Chapter 34 Ian
Collette had infiltrated my well-planned world and made me want to love her. I never even knew that could be possible, but she made it so.
She wasn’t really the enemy, but we were waging a war for dominance. I wasn’t used to having one of my contract assistants try to gain the upper hand. Although Collette had been special from the beginning. From the first moment I saw her in the elevator, she’d intrigued me.
Her sassy personality had been aching for someone to tame her and make her a good submissive. I knew instantly that I would do anything to have her. That no other woman would be comparable.
That is something she certainly isn’t. She was one of a kind. I rubbed my temples as a headache formed once again. She’d caused frustration and doubt where there should have been none. This wasn’t how the relationship was supposed to work.
When the others had signed those contracts, they’d become mine in every sense of the word. It had only been for a short while before I released them back into their normal lives, but Collette was different from the others. She was special. She was meant to always be mine.
Nothing about Collette was normal. She took everything that I said and then decided if she wanted to do it or not. Unafraid to ask questions or speak her mind, even when it meant going against what everyone else was thinking.
I’d never come across anything like her before. There had to be some reason why she’d signed that contract to become my submissive. Although, it seemed like she hadn’t really known what she was getting into, even when I’d gone over the contract a second time. What on earth could she possibly have to gain by becoming my assistant and submissive?
Why would she speak Andrew’s name when she was unconscious? How were they connected? He must have meant something special to her if that was the name she uttered when she was lying there, unable to move or think. He was the last thing on her mind.
My fist pounded on the desk.
I suddenly felt super jealous of a dead man. I was her dom and npw I’d fallen in love with her. Collette had made that easy for me when so many others had failed over the years.
There had been no interest with any of the other women, but something about Collette drew her to me in a way that had me all twisted up inside.
My whole body hummed with the necessity of knowing anything and everything about her and her connection to Andrew. I always deemed myself as a superb judge of character, so how could I miss the mark badly with Collette?
It felt like she’d been real with me, and I was certain that she returned my feelings. Then she’d offered herself and finally given into the idea that she was the one in charge of sex, and I’d lost my control of the situation.
I’d never done that before. Afterwards, I’d almost regained it, only to have to rush to her side. If I had to be honest, keeping her in the basement to protect her also helped me regain the control I needed of the situation.
Colette would have to learn to deal with being my submissive, that it meant I called those kind of shots.
When I was younger I’d thought that I could have saved my mother. As an adult, I understood that she’d quit eating because of a broken heart. Nothing I could have said or done would have fixed that. It didn’t mean that I didn’t feel responsible in some way. She’d taken an easy way out instead of more years of misery married to my father. I understood the decision, but it didn’t change the fact that I wanted her here alive with me. That I wished she had chosen to be a mother.
While I missed her, I realized that I couldn’t bring her back by dwelling on it. I couldn’t bring Andy back, either. Collette was another issue.
She was still alive, and I could keep her alive and well.
The only problem was that she was still keeping secrets. Even though I now doubted highly she was a corporate spy.
What could she know about Andrew and who he was?
When she looked up at me with that sassy expression, I’d felt a stirring that I hadn’t had in ages. In fact, I had never experienced this before.
Caution, both for her and of her was going to be my motto for a while. The fact that I cared for her made everything much more difficult.
The first day in the office, I didn’t have a chance to do more than check the cameras a couple of times because I had online meetings the entire day and wasn’t able to be present. If she was up to something, I hoped that Rossi was going to catch it. I put even more of her care on his shoulders. I didn’t trust my myself when it came to her.
I had dropped so many things to come running when she’d fainted that I had to rework my schedule, working extra long hours to catch up. I would still come running to her, that would never be in question.
. But there were too many moving parts that had to be dealt with for our contracts to continue on schedule. Bringing the business to the forefront of my mind had to be non-negotiable.
Even now, I had to wonder if it had been a desperate cry for my attention. What might she be trying to tell me something that I’d missed?
She had been really sick. The doctor said she was not getting all the nutrients and was malnourished. I’d fed her during our times together, but in those short few days, her body hadn’t gotten the rest or food she’d needed. It had reverted to a past behavior and felt that it was being starved.
Foster care had done a number on her on a deep level, and it didn’t take much for her instincts to return to survival mode.
When I’d fed her, she’d willingly eaten everything that I’d given her. In the end it appeared that she relished the care. In the closeness that it brought us. The bond it forged.
With the doctor’s advice, I had been planning on a new food system to make sure it didn’t happen again. Even if it meant putting her in a watch that kept track of her food intake and alerted her to eat more.
She knew something about Andrew, and I needed to know what that was. Her simply saying his name was worth more of an investigation. I couldn’t imagine how he and Collette had crossed paths, but somewhere in their past was the clue.
I wanted her to tell me, but that hadn’t happened.
In the past, my heart wasn’t ready for an emotional connection. That was why I’d always chosen to enter a contract with submissives, so that I didn’t actually become attached. It kept everyone in their place, but that hadn’t worked for Collette. She’d either ignored the rules or twisted them to suit her fancy.
Now, we’d continue and I’d find out the secret she was keeping.
The entire first day back, I didn’t see her in person. Rossi informed me she’d eaten under protest and removed the butt plug, which I found amusing. The fire she harnessed would always gain my attention.
That would have to be a conversation for later. There wasn’t time for us to speak with all of my meetings, and I missed being around her. Maybe she’d become my drug of choice?
I missed her. Craved her really, but there were too many meetings and urgent problems that couldn’t be put on hold.
That was when she’d marched into my office and placed her hands on my desk.
Yes, the fire was back in her eyes. This was the Collette that I’d grown to love. My cock hardened instantly. Her affect on me physically would never waver either.
“Is something wrong?”
I feigned impatience, but I really didn’t have time to spare.
Words gushed out, but I was having a hard time listening because her breasts were heaving out of the top of her blouse. They were such a great distraction. I was sorely tempted to loosen a couple buttons. The torch she lit up in me. Even with all my worries and care she needed, I still couldn’t stop my mind and body from wanting to bend her over the desk and fuck her until we were both brainless.
When I didn’t giveher the answer she wanted, her hands reached out and threw everything on the desk to the floor.
“What kind of horrible person are you? Am I just a piece of property to you that you can make sure that I’m alive, but ignore the rest of the time? Am I just here for you to take out and look at when it suits you?”
I couldn’t believe my ears. Did she really see me as a monster that had no feelings?
I thought I was just very good at hiding them. I’d had to, to survive. There wasn’t anything that she’d done, not really.
“What is going on with her?”
I muttered aloud, looking over at Rossi for help as when she fled to the restroom.
He looked just as confused. I sensed he didn’t know what to do with himself at the moment. That made the both of us.
“Was she crying? I haven’t done anything that would make her cry, have I?”
“She’s not your normal type of woman, sir. There could be any number of things that might have pissed her off, but I think she’s more hurt than mad. This wasn’t done because she hates you. It’s the opposite, in fact.”
Rossi shook his head. “She’s in love with you and isn’t happy that you aren’t at her beck and call.”
“Well, I spent almost all of my time with her or talking to her these past two months. Now she’s bratting because I’m paying attention to other things?”
I sounded incredulous to my own ears.
No matter. This had to be dealt with. I rapped on the bathroom door.
“Collette, are you okay? If you want to come out, we can talk about a few of those things.”
I felt like I needed to offer an olive branch just to make sure that we got past this situation. I hated to be that guy, but we both had a lot of work to do today, and she needed to be back on track.
It wasn’t just for the business’s sake, but for health as well. That’s what I tried to tell myself as I rationalized her behavior.
She opened the door, but her tear-stained face made me soften. I hated tears, but I normally viewed them as a inconveninece. Her tears though, made me want to fix everything and make the world right for her again.
“What did you want to talk about?”
she asked, her arms crossed tightly across her chest.
“Well, for starters, why did you throw that kind of tantrum?”
I crossed my arms, mirroring her, but willing to hear what she had to say.
“You haven’t talked to me since we negotiated what we were going to be doing in the future. I thought it was time for you to pay attention and realize that I'm still an independent person, even after we made an agreement.”
Her words pierced me. That would hurt anybody, but somebody coming from a foster care system, that would open wounds like no other.
My mother had felt like that about my father. Now someone I cared for was saying I did it.
Anger built inside of me. It was the only emotion that would get me through this.
“I have built my business up from the ground level and you think that you have enough power over me to just come in here and throw a tantrum? You aren’t as important as you think you are. I signed a contract with you to get work done. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have an interest in your physical needs, but I abandoned several high-powered deals to fly back and make sure that you were alive. You can’t act like I don’t care. What I do care about is the hard work that I’ve thrown out the window because I needed to deal with your issues. In person!”
I could feel my face reddening.
“Yeah, well, you’ve been pretty absent ever since.”
Colette put her hands on her hips, her chin up and her voice scornful. It made me want to wipe that expression off her face. “Look, I get it. You like to talk all sexy and act all sexy, but when it comes to doing the sexy, you have a hangup. That’s all right by me, but I just want to know where I stand.”
She waved her hand in response to my not yet spoken answers, “It’s okay, I’m not going to push it, but next time you get all ‘You chose this, crap,’ just remember, you’ve chosen to reject me and I’m not going to run into your arms without some serious apologizing.”
Unaccustomed emotion flooded through me. I closed in on her, enjoying the way she stiffened as I leaned toward her until I could smell her excitement and feel her fluttering breath.
“I’m not sure what kind of response you were hoping to get from me, but this isn’t the one you wanted. We have work to do and can discuss your behavior later. That will certainly include getting a punishment this evening.”
There would be a long lesson on appropriate behavior.
She pushed me, her hand on my chest.
“Go ahead, Mr. Holdt, cuff me, spank me, do whatever you want. It’s not going to matter because I can outlast you. I’m not just a pretty doll. If you want to have a peaceful work environment, then that’s what you’ve got, boss. I’ll be the best worker you could ever ask for, but I won’t be the submissive thing you’ve had for the past two months. You’re going to be begging me to get out of the original contract I signed.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Collette. I’m going to make you mine, and you’ll regret that you ever had this little tantrum.”
I kept my face still as she eyed me, trying to judge how serious I was.
“Do you think you can manage to do your job?”
I smirked at her in the most annoying way I could.
She straightened, those lovely breasts prominent and presented me with a false sweet smile. “Yes, sir.”
I ignored the sarcasm. “Very well. Clean up this mess and then return to the conference room where there are a few files I need to have uploaded and then configured for an afternoon meeting.”
“Then we’ll deal with all this mess and your punishment tonight.”
I was looking forward to that time to wind down and make her understand her actions had consequences. It would be very enjoyable for me, but I hadn’t decided how much I was going to allow her to enjoy it.
“Fine,”
she issued her own challenge. “You’ll be begging me to end the contract when I’m finished with you. I can take anything that you choose to throw at me.”