“Of course, the critics still couldn’t admit they might have been wrong,” Harmon went on. “But all you have to do is look at it and you can see the amazing depth and range of his talent.”
Kyra knew that Harmon had been called a one-trick pony himself. Years ago, his critics refused to take him seriously as a scientist because of his early work designing video games and toys. But that work made him his first millions and funded his pioneering research into new medical devices and bionic engineering. No wonder he identified so strongly with another creative soul who’d been discounted as nothing more than a hack in the beginning. Kyra was touched. By telling her the story, he’d given her a rare glimpse into the private Jake Harmon, the one he kept locked up tight inside most of the time.
Despite all of Harmon’s inventions, the only thing high tech about his private living quarters was his bathroom. She went in to take a shower and couldn’t even find a handle to turn on the water, let alone the fancy panel full of digital controls that she fully expected to see.
It turned out that he operated the shower with voice commands. He had to come in and tell it to turn on for her, and then stick around to adjust the temperature. It automatically set the flow to Harmon’s desires and she found out he liked to shower in water way too cool for her taste. He snuck back into the bathroom at one point, called out a command from the doorway, and then roared with laughter when she shrieked at the sudden icy blast. She’d never heard him laugh like that. The sound delighted her. He was relaxed and carefree, like a mischievous little boy.
They’d had a marvelous late dinner afterwards, both naked in Harmon’s bed. Marcus was on duty that night and he’d prepared a feast for them. Kyra didn’t even know he could cook. Harmon called him and forty-five minutes later there was a knock at the door. She threw on one of Harmon’s shirts and went to open it.
The hall was empty, except for a tray in front of the door. Fresh grilled shrimp on a bed of angel hair pasta covered in a white Alfredo sauce with just a hint of garlic, paired with a dry white wine from a vineyard in Tuscany that she’d never heard of. She brought the tray back to bed, Harmon took off her shirt—or rather his shirt—and they settled in, talking and laughing for hours. Harmon had been charming and chatty. He told her the story of how his friend Naji had met his wife Shayla, including Shayla’s firm belief that they’d been lovers in a past life, living together in the ancient Arabian city she was now excavating.
“You know, they seem so in tune with each other. I can almost believe it when I see them together,” Harmon said.
Kyra scoffed at that, and they had a lively debate about whether to trust first-person accounts or scientific research in the area of past-life regression. That led to a discussion of their beliefs on life after life and then somehow they were on the topic of moral and societal ramifications of humans cloning themselves for organ harvesting.
If anyone had told her twelve hours ago that she would be happily nestled in the bed of the man who whipped her with his belt in public that morning, Kyra would have said they were crazy. But the more time she spent with Harmon, the more she was beginning to understand—and accept—some truths about herself.
She really did love being submissive to him, loved the wicked thrill she got from being told to pull up her skirt and bend over to be spanked. She loved the way he turned the fiery burn into a spicy heat, loved the feeling of being tied up and teased, then fucked hard and long. She, who had always prided herself on her independence, loved finding a man who was strong enough—and cared enough about her—to take control, dominate her, drive her mad with desire, and then make her want more. Kyra’s strong resolve not to let her heart overrule her head was melting. Her heart was telling her to trust him. The way he’d held her tonight, the way he’d kissed her and then opened up, talking about himself for the first time, showed her that to Jake Harmon, she wasn’t just a scientific experiment or an expensive plaything any more.
Thinking about their relationship, Kyra realized that not only did she love the sex, she enjoyed being in his company even when he wasn’t bringing her to a screaming orgasm. His interests were wide-ranging. He was surprisingly funny, with a quick wit that often had the whole room laughing out loud at business meetings. The depth and range of his intelligence took her breath away at times.
Despite his reputation as a loner, he was good with people too, at least the handful he allowed to get close to him. She’d watched him with key employees and observed him interacting with his security detail. Those four men were all fiercely loyal to him, far beyond what would be expected even from a very generous paycheck. He must have done something right to win their respect.
Kyra listened to the low rumble of thunder accompanying nature’s fireworks display, thinking. The Jake Harmon who dominated her and then took her to new heights of ecstasy thrilled her like no man ever had. The Jake Harmon she was getting to know outside the lab was someone she was coming to respect and admire. The more time she spent around him, the more she doubted that he could have been behind the theft at her former company. Why would a man desperate for an infusion of cash give away millions in potential profits to help Naji’s people, strangers in a third-world country? It didn’t add up.
Kyra decided she had to keep digging. She’d have to attack it from a different angle. Because if Harmon hadn’t masterminded the crime, then someone else was pulling the strings, setting her up. To prove her innocence, she’d have to find the real thief.
Chapter Twelve
“I haven’t found a thing.” Kyra was sitting in a café on Calle Ocho in Little Havana, her coffee growing cold in front of her.
“Dig harder. There’s got to be evidence somewhere,” Patterson demanded. “I’m telling you, the man is dirty. You’re just not looking in the right places. Search for other offshore bank accounts like the one that was opened in the name of your dead mother.”
Kyra stared at him across the table, furious. He’d struck a nerve bringing in the memory of her mother, how she’d been used to frame Kyra. His eyes were cold and hard as he looked back at her. When had she ever thought this man was attractive?
“I told you, I’ve gone over all the records he’s given me access to. I can’t find anything he’s done that’s illegal. From what I can see, Harmon doesn’t even cheat on his taxes. I saw several places where he could make a few changes, set up shelters, and pay even less.”
“Good. Show him those and offer to find more. Maybe he’ll bring out the other set of records—the ones he’s apparently still hiding from you.” Patterson threw down his napkin in disgust. “I need results if you want me to honor our deal. Remember, you’re there to do a job, not just to spread your legs.”
Kyra pushed back her chair and stomped out of the restaurant without another word. She’d been at DreamQuest for three months now, working side by side with Harmon during the day. She advised him on financial matters, reviewed the work his accountants did, and sat in on a wide variety of meetings. In her free time at the office, she’d scoured every bit of information she could get her hands on. By now she was convinced Harmon wasn’t the one behind the theft that bankrupted her former workplace. But she was no closer to finding out who was.
As for their private life together, she’d never been happier. Harmon was full of surprises. Last week, the private phone he gave her vibrated in her pocket right in the middle of a meeting with several members of his accounting firm. Kyra was there to familiarize herself with the plan they’d suggested to Harmon to diversify by transferring some of his holdings to a new foreign corporation they wanted him to establish.
She looked down at the screen.
Wanna get licked n dicked? Lose these guys. Quick.
She glanced up at Harmon but his face was expressionless. Flustered, she tried to concentrate on what the men were saying. A few seconds later, her phone buzzed again.
Good girls get rewards. Naughty girls get punished. Put the phone between your legs, under your skirt.
After getting whipped with his belt at another meeting, Kyra wasn’t about to ignore a direct command from Harmon when he was in full-out dom mode. Trying to act nonchalant, she put her hand under the table and slid the cell phone between her thighs. For the next fifteen minutes, Harmon toyed with her. He’d hit redial, making the phone vibrate up against her pussy, then ask her some long, involved question about the legal implications of such a transfer, or the tax consequences.
Kyra struggled to maintain her composure. Finally, she called a halt to the proceedings when the head of the accounting firm couldn’t give her a firm number for his projection of the long-term capital gains Harmon could expect to realize.
“Jake, I suggest we reconvene after Mr. Robbins has had a chance to do a few more calculations. Gentlemen, thank you for coming. Let’s plan to meet again in two weeks.”
Jake rose and shook hands with all of the men, escorting them to the door. He shut it after them and Kyra heard the unmistakable click of the lock. He turned to face her.
“You took far too long ending that meeting. That was naughty. And you know what I said happens to naughty girls.” His voice took on the stern tone that sent shivers of anticipation tinged with a bit of fear through her body. “Now get up and bend over the table.”
Kyra knew better than to hesitate. She stood, pulling the phone out from between her legs and laying it on her chair. Then she bent her body across the sleek, polished wood. Harmon came up beside her and slid her skirt up. Her legs were bare and she wore only a tiny purple thong, leaving her bottom totally exposed.
“Good. I like it when you’re dressed so that I can spank these naughty cheeks easily.” His hand connected with a loud crack and Kyra bit her lip to keep from crying out. She was never prepared for the white-hot bolt of pain that accompanied that first whack. Harmon didn’t believe in starting out easy.
He spanked her again and Kyra jerked against the hard surface of the table.
“Next time… you’re going to take that meeting yourself… and give me a five-minute rundown on the plan… afterwards.” His hand descended on her quivering bottom over and over, driving home his words. She flinched at each firm smack but didn’t struggle or protest. Kyra knew by now that doing either would only prolong her punishment. She knew too that no matter how much it hurt right now, after he stopped the burn would morph into a hot, spicy sting that ignited a different kind of fire between her legs.
“Lie down on the table with your ass right here on the edge.”
Kyra stood up and turned around. She lay back on the huge conference table, her legs dangling, grateful for the cool of the wood against her aching bottom. Harmon grabbed her ankles and draped her legs over his shoulders, then knelt between them.
“Sit up a little. I want you to watch. From now on, when you’re at a meeting in this room, you’re going to picture yourself on this table, having your pussy eaten until you come in my mouth.” He reached over and pressed a button on the panel at the head of the table, then leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “I just turned on the intercom between this room and Jessica’s desk out in the reception area. Any sound you make will be easily heard by anyone in the lobby or the halls nearby. You have a choice. You can be quiet, no matter what I do to you, or you can moan and scream like you usually do and everyone will know what’s happening in here.”
She could feel her pussy getting wet as he spoke. This was a new torment. Not exactly exhibitionism, but a different kind of shameful embarrassment, one she could forgo if she remained silent. Harmon bent his head and his lips fastened on her clit, sucking and licking until it was a hard, throbbing bud. Kyra shuddered. She fought to breathe evenly, knowing that even a loud gasp would be heard and possibly questioned later.
He looked up at her with a wicked grin, and she knew instantly that he was going to ramp up the action. He grabbed her bottom with both hands and scooted her closer to the edge of the table. Then he ran his tongue slowly all the way down, rimming her ass. He stood up with her legs still over his shoulders, raising her bottom high into the air. Dipping a finger into the slick juices of her pussy, he teased her, staring into her eyes the whole time. Then he unzipped his pants, pulled out a raging hard-on, and rammed it up inside her with one powerful lunge.
Kyra clamped her jaws together to keep from letting out a scream. Harmon began fucking her, slow and steady, building the arousal for both of them. Kyra clenched her hands around the edge of the table and pulled herself forward, meeting his thrusts and still not making a sound.
But when his finger slipped up inside her ass, Kyra let out an involuntary cry. Jessica’s voice filled the room.
“Jake? Miss Thornton? Is everything all right?”
Jake raised his eyebrows at her and Kyra realized he had no intention of answering. She stammered a response. He pumped his hips, driving his cock hard, all the while thrusting his finger deeper into her ass.
“I… I’m fine, Jessica. Just a… uuh… a paper cut.”
“Can I get you anything?”
Jake cut in then. “Thanks, but she’s got everything she needs.”
Kyra tried to glare at him, but it was impossible to be angry while he rocked her body with savage sensations. She squeezed her muscles hard around his cock, wanting to hear him cry out too. But his eyes narrowed, dark with lust, and he worked a second finger into her tight hole as he ground his cock deep inside her.
She exploded, powerful waves carrying her to that place that only he had ever taken her. That’s when she felt him let go, pulsing inside her. When he finally slumped over her body, his brow damp with a sheen of sweat, it was Kyra’s turn to smile.
* * *
Thanks to his machines, when they had sessions in the lab Harmon knew just what kind of fantasies to project on the headgear now to get her hot. He’d make her watch a brand new scene every time, always created with her most wicked desires in mind. Sometimes he tied her down before he spanked her bottom. He had a whole array of devices he’d use too, including a mechanical dildo that measured her vaginal contractions along the way. Then it varied the speed and intensity of its thrusts and vibrations to maximize her arousal, pleasuring her until she screamed with pure ecstasy.
She’d gotten one more punishment spanking though, when he found out she’d made herself come while he was away for a few days on a business trip. That night he hadn’t used any headgear or fancy devices. He paddled her with a hairbrush, over his knee, on her own bed.
She’d missed him and she’d been happy to see him when he’d knocked at her door that evening shortly after she came upstairs from DreamQuest headquarters. He was carrying a small package, a pair of black pearl earrings he’d taken the time to pick out for her while he was away. Surprised at the thoughtful gesture, Kyra thanked him, put them on, and then went to look at herself in the mirror. He followed her into her bedroom, the first time he’d ever been in there with her.
“They’re beautiful. Thank you,” she said.
“They reminded me of the first time I ever saw you. Simple, elegant—and beautiful.”
Kyra was touched. Without thinking, she turned to kiss him. But he was staring at her nightstand, expressionless. She followed his gaze and flushed with embarrassment. She’d been thinking about him last night, about their last session in the lab, and had gotten so aroused that she’d dug out a cock-shaped vibrator she’d brought with her and masturbated. Knowing Carmen only came into her suite twice a week to clean when Harmon was away, she’d dashed out the door this morning and left the vibrator lying on her nightstand.
“Kyra.” Harmon’s voice held that stern note that set off butterflies in her stomach. “Do you remember the rules I set out on your first day here?”
“Yes, sir,” she answered, head lowered.
“What were they?”
“I am to call you sir or master when you summon me for a session. I am not allowed to speak unless asked a question or given permission to do so. I am to keep my eyes lowered at all times and not
look directly at you—unless you command me otherwise.”
“Are those my only rules?”
Kyra wished desperately that she didn’t have to answer, but she knew by now if she didn’t the consequences would only be worse. “No… sir,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “There is one more rule.”
“What is it?”
“I am not allowed to touch myself without your permission while I am under your roof.”
He walked over and picked up the vibrator. “Did you use this while I was away?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I don’t recall you asking me if you could.”
“No, sir. I didn’t.”
He stood by the bed, absently turning the vibrator over and over in his hands. “Take off your clothes.”
She couldn’t read his expression. Was he going to use the vibrator on her? Was he going to punish her? Hesitantly, she stripped off the sleeveless silk dress she’d worn to the office that day. She unhooked her bra and let it drop to the floor, slipped out of her heels and slid her pink bikini panties down. Naked, she stood in front of him.
“Lie down on the bed.”
Kyra crawled onto the bed, still not meeting his eyes. She arranged herself on her back, head on the pillows. Harmon handed her the vibrator.
“Show me.”
She held it, uncertain of what to do.
“I said, show me. Show me what you did with that last night.”
Kyra flushed with shame. She’d never played with herself in front of him before. She turned on the vibrator and slid it between her legs.
“Spread your legs.” His voice was hard. “I want to see what you did, how you did it. And I want you to talk. Tell me what you were thinking about.”
Kyra spread her legs apart and Harmon moved closer to the bed. She ran the vibrator across her clit and began. “I was… I was thinking about our last night in the lab, the night before you left. When you put that dildo in my ass and then spanked me and made me come.”
Bared by the Billionaire Page 12