“Thanks, you’re a life saver!” Joe rushed out before Mariel could protest. She was left in the room with what promised to be an all day, and probably all night job.
She sighed heavily and sank into the chair, dragging the closest box to her. There was probably a more efficient way to do this. A company could come. But she had told Joe she’d help, and she might still be able to get some reading snuck in as she worked. Also, though she wouldn’t admit it, she’d be able to avoid Dallas if she was in this cramped room and he couldn’t complain that she was shirking duties.
With that, she opened the box and began to shred.
* * * *
Hours went by. Mariel had grabbed a little of the catered lunch but quickly disappeared when Dallas had shown up. She had caught a glimpse of him and her heart began to pound and her pussy ached. Even after everything he had done to her, she still wanted him. Probably because of what he had done to her. Her body’s response made her feel dirty.
Cheeks burning with the memory, she hid in the room and kept making her way through the boxes of old files.
It was tedious and God, was she bored. Most of the papers didn’t lend her the information she had hoped for. She had been looking for campaign notes, speeches, research. Instead she found a lot of political statistics, old e-mails, accounting, and even some sluggish notes taken in senate sessions.
Once she had found the transcription of a filibuster, and had been excited until she realized a person filibustering could fill box after box with transcribed spouted nonsense. It made sense; bore the senate to breaking, bore the reader to breaking. Those quickly got shredded.
Time passed until she wasn’t even aware of how long she had been there. She had stopped reading long before, the words all blending together into a fugue of ink and nonsense.
It was well past time to stretch and see what was happening in the office.
Everyone was gone. When Mariel stepped out, it was into darkness. Tiny lights glowed in the hallways but it was silent.
Mariel felt a small thrill at being locked in. No one had come to find her or say goodbye. Unsurprising, she hadn’t been essential to anyone except for food and coffee.
She walked through the office on her tip-toes, looking at the empty desks. It was endearing, really, the tiny touches of overwork and impatience at everyone’s stations. Half-empty coffee cups, papers strewn about. On instinct, Mariel grabbed a trash bag and began to throw away the coffee and food plates left around. She was so relaxed she didn’t hear the door that opened behind her.
“Once again, I find you where I would not expect you.”
Dallas’s voice rippled through her and she shuddered, terrified. She gripped the trash bag tight in trembling hands, avoiding his gaze. “I’m just cleaning up.”
“After midnight?”
Shit, was it that late? She hadn’t even looked at the time.
“If I didn’t know any better, Mariel, I would be concerned that you were here at this hour. What are you doing, really?”
His tone was accusing, cold. She fumed. He couldn’t possibly be upset at her for the previous night. She had left because of him! He had as good as kicked her out after having his way with her with his ‘guest bedroom’ stunt.
“Dallas, I got caught up doing work. I didn’t know it was so late.”
“Doing what work? I’ve given you nothing to work on.” His voice was low, dangerous. He was trying to threaten her, she realized. His words rubbed her the wrong way.
She flamed and looked him in the eye, pissed. “It’s true. I’ve been here for weeks and you’ve given me nothing to work on. Not anything real, anyway. I’ve done everything you asked for and gone above and beyond and still you treat me like a maid. I found something to work on. It might be shredding, but it needed to be done. Since you think so very little of me, I figured I would stay out of your way.” Spitting her anger at him warmed her. So, too, did his presence. It didn’t escape her that she was alone with him, again.
The last time had ended with him behind her, taking her for all she was worth. This time she wouldn’t just gullibly let him manipulate her.
“You were the one who left, E.B.” His ice-cold tone had disappeared. Now his voice was hoarse, blaming.
He was blaming her? Who was this guy? “My name is Mariel, Dallas. When you fuck a girl, you can at least call her by her name. You belittle me enough here, I won’t let you take that away from me. I’m not interested in being controlled or used by you. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to finish my job. Because believe it or not, I do work, no matter what the job is. And I do it well.”
She threw the bag into a trash bin and stormed past him, even daring to let their shoulders roughly brush as she went by. Mariel had learned her lesson the night before. She didn’t look back.
In the shredding room she exhaled heavily, feeling good. She closed the door, shutting him out. Screw Dallas. Maybe not in the way she wanted, but definitely in the way he needed. She didn’t care if he’d spoken well of her to Roger. Didn’t care if he was just thinning the herd. She’d worked hard to get where she was and he couldn’t take anything, but especially her dignity, away from her.
A gentle knock at the door made her jump, squeaking. “Mariel, may I come in?”
His voice, honey and rough, sounded different. Pleading, almost. Almost.
“You’re just going to do what you want, Dallas.”
She was right. He stepped in without waiting for her approval. His shoulders were pulled back, tight, with his arms crossed in front of his strong chest. In the small storage room, his size made her feel dwarfed. She shrank into herself. His face, though, wasn’t full of the rage she had anticipated. Instead, his usual sneer was a frown and his brow wrinkled in worry.
She waited for him to speak. He didn’t. Instead, for once, he avoided her gaze. It was unique, and terrifying, she thought, to be the one commanding the situation. She could feel how uncomfortable he was.
“Mariel, I never wanted for you to feel used.” It was as close to an apology as she could expect, and she knew even that didn’t come easy for him.
“But you do mean to control me.”
“Yes.” His voice grew more assertive and he met her gaze. “I do mean to do that. I like it. I need it.”
“What if I don’t want to be controlled?”
It was the wrong thing to say. A challenge. He heard it, too. He took two steps toward her, forcing her to move back until her rump hit a desk holding several file boxes. His strong body pinned her in and she was glad for the table’s support as the strength in her legs vanished.
“You do want to be controlled. Maybe not in the office,” his hand reached up, fingertips lazily brushing some hair out of her face, eliciting a shiver from her. “But when you were under me, you wanted it. I could feel it. I could hear it in your moans.”
He pressed closer, nudging her further up the desk, nestling himself between her legs. She could feel his desire pressed into her hot center and loath as she was to admit it, he was right; she did want it.
“I don’t mind you giving me direction, Dallas. In the bedroom or in the office. But I need…” she bit her lip, trying to phrase correctly.
“What do you need?”
“Trust. I need you to trust me. I’m smart, Dallas. And capable. I need you to trust me, or you are just using me. I can’t bear it.”
His fingers hesitated as the swept lightly up her back. “That’s not easy for me.”
“Tough. That’s the deal.”
He kissed her. It was different from the kiss in the limo. She wasn’t tipsy on champagne or his closeness. He wasn’t making a point, trying to force her to submit to him. This kiss was shared, their tongues sweeping the other’s, their breathes shared. Mariel melted into him.
Slowly, with care, he undressed her. His fingertips slid along her skin, tracing delicate patterns on her sensitive flesh. Compared to the primal touches of the previous night, Mariel found this slow gentleness a
surprising torture. Every attempt she made to grab him, to speed up the tempo, was stopped quickly by his strong hands.
“Remember, Mariel,” he murmured against her skin. “I need the control.”
And so he did, undressing her inch by inch.
When she and Dallas were both naked he swept the boxes onto the floor. Piles of papers and files scattered at their feet and Mariel couldn’t have cared less at the moment. Dallas lifted her onto the table and began to kiss and nibble his way down. He suckled her nipples, slow, hard tugs until she was begging him to touch her, to be inside of her. Instead he worked his way even lower until he was between her thighs, his mouth on her wet slit.
She had said that when she did a job, she did it well. Apparently he believed in the same principle because his mouth was supremely talented. His tongue traced her folds, sweeping up and down, teasing. When she began to shudder and call his name, he slid two fingers into her and clamped his lips on her clit, sucking hard. Mariel came hard, rocking against his face.
Dallas moved up, kissing her. She could taste herself on his lips.
He didn’t wait, pushing into her, his hands gripping her hips and grinding her to him. He slid in easily, despite his size, her pussy soaking from his ministrations. With agonizing, measured thrusts he pumped into her, forcing her to feel every slide, every stretch. Her hands reached up, trying to wrap around him.
“No.”
Without stopping his thrusting, he took her hands and placed them at her sides on the table. He leaned his own weight on them, pinning them. His large hands dwarfed her petite ones. Unsteady, she was forced to lean back and wrap her legs tightly around his waist to stay up. It pulled him in deeper. Dallas’s groan rumbled in his throat as Mariel threw her head back, gasping.
He kept her there, the weight of his hands grinding the fine bones in hers together, creating that delicious mix of pleasure and pain she now craved.
She could feel the heat building again and locked her ankles behind him, encouraging him.
“Dallas, please!”
“Beg more,” he grunted.
“Please, I need you to go faster!”
He laughed through his exertion. “I said beg, E.B. Is that the best you have?”
“Damnit, Dallas! Fuck me! Please, fuck me, fuck me, fuck me!” Her skin was alive, glistening with her desire and need, her head tossing as her pussy demanded more. “I need you. I need you in my further, harder! Please,” she whimpered the last word, her voice cracking.
He picked up the pace, beginning to piston in and out of her. She flushed and the pleasure swelled in her, a tight knot of pooled passion until it reached its peak.
She came, shattering as a supernova of ecstasy rocked her, her throaty cries echoing through the empty building.
“I’m close,” Dallas grated, pulling out quickly. He made to grab himself, but she slid quickly off the desk to her knees, taking him in her mouth. She tasted herself on him, her juices and his mixing and running down her chin as she sucked him deeply.
“Fuck!” He cried as he came, his fingers twining in her hair. She swallowed all of his release, relishing the musky flavor of him. She felt his knees shake with his climax, the taut muscles twitching beneath her fingertips.
He might like to control things, but Mariel liked knowing she had her own power over him, too.
Chapter Nine
She slowly stood, not trusting her legs to hold her. Dallas’s arms slid around her waist, supporting her. A rough hand began to stroked her back absentmindedly. It was the kind of touch she’d needed before, and that he’d avoided giving her.
“That was more intimate than I’m used to,” he admitted, unable to meet her gaze.
“How can you resist? I’m an eager beaver.” She winked and then yelped as he swatted her bottom.
“Thank you,” she added softly, not wanting to ruin the moment when he was trying to be kind.
They got dressed and he helped her to start gathering the papers on the floor, throwing them back into boxes.
“What is all this shit?” Dallas looked at the old files, his nose wrinkling.
“The email said it was files from a couple of years ago. Cleaning out for this year’s campaign.”
Dallas started to read what was in his hands. “I guess. This does look like a lot of junk. I just don’t like shredding it.”
Mariel giggled. “What, you’d hoard it?”
His easy smile and ironic look made her laugh harder. “No. I just didn’t authorize this.”
“That whole control thing?”
He simply nodded.
She decided it was worth risking the peace to get to know him a little better. “Roger said it is because of your family. That you were raised to be his second?”
Dallas froze, the papers in his hands trembling slightly. “When did you speak to Roger? And why were you talking about me?” His voice was tight, strained. Mariel saw the knuckles on his hand go white from gripping so tightly. Immediately she reached out and grabbed his hand, stilling and soothing it.
“We weren’t talking about you. At least, that hadn’t been the point.” She confessed. “I was giving him my resignation.”
Dallas’s face matched his knuckles, the color blanching. “Because of me?”
“Yes. Roger said you were always tough on interns, though. He said… he said you had spoken well of me.”
Dallas dropped what he was holding in a box and leaned against a wall, rubbing his face with his hands. “Yes. I had. I didn’t know you were going to leave, though.”
Incredible. She couldn’t believe him! “You told me that I was sinking, not swimming! Y-You said Washington wasn’t for everyone!” Mariel sputtered.
“Sure, but I said that to everyone.”
“You gave me a child’s school desk. In a closet.”
Dallas had the grace to look ashamed. “You were late, and dressed like this schoolgirl, and I thought you were so damned cute.” He shrugged. “I was afraid to work with you. You are so gung-ho. This is a rough job, E.B., and I was worried you wouldn’t be able to cut it. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to stand by and watch it happen. And I don’t have time to worry and care about anyone but Roger.”
Oh. Oh.
“Not even yourself?”
“No.”
Mariel moved to the seat and started gathering a stack of shredding. “Have you always looked out for Roger?”
She watched as Dallas sank to the ground, his back pressed against the wall, his elbows resting on his knees. Even in a relaxed position, he was all power and grace. “Yes. My father has lofty goals for Roger. For me too, I guess, though always through my brother. He gave me one job: Protect Roger no matter what. No one can get close enough to hurt him, and I won’t let him do anything that could hurt him, either.”
“Your father asks a lot of both of you.”
“Roger doesn’t mind.”
She moved over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “But you do?”
“I… I don’t mind now, I guess. It was hard when I was in my teens and early twenties to be told what I did didn’t matter, that my purpose was to live in servitude. But Roger doesn’t treat me like a servant. He’s a good man, and he actually believes in what he does. It makes it easier to help him.”
“Does your father approve?”
His laughter rang out. “He should! Unfortunately, Roger hasn’t been participating in the kind of politics my father wanted him to.”
Mariel shuffled her feet, knowing she was asking too much. “What do you mean?”
“Roger ran a clean campaign. No dirt-slinging, no under the table deals. My family got rich by working in politics and then investing, but I don’t know how much of that was kosher money. My father has a lot of wealthy and powerful friends with interests that conflict with Roger’s platforms.” At that, Dallas stood, shaking off her hand. “I shouldn’t be saying this to you.”
It stung, because things seemed, well, natural for once between th
em. Still, she knew she was virtually a stranger to him. For someone with control issues, that had to be terrifying. “Well, then I’ll tell you about my family instead.”
Dallas seemed genuinely interested as she spoke about her father leaving when she was young. His face fell, guilty, as she spoke about the extreme poverty she had grown up in, her mother working tirelessly just to keep their house. Mariel told him about how she had devoted herself to school. When she had discovered political science, she fell in love.
“There’s so much injustice. Classism isn’t just a word, its something so many Americans experience every day. I thought if I could get into politics, I could help right some of those wrongs. Maybe help mold policies that would help people like me.”
“You want to be a politician?” Dallas looked startled.
“No. A speech writer, maybe. An aid. I don’t want the cameras or the constant attention. I just want to help make things better.”
“That sounds ridiculously naïve, Mariel.” She winced. “And sweet. And important. There are too many people who want in politics for the prestige. The power. I know that’s what I’ve experienced as I see who Roger has to deal with.”
“It is a powerful position to be in. Didn’t you ever want to be there?”
He let out a raw, barking laugh. “No, never. Roger thrives on the spotlight. Don’t get me wrong, he is actually a good guy. Brother or not, I don’t think I could stomach working for him if he wasn’t. Politics, honestly, don’t interest me. I just want to make sure he stays safe. Like my uncle did for my father.”
“He was a politician, too, right?”
“Yes, a governor. His father before him, too. The Taylors have always been in politics. The elder brother runs the show, and the younger brother makes sure there are no messes to clean up. Always was and always will be, I suppose.”
“Roger doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to leave messes.”
A cloud fell over Dallas’s face. “You’d be surprised. Even good guys make mistakes, sometimes.”
Oh, it wasn’t fair! Mariel knew immediately that Dallas wouldn’t share what it was, but it was cruel to dangle that hint of scandal and not tell her what it was. Her curiosity was tempered by the pained, distant look on his face. She stopped shredding and went to sit beside him.
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