Page 71 of By His Rule

I told myself that it was because I was waiting to discover the real reason for our date. I just knew that at some point she’d try for an invitation to one of our exclusive five-star resorts. But the request never came.

Although the expectation for me to take her home and continue our night was as clear as day on her face after I paid the bill and escorted her outside.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve turned down more than a few women in my time. I’m not that much of a whore that I’ll take anything that’s on offer. But I can say that last night was the first time I’ve turned down a woman who ticked every single one of my boxes.

Kieran would have kicked my ass into the middle of next year if he knew.

But I couldn’t do it.

Sure, taking her home would have been fun, and pleasurable. But I’d have felt like an asshole afterward.

Fuck knows why I care all of a sudden. Being an asshole has never stopped me before.

I let out a sigh, letting my head fall back as the call I was on ends, plunging me into silence.

It goes without saying that I’ve been an asshole.

I was here early. Earlier than anyone else on this floor. I wanted to be here when she arrived. I wanted to see her face when she found me waiting at her messy desk.

What did I just say about not caring about being an asshole? Apparently, that only extends as far as Claudine, because all bets are off when it comes to my new assistant.

And just because I can, I sit forward and press the button on my phone that will connect me with her.

“Hello,” she answers as if she has no idea who’s going to be on the other end. I’ve done this exact thing more times than I can count today.

Every time I’ve wanted something, I’ve pressed that little button that will connect me to the person who can’t say no.

I mean, she can, but seeing as she’s only on day two of her employment, she hasn’t dared yet. There’s a really fucked-up part of me that’s looking forward to the moment she does.

“Get us both a coffee, and then I need you in my office.”

I hear the words the second they leave my lips, and a hit of desire shoots through my veins.

While my head might not have been in last night, my body was more than ready, and don’t I fucking know it this morning.

I woke up tenting the sheets like a fucking teenager, but thoughts of my date were far, far from my mind.

Instead, as I’d wrapped my hand around myself in the hope of finding some relief, it was a head full of dark curls that emerged in my mind.

It was wrong. So fucking wrong.

But also…

I stare down at my desk, trying to picture how she’d look bent over and?—

“What did your last slave die of?” Lorelei snaps down the line.

“She didn’t. She ran off crying and never returned. Feel free to follow suit if you don’t think you can cut it.”

She mutters something under her breath that makes me smirk. I might not be able to make the words out, but I get the gist.

“I’ll see you in ten,” I say, hanging up before she has a chance to respond.

Spinning my chair around, I stare out at the city beyond, watching the ant-sized people on the sidewalk below going about their days.

It’s already four o’clock, and the sun is beginning its descent. It’s been a beautiful sunny autumn day, and something tells me that the evening will be just as nice.

My cell buzzes on the desk behind me and I spin back around to see who it is.

---