CHAPTER 4: Harker
1093 Words
CHAPTER 4: Harker
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Harker wasn’t backing down on this. Alison wasn’t going on a date. “There is nothing you can say Merri—”
Merri closed the door and spun around. “You can’t order her around like that. She’s not your sub.”
“I’m well aware of what she is. She’d make a horrible sub.” But she’d be fun to train—all that energy, the attitude. He’d never be able to fully make her submit and that’d make each tiny submission mean that much more. He frowned, reminding himself that he wasn’t looking for a sub. He was looking for someone with good genes to mix with his. “But she is my employee.”
“Who you’ve overworked for months. The hours that woman puts in is crazy.”
“She’s well compensated—”
“Money isn’t everything, Harker.”
“I’m aware of that.” But it did get him everything he needed.
“I don’t think you are.” Merri shook her head at him. “You can’t fire her.”
“I can. I hired her—”
“I hired her.”
“Semantics.” He shrugged. “I approved it and she works for me. For my department. I can fire her.”
“Stop acting like an ass and tell her how you feel.”
“Feel?” He rolled his eyes. “This has nothing to do with feelings.” It had to do with keeping her untainted to ensure that the child that’d soon be in her womb would be his.
“Please. You’re always watching her, and you make her work every day, even holidays. You keep her here until all hours of the night. You make her come into work instead of telecommuting like almost every other employee.”
“She needs to be here. We can’t risk the program getting stolen.” He was glad when Merri ignored him because they both knew that he had enough funds to minimize that risk to almost nothing.
“You even gave her a room in your house. Not in the business side of your mansion but in your home. A room right down the hallway from yours.”
“And would I do that if I had feelings for her?” He’d considered asking her to join him in his bedroom on several occasions, especially the ones where he’d heard her moving about in her bed, soft little sighs and a low hum coming from the room. It’d taken every bit of willpower he had not to barge in there and let her use his c**k instead of that stupid toy, but no matter how much he’d wanted that, she was too important for a heated fling.
“I’m not sure why you haven’t slept with her when it’s obvious to anyone with eyes that you want her.”
“It’s not s****l between us.” Yes, they’d be having s*x, but not for pleasure. Of course, there was no reason not to make it pleasurable. Some studies suggested that pleasure assisted in the likelihood of conceiving. Plus, pregnancy didn’t usually occur the first time. Even if it did, it’d take several weeks to know for sure and he planned on using those weeks and Alison quite thoroughly.
“Really?” Her eyebrow raised. “This power thing has always been your aphrodisiac.”
“Not with Alison. Like I said. She’d make an awful sub.”
“Then why are you doing this?” She studied him. “It’s clear you’re attracted to her.”
“I suppose I am. To her mind.”
“Her mind?”
“Yes.” That wasn’t a lie. Alison was the most intelligent woman he’d ever met, and she was more logical than most, not prone to making decisions on emotions.
“Then tell her.”
“I plan to.”
“When?”
He shrugged. “When it’s time.” He had to play his cards right because he didn’t want to start this new project with an angry and unwilling partner. He’d get Alison to agree to his deal one way or another, but he preferred bribery over blackmail.
“The right time is now. The poor woman hasn’t done anything but work for almost a year.”
“Obviously, that’s incorrect because she found time to video chat with Randy.” He couldn’t keep the venom from his voice.
“Harker tell her how you feel. Take her to dinner or a movie.”
“I don’t want to date her.”
“Then what do you want?”
“That’s between me and her.” He was in no mood to hear Merri’s opinion on his plan. She wouldn’t be a fan.
“If you’re too stubborn to tell her how you feel about her—”
“I feel nothing for her except admiration for her brain.” He’d always been drawn to smart women. Usually, they were more physically attractive than Alison, but he never argued with his d**k. He just gave it what it wanted.
“Then you and your admiration will have to accept the fact that she’s going to date other men.”
“She isn’t.” He couldn’t allow that.
“She is and you’re not going to fire her over it.”
“Of course not.”
Merri sighed in relief and he wanted to laugh.
“That would be unethical. I am, however, going to fire her if she doesn’t work this weekend, including tonight.”
“I have no idea why I waste my time with you about anything that has to do with feelings.”
“Me either. You’ve known me for over twenty-five years. You should know I’m never swayed by emotions.”
“That’s right.” Merri smiled and Harker’s instincts screamed a warning. “Let me speak to your logical side. You can’t fire her because without her, your application won’t get finished and you’ll have no product for all those investors.”
“I’ll hire someone else.”
“That didn’t work before.”
“You were in the meeting. She’s solved most of the issues with performance. The facial recognition is the next big hurdle and she’s having some problems getting that to work. I already have a few candidates in mind.”
“You’d fire her and hand this over to someone else? After all the work she’s done?” Merri stared at him with disbelief. “I know you can be ruthless, but until now you’ve always been fair.”
“And I’ll be fair to her too.” He was going to be more than fair. He was going to offer her the one thing she wanted most in the world and all it’d cost her was the use of her womb.
“You can’t keep her as your slave. Consent is always the rule. You know that.”
“That’s with sex.”
“That’s with everything.”
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of forcing her to do anything.” He grinned. “Alison will consent. She’ll stay and work.”
“I don’t know, Harker. I think you may have pushed her too far.”
“Trust me. I know Alison and I know what I’m doing.” He was an expert at recognizing what a person wanted and what they’d do to get it. It’d been the only way he’d survived in foster care. Alison may not be a true sub, but she liked her job and she liked to please. She’d give in to his demands like always.
- Writer
