Page 3 of His

They got into a small disagreement about how to fund something. He was insisting on doing it himself, since it was a tricky proposal and he didn't want her to have to feel any of the financial crunch if it didn't work.

But she was at least as stubborn as he was about some things, and kept giving him a hard time about it, trying to reassure him that she wanted to stand on her own two feet and that she didn't accept help from anyone, including him.

Finally, he drew himself up to his full six-two and came around the table to stare down at her, glaring fit to subdue even a man much bigger than himself, not that she seemed to notice it much when he was intimidating, unlike most of the rest of the people around him. One sharp look and he could practically clear a crowded room. But then, she wasn't a sycophant or a hanger on or a yes person. She was a highly successful woman in her own right, and she was just trying to assert the fact that she didn't need him, or anyone else, and she wasn't going to just knuckle under because of who or what he was.

For some reason, though, she did this time as he stood over her, his hands on his hips. "Now. I'm going to provide the backing for this, and you're going to be quiet and obedient and let me do it. Case closed."

It amazed him when she just sat there and uttered a meek, "Yes, Sir."

He sucked in his breath quickly at the sound of it, standing there very deliberately until she looked up at him, and he knew as soon as their eyes met.

She would submit to him.

In every way.

And she'd enjoy every second of it.

He'd make damn sure of that.

Chapter Two

Raina shuffled back towards the library, but he stepped out of their bedroom to beckon her to him, extending his hand as both a target and a help. He was so strange that way. He was terribly, terribly strict on her, yet, in some ways he almost overprotected her. He was scrupulously careful about her health and made sure that she took her asthma medications every single morning, and also that, whenever he was "tending" her, as he liked to put it, that her inhalers weren't far from either her own reach or his. He didn't often gag her for reasons other than not liking to hear much in the way of protests - they interfered with her breathing, and he refused to do anything that might compromise the health of his investment.

And he had invested quite a bit in her, Raina thought as he guided her into the bedroom. As soon as he let go of her, she stopped in place, knowing that he never wanted her to try to read his mind or anticipate what he might want from her. She was always surprised, anyway. But she could see the things he'd laid out on a towel on the bed, and she knew the way of things.

After looking her over from head to toe, touching here and there, he said but one word, in a hard, toneless voice, "Present", as if he was talking to a cocker spaniel.

Raina moved her left foot as far away fro the right as her panties would allow, then laced her fingers at the back of her head, lifting her chin slightly, proudly - as he required - and arching her back just the slightest bit, so that her already unmistakable breasts were pressed into even greater prominence. Even if she was going to be punished, he never liked her to be hang dog about it. Her master felt that she should consider even a punishment an honor.

And it was. It was an honor that he had even noticed her at first - although she hadn't let that on. Men like her Master didn't show up very often in this world, and lately it was even rarer than ever to find a man such as him. And when he'd called and invited her to dinner...

Raina had never been the type to swoon over a man in any way. She'd had a few romances in high school and college, but had very carefully never become seriously involved with anyone. She'd known exactly what she wanted, and it wasn't a husband or children. At least not then. And, she had to admit, even now, those two things were still pretty much at the bottom of her list of priorities.

She'd worked very hard in high school and gotten a scholarship to college even though no one ever knew, because she worked full time all the way through it. She took her seed money over to France, and studied at the right hand of a genius in perfumes, as well as wheedling her way into some of the finer cosmetic companies there.

She'd taken what she'd learned - and the remainder of her nest egg - back to the States several years later, and, eventually, through years of eighty and ninety hour weeks, she'd gotten herself to the top of the heap, and she damned well intended on staying there.

But her Master had had other ideas, and he hadn't been shy about voicing them from their very first official date, which he orchestrated completely after receiving her agreement that she would see him outside of work. It was a magical night, but there was absolutely no doubt as to who was in charge, although it seemed as if he'd done his research, because everything he had - from the food to the wine to their surroundings - was exactly what she adored most.

He'd put it to her right then and there - not being one to pussyfoot around. He'd told her that he knew her innermost desire, and that he was going to be the one to fulfill it.

Raina, of course, had guffawed at the idea, but one chortle later she'd looked at his face and all amusement had fled her mind.

He was serious.

But he couldn't possible know what dangerous, kinky, outrageous thoughts popped into her mind when she least expected them, or lived in the back of her head until the middle of the night, when she should have been sleeping, and made her writhe and twist beneath the silken sheets.

She wanted to submit. She needed to. It was a craving she'd felt all her life, but had stuffed down in favor of her driving ambitions. She was the one who gave the orders, and that was the way she preferred it, as far as work went, and work was her entire life at that time. It was everything.

But her master had realized, wisely so, that she was entirely unfulfilled personally, and somehow he'd also known exactly what it was that would fulfill her the most.

He certainly fit the part perfectly. When he walked into a room, like it or not, all eyes were drawn to him. He was a force to be reckoned with, and that force had chosen to focus his attentions on her, then and now.

And he'd proceeded to prove her wrong. He could know exactly what it was that she desired, because he had an even stronger desire to make her experience each and every one of those perverted variations.

And in the past year or so, he'd come awfully close to fulfilling her every desire. Sometimes uncomfortably close to some of them.

She stood there for a long moment in front of him, and knew better than to flinch, or ever try to cover herself from him. One of her hardest, longest lessons had been when they first came together in this capacity. Raina may have had all sorts of thoughts and longings and fantasies, but none of them compared to the reality in the least. She was a very naturally shy about appearing in front of anyone - especially him - naked, but he wasn't about to let her get away with any sort of innate feminine shyness. She was his, and when he wanted to see her, he didn't want to have to push aside those very pretty hands to do so.

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