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  “I really want to kiss you right now.”

  “Because I noticed your favorite color is red?”

  Elijah grinned. “Among other things. Let’s go inside before I do something we’ll both regret.”

  Holly shook her head. There was little she would regret when it came to Elijah. Or perhaps there was a lot. She didn’t know which way was up right now.

  When they stepped back into the dungeon space, things had ramped up considerably. Where there had been just a few people playing before, now nearly every piece of equipment and furniture were being used. A barrage of sights, sounds, and scents assaulted Holly’s senses. Candles, sex, and sweat permeated the air. People moaned, cried out, and screamed in pleasure and pain as they experienced and inflicted all manner of sensations. As her eyes scanned the room, her hand flew to her mouth as the glint of a knife caught her gaze.

  Fuck this, she thought as she backed out of the dungeon without realizing what she was doing.

  Then she was sprinting through the bar and into the lobby. Behind her, she could hear Elijah cursing to himself as he pursued her.

  “Holly, stop,” he said loudly and firmly when they were both near the front doors.

  “I’m sorry. This was a bad idea. I want to go back to the hotel please.”

  Elijah was in front of her now, his hands on either side of her face. “Talk to me. What just happened?” he asked as he looked at reception and motioned for Cassie to call them a car.

  Holly sucked in a deep breath. “That was just a lot. The knife. What the fuck was he doing with a knife?”

  Elijah closed his eyes. “I should have prepared you better. Knife play is a very common form of edge play, sweetheart.”

  Holly shuddered. “Is it something you do?” She was horrified at how small her voice sounded.

  Elijah gave her a solemn shake of his head. “Not my thing. I do appreciate the attraction to it though. Cold steel on warm skin is an interesting and even sexy form of sensation play. I promise you the person you saw was in no danger. At least no more danger than one might be in if they used a knife to chop vegetables for dinner.”

  “Your car is here, Master Eli,” Cassie said.

  “Thank you, Cassie,” he said as he gripped Holly’s hand and led her out the door.

  “I’m sorry you got overwhelmed. Let’s get you back to the hotel.”

  Holly let herself be led to the waiting car.

  “We can talk over something to eat in my suite if you want.”

  Holly shook her head. “I think I need to be alone please,” she said quietly.

  Elijah turned so he was facing her and tilted her chin up to meet his eyes. “I hope I haven’t scared you off, Holly.”

  She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know if I’m cut out for this. I hope that doesn’t make working with me awkward.”

  Elijah smiled down at her. “I don’t want you trying to quit over this. You’re stuck with me, sweetheart. We’ll be fine. You don’t even know what I’m about yet. Don’t think about what you saw back there and associate it with me please. At least not the knife.”

  Holly nodded. “I’ll try. Just maybe give me some space for a little while.”

  “All the space you need.”

  Back in the hotel, Holly stripped off her outfit and took a long hot shower as she tried to process everything she’d seen tonight. Dressing in a pair of cotton pajama bottoms and a long-sleeved t-shirt, she curled up on the sofa in the entirely too extravagant hotel room and tried to focus on her romance novel. But the BDSM aspects seemed different now that she’d gotten a glimpse of the real thing.

  What had she been thinking to believe she could be into that sort of thing? Men telling women what to do? Male submissives having their… junk tortured? Knives? What the fuck, Holly? She asked herself for the millionth time.

  But the dark bite in Elijah’s voice as he told her she was having a martini instead of wine, and the heated looks he’d given her as they discussed sex and kink came rushing back and she let out a whimper.

  Tossing her tablet aside in disgust she rose from the couch and tried to go to sleep. Unfortunately, her mind continued to race, and she did nothing but toss and turn as Elijah Barrett haunted her brain. What kind of play did he like if he wasn’t into knives? She’d heard him mention bondage and spanking, but what else? Did she want to find out? Absolutely not, she tried to tell herself. This was not the life for her.

  Is this what she got for leaving the safety of home? Was her father aware of Elijah’s… interests? Surely not. He most certainly wouldn’t have been OK with his baby girl working for someone he deemed to be a pervert.

  But was he really a pervert for enjoying consensually kinky sex with women?

  Holly shook her head and grabbed the television remote to watch the news. She had to put all of this out of her mind and focus on doing her job to the best of her ability. Fawning over the boss was not the way to do that. Finally, after much tossing, turning, and channel surfing, she passed out to the sounds of an infomercial trying to sell her a set of kitchen knives.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Elijah arrived at his office on Tuesday feeling surlier than normal. After the debacle that was Holly showing up at Solitaire on Saturday night—no thanks to Dakota—the trip had become awkward.

  Holly was very professional and did her job well, but that didn’t stop Elijah from wanting her and wanting to talk about what happened.

  He wanted to dig deeper into what had spooked her at the club when she’d seemed so relaxed only moments earlier. But he knew that for someone new to BDSM, the sight of anything more intense than a light spanking or some furry handcuffs could be overwhelming. A knife being dragged down a girl’s sternum definitely fit that bill.

  When he saw that Holly beat him to the office, he plastered on a professional smile, but even he could tell it was fake.

  “Good morning, Holly. What’s my schedule like this morning?” he asked from the doorway to her office.

  Holly didn’t look up from her computer but said, “Give me one sec to pull it up, Mr. Barrett.”

  So, it was going to be like that was it? He closed his eyes and waited for her to rattle off his morning appointments.

  “You have a phone call with London in thirty minutes and a meeting with your R&D team after that. Then, Patrick is in town and will see both of us about real estate at lunch.”

  Ah yes, the project he had given her. She’d taken a lot of initiative on that and gone above and beyond. He glanced at his watch. The workday hadn’t officially begun, so he shut the door to her office and set his briefcase against the wall. Slowly she turned to look at him.

  “I was beginning to wonder if you were going to look at me. Are you OK, Holly?”

  She nodded. “I’m fine, Mr. Barrett.”

  Elijah growled and stalked toward her desk before he could stop himself. “Enough with the Mr. Barrett crap, Holly. Call me Elijah.”

  “I just think we should keep things professional,” she said quietly.

  “Damn it, Holly, there is nothing unprofessional about using the name I prefer.”

  Her eyes drifted closed and she took a deep breath. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Elijah. Did you need anything else?”

  “Yes. Are you free for dinner tonight?”

  Holly shook her head and Elijah prepared for her to make up an excuse, but she said, “I’m sorry. I have a final gala with the Sutton Foundation tonight. It’s my last obligation to them.”

  Fair enough, he thought. “Some other time then,” Elijah said on his way to the door. “I’ll be in my office when London calls.”

  When he was at his desk, he pulled up a search engine and typed Sutton Foundation gala into the search bar. There were no results, so he called Patrick.

  “Can you find out what gala Holly is attending tonight?”

  “Can’t you just ask her? Or did you fire her too?”

  Elijah sighed. “No. I just might have made thing
s awkward. Don’t worry, her job is safe. Just answer the question.”

  Patrick grumbled incoherently as he tapped a keyboard. “If I had to guess, it’s the Aid for Africa gala. It’s not a Sutton Foundation event, but Holly got them heavily involved in the organization to honor mom’s memory.”

  Elijah was already typing in the event name. It seemed there were still tickets available.

  “Would it be weird if I and some of my staff showed up without telling her? I’ll cut a big check. I just need her to see I’m not a complete dick.”

  Patrick growled. “I swear to God, Eli, if you fuck her over, I’m going to hurt you.”

  Elijah scowled at the phone. “Relax. Is it a bad idea or not?”

  His friend gave a heavy sigh. “Let me make sure my dad isn’t going to be there. If he isn’t, we can go together. That way it doesn’t look like you’re fucking stalking her. There are people who attend that shindig that we should talk to anyway.”

  Elijah blew out a breath as the makings of a plan started to formulate in his head. His intercom sounded.

  “I’ve got London on the phone, Elijah.”

  He grinned. At least she was done with the Mr. Barrett bullshit.

  “I’ve gotta run. I’ve got London on the phone and we’re close to being able to bring you into the conversation.”

  “OK. I’ll see you at lunch. Wait, is lunch going to be weird? Please don’t let it be weird.”

  “I’m hanging up now, asshole.”

  He heard Patrick laughing as he ended the call and picked up the receiver to his office phone.

  “Thanks for waiting, folks. Are we ready to begin?”

  When the call to London was complete, Holly already had his R&D team set up in a conference room with coffee and donuts.

  “Sit in on this with me please. I eventually need to be able to hand some of these meetings to you,” he said when he stuck his head into her office. It was kind of a lie since research and development was something he would never hand over, but she would need to be able to handle other meetings, so it was a good excuse to be in the same room with her for a little while.

  She didn’t argue, just transferred her phone to the reception desk and stood to follow him to the conference room where he let his team walk him through three projects they were working on. None of them were the diamonds, a separate team comprising people from Eastman Enterprises and the Barrett Corporation handled that. And if his negotiations panned out, they would bring in people from London among other places.

  Soon the meeting was over, and it was time to head to lunch with Patrick where he let Holly take the lead. The research she’d prepared was impeccable and her recommendations for which property to pursue were spot on.

  He gave her a lot of praise and for a moment, the relaxed, confident Holly he’d hired was back. It was all too soon replaced with the stiff, professional Holly that had been in place since they left Solitaire on Saturday night.

  When lunch was wrapping up, Patrick set the stage for them to attend the gala that night.

  “Sis, is dad going to be at Aid for Africa tonight?”

  Holly shook her head. “No. That’s a big reason I’m going. He doesn’t like doing foundation appearances. Claims he doesn’t want anything to look improper, so he sends me.”

  Elijah nearly snorted but managed to keep it in check. Nicholas Sutton was the definition of improper.

  “Are there tickets left? I was thinking of attending. I’ve never seen any of the work you do, and I like that you partnered with Aid for Africa even if I do have problems with dad.”

  Holly just gave him a sad look as if she didn’t understand why he hated their father so much. Elijah knew she didn’t know everything, but he found it hard to believe she was so naïve when it came to the man.

  “I can get you a ticket if you want. Are you going to bring a date?”

  Patrick shrugged. “Depends on who I can find last minute.”

  Holly just rolled her eyes. “I’ll reserve two in your name then. You can write a check when you get there.”

  “We should get back to the office,” Elijah said, curbing his excitement at the thought of seeing Holly outside of work. He wondered how she would react. Would she be angry? Elijah honestly didn’t know. But he was prepared to make a large donation to soothe any ruffled feathers. Maybe it was an unethical use of his money, but it would still help a lot of people. At least that’s what he was going to tell himself.

  When he got home that night, he stripped out of his work suit and pulled out a black tuxedo, choosing the red cufflinks and bowtie to add a bit of fun to the outfit. This was his one shot to see Holly outside of work. Might as well make a good impression.

  Since Patrick was driving in from a meeting, Elijah was on his own for getting there. It wasn’t a problem, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to see Holly without Patrick as a buffer at first. She might think he really was stalking her. Was that what he was doing? He didn’t want to see it that way, so he focused on the fact that the money he spent tonight would go to a cause he cared about.

  When his car pulled up under the portico of the swanky hotel, he spotted Patrick talking to someone out front, so he jumped out and jogged toward his friend.

  “You’re just in time to write the check,” Patrick said with a grin as he motioned to the woman holding the clipboard. She must have their tickets. Judging by the way she was staring at Patrick, she might have given them to them for free if people hadn’t been watching.

  “Why am I writing the check? The tickets are in your name.”

  Patrick snorted. “Because you were too chickenshit to ask my sister if you could tag along. You dragged me out here, you can pay.”

  Elijah grumbled but pulled out his wallet. “Will you take a credit card?” he asked the attendant.

  “Of course, Sir,” she said with a bright smile and a flutter of her eyelashes as she pulled a phone out of her purse. It had a card reader attached so he was able to swipe his card and pay for their two-thousand-dollar tickets.

  Good cause. Good cause, he reminded himself as he scrawled his finger across the screen to create what was supposed to be his signature.

  When he was done, they were directed inside the hotel where another attendant was waiting to take coats, hats, and bags. Elijah had none, but Patrick was wearing what he could only describe as a douchey hat that he tossed at the girl with a wink. Elijah shook his head, his friend was a bigger flirt than he was.

  Inside the grand ballroom, cocktails were flowing and so were conversations. Soft music floated through the space and carried with it laughter and voices. Ice clinked in glasses and elegant ball gowns swished and swayed as women moved about.

  Normally, Elijah would be prowling for one of them to take home with him, but someone already had his attention tonight. He had spotted her as soon as he crossed the threshold. Holly stood at a table near the stage in a stunning blue gown that hugged her in all the right places. The man she was talking to looked vaguely familiar, but Elijah couldn’t place him. Then that man leaned down and brushed his lips across Holly’s cheek and she smiled fondly up at him. Who was this fucker?

  Patrick had moved several paces ahead of him, and he watched as Holly spotted him. Her face lit up and she made her way to her brother. Elijah held back for a moment.

  “Patrick, you’re here! I wasn’t sure if you would actually show. Do you have a date?”

  Patrick shrugged. “Not a date exactly, but I brought someone.”

  “Well let’s meet her then.” Holly’s eyes scanned the room. When they landed on Elijah, he offered a sheepish wave as her eyes dimmed. Not the reaction he wanted from her.

  “I tried to get him to wear a dress,” Patrick said as Elijah approached.

  “Nobody wanted to put up with him, so I agreed to be his plus one,” Elijah said with a grin.

  Holly’s eyes narrowed and he wondered if she was going to catch on to the fact that this had been the plan all along. Instead, she turned t
o her brother and said, “Maybe if you learned how to treat a woman you would have an easier time getting a date. And stop wearing those douchey hats. Your hair is a disaster,” she said as she reached up and tried to tame the mess. Patrick just stared down at her.

  “Well come on than you two. I put you at my table.”

  Elijah dutifully fell into step behind her.

  “I set your date next to me in case she didn’t know anyone and you’re in the next chair down.” Holly motioned to two chairs for them to sit in.

  A man approached and offered his hand. “Mr. Barrett, I have to say this is the last place I expected to run into you given your animosity for Miss Sutton’s father.”

  Elijah stared up at the man trying to place him.

  “He’s with my brother, Grant,” Holly said.

  Right, Grant Sterling, one of Nicholas Sutton’s PR people. Is this the person Holly had called just a friend?

  “Just supporting a good cause, Mr. Sterling,” Elijah said with a cold smile. “And enjoying the company of my new assistant and her brother. I’ve heard she did some amazing work with Aid for Africa. Part of why I hired her,” he said.

  Sure enough, the flare in Grant Sterling’s nostrils told him that he didn’t like the fact that Holly was working for him.

  He would like it even less if he knew how much sexual tension there was between them. This man clearly wanted in Holly’s pants. He fought the smirk that tugged at his mouth and turned to Holly. “I’m sorry for showing up unannounced. I should have given you a heads up.”

  Holly placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry about it, Elijah. Your contribution is welcome. I’m glad you’re here.” She offered him a shy smile and he reached up and grasped the hand that still rested on his shoulder.

  “Me too.”

  Someone tapped the mic and the music stopped. “If everyone would take their seats, we’ll be getting started soon.”

  Holly pulled her hand away and Elijah stood to pull her chair out for her. Grant stood to the other side of her chair and glared at him.