Authors: Seraphina Donavan,Wicked Muse
Reed rose and crossed Main Street, taking the stairs to his office two at a time. When he opened the door and stepped inside, his heart leapt into his throat. Cass was perched on top of a ladder, standing on her tiptoes, cleaning the fanlights over the windows.
“I’ll be right with you,” she called out, never looking behind her.
“Cass, you get your ass down from there right now,” he said, trying to remain calm.
She glanced over her shoulder, the ladder wobbling precariously. “I’ve just got this one to finish, Reed. I don’t think these windows have been cleaned since they were installed!”
He prayed for strength not to strangle her on the spot. “I don’t pay you to do windows, Cass. I pay you to answer the damn phone. Get down before you brake your neck!” He saw her stiffen, the harsh set of her jaw, her shoulders drawn back. He’d pissed her off, but at that moment, he didn’t much care.
Climbing down the ladder, Cass turned to face him and immediately poked her finger into the center of his chest. “I may work for you, Reed Harrison, but don’t you ever talk to me that way!”
Reed had been pushed about as far as he could be that day. He grasped her wrists, both of them in one of his hands and backed her towards the wall. “Then don’t do stupid ass, bullheaded things, like climbing to the top of an eight foot ladder in an old building with uneven floor boards when you’re all by your damned self.”
“I’m warning you, Reed---”
“And I’m warning you! If I ever catch you doing anything like that again I will turn you over my knee!”
Cass laughed, the sound hard and derisive, “You wouldn’t dare! Reed, the perpetual boy scout!”
Reed knew in that moment, that if he let her get away with it, he would lose her forever. Cass would never be with a man who she thought was a pushover, and he was damned tired of acting like one. It was time, he decided, to show her who was boss. He half dragged, half carried her to the small settee that had been part of the waiting room decor for decades and tumbled her across his lap, bottom up. He didn’t even try to lift her skirt, but as tight as it was, it was no impediment as his palm landed on one perfectly rounded cheek in a stinging blow.
“Reed, so help me God, when I get up from here--” she screeched.
“I have had just about enough attitude, Cass!” he said, punctuating the sentence with a stinging slap to her other cheek. “You walk around in skirts that ought to be illegal! You drive half the men in this town crazy with lust and then laugh in their faces! Hell, you had me panting after you for years!”
Each blow that landed on her behind had Cass squirming. She would have died before admitting that it wasn’t pain but something else. Yes, it stung, but it was having other effects, as well. The feel of his hand on her bottom, of his hard thighs pressing against her, it was driving her crazy. In all, the spanking didn’t last long, no more than a minute or two. When Reed shoved her off his lap, her knees trembled, but his hands gripped her hips tightly and steadied her.
“Take that skirt off, Cass, or I’m ripping it off you.”
Cass didn’t question and didn’t hesitate. Reed’s jaw was clenched and his gaze on her was blazing hot. With trembling fingers she slid the zipper down and released the clasp. As she shimmied her hips to take it off, she heard him growl, low and deep. It was possibly the sexiest thing she’d ever heard. When the skirt dropped, the cool air from the vent brushed over the heated skin of her bottom and she shivered. Reaching for the hem of her blouse, she tugged it up and over her head, until she stood before him wearing nothing but an ivory, lace bra and matching thong. As he moved toward her, even though she wanted him, Cass took an involuntary step back. There was something in Reed that she’d never seen before, something dark and a little dangerous. It excited her, but frightened her, as well. This was not a man she would manage and then walk away from.
Reed watched her step back and a satisfied smirk tilted the corner of his lips. With every step forward, she took one back until she hit the wall and there was nowhere left to go. He didn’t stop until he was standing only a breath from her. Her breasts pressed against his chest, the hard peaks of her nipples apparent even through the heavy fabric of his suit jacket. “I’m not a boy scout, Cass. You push me and you’ll find out just how little you really know about me.”
Cass shivered. It wasn’t just fear, though there was a healthy dose of it. Reed was not the man she had thought he would be. She was overwhelmed with the perverse need to know just how far he would go, to dig into the darkness that she had just glimpsed in him. Tilting her head back, shoulders squared and chin forward, she said, “I don’t think so. I think you’re all talk, Reed.”
Reed loosened the knot of his tie and slipped it free, tugging it from his collar. If Cass wanted proof, he’d damn well give it to her. He grasped one of her wrists, feeling the soft skin and fine bones beneath his hand. He didn’t want to hurt her, but it was time she knew who was in charge. Looping the silk tie around one wrist, he reached for the other, but instead of simply tying her hands in front of her, he spun her around so that her cheek was pressed to the wall. Quickly, he bound the other wrist, the knot secure.
Stepping back, Reed took a long and satisfied look at his handiwork. The lush globes of her glorious ass still bore the red marks from the earlier spanking. Her skin was so beautifully pale the welts stood out in sharp contrast. The silk tie dangled from her bound wrists, the soft fabric sliding smoothly over skin. Some of her hair pins had escaped and the once tidy bun was now disheveled. Plucking the other pins from it, he let the mass of fiery hair fall over her shoulders and back, only to tunnel his fingers between those strands. Curling his hand into a fist, he pulled her hair taut, arching her neck back slightly. She shivered against him and met his gaze over the creamy arc of her shoulder. It was still challenging, still defiant and all the more exciting for it. With the flat of his palm, he slapped the right cheek of her pert bottom again, the sound echoing through the office. Shifting slightly, that same hand slid over the plump curve of her behind, parting the lush globes.
“What are you doing, Reed?” she demanded.
He pressed his mouth against her ear, his teeth closing over the lobe, biting gently. “Do you trust me, Cass?”
“No. Not really. But I don’t trust anyone.”
He smiled, knowing that to be true. She would trust him. She would eventually be able to give in to him entirely. “Do you believe that I would ever do lasting physical harm to you?”
No. She didn’t. Cass didn’t trust that Reed would stick around, or that she even wanted him to, but she did believe that he would never hurt her. The sex might get rough, but she was discovering that she didn’t mind that so much. She actually found it exciting. No lover had ever been so focused on her, so determined to see to her needs, even when she wasn’t precisely sure what they were. Reed took and gave in equal measure. “I don’t believe that you would ever try to hurt me,” she relented.
He slid his fingers along the crevice between the soft, plump cheeks of her bottom. The callused pads of his fingertips finding every sensitive nerve ending along the way. “Does it hurt when I spank you?”
Cass hated him for making her admit it, but if she didn’t he would stop. “It hurts, but it excites me.”
She could feel his answering smile against her cheek. He dipped his head and began to kiss the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. His teeth grazed that skin, providing the perfect amount of pressure, until it walked that fine line between pleasure and pain. She leaned her forehead against the wall, her breath coming in soft pants as desire swelled inside her. Again his fingers strummed over sensitive skin, moving lower and lower, until he touched the small puckered opening. She tensed then, fearful and eager at the same time. He pressed lightly, applying a small amount of pressure to that opening, caressing it, circling it with his fingers, but never breeching it.
Anal sex had never been something that Cass had wanted to try, she’d never thought she would enjoy it. As Reed’s skilled fingers skated around that small hole, she wanted him to take her there. Or not. She didn’t care which, but the not knowing was making her squirm, literally. His other hand came down on her ass, a hard swat that immediately raised red marks on her behind. She felt the heat of it.
“Be still, Cass.”
She nodded, unable to answer. That last stinging blow to her bottom had nearly elicited a moan from her. She didn’t want to make it easy for him. Again, he touched her. Lightly, almost delicately, and the anticipation built again. Her breasts ached, her pebbled nipples pressed tightly against the wall in front of her. As if he’d read her mind, he moved one hand in front of her and tugged each cup down in turn. It didn’t alleviate the discomfort, but heightened it. The bunched fabric of the cups lifted her breasts, pushing the puckered buds of her nipples even more firmly against the coolness of the wall. She couldn’t stop the gasp that rose to her lips at the heightened sensation.
When she made that small sound, that little noise that told him she was ready, Reed pressed the tip of his finger into the tight ring of muscles. He moved gently. The abrasion of her nipples agains the hard surface of the wall was enough to heighten her sensitivity, to make every touch feel more intense to her. Circling his finger slowly, he massaged that tender flesh until she shuddered. “Do you want me to fuck you, Cass?”
“Yes!” she said.
“Then say it,” he demanded.
“I want you to fuck me, Reed!”
He chuckled, “You can do better than that.”
“I want your cock in me,” she said. “I want you to fuck me hard and fast.”
There was an edge of desperation to her voice then, as if she truly feared that he would refuse her. It was perfect. Removing his hand from her ass, he pulled her hips back. With his knee, he parted her thighs, widening her stance. The black stiletto heels made her the perfect height for him. Dropping to his knees behind her, he began to kiss each of the red marks on her behind, soothing the tiny welts with his lips and tongue. When she sighed, some of the tension leaving her body, he nipped the supple flesh with his teeth. She let out a slight yelp, the muscles of her thighs tensing beneath his hands. He could no longer resist the temptation of her moist slit. Sliding his hands up her inner thighs, he spread her wide, opening her body to his questing mouth.
Reed dipped his tongue between the honeyed folds, lapping every drop of her desire from the plump, pink flesh. Flexing his tongue, he drove it into her, spearing it deep inside her sheath as she shuddered and gasped. Fucking her sweet cunt with his tongue, he relished the taste of her. He dipped his head again, this time closing his mouth over the hardened bud of her clit, sucking it deeply, until he felt her thighs quivering. She was on the verge and he knew it. He stopped abruptly, savoring her moan of protest.
“You,” he said against her ear, “Have been very bad.”
“I’ve done everything you asked me to,” she protested.
God, she was amazing, he thought. Defiant and proud. His need to dominate had always been there, but there had been few women in his life that he could indulge that side of his nature with. Cass would be the one who tested all of his boundaries. Just the thought of it had his cock weeping for her. He could feel the stickiness of precum leaking from the swollen tip. There was nothing he wanted more than to sink into her, balls deep, and fuck her until they were both mindless with it. But he needed her to know that he was in control.
“You’ve obeyed the letter of the law, Cass, but not the spirt. You do what a I tell you to because it aligns with what you want also.... That changes now.”
His voice was so deep and gruff, rumbling against her ear. Cass knew that he wanted her as much as she wanted him, but they were in a battle of wills. At that moment, she didn’t care if she won or lost. She only wanted him. “I will do whatever you want me to,” she said.
“That was perfect, Cass... And you will be rewarded for it. But you have to be tested first.”