Dark Desires (2 page)

“What’s so funny?” she couldn’t help but
ask.

He shook his head. “It has been a long
time since I’ve ever seen anyone other than myself put Dave in his place. You
should do it more often.”

Katherine shook her head with a small
smile. “That would be suicide. I like my job.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to let him
push you around like that,” Mark pointed out. “Dave can be a little
overbearing. He’s a good assistant, but he often takes himself too seriously
and will walk all over anyone who lets him. And you’re far too pretty to have
someone do that to you.”

Katherine blushed, her fingers flying to
her lips—pouty lips, he noted. Made for long, slow kisses. “It’s really
not a big deal most of the time,” she insisted. “I’m really just grateful to be
able to work for you.”

“And I’m grateful to have you.” They
parked outside the bistro he usually came to for lunch. “In more ways than
one.” His lips curved in that wicked smile again, and her imagination
immediately went into overdrive. Did he really mean what she thought he meant?
Or was she just being ridiculous? She probably was, and really didn’t need to
get her hopes up. He probably just wanted to talk business.

He led her inside, where the maître de
greeted them warmly—Mark was a regular here. They were taken upstairs to
the terrace where they had a wonderful view of the city, and given a seat right
next to the metal railing with boxes off impatiens and other flowers trailing
down over the wall, providing a lovely fragrance.

Their server appeared almost instantly to
hand them menus. “Good afternoon. It’s so nice to see you again, Mr. Donaldson.
Can I start you off with anything to drink?”

“Do you drink wine?” Mark asked her.

Katherine hesitated. “I do… but I really
shouldn’t…”

He waved her protests away. “One glass of
wine over lunch won’t affect your job performance. A bottle of Chardonnay,
please.”

“Wow.” Katherine let out a slow breath as
the waiter returned with their bottle and poured them both a glass. He left
them to decide on their entrees, and Katherine took a sip. It was like drinking
gold. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a Chardonnay like this before.”

“This place has an excellent selection,”
Mark agreed. They chose their entrees, and then he sat back as they waited for
their meal to arrive and studied her.

Uncomfortable under the intensity of his
gaze, Katherine cleared her throat. “So, what is it you wanted to speak to me
about, sir?” In truth she was a little nervous that all he’d done was made
small talk so far… and look at her with those bedroom eyes that made her
stomach flip-flop.

He gave her a slow smile. “It’s not about
your job, if you’re wondering about that. I assure you that you’re doing a
fantastic job. To be honest I’ve been curious about you. Dave and Mike—”
the HR rep who’d initially contacted her “—did your interview and so I
really know nothing about you at all. Where are you from?”

They made small talk for a little while,
and then Mark leaned forward. “I’ll be honest with you, Katherine.” She blinked
as he used her first name for the first time since the beginning of her
employment. “I want you.”

“You… what?” She blushed as she felt his
hand settle on her knee beneath the table. “Want me where?”

“On my desk. In my bed. On the floor.” He
spoke low, his fingers slowly trailing up the inside of her thigh. “Your legs
are exquisite. I want to know what they feel like without the panty hose.”

“I… I…” Katherine bit down on her lower
lip as he started massaging the inside of her thigh; slow circles of his thumb
that sent tendrils of heat traveling straight to her core. “You can’t be
serious.”

“I’m completely serious.” The waiter
arrived with their entrees, and without removing his hand from her leg he
looked up and engaged in a brief conversation as the waiter set everything out.
Katherine had to ball her fists in her lap to keep from trembling, and she was
certain the waiter couldn’t have missed the scarlet blush staining her cheeks.

Once the waiter went on, he continued on
as though nothing had happened. “I know you want me, Katherine. I’ve seen those
naughty little glances you’ve tossed my way when you thought I wasn’t looking.”
His hand trailed down to stroke the area right underneath her knee, sending
more shivers through her and making her hot all over. She’d no idea that was
such a sensitive area! “I’m sure you’ve wondered on more than one occasion what
it is I do with the women I’ve brought back to my office. Now you have a chance
to find out.”

Katherine licked her lips, which had gone
as dry as the inside of her mouth. She wanted to reach for her wine glass to
wet her throat but she was trembling from Mark’s continuous caresses and wasn’t
certain she could be trusted not to spill the wine on herself.

“If you do decide you want to do this,
you should know it will be a Dom/sub relationship,” he continued, picking up
his fork and sampling his alfredo as he continued to touch her underneath the
table.

“What does that mean?” she picked up her
own fork slowly, but found that she couldn’t concentrate long enough to get
anything from her plate onto the utensil.

“That means I will be the one in control,
and you’ll trust me to do what’s best to bring you pleasure,” he told her. “It
won’t be anything like you’ve ever experienced before sexually.”

That wasn’t really saying very much,
Katherine thought, but she had the idea that what Mark was referring to was
considered… taboo. “Is that like when I have a safe word and I tell you when to
stop?”

He chuckled. “It won’t be anything quite
that intense, but yet. Don’t be afraid, Katherine,” he told her when her nerves
flashed in her eyes. “I’ll take good care of you. You can trust me on that.”

What did she have to lose? It wasn’t
every day that devastatingly sexy men told her they wanted to have kinky sex
with her. And maybe this was the kind of thing she needed. Her life had been
tedious this last year, full of nothing but work and worry.

“Alright,” she told him. “What do you
want me to do?”

“First,” he told her, setting down his
fork and picking up her own. “I want you to eat.” He scooped up a bite of pasta
off her plate and held it up to her lips. “Go ahead, take a bite.”

She did as he asked, and admitted to
herself she’d never been so self-conscious of eating in her life—his eyes
were boring into her face the entire time. “There you go,” he said huskily.
“You have such gorgeous lips. Have another one. Go more slowly this time.”

He fed her bite after bite, and she
learned to slide her lips slowly along the fork, and she knew from the gleam in
his eye that he was thinking of having her lips wrapped around something very
different. She felt a flutter of embarrassment at first, but as she continued
it faded as she realized this simple act was the sexiest thing she’d ever done.
She could tell by the expression in his half-lidded eyes that he was aroused,
and the knowledge aroused her too—her nipples were stiff beneath her bra,
and the space between her legs was moist and pulsing lightly with need. All the
while he continued to toy with her leg, brushing his fingers under her knee and
down the back of her calf.

Eventually her plate was empty. He looked
at his watch and saw their hour was nearly up. “Time to go,” he said, flagging
down the waiter to pay for the check.

He offered his arm and she took it,
allowing him to lead her outside. He held her close to his body, possessively
so, and helped her into the passenger’s side once again. Then he shifted the
car into drive and headed back to the downtown office.

“Now that you’ve agreed, I’ll expect you
in my office exactly half an hour after closing time,” he told her as they
entered the parking garage. “Don’t be late.”

“Yes sir,” she said meekly, and she
couldn’t help but smile a little at the fact that anyone who might’ve overheard
them would have thought he meant they were having some kind of meeting.

Well, she supposed they were… but it was
going to be unlike any meeting she’d ever been to before.

They walked through the lobby doors
together, and Dave looked up and gave them both an over-bright smile. That
smile faded after Mark bid her goodbye, and he glowered at her as he rose to
his full height so that she could take the chair back from him.

“What was all that about?” he snapped.

“I… I don’t really think that’s any of
your business,” Katherine told him, not because she was trying to be defiant,
but because she had nothing else to say. After all, she couldn’t tell him that
she’d just agreed to enter into a sexual relationship with Mark. Not unless she
wanted to see Dave have an apoplexy.

“I’m his assistant. Why wouldn’t it be my
business?” he hissed. “Ms. Hewitt, you had ought to remember who hired you.”

Katherine’s back went up. “I’m reasonably
certain you can’t fire me if Mark doesn’t want you to,” she told him sweetly.
“And I can guarantee he won’t give the order if you ask him.”

Dave’s face turned blotchy, his gangly
body going ramrod stiff. “We will see about that, Ms. Hewitt. We will
definitely see about that.”

He marched off, and Katherine had to hold
back a grin.

* * *

When closing time finally came around,
most of the superiority of having had two victories over Dave had faded, to be
replaced by a nervous anticipation that had her palms sweaty and her cheeks unseasonably
warm. She loitered at her desk, biding the other employees’ goodnight,
weathering a stony glare from Dave as he headed out as well, and then locking
the front door. She stopped by the bathroom to freshen up, pulling a tiny
bottle of jasmine oil from her makeup back and dabbing some of it behind her
ears—when she wanted to smell nice she used that, because she was
allergic to perfume. She checked her hair and clothes twice in the mirror, and
as an afterthought stripped off her pantyhose and stuffed them in her
purse—he’d said he’d wanted to feel her legs after all, hadn’t he?

She arrived outside his office door at
exactly half past six, took a deep breath, and knocked. His deep voice called
for her to enter, and she pushed open the door to see him sitting at his desk,
typing away on his keyboard. She’d only been in here once before when she’d had
to deliver some files to his desk, and that was a quick in and out cycle. She
took the time now to study the décor—muted green walls with a framed
photograph of the Chicago skyline hanging on the one opposite the window, a
large, mahogany l-shaped desk holding a computer and scrupulously organized
papers. Her footfalls were muffled by the thick, cream-colored carpet as she
approached to where he sat behind the desk. He rose with a smooth smile.

“Right on time,” he told her with a
smile. “Come over here and sit on the edge of the desk here.”

Her blood pumped a little faster at the
look in his eye. “Yes, sir.” She sat on the edge of the desk, and then jumped a
little as his hands settled at her waist, pushing her back a little farther.
She winced as she felt her butt press up against a paperweight and heard it
clatter against the polished wood of the desk.

“Don’t worry about it,” he murmured. “I’m
not going to hurt you.”

“Are… are we doing this here?” she wanted
to know. “Now?”

He smiled at her. “Not exactly. I am…
preparing you for our first night together.”

Leaning past her, he reached out and
grabbed a large white box sitting on the desk. He set it down next to her and
lifted the top off. She tried to get a look at what was inside but was
distracted when he reached to the zipper at the side of her pencil skirt and
tugged it down.

“Lift your legs for me,” he commanded,
and she did as he said. Shivers of pleasure went through her body as he slowly
slid the skirt down her body, ensuring that the pads of his fingers stroked her
legs as he did so. “Good girl. Now your panties.”

“I… I thought we weren’t doing this
here?”

His hands stilled at the waistband of her
plain, white cotton panties. “One of the rules to this game is that you must
place your trust in me. If I give you an order, you obey. If not, you are
punished. Right now, I order you to not question my directions. If you aren’t
willing to play by the rules, we can end this here and now, and you can walk
out this door without getting a chance to experience the sensual delights in
store for both of us.”

Heart hammering, she stared up at him
wordlessly for a moment. His countenance was expressionless, smooth, but his
eyes were hot with the promise of those sensual delights just around the
corner. A large part of her, the coward that kept her from exploring her sexual
side as a woman, that bound her within the confines of her apartment when she
was outside of work, begged her to get off the table and walk away. But the
other part of her, the one that longed for excitement, adventure, for sexual
fulfillment, demanded she stay. It was that part of her that, deep down inside,
made her realize she would deeply regret passing up this opportunity.

“I will stay.”