by Adira August
He pulled back and gave her a stern look. “Can you solve your cube?”
“Yes, Sir.”
He couldn’t help smiling as he felt her belly press into his erection.
“I’ll be running things from here while I get this project going. Delores will be staying in Denver to coordinate things there.” He stepped back. “I’m going to need a secretary.”
“Are you, Sir?” She blinked innocently up at him.
“I believe when we’re in the office you should call me ‘Mr. Hart’.”
“Yes, Mr. Hart,” she said. “Am I going to be setting mousetraps?”
He frowned down at her but his eyes twinkled at her reference to her favorite BDSM movie Secretary. “You’ll be doing whatever you’re told. And doing it perfectly.”
“Perfectly?” She let herself sound doubtful.
“You know what happens to secretaries who make mistakes?”
She licked her lips. “Do they have to bend over your desk?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “And then they have to what?”
She was panting slightly. “Do you make them pull up their skirts?”
He put the tip of an index finger on one of her nipples, peaked against her blouse. “And then?”
“Um, they…” His thumb joined his finger, and he squeezed. A high, breathy moan. “Oh, Mr. Hart…”
“Incorrect,” he said. “I think we’ll start with you over my lap. Wait for me by my chair.”
He slipped off his jacket and loosened his tie, watching her beautiful heart-shaped ass sway the silky fabric of her skirt. He took out his cufflinks and slipped them into a pants pocket, rolling up his sleeves.
Avia stood next to his executive chair behind the desk, eyes glued to his forearms. She bit her lower lip.
Ben Hart closed his eyes for a moment, sending up a prayer of thanks and request for guidance to give her the perfect homecoming. The erotic spanking she loved while he worked her nipples and teased her pussy and stroked her cunt until she was squirming and dripping and begging him for release.
He’d make her come and come and then drag her up on his lap to take his cock. He’d fuck her sitting up, three fingers in her ass, her head lolling back, her toes not quite reaching the floor.
She’d scream when she came, and he’d roar as he did, and they’d fall into each other.
And that night, after they’d showered and eaten and were safely in each other’s arms in bed, he’d show her the engagement ring he’d saved, hoping, and ask her to marry him.
Ben Hart knew what all true Doms know: it’s the subs who have the real power. It was the precious thing they entrusted to their Doms.
It was a most satisfying arrangement.
Ecstasy
The window wall faced southwest and the setting sun was just visible.
They had ignored everyone and everything but each other. Ben had dinner laid out and sent the staff away. They ate and bathed and crawled into his big rattan bed, under a light cover. Avia on her side enjoyed the feel of the silky duvet over her pleasantly sensitive bottom. He on his back, both arms around her, contemplated the joy of being when she was in his arms.
“Why ten million?”
“Hmm?”
“Just the first number that popped into your head?”
“I love that you’re naked,” she said, her hand and arm sweeping over his body. “I love that I can just feel all of you, follow all the hills and valleys. So warm …” She turned her head and kissed his nipple. “You think I asked for that much money and didn’t give it any thought?”
“I think you did. I was just wondering what it was.”
“I had a kind of paranoid thought that I wouldn’t be able to get a job and it made me want to run back to you, you know? That lasted about two seconds because I really don’t ever want to be that girl. But it got me thinking, how much money would I need to just live out my life and be okay. I decided one and a half million. Only there’s no way to know how much inflation there’ll be so I thought five would be better. Then I thought the IRS would take half, like if I won the lottery, so I’d have to win ten million.”
His dick tingled and rolled lazily over as her hand slid up the inside of one thigh. He’d come four times in as many hours and was enjoying the semi without the usual urgency he had to be inside her.
“Why would you need the lottery if you were going to ask me for it?”
“I wasn’t. I was just thinking, and that’s where the number came from. I decided you’d give it to me after my mother told me men won’t believe we love them.”
“Uh-huh,” he said, obviously not understanding. “So giving you a lot of money makes me believe you love me?”
“Sure. Because now, why would I be here? It’s not like I need the money. There’s just you. Well, and the coffee.”
“Right. Okay. You might want to know, I’m not the lottery and the IRS won’t take half. You have the whole ten.”
“Cool,” she said, using her fingers to comb the knots out of his pubic hair. “So, are there a lot of therapists on Kauai?”
“Am I making you crazy, already?” He opened his thighs a little in case she wanted access.
“You said you didn’t care how many therapists it took, we had to get back to normal. I took that to mean you’d do some therapy with me.” She slid her palm over the smooth skin of his abdomen, down and up over his hip bone. “You sounded like we’d be here a while.”
“We’ll be here as long as you want. At least the summer, I think. We can helo to Oahu once a week. I have someone lined up. We’ll see if we like him.”
“You’re staying because of the TV series?”
“This is a place you’ve never been. The castle, the penthouse, even your condo—right now they’re all tied in some way to what happened. But you said I made you feel safe. So we’ll be here together, until we find normal.”
She stretched and rolled, throwing her leg across his hips and over his erection, which had established itself more firmly, trapped underneath the soft inside of her thigh.
“So you love me.”
“You know how you can be sure?” he asked, his hand stroking her. “I have a lot more money than you do.”
Avia giggled. “But what’s going to happen now with everyone, if we stay here for months? Hugo said he’s going back.”
“Mmmm-hmmm,” he agreed. “But not soon. We run an international corporation from the Colorado offices. We can do the same from the ranch for a while. Eustace will be operations manager here, handle security, keep the trains running on time. Hugo’s in no hurry to leave.”
“He offered me a job. And Cam’s leaving Hunter’s unit. He said I should think about replacing him.”
He ran his fingers up and down her spine. “So you aren’t going to be unemployed. Does this mean I get my ten mil back?”
“My ten mil and you’ll never get money from me. I am willing to let you buy me stuff, though.”
He brushed back her waves, made red-gold in the dying light, so he could see her face. “I have a spare yacht, if you want it.”
She laughed out loud. “Oh, God, can you imagine? It probably has a ballroom or something. No way.” She rubbed her cheek against his chest hair, enjoying the crinkle of it against her skin. “Hey, could we get one of those little sailboats? Do you know how to do that? We could sail around here and picnic on these little islands and stuff.”
“We can absolutely do that. We can take lessons together.”
She sighed happily, then frowned. “I’d better buy it, though. You’re down seventy-five mil already.”
“I’ll rent us one until we see if we like it.” He stretched to the side, hooked the drawer handle of the night table with a finger and opened it. He felt around blindly until his fingers closed on the velvet box he set in the center of his chest.
“What do you think?”
She crossed her arms across his body just below the ring box and rested her chin on her forearms. “You were
so sure I’d come back? Or you sent someone shopping this afternoon?”
“I had it made in Denver,” he told her. “I decided to believe in us.”
She couldn’t stop the smile. Her eyes filled. “You did?”
His cock was at urgent stage. He grabbed her hips and lifted and shifted. “You’re killing me here,” he said, sliding her up and off his erection.
“Ben. The other way. Okay?” Her eyes were wide and dark with longing for him.
Avienne. His cock wept. He nodded.
As they looked into each other’s eyes, he lowered her onto himself, sliding into her easily, her core tightening around him, drawing him in.
“Ben,” she breathed his name like air.
He stilled. She dropped her forehead to her arms, panting a little, her body clutching at his rock-hard shaft. He kept still and she started to rock onto him.
“Stop,” he ordered. She froze and relaxed, driving him deeper as she did. She bit back a groan. He smiled in satisfaction. “Good girl.”
He opened the box and took out the ring. Platinum. The river symbols flowed around the heart in the center, formed of two pear-shaped diamonds: one brilliant white, the other a rare deep blue. RiverHart.
“Will you marry me, Avienne?”
Her entire body tightened against and around him. She smiled into his eyes when his cock jerked hard inside her. She held out her left hand. He slipped the ring onto her finger.
Rolling them over, he made love to her, edging her with a slow deliberation that left her boneless and quivering in total surrender. They relished the feel of one another, the power and surrender, heat and the depth and strength—the surety of getting where they both wanted to be. Together.
Sunday, September 17th, 2017
“Did it occur to you to apologize? … Uh-huh … You called her LaDiva in front of the crew, Lonny, what did you expect?”
Benedict Hart relaxed in the backseat of the SUV, watching Avia peer eagerly out her window at the front range while Jebulon (true name Lonny Jablonski) complained by cell that Scene Paradise’s recurring guest star wouldn’t speak to him. The young director had fallen in hard like with Avia—the only person, including Ben, allowed to call him by his given name.
Ending the call, Avia lowered her window and took great breaths of the cool air.
“Is this too much wind for you?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “Smells great to be home.” She grinned and looked back outside.
Ben Hart had a feeling of immense satisfaction. The TPE ended in June when Avia had flown off to Los Angeles to find a last-minute replacement for the actor who played Gideon Steele. It was she who suggested it and she hadn’t shown a second’s anxiety. She took no staff. And she’d brought them back a sex god who was a fine actor.
“That’s even his real name,” she laughed.
Avia had returned flushed with excitement, assurring Ben and Ray that Devon James would be a huge star. Ray looked dubious perusing the young actor’s pictures.
“What?” Ben asked him.
Ray flicked a quick look at Avia, obviously wanting to speak to Ben privately.
“Speak your mind,” Ben told him. This was Avia’s deal; he wouldn’t exclude her.
“He’s your male lead and he’s black,” Ray Luvaas said. “He’s not light-skinned or green-eyed. He’s a black, black man. You’re going to lose audience.”
“Avia?” Ben waited for her opinion.
“Due respect, Ray, I think you’re mis-judging our audience and the cultural moment. There are only two problems with him. First, the character is straight. I think it limits him. You should rewrite him as bi and cast a Camden Snow lookalike.”
Ben had already been thinking along those lines. “What’s the second problem?”
“Lighting a black actor with white actors, especially in sex scenes. It was something he mentioned.”
“Not a problem with this DP,” Ray said. “She apprenticed in cinematography on the old Oprah show.”
In the end, Ben had recommended Ray trust Avia’s judgement. Everything he’d seen during filming that summer convinced him Avia was right. He’d renegotiated the actor’s contract, locking him in for five years at twice his first season salary.
He and Avia had continued without the TPE and a new normal had been established. She took an active interest and Scene Paradise.
She also spent time learning about the care of the children, who’d been provided with histories and birth certificates. Ranging in age from two to nineteen years, every one had been diagnosed with some form of mental illness. Sixty-four of them were addicted to heroin or cocaine. Twenty-two of them were the offspring of older girls or adult prostitutes who worked for Cheong. Three of them had cancer.
Ben and Avia decided (and he loved the thought of them deciding together) to move out of the main house and turn it and the six guest houses over to the children and a small army of doctors, therapists and house parents. One of the houses had become a health clinic.
Ben poured money into the project and set up a non-profit. He hit up his fellow rich guys, and women, and they responded on the simple promise that he “owed them one.”
Everyone moved to the bunkhouse which turned out to be a great place to house the crew and actors, as well. The summer was full of new friendships and camaraderie. Be settled for sex in the office. They became every creative.
As much her old self as Avia had become—a powerhouse of intelligence and energy—she was also different. She seemed to not just accept, but want him making most of their domestic decisions. She found peace in deference, she’d told him. And he found he looked forward to sharing his thoughts and ideas with her—making plans with her, instead of for her.
He’d never realized before that he’d felt lonely for most of his life.
Avia reached for his hand as they turned into the narrow gravel road through the trees that was the entrance to the Hart property. His thumb grazed her engagement ring. He’d never feel lonely, again.
“Do you know what today is?” he asked her.
She smiled. “I do. I’m surprised you do. It’s the first anniversary of the day we met.”
The SUV broke out of the trees and Blakewell sped up on the paved road that climbed the boulder-strewn hill to the castle, out of sight at this point.
“I have an anniversary present for you,” he said. “For us, really.” He realized he was nervous. “I - uh - I didn't consult you; it was a secret. Surprise, you know?”
She cocked her head like a puppy contemplating its own reflection for the first time. “Why would you consult me about a present you bought me?”
They came out of the last switchback to a full view of the castle.
“Holy shit!”
There was the reaction he was hoping for.
“What the hell did you do?”
Maybe not.
“Doing. It’s a work in progress.”
His house, which had been a great block of a granite fortress, now had graceful, curving extensions on two sides, descending to the ground, like big, welcoming wings.
Avia undid her seat belt, dropped the privacy screen and leaned over the back of the front seat staring through the windshield.
“There’s a tower with a turret!” She glanced back at him, flushed with excitement, eyes sparkling. “Rapunzel moving in with us?” She laughed.
Better than he’d hoped for.
They reached the barbican, but didn’t stop, the path having become an extension of the road. Ahead, it passed easily through a widened gap in the stone wall under a graceful new arch. They slowed to pass over the stream. The FISH HAVE RIGHT OF WAY sign was now at the base of the new bridge.
When they got to the wall, she cried out “Stop!” Blakewell barely managed to do that before she was out the door.
Ben followed her.
At the wall, she reached out to touch a new brass plaque installed in a niche he’d had carved right into the stone. It read: RiverHar
t.
Tears ran down her face and he knew it was from joy.
Better and better.
He had his arms around her and she turned into him, hugging him back, the side of her face against his chest, looking at the castle. “Tell me about it.”
He kissed her hair. “The two wings have stone stairs on the outside and big landings like patios. On the second floor on the west side, the pool room wall came down so that’s a covered indoor-outdoor room. There’s a slide, now, and a smaller pool outside for little kids. It has a fountain. I incorporated lots of niches for them to play in on both sides. The tower has a hidden entrance from the library, too.”
“Kids?” She tilted her head back to see his face. “We’re going to have children, Ben. Probably sets of twins, but not right away. We discussed this.”
“We have relatives,” he told her. “Remember last Thanksgiving? How the hell many kids were there? I just want it more kid-friendly. People-friendly, really.”
“It’s beautiful, Ben. Perfect. I can’t wait to see it all. But, can we walk? Do you mind? I want to be out in the air. I missed the Colorado air so much.”
He sent Blakewell on to the house with the luggage and walked her up the wide driveway.
“You know,” she began, and he alerted to the tentative note in her voice. “Wood says we can start looking for homes for some of the kids after the first of the year. We could adopt some.”
“Some?”
She squeezed his hand in answer.
“You’ve been thinking about this. You have some children in mind?”
“The three with cancer,” she said. “But one has a brother and there are two other kids—one’s a friend and Mai is one of the sick kids’ mother.”
“Mai is fourteen.” His arm went around her shoulders and hers circled his waist.
“You start a new job, tomorrow,” he said and felt her shrug. He found himself panting slightly in the cool, dry, mile-high air. It would take time to acclimate to the altitude again.
“I’m doing Cam a favor, really. He’s anxious to leave. I’m filling in until Hunt finds someone. I think he just needs to adjust to Cam being gone.”