Infatuation

by Anise Storm

  “All you have to say is ‘yes’.” Raising his head, his gaze locked with hers once more. “One word is all it will take. We’ll go back to my room where I’ll remove that dress and your damp panties before worshipping every inch of your beautiful body. One word is all I need.”

  Hannah’s mind was racing with the visual he provided. She knew that he was a man of his word and any promise he made, he would definitely keep.

  “If you say ‘no’, then I’ll let you go back to your own room, but we both know that you’ll be left aching for me and what I can offer you. If you say ‘yes’, I’ll bring you so much pleasure, fucking you until we both pass out.” The elevator door opened, causing him to pause. “One word, Hannah. Which one will it be?”

  “I can’t,” she told him, silently hoping that he accepted that. In addition to the knowledge that rekindling anything with Thaddeus Remington would be an epic mistake, she also had something—or rather, someone—else to consider.

  Hannah couldn’t lie and say that she hadn’t thought about Thaddeus since leaving Atlanta. Once or twice she had even dreamed about being back in his arms again, but she knew that there were reasons that she wasn’t. Their time together in Georgia came rushing back like water over a cliff, and she felt herself drowning in the memories of what had once been. Every glance, touch, kiss and more had her clinging to him to just stay afloat.

  Thaddeus was becoming even more destructive to her willpower with each passing second, especially when his current expression was so reminiscent of their last time together. That evening had ended up being the turning point in whatever it was that they’d had. Thaddeus had taken her so swiftly and decisively that night at the Ritz-Carlton that she hadn’t stood a chance of resisting him. If this went any further, Hannah was afraid the same would be true.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said solemnly. “I’ve looked for you, sweetheart. God knows I did.” His words were wreaking havoc on her senses. “And now you’re here with me again where you belong.”

  Her eyes darted from the door to him and back. “We can’t do this, Thaddeus,” Hannah told him, with as much conviction as she could muster.

  “Like hell we can’t,” he replied.

  A frustrated sound escaped her as Hannah tried to formulate a response. Her head said one thing and her body another. Then there was her heart, which belonged to another man. Oh, God! Finley!

  As her thoughts drifted to the man waiting for her in London, desperation set in. “I can’t do this with you. Not anymore.”

  Her pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears until she said the one word that he didn’t want her to say. “No,” she managed to squeak out and, just as she thought, his entire body stiffened before he stepped back. She could see the confusion and a twinge of something else in his eyes as he tried to get a read on her.

  Tears flooded her lids then spilled forth.

  “Sweetheart,” he said, although it was more of a question.

  Hannah closed her eyes, refusing to look at him.

  “Don’t do this to us…again, damn it.”

  His plea registered but she paid it no mind. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed before reopening her eyes and pressing the button. Once the door re-opened, she fled into the hallway, ignoring anything else he said.

  Hannah wasted no time getting to her room, changing into something more comfortable then packing up her things. All she was technically required to do on this trip was bring Ronald Anderson the paperwork, which she had already done. Now, she had to put as much space as she could between her and Thaddeus Remington.

  After getting her suitcase together, she called ahead for a cab, then went online to book a flight. There was one leaving in a little over two hours, so she would have just enough time to get there. All she wanted to do was go home to Finley. Hannah was tempted to send him a text message to let him know she would be coming home early, but she knew that it was not only late in London but that it would also raise suspicions. That was the last thing she wanted to do.

  Hannah touched her lips, which were still slightly swollen from Thaddeus’ earlier kiss. As the images of both men entered her mind, she couldn’t help but feel torn. How did she end up in love with two different men?

  This would be a long flight, which would hopefully give her the time and space she needed to think.

  Just then, the sound of a ringing phone jolted her from her thoughts, and she knew it was the hotel concierge letting her know that her ride had arrived. Grabbing her suitcase, she headed downstairs, silently praying that she wouldn’t run into anyone on her way. As she left the hotel and got into the cab that would take her away from Thaddeus and back to Finley, she was suddenly struck by a single thought.

  Am I running toward love—or away from it?

  Also available from Totally Bound Publishing:

  Nirvana: Obsession

  Anise Storm

  Excerpt

  Chapter One

  Tapping his pen against the top of his mahogany desktop, Thaddeus Remington couldn’t take his eyes off of the woman at the desk right outside his office—Hannah Brinkley. She had recently been hired on as a secretary for his corporation. After running into her, literally, during her first week of employment at Remington Industries, Thad had worked his magic, having her assigned to his department. There was an air of mystery about Hannah that had intrigued him from the start. Since then, she had basically become his personal secretary, even though she assisted some of the other senior leaders on his floor as well.

  “Yes… Of course we’ll have thorough testing performed on it before rolling the product out,” he agreed with the caller on the line. He pressed the mute button once more as Andrew Breckenridge began to ramble on about figures and results for the third time. He zoned out and again caught a glimpse of the beauty just beyond his door.

  Remington Industries was good at what they did, and all the appropriate testing would be done as a standard part of the job. The only kind of testing that Thad was interested in at the moment, however, involved the curvy brunette with mile-long legs who was mere feet from his office. As soon as he’d had the lovely Ms. Brinkley settled into her workspace, he had moved his desk so he would be able to see her at all times out of his peripheral vision. That had turned out to be an even better idea than he’d first imagined. It certainly didn’t hurt that today Hannah had decided to wear a form-fitting skirt that clung to her slender legs.

  During conference calls like the one he was currently on, his mind couldn’t help but conjure up images of those same toned thighs wrapped around his neck as he sampled her essence. There were a number of things he wanted to do to her and if given the chance, he would certainly not pass up a single one, if she was willing. Outside the fact that he didn’t know whether she would be able to handle his darker desires, he didn’t need a sexual harassment case. It didn’t mean that he couldn’t fantasize about her though.

  Thad watched her straighten up as she stood, running her hands down the front of her black linen skirt. Feigning nonchalance, he made himself look busy, knowing she was headed into his office. The floral scent of her perfume mixed with a certain hint of spice alerted him to her presence seconds before she opened her mouth to speak.

  “I’ve filed the latest proposals and cleared your calendar for the remainder of the afternoon, Mr. Remington,” she whispered to him when she realized he was on a call. A slow smirk quirked his lips and he stared intently at her for a few moments until she shifted nervously on her feet. “If there isn’t anything else, I did request leaving a few hours early this afternoon and that time off has already been approved.”

  “I know, Miss Brinkley. I was the one to approve it for you,” he said. Hannah smiled at him and began to turn on her heel to leave. Clearing his throat, he added, “I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetheart.”

  She flushed at the endearment and nodded before exiting his office. A low growl erupted from him as his eyes followed the swaying of curvaceous hips that framed her tight ass. Thaddeus
could only imagine what he would see beneath the semi-conservative clothing she chose to wear, and his imagination was a very vivid one. If that day ever came, he would also get to hear exactly how loud her soft-spoken voice could get when she screamed his name in equal parts pleasure and pain.

  “And when can I expect to receive that proposal, Thaddeus?” Andrew asked, causing Thad to sigh in relief as he unmuted the phone. It looked like this call was finally coming to a close.

  “I’ll have that to you first thing in the morning. If there isn’t anything else then, I’ll talk to you later, Andrew. I’m pretty swamped here.”

  Andrew assured him that there wasn’t and he finally hung up the call. Rising from his seat, he walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window in his office that overlooked downtown Atlanta. In a few hours, when the sun set over the city, he would have a million dollar view of the skyline that rivaled the one he saw each night from his industrial loft-style penthouse a few streets away.

  * * * *

  Hannah’s heels clicked on the marble floor as she made her way out of the business tower that housed her current employer, Remington Industries. Having recently moved from Plano, Texas, after a break up, she had only been in Atlanta for just over a month. So far things were going better than she had expected. She enjoyed her job immensely, especially on days like today when her schedule was devoted entirely to Thaddeus Remington.

  Thad, as most of the other men in the department called him, was the youngest male on the floor. He worked with a team of men, each of whom was double his age, yet he commanded them effortlessly. While there was an air of arrogance to him, for the most part he was an enigma to her. While he was the consummate professional, there were times when it seemed as if he was devouring her with his eyes and other occasions when she doubted he even noticed her at all. God, how she wished that she could figure that man out. Maybe she would have better luck getting to know him, Hannah admitted to herself, if she could control her nerves in his presence. The truth of the matter was that he excited and aroused her on so many levels.

  He was gorgeous, tall in stature with dark wavy hair that was the perfect shade of medium brown. Thad could easily be mistaken for a model because he had that certain look to him. Those cheekbones appeared as if they were chiseled from stone and his rigid jaw was covered with just enough stubble to have her fantasizing about what it would feel like grazing the insides of her thighs. His voice, though, was the pièce de résistance. It was firm, yet raspy, and she had already lain awake in bed numerous nights imagining that gravelly tone commanding her to come while she pleasured herself. Usually it didn’t take more than the thought of him to make her panties grow damp. As a submissive, she could easily picture Thaddeus as a Dominant. The way that he could take command of a room with a few words—or her a single look—was all a part of the unmistakable power the man exuded.

  “Have a good evening, Miss Brinkley,” the doorman to the building said, breaking her out of her thoughts. She needed to quit entertaining those types of fantasies. Even though the man might not be married or even seriously committed to someone—there was a lack of photographs and other sentimental items that others she’d assisted had displayed throughout their offices—it didn’t mean she had any chance with him.

  “Thank you, Fred. I will see you tomorrow. Have a good night.”

  The elderly man tipped his hat to her and she smiled before stepping out onto the sidewalk. There was a slight breeze in the air and she shivered. It was almost fall in the city and Hannah was looking forward to possibly seeing the change of seasons that she’d hardly gotten to witness while living in Texas.

  Moving toward Peachtree Center, she had enough time to catch the MARTA rail to her condo in Midtown before her scheduled telephone meeting with Dustin Phillips at Nirvana. She’d joined an online fetish community when she’d moved to Georgia and it had been a stroke of luck that she’d heard about the place through the group. Just thinking about the kink club and what she would find there had her walking with a greater sense of urgency. Hannah had recently gotten out of a BDSM relationship in Plano. She’d been collared to a Dominant who’d introduced her to the whole BDSM world and she’d even harbored thoughts about them getting married and starting a family of their own. It turned out that the loser had been cheating on her, living a polygamous lifestyle with four other women. Even though that relationship hadn’t worked out for her, the desires she kept hidden from the outside world couldn’t be stifled for too much longer.

  Hannah entered the rail station, swiped her Breeze Card, and headed toward the red line that would take her home. She could have taken this call at work but she didn’t want anyone there at Remington Industries to know about this side of her. It was hard trying to keep an integral part of herself from everyone. She doubted anyone there would understand anyway. Odds were that they would label her some kind of freak, and she would end up back in the mailroom where she’d started five weeks earlier.

  As she took her seat beside a woman with two kids, Hannah didn’t allow the chattering voices to penetrate her thoughts. She’d been to a club a few times in Texas, so she didn’t quite understand why her nerves were so frazzled. It wasn’t until she thought back to the last person she’d seen at the office that it all made sense. Thaddeus Remington was sex on a stick, and everything about the man seemed to turn her on. Maybe if her application was approved, she could find someone to help take the edge off so she could quit harboring fantasies about a man who was clearly out of reach.

  “Atlanta Botanical Garden… Georgia Tech… Tech Square… The Biltmore… Piedmont Park… This is the Midtown train station,” the automated voice stated as the rail neared her stop.

  She’d lucked out in finding a small condo in the cultural area of Midtown that was situated between Buckhead and her workplace in downtown Atlanta. It was a small place, at least when compared to the palatial house she had rented in Plano. The biggest benefit was the nearness to the metro station, which made her commute to and from Remington Industries much easier.

  “Excuse me,” she told the small child blocking her way when she stood up. The girl’s mother pulled her closer and Hannah smiled at the woman before mouthing, the words ‘thank you’, then making her way to the door.

  She was excited about wrapping up the technicalities in the application process then visiting Nirvana for herself. Her body craved the kiss of a whip in the worst way. There was something freeing about the pain she experienced at the hands of a Dominant that led to a pleasure other random sexcapades couldn’t offer. The saying that ‘vanilla was made for ice cream’ was true. As she exited the rail and headed toward the converted warehouse that housed her six hundred square foot condo, Hannah couldn’t help but wonder how Thad would be in bed and whether or not he was vanilla.

  Order your copy here

  About the Author

  Anise Storm is a new author of erotica, including BDSM and ménage. Possessing a life-long love of writing since childhood, she started by dabbling in poetry and other short stories.

  A Southern transplant, Anise is married with children. She has a love of football, shoes, and tall, dark heroes. When not spending time with family or traveling, she can be found either curled up with a good book or writing.

  Email: anisestorm@gmail.com

  Anise loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.totallybound.com.

  Also by Anise Storm

  Nirvana: Obsession