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Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 01

By: CharmingVixen



Damien glanced over at his best friend Curtis, not sure how he had been talked into this particular situation. Curtis insisted that he had a special and memorable way to celebrate Damien's thirtieth birthday, that he would take him to a place where no one recognized him or cared that he was Damien Perucci. So far, Curtis has kept that promise, but then again, a strip club was hardly the type of place that a multi millionaire frequented. 

Damien watched as Curtis downed another drink. A millionaire in his right, Curtis still frequented common places on occasion. 

"Come on, have a drink old man," Curtis encouraged, "It's not everyday you turn thirty."

"I've already told you I can't," Damien insisted.

"Meeting new staff hardly qualifies as a reason to deny yourself life's pleasures on your birthday," Curtis chided. 

Damien in some ways agreed with Curtis. Meeting new staff was nothing new, and he was the one in a position of power. Hell, he didn't have to meet them until the following week if he didn't want to, but money didn't make itself and Damien wanted to give the once over to each of his new staff members to make sure that no incompetent people were hired while he was away on one of his frequent business trips. 

"You can't remain quiet all evening Damien. Come on Damien. Live a little. Don't any of these birds take your fancy," Curtis asked.

"No, they don't," Damien answered honestly. "You forget, I'm a multi millionaire. Women throw themselves at me for my money alone. Throw in the sex appeal, charm, and legendary prowess and I am an irresistible catch."

"I forget nothing," Curtis replied laughing. "I'm a good looking millionaire too, although I admit I don't have anywhere near as much experience as you with women, after all, I'm only twenty-nine," Curtis finished with another laugh.

Damien joined him in his laughter. They had often watched women's eyes glaze over looking at them together, trying to decide which one was a better bet, which one might commit or spend the most. 

A sexy blond wandered over to their table, issuing a wide smile as she stopped to chat. "Enjoying yourselves," she asked. 

Both of them immediately tensed. 

"Don't worry," she laughingly admonished, "I'm not after your money. I'm Rose, the owner. I just wanted to make sure you guys had everything you needed."

Curtis laughed at this too, he clearly had had way too much to drink Damien thought. 

"My friend could use a lay," Curtis joked. "You see how stiff he is."

Rose laughed with Curtis before turning back to Damien. "Perhaps you would enjoy a lap dance. We offer both a softcore and a hardcore lap dance, the former costing $500, and the latter costing $1,000. The hardcore lap dance comes with a free pair of boxers and in house laundering should it be needed," Rose smiled as she tacked on this last part. "You see anything you like," she offered, knowing that each of her girls looked their best.

Damien's eyes wandered over the girls parading themselves about in scant lingerie, per the work dress code, and was about to say no when he caught a dark haired raven beauty enter through a side door in a modest two piece that couldn't hope to hide her generous proportions or her sensual nature. Damien's eyes followed her as she walked around serving drinks. She very carefully avoided being touched by any of the male hands that came too close and continued to move proficiently through the tables taking orders. 

Rose followed Damien's gaze as it lit upon Amethyst. Rose groaned under her breath. It would have to be Amethyst. The only dark haired one among the girls, the only one that wasn't available, the only one that all the guys seemed to want. 

"That's Amethyst. I'm sorry, but she isn't available for a lap dance, but all the other girls are," Rose pacified. 

"Come on, it's his birthday," Curtis argued. "I'll pay $5,000 for her."

"As I said," Rose parried, "Amethyst is not available."

"$50,000," Damien countered.

Rose sighed in dismay. This man was not to be thwarted. He intended to get what he wanted, but Amethyst really wasn't available.

Amethyst's mother had become ill almost a year earlier and had required specialized care. Amethyst was determined that her mother should have the very best and had run up a hospital bill totaling almost half a million dollars. Since her mother died six months ago, Amethyst had worked day and night to decrease the almost impossible debt, having already paid over $150,000 she continued to work herself relentlessly. 

Amethyst carried with her such an air of unattainableness because of her severe loss. Rose thought that was what drew the men to her. Whatever the case was, her beauty wasn't working to her advantage just now.

"I'll check with her and see if she is willing, but it is her choice," Rose finished, walking away.

Amethyst looked up as she saw Rose approaching, and issued forth a light smile, the most she could accomplish in the circumstances. 

"Having a hard night," Rose questioned.

"The same as usual," Amethyst answered. "I start my new job tomorrow so I won't be in until late, and we can discuss a new schedule once my hours are more constant with this new job."

"No problem," Rose answered following Amethyst over to the bar. "Amethyst listen, there is a guy that wants you to do a lap dance for him, and he is willing to pay you $50,000."

"I don't do lap dances," Amethyst answered, without showing any sign at all that she had heard how much money they were dealing with. 

"Amethyst, this money could put a huge dent in the debt you owe. You shouldn't be working as much as you do and I care about you, that is the only reason I'm, encouraging you to do this."

"No!" Amethyst answered tightly. "I don't do lap dances. I'm not for sale." Amethyst turned away from Rose and moved to pick up her drinks tray. 

"Amethyst, don't cut off your nose to spite your face," Rose cautioned. "I know you don't want to deal with people right now, but you have to move on some time. You will probably never have a chance to make this kind of money this fast again. Do yourself a favor and dance for this guy." 

"Excuse me," Amethyst murmured to Rose, and walked over to the table in question. She could feel his eyes on them the entire time they had been talking so she had no trouble picking out which table it was. 

Stopping in front of the table, Amethyst smiled at both the men. Turning towards Damien, she looked him right in the eye and said, "Listen, I appreciate your offer, but I don't do lap dances. Not for anyone, not for any amount of money. Now, if you'll excuse me." Amethyst turned to move away and seeing her turn, Rose came over stopping her in her tracks before she could move two feet. 

Damien could not believe that Amethyst had dared to refuse him. No one refused him. Ever. 

"$100,000," Damien bit out. 

Rose met Amethyst's eyes silently begging her to accept. 

"Alright," Amethyst agreed, turning back to Damien. "For $100,000 I'll give you a lap dance, but I will expect payment up front."

Curtis, who had sat bemusedly watching the exchange chose that moment to regain his ability to speak. "You can't talk to him like that. Do you know who he is?"

"No," Amethyst said quietly, "Neither do I care. He can accept the terms or he can let me go, it matters little to me which he chooses."

Damien laughed. It had been quite a while since anyone had treated him like any other man. The only females that seemed to do so these days were his mom and his sister. Amethyst would be well worth the money indeed. Damien extracted his wallet and handed his Platinum American Express to Rose. 

Amethyst raised her eyebrow at his blatant waste of money, but said nothing as she motioned for him to follow her into a private room.

Amethyst closed and locked the door behind Damien as he entered. She then moved a chair in front of a mirrored wall. "Please, have a seat," she invited.

Damien did as she asked and had a seat, noting the decadent decor with an Italian accent. 

"You are of course aware of the rules," Amethyst asked, assuming Damien engaged in this sort of activity all the time. 

"As it happens, I am not," Damien replied. 

Amethyst raised her eyebrow in disbelief, but said nothing. 

"I can touch you, but you can't touch me. Generally, the lap dance lasts for 10 minutes or until you cum, whichever comes first, but seeing as to how you paid such an extravagant price for my services, I will dance until you cum" Amethyst informed.

"Well you could be dancing all night," Damien warned. "I have a reputation for being a lover who can last a long time."

Amethyst scoffed at his boast of prowess, but again made no comment. "I think I could have you out of here in ten minutes, plus dry cleaning time," she retorted. Damien settled back in the chair with a laugh. He would certainly enjoy the next few hours.

Amethyst looked Damien over, noting his indolent air of power. She knew his type as well as she knew how to breathe. She knew what he would like and what it would take to push him over the edge. He would like to indulge all the senses. To see, to hear, to feel. Amethyst had deliberately placed the chair in front of the mirror so that he could watch. And she would give him his chance to feel.

Amethyst turned on the music with a push of a button, and began to undulate to the light strings of jazz that issued forth from the hidden speakers. Amethyst moved closer to where Damien sat and propped one foot between his legs, still rolling her hips in slow circles, knowing she made a tempting vision in the mirror. 

Amethyst put her mouth on the line of Damien's jaw and brought her hands up to rest on his shoulders as she lightly breathed on him inhaling his scent. "You smell good," Amethyst teased. "Good enough to eat," she promised, as her hand slid down his chest and brushed against the length of his sex. 

Damien inhaled deeply at her light touches all over him. Amethyst let her mouth brush Damien's before continuing to cover his face with light kissed. Amethyst firmly locked her mouth around his ear and nibbled and licked. Damien gave a light shudder under Amethyst's ministrations. 

Amethyst smiled to herself. On to round two. 

Amethyst began to unfasten Damien's shirt, slipping the individual buttons slowly through each hole. Amethyst settled her bottom on his thighs as she finished unbuttoning Damien's shirt. She lightly ran her mouth over his nipples, every touch light and teasing causing him to lean closer to her to force a firmer contact. 

Amethyst moaned low and long in the back of her throat, knowing he would find the sound irresistible. Amethyst pushed her bra up and began slowly rippling up and down, raising herself off his lap and brushing against his hard flesh as she settled back down. As her breasts brushed against his chest she heard him groan and felt him shift underneath her to ease the ache. Damien's eyes closed in agony as Amethyst felt his flesh swell against her. 

Amethyst felt herself getting wet. This sort of play with a man like Damien didn't come without a cost, but Amethyst wasn't wiling to pay the price; she would push him over long before she fell over herself. 

Amethyst reached down and unfastened Damien's slacks. She pulled his flesh through his boxers, wrapping her fingers around him and squeezing his length as she felt it pulse in her hands. Amethyst pulled away. 

Damien's eyes snapped open. 

"I didn't think it was fair that you had the opportunity to watch the show, and I didn't." Amethyst stood up. "And I have to get out of these wet panties," she whispered huskily, tossing them to the side so that she stood before him in just her high heeled shoes and her bra pushed up to her neck.

"Should I take this off," Amethyst asked, fingering the bra. 

Damien nodded, and Amethyst knew she was moments away from winning the game. Throwing her bra after her panties, Amethyst approached Damien and settled her bottom on his lap, steadily continuing rippling motions of her body against his. Amethyst slid her hand down Damien's body to ensure that his penis was between her soaking wet lips. She raised her left hand and began to fondle her breast with it, locking her eyes with Damien's in the mirror as she did it. She locked her other hand around his neck to secure her position.

When the pleasure became so great that Damien closed his eyes again, Amethyst stopped moving. 

Damien growled his frustration, letting her know that her cock tease was getting to him, and that if she wasn't careful, he would take her against her will. His hands had moved automatically to her waist to force her to continue the motion, but were removed almost immediately as he realized what he was doing. 

Amethyst smiled a secret smile to herself. She knew the score. She knew when enough was enough. "I'm sorry," she half heartedly apologized. "I just got tired. You could help me if you like," she offered, knowing he would grab at the offer to touch her with both hands. 

Damien was like a mad man. He didn't know himself as he brushed her hand aside, stroking her breast with a restless hunger that her touch had lacked. Damien placed his other hand on her waist, encouraging Amethyst to resume her motions. Amethyst gave in to what he wanted and continued her movements with his hot length between her thighs. But she made her first mistake all evening, underestimating Damien. 

Damien moved his hand from her hip and curled his fingers between her legs, finding her clitoris and squeezing and massaging it between two of his fingers with vicious intent. Amethyst let out a cry of pleasure and tried to move away from him, but he used his hand on her breast as a restraining device, holding her where she was, and making her undulate upon him in response to his fingers between her thighs. 

"Stop. Please stop," Amethyst insisted half heartedly, as she continued to moan and shudder upon him. Damien ignored her requests and continued his ministrations. When Amethyst begged a third time for him to stop, Damien showed his displeasure by thrusting three of his fingers into her dripping cunt, causing her to orgasm in his arms at that moment. Feeling the violent shudders chase through Amethyst proved to be his undoing and Damien came between her thighs. 

Damien sat in his office waiting to meet his two new employees with impatience and frustration. The episode with Amethyst the night before had left him in a sour mood from the second she stood up and politely excused herself, motioning towards a private exit that lead to a massage parlor and dry cleaner. She slipped on her underclothes, a robe, and left without another word. And he, still dealing with one of the most powerful orgasms of his life, let her walk away without a word. 

He was fairly certain he would never see her again. A later conversation with Rose made him think Amethyst would quit her job after "whatever had transpired between you two," were Rose's exact words. 

Damien sat looking at the files in front of him. One for an Amy Harcort, the other for a James Cooper. Amy appeared to be both competent and uncommonly bright. Amy's file revealed that she had worked for several prestigious companies and excelled at her jobs. Moving on to find new challenges and to help other corporations rise to the top. She had a Master's in Marketing and Public Relations, and had been pursuing a P.h.D. up until two years previous. According to her file, she had yet to resume her studies for her Doctorate. Not uncommon. 

Moving on to the next file, Damien could easily see why James has been hired. His grasp of Finance was way beyond the norm for a man twice his age. He had plenty of experience and excellent references. Damien didn't see any problems developing his two new staff members. Perucci Industries would continue to go from strength to strength. 

A soft knock on the door indicated that his PA was outside his door with the two individuals he was waiting for. 

Damien stood with a smile on his face and went to greet his newest employees. What he saw when he opened the door made his heart stop. 

James was nothing out of the ordinary. Your average 28 year old, slim financer with glasses, eager to please. Amy just so happened to look remarkably like Amethyst and by the way her pulse quickened when she saw him he quickly deduced that that was exactly who she was. 

"James, Amy," Damien greeted, holding out his hand to each of them. James took it easily enough spouting something or another about how pleased he was to join the company. Amy took his hand tentatively, muttering something equally mundane about how glad she was to "finally" meet him, when her expression said she was anything but. By the look on her face, Damien could almost believe she would quit right then and there. 

Damien made light chit chat with James for a few moments before saying how nice it was to meet him, arranging an alternate meeting time with him, and sending him on his way. Amethyst sat perched on a chair ready to flee. 

Damien sat down behind his desk looking at her carefully. Her sensible black suit and modest two inch pumps were bad enough, but she had hair pulled back loosely in a bun that almost presented itself as professional, but he knew what her hair looked like spread all over the place and he wanted to see it again, in fact, could picture little else. 

Amethyst waited patiently for Damien to make the first move. She knew he recognized her, but she wanted to see how he would play it. Although with him keeping her separate from James, it could really only go one way. 

"Why do you work at a strip club, if you're as great as your file says," Damien asked, wasting no time in getting to the facts.

"What I do when I am not working here is none of your concern," Amethyst retorted.

"I should think it is, as your external behavior reflects directly on the company, and with you working as the head of our marketing department, you of all people should know how important image is," Damien finished snidely. 

Amethyst just barely constrained herself from hitting him in his lovely smiling face. "Yes, of course you're right," Amethyst agreed, before sitting quietly once again. 

"If you'd care to answer my questions rather than avoid them then I'm sure this would all go much smoother, and you wouldn't have to worry about remaining in my presence," Damien informed. 

"I work there as a second job, like a waitress," Amethyst defended, "And never doubt that I am all that my file says and more. "

Damien shrugged at her flimsy defense, "So what you did last night is your average evening entertainment?"

"That's not what I said at all," Amethyst flung at him angrily. "I told you last night I don't do lap dances and I meant it."

Damien hardened at the thought of what she considered a lap dance. "And yet last night you did," he argued.

"Because you made me," Amethyst defended.

"I didn't make you," Damien denied. "You came to me because you are a money hungry whore."

Amethyst stood up and walked towards the door. 

"Where do you think you're you going," Damien berated her.

"Exactly where it looks like," Amethyst threw at him. "I'm leaving to write my resignation letter, because clearly this position is not going to work out."

"You will not leave until I tell you too," Damien threatened.

"Oh yeah," Amethyst questioned. "Watch me," she challenged, moving swiftly through the door to the elevator. 

Amethyst quickly stepped in as the door opened and pressed the button for the eighteenth floor. The doors were closing and Amethyst was letting out her pent up breath even as Damien put his hand in the door to stop it from closing. 

Damien watched as Amethyst tried to move around him to exit and prevented the move by simply blocking her path to freedom with his body, knowing she wouldn't want to touch him. Once the doors closed, Damien hit the emergency stop button. 


Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 01



"Don't touch me," Amethyst immediately demanded, as she realized Damien had deliberately closeted them in. She began stepping back, but could only go so far before she came against the glass. 

"You didn't satisfy me last night Amethyst, and I'll be damned if I let it happen a second time," he whispered silkily, stepping closer to her.

"I can hardly help it if you weren't satisfied last night. I tried to give you what you wanted, and you seemed satisfied to me. I washed your seed from between my legs when I got home last night," Amethyst recklessly threw at him.

It was the last thing she should have said. Damien's eyes darkened with pure desire as she made him recall that she had made him loose control. If she had had any hope of getting out of the elevator without having sex with Damien, then it was gone now. 

Damien put his hands on either side of Amethyst's face and covered her mouth with his own. Amethyst tried to back away from the kiss, but Damien secured his hands on her waist preventing any movement. As Amethyst got locked into the kiss, dueling with his tongue, moaning into his mouth, Damien allowed his hands to push her skirt up. 

Damien moaned deep in his throat. So she was a whore on the inside. No pantyhose beneath her prim suit as he had suspected, but black silk thigh highs with little black bows at the top connected to a black garter. God, she was sexy. Twisting that sexy body against him just the way he loved. 

Damien released the fastenings on her garters allowing his hand to roam at will under her skirt. Amethyst moaned in protest, trying to twist away from the pleasure of Damien's hands. Fighting her own cravings and Damien's demands. Damien managed to slip a finger under her panties despite her twisting, and found that she was dripping wet. She must have been getting excited while he was talking to her in his office. She must have been fantasizing about him doing just as he was doing.

Damien tore her panties from her waist and proceeded to thrust two of his fingers into her hot moist channel. Amethyst stopped fighting him and started moving against him, unable to help herself. Damien moved down her body spreading her legs and inserting his shoulders between her thighs, propping one of her legs on his shoulder. Damien looked up into Amethyst's lush folds spread wide open before him and groaned in pure bliss. He spread the lips of her pussy wide open so he could view the treasure he had uncovered. 

Amethyst heated even further under his hot gaze and watched as he circled the hood around her clitoris until he had coaxed it from its safe house. Damien fastened his mouth directly on it as soon as it put in an appearance, sucking furiously on it. The strong pull of his mouth directly on her clitoris made Amethyst's orgasm a foregone conclusion, but she managed to hold out for a good three or four minutes before she lost all control of herself, tugging at his hair and yelling his name. It was her cries of pleasure that brought Damien back to himself. His PA would be able to hear her through the elevator and think only God knows what. 

Damien pulled back from Amethyst and began to adjust her clothes even while she was still shaking with the after affects of the pleasure he had given her. He released the emergency stop even while she tried to catch her breath. Damien grabbed up her panties and tucked them into his pocket. 

Amethyst just stood with her back to the wall staring at him with half closed. Her thoughts were more than obvious. She hated him, for what he made her feel and for what he'd made her do. 

"You will not quit," Damien issued.

"You can't stop me," Amethyst refused him. "And I will not stay here and be your on/off sex toy. Despite what you think, I am not some sex starved bimbo."

"That you are not," Damien agreed. "But you will still stay, and you will quit that job at the strip joint."

"I can't," Amethyst argued. The lift doors dinged signaling her floor. Amethyst stepped out. "I just can't," she said before turning to walk away. 

There was little Damien could do with his staff swarming the floors, but this was not over, he promised. 

Damien pressed the button to go back up to the executive suite so he could practice some damage control on his PA. His PA was normally discreet, but Damien had never had sex in the elevator before, and news was news.



Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 02



Amethyst headed straight for the restroom after stepping off the elevator. She passed a few employees on the way and exchanged polite greetings, but no eyebrows were raised or glances too long so she could only assume she still looked halfway presentable. 

Amethyst entered the restroom and was relieved to find that she was alone. She quickly took her appearance looking for any signs of the exchange that had taken place in the elevator. Aside from uncommonly flushed cheeks and a few wisps of loose hair she looked normal. Damn Damien for taking her panties. Now she had to walk around all day feeling exposed. Damn, damn, and double damn. 

Amethyst smoothed her hair down, quickly washed up, and returned to her office. No sooner had she sat down than one of her junior employees appeared, Cameron. Amethyst had received a short bio on each of the staff members in her department and knew that Cameron had begun working at Perucci Industries soon after graduating college. He was very bright, but was still on a junior level because he had much to learn as he worked the corporate ladder. He could spot a problem in a minute, but was rarely able to solve it independently. 

Amethyst turned an easy smile on Cameron, inviting him to come in. Cameron came over to her desk with a smile of his own, which was somewhat more personal than professional, but open and welcoming all around. 

"Amethyst, I know it's your first day, but Damien only hires the best, and I have a slight problem," Damien started, laying a mock advertisement on her desk. "This is our latest ad for the 'Oooh' campaign," he started. "'Oooh' is our latest perfume that we--," Cameron stopped abruptly as Amethyst raised her hand.

"I know what 'Oooh' is," Amethyst informed him. She never took a job without learning about every aspect of the company and the products and services it offered. "Oooh" was geared towards vivacious women of all ages who wanted to proclaim to the world through scent alone that they were something special to be "Oooh"ed and aaaahed over.

Amethyst smiled up at Cameron to lighten the blow she had dealt him. It was a minor putdown, but still she wanted to maintain as pleasant a relationship with the staff as was possible during her short time there. 

Amethyst turned her eyes back to the advertisement and studied it with a practiced professional eye. "Looking at this ad, you probably are wondering why the colors aren't melding well together and what you can do to fix it, yes?"

Cameron looked at Amethyst with new respect and awe at her summary. Amethyst could see the glint of professional admiration tingeing in Cameron's eyes and smiled to herself. Junior staff were so easy to read. 

"That's it exactly," Cameron admitted, just as Amethyst had assumed he would.

"Well," Amethyst began, "The two shades of pink and light cream are trademarks of the product so they can't be pushed aside, and the eye catching orange is a diversion tactic to draw the eye to the billboard and page, but as you've already surmised, the two cannot go together, so something has to give and it must clearly be the orange."

"I agree completely," Cameron insisted, "But what can replace it that is both eye catching and complimentar?" 

"Nothing," Amethyst summarized. "So I would propose dropping the orange background, changing it to cream with a matte undertone to contrast with the gloss, and blow the bottle up to a life size image and wrap a naked woman around it with a piece of lavender cloth blowing off her exposed thigh. That way we won't have to worry about the background catching the eye, we can do it with the bottle and the woman, plus that has the advantage of putting the product in your face."

Cameron looked at Amethyst in amazement. What she was suggesting was perfect, but he hadn't expected a woman to go for the sex sells sales pitch, or to come up with a feasible solution so quickly. "Perfect," Cameron sighed, almost drooling over the perfection that was Amethyst. Cameron turned to leave.

"And Cameron," Amethyst entreated, catching Cameron's attention, "Make sure she's golden and curvy. No sticks," Amethyst finished with a wink.

"No problem," Cameron insisted, leaving her office looking as though he had been granted the sun. 

Amethyst turned to log on to her computer, wasting a few minutes thinking about Cameron as she waited for it to load. She loved dealing with people like Cameron, so easy to control and non-threatening. 

Amethyst immediately accessed Microsoft Word and began typing her resignation. It was such a shame too, she thought to herself. The money was great, she liked the staff she had met so far, and the work would prove to be both interesting and challenging. Amethyst sighed and continued typing. She reviewed her letter twice, made a few changes, and printed it. Amethyst signed the letter and sent it via confidential inner office to Damien. 

Amethyst turned away from the computer, determined not to think of Damien again, and tucked down into the pile of awaiting work in her inbox. Some of it proved self explanatory, and she knew enough from her research to complete it on her own, and some of it she had to confer with her assistant on. Amethyst finished up shortly after three and stopped to take a lunch break. 

Amethyst wandered across the street to a coffee shop and sat down with a Danish and a cup of coffee. She pulled out her cell phone to call Rose about her wok schedule. Rose picked up on the second ring. "Hello," Rose answered.

"Hi Rose, it's Amethyst. I appreciate your interference last night. You were right about it being easy money, and I'm glad I took it." Amethyst hastily stopped talking, and Rose didn't feel any need to fill in the silence, so remained silent and allowed it to stretch.

"Is there something else you want to say, Amethyst? It's not like you to call me and waste my daytime minutes breathing in my ear."

Amethyst laughed at Rose's candidness. "Yes, I guess there is," Amethyst started, taking a deep breath before continuing. "That guy from last night, Damien, he just so happens to be my new boss. I've handed in my resignation, and will therefore be available full time again in two weeks. In the meantime, lets just stick to Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, okay?"

Amethyst waited quietly, praying all the while that Rose wouldn't ask any questions about Damien. Amethyst's prayers went unanswered as Rose filled the silence with a dozen questions at once. 

"What kind of boss hires his own employees for a lap dance? And why was he at a strip joint if he is so wealthy? He is wealthy isn't he? You did say on Thursday that you were working for Perucci Industries, right? They haven't gone bankrupt have they?" A slight pause. "No, that's silly. If they had gone bankrupt then they wouldn't be hiring new staff, but honestly, how can you be so calm about it? Afterall, he is your boss."

"Yes, he is my boss," Amethyst began hesitantly, less than anxious to plunge into the aforementioned conversation. "He didn't know I was his employee when he bought me, and neither did I know he was my boss. It doesn't really matter; I'm serving my two weeks notice, and I'm leaving. End of story."

"Yeah right," Rose scoffed down the line. "If he actually lets you leave then I'll buy you a house for Christmas. A man doesn't ask as many questions as he asked me about you last night after you left when he isn't interested. And rich people don't let their interests walk away, they pursue them and conquer. You're playing with fire Amethyst. Let today be your last day."

"If I walk out, I ruin my reputation, and quite frankly reputations in the marketing world don't get much better than mine," Amethyst defended. "And besides, nobody conquers me. Worse case scenario we have sex; I move on. I didn't come down in the last shower. You know my rules Rose; I never get involved."

"Yeah, I know your rules," Rose derided, "But men like Damien can make you forget your own name, much less any artificial rules you have in place to protect yourself from being hurt."

"Yeah, well we'll see. Look my lunch is almost over, so I gotta go," Amethyst said by way of closing out the discussion.

Rose showed no inclination to end the conversation and kept right on talking. "No 'we'll see.' End it today, or become some rich man's play thing."

Amethyst tried a different approach to end the call, quickly regretting that she had even mentioned the subject. Sometimes Rose had a dog with bone mentality about certain conversations and one was likely to die before she let it go. "I have a project due shortly, so I really do have to go so I can finish it," Amethyst lied. 

"I don't believe you, but I'll see you in a few days anyway, so I'll let you go for now," Rose graciously offered.

Amethyst was willing to take any reprieve she could get. She quickly ended the call and walked back over to the Perucci Tower pondering Rose's advice. 

When Amethyst walked into her office it was to find Damien sitting behind her desk looking over one of the proposals she had prepared for a client earlier in the day. "You do excellent work," he commented, "Now close the door."

Amethyst stood in the doorway frozen in surprise. Damien rose from behind her desk and moved over to the door, closing it himself. "Would you care to have a seat while we have a little discussion." 

Amethyst moved over towards her conference table, but only to get away from Damien's forceful presence. 

Damien followed her over to the table sitting directly across from her. He threw an envelope on the table between them. "Care to explain what this is," he asked.

Amethyst didn't need to open the envelope to know what was enclosed. It was her resignation letter.

"No," she replied with fervor. "I think you're smart enough to interpret the document yourself."

Damien turned a sardonic smile on Amethyst. Too much misplaced passion. Passion he could handle; her misguided intentions to leave he could not. "Do you recall signing a contract with my company last week when you accepted this position," Damien asked, managing to sound only mildly interested. 

Amethyst looked into his olive green eyes, feeling a sliver of apprehension race down her spine. Who had eyes that color, she wondered to herself losing track of the conversation. It really was a nice color. She could probably use it in one of her ads if she wanted, with some crème and . . . Amethyst searched her mind for the third color to add for an exciting trio. 

Damien noted the distant look that had crossed her face, and decided to wait it out and see how long it would go. He wasn't to know that Amethyst frequently drifted in and out of thought puddles, as she called them, when it was regarding work, or that the wait could be as long as an hour. 

Crème and . . . hmm . . . Amethyst continued to ponder. Black would make it too dark, beige would make it too boring, grey would make it too depressing. Damien cleared his throat to catch her attention, noting the startled look that crossed her face, quickly followed by one of mass concentration as she tried to recall the last thing that had been said. She knew they had been talking about her resignation. Her eyes fixed on the envelope on the table praying for remembrance. 

Damien took pity on her and repeated his question. "Do you recall signing a contract when you accepted this position?"

"Of course I do," Amethyst snapped, not liking to have been caught splashing in thought puddles. 

"Damien offered a slow smile. "Good. Then I'm sure you understand why I can't accept your resignation at this time."

"Excuse me," Amethyst interjected with more attitude than was seemly, and less respect. "I read that contract thoroughly and no where did it say that I couldn't terminate employment whenever I wanted. If I recall correctly it indicated that this was 'at will' employment and could be terminated at any time with two weeks notice by either party."

"Yes, you recall correctly," Damien agreed. "But it went on to say in the very next paragraph that if you resigned within the first year, you wouldn't seek employment with any of Perucci Industries' competitors."

"So," Amethyst queried, not understanding his point. There were other jobs other than marketing that she could tap into for a year. 

"So," Damien started, taking his time delivering his less than pleasant news, "Perucci Industries has their hand in almost every pie. There isn't a business in the city that is not in direct competition with Perucci Industries, therefore, you can't get another job for the next year, and if my hunch is right, then you can't afford to quit this job." 

Amethyst recalled the clause as soon as Damien restated it. She had ignored the clause as being of no importance to her situation since she had intended staying for at least the next two years. If she quit, then she wouldn't be able to accept another job for a year. Working for Rose was great, but it just wouldn't get her the kind of money she needed in time. Amethyst bristled at being so neatly trapped. 

"Well then I guess I have to stay," she agreed, "But let me make myself clear in saying I by no means intend to enter into any relationship with you aside from our professional one," Amethyst avowed.

"I would expect no less from you," Damien acquiesced, "But let me also make myself clear," he started with menace. "I will pursue you for my own personal ends outside of our work environment and there is nothing you can do to keep that from happening."

"Well, good luck to you," Amethyst sneered, "Because I'll be leaving from here to go directly to my other job most nights, so I doubt you'll have ample opportunity to pursue me as you assume."

"You will quit that second job," Damien demanded. 

"As it happens, I will not," Amethyst flatly refused. "You may have some say over what happens here at work, but you have absolutely no authority over what I do when I leave here."

Damien chuckled in the face of her fury. "That's where you're wrong, Amy. Section 4 of your employment contract indicates that you will not engage in any behaviors outside of your work hours that will reflect poorly on your public image, which is in direct connection with Perucci Industries."

Amethyst felt her anger rise to new levels as she listened to him spout his hypocritical bull dust. Was he not bound under a similar contract? Didn't all employees sign a somewhat similar contract? 

"So it is okay for you to parade around in the gossip columns with a thousand different lovelies on your arm, and have the tabloids speculate that you sleep with every one of them? That does not violate the good public image clause," Amethyst railed.

"Certainly not," he replied, the very picture of calm in the face of her agitation. "It makes me enigmatic, and therefore always newsworthy, resulting in Perucci Industries always being newsworthy. It's good PR. However, as the CEO of this organization, I am not under contract."

"Yes, but –" Amethyst began. 

Damien ruthlessly cut her off. "I am not discussing this further with you," Damien coldly rejected. "Quit that job by the end of the week, or I will sue you for breech of contract, and if I have to drag your name through the mud to get you where I want you, then I will do so." 

Damien stood up and moved to exit Amethyst's office. Amethyst stopped him in his tracks, trailing him to the door and grabbing his arm, as he moved to open the door.

"You have a hell of a nerve threatening my life with your callous ways," Amethyst threw out, determined to make some sort of stand, to show him that he couldn't maltreat her so. 

Damien turned towards Amethyst and grabbed the hand she had dared to touch him with, pulling it behind her back along with the other one. "Only touch me, when your touch is motivated by passion, when you want me naked driving into your sweet flesh," Damien instructed. 

Amethyst froze under his hands, afraid of the turn the conversation had taken. The breath stuck in her throat at their close contact. Still, Amethyst put up a token effort to pull back. 

"Don't waste your time," Damien directed. "Now that I have you in my arms, I would hardly be so foolish as to let you go without retracting some sort of payment for my efforts. I won't rush you into sex, although we've done everything but, but I will taste your passion again," he informed, brushing his hand over the curve of her hip. Amethyst jerked beneath his caress, helplessly moving closer to his virile strength. 

"What's this," Damien questioned, sotto surprised, as his hand discovered she wasn't wearing any panties. "Interesting that you're not wearing any panties."

"Because you took them, you basta—." Damien cut off her insult with his mouth. Deriving great pleasure from relearning the contours after their brief first kiss earlier in the day. Damien traced the crease of Amethyst's lips. Amethyst moaned helplessly, enjoying the benefit of his cultivated skill and his dark passion. 

Damien pulled back, wanting to see Amethyst's response, to see if she was as lost to her desire as she seemed. Amethyst was still pressed closely against him of her own violation begging for more, but her eyes were spitting daggers. "You bastard," she finally managed to throw at him.

"I'm a bastard because you were out to lunch for almost an hour and didn't think to go buy any more panties," Damien taunted questioningly. "Or is it that you hoped I would come back and you wanted me to have easy access to this sweet flesh," he asked, punctuating his words with another wildly impassioned caress, letting his fingers drift up under her skirt. Damien pushed two fingers deeply into Amethyst, gratified when she moved against his caress begging for deeper stimulation. Damien obliged, adding a third finger, forcing them deeper inside her waiting, pouting flesh. 

"Tell me you need this," Damien invited.

"I can't," Amethyst protested. "It would be a lie," she denied him, still moving against his amorous touch.

"What do you need then," Damien asked in frustration. "Do you need to have the eyes of a million men who are willing to pay for kicks upon you? Is that why you work at a strip club, and thought to refuse to quit that excuse for a job?"

"Don't you dare belittle what I choose to do with my time outside of working here," she rebelled, pressing her hands against his chest to put some space between them. "You don't know anything about me."

"And you won't tell me anything, so where does that leave us," he asked, firing his response with the deadly accuracy of a sniper. Therein lay the problem. She was locked up as tight as a clam, and he couldn't pry any information from her. "Tell me what you're afraid of," he encouraged. "Trust me," he entreated.

Amethyst tried harder to push herself free, but the lower half of her body had a mind of its own and was still pressing demandingly against Damien. Amethyst groaned in the back of her throat at her weakness. She couldn't seem to make her flesh obey her and separate from the source of its pleasure. She really only had one other option to end the current line of questioning. Besides, it was no hardship as badly as she wanted it. 

Amethyst reached behind her and unzipped her skirt, bearing with fortitude the short loss of contact as Damien released her so her skirt could slide unbidden to the floor. "Have sex with me," she tempted. 

"Right here, right now," Damien questioned.

"Right here, right now," Amethyst invited, letting her own hand tangle in her dark curls, before sliding in two fingers to make up for his neglect. 

Damien was torn between a desire to teach her a lesson by walking away, and a desire to take her right where she stood. His desire to possess her beauty overruled his natural ruthlessness, and he pressed her up against the wall curving her leg around his waist and unfastening his pants before Amethyst could rethink the wisdom of her invitation. 




Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 02



Damien pressed against her softness, forcing his way in, pressing firmly against her cervix. Amethyst chose this time to take a more active role in their love making; arching her back and removing both his and her clothes. Her eager hands shed buttons and thread alike as she swiftly moved to bare both their upper bodies. Amethyst wasted no time clawing his back with her fingernails and pressing her aching nipples against his chest, loving the immediate friction. 

Damien pulled out of her before pushing his way back in, delighting in the tight feel of her, loving her welcoming body. Damien hoisted Amethyst up against the wall and moved in closer to support her, wrapping her other leg around his waist. Amethyst loved the way he controlled their sex, knowing just how to please her. He bent his knees slightly to add more force in his thrust. Amethyst shuddered all around him begging for more, proving her insatiability. 

"Harder, harder, harder," she begged, punctuating each thrust with her requests, making it both a litany and prayer as she continued to gasp and beg. 

Damien was on the brink of fulfillment when a little imp prodded him into asking once more, "Tell me you need this." 

"God, yes," she yelled, scratching his back as his thrust became not only harder, but faster, causing her to break off mid-confession on a breathless sigh. Amethyst came hard and quick, pushing Damien over the edge with her. Damien held her against the wall for five harried breaths, before lowering her feet to the floor and stepping back. 

His black humor quickly came to the surface as they both began redressing. "Maybe I should take you shopping. It seems I am now in need of a new shirt," he commented, laughing ruefully as he shrugged his shirt on, but found only three buttons remained as he tried to refasten it. 

Amethyst flushed red at the obvious reason for the missing buttons, but said nothing, instead concentrating on quickly making herself presentable. 

When they both stood before each other as respectable and composed as either one of them was likely to get, Amethyst hastened to speak first and fill in the silence. "This can't happen ever again," she informed, barely hanging on to her peaceful façade. 

"I completely agree," Damien placated. "The next time this should be conducted in an environment more conducive to privacy and comfort."

"There isn't going to be a next time," Amethyst denied him hotly. "This was an aberration, an accident. Please, just let it go at that. Don't pursue me. I'm not playing hard to get, I just can't afford to be in any type of relationship now or ever again," she finished, asking for his understanding.

"You never did answer my question from earlier," he reminded her, too tenacious to let go. "Why do you work a job that is clearly beneath your skills and talents. Why do you work at a strip club," he persisted.

Amethyst backed up a step away from him, not realizing her emotional withdrawal from the subject had manifested itself in the physical. 

"So you don't want to talk about that," he asked pseudo obtusely, knowing intrinsically that she did not wish to talk about herself. "Perhaps you'd like to tell me why you're afraid to get close to anyone."

Amethyst stood before him silent. Her eyes darkening with remembered pain. Pain that he had made her forget about while she was wrapped in his arms, joined with his body. Maybe she could use him to help her sleep at night when her dreams became too much like her reality, she reflected in one of her rare moments of dark humor. 

She wasn't afraid, Amethyst silently denied, just too smart to invite that kind of needless pain. People died, they left you with your love as a glaring reminder of all that you lost. She wouldn't get involved again, she promised herself; ever again. 

"You have no say in my personal life, so if you have nothing further business related you wish to talk about, then I invite you to leave," Amethyst carelessly threw at him.

"I am still your employer," he ruthlessly reminded her. "Keep that in mind when you speak to me in future."

"Yes," she agreed too quickly, "You are still my employer, but if you don't like my attitude, then fire me for insubordination. You do have that right. 'At will' Employment and all that."

Damien smiled coldly at her. She was certainly very intelligent and quick witted, but he couldn't let her go. Not after the mind blowing sex. Only she could make him lose control and break two of his life rules in one day. Never get involved with employees, and never have sex at work. But he'd break them both again with a moments indication from her. 

She was fire and ice. All hands off one minute, and all come get me the next. Her limitless passion was right below the surface, and he would find a way to tap into it. He smiled at her before turning on his heel and leaving. 

Amethyst sank down behind her desk drained of energy. She wouldn't be able to handle it if every day was like this. She had to find a way out. 

(As always, your comments are welcome. Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed.) 



Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 03



Amethyst sat behind her desk kicking herself. Not because she'd been stupid enough to have sex with her boss, not because they'd done it at work, but because she had been too careless to give a thought to protection. She could be pregnant even now. 

She wondered if Damien had bothered to catch that detail in the aftermath of their torrid liaison. 

Amethyst got up from her desk sick with worry, determined not to think about it anymore. She packed up her briefcase, shut down her computer, and left the office. She found herself at a small coffee shop near the office that catered to upscale clients. She was hoping the rarefied atmosphere would serve as some sort of distraction against her raging chaotic thoughts. 

Her cappuccino had just arrived when she spotted Cameron. He was quick to greet her and help himself to a seat. It wasn't long before they got into a fairly personal conversation, which Cameron was spearheading. Was she single, what did she like to do, where did she live. Amethyst could tell he was quickly leading to a "Would you like to accompany me to..." question, and excused herself to the restroom before the conversation could progress further. 

Of course luck was not on her side as she spotted Damien on her way to the restroom, or rather she should say Damien spotted her. His swift approach and dark frown were indicative that he had seen her with Cameron. 

"Are you and Cameron an item," were the first words out of his mouth, before he covered hers with it. Amethyst struggled against his kiss afraid of who might see. Afraid that Cameron might see. She didn't need the staff questioning if she had got the job on merit or if she had known, in the biblical sense, the right person. 

When Amethyst was finally able to jerk her mouth away from Damien's she was quick to let her thoughts be known. "How dare you? What if someone saw? And what say have you as to who I see outside of work hours? Let me go, and leave me alone," she threw at him, tugging on her arm in a bid to get free.

Damien used his grip on her arm to drag her into the stand alone restroom. Amethyst's punitive struggles were useless against his superior strength and he quickly subdued her. 

"I will ask again, and this time I suggest you answer me," he threatened menacingly. "Are you and Cameron an item?"

"And what if we are," she recklessly defied him. "What will you do then?"

"I'll fire him of course," Damien answered, not turning a hair at the unfair course of action he was willing to take to control her.

"You pig! Of course you would. What else would I expect from a man with no decency and no morals?"

"Careful Amethyst," Damien warned, full of purpose and impatience. "You don't want that sweet little mouth to get you in trouble. I am still your boss."

Amethyst exploded as the stress of worry and his inflammatory words proved to be the last straw. "You self-righteous bastard. Don't you dare use your position as my boss over me. You weren't acting like a boss earlier when you had sex with me in the elevator or in my office, and you certainly weren't acting like a responsible lover when you didn't give a thought for my protection! I could be pregnant. Do you understand that?"

Damien slackened his hold enough for her to pull her arm free at last. He hadn't given it a second thought, but then he had had more pressing things on his mind at the time. It didn't matter though. It didn't change that he wanted her and that he would have her. 

"We'll just have to wait and see," he replied, not in the least bit bothered at the possibility. "In the meantime, I don't want to see you near Cameron again outside of office hours."

Amethyst slammed out of the bathroom, not bothering to reply. She rejoined Cameron at the table looking slightly shaken, prompting a barrage of questions from a concerned Cameron. She denied that anything was wrong, denied her availability for a date, denied that she needed anything else to drink. After a short interval she felt comfortable excusing herself on the pretext of having an early start the next morning. Cameron made clear that he would welcome meeting her after work again, and carried a smitten expression on his face as he escorted Amethyst to her car. She was careful to look slightly bored when they arrived, giving no indication that a kiss or a personal move of any kind would be welcome. Cameron handled the situation good naturedly and bid her goodnight. 

Arriving home, Amethyst quickly showered and slipped into bed, not prepared to analyze her feelings for Damien or the episode at the café. Wait and see. Why? So that in the unfortunate event that she had gone and gotten herself pregnant she could be stuck dealing with him for the next 18 years? No thanks. She'd rather quit her job and quietly disappear. Maybe he was right though. No sense worrying about something that wasn't a definite yet. Only time would tell. Amethyst slowly drifted into a restless sleep, only to be awoken what felt like moments later by her alarm. 

Amethyst slipped out of bed with a weary sigh. It was going to be a long day. 

*********************************************

The morning passed fairly quickly with Amethyst shuffling through work as if she had been with the company for several years instead of several days. She was efficient, hard working, and extremely knowledgeable. Her co-workers had taken an immediate liking to her, and the department was having a celebratory lunch to welcome her in. She had just returned from the happy affair and was still laughing as she entered her office to be greeted by the ringing phone. 

"Hello," she greeted.

"Hiyah," Rose answered back. "Sounds like your having a great time at work. Just finish a round with the boss, did you?"

Amethyst smiled at Rose's unwelcome, but absolutely Rose-like comment. Settling into her chair, Amethyst swung around to look out the window as she talked. "As it happens, not today, but I'm sure I could arrange a private viewing for you later in the week if you're into voyeurism."

Rose's laugh tinkled down the line as she enjoyed basking in the glow of Amethyst's sharp wit. "Actually I'm busy this week. Maybe next week. I'll let you know."

"You do that," Amethyst invited, laughing with her friend. "So, did you call for something special or just to twist the knife in?"

"Twisting the knife in is special," Rose informed in her pseudo pout voice. "I was actually calling to see if you were still due in this weekend or if I should just take you off the schedule indefinitely what with Mr. Fancy Pants taking up all your time."

"Mr. Fancy Pants can go stuff himself. I'll be in as scheduled," Amethyst promised, renewed anger lighting her eyes at his high handedness.

"As you like. See you on Friday."

"Friday it is. Bye Rose." Amethyst swirled her chair back around to hang up the phone and was unprepared to see Damien leaning in her doorway. How long had he been there?

"Amethyst," he acknowledged by way of greeting.

"Damien," she returned, trying to stay cool. 

"Sorry I missed your lunch. Pressing business concerns and all that."

"Naturally," Amethyst readily dismissed hoping he'd leave as quickly as he'd come. 

"I couldn't help but overhear that you have plans for Friday night."

"Yes," Amethyst agreed, offering nothing more in the way of explanation. It was none of his business.

"With...?"

"Just a friend," she answered, maintaining her anonymity. "Was there something work related that I can help you with," she offered, trying to put him back on the right track.

"Yes, actually," he replied, finally moving away from the wall to approach with what Amethyst decided could only be termed as menace. "You see, I know that was Rose on the phone, and I think you just agreed to go to work this weekend even though we agreed you would quit that job." He stopped within an inch of her desk and she felt the waves of aggression rolling of him as he crossed his arms. Well he could go stuff it.

"So what if I am?"

Damien's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He hadn't been expecting an offensive word to spill from her lips having been caught out like she had.

"You gave me a week to quit my second job and that gives me until Sunday, so what I do before then is really none of your concern, now is it?" Amethyst's chin was tilted at a defiant angle and Damien found himself intrigued rather than angry. Besides she had caught him in his own trap. Who was he to argue? 

"As you wish."

Amethyst mentally patted herself on the back for her defensive actions and just managed to stifle a triumphant smile. "Now is there anything I can help you with, or can I get back to work," she asked somewhat saucily, directing her eyes to the pile of work that had arrived in the hour it had taken her to have lunch. 

"Have dinner with me tonight," he invited, not at all dissuaded by her previous refusals to have anything to do with him. 

Damien's proposal completely shocked Amethyst and it took her a moment to properly digest his words. Was he going mad? Her office door was wide open and he was asking her out on a date. 

"That sounds riveting," she issued with a tight hard smile, "But I'm afraid I'm unavailable tonight or any other night you may wish to ask me out. And for the record," her voice getting progressively lower and more urgent, "We may have slept together, but as far as I'm concerned any possible relationship we had is over and will remain so. I wish to have no further dealings with you outside of those related to work. Is that clear?"

"And if you're pregnant...?" he rejoined, without any outward sign that he had heard either her refusal or her put down. 

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it, but it's highly unlikely," Amethyst denied. Anything to end the uncomfortable line of questioning the conversation had taken. 

Cameron appeared in the doorway as if she had summoned him. She couldn't have asked for a more effective barrier to ending their current conversation and released a sigh of thankfulness as she smiled a warm welcome to him. 

"Ah, Cameron," she greeted, "I had a few question for you on one of these accounts." Turning to Damien she politely dismissed him, but neither he nor she were fooled by her careful wording. For all their sweetness, her words were impudent in the extreme. The warning glint in Damien's eyes should have warned Amethyst that the situation was far from concluded, but she was either too tired or too optimistic to realize that he didn't give up easily. When he turned and left her office she thought it was the end of their relationship and felt a small twinge of regret in her heart, but she quickly stifled it and summoned a smile for Cameron's benefit. 

***************************************************

Amethyst arrived at the strip club just before 8 o'clock. She greeted Rose on her way in before slipping into the changing room to put on her work uniform. She made her way back onto the floor and got ready for a long night of serving drinks and skirting groping hands. 

It was after 11 o'clock when Amethyst felt a pair of heavy eyes resting on her. She turned immediately to the source and was mortified to see Damien talking to Rose. She stood there dumbly for a moment trying to decide what to do. Pretend she hadn't seen him? Go over and yell at him? Sneak out the back? Amethyst had just decided to sneak out the back when she saw Rose wave her over. Great.

Amethyst made her way over, adopting a sort of professional attitude to try and stave off the awkward feelings she was having. What was he doing here?

"Would either of you care for a drink," she offered as she joined them. 

"No," Rose jumped in before Damien could speak. "Actually the gentleman here would like a lap dance."

Amethyst saw the smile playing across Rose's lips. She thought this was some sort of game. Some sort of lover's tiff. And obviously Damien had been doing nothing to dissuade her. Amethyst glared into his green eyes and wished she could kill him where he sat.

"I'll leave you to discuss the terms." Rose walked away, the little smile on her face splitting into a full on grin as she felt the tension passing between the two of them. No question, they were hot together. It was no wonder Amethyst was making a fool of herself over the man. 

Amethyst turned on Damien the second Rose was out of earshot. "What are you playing at?"

"Nothing," Damien returned smoothly, a small smile playing about the edge of his mouth as well. "I was just hoping for a dance. I know your price is rather high, so I've been saving all week." He smiled into her mutinous face as she tried to control her left hand, but failed when, almost with a will of it's own, it arced up and hit him in the face. 

Damien lost the smile, but not the intensity in his eyes. "How much?"

"This is harassment," Amethyst answered, glaring into his eyes. "I told you at the office I wanted nothing more to do with you, and here you are stalking me!"

She was unprepared for the sound of Damien's rich laughter dancing around her. "You are priceless indeed Amethyst. Would it be any wonder if I did decide to stalk you?" His laughter continued. "I'm here because you invited me."

"And when did this miracle take place?"

"It was you who said I could only see you on work related issues?" Damien rhetorically asked. "This is your work, until Sunday at least, and I'd say a lap dance is very much related."

Amethyst froze. Hoisted on her own petard. And that would teach her to think she had got one up on Damien. 

"How much?" he asked again.

Amethyst's mind raced, going in every which direction to try and find a way to make him lose interest. Money. He still hated avarice women. She had proved herself to be one before, she could prove herself to be one again. In fact, why not make it worth her while. Her remaining debt totaled around $200,000. Why not just make it an even $300,000 and then if he took the bate, she'd at least be able to pay the remaining debt and quit her job. 

"Ok," she acquiesced, giving that same harlot's smile from less than a week ago. "I'll do it for $300,000."

Damien smiled. She had agreed. And now came the gamble. "For that amount of money, we should at least make it interesting."

Amethyst felt a shiver of apprehension creep down her spine. "H-how," Amethyst had to stop to steady her voice. She had expected a flat out refusal and he was throwing her for a loop by agreeing so readily. "How can we make it more interesting?"

"Last time I was here you said you could make me cum in 10 minutes or less, and amazingly you achieved your goal. How long do you think it would take you tonight?"

He had already possessed her body and she knew he desired her wildly. Amethyst felt her confidence returning. It would be a fairly simple thing to make him lose control. 

"Another 10 minutes," she shrugged, self-assurance oozing from every pore. She should have remembered he hadn't gotten rich by making stupid mistakes or taking unnecessary risks.

It was almost too good to be true. Damien congratulated himself on his good fortune and her apparent arrogance. 

"So confident," he mocked.

"I'd say I deserve to be confident after your performance the last time," she teased, the dark pleasure in her eyes reminding him of the ways and means she had made him lose control.

"I see." An answering desire sparked in Damien's eyes, making his voice gruff as he continued with his offer. "Then if you make me cum in under 10 minutes tonight, the money is yours and I will stop actively pursuing you, but if you don't meet your goal, then I take you home with me, and you grace my bed every night until I say otherwise." Almost as an afterthought he added, "And perhaps if you please me enough, then the money will still be yours. Deal?"

Determination lit a fire in Amethyst's heart The terms were daunting, but she was not aiming to lose so they hardly mattered. She would stoop to whatever means to be sure he came in under ten minutes and whatever else happened, she certainly wouldn't be giving him permission to touch her tonight. 

"Deal."

Together they traced their way to one of the back rooms and Amethyst made a note of the time as they entered the room. 

"You are of course aware of the rules," Amethyst asked in a parody of their first time together. 

"I've recently been acquainted with them," Damien agreed, smiling at her cheekiness. 

Stripping off her top and bottom, Amethyst stood before him in just her high heeled shoes. She slowly began to dance closer and closer to him, hips swaying and body undulating all the while. Damien hardened his heart against the sight of her, even though he had imagined seeing her this way many times. Later, he promised himself. Later.

Amethyst let her hands wonder over her breasts, dancing around the rosy tips. "But for the fact that now is hardly the time, I would love to feel your mouth touching me here. Your hot mouth pulling on the swollen tip and your tongue swirling around until I was mad with desire." Her head titled back and her eyes closed slightly as she brought her left hand slowly down her body between her thighs.

"I would love to feel your mouth between my thighs, tasting me again. When you cornered me in the elevator I was secretly excited to be at your mercy, but you soon found that out for yourself." Amethyst smiled, every word she uttered a provocation. Her fingers dipped into her sweet depths as she moved her hips closer to his body. He could smell her arousal wafting up to him but remained still. 

Removing her fingers from between her thighs, Amethyst was somewhat appalled at how wet they were. She was clearly becoming more aroused than she had allowed for. Time to step up her game. 

Turning her back to Damien, she dropped her bottom slowly down the front of his chest to his lap, where it was greeted with hard enthusiasm by his penis. She slowly slid her way back up and turned around repeating the move, but this time she settled on her knees in front of him and made quick work of unfastening his pants. 

Damien felt a growl in the back of his throat, but didn't move. Amethyst pulled a quick glance at the clock, 4 minutes left. Her head quickly dropped and her mouth tightened around the head as she began bobbing up and down. She swirled her tongue around the tip as she let him fall almost completely out of her mouth before capturing him back inside, allowing him to slide deeper than before. Amethyst felt a drop of pre-cum hit her lip as she slid back. She made eye contact with Damien, knowing how he loved visual stimulus, and swiped her tongue languorously across her lips collecting the pearly drop before bending to her task again, victory in sight. 

Watching her glistening tongue savoring his taste was the last straw, and Damien pulled her up from between his legs and flattened her back against the mirror. Amethyst struggled wildly in his arms. "Stop."

Damien didn't listen. He only paused for a moment to wrap her legs around his waist and then he was all action as he slid deep inside of her. Amethyst shuddered violently and tried to pull back, but was prevented from doing anything more than arching her back to deepen his thrusts. 

Grabbing her wrists, he secured them over her head whispering all the wicked things he would do to her as he plunged deeper and harder. Amethyst convulsed around him barely able to breathe as he took her to a new plane of ecstasy. He hastily withdrew from her kneeling between her thighs. His hot mouth whispering over her sensitive flesh as she collapsed against the mirror unable to hold herself up any longer.

As Damien slid up her body, Amethyst could just make out the clock over his left should. Almost twenty minutes later, and he still hadn't come. Amethyst put her hands against his chest trying to push him away but he stayed pressed against her holding her erect. She resented that he was the only thing keeping her from falling to a heap on the floor. She resented that he had turned her own body against herself.




Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 03



"Let me go," she railed.

Damien released her and she fell back heavily against the mirror still struggling to catch her breath. When she finally caught her breath her first words were defiant and angry. "You didn't win; you cheated!"

"So what if I did," he admitted with a negligent shrug. 

"Then our deal if off."

"But it's not, sweet Amethyst, because if I had come down your tight throat you would have called that a victory."

Her raised eyebrow said 'So?'

"You weren't dancing for me Amethyst. You were giving me oral sex. I simply returned the favor."

"But I never gave you permission to touch me," she complained petulantly.

"The deal was for a lap dance. You broke the rules and turned it into sex. As you couldn't be bothered to follow the rules, neither could I. You drove me to possess your body and you enjoyed every minute of it so don't act as though it will be any sacrifice to share my bed for the next few months." He refastened his pants and turned to leave. "I'll be back to get you at 2."

Amethyst sat in the room long after he'd left. How she was going to survive an affair with Damien she didn't know. It was clear she was going to have to quit her job. Everyone would know they were sleeping together and that would be the last straw. Seeing the knowing looks everyday. Hearing the whispers. No thank you. Amethyst finally got up and redressed. She immediately ran into Rose of course. 

"You look well and truly ravished," Rose greeted. 

"I-" Amethyst struggled for something to say. She hadn't planned on being confronted in so direct a manner so soon after the incident. "I need to leave."

"I figured as much. Don't worry about it. Call me when you feel like talking." Rose embraced her in a warm hug and waved her into the back. 

Amethyst dressed slowly, trying to recall a time when she had made as big a mistake as this one. Eight minutes later, the votes were in; she had never made as big a mistake as she had tonight. Not even the unprotected sex of a few days before. God help me, she prayed, as she walked out the back . 

Of course, Damien was there waiting.



Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 04



Amethyst slid into the car next to Damien and vowed to maintain a rebellious silence for the entire drive. As the car headed in the opposite direction of her home, she figured she would be spending the night in his bed.  He hadn't taken his pleasure of her earlier so she assumed he would be working off his unmassaged passion and aggression. It would be a long relentless night. 

After a few minutes she broke the silence to ask a question that had to be asked. "Do you have any condoms at your home?"

His dark eyes barely left the road as he answered. "No. I'll have to stop and get some on the way."

"As you like." She refused to fight with him while her emotions were so scattered. In fact, she decided spur of the moment, she wasn't going to fight with him anymore. The more she tried to resist him and the more she said 'no' then the more he seemed determined to have her.  Maybe if she turned herself into a simpering 'yes' girl he would lose interest. Anything was worth a try.

Damien stopped off at a pharmacy to pick up a few items and continued home. She barely showed any signs of interest as they pulled into the driveway. She entered his four story home with a single question on her lush lips. "Where is your bedroom?"

He took her by the arm and led her up the winding staircase to his room. She immediately began taking off her clothes, anxious to have it done. Damien grabbed her arm to stop her from sliding her pants down her thighs. "Is there a reason you're in such a hurry?"

"I'm just anxious to please you," she lied, letting her arm fall uselessly to her side as he released her. "Is there something else I can do to please you," she offered, sliding her hands down his chest and making quick work of unfastening his pants. He slid his hands down her arms and grasped her wrists in a gentle hold pulling her over to the bed. 

"Actually there is," he invited, falling onto the edge of the bed. "Finish what you started earlier. 

A part of her felt outright defiance. If he thought she was going to fall on her knees before him and worship his hard straining flesh then he had another think coming. And another part of her pooled with hot desire at the thought of taking his hot flesh into her mouth again. Her eyes darkened with passion. A 'yes' girl wouldn't say no to so simple a request. 

Sliding down his body she let her mouth sweep over his flesh. His sharp intake of breath let her know he was nowhere near as in control as he tried to appear. Desire turned her caresses more carnal than she had intended. Her tongue toyed with the ridge along the head as her breath also quickened. She wanted to make him cum more than she wanted her next breath. 

Forcing the head of his thick length further down her throat than she was comfortable with, Amethyst continued to push the limits of his excitement to new levels. Her tight throat proved the deciding factor in snapping his control and he came down her throat with a great spurt. Amethyst didn't move, letting her convulsing throat milk the last drops from him. 

Struggling to catch his breath, Damien pulled out of Amethyst's mouth, about to pull her underneath him, but she surprised him by shedding her clothes and crawling on top of his body. As she slid down onto his turgid flesh Damien found he was barely able to drag breath into his lungs.  He settled his hands loosely on her waist and let her continue with her hellish motions. 

It was their first time together in a bed and Amethyst was determined to satiate his body with pleasure until he fell asleep, and if she happened to have an orgasm or two along the way, so be it.  

She rested her hands on either side of his head, letting her nipples hover just above his mouth as she moved her body up and down his hot length in a rhythm designed to drive him mad with desire. When she stopped suddenly, his grasp on her waist tightened suddenly and he picked her rhythm up, using his strength to continue moving her upon his length. 

"Stop," she protested, earning his disapproval. Damien growled low in his throat to warn her that playing power games during sex would not be tolerated. 

"Damien stop!" she tried again. In Damien's mind it was too similar to their first time together and he pumped his hips up to meet the downward motion of her body, punishing her with pleasure. He watched her eyes glaze over as passion took her into a mindless place where all she could do was seek pleasure. This was the way he liked her, obedient to his every sexual whim. 

Her body trembled as pleasure ripped through her and his grip on her waist never loosened as she collapsed on top of him, accepting his fierce thrusts as he pushed himself towards orgasm. At one point she tried to pull away again, but he refused her. She subsided with a sigh knowing she couldn't reach him.

When his breathing returned to normal, Damien moved their sated bodies to the head of the bed and curled his arms around his body. "Never think to deny me again Amethyst."

She immediately stiffened in his hold at the rebuke. "You didn't use protection." She let the accusation hang in the air between them, damning him. "Again."

"It won't happen again," he promised.

Amethyst rolled her eyes, not trusting him. His obsession with her was like a disease and he never stopped to think of anything once he touched her body. She doubted if she could trust his word on this oh so important matter. She would have to visit her doctor tomorrow and start a birth control regimen. 

"Ok."

**********************

The next day dawned bright and sunny. Amethyst was pleased to find she was alone in bed, but not so pleased to read the note next to her. "Gone to the office. Back by 1. Lunch, then shopping. Be ready."

Amethyst crumpled the note in her fist. She hated him. 

Sliding out of bed, she was chagrined to trip over her bra. While the rest of her clothes had been neatly folded over a chair this single item had been left. Accident or design? Not the most auspicious start to the day. 

She quickly helped herself to a shower and struggled back into her clothes, skipping the day old panties in favor of the free and loose feel. A quick call to her doctor confirmed she could be squeezed in for an 11:30 appointment. 

She was pleased to find her car parked out front. She waved away the maid on her offer of breakfast and set off to a boutique near her doctor's office. Purchasing a pair of panties, denims, and a chic button down blouse, she was happy to throw her old outfit in the bin. 

It took only moments for her doctor to give her a birth control prescription and she left to get it filled immediately, knowing she needed to be back to Damien's before he arrived and questioned her about her whereabouts. She needn't have bothered to rush though, because the maid filled him in on her disappearing act when he did arrive home, mentioning that she had skipped breakfast as well. 

He didn't play the jealous controlling lover as she had suspected though, refraining from asking where she had been, he contented himself with a simple, "How was your day?"

"Fine."

He smiled at her reticence. He would clear her of it soon enough. He had a special appointment scheduled for later and he knew that he would certainly enjoy it, and knowing her, she would enjoy it too. 

"Good then, let's go."

She rose from her reclining position in the sitting room and joined him at the door after grabbing her purse. 

They sat for a surprisingly pleasant lunch where he entertained her with anecdotes and asked about some of the projects she was working on. She was only too happy to keep the topic off personal things and the afternoon passed with lazy conversation and coffees. Around 3:30 they started off on their shopping expedition. He took her to several dress boutiques and bought her all colors, styles, patterns, designers. Each dress was more scandalous than the last and she knew they would be for his pleasure more than hers, but she kept silent lest he derive some pleasure from her defiance.  

"Was that the last dress shop," she asked somewhat huffily after he finished ordering an additional eight dresses from the last one. You would think she would be spending the rest of her life with him as many dresses as he was buying. 

"Yes, that is the last dress shop," he promised, winning a very snide and sarcastic smile for his generosity in ending the shopping trip from hell.

They headed back to the car, she in tense silence, he with avid anticipation. It was a few moments before she realized they weren't heading towards his home. "Where are we going now?" she asked, all the impatience she was feeling leaking into her voice. 

"One last boutique."

"You said we were done," she argued.

"I said that was the last dress shop, and it was."

"Then where precisely are we going?" she demanded.

"I think you should just wait and be surprised." 

She sat seething next to him promising herself she was done pandering to him today. She couldn't take one more awed look being cast his way by the shop assistants or anymore parading around in dresses for his pleasure. His pleasure be damned!

They pulled up in front of a secluded shop tucked away behind a jewelry store front. At least they weren't going to the jewelry store, she derided. He took her hand as he led her towards the entrance. The sign above the door said Sweet Things. Maybe a candy shop, she hoped. If so, he had finally done something to please her. She did so love chocolates and sweets.

Her pleasant foray into the land of fantasy chocolates was stripped away from her as she saw racks and racks of lingerie hanging in front of her. Damien made the mistake of releasing her hand as he approached the shop assistant. It was all the opportunity Amethyst needed as she turned on her heel and slipped back out the entrance. 

Damien caught up with her two steps outside the door, but she was quick to turn on him in a spitting rage. "I am not some little doll you can dress up whenever and however you like! I will not go back in there with you!" she vowed. 

"But it would give me so much pleasure if you did," he promised, his charismatic smile very much in evidence. "You did agree to please me," he reminded her. But on this occasion it was Damien whose sharp mind let him down.

"In that regard you are wrong," she swore vehemently. "I agreed to fuck you. Nothing more, nothing less. Certainly not to shop for lingerie with you." 

"Then do this favor for me and I will put a time limit on our time together."

Amethyst was sorely tempted. As their deal stood she could be with him for the rest of their days. Who knew how long it would take a connoisseur of women to get tired of one particular woman. It was probably in her best interest to put a limit on a relationship that could only end badly for her. "How long?"

"A year," he offered, thinking the time a little shorter than he would prefer, but probably more in line with her wishes. 

"2 months," she countered.

"8 months."

"3."

His normally cool, mocking expression took a severe downturn at her counter offers. He was sure she would be bargaining in terms of days if she thought she could get away with it. As it was, he supposed he was lucky to have her even considering months. "6 months. My final offer."

"4 months, or you can go back in that shop on your own."

Damien rolled the terms over in his mind before deciding he could live with them. She would be enslaved to his passion long before 4 months had passed anyway and there would be no chance of her leaving at that point.

"Deal," he agreed, taking her arm and leading her back into the shop. They were shown to their own private room where there were several racks of lingerie already hanging in her size. 

"Pull the cord in the corner if you need anything," the shop assistant informed before taking her leave and closing them in together. 

"What do you want me try on," she threw at him, still boiling with resentment that she was even here. 

"Everything."

Amethyst retreated to the changing room with a few items over her arm. She would put one set on, show it to him, he would nod his approval or shake his head indicating he didn't care for it. 

This went on for over two hours and Amethyst knew he was getting aroused watching her. Especially when she needed his help fastening up the back of a corset. His hot breath on her neck sent its own message of possession as did his hands closing over her breasts as he finished lacing the back. 

She thanked him politely before sending him back into the waiting room. He did so, but not before giving her a look so steamy, her nipples remained hard for the rest of the fitting, and the panties she was wearing were added to the must have pile because they were drenched. 

Some of the lingerie was see through in the front, some of the panties had no crouch, some of the sets came with nipple tassles. There was no end to the variety of ensembles she tried on, each one more shameful than the last. 

There were a handful of modest tasteful pieces, but she doubted men came here for those. She doubted if Damien had brought her here for those. This was the sort of place where a man indulged his wicked fantasies with his mistress, wife, or whore. Where did she fit in that list? Certainly not wife. And the rest didn't bear thinking about. 

"Ok, that's everything." She pranced around in the last outfit glad this ordeal would soon be over. 

"Not quite."

His quiet words made her turn towards the empty racks. Everything was sitting in three piles around the room. Wrap it up; we want it now. We want it, but it needs some changes. We don't want it. 

Damien smiled his charming butter wouldn't melt in my mouth smile and handed her the last item. "I saved this because it's a personal favorite." She took the item he handed her and almost slapped his face with it. Edible Underwear.

"I will not be trying these on," she denied him.

"But we have a deal." His voice was so low and deadly she felt as though she didn't know him anymore. Not that she ever did. 

"This is not lingerie. It's food!" she argued. "I couldn't possibly."

"I'll cut your sentence down to three months. Does that help motivate you?"

Amethyst tugged her lower lip between her teeth, torn with a desire to do as he asked, and a desire to retain some amount of dignity and self-respect. What the hell, it was just one more degrading outfit on top of all the other ones she had tried on.

She turned her back on him and went back into the fitting room mumbling her anger the entire time she changed. She came back out in the edible panties, walking a path in front of him before heading back to the changing room. "Satisfied?" she rhetorically asked.

"Not yet."

"Well too damn bad!" she shouted. Her fury reaching an all time high. "I don't want the stupid edible panties either. I hate them!"

She let out a startled yelp as he came up behind her. "All women say that when they don't know what they were made for."

"And I suppose you do," she vented, turning in his arms. "You've slept with so many women I'm surprised you don't have stock in edible panties."

He ignored her comment about the women he had slept with and instead focused on her first statement. "Of course I know what to do with edible underwear," he assured her. "I'll show you."

He slid down her body propping one of her feet over his back. He pressed the underwear closer to her hot flesh and slid his tongue between the valley. Her whole body arched away from the exquisite pleasure he drew with that one move. He pushed his tongue against her harder and moved closer to her clit. She shuddered, her hands going back against the wall to steady herself. 

He kept tormenting her, gentle licks of his hot tongue providing a torturous friction that was nowhere near satisfying, and only succeeded in melting the panties against her flesh. She felt the slight graze of his teeth as he began pulling a section that had stuck to her labia into his mouth. She arched against his mouth at the feel, knowing his teeth could inflict a little bit of pain with pleasure, and aching for it with every breath she took. 

"Please."

He brought his hands back up and pulled away the remainder of the underwear, throwing them into the trash. His mouth fell on her flesh in a touch so pure and purposeful she fell into it headlong, wanting nothing more than for him to grant her the final ecstasy, but he continued to toy with her. His mouth never going near her aching clit again. 

"My God, Damien please."

He slid up her body and sheathed himself in a condom before she could ask again, sliding into her dark slick depths before she could fully appreciate where they were. His thrusts were hard and demanding as his body forced hers back against the wall. Her head shifted to the side so he would have greater access to the gentle curve of her neck. It also put her face to face with her own depraved reflection and she realized not for the first time what he was doing to her. 

Well, question answered. She was his whore. He took her out shopping and she paid for the merchandise before she even had the chance to wear them. What had she expected? And even that unsavory truth failed to pull her from the mindless realm of pleasure she was currently reveling in. He owned her body and he could make it sing for him anytime he wished.  

Amethyst's nails raked his back as an orgasm ripped through her, her loud voice ringing out through the dressing room. She felt Damien shudder in her arms and knew that he had reached his own level of fierce pleasure, but had not demeaned himself in so public a place by shouting his joy to the world. She started redressing as soon as he slid her legs to the floor, not daring to make eye contact with him lest he see how he had shaken her. 

They exited the dressing room, Amethyst flush from embarrassment and Damien smiling his pleasure to the world. He informed the sales girls of which items they wished to be wrapped and which needed alterations or changes of color. She was mortified when he gave the shop assistant the wrapper for the edible underwear and told her to bill them for that as well, her face going beet red. "Did you want to order some more of this darling?" he called out as he was finalizing their order.

"No," she mumbled, ducking out of the shop before she died of embarrassment.

When they got in the car, she turned her crazed passionate nature on him. "Did you bring me to this shop just so you could fuck me?"

"Being crass does not suit you, and if I just wanted to have sex with you I could have done it at home."

"Then why did you bring me here, and how is that you just happened to have a condom?"

"I like to be prepared," he joked. Amethyst's face was far from welcoming of his humorous attempts as she glared daggers back at him. 

"Does it matter anyway? You body is mine by agreement."

"So it is," she agreed, "But only for another 3 months."

Damien didn't like the note of finality in her voice, or the fact that she seemed determined to be free of him. He had three months. Enough time for a man like him to turn her into a sexual slave who only lived to please him. But still...

"Then lets make the most of those three months. Dinner tonight," he continued before she could refuse, "To celebrate a limit being set for your time with me."

"Why not?" Amethyst agreed. "I have to eat."

Not gracious, but all he needed. Damien smothered his smile of devilish merriment. If she thought he had won something she would take it right back. 

"Then I'll just get you home so you can get ready," he suited actions to word, setting the car off in the direction of home. "And wear the black dress from Sole's tonight."

"Do I pick your clothes for you," she hissed.

"No, but I'd be willing to let you if it would please you. In fact, feel free to take me shopping for personal items anytime you like."




Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 04



She huffed at him and glared out the window. 

Let her sulk. Dinner would be soon enough to turn his spitting tigress into a tame kitten.  



Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 05



Damien swirled his scotch around the glass, waiting impatiently for Amethyst to appear. No matter how many times he possessed her body, he always wanted more. No matter how many times he beheld her beauty he always wanted to drown in her magnificence. She was late.

Amethyst glared at her reflection in the mirror appalled at the woman who stared back at her. So different from the girl of the previous evening. The one who still had a tinge of self respect. The one who had worked her fingers to the bones trying to do right by her dying mother. Where was that girl? And how had this sex starved automation managed to replace her without anyone noticing?

Tilting her head to the side, Amethyst drank in her reflection. The smoldering dark eyes of a sex kitten stared back at her. The simpering 'yes' girl had had zero impact on Damien's runaway train attitude. Time to see if the first class carnivorous tigress could do any better. 

Smoothing one more line of gloss on her overly luscious lips, Amethyst purposed in her heart to drive Damien wild with wanting this night. He had bought the clothes, yes, but he had no real idea of what she could do with them in the right frame of mind. 

As she came down the stairs, she saw the muscles in Damien's body go rigid with tension. That was the only sign she needed that she had exceeded expectations in regards to her appearance this night.

"You look good enough to eat," he greeted by way of compliment.

"Then I'm sure you will," she consented, eat me. Her eyes all but invited him to do so.

"Shall we?" he invited, offering his arm as she slid down the last of the stairs, her long legs making a mockery of her need for four inch heels. 

Damien's eyes devoured her legs as she slid into the vehicle. The slit in the side of her dress giving him ample opportunity to enjoy her charms. 

"That dress is lethal," he complimented, shutting the door and retreating to his side of the car.

"I'm glad you like it," she simpered. "You paid enough for it."

Amethyst glanced down at the in your face dress and smiled to herself. She really did make the most out of the dress. Her tiny waist complimented the slit along the right side that went from ankle to just underneath her breast. Only a few thin threads held the dress in place, and it was obvious to anyone who cared to look that she couldn't possibly be wearing any underwear. 

Pushing her moist thighs together, Amethyst vowed to enjoy the evening. To enjoy making Damien squirm. They were going to a very exclusive restaurant and no doubt could expect a certain amount of solitude. She would enjoy tempting him throughout the night with flashes of thigh and accidental brushes against his aroused body. 

As she suspected, upon arrival they were led to a secluded alcove that afforded them an enviable measure of privacy. Let the games begin. 

It took her only a moment to decide on the ahi tuna to start and the sword fish for her main course. Suddenly decisions were easier to make when the main goal was to buy them as much alone time as possible. 

Damien was more typical in his choice, opting for baked scallops to start and red meat for his main course. Amethyst handed her menu to the waiter. She sipped her sparkling champagne as she turned her amorous eyes on Damien. 

"Champagne?" she questioned, smiling her secret little harlot's smile. "What are we celebrating?"

Damien smiled back, mischief dancing in his wicked eyes. "Your pleasure."

"My pleasure?" Amethyst questioned sans artifice.

Damien leaned across her, his mouth seeking her ear as though he had some juicy secret to share. "Very much so," he whispered, his breath fanning her neck at the same time as his hand swept under her dress. 

"Damien," she scolded, grabbing for his hand. "No."

Damien moved closer to her hot entrance, certain of his welcome by the slick passage that met his questing finger. "You're wet. That tells me all I need to know."

Amethyst's mouth opened, only to snap shut as he cut her off. "Don't waste your breath with lies either." Sliding his finger deep inside of her revealed the truth of his words as her head tilted back ever so slightly. "As long as you don't give it away by shouting your pleasure to the world," he smiled, "Then no one will ever guess what happened here today."

His finger pulled out, and pushed in again. Amethyst's glazed eyes opened. Their message clear. Half condemning, half excited. 

Her face fell forward as he continued his ministrations, her long hair hiding her expression from prying eyes. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Do you like that?" he asked, pseudo rhetorically. He pushed in an additional finger and circled his thumb around her clit.

"Is it too much for you?" Amethyst felt his smile against her ear as he continued to torment her. A raw moan broke from her throat and she barely managed to stifle it in her napkin. Her hand found its way to his thigh in a tight squeeze, at once begging him to stop and to finish it. 

Ever the cat playing with a mouse, Damien withdrew his hand from under her dress. Amethyst fought back the depraved growl that was caught in the back of her throat. Always sex games and power struggles with Damien. He always had to show his supremacy over her. 

Amethyst moved the merest centimeter away from Damien and felt his fingers tighten around her waist and draw her back. He could have saved himself the effort as he was only rewarded by her flashing eyes. 

The waiter hastily deposited their starters before backing away from the table as quickly as his legs would carry him. He was not immune to the layers of tension that fell heavily between the two. 

"Don't sulk Amethyst," Damien chided as he began to eat.

Her stiff frame sat next to him not daring to pick up a utensil lest she stab him with it. Her hand itched to fall beneath the folds of her dress to finish for herself what he had started. Amethyst bristled with outrage. She refused to give him the pleasure of knowing he had affected her so deeply. Although how she thought he interpreted her angry silence and refusal to eat was anybody's guess. 

"If you've lost your appetite, we can go home," he offered, sounding for all the world as if he hadn't a care in the world. She translated his words to mean they could stay here and maintain a semblance of civility over dinner or he could take her home and make her scream down the rafters. His intense stare indicated he would prefer the latter. 

"Not at all," she denied, her eyes finally coming to meet his with nothing approaching murder gleaming in their depths. "I'm just anxious to be in your arms," she told the half-truth without batting an eyelash. "Would you like to dance?" she offered, scooting out of her seat and offering him her hand. 

Damien didn't know what her game was, but he was determined not to indulge her. He could tell by looking at her body language that she had some mischief in mind. "Not right now," his charming smile was meant to soften his words, but only served to make her feel as though he were talking to a child, trying to keep her from throwing a tantrum over not getting her way. 

"Very well then." Amethyst turned her back on him, but was stopped by his firm grip on her forearm. Her inviting eyes met his, the raised brow asking the reason for his border line mad handling and if he had changed his mind about the dance.

"Are you going somewhere?" The thinly veiled questioned dared her to say yes.

Her sensitive nerve endings picked up the warning, thought about the consequences, and then gave the only answer possible. "Yes." She gently shook her arm trying to indicate without words that the sooner he let her go the sooner she could go there. 

"Dancing perhaps?" Her quick nod indicated that he hadn't lost the ability to interpret simple acts of defiance. 

"Alone," he asked, his head motioning to all the other couples on the floor. 

"Just so," she agreed acting as though he were the world's biggest simpleton for not understanding this fact. "I would go with my partner, but he is too busy entertaining his meal," she excused. Her sly smile not hiding the fact that she thought he was neglectful. 

"Don't worry about me though," she pacified, "I'm sure I'll draw the attention of someone who, like myself, has no one to dance with and if I'm very lucky he'll be able to finish what he starts, unlike some others I could name."

Amethyst knew it was a mistake the second the words were out of her mouth. The prowling menace she felt rolling off of him as he stood to tower over her was more than she would have wished for. She took a hasty step back. 

He took her hand and drew her out onto the dance floor. All eyes moved towards them and stuck. They made a handsome couple. More than handsome, she was sure of it. She moved into his arms like honey and together they swayed to the music. 

She felt his knee slide between her legs, but wasn't worried. What could he do while all eyes watched them? The leg rubbed sensuously again her agitated flesh and she flinched from the intense contact. 

"Relax."

She tensed against him at the gentle command. He wouldn't dare.

"What is wrong with you," she demanded, her voice a low, urgent undertone that succeeded in disappearing in the sweet chords of music. "Must you always make a spectacle of me in a public place, proving your prowess to the entire world?" Her breath was cut short as his caress grew bolder, the pressure more insistent. 

The watching eyes didn't seem to notice anything amiss as he danced them closer and closer to the enclosed balcony. 

"This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

"Stop this now," she insisted, albeit only half heartedly.

"Isn't this why you insisted we dance? Isn't this why you threw a tantrum when I didn't bring you to orgasm at the dinner table?"

"Please Damien," she begged, urging him to end this madness, but he wouldn't indulge her and as the set ended he led her onto the balcony in a seamless motion. Careful planning or coincidence, there was no way of knowing, but the balcony was empty when they arrived. He pulled her over against one of the glass windows and turned her so she was facing the night sky. 48 floors above the city and she could barely see it as he held her in his embrace.

His hands came around her body, one sliding under the dress with ease and delving into her wet folds, the other pinching her aroused nipples into pebbles of pleasure begging for his mouth. She relaxed into his hold certain they could steal these few moments of pleasure without anyone noticing. 

Amethyst felt the insistent pressure of his thrusting fingers and brought her own hand down to toy with her clit. In the glass she looked at their reflection and felt a shaft of pleasure as she watched their two hands working her into a state of madness. 

His mouth slid down her shoulder and a whispered word warned her she was becoming too loud. Amethyst made a token effort to silence the sounds of pleasure, but in the end couldn't control herself enough to keep the loud piercing cry from escaping her lips. 

They returned to their table in silence, Amethyst satisfied that she had received the orgasm she deserved, and Damien heavily aroused but hiding it well. The remainder of the meal saw them picking at their food in a parody of hunger. 

It was with something akin to annoyance that Amethyst noted another couple approaching their table. She knew without a doubt that whatever the couple wanted it would only serve to prolong their time at the restaurant. 

Fixing a polite society smile on her face, she rose beside Damien and bore with good will the introductions and the mundane chit chat. Although she noted with displeasure that the woman was practically devouring Damien with her eyes and he didn't seem in the least bothered by the inappropriate attention. 

Out of courtesy and respect, he excused himself to dance with the blond vixen claiming she was a family friend. Amethyst could care less about his pithy explanations as she was forced to watch those red claws sink into the fabric of his suit jacket. The voluptuous body pressed close against Damien fueled the fire of her imagination, and Amethyst could just imagine the other woman's nipples responding to the pure vitality he radiated. Damn him!

While she silently fumed, his friend beguiled her with anecdotes from Damien's college days. To say that she was less than amused was an understatement. When the set was over Damien excused himself with the pretext of an early morning the next day. His final words, which Amethyst was privy to, were a promise to contact the woman for dinner later in the week. More fake smiles were exchanged before Damien paid the bill and led Amethyst to the lifts.

Amethyst stopped on the way to fix her shoe and from where he was standing Damien thought he could just see the shadow of her pussy, but when he met her eyes they were fixed at a point over his shoulder. Damien turned to see another wealthy patron enjoying the view and Amethyst's smoldering eyes gazing into his as bold as you please. 

The three entered the elevator together. As the lift doors dinged shut he pulled her into his arms. "Tell me you were not just showing this man all that belongs to me?" 

Amethyst stood defiantly in front of him, her chin raised in the air. Of course she had been willfully displaying her charms for another man to see as a reminder to Damien that she didn't need him, that she was only with him out of duress. She hadn't expected such a volatile or immediate response, but that was her mistake. He had demonstrated his passionate nature in the past. She should have remembered.

"And if I was...?" She trailed off, deliberately provoking him still. 

"If you were," his grip tightened considerably, "Then I will just have to remind you that you are not available." His hand swept out and depressed the emergency stop button before pushing Amethyst against the wall and doing what he had wanted to do all night. He slid easily into her slick folds and pressed deep into her yielding flesh. 

The other patron gasped in shock, but didn't turn away. He was not adverse to the little play taking place in front of him. Amethyst could see him clearly over Damien's shoulder and as their eyes met she felt both shame and excitement as he watched her. Her outrage won out in the end though. 

"Damien, stop this," she demanded. "It's enough. You proved your point," she admitted defeat grudgingly, but knew it to be the only way to get him to stop. But Damien was past caring, who was watching, where they were, or what other pretty words spilled from her lips. He was intent on one thing, and that was achieving pleasure in Amethyst's sweet flesh and he didn't intend to stop until he had done so. 

The more she talked, the more Amethyst could feel his arousal. His size inside of her seemed to increase with every refusal that spilled from her mouth. And when he dropped his hand to circle her sweet spot she knew she was in trouble. Her body bucked against the caress and her head fell back against the elevator wall. God, he was good. 

"Damien," she tried again, but the word came out as more of a moan than an actual attempt to get his attention. He pulled out of her and turned her to face the glass paneling. Her body followed the motion of his hands willingly enough no matter how her mind rebelled. 

He slid swiftly back into her tight flesh and she welcomed his every thrust. The hand shaping the curve of her spine, and the one tracing the flat of her belly only served to increase her arousal. His gentle, passion-induced touches all over her body brought her to the brink of pleasure and she stayed there poised to fall. Half afraid he would finish this here and half afraid he wouldn't. 

It was the eyes of the stranger looking back at her through the reflection in the elevator that decided the matter for her.

"Damien you promised." The words were pushed out hastily as though if she waited she wouldn't have the strength to try and stop him. 

His motions stilled for only a moment and then resumed with increased momentum. It was clear he had had enough of her talking. 

"Oh my God," the words were ripped out of her as he pushed her body to its limit causing dots to dance before her eyes as she felt the edges of unconsciousness tugging at her. "Oh Damien," Amethyst bit her lip. It was almost impossible to keep from begging him to push into her harder. 

"Give it up Amethyst. Just enjoy the moment," he encouraged. His tense body indicated to her he was just moments away from planting his seed inside of her in front of a complete stranger. 

"You promised you wouldn't have unprotected sex with me."

His laugh drifted to her ears from low on her back, his teeth trailing a solid line upward. "My promise doesn't matter." Amethyst let out a scream of pleasure as he pinched her left nipple hard between his thumb and forefinger. "You're on birth control." Another solid scream, half outrage, half unadultured pleasure. His deep growl of pleasure in the curve of her neck joined her unrestrained cries of joy and his hand shot out to release the emergency break before their breathing had even returned to partially normal. 

Amethyst turned in his arms, adjusting her dress as he adjusted his clothing. Neither spoke again although she wanted to slap him and fuck him properly in equal turns. The third passenger also rode silently, probably thinking of the ways and means he could get rid of his unwanted erection. 

They slid into the confines of Damien's car and traveled swiftly back to his home. 

"It doesn't make it ok," she berated as soon as she felt calm enough to speak civilly. 

"Doesn't it?" he parried. 

"No, it doesn't," she repeated. "You can't have sex with me without a condom just because I'm taking birth control. You promised to always use protection, and before you waste your breath asking, no, I haven't got anything, although it's a little late in the day to be asking."

Damien sat silent for a moment as though considering her words, but his next words proved he wasn't thinking about what she had said at all. "What you did at the restaurant--"

Amethyst cut him off before he could get much further. "Are you listening to me? This isn't about my behavior. It's about yours."

"When you act like a whore, I will treat you like one."

Amethyst's hands clenched tight in her lap as she lapsed into silence. Damien beheld her rigid posture and tense profile, but said nothing driving steadily through the night.

When they arrived at the house, as soon as Damien opened her door, Amethyst stood and slapped him hard across his face. "Never speak to me like that again. Never treat me like that again."

His hands reached out and secured her wrists. "Truth hurt?"

She struggled immediately and wanted to strike out at him again, but his hold didn't loosen by so much as an inch. 

"Are you through?" he asked when most of the fight had gone out of her.

As if she couldn't stand to hear his voice, she began to struggle anew. "You treat me like a dressed up blow up doll that you've taken out for the evening and blame me for acting like a whore?" Her voice escalated with each incredulous word that she hurled at him. Her anger mounting more every second she didn't have the use of her hands. 

"I hate you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, denied every other outlet for her rage. 

For one tense moment there was no sound other than Amethyst's agitated breathing, before it was broken by Damien's next words, "I could almost believe you." His hold on her loosened enough for her to pull away, which she did immediately. "Go in the house," he commanded, his voice little more than a growl in the cool night air. 

Amethyst didn't immediately move, but just stood there staring at him as if she didn't know who he was. A feeling he could well understand as each day with her showed him to be more obsessive than even he could believe possible. "Now!" he shouted when she didn't immediately respond, "Before I do something you'll regret."




Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 05



Amethyst didn't need another warning and fled to the house. She lay between the cool sheets listening for the sound of Damien entering the house, but fell asleep before she actually heard the sound she was looking for. 



Reluctant Pleasure Ch. 06



Amethyst stretched her cramped muscles as she looked down at the ruined dress. The threads that had kept the dress this side of decent had snapped in the night with her restless slumber. She slid out of bed making her way swiftly to the bathroom and was stopped short by her reflection in the vanity. Her mussed hair and bare thigh were bad enough, but it was the red puffy raccoon eyes that made her realize she was in over her head. She couldn't remember doing it, but she had obviously been crying at some point in the night.

She raced to the bathroom and threw herself into the shower completely disgusted with herself. This kind of soul destroying emotion was why she hadn't wanted to get involved with him – with anyone – from the start. Seeing the signs of her distress reminded her all over again of the months her eyes had shown red every day. The months her mother had battled and lost to cancer. The same months that Amethyst had nearly worked herself into her own grave between work and endless hours at the hospital. Until her mother took that very last breath, Amethyst had never stopped believing that she might pull through. And it was ultimately the destruction of that senseless belief that had left Amethyst so utterly unwilling to have her heart broken again. 

And here she stood again after having already fought so hard to put her life back together throwing it away. This time by getting emotionally involved with some man, and what a man! He wouldn't die, she knew that much by the disgusting amounts of vitality he radiated. But he would cast her to the side when his desire for her had been sated and she would be shattered by his rejection. Oh foolish foolish heart, she castigated, to long for such a man. 

Amethyst felt the prick of tears as she tore the wet dress from her body. She wouldn't cry for him, she vowed, she wouldn't! The silent stream of tears blending with the water made a lie of her anguished protests. It was the sound of her own high sob that dragged her back from the brink of despair. 

Against her best wishes she had fallen in love with him. An overbearing, controlling, demanding louse who had stolen her heart on top of all his other faults. Made her care how he treated her, what he thought of her, where he was. Already she could feel a throbbing pain in her chest at the thought of leaving and yet she knew she must. 

She finished washing quickly and dressed. Grabbing her purse she hurriedly fled the house. She was ensconced in the warm familiarity of her own home when she heard the gentle ringing of her phone. 

A quick check of the display showed Damien's name and number. She switched the phone to silent and let it roll to voicemail. She checked her message bank as soon as the phone signaled there was a new one available. His angry voice demanding to know her whereabouts caused her heart to lurch a bit more. In a word she would describe his voice as possessive. 

I don't love him, she silently vowed, repeating it again and again in her mind. Anything to silence the demands of her heart. It longed for him in a way she found frankly alarming. She hadn't even known him that long. 

Her weary head relaxed back against the sofa as she gave in to her body's demand for rest. She waded through the weekend in a sort of fog meandering from room to room doing mindless tasks. 

Monday dawned bright and clear and Amethyst made her way to the office with a heavy heart. She couldn't bear to see him, but knew she must if only to work her two weeks notice. She had typed her resignation letter and was staring at it in her outbox when he walked in. 

"Damien," she greeted, giving him a cursory glance before dragging her eyes away from his imposing figure. 

He looked so good standing there. His broad chest and rippling muscles had her mouth salivating at the thought of touching her tongue to his aroused flesh. Her eyes dropped to her hands ensuring that he was blocked from even her periphery. She apparently couldn't even bear to be near him and not want him. 

Even to fold herself into his arms and luxuriate in the comfort of his presence would make her feel good. She wanted him too much...loved him too much. Her face dropped further as her heart once again led her mind away from the direction she willed it to stay. 

Damien looked at her down bent head wanting to crush the dark curls in his fist and force her gaze to meet his. At the same time struggling with the desire to bend her across her desk and remind her why they were so good together. 

"Look at me." His cold voice brooked no argument. 

Amethyst raised her face towards his, but kept her eyes downcast so that his shoes were in her line of sight and nothing else. 

"Look at me." The frigid words were snapped out in such short clipped tones she was sure they would be frozen in the air if she dared to raise her head, but she didn't. 

The defiant line of her jaw and the mutinous set of her lips acknowledged and disregarded his demand. "Looking is not required for hearing. Is there something you wanted to say?" Her tone reeked of insolence and her words even more so. Looking at them now it would be hard to tell they had ever been lovers unless you looked to the hard ridge of his arousal or slid your hand between her thighs. 

That unique fragrance that was wholly Damien drifted into her nostrils and it was all Amethyst could do not to reach for him. She dropped her head again so that she could no longer see his expensive handmade shoes. Shoes that made her angry all over again. She had climbed 18 floors in her favorite pumps and was in no mood to indulge him when it was his fault she couldn't enter an elevator without having erotic flashbacks. 

Her ears picked up the sound of his feet moving towards the door and she breathed out a sigh of relief. His chuckles hit her ears next. 

"Your sigh of relief is hurtful and a bit premature," he said, pushing the door closed and locking it. 

Not a good sign. 

"You don't answer my calls and now you refuse to look at me. Am I to assume I've lost my mistress for the next 4 months?" His words in that cool tone offended her as nothing else could have. If it was a response he wanted from her he had gone about the right way of getting it. 

Her rebuttal was swift, "3 months. And yes."

He laughed. "3 months. Of course. How remiss of me to assume a longer time frame."

Amethyst observed him with an obvious air of mistrust. He had a mind like a steel trap and made millions off of it a year. There was no way he had forgotten how long they were slated to be together which meant his slip of the tongue had been deliberate. If she hadn't been so busy trying to avoid him she would have caught the deliberate slip before she had got caught up in it. 

"If you know the time frame so well, how is it possible you have forgotten the terms?"

Amethyst sucked in a deep breath and willed herself not to respond giving a slight shrug in response. 

"We made a deal, but for some reason you seem unable to honor the terms for even a week. Am I too much man for you?" His question was casual, as if it had happened before and was bound to happen again. As if she was some wilting flower who just didn't know what to do with a man or his passion.

Again he offended her with his seemingly innocuous comment. He could have taken a course in it he was doing it so well and so often. She reacted without thought. 

"You are not man enough!"

He grabbed her before she could draw her next breath, hoisting her from her chair and pressing her soft body again his intimidating hardness. She moaned before thinking better of it, but the damage was already done. He knew how he affected her.

"Do you like that?"

Hey eyes answered him very clearly. Yes. 

Her tongue was a little slower in forming a reply, and significantly less honest. "You pig! I hate it! Why do you think I ran away?"

Damien's jaw hardened. He could easily tip her onto the desk and make her take those words back, but he wanted her to admit her feelings freely without sexual influence. And yet the feel of her flesh made him want to start snapping buttons. 

His eyes dropped to her nipples. He could clearly see them straining against her blouse. Without thought his hand dropped and slid up under her skirt. She stood spellbound in his embrace not even fighting him as his finger dipped into her wet heat. 

Her eyes stayed locked with his silently begging for more. Her love-sick mind even dared to ask her isn't this ok? Was it so wrong if this was all he could offer her for as long as he could offer it? The degrading thoughts snapped her back to reality. And just in time if the growing ridge against her belly was any indication of where things were headed. 

"Let go." The tight words were barely audible, but she heard them, which meant he did too. His hand released her and she slid from his arms dropping heavily onto her desk. 

"Please leave." A weary sigh fell from her lips before she could continue. "Leave and don't come back. You'll have my resignation by the end of the day."

When he would have spoken she cut him off continuing with the words she felt were necessary.

"I'm not pregnant so there is nothing else between us. Just stay away." Amethyst felt damned the second the deliberate lie slid from her lips, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't afford to have him swarming around her with expectations for another moment. She called her tear ravaged face to mind to give her strength. 

With silent movements she moved over to the door and opened it since he showed no inclination to leave. 

"Please don't let me keep you." Her words might have sounded the height of politeness to any passerby's, but the look he gave her told how he had received them. 

As she had seen fit to open the door he saw no reason to close it and continued their previous conversation as though all and sundry could not hear it. "Do you think your pregnancy status or the fact that you're quitting will keep me from wanting you? Do you think it will stop me from trying to woo you into my bed or get you out of my mind?"

Amethyst's attention was fixed so completely on Damien that at first the shocked gasp from her left didn't register. When it did she looked up into the equally shocked and crestfallen expression on Cameron's face. Before she could more than formulate some weak denial he had turned and walked away. 

The look she passed Damien's way could have killed him flat out. 

She didn't abandon her post by the door, but resolved not to let him win through intimidation. After all, she would only be working here for another two weeks. Who cared what gossip abounded about her? "Are you satisfied?"

Amethyst should have known better than to ever ask those words of a lover. Especially a lover as highly sexed as Damien. 

"Not by a long shot." He gathered her into his arms and dropped his lips to her own before she could do more than squeal in shock. His firm lips pried hers apart and his tongue swept in to claim its reward. He reveled in the taste of her, his hands dropping to her hips to press her close against him as his weight forced her back against the door frame. Amethyst's hands lifted against her will and settled around his neck. Unaware of their audience she pressed her body closer to his lost to all reason. 

His head dropped to the curve of her chin as he smoothed kisses down the silky column of her throat. Her head fell back and a mindless moan of pure bliss fell from her lips. "Yes," she moaned.

Someone cleared their throat and she turned in Damien's embrace to see half of Marketing standing around gawking. A flush of pure fire spread up her cheeks that had nothing to do with lust and everything to do with mortification. 

Before she could scuttle back into her office Damien pulled her in front of him in a smooth move and secured her in place with a very possessive hold. 

"I apologize for that display." His voice was very even and controlled. Amethyst wondered what words he would use to explain his practically having sex with an employee in public. 

"I've just asked Amy to marry me and I'm afraid I anticipated her answer before she could quite get it out."

His words were met with a light chuckle and all eyes flew to her as they waited to hear her response. 

A satisfied smirk crossed her mouth as she thought of their reaction if she slapped his face and walked away. The more she thought about it the wider her smile grew. She felt his teeth lightly nip her ear and his soft words infiltrated her mind. "Behave, or I'll have to spank you and it won't be playful."

Amethyst flushed again, a brighter shade of red. Maybe she'd ask him to spank her anyway as a reward for good behavior. 

She breathed in deep, still not sure what she was going to say as she opened her mouth to reply.

"While I'd like nothing more than to marry you Damien, I hardly think we've known each other long enough to make that kind of commitment." She tried to gently ease her way out of his arms; they tightened around her. 

"I love you. Please marry me." Amethyst was afraid to turn. The words sounded so beautiful coming from his mouth and so unbelievable. She tried again to free herself. 

"Marry me Amy."

This time Amethyst did turn. She had to see for herself. Amethyst nearly did a double take at what she saw. 

"Damien?" Was he for real? He looked serious, but how was it possible? She was just a sexual convenience for him. Wasn't she? "Damien."

He gave a slight nod in the general direction of the waiting crowd, "Excuse us."

They ducked back into her office closing the door again. 

"Marry me," he repeated.

Still not quite trusting him she said the first thing that came to mind, "Because of the good sex?"

"Because of the great sex," he rejoined. 

She rubbed her throbbing forehead before turning away completely. "Right. Because of the great sex."

Damien observed her hunched shoulders and dejected air for a short second. Did she love him too?

"And because of who you are Amethyst." 

She turned back with the barest glimmer of hope shining in her eyes. 

"Although we've only known each other for a short time, this past weekend showed me what it would be like to spend the rest of my life without you and that's not something I'm willing to do. Yes, I love the sex." He gave a self-depreciating laugh before continuing. "A lot actually. But I also love your smile, your laugher, spending time with you and waking up to you. I love you. The beautiful person that you are both inside and out. And I want to spend the rest of my days proving it to you if that's what you want also. I know I behaved badly this weekend and I apologize. I was mad with jealousy. I couldn't bear the thought of anyone else seeing your exquisite beauty. I couldn't bear the thought that you would one day leave me for another man. I shouldn't have–"

"Shh." Her finger pressed against his lips cut him off. "You've monologued long enough. I get it; you love me." She slowly removed her fingers from his lips planting a brief kiss there in the interim. "I love you too."

They stood that way for a moment, within touching distance but not touching. Only staring into each other's eyes and luxuriating in the moment. 

Her hand connecting with his cheek shattered the silence. It was by no means as hard as the slap she had given him on Saturday, but it had a little sting to it. His hand immediately came up to cover the hot area. "What the hell?"

Amethyst's hand covered her mouth and stifled what sounded suspiciously like laughter. 

"Sorry. That connected a little harder than I intended." Her eyes dropped shyly to the floor. "I just—I thought—I was hoping, um. Sorry." Her cheeks tinted pink but she said nothing further. 

He lifted her face up until her eyes were level with his. "What is it?"

Her cheeks took on a darker hue, but she rallied the courage to speak her mind. "Earlier you said if I didn't behave that you would spank me and I kind of hoped slapping you counted as not behaving. Not that I'm using you for sex or anything." 

Damien released a deep roar of laughter. "To think I would have missed that tempting proposition if I had left when you told me to earlier." He dropped a kiss on her cheek before tangling their fingers together and drawing her towards the door. "Let's get out of here."

As her office door opened there was a noticeable halt to all conversation. Staff from each of the different floors was represented in force positioned strategically within viewing range of Amethyst's door. Damien noted his P.A. was among the gossipmongers most closely positioned to the door wanting to get firsthand knowledge of the mini drama unfolding in their midst. 

Damien dropped a brief kiss on Amethyst's forehead before turning towards the crowds. His face split into a big grin. "I'm getting married."

THE END