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  His hand came up and cupped my cheek. I felt him tugging gently on my face, but I didn’t want to look at him.

  “What did you do, Aleena?”

  The rough whisper was like a caress of silk down my spine. I shivered.

  Then, as I was trying to figure out why I was suddenly, desperately turned on, he stroked his thumb across my lower lip, he leaned in and spoke softly into my ear. “What did you do, Aleena? You didn’t run away screaming. Somebody would have heard. And you didn’t quit, horrified by what you’d seen. So…what did you do?”

  This time, when he tugged on my chin, I let him guide my face back to his.

  “I watched,” I said, the words coming out reluctantly.

  “You watched.” A slow smiled curled his lips. He leaned in closer and I almost moaned as he lifted an arm, bracing it on the island behind me—it was now a barrier just under my breasts, brushing up against me but not really touching me. “Did you like it, Aleena? Did you like what you saw?”

  I shivered.

  “I’m going to kiss you now.” He spoke with the same confidence he’d had when he’d kissed me that first time. “If you stop me, I’ll respect your choice and it will never happen again.”

  I jerked my gaze up to his, watched as he shifted his weight until he was leaning lightly against me. “You…what?”

  He traced my mouth with his thumb again.

  “I’m going to kiss you. If you don’t want me to, or if you don’t want me, then stop me. We’ll go back to business only. Or, if you prefer, we will terminate our relationship and you will be free to leave with the severance package outlined in your contract.”

  I’d pretty much stopped listening when he said he was going to kiss me.

  He cupped my face and waited. When I didn’t push him away or step back, he lowered his head. He started gentle, his lips soft as they pressed against mine. Then his lips parted and his tongue flicked against the corner of my mouth.

  I opened with a sigh.

  He made a sound and the kiss changed, became hungrier. Hardened. His teeth captured my bottom lip, worrying at it until I moaned. He sucked it into his mouth, soothing it with his tongue. It felt swollen as he released it, breaking the kiss and dropping his hands, but not moving away from me.

  “I want you,” he said, his voice calm. And his eyes were…not. He stared at me with a hunger that was almost desperate. Then he slid a hand up and closed it around my neck. “I want you. You think you can’t give me what I want? Then let me teach you, Aleena.”

  Well, damn.

  Chapter 11

  Aleena

  Let me teach you…

  “I want you, too.” I could hardly believe I was saying the words. My stomach was on a crazy dance and my head wasn’t much better. “But...”

  He tensed, the grin on his face fading.

  I hurried, wanting him to understand. “You need to know that when I said I wasn’t experienced, I didn’t just mean in the way you were doing things.” My face was already so flushed that I didn’t think I could blush any more deeply. “I’ve only been with one guy. I was fifteen and...”

  I looked away.

  Dominic slid the hand on my neck up into my hair. “Tell me,” he murmured.

  “It’s a common enough story,” I said, trying to smile. “Geeky girl, always acing the tests and messing things up for everybody else. Then a cute guy asked me to homecoming. He…um…he asked if I’d like to stop for a while on the way to the dance and I said yes.”

  Darting a look up at Dominic, I saw a muscle pulse in his jaw and jerked my gaze away again. “We…well, we had sex. It was my first time. I didn’t really want to, but he talked about how much he liked me and, well, nobody ever had. So…I let him. It hurt.”

  I blew out a breath at the memory, knowing the most painful part is what happened next. “When we got to the dance, he told everybody.” I remembered everything—the taunts, the pointed fingers, the girls whispering and laughing. One guy raising his hand and asking, “can I be next?”

  “Want to know the worst part?” I said, a short bark bursting from my throat. “He hadn’t wanted to take me at the dance. He just did it because one of his friends…” I stopped abruptly.

  “Aleena.”

  Blowing out another breath, I made myself finish. “I’d been partnered with one of his football buddies as my lab partner. We were supposed to do a big project and the jock wasn’t pulling his fair share. I told the dumb idiot that if he didn’t do the work, that was fine, but he wouldn’t get the credit. I finished the project and turned it in without his name on it. Short story is, the guy failed and couldn’t play in four of the games that year. The dance, and what happened before, was payback. They all set it up, just to humiliate me.”

  An ugly snarl escaped him and his long body tensed. After a moment, he seemed to calm. His hands smoothed up and down my arms and he drew me up against him. “Did he hurt you?”

  I shook my head. “He didn’t force me.” My voice was muffled against his chest. “He just didn’t care that it was my first time. And…”

  I stopped. I had sworn I’d never cry over that bastard again, but found the tears burning the back of my eyes. My throat clogged with the memory and a sob leaped from my mouth.

  No!

  Jerking away from him, I stormed over to where I’d left my wine and grabbed it, draining it in one long pull, trying to swallow the past with it. “The douche bag was an upper-class white boy.” Holding out my arms as if displaying myself, I said, “Clearly, I am not white. He told me he’d heard that ghetto bitches like me were supposed to be nymphos, but I’d turned out to be a real disappointment.”

  My voice cracked.

  Slamming the glass down, I turned away. “I’ve never even been to any kind frickin’ ghetto,” I said, sniffling. “There aren’t even that many black people back home. One of my friends told me I was the whitest black person she ever knew.”

  I swiped at my tears as he came up behind me. Jerking my chin up, I glared at him. “I’m just a middle-class girl from a middle-class family and I’m fine with that. I’m biracial, but there’s nothing ghetto about me.” Then I cocked a brow at him. “If there was, I’d be just fine with it. But the son of a bitch only slept with me to hurt me and for revenge. Then, because I’m half-black, he thought that meant I’d be some kind of sex fiend who would enjoy the humiliation.”

  Dominic stroked a hand down my hair. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

  I sniffed once more. “Yeah, well.” Recalling what Molly had told me, I said, “It is what it is, right?”

  “And sometimes what it is sucks.” He slid an arm around my waist. “Please tell me your next time was better, Aleena.”

  “Well…you tell me.” I closed my eyes. “You were there.”

  He grew still and silent, I couldn’t even hear him breathe. When he spoke, his voice was soft. “Please tell me that when we slept together, it wasn’t only the second time you’ve ever had sex.”

  “Okay. I won’t tell you.”

  “Shit.” He turned me to face him. His fingers were gentle as he wiped away the lingering tears. “If I would’ve known, I would’ve…” He stopped and I watched him search for the words. “Hell, I can’t say I would have been gentle. I wasn’t in a good place.” His thumb pressed against my lower lip. “Tell me I didn’t hurt you.”

  “I enjoyed what we did,” I said.

  “That’s not an answer,” he countered.

  “It was...intense.” I chose my words carefully. “It may have hurt a bit, but not in a bad way. Not like before.”

  He moved closer and I backed up. I couldn’t go far. The island was there and I found myself caged in, trapped between his body and the solid piece of kitchen furniture. “And when you saw me with Maya…was that intense? Did you enjoy watching me?”

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  His face moved closer. “Do you want me to do any of that to you?”

  “Yes.”

&n
bsp; “Do you want me to teach you?”

  His mouth closed over mine. His tongue pushed inside my mouth, harder this time, driving inside with intent and purpose. I sucked on him and I felt his reaction in the way his body tensed against mine. I did it again and curled my arms around him, arching closer.

  When he went to pull away, I did the same thing to him that he’d done to me several times—I bit his lower lip.

  “You’re going to test my self-control if you keep doing that,” he said.

  I scraped my teeth along his jawline before leaning back. “And then what would happen?”

  He gave me a careful look. “I would need to show you who was in charge.”

  A thrill went through me as the danger of his words collided with the promise in them. Gazing into his eyes, I considered him, knowing my world would change with just a few words. “I think I would like that.”

  His eyes turned the deep blue of a late night sky and his nostrils flared as he inhaled the breath I didn’t realize he was holding. “Are you sure?”

  I didn’t know where the future was headed, or if we would regret this in the morning, but this moment in knew what I wanted. I nodded.

  “If you want me to stop, just say red.” He looked down at me.

  “Why?” Blinking at him, I tried to process the sudden change in direction. “Why would I want you to stop?”

  “It’s called a safe word. Dominants use them with their subs in case they get too rough or go too far.”

  “How far…” My voice broke and something that might have been fear raced through me. “How far is too far? How rough is too rough?”

  “Don’t worry,” he said, his voice gentle, almost soothing. “The control is in your hands. Just trust me. If you get nervous, if you’re scared, just say the safe word and it all stops. And we’ll start slow, baby. Now…what was the word?”

  I licked my lips. “Red…?”

  He tangled his hand in my hair and tugged, just as I’d seen him do with another woman.

  “Exactly.”

  Oh fuck. This was really going to happen.

  ***

  We ended up in the living room.

  My food was going to get cold and I didn’t care. It was the last thing on my mind. I was hungry for something else.

  Dominic guided me into the wide, open area and backed up, leaving me alone in the middle of the floor.

  “I want you to strip for me,” he said, his voice the same tone I’d heard him use in board meetings and when talking to total strangers. But the eyes. His eyes were very different. He watched me with heat raging in his eyes. “Once you’re naked, I’m going to spank you.”

  “Spank me?”

  He pressed a finger to my mouth.

  “Don’t talk,” he ordered.

  “But…”

  “You’re being a bad girl, Aleena.”

  My breath shuddered out of me and I nodded.

  “That’s better.” He shifted his hand to my neck, his thumb stroking along my jaw. “You said you were going to leave me.” He bit down on my earlobe hard enough to make me gasp. “I’m going to punish you and then after…”

  I swayed toward him. He steadied me.

  “After,” he said as he kissed the side of my neck. “After, I’m going to see how good you taste, then fuck you until you scream.”

  I liked that idea very much.

  He stepped back, putting more distance between us this time. I started to ask what he was doing, but then he curled his fingers toward me. “Come take off my shirt.”

  I never would have thought that being given such an outright order would leave me so hot.

  “Yes, sir,” I whispered.

  Then I froze. I’d spoken.

  A faint smile curled his lips. “That’s another punishment, Aleena.”

  We both heard the whimper that caught in my throat. Just as we both noticed the tremor in my fingers as I stripped his shirt away. I folded it and he took it away, dropped it carelessly on the nearest table before slanting a hot look at me.

  “Now you. Strip.”

  There was no doubt that it was a command, and I hurried to obey. My shirt and pants went quickly enough and I had a moment to wish I’d worn something sexier than a matching set of plain white cotton undergarments.

  “Bra first.”

  As I unhooked the front clasp and freed my breasts, I glanced at Dominic and my breath caught as I watched him stroke a hand up and down his cock through the fabric of his trousers. I let my eyes run down over his muscular chest and flat stomach. A thin line of golden hair ran from his bellybutton down to disappear inside the waistband of his trousers.

  I went damp thinking about the feel of him inside me, his hands stroking over me.

  “Your panties, Aleena. Now the panties.”

  I lowered them, feeling Dominic’s eyes on me as I bent down before stepping out of them. As I straightened, I felt a flash of self-consciousness.

  “Hands at your sides.”

  I hadn’t even realized that I’d moved them to cover myself until he’d said it.

  He circled me, moving closer with each pass until he was behind me. Through his trousers, I felt his cock rub against me. He reached around me and cupped my breasts.

  “Exquisite.” His breath was hot against my ear. “You have a beautiful body, Aleena. Never forget it. Never cover it.”

  His fingers closed around my nipples, rolling them as they hardened. I gave a startled yelp when he pinched them, but it was more from surprise than pain. The jolt that went through me was more pleasure.

  “Hands on the arm of the couch.”

  I knew what was going to come after this and my stomach clenched. Part of it was nerves, but more was anticipatory desire. I moved towards the couch, feeling his eyes on me the entire way.

  “You know what I’m going to do.”

  It was a statement more than a question, but I still nodded as I put my hands down. The position made me feel even more vulnerable than before. I flinched when his hand rested on my ass, but it was a caress. I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation.

  “Do you want this?”

  I flushed.

  My mind registered the crack a split second before the pain. It was a sharp sting that quickly faded to warmth, nothing more, but I still caught my breath.

  “Answer me, Aleena. Do you want this?”

  “Yes,” I said, forcing the word out.

  There was another slap, another sharp sting.

  “You saw me doing this before, to another woman. Did you enjoy watching me?”

  I whimpered.

  “Answer me.” His voice was firm. “Did it turn you on, watching me spank her?”

  He spanked me when I didn’t respond—twice. It took another hard smack before I could admit it. “Yes, sir!”

  I couldn’t believe I was admitting something so personal. Then again, I was bent over the couch getting spanked by my boss. It should’ve put things in perspective.

  “How long did you stay?”

  He didn’t give me a chance to answer before his hand came down again, this time on the other cheek.

  “I watched until you finished,” I answered quickly, absorbing the pain of his last strike.

  I felt more than saw him hesitate.

  “You stayed from the time I spanked her until I came?”

  “Yes.”

  I gasped as he spanked me again, twice in quick succession, one on either cheek and harder than before.

  “What did you think?” he asked.

  “I don’t understand.”

  Two more smacks and my ass was burning now. The sting wasn’t fading now, but was spreading through me, inching its way along my skin.

  “When you saw me with her, what did you think?” He ran his hand up my back. “Did you think about what it must feel like, what I did to her? Did you wish you were her? Did you want to join us? Touch me? Touch her?”

  The words popped out of my mouth before I could second-guess myself
. “I thought you were beautiful.”

  The hand between my shoulder blades stopped and I hoped I hadn’t said anything wrong.

  “Stay there. Don’t move.” He sounded hoarse.

  I forced myself to freeze, although, more than anything, I wanted to look at him. A minute passed. Then another. I dug my nails into the arm of the sofa, forcing myself not to turn. I thought he might have left. What was he—?

  “Close your eyes,” he said quietly. His voice was calmer now, a slow deep timber that vibrated through my spine.

  Immediately, I closed them. Then I tensed as I felt him slipping something over my eyes.

  “What are you—?”

  “No talking, Aleena,” he said as he finished fastening the blindfold into place.

  I groaned and behind me, he laughed. Then he took my shoulders and guided me around. After weeks of living here, I had an idea of where he was going, just from where he moved me. He’d just nudged me over to the couch.

  “Lie back,” he said.

  “What are we—?” I gasped as he brought his hand down on my ass, harder than before.

  “I said no talking.”

  Even as the pain flared in my bottom, he rubbed the area where he’d spanked me, soothing it. As he guided me to lie down, he started to speak. “Anything I do with you, I’ll explain. But you have to show trust in me or this won’t work…can you do that?”

  I hesitated. Answer? Don’t answer? I didn’t know.

  “You can answer when I ask you questions,” he said and I felt him brush his lips across mine.

  “Yes.” I swallowed. “I can do that.”

  “Good.” His hands skimmed down my breasts, caught my nipples and plucked them. I whimpered, but tried to strangle the sound.

  “You don’t need to do that. I want to hear what I do to you.”

  A sigh shuddered out of me.

  “You’re wearing the blindfold because I’m going to go down on you. Aleena, if I’m going to teach you how to play in my world, then you need to understand a few things. I’m a dominant. If you choose to be my submissive, you’ll be the one kneeling in front of me. If I kneel in front of you, you won’t see it happen.” He slid a hand up my thigh. “If you can’t handle that idea, then let me know.”