Taming Graeme (Taming the Billionaire) (7 page)

 
Stan Smith smiled at the girl. She had no illusions, it seemed. “I’ll have the course material delivered to your desk this afternoon, Olivia. You never know, someone might leave, or John may decide to add another trader sometime, and it would be good to have you qualified and ready.”

 
“Thank you, Sir. I’ll just get back to work now, shall I? Mr. Browning has given me quite a list to accomplish while he’s in New York.”

 
After Olivia left his office, Stan called down to John Taylor.

 
“Well, John, Graeme was onto the poor girl yesterday. Told her what he expects and told her to mind her P’s and Q’s...she had no illusions but a great deal of optimism. She’s going to start the Trading Course immediately.”

 
“That’s good, actually, Stan. We are getting busier since Graeme increased our trading fund by another billion. I wouldn’t mind using her occasionally to give the men a break. And she can cover in case of illness and holidays. We won’t tell her yet, but I am thinking of adding a junior trader to the desk. If she performs well, the job will be hers.”

 
“Let’s see how she does. She’s a very bright girl.”

 
Olivia joined Amanda and the other girls for lunch. She seemed a little quiet.

 
“How is Currency Trading?” asked Linda.

 
“It’s going to be quite an adjustment. I shall be studying very hard every night this week, to get the first three lessons of my course finished.”

 
“Oh? I didn’t think Mr. Taylor would be that strict with you?”

 
“No,” agreed Amanda. “Doesn’t he have a reputation for being one of the more lenient Department Heads in the Bank?”

 
“Um, well, I think he is, but I want to do well, and my new…boyfriend expects certain standards of me, and I can’t let him down.”

 
“New boyfriend?” asked Rose. “Somebody you met at the Bank’s party on Friday night?”

 
“No, I didn’t meet him at the party, he’s somebody I’ve known for a while now, and he decided on Saturday morning to spend the weekend with me at his place. He took me out Saturday evening to a club and for a very nice dinner last evening, and we just had a great time at his house.”

 
“Oh,” said Linda. “What’s he like? What does he do?”

 
Think, ‘Liv, think before you speak.

 
“He’s an executive,” said Olivia carefully. “Older than me, he’s been married before, has two daughters who don’t live with him, and he’s quite handsome. A very self-confident man.”

 
“Divorced, eh?” said Linda. “Hope you don’t have trouble with his ex. It’s nice that she has the kids, but if he has them weekends it will cut down on the romance.”

 
“And he expects you to do well at your new job?” asked Amanda.

 
“He does. He says Friday night he’s going to drill me on the Currency Exchange Rules and Regulations and he expects me to be perfect. He also expects me to learn the symbols for the sixty most traded currencies by then.”

 
“Wow,” breathed Rose, “he sounds like a real taskmaster. I don’t know if I’d like that kind of expectations. And he wants you to finish the first three lessons of the currency trading course on top of all that?”

 
“No, I want to do that, to please both him and Mr. Taylor. Olivia sighed. “I think it’s just what I need, a firm hand. I know I can be a bit much sometimes, and my new boyfriend thinks if I work hard and concentrate, I’ll be a much better person. We practiced thinking before I speak last night…”

 
Amanda and Linda looked at each other. “A firm hand, Olivia?” asked Amanda.

 
Olivia blushed.

 
Think before you speak, ‘Liv.

 
“
I mean, he’s a typical Alpha male. He calls the shots and I quite like that, I find. I never had a man who controlled the relationship before, and this man controls everything. I love it! It makes me feel he really cares.”

 
They needn’t know I never had a man or a relationship before.

 
“Everything?” asked Rose.

 
“Everything. He chose what I will wear to work all week, he laid out each outfit for me, and he’s given me a diet to follow while he’s busy at a… course this week. He says I don’t eat healthy enough to keep up with him, and he’s enrolled me in a gym that I’m going to every morning now before work. Oh, yes, on Thursday night after work he’s made an appointment for me at a salon where he knows the owner, and I’m having the works, hair, manicure, and pedicure and a makeup lesson. He says my hair now doesn’t do my beauty justice. He really knows how to treat a woman!”

 
The girls exchanged glances. None of them knew what to say. Amanda could never go without a comment, though.

 
“So he thinks you’re beautiful, Olivia? Isn’t that nice.”

 
She peered at Olivia. “I guess you are attractive, really. I just never looked beyond your bad hair and awful clothes before. You do look prettier with it tied back in that ponytail.”

 
At break time that afternoon, the three of them sat sipping their tea and talking about Olivia.

 
“I don’t think that sounds healthy do you, Olivia’s relationship with this new boyfriend?” said Rose.

 
“He seems to have her under his thumb already,” agreed Amanda.

 
“Sounds very controlling,” agreed Linda.

 
“Some women like to be controlled,” said Amanda. “I just read a book about that. It had a lot of kinky sex in it, bondage, spanking and worse.  My eyes were popping out of my head, but I couldn’t put it down. I don’t know what I would do if somebody approached me with stuff like that. Kick them in the balls and run the other way, I think. Get Graeme to have a stern talk with them. He’s so straight-laced…”

 
“Yeah, well, I think from the sound of it, Olivia might like that sort of thing,” said Linda reflectively. “The control part, I mean, she didn’t say anything about their sex life, did she? I’m sure we’d all like the kinky sex if we were being honest. I read
Fifty Shades of Grey,
and the heroine, Anastasia was really into the sex and bondage and she made Christian give up the punishing part, well the hurting part. Now, a relationship like that I could really go for. Especially if the guy was as rich and handsome as Christian Grey!”

 
“I think so,” agreed Rose, “the kinky sex part anyway, with a rich man like Christian Grey! But that’s a novel, not real life. I’ve yet to meet a guy with that kind of imagination, my husband included!”

 
Olivia sat down with them at that point. The three of them promptly shut up. Olivia smiled. “What were you talking about, me?”

 
“
Fifty Shades of Grey
,” said Linda immediately. “We’ve all read it, and were turned on by the kinky sex.”

 
Olivia smiled. “I read that book and a few others like it. Kinky sex sounds great, doesn’t it?”

 
“But would you want to be controlled like that?” asked Louise.

 
Olivia smiled. “If you haven’t tried it, don’t knock it is what they say isn’t it? I think parts of it could be really fun. Other parts seem…scary. It would all depend on the Dom, I guess. If you had a Dom you could trust, it could be quite a lifestyle, if you were brave enough, that is.”

 
Linda looked at her speculatively but said nothing. She drank some tea, then said,

 
“I wouldn’t mind seeing one of those BDSM clubs, just to see what happens, but I don’t think they let you in just for a look, do they?”

 
“No,” said Olivia, “I don’t suppose they do. I would imagine if a man takes you there, you are going to participate in whatever he wants you to. Could be very exciting, with the right man, couldn’t it? Perhaps a good Dom would let you just look, at first, so that you wouldn’t be afraid of what he was going to do to you. I mean, most fear is of the unknown, isn’t it?”

 
Amanda bit her lip and turned red.

 
“Embarrassed, Amanda?” smiled Olivia.

 
“I’m not very experienced, Olivia. Perhaps in a few years, when I’ve had a wild affair or two, I’ll be worldlier, but right now, I don’t mind being innocent and just reading about these things.”

 
Olivia just smiled. “My new boyfriend would be most unhappy if I teased you, Amanda. So I won’t. I must admit, it would be fun to make you squirm, but he wouldn’t like it, so I mustn’t.”

 
“You, not giving Amanda a bad time?” exclaimed Rose. “This new boyfriend of yours is having a good effect on you, Olivia!”

 
Olivia smiled. “He is.  I just hope he doesn’t get bored with me. He usually goes out with more sophisticated women.”

 
Amanda gave her a measured looked. “I think you’re quite besotted with this man, Olivia. In fact, I think you’re falling for him.”

 
Olivia flushed. “That would be very unwise of me, Amanda. We’ve just started going out a few...a short while ago. This man has never mentioned that kind of relationship. I don’t think he would be very happy to find out I cared that much. I suspect he likes his women very cool, calm and collected. He wouldn’t care for a silly girl falling hard for him, not at all.”

 
“Has he told you that?”

 
“No, but I can tell from the way he acts. As I said, he’s very much in control of everything, and that means his emotions as well. He’s not going to fall in love with me, and he seems to expect that I won’t fall in love with him, either.”

 
“Sounds like a pretty dead-end relationship to me,” said Rose.

 
“He never said it would be forever,” agreed Olivia sadly. She picked up her teacup. “Well, I’d better get downstairs…” and she left the table before the girls could see the tears welling in her eyes
.

What was with the tears? She’d only spent the weekend with Graeme, and already she was regretting the casual nature of his relationship with her. She’d better get a grip, or he’d be looking for another pet.

 
Olivia bumped into Linda in the lobby when she was on her way home.

 
“Linda,” she asked tentatively, “I didn’t like to ask you at tea, because Amanda would make a meal of it, but my new boyfriend prefers thongs, and I don’t have any...do you know where I could buy some inexpensively?”

 
Linda smiled. “As a matter of fact, I do.
Maria’s Lingerie Boutique
is having a sale this week. I was going to drop in there tomorrow at lunch and see what she had marked down. Would you like to come with me?”

 
“Yes, please. My boyfriend says he likes lace...”

 
They walked to the bus stop chatting about men and lingerie. On the ride home Olivia realized it had been nice, to chat to Linda like that. Perhaps they could become friends, real friends not just teatime acquaintances.

 
At the same time Linda was reflecting that Olivia seemed nice, really nice, away from work. Perhaps she’d invite her over one night for a glass of wine and a chat with her and her roommates...maybe Wednesday.

FIVE

 
Graeme returned from New York Friday evening
.
Olivia was waiting for him at Heathrow. She’d driven his car with great care.

 
He kissed her when he saw her and held her close to him. She could feel the evidence of his pleasure seeing her, and smiled into his chest. He let her go.

 
“Were you a good girl, Olivia?”

“I think I was, Sir.”

 
Graeme smiled. He liked being called Sir by Olivia, in that soft, respectful voice. He looked her up and down, and smiled approvingly.

 
“Hair, make-up and dress are correct, as I told you. You look lovely, so sexy, pet. Did you study?”

 
“I did. I can recite all the rules and regulations we trade under, and I can identify the symbols for the sixty most traded currencies. Mr. Taylor is very pleased with me.”

 
“Were you nice to the girls at the Bank?”

 
“I was. I wasn’t mean or nasty at all. I didn’t tease Amanda at all. They were very surprised, I think. And I was quiet and respectful to the traders, and wore the clothes you laid out. No one got out of line. It’s a very busy department. I don’t think any of them even looked twice at me.”

 
“I went shopping with Linda, and had supper with her at her flat Wednesday evening, and met her roommate. We had a great time. I was home by ten, though, so I could study for an hour before bed.”

 
“So you had no run-ins with any of the staff in Currency Trading?”