Submitting to the Boss (8 page)

Unfortunately, the apartment pickings had
been incredibly slim.

Holt hadn’t arrived yet, and she was
answering emails when a horrible thought struck her. What if Holt
was doing this just to get her hooked, and when she was wriggling
on his line, he’d simply throw her back in the water? What if
dumping her was his real punishment for what she’d done to
Clay?

No. Ruby shook her head as if he were
standing right in front of her. Holt wouldn’t do that. He had his
own agenda, sure, but he wouldn’t do
that
.

Ruby had never been hooked on any man—well,
not since she was a teenager. It had been so long, she wasn’t sure
if she was hooked now, or if it was simply that Holt had hypnotized
her. He’d ordered her to find an apartment, but he hadn’t mentioned
a thing about moving in with him.

Her desk phone rang. Ruby scooped up the
receiver. “Holt Montgomery’s office. This is Ruby speaking.”

“I’ve got a breakfast appointment.”

Her body hummed with Holt’s voice in her ear,
just the way it had hummed with pleasure on Saturday night. “It’s
not on your calendar,” she told him.

“I forgot about it.” Holt never forgot
anything. “I won’t be in until noon. Move my meetings, would
you?”

Her teeth started to chatter after he hung
up. This wasn’t like him. Was he with another woman?

Ruby put a hand over her mouth. She was
getting hysterical. About a man. It was insane. Last week Holt had
been only her boss. Now she was terrified he was meeting some
unknown woman on a Monday morning. Which is something he would
never do. Holt was all business. He wouldn’t blow off meetings for
a sexual assignation. Even when he was punishing her, it was during
lunch or off hours. Ruby had lost her mind for even letting the
thought enter her head.

But all those rational thoughts couldn’t stop
the runaway train. She made mistakes all morning. She forgot to
cancel his ten o’clock meeting. She didn’t ask for return phone
numbers. She even failed to write down names.
Get hold of
yourself.
It didn’t matter how often she said it, her brain
wouldn’t listen.

Was this how a woman felt when the guy she’d
had a really hot date with last weekend never called back? Ruby
hadn’t cared in so long, she’d forgotten what it was like, but now
she recalled the total insanity. Thank God she’d left all that
behind long ago. But she couldn’t seem to stop it with Holt.

He stalked in five minutes before noon.
Passing her desk without even looking at her, he barked his usual
order. “Ruby, in my office, now.”

She couldn’t catch her breath, and she moved
so fast to follow his instruction that she almost tripped over her
chair. God, she had it bad; but right now Ruby didn’t care. He’d
started her motor revving in two seconds flat.

Holt scowled at her from his desk. “Close the
door.”

She did, then waited, her heart like a
jackhammer in her chest.

“Did you rent an apartment?”

“No. I looked—”

He slashed a hand through the air, cutting
her off. “Close the blinds.”

She was burning up by the time she got them
closed, and her hands were shaking. She knew exactly what was
coming. Having her adjust the blinds was his signal. No man had
ever gotten to her like this, making her breathless, stealing her
sanity. When she turned, he’d come out from behind the desk, and
she could see the erection filling his suit pants.

“You need to be punished for not doing what I
told you to,” he said. “Now bend over my desk.”

Despite the heat between her legs, Ruby
didn’t move. She had to put up at least a token resistance,
especially since last week she’d told him she’d never let him spank
her again. “I looked all day yesterday and couldn’t find anything
decent.”

“I don’t want to hear excuses.” He shot out
an arm and pointed to his desk. “Bend”—his voice held a sharp
edge—“over.”

Ruby swallowed. She hadn’t figured on wanting
another spanking, but the desire rushed up on her, took over. Her
skin burned for his touch. Still, she couldn’t let
him
know
that. “I wore what you told me to. I should get points for
that.”

Her blood sizzled as his gaze raked her body,
from the blouse and camisole to the wraparound skirt to the
stockings and high heels. “You don’t get points for doing what
you’re supposed to,” he said. “You only get punished for screwing
it up. And if I have to tell you one more time, you won’t sit down
for a week.”

Ruby pursed her lips primly, a bit like
Jessica Muffet, if she did say so herself. “Well, I think it’s
grossly unfair.”

“Bend over my desk,” he said again, his voice
stern. “Or I’ll bind your wrists with rubber bands.”

Rubber bands? It was probably all he had
handy with which to threaten her. “Rubber bands will hurt.” They’d
pull on the tiny hairs.

Holt raised an eyebrow, his look devilish.
“Then bend over.”

“Fine, whatever.” She groused a little, but
her pulse was racing. She heard the rush of it in her ears as she
did what he ordered, pushing aside the pencil holder and leaning
her elbows on the desk.

She felt him lean over her. “I love the
skirt,” he said into her hair.

“You picked it out,” she answered, with the
hint of a
duh
in it.

“Take it off, or just lift it over your ass?”
he mused.

“Are you asking me?”

He laughed softly, a puff of air against the
sensitive skin of her ear. Ruby suppressed a shiver.

He uttered the punch line: “What you want
doesn’t count.”

What he didn’t know was that
she’d take anything he gave.
Everything
he gave.
It
didn’t matter. She hadn’t even bothered to ask
him where he’d been this morning, or who he was with. She’d told
him he’d never spank her again, then at the snap of his fingers,
she reversed herself.
Oh Ruby, you are so far
gone.

He stroked her ass. She closed her eyes. Then
she felt the press of his hand beneath her stomach, and he tugged
on the skirt’s tie. He released it, tugged, and the material
fluttered to the carpet. Cool air-conditioning caressed her heated
flesh.

He straightened away from her, and for a
moment there was only the sound of his breath, a little fast,
harsh. Needy.

“
Very
good girl,” he praised.
“Stockings and no panties,” he added softly. “Perfect choice.”

Holt smacked her ass hard before she had a
chance to prepare, and Ruby couldn’t think fast enough to hold back
the deep moan of pleasure.

Chapter Nine

Ruby had a magnificent ass. The imprint of
his hand blossomed against her creamy skin. Her sweetness coated
his palm. Holt licked it off.

She was delicious, her come the sweetest
ambrosia. “Once isn’t enough,” he said softly. “You just don’t
learn your lesson.” He swatted her again, and Ruby writhed on his
desk.

He took her ass over and over, lingering with
each slap, letting his fingers wander across the lips of her sex,
testing, wanting. Ruby started moaning with the first whack, and
she hadn’t stopped. He could make her come this way. He
would
make her come like this.

Saturday night he’d barely been able to let
her go without fucking her, but they weren’t ready for their big
climax yet. He had so much more to do first, so many delectable
things leading up to it. After she’d gone, he’d stood in the
workout room and steeped himself in her sexual scent, mesmerized
himself by replaying the images, teased himself with what was still
to come. Until finally he’d succumbed to her lure, stroking his
cock for relief.

She would love to know he’d jerked off to
thoughts of her. Like a teenage boy.

She’d love knowing, too, that even as he
punished her, it was only with an iron will that he kept himself
from taking her.

“You need this,” he told her. “You need a man
to tell you what to do.” She moaned for him as he pushed his
fingers inside her. Then he swatted her ass again, making sure he
included her pussy. “Say it.”

She cried out, and the beginnings of her
orgasm shimmied through her. “I need it. God, I need it so
bad.”

“Not
it
, a
man
.”

“I need a man.” She was close to wailing now,
her body in full quiver.

“You need
this
man.”

“Yes, yes, I need you to tell me what to do.
Tell me, Holt, make me do it. Make me do anything.”

Leaning over her, his lips next to her ear,
he whispered everything he wanted
.
“I will
find cock for you.
I’ll choose.
I’ll
watch
. I’ll direct and demand. You’ll never forget
I’m there. Then I’ll take you, taste you, show you how you always
have to come back to me. And when you need it, I’ll punish you.
Because you
will
need it, Ruby, you always do.” His cock raged with all the
things he would have Ruby do for him. She was born to do a man’s
bidding, to be led, to please.

“
Yes, Holt, please,
Holt.”

He wasn’t sure she even realized what she was
agreeing to. She simply wanted the orgasm, and with the next touch
of his hand, she went into meltdown, her sweet cream all over his
palm, her scent rising, making him almost as crazy as she was. His
body pressed along hers, he took in the quake of her limbs and the
rasp of her breath. Then she sobbed in delirium. Her lips were ruby
red where she’d bitten them, her face flushed, her hair falling
from the knot she’d secured it in. She looked gloriously debauched
on his desk.

He couldn’t say how long they stayed that
way, a least a minute, but probably more like five, then she opened
her eyes. “Oh God, Holt.”

He saw clearly in the depths of her gaze that
there was no one else for her now. Clay no longer existed. Bradley
Palmer was just a footnote. Ruby was his. It was time to set the
rest of his plan in motion.

* * * * *

Holt tied the skirt around her waist. Ruby’s
legs wobbled, and her mind still felt dazed, but oh, that orgasm
had been marvelous.

As Holt bent to the task, she breathed him
in, soap, shampoo, a subtle aftershave, and his own unique male
scent. Late at night, she could still smell him on her. He made her
giddy. Or perhaps that was the aftereffect of what he’d done to her
on his desk.

But why wouldn’t he fuck her? She wanted him
to,
needed
him to, yet, with the exception of the one time
he’d made her suck him during lunch, everything had been about
her.

As if he wanted her addicted to the orgasms
he gave her.

“I forget what you were punishing me for.”
She’d forgotten everything but how good he felt against her, his
touch on her pussy, even if it was the swat of his hand. Her butt
cheeks burned pleasantly, and her skin felt warm. She’d never have
thought she’d go in for the bondage and submission stuff, but now
she was dying for more.

He gave her a raised eyebrow. “Because you
didn’t get an apartment.”

But she’d looked. Then she remembered the
rest of the morning, that he’d been late. And all the possibilities
for what he’d been doing. She didn’t like feeling so needy. She
didn’t like feeling disposable. She didn’t want Holt to be able to
turn to another woman as easily as Clay had turned to Jessica.

“And because I knew you wouldn’t follow
instructions,” Holt went on, “I found a place for you.”

She couldn’t do much more than stare at him
and ask, “When?”

He furrowed his brow. “This morning. Why the
hell else would I cancel all my meetings?” He stuck a finger in her
face. “You weren’t getting the job done.”

Ruby felt faint with relief. He hadn’t been
with another woman. He’d been looking for an apartment for her.
Why? Because after Saturday night, he wanted her last tie to Clay
broken?

Could that be why he hadn’t fucked her yet?
Yes, because Clay was still paying her bills. She wondered if Holt
intended to pay for the apartment. She wouldn’t ask that, but the
idea was thrilling, like something out of an old forties movie
where a powerful man kept his secretary as his mistress and came to
her every night before he went home to his wife. Ruby imagined
herself in sexy lounging pajamas, offering him his slippers. Then
she almost laughed; she’d never been the domestic type.

As she was mulling over the ramifications,
Holt was writing on a piece of notepaper. “Here’s the address. Go
see it tonight after work.”

She recognized the street. It was fairly
close to the office, but farther from Holt’s home than the hotel.
“I suppose you picked it,” she drawled, “so you can take me there
for a quickie at lunch.”

His eyes suddenly smoked, and he was on her
in a second, imprisoning her chin between his fingers. “I prefer
doing filthy things to you right here in my office.” He bit her lip
just short of pain, and something sexy and delectable slid through
her. “I like the risk,” he murmured.

So did she. It was incredibly exciting to
think that anyone could knock on his door at any time. Someone
might even have heard her today. What if one day she accidentally
forgot to lock the door?

He dropped his hold on her and stepped back.
“It’s a one-bedroom,” he told her. “You don’t need more.”

Because she’d be spending most of her time at
his house? Ruby liked the idea, though she wondered if she was
turning milquetoast by allowing him to be so dictatorial. “I’ll be
the judge of that.”

“Ruby, sweet, I’m the judge of everything
where you’re concerned. Don’t forget it.” Then he put on his
professional face. “Now, don’t you have some work to do?”

“Yes, sir.” She saluted, turned, and sashayed
to the door, giving him an extra wiggle. When she was in her own
outer office, she heard the rustle of the blinds as he opened them
again.