Page 23 of Mine

My cheeks burned. It was a little too on the nose. “I don’t like you.”

The elevator slowed, the doors opening for us. Once again, he was controlling me. Like a puppet with a master they’d willingly handed their strings to.

“Is there anything you know you like?” he asked as we made it to my door. “Spanking? Sensations? Is there anything that might actually cause you harm or you know you don’t want? Or do you just want sex?”

“I don’t know.” I unlocked my door and we went in. I kicked off my heels and sighed, wrinkling my nose as I thought about it. Salt glanced around, a hum leaving him as he took in my penthouse.

“Do you live alone?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Good. No one will hear you scream, then.”

I raised a brow, and despite everything, the moment we looked at each other, we laughed.

“Sorry,” he chuckled. “That sounded creepy. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I know,” I said, locking the front door. “Besides, my best friend has my phone location turned on. So if you do anything, you’ll get caught. And Tommy knows you walked me home.”

“I won’t do anything you don’t consent to,” he said.

He was still standing there, looming and out of place in my home. I craned my neck to look up at him.

Desire was like a drug. It hit my system with the same urgency, the same potency. My resistance crumbled and everything shifted. The tension in the air, the stiffness of my muscles. I relaxed, the knots in my shoulders easing ever so slightly.

Behind closed doors, I didn’t have to be Pepper anymore. I didn’t have to be the CEO. I didn’t have to be the one who had all the answers.

No one could see us.

No one could see me but him.

Salt stepped closer to me. “Do you want to know what I want?”

“Yes,” I decided.

“I want you to kneel down on the floor and unlace my boots.”

My breath hitched. I looked down at his black boots and the midnight blue laces that crossed each other until they knotted at the top.

He was patient. He didn’t say anything else, waiting for me to make the choice.

Was I going to get on my knees for him?

Was I going to submit to him?

Yes.

It was awkward, but I slowly lowered my knees to the hardwoods, kneeling before him. God, what if my knees cracked? My hands trembled as I reached out, tugging on the knot on his left boot.

His palm settled on top of my head, gently petting me. Stroking me. I closed my eyes for a moment, basking in his touch before hurrying to unlace both boots.

Once I finished, I helped pull them off and set them next to my heels. Even seeing them side by side felt absurd. Louboutin red-soled pumps next to his beat up Dr. Martens with tattered blue laces, dirt streaking the sides.

I looked up at him. Rough calluses cradled my chin.

“Good girl,” he whispered. “What’s your safe word?”

“Red,” I answered.

---