When he stopped directly in front of me, I could hardly breathe. Trent smelled so good, but he always did, so that shouldn’t have affected me.
Still, I had the overwhelming urge to please him. And I knew for a fact Trent Ramsey didn’t have a single submissive bone in his entire body, so I took that to mean I was definitely the submissive in this little test.
Hmm. How did I feel about that? Being the one who took orders from a super-sexy Dominant? Or perhaps a Dominatrix, as I’d learned the females were called? Would he or she tie me up?
I inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, while Trent made a circle around me.
“What’s your sexual preference, boy?”
Was I supposed to be turned on by the fact that he called me boy? Because I was. Coming from anyone else, I probably would’ve been offended. I damn sure wasn’t a boy in any sense of the word. Maybe I didn’t radiate power and authority the way Trent did, but I could hold my own. I wasn’t a damn pushover.
“Answer me,” Trent commanded.
Right. Question. Sexual preference.
It was telling that he’d had to ask me that. In all the time I’d worked for Trent, I had only been on a few dates, all of them with women. Not because I preferred women exclusively, but I knew my actions reflected on Trent. The paparazzi were just as curious as to what I was doing as they were about Trent. I’d learned that the things I did were often associated with him, so it was easier to keep some of the aspects of my life on the down low.
Plus, my sexual orientation was one that a lot of people didn’t understand.
“Men? Women? Both?” he questioned, sounding irritated that I hadn’t responded.
Okay, so clearly my preference had made it onto the menu. “Both,” I admitted. “I’m into both men and women.”
“Is this a fact you’re ashamed of?”
Was that surprise I heard in his voice? Definitely wasn’t disappointment.
I frowned. “No, of course not.”
“Then why haven’t you acknowledged it prior to now?”
“I have acknowledged it,” I stated defensively. “I’m just … fairly good at keeping my business out of the public eye.”
“So you think no one realized it?”
“Did you?” I countered, wondering where he was going with this.
“I did,” he said in that matter-of-fact tone of his. “It’s rather obvious. When did you realize you were bisexual?”
Admittedly, this was one of the strangest conversations I’d ever had with my boss, but I felt the need to be honest with him.
“In my mid-twenties, I guess.”
I wasn’t exactly sure when I’d finally realized it. Since I hit puberty, I had known that I was attracted to both men and women, yet I didn’t act on my attraction to men until I was twenty-five. I’d kept that part of myself hidden. Not because I was ashamed that I liked men. It was more the fact that I was attracted to both and I didn’t think people would truly understand. Considering I was frequently photographed with women—mostly at charitable events for my father’s company—it seemed easier.
“How many men have you been with?”
I was intrigued by his curiosity. “A few,” I admitted.
I felt the warmth of Trent behind me, but he wasn’t touching me. As much as I wanted him to, I knew Trent wasn’t gay. Nor was he bisexual. In the years I’d worked for him, the man had only dated women. Not that I knew everything about him. Trent was a very private man. But I figured if he’d had an intimate relationship with a man, someone would’ve picked up on it by now.
“Kneel.” The gruff command sounded right in my ear and it stirred something deep within me.
“Boss?” I asked, glancing at him over my shoulder, not quite sure I’d heard him correctly.
“Don’t look at me. I said kneel. I want you on your knees. Right now.”
His gruff command spurred me into action. Without thinking, I eased down to my knees, right there in Trent Ramsey’s home office. I thought nothing of it, didn’t feel the need to argue or tell him to go to hell. I simply did as he instructed.
The worst part…
I suddenly wanted this Dom to command me to do something more than simply kneel to prove my submission.
“Well, I think we’ve got our answer,” he said, his tone a little rougher than before. “Come on. I need to run to Devotion for a bit. I’ll give you the dime tour.”
Okay.
So much for proving anything.
Unfortunately, it looked as though my test was over.
On the flip side, I was finally getting a glimpse into the other side of the man.
SEVEN
Clarissa
I DROVE HOME FROM THE restaurant fully engulfed in a sensual haze. Good thing I knew the route without even thinking about it. I had endured a sort of tunnel vision, which quite frankly scared the crap out of me. I wondered how many times that had happened to me before. Surely, I would’ve remembered being so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t even know how I got from point A to point B. Not many times, I hoped.
