His Absolute Domination: The Billionaire's Paradigm (#5) (A BDSM Erotic Romance) (The Billionaire's Ultimatum, Book Two) (4 page)

Lucent was that. He paid attention to
me and cherished me, and maybe he did it in a slightly faulty way,
but no one was perfect.

He did want perfect, though, didn't
he? His contract. What was that about? Did he keep it and hide it
away and plan on asking me some day? Except, no, he said he hadn't,
and while I probably shouldn't have been so trustworthy considering
he'd just told me he'd singularly focused(read: stalked, but that
sounded so mean) on me for a lengthy period of time, I did. I
trusted him and I believe him. The contract was still never meant
for me.

But that didn't change the
fact that he
did
want someone perfect. He said he found me enchanting. I'd
exceeded expectations.
Pleasing
. He'd said so many nice
things to me this weekend, and he'd continued saying nice things
even after he knew I would freak out about his voicemail
message.

He said he planned to leave me this
morning, but changed his mind because he worried.

Well, Mr. Lucent Storme, I thought.
You're completely wrong and an idiot. I'm going to call
you.

I should have his number, right? In my
phone's missed message list? I clicked fast to get to it and found
it and...

It wasn't there. Why? Wait. Dammit! It
was because my phone wasn't on when he called me. It didn't save
numbers from people when that happened, and though this rarely
happened, now was the worst time for it to happen. I glared at my
phone, hoping to intimidate it into revealing Lucent's phone
number, but it glowed softly at me, oblivious to my threatening
gaze.

What a useless phone.

I had a computer, though. I had the
internet. If Lucent stalked me, it was fair turnabout to stalk him,
right? I thought so, yes. And even if it wasn't, who was going to
chastise me for it? Lucent? He couldn't very well condemn me for
doing the same things he did. Or, I didn't think he could. I
supposed technically he could, but if he did he'd need to do so in
person because I wouldn't listen to him otherwise. And if he did so
in person, I'd distract him by squeezing my arms around his waist
and kissing him every time he tried to speak. I'd wear good heels
so I was tall enough to do so, too. He had no chance in
this.

Tossing my phone onto my bed, I rushed
to grab my laptop and power it up. My laptop was newer and not as
terrible and useless as my phone. Also, it had all weekend to
charge, and so it was fully powered up and working without
issue.

It took awhile to turn on, though. I
needed to wait. I never minded waiting much before, but right now I
found myself becoming an extremely impatient person.

...

After an inordinate amount of time, I
decided the internet was useless. Lucent Storme's personal contact
information didn't exist. Or, if it existed, it didn't exist for
me. I checked lots of phone number websites and search things. I
didn't even know how any of these places worked, but it didn't seem
to matter. They revealed nothing.

I looked on Facebook and he didn't
even have a profile there. What kind of person didn't have a
Facebook profile? Alright, so I maybe didn't exactly know
everything about Facebook, nor did I really use it much, but I did
have a profile. I had a picture up, and some information put in,
and Vanessa and Margaret were my friends on there, plus my mom and
my grandmother. My grandmother had a Facebook profile and Lucent
didn't. How weird was that?

My stalking was in poor shape,
apparently. I did not have expertise in this field. Lucent did, or
so he said. He must, really. He knew where I kept my car keys. In
reality, this was kind of scary, but currently I found it
impressive. Granted, I kept them in a somewhat obvious spot, but
still.

This wasn't good. I'd distracted
myself with trying to figure out his phone number and this had
postponed the sinking feeling of depression looming over me, but
with all my current options exhausted, the painful sensations
returned tenfold. With my laptop on my lap, the heat of it warming
my thighs, I collapsed against my headboard with a pillow pushing
into the small of my back.

My heart thump-thump-thumped, beating
fast, pounding against my chest, telling me it felt ill. Yes, well,
heart, I don't feel so great myself. I needed to shower, too. I
should do that. I would. Soon. I...

I had a sudden epiphany. This was
amazing. This was it. I went to Google and searched for Landseer
Enterprises then clicked my way to their main website. They had a
search field for internal searches and I typed in Lucent's name,
then clicked search.

The website went through the process
of revealing everything to me. I hoped everything included Lucent's
contact information. Even an email address would be nice. I didn't
need a personal one; a company email should work fine, too. Maybe a
number? He wasn't working today, but if I found his extension, I
could call tomorrow and get connected to him and...

Maybe that was going too far. It did
seem sort of excessive? Except, no. Lucent had already been
excessive, so anything I did barely counted. This is what I told
myself, though I doubted the veracity of my rationalization. I
doubted it, but I didn't even care, because that's what I was going
to do. If Lucent had a problem with it, well... he could spank me.
Or stuff. That's what Vanessa said randomly after sentences
sometimes, right? I thought I'd enjoy Lucent's stuff.

The website finally loaded my search
results and... nothing.

Or, it did have something, but not
quite what I wanted. One result, one choice. I clicked it because
it was the only thing to click, but it wasn't what I wanted to
click.

The website brought me to a career
choices page with an opening as a personal assistant for Lucent
Storme. Expiration date for the opening was "ongoing" and the
requirements included a bachelor's degree, 2+ years of personal
assistant experience, computer expertise, spreadsheet, email, and
word processor knowledge, and a few more details.

Mostly, I had none of these. I knew
about spreadsheets and email and word processor programs, and I did
have my bachelor's degree, but not in anything at all related to
personally assisting the Director of Public Relations for Landseer
Enterprises. I also had no experience in this field. This, I
decided, didn't matter at all.

To inquire about this
position, please bring your resume to Landseer Enterprises during
our usual business hours and request an appointment with the ground
floor secretary. No calls. No emails.

Yes, well... yes. Yes. That was it.
Yes. This was the only choice I had currently, and I was going to
do it. Tomorrow.

I didn't have a resume.
How should I write a resume? Creatively, I assumed. I didn't
even
really
want
the job, so I assumed it didn't matter what kind of terrible resume
I brought with me, but I also didn't want to bring something
terrible, because Lucent might want to see it.

"Oh, Miss Tanner," he'd say. "Let me
see your resume. I see here you are completely inadequate and
you've decided to waste my time. Please leave."

He wouldn't do that, would he? I hoped
not. He definitely wouldn't do it if I brought a legitimate and
useful resume.

I spent the rest of my Sunday
afternoon figuring out how to write a resume.

Maybe the internet wasn't entirely
useless.

...

I arrived at the library on Monday
afternoon for my scheduled shift at the library. I felt nervous. I
didn't need to do this. If I just went into work like nothing was
wrong, did my time, performed the tasks necessary of me, I could
forget all about everything and...

No. I didn't want to forget
everything. It hurt too much. I stepped inside the front door,
remembering everything that had happened. Glancing to the side, I
saw a high school-aged boy using the same computer that Lucent and
I had watched our movie on. In the children's section were the
beanbags, and then the book club room where he'd spanked me, and
upstairs in the... the... I couldn't think about it anymore. It
hurt.

Rob stood behind the main desk,
working on some paperwork. He glanced up and saw me and
smiled.

"Elise, thanks for coming in. Sorry
about all of the problems we had over the weekend," he said. "You
didn't have to stay, you know? I appreciate the effort, though.
I'll figure out a way to pay you extra."

How did he know I stayed? I must have
given him a funny look, because he added, "Someone left a message
on the library answering machine. A Mr. Storme? I don't know
exactly. He mentioned you two ended up stuck in here because of the
snow and he'd pay the library back for the books."

"Oh," I said.

"We were going to throw them out
anyways, and it kept you safe, so it's not a big deal,
though."

I nodded. I nodded, and... "Did he
leave a phone number?"

"No. He just said he'll send a check
to cover the costs. I'll rip it up once I get it, I guess. Maybe
mail it back to him. I don't know what to do exactly. There's no
reason to take his money."

I nodded again. This wasn't
working.

"Can I take the day off?" I asked
suddenly.

Rob blinked at me. "Did something
happen? I guess you must be stressed after the snow incident and
all, yeah."

"No," I said. "No, that's not it.
Just..."

He smiled at me, urging me to
continue.

"Rob, I really do like working here,
don't get me wrong, but I wanted to apply for another job, and I'd
like to bring my resume there today and hopefully have an
interview."

"Oh," he said, looking confused. "Oh,
sure."

"I probably won't get the job, but I
just want to see how it goes. In fact, I'm pretty sure I don't have
a chance, as I don't meet any of the higher qualifications, but I
really feel like I should do this."

"What qualifications?" he asked. "Did
you bring your resume?"

"Yes."

"Mind if I take a look?"

I swallowed hard and nodded. Digging
through my purse, I found my folded up resume and showed it to him.
He took it, unfolded it, and scanned through it.

"This looks good," he said. "You don't
have any references, though. I know you can just put that you can
provide them upon request, but it's not a bad idea to list a few
beforehand. You can use me as a reference. Lie a little if you
want." He grinned. "I'll confirm whatever I'm asked, so don't
worry. None of this should be a problem for you, anyways. I bet
you're a shoe-in for the position."

"Rob..." I wanted to cry. Why was he
being so nice? I'd just told him I wanted to apply for another job,
and here he was helping me do it wholeheartedly. I felt traitorous,
almost, especially because I really did like this job. I didn't
want to leave, but... I needed to talk to Lucent so badly. Just
talking, just to figure this out.

Rob laughed. "Elise, you can't cry
before you go in to drop off your resume. This is good. It looks
like a great job. If you don't get it, you're welcome back here. If
you do get it but you don't like it, you can come back here, too.
Even if you don't want to work here anymore, I'd love to see you
stop by now and then. I know how much you like the library. You'll
always be a really important part of it, no matter what
happens."

I smiled and nodded and almost cried.
I told myself not to cry, though; it worked, but barely.

"I'll write down my contact info,
alright? It's not printed, but it's better than nothing. I'll use
my library stamp. It'll look different and set you apart from the
other candidates."

I didn't even know if there were any
other candidates. Unable to speak for fear of bursting into tears,
I stood there and watched as Rob inked his stamp with a stamp pad,
then pressed it against the reference section of my resume,
imprinting his information in glistening black ink.

"You should probably let it dry for a
moment," he said. "Here, tell me about what happened this weekend.
Was everything fine? It was really clean when I came in this
morning, so I'm guessing everything worked out."

I told him, but I couldn't tell him
much without choking up. I mentioned Lucent sparingly, and told Rob
we were mostly fine. We watched movies, used the vending machine,
played cards, read books. Nothing out of the ordinary.

My entire weekend was extremely
extraordinary, but by the way I explained it to Rob, it must have
sounded like the most regular couple of days to ever
exist.

...

I walked through the revolving doors
of Landseer Tower, resume in hand. Rob let me leave my college
backpack at the library so I could maintain a higher degree of
professionalism, but I still had my purse. With my resume and my
purse, and what I hoped was an appropriately suitable outfit for a
place with this amount of prestige, I approached the lobby
desk.

I'd never entered Landseer Tower
before. It was near the library, barely a few blocks away, but I
rarely went this way to go anywhere. I knew it was nice, but I
never realized exactly how nice it was. On my way to the front
secretary's desk, I caught myself ogling the fountain. They had a
fountain! In the lobby? Really?