Chapter 11
The anklet presses against my skin. My skirt doesn’t hide the delicate gold. He clasped it back on me Saturday afternoon, sliding it on like it had never been gone. The chain catches when I cross my legs, and every time it does, it reminds me I’m choosing this. Him.
I left the collar at his house this morning since it’s not a work piece. He’ll put it back on me tonight. I’m not the same woman who walked away from this desk last week.
I drove home from Bren’s Sunday night for clean clothes and a wall charger, looked at my half-unpacked apartment, and drove back to his place. The lease renewal is still on the counter, unsigned. He hasn’t asked me to move in, and I haven’t asked if he wants me to. We already know.
My birth control’s still on the counter at my apartment. I haven’t taken it since last Wednesday. We talked about it Sunday morning—about me staying off—and neither of us wanted me on it. The conversation lasted about two minutes.
Now it’s Monday morning. Dana’s already at her desk, and Kevin’s bent over his keyboard in the corner. The phones haven’t started yet. I pull up my email and Bren’s calendar and make some changes that were missed while I was gone.
I’m trying to decide who is going to notice me first when Rachel says, “Holy. Fucking. Shit.”
She’s standing at the entrance to my cubicle with a yogurt cup in one hand and a look on her face that’s half amazement, half joy. She doesn’t move for one full second, then she squeals and lunges.
Her arms wrap around my neck, her yogurt balanced precariously between us at shoulder height. She doesn’t know what her text did to me. I’d be gone by now without it. I owe her cocktails forever. A rush of pleasure makes me squeeze her tighter than I mean to.
“Oh my god.” She pulls back and holds me at arm’s length, her eyes shining and there’s now yogurt on my blouse. I don’t care. “You’re here. Look at you, sitting at your desk like nothing happened.”
“I mean, some things happened.” I glance toward Bren’s closed office door and take a sip of coffee.
As if he was summoned, his door opens.
He walks out, and his eyes find me. His smile is bigger than I’ve ever seen it before. My stomach flutters, and I grin back.
“Good morning,” he says.
“Morning.” I hold up my coffee cup. “I rearranged your Thursday agenda. The Morrison call was double-booked with the quarterly review, so I moved Morrison to 2:30 and added a buffer for the—”
“Lily.”
“I’m working, Bren. Some of us have jobs.”
The smile turns wolfish, and his eyes don’t leave mine. The heat in them makes my stomach flutter in pleasure. It’s game on.
He turns to the open office. Rachel’s pretending to eat her yogurt. Kevin has suddenly found something fascinating in the file he’s holding. Dana watches with delighted curiosity. She isn’t bothering to pretend.
“I have an announcement,” Bren says.
My heart rate doubles. He didn’t tell me he was doing this right now. My coffee cup hovers halfway between the desk and my mouth, and I freeze with it there because I’m afraid if I take a sip, I won’t be able to swallow.
“Lily’s position is now permanent. She’s staying.”
For one quiet beat, nobody says anything. Bren holds my gaze. Seven years of refusing to fill this position, and he just declared I’m here to stay.
Then Rachel squeaks. She tries to cover it with a cough, but she fails. Kevin takes off his glasses, cleans them on his shirt, and puts them back on, which is Kevin for I’m having an emotion.
Dana just nods as if she was expecting this and says, “About time.”
I’m sitting at my desk with my coffee cup suspended in midair. My eyes are burning. I refuse to cry at 9:15 on a Monday morning in front of my coworkers. I’m not.
“So does permanent mean I get a parking spot? Because I’ve been parking in the visitor section for weeks, and the security guard gives me a look every morning that’s frankly hostile.”
Bren laughs, and the moment passes from monumental to normal in about four seconds.
“We’ll see if you deserve one,” he says and winks at me.
Oh, I’m getting a parking spot. Hell, maybe now I want his spot since he’s got the best one.
I smirk to myself and check my emails.
My cellphone buzzes at 12:15. I glance at the screen. The staffing agency.
I answer it and tip my chair back just as Bren walks out of his office. His shoulders are relaxed, and he’s wearing a green shirt that makes his hazel eyes look greener. My man is sexy.
Everyone on the floor has left for lunch, so we’re alone. I listen to Janet talk for a moment, and then raise my voice just a little when I reply.
“That position sounds really interesting, Janet.”
Bren stops walking. His eyes find mine.
“Tell me more about the offer.” I cross my legs and let my voice carry just enough. “Permanent role, you said? Vision, dental, 401k match?”
One of Bren’s eyebrows rises.
“And the salary band is...mmm. Competitive.” I twirl my pen. “Yes, I’ll think about it. Can I get back to you tomorrow?”
I hang up, resisting the urge to look at Bren. I sip my coffee and wait.
He’s at my desk in seconds. “Come to my office.”
“Sure thing.” I give him a cheeky grin.
I practically sashay to his office. He follows close behind.
He closes the door and leans against his desk with his arms crossed while I stand in front of a chair, refusing to sit. Those warm eyes from this morning are dark and locked on me.
“You want to weigh your options?” he says.
“I’m a thorough person. It’s one of my professional strengths.”
“Fifteen days PTO.”
“Their offer is very competitive for this market. Janet said so.”
He’s off the desk before I finish the sentence. Three steps, and his hand is on my shoulder, pressing me down into the chair. He drops to one knee and lifts my foot onto his thigh, pushing my skirt up my leg with the movement. Higher than he needs to. The gold around my ankle catches the light.
“This,” he says, and his thumb traces the chain before he looks up at me. “This says you’ve already made your decision.”
“Does it? Maybe I’m just fashion-forward.”
His hand leaves the anklet and slides up my leg. His fingers close on my thigh and hold. The grip sends a jolt of heat down my spine and into my pussy. He knows my body better than I’m comfortable admitting.
“I think you’re trying to provoke me.”
“Provoke is a strong word. I was networking and asking about the salary band. Rachel thinks I’m underpaid.”
He rises without letting go of my thigh. He brings the other hand up under my jaw and tilts my face to look at him. My breath catches. Heat pools low in my belly.
“I think my brat wants to be punished.”
My pussy clenches. “I think your brat wants you to earn it.”
He pulls me out of the chair, and suddenly, he’s behind me and I’m bent over his desk. My palms are flat against the smooth mahogany. Hello desk, I’ve missed you.
His hand glides along the curve of my back to my ass. He grips a cheek firmly.
“You’re not taking the other job.”
“I don’t know. That 401k match really was competitive.”
His palm connects with my ass. The sting flares right through my skirt, and heat floods my pussy. I grip the edge of the desk, and a moan slips out. He waits.
“They have vision and dental, Bren. Vision and dental.”
Another spank, harder. The impact radiates through me, and my hips push back before I can stop them.
I’m already soaking my panties, and we’ve barely started.
He pushes my skirt up, bunching the fabric at my hips, and his fingers slip beneath the elastic of my panties.
He tugs them down my thighs, and the air hitting my wet pussy makes me shiver.
“You’re dripping.” His voice is rough, and there’s a smile in it. His fingers slide through my folds, parting me. “Your pussy is pretty wet for a woman weighing her options.”
“I’m a complex person.”
He spanks me again, bare skin this time. The crack is loud. The sting is sharper without the fabric, and the sound I make isn’t even slightly professional. His fingers return to my pussy, spreading me open, circling my clit so slowly it makes my thighs tremble.
I’m panting. My forehead is pressed against the cool mahogany, and his fingers on my clit are making my head spin from pleasure.
“You’re staying.” His fingers still. “Admit you’re not going anywhere.”
I wiggle my ass at him. “Make me.”
He rubs my clit faster, and I hear his zipper lowering.
When his cock notches against my entrance, he waits there without pushing in.
The tip is barely touching me while his fingers keep working my clit.
The wait is unbearable. I try to push down onto him and he pulls his hips back just enough to deny me.
“Beg,” he says.
“Nope, I don’t beg.”
Not even the desk believes me.
“You do. You will.” He pushes in just enough for the stretch, and then he stops. I push my hips back, and his hand clamps down on my hip, holding me right where he wants me. The control is maddening.
“Bren.” My voice is breathy. “Please.”
He doesn’t move.
“Please fuck me.”
He pushes in another inch. My walls clamp around him, and I moan in delight.
“You’re staying. Or you don’t come.”
Oooh, oh no, no, no.
“I’m staying,” I whimper. The brat is silenced by the threat of no pleasure. I turn my head and rest my cheek on his desk. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m yours.”
“You are.”
He drives into me. One deep, savage thrust that buries him to the hilt and rips a slutty moan from my throat.
I have to brace my hands next to me on the desk so I don’t slide forward.
He’s already pulling back, slamming in again with a force that shoves my hips into the desk edge and makes the pen cup rattle.
“That’s my girl,” he growls.
He fucks me relentlessly, his cock driving deep on every stroke. One hand fists in my hair, the other braces against my hip, and the rhythm is brutal. I love it. My nipples scrape the desk through the fabric of my blouse with each thrust. The pleasure spirals in my core, and I’m shaking.
I lift my ass and push backwards, taking him deeper. I’m his, and I want all of it.
“Harder,” I gasp. “Fuck me harder.”
He growls and jackhammers into me with a force that jolts my whole body. The pen cup topples, and I almost laugh. Some things never change.
He releases my hair and reaches around to my clit, working it in circles while he pounds into me. The coil in my belly winds so tight my vision goes white at the edges.
My pussy grips him, and he groans. “Time for my brat to beg for my cum.”
I’m so close to coming that I’m beyond shame.
“Oh god, breed me, put a baby in me. Make me your breeding slut and fill me with cum!”
“You’re so beautiful when you beg for my cum. But I don’t think you need it.”
I do. And not the play-pretend way this time. He could actually put a baby in me. My pussy clenches around him.
“Fuck.” I’m panting, my forehead against the mahogany, my hips slamming back to meet every thrust. “I’m your breeding brat. Knock me up and show everyone I belong to you. Do it. Put a baby in me. I need your cum. Don’t make me wait!”
His thrusts become more erratic, but he doesn’t slow down as the wet sounds of our fucking fill the office.
“You’re a naughty brat, and I could watch you squirm for hours. Fucking you until you’re mindless.”
Nooo. My legs tremor, and all I can do is moan as he continues to slam into me.
“But I love you too much. Come for me.”
My body goes rigid at his words, and my pussy spasms. I explode from rapture. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
It’s a soul-shaking orgasm that sends me shooting sky high, and there’s a gush of warmth between my legs.
He fucks me through my orgasm, the pleasure unending, until he slams in one final time, and comes with a groan that vibrates through the entire room.
He floods me, wave after wave of cum, filling me while my walls flutter and grip his cock.
He keeps one hand pressed against my lower back, hips still grinding against me as he unloads every last drop.
When he finally slows down, my entire body is twitching from aftershocks of pleasure, and we stay like that.
I’m still flat against the mahogany, and he’s draped over me.
His cock still buried, softer now. My skirt is bunched around my waist. I’m a messy, happy brat.
He said he loves me while telling me to come.
Apparently, we’re at the place where I-love-you slips out during sex.
He didn’t say the word baby this time. He didn’t need to.
“For the record,” he says, roughly, close to my ear, “your benefits package here includes full dental, vision, a 401k match that I’m personally doubling, and unlimited PTO in my office after hours.”
“You forgot maternity leave.” My voice is shot, but the smirk isn’t. “Pretty sure you just earned me one.”
He huffs against my hair. “Already covered. I’m thorough.”
My laugh turns into a groan as he eases out of me. His cum and my wetness slide down my legs, making my pussy ache because I’m half wanting him again already.
I stay right where I’m at while a fuzzy happiness settles over me. When he pulls out wet wipes from his desk, I lose it. This is messed up.
I’m still laughing the entire time he cleans up the mess on my legs.
He kisses me softly. “Sit with me.”
We move to his chair. As soon as he’s settled in, I crawl onto him. He gathers me in close. I tuck my head under his chin, and the sandalwood is right under my nose, his heartbeat steady under my cheek. His hand rests on my thigh, stroking slowly, his other arm tight around me.
“You’re going to be a nightmare at work,” he says. “Aren’t you?”
“Mmm, nope. I’m going to be the best admin you’ve ever had and the worst-behaved submissive in the state of North Carolina. You’re going to love every second of it.”
His chest rumbles, and he tightens his arms around me. His lips press into my hair.
“Yeah,” he says. “I am.”
I sigh in happiness. This is all mine now, and I’m not going anywhere.