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  Having his arms around her, a rock in her suddenly chaotic world, made her very happy. She kissed his lips reverently. “I am.”

  “Hold that thought,” he murmured against her lips, and he picked up his business phone. “Sara,” he said to his assistant, “please mail two round-trip tickets to New York to Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn, along with a gift basket.” To Jessica, he asked, “Do they enjoy wine? Or would a fruit basket be better?”

  “Wine. They’ll need a drink when they get those tickets,” she said, imagining their surprise when they got the delivery. Her mother would probably thrilled and her father would be insulted. But they would still use them, which meant she was going to have to deal with her parental drama in person.

  They were already so pissed that she was living with an older man. God, if they only knew the half it, they would die and then roll over in their graves. Then they’d come back from the grave as zombies and kill her.

  Roman relayed her parents’ information to his assistant and hung up.

  “That’s very kind of you, sir.”

  “I’m looking forward to meeting your parents and putting their minds at ease.”

  She shook her head. He didn’t understand how old-fashioned her parents were. How vanilla. They were so vanilla they didn’t even know the term vanilla.

  “One more thing, Jessica,” he said softly, running his fingers over her neck. “We need to address what you should do about the lie you told about your collar.”

  A flush of shame heated her face, and she looked away. “I could make an announcement in class that the collar is because I’m your slave, not because I had a tracheotomy, maybe?”

  “Don’t be silly. Class is not the right time or place to talk about your private relationships. But tomorrow, you’ll go to school without your collar. And then everyone will see that you have no scar, no bandage.”

  “Please, sir, don’t take away my collar. I promise I’ll tell everyone the truth,” she pleaded.

  “It’s not up for discussion. Come. We’re going downstairs now,” he said. “For your punishment.”

  Oh right. That.

  Now that the moment had come for him to actually dole out the bodily punishment she’d so intensely needed earlier, her courage waned. Wasn’t taking her collar and having her parents visit enough of a punishment?

  But she deserved it. And afterward, the slate would be wiped clean, ready for them to start fresh.

  She followed him through his house and down to the dungeon, her body thrumming with energy. What was going to happen?

  Roman pointed to the table with the stirrups. Oh God. She sat on the table, resting her hands in her lap.

  “Lie back, bring your ass all the way to the edge of the table, and put your feet in the stirrups,” he ordered.

  She knew better than to tease him about a gyno exam. If he was already planning on punishing her, then she wasn’t going to do anything to make it worse.

  “I’m going to strap your feet to the these,” he said as he did just that, binding her to the table with leather restraints. “Now, I’m going to punish you, but since I’m still in the process of teaching you to associate pain with pleasure, I’m going to have to provide you with an orgasm as well. So today your punishment will be forced orgasms to the point of pain, at which point the actual punishment kicks in.”

  “I don’t understand, sir. You’re just going to give me orgasms as my . . . punishment?” Her pussy, so exposed, was already wet just from hearing him describe it. How could he think that would be an appropriate punishment?

  “Well,” he smirked. “I’ll reserve the right to add more punishment as I see fit, how does that sound?”

  She wanted to beg him for a proper punishment, to make her pay for all the lies, even for her own murky intentions. But it wouldn’t be right to try and run the show.

  Roman spread her labia with his fingers until her clit peeked out, and she moaned with pleasure as he sensually played with it, running his fingers in slow circles over her bud until it swelled under his hand.

  Why was he making her feel so good, when she wanted—needed—to be punished?

  “No more lies,” he said, and spanked her clit with his palm, hard.

  She gasped in surprise when he moved his hand and spanked her ass, then spanked her clit again.

  “I’m so sorry, sir,” she said, but she needed more. More pain, more punishment.

  Roman stepped away, and she wondered if he was done with her so soon, if his punishment was to leave her wanting, needy, with her legs tied apart. But no, he came back to the table with a vibrator.

  The vibrator whirred to life. It had a long, white handle and a head the size of a doorknob. Surely that couldn’t fit inside of her.

  Roman pressed the head of the vibrator against her clit, and she moaned with pleasure. It felt too good, much too good. A thick coil of desire unfurled itself within her, and she came hard, her body spasming, her hips bucking against the vibrator.

  “That’s one,” Roman said. And he held the vibrator to her pussy.

  Her orgasm made her pussy extremely sensitive, but it took her slightly longer to come this time. When she did, she cried out his name.

  “That’s two.”

  “No, no!” she moaned when he kept the vibrator tight against her clit.

  But Roman just laughed. “I can stand here all night. Or I could just tie this vibrator onto your pussy and go read the newspaper.”

  The muscles in her thighs cramped from overstimulation, and she moaned, trying to stretch her legs, but they were restrained, as captive as her pussy underneath the merciless vibrator. She came again, a flood of juices wetting her.

  “Oh my God, please,” she begged, but she wasn’t sure what she was begging for.

  “This is nothing,” he said. “It’s just the beginning.”

  He held her there, forcing orgasm after orgasm, until she simply couldn’t climax anymore. Her womb clenched in an unrelieved state of spasm, her clit had popped out of its hood. The vibrator, an instrument she’d always thought of as pure pleasure, had turned on her, sending wave after wave of electric, erotic pleasure-pain through her entire body.

  “Please, please, please,” she cried out, but Roman was amazingly stern, and held his ground as long as she didn’t safeword. Should she safeword? As much as she wanted to, she trusted Roman to give her what she needed, and tonight, she needed his punishment, however he chose to give it to her.

  After a long time, her pussy torture stopped. He shut off the vibrator and set it down. Jessica panted, a sheen of perspiration covering her skin.

  “Now that you won’t derive any sexual pleasure from it, I can give you the spanking you need,” he said.

  He uncuffed her ankles and turned her over so her ass faced him. Her pussy ached, shooting spikes of pain through her as her clit rubbed against the table.

  The spanking was hard, lengthy, and complete. At some point she let go and began to cry, and it felt like a burden had been lifted from her soul.

  When he was done, he unlocked the latch on her collar and removed it from her neck. He sat her on his lap and held her, stroking her hair and murmuring soothingly in her ear.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “You’ll earn that collar back, I know you will,” he whispered.

  Chapter Eight

  Jessica accepted Lauren and Elisabeth’s invitation to go shopping, even though she knew she should probably stay home and study. Roman seemed to want her to go out with them. He even gave her his credit card. But so far, the only thing she bought was coffee for the three of them.

  Jessica sipped her mocha Frappuccino, unable to concentrate on the women’s discussion of something that happened to them the prior winter. But it was probably good for her to be quiet for a while, considering that all afternoon she hadn’t been able to stop talking a
bout Roman, or about how hard the past few weeks had been.

  Every day she did everything she could think of to earn back the right to wear his collar. She got to her knees the moment he entered a room. She brought him things he’d need before he could even ask for them. She studied by his feet every night while he worked—even aced her first exam. In the dungeon, and in the bedroom . . . Jessica proved to Roman, with her words, her body, and her submission, exactly how much she wanted to be his.

  To be owned by him. To be his slave. Jessica sighed and touched her bare neck self-consciously. Did he want that too? She’d fantasized about it for ages, it seemed, before finally making it a reality. And now she’d ruined everything.

  Elisabeth noticed. “I remember that feeling.”

  “That’s different,” Lauren said. “You were Gregory’s collared submissive for years.” She looked at Jessica. “You’ve been wearing Roman’s collar for about a month.”

  Jessica flushed. “Yes, I know it’s different. But I feel terrible about it. I want to wear his collar again.”

  “Why?” Lauren asked. It didn’t sound mean, merely curious.

  “Because it’s Roman. He’s . . . amazing. And I want to be his. This is my way of being his, you know?”

  Elisabeth took her hand across the tiny wooden table by the window of the Starbucks. “I think we’re all just a little surprised by how quickly this is happening. Roman’s never been the type to do this sort of thing. To have this kind of relationship.”

  “I’ve known him for over six years, and he’s never collared a girl first and asked questions later,” Lauren quipped.

  Jessica didn’t know what to say. Did that mean she was special? Or did it mean that it all wasn’t real? But it was real. She could feel it between them when they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

  “We’ve been getting to know each other,” Jessica said.

  “You don’t mind the floor?” Elisabeth asked. “I hated sleeping on the floor.”

  “Oh stop,” Lauren said. “I’m sure she doesn’t want to be reminded you guys slept together.”

  “You know what?” Jessica stood, setting her half-finished drink on the table. “I think I should go. I want us to be friends, I really do. But you guys seem mad at me or something, and I don’t know what I did wrong.”

  Lauren’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry, Jess.”

  “I think we’re worried about Roman,” Elisabeth said. “We don’t want to see him get his heart broken again.”

  “I won’t break his heart,” Jessica whispered. “I want to stay with him, I do. And I don’t sleep on the floor. We sleep together, in his bed. He likes to have me there in case he wakes up in the night.” She shook her head. “Not like that. Like, to cuddle.”

  This seemed to give Elisabeth pause. “You cuddle in bed together? Huh.”

  Lauren stood. “Come on, let’s go look at shoes. You have his card, might as well put it to use.”

  “I don’t want to,” Jessica said. “I don’t want to abuse his money.”

  More importantly, she wanted to show Roman that she wasn’t using him for his money. When she’d told him that she hadn’t meant what she told her parents about moving in making financial sense, he simply replied, “It doesn’t matter why you’re here.” But it did, it had to, didn’t it?

  Elisabeth set her coffee down and smiled. “You’re sweet. Then come with us while we spend some money, and we can figure out a good way for you to wear his collar again.”

  Jessica grinned. “Okay.”

  “No worries, I’ve got this,” Lauren said, and pulled out her phone.

  Jessica watched in silence as she called a number on her speed dial.

  “Roman,” Lauren said into the phone, a smile crossing her red lips. “This girl here is dying to get her collar back. Whaddya say?”

  Jessica put her hands over her face. What would Roman think about that? On the bright side, at least Lauren and Elisabeth seemed to approve of her a bit more, now.

  Lauren hung up. “Done.”

  What? “What do you mean, done?” Jessica asked.

  “He said okay. You can have your collar back if I think you want it badly enough. Since you haven’t stopped talking about it since Nordstrom’s, I’d say you do.” She laughed.

  “Gosh, I wish it had been that easy to get Trevor’s collar,” Elisabeth teased.

  Jessica threw her arms around Lauren. “Thank you so much!”

  “Well, you’re a big girl. You know what you’re getting yourself into now. Unlike when he first put that collar on you.”

  “Do you want to buy celebratory shoes?” Elisabeth asked.

  Jessica shook her head, smiling. “I want to go home and get my collar back. Is that okay?”

  Elisabeth nodded and gave her a hug. “Yes. It’s totally okay. I think we might have had you pegged wrong.”

  Jessica frowned. The gold-digger thing. It would take a while for everyone to get past that. “I understand. You’re looking out for your friend. It’s cool, I get it.”

  The girls exchanged a glance.

  “We’ve both been through it,” Elisabeth said. “Suddenly having a Black AmEx in your hand, having the world at your fingertips. It’s heady stuff. It can make any girl question her own motives.”

  “But,” Lauren interrupted, “if you can ask yourself if you’d still be with him if he lost everything tomorrow, would you? Would you be homeless on the street with him? And if the answer is yes, then you know it’s real.”

  Jessica tried to imagine herself living on the streets with Roman, but couldn’t. He always surrounded himself in luxury. Everything he did was expensive. He was so in control all the time, she couldn’t picture him not having control over money as well.

  “I’m going to talk to Roman about that,” Jessica murmured. “It’s definitely something to think about.”

  On her ride home in Roman’s town car, driven by his uniformed chauffeur, she touched the supple leather beneath her thighs and had to wonder. He’d been treating her like a princess, doting on her, showering her with gifts, paying for everything, just like he promised. When everything was handed to her like that, it made her even more excited to be with him.

  So she had to ask herself, deep down, were her motives pure?

  There had to be a way to find out.

  Roman couldn’t concentrate on the reports from the Brooks Wilde Chase Fund’s recent Japanese acquisition. They seemed to be improving steadily, which was great, but he was looking for a steeper upward rise after the numerous problems he’d discovered on his last trip to Tokyo. God knows he’d certainly offered them enough solutions.

  He’d like to bring Jessica to Tokyo, someday. Hell, maybe this weekend. Why not? Or Hawaii. Had she ever been to Hawaii? There was some amazing snorkeling to be had there. And . . . there he went again, his thoughts back on Jessica and off of work.

  He stood from his computer and stretched.

  “Sir?” His assistant, Sara, knocked on his open door.

  “Yes.”

  “Is there anything you’d like me to do before I leave for the day?”

  Roman paused. “Did you put the dress in Jessica’s dressing room?”

  “I did, sir. If I may say so, it’s going to look lovely on her. Your dinner reservation is at seven-thirty, and the car will be waiting at seven-ten.”

  “Thank you, Sara. Have a good night.”

  Of course the dress would look lovely on Jessica. For four grand, it better. She needed something nice to wear out. Although he’d promised her he’d pay for everything, the girl seemed reticent to actually take him up on it and buy herself a new wardrobe. What she didn’t understand was that if she was going to tell the world she belonged to Roman Chase, then she represented him. Old jeans and tank tops didn’t cut it, as cute as they might look on her.

&nb
sp; He’d sent her out shopping with Elisabeth and Lauren in the hopes that they’d get her to relax about spending his money, but knowing her, she’d come home empty-handed.

  His phone buzzed with a text. From Jessica.

  Coming home, Sir! Do you need me to get anything while I’m out?

  Roman smiled. She was so thoughtful. This past week she’d been a pure pleasure to have around, which only cemented in his mind that he was right to choose her, despite any misgivings Trevor might have.

  Wear the dress in the master closet, he texted back. We’re going out tonight.

  Thank you, Sir! Wheeeee!

  He laughed out loud at her exuberance, picturing her sliding down a waterslide and yelling for joy. But it was for a dress she’d never even seen, simply because it was a gift from him.

  An email popped up on his screen, and he sat back down, determined to get some more work done until she came to him, ready for dinner.

  He didn’t have to wait long.

  A half hour later, Jessica stood in the doorway of his office, looking resplendent in the short, fitted purple dress and black Louboutins.

  “You look incredible,” he said.

  She walked in and knelt gracefully. “Thank you, sir. The dress, the shoes, you didn’t have to . . .”

  “I wanted to. Sara bought some things in your size, you’ll find them in the dresser. They’re all appropriate for you to wear to school.”

  “You’ve given me so much already, sir,” she protested.

  “And as my slave,” he said, his tongue savoring the word slave, “you must accept. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she smiled.

  He took her collar out of his desk drawer, where he’d been keeping it, waiting for the right moment. He’d already been planning on giving it back to Jessica, but he’d hoped that telling Lauren while the three were together would help Jessica’s relationship with them.

  “Were the girls nice to you?”

  She nodded. “They care about you a lot.”

  “This belongs to you, if you want it,” he said, holding the collar out on his palm.