His

he managed to insinuate himself into their fringes as they laughed and talked with easy camaraderie. She had a reputation for being a tough, hard nosed bitch, but, like with most publicity, the positive side of her was never portrayed.
He hated it, but he liked hearing her laugh. It was a soft, tinkling sound, and it made his heart contract,
but only once, before he brought it strictly back into line. He wasn't going to go there again with any woman, even her.
He found himself drawn to her almost against his will, but he remained on the fringes of the group, not joining in, just listening and watching. She was just what he wanted in a woman - although she was wearing too much make up for his tastes; she was smart, funny, and could hold her own with anyone without seeming shrewish or bitchy, just calm and strong and sure of herself. He'd never put a lot of stock in looks, but she was gorgeous, even by his standards, and he'd been fully hard since the moment his eyes had found her across the room.
Patience, man, he'd chided himself. He didn't speak to her again until he called and set up an appointment to see her. He was always more comfortable talking to people on a business level at first.
When she'd ushered him into her office, which was tastefully, classically appointed and shown him to a comfortable wing backed chair in front of her big oak desk, he hadn't been able to take his eyes off her. So much so that he had barley listened to what she was saying to him.
He'd never reacted to any woman - even Amy - like that in his life, and he didn't like it one bit.
But that did nothing to dull the throbbing ache she inspired in his loins.
He consciously dispensed with chit chat, which he abhorred anyway, and got right down to the brass tacks of letting her know that he admired what she'd done, and that he'd like to help her as much as he could.
She'd been excruciatingly polite, no doubt not wanting to offend him, but had quietly refused every offer he'd made until he hit on a way for her to branch out that she hadn't thought of.
Then he had her, and they began to work very closely - and extremely well - together on it. He didn't usually like to partner with anyone, but things seemed very natural between them from the very beginning, and their long nights together paid off for the both of them, in very varied ways.
It was late one night when he'd realized just exactly how perfect they were for each other. They'd been working all day; he'd already wrenched of his tie and unbuttoned his collar. He was inches away from stripping off his shirt altogether. She'd kicked off her ridiculously high pastel pink heels and literally let her hair down, complaining that the bun she'd scraped it into was giving her a head ache. She hadn't done it as a come on at all, just practically removed the pins that were holding it and let it fall.
She looked incredible, regardless, as far as he was concerned.
They got into a small disagreement about how to fund something. He was insisting on doing it himself, since it was a tricky proposal and he didn't want her to have to feel any of the financial crunch if it didn't work.
But she was at least as stubborn as he was about some things, and kept giving him a hard time about it, trying to reassure him that she wanted to stand on her own two feet and that she didn't accept help from anyone, including him.
Finally, he drew himself up to his full six-two and came around the table to stare down at her, glaring fit to subdue even a man much bigger than himself, not that she seemed to notice it much when he was intimidating, unlike most of the rest of the people around him. One sharp look and he could practically clear a crowded room. But then, she wasn't a sycophant or a hanger on or a yes person. She was a highly successful woman in her own right, and she was just trying to assert the fact that she didn't need him, or anyone else, and she wasn't going to just knuckle under because of who or what he was.
For some reason, though, she did this time as he stood over her, his hands on his hips. "Now. I'm going to provide the backing for this, and you're going to be quiet and obedient and let me do it. Case closed."
It amazed him when she just sat there and uttered a meek, "Yes, Sir."
He sucked in his breath quickly at the sound of it, standing there very deliberately until she looked up at him, and he knew as soon as their eyes met.
She would submit to him.
In every way.
And she'd enjoy every second of it.
He'd make damn sure of that.

Chapter Two
Raina shuffled back towards the library, but he stepped out of their bedroom to beckon her to him, extending his hand as both a target and a help. He was so strange that way. He was terribly, terribly strict on her, yet, in some ways he almost overprotected her. He was scrupulously careful about her health and made sure that she took her asthma medications every single morning, and also that, whenever he was "tending" her, as he liked to put it, that her inhalers weren't far from either her own reach or his. He didn't often gag her for reasons other than not liking to hear much in the way of protests - they interfered with her breathing, and he refused to do anything that might compromise the health of his investment.
And he had invested quite a bit in her, Raina thought as he guided her into the bedroom. As soon as he let go of her,