Willing Sacrifice (Knights of the Board Room) (31 page)

He sat back, his shoe braced on the table leg beneath to rock him on the chair’s axis, giving his legs more room. “Janet, you could take a nap through every staff meeting we have for the next five years, and only then would it balance out all the times you’ve been right on top of everything we need, right when we need it. I’d be a poor boss to snap at you for taking fifteen minutes. But I know you well enough I’m going to ask. Are you all right?”

She pursed her lips. She really didn’t know how to answer that question, and Matt Kensington was not the type to take a generic “fine”. “How do I seem?” she ventured.

Very few things mattered to her as much as how she presented herself when she was representing K&A and Matt’s interests. If she was in uncharted territory, she trusted Matt to give her an evaluation, direct and to the point. He didn’t disappoint, but it still startled her to hear it said aloud so baldly.

“You look like a woman falling in love. Happy, anxious, thoughtful. And you have a stubble burn on your lovely jaw. I threatened to skin Ben alive if he brought it up.”

“Thank you.” She thought she’d covered that with enough concealer, but apparently she needed clown makeup with these men. She wanted to be horrified, but she’d known them too long…especially Matt. “I told him. About Mexico.”

His gaze flickered. “He won’t abuse your trust.”

“I know. Else I wouldn’t have told him. I’ve also learned that he and I have some things in common. Only that chapter in his life, unlike mine, isn’t yet closed.”

Not many people could read Matt Kensington, and even she had difficulty at times, but this time she caught it. “You know.”

Matt nodded. His thigh muscles flexed as he rocked the chair back, his fingers tapping the table surface in a meditative fashion. “I do. I wish it was closed, that he would close it, but I also understand enough I can’t stand in his way. He won’t allow me or anyone else here to help him with it. SEALs share a very close bond. His teammates helped with…the first phase, but he’s kept them limited to intel, making it clear they have other priorities he expects them to put first. They’ve had to be satisfied with that, which means not satisfied at all, but it is what it is. He’s one of the most quietly stubborn and unshakably honorable men I’ve ever met.”

Quietly stubborn and unshakably honorable. The description fit Max well. There was no flash to him, no sense that he ever had to be the center of attention, and yet he commanded confidence, a sense of safety, with the strength of his presence. It was that steadiness that drew her, that perhaps called to something in her she’d always sought, a gift for herself. And Max was offering it to her fully, making it irresistible.

“I’ve never contemplated a long-term relationship with a man who’s not a sub.”

“I don’t think you’ve ever contemplated a long-term relationship with one who is.” Matt tapped her hand, winning her smile. “You’ve been waiting for the right combination. You’d never settle for anything less than everything you want, and women are so intuitive, they often don’t know what that is until they feel it, deep in the heart and soul. The day you and Max brought Savannah to the hospital and I thanked him…there are some things about that day that passed in a blur, but others that stand out in sharp relief.”

He shifted to an upright position again, lacing his fingers on the table and leveling his hawklike gaze at her. “When I walked back up the hall, I saw you, watching us. Watching Max. It wasn’t the first thing on my mind, but when I thought about it later, I knew something was going to happen between you. You’ve been looking for a man all your life who matches your strength, Janet. One who understands your passion, your occasional savagery and glorious darkness, and your tremendous capacity for love. Most importantly, you’ve been looking for a man who is not deeply terrified of you. That number is few.”

She chuckled at that. Matt smiled. When he rose, a subtle hint their tête-a-tête was over, she gathered her tablet and cup of coffee. Matt picked up the napkin of tiny muffins in his large hand, handling them like a bird’s nest as he followed her. He deposited them on her desk, but before he turned toward his office, he touched her hand once more, drawing her gaze to his serious face.

“You’ve earned a great deal of vacation and personal days in the years you’ve worked for me and K&A, Janet. And Max pretty much lives on the clock. If either of you wants to take some time off these next few weeks, I will support that.”

“What if he and I want to take the same days off?”

His eyes twinkled, appreciating her. “Wiseass. Call Rosalind and have her on standby. She always appreciates the extra money, and she knows your job well enough to cover things adequately for a day here and there.”

“Plus she’s not terrified of you.” Janet tucked her tongue in her cheek. “Also a very small number.”

“I’ll have to work on that. She could spread the word that I don’t actually decapitate incompetent employees in my office. I’d have to sacrifice one or two to debunk the rumor.”

“Like you would ever hire an incompetent employee,” Janet scoffed. “But if you decide to sacrifice Ben to prove the point, I’ll pay for the extra roll of plastic to keep the blood off the carpet.”

* * * * *

She’d told Max she’d go visit his sister with him Wednesday afternoon. Just to prove she had some willpower, for the next two days she didn’t go home with him or invite him to do the same, though he sent her some fairly provocative and suggestive texts. When she responded with a threat to sic Human Resources on him, he started sending her lines of poetry. Everything from e. e. cummings to Edgar Allan Poe. She responded he was going to have to do better than steal one-liners from a
Best of the Poet Masters
desk calendar.

You’re a tough crowd. Take a break this afternoon. I’ll give you a foot massage.

Maybe.

But at two p.m., she decided to do just that. The moment she saw him stretched out on his truck in that sexy, deceptively somnolent pose, arms crossed over the broad chest, long thighs and groin accentuated by the crossing of his ankles, she thought visiting him on break might become like a crack habit to her. As she crossed the parking lot, he sat up and slid off the hood, meeting her halfway. She was carrying a meatball sandwich left over from a lunch meeting and a napkin full of cookies, both of which she extended to him. “I thought you might enjoy these.”

“What are you having?”

She chuckled, enjoying him. “I had my lunch in the meeting, but I expect you to share at least one of those chocolate chip cookies.”

“I’m not sure our relationship has progressed that far.”

Giving her a grin, he set the food inside the front seat of the truck, then guided her around to the truck bed. Intrigued, she saw he already had the tailgate down and the thick quilt folded there as a cushion. He put his hands to her waist and lifted her on to it, the same way he’d done the day this had all started. Only this time she kept her hands on his shoulders, letting her fingers whisper over his neck, curl in his T-shirt, bringing him closer. The skirt she was wearing was short enough she could spread her knees and bring him inside their span. He put his hands on her waist, drawing her against him so core met core. The kiss was hot, deep, and kept them both holding to one another, even when he finally drew back with a regretful look.

“More than that, and I’ll compromise your reputation on the security cameras. They’re only catching our head and shoulders in the corner of the screen, but even so…”

His eyes were sparkling though, aware of the significance of her encouraging the act where it would quickly become public news they were seeing one another. “So this is no longer bound by OPSEC?”

She punched his shoulder. “Unless you tease me about it.”

“Stopping the teasing immediately, ma’am. At least that kind.” He amused her by pinching the hem of her skirt on either side and working it back down her thighs. It restored her modesty for the grainy resolution of the security feed, if the camera could see her legs. From what he’d said, she suspected not. She noticed his truck was at a different angle and realized he’d likely checked on the scope of the video camera in this corner of the parking deck. A wave of pleasure washed through her, thinking of him protecting her privacy that way. It was exactly the type of thing he’d do.

Then he turned his attention to her feet.

Apparently, there were reasons other than the camera angle that had him placing her on the tailgate instead of the hood. More pleasant sensations swirled through her chest and lower abdomen as he dropped to one knee. He glanced up at her as he did it, making clear it was deliberate. He removed her shoes, setting them neatly on the tailgate next to her before clasping her stocking-covered feet in his magical hands. As he began to rub her arches, working her toes between his strong fingers, massaging her ankles, she was hard-pressed not to moan like she did during sex. She struggled for something to distract herself.

“You’ll be happy to know Matt gave us his blessing. Not that I need his blessing for anything I do, but he did. He told me I could trust you, and that you are one of the most honorable men he knows.”

Max stopped at that, looking up. “His opinion carries a great deal of weight with me,” she continued, “but he didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already suspect.”

“He’s been…” Max lifted a shoulder, then looked down at her feet, his fingers tightening on them. “I trust him.”

She knew he couldn’t give a greater compliment to another man, and she made a note to share that with Matt sometime, return the favor.

Max didn’t say anything for the next few moments. She figured he was focused on her feet, trying to inspire an orgasm through her arches. He was pretty damn close to succeeding, enough that if she ever saw him with his hands on another woman’s feet she’d probably shoot him for infidelity.

Wow. Getting a little possessive there, girl.

“You know,” he said slowly, keeping his eyes on his task, “I earned a punishment that day, when you told me not to come until you said so. Remember?”

“Yes, I do.” Her gaze coursed over the strands of his dark-blond hair, the angle of his face she could see. She could almost hear the gears turning in his mind, the decisions being made. That coil in her lower belly became even sweeter.

“So I was thinking that maybe it…the punishment, could clear a few things up. If I joined you at the club this weekend. As your guest.” He cleared his throat, lifted his face to her. “As yours.”

She prided herself on being able to anticipate a man, enjoyed the pleasure of being a step ahead, but he’d taken her by surprise on that one. As a Domme, she was intuitive enough to recognize a situation where a sub was pushing himself where he didn’t really want to go, just to please a Domme. The signals for a non-sub doing it would be similar, but she didn’t see that in his face. The reasoning became clearer as he put his hand on her knee, fingers toying with the hem of her skirt.

“I trust you, Janet. I not only want to prove it, I want you to believe it.” His gray eyes held hers. “It’s like me going to the ballet class with you. I’m not a dancer, but you included me in it, because it was something important to you, a passion. You didn’t leave me on the sidelines as a spectator either. You helped me understand the steps, let me lift you, even knowing I’m not going to be leaping around in tights. The way you brought me into it like that…something in me responded to your love of it. I want to have the experience of sharing this other part of you the same way. I trust you to know what I am and what I’m not.”

As she considered that, his fingers curled on her leg. “It’s a lot like foreplay,” he added. “Women always need more of it than men, but we like what happens to you when we’re doing it with you. That gives us an incentive to keep doing it.”

Only to a man who understands the rewards of generosity of spirit
, she thought. Matt had essentially told her she was a different kind of Mistress, that she’d been looking for a rare combination in a prolonged relationship. Max had said it more directly. She didn’t need him to be her typical sub. Just hers.

“All right. How about Saturday night?”

He considered that. “Can you do Friday? I’m supposed to fix a friend’s plumbing and eat pizza with her Saturday.”

She didn’t have a jealous bone in her body, but suddenly her entire skeletal system turned green. “Her?” she asked, deceptively mild.

Rising to his feet, Max cupped her face and kissed her again, making it last even longer, to the point she hoped he was right about those cameras and slid both hands to his ass, gripping hard and pressing him closer against her. He responded with a growl and cinched his arm around her waist so his thick erection was against her abdomen.

How was it that they’d had sex multiple times this morning, and she wanted more? Of course, he obviously felt the same way.

“She’s married to a SEAL buddy,” he said, his voice not entirely steady when he lifted his head. “We watch after each other’s families. You can come with me if you’d like, but it’s in Houston, so I’ll probably stay overnight. I bet Gayle would love to meet you. I just didn’t think to invite you because you seem to like skipping a day or two between our meets. You’re seeing my sister Wednesday, and then if we’re doing Friday… I figured it might be more than you want to do.”

“On the flip side, if I see you three times in the same week, I can get you out of my system, cast you aside. Then I can move on to the next dime-a-dozen, bounce-a-quarter-off-his-ass honorable man with special ops military training and a sex god’s stamina.”