Spanking Sydney Page 8

  * * *

  The upstairs hallway was so thick with smoke Sydney could barely see anything.

  “Max!” she shouted.

  No answer.

  Where the heck was he?

  Keeping her back to the wall, Sydney covered her mouth with her hand and started down the hall toward what she hoped was Burton’s office. Since she didn’t remember exactly where it was, she took a quick look in every room she passed. One of them looked familiar, but when she went inside she saw it wasn’t Burton’s office at all. It was the freaking copy room. Dammit.

  She turned, jumping as a dark shape appeared in the doorway. “Max! Thank God.”

  But as the smoke cleared for a minute and the man’s shape took form, she realized it wasn’t Max—it was Ted. He looked as stunned to see her as she was to see him.

  Heart hammering, she slammed the door in his face. She reached down to lock it, but the damn thing didn’t have one. Not on the inside, at least. The significance of that hit her like a blast of ice cold water

  Oh, crap.

  She grabbed the knob and turned, but the door wouldn’t budge. She was locked in.

  * * *

  Max was halfway to the car when he realized Sydney wasn’t where he’d left her. He stopped in mid-stride and desperately looked around the empty parking lot. She was nowhere in sight.

  Had Willis found her? If he had, the son of a bitch wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. Max’s gut wrenched at the thought.

  Another thought struck him. What if Sydney had gone into the building after him instead of waiting outside? He tightened his grip on the boxes. No. She wouldn’t be that foolish.

  Max turned around to stare at the building. The fire was raging inside now, flames consuming it. If Sydney had gone in there looking for him, something told him she wouldn’t come out until she’d found him.

  “Shit!”

  Dropping the boxes on the ground, he ran into the building and raced up the steps to the second floor. Max swore under his breath as smoke burned his eyes. Heedless of the flames, he headed for Burton’s office, shouting Sydney’s name as he went.

  * * *

  Smoke poured into the small storage room way faster than Sydney would have thought possible. It was so thick she could barely scream for help anymore, much less see anything. She stumbled over to the counter, looking for something to bash the knob with, but all she saw were reams of copy paper and ink pens. Then she spotted an industrial stapler—the kind that was really big and really heavy.

  Grabbing it, she hurried to the door and brought it down on the knob with all her strength. The knob rattled, but didn’t fall off like she’d hoped. She hit it over and over again, but it wouldn’t give. Tears stung her eyes. She was going to die in this place.

  “Sydney! Sydney!”

  She jerked her head up at the sound of Max’s voice.

  “Max!” She banged on the door with her fist. “I’m here!”

  She didn’t know how he could hear her over the deafening flames when she could barely hear herself, but she kept shouting his name and banging on the door, afraid if she didn’t, he wouldn’t find her.

  “Sydney!” His voice was just outside now.

  “I’m in here!”

  “Get back from the door!”

  She did as he told her, almost falling over her own feet in her haste. A moment later, the door flew open and she was in Max’s arms.

  She couldn’t really remember much of what happened after that. All she remembered was burying her face in Max’s neck as he carried her to safety.

  * * *

  Sydney hugged the blanket one of the paramedics had given her more tightly around her shoulders. The police had gotten there just as she and Max stumbled out of the building. Along with half the fire department, who were still putting out the blaze. She listened as Max told a dark-haired detective everything, making occasional comments whenever she thought of something to add.

  The cop glanced at her. “And that was when you ran into the building?”

  She nodded.

  The detective opened his mouth to say something, but another cop interrupted, asking to speak with him in private.

  As the two men walked off, Max’s arm tightened around her shoulders, pulling her close. He slipped his fingers beneath her chin, lifting her face up to his.

  “Why didn’t you wait out here like I told you to?”

  Sydney gave him a sheepish look. “I was worried about you.”

  His mouth tightened. “Well, it was foolish and all it did was scare the hell out of me. When I came out and couldn’t find you…” He shook his head. “Dammit, Sydney, you could have gotten yourself killed.”

  She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “I’m sorry.”

  He sighed. “Sweetheart, if we’re going to be together, you’re going to have to learn to do as you’re told.”

  She blinked up at him. “Seriously?”

  “When it comes to something like not running into a burning building? Damn straight.”

  Well, that wasn’t too unreasonable, she supposed. “I’ll try.”

  “You’ll do more than try,” he insisted. “And just so you won’t forget what we talked about, I’m going to give you a spanking to remember when we get back to the hotel.”

  Sydney opened her mouth to protest, but the dark-haired detective came back over before she could say anything.

  “We found Friedman’s body at the bottom of the cliffs where you two fought.” He jerked his head at the burned out building. “Firefighters found a body inside, which I assume is Thomas Burton, but we’ll have to wait for confirmation on that.”

  “What about Ted Willis?” Max asked.

  “No sign of him.”

  Sydney shivered beneath the blanket. “So, Ted is still out there? What if he comes looking for us?”

  Max hugged her close. “He won’t risk getting caught.

  The detective gave her what he probably thought was a reassuring smile. “Mr. Daniels is right. We already have people out looking for him, Ms. Davis. We’ll have them in custody by morning, I’m sure. That being said, it might be safer for the two of you if you went back to Seattle as soon as possible.”

  Max nodded. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

  Chapter Six

  It actually took the police two weeks to track down Ted. Her old boss had made the mistake of stopping in Baja on his way to Mexico, and the police had picked him up. Between the embezzling, murder and attempted murder charges, her old boss would be going to prison for a very long time.

  True to his word, Max had given her the spanking he’d promised when they’d gone back to their hotel room that night. Sydney hadn’t been all that surprised he’d given her a stern lecture beforehand. She hadn’t even been surprised when he’d pulled down her panties and started in on her bare ass right from the beginning. However, she had been a surprised when he’d pulled off his thick leather belt and doubled it in his hand. She’d stared at it for so long Max had to repeat his order to bend over and put her hands on the bed.

  Sydney could have refused, but she hadn’t. Of all the spankings Max had given her for messing up, she’d deserved that one the most. What she’d done hadn’t only been foolish, but dangerous, too. So, her ass cheeks already hot and stinging from the hand spanking he’d given her, she’d obediently bent over the bed so he could strap her.

  Max had given her less than a dozen lashes with the belt, but it had still stung like crazy. It wasn’t until he’d pulled her into his arms afterward and told her again how terrified he’d been when he realized she’d gone into a burning building after him that Sydney fully understood exactly what her recklessness could have cost both of them. That was when she figured out that she’d fallen for her boss—hard.

  Though she and Max made no secret about the fact that they were dating, they were always very professional at the office. Well, almost always, Sydney thought, smiling as he opened his desk drawer and took out a woo
den ruler.

  It was Friday evening, which meant it was time for her weekly spanking. Not that she only got spanked once a week. Far from it, actually. But the spankings she got on Friday evenings were special because they took place in Max’s office after everyone else left for the day.

  It had been his idea. He seemed to think she needed regularly scheduled spankings to keep her from getting into trouble. While she didn’t think that was necessarily true, she certainly wasn’t going to argue. Not when the spankings were always followed by incredibly hot sex. There was something about doing it in his office that always made the whole thing a little bit more wicked.

  The ruler was something new, however. Other than the hairbrush he’d used at the hotel in San Francisco, and the one time when he’d used his belt, Max usually spanked her with his hand. She had to admit the thought of being spanked with the ruler was kind of exciting. Her pulse beat a little quicker as he watched him slap it lightly against the palm of his hand.

  Sydney leaned back against the desk. “I haven’t been that naughty this week, have I?”

  His brow rose. “What about coming in late for work this morning?”

  She lifted her chin. “That wasn’t my fault. You were the one who kept us in bed an extra hour after the alarm clock went off.”

  His mouth quirked. “Making excuses for your behavior now?”

  She shrugged. “Just stating a fact.”

  He chuckled softly and kissed her. “Assume the position, Ms. Davis.”

  Sydney’s pulse quickened. Who’d have thought those three little words could thrill her so much? “Right away, Mr. Daniels.”

  Turning around, she bent and put her hands on the desk, then looked at him over her shoulder. When they were at home, Max usually put her over his knee for a spanking, but in the office, he always made her bend over the desk.

  Putting the ruler down on the desk, Max caressed her bottom, gently massaging her derriere through her skirt before lifting it up to reveal the tiny pair of panties and sexy garter belt she had on underneath. Sydney smiled at his sharp intake of breath.

  As Max slowly ran his hands over her nearly-naked ass cheeks, Sydney was the one catching her breath. His hands were absolute magic, and she let out a moan as his fingers found her wet pussy through the thin material of her panties. If she was this wet now, she was going to be absolutely soaking by the time he finished spanking her.

  Sliding his hand from between her legs, Max gave her derriere a firm squeeze quickly followed by a sharp smack.

  Sydney gave him a pout over her shoulder. “You’re supposed to give me a warm-up first.”

  His mouth twitched as he brought his hand down on her bottom again. “This is your warm-up, sweetheart.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him and turned around. Max brought his hand down on one cheek, then the other in rapid, hard smacks that had her dancing from foot to foot.

  Max stopped then and caressed her stinging bottom. Moaning, Sydney arched her back and lifted her ass higher in the air, silently pleading with him to slide his hand between her legs and touch her.

  As if reading her mind, Max moved his hand lower, his fingers driving her crazy as they glided along her sopping wet panties. He teased her like that for what seemed an eternity before finally slowly slide the small scrap of material down her legs.

  Sydney held her breath, waiting for him to touch her pussy again, but instead, he reached for the wooden ruler. Her breath hitched as he caressed her ass with it.

  “So,” he drawled. “Exactly how late for work were you this morning? Twenty-five minutes, wasn’t it? Then I think one smack for every minute you were late is fair, don’t you?”

  Sydney opened her mouth to tell him she didn’t think it was fait at all since it was his fault she was late, but Max brought the ruler down sharply on her right cheek before she could say anything.

  Ouch!

  “That’s one,” he announced.

  Max placed the ruler against her other cheek for a moment before bringing it down in that exact same spot.

  Double ouch!

  “That’s two,” he told her.

  Was he going to count each and every smack? She got her answer when he delivered a sharp thwack to the first cheek again.

  “That’s three.”

  It went on like that, Max resting the ruler against her ass cheeks for the merest of moments before he smacked her bottom with it, all the while counting. The ruler stung a heck of a lot more than his hand and she danced in place each time the wicked piece of wood came down on her tender derriere. And yet despite the sting, Sydney didn’t want him to stop. When he tossed the ruler on the desk after the twenty-fifth well-aimed and deliciously hard spank, she almost begged for more. But then Max dropped to his knees behind her to press gentle kisses to her red-hot cheeks. All she could do was clutch the desk and moan. Who knew a little wooden ruler could get her so aroused?

  With a groan, Max grabbed hold of her ass cheeks and ran his tongue along the folds of her pussy. Sydney gasped. She’d never been licked in this position before, and as he plunged his tongue into her wetness, it was all she could do to stay on her feet. He might not be able to lick her clit from that angle, but what he was doing to her pussy was so exquisite, she thought she might come just from that.

  She never found out because he stopped and got to his feet. Sydney heard a rustle as he opened a condom packet. A moment later, he caught her ass in both hands and positioned his cock at the opening of her pussy. She moaned as he rubbed the head up and down her slit. That felt wonderful, but she wanted him inside her. Max must have been just as impatient as she was because he plunged his length into her wetness with one smooth thrust.

  He stayed right there, keeping his penis buried deep inside her before slowly pumping in and out. Sydney rocked back against him, silently urging him to take her harder.

  Max got the hint. Tightening his hold on her hips, he pumped into her more forcefully, sliding all the way out, then going deep again. He repeated the motion over and over, pushing her a little closer to orgasm with each thrust until she was balancing on the edge.

  But instead of sending her over it, he pulled out. Before she could ask what he was doing, he took her arm, and spun her around to kiss her. Sydney whimpered against his mouth as he reached around to squeeze her tender ass cheeks with his hands. Making a ragged sound of his own, he pushed her back onto the desk, then climbed up on it with her and settled himself between her legs. Gazing down hotly into her eyes, he braced himself on his forearms and slid his cock deep into her pussy.

  Sydney gasped, her arms and legs wrapping tightly around him as he slowly began to pump into her. They’d had sex a lot in his office in the past weeks, but never on the desk in this position.

  “Whenever you come in to take down a letter or bring me a report, I’m going to think about fucking you on my desk like this.” His breathing was ragged, his breath hot on her skin. “I’m going to think about your legs locked around me. Think about your tight pussy squeezing my cock.”

  The words turned her on nearly as much as the act of what they were doing itself. She moaned against his mouth and lifted her hips to meet his, the heels of her stilettos digging into his ass as she pulled him deeper.

  Max drove his cock into her so hard and fast it made her dizzy. But she didn’t care. All she cared about was the pleasure spiraling through her. She cried out her release at the same time he found his, but the sound was lost as his mouth came down possessively on hers.

  Later, when they could both move again, Max scooped Sydney up and carried her over to the huge leather couch. She lie in his arms, her head pillowed on his shoulder, her arm draped across him.

  “Remember when Jon Kriss called earlier?”

  Sydney frowned at the executive’s name. Max wanted to talk about work now? “Yeah. What about it?”

  Max trailed his fingers up and down her arm. “Well, it seems that the Dallas office is very impressed with the work you did helping
me figure out who’d been embezzling from the company. They’re going to officially offer you a promotion to a management position in Accounting.”

  She lifted her head to look at him in surprise. “They are?”

  He reached up to brush her hair back from her face. “You deserve it.”

  She wasn’t sure about that. Max would have figured it out on his own, she was sure. Still, it was nice to know the big cheeses recognized her work. But a promotion would mean she wouldn’t work for Max anymore.

  “You can tell them I said thank you, but no thank you,” she said.

  Max frowned. “Are you sure? It’s a lot of money, Sydney. You should at least think about it.”

  “I have thought about it, and I prefer to keep my current job. It does have a benefit package that’s difficult to match.” She grinned. “Though I wouldn’t mind a pay raise. I mean, I think I go well above and beyond in my current position.”

  His mouth quirked. “I’ll mention that to the HR department. After I figure out exactly how to describe the additional duties you perform.”

  Sydney laughed and leaned down to kiss him. When she lifted her head, Max regarded her, a serious expression on his face.

  “Although I think you’d make an excellent supervisor, I’m glad you’re turning the promotion down,” he said softly.

  She grinned. “This is the only position in this company I want to be in. Besides, I’d never get anything done in Accounting anyway. I’d have to come up here at least twice a day for my spankings, and I’m sure people would start to talk. Having one manager spanking another is completely inappropriate.”

  He chuckled. “Whereas it’s completely appropriate for a senior VP to spank his executive assistant, right?”

  “Appropriate?” Sydney kissed him again. “Babe, it’s positively required.”