Chapter 14
ASPEN
“Are you pouting, princess?” Lucian asked.
“No,” I argued. Clearly pouting.
“What’s wrong?”
He’d just shut the door on our last interview, and I could hear the amusement in his question from the other side of the office.
“Nothing. It’s just…” I dropped my head back and groaned. “She’s a really good candidate.”
He examined me with narrowed eyes. “Isn’t that good?”
“Yes. No. Yes. I don’t know.”
“Talk to me,” he ordered, leaning back against his desk.
God, he looked good with his arms crossed, making his muscles flex and strain against his dark dress shirt. The way his long legs stretched out before crossing at the ankles, his muscular thighs practically begging me to fall to my knees and hold on while he fucks my face.
“Aspen,” he warned, calling me back from ogling.
But I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to admit how, after months of interviews, I started to consider the possibility we might not find anyone good enough, and my dad would be forced to give me the position. I didn’t want to face reality.
Too bad Lucian didn’t care what I thought. He stood there with his hard gaze pinning me in place, silently demanding I confess.
“It means I have to face the fact that someone else is really going to run my family company. It’s a bucket of cold water, and it’s jarring. I don’t like it.”
“It was going to happen eventually.”
“You’re not helping,” I grumbled.
“I don’t need to. Because,” he added when I jerked out of my seat with murderous intent. “You will be in charge of your company in five years, no matter what, because of our deal. We can even add a clause to the contract that states the position is for five years.”
“You make it sound so simple,” I said, a manic laugh bubbling free as I started to pace.
“I still need to be accepted by the board in five years, and what if the temporary CEO is so amazing that they see me and think, nah. And, God, the contract. We’d have to get that approved by the board, and then that would raise some red flags with my dad.
He’d wonder why I wanted that or why I needed it.
Especially if I’m supposed to not know for sure if I’ll get the job or raise the funds. ”
“Aspen,” Lucian called, but I was too busy in my rambling panic spiral to hear.
“Then it will be another interrogation in my office, where I’m forced to make up lies because I’m explaining that it’s all good, Dad.
I just made a deal to go through a legally binding ceremony to ensure I get the company you don’t think I’m ready for.
But, hey, the sex is amazing.” I rubbed at the growing sharp pain in my chest and laughed, high-pitched and hysterical.
“He’ll probably think I’m some kind of prostitute, and then I really won’t get the company, no matter what I do. ”
“Aspen.” The deep command of his voice cut through the space between us, and I jerked to a stop, turning wide eyes to him. He stood from the desk and gestured to it. “Bend over.”
“What?” I gasped around my short, choppy breaths.
His face hardened. “Come here, and bend. Over.”
I swallowed and nodded, taking quick steps in my eagerness to have his palm strike my skin, pulling me back to a place where I remembered how to breathe. I laid my palms on the desk, ready to let go.
Staring at the dark wood, I bit back a relieved smile, knowing I never would have had this without him.
It’s just a spanking. It doesn’t mean anything.
His words from the club replayed, but I confidently pushed them aside.
It may have begun that way, but it grew into more.
Despite our initial hatred of each other, something deeper brought us closer together.
He’d earned my trust and cared about me becoming a stronger woman—a happier one.
The way he spanked me now was no longer a simple act between a Dom and his sub, like the way we’d started.
I felt it in the way he handled me, in the unspoken promise threaded through his touch—a quiet assurance that I was never alone because he would always see me through.
I felt it in the way his hand slid up my thighs, pushing my skirt over my hips.
I felt it in the gentle caress of his fingers along the curve of my ass.
I felt it in the caring way he leaned over and pressed his lips to my ear, whispering, “I’ve got you, princess.
” I felt it in the sharp sting of his first smack.
I felt it in the loving way he soothed the burn to the delicious ache I craved.
And I craved it only from him.
By the time I walked out of his office, I’d forgotten everything other than him. He made it easier to breathe, and I…and I…
I loved him.
The realization should have sent me into another panic, but it didn’t.
It just didn’t.
As simple as that.
And I didn’t want to fight it.
I didn’t want to worry about what anyone else thought.
I didn’t want to overthink.
For the first time, I just wanted to feel.
A giddy rush of joy fluttered in my chest as I moved to open my office door.
“Aspen,” my father called behind me.
I turned, my face still alight with a smile that had him smiling in return.
“Mind if I come in?”
“Sure.”
He followed me and sat back on the couch, getting comfortable, meaning this was more of a personal visit than a professional one. “You seem to be in a good mood.”
“I am,” I agreed, joining him on the couch.
He pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Good. I love it when you’re happy. You have your mother’s smile.”
I smiled harder and sat back, waiting for him to start the conversation.
“How are the interviews going?”
“Good. We actually had a good candidate today,” I explained, grateful I could do so without experiencing any of the panic from before. “And I’m still hoping to find Shiloh among the applicants.”
His face turned thoughtful, considering the suggestion. “You’re right. She would be an amazing fit. I hope she applies.”
“So, did you only come for an update?” I inquired when he didn’t say more.
“Can’t a man come see his favorite daughter?” He laughed at my deadpan stare and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a black velvet ring box. “Your mother would want you to have this. I want you to have this.”
Before I even opened the box, unshed tears burned my eyes.
“Daddy,” I breathed. The thin platinum band with faded floral inlay blurred. “Mom’s ring.”
“She made me promise to keep it so we could pass it on to you, like her mother did her and all the other women in her family.”
I swiped at my eyes and pulled the patinaed ring from the box, sliding it onto my ring finger.
“I was worried it wouldn’t fit, but I shouldn’t have. Your mother used to say it carried magic that allowed it to fit any woman who wore it. That’s how it’s fit all the past generations,” he explained, laughing. “I know it’s not as grand as the ring Lucian go—”
“It’s perfect. Both our mothers’ rings,” I explained, admiring the similarities and differences between the two. His mom’s was newer, but they both appeared softer from years of wear. “I love it. Thank you.”
“Of course, a stór.”
Happiness, like I hadn’t experienced in years, bubbled up so aggressively that I thought I would explode. Needing an outlet, I threw my arms around my dad and lost myself in his accepting warmth. I’d been so busy proving how great I could be that I forgot to stop and just be with my dad.
Both our eyes were wet by the time we pulled back.
“I thought about giving it to Lucian, but I wanted to give it to you myself.”
“I’ll make sure I pass it on,” I promised, tucking it back inside the box.
“Do you have much more work to do today?”
“Not in the office. But I do have an opening act I need to check out tonight, and then I’ll head home.”
He leaned back and smiled, just watching me.
“What?”
“Being in a relationship looks good on you. I’m glad to see Lucian making you so happy.”
“Me, too. Especially because if he didn’t,” I said, my smile turning wicked. “I’d kick his ass.”
“That’s my girl.”
“What the hell are you wearing?” Lucian demanded, his dark voice full of tension, contradicting his relaxed position in bed.
I raised my brows in challenge, as if to say, Excuse me?
“I’m wearing a shirt.”
“That is jewelry. Is there anything even under it?”
Pursing my lips, I looked down at the collection of pearls attached to form a loose tank top…kind of. Slowly, I tipped my head back up with an antagonistic smirk. “Just me,” I taunted.
A low growl rumbled deep in his chest—his bare chest.
I dropped my purse on the dresser and slowly stalked to the bed, taking in his broad shoulders and sculpted abs that eventually disappeared under the sheets. The bedside lamp illuminated enough to make my mouth water and make me want to see more.
“Is there anything under the sheets?” I asked, slipping my heels off and kicking them aside.
“Just me.” His dark eyes flashed behind his glasses.
I hummed as I reached the bed and crawled on, holding his heated gaze until it dropped to watch my shirt gape, revealing my swaying breasts.
Wanting to prolong the tension between us, I went to my own pillow and lay on my side, resting my elbow to support my head.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” I said before he could move his laptop aside.
His brow furrowed. “Do they make me look old?”
“Not at all. I think they make you look very sexy.”
“That’s good. I only use them at night.” He studied my wicked smile and sighed, resigned to play my game. “So, how was tonight?”
“Good. I signed a new band. They’ll come in next week to finalize the paperwork. There were even two other competing companies there, and I still managed to sway them to Quinn.”
“If nothing else, the past few months have taught me not to doubt you.”
I threw my fist up, pumping the air in victory, earning a laugh from him. “So, how was your day at work?”
“Good.”
My face scrunched. “What do you even do? You know, other than stealing companies from entitled princesses before marrying them.”
“Other than that,” he said dryly. “I invest in other companies to benefit my own. Meanwhile, we have our own operations in manufacturing, shipping, and insurance. It’s a lot of balancing that.”
“That sounds very all over the place. I prefer having a single focus in music. I like being able to do more than excel at what I give my attention to. With your kind of variety, I’d be pulled in too many directions, and it would end up driving me insane to try and keep up with them all.”
“It’s exciting. Ever-changing. Nothing is ever boring, and if it is, then I look into another asset.”
“I can see that for you,” I said, nodding. “Was it your dad who started the company?”
“Kind of,” he said, finally setting the laptop on the ground and rolling to face me. “He started the manufacturing company with his dad, and they grew it from there.”
“Sounds like a lot of work.”
“It was,” he said seriously, but then smiled as if remembering something good.
“But he was always around. Even while he kept growing the business, I can’t remember more than a few times that my dad wasn’t there for me.
He made sure I knew that he loved his business, but he loved being with my mom and me more. ”
“Something we had in common,” I agreed. “My dad made sure he was around for us, too. Mind you, he was older and had settled Quinn Music Group years before I came along, but still. I get it.”
“It’s hard at any point of owning a company.
It’s a choice you have to make. It was a choice I wanted to make when I envisioned my marriage.
I struggled with not being the husband I imagined I’d be when we first got married, and I had to devote so much of myself to the business after my parents passed.
” He paused and took a deep breath. “For a moment, I thought Daria cheated because I hadn’t been around enough. ”
“Turned out she was just an epic bitch.”
He released a bark of laughter, his head falling back, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to lick the strong cords of his throat.
So I did.
I leaned over him and dragged my tongue up his neck to his ear, biting softly, earning a deep growl rumbling from his chest.
A surprised laugh burst free when he gripped my hips and moved me on top of him, my legs on either side of his waist, and my pussy right on top of his very hard cock.
And with that simple move, his eyes turning dark with devious promises, the tension from earlier snapped right back, perfectly in place, like it always did.