Free Blindfold: The Complete Series Box Set by M. S. Parker, Cassie Wild Page A

needed to know if there was anything that might put your loved ones at risk.
    I was good and worked up by the time I got home. Once I parked, however, I took a moment to pull it all back in. I didn't want to blow up around Isadora. I hadn’t seen her that morning, and I was almost positive she had some sort of paper due this week. I wanted to ask how she’d done. Then maybe I could talk her into going out. While she was getting ready, Toni and I could...talk.
    My stomach clenched at the thought.
    But Isadora wasn’t in the sitting parlor where she preferred to spend much of her time.
    Toni was, though.
    Toni was stretched out on one of the long, low couches and she looked completely bitable.
    Standing in the shadows of the hall, I watched as she got up, frowned at a note she had on a pad of paper, and then tossed it down before she walked over to a bag and bent down. The narrow black skirt she wore pulled tight over her ass and again, the image from the other night at the club slammed into me.
    Pushing that skirt up over her hips.
    Dragging down her panties.
    Wrapping that hair around my fist and holding her steady as I forced her to take my cock. I’d get her wet, so wet, and so ready –
    She jerked upright and turned around, her eyes unerringly seeking me out.
    I didn’t realize it, but I’d moved forward until I stood in the doorway.
    Her eyes met mine and I saw something flash across them, then disappear. “Back to lurking in the shadows, are we, Mr. Lang?” she asked, giving me a saccharine smile that I was pretty sure was fake.
    “Ash.”
    Shit. Why had I told her to call me that? I'd made it clear when I first met her that she wasn't going to be calling me that.
    I knew the answer, no matter how much I hated it.
    I wanted to hear my name on her lips. I wanted to hear her moaning it, then sobbing it as she begged me to let her come.
    She wouldn't beg.
    I knew she wouldn’t. Wouldn't beg. Wouldn't submit. She wasn't a part of my world, and the separation had nothing to do with money or society.
    “I’m sorry.” She moved back to where she’d dropped her notepad and sat down.
    I heard the whisper of skin against skin, and my gaze dropped as she crossed her legs. Shit. I wanted to uncross them, push them wide, press my mouth against her...
    I forced myself to pull my gaze back up.
    She wasn’t even looking at me.
    “Sorry?” I prodded, remembering what she'd said.
    “Yes.” She gave me a distracted smile.
    Her eyes were snapping, though. Snapping and hot. Fuck. It drove me out of my mind.
    “I seem to remember you telling me that employees were supposed to call you Mr. Lang.”
    “You work for Isadora, not me.”
    Dammit. Why had I pointed that out?
    Toni arched her eyebrows, a bemused look on her face. “You're right, I do. And Isadora doesn't seem to think it's a problem for me to call you Mr. Lang. And until she tells me otherwise, it's not going to happen. And I don’t see why she would change her mind.”
    Her eyes laughed at me. “Do you?”
    I wanted to bite her. I wanted to haul her out of the chair, turn her around and make every fantasy I’d had over the past week come true. Instead, I deliberately strode forward and put my briefcase down. As she watched, I gave her a cool smile.
    “Very well, Ms. Gallagher.” She wanted to play it that way? Fine. “I tried being friendly. But that’s apparently not what you want.”
    I took a file out of the briefcase and moved closer, sitting down on the heavy mahogany coffee table that was just a few feet in front of her. To her credit, she didn’t lean away when I crowded into her personal space. She held firm and steady. Again, I was overcome with the need to see just how far I could push her – how far I could take her – how far she could take me.
    “I’ve done some research into your background.”
    “I’m aware.” A smile cold as the arctic curved her lips. “But having someone follow me? Really? Wasn’t the background check done by