Perfectly Exposed (Command Unit Book 1) Read online

  The truck door opened and Hailey was too busy biting back the scream to continue assigning blame.

  Jack. Thank God. And…freaking yikes. Long, muscled, darkly beautiful and currently intensely scary Jack glided up into the cab and immediately reached for the ignition as he pulled the seat belt across his body. Instantly the truck was in motion and headlights came on.

  Hailey peered through the windshield. They were in a construction yard. Just like in every scary movie where things were about to go bad, they were surround by looming skeletons of buildings and monster equipment that made burying a body easy. But they were leaving, perhaps things were not going…uh…badder.

  “Hailey,” Jack started quietly as the truck hit pavement and they turned onto a busy road. “What were you doing in that club? Tell me your sweet little butt was not there alone to meet a stranger?”

  “What? Ah… I mean…” Hailey tried to come up with some reasonable set of words that didn’t make her look like an idiot. Nope, there weren’t any to be had. Her being in that place was stupid on the level of too stupid to live. Nothing for it but to agree. “I have no idea what I was thinking. Honestly. It was a dumb thing to do.” She dropped her face into her hands as humiliation rolled over her anew.

  “Take me home and you’ll never see me again,” came out from behind her fingers. “I’m moving to Bangladesh in the morning.” The last trailed off in a whisper.

  There was silence from the other side of the cab. Hailey dragged in a deep breath and straightened. The silence felt like he was waiting for the real reason and telling him the underlying reason for the stupid plan just was not happening. At least not all of it, but maybe she’d have to endure confessing to some of the ugly truth.

  “Look, it was a stupid thing to do. I…um…thought I’d pretend I’m a submissive…er, maybe more like…well, see if I’m a submissive. I’m not really a submissive if I’ve never, er, so it’s pretend, right? Wait, never mind. That doesn’t matter. My friend Trina knows the guy I met. It seemed like a good idea before I actually went in the club. Then it was getting scary. I honestly had no idea that you went there or would…um…rescue me.” Hailey paused but still no response from the man driving. “I’m so sorry to be a bother tonight, but thank you. Seriously. Getting me out was a really nice thing to do. Thank you again.”

  Jack turned the truck into a parking lot and Hailey glanced around. It wasn’t her apartment lot. It was a well-lit, beautifully landscaped condo on the water lot. Jack guided the big truck into a parking spot. The headlights illuminating the sign directly in front of them stated this was 402’s reserved parking space.

  He put it in park, engaged the brake and shut it down. Jack turned slightly in his seat and regarded her. Both powerful wrists resting on top of the steering wheel, he looked at her over his bulging shoulder. Hailey couldn’t bring herself to do more than glance at him. The silence didn’t feel dangerous, but nor did it feel comfortable, and it took real effort not to shrink into her door in an attempt to put space between them.

  “You think you’re pretending to be submissive?” he finally questioned softly.

  Hailey head jerked up to stare at him, astonished. That was what he was going to focus on?

  “Okay, baby, here’s where we’re at.” His voice was calm but firm. “I can’t take you home. This is my other place, and as you can see, the walk from here to the condo is well lit and camera intensive. The reason I have another place is so I can be watched. What that means to you, from here to the point the condo door closes on your butt, you are my submissive. Got it?”

  “I…but…” Hailey stammered.

  He cut her off by leaning a little more toward her. “No, baby. You don’t get an opinion. Walking into that club put you in my care. You may think you’re pretending, but, sweetheart… You. Are. Not. This is how it’s going to be until we get upstairs. Wait for me to come around and get you. Do not open that door. On the way up, do what comes naturally when I touch you. Cuz, baby, you are not pretending. When we get inside we’ll talk about that.”

  With that he was gone, out the door and around the front of the truck. Her door opened and his big hand slid under her blanket, firmly pressing across her abdomen as it moved to unlatch her seat belt. “Good girl,” he murmured when she didn’t move until his hand closed around her forearm and gently pulled her out of the vehicle while dropping the blanket on the floor of the cab. The door was swung shut and he pulled her into his side as they turned toward the building.

  His arm curved around her back, his hand cupping her bottom. The position forced her to put her arm around his back, fingers naturally hooked into a belt loop. A “couple hold” but more since his hand moved on her butt, cupping, petting, never remaining still. It stroked around to low on her hip, then back to her ass cheek the entire trek to the building. Pulling the big glass doors open, he walked them across the lobby with its desk and security guard. Jack nodded at the man and they were in the elevator, his hand never stopped moving on her.

  As the elevator doors closed he bent to murmur a warning into the top of her head. “Still on camera.”

  His other hand casually rested on his hip. The arm around her went up her side and around her ribs to close over her breast. In the mirrored wall she could see his eyes raised, watching the elevator numbers, seemingly not paying one bit of attention to her as long, hard fingers pulled down her blouse and bra the tiny bit needed to close around her naked nipple.

  Hailey gasped, her body turned mostly into him, her hips pressed into his hip because apparently that was what happened when hard fingers tugged and rolled her nipple. Her head dropped to look at her chest but he was already smoothing the cloth back over her and giving her breast a gentle, approving squeeze as the elevator doors opened.

  Then they were in a sort of hall off which four doors opened. His arm around her, hand still cupping her breast, they moved to one of the doors and he had it open, pulling her in the condo.

  The next instant Hailey found herself facing the shut door, her hands pressed up, palms flat beside her head and a ton of hard male at her back. His lips at her ear, he directed in a low rumble that skittered down her bones, “This is where you stay while we get a few things straight, little one. You will listen and nod when asked if you understand. When I’m done, we’ll see what you have to say. Advice: Pay attention. Now nod if you understand.”

  His hands glided down the undersides of her arms as he growled instructions in her ear. Hailey gulped at the sudden change in circumstances, her forehead against the door she nodded. Hard fingers grazed her armpits and came to rest at the sides of her breasts but didn’t do anything further as his deep voice continued.

  “The moment that club door closed on your luscious ass, you became mine. That is the result of the choice you made to go there tonight. Nod if you understand.”

  Hailey drew in a sharp breath. He remained a wall of unmoving male behind her, his hands holding her lightly, but other than that, the pose he’d put her in was a voluntary action on her part. It was the most exciting sexual experience of her life and nothing had happened. She knew the words coming at her were important. He had given her direction on how to respond but also, he was waiting for her to answer.

  Nodding agreement to his statement would change everything. The huge, demanding man behind her was dangerous. Five years she had lusted after a mysterious, gentle, insanely good-looking Jack A. Stone, from afar!

  The whole afar thing meant she’d never met this guy. The one whose intensity blistered the air around her when he was displeased. The man whose hands never left her body except when driving a vehicle. The one who fondled her private flesh casually, even as he kept her covered in the very public places they had been tonight. Yes, even in the elevator, his hand had covered her breast while he played with her.

  All of this flashed in the foggy miasma that was her brain, sparkles of thought that disappeared in willo’-the-wisp fashion. So this was what it felt like to jump off a cliff
. Yep, that was the only real thought she could hang on to.

  Hailey nodded.

  “Good girl,” rasped in her ear. Both large hands moved in to cup her breasts. Hooking forefingers in the top of her elastic neckline and flimsy bra, he pulled just enough to expose her nipples, but his hands didn’t remain there. They smoothed down the front of her vest to her waist as Jack continued speaking.

  “That leads us directly to the fact that I am not pleased with how my girl got my attention tonight, but we are going to set that aside.”

  His hands glided down the front of her short skirt to land on bare thighs. His tall frame bending into her back, his lips still at her ear, each word sent an electric pulse directly to the peaks of her exposed breasts and then shot it down between her legs. His hands slid to the insides of her thighs and gently pulled them wider. The unbelievable burn radiating from her core intensified with each adjustment he required of her body.

  Her forehead resting on the door, Hailey swallowed and nodded. He hadn’t asked a question but she felt compelled to indicate agreement. His hands slowly skimmed up her spread thighs and she squeeze her eyes shut.

  “Open your eyes, baby. Watch,” he directed firmly. One of his hands remained splayed on her hip where the he held the bunched material of her skirt. The other traced the low edge of her thong before dipping two fingers under to glide over her clit and rest on damp, swollen flesh.

  “Drenched,” he whispered as they both looked down her body between tightly beaded nipples to his thick wrist disappearing between her legs. “My girl is wet, isn’t she?”

  Hailey nodded.

  “She’s being good,” he continued as his fingers began to play, drawing little circles that didn’t quite give her the touch she wanted. Just like leaving her breasts exposed without touching her nipples sensitized them, his whisper-light caress over damp folds made her crave what he withheld. Want built swiftly into need as he lightly stroked sensitive lips where nerves had hungered for his touch for so long.

  Hailey moaned softly. Watching the thick tendons of his wrist shift, her breasts shuddering as she breathed, and hearing the erotic praise he was petting her brain with involved every sense in the seductive moment. She could even smell her own arousal. He played her body and mind with equal intensity, creating a burn like nothing she’d ever imagined. It was so explicitly intimate, exposed and yet covered.

  Her hands tried to grip the door to remain there. She had to keep them there but, oh, how she wanted to reach down and press his hand into her body.

  His lips touched her neck where it met her shoulder. “Take what you need, little one. Move on my fingers.”

  Permission to move raced though her in compelling waves. Permission followed by direction was even better. Knowing she needed it, understanding his control in giving her what she needed, worked her on a whole new level. He knew her. Jack knew her dark secrets. It felt so good. No, not good, it felt phenomenal. Suddenly she was free. Free of the responsibility to monitor what she was doing, checking if it was right, good enough, or any other thing good girls were supposed to keep track of. Doing as she was told meant she could sink into the sensations, let them be the only thing she had to concentrate on.

  Hailey flexed her knees to bear down on his hand. Her hips moved back and forth, frantic to get more of his touch. Want drove her to circle and rock. Required to watch as she undulated, seemingly suspended on him, made it even more extreme.

  “That’s it,” Jack encouraged softly, his thumb sliding up over her clit. Two fingers tapped her opening and immediately plunged into her because she jammed herself on them. “Good girl. Fuck that, baby.” His whisper a guttural command.

  Whimpering and closing her eyes again, Hailey’s hips jerked as her knees straightened and flexed to move her body on his fingers.

  “Open, baby. Watch,” Jack murmured.

  Gasping at the shattering sensation, her eyes snapped open to watch herself thrust on his hand. His thumb kept at her clit, pressure and movement that drove her wild. Hailey couldn’t get enough, but she worked at it, driving herself onto his fingers.

  The erotic freedom of doing exactly what she was told and watching added a voyeuristic layer of intense pleasure that she had no idea what to do with. The pressure was building, burning with each moment. Each desperate twist of her hips, the lurid bounce of her breasts as she tried to get more of him in her made her feel something new, something so deliciously bad that it was shatteringly good.

  His other hand disappeared from her waist. “Good girl,” he whispered as that hand connected with her ass in a sharp spank, then another, harder, this one a fire that shot straight to the need between her legs, lighting her up with the power of a back draft released.

  Hailey screamed and started coming. Violent shudders ripped through her and the world dissolved. His fingers rammed in while the hand on her ass gripped and held her in place for his fingers to fuck her through the consuming orgasm.

  His thrusts slowed to petting, fingers pulled out of her body until his hand between her legs simply gripped her firmly. Ownership was blatant in his hold while his other arm around her waist held her limp body cradled against his.

  Hailey drifted down from the shocking high. Her head lolled back on his chest, his head still bent to her neck. She could actually feel the smile on his lips.

  His hand dragged slowly out from between her legs as that deep voice again praised her. “My good girl,” he crooned. “So fucking beautiful.”

  His arms changed location and she was swept up and cradled like a child against his chest. Curling into him with her arms around his neck was a natural reaction. Her face buried against him, she had no idea where they were headed as he turned away from the door. It didn’t matter.

  He sat with her draped across his lap. Lips skimmed up her neck and back down as her body adjusted naturally into him.

  “My girl came hard when she got her spanking,” he murmured. “Didn’t she?”

  Her face in his neck, Hailey nodded.

  Soft kisses swept up to her ear. “Give me your mouth, baby,” he demanded, still whispering.

  Trembling, Hailey lifted her face. Licking, he took her mouth slowly, softly, petting her, praising her with his lips, his tongue. The kiss deepened and pleasure enclosed her in a cloud of sensual approval. Her body melted, pressing into the hard man holding her as her head tilted back to give him access, to give him anything, everything.

  He bent her back over the couch arm, his hand moving on her still exposed breasts framed by the pulled down material of blouse, bra and vest he hadn’t bothered to remove. She felt more evocatively exposed than being naked. Firm fingers plucked her nipples in gentle pulls, then he palmed her breast in slow circles. It wasn’t soothing but it didn’t drive her up sexually. It excited her in a different way. He was handling her as he pleased, touching her intimately, but it felt casual too. That was the moment the absolute rightness of his hands running over her body made sense. He was acting like he had a right to do as he pleased because she had given him that, submitted to him.

  Oh God. He was exactly what she had imagined, a Dominant, not just a dominant personality.

  He broke the kiss gradually, raining soft touches on her face. She felt Jack’s breath on her lips as he remained in her space. Hailey slowly opened her eyes.

  “Nobody is pretending anything,” he stated while gently rolling her nipple. Lines radiating from the corners of his eyes told her he wanted to smile, though he kept talking. “You are mine, my responsibility. I take care of what’s mine. What you just gave me, that’s all mine, too. Do you understand?”

  Oh yes she understood and oh no, she wasn’t prepared for this. Or maybe she was and didn’t know it. Looking back, from the moment he put his hand on her neck, she had submitted to him in every way he allowed her to do it. What did that really mean though? Was she the night’s entertainment? Someone he felt obligated to remove from a dangerous situation and things had gotten a little fun? If he
was a Dominant, what did declaring she belonged to him mean? Just right now? Or more? Hailey slowly shook her head no.

  A dark eyebrow went up. “What part is not clear?” he asked, palming her breast, his fingers stilling.

  “What are we doing? I don’t understand this world,” she confessed hesitantly. “I don’t know if this means something or nothing.”

  Jack’s lips smiled this time, not just his eyes. “Let me simplify. This means you are mine in a way I like. It could have taken us months to get to this, baby. It didn’t and that pleases me. Is that clearer?”

  The orgasm fog had completely lifted by the time he finished.

  “Yours? Me? Like…dating?” she stammered.

  His head shook no once. “Dating, no. We skipped right past that when you sat that fine ass down in a damn meat market. You became my woman tonight. Baby, that means—”

  Suddenly someone was pounding on the front door. Hailey’s body jerked at the unexpected noise. Jack cursed in a hiss, his hand deftly pulling her blouse and bra over her breasts and stood, placing her on her feet in front of him.

  “Hang on a minute,” he semi-yelled at the door while grabbing her hand and dragging her deeper into the condo that Hailey hadn’t even looked at yet.

  “Wait. What’s happening?” she asked as he stopped at a large closest that they had gotten to through a huge bedroom.

  He grabbed a plaid shirt off a hanger and turned her with the hand still holding hers. Letting go, he held the shirt open behind her. “Put this on, baby,” his low voice directed.

  Automatically Hailey pulled the shirt on. The long sleeves flopped down below her hands. The hem completely covered her short skirt and reached almost to her knees. Jack came around in front of her, doing up the buttons. “Get the sleeves,” he directed.

  Rolling up the material, she asked again, “Jack, what are you doing?”