Maya Banks - Sweet Persuasion

When she got into her car, she didn’t immediately head for Damon’s, nor did she go home. She drove. As much as it pained her to admit, she was scared. Scared of how easily she could lose herself if she allowed it. During the week she’d been with Damon, she’d found herself doing anything to please him. Without question, without hesitation, never offering argument.

It was frightening how easily she turned into someone else. But more unnerving was the idea that maybe she hadn’t so much turned into someone else as she’d embraced who she’d always been.

“No. This isn’t me,” she whispered. “And I don’t want it to be.”

Gripping the steering wheel a little tighter, she picked up the phone and dialed Faith’s number.

A moment later, her friend’s concerned voice came over the line.

“Where are you?” Faith demanded before Serena could even say hello.

“I’m in the car,” Serena said calmly.

“Damon is frantic with worry. He said he’s been unable to reach you and that you aren’t at the office or your apartment.”

“Shit,” Serena muttered.

“Is something wrong?” Faith demanded.

Serena took in a deep breath. Just hearing that Damon was worried made Serena feel like an inconsiderate clod.

“Faith, I just have a question.”

“Okay.”

“Remember when you said that Gray told you he could never be involved with a woman who wasn’t strong enough to submit?”

There was a short pause. “Yes, of course.”

“Do you believe that?”

“What are you getting at, Serena?” Faith asked softly.

“I just want to know if you believe it. That it takes someone strong to give up ultimate power, to allow a man to take care of her, to make decisions for her.”

“Yes, I do.”

The conviction in Faith’s voice moved her more than the actual words.

“Thank you,” Serena said quietly. “I need to go. I need to get home to Damon.”

“Serena, what’s going on?” Faith asked.

“We’ll talk later, okay?”

She hit the end button before Faith could offer further argument. For a moment, she held the phone in her hand, tempted to call Damon, but she wasn’t at all sure what she’d say, and now, as if she’d known all along where she’d end up, she realized she was only a few minutes from his house.

She punched the power button to turn her phone off again and tossed it onto the seat. A few minutes later, she pulled into the drive of Damon’s home and frowned when she saw several cars parked out front. She pulled up behind the last and cut the engine.

Leaving her briefcase and phone on the seat, she got out and walked to the front door. As soon as she hit the top step, the door flew open.

She raised her gaze to meet Damon’s furious one. His eyes were nearly black, and anger tightened his lips.

“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded.

His words lashed over her, igniting her own helpless anger.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” she snapped. “Our agreement is for when I’m here.”

He reached out and cupped her shoulder, yanking her inside the house. The door slammed behind her, and she winced.

“This has nothing, nothing to do with any agreement,” he bit out. “It has to do with common decency. I was worried, Serena. I thought you might be on the side of the road somewhere, hurt and alone. Or in the hospital. Or in the fucking morgue.”

She flinched at the raw edge in his voice. There was more than anger. There was true concern and frustration.

“You wouldn’t answer your goddamn phone. I even sent Sam to your office and then your home and then back here so he could trace your possible route.”

She closed her eyes against his censure because he was right. She’d been an irresponsible twit all because she didn’t have a goddamn spine.

“I’m sorry,” she said tiredly.

He held up his hand. His jaw ticked like he was trying to hang on to his temper.

“What happened?” he asked bluntly. “Where have you been and are you all right?”

This was one time when she wished she’d actually been in some sort of an accident just so she didn’t have to tell him she’d been hiding. From him. From herself. From this combustible attraction between them.

“I was thinking.”

“Thinking? You were thinking? And in all this thinking, it never crossed your mind that I might be worried, that you at least owed me the courtesy of a phone call to say you’d be late? Not as your master, Serena. Not as some guy who considers you a slave, but as someone who cares about you.”

She closed her eyes as fatigue centered between her shoulders. When she opened them again, Damon was dragging a hand through his hair in a supreme gesture of agitation.

“Go and change into the clothes I’ve laid out for you,” he said in a controlled voice. “Then return to the living room. We have guests.”

He stared her down as if waiting for the word to cross her lips. He was forcing her into the decision she’d been wavering on the entire day. If she said no, she’d leave, and she wouldn’t be back. If she did his bidding, she was committing to staying, to continuing the farce.

Neither option seemed attractive to her right now. What she really wanted was to be alone, and she could be alone if she just said no.

Instead, she nodded and walked past Damon toward the bedroom. He didn’t touch her, didn’t hold her back or say anything further. When she looked back as she entered the hallway, he’d already left the foyer.

She continued up the stairs, her fatigue and confusion growing with each step. When she got to the bedroom, she saw that Damon had laid out one of the exquisite dresses he’d purchased for her along with a matching black bra and panties, silk stockings and a pair of expensive heels. There was even jewelry to accompany the sophisticated look.

As she continued to stare at the clothing, she had a swift realization. Tonight she wasn’t his slave. He was inviting her into his world. His real world, where he expected her to mingle with his guests. Normalcy. A step out of the roles they played, and yet, they only existed in the realm of her fantasy. A world she had created.

He was making it real. Fear raced up her spine. Fear and uncertainty. He was changing the rules and the parameters. How could he expect her to embrace his reality and then turn away? God, she didn’t need it to be more real between her and Damon. If anything she needed the protection that fantasy and escapism offered. There was no chance of her losing her way when things weren’t in reach.

But to expect her to interact with him as if they had a chance, as if things were normal . . . it was the height of cruelty.

Her head spun as panic and distress tightened every muscle. She couldn’t attend as his date, some woman he had a relationship with. No, if she attended, it would be as his slave. There would be no breaching the walls of her carefully constructed fantasy.

Damon returned to the living room after taking several moments to collect himself. He’d been distracted the entire time he was entertaining his guests because he’d been worried about Serena. There were only so many times he could excuse himself to use his cell phone before it went from an inconvenience to outright rudeness.

When he’d heard her drive up, his relief had made him weak in the knees. That pissed him off almost as much as her thoughtlessness. And then he’d seen her pale face and enormous blue eyes, seen the fatigue lurking in the shadows. She’d said the words every man dreaded hearing. She’d been thinking.

He’d worried about her first day outside the fantasy they’d built in the week they’d been together, and rightly so. She’d already started pulling away, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

He tuned in to the conversation as two of the waiters he’d hired for the evening made rounds with trays of hors d’oeuvres and wine. The piano music, usually something he enjoyed, tinkled like broken glass on his nerves.

Part of him wanted to punish Serena for the worry she’d caused him. For a moment he’d considered telling her to undress and come to him nude with only the jewelry he’d given her adorning her skin. None of his guests would be shocked or surprised.

But he wouldn’t embarrass her, had sworn that he’d never do anything to purposely humiliate her, and he damn sure wasn’t into retaliation.

No, he’d deal with her punishment later. If she balked, if she said no, then it would end sooner than expected but the result would be the same whether now or three weeks from now. He couldn’t keep her forever, and the haunted look on her face when she came to his door further drove that point home.

A chuckle echoed over the room, and Damon looked up to see the source of his guest’s amusement. He stiffened when he saw Serena standing in the doorway, not a stitch of clothing on her gorgeous body.

She stared defiantly at him, her eyes glittering with challenge. Not responding to the obvious bait, he set his glass of wine aside and ignored her for a moment while he finished the conversation he was involved in.

He kept tabs on her from the corner of his eye. She stood quietly, but the longer she stood, the more ill at ease she became. When he was convinced she was about to turn and walk back out, he started across the room, his pace unhurried, his expression purposely unreadable.

“Serena,” he said as he came abreast of her. “So glad you could make it. Everyone has been eager to meet you.”

She glanced sharply up at him then twisted her hands nervously in front of her. An impulse decision she was already regretting, by the looks of things. He’d already tried to make things easy for her. He wouldn’t do anything more.

“Come,” he said, taking her arm. As they walked toward the people gathered, he leaned down to whisper close to her ear. “That’s two punishments I owe you now. One for your inconsid eration and one for your blatant disobedience.”

Conversation ceased as everyone looked openly at him and Serena. Warm smiles framed his friends’ faces, but it was for a fraud. They were glad for him when they shouldn’t be. They thought he’d finally found a woman willing to commit herself wholly to him.

He introduced her around, and Serena’s growing confusion was a tangible thing. Her brow creased, and it was obvious the smile she’d pasted on her lips was dangling precariously.

“Congratulations, Damon,” Robbie offered as they approached one of his oldest friends. “Your woman is quite beautiful. You’re lucky to own her.”

Serena glanced back and forth between Robbie and Damon, her lips pursed. Then her gaze settled on the woman standing quietly by Robbie’s side, and Damon saw the instant that understanding flashed.

She tensed and color swept up her neck and into her cheeks. Her mouth tightened and tears crowded her eyes. Damon didn’t give her an opportunity to do much with the realization. Instead, he ushered her onward. She wasn’t going to be thrilled when they came to the next person in line to be introduced. They already were acquainted. But she’d made her choice, and she’d have to live with the consequences.

As they walked toward the window where two men stood, one turned, and he felt Serena go rigid beside him.

“Micah,” Damon said calmly. “I’d like you to meet Serena. I understand the two of you are already acquainted. Serena, you know Micah Hudson. He’s a good friend of mine.”

Micah flashed a smile at Serena and raised an eyebrow as his gaze swept over Serena’s naked body.

Damon bent low so that his lips were a mere centimeter from her ear. His hand curled tightly around her arm even as his finger brushed across the band.

“I would have spared you this discomfort,” he murmured. “You brought this on yourself by thinking to embarrass me in front of my guests. No one will blink an eye over your nudity. Every man here with the exception of Micah is accompanied by his slave. So you see, Serena mine, you’ve only succeeded in shaming yourself.”

She trembled in his grip but nodded once in acknowledgment of his words. She gave Micah a quivery smile even as her chin jutted upward as she gathered her tattered pride around her.

“Of course I remember Micah,” she said quietly.

“Serena, I must say you look lovely tonight,” Micah said. “Damon is a lucky bastard.”

“I like to think so,” Damon said in a low voice.

He glanced sideways at Serena to see that she still held herself stiffly, her expression shuttered. She wasn’t going to give an inch, but then neither was he. Better to confront the issue here and now because he wasn’t going to waste the next three weeks building a dream with borrowed nails.