The room was empty as usual. Not even Sophie sat at her desk, and she was usually the only one who might be in this time of night. But, it was Friday evening, and most of the staff went home early or at least on time on nights like this to get ready for the weekend. The only holdout before now had always been Preston.
Friday nights in this office had been their time. It was the time that the two of them had spent getting to know each other in the beginning, when he’d taught her about business, and shown her everything she needed to know to get her dream off the ground. It had also been the time when he’d first kissed her and when she’d finally figured out how she felt about him. It seemed like all the major events of their life had happened on Friday evenings in this office.
She lifted her fingertips to her lips as she remembered the first time he kissed her. It was bold and sudden, completely unexpected. She smiled against her fingers as she relived that moment. A soft ding signaled she had arrived at her destination, she took a deep breath, stepping off the elevator and into the quiet space beyond.
She turned right and headed through the double doors that led into Preston’s private office and apartment. Their nights there had been less and less frequent though they still met here from time to time if he needed to work late and she was already done closing the bakery for the night. Tonight, was different, though. He’d specifically requested her to meet him here. When she walked into the room, he was sitting in one of the armchairs overlooking the city lights as they lit up in the early spring evening.
“Good evening, Miss Fairweather. Please have a seat.” He stood and gestured towards the chair next to him. It was turned to face the windows and their view of the slowly darkening sky where the stars were beginning to erupt into view.
“Hello, Mr. Pierce. I must admit that you’ve had me curious all day long as to what this is about. I’ve barely been able to focus on what I was supposed to be doing because I’ve spent half my time speculating why you asked me to meet you here.” She sat her bag and sweater on the table in front of her and perched herself nervously on the edge of the chair, looking around the room as if a sign would tell her what this was about. It was obviously just the two of them in the building, and the room was empty of anything that might give her a clue about what he wanted to talk about. All that was in front of him were a few papers that were littered with his notes and handwriting. It gave her nothing to go on.
“I promise to get to all of that in due time. First, let me say that you look absolutely lovely tonight.” He said as he leaned forward to plant a kiss on her lips. She still had no clue where this was going though she couldn’t help but smile at the compliment. It immediately got her off her guard as she relaxed a little in her seat, resting her hands on her lap in front of her as she leaned in towards him.
“Thank you. You look quite nice yourself.” Now that she was a little more relaxed, she could let go of some tension that had been building throughout the day. It was nice just to be close to Preston, she always loved just being in his presence. His calming and direct demeanor resonated with her though she had to admit that she was still very curious about what he was going to bring up.
“Now to get down to business.” He said as he clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “As I said before, I have a proposition for you, but before I offer it up to you, I have some background information that goes along with it.”
Preston didn’t often share a lot of information about his life before Charlotte had come along. She usually listened very carefully when he did, because she knew that it meant he was trusting her with something big, a part of him that most people didn’t get. It was something she loved to hear about, so rather than speak, she decided to sit and listen as closely as she could while he was comfortable talking.
“I know you know that I was pretty casual about relationships before I met you.” He was choosing his words meticulously, and she could tell that he’d been rehearsing this before she came into the room. That meant it was more important than she thought. She simply waited for him to continue with a soft nod.
“Well, I wasn’t always that way. Way back in my youth I attempted to, very carelessly, engage in physical relationships with women, but I’ve had some well…particular desires that not everyone seemed to welcome. It’s a part of me that I’ve kept quiet and under control until you came into my life, but since you’ve been here, I’ve found the old urges that I had flaring up again. It’s something that I’d like to explore along with you. If you’re willing.”
Now Charlotte was very curious, she had never seen Preston so nervous and she could feel the heat building in her cheeks as she tried to come up with what in the world he could be talking about. It was one of the many times that her inexperience served to make her feel like she had no idea what he was talking about though if he wanted to try something new with her then she trusted him enough to at least give it a shot before she turned him down entirely. If it was important enough to him to bring her in to formally discuss it, then she owed it to him to hear him out fully.
“I have to admit that I’m honored you want to try things out with me, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I was a little scared. You know I’m not experienced, and more than anything I just really don’t want to screw anything up. But if you’re going to guide me, then I’m willing to try new things. I just can’t say that I have any clue what you’re asking me about, though. If you want to be more specific, then it’s something we can discuss.”
Charlotte tried hard to not feel like a little girl during this discussion, and maybe that was the reason that he’d brought her here. It put the two of them on a more equal footing so that she could make any decision that she felt most comfortable with without feeling like she owed him anything. Now she was in the seat he’d been in previously, and the power of the final decision laid in her hands. All she needed were the details of what he wanted to explore with her.
“Well, that’s part of the reason I called you in here. There are a few things we need to discuss. I know you’ve never had a chance to discuss limits, the things you’re willing and what you’re not willing to do. I don’t even know if you’re going to know how you feel about half of the things on the lists I’ve made. I just know what I’d like to explore with you. The power is in your hands here. You are free to say yes or no or even maybe to anything that you want.” He took a deep breath, shaking his head before he continued.
“I’m getting ahead of myself. I have no idea if you know what this means, but I’m a Dominant or at least I have inclinations to be one. I always have been though it’s a part of myself I’ve kept mostly locked down before now.”
Preston looked at her expectantly, searching Charlotte’s face for her reaction. She’d heard the word before, but she didn’t know any real details, only the few things that had been publicized in media she’d run across before now.
“You mean like whips and chains and ropes.” Her cheeks were flushed a brilliant red, even more crimson than her hair by now. She could feel the heat of them burning into her hands as she rested her chin in her hands. “I’m sorry, Preston. I’m woefully ignorant here. It’s just not something I’ve had any experience with. You’re the only person I’ve had any experience with as… you already know.”
She knew that he knew that, and Charlotte really had no idea why she was saying this to him now. It was just the only thing she could come up with at the moment before she had any new information. His chuckle made the burn settle in even more deeply until she wasn’t certain that she was ever going to be able to stop.
“Sort of. I mean that’s a facet of it for some people, but there are as many versions of it as there are people who practice it. Some are into pain, some are more into control. That’s me. I like the idea of control, of having you under my control at least to some degree. Though, it doesn’t extend to everyday life for me. I have this urge to own you, to take you completely for my own, and being married to you is a part of that, but also having
you submit to some of my whims from time to time is as well. As I said before, you’re free to say yes or no to anything I propose. You can tell me no, not now, never, maybe tomorrow, or yes immediately. You can take all the time you need to think about any of it. The power here lies within your hands, because as much as I’d like to be the one that’s in control, to be quite honest, you’re the one who can end everything with a word.”
He was passionate about what he was saying to her as passionate as she’d ever seen him about anything in the entire time she’d known him. It made her more confident about trying this with him even though she had no way of knowing what she would enjoy or wouldn’t enjoy about any of it.
“Then why don’t we go over exactly what it is that you’re interested in doing, or at least some ideas you have. I can’t say what my reaction is going to be to any of them until I know.” Charlotte raised her eyes up to meet Preston’s. She didn’t know what was going to come of this, but she did know that she was curious. It was something that intrigued her as much as it seemed to intrigue him, and if being with her brought out those urges in her fiancée then, perhaps, it was something the two of them should try.
“I think we should start out slow. Perhaps working on me giving you orders to follow in the bedroom, and then we can take it further. There are a lot of avenues we can explore, even the ropes, chains, and whips scenario if it’s something you’re interested in in the future. For now, we should probably explore how comfortable you are with me talking to you, and guiding you through everything that we do together if that’s alright with you?”
Charlotte nodded and motioned for him to continue. She was interested though she was suddenly shy since she had no idea what to expect or what was coming next between the two of them.
“Anything you don’t like, you can signal that to me. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of a safe word?” Charlotte shook her head. The phrase had hit her consciousness before, but she wasn’t able to say that she entirely understood it, at least not in the context that Preston was referring to.
“Tell me?” She was learning, though it meant that she was quiet, and there was some part of her that she hadn’t really tapped into before now that was entirely rapt with the lesson that Preston was trying to teach her.
He spent the next few minutes explaining what a safe word was, and how it could bring everything to a halt in a matter of moments. Things couldn’t get out of hand if she was willing to tell him when she needed him to stop or when she needed a break. It was important that she not try to go farther than she was able so that she didn’t get hurt whenever something happened between the two of them.
“So, do you have any idea what word you’d like to use? It can be anything.” Preston raised an eyebrow and studied her expression as Charlotte pondered over the possibilities.
“How about… cupcake?” She laughed a little when she heard the word out loud. It was the last one she could imagine using in a sexual situation, and it would immediately change the mood of whatever was going on between the two of them. It was perfect on all the levels that it was supposed to work on.
Charlotte had to admit she was still a ball of nerves. She didn’t know what the hell she was getting herself into, but she was too intrigued by all of it to back out now. She’d walked into this conference room a virgin, new and completely inexperienced with anything. She wanted to walk out of it comfortable enough in her own skin to be able to get what she wanted. This looked to her like it might be a first step. She could do the things she was too timid to even think of on her own with Preston, with the safety net of being able to say no whenever she wanted.
She recognized that there was an element of trust in what they were about to embark into. She needed to trust that Preston was going to remain true to his word and end things the moment she requested it, and he needed to trust her to tell him when things got to be too much. That was going to be the only way that all of this was going to work. She was willing to give that to him, and willing to try to live up to her end of the bargain as long as he still wanted her too.
The two of them began to discuss the details about what they wanted to call one another. Preston was very insistent that he wanted to be referred to as Sir when they were in the bedroom together. He explained to her that sometimes submissive chose a nickname that was on the diminutive side. Some enjoyed being referred to in what other people might have thought was a derogatory way, others preferred more loving nicknames. Preston ran through a few examples though Charlotte couldn’t imagine hearing herself referred to as a slave or slut. Neither of those fit her in the slightest. She listened to a few of the suggestions before she thought of one that she thought suited her.
“Just my name?” She was scared about everything that was to come, but in the end, that was what she really wanted out of all of this. She needed to be his, and for the first time during all the time that the two of them had been together, she was starting to feel more and more like the two of them were ready to give everything that they had to each other. She only had one more question for him.
“When does this adventure begin?” She raised her eyebrow, pulling her arms into her lap as she rose from the chair.
“Why not tonight?”
Chapter 4
Preston had spent so much of his day planning what was coming tonight, he’d had to shift off some of his responsibilities to Sophie to make sure he got together everything he was going to need. She didn’t let him hear the end of it before she left for the night, still grumbling about how he was working her into the ground. He laughed it off, knowing her comments were always in harmless fun.
She had been the last one to go home, leaving him alone in the office to wait for his fiancée. Even though Charlotte had arrived exactly on time, it had seemed like an eternity while he waited for her to get here. He knew that it was mostly because of his uncertainty in what her response to his request was going to be but also because he missed spending time with her and these days it was very limited.
Charlotte was new to this. She was new to everything, and he wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d run away screaming to try to get the lease on her apartment back before someone else moved into it. Instead, she was sitting at the side next to him asking him for more details about what he was proposing. It was more than he’d thought was possible happening all at once.
Preston had spent so long trying to figure out a way to suppress who he was that it was surreal now to have someone who might be willing to embrace all of it and everything that he wanted to try with her. He paused, leaning in to kiss her before he offered her his hand. He’d gotten a few things together in his office apartment once she’d agreed to come meet him, just in case she’d been open to exploring tonight.
Setting things up in his office meant that he had a place he could bring her if she was open to this, and that he could take her back home if she’d said no but was hopefully still talking to him. The bed was there, and there were a few other things he’d gone out and picked up over lunch. There was no way he was going to bring out the heavy equipment on her first night, in fact the thoughts that he had been having were more about teaching her to surrender control.
For tonight, he’d brought in a blindfold, some simple handcuffs made of cloth and leather that would bind her wrists together if he wanted, and a small paddle. Preston had no way of knowing if he was going to use any or all of them tonight, but he wanted to be prepared if it wound up being something that the two of them enjoyed. They could work their way through more if this wound up being something they went further into together.
He was nervous, he offered her his hand as he led her into the room, but not before pulling her in for a deep kiss as he wrapped his arms around her. It was the last moment tonight when he was her fiancé. From here on out, he was going to be focused on letting go and giving in to the desires he’d felt growing for her since she’d walked so innocently into his office that night. All that remained was to get things started.
He
murmured against her lips, twisting his fist into the fabric of the back of her skirt to keep her body pressed firmly against his.
“Are you ready to be mine, Charlotte?” Preston watched her reaction, eyes drifting slowly closed as she let out a soft sigh. Her expression sent a thrill through him, driving him on further so that he was having to hold back to gauge what she wanted to happen next. He was scared to push her too far, but if she was enjoying this, then he was going to let go and give in to the part of him that was roaring to get out to the surface.
“Yes..I-Sir, I mean yes sir. I’m yours.” Those four words were all he needed to move into that part of his psyche completely. For someone who wasn’t experienced with the world he was pulling her into, she seemed to fall naturally into the role. It was like she was meant to be there with him in this moment and judging from the way that a gentle shudder rolled through her frame when he gently nipped at her ear, she was enjoying this as much as he was.
“Good girl.” His voice deepened in response to the soft whimper that escaped her parted lips. “Now, why don’t you show me what a good girl you can be and go get changed.”
There was one last thing he had in store for her, an outfit, something he’d never seen her in before during all the time the two of them had been together. He didn’t even think it would have occurred to Charlotte to wear lingerie. She hadn’t owned anything other than the basics when the two of them had met and the few lace panties he had purchased for her were the extent of any lingerie she owned. Now, he was asking her to wear something that she wouldn’t have picked out for herself in million years.
But that was part of the appeal for Preston, he liked the idea of pushing her into things she wouldn’t have tried for herself. He wanted to introduce her to things that she’d never tried before, and tonight was just the first step, if things worked out.
Preston had always loved shades of green on Charlotte. It set off her features perfectly and made her look like an absolute goddess. He was confident that extended into the realm of lingerie when he’d picked out the outfit that was waiting for her in the bathroom — a matching set of emerald green panties and bra, though more of it was lace that wound up being more see through than green. It was more than Preston had been able to resist when he’d been in the store. He’d wound up staring at it while picturing Charlotte wearing it in the apartment off his office until he’d just given into his impulse and bought it.
Indulgence: A Billionaire Virgin Romance Page 3