To Love and Submit (18 page)

Would he mention anything about the weekend or would he be his usual cold, professional self? Maybe he’d flirt discreetly with her, especially if she flirted with him first. But what if she did flirt and he blanked her? Would he be pleased if she tried to mix a bit of pleasure with business? Or would he be cross and punish her, maybe? Now, there was a thought.

She stepped into the lift and felt her stomach lurch along with it. When it pinged at the top, she stepped out as quietly as she could and practically tiptoed to her office. If she could get herself settled behind her desk with her professional, confident smile in place before she saw him, she could hide behind the illusion of efficiency and follow his lead.

The door to her office was shut. When she pushed it quietly open, she could see that the door into his office was open. Did that mean he was already there? She’d arrived early in the hope that she’d be there first.

“Rachel!” His voice boomed from behind the frosted glass, and she took another deep breath as she flung her coat on the chair by her desk and stepped into his office with her smile fixed in place.

“Good morning, Mr Stone.” She melted a little as she looked at him. He looked gorgeous in his dark grey suit and crisp white shirt. He was freshly shaven and a hint of aftershave reached her nostrils, reminding her of his musky scent as he had blindfolded her and chained her up in the flogging room. Heat surged through her body and settled annoyingly in her cheeks, as she fought the overwhelming urge to rush over and kiss him.

“Good morning, Rachel.” He nodded at the chair opposite him and she sat down, silently. “Are you comfortable? The chair’s not too hard, is it?”

She couldn’t stop the grin spreading across her face as she replied, “The chair is fine, Sir.”

He lowered his voice. “How are you?”

“Very well, thank you, Sir.”
I’d be even better if you’d put me over your knee
. Her eyes watered with shame.
Shit, what’s happening to me?

“Good. I nearly called you yesterday.”

“Really?”
I wish you had.
She had hoped he would, and had kept her phone close to her all day.

“I wanted to check you were all right, but I thought you might prefer some time to think, without me bothering you.” His voice was soft and velvety and she melted a little more.

“I’m fine,” she said, smiling. “You can bother me any time you want.”

“Do you have any regrets about Saturday?” he asked, his eyes not leaving hers.

“Mr Stone, let me make something completely clear to you,” she said, feeling suddenly empowered by the rather sweet way he was trying to find out how she felt. “You forced me into submission, took away my control and dominated me completely. You beat me with floggers and a crop while I was chained and blindfolded and then later, you tied me to a bed and fucked me hard in front of a crowd.”

He nodded, solemnly. “That sounds about right.”

“Well, Sir, just so you know, I loved every minute of it and can’t wait for you to do it all again.” She grinned when she saw the relief in his eyes and couldn’t resist adding a little teaser. “In fact, Sir, I was rather hoping you’d put me over your knee this morning.”
Shit, did I really just say that?

“Well, Rachel, I’ll have to see what I can do about that. I might just have to punish such insolence.” He was smiling broadly now and she felt her insides contract with a feeling so powerful it practically left her breathless. “Unfortunately,” he continued, “I’ve got Joanne Baker—our Finance Director in case you didn’t know—scheduled for a meeting in twenty minutes, but don’t think you’re off the hook.”

“No, Sir.” She grinned happily and stood up. “Coffee?”

“Yes please.” He smiled again and picked up his phone as she turned to leave the office.

“Kneel!” His voice stopped her dead in her tracks, her heart hammering wildly in her chest. Wow, this was
so
sexy. She turned around and practically fell onto her knees in front of him, looking quickly down at the floor the way she knew would please him.

But then she heard him say, “Sorry, Neal, can you just hold a moment.” He put his hand over his phone and stared at her in astonishment. “Rachel, what are you doing?”

Rachel had never wished to be swallowed up by the floor as much as she did at that moment. S
hit
! She stared at Adam, her face burning, and stuttered, “Sorry, Sir. I heard you say kneel—I didn’t realise you were making a phone call. Sorry.” She scrambled up quickly and ran out of his office without looking back.

When she was safely in the kitchen, she hid her head in her hands as embarrassment took over her.
Oh my God, what an idiot.
What must he think? She hurriedly made the coffee, adding milk and sugar without thinking, and had to make some more when she realised her mistake.

When she returned to his office with the coffee, Adam was thankfully still on the phone to Neal. She placed the coffee carefully onto a coaster and hurried out again without looking at him.

A few minutes later, Joanne Baker, the tall, elegant Finance Director, popped her head around Rachel’s door. “Is he free?” she asked, her voice laced with educated confidence.

“He’s just finishing a phone call,” she replied, smiling. “He won’t be long.”

Joanne looked at her as if contemplating something, and coughed slightly awkwardly. “Rachel, I know you’re probably very busy, but is there any way you would be able to help me out?”

“I’ll do what I can,” she replied, wondering how on earth she could help someone as important as Joanne Baker.

Joanne reached into her briefcase and took out a wad of papers. She held them out to Rachel, who took them and gave them a quick glance. “If you could take a look at these numbers for me and check them over I’d be very grateful. Belinda is snowed under, catching up with everything before her replacement starts, and I’m in meetings all day.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best,” said Rachel, feeling flattered that the Finance Director herself trusted her enough with the figures.

Just then Adam stuck his head out of his office and greeted Joanne with a friendly smile and a handshake.

When Joanne disappeared into Adam’s office and she was alone again, Rachel picked up Joanne’s papers and took a quick look. She wasn’t really intending to start at that moment—after all she had Adam’s audio tape from Friday to do—but she soon forgot about that as she lost herself in the numbers.

Forty minutes later, when Joanne came back out of Adam’s office, Rachel handed her the papers. “All done. There were a couple of errors, which I’ve highlighted. Otherwise it’s fine.”

Joanne looked thrilled. “Thank you so much, Rachel. I won’t keep bothering you like this, I promise, but I do appreciate your help.”

“You’re welcome.” Rachel smiled, feeling a buzz of satisfaction she hadn’t felt in a long time.

She had always been good with numbers and had found maths easy at school. She had sailed through her maths A level and had seriously considered going to university after she’d left school. Her thoughts darkened as the memories threatened to return and she quickly pushed them to the back of her mind. That was a long time ago—there was no going back now, so there was no use thinking about it.

“Rachel!” Adam’s voice broke into her thoughts and she jumped as she snapped out of her gloomy reverie.

“Yes, Mr Stone?” she said, and popped her head around his door.

“Have you finished the report on the tape I gave you on Friday?” He barely looked up as he hunted through his drawer for something.

Oh shit, she hadn’t even started it yet. “Er… Not yet,” she said, wondering if there was any way she could play for time. Her heart sank when she saw his face darken.

“What do you mean, not yet? What the hell have you been doing all morning?” he snapped, the smile in his eyes now a distant memory.

“Joanne asked me to help her with something while she was in with you.” Rachel hated dropping Joanne’s name into it, but she didn’t want Adam to think she hadn’t been doing anything during that meeting. Her head was cast downwards and she looked up through her eyelashes to check if he still looked mad. He did, damn.

“I’m going to see Lord Granville now,” he said, coldly. “I’d appreciate it if it’s on my desk when I return.”

“Yes of course.” She could barely bring herself to look at him.

Adam gathered some papers and his phone then walked towards her and stopped when he was in front of her. He towered over her, the dominance that radiated from him reducing her knees to jelly. She struggled to look up into his face without reaching up to kiss him.

He leant forwards and, for a minute, she thought he was going to kiss her, but instead he whispered in her ear, his warm breath tickling her neck, “I’ll deal with you later.”

She could only stare after him as he stalked out to the lifts.
What did he mean by that?
She heard the lift ping as it arrived to take him to his meeting, and she jumped as if he’d touched her. She hurried back to her desk and popped on her headphones, but the more she listened to the dulcet tones of his glorious voice, the more she became distracted and made stupid mistakes.

In the end, she flung the headphones off in frustration and stood up and stretched. Her head was all over the place, she just couldn’t concentrate on the damned report. What she needed was a coffee, so she made her way into the small kitchen, made herself a drink then returned to her desk.

The office was too bloody quiet. The other two PAs always kept their doors shut and there was no sign of life anywhere. The only sound was the slight hum of the air conditioning and Rachel found herself wishing she was back downstairs in the busy, noisy environment of the second floor. She missed Joe and the girls—they’d always had a friendly chat over their coffee break and she suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to pop down and say hello.

She wouldn’t be long, she justified to herself—she could divert her phone to reception and if Adam should come back early she would just say she had needed to visit the bathroom. With a flutter of excitement, she put her coffee down on her desk and made her way to the lifts.

As soon as the lift doors opened onto the second floor, Rachel was greeted with the familiar buzz of phones ringing, printers whirring and people talking and laughing. She looked over towards Joe’s office and found a pretty brunette sitting at her desk. She looked happy and confident and laughed when Joe shouted something from inside his office. Everything was carrying on without her, and Rachel felt a pang of self-pity as she quietly observed her old life playing out before her.

Tears pricked her eyes and she quickly pressed the call button on the lift and stepped discreetly back in as soon as the doors opened, before anyone saw her. What had she been thinking? She was on the executive floor now. She wasn’t one of the old gang anymore, but one of the ‘unreachables’ on the top floor. The two just didn’t mix. Would things ever be the same when she returned? What if Joe liked the new girl so much that he didn’t want her back?

Returning to her desk, she absent-mindedly picked up her lukewarm coffee from her desk and wandered into Adam’s office. It wasn’t even a week since she had been standing in the same place worrying what Adam Stone would be like, and now, not only was he her boss, but her lover and Dom as well. Wow, what a week! As she stared out of the window, memories of his incredible explanation of BDSM crept back into her mind. A smile stretched across her face as she recalled the touch of his lips on her body, his hands in her hair and his flogger on her arse.

“Enjoying the view again?” He was right behind her. She hadn’t heard the telltale ping of the lift and she jumped as his voice startled her.

“Oh, sorry, I was just thinking…” Actually, it was probably best she didn’t tell him what she had been thinking.

“Oh, Rachel, what am I going to do with you?” His voice was soft and she could feel the warmth of his breath touch her ears. He kissed her neck and her body shivered involuntarily as he gently turned her around and kissed her on the mouth. His lips were soft at first, but then he took possession of her the way he had at Boundaries and his kiss became harder and more dominating.

The harder he kissed her, the more she melted back into her submissiveness, and she found herself wishing he would order her to strip and kneel before him, so he could overpower her the way he had on Saturday night. But, eventually, he pulled away and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“You’re distracting me from my work,” he whispered, as he traced her swollen lips with his fingertip. “All I want to do right now is tie you to the desk and fuck you till you scream.” His voice was heavy with lust, which intensified the throbbing in her pussy until it became almost unbearable.

“Hmm, yes please,” she moaned. Oh, God, what she would give for that right now.

“You’re not exactly making it easy for me when you go and throw yourself onto your knees in front of my desk.” His eyes creased at the corners as he laughed.

Oh, God. She buried her face in his chest to hide her embarrassment. “Can we forget about that please?” she begged.

“Nope. I intend to remind you of that one for a long time. Come on”—he tapped her bottom lightly—“back to work. Is the report on my desk?”

The report? Oh bugger, the report. The throbbing between her legs vanished and restarted in her head as she recalled the mess she’d made of what little she had done so far. She didn’t need to say anything—he could obviously tell by the deep flush on her cheeks—and his eyes narrowed as he leaned towards her. “Rachel, don’t think you can slack off just because you’re screwing the boss. I’ve got a lot of work to get through and I need a professional and efficient PA, so you’d better buck your ideas up.”

The ‘or else’ was unspoken but crystal clear. Was he threatening her? Furious, with herself more than him, she nodded. “Yes, Sir. I’m sorry, I’ll have it finished before you know it.”

“Oh, and Rachel?” His voice halted her as she started to retreat back out to her office.

“Yes, Sir?” She turned back to face him and faltered when she saw the grim expression on his face.