Tied Down: He'll see to her needs, if she can tend to his... (2 page)

His lips curled into a small smile. He seemed to enjoy having all the answers while I was completely clueless. “I need a girlfriend.”

“A girlfriend? That’s not usually a position you have to interview for.”

Gorgeous, rich, and now crazy. I sure knew how to find all the kooks in the city. Billy would be laughing his ass off now.

“It is for me. I have tastes that aren’t exactly everyday. If you agree to let me show you what I mean, I’ll tell you all about it. Say you are interested.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘interested’, more curious,” I replied. I found it difficult to lie to the man. He wasn’t even setting off my loony alarm. Cooper had a way of drawing me in, no matter how much my sensible side was telling me otherwise.

“Give me an hour, then. If you’re not interested, then I’ll take you home. If you are, we can talk more about the arrangement.” The way he said
arrangement
made a shiver run down my back. Walking away now wasn’t an option. I needed to know what he was hiding.

We finished our coffees and Cooper seemed eager to get going. I slipped into his Audi and enjoyed the ride. Cooper drove hard and fast, making me hold on to the armrests on more than one occasion.

The city whizzed by outside, the buildings becoming less dense and trees starting to pop up on the roadside. We were headed out of the city, and for the first time, I panicked about where we were going. My mama would have not approved.

“Will we be there soon?” I asked. Perhaps if he slowed down enough I would be able to jump out of the vehicle while it was still moving. It would hurt, but it was preferable to being kidnapped by a charming man.

“In a few minutes. Be patient.”

True to his word, Cooper pulled up in front of a set of wrought iron gates. He pressed a button on his dashboard and they swung inwards for us to pass through.

I couldn’t see the house for a long while, my anxiety growing with every passing minute. The car hugged all the curves of the driveway before what I guessed must be Cooper’s home finally came into view.

It was massive. Three levels in parts of it, with real, actual turrets making it look like a modern-day Cinderella castle. Surely he couldn’t
live
there?

“Welcome to Casa Milan,” Cooper said as he pulled up and switched the engine off. Before I could get out of my seat, he was at my door and helping me up.

“You own this?”

“Every square inch. Would you like the grand tour?”

I nodded, still in disbelief. Cooper seemed way too excited as he led me inside and through the rooms. I quickly lost track of where I was as one sumptuous room after another greeted us.

There were stairs, nooks, and crannies everywhere, making my head spin. To get out of there I’d need a map with a ‘you are here’ arrow on it.

Cooper stopped outside one of the doors. It looked like all the others, but his demeanor changed. “This is the room I need you to see the most. You’re going to have questions and I will answer all of them honestly.”

Dread started to amass in the pit of my stomach. Maybe I didn’t want to see what was behind the door. Perhaps I wouldn’t like it and I would need that map so I could escape.

He opened the door anyway, letting me walk into the room first. I could feel the warmth from his body as he stood behind me, waiting for the barrage of questions I would throw at him.

He was right, I had a lot.

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The room was huge, like four good-sized bedrooms all in one. A massive four-poster bed stood in the center, devoid of sheets. On one wall was a mural of several silhouettes. It didn’t take a lot of imagination to work out what the black silhouettes were doing with each other. They were in pairs, male and female.

On the opposite wall were hooks and shelves, reminiscent of the adult store except better stocked. It looked like Cooper had a penchant for leather and a wide variety of toys.

I moistened my dry mouth, trying to remember how to talk again. “You use this room for sex?”

“Not just sex. I’m a dom.”

“A what?”

“A dominant. I like to partake in BDSM with my partner.”

“But you don’t have a partner,” I pointed out.

“Not yet, correct.”

I swallowed. “You want me to be your partner?”

“Yes. I am a dom in need of a submissive. I have been searching for a long time for the right one. When I saw you… it seemed right.” His hands were in his pocket, and he looked like he’d just stepped out of a GQ magazine.

Instead of scaring me like they should have, all the toys intrigued me. I had come to the city for an adventure, to stretch my mind and experience a plethora of new things.

This… it was definitely new.

Cooper was hot, extremely so. I would have gladly stripped naked and let him ravage me under other circumstances – like after three months of dating and doing nothing but hand-holding in the meantime.

I needed to break free of my shackles and trust my instincts for the first time. Maybe I had a wild side after all and it was ready to be unleashed.

“Will you explain to me what all the toys do?” I asked.

Cooper nodded, a smile lilting on his lips. He looked even hotter when he did that. “I would love to show you more than tell you. I want to bring you untold happiness and more pleasure than you’ve ever had before.”

My pussy pulsed below. Such an incredible man, and he wanted me. I was about ready to consent but there were more questions yet. “What does a submissive have to do exactly?”

“You would be under my care and control. Whatever I tell you to do, you have to trust that I have your best intentions at heart and follow the command.”

“You mean sexually?”

“I mean while we are in this room. While we are outside, we are just a regular couple. Inside, you are all mine to do with what I want.”

There was something scintillating about his proposition that I couldn’t place my finger on. It seemed absurd that I was actually considering it.

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. The idea of having sex with this complete stranger and
trusting
him was just crazy. I was looking for a job, not an owner.

“What do you find so funny about this arrangement?” Cooper asked, his voice tight and restrained. I’d made him angry, I could tell.

“This whole thing,” I replied, gesturing to the room and then to both of us. “I barely know you, and you’re offering to dominate me? It’s just a little much to take in.”

He pursed his lips together, turning his look into a sexy pout. If he kept looking like that, I was going to cave and give in to his every demand.

“I’m going to take you home,” he announced. Panic quickly set in. I didn’t want to leave, I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to accept his offer yet.

Cooper left the room and I trailed after him, trying to find the words I needed to backtrack. I shouldn’t have laughed when his offer was so serious. I’d screwed it up, and he couldn’t wait to get rid of me. Maybe he’d caught on to the fact that this wasn’t my world. I was a small-town girl, I didn’t belong in this… luxury.

The ride back was quiet. Cooper only broke the silence when he asked for my address. I gave it to him and then we were silent once more.

A car like his Audi was dangerous to own in my part of the city. He would only have to leave it for a moment before someone swiped all the tires – if not the whole thing.

“I’ll walk you up,” Cooper said as he took his seatbelt off.

I quickly unbuckled and leapt out before he could protest. My place was little more than a shoebox-sized shack compared to his mansion. “It’s not necessary. Thank you for the… afternoon.”

He didn’t listen to me, following me inside and refusing to leave until he had shown me to the door. We had to walk up five floors before we reached my apartment. “This is me. Thanks again.”

Cooper gestured for me to open the door. I really didn’t want him to see my place. The whole thing could have fit inside his bathroom with room left over.

Still, he wasn’t going. I unlocked the door and let it swing open, jumping inside to close it again quickly. Before I could, Cooper’s hand shot out. “Give me your phone.”

“What do you want that for?” I asked, confused.

“Just give it to me.” He was impatient again, but God, I wanted to do whatever he said. I fished my cell phone out of my handbag and handed it over. He hit a few buttons before giving it back to me. “You now have my number and I have yours. You have three days to accept my offer. Just remember, I can look after you, Emily. I’m offering you the world. You are a beautiful woman and I want to share everything with you.”

He turned and left, leaving me stunned. He was really serious about me being his partner. I slumped onto the couch, my mind numb.

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The next day when I awoke, I was still wondering if Cooper was just a figment of my imagination. Only after I scrolled through the contacts on my phone and saw his name and number did I really believe it had happened.

I tried to put him out of my mind, firing up my ancient laptop and sifting through the employment websites. Not getting the job at the adult store yesterday had really put me in a precarious financial situation. Any minute now, the landlord would be knocking on the door to remind me my rent was late.

There were no new jobs. At least, nothing I was remotely qualified for. Everyone was looking for people with experience, and I had none. All I was good at was being the mayor’s son’s girlfriend. I could smile when I didn’t feel like it and be polite when I didn’t want to be.

Perhaps I was perfect for being Cooper’s partner. It seemed to be the only position I was remotely qualified for. The requirements seemed to be female and breathing. But was he really serious? He’d known me for all of two minutes when he’d decided to cost me the adult store job.

I wasn’t going to deny how incredibly hot he was. If I had met Cooper at a club I would have accepted free drinks and a ride home all night long.

I searched Cooper King next – the full name he had programmed into my phone. There were plenty of hits for him. He wasn’t just rich, he was a billionaire. The kind of rich that gets you on the Forbes Top 10 richest people in the country list.

His mansion was only the beginning of all the properties and investments he owned. According to his company’s website, he was an entrepreneur with several different businesses, including resorts, restaurants, and telecommunications.

He was only thirty-two as well. For someone so remarkable he was just a baby, really. His accomplishments were many. He must have spent his entire adult life working and doing little else.

The next thing I searched on the Internet was ‘BDSM’. I had kind of an idea what was involved but I needed more information. I wanted to know everything I was getting myself into.

Whips. Chains. Domination. Collars. Cuffs. They seemed to be the major theme in most of the sites I found. One more, buried deep on the third page of the search results, caught my eye.

It was a blog kept by a submissive. She outlined the close relationship she had with her dominant and graphic details about their life behind closed doors.

While I was reading details of this stranger’s sex life, something occurred to me. BDSM wasn’t really about the act of sex. It was something deeper. It was a relationship of trust and incredible intimacy. For both parties to truly enjoy the experience, they both needed to play their parts and revel in their role.

Could I enjoy being a submissive?

The thought sent a shiver down my spine and a pulse into my pussy. I craved an adventure and Cooper was offering me one. I wouldn’t have to worry about anything, no more late rent payments, no more ramen noodles for every meal, no more job interviews.

He really was offering me the world.

My finger hovered over his name in my phone just as someone knocked on my door. I crept over and checked through the peephole.

The landlord.

I silently slunk away from the door and stood motionless until he left. One second after that, I pressed Cooper’s name and waited for him to answer the call.