Lauren has texted me to say that the guy she’s hooking up with surprised her in the club and got them VIP service. Austin is trying to make my scalloped sheet-pan potato recipe to impress a girl he likes and wants to know if he’s done it right. He has not.
“Who are you texting?” Salinger rests his chin on my shoulder.
“Not the police.” I throw the phone on the nightstand. “I wouldn’t call them on you until I see your dick.” The wine is really going to my head.
His mouth parts slightly, and his eyes narrow. “Now who’s getting off on this?”
“Since you have me as your prisoner…” My fingers tease the belt of the robe open. “Are you going to satisfy your every animalistic urge until I beg for mercy?” I can’t tell if I’m saying that just to get a rise out of him or if I really want him to treat me like his sexual plaything.
His eyes watch me hungrily. “I’m starting to think you read more than just the one book.”
“It really made an impact.”
“You’re just fucking with me, trying to make me angry, aren’t you?”
“More like being so obnoxious, you let me go home. I told you, I need to grocery shop.” I twirl the belt of the robe.
“Make a list of what you want. I’ll have it brought in.”
“I don’t know what I want. I like to see the new products.”
“Uh-huh.” He pours more wine for me then a glass for himself. Lifts it to his mouth.
I wait a beat, a little mesmerized by the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallows. “So, is this like a kink thing for you, having a naked woman at your mercy who you can fuck whenever you want?”
His jaw is tight. “You’re the one who’s refusing to put on clothes.” He sets down the glass. “I told you, I’m trying to protect you.”
“But you clearly get alittleoff on it, right?”
Yeah, he’s annoyed now. He also left the door unlocked.
“I bet you like it.” I lean back and take a sip of wine, my feet kicking off the side of the bed. “You like knowing thatyou can come in here any time, whenever you want, and I have to give in to you.”
“That is not why you are here.” His voice drops an octave. I’m in the danger zone now. “I think the better question is…” He reaches for a button on his shirt. “Is this a kink thing for you? Mandy, my safe, boring little assistant. I knew you fantasized about me. I just didn’t know it was this.”
“About trying to kill you,” I remind him weakly.
“Wrong. About me fucking you. I see you looking at me. I don’t miss things like that—the desire, the longing. You want me to grab you by your hair, bend you over, force you onto your hands and knees, spread your legs, slap your ass when you don’t spread them wide enough, then make you scream as I take you with my huge, thick cock.” His gray eyes are cold. “You’re just too afraid to actually ask me for what you want.”
“You’re being an asshole,” I force out, because he’s right. I don’t have the cojones to actually ask him for what I want. Because I am afraid—not of him but of him rejecting me.
“On the contrary, I’m being very generous, because now, you can have me.” Two more buttons are undone. “All you have to do is ask.”
“Your offers always come with strings attached.”
He’s finished with the final two buttons. His muscles ripple as he twists off the dress shirt.
I take another swallow of wine, try to act casual, try to pretend like I’m not internally screaming about having my boss naked in my bed. Well, not mine—but you know, this bed is probably better.
The unlocked door isforgotten.
Gray eyes locked to mine, he slowly climbs on the bed. I lean back like a coward, trying not to let that delicious, bare chest touch me.
He hovers over me, his nose inches away from mine.
“Beg me for it.”
My glass sloshes, and I shriek as I spill wine all over my hand, red rivulets running down my arm.
