Chapter 16
Kelsey
When I lift my head, I’m surprised to notice that it’s later than I thought and Hendrix is back. He must have been gone longer than he expected. The sun is sitting lower in the sky. It’s late afternoon.
I straighten my spine. “I’ve emailed you my findings, Sir,” I tell him, not meeting his gaze.
He sets his hands on my desk, leaning forward so his head is a bit lower. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I can’t tell him that I don’t think this is going to work out. We’ve already had this discussion, plus I don’t want to hash it out again in the office.
He lowers himself onto one of the chairs opposite me and reclines, making himself comfortable. “Look at me, Kels.”
I lift my gaze. That’s what has alerted him. It’s hard to make eye contact with people when you’re withholding information.
“Did something happen while I was gone?”
“No,” I whisper.
“Did something happen in your head while I was gone, Kels?” He’s so fucking perceptive.
I sigh.
“Spit it out, baby,” he says softly enough that no one can hear him.
Still, I jerk my attention toward the door. It’s closed. He obviously shut it when he came in.
“No one can hear you. Josephine has a dental appointment. She left early. Beckett is out of the office. We’re alone. Talk.”
I lean back and meet his gaze. “We can’t keep this up,” I inform him.
“What part?” he asks without flinching. He crosses one ankle over the opposite knee and folds his hands in his lap. Calm, cool, and collected.
Infuriating.
“You don’t take me seriously, Hendrix.”
“I take every inch of you seriously, Kels. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be asking you what’s bothering you. I wouldn’t have noticed or cared. I do care, and I’m aware when you’re upset or frustrated. Do you need my palm on your bottom before or after you talk to me?”
I purse my lips and stare at him. He’s right.
He’s perceptive. He notices everything. We just don’t see eye-to-eye on a few topics.
Why can’t he grasp that it’s going to be detrimental to me and my career for anyone to find out about us?
And as the days go by, the chances of us getting caught get higher.
We drive to work in his car together. We leave together. The only reason no one has noticed either yet is because we’re here for long hours, arriving before and leaving after most people.
He sits forward. “I saw how stiff you were when you came downstairs earlier. I suspect that’s what’s bothering you. Let’s go to HR, tell them we’re a couple, give it time to spread, and move on.”
I shake my head. “I think I should find another job.”
His expression pales a bit. “I’d rather you didn’t, Kelsey.
I like having you with me, and you’re an amazing assistant.
We work well together. I love that we click, and it would be awesome if we could mesh all aspects of our lives for the next thirty years.
I feel like I’ve won the fucking lottery. ” He stands and rounds the desk.
I stiffen, knowing that as soon as he touches me or even gets closer, I will melt. I always do.
Surprising me, he simply holds out a hand as he approaches, letting me decide whether or not to take it.
I hesitate for a moment before setting my palm in his and rising.
Hendrix leads me through the adjoining door and into his office. He guides me to the floor-to-ceiling windows and stands behind me. His arms come around me, holding me tightly. His chin rests on top of my head.
For a long time, we simply stare out the window. I’m mostly in my head. I assume he is, too.
After a while, he speaks softly. “I’m forty-three years old, Kels.
I’ve never been in a long-term relationship.
I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you.
I wake up every morning with a moment of panic, wondering if it’s true, wondering if you’re real.
Then I see you next to me, and my world settles and rights itself. ”
“That’s because you keep cuffing me to your bed,” I say snarkily.
He chuckles. “True, but it works. Keeps you where I want you.” He brings his lips to my neck and kisses me.
“I love having you come to work with me. I love how smoothly we function together. We’re a well-oiled machine, both at work and at home.
My heart swells when we cook together. I had no idea how lonely I was before you came into my life. Now I can’t fathom not having you.”
I tip my head back to look at him. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m lonely. Not because of anything you’ve done but because I don’t have any friends to talk to or bounce ideas off.”
“You have lots of friends, though. I overheard people talking about you downstairs. You developed solid relationships over the summer. If you’d let yourself, you could still hang out with them.”
“I don’t even like to run into any of them because I feel like a giant liar.”
He hugs me closer. “Then tell them, baby.”
I lean my cheek against his bicep. “They’ll hate me,” I whisper.
“But what if they don’t?”
That’s hard for me to grasp. It doesn’t seem like an option. “You said you heard them talking about me. They were probably saying what a bitch I am for thinking I’m too good for them.”
“Kelsey… I didn’t hear anything like that from anyone. Are you embarrassed for people to find out you’re in love with an old guy?”
I gasp at his choice of words but choose to ignore the center of the sentence and focus on the last part. “You’re not old. Of course I’m not embarrassed. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Ah, so you admit to being in love with me, though?”
Twisting out of his embrace, I spin around and put my hands on my hips. “Hendrix!”
“What?” He holds his palms up as if he’s innocent.
“Don’t put words in my mouth.”
He drops his facade and grins. “I only say shocking things to get a rise out of you. You’re sexy when you’re pissed off.” Without hesitating, he turns and marches across the room.
I flinch when he locks his door. He’s never done that before. He said no one is on this floor for the rest of the afternoon, but he must be plotting something that he doesn’t want anyone to see. Shit.
It’s also possible he’s closing us off for me because he knows I panic over the idea of getting caught.
It’s one thing to out our relationship to everyone in the office.
It’s another thing entirely for anyone to find out about our kink dynamic.
That’s private. I don’t mind playing at Edge where the place is filled with other like-minded people, but I’d die and fall off the Earth if anyone at work caught us in a compromising position.
I’m not usually nervous when he saunters toward me with the look he currently has in his eyes. I know what to expect for the most part. But I’m feeling vulnerable this afternoon. My mind is in a weird place.
I need impact play. He hasn’t spanked me since Monday night. I didn’t use to crave something striking my skin as often as I do now. For the entire summer, I’ve been going to Edge on the weekends and managing to refrain from getting my next fix for another six days. Now I want it more often.
Hendrix holds my gaze as he reaches for the front of my blouse. He says nothing as he unbuttons it before sliding the sleeves down my arms and setting the silk on his desk.
I shudder when his fingers come to the back of my bra so he can deftly unfasten it, too, and I watch as he sets it with my blouse. My heart is racing. My breasts feel heavy.
He reverently cups them and toys with my nipples, still looking me in the eyes. When he pinches them, he squeezes hard, making me wince and rise onto my toes. “Are you going to obey me, Kelsey?”
“Yes, Sir,” I breathe out.
He holds my nipples hostage, twisting and pulling until they ache. Releasing them, he reaches around to the back of my skirt. He lowers the zipper, letting the material fall to the floor.
I’m left in nothing but my heels and thong.
Hendrix squats in front of me and eases the elastic over my hips, slowly lowering the lace to the floor. “Step out, baby.”
I grab his shoulders to do so, lifting my feet one at a time.
He rises and points toward his desk chair. “Sit.”
This surprises me. I’m expecting to lean over his desk. I don’t question him, though. I lower onto his leather chair, my breath hitching when his hand comes between my breasts to push me back.
“Legs over the armrests, baby.”
I obey him. I’ve never felt so exposed. I’m totally naked except for my heels, in his office, on his chair, legs spread obscenely wide. There’s a wall of windows. I know they’re one-way. No one can see in, but the thought of being naked like this in front of the glass is enough to make me tremble.
Hendrix rounds to the back of the chair, turns it so I’m facing the window, and wheels me closer.
My tremble becomes violent shaking as he leaves me like this, completely exposed. I hear a drawer opening on his desk, and then he’s back, squatting in front of me again. “You like feeling like everyone can see you, don’t you, Kelsey?”
“Yes, Sir,” I murmur.
He lifts a crop. It’s only about eighteen inches long with a small leather square at the end. “Has anyone ever swatted you with one of these, baby?”
“No, Sir.” My mouth goes dry.
“But you’ve watched others, right?”
“Yes, Sir.” I’ve seen plenty of scenes with a crop. I’ve just never had the confidence to ask a Dominant to use one on me. They can be vicious. They leave quite a mark.
“You’re curious, aren’t you, baby?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You like it when I bring out new toys. You enjoy the unexpected.” He flips it around and uses the blunt end to trail down the center of my body, ending by circling my clit.
I moan. I’m so fucking horny.
“Do you want me to spank your smooth skin with this crop, Kels?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Tell me your safeword.”
“Red, Sir.”
“Good girl. It’s going to leave red marks wherever I strike. It will sting. You will stay still for me the entire time. Grab your knees and hold them wide.”
I do as I’m told, desperate for him to get on with it. My curiosity is making me tingle. My arousal is dripping down to the leather on his chair.
Instead of swatting me, he continues to use the other end to toy with my pussy. “My girl is desperate. She hasn’t had an orgasm in two days. She needs the release from pain and pleasure.”
“Yes, Sir.” My voice squeaks.
He eases the tip of the crop into my pussy. I can’t help arching my hips off the chair, needing more. But that causes him to remove it. “Keep your bottom on the leather, Kels. You don’t get to choose what I offer you.”
“Yes, Sir.” I’m panting. Please.
Hendrix flips the crop around again, grasps it with his dominant hand, and lightly taps the inside of my thigh.
It stings a bit, but I know he’s warming up. He would never strike me hard with a new implement right off the bat. In fact, he glances at my face over and over as he taps up and down my inner thighs until I’m so aroused I might come from one swat to my clit. We’ve already proven I can do that.
Instead of continuing in that direction, he switches to my breasts, and I gasp when the first slap lands on my nipple. I whimper and buck slightly. It burns so good.
“I won’t always spank your bottom, baby.
Sometimes I’ll give you what you crave by striking your pretty tits or your pussy.
Eventually, you’ll let me use a cane on you to leave welts across your smooth skin.
The lace of your bras will rub against the welts on your tits all day the next day, constantly reminding you of who you belong to. ”
I moan when he says that. I’ve been fighting him about this relationship from the moment he arrived in town. Struggling to trust that he’s here to stay, that he wants me in his life forever. He’s patient with me and never ceases to show me that I’m definitely his. All I have to do is believe.
I tip my head down, mesmerized by the sharp sting as he swats my breasts, alternating between them, sometimes hitting my nipples. My skin is covered with raised red splotches. My chest burns delightfully.
“Such a good girl,” he praises as he rains the crop down along my stomach and back to my thighs. For the next few minutes, he randomly swats my inner thighs and my breasts back and forth so I can’t anticipate where the next slap of leather will land.
Suddenly, he spanks both nipples in rapid succession, hard enough to take my breath away.
I’m writhing, my entire body throbbing from the pain and the need to orgasm.
“I’m going to spank your clit now, Kelsey. When I do, you’re going to come for me, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Sir,” I mumble.
He doesn’t hesitate. The woosh through the air gives me only a fraction of a second to brace myself before the leather square lands on my swollen clit.
I cry out at the intensity. It burns deeply, but I also come immediately. It’s the sort of orgasm that’s too short and leaves me wanting. Tears gather as the waves of pleasure subside. I don’t cry like this. It’s from desperation. I need his cock. He knows it.
He sets the crop down and comes closer, his palms on my inner thighs as he reverently kisses my pussy. “So fucking pretty.” He doesn’t comment on the emptiness I feel. He doesn’t need to. He told me what I need to do to get his cock, and he’s perfectly capable of reading my frustration.
He kisses all over, soothing my skin with his lips, flicking his tongue against my nipples before eventually bringing his mouth to mine. “You’re so fucking beautiful when you submit to me, Kels. It’s humbling.”
I want his cock. I want it so badly that I can’t stop the tears that trail down my cheeks. He guides my hands away from my thighs, gently brings my legs together, and then leaves me momentarily.
When he’s back, he hands me a bottle of water and lowers to press a cold wet cloth against my pussy.
I moan at the tenderness. I’m not the only one who’s missing out here. His dick is so hard I can see it bulging against the front of his pants. He comes every day, but it can’t be as satisfying as it is when he thrusts into me.
Hendrix helps me stand and dresses me without my assistance. He makes sure I’m completely put together, including dabbing at the dried tears on my cheeks. He gets my purse from my desk and guides me into the attached bathroom.
Hands on my shoulders, he meets my gaze in the mirror. “I think you look beautiful, but take a few minutes to make sure you feel okay about your appearance, and then we’ll go home, baby.”
I watch in the mirror as he leaves. He doesn’t close the door. Not surprising. The man doesn’t like me to have any privacy. It’s endearing, knowing he’s keeping an eye on me.
I don’t often drift into a deep subspace when we play, but I feel more vulnerable than usual, even though it’s been a while since he finally let me orgasm.
He’s right. I look fine. He did a good job. My face is a bit red, but not so much that anyone would do a double-take. I just want to get home. I have something I need to do.