Knight Nostalgia: A Knights of the Board Room Anthology(100)
Jon’s hand never left her. Stroking her hair, her bare shoulder. After a while, she didn’t focus much on the words, just the rise and fall of the male voices. Until Lucas tossed out a name that caught her attention, since she loved Cassandra’s siblings.
“Don’t forget, Marcie graduates officially soon,” Lucas commented. “They’re mailing her diploma, since extending her internship period changed her graduation date. Graduation gifts sent to her co-op address in Milan will soothe any regrets she has about not graduating with her classmates.” He added that part with a smile.
“Does she seem like that’s bugging her?” Ben asked.
“No,” Lucas assured him. “She told Cass on their last phone call she was glad you talked her into that. She’ll be able to tell you herself when she comes home. She’s be returning to the States after the Milan job is done. She’s just trying to figure out when that will be.”
Peter sighed. “Seems like only yesterday she was crushing on you, Ben. They grow up too fast. Well, she did. Jury’s out on you.”
Ben made a face at him. “Give the kid a break. I wasn’t a crush. She was too old for kids her own age, so I was her very platonic friend who knew the stuff they didn’t, but she already did.”
“There was nothing platonic on her end of things,” Lucas observed. “If I didn’t trust you alone with her, you’d have been in serious trouble. She looked at you like you were the sun and moon, all wrapped up in one.”
“Even if that’s remotely true, she went to college and found out I was a disqualified planet, like Pluto,” Ben said lightly. “She hasn’t written me regularly in over a year or two. Don’t bust my balls.”
Interestingly, Rachel thought she detected some regret in Ben’s tone about Marcie’s lack of contact. She wasn’t surprised that it bothered him some.
Lucas was right. Ben had managed Marcie’s youth and her obvious attraction to him with an admirable degree of appropriateness. All while giving Marcie the older friend she needed, due to the challenges Cass and her siblings had faced in life. But, as odd as it sounded to say aloud, Rachel thought he had gotten a great deal out of his friendship with the teen as well. They’d seemed to click in an unexpected way.
The K&A lawyer didn’t form lasting romantic attachments with women. According to Jon, he usually only had hookups in his preferred BDSM clubs in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. If he had to have a date for a public function, he chose someone with whom it was obvious he had only a friendly or purely sexual relationship. Marcie’s older-than-her-years personality, combined with her being a “safe,” totally off-limits female, had provided Ben with the only close female friend Rachel knew of him having.
Just for fun, she imagined him and Marcie meeting a few years down the road, and was surprised when her imagination portrayed it as a romantic reunion. Even more surprising, it wasn’t as difficult as she’d expected to imagine Marcie and Ben together that way.
Rachel had seen recent photos from when Lucas and Cass had visited Marcie in Italy. She had morphed from a pretty teenager into a stunning young woman, sure to turn Ben or any man’s head. But was Marcie the type of woman who could handle the Dom side of Ben’s personality? The other women said he was a hardcore sadist, and now Rachel had direct proof of it. She’d seen it in the intensity of his gaze, the tightening of his lips, when he’d pushed down her throat. Though he’d stopped at the limits of what she could take, she’d felt his desire to take it further, maybe make her gag and beg for mercy around his cock.
While such a thought gave her an erotic shiver, that kind of edge play was only fantasy for her. She wasn’t sure what type of woman could ride that edge with Ben, while also giving him the emotional connection that Rachel sensed he needed in an equally extreme way.
She had no idea if Marcie had a submissive orientation like her older sister did. A lack of that would be a definite deal breaker for Ben, if ever he did consider a relationship.
“Gone to sleep down there?” Jon tousled her hair, stroking it back from her cheek. She shook her head, lifting her face to give him a smile.
“No, Master.”
His lips curved in response, those vivid blue eyes fastened on her. “Ready for more?”
More? Her legs were like rubber, yet even if they gave out entirely, she’d want to give him whatever he demanded. So she nodded.
But those eyes also saw everything. His lips tightened, and she thought he might overrule her, give her an even longer break, but Ben helped them in the right direction.
“What do you know? I finally won a hand,” Ben said with great satisfaction. “And since I’m the only one who hasn’t had a turn, I’m taking it now. What I want will require me, Lucas and Matt to take a beer break in Matt’s office. Eventually.”
At Jon’s puzzled look, Ben flashed him a grin. “You gave me your sub’s gorgeous mouth, so I’m going to give you something in return. We need to turn the tables. Time for the good girl to give it to the bad girl—up the ass, remind her how to behave.”
“We’re going to take a beer break during that?” Lucas asked. “Did you have a head injury we missed?”
Ben grinned wider. “No, we hang for that part. Wild horses couldn’t tear us away. But after that gains some traction, it’s time to give Jon and Peter some relief. They’ll fuck their beautiful subs while Rachel is nice and deep inside Dana’s tight little butt.”