Read The Professor's Pet (A BDSM Romance Novel) for Free Online Page B

was.
    Submissive. That word; dirty and shameful. I was the target of my own feminist ire. “What kind of modern, enlightened woman wanted a man to treat her like an object for his amusement?” I silently reproached myself. And my answer was always the same, implacable and constant. I knew what I had felt, knew what my body had told me. Pleasure greater than any I’d experienced before.
    It gnawed away at me in the background of my mind, until one day, I finally made my peace with it. If my best friend had come to me with the same problem, I would have asked her if the guy treated her well. And if he did, I would have told her that what they did in the privacy of their bedroom was no one’s business but theirs. I resolved to treat myself with the same kindness.
    ***
    “Do you have plans for the weekend?” Anna asked me. In the high-tech world in Silicon Valley, few of us had the luxury of offices. Our team, all eight of us stats geeks sat in an open area, with cubicle walls that were waist-high to give us the illusion of privacy.
    I looked at Anna, who sat next to me. She was standing, leaning over the cubicle divider to look at me. It was 4.30pm on Friday evening, and we were winding up for the week.
    “I was thinking of renting a car, maybe heading up to Napa Valley or something,” I replied, pushing my keyboard away, and leaning back in my chair. I’d finished unpacking the last of my boxes last night; the apartment was finally livable, the chores were done, and I was restless to get out and explore. I’d been at work for a month now, and all I’d done so far in San Francisco was get to and from work, and grab takeout at the cheap Indian and Chinese restaurants that surrounded my apartment.
    She started telling me the names of a couple of her favourite wineries, but then she stopped suddenly. “Holy crap, Batman, hot guy alert,” she whispered instead.
    “Sanjay again?” I tried not to sound bored. Anna had a crush on my boss, Sanjay. She couldn’t stop talking about how amazing he was. I understood why; objectively, he was gorgeous, though he did nothing for me.
    “Yes,” she said, not taking her eyes off whoever was piquing her interest. “But he has company. Seriously smoking hot company.”
    I was curious, but the way my cubicle was positioned, I couldn’t stand up and look without it being totally obvious.
    “Shit, they are coming this way,” she squealed, and ducked down into her cubicle, her face flaming red.
    I swivelled my chair around and looked up; my eyes met a set of laughing blue eyes, the eyes that had been haunting my dreams for the last three months. Jake Ballard.
    “Emily,” I heard my boss say, through the heat that suddenly filled my body. “Jake tells me you two know each other.”
    I looked up, trying hard not to blush.
    “Hello Emily,” he greeted me. His voice was a lazy drawl that sent shivers racing through my body. My mind flashed back immediately to three months ago, when he had looked at me and asked me if I wanted to be taken in my cunt or my ass. I swallowed as arousal snaked through me.
    “Professor Ballard,” I replied, then flushed instantly as I realized I was still following his rules. His lips twitched; he was trying to hold back the laughter. Jerk. My eyes were hot with embarrassment and anger as I looked at him.
    “Jake,” I said coolly, striving for self-possession. “What a surprise to see you here.”
    “Jake is working with us on search algorithms,” Sanjay explained. “He’ll be mostly working with Anya’s team, but there might be some crossover.” I sighed with relief. For an instant there, I was terrified that I’d have to work with him every day. But my relief was short-lived. “Jake, the team typically goes to the bar next door for drinks Friday evening, why don’t you join us?”
    Jake smiled, laugher dancing in his eyes as he took in my expression. “I’d love to,” he said smoothly. “Emily, coming?”
    I’d have loved to beg