by Cynthia Dane
She didn’t feel very powerful right now.
Chapter 12
Alice was not allowed back at the office until Monday. She was discharged Friday morning and went straight home, where her husband had oh-so-nicely summoned not one but a team of interior designers to start going over nursery ideas.
In truth, Alice was not in the mood to consider her gestational fate. There was no confirmation that she was pregnant yet, and quite frankly, she didn’t want to get her hopes up or… worse… have more panic attacks over the fact she might be having her first baby.
Is this what I want to bring a son or daughter home to? Alice sat in the middle of the biggest guest room, currently occupied by a king size bed and three designers giving their opinions on how to turn the well-lit room into a charming yet sleek nursery. Alice heard their words but did not retain them. She was too caught up in the fury she kept abated in her heart.
A baby. Not only her first, but the child who would become the heir to a vast, imposing fortune. So much responsibility rested not only on Alice’s shoulders, but her child’s. Her unborn child’s. Which was better? A son, so nobody would ever contest his place in the family? A daughter, whom she would be able to better relate to? Alice wished there was a way to influence the sex of a baby. Yet if there were, millions of women would have figured it out thousands of years ago. We would’ve all died out because no girls were ever born.
Alice didn’t mind staying home on Friday, even though she knew she was of better use in the office. There were meetings to prepare for. Profiles to memorize. Algorithms to calculate. Of course, she could’ve done these things at home, but her and Monroe’s mutual goal of trying to create a work-free sanctuary meant Alice spent most of her time reading or watching TV. She wished she had something better to do with her time. Nobody could come visit her because they were too busy.
On Saturday, she knew it was time to make an appearance. Not to mention the cabin fever driving her bonkers. So she grabbed Dee and went down the street to a cozy café where she could catch up on some work. She didn’t need Alisha, who was currently helping Monroe at the main office. All Alice needed was a cold drink and her binders and tablet.
“Liv Smith, 0.5% shares. Might sell.”
Something caught Alice’s attention from the corner of her eye. She glanced up. A man, dressed in all back and sitting at the coffee bar, slyly snapped a picture of her with his phone.
Dee saw him too. “Be right back. Gonna fuck that pap up.”
Alice ignored the confrontation between pap and bodyguard. She was more focused on the blond woman sashaying into the gourmet coffee and tea café as if she owned the place.
(As Alice later came to discover, Lana Andrews did own this café.)
“Well, well!” Lana stood between Alice and the pap. He managed to steal a picture of them both before Dee landed him on his ass outside. “Look who’s here! I had heard you were in the hospital. Good to see you’re well.”
Alice motioned to the chair on the other side of her table. Lana took a seat without having ordered anything – and yet a barista walked right over with a latte. A cute heart swirled in the foam. I want coffee. I want tea. Fuck me. Alice decided the moment she accepted she was probably pregnant to stop drinking “bad” things. There went her coffee addiction.
“Had a small scare. Nothing serious.”
“Good!” Lana glanced at the binders Alice quickly shut and shoved to the side. “Working on a Saturday? Girl, even I don’t do that anymore. Then again, I’m what, ten years older than you? Sheesh. You’re so young.”
Alice would’ve been shocked, but the profile she had said the real estate mogul was right at forty. Now that she studied the woman’s appearance, she could see it. Lana looked to have had minimal work done, but her makeup and hair were perfectly planned to hide as many wrinkles and blemishes as possible. Someone took great care of her skin, though. One day, when Alice had settled into her role as a billionaire’s wife and business partner, she would start asking around about beauty regimens.
“I was set back after my health scare on Thursday. Need to find a way to catch up.”
“Ah, yes, I heard all about you and your husband’s new hospitality ventures. Restaurants and clubs, right?”
Alice sat back. “You heard that?”
“Of course I did. It was all over the business page by Friday. Besides, my husband and I are in real estate. You think we weren’t the first ones called by your assistant to start setting up appointments to see properties?”
It truly was a small world, wasn’t it? Or at least on this level. “That’s kind of you.”
“Kind? Pshaw. Hate to break it to you, but we’re set to make millions off you two. That makes us better friends, though.”
Alice did not doubt that’s how it worked.
“So! Pardon me for jumping right into the gossip, but this girl is merely on break and has to meet someone in a bit. Anyway, Monica Warren and I were having a little chat last night and she mentioned that you stopped by her place to talk babies and BDSM.”
“Babies?” Alice almost forgot the jokes flying around about Abigail Warren and unborn Monroe progeny.
“Don’t look so shocked. As a woman, the moment you look at some fleshball everyone starts gossiping. I’ve found out no fewer than ten times from the papers that I’m pregnant. According to them, my husband and I have had enough children to man an army. Oh, and we’ve both had illegitimate children from here to Timbuktu. Actually, I think we might have more out of wedlock children than children together. Fancy that.”
Alice looked to where the pap had been sitting only a few minutes ago. “I can’t wait.”
“And I can’t wait to get to personally know you and Damon Monroe better over these next few months. Say, why don’t you come over soon? We would love to be the first to host the now infamous Monroes.”
“Infamous?”
“Honey.” Lana stood with her latte, purse strap slipping down her arm. “When you’re a nobody who gets suddenly hitched to one of the richest bachelors in the country, you’re infamous. But I love me some infamous women. Tootles.”
“What was that about?” Dee asked, as soon as Lana Andrews and her huge cat-eye sunglasses exited the café. Did she take the latte cup with her? Ah, well, when one owned the whole building… “I turn my back for one second to take care of one fly and it’s like I’ve gotta swat another.”
“No swatting necessary.” Alice opened the binder on the bottom of her stack. Didn’t take long to get to the As. “Lana Andrews. Owns 3% shares. May sell.” “I quite like her.”
Dee shook her head. The more people did not approve of her cavorting with Lana Andrews, the better. That meant she was probably on Alice’s side.
***
Monroe was not want to speak of work when he returned from his business dinner that evening. Instead, conversation with him revolved around the state of Alice’s womb and if she had made decisions about the nursery.
She had been afraid of this. Not just her husband getting ahead of himself, but her identity switching from wife and business partner to mother of his children. While Alice agreed that any possible offspring would take precedence over other matters, or at least in the first few months, she would like to talk about other things as well. Don’t be too hard on him. He’s excited. Monroe was good at keeping a neutral façade, but once they were in private, his smile broke and he spoke more to Alice’s stomach than her face.
There’s nothing there, dude. Or at least nothing of substance. Can we wait until it’s developed ears before pulling that shit?
“Hey,” Alice finally said on her way to the bathroom. “Think we could talk about something else for a few? For one, we’ve been invited to the Andrews’ for dinner sometime soon. They want to get to know us as a couple and find out how many properties we want to buy.”
“I’m sure they do.” Thank God. There was his business voice again. Alice shed her silk robe and stepped into the shower. Her fi
ngers glided over the control panel dictating water temperature and how hard the jets hit her skin. Hard. Harder. She liked shit hard these days. Her husband remained on the other side of the glass door, undressing to join her. His eyes rarely left her naked form, even after the glass began to fog up with steam. “They really love money!” Monroe called through the thick glass. “Almost as much as they love kinky sex!”
The door slid open once Monroe was naked. Hello, gorgeous. Alice, whose hair was barely wet, flattened against the tiled wall the moment Monroe entered the shower and caught the full spray of hot water. Making me look right at his package. Mmhmm. Great. Now she was horny. That seemed to happen at the drop of a hat, assuming she wasn’t having a panic attack.
“Kinky sex, huh?” Alice kept her hands behind her back. Monroe’s hands, however, pressed against the wall on either side of her head. He loomed over her like an incomprehensible Greek demigod. One pec, two pecs, three pecs, four… Yup. All six were accounted for. “Are they kinkier than you?”
“Hmm. They may or may not be key investors of The Dark Hour. Considering how much business we’ll be doing with them in other fields… yes, you should definitely become Lana’s BFF, or however you say it. She’s not a woman you want to cross, but she is forgiving if she thinks you’re hot.”
Alice’s fingers danced on his wet skin. “You would know, huh?”
“I’ve seen her and her husband in some compromising positions over the years. All of their own happy making.”
“Uh huh. Did you ever partake in these compromising positions?” Alice was merely teasing him.
Monroe’s smile stiffened. “Perhaps. They’re swingers. Things happen.”
“What!”
“You honestly can’t believe that people like that are swingers?”
“Yes, but…”
He pressed closer to her, his cock becoming harder the more he touched her. “I once had a girlfriend – if you put it like that – who was into multiple partners too. It was a wild time at twenty-six.” Monroe continued to chuckle as if he didn’t share something scandalous with his wife. “Was it only five or so years ago? Anyway, there may have been enough shots to make something happen there.”
“Wait. Wait. You’ve slept with her?”
“Alice,” he growled against her forehead. Vibrations swarmed her nerve endings. “I’ve slept with every hot and rich woman who would have me. Which is most of them.” He cocked his head in wistful thought. “Some of them were too good for me, apparently.”
“Uh huh.” Alice crossed her arms. No boobs for him if this was where the conversation was going. “Who are these women who have rejected you? I need to go shake their hands.”
“A man never not-kisses and tells.”
“And with whom have you slept, besides Lana Andrews? I need to know who to clock should they look at you.”
“Why, Mrs. Monroe, are you jealous?”
Of course I’m jealous, dumbass! Last thing hormonal and panicky Alice wanted was to imagine her raw powerhouse of a husband on top of Lana Andrews. Let alone when he was twenty-six. How old did that make her? Thirty-five? Fucking cougars! Alice would figure out how to get over it later, before she saw Lana again. “Hey, you never told me you once slept with my husband. When’s yours available? Let’s make this equal, honey.”
“Speaking of kinky.” Monroe tipped her chin up for a flirtatious kiss. Water dripped between their lips. “Been a while before since tried some new things, my pet.” His finger drew a line where her collar usually rested, temporarily taken off for her shower.
“Been a while? Didn’t we have a whole night roleplaying the other night?” Alice was the naughty secretary in need of a good spanking. She had flubbed up how many documents again? Punished me so hard that my ass is still sore. “Unless you’ve got something more hardcore in mind.”
“I always do.” Monroe touched her cheek, wet fingers warm and delightful. “There are things I’ve been fantasizing about doing to you ever since we met. I only get distracted before I can bring it up.”
“Distracted doing what?”
He purred into her ear. “Fucking you.”
Teeth grazed her earlobe. Alice counted his abs again, this time with frisky fingertips that quickly wandered down his happy trail and to the naughty boy reaching out to her below. “You do that a lot.”
“What? Fuck you? Are you complaining?”
“Absolutely not.”
Their kiss was explosive enough to fog up the shower, hot water excluded. Alice instantly forgot every problem haunting the back of her mind. She also soon forgot the whole reason she entered the shower was to wash her hair and shave.
“You and me forever, my love.” Monroe’s voice always became huskier when his cock neared her slit. Alice wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, moving her face away from the hot stream of water pouring from the showerhead. “I’m going to make sure of that. Nobody will ever come between us.”
It was so easy to believe him when they made love. How could Alice disbelieve that man surging into her, telling her how much he wanted her, loved her, was going to keep her forever? The way he fucked her always spoke of a man who knew how to do many things: love, pleasure, and protect. Alice would never deny that her husband was anything but passionate.
Yet was passion enough to secure their future? Alice couldn’t let herself think that. There were more pressing matters. Like how she was going to walk the next day.
***
Alice woke up late Sunday morning. Monroe was already gone, but she didn’t panic. He had a business brunch to attend and would be back in the midafternoon.
The sunlight was enough to rouse Alice from bed. Yet she rolled over, hand landing on a note and a small box on her husband’s pillow.
“I haven’t even left and I miss you already. You look like an angel sleeping so peacefully. Sweet dreams, my love. When you do wake up? I hope you enjoy the present I’ve left you. I am so looking forward to seeing you when I get back later.”
Alice was awake now! She sat up straight in bed, snatching the white box and opening it as quickly as possible. After pushing aside some thin tissues, she found something… most unexpected.
By now she should have known to always expect the unexpected with a man like Damon Monroe.
Is this what I think it is? Once upon a time, the man gave her some Ben-Wa Balls to try on for size. Now he gifted her a pretty pink plug for her derriere.
On one hand, Alice instantly clenched. On the other? She couldn’t wait to get her day started and her virgin ass to the bathroom.
Chapter 13
“Do I need more lube?” Alice asked her reflection that question as she slathered a generous helping of lube all over the plug. “I mean, it’s kinda big…”
Could her reflection actually answer that question? Not like Alice had ever shoved something up her ass before. Wait. That’s a lie. I’ve had a colonoscopy. Some would have said she was too young to worry about such things. Now she was glad to somewhat know what to expect as she slipped the plug into her ass.
“Hoooooly shit.” Alice gripped the counter as shivers ripped through her. That wasn’t the only thing that felt like it ripped through her. Was it supposed to feel like that? Was she supposed to feel like she was going to… well… at any moment? So glad I took care of that already. Alice regulated her breathing before pulling up her silk panties.
She went back into the bedroom and texted her husband. “Hello, stud. I appreciate your gift. It’s currently residing somewhere quite naughty. What are you going to do about it?”
Ten minutes later, she received a response. By then she was dressed in loose jeans and a peplum blouse. “I’m going to fuck you in the ass is what I’m going to do about it.”
Alice met a lunch already prepared for her on the dining room table. Lissa was nowhere to be seen, having Sundays off. That didn’t mean she didn’t make sure the Monroes weren’t situated for the day before taking off. Good thing Alice was alone, th
ough. She didn’t need someone witnessing the face she made when she sat down with a fucking butt plug in her ass. I only want to eat my sandwich, man.
She picked up her phone after taking her first bite. “Been fantasizing about it, huh?”
“Damnit, Alice, I think about fucking every hole you have at least once a day.”
“You do that.”
“I’m at a fucking church brunch and you want me to think about fucking you in the ass? What kind of siren are you?”
“Hey, you’re the one who left a butt plug on your pillow for me to insert at my convenience. You’re going to come home and give it to me good, right?”
“DAMNIT ALICE.”
“Aw, is my poor husband hard beneath the picnic table?”
“It’s a three-course brunch at St. Michael’s Cathedral, but essentially.” Alice chuckled and readied another reply. Except her husband was furiously punching letters into his phone and cut her off every time she tried to type something. “You better be ready for me when I get home. I’m going to give you plenty of warning. I want you ready by the time I walk through the bedroom door. I fully intend to come home to my wife available to me. I don’t care how barbaric or chauvinistic that sounds. Today my cock is calling all the shots, and the shot it wants right now is your hot ass.”
My, didn’t he have such a way with words!
“Yes, sir.” Alice carefully typed her way through a bite of her sandwich. “I will be waiting for you. Until then, do mind your physiology when you’re shaking hands with the bishop. I don’t want to see your picture in the paper sporting a hard-on stiffer than the bishop’s posture.”