Shark (Wall Street Beasts 1)

She blushed, her tears drying with the distraction of attraction.

It was only just starting to sink in. Six hours ago, she’d been at her job, expecting to go home and have a microwave meal for dinner. Now she was on a private jet with the COO of Apex, with literally no idea where she was being taken.

“What country are we going to?”

“It’s not really a country. It’s an island outside the territorial waters of any major country.”

“I didn’t know there were islands with no jurisdiction.”

“There are several, and more being built all the time.”

“Built?”

“Terraforming is very much a modern reality. Dubai did it most famously, but there are other locations and other islands.”

“You don’t live on the same planet as the rest of us, do you, really,” Sophie marveled. “The normal rules don’t apply to you at all.”

“Death, taxes, and gravity are still concerns,” he winked at her.

“Death and gravity, maybe. Not taxes.”

He smiled. She didn’t feel any better. He may as well have been taking her to another planet. The truth was, she barely knew him. He was just as dangerous as every other executive at Apex, probably more. But she didn't have anybody to rely on now, not besides him.

“What are you going to do with me?”

“I was thinking of giving you another spanking, for starters.”

“What!? Why?”

Her eyes widened because he didn’t sound like he was joking. It wasn’t an attempt to make her feel better. He was looking at her with those dark eyes, and now she was looking at his hands. They were big. Really big. And surprisingly callused for a man who was king in a paper jungle.

“Because you're probably the most spankable young lady I’ve met in a long time. And because I think you need it.”

She felt excitement mixed with fear swirling around inside her belly. This was an unexpected distraction from the misery which was the only thing to rise from the ruins of her life.

Alex Roth wanted to spank her. She would have understood it if he wanted to fuck her. It would at least make sense if he wanted sex. Men had traded safety for sex from women since time immemorial. At this point, it was practically a human tradition.

The first time he’d spanked her, she hadn’t had a chance to ask questions or talk about it. This time, things weren't moving so fast. There was a chance to talk.

Are you some kinda freak? That question hung silently in the air between them, though she wasn’t actually sure that spanking really counted as kinky anymore. It was practically mainstream. At least, that’s what Twitter told her. In reality, she hadn’t actually encountered anybody who wanted to spank her.

“Uh…” she stared at him, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to work out what to say. “But. You know it hurts, right?”

“Ideally, yes.”

“Ideally?” She practically squeaked the word. “You want to hurt me?”

“I’ve wanted to spank your bottom since I first saw you. You need to be sore. You need to be disciplined by someone older, someone who can look after you.”

Jesus Christ. She couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. She had known that Alex wasn’t a normal kind of guy. Nobody with the kind of money and power he had could be. And she’d guessed he wouldn't have normal tastes, but she’d figured that his desires were probably more along the lines of leather and Brazilian supermodels. Not one-step-above-frumpy middle managers who had to be abducted to stay out of prison.

“I… I don't know what to say,” she said, redundantly. “I think I’d rather you didn’t, uhm, you know. Do that. Again.”

He smiled a slow, devilish smile. He had her captive on a private airplane somewhere above an ocean. He could do whatever he wanted to her, and they both knew it.

Alex sat back in his chair and pulled the armrests slowly, deliberately, upward. Without breaking eye-contact, he crooked a finger at her. “Come here, Sophie.”

The way he said her name sent ripples of arousal coursing through her. Maybe he wasn't trying to have sex with her. Maybe he was. One thing she did know was that she wanted him. She couldn't help wanting him. It was like a biological fucking imperative. When a guy was this hot, magnetic, and powerful, it was almost as though her uterus was already spoken for.

“Isn’t there, you know, a rule we’re supposed to stay seated and keep our seatbelts fastened?”

“The worst of the turbulence is behind you,” he smiled. “Come here. The longer you defy me, the worse it will be.”

So this was her future. To be the punishment toy of a man who could do whatever he wanted to her because she had no other option but to obey him, or go to prison forever. The deal wasn’t spoken, but it didn’t need to be.