My Dom (Boston Doms Book 1)

by Jane Henry

  "Are you a naughty girl, Heidi?" he whispered in her ear. She licked her lips, and he felt himself grow hard with her bottom nestled up against him.

  "I can be," she whispered. "I think I need someone to make me behave." Her eyes closed as he continued to brush her hair, and he felt her grow heavier as she leaned back against him. "Are you up for the challenge?" she asked drunkenly.

  "Hell yeah," he said, and as he continued to brush her hair, he heard her stomach growl.

  "You hungry, baby?" he asked.

  "Starving," she groaned.

  "When was the last time you ate?" He brought the brush through her hair again, and her hair gleamed in the light.

  "Um…" her voice trailed off. He felt a twinge of irritation.

  "You don't remember?"

  "Well, I ate breakfast with you…" she said, her eyes opening, and looking at him sideways. "But I worked through lunch. I think Paul ordered out, but he got burgers and fries and I'm trying to watch my weight." He put the brush down and spun her around.

  "Not cool," he said, taking her chin firmly and making her look at him. "You can't skip meals. I want you eating normal meals, and no skipping."

  "Oh." She nodded, chastened. "Yes, sir."

  He reached out and smoothed the hair off her forehead. "I think you've got a baby girl in there, honey," he said gently. "You like when I take care of you. You like sitting on my lap and having your hair brushed."

  She bit her lip. "Okay. I'm not sure what that means, but I believe you."

  He nodded. "The thought of me punishing you for being a naughty girl," he said. "How does that feel to you? Does it irritate you? Or do you like the idea of me protecting you? Let's say, for example, you got a spanking for not going to bed when I told you. What do you think of that?" She kept her eyes focused on him.

  "Hot," she whispered. He nodded.

  "That's what I thought," he whispered back, tucking a stray lock behind her ear. "You like being my baby girl," he said. "We're going to get something to eat, and we'll try a few more things while we're out. Sound good, baby?"

  She grinned. "Sounds great."

  Looked like they'd be going to Tony's after all.

  Chapter 13

  Heidi added her signature to one final document in the proposal she'd prepared, then closed the folder and slid her chair back with a satisfied sigh. Her eyes automatically sought out the clock above the door to the lobby. Four o'clock, which meant she had another hour before she'd promised Dom she'd leave. Four o'clock, which also meant she'd been working without interruption for two hours. Not too shabby.

  Not so long ago, two hours of work wouldn't have even registered. Even a month ago, work was the thing she did from the time she opened her eyes (to begin compulsively checking her phone), until whatever time exhaustion forced her to push her laptop aside and roll over to sleep. But these days? Two hours was a record.

  For one thing, her man (Her man! A concept that never failed to make her belly flip!) liked to text her at various times throughout the day—sometimes a quick hello to let her know she was on his mind, other times with strict reminders or sexy instructions he'd dreamed up just to torment her, just to make sure he was on her mind.

  Like she could think about anything else.

  Her concentration was shot. She'd be sitting in front of her computer, like she was now, ready to churn out a report… and the next thing she knew, she'd be staring at her own blank, goofy expression reflected in the black screen of a monitor that had shut itself off while she'd been daydreaming.

  Thank God for Paul, she thought, as she clicked to open their project management app and noted that all of their active projects were on-track. He'd been pulling more than his fair share of weight around here recently.

  When he isn't busy acting as my therapist and D/s guru, of course, she thought wryly. Those early days had been full of freakouts and gushing wide-eyed wonder.

  Paul, he says he suspects I'm a 'baby girl' so I just Googled, and… ohmygod!

  Dom texted again! Says he wants me to drive carefully on my way home so that 'my baby comes back to me safely'. I can't even explain how amazing it feels to know I'm that important to someone!

  Seriously, Paul, do not compliment me on this blouse—it barely fits across my chest and I keep having to yank it up. But how can I tell him that I don't like him picking my clothes? He's going to be so mad.

  Hey, if you're ordering from Roadhouse, can you get me a burger? I know! I never get that stuff, but… Dom says my curves are exactly where he likes them and I'm not allowed to starve myself. I just love the way that man takes care of me.

  I can't call him 'Sir.' You have no idea how hard it is, especially when I'm mad. But when I tell him, he just smiles and reminds me that I'm his good girl and that I need to focus. What is that even about? I just don't know if I'm cut out for this.

  She couldn't imagine talking to anyone else about this stuff. Certainly not anyone currently in her life. Her sister would no doubt be horrified. Her father would murder Dom. Her mother… well, her mother would have Heidi committed for agreeing to this in the first place!

  But Paul had stoically endured her sentimental gabbing and had handled every freakout with patience, restraint, and the never-ending mantra, "Have you talked to Dom about this, Heids?"

  That last bit had been kind of infuriating.

  "Paul, you're supposed to be my friend, on my side," she'd finally told him, outraged that he refused to see how high-handed Dom was being about one thing or another. "Is there some kind of dom code? You're not allowed to criticize one another or you lose your membership?"

  But Paul had simply sipped his coffee calmly and thoughtfully, and broken the whole thing down for her in a few simple words.

  "Heidi, if we receive a contract with conditions you don't like, you sometimes ask my feedback or my advice, but you don't come and bitch to me about it. You've never once done that. Why?"

  Heidi had blown out a breath and admitted, "Because you can't do anything to change it. Yeah, yeah, I get it."

  But Paul had shaken his head.

  "Not just that, Heids. It's because bitching is what people do when they feel powerless, and when it comes to this stuff," a quick gesture that encompassed all the papers and folders on her desk, "you know you're not. If you really want a contract, if you know it's what's best for the company, you'll adjust your projections to make the client's terms work for you. If you really can't handle the terms, you'll tell them so, and nine times out of ten, they will adjust their terms because they want you to work on their project and they want you to be happy. Being a submissive doesn't mean you're powerless. Just think about it."

  And just like that, the whole situation had snapped into focus.

  Just because she was naturally inclined to be submissive didn't mean submitting was always supposed to be easy! And it was not a one-time decision—it was something she would have to choose every single day. Multiple times a day. If she wanted to please Dom, and God did she want that, then she would choose to step out of her comfort zone, and choose to trust him.

  And that meant doing something that was, for her, even harder than trying to follow his every dictate without question. It meant opening up to him, sharing which aspects of their relationship she enjoyed and which she struggled with, so that they had a relationship that worked for both of them.

  "You like letting me lead you, honey," he'd told her. "And in the same way, I like taking care of you. How can I do that if you don't tell me what's going on in that head of yours? You're not a robot. I don't expect this shit to be easy for you, and maybe you need a chance to ease into things. That's fine. What this relationship looks like today isn't what it's going to look like five years from now. Just keep talking to me, keep trusting me, keep working at it. When I know you struggle, but I see you choose to submit? That's beautiful, baby."

  And it was beautiful.

  But the idea that they'd be together five years from now, still working things o
ut? That was beauty beyond anything she'd imagined.

  She had never known that happiness like this existed. She'd always imagined that romance novels set an impossible standard, an unattainable fantasy. Now, she knew that the words on the page could never do justice to the reality. It was fun, it was hot, but it also nourished something inside her that she hadn't known was starving.

  They'd gone out to dinner with his brothers several times, and both guys, especially Tony, had been quick to welcome her to the family—joking, talking, and teasing her like the big brothers she might have had in some parallel-universe family that was more apt to rough-house and clown around than to plan political protests. They'd even asked her—commanded her, more like, since Dom's brothers had both inherited that same way of stating a request as a royal decree—to invite Hillary down over the holiday weekend for a barbecue.

  True to his word, Dom hadn't asked a single question about the Easterbrook analysis or the recommendations she'd make to the board. She knew it weighed on him, knowing that his staff or his students might take a hit, but he was determined not to let that shadow their relationship, and, as he'd told her gruffly, he knew she was damn good at her job and trusted her to do it right. Still, not long after their initial meeting, Heidi had officially handed the entire file off to Paul to handle at his own discretion. It was simply too hard to be impartial, and this relationship was too new and too important to her to risk—more important, in the long run, than personally overseeing the audit.

  When she'd told Dom, he hadn't made a comment… he'd simply brought out a new toy—a small, black leather flogger, and after giving her the most intense, sensual spanking she'd had yet, proceeded to make her climax harder than she ever had in her life.

  She squirmed in her seat just thinking about it.

  Unlike the incident at the school last week, which had made her squirm for an entirely different reason.

  She and Dom had been on their way home from the gym last Saturday when he realized that he'd left his spare phone charger in his desk at work and decided to swing by to get it. As he'd led her by the hand down the dark, empty corridor to his office, all dark and serious and Dom, she'd been seized by the need to see him smile, make him lose that business-like composure.

  "Principal Angelico?" she'd simpered in her best little-girl voice, pulling her hand away from his to lean dramatically against the bank of lockers that lined the hall outside his office. "I'm awfully nervous about this! I didn't mean to break the rules!"

  She'd bitten her lip and batted her eyelashes beseechingly, while running a hand across the thin tank top that covered her breasts.

  He'd frozen solid, one eyebrow raised, and she'd thought for a moment that he wouldn't play along. But then his lips had pursed like he was fighting a smile, and she knew she'd won.

  "Miss Morrow," he'd said, stroking his chin appraisingly as his eyes lit up. "You broke the rules, didn't you?"

  "Well, yes, sir, I suppose I did… it's just…" A pause while she ran her fingertips up and down her stomach, his eyes watching her every move. "I try so hard to be a good girl, sir."

  He'd smirked at that, even as he stalked closer, leaning in to tower over her.

  "I'm sure you do, Miss Morrow. But you've been very, very naughty… And I can't have naughty girls going unpunished, can I?" The last words breathed in her ear, tightened her nipples.

  "No, sir," she'd told him truthfully, as his teeth clenched down on her earlobe.

  And just as she'd been about to tell him what she'd do to make amends for her naughtiness…

  The freakin' office door had opened, and they'd barely had time to jump apart before Jay Fucking Divris had walked out!

  It had taken some fast talking on Dom's part to explain their presence at the school—Heidi had lost a thumb drive the other day, thought it might have gotten mixed up in Dom's papers, so he'd agreed to let her have a quick look around…

  On a Saturday.

  Dressed in gym clothes.

  With one car in the parking lot.

  She wasn't sure that Jay bought it, but he hadn't said a word. And after he'd left, Dom had taken the opportunity to show her, with the phone charger cord, what happened to naughty girls who tried to seduce their doms at their places of business.

  Ouch.

  She couldn't plug her phone in at night without remembering, and judging from the leering grin Dom gave her each night as she slid into his bed, he hadn't forgotten either.

  A knock on the frame of the open door nearly had her jumping out of her seat, her reverie forgotten.

  "Hey, Heids, got a minute?"

  Paul came in without waiting for a reply, brow furrowed and flawless brown hair standing on end.

  "Yeah, definitely," Heidi assured him. "Just doing that staring-into-space thing… again."

  He'd caught her at it more than once and had teased her relentlessly, but today he didn't crack a smile as he took his seat.

  "What's up?" she asked, concerned now. "Everything okay with your family? With John?"

  She'd been happy to see that Paul's love life had taken an upswing just as things with her and Dom had settled down, and she hoped his fledgling relationship wasn't responsible for the frown on his face.

  Paul looked startled.

  "Oh, yeah. John is fine, we're… fine." He waved a hand dismissively. "It's actually…"

  He blew out a breath and hesitated… behavior so unlike his usual calm, no-bullshit attitude that Heidi felt a knot form in the pit of her stomach.

  "Tell me!" she instructed.

  Paul nodded and reluctantly placed a folder on top of her desk.

  "Easterbrook?" she asked, glancing at the label. "You've been reconciling the budgets with the accounts to see if there is any surplus that could offset the loss of income from the alumni, right? I read your updated notes in the project tracker. What did you find?"

  It was hard not to get excited at the prospect of a surplus. She knew the problem wouldn't be that easy to solve—they might find a couple of thousand in surplus, not nearly enough to make up the hundreds of thousands of shortfall. Still, every penny helped. Frankly, she'd joked with Paul that she'd consider throwing the mother of all bake sales, or raffling off a car, if that would get them one step closer to closing the gap without cutting salaries or scholarships.

  But Paul didn't answer her question right away.

  "Jay sent me the updated financials for this month," he began, shifting in his seat, his eyes on the folder.

  "Right. Okay… and? Has something changed from what was projected?" she asked, when he didn't continue.

  "Actually… yes," he admitted. "The alumni donation numbers were up. Way above what we had noted in our projections."

  Heidi felt her eyes widen.

  "But that's great news! By how much? Enough to matter? Can I cancel the bake sale?" she joked.

  But once again, Paul didn't return her smile, and he still wouldn't meet her eyes.

  "What, Paul? Will you please spit it out? I suck at playing guessing games," she begged.

  Her phone buzzed on the desk between them, and both of them looked at the display.

  How's my girl?

  With a look at Paul, who somehow seemed to grow even tenser, she grabbed the phone and typed a quick reply.

  Doing very well. Half hour until departure.

  Perfect. Don't be late, baby. I have plans.

  Despite Paul's weirdness, Heidi couldn't help smiling as she set the phone back down.

  "How much do you know about this guy, Heidi?" Paul asked suddenly, sounding like a disapproving older brother.

  "Who? Dom?" The question, especially coming from Paul, was so startling she wasn't sure how to reply. "Since when are you concerned about Dom?"

  "Since right now. I mean, you overheard this guy having sex with this never-ending cavalcade of women—"

  "Cavalcade?" she scoffed. "He didn't do monogamy before me. I didn't do D/s at all, so what?"

  "And then suddenly he
steps right in and starts domming you left and right, all up in your business…"

  "All up in my… Are you kidding me? You're the one who told me—"

  "And then, next thing you know, oops," he threw his hands in the air dramatically, his eyes wild. "We're investigating his school, and haha! we didn't even trade last names before we jumped into bed and no one knew that there would be this whole conflict of interest!"

  His words hit her like a blow to the solar plexus, but she rebounded.

  "Conflict of interest? How? There's no conflict of interest, because I passed the files to you!"

  "But it doesn't look that way from the outside!" he exploded, standing up and dragging a hand through his hair. "It's not enough to avoid impropriety, we have to avoid even the appearance of impropriety if we want to maintain our reputation! And as soon as someone finds out about you and Dom the dominant, everything we've built evaporates!"

  Paul paced in front of the desk like a caged animal. Paul, who considered it a massive overreaction to even raise his voice, who had literally never lost his temper in all the years they'd worked together, no matter how ridiculous or demanding a client was, who kept his cool no matter how freaked out Heidi herself became, had completely lost it. And seeing him like this somehow helped her rein her own temper in and tie the pieces together.

  "You found something bad," she said calmly, as the facts finally slid into place in her mind. "Okay. So what exactly did you find?"

  He exhaled and sat down, all the energy draining from him at once, and he pulled two sheets of paper from the folder.

  "This," he set the first piece of paper down in front of her, "is the quarterly statement they initially provided us."

  "I recognize it," Heidi agreed, scanning the sheet.