Beg for It(22)

At least she wanted what he had been.

Within half an hour, the deal was done. Signed, sealed. Delivered. Hands were shaken. The sense of relief in the room was palpable.

Corinne stayed back after everyone had filed out to take Reese and Tony on the factory tour. She should’ve been relieved, the way everyone else was. The board would be paid enough to make giving up their family business worthwhile. They could all retire. She would be getting a raise big enough to make her suspicious. Big enough to make sure it was going to be really, really hard for her to find another position to match it.

In her office, she tidied her desk and called the kids, who’d just gotten home from school. Last year she’d been paying an after-school sitter, but now that Peyton was nearly twelve, Corinne allowed them to say home alone until she could get there, usually no later than five. It helped that Auntie Caitlyn could be there for them in case of an emergency. Still, Corinne liked to text or call them around this time to make sure they were okay.

“Hey, buddy,” she said when Tyler answered the phone. “How was school? Anything exciting happen?”

“Not really.”

“Anything bad happen?” It was the same series of questions she asked both of them every day. Sometimes there was an answer. Sometimes not. Today Tyler told her a long story about how a kid in his class was getting in trouble for posting an unflattering picture of their teacher on one of his social media accounts.

She spoke with her son for a few more minutes, then with Peyton. By the time she got off the line, she felt much better. At least until she looked up to see Reese standing in her doorway. Seeing her disconnect the call, he stepped through.

“I thought you were going on the plant tour,” she said.

Reese closed the door behind him. “I’ve seen a barn and milking stations plenty of times. I didn’t need to go.”

“You didn’t need to do that,” she told him with a lift of her chin toward the door.

“Yes, I did. I need to have a private talk with you, Corinne.”

She gave him an arched brow. “Hmm, let me guess. New management says no personal phone calls allowed on company time? Sorry, bossman, I’ll be better about it next time.”

“Don’t.” He stood in front of her desk, his gaze dark. Stormy.

Corinne had seen Reese angry a number of times. Their relationship, despite the power and control issues at the core of it, had still been one of the most emotionally open ones she’d ever had. Probably exactly because of that dominance and submission component. She could see that now, although at the time she’d just thought it was the way things should go with all relationships. It had taken her a lot of failures to see how rare it was to have that level of connection.

“Don’t what?” she murmured.

“Don’t act like I’m the bad guy.”

She laughed without much humor. “I could hardly say that, could I? I mean, you’re practically a white knight, am I right? Riding in here on your charging steed to rescue us all? Save us?”

“I haven’t saved this company yet,” he said. “But I can. I will.”

“So, you think you just saved me?” The question slipped out of her, unbidden but brutally honest. She wanted…no, needed, to know.

His hands went flat on the desk as he leaned forward to look at her. His fingers curled on the smooth wooden surface. He took a breath, then another.

“You don’t have to worry about taking care of your kids now, do you?”

She swallowed a rush of emotion. “Is that what this is all about? Me and you?”

She watched the pulse throb in his throat. She got up and went around the desk to stand in front of him as he turned to face her. This close, she could smell his cologne.

“What are you wearing?” Corinne asked in a low voice.

His tongue swept along his lower lip, leaving it glistening. “Something by Armani. It’s called Code.”

“I like it,” she said.

Something glittered in his gaze. She should walk toward him, she thought. Or he should take those two steps to her.

Neither of them moved.


“I don’t like that cologne, whatever it is.” Corinne takes a long, deep breath of the skin of his throat, then bites. She holds his flesh between her teeth, teasing him with the idea she might actually take out a chunk, leave him bleeding. She knows she never would. She’s not sure Reese does, though.

He groans. That noise, guttural and helpless, makes her lose her f*cking mind. It makes her want to hurt him and heal him all at the same time.

She releases his skin but can still taste him. “Don’t wear it again.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

She puts a hand on his shoulder, pushing him down to his knees. Inches her skirt up to reveal the edges of her panties. Her boy moans again. When she buries her fingers in his hair, tangling them tight, pulling hard, he looks up at her with a dreamy, blurred gaze.

“Tell me what you want,” Corinne murmurs. Her voice sounds thick and sweet as syrup, dripping off her tongue.

Her boy smiles. “To make you happy.”

Her finger traces the line of his jaw. Her fingers curl lightly around his throat. She could choke him, but she doesn’t. Even so, he closes his eyes, still smiling, and leans almost imperceptibly into her embrace.

“Hurt me,” Reese whispers.