Bound to Please by Lilli Feisty

orders, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She tugged the hem of her dress lower.
    He shook his head in that way of his—the way that let her know she was in trouble.
    She needed to change the subject again, and now that she finally had him cornered, she wanted a definite answer about James Cleaver’s event. “So, Mark, I was wondering if we could discuss the Spring Fling—that’s what we’re calling it, by the way.”
    “Shoot.”
    She turned to face him, watched his long legs as he shifted into a higher gear, pulling them onto Highway 1. She swallowed; why did just watching the way he controlled the car heighten her awareness like this?
    She said, “Can I get a confirmation from you?” She really needed him to say yes. James had sent her the guest list, and it included some very impressive potential clients. She needed to wow them.
    “What’s the company again?” Mark asked.
    “Boxware. Maybe you’ve heard of them?”
    “Um, yeah. I’m young and a musician, but I’m not stupid.”
    She felt her face flush, but this time from embarrassment. “Sorry. Anyway, the founder is a guy named James Cleaver. He’s young, hip, and very into keeping his employees happy. He’s a wonderful man.”
    “Is that so.”
    She nodded. “So are you interested?”
    “Possibly.”
    “Great. Right. Talk to the band. Get back to me.” She tried not to sound overly eager.
    “Actually, I think I can speak for the band and agree—”
    “Wonderful!”
    “Under one condition.”
    “What?” she asked skeptically.
    “You take off your panties.”
    She gasped. “I’m not going to take off my underwear for a job!” She knew she should be outraged. He was, after all, using sex to get his way. But instead she felt a buzz of excitement shoot through her.
    “Oh no?”
    “No.” She hoped she sounded convincing.
    He shrugged. “Up to you.”
    Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared straight ahead. She needed to convince Mark to play at the Spring Fling, but was he really going to agree only if she obeyed him? And if she did obey him, what did that make her?
    Instead, she focused on the coastline whizzing past the window. The two-lane road hugged a cliff, at the bottom of which the Pacific Ocean crashed against rocks and sandy beaches. The sun was just starting to set, lighting up the ocean in an orange-and-yellow blaze.
    They passed a marina, and she couldn’t help it—her gaze darted among the sailboats, searching for forty-foot craft with the word Ruby painted on the bow with big, scrolling letters. But of course, there was no boat. Twenty years had passed since she’d waved good-bye to her father as he’d sailed for the South Pacific. Problem was, Hawaii hadn’t been enough. He’d kept going. And Ruby had kept waiting.
    “You’re a jerk.”
    Mark slanted a glance her way. “Pardon me?”
    “Using sex as an advantage over me. It’s disrespectful and unfair.”
    He slanted a grin at her that made her stomach do a flip. “You seem to have a strange attachment to your underwear.”
    “I do not!”
    “First during the show, now tonight. What do you think will happen if you go without underwear for a few hours, anyway?”
    “That’s not the point!”
    “Just seems like a funny thing to get all uppity over. You know damn well your panties are coming off at some point tonight. Why not now? Then we both get what we want.”
    “Just because I let you you know what me one time does not make you my boss. Or my dom.”
    “You weren’t complaining last weekend.”
    “I thought I’d never see you again. I told you, that was—”
    “An aberration. I know.”
    “You are a very frustrating man.”
    Reaching over, he lightly touched her thigh. She jumped at the warm contact, hating the way it sent tingles down her leg. “Come on, baby. I’ll play this show, all you have to do is take off your underwear.”
    “You want me without my underwear? Fine.” She pulled the lace down her legs, over her