her, indulging myself.
‘I want them to be like...this.’ Her gaze searched mine. ‘Like what we had tonight. You punishing me then taking care of me. Me giving you pleasure. Being yours.’
Relief spread through me, along with a deep spike of satisfaction. And even though I knew it was wrong I also knew that I wasn’t going to refuse her. I couldn’t. She wanted this and so did I so...why not? If we both knew what we were getting ourselves into, no one would get hurt.
I let my finger trail down her jaw and then her neck, feeling my cock get hard again at the heat in her voice. ‘I can’t give you more than a temporary arrangement, understand?’
‘I know. I’m not asking for forever. I just want this, and I don’t want you to ignore me any more. Or dismiss me. Or pretend I’m not there and that I don’t matter.’
Something caught inside me at the note of vulnerability in her voice and I stared down into her lovely face. ‘I’m sorry for the way I treated you before,’ I said and I meant it. ‘And I won’t do it again, I promise. At work I’ll need to treat you as an employee, but outside of it you’re mine, okay?’
She gave a nod, her cheeks flushing as I let my finger slide further down to her breast, circling one caramel-coloured nipple. It tightened under my touch and, just like that, I was done with the discussion.
‘Turn around,’ I ordered. ‘You’re not my employee tonight.’ Gently, I pushed her up against the tiled wall of the shower. ‘What are you tonight, bad girl?’
‘Your fuck toy,’ she breathed without hesitation.
‘Yes,’ I murmured, nuzzling her neck. ‘That’s exactly what you are.’
Poppy
I FINISHED THE conversation with the manager of a bank Xander had been dealing with then made a note in his diary of the meeting I’d scheduled.
Another task done on Xander’s list for the day.
I pulled up the list and marked off the tasks I’d completed, then checked what else I had left to finish. Not much. I’d managed to get through most of them that morning, and now that it was lunchtime I hadn’t left myself with a lot to do.
Idly I wondered if I should ask Xander if he wanted to have lunch with me, then dismissed the idea.
The past week he’d placed me very firmly in the employee box and there he’d kept me—at least during working hours.
Out of them...well, that was a whole other story.
Ever since the night I’d gone to his apartment and he’d taken me so very thoroughly before breaking my heart with the story about the little dog he’d befriended, I’d known what I wanted. More of him. More of his dominance and his command. His attention and his care.
More of my own power.
It still thrilled me that he’d agreed to an affair, though he’d been as good as his word, setting out the employer/employee boundaries very firmly and not deviating from them one iota.
During the day I was like a pot of water slowly being brought to simmer on a hot stove, getting hotter and hotter, the sexual tension between us drawing tighter and tighter.
And when the day was done Xander would take me back to his apartment and I’d boil over completely.
Every night he took charge of me and every night I let him, getting off on the pleasure that gave him.
And afterwards, after we’d both come back down to earth, he took care of me in a way that made my heart curl up in my chest in absolute bliss.
I’d never felt so treasured.
Even my mother and her questions about where I was going and who I was seeing at night didn’t bother me. Of course I didn’t tell her what was happening with Xander. No doubt she’d want me to try and squeeze some more money out of him but there was no way that was happening. This was for me, not her and it was about my pleasure, not her survival. Not this time.
One of the accounts staff abruptly came into the office with something for Xander to sign and I took it, wanting an excuse to go in and see him.
I knocked once on his office door then, without waiting, I opened it and slipped inside.
He was at his desk, frowning at his computer screen, the look on his strong, handsome face making my knees go weak.
He’d had that very same look the night before as he’d put me over his knee, punishing me for the fact that I’d come back late from my lunch break.
I’d done it deliberately, because disobeying Xander usually turned into quite a lot of pleasure for me and naturally I was a fan of that. He got so deliciously stern and dominant and hot. Last night he’d used his belt on me—not hard, just enough to sting deliciously—and it had been amazingly erotic. God, all he’d had to do was put his hand on his belt buckle and I’d been wet almost instantly.
What is he turning you into?
Shit, I didn’t care what he was turning me into. Right now, the only thing that mattered was that we were both getting something out of our weird little arrangement and that was enough.
‘What is it, Poppy?’ Xander asked, not looking up from his screen.
Before, it would have annoyed me that he didn’t look at me, but I’d started to understand that while he was at work Xander gave his whole attention to whatever task he was doing, letting it consume him utterly and getting very annoyed when he was disturbed.
It wasn’t personal in any way.
Besides, I benefited from it since, after work, that very same attention would be focused entirely on me.
‘Something for your signature,’ I said.
‘Thank you. Leave it on the desk.’
I did so, giving him a covert hungry glance from underneath my lashes.
He looked good today, in a dark blue suit with a white shirt that drew attention to his black hair and midnight eyes, intensifying them, making them look even blacker than they were already.
I loved those eyes. Loved the intense stare he gave me whenever he ordered me to do something, letting me know how much pleasure I gave him whenever I obeyed him.
It was addictive.
Damn, why wasn’t the work day over already?
I turned to leave.
‘Wait,’ he said.
I stilled then turned back to him, my heart thumping.
This time he was looking directly at me, making my breath catch hard. ‘Did you want something?’
