Dom Vs: Domme: The Deluxe Trilogy: A Billionaire Romance (Dom Vs. Domme Book 0) (57 page)

I need to hear him say that everything will be okay. That
we’ll
be okay.

As long as this relationship continues, I will push my boundaries and take risks that I never anticipated before. What has he done? What compromise is he making for me? So far, all I’ve done is change
every fucking part of who I am.

A relationship like this can’t be sustained.

I
can’t keep falling down this rabbit hole and not expect to explode.

Now the man says he loves me? He wants to kiss me and lure me back to bed as if nothing happened?
Has
happened?

What have I gotten myself into?

I need to find Stephanie. I need to set this straight and… pay her, if I have to. Not like I don’t have the money.

I also need to find a backbone. Because Ian has me in his bed, his lips on mine and my hands pulling him out of his clothes. “I love you,” he says once more, before pinning me to his bed and kissing me. He waits for me to reply, but I can’t.

I’m frozen to reality. The reality he tried to help me escape from.

A reality where I’m broken with no way to be fixed. Only cracked further until the Kathryn Alison I knew is no more. What was once a liberating thought is simply terrifying, and I don’t know what to do.

I can’t fight this anymore.

SAVE US

Chapter 1

IAN

I’m a man who enjoys the finer things in life. Extraordinary thread-count sheets, aged wine and cheese that delights not only my senses but my memory as well, tailored suits that make my body look the best in the room…

…Beautiful women in my bed….

It’s early on a Thursday morning. Sunshine cascades through my bedroom window as I get ready for work. The cat is bathing in rays right in the middle of my floor, threatening to trip me every time I round the corner of my bed. I’m not running late, but I can’t afford to rip my pants or jacket.

A flirty yawn erupts on my bed. Kathryn catches me as I’m putting on my cologne, her golden hair spilling over the side of my bed as she turns over, one of my T-shirts clinging to her delightful frame.

“Do you have to leave so soon?”

I bend down and kiss her forehead, my fingers fumbling to finish straightening out my tie. Yes, folks, I’m wearing a tie today. Got a few investors to work over and Daddy Dearest likes it when I “look my best.” Apparently my best includes this piece of unfortunate clothing that feels like it’s constantly choking me.

“I’ve got a meeting at ten. Really, I should be railing at you for having the day off.” Although Kathryn is my cohort of sorts in the remodel, there are lots of things that don’t need her assistance, such as dealing with money matters. I’ve got an actual assistant to help me with that note-taking.

Kathryn reaches up and grabs the hem of my jacket. “Look at you wearing this sexy suit. Promise me you’ll come back later and take it off for me.”

Her sleepy smile is something I’ll never get over. For nearly two months, we’ve been fooling around, casually, although that dreaded L word has dropped from our lips more than once. Since my first confession, I’ve said it maybe a total of five times. Letting it slip here and there as if it doesn’t mean a thing. To be fair, she’s been the same way.

We dance a dangerous dance, Katie and I. Although she’s come a long way in submitting to me, it doesn’t happen terribly often, and that’s because it’s not her everyday life. Even sex life.

Nope. Yours truly is dating a Domme. A Domme with a very sweet side that she likes to express to me, like now, when she rolls on her stomach and kicks her feet up in the air, letting me see her bare ass and enticing me in ways she has no business of doing.

“What, are you going to stay here all day?” I tap her ass and watch it jiggle. “Not that I mind.”

“Maybe!”

“Feed the cat, would you?”

She rolls over and slams her head against the nearest pillow. I try not to smile too hard at my good fortune. Yup. A man like me truly deserves a woman like her in my bed.

Life’s good, ain’t it?

Well, it’s almost perfect. I grab my briefcase and head downstairs, where the doorman tips his hat and wishes me a good day. Since the weather is gorgeous, I walk to work a few blocks away, enjoying the crisp air and the sounds of the busy city around me.

Yup. Life is
almost
perfect.

My love life could be better. Don’t get me wrong. Kathryn is the best lover I’ve ever had, and thinking about her makes me want to act like the unmanliest man to ever be unmanly. Yet we sit on this precarious edge of losing everything. For the past two months I’ve fought the urge to make her my
girlfriend
girlfriend. Not just my lover I see twice or thrice a week. Not just a friend I fool around with and sometimes get to spank and more. No. I want to make her my
everything.

She’ll say no. When I think of that, I seize up.

Katie will tell me to fuck off because she’s a Domme and I’ll never submit to her. We can’t equally switch like our business partners the Andrews can. Ken will spank his wife one night and then get cock-ringed and denied by her the next. Sure, Kathryn submits to me…

But I would never submit to her.

Just the thought makes me nearly stumble in the street. Unfortunately, I am not a man who is happy submitting. I know many who are. No, I’ve never tried. I’ve never tried it because I don’t have any desire to. Not even for her.

Don’t think I haven’t thought about it. Late at night, alone in my bed, trapped with my thoughts of work and love. I want Kathryn. I’ll do almost anything to keep her.

Not that.

Unfortunately, for the both of us.

Work is also kicking my ass. Not that there’s no headway to account for. Quite the opposite. When I walk into the lobby of The Grand Hotel, I walk into a piece of history. For weeks on end, the construction crew has been working overtime to make sure our vision comes to fruition – and in record time. I barely have a moment to admire the work done overnight when the head of marketing comes rushing up to me and talks about the opening ball we’re throwing in – shit, a
month.
Is it really a month? I can’t believe it.

This is fast even for us.

One of the reasons my father wants us going above and beyond on this project is because we’ve sunk so much money into it. A lot more than we originally planned, thanks to the Andrews being greedy and knowing that they can get away with it. My father is determined to make our money back in record time. The only way we can do that is by opening a project like this before anyone has the chance to blink.

Good thing everyone on the team is meticulous to a fault. The plans were already finished. The crews already picked out. Everything pre-paid so they could get underway. As excited as I am to be done with this project and move on to the next – we already have our eyes on an exclusive property upstate – there’s been a lot of hours going into it that leave me so stressed I nearly collapse in my shower.

All work and no play. S’why I’m grateful to have Katie in my bed a night or two a week.

We’re exclusive. I wonder how much she’s itching to dominate someone. We haven’t had that fun at the BDSM Château in weeks, and women aren’t her preference anyway.

“Mr. Mathers,” my assistant Valerie says late in the morning. “Your father is here to take the tour. He’s brought… his friend.”

I can tell by the look on her face that this “friend” is one of my least favorite people.

Sure enough, Dad has brought his new squeeze Stephanie May. A woman almost forty years his junior. If that wasn’t shady enough, she’s technically my ex-lover. Even had sex with her one time at The Dark Hour. The night I realized how hot I have it for Katie.

She’s a bit bitter about being called Kathryn during my climax, Stephanie May is.

The two of them stroll through the front doors as if they’re honored guests and not the owner come to survey his kingdom with some arm candy. My father looks dapper, as usual, but Stephanie is sporting some new fancy threads that came straight from The Crimson Dove, the most upscale boutique in the city. No way could Stephanie afford those clothes outright. Of course, she’s been dating my dad a few weeks now, and I don’t doubt that he’s buying her these dresses. Like the orange and yellow ensemble she has on now, highlighting her strawberry blond hair and the angle of her nose.

“Ian,” she greets with a purr, her arm wrapped solidly around my father’s arm. Hilariously enough, she’s almost taller than him. “You’re looking well today.”

Ah, by the way, she still flirts with me. And has made it very, very clear that she’s still interested in more sex.

You know, after she tried blackmailing me.

“You look radiant as always, Stephanie.” I smile politely, for the sake of my father, who is so in
love
with my ex that I’ve almost stopped talking to him outside of work.

The tour is mostly for my father’s sake, who only stops by about once a week to check the progress of the renovations. Nevertheless, I accompany them, winding through ball rooms, kitchens, staff rooms, and of course the bedrooms and suites on the upper floors. Back in its day, The Grand was one of the biggest hotels around, boasting over one-hundred rooms. Now it’s swamped by the high-rise hotels around, some of which my family owns.

There’s nothing wrong with one-hundred rooms, suites included. We’re setting out to recreate a luxury hotel, and the best only have limited board available. A lot easier for a manager or two to keep track of everyone’s experience that way.

We don’t go through every room, however. That would be ridiculous. Partially because every time we see a model room complete with bed and other furniture, Stephanie leans in and whispers something flirty into my father’s ear. Gag.
Gag.
I try to ignore it, but their laughter and shushing is about to drive me out the third-story window.

“You should come have lunch with us, son,” my father says at the end of the tour. He’s in a good mood because he only found two minor things to criticize, and they’ll be fixed by tomorrow morning. Otherwise, everything is coming along without a hitch. “I know you don’t….”

“Oh, Dominic, did you forget?” Stephanie pats his chest. “I have an appointment in an hour. I’m afraid I have to skip out on lunch.”

“Appointment? I don’t remember this.”

“It’s for work, dearest. Let’s rain check for dinner. I should be available around five.”

Works for me. To the sounds of the foreman barking orders at his workers, I text Kathryn that we should meet for lunch if she’s in the neighborhood.

“Can’t. I have a meeting in an hour.
”

Because I’m a fucking idiot, I think nothing of it.

Chapter 2

KATHRYN

I haven’t been home two minutes before there’s a knock at my door.

I know who it is.

I don’t want to answer.

Except I have to, because the last thing I need is one of my neighbors seeing Stephanie May out in my hallway, lollygagging about as if she’s the queen of the world.

“Aw, what a precious little fluffer-nut!” She kneels in her orange stiletto heels, running her hand over my traitorous kitten Sinéad. I say traitorous because this cat will take affection from anyone, including Stephanie May, the asshole
blackmailing me.

She’s here to get her monthly check. A cool $50,000.

That’s right. I’m paying this A-Lister Hollywood starlet $600,000 a year to keep quiet about not only my relationship to Ian, but the fact that I’m now submitting to him on a regular basis. That I
like
submitting to him. In the realm of the world, nobody would give a fuck that I’m with Ian like that. But I’m a Domme. A Domme with business connections to other Dommes. We can be… sensitive. It’s not unusual for Dommes to start switching or become a permanent switch, but such a debut must be done in a tasteful manner, otherwise people get the impression that all Dommes are only waiting for the right cock to dominate them.

Ahaha. No.

Also, I don’t want to hear about how I’m a billionaire and thus can afford paying Stephanie May off. One, it’s the principle of the thing. I should not have to do this, although for now I’m going with the cards I’m dealt. Second, do you know how hard it is to drop fifty-grand once a month without being questioned
why?
My accountant is already asking questions. I told him I was investing in something, which worked the first month, but now he’s seeing how fucking shady I’m acting and the questions are peppering my phone. I’m fucked.

Right now I can’t think about that. I can only think about protecting my image and future business prospects with people in the kink scene.

I shoo my cat into the other room and close the door behind her. I don’t want Stephanie lurking around here. She has this sinister perfume that makes me want to throw up. It smells like vinegar and that stuff they put in odorless gas to warn you that you’re about to
die.