Chapter 16 #2
I walk around to take my seat and find she’s looking at me with that soft look on her features again. Fuck. I don’t want to give her the wrong impression, that it means anything, so I add, “You should know, I do this for anyone I spanked. It just so happens to be you this time.”
“Oh.” For a millisecond, she looks hurt, but then she levels me with a look that sets off alarm bells in my head—like she knows I'm faking this disinterest toward her—before calmly adding, “Noted.” She reaches into her handbag—the one I ordered for her, making sure it was stylish, yet roomy enough to carry her laptop and documents—and pulls out her tablet.
She places it on the table, then slides her fingers across the screen.
"The forecasts are in from the sales team. They expect to come in significantly under the quarter four projections, and—"
I allow her sweet voice to wash over me.
I also use the excuse of her speaking to peruse her gorgeous features.
Those long eyelashes, the slight flush on her cheeks, from my thinly veiled insult—which I regretted as soon as I spoke, but fuck, if I didn’t also enjoy the flash of anger in her eyes.
Her fighting spirit is a turn on, which is inexplicable.
I’ve always preferred women on their knees, legs spread out as I take them, merely to satisfy a need.
I've never wanted any of them to be anything more than submissive, put up with my kinks, and give in to my demands.
Fucking hell. I tighten my fingers into a fist. I cannot stop thinking of her as my potential sub.
I want to do the things to her that I've never done to anyone else before.
I cannot go there. I cannot want her to be at my beck and call, and not just as my employee. I managed to extend the scope of her presence in my life to my home, under the guise of that being the role of my Executive Assistant.
But to want to also have her in my bed? To want to make her bend to my demands and watch as she falls apart? To feel ownership of her body, mind, and soul? To want to break her down emotionally and physically, only to reform her in the image of my perfect sub… Is not right.
Not only is she invaluable as a member of my team, and that relationship would be affected, but she’s also too naive. Unlike the submissives I’ve had before her, July is too inexperienced—and while that's part of the attraction, it means she wouldn't be up to what I need.
She might claim to be attracted to me, despite my scarred face.
She might even enjoy the role-play, so far.
But once I remove the veneer of civilization completely, once I bind her, and gag her, and blindfold her, and render her immobile—and then do all the things I want to do to her...
She’ll hate me. I’ll sully her, dirty her, take away every last shred of her innocence...
And she won’t be able to keep up with my demands.
She doesn't really mean it when she professes to love my brand of kink.
She has no idea how far I can push her limits.
No, this entire line of thinking is wrong, and—
"Mr. Davenport, Sir?"
It’s the last moniker which cuts through the chaos of thoughts in my head.
"Are you okay?" she asks me in a voice that hints at the confusion she’s feeling.
Me too. I’ve always been laser-focused when it comes to my job, be it when I was a Marine or now, as the CEO of my company.
I’ve never been less than one hundred percent when it comes to making decisions in my professional life.
But that was before her. Fuck. She’s playing havoc with my ability to focus, and that’s terrifying.
"Would you like me to repeat the question?" She peruses my features. "I asked—"
"Call a meeting with the sales team tomorrow at seven a.m. to discuss the projections."
"Seven a.m.?" Her forehead wrinkles. "Isn’t that too early?"
"I pay them enough to come into work when I ask," I growl.
Her features tighten. "Yes, Sir."
My dick thickens further. It soothes that animal inside of me when she calls me by that honorific, and that’s going to be my downfall. I try to keep my gaze from her mouth, and know I’ve failed when she clears her throat.
"Then, there was the companywide technological outage last week. The tech teams suspect a cyber-attack—"
"A meeting with my Chief Technological Officer at eight a.m. tomorrow."
The furrow between her eyebrows deepens, but all she says is, “As you wish, Sir."
The crotch of my pants tightens. Her acquiescence is going to turn me into a mass of raging horniness.
"Then, the shareholder meeting—"
"Postpone it by a month."
"A month?" She looks at me in horror. "But the board—"
"You’re smart; you can come up with an excuse, I’m sure."
Her lips thin. "I believe that should be possible." Her voice is polite, but her cheeks have gone red again. Poor little July. She has no idea how much I enjoy the fact that her features always give away her true feelings.
You can’t hide from me, little one.
What. The. Fuck? I cannot have seriously come up with a sappier endearment for her.
The Ma?tre d’ glides over and places our drinks in front of us.
I grab my tumbler, toss back my drink, then growl, "Another."
He takes my glass and retreats while my assistant gapes at me. "Are… Are you okay, Sir?"
Fuuuuck. If she calls me 'Sir' one more time, I’m going to throw myself across this table, grab her by the nape of her neck and kiss that tempting mouth and—I shake my head. Nope, I cannot allow her to take over my thoughts so completely. I need to figure out how to keep her at a distance. It’s why I lift my chin and growl, "Except for the exceedingly boring company I’ve been subjected to for the past twenty minutes, I’m fine, okay. "
Her eyes grow wide, then her features crumple.
Instantly, I’m struck with remorse. Fucking hell, did I have to hurt her like that?
She manages to get control of her emotions, then draws her spine straight.
With measured movements, she slides her tablet back into her bag.
"I don’t believe we have anything else urgent to discuss for this evening, so if you will excuse me…
" She rises to her feet, then turns and walks across the floor.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I spring up and stalk after her, "Stop, July."