Hooked (Decadence Nights Book 1) (4 page)

As she watched his handsome face in repose, he shifted and a thick swath of hair fell across his forehead. She was tempted to brush it back, but refrained not ready to face him yet.

Morning-after doubts crept in like the approaching dawn. What happened now? He hadn’t mentioned anything beyond last night. In fact, some of his statements seemed time limited.
Say yes… and we have a verbal contract for the night.
She had accepted in less defined terms, but what if one night was all he ever intended?

She had invaded his territory after all, arriving unexpectedly and shocking him down to his structured and very organized toes. In the entire time she’d worked for him, she’d never seen him with the same woman twice. Granted, this was usually at business functions, not purely social events. Maybe, her wildly whirling mind proposed, that was his style here at Club Decadence as well, taking a different sub every night. He was there on open sub night, maybe he liked new conquests.

The notion that he would suddenly want her as she wanted him—a committed relationship, marriage, babies, the whole nine yards—after all this time, was as fleeting and elusive as a dream.

As she lay there, feeling the weight of what they had done, the impact on her future, her career, her livelihood, pressed heavy like an anvil on her chest. The urge to escape became overwhelming. She eased away, inching her legs toward the side of the bed as she slowly slid out from under his arm. He stirred. Livvy held her breath as she watched anxiously, waiting for those long lashes to part and surprise her with the ever changing color behind them as he awakened, but he rolled to his side, his back to her.

A mixture of disappointment and relief rushed through her. She hesitated only a moment before going into action, easing off the bed in a blink and gathering her clothes. With shoes in hand and still awkwardly zipping her dress up the back, she was out the door, easing it quietly closed behind her. Finding herself in a long, thankfully empty, corridor, she looked frantically around trying to get her bearings. Since Joseph had brought her there while unconscious, she had no idea where she was. With a fifty-fifty shot, she turned left, praying she wouldn’t run into someone. At the same time, she desired nothing more than for Joseph to appear at her side, uttering words of love and commitment as he scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to their room.

Neither happened as she made it to the stairwell at the end of the hall and quickly descended on soundless bare feet. Two flights down, she pushed open a metal door and stepped out into the nearly abandoned parking lot. When she did, a lone ray of sunlight broke through the clouds, falling upon her like an accusing finger. Two steps into her walk of shame—something she hadn’t done since her reckless early twenties—the door clanged shut with finality behind her.

Her laptop screen blinked back at her blankly, the stark white document she had pulled up providing the only light in the gray room. Traveling east to Austin at daybreak, she’d driven into more storms, the torrential rains and the gloominess of the day suiting her tears and mood perfectly. It was approaching 8:30 when she called the office, leaving Joseph a voice mail—her second cowardly act of the day—that she wasn’t feeling well and would be taking a personal day. Her agenda, coming up with a resume that covered more than one page when she’d worked at the same place for a decade.

She couldn’t concentrate, however, imagining his reaction when he woke and found her gone. Maybe he’d been relieved that the stilted morning-after dialogue wouldn’t be necessary, or concerned that she’d simply disappeared—they weren’t strangers after all—or possibly angry that she’d robbed him of the opportunity for a morning quickie before giving her the old heave ho?

With a long drawn out groan, she laid her head on the table. How had she messed up her life in one night?

A loud knock—actually, it was three in quick succession—sounded at the door.

Jerking upright, her eyes bored into the wood as though if she tried hard enough she could see who stood on the other side. Even if it were possible, x-ray vision was unnecessary when she knew without a doubt who it was. The raps were repeated, louder.

“Olivia,” Joseph’s stern tone cut through the solid wood door. “Open up.”

She didn’t dare move, or breathe.

“I know you’re home. Your car is in its space.”

On shaky legs, she stood, compelled to do as both her ex-Dom and soon to be ex-boss said.

“Now, Olivia.”

Her stocking feet padded quietly to the door. As she reached for the deadbolt her hand trembled. She fisted it to quell its shaking. Staring at the brass lock, she continued to hesitate.

“Joseph—” she began softly, but his unyielding command interrupted.

“I won’t have a discussion through a door. I also won’t tell you again. Open the door, right now.”

The deadbolt, chain and door lock turned in sequence. As she pulled it open, she looked up at him and her jaw dropped. Never had she seen him in this condition. His hair was mussed as if he’d run his fingers through it, a day’s growth of beard shadowed his chin. He was disheveled, in wrinkled shirtsleeves and no tie, he wore the same clothes he’d worn the day before. It occurred to her that he’d come directly to her from San Antonio.

Like an enraged tiger and she his prey, he stalked her. Livvy backed up a step, as Joseph prowled forward. She kept pace, matching him step-by-step in retreat. His eyes, an angry forest green, blazed down at her, unwavering, even when he shut the door behind him with a decisive slam.

“I have never been callously abandoned in the middle of the night. Not only does it wound my pride, Olivia, it stings. What did you think that was, a one-night stand?”

She had the good grace to flush, heat suffusing her face clear to her ears.

“You did,” he accused, his jaw clenched in outrage. “What’s going on in that head of yours? You know me. Do you really believe I’d treat you in such a manner?”

Still backing up, she came to a sudden halt, unable to go further when the back of her legs bumped up against the arm of her couch.

“Joseph, I—”

“No,” he bit out. “I don’t want to hear your excuses right now. I’m here to finish what we started last night. Do you know why?”

She shook her head, afraid to say a word.

“Because a session with me does not end until I say it does.” He pulled her up by the arms, his long fingers encircling her firmly, but not hurtfully. “Did you say your safeword, Olivia?”

“No, Sir,” she breathed out, barely above a whisper.

His hands went to the belt in her jeans, unbuckled it and in one long pull, zipped it from the loops.

“Do you have a different safeword you failed to disclose?” As he spoke, he spun her to face the couch. Gathering her wrists in one hand, he bound them behind her back, using her own belt as a restraint.

“Orchid, Sir.”

“Your favorite flower, perhaps?”

His long body leaned into hers, his thighs pressing against the back of her own. His hips pinned her in place, holding her still, and the hard length of him pressed against her bound hands.

“It is,” she gasped, “but—”

“I would have remembered hearing that had you said it, but you didn’t, did you?” He pulled up her t-shirt, his hands cupping her breasts from behind, lifting and massaging them slowly.

“No, Sir. I’m—”

“Silence.”

The single word, said in an even but steely tone, sent a sharp jolt of fire, like a streak of lightening straight through to her clit. When his fingers curled into the cups of her bra and pulled them down, she could barely think. And, when his thumbs and index fingers found the taut peaks and rolled them, pinching them deliciously, she could barely breathe.

“You do not have permission to speak, Olivia, except to say one word, your safeword—red or orchid—whichever you choose. I will honor both without fail.”

He paused, clearly giving her time to say one of them now. Left breathless by his forcefulness, her body too aroused by his dominance, Livvy let the seconds tick by without a response. She knew her time was over when his fingers found the button on her jeans. With the zipper undone, he yanked down her pants, panties and all, then he bent her over the high, overstuffed arm of her couch.

Two fingers dipped into her slit from behind, easily locating her sopping wet channel and plunging inside. The only acknowledgment he gave of her blatant arousal was a grunt of satisfaction before his other hand came down on her upraised bottom—hard. This was not the spanking of only a few hours earlier when he’d been pleased with her. No, this was without a doubt punishment. Her head reared back and she sucked in a gulp of air as another blast of fire rained down on her ass. That’s when she saw herself: hair wild about her head, lips parted as she panted fast, shirt shoved up to her shoulders, breasts bare and pushed up wantonly by her lowered bra, her jeans and panties in a twist around her knees. The image reflected back at her in the sliding glass door was the embodiment of a conquered and dominated woman.

Mesmerized, she watched as his hand rose and fell repeatedly, keeping up a steady pace, building an intense burn with each stroke of his broad palm, not only on her skin, but low in her belly and within the achy place between her thighs.

“After three years, spending forty plus hours per week working alongside one another, attending countless business and social functions together, I thought that we had deeper feelings—respect, trust, esteem, at the very least.” He didn’t allow her time to answer, moving to the tops of her thighs to apply swat after scorching swat. “Since you obviously missed it, let me make it clear. Last night was beyond boss and employee, much more than friends and a damn sight more than a casual fling. Last night took us to an entirely different level. I claimed you, Olivia. Therefore, your response this morning, running from me, was altogether objectionable.”

He grunted again, still whaling away, peppering her ass and thighs with fiery heat. “For leaving without a word, sneaking off like a college co-ed after a drunken mistake, for that bit of rudeness alone, you deserve more than my hand, I think.” He stopped and pressed his lips to her ear. “Don’t you dare move.”

He followed it up with a lick along the delicately curved shell and a quick nip on the lobe. Then he strode away. She heard him rummaging around in the kitchen. Her mind did a hasty inventory of what he might find as a punishment tool—wooden spoons, spatulas in all sizes, a plastic cutting board with a handle—any of them would drive his point home.

She shouldn’t have left without speaking to him. A shiver coursed through her body as she remembered his words. “
I claimed you
.” How was she supposed to know that? He hadn’t said a word, had he? She was replaying every moment in her brain, when the creak of the floorboards announced his return.

At that moment, it clicked.
“I am that Dom, Olivia. No other.”
She cringed, calling herself an oblivious fool and worse. “Joseph, please, may I speak?”

“No,” he barked.

She bit her lip. He had never been this stern or angry with her—ever. Of course, she’d never left him naked in bed after a night of unbelievable sex either.

A swishing sound behind her was followed by a line of scorching heat, blazing a trail across her ass from cheek to cheek. She cried out, teetering forward on her precarious perch as much from surprise as from the blistering switch, cane, or whatever the heck it was he’d found in her kitchen to punish her with.

His hand on her lower back steadied her. “You will receive five more strokes. At that point, if my anger is appeased enough to discuss this, we will. If not, you’ll get a half dozen more.”

Another swish preceded a thwap. “Ow, ow, ow!”

“Four more.”

The next came with a hiss as she sucked in helplessly.

“Three.”

Spaced evenly apart, he allowed each blow to flare to a fiery burn, linger for a moment, somehow knowing when the sting had eased a bit, only then did the next one land. He worked with precision, moving from the top down covering her entire ass, no strokes forging the same path. When the count was at two, the next stroke fell across the crease between her cheek and thigh. The sixth and final stroke followed shortly and was applied an inch or so below the last, landing on the fleshy part of her thighs. Those last two hurt worst of all.

“Please, Joseph,” she cried out, tears flowing more so from shame than the burn gracing her ass and thighs. “Forgive me. I acted rashly, inexcusably and you’re right, out of esteem and respect for you, I owed you so much more.”

The implement fell on the cushion in front of her. She recognized it as the plastic wand from her mini-blinds in the kitchen. As she pictured her bottom marked with his stripes, a fire rivaling the one on her ass stirred to life within her core.

He moved behind her, no longer towering over her prostrate form, but crouching, his face level with her well-chastised bottom. Joseph’s hands brushed softly over her inflamed cheeks, his mouth spreading gentle kisses in their wake. When his fingers found her drenched with arousal, his lips grazed her heated skin with a moan. “You’re soaking wet, Olivia. I’ve got to have you, now.”

“Have me, Master, please.” Belatedly, she realized her error. He hadn’t approved her use of Master yet. That was special, usually reserved for a committed couple, but in this instance it seemed so right, coming freely from her lips.

He tilted her backwards until her feet touched the floor. Hurriedly, he stripped her pants and panties down and off. Pushing to his feet, he curled his hand under her knee and cocked it up until it rested high along the back of the couch, spreading her unbelievably wide. Not a second passed before his cock thrust upward, bottoming out with the first penetration. With an arm around her waist, the other slid around her chest grasping the opposite shoulder as he began to pump inside—long, hard, deep—each thrust of his hips slapping her tenderized bottom.

This was possession, pure and simple. Bound, helpless, spread open for the taking, she had no control and she didn’t want any. She wanted Joseph to have total control of her body. Never had she experienced anything like it. Not in years with Vaughn, or with the two Doms she’d been with before him. Only in her fantasies had she been dominated so completely, those dreams starring only one man.

His hands swept over her belly and breasts. One lingered to roll and tug on a nipple, while the other slid up her chest to her throat. When his hand cupped her jaw, angling her face up and back, he demanded more. “Give me your mouth, pet.”

With his tongue thoroughly ensconced above and his cock firmly embedded below, he pumped into her relentlessly, pushing her toward a looming peak. She was about to soar over the summit when he withdrew. Her orgasm seemingly so close became like an elusive mirage just out of reach. Her cries of frustration filled the room.

His next order sounded in a gruff, but determined voice. “Kneel, Olivia.”

On rubbery legs, she turned and with less than her usual grace, knelt before him. Guiding her head back with a hand in her hair, he brought his cock to her lips. Without being told to, she opened her mouth, greedily accepting him as he slid into her, once, twice, and a final time when he came with a growl over her tongue and down her throat. With both hands in her hair, he held her head gently while Livvy lapped and licked him, his body trembling as he came down from his climax. After a few long intimate moments, he pulled away.

“I’m due in Ft. Worth this afternoon, as you know. I’ll be back on Friday at three o’clock. You have until then to think about what you want and make a decision.” He paused to zip his trousers and buckle his belt. The finality of his action gave her a very bad feeling. She suppressed a groan. He was demonstrating his control, both of her and her pleasure. Her body still hummed with arousal, yearning for him.

He
squatted in front of her
, his big hands sliding up to her cheeks, lifting her face so close to his she could feel his breath. Wanting him so badly her teeth ached, she leaned into his touch.