Billionaire Romance Boxed Set (9 Book Bundle) (15 page)

Katherine blushed, her fingers flying to her lips—pouty lips, he
noted. Made for long, slow kisses. “It’s really not a big deal most of the time,”
she insisted. “I’m really just grateful to be able to work for you.”

“And I’m grateful to have you.” They parked outside the bistro he
usually came to for lunch. “In more ways than one.” His lips curved in that
wicked smile again, and her imagination immediately went into overdrive. Did he
really mean what she thought he meant? Or was she just being ridiculous? She
probably was, and really didn’t need to get her hopes up. He probably just
wanted to talk business.

He led her inside, where the maître de greeted them warmly—Mark
was a regular here. They were taken upstairs to the terrace where they had a
wonderful view of the city, and given a seat right next to the metal railing
with boxes off impatiens and other flowers trailing down over the wall, providing
a lovely fragrance.

Their server appeared almost instantly to hand them menus. “Good
afternoon. It’s so nice to see you again, Mr. Donaldson. Can I start you off
with anything to drink?”

“Do you drink wine?” Mark asked her.

Katherine hesitated. “I do… but I really shouldn’t…”

He waved her protests away. “One glass of wine over lunch won’t affect
your job performance. A bottle of Chardonnay, please.”

“Wow.” Katherine let out a slow breath as the waiter returned with
their bottle and poured them both a glass. He left them to decide on their
entrees, and Katherine took a sip. It was like drinking gold. “I don’t think
I’ve ever had a Chardonnay like this before.”

“This place has an excellent selection,” Mark agreed. They chose their
entrees, and then he sat back as they waited for their meal to arrive and
studied her.

Uncomfortable under the intensity of his gaze, Katherine cleared her
throat. “So, what is it you wanted to speak to me about, sir?” In truth she was
a little nervous that all he’d done was made small talk so far… and look at her
with those bedroom eyes that made her stomach flip-flop.

He gave her a slow smile. “It’s not about your job, if you’re wondering
about that. I assure you that you’re doing a fantastic job. To be honest I’ve
been curious about you. Dave and Mike—” the HR rep who’d initially
contacted her “—did your interview and so I really know nothing about you
at all. Where are you from?”

They made small talk for a little while, and then Mark leaned forward.
“I’ll be honest with you, Katherine.” She blinked as he used her first name for
the first time since the beginning of her employment. “I want you.”

“You… what?” She blushed as she felt his hand settle on her knee
beneath the table. “Want me where?”

“On my desk. In my bed. On the floor.” He spoke low, his fingers slowly
trailing up the inside of her thigh. “Your legs are exquisite. I want to know
what they feel like without the panty hose.”

“I… I…” Katherine bit down on her lower lip as he started massaging the
inside of her thigh; slow circles of his thumb that sent tendrils of heat
traveling straight to her core. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m completely serious.” The waiter arrived with their entrees, and
without removing his hand from her leg he looked up and engaged in a brief
conversation as the waiter set everything out. Katherine had to ball her fists
in her lap to keep from trembling, and she was certain the waiter couldn’t have
missed the scarlet blush staining her cheeks.

Once the waiter went on, he continued on as though nothing had
happened. “I know you want me, Katherine. I’ve seen those naughty little
glances you’ve tossed my way when you thought I wasn’t looking.” His hand
trailed down to stroke the area right underneath her knee, sending more shivers
through her and making her hot all over. She’d no idea that was such a
sensitive area! “I’m sure you’ve wondered on more than one occasion what it is
I do with the women I’ve brought back to my office. Now you have a chance to
find out.”

Katherine licked her lips, which had gone as dry as the inside of her
mouth. She wanted to reach for her wine glass to wet her throat but she was
trembling from Mark’s continuous caresses and wasn’t certain she could be
trusted not to spill the wine on herself.

“If you do decide you want to do this, you should know it will be a
Dom/sub relationship,” he continued, picking up his fork and sampling his
alfredo as he continued to touch her underneath the table.

“What does that mean?” she picked up her own fork slowly, but found
that she couldn’t concentrate long enough to get anything from her plate onto
the utensil.

“That means I will be the one in control, and you’ll trust me to do
what’s best to bring you pleasure,” he told her. “It won’t be anything like
you’ve ever experienced before sexually.”

That wasn’t really saying very much, Katherine thought, but she had the
idea that what Mark was referring to was considered… taboo. “Is that like when
I have a safe word and I tell you when to stop?”

He chuckled. “It won’t be anything quite that intense, but yet. Don’t
be afraid, Katherine,” he told her when her nerves flashed in her eyes. “I’ll
take good care of you. You can trust me on that.”

What did she have to lose? It wasn’t every day that devastatingly sexy
men told her they wanted to have kinky sex with her. And maybe this was the
kind of thing she needed. Her life had been tedious this last year, full of
nothing but work and worry.

“Alright,” she told him. “What do you want me to do?”

“First,” he told her, setting down his fork and picking up her own. “I
want you to eat.” He scooped up a bite of pasta off her plate and held it up to
her lips. “Go ahead, take a bite.”

She did as he asked, and admitted to herself she’d never been so
self-conscious of eating in her life—his eyes were boring into her face
the entire time.

“There you go,” he said huskily. “You have such gorgeous lips. Have
another one. Go more slowly this time.”

He fed her bite after bite, and she learned to slide her lips slowly
along the fork, and she knew from the gleam in his eye that he was thinking of
having her lips wrapped around something very different. She felt a flutter of
embarrassment at first, but as she continued it faded as she realized this
simple act was the sexiest thing she’d ever done. She could tell by the expression
in his half-lidded eyes that he was aroused, and the knowledge aroused her
too—her nipples were stiff beneath her bra, and the space between her
legs was moist and pulsing lightly with need. All the while he continued to toy
with her leg, brushing his fingers under her knee and down the back of her
calf.

Eventually her plate was empty. He looked at his watch and saw their
hour was nearly up.

“Time to go,” he said, flagging down the waiter to pay for the check.

He offered his arm and she took it, allowing him to lead her outside.
He held her close to his body, possessively so, and helped her into the
passenger’s side once again. Then he shifted the car into drive and headed back
to the downtown office.

“Now that you’ve agreed, I’ll expect you in my office exactly half an
hour after closing time,” he told her as they entered the parking garage.
“Don’t be late.”

“Yes sir,” she said meekly, and she couldn’t help but smile a little at
the fact that anyone who might’ve overheard them would have thought he meant
they were having some kind of meeting.

Well, she supposed they were… but it was going to be unlike any meeting
she’d ever been to before.

They walked through the lobby doors together, and Dave looked up and
gave them both an over-bright smile. That smile faded after Mark bid her
goodbye, and he glowered at her as he rose to his full height so that she could
take the chair back from him.

“What was all that about?” he snapped.

“I… I don’t really think that’s any of your business,” Katherine told
him, not because she was trying to be defiant, but because she had nothing else
to say. After all, she couldn’t tell him that she’d just agreed to enter into a
sexual relationship with Mark. Not unless she wanted to see Dave have an
apoplexy.

“I’m his assistant. Why wouldn’t it be my business?” he hissed. “Ms.
Hewitt, you had ought to remember who hired you.”

Katherine’s back went up. “I’m reasonably certain you can’t fire me if
Mark doesn’t want you to,” she told him sweetly. “And I can guarantee he won’t
give the order if you ask him.”

Dave’s face turned blotchy, his gangly body going ramrod stiff. “We
will see about that, Ms. Hewitt. We will definitely see about that.”

He marched off, and Katherine had to hold back a grin.

*

When closing time finally came around, most of the superiority of
having had two victories over Dave had faded, to be replaced by a nervous
anticipation that had her palms sweaty and her cheeks unseasonably warm. She
loitered at her desk, biding the other employees’ goodnight, weathering a stony
glare from Dave as he headed out as well, and then locking the front door. She
stopped by the bathroom to freshen up, pulling a tiny bottle of jasmine oil
from her makeup back and dabbing some of it behind her ears—when she
wanted to smell nice she used that, because she was allergic to perfume. She
checked her hair and clothes twice in the mirror, and as an afterthought
stripped off her pantyhose and stuffed them in her purse—he’d said he’d
wanted to feel her legs after all, hadn’t he?

She arrived outside his office door at exactly half past six, took a
deep breath, and knocked. His deep voice called for her to enter, and she
pushed open the door to see him sitting at his desk, typing away on his
keyboard. She’d only been in here once before when she’d had to deliver some
files to his desk, and that was a quick in and out cycle. She took the time now
to study the décor—muted green walls with a framed photograph of the
Chicago skyline hanging on the one opposite the window, a large, mahogany l-shaped
desk holding a computer and scrupulously organized papers. Her footfalls were
muffled by the thick, cream-colored carpet as she approached to where he sat
behind the desk. He rose with a smooth smile.

“Right on time,” he told her with a smile. “Come over here and sit on
the edge of the desk here.”

Her blood pumped a little faster at the look in his eye. “Yes, sir.”
She sat on the edge of the desk, and then jumped a little as his hands settled
at her waist, pushing her back a little farther. She winced as she felt her
butt press up against a paperweight and heard it clatter against the polished
wood of the desk.

“Don’t worry about it,” he murmured. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Are… are we doing this here?” she wanted to know. “Now?”

He smiled at her. “Not exactly. I am… preparing you for our first night
together.”

Leaning past her, he reached out and grabbed a large white box sitting
on the desk. He set it down next to her and lifted the top off. She tried to
get a look at what was inside but was distracted when he reached to the zipper
at the side of her pencil skirt and tugged it down.

“Lift your legs for me,” he commanded, and she did as he said. Shivers
of pleasure went through her body as he slowly slid the skirt down her body,
ensuring that the pads of his fingers stroked her legs as he did so. “Good
girl. Now your panties.”

“I… I thought we weren’t doing this here?”

His hands stilled at the waistband of her plain, white cotton panties.
“One of the rules to this game is that you must place your trust in me. If I
give you an order, you obey. If not, you are punished. Right now, I order you
to not question my directions. If you aren’t willing to play by the rules, we
can end this here and now, and you can walk out this door without getting a
chance to experience the sensual delights in store for both of us.”

Heart hammering, she stared up at him wordlessly for a moment. His
countenance was expressionless, smooth, but his eyes were hot with the promise
of those sensual delights just around the corner. A large part of her, the
coward that kept her from exploring her sexual side as a woman, that bound her
within the confines of her apartment when she was outside of work, begged her
to get off the table and walk away. But the other part of her, the one that
longed for excitement, adventure, for sexual fulfillment, demanded she stay. It
was that part of her that, deep down inside, made her realize she would deeply
regret passing up this opportunity.

“I will stay.”

“Good.” He smiled, then slid her panties off. “No,” he murmured when
she tried to close her legs. “I want to see you.”

Pressing her palms hard against the desk, she held her breath as he
spread her legs wide, exposing her most private area to his gaze. Her legs
trembled as she fought against the impulse to snap them shut—she’d had
sex before, but the few encounters had been sloppy and quick. She had little
experience with foreplay.

“Beautiful.” His fingers gently stroked her dark blond curls, sending
her muscles aquiver for different reasons now. They moved down to her lips, and
she could feel her core heat. “Already wet. By the time we’re done tonight
you’ll be dripping for me. Begging for me. Do you want that?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Good.” He lifted a black, lacy thong out of the box, then clipped a
small device to the inside of it before sliding it up her legs. He adjusted the
string around her hips and squeezed her ass cheeks lightly, his fingers digging
in and massaging. She could feel the cold metal of the device right up against
her clitoris. “You’re wearing a remote-controlled vibrator right now,” he
explained, holding up a small, black remote to prove his words. “You’ll keep it
on at all times when you are wearing clothing, even when you are not with me.”

“All the time?” When he arched an eyebrow, she lowered her eyes. “I
mean, yes, of course.”’