veer to the delicious warmth emanating from between
her thighs. Her stance widens, and perhaps it’s her silent way of inviting me
in, but today isn’t about her pleasure.

Well, it is, and it isn’t.

My hand jerks from her the
second she releases a soft sigh in response to the grazing of my thumb across
her clit.

“Closet door.” I lead her to
the doorjamb restraints, the ones I haven’t touched since the day I gave her a
little sample. She assumes the position, lifting her wrists high and waiting
patiently as I restrain them. I’m sure she’s thinking this is too easy, that
she’s got this in the bag.

But that’s where she’s wrong.

“Spread,” I command, grabbing
the cool glass. “You’re to keep this inside you until I say you can release
it.”

“But…how?”

“You’ll figure it out.” I grab
the base of the graduated dildo and press the narrow end against her clit but
only once. She releases a distant moan and her chest rises and falls.
“Ninety-one lashes, and if this glass cock slips out of you one time, we start
over.”

The mushroom tip of the dildo
presses between her seam, and I push the first of the seven inches inside
followed by the second inch.
 
Judging by the ease in which it’s going in, she’s already wet. It’s
going to be a challenge for her to keep this in, and I’m going to love every
fucking minute of it.

“Why ninety-one?” she asks, her
breath rushed as her eyes squeeze. Her fists clench against the restraints as I
glide two more inches in with little resistance.

“Because we met thirteen days
ago,” I say, pressing the final three inches in with one fluid insertion. “And
because seven is my lucky number.”

She releases a guttural moan
through pursed lips, and her thighs squeeze together before her feet cross at
the ankles.

“Ninety-one
gentle
reminders that lying to me will
only get you so far,” I say, reaching for the leather paddle hanging in the
back of the opened closet. “Turn around and bend.”

I realize I’m asking her to do
something damn near physically impossible, but I know it can be done, and if
she desires to please me as much as she purports, then she’ll do it.

With her creamy white ass at my
hip level, I smooth the palm of my hand across her soft hide. It’s flawless.
Pale. Unmarked.

Whack!

Until now.

Whack!

“Count, Bellamy,” I remind her.
“And don’t let it fall.”

Whack!

A blush of redness spreads
across her left cheek, so I give it a rest and smack the other. Three more on
the right cheek and then I alternate. Back and forth. Back and forth. Faster.
Quick zings. Brusque blows that surely sting.

Whack!

She doesn’t complain. She
doesn’t utter her safeword. I keep going, resisting the urge to run my hand
along the red welts to offer a temporary moment of relief. That’s not what this
is about, and she’s yet to earn such a privilege.

Her bent position allows for
her skin to stretch slightly, making it all the more sensitive against the
swift spankings.

“…forty-five….forty-six…” she
says through clenched teeth.

An inch of graduated base of
the glass cock slips out of her.

I cease the paddling for just a
moment. “It’s falling out, Bellamy. You’re not holding it in tight enough.
Clench tighter.”

“I’m trying,” she heaves, her
face winced. “Keep going, keep going.”

“We’re only halfway there. You
think you can keep it in?” I drag my hand lightly down the curve of her spine
before grazing her warm ass and cupping my hand over the base of the dildo. “I
could push this in for you if you wanted…”

“Please,” she begs. “Please
push it in.”

“And why should I do that?”

“Because I want to please you.”
She tugs against the restraints. “And because it feels so good. I want all of
it inside me.”

Her thighs shake and unclench
for a second. The cock falls out another inch.

“Oh, Bellamy.” I tsk, tsk her.
“What are we going to do?”

I breathe in her sweet arousal,
and my cock swells.

“Please, please push it in,”
she begs, sucking in a breath and refusing to let it go. She’s stuck
anticipating my next move, and even I don’t know yet what I’m going to do.

I hook my hand around her neck,
gripping it just enough to let her know every part of her is in my hands. I
pull back against her soft flesh and lean into her ear, nibbling the lobe.

“As much as I’d love to help
you out right now,” I whisper. “I’m a man of my word, and I wouldn’t be doing
either of us any favors.”

I release her neck, and she
tucks her chin against her chest, gasping for air. My hand snakes around her
stomach, reaching between her legs and flicking the dildo just enough that she
feels it move inside her. Her inner thighs are slicked, coated with wetness.

“Are you ready to continue?” I
ask.

She nods vehemently, her blonde
hair curtaining her face. With white knuckles, she juts her ass out toward me
again, her legs buckling and squeezing like her life depends on it.

Whack
!

“Breathe,” I remind her.
“Breathe and count.”

The paddle slaps her skin with
quick, fluid movements, and she counts through gritted teeth.

“Eighty…seven…” she says.
“Eighty-eight, eighty-nine, ninety…ninety-one.”

She collapses against the wall,
and the dildo falls to the ground. I retrieve it, rolling the hot, slick glass
in my palm.

“You did well.” I set it aside
and untie her wrists, and she heads toward her crumpled clothes on the floor.
“What are you doing?”

“Oh.” She freezes. “I thought
you were done?”

“I’ll tell you when I’m done.”

My gaze falls on her pink, pert
nipples, and I drag the palm of my hand across each one until her eyes squeeze
tight. Two perfect peaks. I step into her space, backing her up against a
nearby wall and pushing my knee between her thighs until her stance is widened.
Her knees shake, whether she’s fatigued or aroused or both, I don’t
particularly care. My hand glides up her thigh and curves between her center
until my fingers find her arousal. I slick a finger between her folds, feeling
her stomach contract against me, and then I bring it to my mouth, tasting what
my power does to her.

I guaran-fucking-tee she’s
waiting for me to part her legs and run my tongue along her cleft, offering her
a sweet release.

But that’s the whole point.

I’m
not
going to do that.

She has to earn her release.

I step aside, heading to the
bathroom to run her a hot shower in my office en suite. I’m not particularly in
a touchy-feely mood, and I’m not sure I have the strength not to fuck the shit
out of her mouth or pussy if her naked body presses against me for too long.

When I return, she’s fallen to
the floor again. Her hair covering her face and her thighs squeezing and
releasing.

“Uncomfortable?” I ask.

She bites her lip. “Yes. I
though there’d be more.”

“Oh.” I take her hand and pull
her up, trying not to smile. “Yeah, no. Not today.”

“Not…
today
? Not even later today?”

“No.” I escort her into the
bathroom, pulling a warm gray towel from the warming drawer and placing it on
the counter. “Clean yourself up. And absolutely, under no circumstances, are
you allowed to touch yourself. Understand?”

Her throat bobs and her lips
press into a straight line. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, Master.”

I leave her to shower,
intentionally keeping the door open while I return to my desk in hopes of
actually getting some real fucking work done.
 

My desk phone rings before I
have a chance to finish typing the email I’m in the middle of.

“Yes, Marlene.”

“Um, I’m so sorry to bother
you.” Her tone is hushed. “There’s a gentleman here asking to see Bellamy. Is
she in there with you, by chance?”

“Send him to her office.” I
hang up.

***

“Can I help you?” My question
startles a man with sandy blond hair who’s helping himself through Bellamy’s
closet, examining her wardrobe with a tight clench in his jaw.

He hangs a dress up and backs
away, surrendering his hands in the air.

“This is my girlfriend’s
office,” he says, as if it could excuse his snooping.

“No. It’s not.”

The asshole clears his throat
and hooks his hands on his hips like
he’s
the one who should be annoyed with
me
.

“Bellamy Miller,” he says. “Her
name’s on the door.”

“Right.”

“She’s…my girlfriend.”

“No. She’s not.” My neck
stiffens, and my fists ache with an urge to smack him across his smug little
face.

“Look, man, I don’t know who
you are, but I think you’re confused.” This royal douche, Cortland I believe
his name is, flashes a smile like we’re all of a sudden a couple of chums.
“We’re getting married this year.”

“You’re not.”

Cortland laughs.

“You find humor in this?” I
ask, clearly not laughing.

“I think you need help, buddy.”

I close the space between us,
striding toward him until it’s abundantly clear I’ve got several inches on him,
and I glance down my nose.

“Here’s the deal,” I say. “You
and Bellamy are over. She doesn’t want to be with you. She’s not going to marry
you. And you’re not going to tell her father a fucking thing because just like
you were so easy to threaten
her
reputation, I’m about to threaten
yours
.
McGregor, right?”

He scratches above his temple.
“Yeah.”

“Dad is Walter?”

His brows furrow.

“You’re AUB, like Bellamy’s
family. Your father is a medical equipment distributor.”

“What the hell?”

The day this bastard dropped
her off, I had security nab the footage and zoom in on the plates, which I
promptly forwarded to my guy. Everything about this asshole came up clean, but
I’ll be damned if I don’t use what little information I have to bend him into
submission.

“Your father’s biggest client
is Premier Care Systems, a medical corporation that runs several metro area
clinics and the largest teaching hospital in the state.” I brush a speck of
lint from my sleeve. “Premier Care Systems is headed by Micah Bergmann, who’s a
heavy supporter of every piece of anti-polygamy legislation and every
anti-polygamy bill that crosses the desks on Capitol Hill, state and federal.
He has deep pockets, vast connections, and he happens to be a very good friend
of mine.”