Beware Falling Rocks Read online

  “Ex-wife,” Paul said. “Please remove and ban her from the premises. She’s not even supposed to be on campus. I told security that a while ago.”

  By this time, a female security guard had made it there, and the two of them escorted a tearful and screaming Sarah out the front door.

  Fuck.

  When he turned to head back to his desk, there stood his boss, Ken, blocking the hallway. Without a word, he crooked a finger at Paul and motioned for him to follow.

  Twenty minutes later, it was Paul, head of LP, head of HR, and the head of security gathered together in Ken’s office.

  “How’d she even get on campus?” Paul asked. “After the divorce was final, I specifically asked security to remove her from the approved visitor list and told them why.” They didn’t have public access to their campus. Someone had to be an employee, a vendor, or an approved visitor to gain access.

  “Looks like she parked off-site and snuck in through the gate with a bunch of people coming back from a smoke break,” the security chief said. “They radioed in that her car was parked on the street down the block. We’re going to be sending out a memo to not let that happen again.”

  “Terrific. Better late than never.” Paul wondered why she wasn’t at work. Mondays were usually their busiest days at the office where she worked.

  Then his boss took a deep breath, and Paul knew.

  He just knew.

  “Paul, you’re a nice guy, but we were going to do a round of layoffs late next week anyway. You already knew that as a department head. Your name came up. I was going to keep you off the list this time around. Unfortunately, with this incident, combined with all the last-minute call-offs you had over the past year, and the sudden leave you took a few weeks ago on top of that, it’s obviously impacting your ability to do your job. We’re going to need to let you go as part of the downsizing. I have to have a stable, reliable team in position that I can count on.”

  Paul closed his eyes and groaned. He didn’t bother protesting the decision, listening as HR took over and told him he’d get a six-month severance package, his outstanding paid personal leave days would be converted to pay, and he could use the company as a reference. That this episode wouldn’t even make it into his personnel file. That he was simply a victim of a reorganization and downsizing, as would be five other people in their department.

  People he’d helped his boss select for the chopping block and hadn’t been looking forward to firing.

  Guess that problem’s taken care of.

  As the security chief escorted him to his desk so he could grab his personal stuff and turn in his computer, work cell, and ID, he realized he hadn’t called Lynn about the incident yet.

  Shit.

  Less than an hour later, he was sitting in his car, parked off-campus in a nearby shopping center, and staring at his phone. He desperately hoped Lynn understood the circumstances and didn’t get upset or triggered that he hadn’t called her sooner. He’d put her through enough crap already.

  He called.

  “Hey, what’s up, Sir?”

  “I…shoot. I need to talk to you.”

  He fucking hated how wary she sounded. A tone that hadn’t entered her voice in weeks. “What happened?”

  “I couldn’t call you immediately, but this is what happened, and this is as soon as I could call.” She remained quiet as he told her the story, and when he finished, he said, “I’m really sorry I couldn’t call you immediately like I promised. I had everyone standing right there, and then I had to talk to my boss, and—”

  “I’m going to fucking kill that woman,” Lynn growled in a voice he’d never heard from her.

  “No, you’re not, pet. I’m going to call Ed, file a restraining order, and I’m going to get a new phone so she doesn’t have my number. I don’t want to let go of this number until I know everyone’s got my new one. And I need to start looking for a new job.”

  “You…could come work for me.”

  “Huh?”

  “Be my personal IT guy.”

  “I need to do more than run a website and social media accounts, pet. I need a job. We need health insurance.”

  “But I have health insurance.”

  “It’s not good health insurance.”

  “We can get better. I just haven’t shopped around for any yet. I haven’t had time. I keep meaning to. See? You can do that, too. Take care of stuff like that for me.”

  “I will help you, yes, but I need to find a full-time job. A husband should be able to provide for his wife. Even if his wife is already a multi-millionaire.”

  More silence. “What?” she whispered.

  “We’ve already talked about this. What I didn’t tell you is I have the ring already. I was going to wait until I was living there to propose to you, but I think we both already know this is where that’s heading, and I wanted a long engagement anyway. So will you marry me?”

  “Oh, my god!”

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Yes! Of course it is!”

  “So what I need you to do is keep the front door locked. If Sarah shows up, call 911 and then call me, in that order. Do not open the door for her. Understand?”

  “You think she’ll try to hurt me?”

  “I don’t know at this point. All I know is that I don’t trust her. She’s off her meds. If you okay it, I’d like to call her doctor and therapist out of courtesy and warn them that they need to reach out to her. And that’s the extent of the involvement I will have with her. Is that all right?”

  “You…you’re asking me?”

  “Yes. I won’t do it unless you’re okay with it.”

  She seemed to be thinking about it. “Just to warn them?”

  “Just to warn them. That’s all. And to clarify to them that, regardless of what Sarah might have told them, there is no chance of reconciliation between me and her.”

  “Okay. Yes, Sir. It’s okay if you do it.”

  “Do you want me to wait until I’m back with you to do it so you can hear?”

  Another hesitation. “No, Sir. I trust you. And it’s probably better you do it sooner, rather than later.”

  He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, pet. I appreciate that.”

  His first call was to the therapist, who briefly talked with him and promised to try to call Sarah.

  “I’ve been trying to get her to accept the divorce is final.”

  “Yeah, well, good luck with that. Apparently she refuses to.”

  “Apparently.”

  After getting off the phone with her, he immediately called Sarah’s doctor and spoke with the PA, who was also familiar with Sarah’s case.

  Of course, Sarah hadn’t bothered to take Paul off of her patient file.

  Paul did that for her. “And this is the last time I’ll be contacting your office,” he said. “I want the file noted that we’re divorced and I do not have any contact with her from this point on.”

  “Sorry, Mr. Harman.”

  “She just cost me my job. I will file a restraining order against her. And if she harasses me or my fiancée, I will file charges against her. So I strongly suggest you all do whatever you can to work with her therapist and try to talk her into taking her meds.”

  After he ended that call, he checked in with Lynn again. So far, no Sarah.

  “I’m on my way back now,” he said.

  He’d no sooner arrived and locked the front door behind him and was going to call out to Lynn that he was home when someone started pounding on the front door and ringing the doorbell.

  He looked through the viewfinder.

  “Son of a bitch,” he muttered as Lynn ran up.

  “Is it her?”

  He pulled out his cell phone and dialed. “Yep.”

  “Who are you calling?”

  “911.” The operator answered, and he gave her the short version, that they needed police immediately, because his ex-wife, who’d just shown up at his job, was now the
re and threatening him and off her medication.

  The operator stayed on the phone with him until two marked deputy cruisers rolled into the parking lot.

  The whole time, Sarah had pounded on the door, screaming inconsolably, rambling, making threats.

  And that whole time, he stood there, Lynn in his arms.

  Lynn’s voice sounded painfully shaky, wary. “Why won’t she go away?”

  “It’s all right, pet. This is okay. She’ll be gone shortly.”

  When the pounding stopped, Paul looked through the viewfinder to see the deputies had Sarah facedown on the ground and handcuffed. Only then did he unlock and open the door.

  After Paul and Lynn gave their statements, and Paul passed along to them Sarah’s doctor’s and therapist’s names and contact information so the hospital could call them, the deputies got her loaded into an ambulance that had been dispatched at the request of the deputies.

  Even as they loaded Sarah into the back, she thrashed, screaming, crying, despite being strapped down to the gurney.

  Paul took a business card from the first deputy. “There’s the case number for your attorney, sir. He’ll probably want that when he files the restraining order.”

  “Thank you. That’s my next call.”

  “Which car is hers?”

  He pointed. “That one.”

  “We’ll have a tow service pick it up shortly.”

  “Thank you.”

  Paul ushered Lynn back inside, gently shutting the door behind them and locking it.

  When she burst into tears, he pulled her into his arms. “I need to call Ed before it gets too late.”

  She nodded.

  He kissed her. “This changes nothing.”

  She looked scared.

  Again.

  Hoping he wasn’t fucking up, he reached up, fisted her hair, and forced her head back, exposing her throat.

  After grazing his teeth along her flesh, he whispered in her ear. “Bedroom. Naked. Get your butt plug, lube, a condom, and a towel ready for me. Be waiting on your hands and knees on the bed, or I’ll give you ten with the hexrod cane.”

  He spun her around and gave her a hard swat across the ass before shoving her toward the bedroom.

  She ran, pulling her shirt off as she did.

  Well, if it works, it’s not crazy, I guess.

  It took him twenty minutes on the phone with Ed. When Paul made his way to the bedroom, he found Lynn exactly as he’d told her to be.

  And she was so wet her juices were already starting to trickle down the insides of her thighs.

  “Such a good girl,” he said, slowly sliding his belt out of his jeans, taking his time so she could watch him do it. “Good girls get rewards. Know what you’re getting?”

  “No, Sir.”

  “You’re getting that butt plug up your sweet ass. Then I’m going to tie you up and tease you while you suck my cock and keep it nice and hard. And after you’ve had that butt plug in for a little bit, I’m going to pull it out and fuck your sweet ass.”

  Her head dropped to the mattress, ass in the air, her skin flushing. “Thank you, Sir.”

  “Oh, you thank me now.” He dropped his belt onto the bed and started kicking his shoes off. “I’m also going to use my belt on your ass. Remind you who owns you.”

  A soft moan escaped her. “Thank you, Sir.”

  Subspace achieved. Pretty damn deep, judging by the sound of it.

  Thank god.

  It was good to know he could still distract her like this, derail an emotional outburst that might lead to a fight.

  Not that he wanted to deny her an opinion, but sometimes, he knew she wanted to feel safe.

  And she felt most safe when he took control.

  Never again would he take that for granted or give her a reason not to feel safe.

  When he was naked, he took the bottle of lube and applied some to his fingers before working it into her ass. She moaned, rocking back and forth in time with his motions as he added a second finger. It didn’t take him long to get her lubed up because they’d quickly resumed this play, too.

  In a few minutes, he had the butt plug inside her and had wiped his hands off. He took a few turns around his right hand with his belt. “Who owns this sweet ass?”

  “You, Sir,” she moaned.

  He struck her twice, once on each cheek. “That’s right. Good girl.” He brushed his fingers over the welts that came up. “And what does my good girl need?”

  “Sir’s belt.”

  Two more hits, one on each ass cheek, no holding back. “Good girl. And why does my girl need her Sir’s belt?”

  Her hands fisted the covers. “Because it means I belong to him.”

  Two more hits. “Good girl.” She’d have some nice marks to look at in the mirror later. He rolled her onto her back and used his belt to bind her wrists over her head. Climbing on top of her, he lowered his cock into her eager mouth before lowering his mouth to her clit.

  He was hard and ready, and it was a struggle at first not to come with his cock buried deep inside her sweet, hot mouth. But he soon had her moaning, rocking her hips in time with his tongue flicking her clit. Every sound she made vibrated through his aching cock, straight to his balls. Even better, as he backed off, not letting her come, she let out needy whines.

  He lifted his head from her clit. “No, you can wait. I want to feel you come while I’m balls-deep in that sweet ass of yours.”

  Another moan from her.

  It felt so good being able to send her mind to that place she loved to go. Where she didn’t think about anything except what she was feeling, the sensations he gave her.

  That she trusted him enough to let him do that to her again.

  Finally, when he couldn’t wait any longer, he turned around and knelt at the end of the bed to roll the condom down his shaft. Then he flipped her over onto her hands and knees, pulled the butt plug from her, and replaced it with his cock. He started slow, easing the head past her rim, letting her rock back and forth until he was completely buried inside her.

  With his thighs pressed against her ass, he pulled her up against him, one hand cupping her throat, the other between her legs.

  “Time to come, pet.”

  He bit her shoulder, hard, as his fingers played with her clit. His bite muffled the sound of his groan as he felt her ass tighten around his cock when her climax hit her.

  He didn’t let go, his fingers speeding up, her helpless in his arms as her orgasm didn’t stop.

  Now I’ve got you.

  * * * *

  The delicious sting in her ass from his belt and the feel of his cock impaling her ass, topped off by the lovely pain of his teeth in her flesh.

  No way she couldn’t have come from just that.

  His hand around her throat forced her head back against his shoulder. He relinquished his bite just to pick another spot and bite again. She moaned, her orgasm still going, loving this and loving him.

  Finally, he’d dropped his self-imposed limits and taken control. Ever since the night Sarah had first showed up at Lynn’s place and Lynn had freaked out, he’d lost his inhibitions.

  It felt like…them.

  She lost track of how many times she came before he shoved her down onto the bed again and started fucking her, hard and fast the way she loved, until he finally moaned when his own climax hit before falling still.

  And then he delivered a bare-handed slap to her ass.

  She giggled. “Cherry on top, Sir?”

  He leaned in to kiss one of the spots he’d bit. “You bet.”

  He untangled himself from her and then helped her up off the bed. She grabbed the butt plug, and she got the shower started while he disposed of the condom. After she’d washed the plug, she stood with him under the spray.

  “Come work for me, Sir,” she said. “I was serious.”

  “So was I. I’ll help you, but I need to look for a new job.”

  “You don’t need to.”


  “I want to.” He kissed her. “I appreciate you wanting to make me a kept man—which I think is adorable that the pet wants to keep the Sir—but I need a job. I won’t do well not being busy.”

  “First thing, you need to call Ed, today, and get the restraining order filed.”

  “Yes. Crap, it feels like it should be almost night and it’s barely one.”

  “We’ll probably have to testify at the restraining order hearing.”

  “Yeah.” He touched his forehead to hers. “I’m so sorry. I thought life was smoothing out.”

  “It is.” She wrapped her arms tightly around him. “You smoothed out the bump. I can deal with anything if that’s how you help me through it.”

  “That’s counter-intuitive.”

  “It means you love me enough to do what I need.”

  “Don’t let me go too far.”

  “Have I ever not safeworded when I needed to?”

  “You hardly ever safeword.”

  She smiled. “That’s because you don’t go too far.”

  * * * *

  They finished their shower. Before he got tied up with his call with Ed, he retrieved the ring box from where he’d hidden it in his computer bag and took it out to her. It wasn’t the most romantic way to propose but better now than something else got fucked up and drove her away.

  He dropped to one knee in front of her and opened the ring box. “Will you please marry me?”

  She immediately teared up, nodding as he took the ring out and slipped it onto her left ring finger. When he stood, she nearly tackled him for a hug and kiss.

  “I love you, and I’m sorry this wasn’t exactly the way I’d hoped I could do it.”

  “I don’t care,” she said. “I have you. That’s all that matters.”

  By that evening, they were scheduled to go to a hearing the next morning for a temporary restraining order against Sarah. Ed had called and found out that Sarah had been admitted to the hospital, but since he wasn’t her attorney, that’s all he could find out from law enforcement.

  “She’s probably going to lose her job over this,” Paul said after he got off the phone.

  He watched Lynn’s reaction, how she tensed.

  “I didn’t mean it’s my fault,” he added, glad that she appeared to relax. “I just…I feel bad for her.”