Domination (Explicitly Yours 2)

“Coding needs to be mandatory in high schools,” Beau said, “but offered as early as elementary level. If I’d taken it in school, I’d be light years ahead of where I am, and I’m already pretty advanced. Girls need to be educated that technology’s not just for boys. I put on this yearly conference free for aspiring or existing entrepreneurs, and there are a few sessions for those under eighteen who’re interested.”

“Back up. A conference for entrepreneurs?” she asked. “You put it on?”

“My company, Bolt Ventures, does. But it’s really a personal project for me. It’s one weekend in Los Angeles with workshops, panels, free legal advice, things like that. And entrepreneurs with a business plan get to pitch their ideas to investors with five-minute, rapid-fire presentations. There’s also opportunities for one-on-one time with people who’ve been in their shoes and succeeded.”

“Wow,” Lola said. “I admit—I’m a little shocked. What do you get out of it?”

“Nothing, really.”

“That can’t be. Exposure maybe?”

“I got screwed over with my first company, and I didn’t even realize it at first.”

“Didn’t you make millions off that deal?”

“Yes, but once they had my company, they didn’t value the work I’d put into it. I guess this conference is a way of providing the tools I didn’t have so others don’t have to make decisions they shouldn’t be making without all the information.”

Lola struggled to envision a world where a ravenous, bulldozing businessman like Beau Olivier did something so selfless.

“There’s some exposure for Bolt. People in the industry know I’m behind it. They have to. I need my contacts to make it successful. But it’s maybe the one business venture I do that’s not for financial gain. It’s for them.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you this passionate,” Lola said, her eyes still shut.

Beau snorted. “Do I have to tell you you’re wrong about that?”

Her cheeks warmed. “You might be right.”

He moved hair off her face. “You must’ve been a cute little Lola.”

“That’s what you got from the picture I painted earlier?”

“No. I got that from the way you just scrunched up your nose when you smiled.” He fell quiet again, raking his fingers through her hair. “I want to know what that girl thought her future looked like. Maybe it’s something I could give you.”

He’d already afforded her one future. With two million dollars, she and Johnny could do anything. She parted her lips to ask him what more he could possibly give her, but she closed her mouth. It was

a question that could lead them down many dangerous paths—what could he offer her that she didn’t already have with Johnny?

She opened her eyes, blinking several times to adjust to the light. In the dark, it’d almost been as if she’d dreamed the past few hours. “We’re just supposed to be having sex,” she said. “All these questions about my past—my future? I hope you aren’t falling in love with me.”

“I can’t tell if you’re joking. But what if I were?”

Her heart pulsed, even though she knew that was impossible—impossible for anyone, but even more so for people like them, who’d had to grow an extra layer around their hearts. “You can’t fall in love with someone in a night.”

“Just like you can’t buy a person?”

“What?”

“Nothing. Never mind.”

Lola stared at his naked pecs. Whenever he worked out a kink in her back, there was obvious strength in his hands. Now she watched the muscles in his arm and chest tighten.

She’d told Johnny she loved him on a weekday. It wasn’t anything worth remembering, like during an expensive dinner or an especially gripping orgasm. She’d just worked a shift at Cat Shoppe, and it’d been late. Her body had dragged like it was made of lead. He’d been in the parking lot, waiting to give her a ride. She’d been so grateful for not having to take the bus home that it just came out. She’d had no idea back then whether she really loved him, only that it felt right to say it.

“It’s not possible,” Lola murmured out loud. “Not in one night.”

Beau bent to peck her cheek. She tilted her head up and met him with her mouth. He pulled her closer by her nape. Their tongues were slow, gradual, tasting. Probing. Then consuming.

Lola thrummed, partly from listening to Beau talk about his work. It added a dimension to him she hadn’t known much about. His drive was sexy, the way he commanded all of her in the bedroom was.

Just as she was about to climb on top of him, he pulled away and put a hand on her back to keep her on her stomach. The mattress sank as he straddled her. He grabbed lotion she hadn’t noticed before from the bedside table. Next to it was a bottle of lube. He squeezed the lotion onto her back and tossed the bottle aside. His hands became even more powerful over her skin. She tried to tell him how good it was, but she could barely make noise. He kneaded his fingers up her neck, into her hair, then down to her shoulders, her lower back. He dipped them between her legs. He squeezed and separated her ass cheeks, letting his thumbs run along the insides.

“Beau,” she murmured. With a shock of cold on her lower back, she opened her eyes. The lube was also gone from the nightstand.

“Relax,” he said. He dropped his hand lower, spread the lube around and added more.

“I can’t,” she said.

His throat sounded raw. “Can’t what?”

She bit her lip when he circled around her clit. “I know where you’re going with this.” She swallowed and exhaled against the bed. He took his hand away. He hovered over her back as he kissed his way from one shoulder blade to the other. Her attention struggled between following his lips and the insistent hardness against her thigh.

“The way you melt into the mattress like this,” he said quietly, brushing his mouth down her spine to the center of her back, “it gets me insane. Turns me on like crazy.”

His hand returned between her lubed cheeks, and he pressed a finger against the one place it couldn’t be. Her reflex was to blush furiously. She considered herself adventurous in the bedroom except when it came to this. She hadn’t let Johnny anywhere near her ass until years after they’d started dating. Everything in her body coiled into a tight spring with a mixture of fear and anticipation.

“Don’t brace yourself.” His other hand rubbed her lower back firmly, coaxing her. When he was demanding, she was powerless to him—when he was gentle, like he was now, she lost all control over herself.

He worked a finger inside her, and her awareness of anything other than its snug fit vanished. He slid it out slowly then back in, massaging her at an easy, relaxed pace. Her embarrassment waned, but her face burned hotter with a mix of emotions. She liked what he was doing, but she worried anything more would hurt.

She’d only let Johnny get as far as this, but he hadn’t been as calm as Beau about it. She hadn’t enjoyed it. It was almost as if Beau were touching a different spot than Johnny had. Beau did this for her, not for himself. She was no longer bracing herself.