her over his wine, his
eyes raking across her flesh. “But, in your case…Well, I won’t make
any promises,” his voice drifted as he took another gulp of wine,
savoring the taste as if her blood was rolling on his tongue.
Mary felt a little stab of disappointment.
She definitely didn’t want to share him with anyone else. Even the
thought of him drinking someone else’s blood filled her throat with
bile.
“I am a hard man to please, Mary,” he said,
sensing her thoughts.
“What will I be, then?”
He grinned with those impossibly white teeth.
“My obedient slave. I will provide you with a pager. I expect to be
called back immediately after being paged. I might even email you.
In any case, you are to obey my every command and serve my every
whim.
“However,” he said hurriedly. “This does not mean that your needs will be swept aside. That is why I
drafted a contract. We can talk about what’s acceptable for you and
what’s not.”
Mary didn’t know what to say. A pager,
really? Who uses them anymore?
“Why don’t you just text me with a cell
phone? Pagers haven’t been used since the nineties.”
“A cell phone,” he considered doubtfully. “I
don’t like them.”
“For a successful business man, you’re a bit
behind the times,” she muttered under her breath.
Mr. White heard. “Did you just criticize me,
Miss Kramar?”
She flinched at the venom in his voice and
quailed under his furious gaze. “I—I’m sorry.”
“You’re lucky we’re in a public place, or I
would flog you for such disrespect.”
A sudden thrill shot through her body at the
threat. Everything he was saying sounded fantastic, even the fact
that she would be utterly helpless under his control. She was
tangled in his sticky web, paralyzed by her attraction to him. She
just wanted him. “I don’t want people at work to judge me,” she
said, voicing her concern for the first time.
Their lunches finally arrived. Mr. White had
ordered for her—blackened chicken with squash ragout. How could he
have known that she loved this dish? He must have seen her bring it
in for lunch one day, and made a mental note about it in his head.
Evidently, Mr. White was far more observant than she ever gave him
credit for. To her horror, she felt tears threatening her eyes. It
was a thoughtful gesture that she would have never expected of her
boyfriends. Mr. White is not your boyfriend.
“Mary,” he said when the waiter had gone.
“Who cares what anyone thinks?”
* * *
The rest of the day passed without incident.
Mary did not catch a glimpse of her boss. She avoided everyone’s
eyes as if they knew what she had done. Butterflies fluttered in
her stomach as she thought about what she had agreed. In the end,
she had signed his contract, a strange feeling filling her gut as
she left the restaurant.
She was so distracted that she almost missed
an email from her boss.
From: Matthew White
(
[email protected])
To: Mary Kramar (
[email protected])
Subject: Tonight
Slave,
Your presence will be required at my
apartment tonight. A car will be waiting for you after work to take
you shopping—your current wardrobe is unsuitable for my needs.
There is an envelope in your desk containing a credit card I have
provided for you. Also, you will be accompanying me on Thursday to
Houston.
That will be all for now.
Matthew White
CEO, White Group Inc.
Mary giggled nervously as she read the
email’s contents, but stifled the laugh quickly when she thought
what Mr. White’s reaction would be if he had seen her laughing. So,
she was going on the business trip with him. Mary’s heart was
filled with glee as she imagined a romantic getaway with her boss,
wining and dining with all the bigwigs. She typed back, thinking
that she might as well do the thing properly.
From: Mary Kramar
(
[email protected])
To: Matthew White
(
[email protected])
Subject: Re: