“I don’t care. I don’t care,” she said. She was dizzy and hot and in need.
“If you agree to this relationship,” he whispered, “there’s no going back. Walk out now and I won’t do a thing. I won’t pick up that phone, nobody will know a thing. You can get a job somewhere else, be a nice little worker bee at a safe, boring little advertising firm.”
“No,” she said. “I want this.”
I want you. I want all of you inside me.
“You think you want this,” he said, again tugging her hair. This time, there was some pain in her scalp. She hissed. He released the pressure and brushed his lips against her neck, so briefly she wasn’t sure it had even happened. “But I’m a difficult man to please. Do you want to please me?”
“Yes.”
Another pull of her hair, harder this time. “Yes sir.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tonight, you’ll go home and write me an essay. You’ll tell me in detail how you intend to please me.”
“I’m not sure what you want me to—“
This time his other hand gripped her neck. “I gave you an order. Didn’t I?”
“Yes. Yes, sir.”
“Then do as I command.”
“Yes, sir.” He released her completely and moved quickly away. She wished he would return. She wanted to feel his hands everywhere on her body. Even the pain when he pulled her hair was sensual, and she wanted more of that too. If she could just feel those lips against her neck for even one more moment, it would all be worth it.
“You can turn around now,” he said as he sat back down at his desk.
Nicole turned, seeing him as if for the first time. In the last few minutes, it seemed as if her entire life had changed. Like she was a different person, a package that had been unwrapped for the very first time. She was raw, naked, vulnerable. If he asked her to, she’d take off her pants, her blouse, her panties. She’d stand in front of him nude, play with herself, show him how wet she was. If that’s what he desired.
“Should I leave, sir?”
“I don’t want to cause you any harm,” he said softly. “That’s why I didn’t want to hire you. I know myself well enough to know that our relationship can only be difficult. Difficult, complicated, and ultimately destructive…You deserve more than that.”
“I’ll do anything you need,” she said. “Anything, sir.”
“Yes,” he nodded, lost in thought. “I just hope you’ll feel the same way when it’s all over.”
“I will, sir.”
He nodded again but his expression was troubled. “Go home, Nicole.”
And she did.
***
The next day was awful.
She’d been up all night writing the essay Red had assigned, fearing that Danielle would barge in her room at any moment and tear the paper out of her grasp, read it and laugh and laugh. Call their mutual friends and read it aloud to them as well.
Writing it had been excruciating. She wanted to turn him on, wanted more than anything to please him. This was Red Jameson, after all, the man who could have any woman he wanted. He’d been seen with starlets, models, the most famous and beautiful girls on the planet.
And now, inexplicably, impossibly, he wanted her. And worst of all, he wanted her to tell him how she would please him.
What did that even mean? It was a riddle.
That was part of the anxiety of it all. She couldn’t know what he really wanted her to write because he hadn’t been clear in his instructions.
Eyes bleary, she woke at six-thirty after only a couple of hours of fitful sleep and sat down with the paper in front of her. She had smudges of blue ink on her fingers.
She looked at the three pages in front of her, filled with line after line of neatly handwritten script. There were other pages in the wastebasket, crumpled up because she’d needed to cross something out or change a word. She refused to let Red see anything resembling a mistake.
At first, she’d started writing the essay on her computer, but it hadn’t felt intimate enough. She convinced herself that it should be more like a letter than a book report.
Now she reread her work with growing horror.
I will make it my duty to show you my devotion.
Another line further down the page.
Pleasing you in every way will be my greatest accomplishment, I will dedicate myself to the task night and day. Every waking moment will be spent thinking only of your needs.
And on the next page…
My body is yours. My mind is yours. My soul is yours. Do with me as you please.
She recoiled from the words as she read them. They were utter garbage, and Red would be disgusted when he saw what she’d come up with. He’d want nothing more to do with her, knowing the vapid quality of her thoughts, the sheer banality of her creativity.
But then she told herself that the quality of her writing wasn’t what counted in this task he’d given her. What counted was how well she was able to communicate her willingness to please him. And from that perspective, she’d certainly succeeded.