“It began with the posts on social media, but then it grew to include the books,” I continued. Throwing caution to the wind, I faced her. “I get off on it, Raven. Knowing people are turned on by my voice, it ignites something in me that nothing else ever has.” I paused before adding, “Nothing until you.”
She pursed her lips, looking away, and I waited for her to tell me to get the fuck out of her apartment.
When her eyes came back to mine, exasperation was etched into her face. I blew out a breath and closed my eyes, waiting for the last nail in the coffin. Fuck. I shouldn’t have told her. I shouldn’t?—
Her voice drifted across the space separating us, but there were no undertones of anger or frustration. Just her usual perfect voice. “Ryan,” she whispered. “I’m the last person to kink shame.”
My eyes snapped open and she was looking at me with the same fire she usually had in her eyes. “For fuck’s sake, I was turned on by you breaking in here and putting me on my knees.” She gestured to the door. “The only thing that would’ve made it better was if you were wearing a Ghostface mask or something.”
A growl tore from my throat, and I lunged at her, colliding my body into hers. She lost her balance, but I was there to catch her. Sighing relief into her mouth, I claimed her lips with passion, vulnerability, and something else altogether. She tasted like acceptance and understanding, and my tongueclaimed every morsel she gave me. She hadn’t run away when I told her the one thing I thought I could never tell anyone. One of the things that kept me from relationships because I knew I couldn’t give it up. She didn’t push me out or tell me to leave. She met me with her own ferociousness and depravity.
Finally breaking the kiss, I hauled her back to the bedroom where I showed her exactly how depraved I could be.
Chapter Thirty-One
Raven
“Onlyone more week left up here!” I exclaimed to Joanne as I dropped off documents at reception to be mailed. “Are you excited to finally be the badass manager that’s going to keep us all in line?”
Joanne looked up from her computer and her eyes sparkled with excitement. “What are you talking about? I keep you all in line already.”
“You have a point.” I chuckled. “Your second official task, should you choose to accept it, will be to get Cassie’s new hire paperwork done and get her in the system.”
Joanne swiveled her chair toward me and crossed her arms over her chest. “If I didn’t already have the documents ready for Cassie to sign when she starts, I wouldn’t be your office manager, now would I?”
“Someone is sassy today. I love it. Don’t ever change.”
With a wink, I turned toward the hall before Joanne said my name and I looked back.
Her face had morphed into concern, and she lowered her voice. “Are you going to talk to Mia?”
I sighed. “Yes, I’ll talk to her this afternoon.”
As I walked back to my office, I added that conversation to the long list of things I had to do before the end of the day and shook my head at the cliche of having an HR meeting on Friday. The week had been a whirlwind of catching up after my impromptu day off and subsequent weekend of debauchery with Ryan. I had gotten some work done from home, but nowhere near as much as usual, and it didn’t help matters that he had crawled under my desk while I worked.
A smile crept onto my face at the memory as I sat down at my desk. He’d been skimming the script for his current job on the couch in my office while I ran numbers and reviewed files. I was in the middle of running checks when my chair was pulled backward.
“Hey! What are you doing?” I squealed.
Ryan smiled a wicked grin. “Nothing you don’t want me to do, boss,” he said before kneeling between my chair and the legs of the wood.
I watched with curiosity as he maneuvered himself into the small space and laughed at how funny he looked. If the desk wasn’t a modern one without drawers he wouldn’t have fit. Even so, he had to crouch to avoid banging his head.
My laughter died as he pulled the chair back into position with a swift jerk. “Lift your hips, baby.”
I would do anything he said when he used the Zander voice on me. Gripping the arms of the chair, I lifted my ass off the seat as he pulled my leggings down my body.
“Get back to work, boss,” he growled as he pushed my knees apart.
My computer dinged with an incoming email, and I was startled out of my daydream. I glanced at the clock in the taskbar. Fuck. I still had three hours before I could meet him.
Ryan spent the majority of the weekend at my apartment,but we hadn’t talked much since. I was buried under a mountain of accounts, and he neglected his own job to occupy the underside of my desk. He said he would have to pull some all-nighters to finish the book he was working on, and I admitted to myself it was probably for the better that we kept our distance. I still had a business to run, even if all I wanted to do was cuff him to my bed and never let him leave.
I was enamored with him. It turned out I liked to be both dominant and submissive, a true switch. I wasn’t sure that would be the case with anyone else, but it was with him. Relinquishing control was easy since he always had my best interests in mind. Above all, he was safe, and I could finally let go.
An email notification with Mia’s name flashed in the corner of my screen as I clicked back into my database. A pang of sympathy pierced my chest. Since she’d rushed out of the bar a few weeks ago, she had been more subdued than usual. More often than not, Mia always lit up the room.
This week was different all together. She had been in her office with the door closed all day, every day, and she hadn’t said more than a few words to Joanne or me. A few times when I walked past her door, I thought I heard her crying softly. I assumed whatever was bothering her would probably pass, but as the week wore on, it was clear that it was serious, and I suspected it involved her boyfriend.
