Restraining the Receptionist: ... the Receptionist, Book 2 (9 page)

I remembered what the man had said.
If you tell us to do something, we’ll do it.
Four able-bodied men surrounded me. Able, willing and eager to perform. But could I really ask such a thing? Did I really want that? The whole room seemed to be willing me to invite the men into my body. I hesitated.

The leader helped me out. “Would you like to get rid of that lovely but irritating dress?”

“Yes, please.”

Gratefully, I raised my arms so Luke could help me out of it. As soon as it was gone, I felt a little embarrassed. None of them were naked, although one of the men had undone his zipper and was fondling himself.

Luke picked up my margarita and offered me another sip. I sucked it down. Relaxed once again, I rose to my feet and began to dance around the small area surrounded by couches and armchairs. I felt miraculously free and happy. I spread my arms apart and laughed up at the ceiling. Hands reached out to touch me, but I kept skipping away. I heard a grunt of frustration, but laughed it off. Undulating my nude body, I tantalized them.

The atmosphere in the room tightened into something darker. When the leader spoke next his voice had a new edge to it.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you stretched out on that table over there so we could really enjoy your body? We could lick you all over, all four of us, from your cunt to your fingertips and everywhere in between.”

I twirled away from a grasping hand. “I don’t feel like lying down.”

“Maybe you’d like to kneel down on all fours, in that case? Wouldn’t you like to scamper around like a kitty cat? I might be able to locate a leash.”

“You’re so sweet. I don’t think so.” All I wanted to do was dance. I loved the hot look in the men’s eyes, the way they hungered for me and couldn’t look away. I ran my hands over my breasts and caught my nipples between my fingers. The thrill made me gasp.

“That’s it.” A harsh voice made me stumble. I could barely believe it was the same man who’d spoken so soothingly before. “You clearly don’t know what’s best for you.” The leader stood up and whipped off his belt. He snapped it through the air so it made a whistling sound. “Enough games. Stand still.”

I froze. I stared at the belt dangling from his hand. In my heightened state of awareness, I could practically feel its sting on my skin. Ethan and Simon never used leather belts or things like that. Occasionally they might spank or use a paddle, but nothing that might cause too much pain.

“Turn around and bend over.” Panic flooded me. I looked at the other men. No help there. Their faces looked thick with lust. Another air-lash of the belt made me jump. Trembling, I turned my back to the man. “Put your hands on the floor and spread your legs wide.”

I couldn’t do it. It was too humiliating. Ethan and Simon had never asked anything like this from me, to expose myself in such a shameful way. My knees threatened to collapse.

The belt swished right next to me. “Do it.”

I didn’t budge, even though I shook with terror.

“Do you want me to tie you up and whip you? We’ve got four belts here. One for your hands, one for each leg, one to whip you with. We could put you in that doorway over there.”

I shook my head violently.

“Then bend over and I’ll give you a choice. You can choose which man will have you first, and where. Pussy? Ass? Mouth? Your choice.”

I shuddered, but nothing could make me do what he said.

“All right, then.” The belt whistled through the air and I cringed, bracing for vicious pain. But the sound turned out to be something entirely different. A startled shout followed it. I peered over my shoulder just in time to see a man’s belt catch the leader on his ass.

“What the fuck?” the man shouted.

An ice cold voice whipped back at him. “Get the hell away from her.”

Ethan
.

Chapter Eight

I collapsed onto the carpet. No matter how mad I was at Ethan, no matter what a twisted bastard he was, the man had good timing.

Not that I could really see him. I only caught glimpses as he went after the Woodfield Group like a tornado out for revenge. A punch here, a whirling kick there, a few lashes with the belt, and suddenly he was lifting me up in his arms. No longer icy, his blue eyes burned like the heart of a flame. “Are you okay?”

I clung to him. I wanted nothing more than to disappear into his arms. “I should have known not to drink that margarita. I’m a vodka tonic girl.”

His chest rumbled with a chuckle. I peered around his arm at the wreckage of the room. The four men lay sprawled every which way, groaning and moaning. The leader’s pants had been ripped at the seat by the force of Ethan’s lashing. But the man shot Ethan a feral frown.

“It’s safe to say our firm will be going in a different direction.”

“Yep. You’re going straight to hell. How dare you give her drugs?”

“It’s probably nothing new for her.”

Ethan held me tight with one arm and reached back to slug the slimy snake with the other. The man went crashing to the floor. Now that my high had worn off, the men were nowhere near as hot as I’d thought. Typical cocky dudes in business suits. I loved watching Ethan whale on them like that.

He snagged my sundress off the couch and handed it to me. I pulled it over my head. The silky folds enveloped me along with a feeling of sadness. Before, the dress had made me feel precious and treasured. Now I was damaged goods.

I told myself they hadn’t actually done anything. Ethan had rescued me before any of them touched me. I shivered as I buttoned my straps. It didn’t matter if it hadn’t gone that far. I still felt dirty and violated.

“Dana, anything you’d like to add?”

“Nope. Well, this.” I walked over to the leader, who sat on the floor rubbing his jaw, and spat on him.

“Be extra careful in certain neighborhoods,” I told him. “I know people.”

“I’ll extend that threat to cover the whole Eastern seaboard.” Ethan’s eyes glittered dangerously. “And the people I know tend to leave a lot of dead bodies behind.”

No one in the room doubted him. He ran his eyes over the pathetic heaps of so-called manhood that littered the room. “Just for the record, I’m very proud of my receptionist and firmly believe that not one of you is fit to lick her boots.”

Someone muttered something nasty, out of which I only caught the word
pussy,
and that was enough for Ethan to inflict a vicious kick to the man’s thigh. I started to feel guilty about how much I was enjoying the revenge part of the evening, so I tugged on his sleeve. “Let’s just go.”

“One moment.”

The leader went into full fetal position as Ethan strode to his side and stood over him like an avenging angel. I turned my eyes away as he delivered a punishing blow to the man’s back. Kidney? Spleen? Some internal organ would be feeling the hurt. “That’s for knocking out my partner Simon. No doubt he’ll be wanting his own revenge, but I thought I’d give you a sneak preview.”

Dusting his hands with a satisfied smile, he beckoned to me. The two of us went to Simon, who still hadn’t shown any signs of life. Ethan draped one of Simon’s arms over his shoulder, and gestured to me to do the same. I tried, but the leftover wooziness from the drugs made me too weak. So Ethan hefted him onto his shoulder and maneuvered him out of the room, banging against the door on the way out. I followed close behind, afraid to be more than a few inches from Ethan.

When we were safely in the carpeted hallway, Ethan put Simon down and gave him a sharp slap on the face. The impact jarred Simon awake. He mumbled and his eyes opened a sliver. Another slap brought him wide awake. He hauled his arm back to punch Ethan, but I grabbed it.

“We don’t have time for this, Simon. We have to get out of here.”

“Where are we?”

“We’re in a James Bond movie running from the bad guys.” I poked him in the ribs. “And you slept through the whole thing.”

“What?”

“We’ll explain later,” said Ethan. “Now can you walk?”

“Of course I can walk.” He walked like a drunk, but I had to give him credit. He made it to the elevator without falling. Inside, he leaned against the corner and held onto the handrails. I huddled as close to Ethan as I could.

“Is my head in one piece, or has it exploded into shards of glass, the way it feels?”

“Everything’s in one piece. Including our Dana’s honor, no thanks to you.” I didn’t like Ethan’s jaunty tone, and I told him so with a look of death.

“Those assholes…” Simon groaned. “I didn’t even touch their fucking drinks. All I had was water. They must have drugged that.”

“Slimy bastards.”

“Dana, are you okay?” He reached out to me, then let his hand fall before it touched me.

“I’m fine. A little embarrassed.”

“Not as much as me,” he muttered.

“It wasn’t your fault.” I left the shelter of Ethan’s arm and snuggled against Simon’s chest. “They drugged us.”

The elevator dipped to the ground. Ethan put his arm around Simon’s shoulders to help him out, but Simon shrugged him off. “I don’t need your help.” In the lobby, he turned on Ethan.

 
“Maybe this is all your fault, come to think of it. Why’d you send me on that trip?”

“We couldn’t both go.”

“Why’d you let Dana come after me?”

“She’s a grown woman, Simon. I didn’t know where she’d gone until after I’d checked all the logical places. Then I realized I must have pissed her enough to send her running after you.”

I remembered being pissed off, but it seemed so long ago. Right now I felt grateful for Ethan’s strength and bossiness. I’d been so irritated I’d been tempted to quit. In fact, some might assume I had quit.

“Did you find someone to fill in for me?”

“No, I just closed the office for the day. I don’t want anyone else answering the phones.”

Petty, I know, but that felt good. I heaved a massive yawn. It had been a long day, to say the least. Ethan took each of us by an elbow. “I believe a night at the Trump Plaza might be in order.”

Neither one of us felt like arguing.

“Lead the way,” he told Simon.

In casinos, it’s always hard to tell what time it is, but by the wardrobe changes I noticed in those around me, the nighttime hours had arrived. We left the den of sin that was the Tropicana and the warm night embraced us. Right away my mood improved, now that we were leaving that horrible suite full of nasty men behind.

Simon led us down the boardwalk. Along with the casual wear sweatpants of the hardcore slots players who were just now surfacing, I spotted black cocktail dresses, lots of sparkly makeup and the occasional absurdly overdressed mamacita. Every cutie-pie we passed eyed Simon and Ethan, and then raked me from head to toe. I knew what they were thinking. How’d she get two hotties like them? Maybe she’s their little sister.

I hooked my right hand in Ethan’s elbow, my left in Simon’s. They were my men, and I wasn’t about to let any boardwalk skank think otherwise.

The Trump Plaza was a blessed haven after such a rollercoaster day. Had it really been earlier the same day that Ethan had taken me for a picnic? I crashed onto the big king-sized bed with its burnt orange bedspread and passed out.

I opened my eyes to a gray haze of dawn creeping past the heavy drapes. One warm body rumbled next to me. Ethan. Where was Simon? I sat up and spotted him by the window. In the thin edge of light that shone past the drapes, his profile looked serious. He wore a towel around his hips and nothing else.

“Simon,” I whispered. “Can’t you sleep?”

Startled, he looked over at me. “Shhh. You should go back to sleep. You need to recover.”

I got up and padded over to him. They must have taken my dress off, because I was naked too. “I feel a lot better already.”

“Dana—” He broke off, then forced himself to continue. “I’m so sorry. I let you down. I should never have let that happen.”

“Stop that.” I tugged his arm around me. “I already told you it wasn’t your fault. Believe me, if it were you’d never hear the end of it.”

A smile wisped across his face. “It’s my fault you work for us. It’s my fault you came to Atlantic City. If I hadn’t hired you, none of this would have happened.”

“Yeah, a lot of things wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t hired me. Things I liked. A lot.”

“I don’t know, Dana. I wonder if we haven’t pushed you too far.” In the dim light, his eyes looked like deep caves.

“But nothing happened.”

“Thanks to Ethan. Not to me. Maybe—”

“Maybe what?” Dread gathered in the pit of my stomach. I had no idea what was rolling around in that beautiful head of his, but I had a bad feeling about it.

“Maybe you should be with Ethan. Only Ethan.”

“No!” I punched him in the rib. “Don’t talk like this. I love you. I need you.”

“Okay, okay.” He shushed me, then grabbed me close in a powerful hug that thrilled me to my bones. “I thought maybe you’d want it that way.”

“Well, I don’t.” I bit his bare, freshly showered shoulder. “And don’t ever say anything like that again.”

We held each other for a long moment.

He cleared his throat. “There’s another option. Dana, I want you to leave the firm and be with me. I can keep you safe, home with me. You’d never be exposed to anything like this again.”

I stilled in his arms. In a way, what he suggested sounded wonderful. I’d be the good little wifey-type waiting at home for the man to bring home the bacon. Not that he’d mentioned marriage, but same principle. No more living on the sexual edge, no more adventurous sessions at the offices of Cowell & Dirk. No more dominating, protecting, man-god Ethan.

I trembled at the thought of no more Ethan in my life.

“Don’t I get a say in any of this?” A gravelly voice reached from the bed and wrapped itself around my heart.

“Actually, no,” answered Simon. “I believe this is Dana’s choice.”

“And you’re trying to convince her to quit and stay home where she can’t get into any trouble?” Ethan rose from the bed in one gracefully menacing motion. Completely naked, he strolled toward us. His heavy sex swung between his legs. “Do you know her that little?”

“I think I know her very well. I love her.”

Other books

Benjamín by Federico Axat
What Love Is by Grant, D C
The Band That Played On by Steve Turner
The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy Sayers
Extreme Elvin by Chris Lynch
The Swarm by Frank Schatzing
Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly
Women on the Home Front by Annie Groves
Touch the Sky (Free Fall Book 1) by Christina Lee, Nyrae Dawn
Night Night, Sleep Tight by Hallie Ephron