Submitting to the Boss, West Coast Book 2

I apologize for being out of touch recently. The last couple of months have been a little hard. But I promised everyone I would have the next West Coast book out by the end of March, and I’m pleased to say I accomplished that goal. I also got back the rights to my two stories in Twin Peaks, my first Berkley book, an anthology with Susan Johnson. Double the Pleasure and Skin Deep are all about the Prescott twins, and I’ll have more for you on their antics in the coming months. Look for Double the Pleasure at the beginning of May and Skin Deep in June.

You all met Ruby in Revenge Sex, West Coast Book 1. She was such a very bad girl. And I really thought she needed to be taught a little lesson. So I gave her to Holt Montgomery in Submitting to the Boss, and he certainly knows how to execute her punishment!

Thanks to Rae Monet for the great covers!

Ruby completely underestimated her live-in lover. She thought she had him wrapped around her little finger, and she could do anything she wanted without any consequences. Now she’s just another dumped woman bemoaning her fate.

Then her boss, West Coast Manufacturing’s CEO Holt Montgomery, calls her into his office and gives her the punishment she so richly deserves.

Holt is determined to show Ruby the error of her ways with his own special brand of dominance and submission. Her sexuality now belongs to him, and he’ll give her permission as to when, where, how, and with whom she’ll use it. From voyeurism to exhibitionism to more than one man at a time, with a little tying up and a bit of well-deserved spanking, Ruby discovers she likes following a man’s rules. But she still won’t let a man have the upper hand.

Can their naughty affair move from just sex with the boss to something more lasting? Or will Ruby learn her lessons a little too late?

I’ve also got an excerpt for you. It’s not as naughty as some of my excerpts, but it’s definitely got the innuendo!

Submitting to the Boss

West Coast Series, Book 2

Copyright 2012 Jasmine Haynes

Chapter One

“Ruby, in my office, now,” Holt Montgomery barked over the intercom.

Ruby Williams pressed her lips together, staring at the offending device. It was just before five on Thursday, and Ruby always left at five. Still, she pushed the Talk button obediently. “Yes, Holt.”

She hadn’t found a decent apartment and had been living in a hotel for over a week, since the day Clay kicked her out of his house. All the rumors being bandied about last week had been squashed, and the demise of her three-year relationship with the CFO hadn’t yet made it to West Coast Manufacturing’s gossip mill, but her boss, Holt Montgomery, knew all about it. She couldn’t be sure if Clay had told him the specific reasons why, but they’d been friends and coworkers for twenty years in Silicon Valley, the last ten at West Coast where Clay was chief financial officer to Holt’s chief executive officer. It stood to reason that Clay had told Holt.

And Holt had been treating her…differently. There was a new harshness in his tone when he spoke to her. Like now. Before, Holt would have asked if she had a minute, and he wouldn’t have used the intercom; he’d simply have called out. These were subtle differences, true, but there were other signs. He hadn’t joked with her. He’d rarely smiled at her. Holt had always been an easygoing boss from the day she’d started as his executive admin a little over four years ago. Now it seemed that not only had she screwed up her living arrangements, she’d screwed over her job as well.

There was nothing to do but pick up her pad and pencil and enter the proverbial lion’s den the way he demanded.

Behind his big mahogany desk, surrounded by report folders and his two computer monitors with which he effectively multitasked, Holt Montgomery looked like a captain at the helm of his battle ship. At fifty-two, with a head of thick steel-gray hair and the fit, muscular body of a man fifteen years younger, his bearing inspired respect, awe, and even fear.

Ruby had always felt the respect and awe, but today there was also a smidgen of fear.

“Close the door,” he ordered, his voice deep and hard-edged.

Ruby jumped to do his bidding. Her smaller office was an annex to his much larger one. In many respects, she was his guard dog, vetting all his calls and his visitors. She had to admit she liked the power in that, but with the door closed and the scowl on Holt’s face, she wasn’t feeling particularly powerful.

She’d lost so much more than she could have imagined when Clay kicked her out.

“Sit.” Holt pointed at the chair dead center before his desk.

It was one of the conference chairs, and that wasn’t its normal place. His office was spacious with a six-man conference table, coffee-service trolley, and a sofa grouping by the large window, all this in addition to his massive mahogany desk. He conducted meetings, entertained customers, and signed multimillion-dollar deals in this domain.

That chair was out of place, and Ruby’s tension ratcheted higher. Clay was paying for her hotel, but he wouldn’t do that forever. She had to find a new place, and she needed a job in order to sign a lease.

Holt wouldn’t fire her because of what happened with Clay. Would he?

She sat, wishing she’d worn something more circumspect. But Ruby owned very little that could be called circumspect. Her skirts were short, and her tops had plunging necklines. Holt had never complained.

He stared at her silently. He didn’t even blink, just regarded her with piercing eyes so dark they were almost black. Holt was the only man in the world who made Ruby’s palms sweat. She could wrap most men around her little finger, even Clay—at least until last week. But never Holt. She’d always felt subordinate to Holt, and funnily enough—probably because of her respect for him—it had never been an unpleasant feeling. Until now.

“What can I do for you, Holt?” Her voice seemed to crack, and her mouth was dry.

Finally, he spoke. “You’ve been a very bad girl.”

Ruby swallowed; it hurt going down. “You mean about Clay?” She wasn’t going to admit anything until she knew exactly what Clay had told him.

“Yes,” he said. “You fucked around behind his back.”

Okay, she could explain. She had to explain. “It wasn’t behind his back. He knew. In fact—”

Holt held up his hand, and she didn’t dare go on. That was another thing about Holt: he was the only man Ruby would shut up for. “Don’t prevaricate. I know about your arrangement with Clay.”

Her face flushed. Ruby wasn’t the type to get embarrassed, yet there was something about knowing that Clay had—potentially—revealed all her faults to Holt that made her jumpy. But she wouldn’t cave by asking how much he knew. She’d wait him out.

It didn’t take Holt long to come back at her. “You had sex with a coworker in Clay’s office.”

All right, yes, she’d done that. She hoped that was the only thing Clay had divulged. “Clay and I had a special relationship where he enjoyed my being with other men.” She allowed herself a slight smirk. “And he loved to hear all about it.”

Holt gave her the silent treatment. Maybe the smirk was ill-advised.

Then Ruby just couldn’t shut up despite herself. “That’s what he wanted from the beginning. That was always our relationship. I love sex, and he liked to hear about it. The more the better. It’s what got him off. He…” Her voice died into the echo of her own words. A car drove by on the road visible outside Holt’s window, a big, rumbling diesel engine that set her nerves jangling.

“You didn’t mention the little matter of rules,” he said. His handsome face was granite hard.

She couldn’t believe Clay had told him everything. Clay wouldn’t be so vindictive as to want to ruin her job as well. Her only course of action was to tell the truth. “He liked it when I broke certain rules, so I didn’t think he’d mind if I broke others.”

“But Bradley Palmer?” For the first time, Holt made a face, one of distaste.

She’d been a total idiot. She fully admitted that. “Having sex with him on Clay’s desk was a mistake.” Bradley was young, twenty-nine. His desire had stroked her ego. Not that she didn’t have a healthy ego. At forty, she was hot, and she wasn’t ashamed to say that, but every woman sometimes had a little niggling of doubt, and Bradley caught her at a weak moment. Still, she hadn’t thought Clay would get all riled up. She’d truly thought he’d get off on it.

“And what about the other places you fucked him, Ruby? Not to mention the rumors.”

She felt herself blanch. God. Clay really had told him all. “I didn’t start those rumors, and I made sure they were laid to rest.”

“Damage done, Ruby.”

She almost snorted but thought better of it. “No one ever believed any of that.” Because she’d taken things in hand. And really, by the following week, it was all just a blip on the rumor mill’s timeline. They’d weathered the whole debacle, and Bradley was gone from West Coast’s horizon. Holt merely stared. It was completely unnerving.

And again, she couldn’t shut up. “Why are you doing this? When I moved in with Clay, you told us business was business and personal was personal.”

“It is. But you brought it here. And against Clay’s wishes.”

She pursed her lips and puffed out a breath. If she wanted to keep her job, she was going to have to grovel. She wasn’t good at it, but she simply couldn’t afford to be fired. Besides, she liked working for Holt. He was fair-minded. Usually. “I made a mistake, and I’m very sorry. I told Clay it would never happen again, and I’m telling you it won’t.”

If he was silent after that, she’d have to scream.

“There’s only one solution,” he said softly. Holt could be dangerous when he spoke that quietly. She’d heard that deadly tone in meetings. And seen the results.

“What?” she asked, her heart racing.

“You need to be punished.” He waited a beat. “Severely.”

Then he rose, strode to the door. And locked it.

Ruby’s pulse began to beat against her eardrums.

—–

I hope you enjoyed that little excerpt from Submitting to the Boss. Now, while you don’t have to read Revenge Sex first because they are stand-alone stories, it’ll help you to understand Ruby’s relationship with Holt. With that in mind, I’m doing a little contest with this release, and I’ll be giving away a PDF copy of Revenge Sex to one randomly selected commenter, which I will announce on my next blog on 4/16. It would help if you left your email address so I can contact the winner. I’m also blogging with my good friend Nikki Prince. I’ll be giving you Chapter Two on her blog, so pop over to http://nikkiprince.blogspot.com/ for another excerpt of Submitting to the Boss and another chance to win Revenge Sex. Incidentally, Nikki just sold her first book, Hot for the Teacher, and I’ll be having her on the blog in the near future to tell you all about it.

You can buy Submitting to the Boss at the major ebook retailers, Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords. It will be available Sony and Apple soon!