Pawn of the Billionaire (9 page)

I
groaned
and buried my head under the pillow as Anne opened the curtains.

“Good morning, Miss Antonia. I’ve placed your clothes in your bathroom.”

“But it’s Sunday. Can’t I have Sunday off?”

Anne laughed. At least she wasn’t always being quite so uptight as she’d been when she first arrived - except when James was there, of course.

“You have already had a lie-in, Toni. It’s eight-thirty.”

“That’s not much extra,” I muttered into the pillow.

“Well, Sundays wouldn’t ever be any more of a lie-in when you’re in England, Toni. You will be expected to attend the local church each week.”

I sighed. This learning to be a lady was a bit of a pain. I’d been here nearly a week now, and I was so tired what with all the emotion. To be honest, the hardest part for me was the proximity to James. God, I hoped that man didn’t know how I felt about him.

I only needed to be in the same room as he was to be a mass of arousal and nerves. But I had no idea how he felt about me. The sex was fantastic, there was lots of it, although I always seemed to want more. But James was not the gentle, loving man I’d always hoped I’d marry. It was as if I was only a temporary part of his life, as if there was something he wasn’t telling me.

Of course, he’d chosen me based on my ancestry, had made up his mind that I would be his Countess before he’d even met me. Perhaps he was having a hard time learning to love me. I’d had to hide the fact that I loved him from the minute I’d felt his presence back in the diner.

Even more so since I’d been going into work with him. For the last few days he’d been taciturn and cool as I went through to suite five.

“Did you hear what I said, Miss Antonia?”

Oh crap! Anne had reverted to calling me Antonia. What had I missed while I was dreaming about James?

“Sorry, Anne. What did you say?”

“I said that Mr. James is expecting you downstairs for breakfast shortly. You will have to shower quickly if you don’t want to keep him waiting.”

I rolled over, and sat up, stretching. God, the bed was so damn comfortable it was really hard to think of getting up. “I tell you what, Anne. You can tell James that I’ve heard what you’ve said, but that I want to have a longer sleep today. And you can tell him that I’ve told you not to disturb me again this morning.” I grinned at her, thinking that would sort everything out.

She was good at staying expressionless, but I thought I saw a hint of surprise behind her eyes.

“Yes, Miss Antonia.” She nodded and left the room.

I lay back down and rolled over, wrapping myself in the comforter. These sheets were a dream, so smooth I could only wish for skin so perfect. I smiled contentedly, and snuggled down. I wasn’t sleepy anymore, which was a shame, but I could think about things in peace and comfort.

I thought about my app. Paul was amazing. In just the first afternoon, he’d got a sample interface, which was exactly how I’d imagined it would look, and since then, although he blinked a few times when I told him the sort of questions I needed to be listed, he was making good inroads into the way the thing would work. It was fun working with him. He wasn’t much older than me, and much more relaxed than James.

James. My thoughts always went back to him. I pictured him in my mind, looking at me, his serious face, his lean body, and I felt my breathing hitch.

I couldn’t work out why we weren’t spending the nights together. We had mind-blowing sex, we were going to get married. So why weren’t we sharing a bed? Still, I had a couple of hours now to fantasize that he was here. I sighed and mentally stripped him, feeling a slippery wetness between my thighs. I’d never been so attracted to anyone before, and the actual sex hadn’t put me off at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I dropped my hand towards my mound, pushing aside the silky negligee, and let my finger push in and find my clit. As I pressed a little harder, I heard a soft knock at the door.

I jerked back in shock. God! It wouldn’t be James, would it? I’d told Anne not to disturb me, so who could it be?

“Come in?” I called nervously, my heart in my throat, pulling the comforter up around my neck. When I saw Anne come into the room, I gave a sigh of relief and lay back with a thump on the pillows.

“You gave me such a fright, Anne. I thought I told you not to disturb me?”

“Yes, Miss Antonia. But Mr. James asked me to come and request that you reconsider your decision.”

I looked over at her. There was a warning in her eyes. I frowned. What on Earth was there to be worried about? I rolled back over, closing my eyes and cocooning myself in the comforter.

“No, I don’t think so, Anne.”

“Very well, Miss Antonia.” And I heard the door close.

I tried to settle back into my comfortable torpor and enjoy my sleep, but I couldn’t. My senses prickled. I tossed and turned. In the end, I couldn’t bear it any longer, and sat up, looking around.

James was sitting in the armchair in the corner of the room, looking at me. My heart threw itself into my throat and started beating wildly. I was sure he could hear it. I couldn’t make head nor tail of his expression. It was cool and unsmiling. Was he angry with me? There was the tiniest of lift to the corners of his mouth; was he amused?

“Oh!” My voice sounded faint and breathless, even to me. “I didn’t know you were here. How — how long have you been there?”

One eyebrow went up. “How long do you think I’ve been here?”

I looked around wildly. Surely I’d have heard if he’d opened the connecting door from his bedroom? Then I realized he must’ve come in as Anne went out. I breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been there when I’d begun to let my hand explore myself. As I thought of that, I felt my cheeks begin to burn with embarrassment.

“I should think you ought to be ashamed of yourself, young lady.” James’ voice was firm, and my mind immediately flew to the consequences of being told off.

I was shocked that I wanted to be spanked again, to be restrained while I was fucked. Surely that meant I was bad?

“Come here, Antonia.” Crap. He used my full name. That meant I was in trouble.

I climbed out of bed, tugging the shortie negligee down as far as possible to cover my thighs.

“Come right over here.” His face remained expressionless.

“That’s right.” He looked up from his seat at my face. “Now, tell me what you’ve done wrong this morning.”

My mind could only think of one thing. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to sleep more.” I stuck my nose in the air.

“And what did you say to Anne?” His next words made me look at him in surprise.

“Well, I told her to tell you that I was staying in bed.”

“And?”

“Oh.” I thought for a moment. “And I told her not to disturb me again.”

“Yes.” He was quiet for a minute. “And had you checked with me last night as your host whether I had any plans this morning that would require that you were up and ready for the day?”

Had he got plans? Oh hell!

“I’m sorry. Have you got plans?”

“Well if I had, they’ve had to be shelved, haven’t they? Because you wouldn’t be ready in time.”

“I’m sorry. What were we going to do?”

He smiled thinly. “You’ll never know.”

Anger made me reckless. So did the need to be punished. I wanted to be over his knee again, feeling my rising arousal.

“Well, that’s not fair! You should have said last night. Then I would have been ready!” I knew I sounded petulant, but I didn’t care. “And maybe I don’t want to be disturbed every morning by staff! We pay them, so they should do what they’re told!”

James's voice was cold. “Antonia, I don't ever want to have to say this again. Staff are paid to do their job, and that includes reminding us perhaps, of what needs to be done next.”

I felt anxious, but I also felt excited. I wondered if he would punish me if I was rude again. “Well, maybe I don't want to do this any more.” That was the right thing to say, or maybe it wasn't.

His brows drew down, and his expression darkened even more. “I think you are treading dangerous ground, young lady.”

I stood there, my heart beating fast, and stared down at him with a challenging expression.

“I think you've had enough warnings, Antonia. Over my knee please.”

I stood there, making my expression appear mutinous, my heart pounding with knowing what came next.

“Over my knee, now.” He looked at me again, and sighed. “I think the next step of your training after this morning is to arrange some behavior and attitude modification. Now, over my knee.”

I was trembling now, but even I couldn't tell whether it was excitement or nerves. I stepped closer to him, and reluctantly bent forward and lay across his lap. His arm came across my back, and with his other hand he ripped my negligee up towards my shoulders. I wasn't wearing panties, so I was instantly exposed, feeling the cool air of the room.

“So,” he said, apparently conversationally. “This punishment is because of your attitude. You do not answer back. Ever. Especially to me.” Then he used his hands to pull me even closer and tip me further so my head was hanging down on one side of him and my ass even more humiliatingly in the air. Then nothing happened.

Nothing continued to happen. For several minutes, he just sat there. I couldn't see his face, I couldn't see anything except one gleaming black shoe and his dark trousers. I began to wriggle, and his hand connected sharply with my ass.

“Ow!” I squealed in shock. “That hurt!”

“It was meant to.” His voice was unemotional. “Now lie still, until I am ready.”

But I couldn't. I felt the humiliation almost more than my excitement. But that was pretty high too. I could feel my pussy lips swollen and throbbing. My thighs were slippery and I was sure that he could tell how aroused I was.

Then he moved slightly under me, and I realized that I could feel his hardness pressing into my hip. He tugged me closer and began smoothing his hand over my ass cheeks.

“This is going to hurt, Toni. Get ready. Twenty spanks.” I tensed myself, but felt his fingers slide between my thighs. Oh, God! He knew how excited I was.

“I wonder if you were sassing me deliberately, Antonia?” He mused. “Never mind.”

Then a harsh slap echoed through the room, and I was jerked forward on his lap by the force of the smack.

“Ow!” I gasped. That had been a lot harder than I expected, and I gritted my teeth ready for the next. He smacked the other cheek equally sharply and I began to feel my cheeks burn.

The third stroke hit me at the top of my thighs where they met my ass, and that hurt most of all. I began to wriggle.

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry. I won't do it again. Please stop!”

“You have a lesson to learn, young lady, and I’m going to make sure you learn it.” James's voice was calm. And he continued to spank me on my already tender cheeks. Then he paused.

“I wonder if your ass cheeks are nearly as red as your face when you saw me in here?” He mused, his hand rubbing my poor, abused backside. “Oh well, another eight to go.”

“Eight?” I was shocked.

“Eight,” he said firmly, his hand leaving my ass and then connecting sharply as the next set began.

But I couldn't concentrate. Partly the sheer humiliation and the pain, but mostly it was being the sole object of his attention that was making me so horny I could barely keep still.

As I writhed under his hand, his other arm tightened over me, keeping me still. I began rubbing my thighs together, pressing them harder, trying to put pressure on my clit.

“Oh no, you don’t.” James’ hand pushed between my legs and stopped me by pushing my thighs apart.

“All in good time, Antonia.” And with that, I had to be satisfied.

How did he know exactly how many times to spank me to reduce me to tears? It was the last three that did it for me, and when he removed his arm and told me to stand up, I was sniveling, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand.

His expression became gentler, and he reached up and wiped my eyes. “It’ll get easier, Toni. It will.”

Then his expression firmed up. “The next part of your punishment might be a bit harder.” He reached forward and took hold of my negligee, twisting the fabric, lifting it and tying it in a knot around my waist. My body was covered above my waist, but below that I was naked, my mound and my ass exposed in the huge room, the vast windows giving the illusion of exposure. Oddly, I felt far more exposed and vulnerable being partly naked like this than if he’d stripped me completely, and I stood there, my cheeks burning as much as my ass cheeks felt like they were.

The humiliation aspect excited me even more. I was sure that if he looked at me for one more minute, I’d just come on the spot.

“Turn around.” His voice brooked no argument, and I slowly turned to face away from him. I jumped when I felt the featherlight touch of his fingernail tracing across my sizzling ass cheek.

“What a pretty pink,” he mused. “I think you’ll remember your lesson when you sit down for the rest of the day, won’t you, Toni?”

“Yes, James,” I muttered, hoping against hope that he would make love to me now. I was so aroused I could barely wait. “Could we … could we go to bed now?”

He chuckled. “Not so fast. We haven’t completed your punishment.”

I spun back around to face him. “We haven’t?”

“No. We haven’t.” He sat up a bit straighter. “Your task now is to put somebody else’s feelings and wishes in front of your own.” He smiled slightly. “I know you can do it. I watched you when you were at work at the diner. Now, I want you to think of me. Think what I’d like, and do that.”

I gasped slightly. “What you’d like?”

“Yes. What do you think I’d like? What could you do to please me?”

I thought. “But you said we couldn’t go to bed now. Wouldn’t you like that?”

He smiled. “That would be you letting me do what I’d like. This is you doing something for me, not letting me do it.” He sat waiting for me to work it out. I stood there. It was hard to think straight when my ass was sore, and my bottom half was exposed to the room. I was sure if I was naked, it would’ve been easier, I’d have felt less vulnerable.