Page 59 of The Boss

“Not at all,” he said. “You’re coming with me tonight.”

I raised an eyebrow. There was that bossy tone of his. “I am?”

“We’re going to a club. You’ll like it.”

When it came to sex, I was okay with him telling me what to do and what I’d like. He seemed to know how to play my body better than myself.

That didn’t mean he could dictate what I did with my body when we weren’t fucking or working. And since I didn’t plan on us having sex again any time soon, he now only got to order me around at work.

Going to a club with him wasn’t work.

“No, thank you,” I said politely.

His lips pressed together into a thin line, but I didn’t say anything else as I waited for him to respond to my answer.

“Haven’t I made you come?” He stepped closer, dropping his voice so that only the two of us could hear. “I can make you come again tonight. This club, it’s private, discreet. Its members can indulge in all sorts of…desires. Things we haven’t done yet. Things I could teach to you, do to you.”

My breath caught, and I was certain he heard it, but I kept staring at my computer screen, wishing he couldn’t see the heat in my cheeks, wishing he didn’t know that the color was only half from embarrassment, the other half desire.

“We won’t need to worry about anyone knowing who we are. Many members and guests wear masks to protect their identities. Not that anyone would dare breathe a word about who we are. If anyone betrays the trust of the owners of Club Privé, their membership is revoked, and depending on the severity of the crime, they could be blackballed from most other clubs.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said before he could go any further. If I didn’t speak now, he might actually end up convincing me to go with him, and I didn’t want that. Or, rather, I knew Ishouldn’twant it. “I’m not going with you.”

He looked both surprised and annoyed, though he should have expected a refusal from me after the way he’d been behaving. Then again, I hadn’t said no when he’d told me to get on the chair so he could fuck me.

“Why not?”

I gave him my most recent reason. “I spoke to your ex-girlfriend, Roma.” When he stiffened, my suspicions about the truth of Roma’s statement grew. “She told me to get in writing whatever you promised me because you’d go back on your word.”

“She’s jealous and angry because I dumped her.”

That was a plausible reason, but I still needed to know if it was the truth. “She also said that you’d promised her things in exchange for sex.”

He shrugged. “You know how the world works. Men want sex. Women want things. People alwayswant. I don’t see the problem with exchanging one thing for another. As long as it’s all consensual.”

“What she said is true then?” I told myself I shouldn’t be disappointed, but a part of me was.

“You’re not that naïve. Women look at me and see something they want. You can’t tell me that there isn’t something you can think of that I could give you.”

I stared at him and took a slow breath to calm myself before speaking. I didn’t want to assume anything. “Are you asking me if I had sex with you so you’d give me something in return?”

“It’s natural to want to get something when you give something. What is it you want, Ashlee? Tell me, and I’ll try to get it for you.” He reached out, the touch of his fingertips ghosting down my arm. “Name it.”

I jerked my arm back. “I don’t want anything I haven’t earned, and I don’t mean by ‘servicing’ you.”

Maybe my word choice offended him. Maybe it was guilt over the fact that he’d suggested I’d whored myself out to get something in return. Maybe he was just annoyed that I’d refused him.

Whatever the reason, he turned around and walked away without another word.

Thirty-Eight

Nate

Hourslater and I was still fuming. I’d invited her to come to Club Privé, and that’s not something I did with everyone. Ashlee had no clue what it meant for me to want to take her there. It wasn’t really about the place, but the fact that I’d tried to bring her more into my world, and she’d rejected it.

She’d rejectedme.

After I’d had some dinner – most of which was made up of two glasses of my favorite scotch – I knew I wasn’t going to stay home and brood. I needed to release some tension, and that meant getting laid.

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