Page 201 of The Dommes

“So here’s the deal, Mathison. I’ll give you money. I’ll give you everything you need and then some. Except you have to do something for me. Do you know what?”

I know. I dare not say it.

Her hand touches my chest. My breath catches inside my ribs, bruising them from within. This touch is Kathleen, and yet it’s not the touch I know from her at all. She’s squeezing me, clutching my shirt, getting ready to pop my buttons open.

Tear me apart.Ruin me.

I swallow, hard.

“If you want the money so badly…” Her mouth twists into a smile that makes my body annoyingly responsive. Fuck me. “Earn it. Submit to me.”

Haha.

Hahahahaha. She said words.

My throat is dry. My body is more aroused than it has any right to be. My heart is pounding in my chest. Did I mention that I’m aroused?

“What?” I ask, drolly. “Right now?”

“Ha. No.” Kathleen releases me. “That wouldn’t be fair. You gave me time to mentally prepare for your brand of domination. Now I give you time to prepare for mine. I want your decision by Thursday. If you say yes, I’ll give you half before and then half after. No getting out of it, unless you want to go find seven and a half million dollars elsewhere.”

“No.”

I meet surprise. “No?”

“No.” I can throw that smile right back at her. “I don’t do that.”

It’s a duel of willful smiles. “Maybe money isn’t enough to sway you, but…” she unbuttons her jacket, showing me her cleavage. Almost compelling. “Do you love me, Ira?”

I want to touch her, but I don’t. Instead, I curl my fingers into the jacket I’m holding, hoping it’s enough to hold me back. “Of course I love you. And I don’t say that lightly.”

“Do you want to be with me?” Her voice is so soft that I almost don’t hear the plea within it. “Do you want me?”

“That should go without saying.”

“Then do this at least once. I want to dominate you, Ira. I want to see you in front of my feet, worshiping the ground I walk on. I want to take you to the edge and back again. I want you to feel the way you make me feel.”

The way I make her feel…

“Once. If you really don’t like it afterward, then I’ll never ask it of you again.”

“And I’ll get the money for my business.”

“Funny how that all works out.”

Funny, indeed.

“Like I told you, you’ve got until Thursday.” Her arms wrap around my shoulders, and I smell her breath on my lips. When she kisses me, it’s like a one-two punch to my heart and my arousal. “After that,” no, come back, kiss me again, “I will assume you’re not interested. In the money.” Kathleen pulls away, sullen. “Or me.”

I leave in a daze, my senses full of Kathleen Allen. Her scent in my nose, her voice in my ear, her touch on my lips, and the taste of her tongue on mine. Her image remains in my brain down in the elevator.

“I will assume you’re not interested in the money… or me.”

I text her.

“You know I’m interested in both.”

It’s not my final answer.

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