by Deva Long
Contents
Title
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
End Notes
Dedication
Anna’s Contract
by
Deva Long
one
“Miss Whitehorse, this is unacceptable. You’ve stolen a great deal of money from us.”
Caden Morning, Managing Director of the Southern Region of global conglomerate Darco, Inc., stared over the edge of the printed page he was holding. He dripped with disapproval, yet when Anna Whitehorse looked into his eyes, she detected a brief flash.
A smile, his eyes are about to smile at me.
A shadowy, sensual smile, not a grin or a giggle.
This very morning, he strode in to Darco like a rock star, with a celebrity’s confident strut. Too perfect to be a mid-level manager like the others in the center offices. A man who owned the place, which he did, basically.
Silence followed Caden Morning when he walked through the cube farm. Titters and exclamations were once again uttered aloud when he closed the door to the inner sanctum of manager’s offices and meeting rooms.
Anna peeked from behind her bangs, desire running through her panties to her nipples to her brain. Though he was more slim than broad, his tailored suit jacket fit him like a glove and his pin-striped pants hugged his thighs and the bit of his ass visible below his jacket tails.
Life hadn’t been easy for Anna, and she’d been thrilled to land a desk job at Darco, and put her hard-earned night class office software skills to work. She possessed a talent for explaining technical issues in lay terms, her community college business technology instructor said so. Darco was training her to be a Customer Care Specialist. In some ways, it was a professional apologist, because the company spent more on winning contracts than engineering. Darco’s customers were in Government, security related departments. She wasn’t sure about the full extent of Darco’s business, but she had been apologizing for the problems with the company’s airport management software quite often during her training.
More thrilling than the job was the fantasy she indulged in at bedtime: finding a nice guy from upper management and building a life. A house at the edge of town. Another cat. Maybe a dog. A play-room. A baby to play in it. Being a realist, Anna’s fantasies did not often cast men handsome as Caden Morning. Not unless she’d just watched a movie featuring Brad or Ben.
Now her dream man looked at her with angry Caribbean blue eyes, startling in their intensity, popping from beneath his curled and gray tinged inky hair. His chiseled jaw jutted firmly and his sharp brows were set at the bleeding edge of fury.
Anna Whitehorse squirmed, running her hands through her own long midnight curls, tears and cheap mascara cascading down her cheeks.
Her bargain basement black pencil skirt and puffy white blouse provided insufficient coverage to hide her curves and she was sure he could sense her nipples growing under the thin shield bravely raised by her blouse and brassiere.
“I’m so sorry, sir. The money was just added to my checks. I should have notified someone I was being paid too much.” She sniffed. “But I kept it. I kept the money.”
Director Morning’s ropey neck muscles flexed under his collar. His scent tickled her nose, cinnamon and pine, with honest man-sweat riding underneath. With a twenty-percent unemployment rate among the young in the Southeast, this man pushed through new hiring rules requiring employees to sign a multi-page contract, exchanging most of their rights for a job. Junior staff, like Anna Whitehorse, had to promise to obey all company policies, not to talk to anyone about what they did at Darco. There was some complex language about a bond. She didn’t understand all of it, but she did realize that she owed money to Darco for the extra pay she had started receiving six months ago and then discreetly deposited and spent. A big pile of money.
I should have reported the error right away, I know exactly what I’m supposed to be paid each month. Anna cursed herself for taking the money and risking her hard-won office job for a few thousand dollars.
She had also given Darco the right to run her credit, so the Director must know how being fired would ruin her.
“And you signed papers, do you remember those?”
Her face went white under the rose colored makeup on her cheeks. Her ruby lips fell open.
“I…I signed a bunch of stuff when I started.”
“Right. There were two important documents. One was a promise not to say anything to anyone outside the company about how we conduct our internal affairs. We call it the Non-Disclosure Agreement.”
He flipped the document onto the desk. “Do you remember signing this?”
She sniffed and looked at the paper. “I guess I do.”
“You guess?” His voice cracked like a whip. Anna started. Caden smiled. This time, there was no hint of friendship.
“I do. I signed it.” Does he like it when I flinch?
“Good. And this one?” He flipped a second stapled paper bundle across the desk. “This one is your Bond Document. It says you will pay the company back for the time we spent training you if we have to let you go for cause.”
Anna traced her signature on the second contract. Her finger trembled. Her stomach flopped the way it did when an airplane she had flown on hit turbulence and her seat dropped from under her.
“For cause means something like stealing from us. Which you did when you let yourself be overpaid.”
The Director tapped his finger on the paper. Strong fingers attached to a tanned and well-formed hand. Curly hairs sprouted from his robust wrist under his dress shirt’s rolled up cuff. He could model watches.
“This third signature affirms that you have read, understood, and agreed to all company policies. Including our policies covering discipline and termination.”
Anna pushed thoughts of his handsomeness from her mind. He isn’t asking me on a date, he’s yelling at me for stealing.
“Do you know how much you will owe Darco if we have to fire you?”
She shook her head and decided to play dumb. Maybe he would be lenient if she acted stupid. “No. A lot?”
“Seven thousand dollars plus twenty-five percent interest, compounded monthly. Seven thousand nine hundred and twenty-one dollars and eighty-six cents as of today.”
Reading the number to the cent caused her nipples to start tingling. Despite the situation and her helplessness to escape it, precision turned her on.
“Also, we will prosecute you for theft and fraud. We can’t have employees taking advantage of us the way you did.” He arched his brows. Midnight-colored hair hung over his forehead. It shone, glossy and well-maintained without being effete. She wanted to run her fingers through it and mess it up. “We’re going to use you as an example. You should get a lawyer.”
Anna jerked her hand back from the paper. She eyed it like it covered a poisonous snake.
“I can’t…please.”
Caden smiled. “I can give you another way. The contract says the company has the right to punish you for anything you do wrong. We can punish you financially,” He leaned back in the grand black Branch Manager’s chair.
“But your employment contract gives us the right to substitute physical punishment for financial,” He ran his finger along his cheek. “If you accept.”
“Physical punishment? What do you mean?”
“Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey?
It’s popular.”
“That can’t be right. There are laws.”
Anna had read the book. And others. He couldn’t mean to would punish her with his hands? What, would he spank her? With his strong, powerful paws coated with that fine brushing of charcoal hair?
With his skin touching her skin.
She took a long breath. Her bra fit tighter than it had this morning.
“Laws against corporal punishment exist. But the courts have exempted Darco from most federal regulations. Our company’s founders, of which I am proud to be one, have strong beliefs. Deeply held. For one, we believe corporal punishment is necessary in the workplace. It’s a conviction we hold is a natural right of the businessman.” His expression changed and now he looked like Brother Kevin giving a sermon back at her Catholic school.
“It’s a way to save jobs. Instead of firing people, Darco uses physical discipline. It’s effective. Our internal research shows that employees who work with the ongoing fear of punishment are more effective and slack off less. Idle chat around the coffee machine is markedly reduced, and we endure fewer bathroom breaks. There has been no smoking at all at Darco since we implemented the policy. It’s improved our margins by over fifteen percent. And reduced our healthcare costs significantly.”
Heart hammering like a fool’s ticker before a short-tempered king, Anna dug her nails into the arms of the chair.
“After all, no one forced you to take a job here. No one made you sign these papers, did they?”
She slumped back in her seat.
“Did anyone force you, Anna?”
Caden Morning’s eyes were locked on her chest, and her breasts pushed harder against her blouse’s cheap material. Can he see my boobs growing bigger the more he speaks of spankings and punishments?
Why are they doing that?
He looked over her file. “I see you scored well on our hiring assessment. You’re what we like, Anna. Eager and willing to please.”
She remembered her interviewer saying something similar. “I can tell you’ll go the extra mile.”
Months ago, Anna had nodded with veiled desperation, hoping for a regular salary and a desk. The one requirement for the cushy job with her own cubicle and computer, had been her signature on a baker’s dozen pages out of a massive stack. The interviewer had been in a rush, and Anna signed without looking.
“You can’t mean…”
“You can, of course, quit. You can look for another paycheck. It’s a free country. We have roads to drive and fuel to burn. You can hit the pavement any time. But drive fast. If you refuse your punishment, my next call will be to the County Sheriff.”
Anna put her hand to her mouth.
two
Faced with Director Morning’s insane corporal punishment talk, Anna’s attention turned to her new kitten, Sir Puffin Paws. That’s what she called him. She found him last night, chased by a pack of neighborhood dogs up the tree in front of her building. Anna drove the pack away and rescued the minute furball. Now Puffy waited in her bathroom with several water and tuna filled Tupperwares.
I hope he’s alright.
Mister Paws came from the street, and should be able to survive a food and water-filled bathroom for a while longer. At least for the duration of Caden Morning’s discipline speech.
Either he’d fire her or he would force her to endure some company discipline. Caden might dock her pay or move her to an undesirable position. Either way, the next minutes promised to deliver a drama she would rather skip.
If he fires me, I can go cuddle my kitten.
“Please go sit on the couch,” Caden said.
“What?” The short brown leather couch and matching ottoman sat on the side of the office. Over it, hung a painting she had not noticed before. A roaring lion, brushed in a blurred, impressionistic style.
“I need to loop in Miss Tolling. I’m not sure the company can forgive what you’ve done, Anna. We may need to prosecute you, regardless of which punishment you decide to take.”
“But I can’t afford a lawyer.” Her voice cracked, high and shaky. Caden Morning stood. She repressed a gasp, seeing the front of his pin-striped pants bulging outward.
“Think about what I said while Tolling and I discuss your case. She’s your direct manager, so the final decision is hers.”
“Please, Mister Morning, I have rent, my mother, my car…”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Anna nodded and walked over to the couch. Then she sat and crossed her legs. Caden ran his gaze over her body. His eyes were hungry and inappropriate.
From behind her bangs, Anna returned the look.
Caden Morning leaned forward on the desk. Somehow, a few buttons had come undone on his shirt in the few seconds she took to move to her new position, and salt-and-pepper chest hair poured forth like a frozen wave. He still wore his stern expression, but the lines around his mouth’s corners appeared to be wrinkles eroded in place from the remains of recent smiles.
His eyes gazed like Puffy stared at her when she poured milk. Like he could use a mind-trick to get her to put the milk in a bowl on the floor, the way a predator looks at food.
Anna crossed her legs and then cursed herself for wearing her strappy black leather heels. They suggested sex and bondage.
They were too racy for work.
Staring at her, Caden Morning typed something on his phone with one hand.
three
Clarice Tolling, Branch Manager for the Tampa office, bustled into the room. She wore a sharp blue dress with thin black striping. Pale cream colored heels and gold earrings topped off her outfit.
“Sit, Clarice,” Mr. Morning ordered.
Anna pulled at the mid-thigh hem of her pencil skirt, trying to better cover her legs. The soft couch cushions made it hard for her to keep her skirt from riding up her thighs.
“Mister Morning, I’m so sorry. I should’ve caught her sooner.”
“True. More, if she had the proper respect for you as her supervisor, she’d have told you right away.” Morning put his hands together in front of him, appearing to inspect his platinum watch. “A thing like this could bring down a Branch Manager, you know.”
Clarice Tolling sat forward in her chair, her face turning the same color as her shoes. Anna suppressed a giggle.
At least I’m not the only one being yelled at today.
“What can I do?”
“The Employee Handbook gives you the right to punish her. Physically.”
Anna shrieked inside. Not Tolling. She was older than Anna, in her forties and always a stickler for the rules. Many times had Miss Tolling stared at the clock when Anna returned from her breaks, though Anna always made sure to scurry back to her cubicle well before the fifteen minutes passed.
“Yes, sir, I will give her my best—.”
Mr. Morning cut in, “That’s not what I want, Clarice.”
She licked her lips. “What do you want, sir?”
“I want you to ask me to punish her. In writing. Say you’re not sure you are capable.”
“But…I’ll be fired!”
“I can just pass a verbal request up to the old man.”
Caden Morning raised his eyebrows.
“The written request I’ll keep in my personal files.”
“Oh.”
“Right. That’ll provide me with insurance. I like to have something on the people who work for me.” Caden met Anna’s eyes. She found a fingernail that needed attention.
“So, after you punish her, this will conclude the issue? I won’t face any negative consequences?”
“Your concern for your staff is touching,”
“I’m not the one who stole from the company,” Clarice Tolling sniffed.
Caden’s voice went softer. “After Anna’s punishment today, if all goes as planned, I won’t say anything more about her theft or how long it took you to uncover it.”
Clarice looked at Anna for the first time since she’d bustled into the r
oom.
“She’s young. Don’t be too hard on her.”
A flush rose over Anna’s cheeks. Caden and Clarice spoke if she were a piece of furniture. Or a junior employee caught stealing, which she was. Yeah, she’d taken the money, but the company gave it to her. She did wrong, but she was still a person. They shouldn’t talk about beating her for her mistake. Caden and Miss Tolling shouldn’t even think about it. Anna could not afford to lose her job, so she kept her smile plastered to her face and tried her best to ignore their comments. Anna tried to control her emotions, her eyes watering with the effort.
“I’m not going to be gentle with her. She stole from the company. If she is to stay employed her, we need to make sure she feels the full depth and severity of her crime.”
Caden Morning pushed the chair back and stood.
“I need to take care of a few things before we start. Clarice, please respond to any inquiries Miss Whitehorse has.”
four
“Do you have any questions, Anna?”
Anna looked up from her contract. She tried to understand the legalese, but the long sentences full of semi-colons blurred in her eyes. Her tears stained the pages.
“Oh, Miss Tolling, do I really have to?”
Clarice Tolling frowned at her. “Our contracts are written by excellent lawyers, Anna. Do you have the money to pay the company back?”
“No, I don’t. I’m broke.”
“What happened to all the extra salary we gave you?
Anna winced. Her mother’s physical therapy, her sister’s orphanage. And lots of lattes. Then there had been the diet pills and the herbal weight-loss remedies.
“I spent it all.” She had a hard time getting the words out and even she could barely hear herself say them.
Clarice Tolling tapped her foot and stared at the ceiling. “Well then, you don’t have much choice. If you get fired, you’ll end up bankrupt. Out on the street. No more of those expensive coffee drinks you sneak out for at all hours. Don’t think I don’t notice. I’d think of how you like to spend money when he tells you to take your punishment.”