Mastering Lexie (Stronghold Book 4) Read Free Page B

the day he'd gotten it.  But that stupid,
closed expression on his face made her want to smack him at the same time she
wanted to jump his bones.  
    "Go home and change into something appropriate before you
come back for your shift."  Avoiding her gaze, pretending he didn't
have an erection that was threatening to tear open the front of his pants, he
walked back around to his side of the desk and sat down.
    No.  Fucking.  Way.  She'd done everything
perfectly dammit!  She'd held still, she hadn't peeked, and if he didn't
know how turned on she was from getting spanked then he was fucking blind.
 He was just going to blow her off?  
    Fuck.  
    That.
    “Seriously?  That’s it?  That’s all you have to say to me?”
    “That’s it.”  The jackass didn’t even look at her. 
    Tears sparked in her eyes.  She felt humiliated.  Not because of
what they’d just done together, that had been mind-blowing, but because she’d
put herself out there and been rejected again.  He wanted her and he still rejected her.  Because he had all the control, all the power, and she kept
giving it to him.  It was time to do what she’d been balking at for weeks now. 
It was time to safe word.  Metaphorically, that is.
    "I quit."  It was almost a shock to hear that
snarling, growling voice coming from her own mouth.  She'd never heard
herself sound like that before.  Neither had Patrick.  His head
jerked up in surprise.  Then his jaw clenched, and he nodded.
    "Fine."
    "Fine."
    Snatching up her coat, Lexie pulled it back over herself with
jerky, angry movements, spinning on her heel so that he wouldn't see the tears
in her eyes.  The fabric brushed against her ass, which was still hot and
sensitive from the spanking she'd just gotten.  She felt exposed and
vulnerable, and not in a good way like she had when she'd been bent over his
desk. 
    "Pixie..."  His voice followed her out the door,
but she slammed it behind her, practically running to get out of there.
 Thanking her lucky stars that the lobby was still empty.  
    That stupid nickname.  That stupid man.  
    In her car, Lexie took several deep breaths to keep from sobbing.
 She had to get out of there and she couldn't do it while she was crying.
 If she took too long, there was always a chance that Patrick might come
out here after her and she was so done with him for the day.  She had about
an hour until her friends were gathering at Olivia's, and she was so, so glad
that she'd chosen to do this before a girls' night.  She was going to need
some serious girl time after today.
    Possibly some therapy too.
    ******
    Elbows firmly planted on the desk, hands on his scalp, Patrick
rubbed them over his head.  Wrong head to be rubbing over, but his
erection had wilted at the look on Lexie's face as she'd run out of the lobby.
 The hurt.  The tears that had nothing to do with being
spanked. 
    Fuck she'd been perfect.  
    Defiant.  Submissive.  Needy.  Eager. 
    It had killed him to pull back, to pull away, but he'd known that
if he hadn't gotten himself under control, he would have taken her right then
and there.  Bent over his desk.  And then what would he have said to
Jake?  
    With a groan, Patrick pushed away from the desk.  He needed
to get out of this room.  As if he was ever going to be able to sit in
here ever again without thinking about Lexie and picturing her perfect, hot
pink ass, bisected by that tiny black string, in his mind.  Or her shock
and hurt at his rejection.
    When Jake finally got home, if he didn't punch Patrick in the face
for even daring to think about Lexie in a non-brotherly way, Patrick was going
to have a lot of making up to do.  Maybe it was a good thing that she'd
quit, now he wouldn't have to deal with temptation on such a regular basis.
 On the other hand, he was going to miss having her around too.
    He just couldn't win.

Chapter 1
    Girls' nights were the best.  As soon as they saw she was
upset, Lexie's friends