Taming Rex
Club Zodiac, Book Eight
Becca Jameson
Copyright © 2020 by Becca Jameson
Cover Artist: Scott Carpenter
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. And resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
Contents
Untitled
About the Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
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About the Book
It’s supposed to be a temporary job in a temporary city with a temporary coworker…
* * *
Erica is a genius. She already has her master’s degree and has landed her first job. She knows she’s a misfit, but it would seem her new coworker is an even bigger nerd. The only time she can let loose is at the local club, Zodiac. A place where all her fantasies are indulged.
* * *
Rex doesn’t work well with others. How is it possible that the fidgeting, nervous woman sent to work with him is also utterly intriguing? As if he doesn’t have enough issues, his heart nearly stops when he sees her at his favorite club with another man.
* * *
Dayton hasn’t felt a connection like the one he has with Erica in a long time. He doesn’t care what her quirks are. He likes her. And the chemistry between them is nearly perfect.
* * *
Erica’s motto is work hard, play hard. If two men want to fight over her, she’s not going to stop them. But she’s certainly never been in a predicament like this before. She thought she could juggle a full social calendar. But it’s exhausting entertaining two men, and they’re behaving like Neanderthals. They need to compromise or take a hike. She does not have time for nonsense…
Chapter 1
Rex groaned inwardly as he eyed his boss skeptically from across the desk. He leaned back in the uncomfortable chair and crossed his arms. “Do I look like someone who plays nicely with others?”
John chuckled as he planted his elbows on the desk. “No one has ever accused you of playing nicely, Rex, but if the customer wants two people on the job, and they’re willing to pay for it, then that’s what they get.”
“Who did you pair me up with? At least prepare me.” Chances were Rex wouldn’t even know the person. He worked alone most of the time and usually from home if he wasn’t at the location.
John grinned. “New hire. You’ve never met her.”
This time Rex groaned outwardly, rolling his head back to look at the ceiling. “Great,” he grumbled. “It’s fucking hot in Miami.”
John laughed again. “Leave your jacket here in Denver.”
Rex switched to growling and mumbling under his breath as he shoved off the chair and left his boss’s office. He wasn’t usually in such a foul mood. He was, however, cocky. He was brilliant. He knew it. His boss knew it. Hell, most people he came into contact with couldn’t avoid knowing it.
He headed for the elevator, punched the button for the lobby, and ran a hand over his face. Rex wasn’t always as disagreeable as he felt today, but he’d been in a slump lately. He’d been working long hours for a local business doing a complicated job that had just ended. He hadn’t gotten enough sleep, and the last thing he wanted to do was rush home and grab a suitcase for a long-term gig in Miami.
Worse than all that was the fact that he hadn’t been to Club Zodiac in weeks, and he hadn’t been able to get to Seattle in almost two months. He closed his eyes and slumped against the elevator wall, forcing himself to spend a moment reminiscing about the triad of people he’d been involved with for several months in Seattle.
Charlotte, Samson, and Nile. They were a committed threesome who invited him into their lives to play. It had been amazing and enlightening. He’d also seen them less and less over time. He’d known it was time to move on for a while now. Maybe this long-term job in Miami—which put him about as far away from Seattle as he could get in the continental US—was exactly what he needed. After all, Miami was home to the only other location of Club Zodiac. He could spend some time there, meet new people, find a submissive of his own.
The elevator pinged and he exited, hurrying across the lobby, aiming for the parking garage. He had just enough time to get to his apartment and pack his suitcase before his flight.
“Hey, Rex,” the man at the door called out to him.
Rex shook off his frustration as he shifted his focus to the world around him. Mitch was one of the good guys, always smiling and offering a good laugh. Rex knew he was about to hear a pretty lame hacker joke that would make him chuckle. “Mitch.” He nodded toward him as he approached.
“I’ve got a new one.” The older man was grinning from ear to ear. He loved to joke with Rex.
Rex softened a little. It was impossible not to when he ran into Mitch. “I’m ready.”
“What do tiny hackers eat?” Mitch beamed.
Rex had heard this about two hundred times, but he feigned ignorance. “You’ve got me. What?”
“Microchips!” Mitch’s entire body shook as he laughed.
Rex smiled wide. “Duh. Of course.”
When Mitch stopped laughing, he spoke again. “Hey, I think I finally came up with a password for the building’s security system that you won’t be able to crack.”
Rex had heard this one more often than the microchip joke, but he took the bait anyway, not wanting to ruin Mitch’s fun. “Really? What is it?”
“I’m gonna use the last four digits of pi.” Mitch was a big guy. Tall. Graying hair. Wrinkles extending out from the corners of his eyes. He laughed at his own joke, as usual.
Rex lifted a hand, palm out and gave the older man a high five. “That’ll work.” He kept moving, not having time to stop. “Gotta get to Miami, but don’t worry, I’ll still be able to break your codes even from there.” He waved as he exited the building, leaving Mitch still chuckling.
Rex wasn’t kidding. He would crack Mitch’s latest security codes as soon as he had a chance. He liked to do it every few days. Not because his boss asked him to but because it amused Mitch to no end.
After making his way around the corner of the building and into the garage, Rex quickly got in his car, started it up, and pulled from the space. He had a fifteen-minute drive to let his mind wander.
Rex had fallen into his current waning relationship quite by accident. One night
, Charlotte came alone to Club Zodiac while on a business trip to Denver. She’d requested a scene, and the manager, Colin, had set her up to receive a flogging from Rex. Granted, Colin had no way of knowing that Rex and Charlotte had history. They’d known each other peripherally in high school. Back when Rex was far nerdier.
Rex had learned to blend in better over the years and he knew he outwardly presented as a regular human being these days. But nothing could change the fact that his brain wasn’t like others’. It was constantly calculating and analyzing the world around him.
Charlotte didn’t mind. She enjoyed his skills with a flogger. It filled a void neither Nile nor Samson managed to provide. But Rex was antsy, and he knew it was time for Charlotte to find someone new and unique to scene with. It would keep her happy and on edge.
It was time to move on, and the move to Miami would be perfect. Working with a partner at the new site was going to drive him bonkers, but knowing the person was new to the department gave Rex hope that he could quickly prove he worked better alone.
Ironically, his desire to find the weakest links in any company’s system usually consumed him and turned him into an ogre at work. He could turn that shit off as soon as he left the job and switched to Dominant mode. Just as confident and cocky but somehow far more demanding.
He adjusted his initial reaction to the news as he drove. Now was the perfect time to get fully back in the scene. Miami was the perfect location because it was home to the other branch of Club Zodiac. He’d met the owners on several occasions when they visited Denver.
As much as Rex enjoyed his time with Charlotte, Nile, and Samson, a part of him wasn’t fully satisfied. He knew why. He wanted his own devoted submissive. Time with Charlotte was fun. She was sexy and an amazing submissive. She was not, however, his. The look of devotion she reserved for Nile and Samson always left Rex with an ache that burned in his chest.
There was a submissive out there in the world who would look at him that way. He just needed to find her.
Chapter 2
Rex was not sorry that he’d arrived in Miami and begun working on the latest project two days before his assigned partner. It gave him time to establish himself and get the lay of the land.
Erica Wendell was her name. Today would be her first day, and Rex had arrived early to beat her. When he rounded the corner to enter the office he’d been assigned to, he stopped in his tracks, shocked to find someone already inside. Her back was to him, thick black ponytail swaying as she stared at the computer screen in front of her.
Taking a deep breath, Rex came fully into the room and cleared his throat.
The woman spun around, sitting up straighter, her beaming smile in place. “Hey. You must be Rex?” She stood and extended a hand. “I’m Erica.”
The room they would be occupying had a counter that ran along two walls with several workspaces along it. They’d be the only two people occupying the room at the moment, and because of that there were only two workstations set up, adjacent to each other along the back wall.
Rex dropped his computer bag on his chair and took her extended hand, reminding himself that a firm handshake always made the best first impression. One of the most important things he’d ever done for himself before finishing college was to take a course on social skills. “Nice to meet you,” he stated in a firm, no-nonsense voice he’d learned to use every time he met someone.
It wasn’t really nice to meet her. He’d been dreading it since John had informed him of this arrangement three days ago. And his stomach took a dip at her perkiness. Quiet and subdued was more his style in the workplace.
Don’t be an ass. You know nothing about this girl.
Except he knew a lot about her because he’d read over her resume. She was in her early twenties. A young genius. Her resume was impressive for someone her age. She’d had several internships while attending Syracuse University, where she got her master’s degree in information management. She also had two years of experience.
She was beyond qualified and an excellent hire for White Hat Hack, the ethical hacking agency they both worked for. He had no bone to pick with her. He just didn’t like working with a partner.
Erica spun around and waved a hand in the general direction of her desk. “Hope you don’t mind, but I saw the notes on your desk for what you were working on and cracked into that system for you.” She pointed excitedly at the monitor in front of her.
Rex’s blood boiled, and his heart was thumping loudly. He eased past her, set his palms on the desk, and leaned in closer to her computer. Holy fuck. She had indeed broken into the exact program he’d been working on for several hours yesterday.
Erica continued to ramble behind him. “I assumed this was my desk space since it was empty and the other one seemed occupied. I hope I didn’t overstep myself. I do that sometimes. I also talk a lot when I’m nervous. I apologize in advance. Did I… Uh, is everything okay?”
Rex was still staring at her work, gritting his teeth. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to choke her or thank her. It wasn’t her fault he was pissed that she’d so quickly cracked this problem. But fuck.
Finally, he shoved off the desk and righted himself. “Good work,” he stated as he opened his computer bag and reached inside for a pile of paper just to avoid looking her directly in the eye.
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked in a slightly higher-pitched voice.
He could see her wringing her hands in front of her without lifting his gaze.
“I shouldn’t have rummaged around on your desk. I mean I didn’t actually rummage, of course. I just saw the open folder and I didn’t have anything to do yet, so I just…”
He finally took a deep breath and lifted his gaze, making direct eye contact with her for the first time. “It’s fine. You did well.”
Shit. She was cute. Nervous and fidgety, but also attractive. His pulse picked up in a way it hadn’t in a long time. Not since the day he’d met Charlotte.
He jerked his head down and took a step back. Stop it. Good God. You have to work with this annoying woman. You absolutely can’t start thinking of her as sexy.
His brain wouldn’t stop with sexy, however. Nope. Not Rex’s mind. It did whatever it wanted whenever it wanted. And right now, his thoughts centered on what Erica might be like if he commanded her to her knees and insisted she stop talking.
He shuddered and forced himself to shake off such absurd thoughts.
Erica clapped her hands together in front of her. Just once. “Great. Well, just let me know what you’re working on next, and I’ll get started. I know you’re not like my boss exactly or anything, but you’ve been here two days which is at least sixteen hours longer than me, and I assume you know what we’re supposed to be working on, and well, you’re older, so…”
He couldn’t help but lift his gaze again. Damn, she was cute. Even cuter than he’d thought. Her thick dark hair was too heavy for her ponytail, so some of it had escaped to land in waves around her face. Her eyes were dark too, a deep brown. Her skin was pale, though Rex had such pale skin that she was darker than him. Her lips were full and pink, and she was now biting into the corner of the bottom one with her perfect straight white teeth.
He didn’t think she had on much makeup. Her lashes and brows were black and thick, so mascara wouldn’t be unnecessary. Her cheeks were rosy, but that could be from nerves. He scanned briefly down her frame to find her wearing a white blouse, sensible black slacks, and black pumps—the standard outfit nearly any woman would wear the first day at a new job.
Rex figured she was about five four. As he shifted his gaze back up her frame, he couldn’t help but note that she had a narrow waist and full breasts. Her blouse wasn’t too thin, but he could at least tell that she was wearing a plain white bra. She was also still wringing her fingers together, giving him the urge to demand she clasp them behind her back.
Instead he took a deep breath and met her gaze again. “We have a pile of assignments. It’s up to
us to decide if we want to work on the same thing at once or divide and conquer. You should know, I don’t work well with others, so it’s probably best if we work on different tasks.”
She gave a curt nod. “Got it. Agreed.”
He continued to hold her gaze, though it was so out of character. There was just something about her. Something that got to him. His reactions to her were a jumble of confusion. On the one hand, he was furious she’d so easily broken the code he’d been working on. On the other hand, his dick had taken notice of her and was pressing against the front panel of his khaki pants.
After a few awkward moments, Erica jerked her gaze downward in a way that made his cock thicken further. She dropped her hands to her sides and flexed her fingers several times.
She’s not a submissive, Rex. Get a grip on yourself. This is a workplace. Not a club. She’s probably never heard of BDSM. But Lordy, she had submissive tendencies.
Erica finally inhaled slowly. “Okay, well, I was just about to go get a cup of coffee from the break room. I got here super early to get a feel for the place. Sometimes that helps me relax and feel less intimidated. Would you like me to grab you a coffee too?” She lifted her eyes.
Fuck me. He narrowed his gaze at her. “Sure, but only because you’re going. I don’t expect you to get me coffee. I might be slightly older, but we’re just coworkers here.”
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