In His Cuffs Read Free Page A

shown her the reality of World Wide Now’s fiscal picture due to her mother’s mismanagement, Maggie had seen no other option. She loved her mother and wanted her to have freedom from the financial struggles she’d always endured.
    If he had simply waltzed in as lord and master, Maggie would have flipped him the bird on the way out of the door. But he was far too smart for that. Still, that didn’t mean she liked or appreciated his manipulation.
    Once she’d nodded, he’d pulled out an employment contract. The bastard had prepared it ahead of time. She had signed her name with short, angry strokes. In corporate speak, she was shackled in golden handcuffs.
    And that wasn’t much different from the metal pair dangling from his belt loop. Despite her resolve, she kept glancing at them.
    He took the glass from her hand and gave it to a passing waiter.
    She felt no fear as he leaned towards her, crowding her space. They breathed the same air, and his scent intoxicated her—power, spiced with raw masculine confidence.
    “I think we can both agree this is an exception. You wouldn’t be doing this to get ahead at work. I wouldn’t be forcing you to do it to keep your job. At the office, we’ll have the same arrangement we have now,” he told her.
    “Meaning you’ll set my schedule, tell me what to do, organise my life, prioritise my tasks and I’ll agree with you.”
    “Much the same way as it’ll be tonight, yes.” His smile was predatory.
    She shuddered then regretted she’d allowed him the glimpse of her vulnerability. “I have no intention of sceneing with you,” she said.
    “The choice is always yours. Do you know the club’s safe word?” he asked her.
    She blinked. “We’re not having this conversation.”
    “Do you know the safe word?” he repeated.
    “Of course.”
    “Then tell me what it is.”
    She felt as if she was involved in a game whose rules she didn’t understand. “Halt.”
    “If you want me to walk away, say it.”
    Awareness of him simmered in her, its effects causing a slow heating of her blood. One word would end their discussion. That’s what she should want. So why was she still here, feeling tempted? “You don’t play fair.”
    “I like to win,” he agreed. His plainly stated words took away any further argument. “You and I both know that in any D/s relationship, the sub has the real power. You get to set the rules and the pace. If I don’t agree to your terms, we have no deal.” He paused. “In a way, the tables are turned. It seems to me you should relish that after six months.”
    “It won’t be your butt that’s being blistered.”
    “Or legs,” he added. “Or shoulders. Or breasts.” He leaned in a fraction of an inch closer.
    It stunned her how threatened, how on fire she suddenly felt. He’d barely moved, but she was snared.
    “Or pussy,” he said finally.
    She pressed herself harder against the wall, needing its support. “I’m not saying I would ever agree to your insane suggestion…”
    “Go on.”
    “If I did, we wouldn’t talk about it at the office.”
    “What happens here, stays here. It will change nothing about our dynamic at the office, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
    “I’m not afraid of anything, David,” she said, her words infused with bravado she was sure he could see through.
    Maggie reminded herself she didn’t like him. But damn, there was something about his commanding manner that intrigued her. Every day, she watched him in action. When he wanted something, he pursued it with single-minded determination. A very feminine part of her wondered what it would feel like to be the focus of that attention.
    “Do you have your own safe word that you prefer?”
    “Halt is fine.”
    “How about a word to slow things down?”
    “Eclipse.”
    He tilted his head to the side.
    “I’m more likely to say accelerate,” she told him.
    “I wouldn’t have figured you for an extreme player.”
    “You think you’re a sage,