Opposition: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (NYC Doms), page 18
“Open.”
Her lips part and I take a deep breath. She’s fucking good at this.
I push my hips toward her and slide my cock into her mouth, stifling a groan when her tongue circles the head.
“Naughty little girls who don’t tell the truth get punished,” I tell her. “You’ve lost your sight and movement, and now instead of what I planned, you can service me under my desk while I work. Understood?”
I tug her head bag to make her nod, then pump my hips. She chokes a little, and I pump harder. When she sucks in breath around my cock, she builds suction. I stifle a groan. She won’t know she’s affected me, not this time. I sit up straighter and turn my attention to my desk, opening up my email while she works her mouth on my dick. I click my keyboard while she sucks, and answer a call that comes in, my voice unaffected by what she’s doing.
Hell, she’s fucking working me to distraction, but I want her to feel this, to know she can come in here wearing that anger like a cloak, but I’ll strip that veil away and bring her to her knees.
It’s where she’s happy, though. Submitting to me comes as naturally to her as blinking her eyes, intuitive and instinctual, her visceral reaction to my dominance a beautiful sight to see. But sometimes, she needs a little help to get there.
My phone blinks yellow. I groan. Jake’s line.
I pump my hips, making her gag and squirm. “Suck it,” I order, right before I slam the button on my phone.
“Liam, we’ve got to talk,” he says. “The damn news picked up that story of those college kids.”
Is this what’s on her mind?
“Jesus, Jake, so you have nothing better to do with your time than follow this story? It doesn’t matter. We’ve got groundbreaking sales in Milwaukee, we’re on the verge of breaking new ground overseas, and the damn White House is interested in buying vacation homes in the Keys, and you’re still harping on about the goddamn protest those kids are doing?”
Cora freezes, but a sharp tug to her hair makes her suck again with renewed vigor. I thrust into her hard enough she gags, then continues energetically.
“Yes,” he says. “You have no idea how this negative publicity can affect your name, Liam.”
At least I think that’s what he says. I’m not as focused as I usually am, for obvious reasons.
I pump harder into her mouth, getting closer and closer to release, and fuck if she isn’t going to suck every damn drop.
“I don’t give a fuck,” I tell him, ending on a barely-contained groan. “I gotta go.”
“I’m coming up,” he says. “You’ve got papers to sign, and they’re vital.”
I groan out loud this time, getting closer and closer to coming. “Fine,” I tell him. He’ll think I just don’t want to deal with him, which is usually the case. “Get up here.”
“I’m in the building. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Shit. I figured he wasn’t anywhere near this close.
I end the call and grip my desk just as I climax, my seed spurting down her throat, but like the good sub she is, she sucks and swallows and doesn’t miss a beat until she’s taken every damn drop. I give myself just a few seconds to slump against my desk before I groan and push back my seat. Jake’s coming up and I want her out from under my desk.
I remove my cock from her perfect mouth with a groan and quickly dress, then lean toward her and cup her jaw. “Good girl,” I say, removing her blindfold. Her eyes are no longer fiery and raw but bright with arousal, and when I release her cuffs, her hands swing free, coming to rest on my lap.
“A little of that fight’s gone out of you?” I ask, lifting her chin. She nods. I want to find out what’s on her mind and read her heart, but we have no time. I reach down and cup her perfect breast in my palm, then guide my hand to her ass and remove the plug. She comes up on her toes and I pat her ass.
God, I wish we had more time. “You behave yourself today, and I’ll reward you tonight, Cora.”
She bites her lip and whispers, “Yes, sir. Liam, really, I’m sorry. It wasn’t you.”
“Have you learned your lesson about taking it out on your dom?”
Chastened, she nods, but I lean in and kiss her soft, damp temple, tucking a tendril of vibrant hair behind her ear. “Listen, baby,” I tell her. “I can take you. You know that? You bring whatever’s pissing you off to me, and I’ll help you. But first, you’ve got to talk to me. I’m not a damn mind reader.”
She huffs out a mirthless laugh. “I’m not so sure about that sometimes.” There’s no denying the power exchange has given me a window into her mind and heart.
“We’ll talk about what’s going on in a few minutes. For now, go into the other room and rest while you wait for me.”
Subdued, chastened, she stands, and if I know Cora, she’s intensely aroused. Sometimes having to wait can keep her submissive, though today my preference would be to make her come over my desk. She gathers up her dress and steps quickly into the other room, shutting and locking the door behind her just as Jake knocks on the door.
I right myself and open my computer, feigning indifference as I tell him to come in. I want to get rid of him as quickly as I possibly can, because I need to see to Cora.
Jake comes into the room with a stack of papers he slams on my desk, his cheeks bright with fury.
“Jesus, man,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Will you get a grip? Why do you let a couple of college students get under your skin like this?”
“Couple of college students?” he says, pointing a chubby, sausage-like finger at the headline on the paper. “Their Instagram protest’s gone viral, Liam. Viral.”
“Honest to God, Jake, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I tell him. I sign a digital contract that’s waiting in my inbox, agree to an interview in a West Coast entrepreneurial magazine, and push the buttons that light up on my phone to voicemail. Shit, days when I give Mandy off don’t always work so well.
“What the hell is your problem?” I tell him.
“Liam,” he says, “Christ. Look at me!”
This is the last damn time this guy’s giving me an order.
“Jake,” I tell him, my eyes on my screen. “You may have been on my payroll for a solid decade, but I’m telling you now, you tell me what to do again, and I’ll fire your ass.”
“Please,” he says, pleading. “You hired me to tell you what to do. And I made that contract for you. I know you’re with that girl who’s spearheading this.”
A choked sound comes from the other room, but if he hears it, he doesn’t react.
“She’s an instigator,” he mutters.
I swivel to look at him and clench my jaw to stop from hauling him by the fucking collar over my desk. I take in a deep breath then let it out slowly. This guy is on my last damn nerve. I’m closing this deal that’s pending, then having Mandy scout another lawyer next week. I’m done with his bullshit.
“I do not hire you to tell me what to do,” I say, my voice tight with anger. “I hire you to defend me in court when necessary. I know what to do. What I do not know is the ins and outs of the legal system.” He opens his mouth then closes it and sighs, but I have the distinct feeling his attitude is fake, and he’s simmering hot under that collar.
“Sorry,” he says. “But I’m worried about the ramifications of this.”
“Why? Who the hell cares?”
“I care,” he says, slamming his finger on the paper, and I finally look at the headline. When I do, I feel like someone’s just dumped a bucket of ice water down my chest.
It’s a picture of a pink square thing that says Instagrammer on Crusade Against Big Business, and beside the image is a picture of Cora.
Jesus.
Did this have anything to do with why she stormed into my office this morning?
I grab the paper out of Jake’s fat hands and spread it out to read it.
Last night at midnight, college student Cora Myers began an online petition that went viral. Protesting what she calls “Wall Street’s Pompous Elite,” Myers and half a dozen of her environmentalist counterparts filed a complaint last month with the New York City Counsel of Ecological Advancement and Agriculture, but a judge dismissed their petition before it went to court. Undeterred, Myers and her friends decided to take it a step further than court and brought their axes to grind on social media.
I continue reading the article in stunned silence. I told her to continue her crusade, because I didn’t want her fight to interfere with our relationship. But this still takes me by surprise.
Last night at ten o’clock, she was trussed up in the navy room at Verge, my rope criss-crossing under her breasts and thighs like she was a present under the Christmas tree, before I fingered her pussy and fucked her ass. She came harder than I’ve ever seen her come and passed out in my bed.
According to this paper, she put this petition up an hour later?
If the papers knew anything about our personal relationship…
Jesus.
“Well, I don’t know what they can really do,” I tell him. “The deal is all but signed.”
“All but signed,” Jake says. “For Christ’s sake, Liam. Aren’t you listening at all?”
I don’t respond because I’m trying to prevent myself from breaking his goddamn nose.
“They’re preventing the signing. This petition’s gotten the attention of the most prominent public figures, and they’re trying to put an end to this.”
I don’t give a shit about paving the fucking Greenery.
I do give a shit that she posted this online right after I fucked her perfect little ass.
“On what grounds?” I ask him. “It’s a solid deal.”
“On the grounds of the physical health of the city’s citizens,” he says, rolling his eyes. “This girl has stepped in where she doesn’t belong despite your contract.”
“The contract is almost up,” I tell him, trying to end this discussion. “And anyway, the truth is, it’s void anyway. Screw the contract.”
It could be my imagination, but I think I hear a sound in the other room.
“Good. I thought you’d come to your senses,” he says. “So she’s a non-issue.”
He doesn’t know how I’ve wrestled with this. Non-issue? Ha.
It’s everything else that’s become a non-issue.
I clench my hands under the desk. God, how satisfying would it be to deck him. Yeah, she’s made my job infinitely harder and I want answers, but that doesn’t give him the right to say a damn thing against her.
He sighs and shakes his head. “Still, I’m not sure I can stop this, Liam.”
“Good. Don’t.”
He blinks and gets to his feet, his red face turning purple. “So, you’re really going to just let this slutty girl come into your life and wreck things?”
I get to my feet and plant my hands on the desk to prevent myself from breaking his nose. Assaulting a lawyer like him would not be good. “Wreck things?” I ask in a deadly calm voice that belies the fury that rips through me. Hell, she hasn’t wrecked anything. She’s fixed what I didn’t even know was broken. “Get out,” I order. “I expect your resignation by noon. Drop the case, and invoice me for your time.”
Still purple in the face, he suddenly realizes I’m firing him. “You’re—you can’t—Liam, for God’s sake,” he goes on.
“Get. Out.”
I wait until he’s gone, cursing myself for giving Mandy the day off. I want her canceling my meetings for the rest of the day and checking security footage to make sure Jake’s truly out of here. I spend about ten minutes flipping through email. I want this off my plate before I discuss things with Cora.
“Cora?” I call out. “Get in here. I need to talk to you.”
No response. If she’s going silent on me now…
We need to talk. This is not the time for her to clam up.
“Cora?”
I walk into the other room and come to a halt a few steps in but I can’t see her. Hell, she’s nowhere to be found and there aren’t many places to hide in here. The door’s left open.
Jesus.
She’s gone. I can’t believe she left like this, so soon.
I stand and shake my head. I warned her. I thought I’d subdued her and broken through, but maybe she does need a session with leather.
“Cora?” I call, but there’s no response. I can’t believe she took off without even talking to me and hell, we have shit to talk about. After all this time, she’d run?
I go back to my office and pick up my phone, scowling at it. I’ve been too easy on her. We’ve scened, and she knows what I expect, but she’s never really earned herself a proper punishment since that brief caning when we first began. Tonight, we’ll have a good talk about running.
With my belt.
I call her, but it immediately goes to voicemail. I send a text and I’m not surprised when I don’t get a response.
You do not ignore my calls and texts. You know better than this.
My phone sits, mute. I try to think of where she’d be right now, so I call Manuel.
“Where’s Cora?”
“School, sir. She’s at her morning class,” he says, though his voice is hard and distant, and this is not the easygoing person who works for me.
“I’ll be right down. Take me to her.” I don’t bother to listen to his reply. I’m already heading downstairs.
Nineteen
Cora
God, I’ve fucked everything up. When I heard his lawyer tell him how I’d messed up his deal, and Liam said the contract was void… I couldn’t listen for another minute. He must know I’ve fallen in love with him and breached the contract.
I had to get to school and make this better. He isn’t the man I thought he was.
He’s so much more. So much better.
And he doesn’t deserve a girl like me, who doesn’t have two pennies to scrape together. We’re four days away from ending the contract, and for a moment there, I actually convinced myself that maybe we’d transcended the ridiculous agreement we signed weeks ago. That I meant something more to him than a hard fuck. But how could I? He’s so out of my league we’re not even in the same stratosphere. I need to get that damn petition taken down and stop making a mess of Liam’s life.
I came into his office this morning fuming because someone had put the petition on my Instagram page without my permission, and we didn’t get a chance to even talk about it.
I almost skipped the ride to school today, but when I got downstairs, the sky had turned a dismal, ominous gray. I slid into the car just before the skies opened and rain slashed down in torrents. Manuel asked no questions but took me straight to school.
“I’ll get myself home today,” I told him, and he didn’t much like that idea. But I insisted.
“It’s been great getting to you know,” I tell him, which sounds super lame, but I have to say good-bye. “Thank you for everything.”
He looks at me curiously, then frowns at the torrential downpour out the window.
“Are you going to be okay?” he asks.
No. Hell, no, I’m not going to be okay. I fell in love with a man I cannot have. I dragged my brother and sister through this, and now I need to end it. Say good-bye. But I know Manuel is only talking about the rain, so I lie.
“I’ll be fine but thank you.” And I leave before he can say another word.
I head to the journalism office first, because I want answers. Someone put a petition up on my page, and that someone was not me. The rain beats down on me in cold sheets as I run to the office, and I can almost hear Liam chiding me for letting myself get cold and wet. But what does it matter? I push the door open and slam it behind me. Four wide sets of eyes blink up at me. I don’t even bother with formalities.
“Who the hell put up a petition on my page without my consent?”
A tall, thin girl with scraggly blonde hair piled high on her head lifts a tentative hand. “Um, me,” she says. “Did you forget that you gave me access to your social media?”
“Access to my social media,” I repeat. “I thought you were going to manage the pictures from the Greenery. I had no idea you’d be putting up a viral petition like that.”
“But it was such a success!” she argues. “We’ve gotten the attention of the local news, and they’re coming to interview us in an hour.”
“Take it down.”
“What? Cora!”
But I’m mad as hell and I’ve got something to say about this. “Take it fucking down. And don’t ever put anything else up like that on my page again.”
Rising to her full height, she shoots me a look of fury. “Fine. I’ll take it down. Will I take this as your resignation from the protest team?” I almost laugh out loud. It seems so foolish in comparison to what I’ve faced these past weeks.
“Yes,” I tell her.
God, I’ve messed everything up. Bailey and Ben are homeless and living on Liam’s charity. Liam’s lawyer is furious because of me. I have to get Ben and Bailey and their things. We have little left after the fire, but it’s time to move out of Liam’s penthouse. I’m walking in the rain, cold and wet and alone, not even realizing where I’m going until I see the welcome sign for The Greenery. With a sigh, I stroll through the gardens.
Though the summer blossoms have faded, before me lies rows and rows of vibrant mums heralding the advent of winter. I reach out and touch one fiery orange blossom with the tip of my finger.
“They’re hardy, strong flowers.” My heart squeezes at the sound of his voice.
I don’t turn to look at him, but nod. “They are,” I agree. “They don’t cower when the winds come or wilt under hard rain, because they’re made to withstand the cold that’s coming.” I take in a deep breath and remember why I came here, why any of this matters to me at all. Eight weeks ago, this had me fired up, but now… but now, I have bigger things to worry about. Ben and his book reports and science projects. Bailey and all that she’s got in front her still, years of high school then finding her way in this world. Where we’ll live, where they can go to school. I want out of NYC. I want something new, a change, and now that I’ve got money in the bank, I’m going to do this for them.
