Beck And Call (16 page)

stopped everything and made sure I was safe. You took

care of me.” Her hand rested on his jaw. “You put my

needs first.” She could sense the tension beneath the

mask. Feeling the clenched muscles, she began to

understand the pressure and responsibility he put on

himself as a master. Wonder and warmth filled her

heart. He truly was putting her needs first. “How could

I
not
trust you after this? Master, you took care of me.”

Slowly, he nodded.

“Maybe now would be a good time to outline what

you can and cannot handle,” he said quietly. He heard

her stomach rumble and chuckled at her blush. “While

we eat, of course.”

He picked up the piece of meat that had started the

trouble and pressed it to her lips. They parted and he

let it tumble in. He fed her more pieces, then skewered

some baked potato on the fork. At her answers to his

questions, he dipped it into the sour cream and bacon

pieces. She savored the bite as he ate. Handing her one

of the wine glasses, he took the other and slowly

relaxed.

“You’ve said you don’t want to do threesomes with

another man. I’ve no desire to have another woman

with us. Straps are out for you. What about the gag

alone?” he wondered. “You didn’t object to that before.”

“The gag’s all right,” she said slowly. “But you gave

me a hand signal asking if I was ready.”

“Then before I put another gag on you, we’ll work

out
yes
and
no
signals,” he nodded. “Anything else?”

“This is all new to me,” she reminded him, sipping

her wine. “Just let me know what you’re planning, to an

extent, and I’ll use the words you gave me if something

feels wrong.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he smiled. “You like the wine?”

“Yes,” she smiled. “It’s much better than what we

had last night. Although, to be honest, by the second

glass, none of us cared.” The smile disappeared.

“Master?”

“Yes?”

“Why do men feel the need to deceive women the

way Paul did Claire? I mean…”

“I’m not sure I can answer objectively,” he shook his

head. “Not until you know who I am.” She looked at him

expectantly. “No, Serena,” he shook his head again.

“You’ve got to admit that part of the fascination for you

is that you know me one way and this way.”

“But I don’t know who you are,” she added. “Claire’s

situation is different. Very different. Paul seduced her

with the intent of getting her to join him and his

partner! He got her to fall in love with him under false

pretenses!”

“Had she ever met this partner? Did she like this

man? What did she see them doing to make her think

something is going on?”

“Think something is going on?” Serena latched onto

the last part like a terrier on a bone. “She saw them!”

“She saw them having sex?” he pressed. “Are you

certain that is what happened? “She actually saw them

one-on-one having sex? What did she say?”

Serena frowned, nibbling on her lower lip. She

reviewed what she knew and her shoulders slumped.

“Debbie told me what Claire told her,” she finally

admitted.

“Debbie,” he repeated slowly, as if trying to recall

who Debbie was. He seized on the chance to change the

subject. “Mmm, the short brown-haired woman in

Programming whose skirts are barely legal?”

“What are you doing looking at her skirts?” Serena

frowned.

He chuckled behind the mask.

“Jealous, sweetheart?” He shook his head. “Don’t be.

Every man in the building looks at her skirts and that’s

exactly what she wants them to do. Problem is, no man

sees anything but the skirts. Oh, and her blouses,” he

added. “Didn’t she have on a low-cut, practically see-

through blouse yesterday?”

“Excuse me?” she frowned. “What’s wrong with her

blouses?”

“Nothing if you’re a streetwalker,” he drawled,

putting more steak in his mouth. “Don’t look at me with

that furious expression. I’m being honest with you. Let

me guess, she complains that no one takes any of her

ideas seriously and they keep sending her out for coffee

and doughnuts because she’s a woman, right?”

“They don’t take her seriously,” Serena defended

her friend vigorously. “They’re stealing her ideas and

passing them off as their own, and no one believed her

when she lodged a complaint!”

“She lodged a complaint?” he frowned.

“Three,”

Serena

nodded.

“Two

for

sexual

harassment and one for her ideas. HR didn’t do

anything.”

Holy shit!
Keith froze.
What the hell was HR

thinking?
And remembered that the HR head was a

prudish fifty-something woman who had probably

shredded everything Debbie had given her the second

the younger woman walked out of her office. Hester

would consider Debbie had received her just desserts, or

that Debbie really wanted the attention and was

making the rest of it up. Debbie had only been at a few

meetings, but she seemed very knowledgeable and

answered questions more readily than the men,

including Duncan, the VP of her department.

“Who has she talked to? Did she talk to the

Programming VP?”

Serena rolled her eyes.

“He’s the one who made the first pass at her. He

said if she wanted the promotion that Steve ended up

getting, then she’d have to go to this conference and

share a room with him.”

“Shit,” he whispered. “Has she talked to…”

“Who else can she talk to?”

“Your boss?

Serena stared at him with such shock in her eyes

that for a second Keith wondered how she saw him. Did

she see him as an ogre who would tolerate sexual

harassment and the theft of intellectual property? His

entire company was built on ideas! If he ignored these

accusations, then his company was worthless.

“You don’t think he would listen?”

“I…Keith’s always so busy talking with VPs and

CEOs around the world,” she replied. “I mean…”

He had to choose his words carefully.

“I think you owe it to your boss to tell him what his

Programming VP did to one of his people.” The next

part came easier. “You certainly owe it to your friend to

do what you can to protect her.”

She kept nibbling her lower lip.

“You really think I should tell him?”

“Maybe not you, but Debbie. You set it up, but she

needs to tell him.”

“She’s scared to death of Keith.”

“She’s what?”

Keith wasn’t sure how many more revelations he

could take. First, he was a terrible judge of women.

Second, he had misjudged his VPs as vividly

demonstrated by Mark. Now this. Why would a

programmer be afraid of him?

“Has he threatened her? Hurt her? Insulted her?”

“No, not that I know of.”

“Then why would she be afraid of your boss?”

“Because she’s barely twenty-three, a junior

programmer, and he’s the CEO of the most innovative

programming company in the world. She’s…” Serena

sighed. “Maybe intimidated would be a better word.”

He considered that. Intimidating was much better.

With competitors, it was a much better word. Debbie

wasn’t a competitor. She was his employee. While

obviously the relationship was much different than

what he was trying to form with Serena, it was still a

relationship in which he was supposed to look out for

those under him. It was
his
company. He’d been so busy

focusing on the numbers that he’d lost sight of the

people.

“Then go in with her,” he suggested. “Not to tell her

story though.”

“More for moral support?” she frowned.

“Are you afraid of him?” he asked bluntly.

“Not anymore,” she replied, sipping the wine. “He’s

tough, hard-working, and one of the most ethical people

I’ve ever met.”

Keith soaked in the words.
That
was what he liked

to hear! But it sounded like she was holding something

back.

“I hear a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”

“He is a little intimidating,” she told him. “He’s

brilliant in ways I can’t even begin to understand.” She

shook her head. “I’ve worked for him nearly two years

and just found out that he’s fluent in Japanese. A

couple days ago he had a conference call with a client in

Tokyo. I’ve been listening to language tapes for a few

months. When Mr. Lee came on, I tried to say
hello
in

Japanese. Mr. Lee laughed and said he appreciated the

effort, but I’d called him a cat. Keith took over and the

two of them talked so fast I lost track of the

conversation.” She sighed. “I don’t think he has any

idea of how intimidating he is.”

“Well,” he floundered a little bit. “He is the boss. I

guess intimidating comes with the territory. You need

to tell him what’s going on.”

“Not all at once,” she shook her heard. “I’m not sure

he could handle it all.”

“There’s more?”

She grinned at the shock and worry in his voice.

“Nothing too out of the ordinary,” she laughed.

Leaning forward, she set her glass on the table. With a

sigh, she snuggled against him, curling her legs up to

rest on the edge of the chair. “Debbie’s the biggest one.

And I’m really worried about her. I think something

else happened, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Then you definitely need to get her to talk to your

boss. Sounds like he’s the only one who can take care of

it.”

She nodded.

“Monday. I promise.”

“Good,” he nodded, deciding they’d done enough

talking about work. His right arm tightened around her

shoulders and his left hand fondled a breast. “Then can

we focus on us?”

Serena’s breath caught as his voice dropped

suggestively. She looked at him, knowing now to wait

for him to take the lead.

“Yes, Master,” she whispered.

“Excellent,” he smiled. “I want to play with your

body until you’re nearly hoarse from begging me to

fuck you,” he whispered in her ear.

“Can I start begging now?” she wondered, turning

her upper body toward him. “When can I start learning

your body, Master?” Her mouth went to the base of his

neck near his shoulder and nibbled slightly. One hand

found the hard length of his cock under the black

leather pants. “Can I touch you?”

Keith inhaled sharply at the feel of her mouth on

his skin and her fingers brushing over his cock. He

nearly gave in, but held tight to his plan. Instinctively,

he knew he still needed to bind her to him sexually.

“Not yet, sweetheart,” he told her, catching her

wrist and pulling her hand away from his cock. “But if

you’re a good girl, I might fuck your mouth with my

cock.”

Serena closed her eyes and leaned against him.

“I never thought I would want that,” she told him.

“But I do with you,” she said shyly. “With you I want to

do nearly everything.”

He nodded.

“I think before we actually do anything else, I

should show you my toys so you can decide what you

can handle or need to think about.”

Green eyes glowed as she looked up.

“Thank you, Master,” she whispered, stretching her

neck to kiss him.

He held her gently, accepting the sweetness she

offered. His, he vowed. Nothing would take her from

him. He realized how close to the edge he was with her.

Overnight she had become an obsession. He wanted to

shout to the world that she was his. The need to wait,

whether or not he appreciated the necessity, chafed at

him. He wondered how the hell he was going to

maintain the façade at the office. The temptation to

haul her into his office, bend her over his desk, and fuck

would be too great. He suddenly wondered if he could

make it. She tempted his control in ways he hadn’t

thought possible.

Soon, he told himself. Soon, this secrecy would be

over and she would be his publicly as well as privately.

Soon, soon.

Sunday evening, Serena slowly entered her

apartment. Automatically, she hung her coat on the

hook and slipped off her heels. Dangling them by the

straps, she put her purse on the table near the door and

bolted it. Fishing the special cell phone out, she carried

it to the bedroom. Hitting
Speed 1
, she pulled the covers

back and crawled into bed.