Monroe: The Dynastic Collection: An Alpha Billionaire Romance

by Cynthia Dane

  Chapter 12

  “About time we took these things out, don’t you think?”

  Alice sat on the edge of the bed, still in her emerald dress. Her feet were sore, and she had completely forgotten about the Ben Wa balls inside of her. There had been other things to distract her. Like Monroe putting her on display like he had back at the ball.

  Everyone wanted to talk to them afterward. Good thing they already had dinner, because Alice needed the energy to get through the rest of the night. I can’t believe this is my life right now. Sighing, Alice mentally asked for a two minute reprieve from the hectic life that was being Damon Monroe’s girlfriend. First he wanted to make her the most talked about woman in Chicago. Now he wanted to have sex!

  He crossed the room, removing his tuxedo jacket and sitting beside his girlfriend. Alice didn’t push him away or tell him no, but she was also not the most enthusiastic partner at the moment. She wanted answers first. “Why did you do that?” she asked. “What you did back there… why?”

  Monroe’s eyes narrowed at her. “Because you make me happy, Alice. I want the whole world to know that.”

  “You hijacked a fundraiser to show me off.”

  “And?” He scoffed. “Better to address it now on my own terms than to wait for the media to start speculating. Besides, you saw my father tonight. The only way to get him to stop playing matchmaker is to make my own choice clear.”

  If you only knew… Alice leaned back on one arm, shoes slipping off her feet and thumping against the floor. “What did you mean by saying I was going to be showing up in your work more often?”

  “I wasn’t lying when I said you were one of the most intelligent women I’ve come across in a while. Don’t get me wrong. There were several intelligent women there tonight, but I can’t see myself working with any of them the way I could work with you.”

  “Work?”

  “You do want to get involved with more than me, right?”

  “I haven’t really thought about it.” What could Alice possibly contribute to his career, outside of helping him create the stable home and family he craved? “I don’t know anything about what you do.”

  “I do many things, but the one thing you would be most suited for speak of your own job experiences. How did we meet, Alice?”

  She cringed to remember. “We met at your sex club, sir.”

  “Indeed we did, and you were a hostess there, like you had been a hostess for most of your life. Wouldn’t you say that you’re good at it? You have to be good at hosting, if you got hired at my club.”

  “Don’t you dare tell me you’re going to set me up as a hostess somewhere.”

  “Not unless you begged me to.”

  Could Alice roll her eyes hard enough?

  “I have further interests in hospitality. You have plenty of experience being on the front line of customer service. You may not have a big business degree, Alice, but you have something even more important to me.”

  She had nothing to lose at the moment. “A tight pussy?”

  “Experience.”

  They were both quiet. Experience, huh? Funny. Here she was convinced that was the one important thing she didn’t have when it came to her relationship with Monroe. No experience with sex, very little with real love and relationships… but it was her shitty work experience he was interested in? “Guess it’s nice you don’t only want me for a sex and house slave.”

  “You jest, yes?”

  “What? That I think that’s all you could possibly want me for?” Alice shrugged. “Sometimes I wonder.”

  “Did I do something to offend you tonight?”

  “No.” Alice sat up but did not face him. “It’s… you have to understand how this looks. I’m a nobody, and we only met a little while ago. Now you’re declaring to the world that you love me unlike anyone you’ve ever loved before. Your father is pissed. Do you know how many people have warned me about him? About you?”

  Monroe stood up. “Who has been saying that?” His voice was like a boulder dropping on her fragile form. “Who has been shaking your confidence and trust in me?”

  Your own mother.

  Alice met his hardened gaze. Eyes of searing amber threatened to tear down her boundaries, but Alice did not surrender. “It says a lot that the thing you’re worried the most about is my shaken trust.”

  “I should hope so.” Monroe got down on one knee, hand taking hers. “Nothing is more important in our relationship. If you can’t trust me, then we have nothing.”

  Alice wanted to believe that.

  “Last night you asked me about my mother.” He squeezed her hand. “The truth is, I remember quite a bit. For the longest time I thought I had made up my memories. A child’s memory isn’t the most reliable thing, right? For instance, I was much too young to have possibly remembered my brother’s birth and death, but sometimes I swear I remember my mother crying in the hospital. Which is absurd, because there’s no way my nanny ever took me to see her, especially while she was grieving.”

  Alice remained silent. Where is this going?”

  “I’ve had a lot of time to think about my mother and my memories of her. I haven’t seen her since I was seven or eight years old, but I remember a woman who was doting and involved with my life. Honestly, I don’t have many memories of my father from that time. I don’t know why. He was around, wasn’t he? Then I remember that my only memory of my parents together was from right before their divorce. I’ll never forget the thing coming out of my mother’s mouth the most. She was begging my father to believe her about something. For the longest time I assumed she was cheating. It’s no secret that my father had other lovers, even during his marriage, but for my mother that would have been sacrilege.”

  “Quite frankly, it sounds like your mother didn’t trust your father.”

  “She didn’t. That has always stayed with me. I have to admit that there have been many times where I haven’t trusted him either. Not when it comes to my personal life. Why would I want a man like him giving me advice in matters of love? His one marriage ended badly enough that I never saw my mother again, and he’s never been in a real relationship since.”

  He stood again.

  “So it’s important to me, almost more than anything else, that you trust me. Not because of the type of play we might get into, but because my childhood taught me that trust is one of the most fragile things in the world. You can’t buy trust. You can buy superficial love, but not trust.”

  Alice softened to hear those words. He can’t be like his father. He simply can’t be. Alice didn’t want to believe she was naïve enough to fall for a scam artist. She wanted to believe that dating a man like Russell would’ve sent up a million red flags screaming at her to run. Not Damon. Damon was more his mother so far. Julia would be so happy to know.

  Speaking of trust… Alice had yet to bring up Julia’s appearances.

  “Please tell me that you trust me. If you don’t, tell me what I can do to make you trust me, Alice.”

  She accepted his embrace, his kiss, and his eternal promises to be the man she needed him to be.

  When they made love that night, Monroe asked if her new friends had helped her with her training. Although Alice claimed to have stopped noticing them halfway through the day, they both concluded, after she managed to hold off orgasm for as long as Monroe commanded her to, that they had done a great job indeed.

  He was asleep when Alice uncurled herself from his naked embrace and walked across the room. In the pile of clothes in her suitcase was the black box Julia had given her over twenty-four hours ago.

  Alice didn’t look in it. She figured that part was none of her business. Instead, she placed it on top of Monroe’s suitcase, hoping that she had neither overstepped her bounds nor opened a can of worms to rival Pandora ’s Box.

  ***

  “Look who’s back!” Candice leaped off the couch the moment Alice walked through the door, suitcase rolling behind her. “It’s the star of Page
6!”

  Alice returned the hug she soon received. “What are you talking about?” She had traveled over three hours. Sure, it was with Monroe cuddling her while she watched a movie and he went over a presentation with someone on video chat, but all those changes in air pressure and altitude could do a number on a girl. Not to mention the time difference!

  “Girl, your face is all over the news again!” Candice ran to the kitchen and reappeared with a paper in her hand. “You and that hot hunk of a rich boyfriend are the talk of the town. Even people at work were talking about you guys.”

  “Wow. Even the porn stars?”

  “Especially the porn stars! Sally Scooter – you know, the one who won that award and posed in all those Instagram pics with me? – has the biggest crush on him and wants to know all the deets. She asked if she could come over for drinks after you got home.”

  Porn stars? In my living room? Would not be the first time. Or the last, probably. “He did make a big deal about me at that ball.” Alice left her suitcase in the middle of the room. Dee appeared in the open doorway behind her.

  “Whoa. Who’s that?”

  “My bodyguard,” Alice said with a sigh. “Don’t worry. She’s harmless. Unless you’re attacking me. I think she said she bench presses three hundred pounds.”

  Candice couldn’t take her eyes off the large woman closing the door behind her. “Hey,” Dee said, nodding to Candice. “I’m with her.”

  “You need a bodyguard?”

  If only you knew. “Apparently.”

  “She’s not like… gonna live here, is she? This was not covered in our roommate agreement.”

  “I only came in to introduce myself. I’ll mostly be checking in every day.”

  “Oh, well, in that case…”

  As soon as Dee left, Alice was free to haul her shit into her bedroom and start unpacking. Candice whistled as she saw the amount of designer dresses that spilled out of the otherwise small bag. “Someone’s being taken care of.”

  “Is it obvious?”

  “Next you’ll be telling me he proposed to you.”

  Alice laid out three dresses while she debated where the hell to put them in her tiny closet. “No. Not yet. I got a feeling that may be happening, though.”

  “You don’t sound too enthused about it.”

  Alice snapped her suitcase shut. “It’s awfully fast, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe a tad.” Candice shrugged. “I guess billionaires get to roll however they want. If he wants to marry some poor hottie, is it like you’re going to say no?”

  That didn’t get an immediate response.

  Apparently, there was no time to respond, even if she wanted to. For her phone exploded with life, the ringtone so recognizable that Alice dove halfway across her bed to get to it.

  “Hey,” she said, hair twirling around her finger. Candice made a gagging motion before vacating her roommate’s space. “What’s up?”

  Monroe’s voice was as cool and sensual as ever. I can picture him at his desk right now. The man had said he was going straight to the office. “I take it you arrived home safe and sound?”

  “The safest and the soundest.” Alice flopped down on her bed. Was it possible to miss her boyfriend so much already? “Don’t tell me. You already miss me and want to see me now.”

  “If I could spare the moments, I would. As it is, I have a lot of work to catch up on.” He chuckled. “Which includes responding to some PR attention. We are apparently making waves in the social world, not that I usually care about that.”

  “Of course you don’t. Not until you met me, anyway.”

  “You’re catching on.” His languid attitude was infectious. “You catch on so quickly, Alice. Soon there won’t be anything left for me to teach you.”

  “Oh, no.”

  “Don’t worry. There are still a few things to train you in. In fact…” Something tapped in the background. A pencil against his desk? “If you’re not busy this Friday night, I have my schedule cleared. I can’t think of a better time to really introduce you to my world.”

  “Your world?”

  “Alice, Alice… my love.” The chair creaked in Alice’s phone. “We are not the only people like us. I want to introduce you to the people I truly consider my peers, even if they think I’m from another planet.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. We’re going to take it back to the beginning. Where we first met.”

  Alice gasped.

  “I’m going to debut you as my girlfriend at The Dark Hour.”

  Chapter 13

  Alice hadn’t been home for two days before she was due back at the place where, as Monroe put it, everything between them began.

  Even though she knew her boyfriend owned the club, she tried not to think about it. Shit was embarrassing. While most of the people working there seemed nice, they were more than likely put out that Alice failed that stupid test and got herself fired. When she thought about Monroe’s “test?” She didn’t care if it led to their whirlwind of a romance. She cared that he had been a jerk about it.

  “You. Are. Stunning.” Monroe sat back in the nicer of two chairs in Alice’s living room. Never thought I would actually see him here. This apartment was much too pedestrian for a man like him. That’s why he sent over people like Ms. Clayborn, who now stood in the background and tried not to pay attention to the kink being displayed before her. She’s not looking anyone in the eye tonight. “I admit I worried that it wouldn’t fit you, my pet, but the shopkeeper really did know her measurements. All she did was look at your picture.”

  Don’t know how I feel about that. How many people in the world now stared at her photos, trying to figure out her measurements? Too many. “I’m glad that it delights you, sir.” She was freezing in this lingerie set, but who the hell was paying attention? Ha. Ha.

  When she received the ensemble her sweet Master had picked out for her earlier that day, Alice nearly doubled-over. One thing to ask her to wear sexy lingerie when they were alone, quite another to expect it of her when they were going out for the evening! A slick black trench coat was provided for the outdoors, but Alice didn’t doubt it was supposed to come off the moment they were in the club again. The poor girl was dressed in a simple black pushup bra and a barely-there thong that made her ass cheeks look ready for anything. Like some spankings.

  Black flats graced her feet. Her hair was pulled up in a loose bun, no decoration. Aside from the collar around her throat and the emerald ring on her right hand, she wore no adornments at all. Until Monroe presented her with a glittery black mask, anyway.

  “How does it feel?” Monroe stood from the well-used chair and tucked back some of her hair. The sweet gesture did not go unappreciated. Or did anything but make her feel so aroused that her nipples poked right through her bra padding. “Comfortable?”

  It made her nose itch a little, but otherwise it fit snugly over her eyes. The slits were big enough for her to see through, anyway. “I’m comfortable when I’m with you.”

  He picked up her trench coat and kissed her on the cheek. “Let’s get going, then. The party is probably in full swing by now. I should know. I’m throwing it.”

  Alice tied her coat tight and took his hand as they walked out of the building. Candice, who had to work and thus still did not see the full extent of Alice’s new lifestyle, sent her a text bidding her to have fun that night. Alice hoped she would.

  She wanted to believe that every night with her boyfriend would be fun. When they were returning to the scene of their original crime? Nerves returned. Not even the warmth of the backseat of Monroe’s limo could make her feel anything but chills.

  “Tonight will be exciting, my pet,” he muttered in her ear, hand stroking her bare thigh. “I think you’ll enjoy yourself immensely, once you get into it.” Monroe chuckled. “I have few rules for you tonight. All I want is for you to enjoy your role. You may be nervous now, but I think that once you soak up the atmosphere, you’ll get into it.�
��

  “I hope so, sir.” Alice was definitely into the way he touched her skin, that was for sure. She slid her hand between his legs as well, on the hunt for an erection.

  “No,” he said, pulling her hand away. “You have to ask permission. Best not to forget. I don’t want to have to punish you later for disobeying my simplest orders. I only wish to reward you with what makes you happiest.” That grin, when it was so genuine, if rare, always did Alice in. “I think I have some good ideas about what makes you happy.”

  They pulled up in front of a familiar block. Alice took in a deep breath. She would need it.

  Obey and have fun. If she told herself that enough times, it might start becoming second nature. Obey and have fun. The door beside her opened, a valet extending his hand to her. Obey and have fun. She quietly thanked the man as she waited for Monroe to join her on the busy sidewalk. Obey and have fun. She trusted this man. It was the other people she wasn’t sure she trusted to be good to her.

  “Right this way, Mr. Monroe.” The bouncer opened the main entrance to The Dark Hour, a short landing giving way to a staircase that dipped down into the earth. Music thrummed from within. “Ms. Culver.”

  Alice stepped back at how easily this man, whom she had only met the one day she worked at the club, said her name. What was his name again? Joe? He had quipped about her pretty hair when they briefly met a month ago. Now he recognized her as the boss’s girlfriend.

  Life sure changed quickly.

  “Mr. Monroe!” Shit! Now it was one of the coat check girls. “Would you care to leave us your coat tonight, sir?” The young woman glanced between her boss and old coworker.

  “Alice,” he said softly. As if jabbed in the ass by his word, Alice untied the front of her coat and let it drop off her body. The coat check girl noticed Alice’s naked midriff and arms as she took the trench coat. “How do things look in there?” Monroe then asked the young woman.