The Rules

by Becca Jameson

  I shrugged. I’d rehearsed this conversation in my head on the way to work. “It was fine. Not too bad. And I eventually got it all done. Thank God.” I rolled my eyes as though I were so totally over the incident.

  “Well, lucky you. And the best news is I haven’t received a commandment from the seventh floor demanding your service again today.” She held out a piece of paper. “Margie needs you on four this morning. She’s overloaded. She was beside herself when I said she could borrow you for the morning. If you finish, just check back in with me after lunch.”

  I took the page she handed me and nodded. “Will do.” Every attempt to behave like it were any other day was difficult. My mind constantly returned to yesterday. The visions of me lying naked and exposed to Mr. Alexander’s view would not abate. It was difficult to concentrate. It all seemed like a dream. People didn’t really live out experiences like the one I’d been through yesterday.

  I stuffed my purse in my drawer and headed to the fourth floor with my printout from Margie. I spent the entire morning working diligently on a spreadsheet she needed straightened out. Apparently she’d had a temp who seriously botched the entire spreadsheet.

  Margie was shocked and relieved when I handed her the finished product at five after twelve. “You did the entire thing?” She stared at the numbers on the printout I’d made for her.

  “Yes. Isn’t that what you needed?”

  “Yeah, but it took Shelly three weeks to create this mess. It took you three hours to fix it.” She smiled at me and set it aside. “Bless you. I’m going to sleep much better tonight. And I’m going to call Moriah and tell her your talents are once again wasted on the first floor.”

  “Thanks, Margie. I appreciate the compliments.”

  “No problem.” She waved me off. “Go to lunch.”

  I headed for the elevator, my knees shaking and my hands fisted at my sides as I waited for the elevator to arrive. As soon as I entered and reached to push the button, my finger shook and I lost my nerve. I stood there for long moments, my hand hovering in the air. And then I hit one. I needed to get out of the building. Suddenly the air was stifling. I couldn’t breathe.

  Moriah wasn’t in the office. Thank God. I grabbed my purse and made a beeline for the outside. I needed oxygen. I needed to clear my head.

  I did not need lunch.

  My stomach roiled at the idea.

  Instead I walked. I strapped my purse over my arm and ambled through the streets of downtown Atlanta, gazing up at the buildings, trying to think.

  It was hot. Hell, it was June. Of course it was hot.

  I didn’t care.

  I couldn’t do this. It wasn’t me. It didn’t matter that every time I thought about Cade my insides bunched up with need. It didn’t matter that visions of him hovering over my naked body last night made my mouth so dry I couldn’t lick my lips. Nor did it matter that I wanted to throw myself at him and toss caution to the wind just to know what it would feel like to have a man inside me with the intensity I knew I would see in his eyes.

  That wasn’t me.

  I wasn’t that girl.

  I was straight-laced. A good girl.

  My parents were so proud of me, they bragged to all their friends about my education and my job. Granted, they had to fib a little to make my job interesting, but they trusted me when I’d made this decision. From two hours away in small-town Georgia, they had no way of knowing about my day-to-day experiences. I could paint any lovely picture I wanted about my job at Alexander Technologies. And I did.

  My breath hitched when I considered telling them I’d resigned after only two weeks with the company of my dreams. How would I explain that to my parents?

  Yeah, Mom, Dad…my boss…well, he’s kinda into BDSM and he wanted me to strip for him and do his bidding.

  Ugh.

  I kept walking. My cell phone rang, but I ignored it. Text messages came in too. I could hear the beeping in my purse, and it unnerved me. My girlfriends didn’t usually call me during the day.

  Cade.

  It was hot, but the thought of him hunting me down on the streets of Atlanta made me shiver.

  The man owned the company. If he wanted to get his hands on my cell phone number, all he had to do was ask someone in human resources.

  I stared up at a tall building by my side, covering my eyes with my hand to keep the glare down. The mirrored walls made the sun even brighter. How did they keep the outside of a building so pristine? For a moment it almost looked surreal, as though out of a cartoon. The edges too perfect. The glass too shiny. The reflection too intense.

  I dropped my face, feeling that perfection and taking it with me. Two weeks ago, I’d been that building. All the cards had lined up in my favor. I’d jumped up and down when I received the news that I would be working for Alexander Technologies. I’d gotten my hair cut and styled to perfection. I’d bought new clothes I couldn’t afford that hung in my closet in perfect rows, my shoes beneath them. I’d even had my nails done so that everything about me screamed “professional and ready to work.”

  Yesterday morning, that world had somehow shattered. I wasn’t sure if I could ever pick up the tiny pieces.

  I turned away from the glass building, imagining the mirrored walls collapsing onto the ground in a billion tiny shards that would puncture me as they fell.

  My steps were heavy as I returned to the office. I needed to turn in my resignation and leave. The worst part was ruining my reputation. Without giving notice, I wouldn’t be able to use them as a reference. Hell, I wouldn’t be able to use them anyway. Not now. Not now that I’d been naked with the owner and let him stroke inside me with his fingers.

  Like some sort of slut.

  How the hell I was ever going to explain this incident and get another job, I had no idea. How I was going to tell my parents, I had no idea. I didn’t even have a clue how I was going to tell Cheyenne and Meagan about my crash and burn.

  I re-entered the building, resolved to turn in my resignation.

  The second I entered the office, Moriah looked up. She smiled at me. “Hey. Hope you had a good lunch. Mr. Alexander needs you. He said, and I quote, ‘Could I possibly borrow the services of the new girl who helped me yesterday? She was efficient and professional. I need some research done this afternoon.’” Moriah beamed. “Girl, it was nice knowing you in the trenches. Obviously you won’t be around on the first floor for long. I’m gonna have to hire someone else before I’ve even had you a month.”

  I stood there frozen, my mouth hanging open. “He said all that?”

  “Yep. And I’ve never heard him go out of his way to praise someone like that. Get on up there, Amy. Accept your good fortune and run with it.”

  I hesitated. This was not how I saw my afternoon going. Besides, I’d completely disregarded my boss during lunch when he’d specifically commanded me to be in his office at five after noon.

  My hands shook, a recurring problem with me lately, as I contemplated my choices.

  “You okay?” Moriah asked.

  I hadn’t moved.

  “Just shocked.” To say the least.

  “Well, get unshocked.” She smiled again. “Go.” She pointed to the door.

  I swung around, taking a deep breath, and made my way to the lobby. To say I was nervous was an understatement. Petrified to face Cade was more like it.

  I rode to the top without breathing.

  Judy greeted me when I stepped off the elevator. “Oh good, you’re here. Mr. Alexander is scurrying around like a madman.”

  That made me cringe. I’ll bet he is.

  “He has some giant document he needs a brief on, and he needs you to read it this afternoon and give him the cliff notes. He doesn’t have time to do it himself.” Judy gave me a sorrowful look, her eyes slanted. “I hope it isn’t boring as hell.”

  I took a deep breath. I had no idea what to expect when I entered Cade’s office. Would he be angry? I didn’t know him well enough to know how he rea
cted to being told no. And my not showing for lunch was exactly that.

  I eased past Judy, my legs feeling like lead. I clutched my purse at my side, realizing I had never stashed it downstairs.

  Surely Cade didn’t have a document for me to read, or any other thing for that matter. He was just hot under the collar at being stood up. I hoped he wouldn’t make a scene that Judy would overhear. I was humiliated enough. I didn’t need him to make it worse. If anyone ever found out I had taken my clothes off at his house, I would be disgraced.

  When I stepped into his office through the open door, Cade was standing behind his desk, his mouse moving rapidly under his fingertips, his face angled at the monitor. “Come in,” he commanded without looking up. His tone gave away nothing. He could have said those two words to anyone. He didn’t look angry. He didn’t look anything except busy. He released the mouse and then shuffled a few papers.

  He lifted his face and smiled. “Ah, Ms. Kensington. Thank God. I could really use your help this afternoon. I have this lengthy document I need someone to read and give me the summation. I’m swamped and dining tonight with this client. If I don’t sound like I’ve read through their material, I’ll make a fool of myself.” He sauntered my way as he spoke.

  Was he serious? At no point in the last ten minutes since I’d entered the building had it occurred to me that his request had been legitimate. I’d expected him to shut the door and give me a ribbing. And my only prayer had been that he do so quietly enough that Judy didn’t hear.

  He stopped his advance several feet from me and swept out his hand to indicate the laptop sitting on the conference table across the room. “I have a workspace all set up for you.”

  I glanced at the long mahogany table, the top perfectly buffed to a shine that almost matched the mirrored walls of the building I’d seen in the street. In fact everything about this office mirrored that perfection. Every chair was in its place, perfectly pushed against the table as though the cleaning crew actually measured the distance between them to ensure they were precisely arranged.

  With the exception of a few papers on Cade’s desk, not one item was out of place.

  Perfection.

  Not what I was feeling that day.

  “Um, Mr. Alexander,” I began. I had no idea how to continue. I didn’t have a thought in mind.

  Cade turned and strolled across the carpet toward the spot he’d indicated.

  A blank notepad sat next to the computer, a pen on top of it.

  I followed him. He had a magnetism that made it difficult, or impossible, to tell him no.

  My resolve scampered from the room.

  Cade took my purse from my hands as I reached his side. He took two quick strides to his desk and stored it in a bottom drawer. I wondered why he had an empty drawer in his desk.

  He clapped his hands together one time and rubbed them. “Okay then. The piece I need you to read is open on the desktop. Please be thorough. I’ll expect concise notes that I can read easily. And I’ll want you to give me about a fifteen minute presentation of your understanding at five o’clock. If you can’t finish it by then, will you be able to stay a bit later?”

  I nodded, my head moving of its own accord. This was ludicrous. All of it. I had no words.

  “Good. Get to work then. I’ll be here most of the afternoon myself, putting out today’s fires. I may have to take a few calls. Hope that won’t disrupt you.” He turned away from me and headed back to his desk where he pulled out his chair and plopped down heavily to resume whatever he’d been doing.

  The mouse moved at warp speed across the glossy surface of his desk, a mahogany that matched the conference table and the two cabinets in the room, each of which sat centered on the two walls that didn’t have windows running the length of them.

  I stared at Mr. Alexander for several moments, perhaps longer, wondering if today were even Tuesday and if I’d conjured up Monday entirely in my dreams. He acted like he’d hardly met me before. Except there was no way waking or sleeping I could have dreamed up yesterday. My brain didn’t have the resources to provide such fodder. At no point in my life had I been exposed to enough BDSM entertainment to have imagined entering my boss’s home, stripping naked, and letting him fondle me to orgasm.

  Nope.

  That wasn’t me.

  It had to have been someone else.

  And here I was, standing rigid, staring at Cade, who had to know I hadn’t moved, and yet didn’t comment or look up.

  That was the only indication I had at all that yesterday had not been an apparition. It was the only evidence he was even acknowledging the elephant in the room. His silence and ability to ignore me spoke volumes.

  I somehow managed to command my feet to shuffle forward and rounded the corner of the conference table to take a seat. I had no idea why. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in and out, trying to convince myself this was outrageous and to back up, grow a spine, and tell Mr. Alexander to go to hell.

  A small piece of me must have disagreed because I couldn’t bring myself to act on the inclination. Instead I picked up the mouse and wiggled it to get the screen to come to life.

  Chapter Six

  To say I was shocked was an understatement. My pointer froze above the mouse. My entire body froze. I couldn’t even lift my face to glance at my boss. My neck stiffened. And the flush that raced up my cheeks burned.

  Downloaded to the desktop was a book titled The Rules.

  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to ascertain what it was about. The cover alone made my skin pebble with goose bumps—a set of stainless steel handcuffs on glossy silk material. Nothing else.

  I glanced at the pad of paper beside my free hand and winced. Was I supposed to take notes and read this, really? I couldn’t look at Cade. I didn’t want to see if he was watching me with a smirk or ignoring me entirely. Neither option would make me happy.

  I clicked past the cover to the acknowledgements and then the table of contents. The chapter headings alone made me nervous. I squeezed my thighs together, pulling my ankles in to touch each other as I read the titles of each chapter. Words swam in front of me: obedience, training, submission, domination, punishment. I swallowed hard. I’d read romance novels. Most of the women I knew enjoyed a good kinky story. But this wasn’t fiction. It was real, as real as the man sitting across the room, who clearly wanted to make a point.

  I wished I’d worn panties. My thighs were wet before I opened to the first chapter. My newly naked pussy pulsed with the extra blood flow. My nipples ached, and I squeezed the sides of my chest with my biceps to alleviate the pressure of my bra.

  Was I submissive? Maybe most women were a little bit submissive. Perhaps almost all of us would be titillated by reading about being dominated. But my reaction seemed over the top. Of course that could have been partly due to the fact that the man who wanted to dominate me sat in the same room.

  Sheer curiosity caused me to open the first chapter and read. At no point did I glance away from the screen. At first I was embarrassed. For a long time I completely forgot about the pad of paper. And then I suddenly jerked and grabbed the pen with shaky fingers to summarize what I’d read in the first two chapters.

  As the hours ticked by, I tuned out the rest of the world and kept reading.

  I knew two things unnerved me—I’d never been so informed, and I’d never been so aroused.

  I hated Mr. Alexander for a while, and then I switched to wishing he would please come to me and fuck me on the table. I wasn’t sure I didn’t hate him for being so astute about me.

  Everything in the book made the ball of need in my belly grow. I had to stop myself from rocking my body in the chair more than once. I did anything I could to put pressure on my pussy without reaching directly between my legs and doing it with my hand. And there I was again, thinking pussy in my head. How could this man have done this to me in twenty-four hours’ time?

  The first time I let my gaze roam from the computer to the room
at large was when Judy came in to say she was leaving.

  I met her gaze and smiled, unable to speak. I’d entered another dimension. I wasn’t on this planet anymore.

  Judy hesitated a moment, a forlorn look on her face as though she was truly sorry to have gotten me into whatever mess I was in, and out of a bond of sisterhood, hated leaving me there to finish after business hours.

  I forced a smile and nodded.

  Luckily she left. If I’d needed to speak out loud, I wasn’t at all sure my voice would have sounded like my own. Probably just a loud squeak.

  Back to the task, I kept reading. I had two chapters left. Even though it was after five, I had been instructed to finish, so I did. When I was done, I clicked on the last page and straightened my spine. My fingers hurt from gripping the mouse, and my body was stiff from sitting there so rigidly. I needed to pee.

  I took a deep breath and lifted my gaze. Cade sat on the edge of his desk, his legs crossed at the ankles, his hands loosely holding the sides of the mahogany on each side of his hips. I met his gaze. He stared at me intently. I couldn’t decide what mood he was in. His face was blank.

  Finally, he spoke. “Use the bathroom, baby. Freshen up.” He nodded to the unopened door next to the entrance to the room. I’d had no idea there was a restroom in his office.

  I pulled myself to standing slowly, stretching my legs and becoming uncomfortably aware of my bladder. He was sharp. With my head bowed, I passed him and headed straight for the bathroom.

  The first thing I did was pee, and then I looked at myself in the mirror while I washed my hands. Who the hell was I? I’d come to the office this morning as one person and finished the day as another.

  No. That wasn’t entirely true. I knew without a doubt this day was far from over. I would be yet another human being before I went to bed that night.

  I took a deep breath, smoothed my skirt, and exited the room. The door to the office was shut. Cade had moved to the conference table. The opposite end from where I had worked was covered with food. My stomach growled. I hadn’t eaten lunch.