Leverage: Pt 1 (2 page)

“No. Decide now.”

She gasped in distress but he knew the key to successful negoti
ations was to hit hard and fast and this was one deal he didn’t plan to lose. She looked as if she'd rather run away but she jerked a short nod. His smile widened. “Excellent. You're making the right choice.”

“Then why do I feel like throwing up?”

“Because you're letting go of the old you to embrace a new one.” She didn't look convinced and he found her reluctance adorable. “Release your hair,” he instructed, wanting to see those golden waves tumble down her back. Her hair, tousled and wild, was just the right length for gripping a solid handful. He had to restrain himself before he lost control right there in his office. “I have something for you, something to seal the deal between us.”

She eyed him with s
uspicion. “And what would that be?”

He reached into his desk and removed a Tiffany box. He cracked it open and removed the tiny, delicate bracelet. He'd had it custom made just for her. His initials were woven into the tiny gold thread. It was impossibly beautiful and
ridiculously expensive but more importantly, it was a symbol of his ownership of her that only they would know. He walked to her. “Hold out your wrist,” he instructed as he clasped the bracelet on. “You are never to take this off. If I see this off of you there will be consequences. Do not test me for you will not like the man I become. You belong to me and as such you will wear this as a symbol of who has claimed you. Am I clear?”

“Do you see me as nothing more than a pet?”

“A very valuable pet,” he corrected her. “A very lucky pet.”

She shook her head. “
A pet just the same.”

Had he not just given her the world in exchange for something relatively small?
“Some pets are cherished above people,” he pointed out gruffly and she shrugged as if only someone like him would say something like that and it made him feel small, which didn’t sit well at all. “It doesn’t matter how you look at our relationship. What matters is that you obey the rules set between us.”

“Fine. I will wear your bracelet,” she agreed but he felt no satisfaction. He wanted her to
want
to wear the bracelet. Julianna plucked at the gold. “So delicate. What if it breaks? I'm very clumsy.”

His smile became indulgent. “
Than I shall make you another.”

Julianna
accepted his answer and then pierced him with her gaze to ask, “Why me? I’m sure there are a million different women out there who would jump at the chance to be your pampered pet. I’m clearly not one of them and yet you’ve coerced me into accepting. Surely, you could’ve persuaded someone far less difficult for your little game.”

His breath became shallow as he
stared into her deep brown eyes. The knowledge that no one had ever touched her was enough to send him into orbit before even taking her. But he couldn’t explain why she intrigued him like no other because he didn’t know. Instead of answering truthfully, he answered, “Why not?” before pressing his lips to hers in a sweet, almost innocent kiss. Her breath caught and she made a small sound in her throat that he wanted to suck into his mouth. He would wait before he took her for the first time – he wanted everything to be perfect — but he was almost shaking with the need to explore every inch of her body. His cock pulsed, hard and ready. “Tell me of your sexual experiences,” he said roughly. “I want to know every detail before we begin.”

Her cheeks bloomed with heat and her tongue darted out to slick her lips and he couldn’t stop himself from lowering his mouth to taste her again. She was as sweet as he imagined she would be but now he had to know her intimately. His hand reached down to caress her quim through the soft cotton of her dress and she jumped at the contact. “What are you doing?” she asked, her tone strangled by mortification. “Here? Now? Oh my God…what if someone walks in?”

“No one will disturb us,” he assured her, loving the warmth beneath his palm, knowing that if he were to dip his finger deep into her core, it would come out wet with her sweetness. “I want to know your dirty secrets,” he said.

“You didn’t pay for my secrets, dirty or otherwise,”
she answered, her chest rising rapidly. “My secrets are my own.”

He growled at being denied. “You belong to me now.
”

She countered with, “Only my body. Never my heart.”

His mouth stretched in a cruel smile. “I have no interest in your heart, silly girl. Your body and your consent are all I require.” To drive home the point, he removed her glasses and gave her shoulders a gentle push, commanding, “On your knees, Julianna. Your service to me starts now. Have you ever sucked a cock?”

She covered her face with her hands
as she lowered to her knees but nodded.

“Good. I suppose
a college girl would’ve found herself in a situation where a cock ended up in her face at some point,” he said but he hated the idea of her pleasuring anyone but himself in that way. A growl of possession surprised him. “Let’s see how good you are,” he said, unzipping his trousers with mildly shaking fingers. He released his cock and smiled with satisfaction when her gaze widened at his size. He’d always been blessed with a well-endowed penis, something he’d realized in high school and quickly put to good use with every pretty girl who’d allowed him into her panties. “Nice, huh?” he said, palming the length and squeezing the moisture from the head. “Look what you do to me?” he teased with a wide grin but she wasn’t smiling. Julianna lifted her gaze to him and shook her head.

“I can’t get my mouth around that thing,” she said, although her pupils had darkened and her tongue had snaked out to dart across her lips. “It’s impossible.”

But Boston was willing to bet she wasn’t worried about her mouth. He smiled indulgently, and nudged her soft lips with the head of his cock. “Let’s give it a try and see what happens,” he suggested playfully before guiding his cock to her soft mouth. She made a mewling noise at the back of her throat but she opened for him, squeezing her eyes shut as the head passed beyond her teeth and slid into her wet mouth. “Caress my ball sac tenderly,” he instructed, closing his eyes to the pleasure as her tongue danced across the sensitive head. “Ahhh, that’s it…very good…” Better than good, he wanted to groan, barely containing the voracious appetite building behind every soft hip thrust against her mouth. Hot, wet, tantalizingly erotic, Boston had never been so consumed by the pleasure of a woman’s mouth. His knees weakened as her tongue drilled into the opening at the head, surprising him with move. She may be a virgin but she was pretty adept at sucking cock, he realized, suddenly needing the support of his desk to remain standing. She tugged at his cock and gripped his balls and his thighs quivered at the rough touch. For a tiny thing, she was stronger than she looked.

His eyes popped open and he was thrown by how quickly his need
to come skyrocketed at the sight of her lovely, wide mouth devouring him inch by inch.
Ahhh…shit
…he wasn’t going to last, not like this.
Slow the fuck down
, he told himself, trying slow his hip thrusts so as not to hurt her. His chest tightened and his stomach muscles clenched as his orgasm barreled down the pipe like a locomotive that’d just jumped the track. He couldn’t stop it; he was going to come. A split second decision stilled his warning as he exploded into her mouth, shuddering with pleasure and nearly losing the ability to remain standing as white-hot jets of fluid went down her throat. Julianna stumbled back, choking and wiping at her mouth, glaring as sudden tears glittered in her eyes.

“Don’t do that again,” she warned when she could speak again as he straightened on unsteady limbs. She’d sucked the strength right out of him. Holy
hell, that was one bang up blowjob, even if she looked ready to brain him with his marble penholder. He hadn’t meant to come in her mouth but honestly, he couldn’t exactly spurt onto the floor. What would the cleaning lady think of that mess? But seeing Julianna with angry tears coursing down her cheeks, made him immediately defensive.

“Sorry, can’t make that promise. I liked
coming in your mouth.” Boston tucked his spent cock back into his trousers and zipped up with a quick motion. He knuckled her cheek and caught a tear with a small smile even though she was sending daggers his way as she replaced her glasses on her nose. “You’re pretty good at that. Are you sure you’re a virgin? You didn’t just hustle me, did you? Pretending to be the virgin without much experience, when in truth, you’re as experienced as a two-dollar whore?”

Julianna
narrowed her gaze at his crude humor, to retort coolly. “I hardly think you are the kind of man who would allow himself to be hustled by anyone.”

“True enough,” he agreed, still riding the high of his conquest. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so euphoric after a sexual encounter. Damn, this was better than any street drug he’d ever dabbled with.
“But usually women with little sexual experience don’t know what to do with a cock of my size. Let’s just say I was pleasantly surprised by your skill.”

“Just because I haven’t had sex doesn’t mean I haven’t had sexual experiences,” she said, deflating his previous good humor. Why did he hate the idea of her with anyone else?
She seemed to realize her comment had struck a nerve and it was her turn to smile. “And you know what they say…practice makes perfect.”

Ouch. He glared at her nerve. “
Good,” he managed to return with an equally frosty smile. “I look forward to sampling more of your honed talents.”

A moment passed between them and Julianna exhaled with a fatalistic shake of her head
. “This isn’t going to work. I don’t like you.”

“And why should that matter?”

Julianna blinked in surprise at his blunt question. “Well, because it does,” she answered with a tiny stamp of her foot. “The act of sex is very intimate and I would imagine you should at least
like
the person you are doing it with.”

“
Your feelings toward me are inconsequential as long as you don’t bite.”

At the implication of his statement, she blushed two shades of pink.
Yes, that’s right…I’m talking about when my cock is stuffed in your mouth
. He watched her struggle with the urge to tell him to go to hell but when she remained silent, he shrugged.
Missed opportunities, love
. Back to business. He returned to his chair and leaned back with a self-satisfied smile. And why shouldn’t he be satisfied? Thus far the day had been very productive. And relaxing. Perhaps he should request a blowjob every day as part of their new arrangement. The happy thought remained with him as he said, “Richard will finalize the documents and the financial arrangements as well as have your belongings delivered to my home. Is there anything else you require before we conclude our first meeting?”

She wiped at
her tears, a single expression of desolation marring her lovely beauty, before she cleared her voice and lifted her chin, to say in a hard tone, “My brother better have the best of everything for the price I’m paying.”

Boston
smiled at her spirit, impressed. “Don’t worry. I don’t renege on my word,” he assured her, adding with a primal grin. “I look forward to being the first man between your thighs. Do whatever you need to prepare yourself for this evening,” he said, then added, “Richard will take you to the spa for your waxing, but I prefer a little hair on the pussy so please, a landing strip would be perfect.”

She
skewed her gaze away but nodded nonetheless.

As soon as she was gone,
Boston let out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Julianna was no easy conquest and the war he saw in her eyes was bound to leave scars. Tonight couldn’t come soon enough. Thank God, he had work to distract himself from what he wanted so desperately at the moment.

A pervasive chill settled into
Julianna’s body as she signed the pages-long legal document with trembling fingers and thrust it back at Richard before she lost her nerve. What was she doing? How had things come to this? She wiped at her mouth, still tasting him. She’d never met a man so handsome yet so utterly cruel. To dangle such a prize in front of her only to snatch it away unless she agreed to his disgusting demand? In all of her life she'd never met anyone so depraved. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she stared at Richard, repulsed. “How can you work for a man like him?”

Richard
remained expressionless as he tucked the paperwork into his interior breast pocket. “Money is a great motivator. I see it motivated you.” Julianna’s cheeks colored, hating that he would throw that in her face, even if it were true. Richard continued with a shrug, “At least I know he'll never asked me to suck his cock. That’s what he has you for.”

“You think I’m a whore for doing this?”

He ignored her flash of indignation and began walking to her front door, stopping to say, "What I think doesn’t matter.”

“I’m not a whore,” she said quietly anyway. Maybe if she kept saying it, she’d start believing it in her heart. “What would you do if you were in my shoes?”

“Everyone has a good story. Even you.”

She balled her fists. “So I should’ve just let my brother rot in that wheelchair, in a place hardly fit for a dog because that’s all we can afford? I guess I’m a whore because I sold myself to help my brother. Well, at the very least, a whore with a heart of gold, right?”

“Why do you care how I feel about you? I am no one to you.”

“Because I don’t like the feeling of being judged for making an impossible choice. I’m just trying to do what’s right.”

“Then it shouldn’t matter what others think. They don’t live your life and they don’t walk in your shoes.”

That simple logic struck a chord and she let it sink in for a moment.
“I suppose you’re right,” Julianna slowly agreed, wondering about the older man. She’d assumed that anyone who would work for Boston Kincaid was devoid of all morals but Richard was putting that assumption to the test. “So what do I do now?” she asked.

“
A car will come to pick you up in about two hours. Have your things ready to be transported to the house. Be mindful of what you bring. Only bring the essentials; everything else will be purchased at Mr. Kincaid's pleasure. Also, be sure to wear both of his gifts tonight as he will expect to see them."

Her stare strayed to the white box
formerly tied with the pink ribbon and bit back the hot words that danced on her tongue. She wanted to tell Richard to send the lingerie back because she wouldn’t wear it but to do so would be contradictory to what she’d agreed to and simply nodded. She was already wearing Boston’s other gift, though she hardly considered the lovely bracelet a gift when it was merely a symbol of his ownership of her. Richard smiled with approval when she didn’t balk. “Smart girl,” he said, starting to leave but Julianna stopped him with a question.

“Are you loyal to him?”

“Of course I am.”

“Why?”

“The simple answer is because he pays me to be but the complicated answer is far more complex. I’ve known his family for a very long time. I can say that Boston hasn’t always been this way.”

“You mean he wasn’t always a selfish, self-absorbed asshole?”

“He’s a Kincaid. He always had the potential to be that way. But at one time, he was less hard.”

“What happened?”

“That’s not my story to tell.” Although he appeared ready to leave, Richard paused to offer one last bit of advice. “Do yourself a favor and never question him. If he wants you to wake him up every morning with a blowjob, give it to him. If he wants to fuck you in the ass, bend over, part your cheeks and beg for it.”

The vulgarity of Richard’s advice made her want to vomit. She couldn’t see herself doing any of those things but
she’d just signed on the dotted line and the ink was still fresh. “And if I don't?”

“
Then he will make your life miserable and when that no longer works, he'll destroy anyone who was ever close to you. Starting with your brother.”

What kind of monster had she just tied herself to? How
could one person be that bad? “He’s an evil man,” she said, her eyes filling.

Richard surprised her when he disagreed. “Not evil, just determined. You should be flattered. I’ve never seen him so taken with a single woman before.”

Flattered? It was difficult to feel flattered when she suffered the knowledge she’d sold herself to the man. But Boston Kincaid had taught her a valuable lesson — even dignity could be bought.

“What if he beats me?”
she asked. “What then?”

At that Richard smiled. “
Depends on the kind of beating. Some hits can ring with pleasure.”

“
Not in my world.”

“
You're not in your world anymore. Good evening, Miss Holly. And good luck.”

Richard closed the door behind him and she
dropped onto her old, worn-out sofa. She plucked at the fraying fabric, a near hysterical smile following as she recalled how she’d been stressed about the seventy-five dollars the sofa had been priced at the thrift store. After Boston Kincaid was finished with her, she’d be able to buy something brand new and expensive. But she liked this worn-out, ugly sofa, she nearly wailed to the empty apartment. She dropped her head into her hands and cried.

There was a time when she
’d wished that a handsome stranger would sweep her off her feet and make all of her problems go away. Reality had a way of squashing those girlish fantasies. After Tom's accident, she’d had no choice but to quit school to pay for the care facility he was housed at because her apartment wasn’t equipped for someone with his needs. Tom was the only family she had left. Their parents were gone with no extended family to speak of, so what was she supposed to do? She thought of the cutting edge rehabilitation center in New Zealand and how Tom would finally get top-notch care and her spirits lifted a tiny bit until she wondered how she was going to explain this sudden lucky break. Should she tell him the truth? Would he believe it? Would he turn up his nose in disgust or would he understand? It hardly seemed possible that she was even doing this at all. She rubbed her temples hoping to massage away the tension headache that was beginning to throb. She glanced around her small apartment and began to pack.

#

“Is she getting her affairs in order?” he asked once Richard returned.

“
Yes. The car will pick her up at six and bring her to the house as requested.”

“Excellent.”
Boston said, the anticipation nearly killing him. “Did you give her the gift?”

"I
did.”

“And?” he inquired impatiently. “What did she think?”

“She will look quite lovely in it,” Richard answered tactfully and Boston actually chuckled.

“She hated it didn’t she?” he
guessed.

“I think she is struggling with the unique nature of your relationship
,” Richard ventured. “But I think she’ll come around eventually. You have a way with women.”

“Yes, well, my money does anyway.” He gestured for Richard to
leave and was left with his thoughts. What was it about this girl? Generally, he preferred his women tall, lithe and nearly rail-thin. Julianna was the antithesis to every woman he’d ever been attracted to.

But he couldn’t deny that she turned him inside out and backwards and had since the moment he laid eyes on her.
A dangerous thing, that. He couldn’t afford such an attraction without finding some way to control it. People were always trying to find ways to get to him — from gold diggers and con artists to desperate business owners hoping to find a deep-pocketed investor — he’d seen it all. In the end, it was safer to keep his circle of trust impossibly tight, and that extended to the women in his life.

He enjoyed the flash of temper that she didn’t try to hide and he suspected she would never tell him exactly what he wanted to hear, which was something everyone else did
to varying degree. The saying, “It’s lonely at the top” certainly applied to him, he thought with a momentary pinch of self-pity but then he realized what he was doing and chuckled at his own ridiculousness. Being filthy rich was fabulous. Staying in the best hotels, being assured of the most impeccable service, and never having to glance at a price tag was a luxury few were given. Where was this sudden flash of the “Rich Man Blues” coming from? Besides, in a few short hours, he was going to be balls deep inside the most intriguing, most lovely woman he’d ever encountered — and the best part — she was all his.

Spirits lifted, he
returned to his work, his mind already switching gears.