Bound to be Tempted: Emergence, Book 4 Read online

  Justine Donovan had lived under the rule of her husband as though he were her Master for her entire adult life. She just didn’t realize it in so many words. Even though it wasn’t a sexual submission, as far as Margaret knew, didn’t make her mother any less of a sub.

  Ironic, considering her parents would die if they knew the level of submission Margaret had practiced and the new level she was about to embark on. What made Margaret’s sexual submission so taboo?

  She’d learned to accept who she was. She worried more lately that her submissive tendencies were a result of her domineering father and doubted the legitimacy of her choice, but in spite of or because of her dad, she was still undeniably submissive and preferred to turn herself over to another person after a long day to get the relief she craved.

  Legitimate or otherwise, she needed this experience with Carlton on so many levels. She needed to know what it was like to be with a man, and a firm Dom. She’d never met another human being she could have considered turning herself over to as she would Carlton.

  After all, she was safe with him. It was a trial of sorts. How could she go wrong? Besides getting to know herself a little better in the process, she would also have the luxury of finally knowing what it felt like to have a man inside her, someone she trusted and respected. Someone who would do right by her.

  Even if he didn’t know quite what he was up against. He never needed to know all the petty details of her weird life. They weren’t going to be together that long. Just long enough for her to build her confidence and ease into the possibility of working under a male Dom.

  She shivered again at the idea. Nerves wracked her body as though she were a teenager contemplating having sex with her boyfriend for the first time. In a way she was.

  Chapter Six

  When Carlton got to work on Monday, Jason was immediately on his ass, following him to the coffeepot and then staying on his heels all the way to his office.

  Carlton took his seat behind his desk before he lifted his gaze to meet his boss’s. He smirked. “What’s on your mind, boss?” he asked as though there were any question. It was nearly comical the way Jason was on him.

  Jason rolled his eyes. “Just spill.” He sat forward. “Not the nitty-gritty, please. Just the overall synopsis.”

  “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “How is that possible? I know we didn’t have time to talk on Saturday night, but you took the second half of the evening off Friday night, and now you expect me to believe you have nothing to share?”

  “That’s right. I met with Margaret in my office.” He nodded at the chair Jason now occupied. “We talked. I gave her some things to think about. And then I followed her home to make sure she was safe.”

  “That’s it?” Jason narrowed his gaze. “I know you better than that. What are you leaving out?”

  “I did make her an offer, but I wanted her to be certain before she agreed. It’s a big decision. I don’t want her to be too hasty.”

  “That’s noble of you,” Jason teased. “I suppose you gave her some time to consider submitting to you before making a commitment.”

  “Something like that.” Carlton stacked and restacked the papers on his desk. He hated that Jason could read him so well. “She’ll be here Friday night, unless she isn’t.”

  Jason nodded. “I’m proud of you. Thanks for using restraint. Take it easy on her.” With that, Jason stood, patted the corner of Carlton’s desk and sauntered from the room.

  Easy peasy. Now Carlton just needed to live through the rest of the week before he could set his gaze on Maggie again. It was going to be a long week.

  He pulled out his cell and brought it to life, thinking he would text Maggie. His finger hovered over the keyboard. And then he groaned. He didn’t have any good reason to text her again. He had checked in with her both days. Today she would be at work. She didn’t need him bugging her at the office.

  Ah, but did she make it safely?

  He typed quickly.

  Did you make it to work okay?

  He tapped his fingers on the desk while he stared at the screen.

  Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir.

  Every day he wasn’t with her made him feel antsy. He worried irrationally for her safety. No matter how many times he told himself she wasn’t Karen out gallivanting around, tempting fate with her life, he still worried. And that infuriated him. He didn’t own her, and this was the primary reason why he didn’t want a woman in his life. They made him worry when they made him care. He needed to cut Maggie some slack until she proved herself to be reckless.

  Either way, it doesn’t matter. This is temporary. You aren’t her guardian. She is not a kept woman.

  Margaret had trouble concentrating at work. The first few days, she did nothing but fidget and check her phone. Carlton texted her nearly every day to make sure she arrived at work and then back at home safely. It seemed endearing at first…and then a little over the top. What did he think would happen to her?

  He was safety conscious to a T.

  On Wednesday when she left work, she ducked into her car and was about to start the engine when she noticed an envelope under the windshield wiper.

  Thinking it would be an advertisement, she was disgruntled to have to remove her seatbelt and climb back out of the car to grab the damn paper from the windshield. She tossed it on the seat next to her and drove home.

  It wasn’t until she was inside the house and preparing dinner that the envelope caught her attention sticking out of her purse. She almost dropped it right in the trash, but something about it made her open it first.

  It was certainly not an ad. Four typed lines in the middle of a piece of plain white printer paper.

  We’re watching you. Glad to see you’ve finally moved on to men. You aren’t a quick learner. Now, lose the kinky shit, and you’ll be on your way to an eternity right with God.

  Margaret dropped the paper on the table as though it burned her. She glanced around the room, suddenly feeling the creepiest sensation she’d ever felt crawl up her spine. And she was alone. She lurched forward to ensure the blinds were completely closed and the curtains drawn together.

  When she returned to the table and slumped into a chair, her dinner was burning and her hands were shaking. How many times in her life had she felt like she was being followed? Hundreds? It had seemed to increase in frequency lately. She’d always assumed she was stuck with her absurd paranoia as a result of her teenage drama, but it was more than that. And the proof was currently lying on her kitchen table.

  It almost seemed as though the incident from twelve years ago was related to this piece of paper now. Irrational. Stupid. Not possible. How could anyone from twelve years ago still be following her? And if they were, why hadn’t they acted before now? After all, she’d lived with Lori for a year. No one had confronted her then. Why now that she was considering a man?

  A chill took over Margaret’s body, making her shake uncontrollably. Her previous hunger had converted to nausea. She jumped back up, flipped off the burner where her chicken had charred black and headed for the living room.

  Thank God for the throw she kept on the back of the couch. Without hesitation, she wrapped herself inside the warmth of the blanket and curled up on the couch. It took over an hour for the shaking to stop. Her mind never stopped running.

  There was no good explanation for the note. It was too specific to have been a matter of mistaken identity. Should she call the police? She couldn’t imagine what they would do with a single piece of paper, damp from hours in the parking garage and covered with her own prints now.

  Carlton. Maybe she should call him? No. She couldn’t. As though the man’s ears were ringing, her phone picked that second to beep. Margaret groaned. She was supposed to text him when she got home. Now she couldn’t even do that much. For one thing, she didn’t have the energy to get off th
e couch. And for another thing, there was no way she would tell him about the note.

  If she thought he was absurdly safety conscious before tonight, she could imagine what he would be like if he thought someone was following her.

  Her phone pinged again. She flinched. She had to answer him. If she didn’t, he’d show up at her doorstep in no time.

  Margaret heaved herself off the couch, tucked the blanket tight around her shoulders and headed for the kitchen to grab her phone from her purse.

  Margaret? Where are you?

  That was his second message. She didn’t need to scroll back to the first.

  I’m home, Sir. Sorry. I forgot to text and I had my phone on vibrate in my purse.

  One small white lie to keep the man from going ballistic.

  Now, she just needed to figure out how to keep herself from going ballistic.

  Carlton was on pins and needles Friday night at the club. He’d exchanged texts with Maggie nearly every day for the last week, and he felt confident she would accept his proposal. But that didn’t keep him from worrying. Until she arrived and confirmed she was all in, he would pace.

  He’d offered to pick her up and bring her to his house when he got off work, but she’d declined, saying she needed her car anyway. So now he was forced to wait for her to arrive, worrying all the while that she’d been killed in an accident.

  His anxiety was absurd, but he felt it all the same, just as he had on Wednesday when she hadn’t answered his text after work. He’d irrationally wigged out between one text and the next.

  Every time someone new came through the door, he prayed it was her. It was totally unnecessary since he’d specifically told her he had to work until about midnight. There was no reason for her to show up before he got off work. She wouldn’t be doing a scene with someone else at Emergence tonight, so she’d simply be sitting around waiting on him.

  But Carlton secretly hoped she would show up earlier because the idea of being able to see her in person, even from a distance, while she waited for his shift to end, made his palms sweaty. Like a teenage boy headed for a first date, he couldn’t wait to get it started.

  Normally Carlton worked the entire night until they closed, but tonight he’d made arrangements for someone else to take over at midnight so he could leave with Maggie.

  He could kick himself for telling her she didn’t need to be there until midnight. That was too late for her to be out driving around. A single woman in a car in the middle of the night was always a bad idea.

  At eleven forty-five Jason stepped up to the front. “Where’s Margaret?”

  “No idea.” Carlton looked away, pretending to be intently watching the surrounding area.

  “Are you sure she’s coming here? Maybe she intends to meet you at your place.”

  “She’s never been to my place. And I didn’t give her the address. Besides, we discussed it several times. She said she’d meet me here.”

  “Well, maybe she doesn’t feel like being under a microscope, so she didn’t want to get here too early.”

  Carlton nodded. Hopefully that’s it. He glanced at his phone for the hundredth time and saw no calls or texts had come in.

  At midnight his replacement ambled toward the front and relieved him. Even if Maggie didn’t show, Carlton’s nerves were shot from stressing about it. If she’d gotten cold feet, he needed to confront her anyway. Not talking to her at all wasn’t an option.

  Carlton headed to his office to make sure nothing pressing needed attending and to lock the door. When his phone pinged in his back pocket, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, grateful he was alone.

  Time to face the music.

  He pulled the cell from his pants, holding his breath.

  I’m out back in my car.

  The exhale he released lasted longer than he believed possible.

  And then a second text.

  Sir.

  He chuckled. God, he wanted this woman. He was so going to enjoy training her to suit his style.

  And she was so going to enjoy every moment of his training.

  Carlton locked his office and stepped out the rear entrance of the building. There she was, sitting in her car, a smile on her face as he approached.

  There is a god.

  He leaned over as she rolled the window down.

  “Sorry. I didn’t feel like facing off with Jason tonight or dealing with any Doms who thought it was their job to rescue me from my solitude.”

  “I should have thought of that.” He nodded as he leaned lower toward her face. “Good choice. You’ll follow me?”

  “Yes. Sir.” The pause she left between her first word and his title made him stifle a smirk. She was out of practice. And in fact hadn’t called anyone Sir for as long as he’d known her, since she’d been with a series of women in the past.

  Carlton tapped the side of her car and nodded behind him. The only reason he turned from looking at her face was because he feared he would fall over if he didn’t pay closer attention to where he was going. Luckily he only lived ten minutes from Emergence. It was going to be the longest ten minutes of his life.

  He watched her out of his rearview mirror far more than necessary during the drive, as though she might get cold feet and make a turn in another direction. Or perhaps he simply didn’t like having her out of his sight.

  When he finally pulled into the driveway, she inched up alongside him. He rolled down the passenger window and motioned for her to lower hers. “I cleaned out the garage so you could park on one side.”

  She opened her mouth but said nothing. Her eyes widened. Finally, she nodded.

  Carlton eased into the left side while Maggie took the right. It felt…right. And that made him more nervous. This wasn’t meant to be a permanent arrangement. He’d told himself that over and over in the last week while his every waking moment filled with thoughts of Maggie.

  Nerves made his palms sweaty. Nerves that were strictly based on her right to turn him down.

  He could muster up all the tenacity in the world and it wouldn’t change the fact that the woman had a mind of her own and her own free will.

  As he exited the car, another vehicle passed his house, a little too slowly. He stepped onto the driveway, but the car kept going. Whoever it was apparently had an aversion to the gas pedal, or had his head buried in his cell phone.

  Carlton rounded to her trunk when she popped it and removed a large bag and a suitcase. She’d traveled light. Was that a good thing?

  “Come.” He nodded to the entrance to the house inside the garage and headed that direction with Maggie on his heels. Seconds later he had her inside, the garage closed and the door shut. “Welcome. Follow me.” He made his way through the kitchen and led her down the hallway to the master bedroom.

  “Nice.” She looked around his space before meeting his gaze and quickly lowering her face. “Sir.”

  Carlton shook his head and smirked as he put her suitcase unopened in the closet. She wouldn’t need it immediately. Hell, she wouldn’t need it at all in his home. Is that why she’d brought so little with her? He set her other bag at the foot of the bed. “How was your week?” He’d communicated with her through text, but he hadn’t spoken with her in seven long days.

  “Good. Stressful.”

  “Was this a difficult decision? Or did you have a lot going on at work?”

  She tipped her gaze to the floor, as she should, but he worried about her current motivation. “A little of both, Sir. To be honest, no, it wasn’t tough to decide to come to you tonight. I always knew I would. But I don’t want to disappoint you either. That’s stressful.”

  Carlton stepped in front of her and lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “You could never disappoint me.” He stared at her lips, wanting desperately to taste them but knowing the time wasn’t right yet. Soon.
r />   Carlton decided it would be best to jump straight into the arrangement. It would be confusing if he allowed her any leeway and eased her into her new role. “Before we discuss what I expect of you, remove everything and meet me in the living room.” He turned to leave the room and give her a last moment of privacy. He didn’t shut the door, however.

  Minutes later she emerged and padded across the room, head bowed, arms at her sides, flawless skin taking his breath away.

  It wasn’t as though he’d never seen most of her body before at one point or another, but he didn’t make a habit of ogling other people’s submissives. Now that she was here under his care, he couldn’t keep his gaze off her. He took a deep breath, reminding himself this was temporary for the millionth time. Why was that line such a blur?

  She stopped midway into the room, probably waiting for instructions.

  Carlton stepped up to her silently, his feet barely registering the command to move forward. Her creamy skin was so flawless she could be a model. He wondered if she ever had. “Assume a proper standing position please.” He watched while she straightened her shoulders, angled her chin toward the floor, spread her feet shoulder width and clasped her hands behind her back.

  “Good. You remember.” He circled her body slowly. Her ass was fantastic, and he couldn’t wait to mark it with the pink print of his palm, his flogger, his paddle. He’d seen her do many spanking scenes at the club. Not every submissive participated in scenes out of an actual desire to do so. Sometimes their Doms or Dommes would insist on cooperation with no regard for the feeling of the sub.

  Carlton wasn’t that kind of Dom. He liked to think he had a good sense when it came to selecting scenes his submissive would not only enjoy, but derive pleasure from. If he suspected his sub wasn’t headed down the mental path he’d expected or desired, he tried something else.

  Breaking women wasn’t his game.

  But Maggie was a submissive he’d seen in action. He’d watched the rapture on her face many times. He had a good idea what she liked and disliked. That knowledge was what had driven him to decide to give her this opportunity. Her needs met his style.