by M. S. Parker
“Of course.” I gave them both a polite nod. “Mr. Snow. Mrs. St. James-Snow.”
As I walked away, I wondered just what he meant by that. It seemed like their relationship was strained at best, but maybe he just didn’t want her wandering around by herself.
I focused on work, heading toward the front of the house. There was a ballroom, small but elegant. In addition to that ballroom, the living room and library had been cleared of furniture, while an elegant buffet had been set up in the formal dining room. There were other public areas as well, a large den, several sitting areas, the oversized foyer and a music room.
I’d wondered if he could possibly fill this huge house, but just the catering staff alone had me shutting down that line of thought. The RSVPs had been flooding in, so my newest worry was where we might put all the people who were going to show.
When the guests began to arrive, everything was ready. Fawna was there.
She didn’t work for Dominic anymore, but she’d made this one exception.
“My going away party,” she told me, snagging a glass of champagne from a passing tray. She asked me if I wanted one and I shook my head.
“You can relax a little,” she said. “It’s going beautifully.”
“I can’t drink and work.” I shrugged. “I’m a lightweight. You should, though. This is one heck of a going away party.”
“Yes.” Fawna heaved out a sigh and I don’t think it was my imagination that it seemed a little sad. “It certainly is.”
Dominic’s laugh rang out over the low roar and we both looked up, following the sound. The sadness in her gaze deepened.
Reaching out, I touched her arm. “He’s going to be fine.”
“I know.” She gave me a smile that just ripped at my heart. “He’s…Dominic is like the son I never had, Aleena. This hurts.”
Then she nudged me between the shoulder blades. “Now, you, pretty young thing, go out there. Dance a little. Live it up.”
“I…” I gaped out at the crowd and looked back at her. “I can’t!”
“You can.” She gave me a sage nod. “Call it a break.”
I went to argue and she gave me what I’d come to call her schoolteacher look.
There was no arguing with that. And I knew it.
* * *
It was the mask, I decided.
Wearing the mask made it so much easier to move among these people.
I’d been watching how everybody acting—not just tonight, but over the past three weeks. I put it into practice now, how they spoke and moved, their mannerisms.
But not their actions.
Maybe I’d pull a chameleon and pretend to fit in. I’d been doing that all my life, but I would never be one of these people who smiled at your face and then cut you off the moment your back was turned.
Still, when a man caught my eye and then my hand and proceeded to flirt with me, I was more than a little surprised, then…delighted. I started to smile, then flirt back.
The mask was surprisingly freeing.
Nobody here knew who I was, just a girl from small-town Iowa. They saw a woman in a lovely dress who moved with confidence and poise.
Fake it until you make it, I told myself.
“May I have this dance?”
I glanced up to meet a pair of dark eyes, hidden behind a mask of ivory silk. It glowed against deep brown skin and I felt my lips bowing up in a smile. I almost said yes. It would have been nice, I thought, to see what it was like, to spin across a floor in the arms of a man who found me attractive.
Back home, I’d been the oddball, the geek…the freak. Ugly fat whore had come up once or twice, too, after my one, miserable attempt at dating. Yeah, that hadn’t gone well.
But as he stood there waiting, his hand outstretched and a smile on his handsome face, I shook my head. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Another time,” he murmured and then retreated into the crowds.
“I think you might have broken his heart,” Dominic said.
“I…”
I licked my lips and went to step aside.
But he caught me around the waist and then lifted my hand. “Fawna sent me to dance with you.” The music began to play and my breath caught as he dipped his head to murmur in my ear, “Do you know how to waltz?”
“I…ah, yes.” I managed a weak smile. “My mom and dad loved to go ballroom dancing, so they taught me. It’s been a very long time, though. I was just a kid.”
“Just follow me.”
“You can find a better partner.”
“No.” He drew me in closer and the shock of his body so close to mine was almost more than I could handle. “I couldn’t. Besides…I’m following orders. And you’re following me.”
We started to move and it wasn’t long before the familiarity of the moves came back to me. I’d never confess it to anybody, but Dad and I used to waltz around the basement. I’d loved dancing and thought, maybe, for a while, I’d pursue it, but it hadn’t ever happened.
“For someone who hasn’t waltzed since she was a child,” Dominic said. “You do it very well.”
“Thank you.” I managed to smile. “You can tell Fawna you did your duty.”
“Not all of it.” A slow grin curled his lips. “She also said you’re to take the rest of the evening off. You’ve worked hard all day and since this is her going-out party, she’s going to enjoy it.”
His palm flexed on my back, that subtle movement sending a shiver up my spine. There was no way I could pretend I was cold, not as warm as it was in here with all the bodies swaying to the music.
You’re so beautiful, I thought, darting a glance up at his features, partially concealed behind the simple mask. So beautiful.
He watched me expectantly and I looked away, unable to think of anything to say.
Maybe it was that beautiful face that left me feeling so tongue-tied.
A soft sigh escaped him and I glanced back at him. Our eyes connected and I felt like I was falling, drowning, lost in the depths of his eyes. That’s what it was. His eyes left me feeling mesmerized.
They left me weak.
“You look lovely tonight, Aleena,” he said, his voice barely loud enough to be heard above the music.
Uncertain what to say, I just smiled and focused on the diamond—and I was sure it was a diamond—that winked at me from the small pin on his lapel.
“Are you still angry with me?”
“No.” I swung my gaze back up to his just as he moved me into a quick spin. It left my heart racing and I was breathless by the time I looked back at him. “No, I’m not angry.”
“Then why aren’t you speaking to me?”
“It’s…loud,” I said lamely, shrugging.
“It was loud earlier, but I saw you talking to Fawna.”
The song ended and I started to pull away, but he tightened his grip on my waist, sensing my need to escape, but unwilling to let go.
The next song that began was a slow song, low and smooth, sexy as hell. I couldn’t have named the singer for the life of me, but every time I heard it, from now until the end of my life, I’d remember this. The way he felt as he drew me in even closer, the way it felt as he caught my right hand and drew it up to the back of his neck.
“I should go,” I said, my voice rasping.
“You’re not working anymore tonight,” he said as he brought one hand down to the base of my spine. It rested there, burning through the silk of my dress. The other slowly slid up and down my back, a touch that was strangely soothing and sensual at the same time.
I could feel his hair tickling my wrists and I resisted the urge to run my fingers through the golden strands. I looked away and stared out into the sea of bodies, all of them swaying to the music.
“Well, I guess you’re happy with how your ball is going.”
“Yes.” The deep, guttural tone of his voice, so close to my ear, had me turning my head to look at him.
That was my mistake. He’d bent hi
s head to speak to me. Now, with our mouths so closed together, we froze.
I licked my lips.
I had one split second to think, Move, Aleena!
And then somebody moved, alright.
But it wasn’t me.
The hand on my back slid up, cupping the back of my neck. I gasped as his mouth covered mine, firm and hard and striking soft at the same time. His tongue slid out, flicking at the seam of my lips and I gasped.
Then, I twisted away.
Immediately, Dominic’s hands fell away.
He gazed at me with cool composure. “Thank you for the dance, Aleena. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
He turned on his heel and walked away.
Chapter Five
Dominic
She tasted like temptation.
Brooding, I stared into the scotch I’d poured.
I no longer wanted the liquor.
It had been stupid, kissing her like that. It had been stupid, dancing with her like that. Stupid…and I’d do it all over again.
The past week had been lousy, even though the Valentine’s party had been a huge success, launching Trouver L’Amour to the masses. While I should have been celebrating, I’d been distracted. I’d been worried about Aleena taking the job because she seemed so…not right. Innocent and sweet, yes, but she didn’t move in my world and when you were a cute little guppy swimming among the sharks, you tended to get eaten—fast.
But she wasn’t a guppy.
She was sweet, yes, and definitely innocent, but there was more spine to her than I’d imagined. More steel, too. I can’t think of too many people, other than Fawna and a few select members of my management who would have stood up to me the way she had. I guess that was what Fawna had seen in her, but it had caught me off-guard.
She was turning out to be perfect for the PA job. And hell on my state of mind.
Now I knew how she tasted.
I wanted to see how she felt, stretched out under me, bent over before me.
I wanted to see what she looked like, those long, toned limbs tied over her head and I wanted to see that ass lifted for me as I drove inside her.
I wanted to feel the curve of her rump as I spanked her and I wanted to feed her my cock until she couldn’t take any more.
I was starting to crave it.
I’m not your slave, I’m not your toy…
Swearing, I tossed back the scotch and rested my head against the back of my chair. The problem was, when it came to women, that was about all the use I had for them.
Not a true slave, not really. There were relationships in the world I lived in that went that far, yeah, but they were relationships. After the hell I’d lived through, the last thing I wanted was to have complete and total control over a person, even if they willingly gave it.
But submission?
I needed that.
It was the only way I could find pleasure most of the time. I needed it, craved it like a drug and sometimes, it still wasn’t enough to silence the screams in my head.
I’m not your thing!
Shoving upright, I spun away and threw the crystal tumbler I held into the wall.
It splintered and fell to the ground in shards.
I didn’t see her as a thing. Which was part of the problem. She was starting to be too real to me already.
* * *
A face swam before my eyes.
I struggled, tried to move—couldn’t.
“What do you want…who are you!” I shouted. My voice shook and I hated myself.
He sat down.
Fear lurched inside me. A man I didn’t know was standing over me.
“You should let me go,” I said after a minute. “My parents. They got money. They’ll find you and hunt you down.”
Now there was a smile on his face, an ugly one. The man grabbed my face, bent over me and laughed.
“Rich, are they? Find me?”
I tried to jerk away, but I was tied up, tied down—couldn’t escape. No escape…words started to echo in my head. No release. No ransom. No rescue.
Panicked, I tore at my restraints. No, no, no…
The man was big—like the size of a room big and I tried again, and again, and again…I couldn’t get away…could I?
Then I was on my ass, sliding across the floor as a monster stalked me.
“There will be no release. No ransom.” He gestured to the bed and just like that, I was bound again, restrained, unable to move.
“This is how it’s going to work…”
He started to talk.
And I started to scream…
* * *
“Dominic!”
Someone was shaking me.
Too many months of forced imprisonment had left a mark and I came up ready to fight. I caught my attacker and reacted, pinning him—
No…her.
Aleena.
“Aleena,” I whispered, sucking in a breath.
She stared up at me with wide, scared eyes. Her hands were on my shoulders still, but now they were pushing at me, as if in fear.
Slowly, I caught one wrist. Then the other.
“Aleena…”
“You…” She licked her lips.
The sight of her tongue sliding along her lips did me in. I had to stop thinking. I had to. With the dregs of the dream still dragging me down, I crushed my mouth to hers.
Chapter Six
Aleena
Earlier in the evening
What were you thinking?
What was Dominic thinking?
My mind swung between those two questions on a crazy seesaw that kept me from sleeping. Worse, when I lay in my bed, trying to sleep, I’d close my eyes and imagine that night from a few weeks ago.
Maya tied to the bed, her butt pink from Dominic’s hand, but now, instead of Maya’s long, pale body, it was my shorter, rounder one.
I could see him grabbing my hair and pulling my head back, kissing me…and now I had his taste, imprinted on my memory.
Yes, sir…
“What were you thinking?” I muttered. And again, what had he been thinking?
I loved my new job—usually. But this was going to mess up, I knew it. It was bad enough I’d seen my boss having sex, bad enough I was attracted to him, but now?
When it had just been my dirty little secret, watching him with Maya, it hadn’t been so bad. That had been…fantasy. Two people—people who weren’t me. The kiss, though. That was real.
Lying in my bed as the clock crept past three, then four, I finally gave up trying to sleep and climbed out of bed.
I thought I’d get some work done and automatically reached for my phone, only to cringe. I’d left it back at the main house in the kitchen. I’d been afraid I’d put it down somewhere and lose it, and then I’d up and left without it.
I had my laptop and could easily work from it, but I felt lost without the phone. It was easy to see why so many people complained of being addicted to their phones now.
Sighing, I looked down at the yoga pants and tank top I’d slept in and then stood up. At least I wasn’t trekking out there in a silk formal this time. But I had to have my phone.
After donning a coat, gloves and scarf, I headed outside. My breath was visible and each inhale was cold enough to hurt my throat. By the time I managed to get the key into the lock, my fingers were numb.
I stepped inside, shivering as the heat from the house began to warm me. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but I didn’t turn on a light. There were small hall and room lights scattered throughout the entire house to keep it from being pitch black and that was fine with me. If I turned on the main lights, there was the chance Dominic would see the lights and come down to investigate.
I so wasn’t ready to see him.
I shoved my gloves into my pockets and stepped out of the boots, a habit I’d developed in childhood—don’t track your mess in, Aleena!
Absently, I glanced up and saw that the staff had already done a light cleaning
, although a morning crew would be in to give the house a thorough cleaning starting at seven. Pierson, the butler who handled things here at the house—had gone over all these details with me and the chef, Mary, several times over.
The house was almost eerily quiet.
In the dead of night, most places are. I glanced toward the doors that led to the rooms at the back of the house where most of the on-site staff slept. A place this big needed staff on-site around the clock and I didn’t want to wake anybody.
Easing the drawer open, I pulled out the little purse I’d bought for my phone and took it out.
I checked it and saw that I’d missed a couple of calls, but nothing important. Sighing, I slid the phone into my coat and turned to go.
A long, low noise echoed through the house.
I froze, heat rushing up my cheeks as I remembered the last time I’d heard a strange noise in this place.
Not again, I told myself.
But as I went to put on my boots, I heard it again.
That…no. That wasn’t right.
A second later, the noise became a scream, a tortured one of pain.
I took off running.
I heard it again and in my gut, I knew who it was.
Dominic.
I wrenched open the door knob and shoved it open, staring in, uncertain what I’d find.
Sucking in a breath, I stared at the moonlight streaming down in the bed, centered under a massive skylight.
Dominic…?
He twisted on the bed, a harsh noise escaping him. A wordless sort of denial.
Shrugging out of my coat, I let it fall to the floor as I went to him.
His sheets were tangled around his waist, but his chest was bare. His arms were moving, as if fending off something or someone. His face was contorted as he made another sound. This one wasn’t a yell. It was a whimper.
“Dominic,” I said softly, settling my hip on the edge of the bed. He didn’t wake. I grabbed his shoulders and tried not to think about the fact that his skin was bare beneath my palms.
“Dominic!” I shook him, then harder when he didn’t respond.