His Dirty Secret - Slave To The Billionaire - Contemporary Erotic Romance (18 page)

Still silently fuming, but secretly
happy that she’d managed to not only get one up on Jessica but had
also managed to piss the woman off in the process, Isobel shuffled
a few papers around on her desk, put pens back in the drawer,
sealed a few envelopes and then sat there trying to pluck up the
courage to go in and see Tyler.

Eventually she checked the time and
realized that if she didn’t go and see him now it would be too
late. She shut down her computer, pushed her chair under her desk
and had one last quick check to make sure that everything was in
order on her desk and that all tasks had been completed. Then she
walked the short distance to Tyler’s office and knocked on the
door.

She hadn’t been this nervous when she
scammed her way into a job here, so she couldn’t understand why her
legs were shaking and her mouth was dry as she entered the room at
his commanding, “Come.”

Tyler looked up from his desk with a
look of irritation, but his expression swiftly changed when he saw
that it was her that needed his attention. “Hey, Isobel. What can I
do for you?” His grin was sexy, and Isobel had no doubt as to what
was going through his mind.

She shifted nervously on her feet and
cleared her throat before she could actually say anything back to
him. “Can we talk, Tyler?”

His grin quickly changed to a look of
concern as he stood up and walked around his desk towards her. “Of
course we can. What’s wrong?” He frowned darkly. “Did my wife say
something else to upset you? I’ll have a word with her and make
sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Isobel held a hand up to reassure him
that that wasn’t what she needed to talk about. “No. It’s got
nothing to do with Jessica. Well, not directly anyway, although I
suppose in a way it does.” She snapped her lips together to shut
herself up, aware that she was rambling on.

Isobel took another breath and started
again. “Do you remember earlier on when we were, um, after we, in
the closet after we…” Her words trailed off as a stain of
embarrassment flooded her cheeks. This was going to be more
difficult than she’d thought.

Tyler stopped her before she could say
anything else. “Come and sit down, Isobel. I can see that this is
something that has you worried, so let’s at least get comfortable
to talk.” He walked towards the leather couch and sat down; patting
the cushion next to him to indicate that she should sit
there.

Isobel settled herself next to him and
tried to compose herself. No matter how she worded this, she knew
it wasn’t going to be taken well. But it was something that she
felt too strongly about to simply not do or say anything at
all.

She turned to face him and the worried
look on his face took her breath away. She never would have thought
that the arrogant Mr. James would have ever worried about what
anyone had to say to him, regardless of what it may be about. It
almost made her stop and think twice about what she was about to
do, but after a brief hesitation she knew that she had no other
option if she was to stay true to herself and her beliefs and
morals.

She started to talk again, the
resolution she felt making her voice calmer and much easier to
vocalize what she needed to say. “You asked me earlier, when we’d
finished making love in the closet, what it had been for.” He
nodded slowly, obviously not daring to talk in case he stopped her
train of thought. “I lied to you, Tyler. I told you that it was
nothing more than two people enjoying each other. Which it was, but
there was more to it than just that.”

At her slight hesitation, Tyler
prompted her softly. “I’m listening.”

“What we’ve shared in the brief time
I’ve been working for you has been intense, Tyler.” She felt
herself blushing again but pushed herself to continue. “You’ve
shown me a different side to myself and what I like on a sexual
nature, and it’s certainly been an eye-opener.”

He smiled down at her. “You’re a
natural sub, Isobel. Believe me; the pleasure hasn’t been all
one-sided on your part.”

Isobel smiled back at him, but even
though she felt a strange sense of pride at his words, she also
felt enormously sad too. “It can’t carry on, Tyler.” There was no
point her beating about the bush. She just needed to come out and
say what needed to be said. “Whatever we’ve shared, whether it be
in a professional or personal basis, doesn’t change the fact that
you’re married. And I can’t be with a man who’s committed to
another woman.”

She felt tears well up and struggled
to keep them under control and not let them fall. She had to stay
resolute in order to get her point across. “I’m so sorry, Tyler,
but what we did today was my way of saying goodbye. I won’t be
coming back to work here so I won’t be seeing you again once I
leave today.”

Tyler hadn’t said a word. He’d just
sat there listening to her with an intense look on his face. Isobel
wasn’t even completely sure that she’d got her point across
properly or if he’d understood her, but there was nothing left to
be said.

She stood up from the couch and looked
down at him as he sat there. He wasn’t even looking at her, and
Isobel could feel the coldness in his demeanor. She hesitated for
just a second longer and then turned away.

“Goodbye, Tyler.” Her parting words
were said as she exited his luxury office, her legs still shaking
and her heart racing.

Isobel collected her coat and bag and
rode the elevator to the ground floor, getting in her car and
arriving home without any recollection of how she got there. She
almost felt bereft, which was crazy considering that she’d only
know Tyler for such a short space of time. But he had made a huge
impact on her, and it was one that she knew she wouldn’t forget any
time soon.

She parked her car and walked into her
house, dropping her bag onto the kitchen counter and heading
straight for the fridge. It was only six o’clock, but she needed a
drink, and coffee just wasn’t going to work. She poured herself a
glass of wine and made her way to the living room, collapsing down
onto the couch as though all the air and energy had been knocked
out of her.

She took a grateful sip of her drink,
and then sat there in the dark for what seemed like hours. She went
to take another sip of her wine and realized her glass was empty,
and as she stood up to go and get a refill, moisture landed on her
arm. With surprise she rubbed at her face, realizing that she was
actually crying, which was something that she very rarely, if ever,
did. With the realization that she was so emotionally upset about
the thought of not only not going to work tomorrow, but not seeing
Tyler again, she completely broke down and buried her face in the
cushions of the couch while she sobbed.

Eventually the tears subsided and she
pulled herself together. She poured herself another glass of wine
and then gave her best friend a call to invite her over. She really
didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts until she was tired
enough to fall asleep as soon as her head hit the
pillow.

~

Chapter Eleven

~

Isobel had a quick shower while she
waited for her friend Carol to arrive, and then opened a second
bottle of wine. When she arrived, Carol looked at her with raised
eyebrows. She knew that Isobel hardly ever drank, and when she did
it was never to excess.

Catching her friends look, Isobel
shrugged her shoulders. “Well hell, Carol, it’s not like I have to
go to work tomorrow.” And with that, the tears started to flow
again, much to Carol’s concern.

“What on earth has gotten into you,
Izzy?” she asked with a worried voice. “I’ve never seen you this
cut up over a job before. Is it because of the money you’ll be
losing? You told me that it was a great salary with lots of
unexpected perks.”

Isobel couldn’t help but sniffle a
laugh. “I didn’t even think to ask for a check for what he owes me
for the past few days of work, to be honest. And I wouldn’t have
accepted it anyway.” She would have felt really underhand if she’d
insisted on payment considering that the work she’d done was
minimal and she’d ended up leaving him high and dry when she’d
walked out.

“As for the perks, well I suppose the
medical insurance was great, and he did take me out for a couple of
really nice lunches.” She couldn’t help the grin that crossed her
face, or the blush that crossed her cheeks.

Carol heard the unspoken ‘but’ at the
end of Isobel’s sentence. “What else happened, Izzy? I know you and
I know that look. What are you not telling me? And do I even want
to know?”

“Before I say anything
else, I need to ask you a question.” Isobel had never kept anything
back from her friend, and she wasn’t about to start now. But she
wasn’t completely sure if Carol would look down on her for what had
happened, and for what Isobel had
let
happen.

“You can ask me anything, you know
that, Izzy.”

Isobel cleared her throat and looked
anywhere but at her friend. “Have you ever been, um, tied
up?”

“Tied up? As in kinky sex shit?” She
giggled. “I’ve had a pair of pink furry handcuffs used on me a few
times. Does that count?”

Laughing properly for what felt like
the first time all week, Isobel shook her head. “Not exactly,
Carol. I mean tied up as in ropes and stuff.” She took a breath.
“And have you ever been flogged and spanked?”

“Oh my God, Isobel! Did he…did you…at
the office?” She had such a surprised look on her face that Isobel
laughed even harder. “How the hell did you do it with people
around? And why did you even let him do that? Is he some kind of
freak or something?”

Isobel shook her head firmly. “He’s
far from being a freak, Carol. In fact, he’s the sexiest man I’ve
ever met, and the sex was more intense than anything I’ve ever
experienced with anyone else. Ever.”

Reaching for the bottle of wine on the
coffee table, Carol refilled both their glasses, and then settled
back into the cushions. “Okay, girlfriend. I want to hear all about
it. And don’t you dare leave out any of the juicy
stuff.”

The next couple of hours were spent
with Isobel recounting what had occurred between her and Tyler, and
as her friend had demanded, she left out nothing. By the time Carol
left it was well past midnight, and Isobel had to admit to feeling
much better about things. She was still upset at having to stop
working for Tyler, and even more upset at the prospect of never
seeing him again. But she knew in her heart that she’d done the
right thing.

Tomorrow she would go and visit her
old boss and see if she could get her job back at the bar. Then she
would work on putting the past week behind her. With a game plan in
mind, she took herself to bed and closed her eyes, feeling relieved
at how easy it all sounded.

She just hoped that she could put her
feeling about Tyler behind her as easily, but she had an idea that
that was going to be a whole lot more difficult…

To be
continued…

Evelyn Troy