by Henry, Jane
“What’s on your mind, Giada?”
In a flurry of words, I tell him. “I have a family reunion this weekend.” I stifle a groan. “I so do not want to go at all. But I have to. It’s my grandfather’s eightieth birthday, and my aunts have been setting this up for months.”
He nods. “Okay, honey. So, we all have to go to family things we don’t like. Just go and get it over with. Why are you nervous?”
“I want you to go with me,” I blurt out.
I watch him blink, then look away. I don’t like that. My belly dips with apprehension when he strokes his beard contemplatively, and for one wild minute, I imagine I’m the one stroking his strong, prickly jawline.
“You don’t want to go,” I say, dejected. Ugh. This is why I didn’t want to ask him.
Shaking his head, he says, “No, of course I want to. I love spending time with you. It’s just that it’s a big step. Your family sees me, they’ll want to know how we met. And if word gets out—”
“I know,” I tell him. “But listen. We’ll be discreet. No one will have to know how we met, and no one in my family would ever suspect it.”
Shaking his head, he looks apologetic but firm. “I can’t do it, baby,” he says. “It’s not a smart move for either of us.”
My heart sinks. I so wanted him to go with me.
“I don’t want to go alone,” I whisper. “I don’t…” Fine, I’ll tell him the truth. “I don’t like being apart from you.”
His eyes grow fierce, his gaze on me like I’m the most important person in his entire universe. There’s adoration in those eyes of his, and I want to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him for looking at me like that.
“Then it’s time we make some decisions,” he says. Hope rises in my chest like the sunrise, illuminating everything with beauty and light. I mean something to him. He wants this. For the first time in my life, I’ve met someone who cares about me. Hell, who maybe even… loves me. And it’s so unconventional, but this is what I need. And one look at the man standing in front of me, and I know it’s what he needs, too.
I smile. I’ve been thinking this for a while now, but couldn’t ask him to risk what he’s worked so hard for. Standing, I reach for his hand and give it a chaste squeeze. “It is,” I say. “Tonight at Verge?”
He brings my fingers to his mouth and kisses the tips. “Seven o’clock sharp, so you don’t start the night over daddy’s knee.”
I grin. “Yes, daddy.”
Chapter Nine
Geoff
I arrive at Verge early, when Tobias meets me in the entryway. “Geoff,” he says, his gaze sober. “Need to talk.”
“Yeah, of course,” I tell him, following him to his office. When we arrive, I’m surprised to see Zack and Braxton already there. They lift their chins in greeting, and I do the same. Tobias shuts the office door behind him as I look warily at the guys sitting near me. Tobias never shuts his office door.
“What’s this about?” I ask him.
Zack speaks first. “We caught a guy taking video footage the other night,” he says. “Specifically, of you and your girl.”
I swear under my breath. “Any chance he’s tall, gangly, pimply?”
“Ha. Seems he already showed his cards,” Braxton says. “And we know exactly who he is. Langston Prince, nephew of the dean where you teach.”
“Shit,” I mutter.
“Yeah. But good news, man,” Braxton says. “I took care of it for you.”
Zack growls and gives Braxton a withering look. “It’s against the law to physically intimidate someone, and as a member of the police force, my hands were tied.” He rolls his eyes. “Brax, however, has no such compunction.”
“He broke the fucking rules of Verge,” he says. “Members sign an agreement not to record anything without the express written consent of a member. He did no such thing. So Tobias destroyed his contract and revoked membership and I destroyed his ugly little face.”
I snort and give Braxton a fist bump. “Considering my own hands are tied as professor, much appreciated, man.”
Braxton cracks his knuckles. “Any time.” Zack rolls his eyes.
“But the reality is, even though he’s no longer a member here, for all we know, the footage he took is out there somewhere, backed up,” he says.
I sigh, shaking my head, as I tell them about Giada being threatened in the hall earlier today.
“Be careful, man,” Zack says. “Something tells me this hasn’t blown over by a long shot.” He shoots Braxton a look like an older brother chiding his kid brother. “Hopefully someone didn’t stir the hornet’s nest.”
Braxton flips him off.
“Fair enough,” I tell them. “Thanks, guys. I think Giada and I are gonna have to play it safe for a while.”
I take my leave, and despite every warning bell that’s in me, I shoot her a text. “Babe, let’s cancel meeting up tonight. I’m not sure if it’s safe.”
A moment later, her response comes, and it breaks my heart a little. The little sad face smiley thing and two words. “Yes, daddy.”
I feel like I just made a horrible mistake.
Chapter Ten
I go to the birthday party on auto-pilot. I can’t stand being separated from Geoff. It’s only been a few days but feels so much longer. And after the text he sent me… telling me not to come to Verge. I know he’s right, but it feels so final. Like we need to break this off, and I wonder if maybe I’m just too young for him. Maybe I’m too flighty, Maybe I pushed the brat envelope just a little too hard.
I wear a little silver dress and heels, and look in the mirror, but my eyes are lackluster and distant. My stomach aches. I miss him so badly.
I don’t want to be here, but if he’d at least come, I would have been able to bear it.
My brother meets me at the door to the restaurant where everyone’s coming, staring at me with the typical disapproval. Emilio wears a gray Armani suit, and looks as if he just stepped off the runway for some GQ magazine. I roll my eyes. Typical.
“Hey, baby sis,” he greets.
I roll my eyes. “Hey to you, too.”
“Looking good,” he says. “But you look tired. Everything alright?”
“Yeah,” I tell him with a sigh. “Everything’s fine. I’m just tired.”
When he opens the door for me, I step inside, and he leads me to a private banquet room to the left.
“You need a keeper,” he tells me, his voice laced with disapproval. “You go to bed too late and don’t eat enough food. You told me before you sometimes miss your classes, and sometimes don’t pay your bills on time.”
Here we go again. I’m so damn tired of the lecture.
And what he doesn’t know is that I had a keeper. Someone who cared about me. Who wanted to be sure my needs were met. Someone who actually had the balls to take me over his knee when I needed it. I smile sadly to myself.
“Dad spoiled you, Giada, and I want better for you.”
“God, save it, Emilio,” I tell him through gritted teeth, when I feel someone come up beside me and take me by the elbow.
“So sorry I’m late.” I recognize his voice and his signature woodsy, masculine scene that makes my body tingle before I even turn to look. My heart sings. Geoff.
Emilio’s wide eyes take in our familiar stance. Geoff is clearly older than I am, and hell, he’s still my professor, but in that moment?
I don’t care.
“Emilio, meet Geoffrey,” I tell him. “Geoffrey, my brother Emilio.”
Geoff gives Emilio a disarming smile that I swear I’ve never even seen before. “Pleased to meet you,” he says. The little girl in me dances.
I greet my family and food is served, but when I turn to Geoff, we’re the only two people there. I reach my hand under the table and squeeze his knee. Too high. He nearly chokes on his water.
“You okay?” I whisper, leaning in close. “Daddy?”
His narrowed eyes warn me. “Watch it, young l
ady,” he whispers.
“Watch what?” I ask innocently, running my hand up the length of his thigh and letting one finger graze the very edge of his very enormous erection.
“Twenty,” he rasps out, and I almost withdraw my hand. That’s twenty smacks of something, and I think I’ll find out later.
I let my pinky trace the edge of his silky trousers. “Only twenty?”
His growl makes my panties dampen.
Emilio looks over at me from across the table. “Are you staying here tonight?” he asks. “Or going home?”
“Oh, I got a room,” I tell him nonchalantly, stifling a giggle when Geoff’s erection twitches against my hand.
“Time to go?” Geoff asks.
I stifle a giggle.
* * *
“Hands on that bedpost.”
I’m kneeling on the large four-poster bed in the hotel room, my fingers grasping for purchase in the heat of the moment. Not only did Professor Slade come to see me, he came prepared.
Rubber-tipped nipple clamps hang from my breasts, the chain swinging like a livewire of erotic tension from my nipples. My ass is striped with his belt, teeth marks peppering my thighs and neck. He’s taken me to the edge of climax so many times, a mere breath of air makes my clit swell. God, he knows what he’s doing. And I thought he’d just spank me.
“Please, daddy,” I beg. “I’m dying.”
I yelp when a firm smack of his hand connects with my naked ass.
“Daddyyyy.”
“Maybe the next time I risk my job coming out to you so you won’t be alone with your family, you’ll think twice before practically giving me a hand job under the damn table.” Another hard smack follows the first.
“Maybe,” I admit. I brace. “Or maybe not.”
“Giada,” he groans, before his belt smacks against the underside of my ass. I keen and moan, squirming and writhing, but he doesn’t stop until I’m so wet, I feel my thighs slick with arousal. My head spins, my heart soars, my mouth as dry as cotton. I’m on the edge of flying when I feel the belt clatter to the ground behind me. A whir of a zipper and a crinkling of plastic. I turn my head to the side to see him sliding on a condom. My pulse spikes. He hasn’t fucked me yet. He’s made me climax, and I’ve swallowed his come, but never have we done this yet, and the moment is special.
Coming up behind me, he grasps my hips in his firm grip, the head of his cock lining up at my slit.
“I want to fuck that tight pussy,” he grates in my ear. “Own that cunt of yours.”
“Yes,” I breathe. “Please. Yes, daddy. I want you to, because I—” I hesitate, but then decide to just go for broke. ‘Because I love you,” I whisper, closing my eyes.
Anchoring himself on my hips, he whispers in my ear. “And I love you, Giada. You’re my very special girl, and I will always love you. Protect you. Care for your every need.”
Tears blur my vision. “I know,” I whisper, just before he slides his cock between my folds. I moan, so full, on the edge of bliss already as he thrusts his way toward a perfect rhythm. Stroking. Thrusting. Claiming. We move as one until my climax builds to total ecstasy.
“Daddy,” I breathe, giving myself over to total surrender.
“I love you,” he says, over and over again, as he comes along with me. “I love you.”
Chapter Eleven
Geoff
One week later, I receive a summons to come to the dean’s office.
I know in my gut what this is. Our session was recorded. The dean’s nephew knows I scened with a student at a BDSM club, and my career is shot to hell. I mentally curse Braxton for roughing the kid up.
I shut the door to my car and square my shoulders. I’ll handle whatever comes to me.
Giada’s worth it.
I’ve met her at Verge every day this week. She’s funny and sweet and thrives under her daddy’s firm but gentle hand. We laugh at each other’s jokes and talk for hours, about writing and literature, our backgrounds and childhoods. She’s easy to talk to, and to my surprise, a natural sub. She’s done her research. It’s my privilege to show her the reality of it all.
And now… well, I’ll deal with whatever hand I’m dealt.
As I near the entrance to the large building that houses the offices for the English Language Arts, my phone buzzes.
Giada.
It feels risky answering a call from her here, but I need to.
“Yeah, baby?”
“Daddy!” She’s so excited I can practically see her bouncing on her feet. “Guess what?”
“What?” I find the office I need to go to, and make my way there.
“My book was accepted. I’m being published! Not only one, but the entire series.”
I blink in surprise. This is a game changer. “Yeah, baby?”
“So no more classes for me, daddy. They want not only this series, but a whole five-book one after this. The class I took with you? The last one I’m taking.” She lets that sink in. “I’m not your student anymore.” There’s a pregnant pause on the phone.
“Not my student,” I say quietly. “But still my babygirl. I’m so proud of you.”
I can practically hear her smiling on the other side of the phone.
I feel lighter. Hopeful. She’s no longer a student here, which could change whatever happens with the dean. And now, she’ll be a published author. I grin.
“See you tonight, and we’ll celebrate,” I promise.
No matter what happens today. I don’t tell her where I’m going next.
“Thank you, daddy,” she responds. “I can’t wait.”
I shut off my phone and slip it in my pocket, then square my shoulders to face the dean.
I knock on the door and ignore the way my gut clenches, my palms sweaty.
I can leave. She’s no longer a student here, but if I have to, I’ll resign quietly and find another position somewhere else.
Somewhere with Giada.
“Come in.”
I open the door to find Debra and three of her colleagues sitting next to her.
Shit.
“Shut the door behind you,” she says with a nod. I do, then turn to face them. This is it. I know it is.
“Please sit, Geoffrey.”
I gratefully fold myself into the chair facing them all, and fold my hands in my lap.
No matter what happens. No matter what’s said. Giada is mine, and I don’t regret a thing that I’ve done.
“Geoffrey,” Debra begins staidly, then her eyes crinkle into a smile. “We’d like to offer you a promotion.”
Chapter Twelve
Giada
Six months later
“Daddy, it isn’t really fair, you know.”
“Oh, yeah, little one?” I’m sitting on his lap and he’s playing with my hair. I moved into his place shortly after he got his new office at the school, and I’m loving my job as a full-time writer. No more early hours. No more arriving late to class.
I still get spanked over his desk, but now that’s because I fail to correct my comma splices after he’s edited my drafts, not because I’m late to class.
“I know of no other writers whose doms are their editors. It just isn’t fair. You’re tougher on me than any other editor I’ve ever heard of.”
“Mmm?” he murmurs, not at all repentant as he breathes in my scent and sighs in contentment. “So you think the right thing to do is to allow your errors to go uncorrected?”
I squirm on his lap, getting turned on already at his insinuation.
“Yessss,” I say with a smile, my words ending in a hiss as his tongue trails a lazy path along my collarbone. “N-n-no fairrrr.”
My eyelids flutter shut as I squirm on his lap. “Dadddyyyy.”
“I think you have it made,” he says, one hand traveling down my back to land on my ass and give it a sharp squeeze. I squeal.
“A daddy who takes care of you. Helps you work.” He pauses. “Loves you.”
I burrow my head on h
is chest, the knowledge that my daddy loves me filling me with warmth and pleasure. “I suppose I should consider myself lucky. I could have ended up with Professor Stodgy.”
His shoulders quake with laughter as he turns me over his knee and gives me a sharp spank for good measure.
I crane my head and look up at him. “But I love you, too. Even if you can be a total hard-ass.”
“Which is exactly what you need.”
I have nothing else to say as he turns me onto his lap and takes my mouth with his. I give myself over to him.
Showing up late for class was the best mistake I ever made.
The End
NYC Doms
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Although each book is a stand-alone novel and can be read in any order, the chronological order is as follows:
Deliverance
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Tobias Creed likes things done his way, and he likes his women ready to submit. No strings attached. Until the night he meets the one woman who challenges him, practically begging to be taken over his knee.
As a single mom to a child with special needs, Diana McAdams does things her way. She’s in control and doesn't have time for love. Happily-ever-afters aren’t for her.
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Safeguard
She's feisty, gorgeous, impossible.
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I don't do half-assed relationships. When I set my sights on the most headstrong, tenacious submissive I've ever met, I'm all in. I'll show her the dark, sensual world she craves, dominate her, and leave her begging for more. But when her safety's endangered, she needs more than a dom: she needs a safeguard.