by K. Webster
“You’re playing with fire today.” My voice is a rumbled growl of warning. “I’m not in the mood for games.”
Hurt and uncertainty glimmers in her stare. Good. Maybe she’ll realize this shit is over.
“But I’m not fired?” she asks before chewing on her juicy red bottom lip.
“I have enough lawsuits on my agenda today,” I clip out. “I’m not going to fire you.”
“Because you still need me.”
“I don’t need you.” I grit my teeth together, trying my damnedest to keep control. She enjoys making me lose it.
“I’m going to need money for an attorney,” she murmurs, stepping closer as though she wants me to tighten my grip around her neck. Of course I comply to her unspoken request, squeezing just hard enough her face reddens. “Are there any tasks I can complete, Mr. Constantine, to earn a bonus?” She bats her heavily painted lashes at me, a picture of fucking innocence.
Cinderelliott is not innocent.
She’s my depraved, dirty maid.
“You know what I want,” I growl, taunting her. “I want to humiliate you.”
“Our sex tapes are all over the internet. I think I can handle whatever you can dish out.”
I release her throat and step away. It’s difficult to look away from the pout on her sexy lips. She’s gorgeous today in her ensemble. I’m equal parts annoyed and impressed. So goes the usual for my feelings toward Ash Elliott.
“I want to spank you and make you cry, Cinderelliott. I want to wipe away your smug attitude. I want to remind you you’re nothing in my world but paid-for entertainment.”
She walks past me, brushing against my side and making sure to give me a whiff of her sweet, perfumed scent, before stopping in front of my wall-safe painting. “How much you got, old man?”
“Enough.”
“You can spank me for free if you have dinner with me tonight at my place.”
“I don’t want your handouts, little girl. I can afford you.”
She glances over her shoulder at me, a coy, teasing glimmer in her eyes. “How much will it cost to get you to my whore apartment?”
“Last I checked, it was my whore apartment. You just live there rent-free for the time being.”
“Until you let me and Shrimp come back to your place?”
“You’re stalling.” I loosen the knot of my tie, raking my gaze over her ass and the backs of her naked thighs. “Name your terms.”
“We have to talk this out. It’s what normal people do,” she says, running her finger along the edge of the frame and then has the audacity to check for dust.
“I thought we established we’re far from normal.”
“Definitely a weird couple. That’s for sure.”
She laughs when I scoff at the word “couple.”
Like a moth fluttering to the hottest fucking flame, I stalk over to her, craving one more hit. Just one more. I take hold of her ponytail that’s been taunting me since she sashayed into my office this morning like she owned the place. She cries out when I twist it around in my fist and jerk back so her ear is at my lips. I press my body against hers, pinning her to the cabinets beneath my wall safe.
“Awfully mouthy for someone who’s been fraternizing with the enemy. I think your arrogance is going to get you in trouble.” I brush my lips over the shell of her ear, pleased with her full-bodied shiver. “Why do you provoke me?”
“So you’ll pay attention to me.”
I bark out a harsh laugh. “You’re such a child.”
“And you’re a cradle robber,” she tosses back. “I want you to spank me, Win. I want it to hurt. I want you to get all this anger out of your system so that tonight you can come to my place and we can talk about it.”
Sliding a palm to her ass, I squeeze her cheek through the material. “Your wants aren’t relevant anymore.”
“Win—”
“What did you give Leo Morelli?”
She struggles against my hold but I’m taller, bigger, stronger. “Fuck you, asshole.”
The balls on this woman.
“Tell me,” I growl, grinding my erection against her ass. “Tell me before I find out.”
“He wanted insider secrets. He wanted to know about Paris. He wanted to know why I had a spa date with your mom. He wanted to know what your real obsession with the Baldridge building was.” Her body heaves with fury. “He wanted me to snoop through your emails and your files.”
Wrath rears its ugly head inside me. I want to kill fucking Leo Morelli.
“But I didn’t. I wouldn’t ever give him what he wanted,” she murmurs. “I lied and evaded him. I was trying to figure out what to do, Win. I’m sorry.”
The office goes silent aside from her heavy breathing and the deafening pounding in my chest. My heart screams at me to listen to her words and believe them. To let us go back to the way things were just yesterday before it all blew up in our faces. To a time where gummy bears and loud-ass birds and coupon books and a sassy maid occupied my home and my mind.
She makes me weak.
As much as the man she somehow lured out these past few weeks enjoyed being with her, I’ve been reminded I’m not some smitten boyfriend falling for a mouthy girl with a kick-ass body and sharp brain.
I’m Winston motherfucking Constantine.
Hard. Cold. Impenetrable.
“No dinner at the whore apartment,” I snarl, nipping at her ear. “You changed the game. There are new rules now. It’s much, much harder.”
She moans when I grind my cock against her again. Fuck if it doesn’t nearly undo all my resolve.
“What are the rules?” she breathes.
“No dates. No dinner. No sleepovers.”
“Boring,” she complains.
“It’s all I have to offer.”
“What will we do in our free time, then?”
“Play games. The painful kind.”
“So you’ll still spank me?”
“But not for free. Nothing is free anymore. I want to pay for every pretty fucking smile. Every touch. Every fuck. You’re mine because I pay you to be. You do as I say because I have money. Lots of it. And that’s what you need.”
“For the record,” she whispers, “I’d give you back all that money in my bank, the college fund, the car, the boat, everything for dinner at my place.”
Stepping back, I admire her gorgeous ass before smacking it. “I told you, Cinderelliott. You can’t afford me. Not anymore. The sweet words you crave are too fucking expensive for you.”
“Fine.” She twists around to face me, her ponytail swishing from left to right, a fiery expression on her face. “This is simply a transaction?”
“Now she catches on.”
“Then you won’t care that I have lunch today with my ex-boyfriend.” She smiles prettily at me. “Right?”
I don’t care.
I don’t.
But why the fuck does she want to have lunch with her ex-boyfriend?
Failing to answer her, I grab her shoulders and move her away from the safe. I fling open the painting to reveal the safe door. After keying in my code, I open the heavy door and motion toward the stacks of money.
“Grab what you need and then I’m spanking you.”
“Hand or belt?”
“Hand.”
She picks up two giant stacks. “Will these fit in my handbag?”
The wicked glint in her hazel eyes says she’s just fucking with me.
“I’m sure, like my dick, we can make big things fit into small places.”
“Anal will cost a lot more than fat stacks of cash,” she throws back, her ponytail swinging when she shakes her head.
“I can afford it.”
“Prices increased. Inflation.”
“You overvalue your worth.”
She sets down one stack of bills and then fishes out a few hundred from the other stack before replacing it. Slowly, she counts out six hundreds. “Six smacks. That’s all you get.” With her
other hand, she grips my tie, hauling me closer until my mouth is just inches from hers. “And, Win, I’m just learning my worth. It’s a lot more than I realized thanks to you.”
I grab her by her delicate throat, walking us backwards back over to my desk. She doesn’t protest when I manhandle her, bending her over it. Her sharp hiss of breath as I drag the material of her dress up over her ass makes my dick throb with need. A tiny, silky red string is delicately placed between each of her juicy ass cheeks.
Jesus Christ, this woman is trying to kill me.
Without warning, I smack her cheek. She cries out and the hundreds in her hand get crumpled when she fists them. I rub away the redness before delivering another smack, harder this time. Her whimpers state she’s loving the fuck out of my punishment. If I didn’t have the world’s most colossal fire to put out, I’d take the day off to think up many, many fitting punishments for this little bad girl. I strike her three more times before we’re interrupted with a sharp knock on the door.
“What?” I snap, rubbing the crimson flesh of Ash’s ass.
“Mr. Constantine,” Deborah squeaks out. “You have a call from—”
“What did I say?”
“To hold your calls, but it’s your mother. She said you’ll take her call or she’ll take my job.”
Ash snorts out a laugh. I smack her ass hard for the last spanking, making her cry out in indignation.
“I’ll take it in just a minute,” I grind out.
Once I’m certain Deborah has left, I smooth out Ash’s dress to cover her ass. She pushes up from the desk and stands all the way up. Her cheeks—the ones on her face—are also crimson and her pupils are blown. I would love nothing more than to fuck her until she’s boneless, but my brain is on straight today and it’s ignoring the pitiful pleas of my dick.
“Tell Nate I said you’re to work with him today.” I study her face, noting the disgusted expression that passes over it. And here I thought they were buddies considering all the times they hang out at my place when I’m not there. “I’m sure you can learn all sorts of things from him today.”
“If I have to,” she grumbles as she shoves the money into her purse.
“You do.” I step forward, hooking a finger under her chin and tilting it up. “And I don’t care who the hell you go to lunch with. You’re not my girlfriend.” Her nostrils flare and her eyes narrow angrily. “But you’ll take Perry with you. For protection from the press. You’re dismissed, Miss Elliott.”
At the mention of my brother’s name, she grins all too goofily at me. “Hmm.”
“The hmms belong to me.”
“Not anymore,” she sasses. “You knew I was a fast learner and yet you showed me all your tricks anyway. See you later, boss.” She gives me an exaggerated wink that makes my blood boil and my dick throb all at once.
This girl drives me fucking crazy.
I try not to admire her fiery determination or the sexy way her lips quirk into a knowing grin or how fucking hot she is in her take-no-shit outfit.
I also fail.
Miserably.
CHAPTER SIX
Ash
My ass hurts but things between me and Win feel better. Not close to how they were, but I do have hope. Because no matter how mad he is at me, he still wants me. He’s still affected by me.
Maybe our story isn’t one of princes and princesses and happily ever afters. Maybe ours is a wickedly hot villain and a filthy maid who are happy for now.
All thoughts of Win vanish when I reach Nate’s office door. I hate that I have to work with him, but until I smooth things out with Winston, I’ll need to give him some space. Plus, I do not want to be in the same room when he has the sex scandal conversation with his mother.
I still have to have that same conversation with my father.
Cringing, I try not to think about all the texts and calls he’s sent my way that have gone unanswered. I’m sure he’s dying of mortification. I just can’t face him right now.
Later. Definitely later.
I rap on Nate’s door, and when I hear his deep command to enter, I push into his office. His gaze is fixated on his phone as he texts. I step inside and close the door behind me, waiting for him to acknowledge my presence. After he finishes what he’s doing, he sets the phone down and glances my way. When he sees it’s me, he does a double take, his spine going rigid.
Sheesh. This guy really hates me.
Lifting my chin, I say, “Win asked me to work with you today. He’s busy doing other things.”
Nate’s lips curl into a smug grin that annoys me. “The shiny toy lost her luster?”
“Something like that,” I lie because I’d rather him think he’s won than continue to discuss the fact that Win and I will repair our relationship. “What do you need help with?”
His eyes greedily sweep over me. I feel like I should take a bath after the filthy way he undresses me with his stare alone. “Drag up a chair.”
I set my handbag down on the table near a couch and then set to pulling the office chair across from his desk around to the other side. He’s not satisfied with the distance I’ve left between us and yanks the seat closer. Gritting my teeth, I take my seat, sitting primly and wishing like hell I’d chosen something longer to cover my legs. The hem rides up revealing more skin than I’d like to show this creep.
He immediately sets me on task scouring through a stack of contracts looking for a particular one for him. It gives me something to do and I don’t have to talk to him, so I take my time flipping through each one. Every time his knee brushes against mine, a shiver of disgust slithers through me.
“You know,” Nate says in a conversational tone that’s contradictory to his words, “he’s already growing tired of you. Know what Win does when he’s tired of someone?”
I ignore him, my attention on the contract in front of me.
“He lets me have them,” he murmurs. “Best friends and all.”
“Some friend you are to him if he gives you his leftovers.” I flash him an icy smile that makes his eyes harden.
A large hand slides over my bare thigh and he tightens his grip. “You have lots of secrets, don’t you, Ash? So much more to you than those dick-sucking lips and golden pussy.” He starts to slide his hand under my skirt and I smack it hard. “Don’t worry. I’ll have it soon enough. When he’s done with you and you’re reaching for scraps, my hand on your cunt will feel like a blessing.”
“Touch me again and I’ll skewer your balls with this pen,” I grit out, waggling the pen in front of him. “Test me, Nate.”
His phone buzzes on the table with an incoming call from “My Baby.” After shooting me a dark look, he answers it and stands. “Hey, beautiful.” A pause. “Yeah, I can talk. Hold on.” He holds up a finger to me in the universal sign that it’ll be a minute before he slips from his office.
I didn’t even know he was dating anyone.
There’s a lot about Nate I don’t know.
Like why he would tell me Win had a towel warmer when he clearly doesn’t. At first, I’d thought about that text last night from Winston and wondered what it meant, but after some thought, I realized it was Win’s way of telling me he thought I was lying. But it wasn’t me. It was Nate. Why? About something so dumb? Nate rubs me the wrong way. He’s slick—too slick. My gaze slides to his drawer. After a quick look to make sure he’s not standing in the doorway, I open the drawer, unsure what I’ll find. Inside are a few ink pens, some business cards, rubber bands, and his keys.
Two keys and a fob.
The fob goes to a BMW. The other two seem like they could be an office key and an apartment key. I study the apartment one and decide it’s most definitely not the same as Win’s.
“Hmm.”
“Looking for something?” Nate asks, his voice nearly a growl.
“Chewing gum,” I say, tossing the keys back into the drawer. “Nothing.”
He sets his phone down and sits back down in his chair. His
hand covers mine, pushing the drawer closed but not letting go. “Don’t touch my things, Ash.”
The chilly words make me shiver but I manage a nod.
He releases me and gets back to work, business as usual. I try to focus on what he’s teaching me but my mind can’t let go of those keys. Did Win take his key back from him? I make a mental note to ask Win when he’s not being pissy with me.
At least an hour passes by without incident until someone bursts through the office door. Of all the people I expect to see, it’s not Dad. His face is red with anger and worry shines in his eyes.
“Ash,” he growls. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
I leap to my feet and rush over to him. Dad catches me in his embrace, hugging me tight. Tears prickle at my eyes but I blink them back. Now’s not the time to cry. Not in front of stupid Nate.
“What in the ever-loving hell is going on?” Dad demands. “If Constantine was here, I’d put my fucking fist through his face.”
“Would you now?” Nate practically snarls. “Perhaps I should call security.”
“He’s joking,” I snap at Nate. “I’m taking a break.”
Tugging from Dad’s hold, I grab my purse and motion for Dad to follow me. We leave Nate’s office and I guide him to the employee lounge where people aren’t yet milling about with their microwaved lunches.
Once we’re out of earshot, I motion for a table and take a seat. Dad’s expression is haggard. Guilt trickles through me. He was up all night dealing with the triplets’ fiasco and now he’s dealing with mine. Talk about a double whammy.
“I’m sorry,” I croak out, unable to look him in the eyes. “It’s a really long story.”
“And I have time,” Dad urges. “Tell me what’s going on.”
I gnaw on my bottom lip before just letting it all spill out. Everything. The maid job that I got caught slacking on. How I grabbed Win’s attention. Our games, though not so detailed. The triplets and their scary threats and actions. Leo Morelli and what happened the night of Win’s birthday ball. I even tell him about my spa day with Caroline and the dinner last night, though I conveniently leave out what Winston did to the triplets. By the time I finish explaining the drama that has been my life, his face is stony and unreadable.