Flawless Desire

“Ten.”

He lands a final blow and it’s enough to send me hurtling over the edge. I come apart with a scream, shattering with a rush of pure ecstasy so sharp, I swear I almost black out. I fall forwards on the table as it surges through me, waves rolling over and over, consuming me, unravelling me, until I’m left collapsed there, dizzy and utterly spent.

Oh.

My.

God.

I lay there, reeling. I didn’t know an orgasm could be like that. Hell, I didn’t know sex could be like that.

“Hey.”

I look over. Caleb has crouched beside the table, his face just inches from mine. “Are you alive, or… ?” He reaches out, and gently brushes a lock of sweaty hair from my face.

The tenderness of the gesture takes me by surprise.

I sit up. “Or, have you killed me with pleasure?” I ask, finishing his question. He smirks, but I can’t hold it against him.

That was, hands down, the most intense sexual experience of my life.

I gingerly stretch. “I’m alive,” I confirm. “Just about.”

“Good.” Caleb helps me to my feet, and gives me a smoldering look that just about takes my breath away all over again. “Because I’m not done with you yet.”

I can’t begin to imagine what else is in store, but as he’s leading me towards what I’m hoping is the bedroom, the sound of a ringtone comes.

Caleb pauses.

“You’re off the clock, remember?” I tell him, teasing, but it’s like the shutters have already come down. He strides over to a cabinet by the door and pulls a cellphone from the drawer.

“Yes?” he asks sharply. “Fine. I understand.”

He hangs up. “I’m afraid you need to leave now,” he says, all business again. He buttons his shirt, and adjusts his belt.

I blink at him in disbelief.

“Are you serious?”

I’m standing buck naked in a million-dollar necklace. The man has just spanked me and given me an epic orgasm all at the same time, which is multitasking I would be impressed by, if he wasn’t suddenly kicking me out the door.

“I’ll call a car for you.” Caleb says blandly. “Get home safe.”

And then with that oh-so-romantic parting comment, he walks into the elevator, and the doors shut behind him.

He’s gone.

I can’t believe it. What the hell just happened? I feel a rush of rejection, and humiliation, and a dozen other awful feelings.

I scramble for my dress and pull it on. I don’t want to stay here a minute longer now that I’ve been so unceremoniously kicked to the curb.

It’s only when I’m on my way out that I realize: The phone he answered? It wasn’t his usual work phone.

It must be the one he keeps for shady, secret business. The kind of business that pulls him away from a naked, willing woman at midnight without a backwards glance.

Whatever the hell is going on with Caleb Sterling, it can’t be good.