Show Me The Ropes ~ Lothario Series ~ Book 2 (2 page)

 He sighed inwardly. Damn. She didn’t even want to be alone with him, even in a professional manner. “You’re safe with me. I swear.”

She closed the door, took the two steps needed to cross the small office and sat in his solitary guest chair. “Is there a problem?” she asked.

Was she kidding? His pulse accelerated as his heart pumped blood to the problem. “I assume you have someone lined up to replace you?” Of course she did. She wouldn’t have come unprepared, not Fallon Enright. A lesser mortal maybe, but not the goddess of human sexuality.

Fallon would have a plan A, and at least three others to fall back on if the first one fell flat. He loved that about her, the way she thought things through, paid attention to the details, planned.

“Yes. Kelsey has been observing and assisting for almost a year. I’m sure she can take over.”

He nodded in agreement. “You would know best. I’ll take your word for it.” He knew Kelsey. She didn’t have Fallon’s credentials, but her customer satisfaction ratings were at the top of the chart. She’d do. So much for nixing Plan A. He’d have to come up with something else to keep Fallon aboard. He needed time to think. If he lost Fallon, he’d effectively doomed himself to a lifetime he couldn’t begin to contemplate, and remain sane. “What are her qualifications?”

Fallon launched into what sounded like a well-rehearsed speech touting Kelsey’s numerous attributes. Richard tuned it out, his mind working double-time to come up with something, anything, to keep Fallon from leaving.

“Richard. Have you heard a word I said?”

He hadn’t. Between watching her pouting lips move, imagining them moving over his cock, and racking his lust-impaired brain for a solution to his problem, he hadn’t heard a word. “Sure. You convinced me. Kelsey can take over for you, as of today.”

She started to rise. “Thanks. This was easier than I thought it would be.” She stood between the chair and his desk. “It’s been a pleasure working for you, Richard. I’ll make sure you get a copy of the book as soon as it comes out.”

“Just a minute.” He leaned back in his chair and plopped his heels on his desk. His cock throbbed, as if he needed a reminder of what was at stake. He pointed at the chair she’d just vacated. “Sit back down, Fallon.” He waited until she complied. “Are you forgetting you have a contract?”

“Well, no. But. . . .”

“But what? You still have several months before your contract comes up for renewal, I believe.”

“Yes, but. . . ”

He’d stooped lower than this before, but not in a long while. It was a slimy thing to do, but he was out of options. “I think we can work something out, if you’re willing to negotiate.”

“Uhm, I guess.”

“Okay. Have you ever been a passenger on the
Lothario
?”

“No. Why?”

“I’ll let you out of the remainder of your contract without penalty, if you spend the next week onboard as a passenger.”

She opened her mouth to speak. He stayed her with his hand raised, palm out. “As my passenger.”

“Your passenger?”

“You heard me. For the duration of this week’s cruise, you will be mine. All mine. You follow my orders without question. You will wear what I provide, go where I direct, submit to me in all things.”

“All things?”

He dropped his feet to the floor and leaned on his forearms across the desk. His eyes met hers. “All things.”

He hoped she couldn’t see his flop-sweat, or detect the tremor in his legs, the real reason he’d shifted his feet to the floor. She, on the other hand, made no effort to conceal her nerves. Her eyes gave her away. The idea aroused her. For the first time in two long years, he felt a surge of hope. He fought to control his facial features as another sharp pain gripped his groin.

“I’ll take your lack of protest as an affirmation. I’ll speak to Kelsey. She can take over for you immediately. Return to your cabin now. Take off your crew uniform, and pack up the rest. I’ll have wardrobe bring you a set of standard passenger attire, and pick up your crew uniforms. Don’t leave your cabin until I come for you.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Sure I can. And I am.”

“What’s this about, Richard?”

He knew she wouldn’t acquiesce without a fight. It wasn’t her nature to let someone order her around, at least not where her work was concerned. He was certain that didn’t apply to her sexual pursuits, however, and he had every intention of proving it to her, if she’d give him the opportunity.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with your work, or your contract. This is personal.”

He didn’t think her spine could get any straighter, or her features any colder.

“Personal? As in you and me?”

“Yes. Give me one week. No research. Just you and me, together.”

“You expect me to submit? Is that how you put it? What, exactly, does that mean?”

“Just what it sounds like. You will be mine for the next seven days. If I tell you to do something, anything, you will do it.”

Her eyes narrowed to razor-sharp slits and he thought he could hear her teeth grinding even though she was a good four feet from him.

“Anything?”

“Everything,” he clarified.

“This isn’t right, Richard. You know this is grounds for a sexual harassment lawsuit.”

“Yes. You would be within your rights to sue me, based on this conversation alone. I’m willing to take that chance in order to prove to you that I’m not the man you think I am. I’m gambling everything on the premise that you want this as much as I do.”

“I do?”

“Yes, you do, or you would have stormed out of here already. Instead, you’re sitting there trying to figure out how to accept, without sounding as if this is exactly what you’ve wanted all along.”

She closed her eyes and her lips moved as she silently counted to ten. At least she was thinking about it. “Damn you, Richard Wolfe.”

“I’m certain of that. Now, what’s it going to be? A lawsuit? Or, if you choose to accept, a simple, "Yes, Richard," will do.”

She opened and closed her mouth a few times as if trying to find words. Richard held his breath and his heart beat like a jackhammer against concrete. Ryan would kill him if Fallon sued them for sexual harassment, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

Finally she stood, as regal as any queen, and moved to the door. She paused with her back to him, her hand on the doorknob. This was it. She was going to sue him for everything he had, and probably most of Ryan’s fortune too.

She looked over her shoulder. Her lips moved. Two words. Not, “Go to hell,” as he’d expected, but “Yes, Richard.” And then she was gone.

He let out his pent-up breath and slumped across the desk. His fist closed around cold metal and heated flesh, but brought him no relief. She was going to do it. He’d gambled and won. At least this hand.

Fallon sat on the edge of her bed in her tiny crew-cabin, naked except for the bath towel wrapped around her torso. All her turquoise crew uniforms lay neatly folded and stacked on the chair, awaiting someone from wardrobe to pick them up. She hadn’t expected Richard to let her go easily, but his demand had taken her by surprise.

The whole idea was insane, yet he, admittedly, risked a great deal by making such a proposition. Well, now that she thought about it, it was blackmail, and sexual harassment. No way to sugarcoat it. It was what it was. So why had she gone along with it?

She’d tried to protest, tried to form a rational, logical, coherent argument at the time, but images of submitting to Richard, in all things, had flashed through her mind, obliterating everything else.

Yes, Richard
. Where had that come from? She’d always been in complete control of her life. She made her own decisions. How else could she have completed her Master’s and Ph.D. before her twenty-sixth birthday? How else could she have written a book she was sure would put her on the world map as the foremost expert on oral sex?

So what had come over her when he’d commanded her to submit to him? As an expert on human sexuality, she knew the signs of arousal better than most. Her body had reacted instantly to his tone of voice, his dominance, his command. Every cell, in every erogenous zone, had prickled with awareness. His voice felt like a wicked caress. Hot liquid trickled between her legs even now, as she waited, for what she didn’t know.

The bastard had been right. She wanted it. Maybe not as much as he did. She’d never stoop to blackmail, but Richard had. He said he wanted to show her the kind of man he really was. He was sure starting on the right foot.

She considered packing and leaving before he could stop her, but his voice echoed in her brain. When he used that tone, something in her reacted. For the next week she’d agreed to do anything he commanded, and she knew as certainly as she knew her own name, that if he used that tone of voice, she’d obey. The possibilities sent a shiver down her spine.

Hopeless. I’m pathetically hopeless
.

Her new wardrobe arrived. Richard’s note accompanying the garments sent her heart racing.

Do not dress until I come to get you. I have something for you, but you cannot have it unless you are naked when I arrive. R.W.

She put away the scant wardrobe, standard fare for female passengers. In order to facilitate free sexual expression, the
Lothario
provided all the clothing the passengers needed for the  week long cruise. Admittedly, it wasn’t much. A few short sarongs, one silk one, one terry cloth one, a few sets of matching bras and panties, and a bikini. Everything was white with the
Lothario
logo, male and female symbols intertwined, embroidered in turquoise. Men were issued shorter wraps, a Speedo-style swimsuit, and no underwear. Passengers could choose either to wear the wardrobe, or not. The final night of the cruise, the passengers were encouraged to select a costume from wardrobe and do a bit of role-playing. Every cruise seemed to have several Lady Godivas onboard.

Fallon smirked. With a little luck, Richard wouldn’t parade her around the ship naked, but she’d agreed to submit, in all things. Would she comply if he demanded it? She was still contemplating the answer when he arrived. She’d seen him naked, once. That bimbo he brought to her office had sucked his cock while she watched and imagined it was her doing those things to him, but he’d never seen her without her clothes.

She looked around for the towel she’d worn earlier, spied it on the floor, and considered wrapping it around her before she opened the door. Richard’s commanding voice penetrated the door. “Open up, Fallon. Don’t even think of hiding yourself from me.” Her knees weakened and her nipples betrayed her, firming and reaching for the dominating man in the hallway. She opened the door.

Richard stepped in and shut the door quickly, throwing the deadbolt as he did so. She backed a few steps into the room, unsure what he expected from her. Six feet of bronzed masculinity filled the small space and overwhelmed her senses. He smelled like the wind and the sun, and exuded enough heat to raise the ambient temperature several degrees. He wore nothing more than a white
Lothario
passenger wrap, slung low across his lean hips. Any lower and there would be no need to wear it at all. His sun bronzed back and shoulders filled the tiny space. He turned to her. Her breath caught in her lungs. The ship could have been named after him. He was every woman’s image of a
Lothario
, a seducer of women. There wasn’t a woman on the planet that wouldn’t be drawn to this man. Tall and lean, his brown hair bleached sandy by the constant Caribbean sun, and his eyes like gleaming emeralds, he even stole control of her involuntary muscles.

Those jeweled eyes made a quick sweep of her nakedness before they returned to her feet and slowly inched up, stopping at the juncture of her thighs, on the neatly trimmed mound there. His gaze lingered, but at last his eyes moved further up, pausing again at her breasts, now aching for his touch, her nipples painful rubies.

She should have felt like a bug under a microscope, or worse, a cheap whore, but underneath the obvious arousal, there was nothing but admiration, and perhaps reverence in the way he looked at her. He might be a despicable player, but it was hard to remember that when he looked at her that way. No wonder women threw themselves at him.

At last, he looked into her eyes. “Turn around.”

She turned, willing her trembling legs to hold her. No one had ever looked at her so. She felt exposed, vulnerable, yet aroused beyond anything she’d ever felt. With her back to him, she waited for his command, wondering if he intended to take her now, or if he ever would. She’d wanted him for so long, she didn’t know if she could wait any longer. It wasn’t up to her. She’d ceded control to Richard in his office earlier. What they did or did not do was on his time schedule now, not hers.