I step back. “I’m not so sure, Gage. I will screw things up. I will—”
He squeezes my arm a little tighter and glares into my eyes. “It’s only for two weeks, Emma. You will do as I say. Come with me now.”
****
It’s only for two weeks, Emma. You will do as I say.
Those are the words that put me right back to where I was before Gage and I had sex last night. His words are a stark reminder of what this thing is—and isn’t—between us.
It isn’t a relationship.
It is a prelude to a kinky sex weekend.
That’s all. And that’s all it will ever be.
I stare at the elevator door in front of me as we rise to the top of the building. Gage stands beside me, silent.
Something is different about him, and then I am reminded of what he’d said to me yesterday. I don’t caress, cuddle, or whisper sweet nothings in your ear. I fuck.
And then I realize—the man standing beside of me is the real Gage. Hard. Cold. Indifferent. What I briefly saw last night was obviously a figment of my imagination. Yet, I still want to carry on.
And why?
Because I want to. I’m curious and drawn to him. I want to experience wild and abandoned sex again. Like last night. With Gage. And I want to know that I am sexually satisfying.
I need to do this. For me.
The door opens. Gage signals for me to go ahead of him. I nod and say, “Thank you.”
I wait for him to exit. His glance skids past me. “This way, Ms. Lavender,” he says.
I follow like a dutiful schoolgirl.
Chapter Fifteen
After safely depositing Emma in his office behind closed and locked doors, Gage finally breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at Chad and told him to expect Christina Long in a few minutes.
“I’m terminating her. I want you to conduct the exit interview, and I’m going to be here to witness the damn thing. I don’t feel like talking, just follow the script. Get someone else from HR over here, too. Then, we’re promoting Emma to her position.”
Chad nodded his agreement. “I understand. How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay.” He washed his hands over his face and paced a few steps back and forth.
“Did you get any sleep?” Chad asked.
“A little.”
That was a lie. Once Gage left the ranch, he’d met up with Chad outside of Emma’s apartment building. Security guards were in place by the time he had arrived, and he spoke to both of them. Chad had already briefed and shown them Emma’s picture. Same thing with the man outside Emma’s apartment door, who was instructed to follow Emma to work this morning and keep her in sight until Gage arrived.
Gage also showed them pictures of Amanda and gave instructions to never let her near Emma. Any spotting of Amanda and they were to contact Gage immediately.
He’d had no sleep. Parked out of the way, but in sight of the front of the building, he’d waited to see if Amanda would arrive. He’d not responded to her text and figured she was madder than a riled snake, but she’d not texted again.
That was also a bit worrisome. Amanda was vocal and loud-mouthed. When she got quiet, that’s when he worried. He’d be waiting for the next shoe to drop.
When Emma left the building with the hired guard tailing her, Gage left too. He stopped long enough at his condo for a shower and change of clothes, and a hot cup of coffee. Now, all he needed to do was get rid of Christina, and keep Emma on the corporate level with him, where she was safe and secure, and he could breathe.
“I think we need more security on this level, Chad. Contact the elevator people and see what it takes to install a swipe key for twenty-two. No one gets up here without that key.”
Chad nodded. “We’ll need to provide some protocol for staff, how to use their keys and when, and how to receive guests who do not have a key, and so on.”
Gage waved his arms. “Yeah, yeah. We’ll work all of that out. Maybe Emma could start working on that this afternoon.”
“I’ll get right on it, Mr. Parker.” He scrolled through his address book on his computer. “Oh, by the way, does Emma know why you are taking these precautions?”
Gage shook his head. “No, and I want to keep it that way.”
“Don’t you think she needs to know?”
Chad generally did not cross him. He gave his assistant a warning look. “No. She’s temporary.” Chad knew more of his personal business than Cole did. He knew the gig.
“Oh.”
“Two weeks. Then it’s over.”
“Never mind.” Chad nodded, and then added, “But it seems Ms. Lavender is a little different, and I thought perhaps because you were going to all of this trouble for her security that she would be here…”
Gage raised his brows and stared.
“Like I said. Never mind, sir.”
His cell phone sounded in his pocket. Gage reached for it and swiped in his password. A text from Amanda came up on top.
I’m in the lobby.
“Shit.” Gage looked to Chad. “Handle the meeting with Christina and HR and keep Emma in my office. I’ve got something to deal with downstairs.”
Chad nodded and Gage took in the worried look on his face. “I will take care of Ms. Emma, sir.”
****
Gage wasn’t looking forward to this meeting. His brain blank as he rode down the elevator, he stepped into the lobby loaded for bear. Amanda stood leaning against a column about ten feet away from the restaurant. He walked briskly toward her, grabbed her elbow and led her down the hallway and into an empty conference room.
“What in the hell are you doing showing up here like this.”
She slanted her head. “You didn’t give me a choice, Gage. You are not responding to my texts.”
“It’s not my style to respond to threats.”
“Oh, I’m doing a whole lot more than threatening you, Gage. Just watch me.”
He grasped her upper arms, then pushed back and released her. “Don’t get me riled up, Amanda. Just spill it. What do you want?”
“You.”
“We’ve already discussed this. That is not happening.”
Her shoulders dropped. “Ah, shit, Gage. You don’t really mean that.”
“I do and you know it.”
She crossed her arms and eyed him. “Now, if that new little blonde was out of the way, I bet you might think differently.”
Rage poked at his chest. He crowded up against her. “Listen to me, Amanda. You stay away from Emma. She has nothing to do with this.”
“Oh, she has everything to do with this. If you’re fucking her, you’re not fucking me. That is a huge problem for me, Gage.”
“I’m not fucking you, Amanda,” he hissed. “We’ve already discussed this. No more.”
She didn’t break his stare. “Get rid of her Gage, or I go to the media with your pictures.”
“Pictures?”
“Yeah. You didn’t think I took just one, did you?”
“You fucking bitch.”
She shrugged. “I want what I want. And I want you.”
Gage laughed. “You think if you go to the media with those pictures that I’ll give in and be your Dom. Think again, Amanda.”
“No, I think if you don’t get rid of Miss Prissy, I’ll go to the media and your career will be ruined. Scandals are lovely things, aren’t they? Then look where you will be. Down here with the low-life again, just where you started.”
Gage didn’t honor that with a response. He stepped back and moved for the door. Once there, he turned back. “I’m warning you, Amanda. Stay away from the hotel, away from Emma, and the hell away from me. If you leak those photos, so be it, but nothing is going to make me get rid of Emma. Now, get on back to your daddy’s ranch where you belong.”
He let the door to the room slam closed behind him. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he called hotel security. “There is a woman in Conference Room B. Get her out and make sure
she never steps a foot back in this hotel again. Go now.”
Breathing hard, he clicked off the phone and headed back to corporate. He couldn’t wait to get upstairs and hold Emma in his arms.
Chapter Sixteen
I spend my time waiting for Gage by doing the one thing I shouldn’t be doing—thinking. But what else am I left with, when told to sit and wait, but my thoughts? I stroll through his office for a few moments, taking stock of pictures, awards, diplomas, and such, and learn Gage was once a champion bull rider, and that he holds two degrees in business administration. I don’t doubt that, since he is obviously an intelligent man.
What isn’t here, however, sticks out like a sore thumb. Family. Just one more thing to validate his impersonal side?
Perhaps.
I settle back into my chair and look out at the mountains, imagining Christina is getting the axe right about now. Soon, she will be escorted out and I will be ushered into HR, where Gage can keep me close.
All right. If that’s what he wants, that’s what he’ll get.
For two weeks.
“I’m not thinking about anything after that.” I stroke the soft leather of the padded chair arm.
Behind me, the locks disengage, and I hear heavy footfall approach. I look up when Gage moves into my peripheral vision and sits in his chair behind the desk. He looks tired and a little disheveled, his dark eyes sunk back into his head. Even the hard planes and angles of his face look droopy.
“What’s going on, Gage?” Something is off-kilter. It was apparent the second he stepped in my office door earlier.
He fiddles with a pen on his desk, rolling it between his fingers. His shoulders slump, he watches the movement for a moment, then looks up, ignoring my question. “That task is done. Christina had crossed the line with a coworker a few months ago and was on a six-month probation. I don’t allow employees to challenge me, and she walked that fine edge one too many times.”
“That’s convenient. Isn’t it?”
He shifts in his seat, aligning his body square with mine. “In what way?”
“She gets fired. I move in. So you can keep me close.”
He cocks his head to one side. “Do you object?”
“No. I just don’t see why me. I’m sure there are more qualified people here for her job. People who have probably been waiting to move up the ladder.”
“The other qualified people here, Emma, are not who I want in that position.”
“Because you want to keep me close.”
He stands. “Yes. And you know why.”
“So you have easy access—just like the deal with no panties.”
“Anything wrong with that?”
I stand, too. “No. But twenty-two floors between us hasn’t stopped you when you wanted me before, why would it now? I’m not comfortable with this job. Let someone else do the HR work. I do think I can do a good job for you at the front desk.”
“No.”
“Why?” Am I walking a fine line too? Like Christina?
Gage pounds his fist down on the desk. The pen skids across the polished top and rolls to the floor. The glare in his eyes frightens me. “Because you are mine, Emma,” he yells, “And you will do as I say.”
I don’t speak for a moment. Nor do I move my eyes from his. I force myself to remain calm. Stoic. Indifferent.
I take my lessons from him.
“Yes, Sir.”
Gage pushes up and takes a couple of steps away from the desk. He glances out the window, as if staring at the mountains would help center him. After a moment, he appears calmer, and speaks in a slightly lower, more controlled voice. “You will do fine in her position, Emma. Chad has something you can start on this afternoon. We are in the process of installing a new security system, and we’ll need new protocol and employee guidance written up. I’m sure you can handle that.”
“Of course.”
“Excellent.”
“If I may ask, why the new security system?”
He looks at me as if I have two heads. “It’s been in the works for a while. Just precautionary, in this day and age.”
It feels like he just made that up. “I see. It is a question I am sure staff will ask. I’ll get on that as soon as I am permitted to leave and go to my office. May I leave, Sir?”
Taking a deep breath, Gage sits again in his chair, crossing his arms across his chest. “Emma, about last night…”
I shake my head. “No need to discuss last night, Sir. I was just doing what I was told.”
His eyes close.
“Is there anything else you need from me, Sir?”
He sits for a moment, just breathing. I wait.
“Yes.”
I wait a moment longer, and he doesn’t move or respond. Then I say in a softer, more seductive voice, “How may I please you, Sir?”
Gage’s eyes flash open. He stands and pulls the knot out of his tie, then rips it from his shirt collar. He stalks the width of the desk toward me while shrugging out of his jacket and letting it fall to the floor, and then twisting the buttons open on his shirt. When he stops before me, I yank at his belt and jerk down the zipper of his fly.
He groans and pulls my sweater over my head and with a snap removes my bra. In seconds my skirt is on the floor, he is stepping out of his pants, and we both are kicking out of our shoes.
“Sit on the sofa,” he orders.
I head that way while he moves to a closet and retrieves a handful of ties. When he gets to the couch he says, “Legs together.”
I sit, my feet flat on the floor, and Gage kneels before me, binding one of the ties around both of my ankles. As he jerks the fabric tighter, he says to me, “I’m going to fuck you, Emma, and you are not going to be able to touch me, or move, unless I want you to. All you are going to do is take it. Do you understand?” He pulls the knot tight.
I nod.
“Say it, Emma. I need to hear it.”
“I understand, Sir.”
“Good girl.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Stand up. Here, give me your hands.” He grasps both of my hands so I can stand and turns me toward the sofa. “Hands behind your back.”
I follow his orders. With the second tie, he pulls my arms back and binds my wrists together. Tight.
“Now, lay on the sofa, face down. Move only when I position you. And don’t talk.”
He helps me roll onto the cold leather, and then tugs at my hips until my ass is in the air. My shoulders support my upper body, hands still behind my back. My left cheek presses against the sofa seat; I can’t move.
Suddenly Gage’s fingers are inside my pussy from behind.
“God, you are hot inside,” he says. “My girl is so fucking hot inside.”
He probes, stroking me. In and out. With the other hand, he grabs my breast and squeezes. I stifle a gasp.
His breath is warm and moist next to my ear. “You are mine, Emma,” he hisses. “I’m going to fuck you how I want to right now. I need to fuck you, Emma. Do you understand that? And you are going to take it. This isn’t about you. It’s about me. It’s about me fucking you, claiming you. It’s about me controlling you and everything about you.”
His words alone send a tremor through me. I’ve never known mere words could excite me so. His fingers glide in exact rhythm to the cadence of those words. Already, I feel the bud of an orgasm building inside me.
“Your safe word, Emma. Tell me the word.”
“Chicken.”
“Use it if you need to.”
I swallow and pray I won’t have to.
Gage moves closer to my ear and bites my earlobe. “Mine, Emma. You are mine to fuck.”
Oh God then fuck me!
Gage pulls back, and I immediately miss the heat of his breath on my cheek. His fingers slip out of my pussy. Both of his hands are now on my ass, spreading my cheeks apart. And the glorious warmth of his tongue and lips start a deliberate quest toward my clit. Gage spreads me farther apart,
and it feels like his mouth covers my entire pussy. He burrows into me, delivering a concoction of sucking and gnawing, biting and teasing. His tongue pushes into my folds and laps up my juices.
My thighs begin a slow quiver. Can I take this?
Then he pulls his mouth away. I hear him fumbling with a plastic packet and assume he’s putting on a condom. In seconds he is nudging against me.
“Fucking you now, Emma. Hard. Be ready.”
He grasps my hips and holds me steady. With one sharp and thorough thrust, Gage is inside me. Simultaneously, he shouts, as though plunging into of me is some sort of release. I shudder and pant as he begins to pump in and out, the force of his thrusts increasing with each stroke. There was no buildup, just frantic and deliberate fucking. I can do nothing, like he said, but take it.
And I do. Repeatedly, he drives into me. Faster and faster. Pistoning like a well-oiled engine. His strokes tempt the furthest depths of my core. I don’t want him to stop. Ever.
But Gage pulls out. Roughly, he grasps me around the waist and tugs me upright to where I am kneeling on the sofa, and angles me so that the sofa supports my back. He retrieves another tie and threads it behind my knees, binding them securely together. Watching my face, he licks one of his fingers and pushes it between my legs, finding my clit.
The sensation of not being able to spread my legs was overwhelming, especially with him taunting and tugging at my clit. My breathing is heavy, and I want to close my eyes and curl into my own world, but Gage tells me not to. “Keep your eyes open, Emma. Look at me. I own you.”
With his left hand, he clasps my face, his thumb and fingers on either cheek. “Watch my eyes, Emma,” he tells me. “Don’t look away.” His finger is still probing between my pussy lips, snug around his digit. He pushes and pulls against my clit, and I can literally feel it swelling against his touch.
My eyelids grow heavy and want to close. Gage squeezes my cheeks and forces me to look at him. “Focus on me, Emma. Look into my eyes.” His finger brushes my enlarging clit and my entire body trembles. “I know you want to come,” he says. “But not yet, my Emma. Not yet.”
I feel like I am falling into a trance. I am shaking and on the border of implosion. I want to shout out and tell him to let me come. But I don’t. I was told not to talk.
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