“M–maybe.”
He was certain she didn’t. A vanilla person discovering BDSM for the first time? Well, there really was no other comparison. He still remembered his own first cautious steps into the world. It was so long ago now, but he had faith Anne had what it would take to come across the line. More, he had faith she needed this every bit as much as he had when Grace had shown him.
He hadn’t even kissed her. They’d never had sex. There was so much he didn’t know about this woman, but the chemistry between them burned hotter than he’d ever felt in his life, and he could not miss this opportunity. He would have to be careful though because he couldn’t allow this affair with Anne to affect his custody case. He’d been keeping a low profile now for months. He hadn’t been to a club, hadn’t even had a woman in his bed. Sophie was too important to him. But Anne, her draw, was not something he could ignore. He would have to find a way to balance the two needs.
“I’m going to sound like an ass, Anne, but it’s only fair I tell you that if you agree, this affair will have to be entirely private. I won’t be taking you down red carpets or to splashy parties or fund-raising events. You won’t be photographed on my arm. I won’t be introducing you to my family or friends. I have maybe a month I can devote to you. We’ll find a way to meet in secret. Our correspondences will have to go through third parties. It will all be a bit clandestine, but with the paparazzi dogging my every step, I can’t jeopardize my fight for custody. My lawyers have told me in no uncertain terms to stay away from women until this is settled, but God help me, Anne, I can’t stay away from you.”
In a way, he was also testing her. A part of him needed to know it was him that she wanted and not his celebrity status. Brittany’s burn went deep, and he found himself not trusting his instincts entirely any longer, which for someone like him could prove lethal. He could not afford to question himself. He may have been reading her wrong, but he didn’t think he was. His little Anne wasn’t a prude by far, she just needed a little kink and submission in her life. Only how would she have ever known? If she’d let him show her the depth of her passion, he’d take the task on as the gift and honor it was, and he’d make sure she never regretted it. Although waiting for her answer was about near killing him.
He could have argued her naked right where she stood in under a minute, but she wasn’t a game to him. He wanted everything from her, but he wanted her to give it to him freely. That was more important to him than anything else. In the past, playing submissive games with women had been his pleasure, but this was different. She was different, and he’d do whatever it took to win her trust and get her in his bed, and for once, he’d do it on her terms and not his own.
“So, Anne, what’s it going to be? Do you think you can handle me?”
Chapter Five
Anne couldn’t find her voice. Her gut instinct to what she assumed was an invitation was, God yes! Please, in fact, but she couldn’t force the words out. So instead, she stood there staring into his eyes, wondering if this was actually real. This was all so out of character for her, but something deep inside her wakened when that man stood close—something she liked. She didn’t want to give that up. He started something in her that she wanted finished. She felt a spark of hope for the first time in years that perhaps it wasn’t that she was just doomed to a gray, passionless existence. She felt such desire with him. She was wet and achy for his touch—all the things she had wanted to feel for her husband and never did.
“Okay.” It was the only word she could get out, and as she said it, she was hit with a dual wave of excitement and fear. “I think.”
“No. Don’t back away, Anne.” He brought his other hand up and was now cupping her face and staring into her eyes with longing. “You want it, Anne, as much as I do. I see it in your eyes. All you have to do is trust me.”
Trust you?
I don’t even know you!
She pushed away the panic and connected to the deeper parts of herself, the parts that weren’t screaming about only having met him a few hours before, or about what was proper and right, or about being insane. If she could push away the torrent of emotion and tumult created by her mind and get to her instincts, she knew this was right, that he was right. She swallowed hard and blinked a few times then forced herself to say, “I trust you. Teach me, Grey. Show me everything, please.”
She felt an edge of desperation. It was almost as if she knew he was the only person in the world that could take her where she wanted to go, and if she blew this, she’d live the rest of her life never knowing the truth.
She saw a hint of smile just before his lips came down on hers, and she lost all her senses in a powerful explosion that left her feeling unbalanced and adrift and grasping for solid ground. She gasped into his mouth as the surprise hit her, and he took that as an invitation to move his tongue inside. Her gasp and initial nervousness disintegrated into little frissons now dancing along the surface of her skin. She moaned softly as her nipples hardened and her pussy ached. She gave herself completely to him, brushing her tongue along his, loving the feel of his when he ran it along the roof of her mouth.
She tilted her head, giving him better access, and he greedily took it. His arms wrapped around her back and pulled her so close she felt his hard-on pressing against her. The girl she’d been only a few hours ago would have freaked out, but this woman that Grey seemed to bring out in her so effortlessly was only more aroused by feeling how hard she made him.
She took in the taste of him. Beneath the flavor of the mustard and relish from his breakfast, she tasted something almost familiar. A taste that some part of her knew, and she put the memory of him into her conscious so she would always remember it, remember him.
When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against hers, and she realized they were both breathless.
“The timing sucks.” He pulled back enough to look into her eyes. “But I’ll figure this out, Anne, because now that I’ve found you, there’s no way in hell I’m going to lose you or this opportunity. It is such a huge honor to be allowed a sub’s first time. I’ll protect you, Anne, and I’ll go as slow as you need, and—”
She pushed her hand up between them and covered his lips.
“I trust you.”
She felt a little shaky from the combination of the kiss and what she’d agreed to, especially since she really wasn’t sure what all she had agreed to, but for right that second, she simply wanted to soak up the warmth of being in his arms.
“I promise to never make you regret it.”
He pressed a strong kiss to her forehead and wrapped his arms tightly around her body. Something in the simple gesture flooded her with a tenderness that felt very akin to safety. She realized that, in his arms, she’d already found the one thing she’d searched her entire life for, and at least for now, she no longer felt alone. She refused to think about how long that might last. She would just take everything she could from it while it was hers to take and worry about her broken heart and shattered soul later.
* * * *
“I just don’t understand why she keeps crying.”
The overly thin blonde juggled the poor, red-faced, dark-haired, little girl a bit too precariously for Todd’s liking. He exchanged glances with the nanny. They both understood why the poor little thing kept crying—her mother was both incompetent and hung-over.
“Look, Brittany, why don’t you just give her to the nanny so we can get back to work?”
She swiveled and wobbled, and for a second, Todd was actually terrified she was about to drop Sophie on the terra-cotta tiles beneath their feet. At the last second, she readjusted her hold and secured the little girl in her arms.
“Shut up, Todd. You work for me, and I’ll say when we work.” She pushed away the little girl’s matted hair from her face. “Now shut up, Sophie. You’re making mommy look bad.”
Todd cringed. Everything about this assignment sat wrong with him, but the money. He was slightly ashamed of himself, b
ut co-writing this tell-all with Brittany was going to put him on the map. Too bad it was going to wipe Grey Hendrix off it. He’d had more than his fifteen minutes of fame, though, and Todd had a car payment to make. He walked over to where Brittany stood in front of a wall of windows set in dark oak frames, overlooking the perfectly manicured lawns and the pool of the Bel Air estate.
“Come on, baby. We have to get those chapters done today if you want to keep your publisher happy.”
He felt sweat break out on his forehead. Dealing with divas was not his strong suit. He was an introverted, insecure man, but from day one on this job, he’d been learning to manage Brittany and her mood swings and her addictions. It was more than his job description called for, but as his agent kept reminding him, no Brittany, no six-figure deal.
“I don’t give a fuck who’s happy!”
Brittany had a certain pitch that was like nails on a chalkboard. Todd rubbed at his one ear while she continued her tirade.
“I’ve got the goods on Grey, and you know it. I’m going to blow his image to hell.” She started screaming, only making Sophie cry louder. “I had his goddamned baby! Look!” She moved Sophie into another precarious hold while she freed one hand and pulled her pink tee out of her gray sweats to expose her stomach. “Do you see what being pregnant did to me?”
He supposed if he looked close enough there he might see a stretch mark on her otherwise flawless skin, although he thought the wrinkles around her mouth from smoking and the puffiness around her eyes and the needle marks in her arms detracted more from her looks.
“Brittany, give Sophie to Marguerite.” He drew a deep breath and ran his hand over the top of his head. When she was like this, there was only one way to get through to her. He rubbed his hand over her back. “Then I’ll take a better look at those marks.”
She gave him a sideways grin and instantly handed over the child without looking. She let go so fast, Marguerite almost didn’t have the chance to grab her. Todd kept his eye on them. Marguerite instantly started to soothe the child as she quickly left the room.
“And keep her quiet! For God’s sake, right?” She smiled at Todd in a way that made his stomach queasy.
“Yeah, baby. What do you say we get back to work? We were at the part where Grey took you to the sex club that last time.”
He prayed he could distract her again because fucking her was something he’d been trying to avoid for three months, and he wasn’t sure how long he could keep her at bay.
“Fuck Grey!”
Yeah. He assumed that was the point of the book.
“I mean, do you know what I did for that man?”
She walked away from him, tears starting to fall a bit too theatrically. When she turned back to face him, she had the distraught look of a woman scorned written all over her face.
“We could have been happy. We could have had the same kind of relationship half the people in this fucking town have!” She literally stomped her foot twice and flailed her arms in the air like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum. “I looked good on his arm, and I did good for his press. I mean, shit, when I was pregnant with Sophie, do you know how many magazine covers we got? But no, he had to go and fucking ruin everything just because I wasn’t into his little kinks!”
Todd drew a deep breath. She was on a rant, and he’d have to wait it out because, when she started going off on Grey, it was like a runaway train, and there was no derailing it. The deadline—and how much he stood to lose—weighed heavily on his mind. They were nearly finished. He just had to get the last two chapters out of her. He had to get her to tell him about the night Grey walked out on her, and he needed more details about the kinks. So far, all he’d really gotten was that Grey was into bondage and domination, but not to a degree that would really make headlines. Still, the publisher was thrilled with the chapters he’d sent them so far, and they were fast-tracking the book for publication, riding the publicity coat tails of the custody trial. He just needed the finishing chapters, and this nightmare would be done.
“Oh, I played it up until I got knocked up. I did all his twisted little fantasies, and I went to all his sick parties…”
She picked up a large decorative plate from its position on a pillar near the windows and threw it across the room. The direct hit against the opposite wall sent shards of glass in several directions at once. Todd ducked and thought for not the first time she would have had a hell of a career in ladies’ softball.
“I let other men fuck me for show! I let him shove his cock up my ass!” A delicate glass sculpture went sailing across the room. “And that thing ain’t small!”
Todd wondered if he should follow her around the room and try to save some of the larger pieces. If for no other reason than to help the staff who would inevitably be left with the clean up, but he still remembered the glass vase she threw at his head the second day they worked together and the seventeen stitches he had to get. That was the day he learned to keep his distance and try other techniques to calm her down.
“And I get what for all of this? Kicked to the goddamned fucking curb!”
She screeched like a banshee, and Todd ducked behind a floral-print sofa across the room from where she picked up her next victim and threw it right over his head. Not even for the best sex of his life would putting up with her be worth it. He wondered how the hell Grey had done it for so long. He moved around the room, staying out of the way of her and the room’s bric-a-brac as it went sailing from one side of the room to the other.
He would have to let the eruption wind down, then ply her with just enough alcohol to get her head clear. Then he’d get about an hour of work out of her before she started helping herself to the alcohol. If that woman won custody of Sophie, there truly was no justice in the system. Then again, he didn’t think Grey was going to be any better. He was an addict and a drunk, same as her mother, and apparently a sexual deviant. The only real victim in any of this was Sophie, but he couldn’t think of one single way to help her. He knew too many kids who’d wound up in the system based on some snoopy neighbor’s call. Maybe his next book should be an exposé on the corruption within the child protective services.
He moved to the bar while she continued to shriek and throw things and poured her vodka. If he timed it just right, he’d have her purring like a kitten within five minutes.
“I’ve had cocks in all my orifices at one fucking time!”
She threw her hands in the air and stomped both her feet as if she were marching.
“I know, baby. Here, drink this.” He cringed as he handed her the drink. He hated enabling her addiction, but he was in so far over his head, and all he knew for sure was that he had a deadline and a six-figure deal hanging in the balance. If it came to it, yeah, he’d fuck her to get the job done…He just seriously hoped to avoid that fate.
She smiled at him after downing half the glass, and he could see the alcohol working already.
“Feel better?”
“Yep. I should go check on Sophie.”
Oh, God, no!
He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him.
“Honey, she’s probably asleep. Why don’t we get some work done while it’s quiet?”
She reached down and pressed her hand against his cock, and he withstood her clumsy fondle.
“You wanna fuck me? We could do it right here on the sofa. Grey used to love to fuck me in this room. I think all the windows and the possibility of the staff seeing us turned him on.” She took another long sip from the highball glass then pointed at him with an extended finger from the hand she held the glass in. The liquid sloshed and nearly jumped the rim of the glass. “Make sure you put that in the book.”
“I will, honey. I’ll put it all in there, but we’ve got to write it together, so I need you to focus right now. Can you do that?”
He removed her hand from his pants, and she threw back the rest of the vodka.
“I suppose. He just pisses me off so much. I mean, I gave him everythin
g, and then he wanted out!”
He ran his hands down her arms.
“Honey, you’ve gotta stay calm. This book will more than get even with him. It will destroy his image and career. Once this hits shelves, he won’t be able to get a call returned in this town. That’s what you want, right?”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
“All right then.” He led her to the large, red arm chair she liked to sit in while she told him the stories of her past with Grey. “Sit here, and let’s get to work.”
She sat and held her glass up to him.
“Refill me.”
He sighed but did as she told him.
“I’m gonna take his money, his career, and his kid.” She reached up to take the now-full glass from him. “He’s going to be sorry he didn’t give me what I wanted, because I’m gonna fucking ruin him now.”
She laughed. It was a hollow, nearly evil sound that sent shivers up his spine, but he pushed the feeling aside and sat at the antique wooden desk with his laptop, ready to take down the next hunk of story she had to tell him. He wondered if this was what selling your soul to the devil felt like, because something in his gut told him that’s just what he had done.
Chapter Six
Anne walked into the concierge lounge for her next shift still feeling slightly off-balance and giddy. She kept her head down, realizing Jordan had already arrived and not wanting to meet her hard, questioning stare. She also knew how easy she was to read, especially to Jordan. And as she still wasn’t sure what the hell was going on between her and Grey, she didn’t want to field any questions on the subject.
“Hi.” She stowed her purse in the desk drawer. Jordan looked up from the forms she was imputing into the system, but Anne looked away and went to check the coffee.
Lucas, Samantha - The Seduction of Anne Ruby [The Seduction 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 7