“The answer is certainly.”
Suddenly she could barely swallow, and stringing a coherent thought together was almost impossible. Was he talking about her? Them?
“But I’d need to be clear that it would never progress beyond dating.”
His voice had a layer of steel that warned her she was tiptoeing close to very personal information. But they were colleagues, potentially friends—nothing more—so she pressed on. “Why is that?”
“I tried. I was engaged. We’d talked about it and, for me, she tried, but it didn’t work for her. I loved her enough to deny what I needed. Eventually we realized we weren’t compatible.”
He might appear nonchalant, but he couldn’t disguise the layer of hurt woven in the words. It made her squirm. Nosy was one thing, exposing someone’s pain was another. “I apologize. You don’t have to tell me all this.”
“Unless you’ve changed your mind and don’t want to know the answer, I’m happy to tell you.”
“Do you have any secrets?” she asked drily.
“Not many, but I’m greedy. I don’t let women I’m involved with have them, either. I want everything out there—raw, carnal, exposed. So the answer is, if I met a woman and she was interested in fucking and if there was mutual attraction, I’d spend the night pleasing her in every way she wanted—and I’d cook her breakfast in the morning. But in the long-term, I would never again propose to a woman who wasn’t interested in submission.”
She cast a glance back at the portrait. “She’s an ideal, then?”
“As well as a constant reminder of what I expect, what I should hold out for. Yes.”
“The picture serves as a warning, as well. To the women who see her.”
Grant followed her gaze then shrugged. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. Perhaps. You tell me. You’re the only woman who’s ever seen it.”
“Well, I’d say you’re honest about what you want. So it’s both a warning as well as a promise.”
“Promise?”
“If a woman is into it, wants it, she knows you’ll deliver it.”
He nodded. “Well said. Have you ever been spanked, Aria?”
She was caught off guard, and she sucked in a breath.
Outside, snow had started to drift down, but she knew her shiver had nothing to do with the outside elements. “Once. And I didn’t much like it. It hurt like hell and I honestly wondered what the fuss was all about. I was underwhelmed.”
“Then I can tell you, your man didn’t know what he was doing. If you were over my knee, you’d get your ass warmed and your clit would throb so hard you’d be afraid it had turned white. And when you came? You’d scream. If I was really good, you’d be crying, but only because the force of the orgasm left you otherwise unable to function.”
She wondered if she would choke on her own breath. He’d melted her brain circuits until they’d flatlined. “I’d say it’s a good thing we’re colleagues and nothing more.”
“I take it you’ve seen enough of my bedroom?” Grant smiled.
“Thanks. Yes.”
“My workshop isn’t as scary,” he informed her. “But you might want to avoid going into the outdoor shed.”
“What is it, a dungeon?”
When he didn’t reply, the feeling of vertigo flooded her again. Julien’s words about her needing a strong man echoed in her head. “Does Julien know about your…tastes?”
“Yes.”
“So the duffel bag really does have handcuffs and…”
“Probably.” He flicked a glance at it. “Do you want to open it up and find out?”
Julien said she needed to be involved with more complicated men. If he’d meant Grant, he was wrong. Grant was considerably more complex than anyone she’d dated. Uncomfortably so. What the hell had Julien been thinking in sending her here?
Chapter Three
“Well?” Grant prompted.
“Actually, I’m good with leaving it alone.” Her voice was bit breathless.
He enjoyed watching emotions play across Aria’s face. After she’d seen the name of the portrait, she’d cocked her head to look at him. When he’d asked if she’d ever been spanked, a small frown had buried itself between her eyebrows. And when he’d offered to let her open the bag, her mouth had parted in shock.
But he didn’t see fear in her rich green eyes. A small degree of curiosity, maybe. Anything beyond that might be wishful thinking on his part, but what a wish. He’d love to have this woman’s bare skin exposed to his lash. He wanted to see her body jerk from the pleasure only a strip of leather could deliver. And her screams of pleasure…? “There you have it. Transparency. Everything there is to know about me. You know where I stand and what I like.”
“Maybe a few things I’d be better off not knowing. Do you share this with all of your coworkers?”
“No. Julien is the only guest I’ve had here. And even he hasn’t seen the portrait of the submissive. Other than my housekeeper and my designer, you’re the only person who’s ever been inside my bedroom. Honestly, Aria? You’re the first coworker I’ve ever been attracted to. And I want you to know what you’re getting yourself into if you decide.” Deliberately, he left the end of the sentence vague. He gave her the opportunity to either begin or end the conversation.
She was silent for a few moments before quietly asking, “Decide what?”
“To give me a sign that I should act on what I’m thinking.”
Again, a ridiculously long amount of time passed before she picked up the thread he was using to weave his images. “What are you thinking about?”
“Kissing you. I’m imagining that your lips feel as full and as soft as they look. But I’m also wondering how you taste.” He already knew that her scent reminded him of the earth after a cleansing storm. In just the short time she’d been here, his perception had been altered. Her bag was in his guest room. Her coat was on a peg near his. Her purse sat on his entry table. His refrigerator was stocked with artificially sweetened creamer to ruin a perfectly good cup of coffee—and he didn’t mind any of it. For someone who didn’t like having his space disturbed, he was enjoying the feminine touches. “I’m picturing your mouth parting in an unspoken welcome as I stroke my thumb up the column of your neck and pull back your hair.”
“That’s not happening.”
“You’re not even the least bit curious?”
She hesitated a long, rewarding moment before answering. “No.”
“In that case, let me show you my workshop.” He stepped aside.
Aria took another quick look at the portrait before passing him.
Her boots echoed off the wood floor as she walked up the hallway. If he’d ever heard a sexier sound, he suddenly couldn’t remember it.
He was man enough to notice the sway of her hips and the way the skirt hugged her body. Her legs seemed to go on forever. And, not for the first time, he pictured them wrapped around his waist.
Maybe he should get out more, much as he hated to admit that Julien might be right.
Aria stopped near the door, and Grant moved in and put his hand near the palm print scanner.
“Can’t Molly just let you in?”
“Not into this room. We wanted the best security available. I’ve set up the system so that my print must match, and it must be at normal body temperature.”
“Overkill?”
“I always hope. It’s doubtful anyone would get past my fence—”
“How hard can it be to go over? Or, even wiggle under?”
He grinned. “That’s not happening unless there’s a power outage and my generator fails.”
“It’s electric, also?”
“Among other things. As I was saying, the things I develop for Bonds in my workshop have practical applications for other businesses, governments, the military. So with this sensor factored in, I don’t have to worry about someone having a hand cut off and used on the scanner—at least theoretically.”
She wrinkled her no
se.
“But some people in charge of security do. You know all that, though.”
She shook her head. “I may have the title of Director of Global Strategy, but my focus is on the consumer level. There’s a whole geek language I can’t speak.”
“Well, you can’t have everything. And after all, you are fluent in dessert.”
Aria smiled at him, and he was a goner. Her green eyes turned the color of molten jade, seducing him in a way that was beyond sex. He already liked her quick wit and her curiosity. It wouldn’t be long, he surmised, before the urge to live a little more dangerously called to her. When it did, he’d happily be the one to introduce her to its seductions.
He pressed his hand fully against the palm plate. “A lot of this never makes it out of testing. And some of it’s done on a proprietary level. Certain companies don’t want anyone to know what they’ve got.”
“You trust me with this?”
“Julien sent you here. That’s all the endorsement I need.” The scanner cleared him and the door slid open.
“That looks like something out of a science fiction movie.”
“It is.” He grinned. “When I was growing up, watching Star Trek, I dreamed of having a door like this. So the first chance I had, I installed one. At first, I would go in and out. Just because I could.”
“So why the keypad?”
“I thought it looked cool.”
“It’s nonfunctional?”
“You’ll get a jolt from it. Want to try?”
She curled her hands at her sides. “What is it with you and electricity?”
“It has sixty-three thousand different uses. Four of them are sensual.”
Her breath seemed to catch, and he watched the way she forced the air out of her lungs.
“After you.”
She seemed drawn to the middle of the room, and she slowly spun while he sealed the door closed.
“Part of it looks like an operating room,” she observed. “And the other…” She looked at the piles, the glass, the broken pieces, the half-finished prototypes, designs sketched directly on tables with marker.
“I call it Idea Heaven,” he said.
“It’s… Your workspace has an institutional feel to it. I mean with all the metal, the bare floors, no paintings or knick-knacks, mementos… You don’t even have plants. Do you spend a lot of time in here?”
“Most of my waking hours.”
“The view is incredible, but the surroundings seem a little sterile. Austere maybe.”
“Maybe at first glance. But it reflects my moods.” When he thought of it. Lately that hadn’t been often. More and more, he was seeing how right Julien was in his assessment. How long would he have been willing to go on that way? Work had become his life. And at some point, it had stopped being fun. “Molly, why don’t we show Aria the Caribbean.”
A wall shimmered as an image of white sand appeared. An island followed, taking shape, with palm trees and a hammock, a bird he couldn’t name. Then came the water, three different shades of blue, the color intensifying the farther it moved away from shore. Yellow fish darted beneath the surface. In the three-dimensional distance, a yacht drifted.
“Well. Wow.”
“Don’t worry. I can switch it to the arctic if you prefer.”
She wrapped her arms around her, warding off an invisible chill.
“Or San Francisco, if you’re homesick. Or my dungeon, if you’re brave.”
“Are you ever serious?”
“Almost always. You want to think I’m joking because it seems safer for you that way.”
“Ah…”
“You’re wondering. What it would be like if I kissed you. In fact, outside, in the hallway, you were hoping I’d lean in.”
“Dreamer.”
He shrugged.
“I bet in high school you were able to talk girls out of their panties.”
“I rarely tried.” He met her gaze.
She was frowning skeptically.
“Wasn’t till college, and I met Julien and our other friends that I got invited to parties. Before that, I didn’t mingle much with the opposite sex.”
“You were a fast learner.”
“Not really.”
“You went from not really dating to wanting to be in charge. Isn’t that a big leap?”
“No. There was a natural progression, like most things in life. Come here. Let’s get your palm print set up.”
“I’m not sure whether I trust you or not.”
“It won’t hurt a bit,” he promised. He pulled out a metal barstool and beckoned her forward. “Come here, little girl,” he said in his best mad-scientist voice.
“There’s something about you…” Then they spoke simultaneously.
“That you’re finding difficult to resist,” he said.
“That scares me a little,” she said.
He grinned. “Good.”
“Good?”
“A bit of fear or uncertainty is intriguing. It’s the elixir of arousal. I just don’t want to terrify you. Yet.”
He saw her shift her weight as she crossed her feet. What he’d said had had an impact on her. Unless he missed his guess—which wasn’t likely—she wanted to know more. It might take her a while, but she’d walk into the net he was creating with his words and actions. Aria would need to feel safe before she’d move forward, which meant he had to take it slow as well.
“Should I be scared of you?”
“Maybe,” he replied.
“That wasn’t reassuring.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.” He waited a few seconds before patting the top of the stool.
She licked her lower lip, betraying her confused emotions.
With the portrait and their ensuing discussions, he’d given her a hell of a lot to think about. So he decided to change her focus.
Once she took her seat, he moved in next to her. “Are you right-hand dominant?”
“Yes.” Aria’s body was rigid.
“One thing you need to know is that I won’t do anything you don’t ask for.”
She turned toward him. They were only inches apart.
“But I love it when a sub asks. It’s sexy. That’s not to say things don’t naturally evolve, but when you ask, even beg, that’s what I live for.”
It took her a minute to respond. “I think you have me confused with some other woman.”
“Perhaps I do,” he conceded. “Put your palm on the glass. When it has a good scan, the light will turn green. I want you to do it about a dozen times. Pick your hand up, put it back down with your fingers in different spots, more weight on the heel of your hand, then more on your fingertips, on your thumb. You won’t touch the palm plate in exactly the same place or in the same way every time, so I want to be sure we get good prints.” When he was satisfied, he lifted her hand back off the scanner. “Give me a minute.” He entered a few commands on a keyboard. The screen in front of them showed a series of whorls and lines and impact points, all in luminescent green.
“That’s quite impressive, Mr. Kingston.”
“Think of the potential to avoid fraud with this thing. But like you said, probably overkill for most applications—and way too expensive for the vast majority of firms.”
“But that doesn’t stop your eyes from lighting up.”
“Yeah. I love this shit.” The screen blanked then displayed a picture of her print. “Got it. Let’s test it. Try to leave the room.”
She slid from the stool and moved to the doorway. When he nodded, she put her palm on the plate.
Nothing happened.
With a frown, she turned back to face him. “Something wrong?”
He hit a key on the computer. The system turned green and the door whisked open.
“You did that on purpose.”
“Just making sure I can keep you hostage if I want.”
She shook her head and removed her hand. The door slid shut. “You’re right. It’s cool.”
Just then, music blasted from the speakers.
Obviously shocked, Aria spun back to face him. “What the hell is that? It sounds like something from a blockbuster movie.”
“Julien’s theme.”
“You’re kidding me.”
The words, “A genius is trying to reach you,” overlaid the music.
“You’re not kidding me.”
“Man likes to make an entrance, even when he’s not there physically.”
“Hence the hologram.”
He pointed at her. “Exactly.”
“Greetings, earthlings,” Julien said.
“You could have waited for me to answer,” Grant replied.
“But then you might not have.”
Grant considered that. “Probably true. Video on.”
Julien sat behind the desk in his office. An ugly-looking green concoction filled a glass in front of him. Probably spinach and kale and broccoli all whirred and blended.
“I see you made it safely, Aria.” Judging by the grin on his face, he was pleased with himself. “You’re staying with Grant, I take it. I noticed you bought groceries and a nice meal, but you didn’t put a hotel stay on my card.”
“Nothing gets past a genius,” she said. “By the way, is the team working on the project for the restaurant?”
“It is for Blanca, is it not?”
“Meaning it’s first on your priority list?”
“Above all things in the heavens. Radar shows a storm is brewing. So I won’t be shocked if I don’t hear from you for a few days. Take a little time to relax, get to know each other. Talk about what you’ve been working on, Grant. Can’t wait to see what you two cook up together.” He lifted his glass in salute. “Toodles.” Julien leaned forward, and Grant saw Julien hit the disconnect key.
“Did he really say toodles?”
“He has a way with words.” Grant shook his head.
For the next couple of hours as the wind whipped up and snow fell with fury, he showed Aria some of the things he was developing. She asked a number of astute questions that showed both a grasp of technology and the considerations for the market.
Finally, he instructed her how to interact with Molly from the console and from an app.
“But watch this.” He touched an icon on the screen. “This is where Molly makes your grocery list. She’ll even check expiration dates on your dairy products. I’m able to call up the shopping list if I’m arriving back in town after an extended absence. She can also turn on the dishwasher. In a different sort of way, this is the kind of thing you’re trying to do for Blanca at the restaurant. Taking separate elements and making them work together.”
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