Page 2 of By My Side

His shoulders moved as a desperate chuckle fell from his lips. “Fuck. Marcella, it’s not about beauty. If it was just about beauty, I’d use you in a heartbeat.”

The pulse in her throat picked up a little. He’d never before commented on her physical appearance one way or the other.

“Gretchen knows me. She knows what I want almost before I ask it.”

Marcella barely refrained from gritting her teeth. The key to convincing Sean lay in her ability to keep her temper under control. He didn’t respond well to outbursts. “I’ve worked for you for over a year. You’ve said several times that I always know what you want, and that I do it how you want it done.”

He turned away from the window and regarded her somberly. “I need a submissive who doesn’t question me. I need one who doesn’t analyze my orders looking for a way to second-guess me. You’re an excellent assistant, but you’re not very submissive, Marcella. Look at how you responded to my order to cancel the benefit.”

She waved away his concern. He might want a sub who didn’t question him, but he sure as hell needed someone to keep him on his toes. “You don’t want to cancel the benefit. This means too much to you.”

His hands came up, and he grasped her upper arms lightly. Never before had he attempted such an intimate touch. “And you responded by refusing to cancel. You’ve spent the past five minutes arguing with me, trying to convince me to change my mind.”

If she backed down now, her chance would evaporate. “Sean, I’m not second-guessing you. I know what this means to you. I’m trying to make sure you get what you want. I’m trying to please you. I spend every moment of every day trying to please you. I don’t see much of a difference between being your assistant and being your submissive.”

A muscle in his jaw ticked. “You’re not my submissive, Marcella. If you were, you’d be facing a punishment right now.”

Though she wasn’t a whips-and-paddles kind of woman, any kind of punishment where he touched her body would be worth it. She shivered with anticipation. “When you interviewed me for this job, you asked me if I would have a problem working while you had a naked woman kneeling at your feet. I told you then that I was a submissive. You know as well as I do that you liked the idea of having a submissive for your assistant. You knew I would move heaven and earth to please you. Let me do this, Sean. Let me do this for you.”

His hands dropped away. He straightened and took a decisive breath. When he moved around to stand behind her, Marcella didn’t move. It might have been a little while since she’d been active on the scene, but she knew when to stay still.

“You’ll be exposed in front of a hundred strangers who paid to see you that way.”

She kept her eyes facing forward. “I know most of the people who will be there, because they’re friends or acquaintances of yours. And I handled all the ticket purchases and background checks. Besides, I’ll be under your protection. Nobody will touch me without your permission.”

Nobody would dare. Sean might be quiet, but it was a strong kind of quiet, backed up by his physical strength and the innate power radiating from every pore in his body. He could have had a successful acting career full of leading roles. Instead he had remained behind the scenes, a carefully controlled powerhouse.

He stood close to her back. She felt the electricity of his chest as he hovered a maddening few inches away from physical contact. “Round one is teasing, a warm-up. You’d be bound to a bar above your head. A spreader bar would be placed between your ankles. I plan to use a heater, clamps, anal beads. One lucky person who donated an additional fifty thousand gets to choose another instrument of torture. Even I don’t know what that is yet.”

Having arranged for all the equipment to be there, Marcella knew exactly what would happen. She even knew what the donor had chosen as the instrument of torture—ice. If he used the heater the right way, the ice would both stimulate and soothe her hot skin. She even knew she wouldn’t be allowed to climax in that round.

But he wasn’t finished. “Round two is where I whip you until you come. The spreader bar will be moved to just above your knees. You’ll only have the stimulation of the whip, Marcella. No physical contact and no dildos will be used.”

Oh, but her panties were drenched just from the sound of his voice. She might have disclosed her submissiveness, but they’d never discussed the issue of masochism. With regard to that, she had a mild tolerance for pain. Too much and she wouldn’t be able to orgasm. “That’ll take a little practice,” she said. “I can come that way. I’ve done it before, though not in a long time. I can do it for you.”

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