He walks toward me, at the last second goes around me and presses the button for the elevator. It hasn’t moved and opens back up. He steps in and holds the door open for me. I follow, confused but I don’t ask questions because my tongue is too tied to get anything out.
The doors open again what feels like only seconds later. He steps out and starts walking. I follow him down a long corridor. When he stops at the door, he slides in a card, opening the door. I follow him inside. It’s huge, it’s not just a room it’s a suite. I think it’s as big as my condo. We’ve walked into the living room that has a fire going in it.
“Sit.” Leo motions to the large tufted chair in front of the fireplace. Since my legs are feeling a little wooden, I sit and wonder what the hell is going on. I feel a little better when Leo sits in the matching chair across from me, a small glass table between us. He leans back and studies me until I feel like my lungs are about to explode.
“Are there any other lies you have told me?”
As an opening, I have no idea why it hurts so badly. Why tears come out of nowhere. I blink them back, he has every right to ask the question, and I have no right to be hurt by it. “I’m not sure how much it matters, Natalie was my neighbor and at the time my best friend when she urged me to take the job. But we haven’t spoken since before she left.”
“If you ever lie to me again, I do not care how fucking small it is, before I am done with you, you will want to cut your tongue off rather than lie again.”
The promised violence chills me. “Never.” My throat tightens around the word.
For a long minute, he’s quiet. “When I fire you, you will get no recommendation from me. You will receive no severance and no pity from me. No matter what your decision is, know that. Your choice is simple, you agree that I own you. You belong to me. You will be available to me to fuck anyway I wish whenever I wish for as long as I want you and you will keep your position. If you choose not to give me access to your body, then you will remain in my employ for the two weeks it takes you to train your successor then you will be fired. The decision is yours.”
He’s doing that thing, that ice running through his veins thing like he does when he goes in for the kill for something he wants. I shiver at the way he says it. He’ll own me, whenever, however, he wants, I’m his. I look around the room.
I know why we’re here I just need him to say it, to lay out how this is going to go. “Why are we here?”
“Because this is where we will meet. I have no desire to deal with your psychotic cat and I sure as hell do not want you in my home.” He sets the keycard on the table between us. “This is your key. I have my own. You can come and go as you please. I have booked it for sixty days, the usual period I maintain an exclusive sexual interest. This will be exclusive. If you go near another man I will make sure you both learn the meaning of the word agony.”
I fight the smile at his words about another man and me. Like I was going to go from virgin to slut in three days flat. “You’ve been fucking Ebony Aarons for a lot longer than sixty days.”
That damn eyebrow again. “True, she is the one woman who has been an exception to the rule.”
“Why has she been an exception?” Jealousy burns bright and hot inside me as I remember the pictures of them together.
He sighs as if the question annoys him as if I should know the answer to my question. His black eyes are flat when they meet mine. “Because she takes only what I offer, my cock and a few hours and never asks for more like
soft feelings and tomorrow.”
I hate her and hope I never meet her. “You won’t see her while we are...involved?”
“I just said it would be exclusive. I do not lie, and I do not cheat.”
After how badly things went the last time, I’m more than a little shocked Leo still wants me. Leandros Kaplan, a man who has fucked the contents of a high fashion lingerie catalog wants fat ass me. He wants me so badly he’s willing to go against a personal vow to never fuck employees. He’s willing to overlook, for now, a betrayal so enormous it caused him to lose his usual revered calm. He wants me to say out loud what has been true since the day I met him, he owns me, I belong to him. I wonder if he wants me to say it out loud for the record or maybe he just needs to hear the words.
Pushing up from the chair I stand and walk into the bedroom. The bed is huge. It’s all I can see as I kick off my shoes. I feel Leo’s eyes on me, he fills the doorframe watching me. He doesn’t move when I sit on the edge of the high bed and look to him. “What?”
“I am going to need you to say it, Alexa.”
Closing my eyes, I shake my head. Why does he have to make this so hard? “I agree...” Why do I want him so badly if I hate him so much?
“I own you. You belong to me. You will be available to me to fuck anyway I want whenever I want for as long as I want you.” The words are soft, almost a whisper.
I open my eyes, he’s still in the doorway. His eyes are dark and heavy on me. Sliding off the bed, I bring the zipper down and allow the dress to fall to my hips. I’m in a black lace bra that Gertrude promised was one of the most seductive ones in her store. Only a small tug and the dress falls showing what Gertrude swore would bring a man to his knees. Black lace stockings and a garter belt and if he laughs I swear to god I will hate him forever. Leo does not laugh, there isn’t a trace of a smile. He straightens, and his eyes slide over me hungrily.
“Say it, Alexa.” The words come out of him with a growl.
Now I lift an eyebrow at him, enjoying the exotic feeling of power. Leo wants me, my body. “Hmm...I don’t know, Leo. I think I need to think about this. Why don’t you show me what I’ll be missing if I don’t say it?” I have to pinch myself to keep from laughing at the look of astonishment on his face. “If you’re shy, I’ll close my eyes. How about I count to ten?”
I cover my eyes and count to ten slowly, very slowly. The second I’m about to open my eyes I feel the air move in front of me. Before I open my eyes, I’m picked up and tossed on the bed. Leo is standing over me, his chest working to take in air and so very beautifully bare. I know his numbers, six-foot-four and two hundred and forty-one pounds with ninety-nine percent of it muscle. I know his chest is forty-six inches wide and his waist is thirty-seven inches. But holy fucking shit, seeing it all up close in golden glowing glory is stunning. I cringe in embarrassment at the way my body floods in a hot, wet rush to prepare to take him. Then I look down and holy crap it’s just as big as I told myself it couldn’t be, and it looks very angry. Even with the memory of the pain from the last time I have no control over my body as my legs part in welcome for him.
Leo sees it, his knee is on the bed now as he leans over me. He growls low in his chest. “Say it, Alexa.”
I reach for him, he grabs my wrist and holds me away, his grip painfully tight. “No, you do not touch me. If I am going to be able to make up for what happened the first time, you have to be hands off. Now say it before I wring the words from your beautiful neck.”
I surrender completely to him. “You own me. I belong to you. I’ll be, I’ll be available to you. For you,” How is this so hard to say when the words are making me soaking wet for him? “To fuck any way you want, whenever and however you want. For as long as you want.”