She gave him a glance out of the corner of her eye. “I’m sorry I said those things about you. I had no idea about your dad.”
God, she was so kind, so good. He didn’t deserve her. “Amanda, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I’m sorry about this whole blackmail bullshit and I meant what I said. I’ll be more than happy to give you two months salary and help you find a new job. What I did…I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “It hasn’t been that bad. I mean, I had dinner with your family. That wasn’t a hardship.”
Guilt flayed him as he remembered spanking her in his office. The fact that his cock started to stiffen as he thought about her smooth, bare ass turning pink made him shift uncomfortably. “I shouldn’t have touched you back at my office. I’m a bastard.”
She shrugged again and her legs swung faster. “Yeah, well…that wasn’t really a hardship, either.”
The last part came out in a whisper and he turned to face her fully, struck by her beauty in the dim lighting from a night that was never really dark in the city. She wasn’t perfect, didn’t have the kind of face used to sell beauty products or magazines. But to him she was the most striking woman he’d ever seen. The fact that she wasn’t pushing him off the dock into the water right now threw him for a loop, but he tried to not get his hopes up. Maybe she just felt guilty about hurting his feelings. Amanda was kind hearted like that, but the last thing he wanted was her with him out of pity, so he had to make sure.
“Are you saying you liked it?”
Tilting her head forward so her hair hid her face, she nodded.
His own personal bullshit began to recede as he studied her, taking note of her body language, how she’d turned herself towards him but wouldn’t meet his eye. “Talk to me, Amanda.”
Blowing out a harsh breath, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and gripped the edge of the dock. “I liked it, okay? But I don’t do casual.”
He almost laughed, but managed to hold it back. “I could never do casual with you.”
“I want to believe you, I really do, but Dallas I know you. I’ve seen firsthand the endless parade of women in your life. Beautiful, stunning women most men would give their pinky finger to date. You go through them by the dozen.”
Feeling ashamed at the truth of her statement, he looked away. “After I found out Tammy had cheated on me, multiple times, I didn’t want to let any woman get close to me. Yeah, I may have taken rebound sex too far, but the more I was around you the more I realized that fucking those women wasn’t doing anything to fill the hole inside of me. Not that Tammy had ever really filled it either, but at least she was really good at pretending to give a shit about me. At least until I retired, then I found out she was really only with me for the fame and jet setting lifestyle I provided her with.”
“I’m sorry, Dallas, I didn’t know.”
He shrugged. “I haven’t been with another woman in months because every time I did sleep with anyone I always imagined it was you, and that wasn’t right.”
Her quick inhalation mixed in with the soft sigh of the breeze going through the palm trees.
“At first I tried to charm you, to use all those bullshit words that women seem so eager to hear. But when you continually shot me down I had to try something different, to be myself around you. I won’t lie, my initial intention was to have a hot fling with you and move on, but the more I got to know you the more I realized how smart, funny, and amazing you are. I know you think I’m a player, and I’m man enough to admit that in the past I was, but I want something different with you, Amanda. Something real.”
To his surprise she leaned over and cupped his chin, making him turn to look at her before she placed a gentle, incredibly seductive kiss on his lips that sent his blood boiling.
Unable to resist, he reached out and gathered her hair in his hand, wrapping it around his fist and tugging her head back so she had to look at him. The position pressed her breasts against the thin silk of her shirt and her hard nipples were clearly visible. A rapid beat moved the pulse on the side of her smooth neck and she wet her lips with a nervous sweep of her tongue.
“Dallas, I don’t want you to be anyone other than who you are. I like you.” She shivered when he bit the pulse banging on the side of her neck. “And I really liked it when you took control of me in your office. It was so damn hot.”
“I liked doing it.” He tightened his hold and let the dominance that was a natural part of him rise to the surface, loosening the chains he put on his need to take charge. “No, I loved doing it.”
She blinked rapidly, her gaze going from his eyes to his lips and back again, clearly broadcasting her desire to kiss him. “Would you do it again?”
Blood rushed to his cock and he had to grit his teeth to keep from claiming her right here on the dock. The soft, uncertain look on her face, the way her lower lip trembled, how she appeared so frail and delicate in his hold all aroused him more than he’d thought possible. It suddenly dawned on him that she could destroy him, that he was already more than half in love with her. If she rejected him it would hurt, bad.
“Do you want me to?”
She tried to look away, but he tightened his grip on her hair again, loving the little gasp of pleasure she gave and how her gaze returned to his. “I do.”
He couldn’t help the smile that curved his lips and he released her hair, cupping her cheek and leaning down, brushing his lips over hers, unable to believe this was happening. “Do you really want to be my submissive, mi cielo?”
The soft satin of her mouth moved over his in a delicate, lingering kiss that sent a dizzying amount of lust rushing through him. “I’ve dreamed about it, Dallas. Even before I found those clamps in your desk, I dreamed about you holding me down, tying me up, spanking me, flogging me, blindfolding me and forcing me to suck your cock. You have no idea how much I’ve wanted you. While you may have seen my face while you had sex with other women, I always your face I imagined when I touched myself.”
For a moment he was afraid he might actually come in his pants as she whispered all the naughty things she wanted him to do to her against his lips, that the mere thought of his Amanda wanting him as badly as he wanted her had his balls drawing up tight. “Why, why didn’t you tell me? You must have known that I wanted you.”
She pulled back, her posture straightening and he feared that he’d somehow driven her away. “Look at you, Dallas, and look at me. I didn’t think I stood a chance.”
The insecurity in her voice floored him. Amanda was so confident, it never occurred to him that she thought she wasn’t good enough for him. The idea was laughable. “Don’t you know? Don’t you realize that you captured me the moment we met? When I was interviewing you for the job my only thought was to do anything I could to keep you near me. Luckily you are a very smart woman and helped me with my business more than I’d ever imagined, but I wanted you to get to know me, to become comfortable around me and see that a fighter raised in the ghetto could somehow be your man.”
When she looked back at him, a small smile curved her lips. “My man?”
He nodded, loving the way she leaned toward him. “Yeah.”
Giving him a flirtatious look from beneath her lashes, she said in a soft voice, “What about my Master?”
Every muscle in his body tightened and again he nodded. “That too.”
“Would you…I…” She looked away and said in a whisper soft voice, “Would you please be my Master right now?”
Without another word he stood, more than aware of his cock pressing against his shorts and hauled her to her feet. She giggled as he practically ran through his backyard with her to the house, bypassing the dining room and heading for his bedroom. While he was tempted to take her to his dungeon, he wanted her in his bed first. Craved the sight of her dark hair spread over his sheets, of her slender body open to his touch. His cock ached and by the time he’d reached his room the need to fuck was battling with his need to make this amazing for her. Not only because Amanda deserved all the pleasure he could give her, but because he wanted to make it so good for her that she would never want to leave him.
She paused at the threshold and looked around before giving him a shy smile. “Nice.”
He glanced at the room, glad she liked it. While he’d picked out the colors, he really hadn’t done any of the decorating, his mother had handled all of that. After living in small apartments and rental homes her whole life, his mother loved to decorate so he’d let her loose in his home. Thankfully she kept in mind that he wasn’t a girl and had reeled back her usual tastes that ran to pink and frilly. His bedroom faced the water and had been done mostly in chocolate, gold, and cream colors with splashes of burgundy and navy blue here and there. It was a comfortable space, but right now he could give a fuck where they were as long as Amanda was with him.
The ability to make small talk was beyond him at the moment so he pointed to the bed. “I want you to strip, then get up on the bed in a submissive kneel.”
She took a step toward his bed, then stopped and looked over her shoulder. “What is your version of a submissive kneel?”