Although Xander heard every single word Mercedes said, he didn’t believe her for a second. Oh, she gave a convincing argument with her direct questions, trying to turn this around on him.
And maybe she had a point, Xander hadn’t had a real relationship in as long as he could remember. He’d been content with work and play, keeping the two completely separate, yet knowing that work would ultimately take priority over anything else.
That was before last night. Before his entire thought process had changed at the hands of this one woman. Or rather, when he’d finally gotten his hands on this woman.
After years of subtly trying to get her to see him the way he saw her, Xander had finally been handed an opportunity too good to pass up. Thanks to Logan’s request, Xander was given the chance to get her in a position where he could convince her that he was the man she needed. Because she was whom he needed. Who he wanted. The woman he longed to have beside him. And not just as his friend.
In all of the years he’d played at the clubs, all of the pets he’d commanded, never once had any one woman touched a place so deep inside of him the way Mercedes had.
Not that he could share that with her just yet because it would likely come back to bite him in the ass and right now, he just wanted a commitment from her. Five days. That’s all he needed to show her exactly how good the two of them could be together.
Hell, he could still feel the way her body had relented to his last night. The way she’d come apart in his arms. It had taken right at ten minutes to bring her down from the sexual high, which he believed is what really pissed her off.
Not him. He loved every fucking minute of it and yearned to do it again. So much so that Xander couldn’t even contemplate the idea of being with another woman ever again. He wasn’t even sure he could simply play with a sub because the only person he would be thinking about was Mercedes. And he couldn’t stand the thought of her with someone else either. He knew himself, knew that he’d lose his shit if he saw her with another man.
Nor was he willing to just let her go. If required, Xander was more than ready to fight to convince her.
He understood her reaction. Hell, he’d be thoroughly confused if somewhere along the way he showed any sort of submissive tendency as well. But Xander knew her, knew that she’d never submit to another man.
Only him.
And that fucking made his dick hard.
To know that she would never kneel at another man’s feet, would never give up the control she held close to the vest… it made him want to dominate her in every way.
Starting right fucking now.
“It can’t happen, X,” Mercedes told him, drawing him back to the present.
Staring down at her, watching the storm clouds brew in her eyes made him want her all the more. She could argue with him until the end of time, but he wasn’t willing to be thrown off course. Not now. Not after last night. After they’d made it this far.
Xander opted to take a more direct approach. Shifting so that he could slide one knee between her thighs, he released her hands and gripped her hips, forcing her skirt up high and grinding the steely length of his cock against her belly. All while he crushed his mouth to hers.
She was so soft in his arms. The abundant swell of her breasts against his chest, the heavenly feel of her generous hips against his palms. She was perfect for him.
He was hanging by a thread, holding her close, reveling in the heat that generated between her legs. When she began grinding her pussy against his thigh, he knew she was done. No matter what she said or what she told herself, this combustible energy that generated between them was hard to resist.
No, not hard. Damn near impossible.
“Xander,” Mercedes moaned when he gripped her hair, tilting her head back so he could deepen the kiss. Thrusting his tongue into the sweetness of her mouth, Xander almost came when she grabbed his ass and jerked him closer.
It was a stalemate. He held tightly to her hair; she held onto him with her relentless grip. Breaking the kiss and staring into her eyes, Xander opted to go with the cold, hard truth.
“I’m going to dominate you, Mercedes. I’m going to have you begging me, pleading for me to make you come. I’m going to show you exactly what it feels like to lose absolute control. And I’m going to do it over and over again until you don’t want to think about anyone but me.”
Her eyes went from soft gray to a thunderhead, blackened with resistance. Or was that need?
Mercedes slid her hand down between their bodies and began stroking his rigid erection through his slacks. Xander fought the urge to thrust into her hand. What he wouldn’t give for her to jerk him off right then and there. Or better yet for her to drop to her knees so he could watch his cock slide in and out of her pretty pink lips.
He wished he was naked. If he thought she would be game, he would strip them both right then and there. Toss her across the table and fuck her senseless. Xander wanted her more than his next breath, but he knew he could only push Mercedes so far and right now there was a delicate balance that he couldn’t afford to throw off.
“I don’t have any desire to submit to you,” Mercedes explained as she stroked his cock roughly. “If you think I can be forced into enjoying it, you’re wrong. And on top of that, we both know we’ll tire of each other before long.”
Xander didn’t hear anything after the word “force”. He’d never had to force a woman to enjoy anything.
“Force you to enjoy it?” Xander asked incredulously as he slid his hand up her thigh slowly, easing his finger beneath the lace of her panties. He grazed her clit with his fingertip and then eased lower until he found her soaking wet entrance. “I don’t think force is necessary, baby.”
Xander fought to keep his eyes open even though she continued to stroke him more firmly, and he wanted nothing more than to get lost in the sensation of her intimate touch along his aching cock.
Mercedes suddenly stopped, gripping his cock painfully, forcing him to inhale sharply as she tried to control the situation.
Determined to fight fire with fire, Xander pushed his finger inside of her slowly.
“One of these days, you’re going to learn that not everyone wants what you want. This is what I want,” she said, tightening her grip on his dick and making him damn near choke on his tongue. “I want a man with my collar around his neck. I want a man who is on his knees and naked when I come home. Begging me, pleading for me to let him come. I want a man shackled to my bed, one I can have my way with whenever I choose. I want a man who knows that I can offer him the greatest pleasure ever to be had.”
“Baby, I can assure you that you’ll never get a collar around my neck, nor will I ever be on my knees unless I’m lapping your sweet pussy, and you damn sure won’t have a chance to tie me to your bed. But I assure you, I already know how intense the pleasure is.” He paused, sliding his index finger deeper and twisting, searching for… there it was.
Mercedes released the stranglehold she had on his dick as she cried out with pleasure, bucking against him, trying to get closer as he rubbed her G-spot with his finger, forcing her closer and closer to the edge. Still gripping her hair, he pulled her head forward until his mouth brushed her ear. “And I promise you, I’ll make you come as many times as I possibly can.” He nipped her ear. “Starting now.”
Mercedes’s body went stone still, her breaths slamming in and out of her lungs as her climax gripped her. She thought she was hiding it, but Xander felt the way her pussy clamped onto his finger, the way she trembled in his arms.
He didn’t care if she came quietly or if she screamed so that the fucking neighbors came running to help her. Either way, he was going to make her come again. Very, very soon.
When she finally relaxed, Xander pulled her to him, ignoring the hard on that was now pounding incessantly between his legs. She might not want to be close to him at the moment, but he couldn’t seem to let her go.
~*~*~*~
Mercedes wasn’t sure how much more of this she could handle. Xander had somehow found a direct link to her pleasure receptors, and he could set her off faster than anything, including her favorite vibrator.
Now that she was boneless from another intense climax at this man’s hands, she wasn’t sure how she was going to be able to continue to deny him.
Eventually, he was going to realize she was on the verge of giving in.
Oh, hell, he already knew that much. She was the only one who believed otherwise.
When she finally caught her breath, Mercedes pulled out of Xander’s arms and looked up at him. She reached down to readjust her skirt but realized he’d already done that.
“I’ve got to take a call in a few minutes,” Xander said, still hovering above her. “It’ll be over at noon.” He paused long enough to tip her head back so that she was looking at him. “I want you to seriously think about what I’ve requested. If you choose to give me the five days, I expect to see you in my office at that time.”
“A little quick, don’t you think?” she retorted, suddenly unsure of herself.
“No, I don’t. If I had my way, I’d be inside you right here. Right now.”
A tremor of need shook her from the inside out. The raspy tone of his voice said he was on the edge too.
“Five days, Mercedes. I want you for five solid days.”
“I don’t think I’ll last five hours,” she told him honestly. She wasn’t a submissive. It wasn’t like she could flip a switch and become something she wasn’t. That’s what happened in romance novels, not in real life. And this damn sure wasn’t…
“Give me five days to prove you wrong.”
… a romance.
Could he read her mind? She hoped not.
Regardless, Mercedes wasn’t going to give him an answer right then. She had until noon, which was… shit. It was only a little more than thirty minutes away. Not nearly enough time to make a life altering decision like that one.
Xander leaned down, pressing his lips to hers gently and then he pulled back. As soon as he stepped away, she feared she might just slide down to the floor. Had it not been for the windows at her back, she would’ve done just that.
She watched as his impressive form walked right out of the conference room without looking back.
Dropping into the chair closest to her, Mercedes spun around and stared out the window. How was she supposed to make a decision like this?
Five freaking days. Was the man serious?
And when the hell had she even decided she might possibly be able to do this?
What was she supposed to do now? Did she write out a list of pros and cons? Probably wouldn’t help because she knew good and damn well the pros list would be significantly longer than the cons.
After all, this was Xander Boone she was talking about.
The man was infuriating, he was sexy, he was intimidating in a crazy provocative way, and he was downright relentless when he wanted something. She’d seen it on a recurring basis with the properties he wanted. He didn’t take no for an answer, and he didn’t even have to resort to threats to get what he wanted.
He just got it.
People rolled over for the man. He had such a persuasive personality; he could get someone to agree, and they would somehow think that the idea had been theirs in the first place.
And now he’d put her in his sights.
Mercedes knew what her answer was going to be. It wasn’t an easy decision, but she didn’t have a choice. As much as she wanted to tell him no, she knew she wouldn’t. Giving him five days to prove himself wrong seemed the lesser of two evils. She wasn’t going to be able to give up control. Not even to him.
Now she just had to come up with a plan to come out a winner at the end of all this. Because being a loser, which meant she’d give her heart and soul to this man, wasn’t even an option.