Boss (4 page)

Chapter Ten

Hannah’s eyes were heavy with sleep, and she wanted nothing more than to drift off here in the plush bed with him next to her.

It was the nicest bed she had ever laid in, and sleep was calling to her.

Nathan noticed how tired she was and got up immediately to untie the ropes that held her arms above her head.

Gently, he freed her.

Hannah rubbed her wrists when she was freed and looked at the pattern of the braided rope on her skin.

The sight of the pink skin and the imprints made her feel a certain level of pride and satisfaction. She had done it.

She had submitted to him.

It was wilder than anything she had ever done before.

"I'm happy to give you things you've never experienced," Nathan said, coiling up his ropes neatly and putting them back in their proper place in the truck.

He set the other toys on the dresser to be sanitized later when she was gone and rejoined her on the bed.

She curled into him, and her body fit perfectly against his.

"Am I allowed to cuddle with you? Or are you one of those guys who doesn't do that?"

She almost laughed as she asked because she was already pressed against him and could have been asleep in sixty seconds flat if given the chance.

"If you want to be held right now, then you will be held," he told her and wrapped his arm around her, holding her close.

Hannah drifted to sleep with his arm around her and her head buried in his broad chest with the smell of his cologne and their bodies around her.

She felt completely at peace for the first time in years listening to the sound of his breathing as her eyes closed and everything disappeared.

When she woke up Nathan was gone.

He must have slipped out when she was sleeping and gone to his own room.

She looked at the clock, and it was only eleven o’clock.

Stretching she got up and got her clothes from the floor and the bed where they had landed and got dressed.

She needed to get home and get some sleep.

She couldn't blame Nathan for going back to his own room and leaving her in the guest room.

If they had both fallen asleep in there someone could have found them in the morning, and there would be quite a bit of explaining to be done to her co-workers.

Hannah even appreciated that he was considerate enough to let her sleep there instead of waking her up and sending her home.

She was feeling much better after a little bit of sleep though.

She had a feeling her own bed would be calling her name as soon as she got back to her apartment.

Chapter Eleven

Hannah opened the door to her apartment with the smell of coffee lingering in the hallway and drifted in.

She felt like she was floating above everything in a peaceful, disconnect.

Nathan called it subspace.

The beautiful high after giving herself so completely and being dominated in every aspect.

It was like nothing could bring her down from this feeling and everything was miles away.

Hannah could get used to this feeling he gave her.

She had never experienced anything like this before with anyone else.

Then again, she had never been with a man like Nathan Maxwell before either.

She almost breezed past her roommate on the couch without noticing her on the way to her room as she replayed the night in her mind and wondered what it would be like next time she saw Nathan.

"Hey, Hannah banana," Naomi said sprawled on her back, looking up at her friend with curiosity in her eyes.

"Oh hey, Nai," Hannah said startled that she hadn't seen her there when she came in.

"You have a look," her friend said, rolling over and inspecting her more closely.

"I do?" Hannah asked, blushing, pulling away from her.

"You do…I know that look!" Naomi accused with a sinister smile curling her red painted lips.

"What look are you talking about?" Hannah tried to act dumbfounded at her accusation.

"You know what!" She insisted with the grin getting bigger.

"Um…" Hannah's blush deepened.

There was a distinct feeling of this turning out like the high school slumber parties where everyone talked about who they had a crush on and who the cheerleaders were sleeping with.

Hannah had never really had much to say when it came to things like that.

She knew there was no point in trying to hide anything from Naomi.

The woman could tell any change in her in an instant and she would pursue it like a dog on a fox until she found out what it was.

They had known each other since middle school, and it was a moot point to think she could ever keep something like her first BDSM sexual experience from her.

"You need to tell me everything," Naomi sat up and crossed her legs under her before pulling Hannah down on the couch next to her. "I know something good happened. I can see it all over your face."

"Okay. But…," Hannah blushed, giving in.

The light pink dusting on her pale cheeks added to her innocent appearance.

"But you can't breathe a word of this to anyone," she made Naomi promise before she would go on.

"Like I would tell anyone… You totally had sex with someone, didn't you?" She grinned like the cat who ate the mouse.

"So, my new boss…" Hannah started shushing her to calm her down.

"The rich investor with the mansion?" Naomi interrupted.

"Yes," Hannah rolled her eyes at her description.

She took a deep breath.

Girl talk had never been her thing, but this experience with Nathan was something she needed to share with someone, and if she was going to talk about it with someone, it was going to be her best friend.

"Nathan asked me to stay and have a glass of wine with him tonight after work," Hannah started.

Naomi took note that he was no longer Mr. Maxwell to her, and her eyes went round. "Wow."

"He offered me another position. A better one actually."

"That's wonderful!" Naomi said. "That look on your face when you came in looked like you had gotten laid or something, but wine and a new job can be just as good, right?" She laughed.

In the few years she had lived with Hannah it was rare for her to go out on a date or even give a man the time of day.

She had a focus and it didn't include a man taking up her time and distracting her from her goals.

Naomi wouldn't have been too surprised to hear that Hannah was still a virgin.

"I slept with him, Nai," Hannah blurted out.

"Seriously?" Her friend was clearly stunned.

Hannah nodded.

She half expected Naomi to be disappointed with her or think badly of her for having sex with her boss, but she was ready to handle that if it turned out to be the case.

"Was it good?"

Hannah's relieved laughter broke the awkward silence.

Good was the understatement of the year when it came to trying to describe what last night had been.

"It was amazing…but different," she said turning her head to the side, trying to figure out if there was a better way to describe it.

"In a good way?" Naomi asked hesitantly.

"In a very good way," Hannah laughed and changed positions on the couch so she could lean against the back cushions.

“Oh wow.”

“Yes. Wow would describe it,” Hannah smiled.

"So… what was different about it?"

"My boss is into BDSM."

The words came out of her mouth and it felt oddly natural.

"Oh my gosh, Hannah," Naomi covered her mouth with her hand like she had just told her something horrible.

"I actually liked it," she blushed. "More than just that though, I really like him."

The thought hit her that she may be having some very real feelings for Nathan.

Feelings were something she had always avoided having when it came to men, dating, sex and relationships.

If she got too close there was a chance she was going to get hurt.

Somehow getting close to Nathan felt safe.

Maybe it was the way he took control over everything, including her, that made her feel like she was in capable hands.

"What did he do? Was it scary? Did you know beforehand? I dated a guy in college that was into that kind of stuff but I wasn't sure how safe it was…I broke up with him before we really did anything. Oh my gosh. I can't believe you had sex with your boss… kinky sex!"

"Oh geez," Hannah laughed. "It wasn't scary at all. It was exciting, exhilarating, sensual… being tied to the bed and blindfolded with nothing to do but enjoy what he was doing to me was so freeing and intense," she explained.

"I can't even believe this right now."

Naomi shook her head and laughed a little at how unreal this seemed coming from Hannah of all people.

Her friend who had always been the woman men chased but who was never captured had finally been caught.

She was having trouble wrapping her mind around the fact that the man who had done the catching was a mysterious dominant who was giving Hannah her first taste of the darkly seductive world of bondage and power exchange.

"Yeah, it's definitely more than I bargained for, but wow, was it ever amazing."

"And you said you like him?" Naomi asked.

"Of course I like him," Hannah said. "Who has sex with someone they don't like?"

"No, you know what I mean. Do you think this could go somewhere? Lead to something more than just this?"

"I'm not sure. It all happened so quickly, but I think so. I want it to," Hannah smiled. "I really had a good time with him. I feel like maybe there is something deeper between us"

"It sure sounds like it. I'm so happy to see you happy."

Naomi hugged her and noticed the marks on her wrist from the bite of the rope and felt a curious pang of jealousy at her exciting new escapade.

"Thanks." She hugged Naomi back. "I think I'm going to get to bed. I'm beyond exhausted," Hannah said getting up from the couch.

"I bet you are," Naomi wiggled her eyebrows.

"You're such a twelve-year-old boy sometimes," Hannah said, but she couldn't keep herself from laughing.

Naomi wished her goodnight and sat thinking about what her friend had just told her as she watched Hannah head into her bedroom.

She just hoped Hannah was going about this in the right way and that she was being safe with everything.

She would hate to see her friend get hurt.

The man was exciting and new, but that also meant that she didn't know what he was capable of doing or what his darker temptations were.

This could be a dangerous world.

Very dangerous…

Chapter Twelve

Nathan had left Hannah asleep in his guest room that doubled as his pleasure room about a half hour after she had fallen asleep, and her beautiful body went soft against his.

When he returned to the master bedroom he undressed and lay down in his bed with the soft blanket comforter over him and weighing on him heavily.

Though not as heavily as his own thoughts.

He had laid there and held her as she slept for what seemed like an eternity; Watching the way her chest rose and fell as she breathed, observing the little freckles the summer's sun had brought out on the bridge of her nose and the tops of her shoulders, looking at the deep earth toned color of her eyelashes that she left in their natural hue.

Having her curled up against him after her first submission as her aftercare was weighing on his mind.

He never minded administering the aftercare.

It was vital for the submissive’s well-being and their mental as well as physical health.

It was what he felt as he laid there with her sleeping in his arms that had him concerned and lying awake while she slept peacefully next to him.

Having her sweet submission paired with the intensity of her passion and the desire that radiated from her was unlike anything he had ever experienced.

The only thing he could think to do was to try to pull himself back.

If he could only put a little bit of distance between them, maybe the feelings he was having would have time to simmer down into something less overwhelmingly uncharacteristic of him.

'There would be nothing inherently wrong with falling for her,' he told himself as he lay naked in his own bed. 'I just have to make sure it's real before I rush into anything.'

Nathan sighed and resigned himself to a sleepless night full of visions of her and the battle between his heart and his head.

All of the feelings came so suddenly and in such an enamored fury that Nathan wasn't sure what to do with everything he was feeling.

Certainly he couldn't just tell her that he had fallen for her.

After the first revelation of feelings and the first time they had sex it would drastically cheapen the sentiment.

He didn't want to come off as clingy to her and certainly didn't want her to feel like she had an obligation to stay just because of his position.

The thought of that made him feel dirty.

Being her boss didn't mean he would get to have his way with her.

As much as he liked power and control, he wouldn't use either to get sex from someone who didn't want to participate.

'But damn did she ever participate well.'

He grinned a little in the dark thinking of the way her body moved and reacted under his touch.

The way her hips arched to him and she begged for him, even the thought of it now was turning him on.

He could almost hear her voice next to him in the darkness as though she were still there.

Part of him wished she was.

"Why do you always have to make things so damned difficult, Nathan Maxwell?" he groaned at himself.

He had a feeling he was completely overthinking the entire thing, but he couldn't seem to stop the train once it had left the station, and his mind wouldn't slow down or ease up on all of the thoughts that were keeping him wide awake.

With everything he had to take care of the next morning he knew he should be getting at least a few hours of sleep to remain a functional member of human society but that seemed unlikely at best.

He suddenly remembered that Hannah would be back in the morning.

She was going to need to come here to get the keys to the penthouse so she could transfer over there. 

Nathan wasn't entirely sure he wanted to see her so soon after tonight, but at the same time he wished he had never made himself get out of the bed next to her.

At least if she was at the penthouse he wouldn't see her all the time.

Though at this point Nathan couldn't decide if he was more heartbroken or encouraged by that fact.

She made him feel everything more intensely and his emotions were all contradicting each other.

Everything was getting complicated in a hurry.

He would just have to wait until the morning to find where his true feelings were leading him.

When he saw her, he instinctively knew that everything would become crystal clear.

Or at least he hoped it would for both of their sakes.