Bailey: Independence #1 (30 page)

“Did you warn them off?”

“Not my place, Master Gabriel,” she chuckled warmly. “Despite what I saw between you two that night.”

“Thanks for your advice, Dianna. You’re a good friend.”

“We’ve listened to one another for a long time, Gabe,” she smiled into the phone. “I’ll see you Friday night at the club.”

“Absolutely. Good-bye,” Gabriel closed his cell and slid it over the desktop.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

No one had said anything to her directly. But she saw them whispering more than normal in her class. She went through the lesson, their computers responding to their input as they learned their way around the program. She thought of how smoothly the class was going and wondered if Patsy was right. People were going to behave just to avoid what they believed might happen to them. Because of Gabriel.

Bailey leaned against the desk and watched people gather their cheat packets for the two programs she’d taught them. Her hands held tightly to the edge of the desk, a few of the female executives eyeing her up and down before the buzzing of whispers in the hall began.

The men….Bailey sighed. She’d been given those looks since she developed curves. But today they were different. It was as if because Gabriel was interested, there had to be something extremely special about her.

Half way through her lesson, she’d sent people off on a break and quickly typed up a short note to Gabriel. As soon as she stepped into the elevator, people would know where she was going. She’d discovered them watching her like she was an alien walking among them since that morning. No one said anything. Not out loud. Not to her face. But she was starting to get twitchy.

It’s not like she was hungry anyway. Or maybe her imagination and stomach were playing tricks on her. She’d decided to track down a smoothie in the cafeteria when the smells began getting stronger and stronger. The faintest sound of wheels on the tiled floors made her walk to the open door of the training room. She made it to the doorway in time for her gaze to sweep the bustling hallway.

“Hey, Bailey! I brought lunch,” Kelly Barlow pushed the large cart into the training room.

“I…”

“Mr. Garrett placed the request and I’m to tell you that he’ll be here in a few,” the bright blue eyes smiled at her.

“Kelly…” Bailey looked at the covered dishes in disbelief.

“Don’t fret. I know what you like, so it’ll be okay,” she laughed and rubbed a palm over the small growing belly.

“He shouldn’t have done this.”

“Please, it’s about time someone looked out for you. Patsy told me about him,” she leaned closer. “He’s a cutie. I’ll send someone to get the stuff. Just leave the cart outside the room in the hall and enjoy! Talk to you later, Bailey.”

“Thank you, Kelly,” Bailey should have known better. Her friends thought he was a cutie. Oh, yeah. The big, bad dom called a cutie. Bet they wouldn’t think that when he had them bent over the bench, fucking them crazy. Full lips were pulled into a taut bow, arms across her chest and foot tapping when the dark suit came around the corner, the door to the room released and closing behind him.

“I can see you’re in a good mood,” Gabriel lifted one of the covers from a plate and sighed. “I’m starving so if you want to argue with me, sit down and eat first.”

“You shouldn’t have done this.”

“Your friend in the cafeteria was quite informative,” he rearranged the plates, putting the large tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich toward her. “I learned that you usually have a case of nerves and rarely eat on Monday’s.” He watched the mounting astonishment on her face. “You have some very protective friends.”

She really wanted to stomp her foot. Really wanted to throw something. Heat flushed through her when people passing by looked in the large window on the door.

“Sit down, Bailey, and eat lunch.” Gabriel lifted the cover from his choice, the fragrant mixture of Indian spices and vegetables filling the room. He waited while she pulled the chair from around the desk and sunk into it. “Thank you.”

“You shouldn’t have done this,” she repeated, her head shaking. “It’s bad enough…” Her lips clamped shut at the raised eyebrow. She lifted the spoon and began eating the soup, her stomach giving a grateful little growl. “Thank you.”

“What’s bad enough, Bailey?”

“Nothing. It’s fine.”

“I would have thought you’d learned about lying to me, pet,” he sighed and opened his jacket, shook out the napkin and began eating. “Does it have something to do with people staring through the door as if we’re a display at the zoo?” Gabriel chuckled at the instant answer flaring not only in her eyes but in the tinted cheeks. “Maybe I should let you decorate the bar at the club for a few hours. Then the nosy types here will seem like nothing worth stressing over.”

Bailey kept eating, her mind churning over his words.

“Umm…no, thank you, sir,” she answered and hoped it was polite enough.

“I can tell the various possibilities are bouncing around in that very busy brain,” he broke off a piece of the plain bread that accompanied the spicy dish. “With the holidays coming up, I think you’ll make a lovely ornament. I’ll have to personally find you just the right kind of tinsel and glitter.”

“O-ornament?”

“Hmm…Now let’s try once more. Why did you cancel lunch? And think carefully about what happens when you lie to me, Bailey.”

“Because people will know where I’m going when I go to the elevator after this morning,” she said carefully, staring at the wedge of sandwich in her fingers. She looked up to see genuine surprise on his face. “You never noticed.”

“That people stared at us? I don’t care,” he said with a toneless laugh. “It isn’t their life, it’s ours. Yours and mine, Bailey. Were you afraid of being punished in my office again?” This time his laughter was deep and amused when he watched the conflicting emotions in her eyes.

“I think I liked it better when you weren’t speaking to me,” she told him with a sullen pout.

“Did you, pet?”

She swallowed the bite she’d taken, the soft way he spoke making her look into his eyes. Her head shook slowly.

“No. No, I didn’t. I don’t like making you angry with me.”

“Then you must also know I don’t like having to punish you,” Gabriel met the slow nod she offered, her fingers pulling apart the sandwich she was eating in bits and pieces. “Is that why you wanted to avoid my office?”

Bailey decided she didn’t care for the half grin on his face and growled at him before ripping a bite out of her sandwich.

“I don’t want to be…to be something people whisper about,” she finally pushed the words out. “And me coming to your office…” Her head shook. He couldn’t possibly understand. “They treat me differently because of you.”

“Do you honestly believe people gossip about the truth? Or what they want the truth to be?”

“There’s a big difference between our…our status,” she had searched for a word that wasn’t class driven, because this was the USA. We don’t have classes, right? She almost laughed at herself.

“Our status,” Gabriel repeated her words slowly. “We’ll discuss that another time. I personally don’t care, unless it hurts you. Then I will deal with it and swiftly, I promise you that.”

“I don’t need you fighting my battles. I wouldn’t…there would be nothing to…you’re making my stomach hurt again,” she sipped the soup and stared into the deep red liquid. Her eyes lifted when she heard the sound of a tinkling bottle and then went to the palm he held out with the single pink little tablet in the center. She took it with a sigh, peering over her water glass. “You just carry those things around with you?”

“Since spending time with you, yes. I don’t like to know you’re in pain because of stress. And you’re letting too many things stress you, pet.”

“The night…” she began after a few quiet minutes. “The night that woman was left in the driveway…why didn’t you punish me?”

“Because I was too angry to think straight,” he answered honestly. “The anger that was directed at you was too mixed up with other emotions. The anger at the…the invasion into our private life had been simmering and came to a head inside me and you were too sweetly available. It didn’t feel right.”

“I understand your anger,” she began slowly. “No, that’s not true. I understand concern and worry. I don’t understand anger unless instead of showing concern and worry, you show anger,” she had been staring down and didn’t see the look on his face as she continued. “But you can be as angry with me as you want and I’m not sorry.” Bailey stopped in frustration. “I’m sorry it disappointed you. That, I am sorry for. But I cannot…it’s wrong to expect me to hide when you’re in just as much danger as I am.”

Gabriel took a long, slow bite of his food, digesting her words with it.

“I spoke with a friend this morning.”

“About us?” She looked up and blinked.

“Yes. Us. Because you’ve done nothing but confuse me since we met.” Gabriel half expected her neck to snap at the speed she straightened and gaped at him. But he laughed softly instead and brought a palm up to swipe gently over the tears on her cheek. “This situation isn’t one we’re likely to have to deal with on a normal basis and the problem in my mind, was that it should be considered as any normal fit of temper from a sub.”

“It was not a fit of temper!” Her back went straight, her chin up and eyes flaring behind her glasses. “You could have been…I’m not sorry I disobeyed you. I was so worried about you.” Why was it so very hard to say exactly what she felt? Why couldn’t she just tell him how big a mess she’d be if something were to happen to him? Because he’s not yours, a firm voice answered that sounded like her logic side.

“That glorious defiance,” he murmured, keeping the humor carefully buried. “Makes me wish we were upstairs and private just to see if I could wear you out and pound it out of you.”

Bailey felt too many things at once, including that rude wetness between her thighs. Her brain was telling her mouth to shut up now while she could still sit down. She wasn’t sure if it should be labeled pride or stupidity at the moment, though.

“I don’t have to give you permission to try, do I, Sir?” She snapped out, her breath catching the next instant and eyes closing. Nope, no off button on this mouth.

“No, pet, you don’t,” Gabriel’s grin was far from amused. He reached across and lifted a piece of her sandwich and placed it near her lips. They opened automatically.

“Is that why you didn’t sleep in the bed last night? Punishment?”

“While I might give you a pass on the evening, you blatantly disobeyed me,” he said calmly, watching as she finished her soup. The edge of defiance was now flecked with the arousal he’d come to enjoy putting in her eyes. “I think tonight we’ll have a long session to see about getting your training back in hand. Friday we’ll go to the club and I don’t want to be displeased in front of others.”

“Training?” She repeated quietly.

“Did you feel punished when you slept alone last night, Bailey?”

She might have tried to lie to him. She even gave it a moments’ thought but there wasn’t anything smug or superior in his voice or his eyes. There was sadness. Further messing with her already confused head.

“Yes. I didn’t like it,” she answered, her spoon down in the empty bowl as she pushed from the make-shift table to cross and stare into the light rain falling outside. She didn’t want to admit things like that to him. To anyone, to be honest. People found weaknesses and hurt you with them. That kind of hurt was worse than anything else.

Gabriel contained his sigh and moved quietly to stand behind her, his feet braced to keep her from moving. He put his hands beneath the jacket and slid them up her ribs to frame the full, soft breasts.

“I didn’t like it, either, pet. So we were both punished while I puzzled through what to do.” Gabriel lowered his lips to her ear. “I didn’t have plans to punish you in my office. But I was very curious to see what was under this blouse and skirt.”

It was impossible to stop her heart from thumping wildly.

“I think you should be deprived more just to keep you on edge,” she answered tartly, fighting to ignore the shiver when he nipped her ear in response and stepped back.

“I have meetings and you have class,” he took her palm and walked with her to the cart. “I’ll be at the main entrance at four-thirty, Bailey.”

“Yes, sir,” she took the cart and followed him out of the room, her eyes closing when she found people waiting to come into the training room. Color flooded her cheeks when their presence only seemed to encourage Gabriel.

He watched the fear enter her eyes and knew he simply couldn’t resist. He waited while she put the cart to the side and framed her face, holding her captive without saying a word. His mouth moved over hers. Softly; possessively, until she relaxed and returned the pressure.

“Don’t let anyone take this away from us,” he said just loud enough for her to hear before offering a wink. He offered a curt nod at the people waiting and then strode off down the hall. He tucked his palms into the pockets on his slacks and waited for the elevator, whistling softly to himself.

Bailey wanted to wait until the heat left her cheeks but the classes she had this afternoon weren’t anywhere near long enough for that to happen. She drew in a long, slow breath and turned around to stride into the classroom with a lot more confidence in her swagger than she was feeling.