In my fantasy, Royce couldn’t get his pants undone fast enough. His hands were clumsy with eagerness, ripping down his zipper. He tossed the tail of his tie over his shoulder and out of our way before he lowered down to meet me. I wanted to feel his weight against my body. The pressure of him. I needed to tangle my hands in his thick hair and bite his lip as he tried to kiss me.
I lost control the moment I imagined him shoving himself inside me with one deep, unapologetic thrust.
My orgasm was fire. I cried out as ecstasy swept through me, burning along my nerves in pinpricks of heat and bliss. Instinct took over, and I reached down, turning off the overwhelming vibrator because the pleasure was so acute, it hurt. The buzzing ceased, plunging the darkened room into near silence, punctuated only by my uneven gulps of breath.
The orgasm was so mind-numbingly powerful, I lay on the bed for a long while, unable to move or think, only recover.
Slowly, reality came back to me, and I picked up my phone.
Me: One.
The message delivered, then said it had been read, but no dots appeared to indicate Macalister was typing. Instead, my screen turned to black, his name flashed across it, and my ringtone punched through the quiet.
Holy. Shit.
Panic made my stomach bottom out. What was I going to do? I couldn’t not answer his call, but how the fuck was I supposed to talk to him now? I closed my eyes and held my breath, praying the phone would miraculously stop ringing. Was there any chance he’d called me by mistake?
Don’t be so fucking stupid, Marist.
I tapped the screen, and my voice was a ghost. “Hello?”
There was no greeting, only his angry question. “Why is it off?”
“Because it was too intense,” I blurted. “And I already came, so I thought—”
“Turn it back on, now. I’m not finished with you.”
My heart halted painfully, but in the aftermath of my orgasm I was weak. I fumbled with the phone as I followed his order. “Okay,” I said on a shaky breath. “It’s on.”
“And it’s inside you?”
I bunched a handful of the silky duvet in my fist. It was barely a whisper. “Yes.”
“I don’t believe you. You’ll take a picture and send me the proof.”
My brain went black as it short-circuited. He was insane. There was absolutely no way I was going to take a picture of me wearing the vibrator and text it to him. “No.”
“No?” I could picture the arrogance on his face on the other side of the conversation.
The vibrator leapt to life, and as I jolted in surprise, a shameful moan burst from my lips. I was still sensitive, but after the first few seconds, it lessened and I could think over it.
“That was rather convincing, Marist.” His deep voice was much smoother than the scotch he’d poured for me weeks ago. “How did your orgasm compare to last night’s?”
Oh, my God. I couldn’t catch my breath. “I can’t . . . talk, while you’re—”
“If you don’t want to talk, then you’ll send the picture. Otherwise, I need to listen to ensure you’re still following my rules.”
The speed revved up, like he’d turned the dial from low to medium, and it forced a whimper from me.
“Good. Was your orgasm tonight better?”
I blinked rapidly, unable to focus on anything around me in the dark bedroom. There was only his inescapable voice. That was the moment it settled on me, what he’d meant about being able to force me to think about him. I couldn’t drown him out. Even if I pictured Royce, he’d have Macalister’s voice.
“I can’t do this.”
“Of course you can.” Irritation tinted his words. “It’s a simple question.”
“No, I’m hanging up.”
His voice seethed with cold fury. “Then you’ll give your keys to Royce, and I will explain to him why you lost your privilege.”
I put my hand over my mouth, covering the cry just before it pealed from my lips. I’d walked voluntarily into Macalister’s trap. He hadn’t even needed to disguise it; I’d been that stupid.
“What will it be?” he demanded.
I couldn’t tell Royce what I’d done. Even after he’d hurt me so deeply, I was reluctant to do the same to him. But I’d foolishly thought I could keep this all a secret. I wasn’t a god. There were going to be consequences for what I’d done.
The silver lining to the disaster I’d allowed was the freedom in giving up. With no options left, at least that meant there were no more decisions to be made. I had no power left as I spoke. “It was . . . better tonight.”
“Why?”
I lashed out, wanting to knock him down a peg. “Because I was thinking,” I gulped down air, “about him.”
He laughed, but it was devoid of warmth. “I still have more work to do, then. I’ll break you of this ridiculous infatuation. You deserve a man who knows your value, Marist. Not some boy who threw you away.”
It put me in the strange position of wanting to defend Royce to the very man he’d sold me to. But I didn’t get a chance. The pattern on the vibrator slowed to a crawl, and the vibrations shifted.
“Oh,” I gasped. It was a completely different sensation, and it took a long moment to realize that both sides, inside and out, were now pulsating.
“I’ll tell you what I think about.” I pictured him sitting on the leather couch in his bedroom, wearing his suit with his tie still knotted perfectly at his throat because he never relaxed. He didn’t do casual. “I think about how you denied me. I am still owed my two minutes.”
My pulse roared from the pleasure, but the rest of me was frozen in place.
“And you will give them to me.”
The phone was crystal clear, so it sounded like he was right beside me. He wasn’t in the room, and yet he filled every inch of it.
“I won’t,” I whispered.
“I’m going to tell you how I imagine it. You’ll allow me to peel you out of your dress and everything else until I can see every beautiful inch of you. This time, no one will be in my way. It’ll only be us.”
The way he said the word us gave me a chill.
“I’ll run my hands over your skin. Perhaps you’ll shiver, but I’ll make sure I’m the cause. There’s no place I’ll leave untouched because I’m a thorough man. Dedicated and relentless.”
I felt his imagined hands on me, sinking me further into the bed.
“Your knees will give out from the way my fingers feel sliding over you, so I’ll have to lay you down. Now it will be my mouth’s turn. I’ll explore and taste, starting with your lips, taking note of every sigh you make and how your body responds as I move lower.”
My ragged breathing was so fast my heart couldn’t keep up. Blood roared in my ears.
“I’ll have to hold your breasts steady in my hands while I give them the attention they deserve. You’ll be breathing as hard as you are right now. Once I’ve had my fill, I’ll venture lower. You’ll squirm. You tell yourself you don’t want it, but—oh, Marist. You do.”
The vibrations increased, bringing terrible pleasure with them.
“You’re desperate by this point. There’s a need that I created and only I can satisfy, and I’m going to, because once I start something, I don’t give up. I don’t walk away.”