“My first responsibility is to this company,” his father said curtly. “You know I’ve never given you anything simply because we share DNA. You’ve earned everything you’ve gotten so far. But now you need to earn this. If I don’t think you’re the best candidate, I won’t hesitate to give it to someone else. Eric has been in line for it for years and has as much experience as you do.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Look at my face,” his dad said, using the same words he used to say to Wyatt when he was a child. “Does this look like my kidding face?”

Wyatt made a sound of disgust. “You’re a cold-hearted sonofabitch sometimes.”

“I am. That’s what gives me my edge, son. If I made decisions based on emotions, you’d have grown up in some shithole in the suburbs. This is a weakness of yours, and my future CEO can’t afford weaknesses.”

“I got it,” he snapped, bitterness leaking into his words.

“Good.” His father pulled a paper from the inner pocket of his jacket and laid it on Wyatt’s desk. “That’s a list of people going whose business we want to acquire. Do whatever it takes to get them.”

Wyatt unfolded the paper and scanned the neat list of typed names. Some of the biggest players out there were listed of course. His father always aimed for the outfield. But Wyatt’s gaze snagged on the name at the bottom of the page. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Andrew Carmichael? If you think I’m going to go kiss Andrew’s ass, you have an—”

“He’s the biggest fish on that list now. Ed’s health has been in the shitter lately, and he’s handed over lots of responsibility to Andrew, including this year’s retreat. Retirement is probably inevitable within the year. So you need to work the son. And you two used to be friends. Use that.” His father straightened his coat.

“Friends? That’s quite a revisionist history there, Dad.” The guy had made grade school painful and high school a fucking nightmare.

“Come on. You can’t still be hung up on stuff that happened so long ago. So he liked to pick on you. He was just threatened because you were smarter than him and got more attention.”

Wyatt gritted his teeth. Childhood teasing he could’ve forgiven, but Andrew had upped the ante when they hit high school. When Wyatt had been chosen for a prestigious scholarship over Andrew, the bastard had retaliated by getting Wyatt’s longtime girlfriend tipsy at an after-prom party and then fucking away her virginity on Wyatt’s bed, making sure Wyatt walked in at just the right moment. Wyatt’s one and only fist fight had ended with a naked Andrew knocked out in the middle of the hallway.

“I want him on our roster.”

“There are other big players we can go after. We don’t need him.”

“We do and you’re going to get him.” His father stood and pulled out an envelope. He dropped it onto the desk. “Nancy in travel has already changed mine and your mother’s reservations into your name. You need to let Nancy know who you’re bringing with you.”

Wyatt picked up the envelope and looked at his father. “Who I’m bringing?”

“This is a plus-one trip. Most of the events are for couples, so don’t be the asshole who shows up solo. And for God’s sake, don’t bring that woman you brought to the charity ball. She had about as much personality as a shoehorn. You need someone who isn’t going to be afraid to mingle and flirt. The prettier your date, the more the other guys will be interested in hanging around you two.”

Oh, this was getting better and better. What was he supposed to do, call up the rent-a-girlfriend-for-a-week service? He worked fifteen-hour days and most weekends. Like he’d told Kelsey, dating didn’t exactly fit into that schedule. He’d had a colleagues-with-benefits thing going for a while with a woman who worked in the building next door, but they’d stopped their Saturday night meet-ups a while back when she’d decided she needed more and had laid out an ultimatum for him. He didn’t do ultimatums.

But regardless of his father’s opinion, he would’ve been faced with the issue anyway. Because there was no way he was going to show up to this thing and face Andrew without some knockout on his arm. It was petty, but he didn’t fucking care. “I’ll figure it out.”

“That’s what I want to hear. Get to planning, son. You leave in a week.” And with that, his father headed out of Wyatt’s office, riding that high horse he so loved to be on.

Wyatt leaned his head back on his chair, tipped his glasses up, and ran a hand over his face. Part of him wondered what would happen if he stood up and walked out. Quit. The fact that his father would even consider giving someone else the CEO position was enough to tempt him to do so. He had enough money to live whatever the hell kind of life he wanted. He didn’t need to be here.

But even the thought sent a gash of loss through him. He loved his job and fed on the play of numbers, on the win of making the right decisions, on the high of knowing he had the answers where others couldn’t see them. This was his life.

If he walked away, what would be left? He didn’t even know who he was outside of this place.

No, he needed to figure this shit out. The socializing aspect of business had always been his Achilles’ heel, but it wasn’t an unlearnable skill. At least he hoped it wasn’t. He could figure out how to play the game. And if he had a beautiful woman with him who did have some social finesse, all the better.

And he had just the woman in mind.

That is, if he could fucking find her.

Wyatt picked up his phone and hit the speed dial.

“A call in the middle of a work day from the suit? Is the building on fire? Have zombies taken over the city?” his brother, Jace, asked, grin evident even over the phone.

“Is there such a thing as a work day for you?” Wyatt lobbed back. “Or do you just sit around while your staff waves you with giant fans?”

“Hmm, there’s a thought,” Jace said, something squeaking in the background. “I’m actually working very hard trying to get the lighting right on a display of high-end glass dildos. Important stuff.”

“Clearly.”

Jace chuckled. “So what’s going on? I know you didn’t call to shoot the shit.”

“How do you know that?”

“Come on, Wy.”

Wyatt frowned. Was he really that bad at the social thing? Even with his brother? Probably. Yes. “Remember back when I helped you out with the Diana situation, and you said you owed me?”

“Of course.”

“Well, I’m ready to take you up on that.”

“Name it, brother. If it’s in my power, I’ll do it.”

“I need you to help me find Kelsey LeBreck.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Kelsey stared down at the sweat-glazed back of Hawk Nichols as he sucked in a deep breath, bracing for her next blow. She strolled around to stand in front of his prone form, making sure he heard her boots clicking deliberately along the cement floor of the dungeon room. She’d strapped him down on all fours along a padded spanking bench about half an hour ago, and he was already flying high. Keeping the braided leather cat in her right hand, she touched Hawk’s fingers with her left. They flinched slightly, still warm. Circulation was good.

She had to watch it with this kid. The twenty year old was the star receiver on his college football team, so pain was part of his daily existence. And he craved the edge of being under her hand, the place the pain would bring him. But she couldn’t trust him to call his safe word if she went too far. Once he slipped into subspace, the bulky athlete was as vulnerable as a kitten. She ran a hand over his damp hair, and he nuzzled her palm and moaned—the simple touch her reward to him for taking so much.

“You still with me, sub?”

“Yes, Mistress. Please,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “Please.”

She knew what he was begging for. Her flogging hadn’t gone to the intense place he needed yet. He was still hovering on the precipice, waiting to lose himself to it all. “You’ve done well tonight, sub. You know you’ll be rewarded.”

“Thank you, Mistress.” His fists flexed and released, flexed and released, the need quivering off him. His cock hung heavy and hard between his spread thighs despite the boot laces she’d used to bind his scrotum and the base of his penis, and she knew he had to be desperate for relief by now.

She ran her fingers along his spine as she made her way around him. He really was a beautiful guy, though still a little lost. They were only separated by a few years in age, but she felt lifetimes older. Hawk had this unvarnished innocence that she doubted many had seen. Big and intimidating in looks, most people probably gave him wide berth and never looked deeper. But he was as gentle a soul as she’d ever met. A gentle soul who craved a bit of brutality.

His father, of all people, had dragged Hawk into The Ranch a few months ago when he’d discovered his son had been burning himself with candle wax while masturbating. One night, Hawk had used the wrong type of candles and had used them too close to his skin. He’d ended up with second-degree burns in hard-to-explain places, and his father had dragged the information out of him.

Most parents would’ve probably hauled the kid into a therapist, thinking he was sick and self-harming. But Hawk’s father had been part of the scene in his past and, after talking with his son, had recognized Hawk’s behavior for what it was. He’d made the kid promise that if he took him to a place where he could get what he needed that he’d never play like that alone again. The next week he’d brought Hawk to The Ranch and had plunked down the hefty membership and session fees without a blink.

Ever since, Hawk had been a weekly client for Kelsey, and she’d grown quite fond of him. Though, her heart still broke a little each time she saw the guarded look in his eyes. She knew that besides his father knowing, this was a big secret for Hawk. Even his girlfriend, who he seemed to adore, didn’t know. Kelsey knew what it was like to keep those heavy secrets and wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

But she couldn’t fix that for him. She didn’t have that kind of power. But she could at least give him this. She released Hawk’s right hand from the leather cuff and drizzled warmed lubricant into his palm, then she squared herself up behind him, her heart picking up speed beneath the laces of her corset. She reached down and removed the bindings from the base of his cock. “You have permission to touch yourself, sub. But you’re not allowed to come until you’ve taken all ten of my strokes. You understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, his voice now shaking with anticipation.

Kelsey took a steadying breath. This was always the hardest part for her. She enjoyed the power and rush of being a top, but unlike many of her fellow doms, sadism wasn’t in her blood. She didn’t derive pleasure in giving pain for pain’s sake. She administered the pain because it was her job, and her satisfaction came from giving a sub what he or she needed. And for Hawk, seeing him let go for a few moments, getting some catharsis, would make it worth it.

She raised her arm high and then, using all her strength, lashed Hawk’s backside with the cat. The braided leather strips striped along his back and buttocks, the sound of leather meeting flesh filling the cavernous space and mixing with the thudding rock music she’d put on in the background. Hawk tried to rear up, the bench rattling a bit from his brute strength, and he moaned loud and long. His fist slid harshly up and down his cock as she landed the next blow.

She worked him hard over the next few minutes, her arm aching from the exertion and her skin going damp and prickly. Hawk jerked and writhed in his bindings, a caged beast on the verge of losing his fight for control. But the sounds he made were pure ecstasy, the intense pain launching him to that plane of nothingness he craved.