His Absolute Assignment - Elise's Love Story: The Billionaire's Continuum (#1) (A Contemporary Romance Novel) (15 page)

I wanted it.  I wanted him.  I wanted to give myself to him, fully and completely.  I was terrible at it, I knew.  I didn't understand any of this half the time.  He talked of control and submission, his domination.  His BDSM things, I said, as if they were something fun and frivolous.  And, yes, sometimes they were, but they were more than that, too.  They were a part of who Lucent was, a glimpse into his mystery, and I loved him all the more for it.

His control gave him power, but it offered me a little bit, too.  I just... I thought too much about it.  I worried.  I didn't understand and it made me nervous that maybe he'd give up sometime, that he'd not bother anymore, that he'd leave me, ignore me, be done with me because I couldn't keep up and I didn't know how to give him every part of me the way he wanted.

When he was like this, though, it threw me out of myself.  I lost control, forgetting my anxiety, leaving only a vague memory of confusion behind.

He touched me, teased me, controlled me.

He never said it, but I felt it.  I stared into his eyes, becoming lost in dark steel blue. 
Your heart is mine, Miss Tanner.  Your very soul.  Your breath, your essence.  Everything that makes you is mine.  I own you, entirely and completely.

I was his.

I wanted more, though, and I didn't know how to say it or explain it.  The words touched at the tip of my tongue and the concept and ideas flittered through my mind like uncatchable butterflies.  I had a net, I had wits, I had comprehension and skill, but none of this made sense to me.  It was impossible to me, but I didn't want it to be.  I wanted to understand it.

I just wanted everything.  All of it.  Everything about Lucent.  I wanted to control Lucent just as much as he wanted to dominate me, but in a different, impenetrable sort of way.  I didn't want to spank him or tie him up or any of that.  I just wanted to own him as fully and completely as he owned me.  I didn't think that was too much to ask for.

With ease, Lucent did the same thing to me.  He did it now.  With hunger in his eyes, he surged forth and pulled me against his muscular body.  I felt myself melting, pressed against him, as his fingers dug into my dress and my sides, holding me tight against his chest.  The muscles beneath his suit roared in protest, wanting to be free of their corporate confinement.  Unsure what to do, unsure how to progress or what we were even doing, my mind became blank and my hands hung in the air, halfway between dropping to my sides or embracing him.

Lucent kissed me.  His lips conquered mine before I even knew what happened, but, oh no, not without a fight.  I remembered myself, remembered where we were and what we were doing, who he was and who I was.  I sprang into action, kissing him wildly, fighting against his need with my own desire.  My hands grabbed at his suit and his sides, the buttons on the front, anything I could touch.  He kept me trapped, his hands on my waist and his arms blocking my way.  I scrambled, struggled for more.

My mind flared in inconsistency.  I wanted him to squeeze me so tightly and completely that I could never be free of him, but I wanted to latch onto him and lap up his sexual energy and power, too.  I wanted freedom and confinement, and I didn't know which I wanted more.  I didn't even know if I could separate one from the other.

Lucent spun me around, refusing to let me touch him.  I gasped and whined, deprived of his lips and his kiss.  I saw him, though.  He was mine, locked away in the mirror world, existing behind me and in front of me all at once.  I stumbled backwards, caught by surprise as he moved me this way and that.  Lucent was rampant, uncontrollable, prowling through the mirror world, prepared to leap atop me and capture me from the front and from behind.  Dizzy from his touch and his reflection, caught up in sensation, I didn't even know where I existed anymore.

I leaned against his chest, using him for balance.  His hands wrapped around my waist, holding me tight.  My dress wrinkled and bunched beneath his hands and his arms.  Slowly, he teased my skirt upwards, grasping the fabric tight.  The dress inched away from my knee, then up more, revealing my thigh, and further still until he could see every part of my body beneath my hips.  Lucent crushed the dress in his hands, the mirror-reflected look in his eyes showing torturous disdain for my clothes.

Pulling me hard against him then pushing me forward, he pressed me against the wall mirror.  I lifted my hands up, fingers spreading and clawing at the mirror, wanting to touch some part of him, any part of him, even if it was just Lucent's reflection.  He kicked my legs apart, forcing my heels to scrape and scratch against the tiled floor.  Grinding his core against my rear, he pushed me forward more, squeezing and pressing my body against the mirror.

I tried to push back, tried to fight for some unknown reason.  My body reacted to his roughness.  I wasn't entirely sure what had come over him, nor me for that matter.  I wanted him, and my body didn't know it yet...

Or a part of my body didn't know it yet.

Breasts squashed against the mirror, rear pulled back, neck straining, I watched Lucent in the reflection in front of me.  One of his arms wrapped around my waist, protective and possessive, but the other moved lower, down.  He held my skirt captive, refusing to give it freedom, and now he wanted to seize more of me.  His fingers dipped into the waistband of my panties, slow and delicate, then he jerked my underwear downwards, revealing my glistening sex.

Oh God, I was so wet for him.  I wanted him.  I didn't even care.  Foreplay?  What was that?  Did we need it?  More?  Not particularly.  I struggled briefly to reach around and undo Lucent's pants, unzip them and release his cock, then guide him to my slick entrance, but I couldn't.  He wouldn't let me.

While my panties hung loose near my knees, Lucent dragged his fingers across my slit, smearing my arousal across his fingertips.  Forceful, he shoved down, then up, driving two fingers inside me.  I gasped, my eyes rolling into the back of my head, then I screamed out my lust, driven by his touch.

"Quiet," he said, smooth and confident.

His hand invaded my mouth, the same fingers he'd used to invade my pussy, and he made me taste my own arousal.  I sputtered at first, then I licked at his fingers, salt and sweetness overwhelming me.  It was Lucent and me, our taste.  The firm grip of his fingers and his spice mixed with my insatiable lust and desire.

"Lucent, I—"

I couldn't say more, though.  He lowered his hand again, pinching at the hood of my clit.  Pure ecstasy and a lash of pain jolted through me.  My knees buckled and I nearly fell, but Lucent propped me up.  His fingers invaded me, curving inside of me, while his other arm wrapped around me, keeping me on my feet.  He delved deep, deeper, fingertips rough, scraping against every pleasurable inch of my inner walls.  And more, wriggling and squirming, finding the absolute center of my center.  Ragged and relentless, he made me acknowledge him, his presence, his everything.

I saw him now.  I only saw him because of the mirror in front of me.  My cheek nearly pressing against the surface, I cocked my head to the side so I could look at him.  His eyes watched me, stared at me from the other side of the mirror, controlled me with his lust and passion, his driving, absolute purpose.

I was his and he was going to make sure I knew it.

My body bucked and spasmed, trapped by sensation.  I needed more.  Less.  There.  Here.  Everything, everywhere.  His fingers moved me like a puppet and my arousal fed his need like an absurd addiction.  An orgasm welled up inside of me, some burst of pressure.  My toes curled in my shoes and I practically stood on tiptoes, pressing forward.  Lucent pulled me back, grinding his throbbing, pants-trapped cock against my ass.  He fucked me like that, hips digging into my soft flesh, his smooth leather belt scratching at my skin.  He wasn't even naked, but I felt like we were rutting, clothesless.  His fingers pried and pushed me, pressuring me to give him my climax.

I didn't know why, but I felt like I needed to.  I needed to scream out his name in orgasmic bliss before he undid his pants and fucked me hard, demanding I scream his name.  And more.  Over and over.

I did.  I came.  Hard.  Lucent's fingers wrapped around my pleasure, squeezing it in his fist, and then he opened wide and let me free.  I soared, escaped, body blissful and shining, my mind finally my own again.  I shivered and trembled, unable to control myself.  His hips bucked against me, his pants-covered cock sliding and grinding against my rear.  I lost my panties; they fell to the floor, bunching near my shoes on the tiles.

I tried to stop myself from screaming.  I knew I shouldn't, not here and not now, but I couldn't help it.  My body blazed with so much passion and energy and affection that it needed an outlet, and I found one in my trembling voice.

Possibly not a good thing.  When the fire alarms began blaring, neither of us realized it at first.  My scream dulled the noise to nothingness and my body quivered, shaking away any notion of sound.  Lucent breathed into my ear, harsh and ragged, and all I could hear was him and myself, until I finally eased into calmed bliss.

And...

Fire.  Alarms.  Something was wrong.  What was going on?

"Shit," Lucent said.  He helped me stand, guiding my hands towards the nearby sink countertop.  I held it, still trying to regain my senses.  Bending low, Lucent grabbed the waistband of my panties and yanked them up my legs, setting them back into place.  His fingers touched and caressed against all the sensitive parts of my core, but now wasn't really the time; though it didn't make me squirm any less.

I fixed my dress, pulling it down to cover my knees, while Lucent dragged his fingers through his hair, squeezing, then letting loose.

"You can't say a word of this to anyone," he said.

I started to ask what he meant, but I didn't have a chance.  This bathroom had a vanity mirror sitting atop a small cosmetic desk in the corner with a stool in front of it.  Lucent walked towards it and pulled the edge of the mirror.  It popped free, swinging outwards and revealing a panel with a bunch of numbers.  He tapped in a code, fingers pounding on the keys, and before I knew it the floor tiles near Lucent's feet popped loose.

"Come," he said to me.  Kneeling, he lifted the tiles and revealed an opening in the floor, acting as if this was commonplace and obvious.

At Lucent's feet, there was some sort of escape hatch with a ladder leading into oblivion.

"Miss Tanner," Lucent said.  "Please.  We don't have time.  This isn't as odd as it looks.  It leads to the Landseer saferoom.  I need you to climb down there."

I nodded, not saying anything; not sure what to say.  I was too shocked after my post-orgasmic bliss became interrupted by emergency that I found it difficult to be surprised.  It might have helped that Lucent knew things I didn't think any other person would ever have known, so him knowing about this seemed absolutely normal.

I stumbled forward, my legs forgetting how to work.  Lucent stood and guided me to the ladder, then helped me get my footing, lowering me down.  I climbed, but I didn't have far to go before reaching the bottom.  Lucent followed after me and closed the hatch of the secret entryway.

We stood in a labyrinthine hallway with bright emergency lights overhead.  The hall went in both directions, splitting off at either end into more hallways, more directions.  How many saferooms were there?  Or did it mean there were multiple entrances into these hallways, all leading to the same place?  I immediately thought of a murder mystery scene, like in a book.  The culprit might sneak through secret passageways in the aging mansion, coming out of the fireplace in the den in order to kill his victim, then slinking back into hiding, only to escape through the dining hall, acting as if he was merely waiting for dinner.

Except there was no murder going on.  Hopefully, at least.  What about the fire alarms?

Lucent ignored me for the time being.  Moving a few steps down the hall, he pressed some innocuous-looking panel, revealing something or other.  Curious, I went to him, peeking over his shoulder.  A digital map of the entire Landseer estate covered a micro-LCD screen, with a bright red patch glowing at one end of the mansion.

"There's a fire," Lucent said.  "In the data storage room.  That doesn't make any sense."

"Why?" I asked.

"The fire extinguishing system should be perfectly functional.  It's possible a fire may have started, though extremely unlikely, but the safety system should still be operational.  The data storage room is sealed from the inside, as well.  Only a handful of people have access.  The windows aren't broken, according to the warning system, either.  They're three-inch thick reinforced ballistic glass, so they wouldn't break easily, anyways."

"Computers get really hot," I said.  "If it's a bunch of servers and something broke, couldn't that have caused it?  With sparks from the electricity..."

Lucent pursed his lips and furrowed his brow.  "It's possible, but doubtful.  In the past, perhaps, but computers generally disengage and force a shut off or reboot if they overheat now.  It should never have become hot enough for a fire or combustion.  An electrical malfunction shouldn't cause any harm outside of the computer casing, either."

"Can we get there from here?" I asked.  Maybe that was a stupid question, but I felt empowered by my strange situation.  If we could escape into an underground tunnel system created to lead to a saferoom for the protection of Landseer Estate, it seemed a simple jump to be able to go to one of the rooms in the house and...

"Yes," Lucent said.  "Come.  Carefully, though.  It may not be possible, but if we can put out the fire and prevent damage to the rest of the building, that would be ideal.  The fire isn't spreading yet according to these sensors, and the data points don't indicate an extreme intensity outside of here—"  Lucent tapped on some random numbers on the digital map that made no sense to me.  "And here."

"Alright," I said.

"Miss Tanner, this isn't some game, though.  Please understand that.  If nothing can be done, we shall leave.  If the fire is blazing too fiercely, there's nothing we can do.  This is a matter of life or death.  I wasn't supposed to show you this, and we are not supposed to be here.  I gave my word to Mr. Landseer when I built—"