Under His Skin (For His Pleasure, Book 20) (4 page)

So why even bring her into the office?
She wondered.
 
Why go to work if
they were only going to fire her anyway?

Maybe it was a new kind of punishment.
 
Perhaps Easton wanted to drag her in to
face the music, to get fired and then kicked out on the street.

She lay in bed, trying to piece together
how everything had gone so wrong, how she’d let it all get so out of hand.
 
It seemed like she’d made every stupid
mistake in the book, every conceivable misstep.
 
And now she was going to pay a heavy
price for it.

Easton was sleeping, laying on his side,
his back to her.
 
She stared at his
back and wondered why he’d fucked her again after the spanking.
 
Had it just been to get his rocks off
and nothing more?

She couldn’t tell what Easton felt for
her anymore.
 
One moment he was
enraged, angry enough to tie her up, gag her, spank her with a paddle—and
the next he was having passionate sex with her.

He
wants me.
 
I know that he wants me.

But
does he like you?
 
Does he even
respect you?

Kennedy didn’t have the answer.
 
Maybe it was a purely physical
attraction on Easton’s part.
 
Maybe
he really didn’t care much more than wanting to take control of her body, use
her for his sexual gratification and that was all.

What about Jimmy The Muscle DeLuca?
 
Was he going to come after her now, and
would Easton simply wash his hands of her once Red gave him the order to fire
her?

There were so many bad scenarios, and Kennedy
had a horrible feeling that they were all going to come true.

First, she would be fired.

After that, Easton would officially put
her on his ignore list, and she’d never see or speak to him again.

Nicole would want nothing to do with her,
having come to believe that Kennedy was selling her story to the highest
bidder.

Finally, having lost every friend or
connection that mattered, Kennedy would be hunted and put down like a rabid dog
by Jimmy DeLuca and his henchmen.

Despite all of her fears and misgivings,
Kennedy couldn’t fight sleep off forever.
 
The truth was, she was tired beyond belief and her body was through
resisting it.
 
Even as her mind spun
its tales of destruction and alienation, she was already fading, her eyes
closing.

And then she fell into a deep but uneasy
sleep where her dreams were haunted by accusations of betrayal from people she
could never quite see.

It seemed like only a few seconds had
passed when Easton was touching her shoulder and saying her name.

“Kennedy.
 
Kennedy, wake up.”

She opened her eyes, startled.
 
Easton was standing over her, looking
down at her as she lay there.
 
She’d
gone to sleep nude and thrashed around enough to push the blanket off her body.
 
  

His eyes were still hungry, still wanting
her.
 
She could tell, even as her
natural inclination toward privacy made her pull the blanket up to cover
herself and protect herself from his watchful gaze.

And yet she wished he would climb into
bed with her and make love to her one last time before…well, before whatever horrible
thing was coming next.

 
“Come on, get up Kennedy,” he said.
 
“We need to be at the office early today
and be prepared.”

“Prepared for what?” she asked him.

“For Red to unleash hell on us.”
 
He turned and walked to the bathroom and
the door slammed shut.

Kennedy realized she had nothing to
wear.
 
She got up, slipped on the
robe and cinched the sash tight around her waist.
 
Then she knocked on the bathroom door.
“Easton, I need to go home and get clothes.
 
I don’t have anything to wear to the
office.”

“Fine,” he said, sound curt.

“I can leave now and take a cab.
 
I’ll get to the office as soon as
possible.”

“We’ll go in together.
 
You just wait for me.”

She couldn’t tell just how annoyed Easton
was right then.
 
But it wasn’t her
fault she hadn’t brought work clothes with her.
 
It hadn’t occurred to her that she would
be spending the night and going into work the next morning without having had
the chance to go home first.

I
should’ve thought ahead.
 
I
should’ve done a lot of things.
 

Kennedy got back into her nasty, used
clothes that she’d been wearing last night.
 
They smelled faintly of sweat and sex
and perfume.
 

Easton came out of the bathroom and
changed into a perfectly tailored suit, and he tied his tie in mere seconds,
his hands maneuvering through the motions as if by themselves.
 
When he was done, Easton looked like a
sexy GQ model, while Kennedy felt like the cheap hooker he’d picked up the
night before while under the influence.

Maybe
he even has the same regrets about getting involved with me as he would if I
were some prostitute
,
she thought.
 
I’ve caused him more trouble than he can handle, and it can hardly be
worth it anymore.

“Ready to go to your apartment?” he
asked.

“Yes,” she said softly, and then they
walked out of the hotel room, took the elevator downstairs and walked outside
to find the valet had brought Easton’s car around.
 
Easton tipped the valet and then they
both got into the car.

As they drove, Kennedy became more and
more convinced that this entire thing was some bizarre kind of sacrifice,
almost ceremonial, as if they were following old rituals that had to be carried
out to make penance for her misdeeds.
 
Easton had made the mistake of hiring her, not vetting her
appropriately, and he likely wanted to take responsibility in front of Red and
Nicole.

Whereas she was the bad seed, the rotten
egg, the cancer that begged removal.

This farce of going into work together
was mostly about saving face.
 
Easton would explain that he wanted to take full responsibility for her
screw-ups.

Kennedy would tell her story to the best
of her ability and try and take all of the heat and blame—most of which
she deserved.
 
She’d explain about
telling Blake her secrets, his going to the papers, and admit fault for
everything that had come of it.

In the end, Red would fire her and allow
Easton to continue, which was how it should be.

Kennedy couldn’t even really argue with
that likely decision, since it made the most sense for everyone involved.
 
She’d already been given a second chance
and blown it.
 
They simply couldn’t
continue to risk anymore problems on Kennedy’s account.
 
She was an assistant who’d managed to
create more havoc than if she’d been a corporate spy selling secrets to their
competitors.

The drive to her apartment was quiet,
both of them seeming to be lost in their own thoughts about the coming
challenge.

Finally, Easton pulled up out front and
parked the car.

“I’ll be back in ten minutes at the
most,” she said, opening the passenger door.

“I’m coming with you,” Easton said,
getting out and walking around the back of the car and onto the sidewalk.

As Kennedy got out of the car, she faced
him.
 
“It’s okay,” she told
him.
 
“I can’t really get into much
trouble in my apartment alone for five minutes.”

“You said ten,” Easton replied.
 
“Besides, your loose lipped neighbor
might show up.
 
I was serious about
not letting you out of my sight, Kennedy.”

She rolled her eyes.
 
“Fine.
 
Whatever you want, I obviously have no
right to complain at this point.”

“Now you’re getting it.”

They started toward the entrance to the
building, and Kennedy got out her keys and let them inside.
 
They walked up to her apartment and she
was grateful to note that Blake’s apartment door was closed.

The last thing she wanted was for Easton
to spot Blake right now.
 
She wasn’t
sure what Easton would do to him, but it likely wouldn’t be pretty.

And sure, part of her wanted Blake to pay
for what he’d done, but she still felt bad for him somehow.
 
Blake was just a confused, lost man who
was living in a fantasy world.
 

Once inside her apartment, Kennedy
hastened to change while Easton paced around her living room, touching her
books, glancing out the window, and then pacing more.

She put on an understated pantsuit to try
and appear conservative and trustworthy.
 
Looking at herself in the bathroom mirror as she applied some makeup,
Kennedy felt like a fraud.

You’re
trying to fake being someone you’re not.

Maybe
you just aren’t trustworthy, Kennedy.

Maybe
you don’t deserve to keep your job or anything connected with it, including Easton.

She bit her lip, wondering whether it was
even worth continuing on with the charade.
 
But she knew that Easton would insist she finish the job, go in and take
her firing like a woman.
 
Perhaps
she owed him that much, after all.

When she was done in the bathroom,
Kennedy came out and found Easton paging through a magazine, leaning in the
doorway.

“What’s that?” she asked.

He shrugged, showed her the front
cover.
 
It was the journal where
she’d published her first article.
 
“Not bad,” he said, smiling a little.
 
“Sometimes I forget that you were a math
genius in your past life.”

She felt her cheeks flush.
 
“Hardly a genius.
 
When you lack a social life you can do
amazing things in other arenas.”

“Not just anybody could’ve written this
article,” Easton said, tapping the magazine with his finger.
 
“You have a gift, Kennedy, never forget
that.”
 
His eyes looked directly at
her as he said it.

She wasn’t sure how to respond,
especially since it occurred to her that perhaps he was trying to hint that
this wasn’t the place for her.
 
New
York wasn’t the city for her.
 
This
job wasn’t the right position for her, and this relationship most certainly
wasn’t the right one either.

She still couldn’t believe what a
thorough mess she’d made of the entirety of her life in this city.

Easton was already crossing to the door,
opening it, and waiting for her.
 
“Come on,” he said, “no more stalling.
 
We’ve got to face the music now.”

And then they were headed downstairs and
out the building’s exit.
 
Easton led
the way out the door, and then as Kennedy walked down the front steps, she felt
a strong hand grab her upper bicep and pull her to the side.
 

There were four men encircling them, she
realized.
 
They’d been ambushed
outside her apartment.

One man had grabbed her and was holding
her tightly, while his cronies circled Easton.
 
They were all big, strong, mean looking
guys.
 
They didn’t have any visible
weapons, but that didn’t mean they weren’t carrying guns or knives.
 

“We need to talk with your girlfriend for
a minute, buddy,” the biggest one told Easton.

“Don’t make it rougher on yourself than
you need to,” another one echoed.
 
“She’s coming with us now.”

Easton glanced around, as if trying to
gauge where all the enemies had arranged themselves.
 
“Who needs to talk with her?” he said,
not sounding particularly ruffled by this sudden turn of events.

“None of your fucking business.”

“Did the Muscle send you guys?” Easton
asked, but they ignored his question.

“Lucky for you we don’t have time to
waste.
 
Otherwise it might be fun to
kick your rich little ass around street and watch you cry and beg.”

Kennedy tried to get away, but the man holding
her was strong enough that he held her with ease.
 
“Knock it off,” he whispered in her ear,
“or I’ll put something in that pretty little mouth of yours when we’re all
alone.”