His Absolute Assignment - Elise's Love Story: The Billionaire's Continuum (#1) (A Contemporary Romance Novel) (2 page)

Lucent sighed and shook his head, though the hint of a smile played upon his lips.  "Miss Tanner, Miss Tanner, Miss Tanner... what am I going to do with you?"

"Well, I suppose you could—"

"Shh," he said, shushing me with a word and a finger to my lips.  "Don't."

I shushed.  I didn't.

"Up," Lucent said, commanding me.

I stood.  I'd been sitting at his desk in his office at Landseer Tower while he was away, which was probably not the most ideal place to situate myself.  Lucent had a grand office with a view of the city; and, as well he should, considering he was a prominent figure at Landseer Enterprises.  Lucent Storme, Director of Public Relations, figurehead for the public front of Landseer Enterprises.  He attended press conferences, spoke about new and exciting deals, went to events, traveled, and overall he just did a lot of things.  He did more than his title dictated, too, but that wasn't for everyone to know.  I probably shouldn't know, either, but...

"Kneel," he said, pointing to the carpeted floor in front of his feet.

"Lucent, I—"

He interrupted me with a sharp gesture.  "Miss Tanner," he said.  "Kneel."

I sighed and rolled my eyes at him, then knelt on the carpet in front of him.  We stood (or he stood and I kneeled) behind his desk.  The large window to the side gave me a wonderful vantage point of the city and I found myself glancing at the streets.

"You're an extremely difficult woman," Lucent said, demanding my attention once again.  "You sneak into my office without my permission, use my desk for your own pleasure, and then you have the gall to act as if nothing is amiss.  Have I missed anything?"

"I certainly didn't use the desk for my own pleasure," I said.  "I was trying to get some work done."

"I recognize that you have a mouth, Miss Tanner, but I don't want you to use it at the moment."

"You asked me a question!"

I didn't get to say much more than that.  Lucent grabbed my chin in his hand and lifted it up, making me look skywards and towards him.  He lifted my head high, straining the muscles in my neck, then he squeezed my jaw slightly, forcing me to part my lips.

This was all cause for surprise, but then he surprised me more by kissing me.  Bending low, Lucent descended upon me, bringing his mouth to mine and kissing me with such passion and fervor that I forgot nearly everything.

His tongue teased at my lips and he nibbled on my bottom one, sucking it into his mouth.  My eyes widened and I stared at him with a gasp of shock and a shiver of delight.  This... was not at all what I expected, but I liked it.

Then he stopped.

"Why did you stop?" I asked with a whine.

He let go of my chin, but I kept my head craned upwards, staring at him.

"I needed a moment to contemplate your punishment," he said.

"You could spank me?" I offered.  "You did say that I was using your desk for my own pleasure, but I don't think I was, so if you want, I can, and you can spank me there?"

"You do realize that you're awful at this, still, don't you?" he asked.

"I'm trying!  I knelt on the floor, didn't I?"

He smiled down at me.  "I find your inquisitive nature pleasing, Miss Tanner.  Truly, I do.  I even enjoy your playful banter more often than not.  I'm completely unsure if you'll ever be a proper submissive, though."

"I'd like to try," I said.  "I do like it.  I just have a lot of questions and sometimes I don't understand."

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

I nodded.  "Yes."

"We can progress slowly, if you're willing.  You don't have to do anything you don't want to, though.  Please believe me when I say that.  While I generally do prefer and enjoy relationships with a higher degree of domination and submission involved, I would gladly make an exception for you.  It's not necessary, but if you're willing, I would enjoy teaching you.  Consider it pleasant training, if you will."

I gulped and nodded.  I understood; I really did.  Before I met Lucent, I didn't know any of this, though.  I'd heard rumors about him, heard that he was into the darker side of sexuality, which I mistook for meaning that he was an abusive asshole.  Sometimes he came across as arrogant, too.  His tone was more than a bit formal, which I think threw a lot of people off guard.

Lucent was so nice, though.  He was caring and kind.  He sounded stiff and pragmatic sometimes, but not always.  He was careful and guarded, for a lot of reasons and a lot of purposes.  I liked that, though.  I liked all of his BDSM domination and submission things, too.  I liked when he spanked me.  And when he held my hands above my head and pinned me to the bed; I liked that, too.  We did things together that I never even imagined doing with anyone before, but when I did them with Lucent they seemed so natural and right.

"I'm willing," I said.  "I do like it.  I like everything, Lucent, I just get nervous sometimes."

He smiled down at me, then bent low again and kissed the tip of my nose.  When he pulled away from me, I strained my head upwards further without thinking about it, trying to keep him close.

"It's just us," he said.  "You and I, Miss Tanner.  There's nothing to be nervous about.  Nothing you do is wrong.  I apologize if I made you feel that way.  I'm still coming to terms with what sort of relationship we have."

"What about..." I started to say more, but paused.  Honestly, this was a stretch, and I didn't know if Lucent would agree to it.  He agreed sometimes, but what I wanted to suggest wasn't an occasional thing.  "If I knew that we were being a little more serious sometimes, it'd be easier for me.  It's hard to switch, you know?  You aren't actually upset I was in your office, right?  It was just a part of... of a game, sort of?"

He nodded and held out his hand to help me to my feet.  "Yes.  I'm not upset with you."

I refused his hand, though.  I shook my head, then looked away, casting my gaze down to his shoes.  "I do want to, Lucent, it's just difficult sometimes to go from one thing to another.  You do it so easily and seamlessly.  I don't know if I can do it like that.  But maybe if..."

He placed his hand on the top of my head, teasing my hair between his fingers.  "Yes?"

"You always call me Miss Tanner, so if you used my first name and you called me Elise I would know when you wanted me to be more submissive, you know?  If you did that, I think it'd be easier for me.  And... I do, I want to make you happy, too, Lucent.  I swear it.  I..."

He lowered himself to the ground in front of me, kneeling and joining me.  Touching my cheek lightly with his thumb, he caressed my skin towards my lips, pressing softly in the center of my mouth.  I kissed the tip of his thumb and smiled.

"I love you, Lucent," I said.

He smiled back.  "I love you, too, Elise."

"Can we start over?  I'll get back in the chair and pretend I was writing and you just came in on me, then we can do it all again.  Is that alright?"

He winked at me, grinning a conspirator's grin, then nodded towards his office desk chair.  I scrambled to my feet and jumped into the chair.  To add authenticity to the scene, I flipped open my laptop and pretended to be typing.

"Miss Tanner, Miss Tanner, Miss Tanner.  What am I going to do with you?"

I didn't speak this time.  I looked towards Lucent, but not at him, keeping my eyes downcast.

"Up," he said.  "Kneel."

He didn't need to point, nor did he have time to.  I hurried from the desk and knelt in front of him.

"Good," he said.  "Do you have anything to say before I punish you?"

I shook my head, no.  I didn't say anything.

He smiled and grabbed my chin like he had before.  My head lifted, neck craning upwards, and Lucent pressed his lips to mine, kissing me.  I kissed him, too, kissed him back.  I wanted this, I wanted more.  If this was all there was to it, I thought I could do it forever.  I still had a lot of questions; I always had a lot of questions.  I wanted to ask Lucent about them, and sometimes I did, but now wasn't the time.

Before he left me, before he stopped kissing me, he licked at the front of my lips.  I opened my mouth for him, desiring his kiss.  He squeezed my jaw lightly, pinching just beneath my ears.  His tongue caressed my bottom lip again, this time sneaking slightly into my mouth.  The tip of his tongue touched against the back of my teeth and the front of my palate.  It... Oh God.  I trembled at his touch, the feeling on the roof of my mouth sending shivers through my body.  His tongue finished its journey, ending on my upper lip, and then he lifted himself away.

I was unintentionally drooling somewhat.  Lucent released my chin and wiped at the side of my mouth with his thumb.

"Will you be good?" he asked.  "Will you do anything I say, Elise?"

I nodded fast.  "Yes, Lucent."

"I don't want you to speak," he said.  "I want you to use your mouth for something else.  Do you understand?"  In some ridiculously erotic and untoward (...or not entirely) show of what he meant, he squeezed at the crotch of his suit pants.

I nodded fast again; faster.

"You may begin," he said.

"Good," Lucent said, zipping up his pants.  "I'm pleased with your performance, Miss Tanner."

Miss Tanner?  Did that mean we were done, then?  "Is that it?" I asked.  "Was that my punishment?"

He nodded.  "Yes."

"Lucent, that didn't seem like much of a punishment."

"If I weren't punishing you, you'd be enjoying an orgasm at this very moment."

"Oh."  Now that he told me that, I felt like this was a terrible punishment.  You never know what you're missing until someone points it out, or at least sometimes that's how it is.

Lucent smiled down at me and held out his hand.  Unlike before, this time I took it.  He helped me up.

"Did you like it, though?" I asked.

"Miss Tanner," Lucent said.  "Please pardon my vulgarity, but your oral skills are fucking unbelievable."

I stared at him, gaping.  "Did you really just say that?  Fucking unbelievable?"

He grinned and waggled his eyebrows at me.  "Indeed."

"Really?"

"Yes."  He kissed me.  "I can smell myself on your breath, Miss Tanner."

I blushed and fidgeted, wringing my hands together.  Did he really just say
that
, too?

He put his hands on my hips and pulled me close to him, growling into my ear.  "You're mine," he said.  "All of you.  Every part of you, your entire body.  From the curves of your hips up to your breasts, and the hollow of your throat."  He lifted my chin with a touch from his fingers and leaned down to kiss the front of my throat.  "Down to your pert little ass."  He squeezed me there.  "To your delightful thighs, the backs of your knees, your calves and your feet."  Smiling, he kissed me.  "Your pretty little lips, Miss Tanner, and your beautiful face.  Your cheeks and your nose, and your deep, curious eyes.  And now your breath.  All of you is mine."

I stared into his eyes, breathing softly, adoring him.  I didn't know what to say.  He said my breath was his, and with everything else he said he took my breath away.  I pressed inwards slowly, unsure and tentative, but when he didn't move to do anything I gained more confidence.  I kissed him and put my arms around him holding him tight.  He wrapped his arms around me, too, protective and strong, and kissed me back.

"Your thoughts and your feelings are yours, though," Lucent said.  We weren't kissing now, but our lips were still touching, mouths open, sharing each other's breath.  "Those will always be yours, Miss Tanner, but I hope that I can be an important part of them."

"You are," I said.  I brushed my lips past his, bringing us cheek to cheek, and nuzzled against him.

"Were you writing a story for Mrs. Landseer before?" he asked, glancing towards my laptop.

"Um..."  I hesitated in answering him.  He'd seen what I was writing, but I didn't want him to know.  For whatever reason, it embarrassed me.  A lot of things still embarrassed me.

When I wrote my first story, I didn't know what I was thinking.  I'd wanted to write something sexy and fun.  Erotic!  And I thought I'd succeeded, but in hindsight I felt a little strangely about it.  People would read it!  People had read it.  As a promotional effort, Landseer Publishing offered the story exclusively through one of the biggest online bookstores for free for a limited time.  People downloaded it then, and they bought it later, and...

I didn't know who.  I should have realized this, and in hindsight I did, but it still made me feel awkward.  What if someone recognized me?  If they knew me?  I should have used a pseudonym.  What was a good pseudonym?  I didn't know.  The whole thing confused me.  But, for example, what if I was doing my grocery shopping and the man ringing out my groceries recognized me and he'd read my story and he smirked and snickered to himself, imagining... things.

Things between Lucent and I.  Oh yes, those sorts of things.  I mean, I'd written about them, so it wasn't like the beginnings of an idea weren't out there for everyone to imagine.

Oddly, I felt more embarrassed about writing this new story, the story I wanted to write.  It was our story, Lucent's and mine, and it was very special to me.  Sometimes I dreamed about it still, but I didn't know how to tell him.  I really enjoyed our time in the library together.  Currently, we had all the time in the world together, and I spent more time with Lucent than possibly was healthy.  He liked it, though.  I think he did, anyways.  And I enjoyed it, so maybe there was nothing wrong with it.

I just... sometimes I just wanted to be trapped with him in the library again.  I realized it wouldn't be the same, though.  First off, how often does a record-breaking blizzard trap someone in a library for the weekend?  Not often.  And second, it wouldn't be the same no matter what.  I felt so much more comfortable with Lucent now, even if I felt uncomfortable with him in other ways.  I felt...

"We should play cards," I said.  I'd been silent and Lucent was just standing with me, smiling, holding onto me.

"Oh?" he asked.

"Do you remember?" I asked him.  "When we were in the library and we played cards?"