If You Dare - A BDSM Billionaire Erotic Romance Novel (2 page)

Eventually she realized that she was
tired and remembered that she had been about to leave almost an
hour ago. “Zoe, you’d forget your head if it wasn’t attached to
your bloody neck,” she mumbled to herself, as she finally left the
bar.

It was a beautifully warm evening, so
rather than call for a taxi from the bar, Zoe decided to walk to
her car to check on it first and then call a cab from the parking
lot. She’d just walked past the building where she worked when a
thought struck her. Checking her watch she nodded to herself and
changed the direction of her steps, walking back into the building
and making her way to the office.

Zoe knew that Dawson would still be
working because he always went home late. And if he did happen to
have one of his ‘lady friends’ ensconced in his office with him;
well tough luck. If he wouldn’t give her a chance to resign during
office hours, she’d make damn sure that he would now. The walk had
sobered her up a little but she was still pleasantly buzzed and
feeling invincible because of it, which in hindsight wasn’t a good
thing. Not at all.

She walked with what she assumed was a
normal stride, and would have been mortified if she could have seen
herself wobbling just a little as she went. As expected, Dawson’s
door was still firmly closed but she wasn’t going to let a little
thing like that stop her. She gave a brisk knock and then opened
the door without waiting for a response from him, completely
forgetting that he could possibly have been partaking in some
extra-curricular activities until she’d entered the room, but by
then it would have been too late anyway.

~
Chapter Two

~

Dawson looked up from his desk in
surprise, a scowl quickly forming on his handsome face when he saw
who had interrupted him. “Zoe! What are you doing here at this time
of night?” Zoe felt her hackles rise at his obvious chagrin at
seeing her. Was she really that bad? “Did you forget
something?”

“No, I didn’t forget anything.” Her
voice was more terse than usual, and his frown deepened. “But I
really needed to talk to you today and seeing how you couldn’t make
time during office hours, well, here I am.” Zoe couldn’t have known
how cute she looked when she nodded her head emphatically on the
last word and planted her hands on her hips; almost as though she
were adding a mental exclamation mark at the end of her sentence.
Standing there Zoe looked like an angry mother about to scold her
wayward child.

If she had been stone cold sober she
would have noticed that Dawson was trying his level best not to
laugh at her. Thankfully, she was more than a little tipsy and his
smirk went sailing past her on a cloud of vodka fumes.

“And just what was so
important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow, Zoe?” Dawson made a
steeple out of his fingers and rested his chin on them while he
looked at her inquisitively. Zoe had to give herself a mental shake
at the frisson of sexual awareness that shot through her.
It’s just the alcohol, Zoe. Control
yourself.

She took a deep breath to compose
herself. “I quit.”

Just two little words but
they had the desired effect, and Zoe certainly had Dawson’s
attention now. She tried valiantly to hide the satisfied smile that
flitted across her face, and for the most part she was
successful.
How’d you like them apples,
huh?

“What do you mean, you quit?” Dawson’s
eyebrows had disappeared under his shaggy hair line and Zoe simply
couldn’t hide the grin of glee that had become plastered on her
face. She’d taken him by surprise for the first time ever, and it
was an invigorating feeling.

“I mean exactly what I said. I quit.”
Zoe crossed her arms defiantly in front of her chest in an attempt
to look serious; unknowingly failing and looking more like a
petulant child, albeit a cute one. “And that’s not all,” she
continued. “I believe that I should be entitled to a severance
package because of everything I’ve had to put up with while I’ve
been working for you.” There. She’d actually had the balls to say
it and she felt quite proud of herself.

Any amusement that Dawson had been
feeling flew out of the window along with his surprised expression.
A look of complete disbelief was now on his face as he took in what
Zoe had just said to him. “Everything you’ve had to put up with?”
he blustered, incredulously. “Please explain; if you dare, of
course.”

Zoe did more than dare. “I’m not sure
if there’s enough time, but you asked for it.” Zoe held up a hand
and pointed to her index finger. “Firstly, you’re rude and
overbearing and you never give me a chance to do anything
exciting.” She moved to her middle finger. “I’ve had to put up with
you cavorting with women of unsavory character; during office
hours, no less, and that’s not even counting the numerous female
interns that I know you’ve had in here at every available moment!”
She ticked off another finger. “For what I do, the wages are crap.
Have you seen that banger I drive around in? I can’t even afford to
get new tires put on the damn thing, let alone get an oil change!
The very least you can do is give me enough money to tide me over
until I can find a new job.” She named a sum that had even her
wondering if she had gone absolutely crazy.

Zoe paused for breath and Dawson cut
in quickly before she could continue. “And all of this is my fault
why, exactly?” He held up a hand to stop her when she opened her
mouth to answer him. “And before you go on any further, Zoe, let me
remind you that you knew what the wages were before you accepted
the position, and you’ve had two pay rises since then. And
furthermore, the interns I’ve had in here, as you so eloquently put
it, were in here because I was training them.”

“But I didn’t sign up to lie for you!
It wasn’t in my contract and I sure as hell don’t get paid enough
to put up with all the snarky looks off the trollops you screw!” If
Zoe had been completely sober she would have been mortified at the
words that fell so easily from her mouth right now. “A decent
severance package is the very least you owe me in my opinion. And I
bet you were training them.” Zoe had to throw that little nugget in
because she could just imagine the kind of training he’d been
giving them.

She should have been paying better
attention to his expression. She really should. And later on when
she reflected back on the night’s turn of events, she would kick
herself for not noticing how stony-cold Dawson’s face had become
and how his eyes flashed with angry fire. She did notice when he
slowly came to his feet and placed both hands on top of his desk,
glaring at her in a blatant fury that even her intoxicated self was
fully aware of.

For the first time since
she’d walked into the office, Zoe became nervous. She didn’t think
she’d ever seen him look so menacing; not even when he was up
against a tyrannical client. She gulped and took a reflexive step
backwards. But even then she couldn’t stop her mouth from running
away with her. “Y-you’re nothing but a g-glorified gigolo, and I’m
sure the p-press would be very interested in hearing all a-about
your indiscretions!” Her head nodded again as though to give
credence to her words, and then her lips snapped shut when his gaze
became even angrier.
Okay Zoe. Maybe it’s
time you calmed down a little bit.
Her
inner voice was trying to be the voice of reason, but it was a case
of too little, too late.

“Let me make one thing
perfectly clear to you here, Ms. Castle. If and when you are
paying
my
salary,
then you will have the right to judge and condemn me. Until then,
and only then, you have absolutely
no
right whatsoever to come
into
my
office and
make such ludicrous accusations and demands.” He walked slowly and
menacingly around his desk. “Now, please by all means, feel free to
leave my office, and you can obviously use your right to not come
back to work tomorrow. In fact, I insist upon that little
point.”

Dawson took a few steps forwards,
coming closer to her with each one, but Zoe defiantly held her
ground and his gaze. “As for talking to the media about my
so-called indiscretions.” Dawson’s voice had dropped so low that it
was almost a whisper, “Please feel free to carry out that little
threat as well. If you dare.”

Opening her mouth to say
something else, Zoe sensibly decided against it and instead turned
to leave the office. The hairs on her neck stood up and her flesh
tingled when she realized that he was following her.
Did he think that she wasn’t going to leave or
something,
she thought to herself. Her head
turned to look at him as he drew level with her and in a blur he’d
taken hold of her hand and snapped something around her wrist. When
Zoe looked down to see what it was, her eyes opened wide in
disbelief. He’d shackled her with one half of a pair of
handcuffs.
You’ve really gone and done it
now Zoe.
She told her inner voice to shut
the fuck up as she spun her head to glare at Dawson.

“What the hell...” Her words trailed
off as he moved to quickly attach the other half of the offending
item to the radiator. There were a million and one things that she
could have said to him, but the words that fell from her surprised
lips were, “Now I wonder why you keep these things in your office?
You’ve been training them huh?” Zoe wasn’t usually prone to
sarcasm, but Dawson seemed to bring out the worst in
her.

She looked at his face curiously as
she spoke. Zoe wasn’t scared; she instinctively knew that he
wouldn’t do anything to cause her harm. Her heart was pounding
nonetheless though, and as she looked up into Dawson’s face she
couldn’t help wondering if it was his intent to show her exactly
what he did with his ‘lady friends’ when the office door was
closed. She watched as his pupils dilated and, without conscious
thought, she moved her head towards him, touching her mouth to his
lips in a tentative kiss.

It was as though she’d shot
him, or at the very least pinched him with her long nails, because
his head was pulled away from hers so quickly that she was
surprised that he didn’t trap a nerve in his neck. Zoe felt her own
face turning red as she looked at his. She couldn’t decide whether
it was embarrassment or repulsion that she saw there, but either
way, it rankled.
I’m not that bad. Am
I?

Dawson took a step back; his
expression still enigmatic. He looked Zoe up and down slowly and
she felt her cheeks burn. She had sobered up fast, and now she
didn’t know what to say or do. She should never have come here
tonight, she did know that much.
I tried
telling you, didn’t I?
Her inner voice was
really starting to piss her off now.

As quickly as he’d stepped
away from her, Dawson moved forwards again, and Zoe almost forgot
to breathe.
Was he going to kiss her this
time
, she wondered distractedly. She got
her answer a split second later, but instead of his face coming
towards her it was his hands that darted out. Taking hold of her
dress by the neckline, he yanked his hands sideways, effectively
tearing the garment off her and leaving Zoe standing there in just
her bra and panties as he stepped back once more.

Zoe could do nothing but
gasp in shock as her one free hand came up to try to cover her now
almost naked body. “Don’t!” It was just a single word but the
authority in it had her hand falling back to her side, leaving
herself open to his heated gaze. She knew that right now she should
be afraid; but she wasn’t. On the contrary, Zoe was more turned-on
than she could remember being in a very long time. She could feel
her heart pounding as she waited for him to make his next
move.
I am never drinking again. Not
ever.

He took a step closer; so close that
Zoe was convinced that he would be able to feel the heat emanating
from her trembling body. Then he placed his large manly hands on
her curvaceous hips, his fingertips digging into her flesh with
just enough pressure to be firm but not painful. Zoe watched his
face as he looked down at her and his lustful expression turned her
on just as much as his power did. She was lost for words at last,
and she couldn’t help wishing that she’d been lost for them when
she’d first walked into his office.

“Do you really want to know
what goes on in my office, Zoe?” Dawson traced his palms upwards as
he spoke, tracing her rib cage and stopping just beneath her
breasts. If her life had depended on it there was no way that she
could have taken a breath. “I mean,
really
want to know?” His eyes came
up to catch her gaze as he asked the question; boring into her with
a palpable intensity.

Zoe couldn’t talk, so she
satisfied herself with giving a slight nod of her head, all the
while wishing that he would carry on moving his hands upwards to
her puckered nipples.
Don’t do this, Zoe.
Don’t let him do this.