Chapter 36
Chapter
Thirty-Six
ASHER
Iclose the office door behind Anabelle. “If you hated eating with my brothers that much, we can have breakfast in my room from now on.”
She’s been quiet since we left breakfast, and I can’t figure out why. Did my brothers make her uncomfortable? Was it the little tiff we had about me trying to control her emotions? I can’t be sure.
A crease forms between her eyebrows. “What? No, it was fine. A little uncomfortable at first, but it got better.”
“What’s going on then?” I take her waist and pull her toward me. She’s wearing a navy blue dress with white polka dots that flares out at the waist and ends at her knees.
“Nothing, what do you mean?” Her lips say that, but the way she’s ever so subtly pulling away from my embrace tells me I’m not imagining things.
“You’ve been quiet since we left the dining room.”
She rolls her eyes at me, and it makes me want to drag her over my knee and spank her ass until it turns red. “You’ve barely seen me. I went to my room after we ate so I could get ready. We’ve walked through the manor, and here we are.”
“Doesn’t matter, I can tell something is running through this gorgeous head of yours.” I tap her temple with my finger. “Now what is it?”
She sighs and pulls away from me. “It’s silly. Or maybe it’s not, I don’t know. I don’t know what this is, so maybe that’s the real issue.”
I frown. “Keep going.”
Anabelle bites her bottom lip. “Nero mentioned something about a masquerade ball. It seemed like it’s a big deal.”
I push my hands into my pockets to keep from reaching for her. “It is, I guess. It’s an annual event that Voss Enterprises holds to raise money for the charitable portion of our business, but why would that make you want to pull away from me?”
She fists her hands at her sides. “Are you going with Madeline Ridgeway? I know you took her to some other event not that long ago.”
“Why would you think I’m bringing Madeline?” My head tilts as I study her shifting in place, seeming less sure of herself.
“I don’t know… you haven’t mentioned anything to me about the ball, and I assume you would have if you wanted me to go with you.
You just said yourself that it’s a big deal…
maybe you want to bring her. She’s a big deal in social circles.
Maybe the two of you… you know.” Her arms flail wildly in front of her.
It’s then I realize that she doesn’t get it.
I step up to her and take her chin, forcing her to look up at me.
“I will not be taking Madeline. I’ll be taking you.
I haven’t mentioned it for no other reason than I have a thousand other things going on that need my attention, and the fact that you even think I might take another woman tells me you don’t understand that since the second you walked into my office and insisted there was something you could do to keep your family estate, I’ve been obsessed with you. ”
She swallows hard, looking up at me with wide eyes.
“And not the boyish kind of obsession where I think about you as I lie in bed at night. The kind of obsession that permeates my thoughts all day. The kind of obsession that won’t even let me think of being intimate with another woman.
” I let my hand drop from her face and push it through my hair.
“Do you know why I was drunk the day you ran into me on the path near the family graveyard? Besides it being the anniversary of my bastard father’s death? ”
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Because it was a sex club night, and I had no interest in fucking anyone. No one. On the night that I was looking to find a distraction in anyone’s body, all I could think about was you.
You and what a fucking temptation you are.
You and how young you are and how I should just send you home to your estate and call off our whole deal.
You and how no matter what, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, wanting to know more about you, wanting to fuck that sweet cunt of yours. ”
Her mouth falls open, and I don’t miss the way she presses her thighs together.
“The only reason I asked Madeline to that event was to try to push you away. Nothing happened between us, and nothing will ever again.” I push my hands into her hair on either side of her face. “You have ruined me for anyone else, Anabelle Boudreaux. It’s you or no one.”
She sucks in a breath and tears glisten in her eyes. Happy tears, I hope. I press my lips to hers, and the feeling of rightness, of coming home settles into my bones.
Before we can get too carried away, the phone on her desk rings. She pulls away, and I settle my forehead on hers.
“I should get that,” she whispers.
I pull back and stare at her. “Not until I know that you get it.”
She smiles at me. “I get it, Asher. And I feel the same.”
Christ, this woman. She’ll be the death of me.
I sit in my chair and dial up Preston Wallace. This is the first time I’ve ever been happy about firing someone.
“Preston Wallace,” he answers.
“It’s Asher,” I announce myself, although he already knows it’s me.
“What do you want?”
“Well, I wanted to inform you that your services are no longer needed.” I tap my fingers along the desk like they’re doing a happy dance.
“What? You have no authority.” His tone is bitter, and I knew he never did keep track of his shit. The man thought he was golden sitting at the top of his company, ready to reign when his old man died.
“Oh I do. I own over half the company now. We’re making some cuts so apologies, but the first one is to you.”
“You can’t do that!”
“I just did,” I say, the smile growing the angrier he becomes.
“My dad will never allow—.”
“Has no control over it. I have all the control now Preston. So be a good boy and pack your cardboard box. Security is waiting outside the door for you.” Something hard smashes against the wall.
“I hope that was a personal item. I’d hate to bill you for destruction.
” Keeping my voice even-keeled is hard when I want to tell him exactly why he’s getting what he deserves.
“You’re an asshole.”
“I know.”
“This isn’t going to stand! There’s no way!”
I shrug although he doesn’t see me. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be for yourself.”
“You’ll get yours, Voss, just wait.”
“I don’t think so.” There’s a knock on his door echoing through the receiver. “Now answer that and be civil so they don’t have to throw you out on your ass. Have a nice life, Preston.”
“Fuck off, Voss.”
I laugh and hang up the phone with a grin. Anabelle swings around in her seat on the other side of the office, looking at me with concern.
“Why are you looking at me like that? You should feel as jubilant as I do right now. Preston Wallace finally got what was coming to him.”
“I’m glad about that,” she says. “I’m just worried there will be some kind of backlash for you, and it will all be because of me.”
“There’s no backlash, Anabelle. What I did was legal, and even if it weren’t, let’s be honest, I could make any problems go away.”
“If you’re sure…”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay, fuck Preston Wallace then.”
I chuckle. I love Anabelle’s dirty mouth on the rare occasion it makes an appearance. My dick stirs in my pants. “I have a video conference call in five minutes. What do you say we celebrate?”
One of the other great things about Anabelle is that she can always tell when I’m slipping into dominant mode. I don’t even have to tell her, she just seems to know. And it’s obvious to me that she can tell now too, with the way her back arches a bit.
“What did you have in mind, sir?”
I grin at her. “Crawl over to me.”
As I knew would be the case, there’s zero hesitation from her. She simply slides off her chair onto all fours and crawls across the large room to me. I watch her every movement the way a lion might watch a zebra while stalking it.
By the time she’s near my desk, my cock is rock-hard and straining the fabric of my pants. I use my feet to roll my chair back a bit.
“Now get under the desk.”
“Yes, sir.” She crawls into the space between my desk and me and settles on her knees, awaiting further instructions.
I reach down and run my hand over her head a few times as I might praise a pet. “Now take out my cock.”
She licks her lips. “Yes, sir.”
She undoes my belt, then the button on my dress pants before she slides down the zipper.
It takes some work, but she manages to get my boxers down enough to rest under my balls.
I’m sure she’s expecting me to order her to give me head, but instead I let her sit there for a few minutes while I pull up the email on my computer that has the link to the meeting I’m due in.
Her breathing picks up, and the scent of her arousal fills my nostrils. My dick twitches, and she makes a small noise in the back of her throat. I grin as I click the link to enter the video chat.
We all say a brief hello, then I get things started. “Joseph, why don’t you start us off and go through the pertinent parts of the latest report?”
“Sure thing.” He starts his monologue.
I hit the mute button. I keep my gaze on the computer screen pretending to be completely enthralled by the fourth quarter forecasts. “Now suck my cock, pet.”
“Yes, sir.”
Her tiny hand wraps around the base of my cock, though not all the way around, and her lips slide over the head. I groan as the wet heat seeps in, and she uses her tongue to increase the sensation.
The background noise of Anabelle’s slurping and choking on my cock has me hard as steel while attempting to keep my face impassive.
When Joseph is finished with his report, I place my hand on the top of Anabelle’s head while she’s on a downstroke. She understands that means she has to stop for a moment and be quiet.
I unmute myself. “Thanks, Joseph. Those forecasts look good. Sam, what do you have?” I mute myself again as Sam starts his report on the risk assessment of another company we’re thinking of taking over.
I’m not in the mood to prolong things anymore. With my eyes still on the screen, I say, “Make me come, Anabelle. And if you do it quickly, I’ll reward you when I’m off this call.”
She knows just what to do. She sucks on my balls while twisting her fist on the end of my dick. It doesn’t take long before I’m teetering on the edge of explosion.
“Fuck, I’m gonna come.”
Anabelle returns her mouth to the head of my cock, and her hand jerks my shaft. It’s a Herculean effort to keep my face passive, but if anyone else in the meeting suspects something, they don’t let on.
I groan and buck my hips, emptying myself down her throat. Chancing a glance, I watch as she licks her lips and wipes her chin with the back of her hand.
She’ll be rewarded greatly.
The moment the conference call is done, I close out of the video chat, hoist her up onto my desk, and eat her pussy until her voice is hoarse from screaming my name.