Occupational Hazard: The Ultimate Workplace Romance Box Set

by Eve Langlais

  Moira flashed an apologetic look. “Please don’t be mad at me. I just worry that you’ll never let yourself fall in love again.”

  “Do not say the ‘L’ word around me.”

  “Fine.” Moira rolled her eyes. “I’ve yet to see you get all giggly and excited about a man since you started working here. You pick the most boring, lame…”

  “Safe,” Emma replied as she took her keys out of her purse. “I don’t have to worry about anything becoming too serious.”

  “I’m just saying maybe it’s time you started looking for a man that is everything you do want instead of men you know aren’t right for you.”

  Emma twirled her keys on her finger as she made her way to the door, trying to maintain a casual air. “No thanks. I like my life how it is.”

  Not giving Moira a chance to respond, Emma walked through the office area of the dungeon and tried to ignore how terribly lonely she was.

  Chapter Two

  Ryan Darwish took a deep breath and let it out slowly, incorporating some of the meditation techniques he’d learned in order to slow his pulse and calm his thoughts. That would work for about ten seconds, then he would realize he was going to see his high school crush and he’d start freaking out all over again. Sweet, feisty, and unbelievably gorgeous Emma Simonov, who’d been the star of his teenage and adult fantasies for longer than most marriages, was waiting for him and he was torn between running in there and driving away. Emma…his beautiful Emma with her golden blonde hair and killer curves.

  Fuck, even her name was sexy.

  He hoped Kiss of Blue didn’t have their parking lot monitored because they’d have a prime view of him sitting in his car, working up his nerve to go inside. Then again, the windows of his black custom ’78 Camaro were tinted enough that someone would have to have a high quality camera or thermal imaging to see him. He doubted Kiss of Blue had either. Unlike most pro-Domme businesses, theirs was in a nice part of town with an independent spa in the front section. The city knew what went on at the dungeon and taxed them just like any other business, but the front of a spa allowed them to blend in with their vanilla neighbors. The street entrance led to the spa, but the enclosed and gated side entrance to the building where he was currently parked led to the dungeon.

  Part of him was irked that Emma didn’t recognize him; then again he’d made a drastic change since they’d gone to high school together. He’d almost gotten up the nerve to ask her out their senior year when her fuckwad boyfriend had come into the picture. Not that he would have had much of a chance with her back then. To say he was shy when he was a teenager was an understatement, and Emma had been one of the most popular girls in school. This was before he’d gotten into weightlifting and boxing, and he’d still been all knees and elbows. Those activities and a late growth spurt during his freshman year of college had made him put on a good four inches of height and thirty pounds of muscle. Add to that his shaved head, and he barely resembled his high school yearbook photo, unlike Emma who looked as pretty now as she did at sixteen.

  He’d had plenty of women over the years, and had indulged in some rather kinky activities, but when he’d learned Emma was a professional Dominatrix, he’d almost passed out. In high school she’d been the popular, sweet girl everyone loved - prom queen and all that shit. She’d always been nice to him, but he knew she never saw him as anything other than a friend. When they’d spoken earlier she’d seemed as fresh faced as ever in her sweater with the coffee stain on its sleeve, but he’d seen her briefly during his tour last week in her full Dominatrix outfit. The sight of her stalking down the hall in black latex with strategically placed flames and killer red stilettos with silver spikes on the heels made his dick achingly hard in a only a few heartbeats. And her lips…perfectly shaped and painted with a wet, shiny scarlet lipstick that drove him fucking crazy. At that moment, he would have sold his soul for a chance to feel that lipstick smearing across his lips in a kiss he was dying for.

  Some people might think he was crazy for going to all this effort to seduce Emma because of a kiss they’d shared in high school, but they had no idea how powerful that one kiss was. He’d had the pleasure of touching her, tasting her for one night, and he’d never forgotten it. In those few stolen moments with Emma he’d lost his heart to her forever.

  During their senior year, Ryan and Emma had once been at the same party. She was there with her asshole boyfriend and he’d been hanging out with a group of his friends. Ryan kept an eye on her all night, watching as she and her boyfriend got plastered. Every time that stupid fuck put his sloppy hands on Emma’s denim shorts-covered ass and groped her, Ryan had wanted to walk over there and punch the other guy out. When he’d seen her date fishing for his car keys while loudly protesting that he was fine to drive, Ryan stepped in and pulled Emma over to the side, insisting that he drive her home. He wasn’t the only one who noticed, because her boyfriend’s friends were taking away his car keys despite his loud, drunken protests.

  Emma finally relented and let a very sober Ryan drive her home after her date had puked all over himself. Having Emma in his car, with the odd mix of beer and baby powder-sweet perfume coming from her, had Ryan hard as a rock. But there was no way in hell he was taking advantage of a drunk girl - especially one who was currently singing along to the radio and waving her arms around as she danced in her seat like no one was watching. She had a brightness to her, a light she seemed to give off that warmed his soul. She was living in the moment, enjoying everything life had to offer, while he was still learning how to become a man. He’d never met a girl as self-confident as Emma, and he found it incredibly sexy.

  When they reached her house, he parked out front and turned the radio down. She faced him and her smile fell as she studied his expression. Her sun-kissed blonde hair shone in the low lighting of the dashboard and his heart ached at her beauty.

  “Ryan, what’s wrong? Did I do something to make you mad?”

  He shook his head and looked away, unable to face her wide blue eyes. “No. It’s just…Emma, you deserve better than the guys you date.”

  She grabbed her purse off the floor. “What are you talking about?”

  “Look, I know it’s none of my business, but you need a guy who’ll worship you. The idiots you hook up with have no idea what it means to treat a woman right.”

  “They treat me fine. We have fun, no big deal.” She gave a laugh that was obviously forced. “What, you think you could do a better job at being my boyfriend?”

  For a long moment he stared at the dark neighborhood street and turned off his headlights so he wouldn’t annoy the neighbors. The dim illumination gave him a sense of being hidden, which gave him the courage to say what he really thought. She was so plastered she’d probably never remember it tomorrow.

  “Emma, I’d be so good to you that you’d never want to leave me. I’d take care of you the way you deserve, and you would never have to worry about me fucking around on you. I think you’re perfect and I think you should have a guy who will treat you in the way you deserve.”

  “What do I deserve?” she asked in a soft, slightly slurred voice.

  “You deserve to be loved, really loved, by someone with all of his heart.”

  She made a little noise that alarmed him so he turned back to face her, surprised to see a tear run down her cheek. Her mascara smeared as she rubbed it away and he reached out to her without thinking, pulling her into his arms as best he could in the front seat of his car. Guilt ate him when she made a little muffled sob that broke his heart.

  “Oh, baby, please don’t cry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m an asshole.”

  “No,” she whispered softly against his chest. “That was the nicest thing any guy has ever said about me.”

  She pulled back enough to look at him, the scent of the beer on her breath strangely arousing. “How come I never noticed how cute you are? Your eyes are amazing…I want to bite your lips.”

  Flushing,
he tried to push her away but she refused, winding her fingers into his hair and gripping hard enough to hurt. The expression on her face looked years beyond her true age of seventeen. He felt like the kid in high school that he was while looking at a grown woman. An absolutely, heart-stoppingly, beautiful woman.

  “Hold still.”

  He tried to jerk away, but she held him harder by his hair until he yelped. “Fuck, Emma, that hurts.”

  “I said, stay still.”

  A grin threatened to break free. She was so bossy, but that was one of the things he liked about her. She leaned closer, their breath mingling, his heart pounded in his chest while she examined him with a small smile.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I want to kiss you.”

  The shudder of lust that went through him had him almost coming in his pants. With teenage hormones running rampant, he’d been more than a little eager to kiss her and went at it with less finesse than he would have liked. She laughed and pulled back a little bit, adjusting her grip on his hair.

  “Stay still. I want to kiss you. That means no moving unless I tell you.”

  He groaned low in his throat and wondered if it was possible to die from being too hard.

  Ever so gently, she brushed her mouth over his, a slow caress of skin over skin. With her decadently soft lips caressing his, he relaxed into her hold while his cock ached like it was bruised. Licking across the seam of his lips, she made a little murmur of pleasure that drove him crazy. He wanted to grab her, to fill his hands with her large breasts, to pull her onto his lap so he could spend the next ten days kissing her while she ground herself against him. His mind scrambled at the thought that this was Emma, his Emma, and she was finally kissing him like he’d dreamed. No, better than even his wildest dreams. She kissed him like they’d been made for each other, their bodies fitting together like two pieces of an erotic puzzle.

  All the fantasies he’d been having about her as he jerked off came roaring to life and he shifted in his seat, trying to subtly adjust himself as his erection ached from hardening at a weird angle. Keeping still was becoming next to impossible, but the sweet torture of her lips on his was the best thing in the world. When she traced her tongue across his mouth he opened with a groan.

  She pulled back enough that the tips of her breasts rubbed against his chest and he swore he could feel her tight nipples dragging across him through their shirts. “Slow and easy, Ryan.”

  In response, he closed the small distance between them and kissed her back, keeping his movements gentle and unhurried. In turn, she began to get more aggressive, slipping her tongue into his mouth in a way that made him think about slipping his cock into her hot pussy. The faint scent of her arousal tickled his senses as she shifted, going to her knees on the seat next to him. With a hungry growl she pressed him back against the door, her lips devouring his while she rubbed herself against him like a cat.

  Even as he damned himself for doing this with her while she was drunk, he couldn’t resist the urge to touch her nice, round ass. A shudder jerked through him when he squeezed her butt cheeks gently, loving the give of the warm flesh. He’d never felt anything as perfect as her body. It wasn’t long before she was rubbing her hot little pussy against his denim-clad thigh while she made tiny moaning and gasping noises that tore through him like hard liquor, making him drunk with lust. She had him reclined as far he could get, and when he gripped her ass in a tight hold, she nipped his lower lip sharp enough that he tasted blood.

  Making a low purring sound, she licked at the tiny wound then stroked his tongue with her own, sharing the taste of his blood with him. He was about ten seconds from coming in his pants and utterly shaming himself, but he couldn’t resist the power of her kiss. She was so uninhibited about what she wanted, way different than any other girl he’d dated. There were no shy glances or uncomfortable tension between kisses with Ryan and Emma, only a lust so intense it seemed to awaken parts of his mind that had been dormant. The overwhelming urge to fuck her had him kneading her ass, helping her rock against him as she made breathy cries over his lips.

  Somewhere a couple yards over, a dog barked loud enough that it startled both of them. Ryan looked at her, examining her kiss-swollen mouth, the faint tracks of tears on her soft cheeks, and the heavy-lidded way she was studying him. She still ground herself against him with sharp jerks of her hips, all but dry humping him. His cock pressed against her pelvis and he tried to think about anything but sex.

  “I had no idea you were such a big boy, Ryan.” Another shift of her hips and she was straddling his lap, wedged between his seat and the steering wheel. “You could hurt a girl.”

  The thought of hurting her was like a slap in the face. What the hell was he doing? They were practically screwing in her front yard. Her mom or dad could come out at any time then he’d be fucked, and not in a good way. The windows of his car had fogged over and the scent of arousal hung heavy in the air.

  “Emma, you have to go inside. You’ve had too much to drink. We shouldn’t be doing this. You need to leave.” Temptation screamed at him that he could have her, right here and now, but it wasn’t fucking right and he would never do anything to hurt Emma. She had to get away from him before he lost control.

  “Get out.” His words came out harsher than he intended.

  Hurt flashed through her eyes and she pushed herself off of him with an unsteady hand.

  “Fine. Asshole.”

  As she jerked the door open, he tried to get his mouth to work, to say something, but his brain was stunned by his momentary stupidity. He had the hottest girl in the world grinding her hot pussy against him and he’d told her to leave. He told her to leave.

  He must be a fucking idiot.

  “Wait, Emma.”

  She slammed the door, cutting off his words. For a moment, he considered going after her, but what would he say? She had a boyfriend and a life that he’d never fit into. Besides, she probably wouldn’t remember anything. He kept trying to tell himself that as he started his car and drove home with an erection hard enough to break bricks and an aching heart.

  Chapter Three

  Chagrin filled Ryan at the memory of screwing things up so badly with Emma that night long ago. She’d ignored him for the rest of the school year and he wondered if she remembered their kiss, but never had the guts to ask her. Every once in a while he’d catch her looking at him when she didn’t think he’d notice, but as soon as they made eye contact she’d look away. Then they graduated and went their separate ways until fate brought them back together.

  Now, he had a real chance to win her heart and he wasn’t going to fuck it up.

  Without giving himself time to think, he got out of his car and made sure to casually stroll to the unassuming entrance of Kiss of Blue. He’d been happy to find out Emma didn’t include sex among her services, but he’d been intrigued by what she did offer. Some of the stuff mentioned he’d had to look up on the Internet, and when he did, his already aroused libido went into overdrive. He’d played around with sexually dominant women before and enjoyed submitting, but they were like pampered kittens to Emma’s lioness. He would need to bring his “A” game, and like everything else in his life, he wanted to research it first and hone his skills.

  So he’d studied being a submissive with an out-of-state friend of his, a Domme by the name of Dawn, who had her own permanent submissive but loved to do threesomes. It had been awkward for him at first with another guy, then once he’d realized that this was all about her pleasure, he’d enjoyed the hell out of it. There was only so much one man could do, but two had brought her to states of ecstasy that were a huge turn-on. His time with Mistress Dawn had been an educational experience, to say the least, and he was eager to show Emma what he’d learned.

  After he was buzzed in at the door, he moved quickly across the earth tone stained concrete floor to the receptionist’s desk. Exposed brick walls surrounded them on all sides and a glass block window allowed outs
ide light in without letting anyone see the reception area from the exterior. A pretty blonde with bubble gum pink streaks in her hair, wearing a sparkly white corset and what looked like a tutu, smiled up at him from her seat behind the wide pale wood desk. He remembered her name was Tanya and she was Mistress Moira’s personal assistant as well as a house submissive.

  “Ryan, it’s so nice to see you again. Mistress Emma has provided something for you to wear. If you’ll give me your clothes and personal items, I’d be more than happy to take care of them for you during your session.”

  Resisting the urge to look for the cameras, he slowly unbuttoned his shirt and took it off, being careful to fold it neatly on the receptionist’s desk. Tanya looked up at him and openly checked him out as he disrobed. He took a step closer so the high desk would block her view of his cock, uneasy about what amounted to a stranger staring at his junk. When he removed his shirt, he heard a tiny gasp from the receptionist and hid a smile. He had a full set of tattoo sleeves that flowed into an intricate back piece depicting scenes from the book One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Once he got down to his black boxer briefs, he was achingly hard at the thought of Emma watching him, and tried to remove them without showing the receptionist his erection. He stood nude and waited for the receptionist to hand over whatever Emma had wanted him to wear.

  Tanya blinked and licked her lower lip. “Would you mind turning around so I can see the tattoo on your back? I caught a glimpse of it while you were undressing, and it is gorgeous.”

  He smoothly turned, then took a step forward and stood still. He could almost feel the other woman’s eyes moving over him like a physical touch. When he looked over his shoulder, he found her staring at the top of his tattoo-free ass before stepping back, then around. “You’ve looked your fill. Can I have what Mistress Emma left for me?”

  Flushing bright red all the way down to her chest, Tanya pulled out a good sized green velvet bag while Ryan moved back to the front of the desk. Before she handed it to him, she answered the ring of an incoming call from her phone. “Greetings, Mistress. How may I serve you?”