The Alexandra Series (75 page)

Chapter Thirteen

“Did you and Alex enjoy the cabin?” Reggie asked.

Stripping away his dress shirt, Jocelyn viewed the muscles underneath, the even tan, all that powerful masculinity that did such devastating things to her body just to see him half-clothed.

“Been working out a lot, haven’t you?” she replied from the bed. A lace chemise covered just enough to look deliberately provocative, though so far he hadn’t appeared to notice her seduction.

“Avoiding my question?” he turned to her.

“Not deliberately. Though it seems like another interesting coincidence, that you know my every move with Alex, and neither one of us is telling.”

“This one’s very simple. Will and I saw you emerging from the woods. Frankly, I’m surprised you got Alex to go there with her past history in that shack.”

“That was a long time ago, Reg. I’m curing her terror with a little tenderness.”

“Doesn’t sound like you were very tender with her this afternoon.”

“Sometimes that’s what we both need.”

“You the dominant?”

“Yes. Me the dominant.”

He pulled off the rest of his clothes, hung his pants in the closet, threw the shirt in the laundry, and now stood in profile with nothing on but his silk boxers. What a hot ass! she was thinking. The way the silk conformed to his ass cheeks she could just make out the perfect curve she adored. She wanted sex more than conversation. But he was taking his time, giving her a sidelong glance while he removed the underwear.

“I’ll watch you work sometime,” Reggie finally said, long after he’d given her the creeps the way he stared with that odd grin.

Jocelyn wondered at his remark, if she could ‘perform’ her treasured role of dominant with Reggie as an audience. An odd prospect at best. “So, did you enjoy punishing Helena?” she changed the subject.

“Will punished her, I didn’t.”

“Will? That’s interesting. Though I don’t imagine he was as good as you.”

“He might be even better. You should have been there to watch.” He was finally climbing into bed.

“We weren’t invited,” she answered him. She gave him a reproving smile as she stroked his naked thigh.

“I didn’t exclude you deliberately, if you chose to make love to Alex instead, I’m perfectly okay with that.”

“You are?” Jocelyn pondered aloud.

“You’re not going to pin your guilt on me.”

For days now, just beneath the surface of their conversation, a gentle bickering had been going on about her affair with Alex. He may have said he wasn’t annoyed by their trysts, but she didn’t believe him. He had that edge about him. She’d waited for him to make a move, declare himself, give her some sort of clue about his thoughts—all the while she felt him stalking her like a panther on the hunt.

“You say Helena was a joy to watch?” Jocelyn said, returning to the safer subject.

“She’s been masturbating with the buggy whip. It was quite a demonstration.”

“She showed you?”

“She’s a first-class slut underneath that demure demeanor. After her little performance, Will showed her a different side to the whip.”

“He left marks?”

“Many.” Reggie drew Jocelyn into him. “That excites you doesn’t it?” His question hardly required an answer as his lips took charge of her mouth, his passion sweeping across her face, to her neck, and the breasts he uncovered pushing the lace chemise away.

Suddenly, Jocelyn backed off.

“It’s Helena, isn’t it?”

“Helena?”

“She’s been telling you about my meetings with Alex.”

“How would she know?”

“It’s very possible. She has my schedule, my private number, access to my secretary, and the other day I saw her downtown. I thought she was at her doctor’s appointment.”

Reggie chuckled. “Your intuition serves you well.”

“It is her, that conniving little bitch!” Her green eyes flashed at him angrily. “And you! You’ve used her to torment me. Talk about honesty!”

Ignoring her rant, he zeroed in on her breasts again.

“Stop that!” she barked.

“No, you stop that!” His eyes were suddenly razor sharp. He smacked her ass hard with the palm of his hand. “So you found out, so punish her, but don’t stop making love to me.” He didn’t let her speak another word, covering her mouth with kisses. After she had calmed, he returned to her breasts and ravaged them with tongue and teeth and lips. He went on to her torso, moving downward to her cunt, until he had her cumming in sharp, sudden spasms, her surprising revelation all but forgotten.

Languishing after sex and before sleep, Jocelyn’s mind began working hard again, remembering her intuitive flash, and Helena. She had the sudden desire to stand over the bitch in full leather regalia and wreak one nasty revenge.

“You say I can punish her?” she asked him, as she put the pieces of her revenge in place.

“Any way you want,” he answered from a sleepy fog. She smiled to herself as she was drifting off herself, though Reggie’s one last comment turned her scheme in a slightly different direction. “As long as I watch.”

“Is that necessary?” she asked.

“Yes.” He was groggy, but the ‘yes’ was loud and clear.

Chapter Fourteen

“You’re going to frighten me looking like that,” Alex said.

Jocelyn was at the window in her bedroom adjusting the garter on the black corset, the lace stockings in place at last. A black lycra skirt fit snugly over her hips, defining her bottom and every curve. The cream colored blouse drooped low in front, showing the full cleavage the corset created. The black showed distinctly through the creamy fabric, testifying to the darker woman underneath the otherwise subdued attire.

“This frightening you?” Jocelyn asked innocently.

“Severe is a good word,” Alex retorted.

“Severe is a good look for my purposes,” Jocelyn said. “I only wear this outfit when I want to take control.”

“And the hair,” Alex went on, noting Jocelyn’s curls were swept up atop her head in a neat configuration that tamed them fashionably, in keeping with the persona she was donning. “Reggie ever seen you like this?”

“Yes. And he likes to undo it all and screw me, usually in some compromising place like an elevator or deserted hallway.”

Alex smiled, thinking of the picture that scenario created in her mind. “Makes him think he’s still in charge.”

“Oh, but he is,” Jocelyn assured her. “I couldn’t stand him being some weak kneed little pup. Though there are lots of men in my company I’d like to take over my knee and spank.”

“Maybe you should make that a practice,” Alex joked.

“Would be fun, wouldn’t it?”

“I can already see your mind working.”

“Actually, I need to concentrate on just one bratty bitch, right now. I’ll think about submissive men later.”

“Makes me nervous,” Alex said, feeling genuinely jittery looking at her lover’s amazing transformation.

“I’ll get you later,” the redhead smirked. “Right now we need to get downstairs.”

The conversation made Alex think of a conversation she had with Will. Too bad he wouldn’t be here this night to see the results. “Jocelyn’s no submissive,” Will had told her. “She’s a blatant sexual dominant. I wonder sometimes when Reggie’s going to buckle under her will?” Alex couldn’t imagine Reggie ever being subdued by any woman. And she knew better than to think that Jocelyn was solely a dom. Despite what terror she’d create tonight, submission was as dear to Jocelyn as taking charge, though Alex wasn’t certain if her dear friend yet realized the depths of either of her most potent passions.

***

The library was awash with warm light from the glowing lamps. Though the atmosphere about the room was at that jittery stage before a storm begins, before tempests toss on oceans, and battlefields break out with the rumble of confrontation.

“And to think I defended you,” Jocelyn said to Helena as she stood behind Reggie’s desk, her fingers resting on the edge in an imperious style. While Alex sat in a chair just to the woman’s right, Reggie sat at the back of the room, resting one elbow casually on the arm of his leather chair. A silent observer, nothing more, his gaze took in the stunning sight of his wife in a glory he rarely witnessed. She used this stance with him when she was working as his consultant, when she wanted to make her point heard through his objections; though for reasons of romance she’d regularly cracked under his more imposing posture. There was just enough difference in their similar overbearing styles to make their relationship work—Reggie remaining the dominant to the end. But now, with no challenge to her authority, there was no breach in her resolve, and he could admire the brilliance that so matched his own.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. Could you explain?” Helena replied to her employer’s statement.

The girl was just haughty enough to piss Jocelyn off—the little brat thinking she could divulge secrets, that she had the right to spy on her and Alex, giving tidbits of information to her husband. The more Jocelyn thought of it, the more furious she got.

“You betrayed my trust,” Jocelyn said. “Going out of your way to glean information about my relationship with Alex, and then informing my husband behind my back. Did he ask you to perform this task?”

“No.”

“Then you did it solely on your own?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And why?”

The young woman’s beady eyes just stared, there was little innocence in their gaze. Despite the words she used, and the way she attempted to be coy, there was a seasoned manipulator behind them.

“I wanted to be part of your lives,” Helena answered.

“Oh?” Unusual answer, Jocelyn thought. Her glance strayed to Alex who nodded. “In what way?” she asked.

“You indicated you’d spank me, ma’am.”

“I did, didn’t I? And so you boldly try to put a wedge of mistrust between my husband and me? To make us act on your need for punishment?”

“I suppose that’s so.”

“What an artful deceiver you are? Which of us do you really want, Reggie or me?”

The girl balked at the question, while all eyes focused on her. Jocelyn could see that she wanted to turn about and look at Reggie, but that freedom wasn’t available the way that Jocelyn fixed her with her stare.

“Which one?” Jocelyn said with a winter’s gaze, and a cold wind in her voice.

“I have no preference, ma’am, though I thought it would be easier to have you.”

From the corner of her eye, Jocelyn saw Reggie shift in his seat, his hands in front of him, fingertips touching—a thoughtful pose, but nothing but a calm, observant, and non-committal expression.

“Easier to have me?”

“You seem less bound by pretension,” the girl added.

Jocelyn would like to have smirked at the appraisal of her husband, but didn’t.

“My problem, Helena, is that I can’t devise a punishment that befits your breach of good judgment, the lies and the treachery you’ve used.”

“But wasn’t it treacherous to conceal your relationship with Mrs. Kozak from your husband?” Helena responded with the simple question.

Jocelyn didn’t flinch at the sly retort. “Whether it was treacherous or not is not your business. And if you’d really wanted to get to me, you could have found a better way to do so. I must say the thought of enjoying the comforts of your body has been a pleasant thought in my mind. But you’ve ruined that possibility.”

“Oh, please no, ma’am.”

“You’re not even worthy of a good correction.”

“Oh, please, you’re not going to fire me?”

“That’s exactly what I should do.”

“You can’t!”

“Helena!” Jocelyn snapped sharply.

The young woman was in tears, slumping to the floor in a sad heap.

“Get up!”

The girl didn’t move.

“If you hope to have any chance of staying in my employ, you’ll stand up and look me in the eye.”

The young woman was quick on her feet, her eyes once again staring intently at her mistress.

Jocelyn waited before she spoke, the room taking on more anxious energy. Jocelyn could sense Alex quaking from the intensity leveled at the distraught maid, though Reggie remained as cool as if he was enacting the drama himself. “You know,” Jocelyn finally spoke. “You’re an intriguing liar. Almost so intriguing that I’m tempted not to let you go.”

“Oh, please, ma’am. Please don’t fire me.” A tear trickled down her cheek as if she’d planned it that way.

“But stop the phony act, your performance is as transparent as that glass,” she said pointing to the far window. “I suspect there are few bounds to your submissive inclinations. I suspect that you have a perfect submissive mentality when you try.”

“Oh, yes, ma’am!”

“That is when you’re not manipulating.”

“I’m sorry.” She looked chagrined, every facial gesture designed to illicit Jocelyn’s compassion.

“Manipulating is one thing I won’t tolerate. Spilled grape juice, burned meals, sloppy work, I won’t tolerate either, but manipulation to get sexual favors will get you fired if it happens again. Don’t doubt my sincerity. I’ve fired hundreds of people, and despite your sad sad story, I’d fire you too. Do I make myself clear?”