Body Talk: An Ex-Navy SEAL Billionaire Romance

by Ashlee Price

  The meetings kept my mind occupied, and I didn’t get back to the city until Tuesday afternoon. A lot had happened in my mind, and the time away from Nicola had been the deciding factor. I wanted to see her, so instead of heading up to my office to check on the business, I was instead heading to the kitchen on floor five. I had spent enough time away from her. I had had enough space apart.

  When I got to the kitchen, I didn’t smell anything. There was usually some kind of aroma coming from the place, but now it was empty and there was nothing. It looked like it hadn’t even been used that day. Since it was late in the afternoon, I didn’t know why that would be. Maybe Nicola had called in sick. I wouldn’t have been notified – I hardly kept up with every employee – but now I made my way up to the top floor to see if I could find Connie. She knew everything that was going on, so I knew that she would know where Nicola was.

  I couldn’t find her there, but she was in my office when I finally came in.

  “I heard that you were back. How was your trip?”

  Going into business mode, I told her about the deal and what I needed to do to make sure that it all went smoothly. She took notes, efficient as ever, and for a time I forgot what I was going to ask her about. Connie was about to leave when I stopped her with a question.

  “Have you seen Nicola around, Connie?”

  She turned around slowly. There was something in the way that she looked at me that put my guard up.

  “She was let go Monday morning, sir. I must have forgotten to send you an email about it, but she was just a low-tier employee, so I didn’t think to bother you with it.”

  I was shocked and more than a little pissed off. Yes, Nicola was not high up on the totem pole, and Connie had the right to fire her, but I was pretty sure that she knew how much I wanted her. She knew that Nicola was more than just a cook. She was something else, and even though I wasn’t sure what exactly Nicola was to me, I certainly wasn’t going to let her get fired. This was my company, after all.

  “On what grounds would she have been fired?”

  “Her attire was appropriate and she had broken several of the dress code rules. We couldn’t have her walking around like that. I had warned her twice before, but Nicola didn’t seem to care and kept violating the rules. I had to let her go, sir.”

  I tightened my jaw, knowing immediately what she was referring to. There was no way that she was talking about her clothes. She was talking about her lack of clothes. It was the clothes that I had told Nicola to forget. I pressed my lips together. I couldn’t really say anything, but I was going to have to figure out a way to make it up to her. I didn’t care about anything but how Nicola was feeling. She must think I was a real jerk, making love to her one minute and then firing her the next workday.

  “I did not authorize that, Connie.”

  “And you didn’t need to. She was a problem, and I figured that you would want me to take care of it for you. I don’t even want to think about the lawsuit that could have come out of it. It had to be taken care of. People were starting to talk.”

  I told her to leave. For once her mouth snapped shut without another word being uttered. I was fuming, and for a moment I even thought of firing Connie. It was what I wanted to do. I didn’t care that she’d been with me for years and had saved my ass more than once. If I lost Nicola because of this, there was no way that she would keep her job. I knew that Connie had something against Nicola, but she had crossed a line.

  Dialing Nicola’s number, I waited a few moments before she picked up. “Nicola.”

  She heard my voice and hung up a moment later. I stared at the phone for several moments and then set it down. I was feeling a mix of confusion and a little anger. I didn’t know if I should give her a spanking or go beg for her forgiveness. What kind of man wanted to do either?

  To be continued…

  Billionaire’s Domination Book 4: Possessed

  By: Ashlee Price

  Prologue

  Nicola has been fired. Everything that she thought was right in her world wasn’t. Her first job out of college was a disaster, and she knows she needs to find something else to do. It isn’t long before the idea of getting another job is overtaken by the idea of starting her own restaurant. She isn’t sure how she’s going to manage it, but at least it will give her something to think about other than Jerold.

  Jerold is giving Nicola her space, but he doesn’t like it. She’s taking too long to miss him, and far too long to come back to him. He no longer has control of the situation, and he wants it back. When Nicola finally agrees to go out with him, Jerold can’t just prepare for the night. He has to figure out how to convince her of forever.

  And if that doesn’t work, he’ll just have to remind her who’s the boss.

  Chapter 1 – Jerold

  She wouldn’t talk to me. After a couple of days, her silence was deafening. I knew I had made her mad, but there was something in me that told me to keep my distance. Nicola could get really angry, really fast, and like most women, I figured she just needed some time to cool off. I gave Connie a vacation. I didn’t want to see her around the office after what she’d done. More than that, I didn’t want her as my assistant anymore. She had been a good employee at one time, but she had gotten way too wrapped up in my personal life.

  I felt alone on the ocean, and Nicola did not seem to have any intention of saving me. I was not going to get any help from her. As the days went by, it was becoming clear that she was not even going to answer her phone.

  By Friday, I knew that the only way I was going to see her was if her mother gave me another invitation. When it was almost five and I hadn’t gotten a call, I figured that the best way to get invited would be to just call and ask. I knew that Angela was too nice to say no.

  She was cordial on the phone and offered me a spot at her table without me having to say much of anything. I thanked her and asked if she needed me to bring anything.

  “Well, you’d better bring an apology. Nicola is not happy with you, and she is very stubborn, like her father. She likes roses. Red ones.”

  I kind of chuckled. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Angela knowing that I was in the dog house. Nicola was mad at me, I knew that, but she was also very private, so it was surprising she had told someone what had happened. Going to the dinner seemed a little more worrying when I thought about what she might do or what the other people knew about what happened. Did they know that I had messed everything up and let her be fired?

  Getting dressed, I made sure that I was wearing a suit like the one I had worn the week before. Nicola hadn’t been able to keep her hands off of me then, and I wanted nothing more than to have a repeat at the pier like the time before. It had been perfect and had become my own personal porn that played in my mind. I could remember every curve of her body and I could still taste her lips on my own. I had to have her, and I was going to take her mom’s advice and come with my A game. Anything was worth it if she said that she would have me back in the end. I knew that I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I knew that she was upset and I did understand why.

  I was back to being nervous. It was too late in our games for me to feel this way. She was supposed to be mine by now, submitting in every way, but that was just not Nicola. I could tame her for a little while with sex, but she was too strong-willed to give into me completely. Before, that would have been a problem for me, but now I liked that she wasn’t just a mindless sub. She had fire, and her submission was far sweeter because of it. I had to work for Nicola, and I found myself liking that far more than I had thought possible. She had always been like no other woman I had ever known.

  Going over to her parents’ house, I drove slowly and tried to figure out what I was going to say to her. I had gotten a large bouquet of flowers that I hoped her mother was right about. I tried to shake the words that were going through my mind. What if she wouldn’t see me? I knew that she wasn’t too polite to tell me to leave if that was what she really wanted. So I was in
her hands, and I hoped that she was gentle with me, because I didn’t think I could take that rejection. Not from her.

  When I knocked on the door, her older brother Rich answered and greeted me like we were old friends. Her whole family welcomed me with open arms, but it was Nicola I was worried about. She had made me want her more than anything else ever before. I wasn’t used to wanting things. I was used to taking things.

  When Rich offered to take the wine into the kitchen, I told him that I would do it. I knew I would find Nicola there. She could never stay out of a kitchen, and I knew that she was in there cooking with her mother. I liked to see her doing what she enjoyed, and I found myself watching her for a minute before she saw me. The flowers and wine were in my hand, and I caught Angela smiling at me before she turned her back to the scene to give us a little privacy. She wasn’t leaving, though, so I was going to have to do it with her in there as well. No pressure.

  Nicola was not so happy to see me. She had that dark look in her eyes, and I could tell she was upset. “What are you doing here, Jerold?”

  I kind of shrugged and grinned, handing her the flowers that her mother had suggested. While Nicola would act like she didn’t care, I knew that she did. Her eyes softened a little, and I smiled to myself. I guess Angela did have a few tricks up her sleeve, and I was more than happy to give them a try.

  “I wanted to see you. I’ve been trying to call you.”

  She looked over at her mother’s back and pulled me out of the kitchen. There were a few comments as she pulled me out onto the porch, and I tried to pretend like she wanted me, not wanted to yell at me. We got outside and she shut the door behind her. I didn’t want to hear her. I only wanted to kiss her, and I moved in to pull her to me before she could start in on me. Didn’t she know how much I wanted her? How could she not?

  Her lips softened and her body sagged against me. She was pinned between my hard body and the door, and so help me, I wanted to take her right there. I knew that I couldn’t – her family was just inside – but I also knew that she would do what I wanted. She was mine after all, even if I did have to chase her down. She was worth it, and more than anything I wanted to prove that to both of us.

  “Why didn’t you answer my calls?”

  I had pulled away and was looking into her dark eyes. I wanted answers, and I wanted her to know that she was not supposed to do that to me. She couldn’t do that to me again. I couldn’t live without her, and I certainly didn’t want to. I wanted her to know that she was mine forever and leaving me was not an option. We were going to get through things, not just give up on it all.

  “What did you want me to say? Thanks for getting me fired? You could have done it in person without sending that evil little troll of yours. I really don’t like her. You know that, right?”

  I had known that Connie had fired her, but the venom coming from Nicola told me that there was more to it than that. I started to wonder how long Connie had been undermining me with Nicola.

  “I didn’t know that you had a problem with her. Connie was not supposed to fire you. She did that on her own because of something minor.”

  “Minor? She basically called me a slut in front of the entire fifth floor and some of her cronies from the sixth floor. She had warned me to stay away from you, but I couldn’t listen to both of you. Then I’m fired without even a word from you. I didn’t want to answer the phone. I didn’t know what to say to you, and I still don’t.”

  “I’m sorry she did that, Nicola. It was not my wish. I will get rid of her today if that is what you want. I have already sent her on vacation. It would take nothing to put together a severance package that would satisfy her.”

  “She was right. I shouldn’t have been boffing the boss while I worked there.”

  “You are mine, though, Nicola.”

  She pulled away from me. “I was yours, and I did everything you wanted. I cannot be what you want me to be anymore. I need to figure out what I’m doing next.”

  “So you are not going to come back to work for me?”

  Nicola shook her head and looked up at me with those big eyes. “No, I will never work for you again.”

  I didn’t know where that left us.

  “What about us?”

  “I don’t know yet. I need time, and I’m sure you are not willing to wait.”

  “I will wait as long as I have to.”

  Chapter 2 – Nicola

  I did what I told Jerold I was going to do. I didn’t go back to work as his personal chef and pleasurer. I didn’t give him anything he wanted, even when he called nightly to ask me out. I would tell him no, but I knew that I would miss the day that he stopped asking. As annoyed as I was, it would be worse when he stopped caring enough to ask.

  He called yet again one evening a couple of months after I was fired. I was missing him. Even though he came to the family dinner every Friday with some kind of gift for me, I had turned down all his invitations. But when he asked me again, I finally said yes. I knew that it was because I was thinking about what would happen when he stopped calling me altogether. I wanted to see him, and since it was Wednesday, it was still several days to the weekly dinner.

  “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you to say yes this time, and I don’t have a plan.”

  I kind of giggled and told him that he could let me pick the date.

  He agreed, and I wondered how he was going to deal with not being in control. It was clear that it was an issue with him, and I wondered how far I could push him before he lost all of the control that he had. It had been too long since his hands were on me and I had already decided what I truly wanted. I was going to play some games with him, but there was no way that I was going to go another night without his hands on me.

  Hanging up, I had about an hour to get ready. I spent more time than I should have in the shower. I started thinking about our time at the lake, and then it was hard not to touch myself. I had to, and before long I was pushing myself to orgasm. It was almost more than I could handle, and my knees were weak as I got out of the shower. Just thinking about him was enough to drive my mind crazy.

  Wiping off the condensation on the mirror, I looked at the glowing eyes staring back at me. He was going to know I had come. I knew it. He knew far too much, and I realized that was what made him so good at being in control. He noticed everything, and when he saw me he was going to know what I had done. I don’t know why I felt so paranoid about it, but I did. Even though he hadn’t really touched me in a long time, I felt just as much his as I had been before. The only difference was that I had a little bit of the upper hand and I was going to use it to my advantage. I was just worried that he would quickly take over again and there would be nothing I could do about it.

  I got dressed in a way that I knew would drive him crazy. The dress was low-cut, thin, and only came to about mid-thigh. I would have to worry about a stiff wind, but I hoped that the clear night stayed the way it was. I wanted Jerold to swallow his tongue and never be able to tell me no again. I wanted him to pay a little. He had to pay for what he’d made me go through and what I was still going through missing him.

  My emotions were all over the place. In some ways I wanted him to kiss me, and in another way I didn’t want him to dare. I knew that it made no sense, but it was the way I felt. I wanted him, but didn’t, because he was dangerous.

  Nothing prepared me to see him, though, and to see the reaction on his face to what I was wearing. He liked it, a lot, and I was barely able to meet his gaze. I had fantasized about getting him all hot and bothered like he had done me, leaving him to feel like he was coming out of his skin at the very moment.

  “You look… Nicola.” He said my name like a promise, a question. I felt myself getting a little hot in the face and I looked away before he had me again.

  “Thanks, Jerold. You look good yourself, as always.”

  I smiled at him, glad that at least my voice was working. I hadn’t been sure it was going to work at all, or merely c
ome out as a croak. I liked that he was more bothered than I was, and I was equally happy that I had picked that dress. The soft orange color made everything pop. His eyes were steady on me. I knew that he was going to want to be more than just friends, and since I was ready to give it all to him, I was glad to see that he was prepared to take it. It was his, and I hoped that he knew that by the end the evening.

  He was still trying to get himself together, and I was unable to stop enjoying it. Jerold’s eyes had gone almost black. I slightly missed the soft grey they’d been the first time I’d met him. Now they were so filled with lust and need that it was hard to ignore the way he looked at me. I knew what he wanted, and after the moments at the lake, I knew what he was capable of doing. It scared me. He scared me, merely for the power that I knew he possessed. The fact that he knew it as well was still hard to deal with. But at the moment, I knew he wasn’t the one in charge. At the moment, I was the one who was holding the power.

  “So are we going to go in, or…?”

  Jerold smiled and I almost melted. It was hard not to feel something when he looked at me that way. He had a little dimple that came out when he was being extra naughty, and I wished that I knew what was going on in his head. It was no doubt something good, and undoubtedly something that I wouldn’t mind happening. God, I had missed him.

  “Yes, let’s go. It’s just been a while since I’ve seen you like this.”

  “Well, I can’t very well dress like this at my parents’ house. I would never hear the end of it. My mother would most likely call the priest over to do an exorcism.”

  “I like to see you like this, even if there is a little demon in you.”

  His words made me shiver a little, and I knew that the rest of my body was responding in the same way. There was a reason that I had picked one of the most private restaurants in the city. It had nothing to do with the cost, but everything to do with my plans to mess with him. I just hoped that the plan didn’t backfire in my face.