Under His Control (For His Pleasure, Book 18) (8 page)

The bed was still made, the room sparse and neat. “How far did you get with her?” Kennedy asked, as she looked the place over.

Easton folded his arms. “None of your business.”

She sat down on the bed and crossed her legs. She liked the way Easton’s gaze flicked down to her legs when she did so. “I think it’s a little bit my business. After all, it’s disgusting to imagine myself sleeping with you after you just slept with that whore.”

“Firstly, who said anything about sleeping together?”

“Well I assumed—“

“Your first problem,” Easton said, walking slowly towards her, “is that you think you understand anything involving me and what I do.”

Kennedy felt his presence as he approached, and for the first time since entering the room, she truly realized how alone they were. And Easton’s magnetism was affecting her as it always did—her thoughts were becoming jumbled, scattered, her confidence shattering as the need overtook her body.

She just wanted to smell him, taste him, to kiss and suck him and let him have his way. But he scared her, too. His intensity, his strength, his ruthlessness.

“I want to learn,” she said, finally, as Easton stood so close that his legs were almost touching hers. He towered over her now, his arms loose at his sides, his body languid and sexual in even this relaxed pose.

“I’m not at all convinced that you’re ready to take me as your master,” he said.

“You come in here demanding things of me, trying to manipulate me, threatening my career.”

“It’s my career that’s on the line.”

His expression darkened. “Fuck your career,” he said. “What if I told you that the only way we continue is if you stop working for me?”

“Then I would quit immediately.”

“I don’t believe it.”

She looked up at him. “If I knew you’d really take me on, teach me, let me please you—I’d do it. I’d do anything.”

Easton turned and walked away from her, hands on his hips as he stared at the wall. “Red doesn’t want me to fire you,” he said.

“He doesn’t?” Kennedy’s heart began to speed up as she realized what this meant. “So I can keep my job?”

“But Red also gave me hell for having an “inappropriate” relationship with you.

He said that I’m jeopardizing his company, that you could sue us. I told him things hadn’t gotten that far but he didn’t believe me. He made me promise to end whatever it is that we were developing, and I agreed.”

Kennedy nodded, her thoughts racing. “I suppose I’ve put you in a pretty terrible position, haven’t I?”

Easton turned around again, and this time the look of hunger and want in his eyes was undeniable. “You didn’t put me in it. I allowed myself to be sucked in. I knew when I met you what this was, but I couldn’t stop myself.” His voice tightened.

“You…have some sort of effect on me.” His expression became uncertain.

“You have an effect on me, too,” she said, her voice low and husky with excitement.

She was so wet. What she wouldn’t have given to just feel him against her, his hardness, his body, the touch of his hands on her bare skin. Just looking into his eyes was almost enough to make her come.

“If we’re going to continue,” he said, “then I do so at tremendous personal risk.

And that means I’ll have to be absolutely certain that I can trust you.”

“What can I do to earn your trust?”

“You have to listen to me. To every word I say, every command I give you. My word is final.”

She nodded, her mouth becoming dry. The words frightened her, but the excitement of giving herself totally to him was undeniable. Her mind was terrified, but her body was already losing control. Her nipples were stiff, her pussy drenched. “I’ll do anything. Anything you tell me.”

“We must not ever let on that there’s anything between us, especially not to Red or Nicole. You can’t say a word, and you certainly can’t go and have one of your tantrums in the office. If anybody sees and reports back to Red, we’ll both be finished at the agency, and our personal relationship will be severed as well.”

“I understand.”

“When we’re at the office, you do as I say. And you behave professionally.”

“Of course.”

“As soon as you leave, you become mine in a much more intimate sense. I’ll make many demands of you. You’ll need to trust that I know why I’m asking these things of you, and that it’s for your own good. I’m going to teach you to please me and to feel pleasure as my slave.”

“Your slave,” she said, repeating the words almost as if they were an incantation.

“Yes, my slave.” Easton came towards her now, reaching out and putting his fingers under her chin, making her look up at him.

His touch was electrifying, causing her nipples to tingle, her belly to tighten, and between her legs to rush with pleasure and anticipation of what might be. “Will you hurt me?”

He looked down at her. “Any pain you experience will be for your own good, when you need to be punished or corrected. Your training will be strict, but I’m a fair master. I’ll never go beyond what you can accept, and in the end, you’ll come to desire it more than you can currently appreciate.”

She licked her lips. “What if I decide I want to stop?”

He took his hand away and she instantly regretted the question. Easton moved towards the door. “I don’t hold a gun to anyone’s head,” he replied softly. “The decision is yours. But if you make a commitment to me, I expect your word to be like gold.

Otherwise, this is a waste of my time.”

“It’s all new to me,” she said.

“You know why you came here,” he replied, coming back to her, his voice more demanding. “You know that you’ve wanted this from the beginning. I could smell it oozing from your pores when I first met you, just as I can smell your sex right now.” His nostrils flared.

Kennedy swallowed, her legs tightening together. “I’m not experienced. And I’m sorry if that repulses you.”

Easton smiled, but it was a predatory grin. “I enjoy your scent, Kennedy. If you were ready, if you’d been adequately prepared for it, I would lick your pussy until you came over and over again. I would take your wetness into my mouth suck on you, taste every last drop of you.”

She put a hand to her chest. “Oh my God. Nobody’s ever talked to me like that.”

“I like that you’re flustered. I like that you are a clean blank slate, ready to learn the rules from someone like me, a master of his trade. But don’t think this will be easy.”

His expression turned more serious again. “For every bit of pleasure you get, there’s a cost. There’s a cost for both of us.”

“Why?” she asked, not certain she wanted to know the answer.

“Because,” he said, “that’s simply the way it is. It’s like asking why the grass is green.”

She nodded. For a science minded person, what Easton was telling her made complete sense. She liked that there was a kind of efficiency to it all, a clean and clear formula. She would be his, and she would pay a heavy price to be his. But in the end, the pleasure and excitement and aliveness would be worth it.

“I want to do it,” she said, her voice trembling. “I want to be yours.”

“Good,” he said. “Then it begins.” For a moment she thought he was going to come to her and tear her clothes off then and there. It was written on his face—the desire, the compulsion, and she knew that he wanted to.

But instead he walked and opened the door again. “Go now. Await further instructions.”

Uncertainly, Kennedy stood up, her body slick with sweat, the insides of her thighs slick with something else entirely. As she walked past him, she felt herself nearly climaxing, just by being near him and knowing that eventually he would take her and make her his. But she knew better than to talk.

She kept her eyes straight ahead and continued walking out the door.

Eventually she heard it close with a final click.

***

Kennedy was still buzzing when she got back to her apartment building. The entire way home, all she’d done was replay what had happened between her and Easton at the club.

It almost seemed as if it was all a dream. It couldn’t have really happened, could it? Easton Rather was going to make her his property. He’d said it in no uncertain terms, said that his intentions were to teach her, and she would be his personal private project.

Yes, it was terrifying because she knew it meant giving up control to Easton, a powerful and mysterious man—Kennedy had never even had sex before, never had a real boyfriend. There was still so much she didn’t fathom about relationships between men and women.

As if to signify just how much she didn’t understand about the opposite sex, Kennedy passed by Blake’s door on the way to her own apartment, and noticed that his door had been left partially open, a very odd thing to do in New York City.

Even Kennedy knew that, and she’d only just moved there.

As she walked by, she caught a glimpse of Blake doing dishes in his kitchen.

Something about it was just odd—it gave her a very strange feeling. She didn’t want to look into his apartment, she didn’t really have any interest.

Now if Easton had left a door open like that, she’d have been instantly aroused, every nerve and cell would have fluttered with anticipation of what she might discover.

The question was, why did he leave his door open?

She opened her own apartment door and went inside, still curious and unsettled about Blake. Kennedy couldn’t get over the strange notion that Blake had left his apartment open because of her.

That’s just ridiculous
, she told herself.
Blake has no reason to leave his door
open just in case you happen to stroll by.

But then again, in some odd way she thought it made perfect sense.

He’s looking for reasons to run into you. He wants to be able to hear when
you’re close by, walking past his door or going in and out of your apartment.

The thought gave her chills, and not in a good way.

Then again, maybe he’s waiting for a pizza delivery.

Whatever the reason for Blake leaving his door open, Kennedy couldn’t be bothered to spend much time wondering about it. Blake was a side note unfortunately, he was at best a light snack.

Easton Rather was the main course, dessert and drinks rolled into one.

In fact, Kennedy thought, as she got out of her heels and skirt, Blake had taken on a distinctly nasty taste, like eating something and then noticing the underlying chemical aftertaste just lingered and lingered.

The problem was that he was her neighbor.

All she wanted to do was think about Easton, to remember the way it had felt when he’d stood over her, bare-chested, his fingers under her chin, directing her.

He’s going to keep on directing me, too.

She wondered if he would ask her to come to his place that night. He’d said to await further instructions, which could mean anything.

Kennedy didn’t want to forget what it had felt like being close to Easton, wearing her sexy outfit, getting his real attention for the first time.

She kept her panties on—she liked enjoying the wetness and knowing where and why it had occurred. She never wanted to stop being sexually turned on by him.

She lay in bed luxuriating in her aliveness, even the feel of her own mattress and sheets had become so much more sensual now that Easton had laid claim to her.

Cell phone in hand, she periodically checked the time and awaited instructions. It could come in the form of a call, a text—maybe he’d send a carrier pigeon for all she knew.

Whatever way he contacted her, she needed to be ready.

But as the hours ticked by and the night darkened and the street outside became quiet, Kennedy became less and less hopeful.

Don’t fall asleep. What if he calls?

But then again, Kennedy had to think about work the following morning, which was just a few short hours away now. She couldn’t go into work on no sleep, could she?

Eventually the decision was taken out of her hands, as she passed out from sheer exhaustion, as if a light switch in her brain had simply been turned off.

***

When she awoke, it was just after six in the morning and she felt half-dead. Her head was pounding and her mouth tasted like stale cardboard.

But there was something within her that was still excited, despite the tiredness and the hangover. She was going to be starting her first real day as Easton’s lover, as his property, learning from her master.

Just saying that word to herself—master—it was beyond comprehension.

As she got ready for work, she tried saying it out loud in preparation. “Easton, you’re my master. Anything you want,” she said into the bathroom mirror, and then, not quite satisfied, said it again while scrubbing her face.

She dressed professionally, not provocatively. This time the skirt was much longer, the heels were shorter, the blouse not nearly as low-cut, everything toned down.

But she was still feeling sexual and hot, her nipples so hard for so long that they were becoming sore.

On the way out of her apartment that morning, she noticed Blake’s door was still ajar.

Kennedy shook her head. While she was locking her own door, she heard movement and turned her head in time to see Blake popping his head out and looking at her.

She jumped a little. “Jeez, you scared me!”

He stepped out into the hallway. He was dressed in khakis and a button-down shirt. “Sorry,” he grinned. “Where are you headed so early?”

She finished locking her door, her belly turning with annoyance. “I’ve got to get to work.”

Not that it’s any of your business.

“You found a new job already?”

She glanced at him, irritation written plainly on her face now. “No, I didn’t get a new job. I’m still working at the same place, and I’m running late. I don’t have time to talk right now.”

Blake was picking at his doorframe as he spoke. “I can’t believe you’re going to go back to that place and work for that shit head—“

“He’s not a shit head.” She threw her keys in her purse. “And I don’t have time for a lecture, nor did I ask for one.” She started walking past him.