by Jane Henry
Work together. Like partners. Equals. With clearly defined roles and authority.
"That sounds," she began, her voice abnormally husky. She cleared her throat and tried again. "That sounds perfect."
Dom nodded and one side of his mouth quirked up in a smile. "Yeah."
Paul cleared his throat meaningfully, recalling them to their surroundings, and Heidi dropped her gaze to her papers, rubbing a hand over her stinging nose.
"You're confident it can be solved?" she forced herself to ask.
"I am." No doubt whatsoever.
"Just that easy?" she challenged, smiling at him.
"Not easy," he argued, and she could hear the unspoken baby in the tender tone he used. "But with trust and effort all around? Hell yes."
Heidi nodded. As their voices continued to buzz around her, discussing the various reviews that would need to be conducted, she closed her eyes tightly. The wall that separated her professional mask from her churning emotions was crumbling and she needed a moment to shore it up.
"Ah, dang it!" Paul said loudly, and her eyes flew open. "Jeepers! I am such an idiot! I forgot my printout of the salary projections for next year! Must've left them on my desk!"
Heidi shook her head in confusion. Jeepers? Since when did Paul talk like a refugee from Leave it to Beaver? Plus, the salary projections were right there in the packet he'd prepared for her. She'd seen them just moments before.
"But, Paul, they're right…"
She grabbed her packet and began leafing through it, but Paul snatched the papers from her hands with a firm shake of his head.
"Nope. Sorry, Heidi, but I forgot to put them in both of our packets. Darn!"
He lifted woebegone eyes to Jay and gave an exaggerated gasp.
"Oh, but wait! Mr. Divris, you sent me those projections in the first place! Why, I bet you could print out another copy for us to review!"
"Uh…" Jay seemed taken aback by this strange display of emotion, and glanced around the table for help, but Heidi was as confused as he by her assistant's sudden personality transplant, and Dom… well, Dom just looked amused.
"I guess so," Jay allowed.
"Perfect!" Paul enthused, grabbing up all of his papers as well as Heidi's, and shoving them in his briefcase. "So why don't you and I go ahead and review those papers, Mr. Divris? Maybe in your office? And Heidi, you can go ahead and do the tour, and I'll meet you back at the office later this afternoon."
"The… the tour?" Heidi asked, as understanding began to dawn.
"I'd be happy to show you around the building, Ms. Morrow," Dom offered, his green eyes searing into hers. "Maybe discuss our respective opinions on things over lunch, as a gesture of good will?"
Heidi swallowed. "Oh! Of course. Yes. Definitely. A tour."
"Right," Dom said, rising to his feet. "Shall we?"
He held out his hand to her and gestured to the door. She practically leaped from her seat.
"Follow me, Miss Morrow?" he asked, as he pushed open the door.
"Yes," she said breathlessly. "I will."
Paul winked at her as she passed him.
"Alrighty, then! Meeting adjourned!"
The early-afternoon sunlight made a dappled pattern on the pavement as Dom swung his car into the nearly-empty lot in front of their buildings and screeched to a halt under a large oak tree.
She hadn't touched him at all during the twenty-minute ride home from the school, nor had they spoken since leaving the conference room. He'd walked down the school corridors without pausing, until they reached the back door of the school—the door closest to the parking lot, she learned. He'd held the door open, ushered her through, and steered her directly toward his car—parked in the headmaster's spot, she'd noticed. He'd opened her door, watched her swing her legs inside, and seemed to be on the verge of saying something… but he hadn't. The tension, the wanting, between them was absolutely combustible, and both of them seemed to understand that a single word or casual touch would set it off. Instead, he'd buckled himself into the driver's seat and she'd focused on the road, trying to hurry the car along by the force of her mind, as though the brutal pace Dom set (so much for him obeying posted speed limits! Ha!) wasn't enough. Anticipation bubbled in her veins, a sparkling eagerness and expectation that left her lightheaded. She was drunk on desire.
Still, once Dom had shifted the gear to Park and cut the engine, neither of them moved. The air between her arm and his fairly sparked with electricity, but neither of them acknowledged it, nor said a word. Now that they were here, the reality of what was about to happen, the import of it, seemed to hit them, and Heidi wasn't sure what to do next.
They were together now, that much was clear, if not from their stilted, innuendo-laden conversation around the conference table, then by their unceremonious escape from the school. And they would work together to define terms for their relationship, both inside and outside of school. But… what would that look like? What would the terms be? They needed to discuss all of this before…
Dom turned to look at her, and the heat radiating from eyes seared all the rational thought from her brain.
In an instant, she was fumbling for the door handle with both hands and running up the tree-lined path to her building, with Dom so close behind that she could feel his harsh breaths on the back of her neck.
She ran faster.
"Keys," Dom demanded, and just that single word made her tremble violently.
Shit! Where were her keys? In her purse, which she'd just left in the…
"Back in the car!" she moaned.
Without breaking stride, Dom swung right, towards his building. He quickly unlocked the door and Heidi stumbled through it, into the cool silence of his entryway.
Before she could draw breath, Dom was in front of her, pushing her back against the door, his body flush against hers, his lips on her throat.
Her arms rose to touch him, but he grabbed both of her wrists in his hands and pinned them to the door above her head.
"Once we start, Heidi, I'm not gonna stop," he told her, and she wasn't sure if it was a threat or a vow, but either way her answer was the same.
"Yesss," she breathed.
His tongue darted out to lick the sensitive spot just below her ear, a gesture of approval for her quick agreement, and Heidi felt her knees buckle as sensation overwhelmed her. Everything about him excited her—the sight of the broad shoulders beneath his dark blue suit jacket, the strong but gentle hold of his fingers on her wrist, the spicy smell of his aftershave, and the raspy arousal of his voice as he spoke to her.
"I don't know if you understood what you agreed to, back in that conference room, what you gave me, but here's our new agreement. You don't like something, you don't understand something, you're freaked out about something, you talk to me, and we will find a solution."
The steam of his breath against her throat made it nearly impossible to concentrate on his words.
"Right," she whispered, shifting her head to allow him better access.
"And," he said, pausing to grasp her earlobe with his teeth and make her gasp. "You do whatever you need to do when you're out there. You built yourself a career you're proud of. I would never want this, us, to fuck that up. But in here, Heidi…"
His voice descended to a growl.
"In here, you belong to me."
As he spoke the words, he pressed his hips more firmly into hers, and she could feel the hard length of his erection burning against her stomach, marking her.
She closed her eyes.
"God, yes," she whispered drunkenly.
And then suddenly he was gone.
Her eyes flew open. In the bright sunlight that flooded the entryway from the sidelights to the left and right of the door, she saw him standing several steps away, hands fisted at his sides, eyes fixed on her face, chest heaving beneath his fitted dress shirt.
"Shirt first, Heidi," he commanded, his voice raw. "Nice and slow."
"Sh… shirt?" She
could hear the dreamy quality of her own voice, the sound dampened by the thrum of blood in her ears.
"Show me, baby," he murmured.
She licked her suddenly dry lips.
He wanted her to strip for him?
Good. Lord.
She could feel a pulse low in her belly.
Eyes on his, Heidi lifted her hands to the top button of her shirt and took a step toward the hall that led to his bedroom.
He moved a single step to block her path.
"Right here, Heidi."
Here? In the bright sunlight coming from the frosted glass windows?
As though he could read the questions in her mind, he repeated, "Right. Here. Right. Now."
He slowly shrugged off his suit jacket and tie, then leaned against the wall and folded his arms, watching her.
If he had looked the slightest bit disinterested or aloof, if his voice had held even the slightest hint of the detachment he'd shown his other ladies, she couldn't have done it. But his eyes didn't so much as flicker away from her hands as they carefully slid down the placket of her blouse, freeing each button from its buttonhole. And the tension that gripped his body belied his casual pose, as did the massive erection tenting the front of his pants.
Mr. Angelico wasn't disinterested. Not at all.
When all of the buttons were opened, she shrugged and let the thin material fall to the floor. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for his next instruction.
"The camisole," he rasped.
Heidi was suddenly breathless.
Crossing her arms in front of her stomach, she slid the edge of the silky material from beneath her skirt and slipped it up, up, up. Each inch of her belly heated as she exposed it, warmed by the blazing heat in his eyes. It glided softly over her skin, raising goose bumps, tightening her nipples to hard peaks, until she lifted her arms completely and let the material fall to the floor with a soft whoosh.
"Christ." It was a whisper, a harsh release of breath.
Dom was breathing hard now—she could see his chest rising and falling, could almost feel the force of will required to hold him in place. Her own need was a savage thing—a clawing in her stomach stronger than anything she'd ever felt before. Still, she stood and waited for his next command.
"Skirt," he barked, his eyes holding hers for a single blistering instant, before returning to watch her fingers work.
Standing half-naked, following orders from a man who was fully dressed and thoroughly aroused, so eager to see her naked he hadn't bothered to take the short trip to the bedroom yet, Heidi had never felt more powerful in her entire life. Every molecule of Dom's focus, his every thought and every desire at this moment were concentrated on her, and she freakin' loved it. There was no room for doubt or embarrassment when he looked at her that way.
Heidi braced her heels further apart and reached for the closure of her skirt. The zipper made a scratching sound as she slowly, slowly slid it down, and she could practically feel his anticipation as he waited for the skirt to fall. She hesitated a moment, deliberately holding the fabric in place, waiting for him to notice and make eye contact, thrilled when he did. With a slow smile, she let the fabric go, and felt it pool at her feet.
"Panties… slowly."
His command had arousal spiraling in her belly, made her head light and her knees weak. Hooking her fingers into the waistband, she slowly peeled the last garment she wore down her body. Once the silk had reached her ankles, she stepped out and tossed the panties aside. With knees shaking harder, she reached a hand behind her to brace herself against the door, and waited for him to speak.
But he seemed to have lost the ability.
He was vibrating with tension, his hands splayed out on the wall behind him in an effort to hold himself back. She waited breathlessly for him to regain control.
She saw the moment he decided to abandon this game. With a harsh indrawn breath, he took a deliberate step toward her, and then another, like an animal hunting its prey—a man pushed to the limits of civility by arousal.
His hands skimmed slowly up her hip to palm her breasts, then further around to her back… then suddenly spun her around so her nipples pressed against the shockingly cold door.
"Are you my good girl?" he demanded, his hands skimming up her sides to collect her wrists and pin them to her lower back.
"Yes," she whispered without hesitation, her body pliant as she rested her cheek against the cool wood.
"But you misbehaved, Heidi," he said severely.
"But I thought… I thought we would work everything out? I thought we agreed…" Her thoughts had scattered like the dust motes spiraling through the air.
"That was later. This morning, Heidi," he reminded her, his voice a heated whisper in her ear. "You said you'd consent to punishment. You agreed."
Heidi moaned. She needed him to touch her. She needed him to kiss her. She needed…
"Heidi," he whispered, tugging her hair in way that was too firm to be playful. That tug seemed to free her from her stupor, while it resonated all the way to her womb.
"Yes," she moaned. "Yes, I agreed."
And she did. She wanted that punishment. She wanted his focus and his control and his need. She wanted him.
The first slap of his hand on her bottom was a shock. The second seemed to light a fuse connected directly to her clit. The third… the third had her pushing back against him, waiting for it eagerly. And then his hand was no longer spanking her, but rubbing her bottom with slow strokes that went lower and lower and built the fire into a conflagration.
"Oh, Dom, please," she begged, beyond caring how desperate she sounded.
"You won't walk away again," he crooned, pressing his erection against her stinging backside. "You'll never fail to answer a text from me again."
She shook her head wildly.
"Say it!" he demanded.
"I will… never, never run away again. I will… oh… I will never fail to answer a text!" she sobbed.
"That's my good girl," he approved, reaching around to pinch her hardened nipples in a way that made her lean her head back against his shoulder for support. "Fuck, Heidi. You're so sweet."
His tongue drew circles on her neck, making her crazy, while his hands skimmed down her front to tease her unmercifully.
"Shit, I can't wait. Baby, you make me lose my mind," he whispered. He positioned her compliant limbs in exactly the position he wanted them, bracing her arms against the door. She heard the hiss of his zipper, the rip of a condom packet, and then, before she had time to form a conscious thought, he was inside her so deep, so damn deep.
He paused for a moment like that, letting them both adjust.
"This is it, Heidi. There'll never be anything as sweet as this," he slurred. And somehow, knowing that he was as lost to this as she was, ratcheted her need even higher.
"Nothing. Ever," she breathed, knowing it was true. He began to move, fusing them together so that she couldn't tell where she ended and he began. And when the world exploded a moment later, she couldn't tell if the harsh cry echoing in the hallway was his or hers.
Chapter 12
Dom took in the view he'd never tire of watching—Heidi sitting at his kitchen table, legs tucked under her, checking her e-mail on her phone. She'd already been up early, ran to her apartment to take her dog out for a walk, and she came back.
She'd come back.
The fact that she looked totally normal and natural sitting at his kitchen table was not lost on him.
"Gotta check in with Paul," she murmured, and he had a quick, involuntary flex of jealousy at the sound of a male name coming from her lips, a guy she had to 'check in with'. She looked up at him. "My assistant," she said, growing sheepish. He felt sheepish himself.
Grunting in response, he chided himself for being all jealous and stupid over her co-worker. Of course, the guy's name was Paul. He'd met him just yesterday. He knew they had to have the talk, but he'd hoped it would be after he'd had his coffee.<
br />
He had to get his shit together. Never for a minute had he suspected she'd be working for the consulting company. There was a time when he'd have been more aware of details, but he'd slipped as of late, distracted by Heidi and all that had happened so quickly. He'd taken her home and gotten right down to it, what they both really wanted, what they both really yearned for. He hadn't been able to bring himself to give her a hard spanking—they were too new, and he could make his point clear without being too hard on her. He'd ease her into his expectations.
They'd both ease into it.
They'd made love, and when she'd brought up the work fiasco, he'd told her they'd talk about it in the morning, and to get some sleep. No, he'd commanded it. But she'd obeyed.
He'd needed some time to think it through.
They'd both risen before the sun rose, and she'd scooted over to her apartment while he got the coffee. Now was as good a time as any.
He looked out his kitchen window, seeing the sun rise low over the pine trees in the back of his building. He'd always loved this apartment view. No blacktop behind the kitchen, but a yard filled with dappled maples and sturdy pines. The leaves on the maples and oaks had just begun to fill in, and the stark contrast of naked branches against sky was beginning to blur.
He could feel her eyes on him as he stared out the window. He needed to show her this was going to work out.
He needed to show her he was in charge.
She needed it.
He needed it.
"Cream?" he asked. She nodded. "Sugar?" She nodded again. He handed it to her, watching as she poured cream and a dash of sugar into her cup. She stirred, lifted the cup to her lips, and sighed at the first sip.
"This is awesome," she murmured, and he wasn't sure if she was talking about the coffee, sitting in his kitchen, or the whole package.
Taking a seat across from her, he lifted his mug to his lips and took a long pull, feeling the hot, bitter liquid course down his throat. He took another swig, feeling ready to take on what he had to face this morning.
Workplace dynamics and potential wrinkles.
Setting ground rules with Heidi.