Chapter 1
Iwas going to be sick. The inevitability of it sat in the back of my throat, burning like acid. My stomach cramped, and a sweaty chill broke out on my skin. I wasn’t immune to the irony in that, but it was true.
As I watched Katherine trail a manicured hand down Gage’s arm, I seethed hot and cold, raged with clammy sickness. I lifted a hand, a millisecond away from shoving his office door all the way open, but his harsh voice made me freeze.
“Get your hands off of me.”
Katherine jerked back as if he’d burned her, and only then did I realize that I’d seen her touching him for maybe two seconds.
But two seconds had been enough to make me sick.
Literally sick. Before Gage or Katherine spotted me, and before anyone on this floor questioned why I was lingering outside my husband’s office, I strode toward the women’s restroom, my head held high with false confidence.
Hopefully, anyone looking at me wouldn’t see the truth on my face.
That I’d caught him with her again, and I was about to come undone over it.
A phone rang, fingers clicked over a keyboard, and I heard the distinct scratching of someone jabbing down quick and purposeful notes with a pencil.
I held my shit together long enough to reach the safety of the ladies room.
Thank God it was empty. I scurried to my knees in one of the stalls and lost my pride along with my breakfast.
He’d told me to meet him for lunch. Why would he do that if Katherine was going to be here?
He knew how the sight of that bitch got under my skin.
Gage had a sadistic streak as black as the desert at midnight, but when it came to Katherine Mitchell, he exercised care.
In fact, he went out of his way to spare me her presence.
Because he was fucking her? Or because he loved me enough to shield me from her?
I hated how she was the weak spot in my armor, the single chink that made the rest of me fall apart.
I didn’t want to doubt him, but the image of her four months ago in the basement, eager and on her knees, was a searing brand on my memory.
It didn’t matter that he’d only threatened to follow through to make a point, to show me what could be if I dared to betray him again.
The mental damage had been done.
Tears stung my eyes. Damn, I had to get my shit together.
I couldn’t go back out there and face the employees of Channing Enterprises—face him—looking like I’d just had a breakdown in the women’s restroom.
Even if that was kind of true. Turning the faucet on, I shot my reflection a stern frown then splashed cold water onto my face.
Five minutes later, I left the restroom mostly composed.
As always, the curious gazes of my former coworkers burned into my back.
I didn’t check to see if they were watching me, but I felt it.
Maybe I was paranoid, though I didn’t think so.
My marriage to CEO Gage Channing was a cesspool for gossip mongers, especially since Katherine and her son had come into our lives.
The selfish, jealous wife in me wanted to keep Conner at arm’s length, but he was just a kid, and he had the best parts of Gage in him, so much so that I found it shocking his paternity hadn’t come out sooner.
Not for the first time, I wondered why Katherine had waited so long to tell Gage about Conner.
Maybe marrying me had been the final push that sent her over the edge.
Maybe she’d always believed Gage to be hers, so coming clean about a secret like that hadn’t seemed important.
Maybe the idea of coming clean had even scared her—until another woman had taken him away and that had scared her more.
Well, the bitch couldn’t have him. And speaking of Katherine, she was thankfully nowhere in sight when I entered his office.
“You’re late,” he said, dark head bowed toward the screen of his laptop.
I shut and locked the door. “I know. I’m sorry.
” I crossed to the front of his executive desk and bent over, lifting my skirt as I did so.
I could explain how seeing Katherine had caught me off guard, but I didn’t want to stir that pot right now, and I definitely didn’t want to go into how I’d puked in the women’s restroom, even if telling him might spare me a punishment.
He might think it meant something else, and with a stab to the heart, I acknowledged once again that it wasn’t going to happen.
Not after all of this time. We’d been married for over a year and a half now, screwing like rabbits the whole time without any form of protection, yet I continued to be… broken.
The painful reminder of that almost drowned me in despair until the texture of his suit against my outer thigh pulled me from my dark thoughts.
I bit my lip as he grabbed my ass with a warm palm.
He wasn’t gentle, and the rough way he handled me made my insides clench in the best way imaginable.
Anticipation zinged through me as I waited for his punishment.
I had no doubt he was going to spank me for arriving late, but he knew what the heat of his palm on my bare ass did to me, so calling it a form of discipline was a stretch.
“I can practically hear the wheels turning in your head. What’s on your mind?” he asked.
I gnawed on my bottom lip some more and considered what to tell him. What not to tell him. “I’m thinking of how turned on I am.”
“Are you aching for my hand? Is that why you were late?”
I groaned. “No.”
“I’m going to need a little clarification.”
“I wasn’t late on purpose.” A dark note entered my tone, and I hoped he didn’t pick up on it.
“But you’ll take a spanking for it anyway?”
I nodded.
“Fuck,” he groaned. “You’ve got me so damn hard.” He smacked my ass to punctuate just how hard he was. “Spread your legs.”
I gripped my skirt and did as told, exposing myself to the gentle caress of air on my pussy. The remnants of Katherine and her whorish fingers vanished from my mind. There was nothing but wet heat between my legs. I ached for him there. Tingled. Burned.
He’d been away at a conference for a few days and had gotten back late last night. I’d already gone to bed, and instead of waking me to claim what was his, he’d shown a rare bout of sweetness by letting me sleep. But going so long without his cock was beginning to drive me insane.
He trailed a finger between my butt cheeks, drawing a surprised gasp from me. “I need you,” I moaned.
My words gave him pause, and his touch lingered but did little more. God, he could be such a tease.
“Please.”
Finally, he touched me exactly how I wanted…no, needed with his thumb teasing my asshole while two fingers slipped inside me.
I moaned at the welcome intrusion. “Feels so good.”
“I’m going to spank the fuck out of this ass.”
And he did. He walloped me with more force than I expected, considering his playful mood. I gritted my teeth to keep quiet, dancing from foot to foot between each hit, but on his final, most brutal strike I failed to bite back a yelp.
He palmed my right ass cheek and squeezed. “Beautifully pink.”
My legs were rigid pillars of steel, driven wide open by the strength of my need for his cock. “Please,” I said, groaning the word. I fisted my skirt to keep from touching myself.
“Shhh,” he said, shoving his fingers between my lips. “I have other uses for this mouth. Do you have any idea how badly I want you gagging on my cock? I’ve thought of nothing else but getting into your mouth and ass since I’ve been gone.”
My heartbeat stuttered, and I would have begged for mercy if he’d given me a chance. Instead, I moaned my protest around his fingers. He understood exactly what I was objecting to.
“I’ve gone easy on you, but you’ve grown spoiled. Entitled even. I own your ass. We agreed on our anniversary that it’s mine to take as I please.” Leaning against my back, he pressed his erection into my ass cheek and brought his lips to my ear. “I please,” he said.
I bit down on his fingers in response, instinctively clenching my ass at the thought of him shoving his cock inside. Abruptly, he sprang back. Turning to face him, I gripped his desk behind me.
“Not here, Gage. Please.”
He gestured to his desk, eyes smoldering. “Bare your cunt.”
Oh hell. I was a pile of goo at his feet, sculpting clay in his strong hands. I hopped up, bunched my skirt around my waist, and spread for him much too eagerly. Propping myself up on my elbows, I watched him as he inched closer with that burning indigo gaze zeroing in between my thighs.
Hot energy blazed between us, and exhilaration squeezed my heart, rushed through my veins.
Then he smiled and asked his favorite question. “Who am I?”
“My Master.”
“Always, Kayla.” He dropped to his knees and placed his hands on my thighs, his thumbs digging into my skin as he spread me even wider. He wet his lips with a furtive dart of his tongue. “Who decides when you come?”
“You do, Master.”
Please, please, please, please. I need to come. So fucking ba—
“I’ve decided you’re not coming.” He shot me his devil’s grin. “But I’m going to lick you right here on my desk until you beg me to.”
I almost cried at his words. Defeated, I closed my eyes and let my head fall back, swallowed a frustrated growl. Fuuuck…his breath would be the end of me, drifting over my exposed pussy with enough heat to make my blood rush right there. And his tongue…damn, that tongue.
Wet and on fire, sliding between my lips with perfected finesse. Easing through my slickness with lazy purpose, as if he had all day to eat me out. Which, of course, he did. He always had time to torture me.
“You’re not leaving here satisfied.” Slowly, he inched two expert fingers into my pussy. “You’re going to leave my office with pink cheeks, a throbbing cunt, and beyond excited to get fucked in the ass tonight.”
I groaned.
“Eyes on me, Kayla.”
“Master, I’m begging you.” With a roll of my shoulders, I dipped my head, chin to chest, and returned his gaze beneath hooded lids.
He had me gone already. Primed and ready. My nipples puckered to the point of pain, the very tips straining against my bra, begging for freedom from the sheer fabric so he’d fondle them. Lick them. Pinch them.
“There you are,” he whispered, crooking his fingers inside me before sliding them in and out. Slooooow. So damn slow.
“Oh God, Gage. Please, please…”
“Will you do anything to come?”
The bastard was trying to trick me again. I bit my lip to keep from answering. If I said yes, he’d take advantage of any number of things. Nipple clamps. A cane or bullwhip. His favorite gag, nearly as big as my fist.
My husband was beyond sadistic. He had no qualms about pushing me past hard limits if I gave him the go ahead, and he’d hold me to my green light even if I gave it while under duress.
“That’s not fair.”
“The only rules I play by are my own,” he said, then he lowered his mouth to me again.
Nothing could be as erotic as watching him go down on me. Nothing. I reached under my splayed thighs and gripped the edge of the desk with both hands. He’d given me plenty of lessons on the art of limber movement, and right now I used my body’s capabilities to grind against his face.
There. God. So close. I was going to come, and I didn’t give a fuck about the consequences. He’d find a reason to take his pound of flesh anyway because he was Gage. “Yeah, yeah,” I panted, barely above a whisper. “So close.”
He jackhammered his fingers a few more times until I writhed on his desk, and then he shot my hopes down the drain by pulling away.
“Good. That’s exactly where I want you.” Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he pulled himself upright and towered over me.
“I’ll see you at home. I won’t be late.”
The fight went out of me, and I plopped onto his desk, trying to catch my breath. “Don’t leave me like this.”
“You know what I want, Kayla. Give it to me, and I’ll take you there.”
He wanted to fuck me in the ass—only he wanted me to give it to him willingly. More than willingly. He wanted me to beg him to take me in the one way he knew I despised. If that wasn’t sadistic, then I didn’t know what was.