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Chapter 4
Ian reached forward, flipped open the folder, and quickly scanned the contents. Obviously she’d been telling the truth about her name. Well, at least she’d been close, but it was likely Miss Reece had given him her standard answer to that question. If his assessment was correct, the woman in front of him was probably not very skilled at deception. He had discovered years ago true submissives are almost always very poor liars. But the few he’d met that could lie had, almost without exception, been both very skilled and pathological. In most true subs, the need to please is so deeply ingrained in their psyche that they were willing to go to great lengths to avoid answering a question rather than lie, particularly if they had reason to think the answer was something their Dom didn’t want to hear. But more often than not their body language would give them away long before a Dom had to push them for an answer.
Deciding to let their pint-sized prowler squirm a bit longer, he pretended to read all sorts of interesting things in her file, when in fact the only thing he found interesting was that she had been her younger sister’s sole means of support for more than two years and that she had cut her own college career short to subsidize her younger sibling’s education. She was obviously still supporting the young woman who claimed she was attending a small but well-respected university in southern Florida. The copies of Callie’s bank statements showed regular transfers into her sister’s account, the large checks written with notations that they were for books and tuition.Claimed? What the fuck did that mean? Interesting.
Callie had eventually finished her degree in hotel management via online classes, but had taken a much lower-paying position working for some ass hat who had sent her to spy on him. No doubt she had taken the first job that had come along to avoid any downtime in income. Jace Garrett’s ability to gather intel in incredibly small increments of time had always impressed the hell out of Ian, and truthfully, he wasn’t an easy man to impress.
As he read further he nearly laughed out loud when he saw who she worked for. Hell, that rag of a tabloid had been trying to get someone into his club for months. It had been a running joke among his staff members because it was obvious the small tabloid’s staff wasn’t aware of the fact that Ian owned their parent company. But, at least now he knew she wasn’t trying to steal trade secrets. He took a few minutes to begin formulating a plan—one that he was sure would hold a great amount of appeal for the desperately financially challenged little reporter. He closed and then dropped the folder back on to his desk. Then he leaned further forward in his leather chair before steepling his fingers in front of him and just watched her. She was sitting across from him with her bare pussy snuggled against the leather chair he’d have to look at each day from now forward. Christ, he wouldn’t get any damned work done with that chair flaunting its enviable experience in his face every day. He’d probably have to redecorate the fucking shower, too.
Under his watchful gaze, she started to squirm, and it was obvious the instant she became aware of the fact her pussy was creaming the leather beneath her and that the evidence of her arousal was going to be obvious as soon as she stood up.
He waited until he could see she was a breath away from taking a header into panic again before giving in and deciding to it was time to give her something else to think about. “So tell me, Callie, what did your employer use as leverage to get you to agree to spy on Club Isola?” In his peripheral vision, Ian saw Jace’s chest tense as if he were holding his breath, no doubt his friend was trying desperately to not laugh out loud at the look on her face.Hope you don’t play poker, little sub, because every emotion writes itself all over your beautiful face.
Ian could almost see Callie gathering herself up and preparing for battle. He was anxious to see if she’d try to lie to him. If she did, it would just give him more power over her, something she was going to learn a lot more about if he had his way. He just sat and waited as she seemed to be waging an internal battle. He didn’t have any doubt that she was trying to determine how much she could truthfully reveal without giving away everything.
Leaning back in his chair, he just watched her and took stock of the exquisite woman sitting in front of him. Her hair wasn’t just blonde, it was actually several different shades of blonde layered together. The more it dried, the lighter and wavier it became. He’d been fascinated by its texture when he’d combed it earlier and wondered what it would feel like spread over his thighs as she sucked him down. Knowing that the mass of silky waves reached her sweet ass meant that when walked beside her and placed his hand at the small of her back, he’d be able to entangle his fingers in the golden curtain of curls. Fuck, that thought alone sent blood rushing south in a big way. She was small, probably just barely five feet tall. Her features were as close to perfect as he’d ever seen, and he briefly wondered for just a minute why she hadn’t been tagged by some ruthless ad agency whose agents wouldn’t have batted an eye at exploiting her perfection for their financial gain.
While it was easy to get lost in her physical beauty, it was the core of her that attracted him the most. She was intriguing and appeared whip smart. He could see the intelligence dancing in her eyes as she watched him. She was trying to calculate the odds of coming out of this unscathed. Hell, it was almost fun to watch. Finally, she took a couple of steadying breaths, and then it looked like someone had let the air out of her. She sagged forward and said, “My kid sister’s tuition is due in a month. My boss knows I need the money so he’s holding this over my head. If I don’t get this story, I’ll be out of a job, my sister will be out of school, and I’ll likely end up out of myluxuriousstudio apartment. And quite frankly, it’s a real testament to how rotten my financial situation is that I should actually care about that place. Hell, I haven’t had heat or air conditioning for two years. Most of the electrical outlets don’t work, and the hot water heater died a week ago. The shower I took a few minutes ago was the first time I have been able to bathe in warm water in days because it takes forever to heat water on the stove for a bath. Gives you new respect for the pioneers, I tell ya. Have you ever tried to actually heat up enough water to warm a tub full of cold water? Well damn, of course you haven’t. What the hell am I thinking? Well, I’m here to tell you it just is not possible. You can check it if you want to, but I wouldn’t recommend it, your dangley parts would probably retreat so far you’d have to call in a search-and-rescue team.” She looked up just as a single tear breached the edge of her eye and trailed down her cheek and he could tell she was shaken by the feelings of vulnerability her honesty had only served to highlight.
Dangleyparts?What the fuck? Had she really just said that?Ian couldn’t remember another time when he had wanted to laugh out loud during an interview with a submissive. When he looked up at Jace, he was surprised to see his friend’s face was purple, literally. The ass was trying to hold his breath to keep from bursting out in hysterical laughter. Ian mentally shook his head. It would serve the prick right if he caused himself brain damage from oxygen deprivation. And speaking about missing out on a few doses of O2—how the hell had she managed say all that without stopping to take a breath?
Then it was as if the spell of openness and exposure had been broken, and Callie seemed to pull herself together and, grasping her hands in her lap, she just looked at him for long seconds before adding, “You can check my story, hell, that file on your desk probably tells you everything but my shoe size anyway. I might not be the best investigative reporter, well, not the sneakiest anyway, but I’m honest, Mr. McGregor. I don’t lie…ever.”
Leaning back in his chair, Ian just waited. He had to give the little pixie credit, she was brave. And he didn’t doubt that she was honest—at least with everyone but herself. But her sense of self-preservation certainly needed work. He doubted she’d use a safe word when she should, and that was something he’d have to correct very quickly. He’d always been a big believer in safe words, and they wereabsolute lawat Club Isola. When he finally leaned toward her, he almost smiled when he saw her muscles tense and her eyes dilate.Well, well, the little sub isn’t as unaffected as she’d have me believe. How interesting—and convenient.
“Let me tell you what I see, Callie. I see a beautiful woman who has taken on more responsibility than she should have to. I see a woman who honors her commitments, often at the expense of what she believes is right. I see a woman of integrity who prides herself on telling the truth to others, but who often lies to herself. I see an amazingly curious soul buried in the body of a very bright woman who struggles with her sexuality because she can’t ever seem to get to the level of pleasure she is sure exists.” He’d watched her eyes get wider with each statement he’d made and heard her gasp at the last one, so he knew he’d nailed it.
“Now, my question is—how brave are you,Carlin? Are you brave enough to seek that which eludes you? Do you want the story badly enough to explore your own desires?” God, he loved watching her eyes dilate even further with desire. She squirmed in her seat, and he knew she was trying to relieve the pressure of her swelling sex. He also knew exactly what she wasnotwearing under that shirt, so he’d be able to smell her arousal in a minute or two.
