STORY EXCERPT

Ramsey heard the wheels of the food cart headed his way.

His first glimpse of her, he thought she looked like a child, but then the closer she got, he noticed her breasts under the ugly blue turtleneck she wore.

He bit back a smile when she stopped in the doorway and looked around with wide eyes.

“Hello.”

Mercy’s face jerked towards him, and a blush covered her delicate skin. She stared at him for a moment and then pulled her gaze away and inhaled.

“Um, hi. I’m supposed to drop this off with security.”

Ramsey waved her in and then pointed. “Set it right there, honey.”

Mercy did what he asked and then took a few steps to the door. “If there isn’t anything else…”

“But there is.” He stood. He knew his size caught her off guard when she took a hasty step back. There was nothing he could do about that. He had been above average in height since he was fourteen. In fact, that was the year his father stopped beating on him because he had gotten bigger than his father and had knocked him unconscious when he tried to raise a hand to him.

He looked the woman over and sighed. He did not want to scare the poor thing more than she already was, so he kept his tone low and gentle, and his face friendly.

He walked to the door behind her and shut it.

“Come sit with me a bit.”

“What? Why?” she asked and clutched her hands together. “Am I in trouble?”

He shook his head. “No, love. I just want to talk.”

“About what?”

Ramsey hardened his tone. His tone deepened into a Dom mode. “Mercy, come sit right here,” he said and pointed to one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Now,” he growled.

He turned her chair and then pulled up the other chair, so he sat close to her and with his legs surrounding hers. It was a good way to keep the her attention on him and only him.

Ramsey lifted her face with his fingers under her chin. He turned it one way and then the other finding what Elisha saw in the bright lights of his office.

“How did you get that bruise, love?”

Mercy swallowed. “What bruise?”

Ramsey leaned into her until his face was a foot away from hers. “Rule number one, you never ever lie to me.”

“Rule?” she squeaked.

He used his thumb to caress the side of her face that wasn’t bruised. “Yes. You and I are going to be working together.”

“Working together?”

He chuckled. “Is there a parrot in here?”

She bit down on her lip.

He stood slowly as not to frighten her. He knew any sudden movements would make her panic. He knew because he’d gone through it as a child. “Wait. I’ll be right back.”

He came back a moment later with a wet washcloth. He sat down again and cupped her face. He gently slid the cloth over her face, wiping away the makeup she had hurriedly put on an hour before.

“Wait, what are you doing,” she peeped and tried to push the cloth away from her face.

“I want to see how much damage was done to you.”

She gripped his wrist with both hands. “No, I’m fine.”

He stopped suddenly and caught her attention. “No, baby, you’re not okay. No one has the right to hurt another, especially someone who can’t protect themselves.”

“I’m clumsy…”

“That’s your last chance, love. If you lie to me again, I will put you over my lap and spank your little ass.”

She gasped.

He bit back a sigh. It probably was not a smart thing to do, threatening her when she’d already been abused.

“I would never hurt you. Spanking is just a way I would correct your behavior. My hand will heat up your backside and might sting, but in no way would I ever harm you.”

He chuckled at her obvious arousal. Her dilated pupils, the flush that covered her face, and the increase of her pulse at the base of her neck were sure signs. If all he could see were the increase in her heart rate, he would take it as fear, but with the other signs, it couldn’t be anything other than arousal. He could also tell she was surprised by her reaction. “I think you like the thought of that.”

She started to shake her head and stopped suddenly.

“Good girl.” Ramsey went back to washing her face. When he was done, he tilted her head up to the light. “Son-of-a-bitch. Your father did this?”

Mercy started to deny it and paused before she nodded slowly.

Ramsey sat back in his chair. “How often does he hit you?”

“I… Several times a week. Mostly every day.”

“Have you tried to get help?” He gritted his teeth when she paused and looked away. “Listen, love, you’re going to answer every question I ask, or we’ll be here all day.”

She sighed and nodded. “Y…yes. The cops came to my house one day after a teacher called the authorities after she saw all the bruises. My father is on disability. I’m not sure why. When the police showed up, he played a disabled person well. With a walker, shaking limbs, and he made his voice soft. The officials looked at me like I was in the wrong and told me to stop making up stories or I’d get in trouble. They didn’t think it was possible that my frail father could beat me.”

“What happened then?”

She looked away.

He cupped her chin gain. “Tell me.”

She sighed. “He beat me severely. I couldn’t get out of bed for a week.”

Ramsey scowled. “Motherfucker.”

She reached out. “You can’t do anything. It will just make him angrier.”

He snorted. “Baby, when I’m through with him, he’s going to wish he was dead.”

“What?” she screeched. “No. I don’t want you to get into trouble because of me.”

Ramsey stared at her. Elisha was right. She was a sweet woman.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-four.”

She was plenty old enough for where his mind was taking him. The thought of his hands on her made him harder than a rock.

ADULT EXCERPT

“One last question,” he said. “Do you want me as much as I want you?”

Mercy’s head snapped up, and her breath caught in her throat. What did she say to that? ‘Absolutely’ came to mind. Did she tell him her panties have been drenched since she met him, and her nipples were tight and achy?

But could she make this step with him? A man she barely knew. Not only that, but he was a Dom. She didn’t know if she’d be able to handle that type of personality after having lived with her father’s abuse for so long.

The thought of never being in Ramsey’s arms made her soul cry out in misery. She couldn’t walk away from him. Not now, and maybe not ever, if he let her stay. She stared at him for a long moment before she nodded her head.

“Thank fuck,” he said and lifted her into his arms. “I know we haven’t known each other long, but I feel we need to connect at a deeper level. This will show you who you belong to and that you’re not going anywhere.”

Mercy wrapped her arms around his neck. The closer they got to his bedroom, the harder her nipples got and the wetter her panties got.

He stood her on her feet by the side of the bed and wrapped his hands around her waist.

“Do you feel up to this?”

She swallowed and nodded.

“I need the words, love. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

“Y…yes, I want you,” she murmured softly.

He studied her for a moment before he pulled the dress over her head and then the shirt. Her bra and panties quickly followed.

He lifted her and set her in the middle of the bed before he reached behind his head to grip his shirt and pull it up and off. Next, his fingers went to his jeans.

Mercy’s breath caught in her throat when he finally stood naked in front of her. She licked her lips when his hand fisted his hard cock and ran up and down it. The tip of it was nearly purple, and little white drops of fluid seeped out of the slit at the end.

“Are you a virgin?”

Mercy’s eyes shot to his before she nodded. Her face heated, telling her she was beyond a blush and into crimson red.

He smiled gently. “Okay. I’ll just take more time with you, so I don’t hurt you.”

She nodded.

“If at any time you feel pain or get overwhelmed, tell me, and I’ll slow down.”

“Okay.”

“In the club, the words yellow and red are used the most. You say yellow if you want me to slow down or red if you want me to stop. If you say red, everything stops.”

“What does that mean? Everything stops?”

He smoothed her hair from her cheek and then ran his thumb over her soft skin. “In a relationship like ours, trust is one of the most important things. I know we haven’t known each other long but I would very much like you to put your trust in me. Know that I would never take you past your limits, that I will never hurt you.”

She nodded. She wanted more than anything to trust. To have someone she could count on and to have her back when she needed.

She swallowed past her nerves when he pulled his nightstand drawer open and pulled out a couple of condoms and set them by her head.

Ramsey got on the bed and nudged her legs apart with one of his to make room for his big body. He settled on top of her, resting most of his weight on his elbows, and then cupped her face with both hands and looked at her. He lowered his head slowly and placed delicate kisses over her lips.

Her breath caught in her throat at the first contact with his hard, hot naked body. The room seemed to darken until all she could see was him.

Her mouth opened on a gasp, letting his tongue in to explore her. Her hands clutched at his shoulders, and little mews of need escaped her throat. Already, she felt her stomach tighten with unresolved need and knew it was different than anything she’d ever felt and nothing like the tension she usually had.

“Please.”

Ramsey lifted his head and grinned down at her. “I haven’t even started yet, love.”

“Oh, God,” she moaned. Her breath snagged in her throat when his mouth went to her neck. She could feel more of her cream seep from her cunt as he nibbled and licked her skin. Her hips came off the mattress, and she screamed when he bit down on the spot where her shoulder met her neck.

He growled against her skin. “Fuck, that’s hot. I love how sensitive your neck is. I could make you come just from that.”

Her attention was on trying to control her breathing, so she didn’t answer him.

Ramsey grinned at her and moved down. He placed a kiss on her mouth before he moved lower. He cupped one of her breasts and licked the other before sucking it into his mouth, wrenching another cry from her.

Her fingers speared into his short hair and held him tightly against her.

He chuckled. “I’m not done tasting you yet.”

“What?” she asked in a daze.

Ramsey slid lower, pushing her legs farther apart to make room for his shoulders.

Mercy tried to pull him back up. “Please, Ramsey.”

“Another lesson. When we’re in the bedroom, you call me Sir or Master.”

She nodded.

“Do it,” he demanded.

“Master.”

He bit her hip bone, making her squeal. “I love to hear you say that. I’m also in charge. You do what I tell you, not the other way around.”

“Master, please.”

“Not quite yet.” He lowered his head and used his fingers to separate her labia, showing her little clit to him for the first time. “What a pretty sight. You’re all a delicate pink, and your clit is as hard as a rock.”

She screamed again when he flattened his tongue and dragged it from her pussy and around her clit.

She thought she would die if he didn’t fill her body and make the ache go away.