His Absolute Domination: The Billionaire's Paradigm (#5) (A BDSM Erotic Romance) (The Billionaire's Ultimatum, Book Two) (7 page)

I thought, perhaps, I was having an
existential crisis. I needed to leave and stay at the same time,
and be two things at once, in two separate places, two entirely
different people.

I was only one person, though, and if
I kept bothering myself like this, I'd never figure anything out.
Don't think, Lucent had told me once. It seemed so long ago now,
but it happened this past weekend. Don't think, Miss Tanner. Just
feel.

I did that. Having fixed my bathroom
and thirst problems, I scampered through the halls like some
audacious thief and returned to Lucent's office. The cleaning man
stood near the door, staring at my note and the chair, clearly
unsure what to make of it.

I offered him an apologetic smile and
hurried inside. "Sorry," I said. "It's a late night tonight. I
won't bother you."

He blinked at me, uncertain, but I
closed the door behind me before he could comment on my
strangeness.

...

"Elise."

I must have been dreaming, because I
could've sworn Lucent was kneeling next to me with his hand on my
shoulder, acting nice. It was a nice dream, though. Yawning,
somewhat disoriented, I reached over for him and touched his face.
Through sleepy, half-lidded eyes, I smiled at him.

He returned my smile with one of his
own, but his brow creased with worry, too. "Did you stay here all
night?"

"What?" I asked. This was an odd
dream. Where was I?

"It appears," he said, sighing,
"you've taken up occupancy within my office. You shouldn't sleep on
couches like that. It's bad for your back. Here, get
up."

I shifted on the couch, feeling lazy.
I didn't entirely know what was going on, or why Lucent wanted to
act nice to me all of a sudden after being a jerk before, but
dreams were dreams and it didn't need to make sense. He helped me
off of the couch and I lay on the floor with my head resting
sideways on my forearms.

Lucent knelt beside me and pressed his
fingers into my back, easing away the slight kinks of backache from
my night on his couch.

His couch, I remembered. In his
office. Which was here. Where we were. Currently. Right
now.

I woke up with such immediate force
that I thought I could surely cause a natural disaster if I knew
how to harness this power. I didn't, nor did I want to do anything
like that, but now I was angry. I rolled away from him and slapped
at his hands and pulled myself off the floor. Glaring at him,
refusing to accept his sudden kindness, I plopped onto his
couch.

"Good morning," he said with a wry
grin.

"I'm not speaking with you," I
said.

"Did you stay here all night?" he
asked. "I'm not sure what to think of that. You shouldn't have. You
should have left."

"Yes, well, I didn't." I lifted my
nose at him, haughty. "I intend to wait for my interview, Lucent.
Please excuse my appearance, as I've been dealing with some
annoying people."

"Like me," he said.

"Actually, yes, exactly like you. I
wish you wouldn't be so annoying."

He frowned. "Miss Tanner, I can't
interview you for the personal assistant position."

"Why?" I asked. "Just tell me why,
then?"

"It's complicated."

"I don't understand how you can think
it's complicated. Ask me some questions. Even I know how an
interview works."

Removing himself from the floor, he
took a seat on the couch next to me. "Have you eaten
anything?"

"What kind of interview question is
that?"

"It's not an interview question. I'm
worried that you're going to do something foolish and refuse to
eat."

My stomach wanted to grumble in
protest, but I ordered it not to; it ignored me.

"No, then," he said.

"As a matter of fact, no. I haven't
eaten anything," I said.

He stood and held his hand out to me.
"Come."

I took his hand without thinking and
let him lift me up off the couch. He squeezed my fingers tight,
holding my hand, and led me towards the door to his
office.

"Lucent, I..." I couldn't! I couldn't
leave. I was mad at him still, and if he thought that acting nice
to me momentarily would fix that, it wouldn't.

"I'll interview you," he said. "You're
too stubborn and difficult by far, and so I'll interview you. Over
breakfast."

"You're taking me for breakfast?" I
asked, perplexed. "What time is it?"

"Early," he said.
"Seven-thirty."

"Oh. I thought you said you came to
work later now."

"Yes," he said. "Typically I do,
except I feared I might have to deal with an obstinate woman
wreaking havoc in my office."

"I didn't wreak havoc," I
muttered.

"You're still obstinate," he
countered.

"I hope you know you just said you're
afraid of me."

"Yes, that's probably correct." He
tugged on my hand, urging me out of his office and into the halls.
"Come."

Lucent was scared of me? Odd. I didn't
know what to think of that. What did he mean?

...

He marched me down the halls of
Landseer Tower and to the glass elevators. We waited quietly and
entered silently. No more talking now. I needed to talk. I wanted
to say something, but I didn't know what to say.

He still held my hand, too. He
confused me so much.

And onwards, downwards, outwards. We
arrived outside Landseer Tower, hand in hand, and he marched me
once more. We walked side by side, but I felt like he was pulling
me along more than anything else. This was all so strange and I
didn't know how I felt about it. Well, I felt strangely, but that
wasn't enough for me. I wanted to know more, to feel
more.

After a brief walk, words eluding us,
we reached the front door of Sam's Delicatessen. I stared at the
door, frowning. They were closed now, and they wouldn't open for
hours; they opened at eleven in the morning for the lunch crowd,
then stayed open until seven for people on their way
home.

Also, they were expensive. I never
understood how a deli could be so expensive when they basically
just served sandwiches, but honestly they were really good
sandwiches. Not the paltry fare typically found in the average
sandwich, but hearty chunks of real meat, cooked and seasons to
perfection, with real, fresh chopped vegetables and homemade sauces
spread throughout. I'd eaten here once because of a special
occasion at the library, but otherwise I barely even walked by. I
couldn't afford it on a casual basis.

"Lucent," I said, "I think they're
closed still."

Or, I knew they were closed. The sign
on the door said as much.

This didn't deter Lucent, though.
Striding forth, he knocked on the door. Not a regular knock either,
oh no. It sounded like some secret club special knock, something or
other.

And, sure enough, someone opened the
door. A man wearing a pristine white apron and a brilliant smile
greeted us and welcomed us inside the deli.

Lucent nodded to him. "Thank you,
Sam."

"Anytime, Lucent. You haven't been by
for breakfast in so long. It's just you, today. You and...?" Sam
gave me a curious smile.

"Elise," I said. "Thanks for letting
us in."

"We'll seat ourselves at a booth,"
Lucent said. "I'll inform Miss Tanner of the early menu items. I
assume it shall take us a few minutes to finalize our order. Thank
you."

Sam laughed and locked the door behind
us, then went off behind the deli counter. Lucent led(or somewhat
dragged) me over to an isolated booth far in the corner. We sat
opposite one another and I glared at him.

"You can't order for me," I
said.

He rolled his eyes. "Difficult as
always, Miss Tanner. As you wish. Do whatever you like."

"Also, I'll pay for
myself."

"No."

"Lucent, I have money."

"I don't care if you have money. I
invited you to breakfast, you accepted, and as such, I'm
paying."

I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Fine. If that's the way it is, this is a date, then."

"This isn't a date, Miss Tanner. I'm
reluctantly interviewing you for a position that doesn't
exist."

"You know what?" I said, huffy. "Mrs.
Landseer said she could probably find me a job somewhere else
besides with you if I wanted. Just because you won't hire me for
some asinine reason doesn't mean I'm going to leave."

"Mrs. Landseer is meddlesome.
Alternatively, if we're rating asses, I'd recommend yours as a ten,
not a nine, Miss Tanner."

I stared at him, blinked, and
sputtered on any future words I might have wanted to
say.

He grinned, nonchalant, being a cocky,
arrogant jerk.

"You can't say things like that," I
said once I managed to control my shock. "It's sexual
harassment."

To be honest, I kind of hoped he
sexually harassed me more. I had no idea where it came from or why
he changed so suddenly, but I liked it.

"The breakfast menu is non-existent in
physical form," Lucent informed me, no longer speaking about my
body, nor rating it openly. "The mainstay includes sandwiches, in
breakfast form, with eggs, maple syrup, pancakes, and an assortment
of other standard morning meals. Essentially, you can order
whatever you like, and Sam will concoct it for you. Alternatively,
you may order food outside of a sandwich, too."

"A pancake sandwich?" I asked.
"Really?"

"Yes. It's not actually a pancake, but
it tastes similar. He separates a sub roll and then soaks it
quickly in pancake batter and creates a pancake with the bread. I
find it especially enjoyable combined with syrup as a spread, and
chopped fruit inside. You'd like it."

"Look, Lucent," I said. "Listen. You
can't go making random jokes about my ass, then explain some menu
to me, then tell me I'd like a pancake sandwich. You just
can't."

"Jokes?" he asked, cocking his head to
the side.

"The asinine, ass is a nine
thing."

"Miss Tanner," he said. "As someone
who has intimate knowledge of your backside, I assure you I wasn't
joking when I made my previous statement."

"You're so confusing," I said. "You
scream at me and berate me yesterday, and now you're flirting with
me. I really don't understand you."

"We share that sentiment. You confront
me in my office about applying for a job as my personal assistant
after I leave you voicemail messages explaining specifically in
exact detail all of the horrible things I've done, and then you
refuse to leave and end up starving yourself and falling asleep on
my couch."

"You started it," I said. "You can't
just leave like that. You need to say something."

"I did say something. I left you a
voicemail message. I intended on leaving before you woke up, but I
changed my mind."

"It's a good thing you changed your
mind because otherwise I would have hated you," I said.

He frowned, sighing. "Apparently I
should've changed my mind, then."

The booths inside of Sam's were small,
packed tightly together so as to accommodate more customers. During
normal hours, I assumed they stayed busy. It made sense since it
was a popular place. Currently, I very much appreciated the smaller
size of the booths, because it made it easy to reach across the
table and slap Lucent in the face.

He stared at me afterwards,
dumbstruck, with the vaguest red imprint of my hand across his
cheek. I slapped him good, too. He'd taught me how to properly
spank him during our nicer times together, and a cheek was a cheek,
no matter where it was.

"You just slapped me," he said,
confused.

"I did," I said. "Now move over. I'm
going to sit next to you."

"What?"

I didn't give him more time to think
or protest or do anything. Sliding away from my side of the booth,
I slipped in next to him and scooted him over. We sat close, side
by side, possibly companionable except that he kept staring at me
with the most confounded, odd expression.

I smiled sweetly at him, my expression
unable to hide the acerbic tone of my voice. "Don't ever say
something like that to me again, Lucent."

Lucent frowned at me and narrowed his
eyes. He frowned, and narrowed, and then he laughed.

Now it was my turn to look at him with
an odd expression. "What?" I asked.

"You're so peculiar," he said. "I must
say, out of anyone I've met, you're probably the most interesting.
A poor submissive, and probably an impossible slave, but you
definitely intrigue me, Miss Tanner."

Did he just say that? In here? In
front of... well, it was just Sam. But Lucent didn't even try to
hide it. I hissed at him. "Do you really think you should be saying
things like that in here?"