CHAPTER | THREE
“I didn’t give you permission to leave, Kelsey.”
She gripped her purse a bit tighter and cursed under her breath. Jeremy Beck, at his delicious demanding best, stood behind her. Usually, he was the consummate professional, the sexual command in his tone so subtle she often wondered if she’d imagined it because she wanted it so bad. Submitting to any man had never occurred to her . . . until Jeremy. She fantasized about it constantly, though he never actually tried to dominate her.
Until this week.
After her Monday night mistake with Rhys, she’d dragged into work Tuesday morning early, hoping to escape the memories by diving into work. Thank God Rhys was scheduled to be at the fire station for the next forty-eight hours. Until his next shift ended, Kelsey hoped that the office would be her refuge from the tangled sheets on her bed that still smelled like sex.
Jeremy made peace impossible. He addressed her with a new edge in his voice. He stood closer, stared more intently, making her tremble with need.
Tuesday, she’d gone to work, brimming with a thousand recriminations, drowning in a ton of guilt. By the time she’d gone home, her panties had been damp with the desire Jeremy inspired. Today, they were soaking wet, and if she didn’t get away from her boss . . . Well, not much escaped his notice. As raw and confused as she felt now, she didn’t know what would happen.
After five years of abstinence, she’d taken one lover. Now she wanted another. What was wrong with her?
“It’s after six, sir.” She closed her eyes, praying he’d have mercy.
She had to get it together or Jeremy would guess how badly she ached for him.
“I can tell time. I’m not finished with you. Set your things down and come to my office.” Jeremy turned and crossed the room, entering his private domain.
His words were pure asshole . . . but the tone was so honey-rough. Still, she had to resist—for her sanity and her future.
“Sir, I’m due for a dress fitting for my cousin’s wedding. I’m one of her bridesmaids.”
“The fitting doesn’t start for an hour and a half.” He raised a dark brow. “I need you now.”
A direct order, boss to subordinate. With a sigh, Kelsey set her things on her desk and followed.
The office was quiet now. Everyone had gone. Lights were darkening in other parts of the building. The air conditioner clicked off. With every step, Kelsey heard her shuddered breaths, the sound of her footfalls on the carpet . . . Jeremy tapping his fingers on the open door.
Her eyes glued to his dark, polished face, she stepped past him. And bit her lip. His gaze burned her. Kelsey’s heart stuttered at the sight. He wanted her. For the first time in a long time, he wasn’t hiding it. God, why now, when she was feeling so weak?
He shut the door. The subtle click enclosing them in total privacy made her stomach clench.
“Was that Garrison I heard you on the phone with a minute ago?”
Relief rolled through her. This she could talk about. “Yes, sir.”
Jeremy crossed his arms over his wide chest. “He offer you a job again?”
She nodded. “In Miami.”
“And you told him . . . ?”
The same thing she always told Garrison; she enjoyed working for Jeremy and felt far too loyal to jump ship. Even if he was offering more money, it wasn’t worth leaving her home, her parents . . . and her men. “No.”
Jeremy released a breath, and some of the tenseness left his shoulders. Every day, in little ways like this, he showed that he wanted her with him. That he cared. It had messed with her head. And her heart.
“Very good,” he praised. “Now I want to ask you about your behavior this week.”
The one thing she really didn’t want to discuss. “Sir, I—I’m sorry. I’m not feeling well.”
His face softened for a moment. “What happened? On Monday night at your party, you looked radiant. Tuesday, you dragged in here looking pale and tired, with your eyes swollen and red.”
“I had a hangover.”
“That’s lasted for two days?”
“Well, then my allergies set in.”
“You don’t have them.” He raised a dark brow at her. “Don’t lie to me.”
Damn, he was too smart and he always flustered her. “Sir ...”
“You’re distracted. You spilled coffee on an important briefing this morning. You’re not eating.” She opened her mouth, and Jeremy raised a hand. “Before you say a word, know that I don’t want excuses or more lies. I want answers.”
She couldn’t give them. If she told him that she’d made a wonderful mistake with Rhys, Jeremy would be angry. Even hurt. Nearly four years ago, when she’d told him she didn’t take lovers, he’d made her swear that if she ever changed her mind, he would be first, the fact he was her boss be damned.
She’d broken her word.
“I—I’ve been having trouble with insomnia.”
That, at least, wasn’t a total lie. She’d been too worried for the last day and a half to sleep much. What would she do when Rhys’s shift ended and he knocked on her door? And he would. Already, he’d left her three messages. She didn’t know how to answer them.
“Perhaps, but something’s caused it. What?”
“N-nothing.”
“Do you know what happens to little girls who lie to me?”
Kelsey had a pretty good idea. Ever since learning that Jeremy was a Dominant, she’d been reading erotic romances featuring such men. Her fantasies about Jeremy always involved her boss tying her up, commanding her body . . . with Rhys and Tucker participating in her punishments and pleasure.
“Y-you discipline them?”
“Yes. Do you know what that means?”
Kelsey sucked in a breath. Would he take her over his knee and spank her? Jeremy grabbed her wrist and pulled her close, his stare unrelenting. She read the answer to her unspoken question. Yes, that was exactly what he’d do. Helpless to look away, her insides fluttering, she met his gaze.
“I—I’m sorry. I won’t let anything affect my work performance again.” Kelsey wasn’t sure how she’d keep that promise.
“I’m not worried about your performance at work; you’re an excellent employee, which is why Garrison keeps trying to hire you away from me. I’m worried about you. But if you lie to me again, I’ll have no compunction about disciplining you.”
God, why did even his threat make her wet?
“You have no right.” She meant to the words to be strong, confrontational. They came out breathless.
“Do you really want to challenge me on that?”
No. Because if he crooked his finger and kept talking this way, she’d melt into a puddle of desire at his feet. How was that even possible? She was still processing her guilt for having sex with Rhys, and now . . .
“Please, sir. This has nothing to do with work.”
Jeremy stared hard at her. “Consider yourself off the clock, then. I’m speaking to you as a . . . friend now, not your boss. Are you clear?”
But he didn’t sound friendly; he sounded aggressive.
“Yes, sir.”
He stepped closer, stalked toward her in the small, enclosed office, forcing Kelsey to back away until her butt hit the edge of his desk. Jeremy’s eyes glinted with satisfaction as he braced his hands on the desk, on either side of her hips, trapping her in the cage of his arms. “What happened between your party and your drive to work yesterday morning?”
Here came the barrage of questions . . . and she didn’t have any good answers. “It—it’s personal.”
He hesitated. “Are your parents all right? Do you need help with something? Money?”
“No. My parents are fine. They’re in Italy right now. I—I don’t need money. Thank you, but—”
“You have no siblings, no pets. No close friends, other than Rhys and Tucker. Did you fight with one of them?”
“No.”
Jeremy tapped his fingers on the desk, slow, measured, insistent. “Did you fuck one of them?”
Apprehension bit into her, ran icy in her veins. She’d feared Jeremy would guess the truth eventually, but not this quickly.
“That’s a very personal question.”
He tightened his jaw as he stepped closer, towering over her. Jealous fury burned across his taut face. “You broke your promise to come to me first if you wanted a lover, Kelsey.”
“You’re my boss.” But she knew it was a bad argument; they both wanted so much more.
“Not right now. I’m a man who wants you, and you’re a naughty girl who didn’t stay true to her word. You’ve earned a punishment.”
“Jeremy—”
“That’s sir to you.” He grabbed her by the hips and spun her around.
In the next instant, he lifted her skirt above her waist and tore her panties away. She tried to shove her skirt back down, but he grabbed her hands and secured them in his grip at the small of her back. His other palm spread hotly across the cheek of her ass, and Kelsey felt every second of the caress like an electric charge through her body.
“You have a gorgeous ass.” He moaned, then smacked her backside—hard.
She gasped. “Ouch!”
“Quiet. For every noise, I’ll add another.”
“Please . . .”
“You beg me after you’ve broken your word? No, Kelsey. You knew how much I wanted you. You chose another without coming to me first.”
“Sir, I—”
“I didn’t give you permission to speak.”
“I don’t know how to do this,” she blurted, tears bleeding from the corners of her eyes.
Jeremy stilled. “Be submissive?”
She gave him a shaky nod. “It scares me.”
He wrapped his arms around her. His voice gentled. “There’s nothing to be frightened of. You want it.”
It wasn’t a question; he knew. Again, she nodded.
“Say it. Let me hear it.”
“I w-want it.”
“What exactly? Be precise.”
Kelsey drew in a shuddering breath. “I want to learn to be submissive for you, but Rhys and Tucker—”
“Are irrelevant to this discussion. You want me. I will have you—directly after your punishment.”
Before she could say another word, he rained a series of whacks across her ass, never in the same place twice, but he showed no mercy. It stung, burned . . . then gave way to a sweet, blossoming heat that had her biting her lip to hold in another gasp.
Why did she like it? No, love it? Shame and desire blended, making her mindless. She clawed the desk, holding in a cry. She wanted to moan his name so badly.
Suddenly, he stopped. Without thought, she thrust her ass back at him, silently begging for more. Jeremy stepped away, and she heard him shed his suit coat, tie, and shirt.
This couldn’t happen, not here. Especially not now. She’d already complicated her life with Rhys, but to have sex with Jeremy would completely melt—and destroy—her.
Kelsey worked up her gumption to face him. “Jeremy, I think—”
“Don’t. Tonight, thinking is the last thing you should be doing. Just feel.”
“I can’t. The complications . . . It’s impossible.”
“So is denying it. I’ve waited, wanted, agonized. As have you, and don’t try to say otherwise. Since you’re now taking lovers—”
“It just . . . happened.”
“This will happen, too. Repeatedly.”
Her heart stuttered in her chest as he whirled her around, pinning her in place with a gentle but forceful hand at the small of her back.
“Don’t move.”
“Yes, sir.”
The next sounds were metallic, the clink of his belt buckle unfastening. She drew in a sharp breath. Her stomach tightened. The rasp of his zipper lowering came next and had her breath rushing out harsh and tight.
“Under my hand, you will learn to submit,” he vowed. “I want to adore you as only I can. Pamper and cherish you.”
She fisted her hands, wanting that, too. And more. “Restrain me?”
“Yes.”
“Use me?”
“Yes. Take off your blouse and bra. Quickly.”
He wanted her to remove her protective layers of clothing, bare herself to him until she wore nothing more than a skirt bunched around her waist. Oh dear God. Even the thought stripped her psyche down until she felt vulnerable, submissive.
“I’m waiting.” And not patiently.
Forbidden desire making her hot and dizzy, Kelsey let out a shuddering breath and unbuttoned her blouse. Jeremy pulled it free of her shoulders, leaving her bra exposed. The hooks were across her back, right in front of him. She waited for him to unclasp it. He didn’t move.
Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder to a stunning, well-muscled chest with a light dusting of dark hair and ridged abdomen that attested to his daily gym ritual. He had a scrumptious treasure trail that disappeared into his open slacks and the dark underwear visible through the open zipper. Kelsey couldn’t miss the more-than-healthy bulge beneath.
She gulped as she raised her gaze to find his dark eyes burning black fire into her. “Remove your bra. I won’t ask you again.”
“I just thought—”
“Don’t,” he cut in. “Follow instructions.”
She couldn’t possibly undress with her stare all tangled up in his. Jeremy would see how his commands aroused her. He’d have so much more power over her.
But when she turned her face away, he grasped her chin. “Turn around. Look at me while you remove your bra and show me your breasts.”
Fighting back the apprehension and need swamping her, she did as she was told. Jeremy watched her face, his dark gaze never leaving hers until her heavy beige bra hit the ground. Then he reached up to cup one of the soft mounds, and his gaze drifted down to her aching, hard nipple.
“Gorgeous. Lean back on the desk and wrap your fingers around the edge. Leave them there until I say otherwise.”
Kelsey’s first instinct was to obey. She wanted to please Jeremy so badly . . . But logic kept trying to reassert itself. What about her friendships with these three wonderful men?
“We really shouldn’t do this . . . ” she murmured. “This isn’t smart.”
“Either say no and leave or obey me. No vacillating or I’ll punish you again.”
Could she walk away? Could she give up something—someone—she’d wanted so badly for so long? Kelsey knew if she walked out the door now that Jeremy would let her. But he’d likely cut her out of his personal life, be her boss and nothing more. Even the thought of that made her want to cry. She loved him, looked up to him, craved his discipline.
“Yes, sir.” And she complied, gripping the edge of his desk.
“Good girl. I don’t use silly safe words. No means no. But use the word only if you really mean it. I won’t hurt you. But you must trust me.”
“I understand, sir.”
Jeremy brushed her hair off her neck and set his lips on the sensitive skin. “Your obedience pleases me.”
Kelsey beamed under his praise, which made no sense. She hadn’t done anything extraordinarily difficult. But she sensed he wasn’t going to make this easy. She didn’t believe for one instant that he was done punishing her for sleeping with Rhys.
Jeremy pressed a soft kiss to her throat, her collarbone, before his lips drifted down to her breasts. He took one in his mouth, his tongue worshipping it before his teeth scraped her nipple. She yelped, the sensation riding the thin line between pleasure and pain.
“Quiet,” he reminded.
He heaped the same treatment on her other breast, while he pinched and rolled the first in a tight grip. The sweet bite made her sex clench and weep. Kelsey sucked in a shocked breath. She wanted to beg for more, but suspected that if she did, he’d stop immediately.
“You will not come until I give you permission.”
Kelsey closed her eyes and gripped the desk tighter. She knew from working with Jeremy that he could be the most patient bastard on the planet if it got him what he wanted. And she knew without a doubt that he wanted her submission badly.
“Acknowledge me,” he demanded.
“Yes, sir,” she breathed.
He bit at her bottom lip, then crushed her mouth beneath his. Jeremy’s kiss, like his personality, was a force to be reckoned with, clever, masterful. Still gripping the desk, she swayed into him. His kiss made her light-headed. Fresh lust burst through her body, settling into an impatient ache between her legs. She moaned against his mouth, craving more.
This was really happening, her every fantasy about to come to life. Her most forbidden yearning for her boss, her friend, her dominant male, to claim her was becoming reality. The thought aroused her every bit as much as his smooth voice issuing rough commands.
His hands covered hers, ensuring her fingers securely gripped the desk against which she leaned.
“Good girl,” he praised as he tore off her skirt, clutched her hips, and lifted her onto the desk.
She screamed as the hot skin of her ass hit the cool black lacquered surface.
He raised a dark brow. “You seem determined to collect punishments tonight.”
“No, sir.”
“Make one more noise, say one more word, before you’re given permission, and I’ll add another punishment. Now, turn and face the door.”
What was he going to do? Kelsey had no idea as she scooted around on the desk a quarter turn and faced the locked door.
“On your hands and knees.”
She hesitated. Here? On his desk?
“You should already be in position, Kelsey. Hands and knees. Facing the door. Exactly as it sounds.”
His patience was running thin, and her apprehension soared. Frowning, she turned her body over until her weight rested on all fours. Immediately, she felt vulnerable. Her large breasts hung beneath her, nipples distended. The moisture between her legs began to trickle down her thighs. She closed her eyes.
A rustle of cloth and a few moments later, Kelsey felt Jeremy’s hand burrow softly into her hair and pull her head down. She opened her eyes and found him naked, waiting for her, cock in hand. It, like him, was formidable, the angry blue head insistent, slit weeping.
“Suck me.”
She licked her lips. Did he know she’d fantasized a hundred times about him commanding her to do just that?
“Yes, sir,” she breathed.
As she came closer, she inhaled his scent. The musk of him went straight to her sex, where she clenched in longing. Kelsey licked her lips again.
“You look sexy as hell. Open your mouth. That’s it ...”
Slowly, she cradled the underside of his cock with her tongue. Jeremy hissed, tensed. She had to open wider to accommodate him. The muscles in her jaw protested. She gasped when he slid all the way to the back of her mouth and bumped her throat.
“Relax around me. Control your reflexes. Breathe through your nose.”
Kelsey forced herself to beat back the panic and obey. When she wrapped her lips around Jeremy’s erection and sucked, accepting him deep, his hands tightened in her hair.
“Ah, sweetheart. Yes ...” He hardened even more in her mouth. “I’ve wanted you this way for so damn long.”
Pulling back, she lashed her tongue across his head, lapping up the salty moisture around his slit. He tensed again. And she felt her power. He might be commanding her, but in that moment, she controlled his body, his pleasure.
He was her slave.
Drawing in a breath, she slid her mouth back over his cock, down farther, taking even more of him. He tasted more stunning the second time. Strong, male, an aphrodisiac all his own. She swirled her tongue around his length, laved the head with hard suction, then grazed it with her teeth.
“Fuck,” he cursed. “You’re trying to undo me, you little vixen.”
Could she? The thought made her giddy. Kelsey applied herself again, using slow, strong sucks, dragging her tongue along every inch, tracing the vein on the underside, nibbling on the sensitive tip, tasting the weeping tip time and again. Her pace quickened. His breathing grew labored.
God, she was addicted to the flavor and feel of him, the way every ounce of his attention was focused on her and her alone. She moaned around his cock.
Jeremy’s back arched and his hands tightened in her hair again. “Cup my balls. Now.”
Kelsey complied without hesitation, fondling them gently, scraping her nails lightly along the tight sacs. He hardened again. Swelled. Pulsed on her tongue. Began fucking her mouth in hard, rapid strokes.
Ruthless, unrelenting, he held her completely still with his fist in her hair so he controlled the depth and pace of the strokes as he filled her mouth again and again. It was harsh and primal. He was on the very edge of his control, and Kelsey had never felt more feminine or desired.
“I’m going to come. You’re going to swallow everything I give you.”
She whimpered. The thought of him bathing her mouth in seed was both exciting and scary as hell. She’d never actually sucked a man off. Her forays into oral sex with David had been far briefer and less exciting. This . . . God, she couldn’t wait to do it again.
Then his grip tightened on her again and he shouted, “Kelsey!”
His salty release sprayed across her tongue, the back of her throat. She swallowed once, twice, her tongue still moving over him. He gushed into her mouth again, and she drank greedily, her heart pounding as if she’d run a race.
Jeremy’s breathing was uneven when he gently pulled away from her mouth a moment later and released his harsh grip on her hair. He smoothed it with the stroke of his hand, soothing her scalp with a tender massage.
His eyes narrowed suddenly, and he wiped a finger along the corner of her mouth, then held it up for her inspection. Another drop of semen dotted his fingertip.
“Open up. I said every drop.”
Slowly, she parted her lips.
“Tongue out. I want to watch.”
Heat burned through her all over again. Could she get any wetter? Could she want a man any more than she wanted Jeremy?
Eagerly, she stuck out her tongue. He set the pad of his finger right in the middle, and she tasted both the salt of his skin and his seed.
“Suck it.”
Immediately, she complied, closing her eyes to savor the flavor of him all over again.
He moaned. “Excellent. How’s your jaw?”
“A bit sore,” she admitted with a smile. “So are my knees.”
“Hmm.” His expression was one she’d seen many times. He had something up his sleeve, and she’d never guess what. “I’m not quite ready to move you yet. Stay there.”
For Jeremy, a little discomfort was nothing. “Yes, sir.”
“So sweetly submissive. You’re doing well.” He dropped a kiss on her shoulder, her cheek, as he glided a palm down the line of her spine. His other hand dipped beneath her to fondle her breasts. “Look down. Watch me touch you.”
She did. Her flesh looked pale against his tanned hands, and the sight aroused her unbearably. Kelsey squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying to hold in a delicious gasp as he caressed the swells of her breasts with the utmost care, then pinched her nipples roughly. The sensation arrowed straight between her legs.
“You have the most incredible breasts. Many Doms like their subs naked at all times in the privacy of their home, but you need support.”
She did. Being bare for Jeremy sounded heavenly, but there was no way going without a bra wouldn’t hurt.
“I know what you need. Once I send it to you, you’ll wear it when I ask.”
Inside, she both rejoiced at his desire and cried at the futility. “Yes, sir.”
Again, Jeremy’s hand engulfed her breast before he pinched one nipple, then the other, sliding heat through her bloodstream. Then he trailed one finger down her abdomen, dipping into her belly button. With a faint smile, he rimmed her innie a few times. Unable to help herself, she giggled.
“You’re ticklish?”
“Helplessly.”
As he lifted her chin until her gaze met his, she was struck by the warmth and lingering smile. “Another reason to adore you.”
He bent and kissed the tip of her nose, pressed his forehead to hers, and closed his eyes for a heartbeat. She did the same, feeling the reverence of the moment.
“You’re beyond my every fantasy. I love you,” he murmured against her mouth.
Jeremy never said anything he didn’t mean. Her heart stopped as joy and wonder slid through her. Kelsey had hoped, but never dared to imagine he felt this way about her. No way she could deny him anything now. To have this much of him and not the rest would be unbearable torture. No doubt, being intimate with both a friend and her boss would bring trouble, but she’d worry about it tomorrow. She’d waited years for this moment. She wasn’t waiting anymore.
“I love you, too.”
Peace washed over his face before it darkened again. In that instant, she knew he was wondering how she could have gone to bed with one of her other friends if she loved him. It would only start a discussion that would go nowhere and get them nothing but frustration and tears.
Knowing she had mere seconds to divert him, she reached out and wrapped her fingers around his penis.
Jeremy stilled. “Kelsey ...”
It was a warning, pure and simple.
“Are you done with me, sir?”
She continued to stroke him, and he drew in a deep breath as he hardened, lengthened in her hand. “Of course not.”
Kelsey sent him a saucy smile, then glanced at his erection, now every bit as strong as before. “It appears not.”
“Vixen,” he muttered. “On your back, hands above your head.”
The command came so swiftly, it took Kelsey a moment to process. Jeremy stilled in displeasure, and she scrambled to obey.
Nodding as she arranged herself across his desk, he stroked her belly again. “Legs over the edge, sweetheart, thighs and all.”
Ridiculously eager, she quickly complied.
“Good girl. Legs spread. Wide.” The frown in his voice was reflected on his face. “Wider.”
He tapped the insides of her knees until she opened her thighs to his satisfaction. Her inner thighs burned with the stretch and effort as cool air hit her slick flesh. But nothing could cool her raging need. Hot, ready to burst, she writhed under the dark intent in his gaze. As his palms skated over her breasts, abdomen, her sex, she saw the male craving to dominate and conquer tighten his face.
Jeremy gritted his teeth, then bent to retrieve his necktie. He rounded the desk and approached her, grabbing her hands in his grip. With brisk movements, he wrapped the tie around her wrists, then secured the ends to the metal bookshelf bracket mounted into the wall above her head. Every muscle in his shoulders and forearms strained as he knotted the tie. Twice. No easy fastening, no mere ornament of bondage, this binding would hold until he released her.
“Too tight?” His tone warned her not to lie.
“No.” Her voice quivered, as did her belly.
She was literally at his mercy now. Rationally, she knew he would never hurt her. But she felt so helpless and hungry. Jeremy could either grant her pleasure or withhold it. A fact he was well aware of, given the predatory smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
“Remember, no coming until I say so.”
She had absolutely no practice trying to hold her orgasm back and wondered if she’d be able to.
“Kelsey?”
“Yes, sir.”
He ran his knuckles down her throat, between her breasts, all the way to her drenched sex. With a wicked smile, he grazed her clit. Once. Her back arched, and she gasped, staring helplessly at his dark face. There was no question he was enjoying himself.
“Your whole body is trembling. It’s beautiful to know I hold you in the palm of my hand. I can give you pleasure . . . or make you wait.”
Please, please, give me pleasure.
“Somewhat like you had the ability to choose to give or withhold sex for the last four years.”
Uh-oh. Now her real punishment would begin. The spanking . . . a mere warm-up.
“I see you understand. Do you think these last years have been easy for me, Kelsey?”
“They’ve been difficult for me, too,” she insisted.
His strong, square jaw tightened. “But you let Rhys or Tucker end your celibacy.”
She opened her mouth to explain. He held up a hand and shook his head.
“I don’t want details. You broke a promise, one I took very seriously.”
“I didn’t plan to,” she argued. “Besides, it’s not as if you’ve been without sex.”
The reality that she’d all but pushed him into other women’s arms suddenly filled her with sick regret. Instead of keeping Jeremy at a distance, she could have been with him.
Except there were her relationships with Rhys and Tucker . . .
“Ever notice how many of my dates are short brunettes with curly hair and lush figures?”
A parade of his previous girlfriends marched through her brain. Oh my God . . . “All of them.”
He nodded. “I’ve been substituting, hoping for the real thing, waiting for your feelings and desire to develop, for your trust to grow. I know I’m asking a lot of you . . . Submission, devotion. I wanted you to come to me.”
Kelsey bit her lip and tears stabbed the back of her eyes. “I didn’t know. I mean, I knew you wanted to sleep with me.”
He scoffed. “Did you think I just wanted sex?”
“I—I . . . suppose.”
Surprise flared across his face as he planted his palms on either side of her body and leaned over her. “Let me absolve you of that foolishness. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make you mine in every way. My wife, the mother of my children, my everything. I’ll be thirty-eight in two months. I’ve devoted most of my adulthood to my career. Now, I want to devote myself to you.”
She looked up at him with wide eyes, and her heart flipped. Words escaped her.
Resolution firmed his expression as he parted her legs wide again. She held in a groan and waited. A heartbeat passed, another . . . Then he caressed the inside of her thighs.
“You’re wet. Very.”
And he sounded like that pleased him.
His stare was glued to her face as he eased two fingers inside her and teased the front wall of her sex. Oh . . . wow. She sucked in a breath. That spot. He’d found it immediately. Then he settled his thumb over her clit and rubbed in torturously slow circles.
Her eyes widened as she watched him watch her, ruthless determination all over his face. He intended to drive her up hard, high, fast.
Kelsey’s entire body tensed in the charged silence and she grabbed onto his tie in desperation, spreading her thighs even wider.
“God, you look delicious. You feel incredible, so tight, your sweet pussy clamping down on my fingers, your clit swelling.”
No man had ever talked to her like that. Though she couldn’t explain why, Kelsey loved it. The rawness of his language, coupled with the wonder in his voice, the tenderness in his eyes.
And those magical, unrelenting fingers.
Orgasm began to close in on her, the ache building between her legs, became a sharp burn that rose and grew. Her cream drenched his fingers, dripped down to her back entrance. She could hardly breathe. The anticipation was overwhelming. Fighting off climax became impossible.
Just when she felt the first stirrings of her womb clench, Jeremy withdrew.
Thrashing, she shook her head in protest. “No. Please ...”
He dragged the barest touch over her clit, and she lifted her hips to the touch. He pulled away. “Please what?”
“I need you.”
“To do what?” He grazed her clit again. “Be specific. Make me believe you want me.”
Kelsey stared at him as his eyes drilled her with naked lust. A million thoughts ran through her brain as he slowly grazed her sensitive little bud again and again, keeping her on the razor’s edge of pleasure. It was splitting her open, destroying her mind. Every bit of her burned and strained for him.
Jeremy wasn’t going to relent or give in. He’d accept nothing less than total surrender.
She swallowed and said two words she’d never said in her life. “Fuck me.”
Jeremy rounded the desk, settling himself between her legs, then growled, “No. I can fuck anyone. You’re different. Try again.”
Frowning, Kelsey tried to puzzle it out. She knew what she wanted, but didn’t men usually just want to get off?
Since Jeremy loved her and wanted to devote his life to her, clearly not. She’d underestimated the depth of his feeling again.
“Make love to me?”
He seized her thighs, pulled her closer, and gave her a pirate’s smile. “Yes. Now and always.”
Then Jeremy began easing into her, through her swollen, aching flesh. She burned and hissed as he pressed deep, until he’d buried every bit of himself inside her. Then he leaned over her and canted forward, going deeper still.
Kelsey grabbed the tie with a gasp. She felt him everywhere. No part of her wasn’t filled up with him: her sex, her eyes, her heart.
Jeremy groaned, long and low. “Fuck, I’ll never get enough of you. So tight. Perfect.”
Before she could comment that he felt perfect, too, he withdrew slowly, then rammed home with a power and precision that had her grabbing his tie again until her fingers were numb and she shouted his name.
“Gorgeous. Give everything to me.”
As if she could hold anything back from Jeremy.
His thumb brushed her clit again, then he leaned on his elbows, so close she could see the beads of sweat at his temples and dampening his hairline, so intimate that his breath brushed her lips. “You look flushed, needy, that pretty mouth open and ready to beg. I’ll look at this desk every day and remember your surrender.”
Kelsey looked into his eyes that had gone black with desire and swallowed. She’d look at this desk every day and remember, too. Desire clawed higher, juicing her bloodstream. She was entirely his in that moment—tied to his desk, at his mercy, filled with his cock, slave to his seductive words. She cried out as her body raced closer to the pinnacle of pleasure with each thrust.
As she clamped down on him, seconds from orgasm, he backed away, his stare chastising her. “I didn’t give you permission.”
“I don’t know how to stop it! You—ah, God . . . You make me want so bad—”
“That’s the way I want you. Could you imagine waiting another four years to feel this?”
No. At Jeremy’s first touch, she feared he’d hooked her. She was a pleasure junkie; he provided her fix.
He drove into her again, teeth gritted, shoulders bunching. Her body burned.
“I’ll never say no again,” she promised rashly. She would do anything for the pleasure just out of her reach, for the satisfaction that was so close . . . but so far away.
“You’re right; you won’t.” He backed away and covered her burning clit with his thumb again. “Come.”
In that instant, her entire body went up in flames that started with a burst of pleasure between her thighs, then raced down her legs, up her arms, crashing into her heart. Perspiration slicked their skin, blended as they strained together.
He rode her hard through her climax, muttering words that took her higher and higher. “Yes! You’re gorgeous when you’re this open to me. I’m going to fuck you every day, every night.”
The mental image of being his like this with him always simmered in her blood, keeping her aflame. With Jeremy, she didn’t feel shy about her lack of experience or her body. She didn’t want to cover herself or apologize for having more meat on her bones than she should. Instead . . . she felt possessed. She felt like the most important person in his universe.
His eyes told her that, to him, she was.
“Acknowledge me,” he demanded.
Impossible not to when he began to massage her clit again in slow circles that made her breathless. “Yes, sir. Every day. Every night.”
“Come again. For me.”
Pleasure stacked on top of desire, whipped into a frenzy by his words and touch. It sucked her into its swirl like a black hole, too big, too strong for her to escape. He was still so hard inside her, and her body was strung up tighter than ever. A million sensations cascaded through her all at once, each more stunning than the last, each taking her to a place she’d never been in her life.
“It’s too big. Too much.”
“It’s too much when I say it’s too much, Kelsey.” Jeremy grabbed her hips in a white-knuckled grip and filled every bit of her sex with his length again. “You’re mine—your body, your mouth, your pussy. Even your ass. All mine to take at will. You’re going to climax again with me inside you because I want to feel you come all over my cock. Now.”
Denying him everything he wanted—she wanted—in that moment was beyond her. He’d restrained her to his desk . . . but inside, she needed to let go, believe that the place he took her was both safe and perfect. She needed to give him her absolute trust.
With a ragged inhalation, she latched onto his stare, withdrew her mental safety net, and gave everything she was inside to him.
His eyes flared with the knowledge that she’d surrendered completely. He drove her body higher until she writhed, incoherent pleadings whispered from her lips until he smothered the cry with his mouth.
And she came.
The pleasure was unlike anything she’d ever known, skin tingling and electric, breathing suspended, her mind and heart clasped around him as she vibrated with pleasure. He shouted and came deep inside her, warm and liquid, marking her as his.
Then her consciousness faded to black.
Moments later, she came to and found Jeremy still naked in his office chair, her cradled in his lap. He’d untied her and settled her head on his shoulder.
She blinked against the harsh overhead lights, then found Jeremy’s solemn gaze. The tenderness and possessiveness there took her breath away.
“You know I can never be just your boss again.”
“I know.” Her voice trembled.
What she didn’t know, however, was what to do about Rhys. And what should she do about Tucker.
Kelsey sighed. What happened next?