Gary Carter stood, awkwardly, at center stage. He'd always been tall, for a baseball player especially, near seven feet. When he threw the ball down the strike zone, it seemed as if it was being shot down from outer space. Now the lights were coming down on him hard, and Audrey could see that the suit didn't fit him very well.
It surprised her; he made plenty of money, that was for sure. But more important was what the announcer was saying. Audrey's hand shot up. Only a thousand dollars for an evening with Gary Carter? No big deal for her. He was shouting, talking fast, like all barkers at any auction.
It was all for charity, and she knew they didn't think that it was going to go that far. All in fun, after all, and most of the women here were married anyways. But even if it didn't go anywhere, dinner would be an incredible chance for her. She had the money, of course; money had never been a problem for her.
Not since she had started working on her own, anyways. Not since she'd become head of the tech company that bought hers out, thinking they could crush competition with a big enough check. They learned their lesson, and she learned hers.
She smiled and her hand shot up again. Fifteen hundred. She had waited, when it started. Had waited to let people think it wasn't going to turn into a bidding war, let the fire fade in everyone else's gut. But if it did turn into a war, she'd win.
Someone else bid two, and so she bid twenty-five. A third voice called out four thousand dollars, and then Audrey knew that she was in for trouble. But that didn't stop her.
"Five thousand," she said, raising her card.
"Six thousand," said the first voice.
"Ten," Audrey said, smiling at the idea that someone was going to buy her out of what she really wanted.
She was eighteen when she started out on her own. She'd gotten out of high school at 14, carried 30+ credit hours a semester, and sat on a Masters in Electrical Engineering by the time she could legally get busy.
The buyout was a couple years after that, a massive tech firm based in California that thought a 21-year-old girl didn't have the balls to fight back. By the time she ran the place, she was nearing the end of her 20s.
By the time she caught her breath, she was in her 30s and hadn't been on a date since before she found out what a date really entailed. Still, that didn't mean she didn't want a family.
In fact, she wasn't happy with it one bit. She wanted children, wanted her life to feel complete. Wanted someone who could take care of her when she was old, someone she could leave her legacy to. What was the point of protecting herself from all the hungry young people coming after her, if all they had to do was wait for her to retire and her empire would be theirs?
She had gotten distracted, and she realized that the gavel was coming down twice, a third time…
"Sold, to number fifty-seven!"
Audrey didn't need to look at her card to know that was her number. She smiled at the usher that came to get her, to take her into the next room to sign a check. They'd offer to take her picture next to Gary, too, in case that was the sort of thing she was interested in.
An hour later, they were done with the whole thing. They didn't want Gary leaving until the auction was over, for the sake of the press, and by that point it was already later than she would have preferred. She was usually an early riser, but a few late nights here and there never hurt anyone. Hell, if she got her way she wouldn't get much sleep tonight anyways.
Gary's voice, deep and soft, cut through her distraction. "You ready to go, ma'am?"
"Please, call me Audrey. Are you hungry?"
"You're the boss." He chuckled, and a big, goofy smile split his face nearly in half. He offered his arm, and she looped hers through it, and they set off to the car.
Dinner was a little bit unusual for her. She usually ate in private party rooms. They were better for conducting business, and Audrey hated the idea of wasting a perfectly good hour's time for some biological need. Now, though, the whole thing was supposed to be for charity, so she permitted that it was going to have to happen.
For that matter, it wasn't exactly wasting her time. It was simply the price of admission into the way that she was going to get the family she needed. A solid sperm donor, with good genes, and she'd be set. All she had to do was get a way in with him, and that was what she was doing right this moment.
"So, ma'am – Audrey, I mean – what do you do for work?"
"Oh, nothing special," Audrey lied. She wasn't known for her modesty, but it seemed like the right way to act. "I run a little tech company in Modesto."
"Any place I'd know?"
"Maybe, but it's not a big deal. Please. Those girls aren't looking at me, you know, I'm not a celebrity."
And they were. Nearly everyone in the place was looking. The guys and the girls, both of them, at Gary Carter, ace pitcher for New York. He was too tall to imagine; Audrey had to look up to see him in the eyes. She'd known plenty of people like that. Los Angeles had a great basketball team, and she'd met them before.
They were tall like that, too. Most of the time, when you're not spending hours in the gym, and you're that tall, you end up looking gangly and strange. Gary looked about right. Thin, for certain, but you had to unless you weighed north of two hundred and fifty pounds.
No, that wasn't true. He didn't look right; he looked amazing. Handsome in the extreme. She wouldn't have picked someone who wasn't.
She had to admit, to her displeasure, that he was in most ways the perfect specimen; in others, he lacked. Hers was a life of hard lines and careful manners, but he seemed free and easy and in some ways it was infectious. She wanted a business transaction, nice and simple.
What she was getting was a date. It was fun, sure. Audrey liked fun, in an academic sense, but she could feel her control slipping. Her absolute power in the situation. Finally he smiled at the waiter and asked for the check, and paid for it himself. She bristled. Did he think she couldn't pay?
"Oh, no, I can get it," she said softly.
"Sorry, ma'am, but I have my manners." He smiled, and she could feel herself slipping again. "Especially around pretty women like yourself."
It had been a long time since someone had called her pretty. She was at times genius, at times capable, at times a conniving bitch, depending on who was talking and the time of the year. She'd prided herself, for a while, on her looks, but nobody worried about them.
She blushed and looked at the plate in front of her. "Thank you."
It was the meekest she'd ever heard herself sound, and she hated it. She couldn't stop it, though. This was a mistake. When she dealt with most people, they understood the lines. Understood her rules. This man, who played fucking catch for a living—she took a deep breath and held it.
He didn't know his place, and she would have to teach it to him. Later, when things went into the bedroom. He'd learn, she promised herself. He would learn, and for now she'd endure him as best she could.
He helped her put on her coat and then pulled his own on, and they headed out to the car, back out to privacy. He talked, and she listened.
Then they were at her house, and he was saying goodbye, and she blinked. "Won't you come in?"
"I don't know, ma'am, it wouldn't be proper."
"Just a drink. Proper's not so down on that, is it?"
He pulled a face and then looked up at the house. They were more properly at the gate to the house. He could see it, up on a hill, and it was massive. They could house the whole team there without much trouble, he thought. Twenty five, plus coaches, plus staff, and they wouldn't probably have to share rooms.
"I thought you said you owned a tech business."
"Business has been good to me," she said with a smile.
"I can see that." He looked into her eyes, with a look that made her uncomfortable in the worst, and best, sort of way. "I guess I'll take that drink, then, ma'am."
She punched in a code to the keypad on the large stone column before them, and the gates slowly swung open.
"After you," she said. She enjoyed watching him consider challenging her on it, making her go first. It was how it was done, she thought. But then he closed his eyes and pouted his lips for a second, and stepped on through. Audrey came in after, and punched the code in to close the gate before turning to make the walk up the path to the door.
She could see that he was amazed by the house; it was massive and decidedly modern, with a large glass front that faced at an angle to the street. As she opened the door, and he stepped in, she watched his eyes pop open, even as he ducked his head just a little to get under the door frame.
"Jesus."
"This is home." Audrey smiled and slipped her jacket off before sliding into one of the sofas that made an inner circle around the center of the room. Her shoes came next, kicked a few feet away. She closed her eyes and waited for a few moments before continuing. "Now, about that drink."
The liquor cabinet was well-stocked; well enough that it fit in with the rest of the house, and the rest of the house was astounding. Gary frowned darkly and took what she gave him, pouring it into the glasses she had set out on the counter.
Then he picked one up, drank it in one go, and poured another. Audrey watched him with mild fascination. He was thinking about something. She could see that much from his face. But what? She looked forward to finding out. Especially now that she had him back on his heels.
"This is some lovely whiskey, ma'am," he said with a voice that didn't sound like it was the end of his thought. "It's a shame that it's going to go to waste. Put your glass down."
As he said the last, he turned fully towards her, and for a moment she was taken aback at his size, at his strength. Then she laughed. "No!"
He chuckled along with her. "Then I guess I'm going to have to go, and you're going to have wasted…what, ten thousand dollars?"
"What do you mean?"
"You wanted me, didn't you? Thought you could have me, if you paid the price. Is that right?"
He took a drink from his glass and stepped toward her until they were pressed together. She had to look up to see his face, and suddenly she realized what she'd done. How wrong it had been, how wrong she had been. For thirty-five years she had been strong. She had been in control.
This, she thought, would be no different. She'd still be the one in control here, nobody could take that from her. But she was wrong. This man was stronger than her. Maybe he wasn't smarter, and he certainly wasn't richer, but he knew how to be powerful. And what's more, she hadn't smelled a whiff of it until he'd wanted her to.
She put her glass down before she realized what she was doing.
Both of them looked at the glass, and saw it for what it was. Submission.
"You're going to get what you wanted, don't you worry about that. But we'll do it on my terms."
"Don't be silly," she said, picking her glass back up, as if she could take it back. "I paid for you, I'm in charge."
He wrapped one long arm around her shoulder and started to guide her back into the front room. "No, you see, that's where you're mistaken. What you paid for ended at that gate." He pointed at it. "Now we're on my terms, and doing what I want, and it just so happens that I like to give beautiful women what they need."
Audrey could feel the hard shell around her cracking again, could feel her weakness seeping in. She didn't want this, didn't need it. She told herself, desperately, hoping that it would make it true. That she would be stronger because she told herself to be.
She didn't feel any stronger. In fact, the more that she looked at him, watched his easy movements, the more that she could feel it cracking. Could feel herself becoming more and more a woman. The easy way he moved, his massive height and disguised bulk, all seemed to point to his power and her absolute defenselessness.
Then he put his big, thick, hands under her chin and pulled her face up into a kiss. It was surprisingly tender, almost sweet, and Audrey realized that things were getting out of hand. She couldn't predict him. No, he was more than capable of taking control of the situation, and she was adrift.
She wrapped her arms around him and he deepened the kiss. No longer sweetly chaste, now it suggested the lust that Audrey had been feeling, had been dreading. She welcomed it and opened her mouth for the pitcher's probing tongue.
He pulled away, both of them breathing harder, and then he stepped back with a smile that sent a shudder down Audrey's spine. Whatever he had planned, she wasn't going to like it. Or, she thought, maybe she would love it.
"Undress," he growled.
They were a hundred yards from the street, and there was a gate, but Audrey knew that didn't mean anything when the front face of the house was entirely glass. If anyone drove by, if they were watching—she'd be ruined. She looked at him, grinding her teeth little by little, back and forth.
He looked serious, and waited a moment. A battle of wills played out silently as they watched each other, and finally Audrey broke eye contact first, to look out the window. It looked as black as pitch outside; if there was anything out there at all, then she couldn't see it. But that didn't mean it wasn't there.
"Ms. Raye," Gary said, with a soft insistence, "Undress for me."
"Does it have to be right here?"
"We can go outside if you'd like, but I think it'd be a longer walk to the bedroom then."
Audrey pressed her lips together and tried to steady herself, to slow the beating of her heart, but it was impossible. She was afraid of him, of this, and yet she felt the entire experience…exhilarating.
Without breaking eye contact, she started to work the buttons on her blouse, pushing it back off her shoulders. He watched her with a disinterested laziness that somehow drove home the point that she was his plaything, there for his whims. She needed him, but he didn't need her.
But he wanted her.
He smiled at her, and Audrey shivered. What was wrong with her, that she was letting herself be controlled like this? She undid the zip on her skirt and pushed it over the curve of her hips, letting it pool on the floor around her feet. Then, stepping forward, she reached behind her back to unhook her bra, and let that slip off her shoulders as well.
Then she was standing, looking up at the handsome giant, who bent down to take her lips into a hard, fiery kiss. Audrey melted against him, feeling her nipples tightening, hardening. Gary let his thumb rub across one hardened bud, and Audrey quivered. She wasn't in control any more, but it didn't seem to matter.
"Good girl," he muttered against her lips. Then he bent down onto a knee, and before Audrey knew what he was doing she was over his shoulder and she watched the floor fall away.
She knew better than to fight, knew that he had complete control over the situation, but she couldn't stop herself. "Put me down!"
A large, thick hand came up and swatted her bottom, turning her vision red for a fraction of a second. "Where's the bedroom?"
"Put me down and I'll show you," Audrey screeched, squirming to try to work her way free. It didn't hurt, not physically, but the way he was treating her like a doll stung her ego, more even than the submission he'd demanded from her.
"Up the stairs?"
Audrey gave up. He wasn't going to listen, she knew. He was stubborn as a mule, as she had quickly learned, and she couldn't fight him. "The first door on the right."
"Very good," he said sweetly. "See? You're learning."
He swatted her bottom again, sending a second electric jolt through her that started in her eyes and lingered in her pussy. By the time her mind cleared enough to register where she was, she saw, they were already up the stairs and the door was opening. He bobbed to get through the door, and she with him.
Then she was coming back down again, back toward the floor, and then he laid her out on her bed. She didn't have time to feel in control of the situation, though. As soon as her shoulders hit the mattress, his hands were moving, one rubbing and pinching at her nipples, just hard enough to make her groan in mixed pain and pleasure.
The other teased her, rubbing just between her thighs, never quite going where she desperately wanted them. Things had already gone beyond what she was comfortable with, she knew. What she'd wanted was little more than a sperm donator; she'd been willing to settle for a human being of flesh and blood.
She didn't want to feel like this, didn't want to be pushed. Audrey liked her limits, liked to feel comfortable and in control, and Gary wasn't going to let that happen. She wanted him to touch her, wanted him to fuck her brains out. But she didn't want to want it—she hated nothing so much as feeling human, being vulnerable.
That was absolutely unacceptable to her. So why was he forcing her to do experience it? And why did she like it so much?
Audrey laid her head back and let the emotions, let the feelings, wash over her. His hands were drifting higher, higher. She wanted it so bad, why wouldn't he give it to her? She moved a hand down, tried to guide him to her core. He pushed her hand away and continued his slow, leisurely exploration.
Audrey let out a long breath that she didn't realize she had been holding and squirmed under him. Anything, even the tiniest movement towards his exploring hands, anything that would bring her closer to the edge. She closed her eyes and tried to make the sensations even a tiny bit stronger.
Please, she thought. More. She was surprised to hear her voice. She hadn't planned on saying it, but her need had overridden her need to be in control, to refuse him the satisfaction of hearing her beg. She needed him to go further, to do more. Needed to be complete.
She could feel his hardness, pressed up against her leg where he was straddling her thigh. Holding her down, though she knew that she could throw him off. She knew, more than that, that if she did then he would stop. So she laid there and waited, praying for him to keep going, to explore further, higher, deeper.
His roaming hands slipped higher, hitched a bit higher still, and then, with a shock that went up her spine and set her hair straight on end, he touched her button.
She saw stars, all of them, flashing in front of her. She felt as if she could see everything. She tried to close her eyes, to shut out the intensity of the sensation, but her eyes were already closed. They shot open, and the stars danced between her and the powerful athlete on top of her.
"Oh God, don't stop."
Gary's smile scared her. He was enjoying the power he had over her, but more than that, he knew what he was doing to her. He knew what effect he was having, knew before she had known, and he was enjoying it. Knew how much she was enjoying it. She grasped a fistful of the sheets below her. If she didn't, she might have flown right off them.
"Do you want me," he whispered into her ear.
"Oh God, please."
His lips tasted the sensitive skin of her throat, sending a shiver of pleasure through her, and then he stopped. Audrey groaned at the loss of sensation, lost in her own world laying there in her bed. When she felt the warmth of his body, the electric heat of skin against skin, she decided the loss had been worth it.
He pulled her knees up, to sit on top of his hips. She felt him moving between her legs, rubbing against her. She could feel his hardness pressing against her, and wanted him to push it inside. She needed it, she realized, whether she would admit it or not. After experiencing this, she couldn't just go back to not having it. Having a child was important to her, but this—this was important, too, and she couldn't go without it.
"Are you ready?" He said it as if he were almost concerned, but Audrey knew that it was all part of his game. He was teasing her, testing her. Making sure that she knew that she was his, and she was.
"Ooh," she cooed softly. "Please, whatever you do, just don't stop."
"Oh, I'm not going to stop," Gary said softly. "But you need to tell me that you're ready."
"Yes!" She gasped the word out, as if she were choking on it. Audrey's thoughts were frenzied, and she wanted to slip back into the coma of sensation that her lover had been creating for her.
"Yes what?"
"I'm ready, please. Fuck me. Please."
He pushed gently into her, and she could feel herself stretching to accommodate his size. She smiled when the electricity came back to her, familiar pleasure buzzing in her ears.
He started to move and she moaned her approval.
"Where do you want me to cum," he asked. It was an invitation, to what she didn't know, and she couldn't guess the right answer to give him. But she knew what she wanted.
"Oh, cum in me, please."
His lips found her throat again as they moved together, the feeling of pleasure coming in waves along with the press of his hips. "Your wish is my command."
"Don't be a—" Audrey's complaints were cut off by the thrust of Gary's hips.
"Don't be a what?"
"Ohhhh, be what you want."
Audrey smiled and laid her head back. The pressure was building again, the need. Her body wanted… She didn't know, exactly. But she knew that whatever it was, she was going to get it. She trusted Gary that much, even though she'd only known him for a day. There was something about him that made him seem like he was completely in control.
She could feel his thrusts growing harder, more urgent.
"Inside you?"
"I'm begging you," Audrey cooed.
She could feel him push in, deep and hard, and then felt him twitch inside. A powerful, hot, full feeling started to spread throughout her. Then she felt him twitch again, and the entire universe, the stars that she'd been dancing through the entire time, exploded around her, and she was sent to heaven.
When the room stopped spinning around her, she looked into Gary's eyes. He was propped up on one arm, watching her, and she knew. This wasn't the end. He would come to her again, and she would accept him.
What was it? Romance? She wasn't sure. She knew that she wanted him, knew that she would obey him. Knew that she needed him. Was it love?
She didn't know yet—but she was looking forward to finding out.