Working for Him (4 page)

Richard picked up the paper, staring down at his own figure walking away from a dark club. In the very back of the photo he could barely distinguish the sign of the exclusive north end BDSM club, Burnt Thorn.

Damn page seven. Why are they always sticking their noses into everyone else’s business?

“What does this matter? My business life and personal life are completely separate.” Even last night, the Dom and the CEO had retained distinct spheres. He’d walked away from several subs who couldn’t separate the man from the CEO. Thankfully, Serena had never confused them. Not for a moment of their time together.

Dante rolled his eyes. “I know you’re not that oblivious, Rick.” Dante took a gulp of his coffee. “Neil Cartwright is very conservative, and he runs Argonaut the same way. For God’s sake, he won’t even turn the company over to his own son because he’s unmarried.”

Richard stifled a laugh. Everyone knew Patrick Cartwright wouldn’t be married anytime soon. Not until they changed the laws, if his Master Todd had anything to say about it.

“They’re only holding back in hopes they’ll find a similarly principled company to buy them out.”

Richard rolled his eyes, fighting back an expletive that would fit the situation perfectly.
How much money does it take for everyone to forget about my social life? We must be getting close to it.

“They can’t hold out forever.”

“You’re right, but they can wait a while longer. It all depends on how much you want this deal buttoned up before the end of the meeting.”

Richard shook his head, rubbing his already aching temples. This was going to be a long week. “I want it closed yesterday.” He needed it closed now. The rumours of their inability to complete the deal were starting to get out of hand. Vertical’s stock price had dropped almost three dollars in the two weeks since the last round of negotiations had ended. Already some of his best employees had started to ditch ship. He couldn’t afford to lose any more to the uncertainty.

“If you can show them you have some old-fashioned values,” Dante continued on, ignorant of his own musings, “Neil won’t have a leg to stand on.”

“How can I do that?” Richard blew out an exasperated breath. How could he show he had traditional family values in just a matter of days? Fast enough to persuade Argonaut and the lawyers to sign on the dotted line before the end of the conference.

Dante’s gaze dropped back down to the paper before him. He mindlessly tapped his silver Montblanc pen on the table. The light hit the tip, and cascaded across the desk, forming a small circle on the coffee table before him.
A ring
.

If Cartwright was looking for a business partner with a few more traditional values, he could do that. And he knew just the finger he needed to make his plan work.

“You’ll have to find a way,” Dante continued on, oblivious of the plan hatching in Richard’s mind. “If you want to be the biggest airline in the United States, then you have to complete this deal. By whatever means necessary.”

Richard smiled. Whatever means necessary sounded pretty damn good. Especially when it included a naughty pet in his bed every night.

* * * *

Serena stepped into the presidential suite, anticipation coiling in her stomach. She’d been waiting all day for this, dreaming through the financial earnings meetings and motivational speeches for the moment when she could return to her Master’s arms.

She paused on the threshold, startled to find the hotel room filled with light. Her Master sat on the bed, his legs spread out before him, his gaze cast down. His shoulders slumped as if the weight of the world rested upon them. And maybe they did. Though she tried to stay away from office politics and gossip, being horribly inept at both, she’d heard rumours of trouble with the Argonaut Air merger that was intended to make her Master, and all the board members, quick billionaires again.

For a second she wasn’t sure if he even realised she had entered. Maybe she should leave, give him this moment of privacy. Yet the pain in his features tore at her heart, calling her to do all she could to remove that torment from his face. But was that what he wanted?

Before she could make a decision to stay or leave, his eyes looked up to hers, piercing her in place.

“Come here, pet.” His tone was filled with such bittersweet need and longing that she couldn’t have ignored him if she had wanted to, which of course she did not. Her Master needed her, and she desperately wanted to be there for him. To soothe the frown wrinkles across his forehead and ease the burden from the depths of his dark eyes.

She dropped to her knees before him, pressing her face into his thigh. His hand descended to her head, holding her with comforting strength. She moaned, pushing further into his muscular body, his masculine smell calming every worry and stress from her body. This was where she belonged.

“I need something from you, pet.”

She tipped her head up, meeting his eyes. He had never asked for anything from her before, more content to take what he wanted, and the change shocked her. His expression wasn’t the one she was used to from her Master. In this moment, he wasn’t the hunter who stalked and took his prey. Instead he seemed all man. A vulnerable man who called to a whole different part of her. A part that wanted to hold him close and drive every painful memory from his mind.

She leant back on her heels, staring up at him and waiting patiently to learn what she could do for him. Whatever it might be, she had no hope of denying him. Whatever he needed from her, she gladly gave. Just as she gave him all she was each night they were together.

“I assume you’ve heard about the Argonaut deal?”

She nodded. Everyone in the company had heard the rumours. The chatter had been especially loud in her division, which would most likely be taking over the production and design of their planes. It was a challenge she was excited to take on. Yet another way she could show him her worth.

He continued to massage her scalp. “The deal has hit a snag. The company is owned by an old-fashioned puritanical asshole, who has found out about my extracurricular activities.” He smiled down at her, tightening his hand in her hair a fraction. A zing of pleasure ripped straight from the roots down to her pussy. “And he’s holding up the sale to look for someone more
suitable
.”

The last word was said with so much regret that it almost drew tears to her eyes. How could her Master think he was unsuitable for anything? He was brilliant, gorgeous and dominant enough to keep the most unruly slave in line with only a look. She hated the idea that anyone, even a fellow businessman, made him feel like less than the powerful Master he was.

“I’m so sorry, Master,” she whispered, leaning further into him, offering him what comfort she could.

“Thank you, pet.” He smoothed his hand down her cheek, the heat of his hand reward enough to keep her kneeling before him for days. “But I think there might be a way to salvage the deal. If I were to marry, I could show that I had a more traditional side. I believe the group would have no more reason to withhold the sale.”

All the breath vanished from her lungs. She looked up at him, pulling back from him regardless of the hold he still held upon her roots. The pain was nothing compared to the aching gap in her chest where her heart had just been. Was he telling her they couldn’t meet anymore? That he was releasing her from their arrangement so he could marry some pretty blonde who would look perfect next to him in the tabloids? Who wouldn’t put rules around their time together?

His hand curled around her cheek, his thumb stroking along the bone. “Don’t worry, pet.” He smiled down at her, and regardless of her own pain her heart beat a bit faster at the light in his eyes. “I’m not tossing you aside. Quite the opposite. I’d like you to be my wife.”

Serena stopped breathing for a second. She must have misheard him. He couldn’t be serious. Her. His little pet, standing up beside him in a crowd. Her entire body shook with the idea of everyone knowing she was totally and completely his.

What he asked for called to a place inside her she had tried to forget. The part of her that lay in bed the other three hundred and sixty days a year, longing for her Master. Desperate not for the amazing sex or the easy way he dominated her, but to be held by him, to feel cherished and desired as only he had ever made her feel.

“I won’t be able to have any affairs for the length of the contract, or they might be able to cite me for the breach and bilk me for a fortune. And I can’t think of another woman who can satisfy me the way you do, pet.” He smiled down at her, his words meant as a compliment, but instead they stole the last ounce of strength from her body.

He didn’t want her. He didn’t want some deeper connection. He only wanted a pet in the bedroom, someone to submit to his needs enough to keep him satisfied until the deal was sealed. Then he’d move on to some new arrangement. One that might not include her.

Serena fought for balance as the world tilted. Her entire body trembled. All the possibilities unfolded beneath her, each one detailing a world without her Master.

She needed it to stop. She couldn’t handle this. She wouldn’t survive it.

“Bingo,” she whispered.

She stood up, pulling easily from his hold. He could have kept her pinned there, kneeling at his feet for days if he had wanted to, yet like a good Master he understood her needs and respected that this was not the time to exert such force.

“What, pet?”

She shook her head, trying to clear the muddled thoughts from her mind, to think logically. The aching pit of need in her stomach that begged to be his in every way fought for control, to give into the opportunity he offered. But she couldn’t.

“This plan. It can’t work.”

“Of course it can. It will just take a few accommodations from us.”

She almost laughed at his words.
Us. Right!
Serena knew who would be the one making accommodations. Giving up her dreams, her desires, all she’d worked for. She couldn’t do that. Not even for him.

“What of my career?”

He looked out into the room for a minute, as if debating his choice, before he turned back to her. “I can’t have my wife working for me, least of all in the engineering department with all the gearheads. How would that look?”

Her heart sank at his easy dismissal of her career.

Misinterpreting her expression, he stepped closer, placing his warm hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’ll have everything you need. You’ll be taken care of.”

Her stomach clenched. She’d be taken care of, like a prized puppy or a woman who only knew how to drink Martinis and write cheques at charity events. Was that how he saw her?

She might be submissive in the bedroom, but she had never wanted a man to take control of her entire life. She’d worked hard for her career, and even harder to keep her place.

That was why she only allowed herself to experience her submissive side one week a year, to give herself the time to focus on her career. Or at least that was what she’d been telling herself all these years. That her career was the reason she’d stopped going to the club, or looking for other play partners.

She’d been happy with their arrangement, happy with her Master. She had time for her career, and the opportunity to experience her true self with him.

But this…this was too much.

“I can’t.” She turned away from him, heading towards the door. “I can’t do this.”

“Stop, pet.” He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back. He gripped her so hard it hurt, just a bit.

Any other day, any other time, his touch would have inflamed her. Yesterday she would have bent down and thanked him for his fierce hold. But today was different. Everything had changed.

She took another step back from him, tugging her arm from his grip. He wasn’t her Master anymore. Now he was just a man. A man with a really stupid idea.

She headed towards the door, barrelling forwards, not allowing herself a backward glance. She couldn’t look back. She couldn’t see the disappointment and pain on his face. It was too hard to know she’d disappointed him, denied him.

She wasn’t beautiful and graceful like the women she’d seen him bring to charity events and parties. And she’d seen them all. Every photo, every woman he’d taken to an event since the first night he’d mastered her. She hadn’t been able to stop herself from looking for them. Scouring the Internet to find every picture.

In each photo he’d looked dashing and handsome, in a perfectly tailored suit and dazzling smile. She’d only look funny beside him, out of place. Maybe he didn’t realise it today. Maybe he wouldn’t see it for years. But one day, he’d wake up and realise just how inadequate she was. Then he’d toss her out, leave her with nothing. It was better that she leave now.

She wasn’t the type of woman he should be connected with, let alone married to. She might have ditched the Coke-bottle glasses a few years ago for Lasik and learned to walk in heels, but deep down she was still a nerd. Even now she kept a calculator in her purse, just in case. If that didn’t scream nerd, she didn’t know what did. She liked who she was, geekiness and all, and she couldn’t give that up. Not even for him.

But as the door slid shut behind her, without any attempt from him to stop her, all logic vanished from her system. Her heart broke into a million pieces and tears flowed down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around her chest, keeping what was left of her tucked inside, where it was safe. She hobbled towards the elevator, leaving the rest behind with her Master.

Chapter Four

“How’s our plan going to show your traditional side? Should I expect the deal completed any minute?” Dante sipped his coffee, presiding over their books for their regular morning meeting.

Richard shrugged his shoulders. It had been a long night after Serena had left. A long night filled with regret and confusion and very little sleep. His stomach was still too twisted up in knots to eat any of the breakfast pastries laid out before them. Even the smell of coffee made him sick.