Broken Submission: Surrendering Softly (Contemporary Submissive Romance) (3 page)

“Why are you
doing this?” Lily breathed, shocked.

Maxwell Craig
shrugged. “Let’s just say I hate being fooled. Did you enjoy
laughing at us all behind your thick-framed glasses and frumpy
clothes, knowing what a freak you hid inside? And I know you’re
freaky, Lily. I’m going to spend the rest of tonight proving that
single fact.”

Lily’s chin
lifted with bravado she didn’t completely feel. “How do you propose
to accomplish that?”

“Why, when I
get to fuck you of course,” he said factually before grinning and
taking a casual drink from his glass.

Lily gasped,
blushing deeply as outrage coursed through her. “How dare you…”

“Drop the act,
Lily,” Maxwell snapped, placing his glass down with a decisive
‘thump’. “As it happens Vincent is a potential client I’m hoping to
wheel in as a personal favor to James. That’s why I never let on
that we’ve met before. You work for James’ firm – or you do for
now. At present I have no wish to jeopardize that or the
possibility of not closing the deal with Vincent when he finds out
the ‘companion’ he hired for my pleasure is actually James’
employee. Imagine how messy that looks.”

“Point of
correction. I wasn’t hired for your pleasure…” Lily began
heatedly.

Maxwell
sneered. “I might seem genteel but trust me I know how this works.
You’re paid to provide companionship and whatever comes with that.
Don’t pretend you have no clue. Your innocent façade is shattered
and believe me, I was never actually fooled. So here’s what I
propose.”

Lily,
speechless and horrified, waited with breathless dread for his next
words.

“One night.
With me. I don’t care what you do after-hours when you’re not the
efficient little headmistress-type paralegal James thinks you are.
But James will care and he won’t find it funny if and when he finds
out. You want to keep your job? You want to make sure you don’t end
up losing your good name and hard-won career? Then you’ll think
about what I’m suggesting. And don’t worry, I’m quite willing to
pay double whatever it is you normally charge.”

His smirk was
loathsome and Lily felt so degraded she could have thrown her drink
in his face. “I’m not sure the impression Vincent gave you, but I’m
not here to provide sex for money,” Lily choked out. “Pamela’s the
one with the escort job and even at that, she’s not a prostitute
either. I simply came along with her tonight for the fun of it
and…”

“Exactly. Fun.
My sentiment entirely,” Maxwell murmured, obviously not even
listening. “When Vincent suggested I meet him here and that he’ll
provide female entertainment, I was a tad bit skeptical. I’ve never
been a fan of paying for female companionship. What I want I get
for free. However in your case I’ll be willing to bend the rules.
Tonight, Lily, I’ll pay whatever price to have your delectable
looking body naked and twitching beneath mine. And in return I
promise James will never hear of this. But you’ll have to ensure
this will be the last time you play the part of escort.”

“You must be
insane,” Lily gritted out, visibly shaking with fury.

Maxwell merely
smiled. Inside this secluded corner of the VIP area, the loud music
and sounds from the crowd was not as blaring. She watched in
confusion as Maxwell reached into his jacket and withdrew his
mobile phone.

Still smiling
thinly, he pressed a single key. “James. On speed dial. In no time
he’s going to hear from me just who happens to be seated right next
to me, looking like the hottest, most beddable piece of ass ever.
You look very fuckable Lily Armstrong and if I have my way, I will
indeed fuck you senseless before the night is through and that will
be the end of it. Just say the word and you get to pick what it’s
going to be. Being my willing sexual slave for the night, or
letting James find out just what a dirty slut you really are and
slamming you with an immediate dismissal. Your choice. You have ten
seconds.”

Chapter
Three

Maxwell Craig
wanted to extort sex – from her.

Lily couldn’t
seem to wrap her head around it. She’d never have dreamed he’d be
interested in bedding someone like her. She’d always felt beneath
his notice.

But then, the
way she was presented tonight, maybe she couldn’t blame him for
suddenly catching an interest. After all, she was dolled up to the
max. And she was here as an escort, providing paid companionship.
And yet Lily was sure Pamela had told her the truth and that sex
was never on the menu.

So why was
Maxwell doing this?

He still held
the phone in his hand as he viewed her with a derisively cocked
brow. “Well? It’s ringing on the other end, Liliana. James is going
to be picking up any second now.”

The way he said
her full name so mockingly made Lily bristle, even as her heart
quaked. Could she call his bluff? She knew she was innocent – but
Maxwell obviously thought differently. And he’d make James think
the same if she took the chance.

“Lily….”

“Okay! Please,
just stop! Cut the call,” Lily said desperately.

Beneath the
colorful lights in the night club, Lily was perspiring.
Light-headed, she wanted to believe this was all a bad dream. That
Maxwell had to be joking. She watched his face as he smirked with
satisfaction and pointedly pressed the ‘cancel’ button before
replacing the phone in his inner pocket.

Thinking fast,
Lily looked around the crowded club for her friend Pamela. She
found the slender blonde dancing intimately with her partner, her
head thrown back as she laughed gaily at what Vincent was saying as
they moved together. Lily turned to Maxwell again.

“If you just
take a minute to speak to my friend Pamela, you’d see how wrong you
are…about me, about everything. She’ll explain to you what’s really
going on here,” Lily said in one more desperate attempt to change
his mind. Could he really be so base?

Of course he
could. He ate girls like her for breakfast. She’d always known he
was dangerous. In her heart, even as she’d longed for his
passionate touch, she’d known a man like Maxwell Craig would squish
her beneath his thumb given half the chance. She was nothing more
than a toy to him and all he required was one night of fun and
games and she’d be tossed aside like all his other past
playthings.

Maxwell looked
downright impatient now. “The last thing I need right now is more
verification of what I already know. The moment you walked in and I
saw you, I knew. You…in your barely-there black dress and heels
that spell out ‘fuck me’ in caps lock…you really think I need to
hear any more of your pretty little denials? You look the part,
sweetheart. You might as well play it.”

“Damn you,”
Lily breathed, staring at him with blush-stained cheeks.

He grinned,
just as his phone began to ring. He cocked a telling brow at her
and retrieved the cell once again. Before Lily could react, he was
speaking into it. “James? Yes, it was my missed call you just
received. Is there a problem you ask? Oh no, not at all. It’s just
that there’s an interesting little tidbit I feel requires your
attention…”

Lily couldn’t
help the pleading glare she sent Maxwell. He’d do it. She knew he
would. He’d tell James all those hateful lies about her and she’d
have no way to defend herself, not when she was right there,
looking as Maxwell had pointed out, every inch the expensive,
glamorous paid companion and nothing like the regular girl James
thought he knew.

Maxwell had her
trapped. He knew it – and so did she. She bit hard on her lip and
fought back a tear. Maxwell read her expression perfectly, it
seemed, because he murmured that he’d call James back the following
morning, and ended the call.

“Smart move,
Lily,” Maxwell said nonchalantly as he slipped the phone out of
sight. He raked her with one of those smoldering once-overs that
set her nipples stiffening even as she gasped in affront at his
sheer nerve.

“You’ll have
nothing to worry about once I get what I want,” he murmured,
reaching out a hand and running his knuckles over the side of her
face. Lily fought back a flinch.

“And you make
me want you more than I’ve wanted anything in a long, long time.
That, in a way, should make you feel some pinch of triumph of your
own. That you’d bring me to this position of having to blackmail
you to share my bed. It’s not something I’m proud of, but needs
must prevail. Since you insist on standing by your story, I think
we’ll just do things my way.”

“And your way’s
always the be all and end all, isn’t it?” Lily asked bitterly as
she stared hatefully at him. How could she ever have thought him
desirable? He was a beast! She’d die if he ever guessed how many
months she’d spent mooning over him from the first day she’d set
eyes on him. How he filled her nights with recklessly carnal
fantasies where lust and ecstasy reigned supreme. If only he knew
he didn’t need blackmail to make her his. But now he was going to
forever cheapen anything that could have been. Now it all felt like
ashes and it had only just begun, it seemed.

“Yes, Lily,”
Maxwell said quite seriously in answer to her question. “And if
you’re smart, you’ll agree with me. Now, shall we dance?”

He was on his
feet and holding his hand to her with mocking gallantry. Lily
scowled. “Do I have a choice?”

He smirked.
“Not tonight. But it’s not too late to back out. All you have to do
is consider what’s at stake and how important it is to you.”

It was
important – more than Maxwell would ever know. Lily had a lot
riding on this and knowing that for one night, Maxwell had her in
his power made her grit her teeth. She hated to think she was going
to have to roll over and take it but it looked like that was
exactly what she would have to do. In more ways than one.

*

How Lily
endured the next couple of hours was a mystery. Even more
surprising was how easily Maxwell kept up the charade. Neither
Vincent nor Pamela would ever have guessed what had transpired in
their absence.

Maxwell pulled
her into his arms on the dimly-lit dance floor and once she felt
his formidably solid frame against hers, Lily felt again that pull.
She detested how easily she was drawn to him even after what he’d
said – what he wanted to do. His arms around her turned her so that
she had her back to him and she shivered as he drew her closer once
more, his groin pressing into her backside.

“Relax,” he
said gruffly in her ear. Reluctantly Lily eased up on her
stiffness, allowing herself sway to the sexy music the DJ now
played.

“That’s
better,” Maxwell said with deep approval. His head bent as he
nuzzled the curve of her bare shoulder. He drew in a swift breath
while Lily started to feel she was hyperventilating. Being in his
arms was like a fantasy come true and yet still she felt equal
lashings of anger at him for his cruelty.

“Even your
scent tempts me to distraction,” Maxwell groaned, his voice
stimulating her as even as low as it was it drowned out all else.
“You make me so hard I can barely wait to whisk you away. How soon
can we leave?”

His tone was
teasing but Lily was far from amused. Not when the unmistakable
bulge of his burgeoning erection settled between her ass cheeks.
Shocked by such a brazen signal, Lily strove to ignore how much it
turned her on to know he desired her so strongly.

Maxwell
chuckled low in her ear as if sensing her confusion. “This might
seem like blackmail, but I can make you want this as much as I do,”
he promised with a light kiss on her lobe. Lily shuddered
imperceptibly. “You’re all woman, Lily, and that’s one subject
matter I know my way around quite well. Only a female with ice in
her veins could resist my unquestionable abilities beneath the
sheets.”

“Well, I think
you’re despicable,” Lily choked, closing her eyes briefly at the
sensation of his silken lips teasing the skin behind her ear.

“Hate me if you
must. It won’t change the fact that soon, you’ll be screaming my
name as you beg me to let you cum, again and again.”

His factual
words made droplets of ice dribble down her spine, while at the
same time molten lava coursed through her vagina.

Be careful what
you wish for, the saying went. Those words had never rung more
true. For all those countless times she’d grabbed her pillow in a
longing embrace and dreamed it was Maxwell, she was going to get
one night of gratification at the mercy of a heartless tyrant
hell-bent on bringing her into submission.

Soon they
rejoined Vincent and Pamela who were back at their table. For Lily
the rest of the date passed like she was awaiting a life sentence.
Behind her smiles and ready conversation she felt a fluttering in
her stomach as time and again, she stole a look at Maxwell. On each
occasion she asked herself if it was too late to change her mind.
What if she lost her job? What if James – a man she trusted and
admired to the point of hero-worship, found out the wrong
impression about her?

But even as the
minutes ticked on to the hour of reckoning, Lily knew she’d go
along with it. It was weak and stupid of her but she’d run out of
options. There was just so much hanging in the balance and she
alone knew the cost if Maxwell would carry out his threat once she
defied him.

She almost
cringed when at some point before they were all about to leave
Maxwell announced that he’d be dropping Lily off. According to him
he’d discovered they live not far from each other and he’d be glad
to drop her off home.

Lily could tell
Pamela looked troubled as both women took their coats minutes
later. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Pamela said in a
whispered tone for their ears only.

Lily sighed
heavily, knowing both of them had planned to take a cab home by the
end of the evening. Where Maxwell had got the impression she was to
play call girl was beyond her.