Management Skills Read Online Free PDF Page B

are satisfied do you come to me, eager, ready to submit to my sexual authority.”
    Taking in his warm, sexy fragrance of spice and woods, she chewed on her lower lip. She wouldn’t mind submitting to his sexual authority at this very moment—right on the restaurant table. But as a relationship dynamic? No way.
    She’d done the submission thing before. It had been fabulous for a while. And at the end, devastatingly bad. Serving Joseph, her ex-Dominant, had once fulfilled a deep need in her. Turning control over to him made her feel secure. Devoting her energies to ensuring his pleasure and contentment had satisfied her to her very essence.
    Shifting uncomfortably in her leather chair, she said, “I don’t want to be owned. It’s too hard.”
    “You’ve been owned before?” The candlelight reflected in his indigo eyes, making Grant look fierce.
    “For two years. He was a dancer at the Vault. I was proud to make his life better.”
    “Were you just a service submissive?”
    “No.”
    Grant studied her as if there was more to tell. There was, of course. But she didn’t want to talk about how sex with Joseph had gone south long before the rest of their relationship had died.
    “What happened?” Grant asked.
    “I guess we just grew apart,” she said, shrugging.
    “You grew apart because…?”
    “Because I started taking classes at the college. He let things slide, indulging me, spoiling me, as if he was afraid. Maybe he figured I’d leave him once I got a degree. Never would have happened. I loved him. But I depended on his exacting nature for security. I needed his praise. I needed him to put me over his knee during those rare times I didn’t meet his standards. He didn’t do any of that anymore. Instead, he worshipped me. For the first time, I didn’t know where I stood.”
    “Did you talk to him about your worries?”
    “How could I? How could I tell him I was unhappy with his leadership? Was I supposed to beg him to be stronger? I couldn’t. But without Joseph’s control, I became a failure as his submissive, a frustrated full-on bitch, resistant and sassy. Maybe I wanted to force him to take the reins again, I don’t know. I provoked him. Bad. I was absolutely dreadful. He corrected me. Finally. Believe me, I felt every single stinging, bare-assed swat. For days. But it was too late for correction. I needed his guidance and security, not punishment. I lost respect for him. I’m sure he lost respect for me, too. So we went our separate ways.”
    She gazed at the incongruously romantic candle flame for a moment, reliving those last terrible days with Joseph.
    “What do you think about correction?” She had no idea why she asked him that. She didn’t need a new Dominant.
    “Not my first choice. Failing to communicate is a big deal in my book, but it’s a problem that usually requires talking out, not physical correction.”
    “So you’d never spank a sub.”
    “Oh, I would,” he said. “And I have.”
    “For what?”
    “Lying. Lying is a limit of mine.”
    What kind of woman had he once owned? Why had she lied?
    “I love my life as it is, Sir.” Damn. The Sir just popped out again.
    “And that’s what makes you so attractive, Allie. Ownership isn’t about tearing you down and rebuilding you. You’re a spectacular woman as you are. I want you, not some Vault fantasy. I want your fierce intelligence, your ambition, your creativity, your stamina and your sexual sensitivity.”
    “But you can get all of those things as my lover.”
    He drank his scotch. “A naughty ’nilla relationship won’t allow me to focus that red-hot fire of yours. I want to own you.”
    The lure of having her fires stoked under his dominant hand hit her hard. But it would be foolish to jump into the restraints just because she’d once had spectacular sex with him.
    “I need more time,” she said.
    “You have all the time you need.” His expression radiated both confidence and gentle patience. He was sure