The Dom: Steamy Boss Romance (Manhattan Records Book 2) Read online

  The Dom

  Manhattan Records

  M. S. Parker

  Belmonte Publishing, LLC

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 Belmonte Publishing LLC

  Published by Belmonte Publishing LLC

  Contents

  Free Book

  1. Nate

  2. Ashlee

  3. Nate

  4. Ashlee

  5. Nate

  6. Ashlee

  7. Nate

  8. Ashlee

  9. Nate

  10. Ashlee

  11. Nate

  12. Ashlee

  13. Nate

  14. Ashlee

  15. Nate

  16. Ashlee

  17. Nate

  18. Ashlee

  19. Nate

  20. Ashlee

  21. Nate

  22. Ashlee

  23. Nate

  24. Ashlee

  25. Nate

  26. Ashlee

  27. Nate

  28. Ashlee

  29. Nate

  30. Ashlee

  31. Nate

  32. Ashlee

  33. Nate

  34. Ashlee

  35. Nate

  36. Ashlee

  37. Nate

  38. Ashlee

  39. Nate

  40. Ashlee

  41. Nate

  42. Ashlee

  43. Nate

  44. Ashlee

  45. Nate

  46. Ashlee

  47. Nate

  48. Ashlee

  49. Nate

  50. Ashlee

  Office romances by M. S. Parker

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  One

  Nate

  Waking up next to someone wasn’t a personal habit, not even when that bed was in a hotel room. In Virginia Beach. After busting into a mother-daughter getaway.

  I looked at the woman beside me.

  Most of the time, I left my partners once the sex was through and my sub was cared for. I held high standards for being a Dominant, which included knowing what sort of aftercare each sub needed. I never got involved with anyone who required more than I was willing to give. That was how things worked. Straightforward. Simple. Uncomplicated.

  The warm body in my arms was anything but simple and uncomplicated.

  I opened my eyes slowly, trying to keep from waking her. I wanted a few moments of silence, a few moments where I could just look at her and not have to think about anything but the soft spill of that long, henna red hair across my chest and over my arm. The way her curves felt pressed against my side. How perfectly our bodies fit together.

  Part of me was tempted to stay here, touch her silky skin until I coaxed her awake. Slip inside her and bring her to complete wakefulness as she came. Or maybe explore her body with my mouth. Taste those pretty nipples of hers. Suck on them until they were tight and hard. Dip my tongue into her bellybutton to tease her, make her squirm. Then down to that hot wet place between her legs. Make her scream my name.

  I’d woken up with an erection – not an uncommon occurrence – and my thoughts weren’t doing anything to get rid of it. If anything, I was harder than ever. Contrary to what most people thought, my dick didn’t do my thinking for me.

  I needed to shower and get something to eat. Last night had been make-up sex. This morning, it was back to the real world, and to deal with that, I needed to be clean and fed.

  It took some maneuvering to get out of bed without waking Ashlee, but once I managed it, I headed out to the main room. Keeping my voice low, I called for room service, then headed for the shower.

  I wouldn’t take long. It would be too tempting to fantasize about her and give myself a little relief. As appealing as that was, I didn’t want her to wake up to an empty bed and someone knocking at the door with a tray of food she needed to manage. She needed to feel taken care of, not brushed aside.

  After my shower, I pulled on a pair of flannel pants but didn’t bother with a shirt when I went to answer the door. I was in the processes of checking my order when I heard movement from the bedroom.

  “Bathroom’s free,” I called. “I’ve got breakfast out here when you’re ready.”

  “Thanks.”

  Her voice was still thick with sleep, and I felt a jolt of satisfaction that no other man had ever gotten to hear her like that. No one else could accurately picture what she would look like, walking from the bedroom to the bathroom without a stitch on. Another man might fantasize about what that body was like under her clothes, but only I knew.

  By the time she joined me in the main room, I had our breakfast set out and had grabbed a shirt. The slightly sadistic part of me wanted to stay bare-chested just to see if I could get her to blush when she saw the scratches she’d left on my shoulders, but as much as I enjoyed using sex to distract us both from the real world, if things between Ashlee and I were ever going to progress, we had to move beyond just sex.

  That particular sentiment became even more difficult to accept when Ashlee came waltzing out in one of my shirts. And nothing else.

  “Fuck,” I growled as I stalked toward her.

  All my good intentions went right out the window as I buried one hand in her wet hair and grabbed a palmful of ass in the other. I caught a moment of pleased surprise on her face just before my mouth was on hers. Teeth and tongues clashed, fought, conveyed all the things that neither of us could bring ourselves to say.

  Kisses could say so many things. They could be simple and sweet. They could mean friendship or romance.

  This one was possessive, greedy.

  She was mine, and I’d be damned if I let her walk out of here not knowing that…but I didn’t know how to put any of that into words. I said it with everything else though, and by the time we broke apart, both of us were flushed and panting.

  “That…that was…wow.” Ashlee’s turquoise eyes were wide. “Good morning to you too.”

  I smiled at her and brushed back her hair. “How about some breakfast?”

  “That sounds good.”

  Neither one of us spoke as we filled our plates and sat down. We ate in silence, both of us apparently hungrier than we’d realized. At least, that’s what I thought the reason was. I hadn’t considered anything else until Ashlee finally spoke.

  “I know there are a lot of things we should talk about, and we could start anywhere, but I kinda want to start with the ‘boy, did we almost mess up.’”

  It took me a moment to understand what she was talking about, and when I did, the memory wasn’t unpleasant at all. Being inside her without anything between us, my cock slipping against slick skin…damn if I wasn’t still craving it.

  “Sorry about that,” I apologized even though a part of me wasn’t really sorry. Well, I was sorry for the fact that we hadn’t talked about it, and it hadn’t been a conscious decision made by both of us. I wasn’t that much of an asshole.

  “I understand,” she said. “We got caught up in the moment. Neither of us was thinking clearly. It happens.”

  I almost snorted. “Not to me. I can honestly say that I’ve never done that before. Not even when I was drunk.”

  Her eyebrows went up. “I’m not sure how I’m supposed t
o feel about that.”

  I laughed and reached across the table to cover her hand with mine. “Let’s just say you’re the only one who’s made me forget myself like that.”

  She blushed, and I wondered what it had been like for her, to feel me without anything between us.

  “I might not be experienced, but I know there are some things we should have talked about before we slept together. We did this thing backwards.”

  All I could think about was how I wanted to tear that shirt off and take her right here on this table, and here she was talking calmly about birth control. My gaze fell onto her hands, and she twisted her fingers together, the gesture telling me she wasn’t as cool about this as she seemed.

  “Since I’ve never had any other partners, I don’t have any STDs,” she continued. “No drug use either.”

  “I was tested after I ended things with Roma,” I said, trying to match her attitude. “I’m clean.”

  “Good.” She let out a breath. “That’s good.”

  I wasn’t sure if I should’ve been insulted by that or not. Was she relieved because she’d thought I might have given her something? I gritted my teeth, but I had to admit that she had a reason to be concerned. I had fucked a lot of women, and she had no way of knowing how careful I always was.

  “I just started birth control,” she said, her eyes darting up to my face. “It’s not effective right away–”

  “Ashlee.” I stood and walked over to her. I cupped her chin and tipped her head back. “Look at me, le soleil.” I waited until she did as I said. “I will keep you safe.” I kissed her forehead. “I promise.”

  I meant the words I said to her, but I made the vow to myself as well. I was supposed to protect her, and I’d screwed up. I wouldn’t do it again.

  Two

  Ashlee

  So…this was what a ‘morning after’ conversation was like.

  I had to admit, when I’d first woken up this morning and found myself alone in bed, I’d almost thought I’d imagined the whole thing. Some strange erotic dream brought about by romantic notions that Nate would go to all the effort of tracking me down and surprising me.

  Then I’d felt the ache between my legs and smelled Nate’s familiar scent on the sheets, and I knew I hadn’t made it up. He’d come to find me. Okay, our reunion had started off rocky because of some stupid misunderstandings, but it had ended with a bang.

  Two bangs for me.

  I couldn’t help but smile at the memory. In only a couple weeks, I’d gone from being a virgin to having sex against a door. I might not have planned any of this, but I’d sure picked a good person to be my first. Sure, he had issues, but who didn’t. At least we were both on the same page.

  Maybe.

  Probably another thing we should talk about.

  “Is that a good smile?” Nate’s voice cut into my thoughts. “Or more like you’re imagining the ways your mom is going to cut my balls off for having had my way with her daughter?”

  Startled, I looked up to see him laughing, dark eyes dancing with a humor I hadn’t seen before. Wicked smiles and laughter, yes, but this, not so much. I’d never imagined he could go from protective and sweet to this sort of teasing. My heart twisted at the sight of him like this.

  Smiling. Happy. With me.

  I’d never met anyone who could tie me up in knots like this. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to go too far, care too much, and when he inevitably tired of me, I’d lose more than just him. I didn’t want to close myself off from him, but I’d seen firsthand what happened when one person was more invested than the other.

  I wasn’t going to let that happen to me.

  “There’s no way to ask this without sounding like one of those girls,” I said, hating that I was about to bring down the mood, “so I guess I’ll just come right out with it. What does this mean?”

  He sat back down, a strange expression on his face, one that I couldn’t quite read. “‘This?’” he echoed.

  I gestured between the two of us. “This. I’m not asking with a specific answer in mind. I want nothing more than clarification. I want to know what to expect.”

  He was silent for several seconds, but I could see him thinking and didn’t rush him. I wanted a real answer, not something he felt obligated to say because he hadn’t had time to consider every possibility.

  “I suppose the answer to that depends on you,” he finally said.

  “Me?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not a complete asshole, contrary to what rumors might say. What happens next isn’t a decision for me to make on my own. What do you want?”

  Shit. I should’ve known this was going to come back to bite me in the ass.

  He leaned forward and took my hand, applying gentle pressure to my fingers until I met his eyes. “I want the truth. Always the truth.” He raised my hand and brushed his lips across my knuckles. “You’re safe with me.”

  I wanted that to be true, and in some ways, it was. I trusted him with my body. I just wasn’t so sure I could trust him with my heart.

  “I don’t want this to be an end,” I said honestly. “But I also want to see if what we are can be more than just sex.” I kept going without pausing for a reply. “If sex is all you want, I’m okay with that too. I just want to know so I can…prepare.”

  One side of his mouth tipped up in a half-smile. “Prepare makes it sound like you need to find armor or a fall-out shelter.”

  I laughed, and the knot in my stomach eased. The last thing I wanted to do was freak him out with all the serious talk, but we had so much going against us already that going in blind would be another strike against us from the start. If he could see my questions for what they truly were, then I had hope.

  “To be as honest as you’re being,” he continued, “I don’t usually do things in this order. Generally, when I’m ready for something other than a single encounter with someone, I already have in my mind what I want before I approach them, whether a woman will be just a sub or a girlfriend or both.”

  His statement wasn’t surprising in the least. Control was important to him. I’d known that before we’d slept together the first time.

  “And me?”

  He shook his head and chuckled, that low rumble that made things inside me flip. “I didn’t see you coming, and even if I had, I doubted I could’ve planned for any of this.”

  I was glad I wasn’t the only one who’d been blind-sided. It made me feel like the two of us were on more even footing than I usually did. I had a clear picture of just how unmatched we were, and it was one of my biggest worries.

  He was gorgeous, rich, successful, and experienced. I didn’t have some distorted image of myself where I thought I was ugly, but Nate could’ve stepped onto any runway in the world and fit right in. Money-wise, I didn’t even come close to comparing. I was far from poor, but his tax bracket was so far above mine that I couldn’t see it. He was at the top of his field, and I’d never known what I really wanted to do with my life. Experience…we were as far apart in that area as we were financially.

  “I want a relationship with you,” he said, pulling his chair closer until his knees bracketed mine. “I don’t know what that means, exactly. Not yet, anyway. But it has to be your choice because, if we do this, you need to understand what it means. All of what it means.”

  I took a deep breath that did little to settle the butterflies that had suddenly taken up residence in my stomach. If my voice so much as wavered, he’d hear it, and it might make him back away. I wasn’t ready for this to be over yet.

  “Like what?”

  He ran the tip of his index finger in circles over my knee, a hypnotic sensation that made his words even more sensual. “Like all the ways a good little sub can please her Dom. How close the line is between pain and pleasure. What it means to truly want to be punished. The limits I’ll push until you aren’t certain if you want me to stop…or if you never want me to stop.”

  Fuck.

  �
��I’ll introduce you to things you never knew you wanted. Teach you to find pleasure in ways you can’t even imagine.”

  I let out a shuddering breath.

  “You’ll learn a whole new vocabulary. A new way of thinking, of being. You’ll crave the things I can do for you. To you. You’ll beg for me to do things to that beautiful body of yours, consumed by what only I can give you.”

  I was beginning to think that he could make me come just from the mental images his words painted. If I’d been wearing panties, they’d already be soaked.

  “I suppose that means I should get in research mode.”

  His eyes darkened, and he stood up, towering over me even more than usual.

  Shit. Not the right thing to say, apparently.

  But, fuck, was that hot.

  He reached for me, never taking his gaze off mine. Without him saying another word, I understood that he was giving me time to think, to decide if I wanted to know what would happen next.

  I did.

  With paced, deliberate movements, he tangled his hand in my hair, increasing the pressure bit by bit until it transitioned from uncomfortable into pain. Nothing that would make me cry or even cause my eyes to water, but it held that edge that tightened things low in my belly.