ARROGANT MASTER (17 page)

Sniffling fills the voids between soft cries.

I’m not good at this.

I’m not good at soothing people when it’s not immediately
following an intense sexual scene.

“Stop.” I rake my hand along my jaw, my gaze flicking up.
“Stop crying, Bellamy. Stand up. Have a little more respect for yourself. Show
me the girl I met.
The one drinking champagne on a Tuesday
and ignoring the handsome stranger who dared to ask her name.
Give me
her. I want
her
.”

Her shoulders shake, harder now, and her palms slick away
against her wet cheeks until she drags her eyes to meet mine. She takes a
moment and pulls in a long drag of cool air to quell the crying.

“She was a lie.” She focuses on my shoes, refusing to make
eye contact. “She never existed.”

BELLAMY

I’m in my office, but I don’t remember how I got here. I
think I bolted away from Dane before he had a chance to say another word. I’ve
tangled myself into a web of lies, and there’s no one else to blame but myself.

Dane’s an arrogant, pretentious asshole, and all things
considered, I don’t even deserve him. He deserves better than some
wanna
-be sophisticate who’s nothing like the girl she
pretends to be.

I walk up to the mirror and grab a tissue, smearing off the
Chanel lipstick I’d slicked on for him this morning.

I’m a humiliated fool, no doubt. I thought I could waltz
into his office, fall on my knees, take him in my mouth, and redeem myself, but
clearly that’s not how he operates.

All the pretty things hanging in my closet will stay there.
The makeup. The jewelry. The car. None of it was mine, but it was pretty
amazing to step into someone else’s shoes for a change. I take one final look
at them, running my hands along the intricate beading of a silk chiffon
camisole in twenty shades of ivory I never had a chance to wear.

I shut the closet. It’s not the fancy things I’m going to
miss the most. It’s the way I felt when I was his for one whole week of my
hopeless life. For a week, I was treasured, lavished, ravished, and needed.

And for one whole week, freedom from Cortland and freedom
from my father’s religious rule was beginning to be a fingers-reach away for
the first time in my life.

Plan B.

I’ll keep trying.

I’ll find something else.

I’ll never give up.

I empty my things from one of the fancy bags I’d used over
the weekend, carrying my wallet and leaving the Land Rover keys and my cell phone
on my desk, next to my laptop.

“I’m not a believer in second chances.”

I glance up to see Dane standing in the doorway.

“And I’ve never chased after a woman.” He folds his arms.
“Ever.”

“This is you chasing after me?” My knees weaken, and after
the morning I’ve had, I need to sit down.

“I’m not letting you leave,” he says, “when clearly you’re
in dire straits. I was hoping to make you work for it a bit more, but seeing as
though you’re on a tight timeline, I’m not sure you can afford to wait.”

I nod, squeezing my eyes. My fist tightens, pressing against
my lips.

“Can I just say something?” A quick inhalation bottles in my
chest. “I’m so sorry for lying. I’m sorry for everything.”

He chuckles, shutting the door behind him and taking a seat
across from me. “Blanket apologies are half-assed, Bellamy. I’m happy to offer
you assistance, but you won’t receive my forgiveness unless you offer a better
apology than that.”

He’s right.

I’m going to have to confess…

Everything.

“Several months ago, I met this guy at church.” My eyes
close as my fingers drum on the table. “We started out skipping Bible study and
fooling around in the backseat of his car. Long story short, he’s threatening
to tell my father everything if I don’t court him and subsequently agree to
marry him.”

I peek through one eye, to see Dane’s narrowed expression as
he rests his chin against a balled fist while he studies me.

“So I’ve been courting him a couple months now. It’s awful.
He’s
awful. The thought of him touching
me again makes me sick.” My tongue smacks as a wave of nausea hits. “He’s a
monster, Dane. And my family
loves
him.”

“You’re an uncompromising woman, Bellamy. I’m finding it
hard to believe you’re being strong-armed by some religious nut you met at
Bible study.”

My head tilts. “There’s so much more than you know, Dane.
Girls have been married off in my ward. Married off to old men with dozens of
wives. My father associates with those people. Shares the same believes. You
don’t understand what he’s capable of. He’ll do anything to protect the
family’s reputation. He’d kill to be a quorum member too. Proving to them that
he can raise a whole soccer team of children to walk the divine path would be a
quick ticket in for him.”

“I’m not discrediting you.” He sits up, pursing his lips. “What’s
his name? The guy you’re supposed to marry?”

I want to ask what he’s going to do with that information,
but instead, I offer it up on a silver platter. “Cortland McGregor.”

His name puckers my lips and sends a sloshing sensation to
my stomach.

“The salary you were paying me,” I say. “I was going to save
it all until I had enough to buy my own car and afford to move out.”

Dane is as quiet as he’s ever been in the short amount of
time that I’ve known him. His fingers rake across the downturned corner of his
mouth and the hollow spot above his jaw flexes.

“You were selling yourself to me,” he says.

“Willingly,” I add.

“And what did you plan on doing once you’d achieved your
goal?” His gaze tightens. “Once you were done with me, done doing what needed
to be done.”

“I didn’t think that far.”

I wish he’d look at me.

He rises. “I’m not fond of being used, Bellamy. I’m not fond
of being lied to or manipulated.”

“I understand. And I’m so sorry.” I get up and saunter
around the desk until I’m face to face with him, and then I slowly lower myself
to my knees once more. With my hands clasped tight against my heart, I glance
up into his blue-grey gaze and pray he doesn’t hate me after what I’m about to
tell him. “Randy Mutchler never offered me a job, which I know you know. I had
an interview that day, and I missed it. That’s how I ended up at the bar. And
then you walked in, and everything happened so fast. I needed a job in the
worst way, Dane. And by the time I realized what I’d agreed to and you offered
me such a generous salary, it was too late to mention to you that I was a
virgin.”

“Wait. What?”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s something that needs to be discussed before you’re
about to have sex with someone.” His jaw clenches. “When were you planning on
telling me? Before or after you were about to bleed all over my sheets?”

“I’m sorry.” There’s nothing more I can say.

“Get up,” he says. “Unless you have anything else you need
to confess to. If there’s anything else I should know, say it now.”

“There’s nothing else.” I shake my head. “That’s
everything.”

“I’m going to help you, Bellamy.” He reaches for my hand,
helping me up. “But you cannot lie to me again.
About anything.
Do you understand that?”

“I do.”

“I will not give you another chance. This is it.”

“Understood.”

My hands feel small in his, and it’s only then I realize
he’s still holding them. I don’t know why he wants to help me all of a sudden.
I don’t deserve it, but I’m not in a place to turn it down.

“Where do we go from here?” I hold my hands still in his,
wanting him to keep me
there
just a moment longer.

“Not sure yet, but we can’t pick up where we left off.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not going to force you to sleep with me, Bellamy,
knowing you’re only doing it to free yourself from a life of oppression.”

“That’s noble of you.” My voice drops. “But I’m fine with
the arrangement we had. I was starting to enjoy it. The thrill.
The shiny and new.
It’s a nice distraction from…everything
else.”

I’d give anything to brush my cheek against his suit and
breathe him in one more time. All those times I’d imagined his weight pressing
me into a plush mattress covered in
thousand thread
count sheets were for nothing.

Forever a fantasy.

“You understand our dynamic has shifted,” he says.

I shake my head. “It hasn’t. You’re still in control of this
situation. Of everything.”

“I can’t take your virginity, Bellamy.”

“Why not?
It’s
just sex. And I’d
rather my first time be with a man who knows what he’s doing and not some
awkward, virginal husband on my wedding night.” I fold my arms,
then
add a quick disclaimer. “Not that I intended on waiting
until my wedding night.”

“If I take your virginity, and I’m not saying I will, it’s
not going to mean anything. You know that, right?”

“You’re afraid I’m going to get attached. Believe me, I’m
not
looking love or fireworks or
anything meaningful.”

“You think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that?”

“I’m not going to beg. If you don’t want me, you don’t want
me.”

A wolfish smile claims his lips. “Who said anything about
not wanting you, Bellamy? I want you. Fuck, do I want you. I want you on all
fours. I want you spread eagle. I want you on your knees. I want you tied up. I
want your ass so red and raw you can’t sit for days. I want you screaming my
name and surrendering to me every hour of every day until you forget there was
ever a time we were strangers.”

I’ve stopped breathing for a moment, and Dane releases me
from his grasp.

“And you will beg, Bellamy. You’ll beg every minute of every
hour of every day in my presence. And you’ll continue to do so until I’ve
decided what I’m going to do with you.” He cups my chin, leaning in and angling
my lips in his direction. “Consider yourself in punishment. Redemption is
possible, but it won’t be easy.”

A large lump presses against my throat. “Okay. Yes.”

So he’s not done with me.

Thank God.

Dane leans in even closer, the heat of his lips radiating against
mine. “You’re going to be begging for a sweet release by the time I’m done with
you, and I’m going to love every fucking moment of it.”

I nod once before licking my lips. I want him to kiss me
like he did last week, by the window in his office.
A
toe-curling, panty-melting, lip-smashing kiss.

But he releases me and backs away, causing my heart to
sputter and cough. We were so close.

“I need to be punished,” I say. “I fully accept that.”

“Never lie to me again, Bellamy,” he says heading toward the
door. “I want to help you. I’m going to help you. But you need to be honest
with me about everything, even if it terrifies you. Or else we’re done. And
that’s a promise.”

“Yes, Master.” I struggle against the smile that tugs on my
lips, my relief threatening to shine from every atom in my exhausted body. If
this is going to work, I have to take it seriously. I need to do everything he
says because every part of me believes his promise.

“Clean yourself up,” he says, pulling the door open. “Come
to my office in two hours.
No sooner, no later.
I have
some work to finish.”

DANE

A clear glass dildo is centered on my desk.

I end my call with a Midwest wind turbine supplier just in
time to hear a knock at my door.

“Come in.”

Bellamy slips in and shuts the door behind her.

“I appreciate that you remembered to knock.” I stand up and
make my way to her, cupping her face in my hand and examining her flawless
makeup. The mascara streaks are gone. The disheveled hair is combed into place.
A fresh spritz of perfume wafts from her warm body. “You clean up well.”

“All the better to please you.” Her gaze travels past me and
lands on the glass cock.

“Yes, Bellamy. That’s for you.”

“May I?”

I nod, watching as she reaches for the nub-covered wand.

“It’s freezing,” she says, trailing her fingertips across the
varying bumps and swirls that cover the exterior of the seven-inch dildo.

“You don’t miss a thing.” I smirk. “And it’s not frozen.
It’s lightly chilled. I believe it makes for more of an intense experience.”

She warms it in the palm of her hand.

“Don’t do that.” I take it from her. “You’re going to be
warming it up a different way.”

Her mouth curls up on one side.

“Do you think this is funny?”

Her expression
ashens
, and her
lips form a straight line. “No.”

“Disrobe.” I step around her.

Bellamy chews on her bottom lip as she slips her blouse over
her head. With delicate fingers unsnapping the back of her bra, she lets it
fall. My fingers graze the side of her left breast, skimming across her nipple
until it comes to a hard point. She works her pants, letting those fall to the
ground as well. Two fingers slip beneath the waistband of her pink lace thong,
wiggling it down her hips and kicking them across the room. When she’s all
finished, she wears nothing but the look of a woman who’s confident she’s just
pleased her master.

That’s where you’re
wrong, my sweet Bellamy. Redemption isn’t going to be that easy for you.

I drag a finger down her stomach, past her hips, and veer to
the delicious warmth emanating from between her thighs. Her stance widens, and
perhaps it’s her silent way of inviting me in, but today isn’t about her
pleasure.

Well, it is, and it isn’t.

My hand jerks from her the second she releases a soft sigh
in response to the grazing of my thumb across her clit.

“Closet door.” I lead her to the door jam restraints, the
ones I haven’t touched since the day I gave her a little sample. She assumes
the position, lifting her wrists high and waiting patiently as I restrain them.
I’m sure she’s thinking this is too easy, that she’s got this in the bag.

But that’s where she’s wrong.

“Spread,” I command, grabbing the cool glass. “You’re to
keep this inside you until I say you can release it.”

“But…how?”

“You’ll figure it out.” I grab the base of the graduated
dildo and press the narrow end against her clit but only once. She releases a
distant moan and her chest rises and falls. “Ninety-one lashes, and if this
glass cock slips out of you one time, we start over.”

The mushroom tip of the dildo presses between her seam, and
I push the first of the seven inches inside followed by the second inch.
 
Judging by the ease in which it’s going
in, she’s already wet. It’s going to be a challenge for her to keep this in,
and I’m going to love every fucking minute of it.

“Why ninety-one?” she asks, her breath rushed as her eyes
squeeze. Her fists clench against the restraints as I glide two more inches in
with little resistance.

“Because we met thirteen days ago,” I say, pressing the
final three inches in with one fluid insertion. “And because seven is my lucky
number.”

She releases a guttural moan through pursed lips, and her
thighs squeeze together before her feet cross at the ankles.

“Ninety-one
gentle
reminders that lying to me will only get you so far,” I say, reaching for the
leather paddle hanging in the back of the opened closet. “Turn around and
bend.”

I realize I’m asking her to do something damn near
physically impossible, but I know it can be done, and if she desires to please
me as much as she purports, then she’ll do it.

With her creamy white ass at my hip level, I smooth the palm
of my hand across her soft hide. It’s flawless. Pale. Unmarked.

Whack!

Until now.

Whack!

“Count, Bellamy,” I remind her. “And don’t let it fall.”

Whack!

A blush of redness spreads across her left cheek, so I give
it a rest and smack the other.
Three more on the right cheek
and then I alternate.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Faster. Quick zings. Brusque blows that surely
sting.

Whack!

She doesn’t complain. She doesn’t utter her
safeword
. I keep going, resisting the urge to run my hand
along the red welts to offer a temporary moment of relief. That’s not what this
is about, and she’s yet to earn such a privilege.

Her bent position allows for her skin to stretch slightly,
making it all the more sensitive against the swift spankings.

“…
forty
-five….forty-six…” she says
through clenched teeth.

An inch of graduated base of the glass cock slips out of
her.

I cease the paddling for just a moment. “It’s falling out,
Bellamy. You’re not holding it in tight enough. Clench tighter.”

“I’m trying,” she heaves, her face winced. “Keep going, keep
going.”

“We’re only halfway there. You think you can keep it in?” I
drag my hand lightly down the curve of her spine before grazing her warm ass
and cupping my hand over the base of the dildo. “I could push this in for you
if you wanted…”

“Please,” she begs. “Please push it in.”

“And why should I do that?”

“Because I want to please you.” She tugs against the
restraints. “And because it feels so good. I want all of it inside me.”

Her thighs shake and unclench for a second. The cock falls
out another inch.

“Oh, Bellamy.” I tsk, tsk her. “What are we going to do?”

I breathe in her sweet arousal, and my cock swells.

“Please, please push it in,” she begs, sucking in a breath
and refusing to let it go. She’s stuck anticipating my next move, and even I
don’t know yet what I’m going to do.

I hook my hand around her
neck,
gripping it just enough to let her know every part of her is in my hands. I
pull back against her soft flesh and lean into her ear, nibbling the lobe.

“As much as I’d love to help you out right now,” I whisper.
“I’m a man of my word, and I wouldn’t be doing either of us any favors.”

I release her neck, and she tucks her chin against her
chest, gasping for air. My hand snakes around her stomach, reaching between her
legs and flicking the dildo just enough that she feels it move inside her. Her
inner thighs are slicked, coated with wetness.

“Are you ready to continue?” I ask.

She nods vehemently, her blonde hair curtaining her face.
With white knuckles, she juts her ass out toward me again, her legs buckling
and squeezing like her life depends on it.

Whack
!

“Breathe,” I remind her. “
Breathe
and count.”

The paddle slaps her skin with quick, fluid movements, and
she counts through gritted teeth.

“Eighty…seven…” she says. “Eighty-eight, eighty-nine,
ninety…ninety-one.”

She collapses against the wall, and the dildo falls to the
ground. I retrieve it, rolling the hot, slick glass in my palm.

“You did well.” I set it aside and untie her wrists, and she
heads toward her crumpled clothes on the floor. “What are you doing?”

“Oh.” She freezes. “I thought you were done?”

“I’ll tell you when I’m done.”

My gaze falls on her pink, pert nipples, and I drag the palm
of my hand across each one until her eyes squeeze tight. Two perfect peaks. I
step into her space, backing her up against a nearby wall and pushing my knee
between her thighs until her stance is widened. Her knees shake, whether she’s
fatigued or aroused or both, I don’t particularly care. My hand glides up her
thigh and curves between her
center
until my fingers
find her arousal. I slick a finger between her folds, feeling her stomach
contract against me, and then I bring it to my mouth, tasting what my power
does to her.

I
guaran
-fucking-tee she’s waiting
for me to part her legs and run my tongue along her cleft, offering her a sweet
release.

But that’s the whole point.

I’m
not
going to
do that.

She has to earn her release.

I step aside, heading to the bathroom to run her a hot
shower in my office en suite. I’m not particularly in a touchy-feely mood, and
I’m not sure I have the strength not to fuck the shit out of her mouth or pussy
if her naked body presses against me for too long.

When I return, she’s fallen to the floor again.
Her hair covering her face and her thighs squeezing and releasing.

“Uncomfortable?” I ask.

She bites her lip. “Yes. I though there’d be more.”

“Oh.” I take her hand and pull her up, trying not to smile.
“Yeah, no. Not today.”

“Not…
today
? Not
even later today?”

“No.” I escort her into the bathroom, pulling a warm gray
towel from the warming drawer and placing it on the counter. “Clean yourself
up. And absolutely, under no circumstances, are you allowed to touch yourself.
Understand?”

Her throat bobs and her lips press into a straight line.
“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, Master.”

I leave her to shower, intentionally keeping the door open
while I return to my desk in hopes of actually getting some real fucking work
done.
 

My desk phone rings before I have a chance to finish typing
the email I’m in the middle of.

“Yes, Marlene.”

“Um, I’m so sorry to bother you.” Her tone is hushed.
“There’s a gentleman here asking to see Bellamy. Is she in there with you, by
chance?”

“Send him to her office.” I hang up.

***

“Can I help you?” My question startles a man with sandy
blond hair who’s helping himself through Bellamy’s closet, examining her
wardrobe with a tight clench in his jaw.

He hangs a dress up and backs away, surrendering his hands
in the air.

“This is my girlfriend’s office,” he says, as if it could
excuse his snooping.

“No. It’s not.”

The asshole clears his throat and hooks his hands on his
hips like
he’s
the one who should be
annoyed with
me
.

“Bellamy Miller,” he says. “Her
name’s
on the door.”

“Right.”

“She’s…my girlfriend.”

“No. She’s not.” My neck stiffens, and my fists ache with an
urge to smack him across his smug little face.

“Look, man, I don’t know who you are, but I think you’re
confused.” This royal douche, Cortland I believe his name is, flashes a smile
like we’re all of a sudden a couple of chums. “We’re getting married this
year.”

“You’re not.”

Cortland laughs.

“You find humor in this?” I ask, clearly not laughing.

“I think you need help, buddy.”

I close the space between us, striding toward him until it’s
abundantly clear I’ve got several inches on him, and I glance down my nose.

“Here’s the deal,” I say. “You and Bellamy are over. She
doesn’t want to be with you. She’s not going to marry you. And you’re not going
to tell her father a fucking thing because just like you were so easy to
threaten
her
reputation, I’m about to
threaten
yours
. McGregor, right?”

He scratches above his temple. “Yeah.”

“Dad is Walter?”

His brows furrow.

“You’re AUB, like Bellamy’s family. Your father is a medical
equipment distributor.”

“What the hell?”

The day this bastard dropped her off, I had security nab the
footage and zoom in on the plates, which I promptly forwarded to my guy.
Everything about this asshole came up clean, but I’ll be damned if I don’t use
what little information I have to bend him into submission.

“Your father’s biggest client is Premier Care Systems, a
medical corporation that runs several metro area clinics and the largest
teaching hospital in the state.” I brush a speck of lint from my sleeve. “Premier
Care Systems is headed by Micah Bergmann, who’s a heavy supporter of every piece
anti-polygamy legislation and every anti-polygamy bill that crosses the desks
on Capitol Hill, state and federal. He has deep pockets, vast connections, and
he happens to be a very good friend of mine.”