Crown of Lies

by Pepper Winters

  “God, this is all a mess.”

  He was a mistake, and one I had to fix right away before he railroaded my life and ruined everything. If he didn’t take my no as gospel, I would call the police to instate a restraining order.

  Perhaps, I should become a nun? Then I’d never have to worry about sex or marriage.

  I could just focus on what I was good at.

  Business.

  Splashing water on my face, I rubbed at the smudge of mascara and tamed some of the flyaways. Feeling mildly normal, I nodded at my reflection. Agreeing that my work was done for the day and I’d go home, take a bath, and try to forget about Steve, my father, and most of all, damn Penn.

  Opening the bathroom door, I jolted as the man I wanted to throw out my window sat smugly on the couch facing my bookshelves of magazines listing our clothes, houseware awards, and charity plaques for our work with selected organizations.

  “You again!”

  “Me.” He looked me up and down. “You got your shirt wet.”

  I glanced at the sheer white fabric that was now see-through to the dusky pink bra I wore beneath it. I slapped a hand over my chest and stalked toward my desk. My stomp didn’t have the same effect in stockinged feet as it would’ve in heels, but at least I was able to shrug on a cream and black piping jacket and hide a bit of my damp cleavage.

  Sage ventured out from under my desk, baring her little fangs at the interloper.

  “I thought I told you to leave.” Doing my best to get back in control, I snapped, “Besides, it’s not a shirt. It’s a blouse. If you weren’t such a Neanderthal, you’d know that.”

  “Why would I know that? I’m a guy who wears guy’s clothing. I have no interest in women’s unless it’s on the floor after I’ve taken them off her.”

  I glowered. “Fascinating insight into your true character, Mr. Everett.” I pointed at my door. “As you weren’t invited into my office, I’ll kindly ask you to go. For the second time. And while you’re at it, retract your lie about our upcoming nuptials.”

  “You lost the power to tell me to leave the moment you said yes.” He never took his eyes off me. “It’s too late to change it to a no. However, if you’re so incensed, then hear me out and I’ll go...for now.”

  I moved around my desk to stand in front of it and crossed my arms. “Hear what? I’m sure I heard all I needed to. You’re an egotistical maniac who I have no interest in doing anything else with.”

  “Your body told me a different story last night.” He chuckled. “And just to clarify, if I wasn’t an ‘egotistical maniac’ as you put it, then you’d consider letting me fuck you...like our original agreement?”

  I frowned. “What?”

  He stood up, breaching the space between us until he stood only a foot away. My skin prickled as goosebumps erupted under my wet blouse.

  Sage hissed, swatting the air with her claws in warning.

  Penn took no notice of her. “I’m sorry.” His face darkened with sincerity. “I know I didn’t have a right to talk about you like a trophy to be won from your father. And I’m sorry for warning Mr. Hobson to keep his son away from you.” He smiled tightly. “I would say I did that for your benefit, but really, I did it for me.” His eyes fell on my chest. “I don’t do well with competition.”

  “Well, your rules and jealousy are pointless because I have no intention of going to bed with you.”

  “Lies, Elle. I thought you’d agreed we’d only have truth between us.”

  His deep, heady aftershave stole up my nose, tying my thoughts into a sinful knot.

  I didn’t reply as he deleted the remaining space between us.

  I leaned back, my butt hitting the edge of my desk and my tummy locking into place.

  “You know...I work in an office, too. I know how lonely these job spaces can be.” He licked his lips. “I also know how fantasies can spring from nothing.” His hand crept forward.

  I flinched, expecting him to touch me. However, he placed his palm on the glass table, hemming me in on both sides. “Tell me, Ms. Charlston. Have you ever had sex in here?”

  I froze. “Excuse me?”

  His gaze hooded. “Has anyone bent you over your desk and fucked you? Stolen your power and used it against you?”

  I shivered uncontrollably. My mouth urged to scream for Fleur to help. Was he threatening to take me? Here in my office?

  I shoved him.

  He stumbled backward, a black look dripping over his features. He shook his head, dispelling the clouds, once again settling into cocky. “I take that as a no.”

  For a split second, I remembered the words from the assholes who hurt me in the alley. ‘Have you ever been fucked over your desk, office girl? Ever given a boss a blowjob for a promotion?’

  It wasn’t an unusual concept.

  I was sure many people had done just that and had lots of fun doing it. But I never had. And I wouldn’t today—not with Penn or anyone else who threatened my safety and position. Especially when chilly ice replaced my blood, struggling to separate that night in the alley and today with Penn.

  The way he watched me was too close to the guy in the Baseball Cap—too intense, too focused on something he couldn’t have but would happily take anyway.

  “Leave, Mr. Everett.”

  “I told you to call me Penn.”

  I cocked my chin. “Fine. Leave, Penn.”

  “Not until you agree to dinner with me.”

  “Never.”

  “Never is too long to wait.” He glowered. “And besides, we’ve already agreed on the ground rules. You want to fuck me. I want to fuck you. Playing hard to get is only making me want to do that sooner rather than later.”

  “No.”

  “No what?

  “No to everything. I told you, I changed my mind.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I said so.”

  He licked his lips. “Yes, but why? Why change your mind after what happened last night? From what your father said, you work too much, you have no friends, and you severely lack fun in your life.”

  My heart sank. “He said that?”

  “I read between the lines.”

  “Well read between my lines. N-O. Spells no. I’m too busy to play with you.”

  “I said I was sorry.”

  I stiffened, trying to sniff his new game. “Go on.”

  He shrugged. Even that was sexy, dammit. “I shouldn’t have put words into your mouth. It’s up to you to decide if you want people to know about us.” He looked up beneath his brow. “And the only way you can decide that is if you go on a date with me.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but he interrupted—another habit he seemed to have. “Don’t answer for yourself right now. Answer for yourself in five years’ time. Where do you see yourself? Here in this office doing the exact same thing with the exact same unhappiness?”

  God, I hope not.

  “Or do you want to see if you could have this and more? Work and play? Love and obligation?”

  My eyes shot daggers. “You think I could love you?”

  “I think you could have fun with me.”

  “I think otherwise.”

  He grinned. “That’s what this is about. To see if our opinions line up.”

  “Are you going to leave if I say no again?”

  “Nope.” He came closer. “I’ll just keep showing up at really inconvenient times until you say yes.” His aftershave drugged me again. “Choose the easier option, Ms. Charlston. Let me have you. It’s the only way forward.”

  “What will you do to me?”

  Instantly, my office thickened with sexual tension.

  My breath hitched as his eyes drifted to my mouth.

  His voice lowered to scorching charcoal. “Anything I damn well want.” His hand cupped my cheek, holding me tight. “I’ll strip you, taste you, devour you. I’ll eat, lick, and bite you. And only once you’re begging will I fuck you.”

  My body flushed as hot as the
sun, as bright as Venus, as untouched as Pluto.

  I shoved him away and stalked to the exit. All I wanted to do was dare him to try it. To fight and claw and let him subdue me because, holy hell, he made it sound delicious. But the other part—the vanishing part—was afraid of losing herself.

  Sex was too powerful.

  Sex should be done between two people who liked each other and not a couple with nothing in common.

  I cleared my throat and my mind. I clung to common sense. “I suggest you leave before I knee you in places a lady should never knee a man.”

  He hunted me, bringing with him cyclones full of lust. “If you want to touch that part of me, I would prefer it was with something softer than your knee.” He chased me, once again corralling me against a hard surface.

  This time the door.

  “Your hand would work.” He cupped my wrist, slipping his fingers through mine. “Your hand is welcome.” His eyes turned jet black with need. “I could come from your hand alone.”

  I fought my shiver but couldn’t stop the goosebumps darting up my arms. His touch was possessive but soft. Strong but coaxing.

  His fingers squeezed mine as he swayed closer. “Or if you didn’t want to use that part of your anatomy, your mouth would do equally well.” He licked his bottom lip. “In fact, I want both.”

  “Never.”

  “Never?” He smiled. “Don’t lie.” His hand crept up my arm to my shoulder, adding pressure until my knees threatened to buckle. “Let’s see how soon never is, shall we?” He kissed me sweetly. “I fingered you until you came last night. The least you can do is blow me.”

  I like the thought of you giving me a blowjob. Get her on her knees.

  The rapists and alley stole the present, hurtling me back before Nameless had found me. Before he hurt them for hurting me. Before he prevented my life from tumbling into ruin.

  Why did Penn cause flashbacks that I’d successfully put behind me?

  Why did he awake sharp instincts?

  And why were those instincts scrambled between trust and mistrust, unable to see the truth hiding in his lies?

  My office returned. The alley disappeared. Penn was still there. His pressure on my shoulder stronger, pestering me to fall into servitude before him.

  I breathed hard. “You expect me to wrap my lips around your cock? Here? Now? In my office?”

  He nodded. “Absolutely.” He fisted my hair without warning, tilting my head to attack my throat with his mouth and teeth. “Here, you’re god. Here, you’re in charge. It turns me the fuck on knowing you’re the one with all the power, yet you’re considering getting on your knees to serve me.”

  It took every ounce of willpower, every brave denial, but I managed to untangle my fingers from his and tear my neck from his kisses. “Too bad for you, you’ll have to remain turned on. I have no intention of doing such a thing.”

  “What are you afraid of?” His eyes narrowed. “You know this is a game. You understand the rules.”

  “I don’t understand any of this.”

  “The rules are sex. Mutually enjoyed sex. Despite what you think, you like being told what to do.” He gathered me close, inhaling my perfume. “Give me two minutes. Two minutes to command you, and if you don’t like it, I’ll walk away.”

  My heart beat crazy. “Two minutes?”

  He bit his lip, nodding. “You have my word.”

  “If you break it, I’m turning you into a eunuch with a sharp kick.”

  He chuckled, stepping back and spreading his thighs. “There are worst things I can imagine than your leg between mine.” His eyes were dark as nightmares. “But for now, get on your fucking knees.”

  Get her on her knees.

  A similar command had torn me apart. The thought of sucking strange men in an alley grotesque. However, this command turned my chest into a furnace, charring my heart to dust.

  I didn’t know what happened to my brain.

  I didn’t understand how hate could be such an aphrodisiac.

  But he circumnavigated the CEO. He spoke to some primitive part of me.

  I wanted to tell him to leave.

  I wanted to prove I had more respect than that.

  Yet I sank down the door to my knees.

  Sage watched me as if all her respect for me as her human evaporated.

  Damn cat.

  Penn shuddered, looking part monster, part angel. “Shit, you make me hard when you obey.” His gaze fell on my breasts. “Now that you’re playing, we’re going to do a little show and tell.”

  Before we show you ours, you have to show us yours.

  The alley.

  I was back there again.

  Huddled in pain, grasping at dignity.

  I stayed silent, doing my best to stay alive while my heart tried to slam through my ribs.

  The past and future were merely two dimensions separated from each other by the present. Yet I lived in neither. I existed in the glue bridging them together, somehow allowing three years ago to affect today.

  I wanted Nameless to barge into my world and rescue me for the second time.

  Penn’s hands fell to his belt, pushing aside the tails of his midnight blazer, and undoing the leather slowly. “I’m going to show you what you do to me, Elle. But in return, I want to see you.”

  Let’s see what your tits are like.

  I gulped.

  He morphed into one of those bastards, flickering with Adidas symbols and expensive suits. He never looked away as he pulled the belt, unthreading it and letting it hang in the loops. “Unbutton your shirt.”

  Forcing myself to shed the memories and focus entirely on him, I latched onto the most idiotic thing I’d ever uttered. “It’s a blouse.”

  “I don’t care.” His growl echoed through my core. “Unbutton it.”

  My hands shook but slowly connected with the pearl buttons and hesitantly undid one.

  This was now. Penn was now. Nameless was yesterday.

  It took more effort than I could afford, but I shut the door on the past and slotted firmly back into the present.

  “The next.” Penn trembled as he locked his hands on the button of his waistband. The crisp cream shirt and dark jeans he wore made him untouchable yet so normal.

  I popped the next button, breathing hard and quick.

  He followed, undoing his and pulling on his zipper.

  Without waiting for his command, I undid buttons three then four; my eyes locked on his hands as he pulled his zipper down and down.

  When my blouse hung undone, and his zipper had nowhere else to go, our eyes met.

  Our lips parted; mirrored images of desire.

  “Open it.” His voice had lost the playful kink from before, slipping straight into serious smut. “Let me see you.”

  With bravery I didn’t know I had, I pushed my blouse away from my breasts, revealing the dusky pink bra.

  He groaned, his hand disappearing into his jeans.

  My stomach clenched so hard, so deep, I bent over a little in surprise.

  His lips twisted. “Do you like that?” He squeezed himself, his thighs tightening beneath the denim. “Do you like knowing I’m this hard all because of you? That I haven’t been this hard in years. That all I can think about is sticking this in every place you’ll let me.”

  Oh. My. God.

  I swam in heat. I drowned in liquid. I was so wet my panties were soaked.

  “Pull your bra down, and I’ll show you more.”

  My fingers hooked on the front cups of my bra as his latched around his jeans and levered them a little off his hips. Never looking away, objectifying both of us by only watching our bodies and not our souls, he reached into his tight black boxer-briefs and pulled out his cock.

  My core spasmed as I swallowed hard and pulled my bra down, revealing my pebbled nipples and heavy globes of flesh that had long since been neglected.

  “Fuck, Elle.” His hand grasped his long length. The head glowed with darker flesh, a
droplet glistening on top. Veins ran down the sides, bulging with desire—the same desire throbbing in my clit.

  All I could see...all I could think about...was sex.

  My legs parted a little as my hips became loose and wanting. An emptiness echoed inside me, becoming more and more cavernous the longer I stared at him.

  “Do you want this?” he murmured, his face black with lust.

  There was no banter or connection. Whatever respect we had for each other was tarnished by the way I stared up with him standing over me with his cock in his hand. It ought to be degrading, but I found a different sort of power on my knees. The way he panted. The way his hips rocked with a subtle sway even he wasn’t aware of.

  We no longer lived in the real world but sex, sex, sex.

  I nodded just once, licking my lips.

  “Jesus, Elle.” His head fell forward as he squeezed the tip. “Say it out loud. Do you want my cock?”

  I didn’t care if anyone was outside my door eavesdropping. I didn’t care that I should stop this and throw him from my office.

  I embraced the river flowing inside me and whispered, “Yes.”

  “Where? Where do you want it?”

  So many places.

  So many foreign, wonderful ready-to-be explored places.

  But first, the one he wanted. The one he’d hinted at, and the reason I was on my knees. “My mouth.”

  He groan-growled as he stepped forward. His shoes hit my knees, his height towering over me with his cock speared from his angry fist. “Suck it then.”

  My breasts ached with pain I’d never experienced.

  I sat taller on my knees.

  I reached forward.

  My fingers so close to claiming him.

  But then he stepped back, tucking his erection away, shaking with need and discipline. He didn’t do up his belt or zipper, but he flashed a silver watch on his wrist. “Your two minutes are up.”

  The sexual trance he’d put me into shattered.

  I shivered with sudden cold and yanked up my bra in disgrace. Grabbing the sides of my blouse, I huddled before shooting upright with rage so bright, so brilliant, I wanted to rip him into pieces.

  “That’s it?” I snarled. “Was that all a stupid game to you? A ploy to show me that you can make me do what you want, after all?” A heavy gathering sat between my legs, throbbing to be touched. Desperate for a release.