Silence.
It was all around her. She could hardly stand it. It pressed close like a cold cocoon that seemed to seep into every pore of her skin. She wanted to scream, but what good would it do? She was alone. More alone than she had ever felt in her life. Her voice was already raw from screaming and counting off lashes that had fallen upon her back as He had demanded. Each raw mark throbbed painfully as she lay against the whipping post, her hands strung up over her head, forcing her body's weight to pull down on her shackled wrists. Hot tears stung her eyes and she bit her bottom lip to keep from simply weeping. It was the initiative step of a slave, He had said. The brutality and the cruelty of it all made her recoil... but at the same time... what would it be to please a Master as He had described? Her delicate nose wrinkled in disdain. She would never serve.
It had all begun about a year ago.
It was just one of those days that everything seemed to go wrong. It was raining and Danielle had to work early. Her car wouldn't start; so she had to walk to work, which naturally made her late. Her hair was a mess from the wind and the wet, her make-up was smeared horribly and she had a run in her stockings. Mud stained her brand new suit from when a truck had driven by and splashed her. And when she walked into the office from the elevator, everyone stared at her. She had thought it was just the state she was in that was the factor, and then she stopped to look down at herself to see what everyone was whispering about. Her jacket had come unbuttoned! And she had no blouse beneath it. She hadn't noticed because she'd been crammed in the back of the elevator with a whole bunch of other publicists and office laborers and all those she bossed around from the top. She hurried and set down her briefcase to tuck her bra back beneath the jacket where it belonged and buttoned it up again, feeling the heat of a blush wash over her face. She hurried into her office and shut the door, leaning back against it to gain her composure. Today was going to be a nightmare, and it was only 8:32am.
Kirk Bailey stepped into her office not long after. Luckily she had stood up and had started to straighten herself out. She was just trying to fix her hair in that tight little bun she always wore it in when the door opened. Kirk looked her up and down like he always had since day one. She had never really cared much for her boss, but he seemed to have the hots for her like any other man she worked with and the wild idea that he would somehow get her into bed with him, according to the rumor mills. Fat chance. There was no way she would sleep with a man like Kirk Bailey. He was the only one keeping her from the top, and he had for two years. He was also the unorganized, flutter-brained sort. If you wanted sports trivia, Kirk was the man to ask. He was more enamored with the actual games on TV and teams and numbers and player facts and statistics than he ever was with what was published in his magazine, even if it was supposed to be sports related. As his Vice President, Danielle was supposed to take care of things and get things done. And she had for two years; all the while steaming about how she could make the publication better and smoother.
"You're late." Kirk said. Then he looked her over again. "You're a mess Danielle. What happened?"
She shot him a stern glare and straightened up to meet his eyes evenly. "Can I help you, Mr. Bailey?"
Kirk just kind of smiled at her and shook his head. Another man walked up behind Kirk. Danielle had never seen him before. Tall, dark, and handsome. There was simply no other description that truly fit him. Yes, it was cliqued but it fit. He was, no doubt, at least a head taller than Kirk, and Danielle had always thought Kirk to be more than tall enough for a corporate executive. His height only seemed to add to this uncanny attraction she could feel welling up in the pit of her stomach. Despite his handsome good looks and dark hair that seemed to beg to be not only touched, but fingers raked through it in a moment of passion, it was his eyes that spoke to her the most; penetrating dark eyes that seemed to pierce through to her very soul. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something... at the very least, he was a man of business and used to getting exactly what he wanted. That fact made Danielle, to her chagrin, weak in the knees. This wasn't like her and it was irritating but the more she thought about it she knew, from the first moment she had laid eyes on him, that he was not soon to be forgotten or pushed from the foremost thoughts in her mind. He looked so professional and so... dreamy. Wait. Danielle stiffened. Who was this man and why was he in her office with her boss? And why did it have to be today, of all days?
