by Leah Wilde
But if Fiona was offended, he couldn’t detect it in her face as she nodded and straightened up on the desk, groaning a little as she placed her feet back down on the ground for the first time in over an hour. “Jesus Christ, you really gave me a workout there,” she said with a lazy grin, gradually getting to her feet and stretching down to her toes before she began walking toward the door.
“Wait,” Vince said before she could reach her destination, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her in place, even though she immediately obeyed his command. God, that was hot. It was fucking enticing, having her do exactly what he said, exactly when he said it. She was such a Sub.
“Yes?” Fiona said, looking up at him with wide, curious eyes. She looked so beautiful, all fucked-out with her cheeks still pink and her hair a messy disaster on top of her head and shoulders. It was so tempting to reach out and grab her, pull her into a kiss that she’d never forget.
But no. He couldn’t do that. Boundaries. The boundaries came first. They were the real Dom around here.
“I just want to say that I really enjoyed this,” Vince said, brushing some of the random strands of hair away from Fiona’s face. “I want to do it again. As soon as possible.”
Fiona smiled, biting down on her bottom lip bashfully as she nodded. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
“Good,” Vince said, reaching behind her to lightly pat her on the ass. “Now get on home. You need to get your rest so we can get back to work tomorrow.”
“Right,” Fiona said with a short nod, smiling brightly at him before she turned to walk out the door, disappearing on the other side of the playroom wall. She was probably getting back into her clothes before heading out. Vince sighed deeply and let his body sag against the desk before he pulled his pants up off the ground, getting back into his clothes so he wouldn’t have to face his naked body. He couldn’t stand looking at himself when he was alone. He always needed to have someone else, to have a beautiful submissive woman look at him and affirm that he was okay, that he wasn’t ugly or evil or bad. That his body wasn’t an instrument of darkness.
Fiona had done a great job of it tonight, accepting all of him without judgment. But there was some part of Vince that felt shaken-up, maybe even a little bit afraid. It took him a few minutes before he could put his finger on it, and then it hit him. She’d been a little too good at it. It was the best session he’d ever had in his life, and it was the first time she’d ever acted as a Sub. What would she be like when they had more practice together? How could he ever give her up if she was this addicting, this early?
“Get it together, man,” Vince mumbled under his breath, rubbing his face to try to get his mind back on track. He couldn’t afford to freak out about this, to already be worried about losing her even after fucking her just once. One day, of course, this would end. It had to. It always did for Vince. He was going to have to be prepared for that, whenever it happened. He couldn’t let himself get attached too soon.
But still, he had no way of stopping himself from aching for her, longing for her touch as though he hadn’t seen her in weeks, even though it had been mere minutes since she’d left. Already, his body felt like it needed hers to survive, needed her touch to live with itself.
“I’m fucked,” he muttered out loud, grabbing the whip from the floor to put it back in its resting place. “I’m totally fucked.”
Chapter Fourteen
Fiona was practically bouncing on the heels of her feet as she walked out of Vince’s playroom, wrapping her coat tightly around her body as she headed for the front door, preparing herself for the chilly air outside. “La di dah di do,” she hummed to herself, unable to fight the wide grin that was splitting her face in half as she sang to herself. “La di dah di dah…”
But before she could make it to the front door, the doorbell rang, freezing her in her tracks, uncertain of what to do. It would feel weird for her to go back to the playroom. Would she have to take her clothes off again, just to inform Vince that the doorbell rang? Or what if she walked back in with clothes on? Would he punish her? A shiver ran down Fiona’s spine as she considered that possibility, but it wasn’t due to fear. The thought excited her, made her turn on her heels and head back in the direction of the playroom, going back to get her ass slapped around some more—
She slammed right into Vince’s chest, not seeing him in time to stop her movements before colliding with him. “Oof,” she groaned as she backed up, rubbing her head where it smashed against Vince’s muscular torso.
“You okay?” Vince said, but his voice didn’t have the same soft tenderness as it had in the playroom earlier. Fiona swallowed the vague pained feeling that created in her and nodded, gesturing behind her towards the front door.
“Um, the doorbell rang.”
“I heard it,” Vince said a little curtly. He sounded like he was on-edge, a little like he did when they were in the office together. What could be wrong? Fiona suddenly felt a wave of insecurity crash over her. Did she mess something up? Did she not leave the playroom in time? Or did she leave too soon? He seemed like he was mad about something, but she couldn’t figure out what she had done to make him feel that way.
“Um, okay, well, I guess I’ll just go now…” Fiona started to turn back around, right when the doorbell rang again. She figured she’d let the impatient ringer in to talk with Vince and then just head downstairs and go home.
But Vince stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, pinning her in place, even as the doorbell rang a third time. “Wait. Head back to the hallway. Across from the playroom is my bedroom. You can wait in there while I get rid of whoever is coming by at this time of night.”
“I can just go; it’s no big deal,” Fiona argued, flinching a little bit as the doorbell rang again. Whoever was on the other side of the door clearly had no intentions of leaving anytime soon, at least not until they got an acknowledgement from Vince.
“I insist,” Vince said, his tone hard and unflinching. He wasn’t going to budge on this, Fiona could tell. She just sighed and nodded, walking around him to head for his bedroom.
She stepped inside the luxurious room, shutting the door softly behind her and taking a look around. There was a gorgeous full canopy bed in royal blue against the wall, with shining mahogany furniture pieces surrounding it. Fiona tentatively walked over to the bed, feeling a distinct heaviness in her head that told her she needed to sleep soon. The bed was just so tempting. She couldn’t help but picture Vince curled up under those covers, all of his defenses falling away as he sunk into the mattress.
Fiona practically jolted as soon as she realized what she was thinking about. Snap out of it, she berated herself, turning around to face the door instead of the bed. She couldn’t afford to get mushy already, especially since she only just fucked the guy one time. They hadn’t even kissed on the mouth yet, for God’s sake. Why in the hell was she getting all soft-hearted and picturing the guy sleeping? There wasn’t even anything sexual about that. She had no excuse for being such a little bitch when it came to her inner monologue.
She exhaled deeply and walked closer to the door, putting more distance in between herself and the bed in an attempt to protect herself from the temptation to indulge in more of those mushy thoughts. She screwed her eyes shut, trying to repeat her mantra to herself as insistently as possible, until it truly sunk in. I don’t want a relationship. I don’t want a relationship. I don’t want one.
But in the process, shutting out all other sensations, she picked up on some noises from the other side of the door. “What are you doing here?” It was Vince, taking a rather rude tone of voice to someone. Judging from the distance of the sound, Fiona figured he hadn’t even invited the intruder in, keeping him or her installed near the doorway of the penthouse.
“Just checking in on my brother. Can’t I do that, or is that not allowed under the new leadership?” It was Guido. Fiona would recognize that squirrelly, desperate tone of voice anywhere. Her upper lip curled in disgust, and
she backed away from the door a little bit, no longer invested in the conversation she was overhearing.
Still, though, that didn’t keep her from picking up on some of the things that were said in the following minutes. “….you can go now,” Vince said from somewhere on the other side of the wall.
“I just worry about you, that’s all. Aren’t you going to let me in?” Guido asked, an edge popping up in his voice, like he was beginning to get frustrated.
Fiona rolled her eyes, checking her phone to see the time. She needed to get home and check on her father. Guido was just holding her up at this point. She was annoyed, but weirdly, she didn’t feel like blaming Vince. If the late-night visitor had been almost anybody else other than Guido, it would have been fine for her to head out the front door, but Guido would be so goddamn smug about Fiona fucking a guy she just met at the office, not to mention that guy was Guido’s brother. On the other hand, he might have even gotten angry, given the fact that he’d spent the last year hitting on Fiona mercilessly without ever reaping any benefit. He’d probably get mad at Fiona and maybe even try to get her fired. She rubbed her own shoulders, feeling a dark cloud of worry descend over her head. She wished that Guido would just disappear already. She didn’t know how she would handle it if he found out about them.
“You know, I really think about you a lot man,” Guido said to Vince, his voice a bit softer and more difficult to make out. “You don’t have anybody. I know, I know, you’re constantly fucking girls in the city. That must be nice. But it’s not like me. I’ve got people in my life that I’m close to. You…you just have servants. Isn’t that right?”
Vince didn’t say anything, or at least not anything that Fiona could hear. She knew he wasn’t going to mention her, though, despite Guido’s baiting. He had almost as much to lose as Fiona did, after all. He’d threatened her not to tell anyone about their relationship; given how gentle and caring he otherwise was, it was clear to Fiona that he was desperate to keep his little “habit” of domination under wraps.
“Guido, it’s late. I need to sleep. You do, too. We’ve still got a lot of work to do getting Dad’s business in order, not to mention the funeral,” Vince said, a stern edge appearing in his voice.
“All right, all right,” Guido said, his voice becoming more muffled, as if he was heading back out of the apartment. “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”
“Yep,” Vince said before slamming the door shut.
Fiona stayed in place, standing awkwardly in the middle of the bedroom, waiting for Vince to fetch her. It was probably fine for her to go ahead and leave the penthouse, but she was nervous about doing something that Vince disapproved of. She knew that, outside of the playroom, he wouldn’t be unreasonable about Fiona making her own decisions, but she still cared about doing what he wanted. Maybe I like him more than I thought, she thought to herself, her stomach sinking as she considered that possibility.
In any case, Vince appeared a minute later, opening up the bedroom door and gesturing for Fiona to follow him outside. “Sorry about that,” Vince said, sounding genuinely apologetic.
“No problem,” Fiona lied, even though her heart was still pounding a little too quickly in her chest, making her feel queasy and off-balance. “It was your brother, right?”
Vince nodded, placing his hand at the base of Fiona’s back to lead her away from the bedroom and back towards the main entrance area of the penthouse. “He’s always butting in where he doesn’t belong. He’ll behave, though. I’ll make sure of that.”
Fiona found herself smiling despite her latest surge in anxiety. Vince seemed to have that effect on her, helping her calm down even when her nerves went wild. “Well, thank you for tonight. I really appreciate...everything you did.”
For a second, Fiona was sure she was hallucinating, but she thought she saw Vince’s cheeks go a little red. Is he…blushing? Fiona wondered, biting the inside of her lip to keep herself from smiling and giving herself away. God, he was so cute. It was unfair, honestly, not to mention amazing, that someone so sexy and so commanding could also be so adorable. “You’re welcome,” Vince finally said, his tone stiff and uncomfortable even as his cheeks became more and more pink.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Fiona asked as she pulled away from Vince’s touch, resisting the urge to run back into his arms and sweep him up into a kiss.
“Definitely,” Vince said, and Fiona was relieved to see a slight smile spread across his lips, lighting up his eyes in a way that Fiona tried to commit to memory. She didn’t want to forget this moment, this one beautiful, soft moment between them, before they had to go back to pretending that they were just colleagues.
She forced herself through the front door, turning on her heel and heading down the hallway outside his apartment, fighting hard to keep herself from rushing back inside and attempting to stay the night. God, it was so tempting to try, but she held herself back, heading downstairs to the ground floor of the fancy apartment complex, going outside into the bitter cold. She was halfway to the road, where a town car presumably waited for her as it did the night before when she left Vince’s apartment, when a figure, all in black, sprung out of the shadows, stopping her in her tracks.
“Hey, there, pretty lady,” the man said, smiling so viciously that the white of his teeth cut through the night’s darkness like a knife. It was Guido. Of course. Fiona inwardly berated herself for not waiting longer to leave Vince’s apartment. Of course, Guido would be waiting outside like a disgusting little creep. It was just the way he was. It was stupid of Fiona not to anticipate that, honestly. Now she’d have to come up with an excuse, quickly, before Guido figured out the truth.
“Hello, there, Mr. Romano,” Fiona said, hoping that if she was polite and overly respectful that Guido would leave her alone. “Visiting your brother?”
“Just saw him, actually,” Guido said, a slick smirk sliding across his face. “You know, you look better than usual, Fiona. What is it? Pilates, yoga? Fucking my brother?”
“Excuse me?” Fiona said, summoning up as much manufactured outrage as she could and screwing up her face to show that she was offended. “How dare you!”
“Oh, save it,” Guido said, his smug smile slipping off his face as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by something scarier, something more disturbing. He looked hard and mean, older than he really was, his shoulders squaring up under his jacket like he was preparing for a fight. Fiona felt chilled to the bone, backing up a pace to put more distance between their bodies. Guido just walked forward, cutting the space between them in half. He could probably see how scared she was, how hard she was breathing now that he was closer to her. But that didn’t stop him from narrowing his eyes, looking at her like she was a piece of trash standing in his way. “I know what you’ve been doing tonight. Quite the slut, aren’t you?”
“You don’t have a single idea what you’re talking about,” Fiona said through gritted teeth, maintaining a mask of confidence, even though it probably wasn’t very convincing, given how much she was trembling. He could probably see how her fingers were shaking, even as she reached inside her coat pocket, her hand scrambling to find the handle of the knife that she carried around with her. She’d never had to use it before, and she was hoping and praying that she wouldn’t have to do so tonight either. But she had to be ready, just in case.
“I think I know exactly what’s going on here,” Guido said, practically snarling now as he stepped a little closer to her. Fiona stood her ground, refusing to back up or yield any space to him, the knife in her pocket giving her strength, even though she knew she could really only do minimal damage with it if it came down to that. He would prevail in a physical fight. No, instead, she’d have to do something she hated. She’d have to scream for help. But not until he actually got physical with her, otherwise she’d lose her job and Vince in one fell swoop. “You’re fucking my brother. You met him, what, a few days ago? And already you’re letting him in your pants? You haven’t even don
e me once. What’s up with that?”
Fiona shook her head and shrugged. “Maybe I don’t fuck around with losers. Maybe that’s got something to do with it.” She knew it was foolish to taunt him at a time like this, but some part of her wished he’d just attack and get it over with. She could handle him if she had to, but the anticipation, the gradual build-up of fear inside of her was too much to take.
Guido clicked his teeth, making a popping sound from deep inside his mouth with his tongue before smiling again, cheerily, like she’d said something hilarious. “Funny. You’re a funny girl. I like that. I like you, you know, in general. You’re a pretty hot girl with a good head on your shoulders. So, I trust that you’ll listen to me when I tell you this because I’m not fucking around.”
He paused, maybe for dramatic effect, maybe to let her talk. Either way, Fiona didn’t take the bait, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at him silently instead.
“You fucked my brother. What’s done is done. You can’t take that mistake back, no matter how hard you deny it, baby. So let me tell you what’s got to happen now. You’re going to fuck me, too. In fact, you’re going to stop doing him and focus on me exclusively.”