Behave Read online

  Behave

  By

  Sage Delouise

  ©2015 by Blushing Books® and Sage Delouise

  All rights reserved.

  No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published by Blushing Books®,

  a subsidiary of

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  977 Seminole Trail #233

  Charlottesville, VA 22901

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  is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

  Delouise, Sage

  Behave

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-62750-992-3

  Cover Design by ABCD Graphics & Design

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the Author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  About Sage Delouise

  Ebook Offer

  Blushing Books Newsletter

  About Blushing Books

  Chapter One

  “Oh, miss.” The heavy, red faced man seated at the round table in the far corner of the crowded banquet hall jerked his hand back and forth in the air, waving impatiently, then snapped his fingers. “Girlie.”

  Lainie gritted her teeth and kept smiling as she picked her way between chairs. Why did he have to see her as his personal server when there were a dozen uniformed wait staff scattered around the room?

  Long, rectangular lights like glowing gold bars hung from the walls, and, dangling from the ceiling close to them, six inch long crystal bead curtains formed rectangles around hidden light sources, picking up more gold. A dozen chandeliers were suspended at regular intervals from the ceiling, each dripping with layers of the same glittering hangings. More bead curtain rectangles surrounded each chandelier, adding to the golden glow of the room.

  The drool-worthy aromas of world class cuisine included delicate seafoods fried to light crispness, spicy dressings, garlic and cilantro, and snapping fresh veggies. She delivered gold-rimmed plates of pan-fried Norwegian salmon with lime leaf sauce, shredded radish salad with prime prosciutto and melon dressed with truffle extra virgin olive oil. The food smells blended with the scents of carefully applied expensive perfumes and men’s colognes. If power and money had a scent, this would be it.

  “Excuse me, miss.”

  Lainie turned. The man in the corner raised both his fleshy hands and clapped them above his head. “Yes, sir, what can I get you?” Lainie balanced between stepping up close enough to hear the request, and staying far enough back to be beyond the man’s reach.

  “Ya really wanna know?” He winked.

  Oh god, no, I don’t. “Yes, of course. What would you like?” He was going to keep her standing there all night. There were over a thousand guests attending the pre-election banquet, and this guy, drunk and lecherous, was going to monopolize her.

  He reached for her, curling his fingers in a command for her to move closer. “I think you know, Sweet Cheeks.” He laughed.

  She needed this job. She had almost finished med school, and her loans and grants had kept her alive so far. But she still had to live somewhere and eat, and it would be years before she finished an internship, residency, and found a position doing what she’d always wanted to do. Working for the catering company gave her flexible hours with no obligation to take the shifts when they were offered. Perfect for a student.

  Keep smiling. “Would you like another appetizer?”

  He lunged, moving with shocking speed for a heavy man in a too tight suit. Lainie jumped back, colliding with the chair behind her, and heard the crash of breaking glass. Gasps, squeals, and a man swearing blasted her from the table at her back. She spun and apologized to the wine-stained woman rising from the chair she had bumped.

  The large man was on his feet. He had her pinned between his body and the angry woman. “I’ll get you fired,” he hissed. “Or,” he looked her slowly up and down and said in an unusually high, whiny voice, “we can go up to my room right now.” His hand gripped her arm like a vise.

  “No need for that, Mason,” a deep voice said, “Is there?”

  Lainie looked to her side. The speaker was tall. His broad shoulders filled out the shoulders of his suit extremely well, suggesting regular, hard exercise. He placed a hand on Mason’s arm. In the artificial sunset of the banquet hall, Lainie stared up at him. She hadn’t met him before, but she knew his profile from the news. This was her real employer, the man who’d hired the agency she worked for, the candidate for governor who was hosting the banquet.

  “Now Mason,” he said. “You just sit back and enjoy the meal, and I’ll see that you get whatever your heart desires. Just let go of the lady, now.” He spoke as if gentling a horse.

  Mason let go of Lainie’s arm and eased himself back into his seat. “All right, Hal.” He winked at Lainie. “You and me’ll talk later.”

  Hal turned to the brown haired woman dabbing at her pastel silk dress. “If you’d like to get that dry cleaned, I’ll take care of it.” His voice was husky. “And, I’ll have a selection of new outfits sent to your room right now.”

  “Oh, Governor Barmak,” the woman gushed, one hand flattened on her chest. “You’d do that for me? You know I am going to vote for you to stay in the governor’s seat for another four years.”

  “Thank you. And please enjoy the rest of the evening.” He waved at someone across the room. “I’ll have Daniel here escort you to the ladies’ lounge, and your new clothes will be waiting by the time you get there. I am so sorry for the inconvenience.”

  Now he’s going to fire me.

  Around them, everyone settled and continued eating and talking. Hal Barmak took Lainie’s arm. “You all right?”

  “Yes, nothing I can’t handle.”

  “I want you to know, Mason’s a big contributor to my campaign, but I won’t allow him to jeopardize your income here tonight. I’m sure you’re not waiting tables for your health.”

  Lainie was stunned by his concern. “No, Governor.”

  “Hal, please.” His hand moved up her arm and his fingers gently squeezed her shoulder. A smile deepened the creases that bracketed his mouth. “I have to get back to mingling. And I’ll be speaking in...” he consulted his black and gold watch, “seven minutes.”

  That watch could have paid my tuition for the last four years.

  “If you need anything, or he bothers you again, you get word to me, and I’ll personally pay you for the night, even if you have to leave early.”

  Lainie was beginning to feel like a paid escort. “Thank you,” she said. “I can handle myself.”

  He dropped his hand, raised his eyebrows and said, “That might well be, but I’m responsible for my staff and guests.”

  For the next five hours she continued to serve gourmet courses, wine, and coffee, while managing to avoid Mason’s corner table. She half listened to Hal Barmak’s speech, expecting to be bored, and was surprised at the passion and clarity of his words. Soon, she was listening with her full attention. For a politician, he seemed to genuinely care about the residents of his state.

  At two o’clock, the kitchen and bar closed, and cleaning up became the job of the bus boys and hotel staff. Anna, Lainie’s supervisor for the night, patted her shoulder and said, “Time to go. And
…” She looked around the room. Mason lingered in his chair in the corner, talking and laughing loudly to the two people still the table with him and staring at Lainie as if he hadn’t eaten in a week and she was prime sirloin. “…good work with him.” Anna tilted her head in Mason’s direction. “He always seems to turn up for these banquets, I’ve seen him before. You have just the right mix of polite and firm.” She winked. “Should work with patients too, when you’re a doctor. Anyway, he’s harmless, but make sure he doesn’t get you alone.”

  “Thanks. See you at the next job.” Lainie headed for the coat rack in the staff room and retrieved her well worn wool coat. She pushed the down button on the elevator to go to the first parking level. Her compact coupe would be waiting for her in the garage, and she couldn’t wait to get out of her shoes and into a hot bath. Or make that straight to bed. She’d be taking exams in a month and tomorrow would be a long day of studying. The brass doors were sliding closed when she heard a beep, and they opened again.

  “Mind if I join you?” Mason shoved a shoulder between the doors. The sensors did their job and they slid open. Once inside, he pushed the close button and turned to face her with the opening behind him, and her chance for escape narrowed and vanished. “Finally.” He slurred the n and l so that the word sounded like filey. “Juss you’n me, babe.”

  Lainie looked past him to the floor indicator lights. They were going down.

  “Don’ you worry ‘bout that. Soon’s we hit the bottom, we’ll turn roun’ and go right back up to my floor.” He stepped closer.

  Claustrophobia was new to Lainie. But she felt as if the huge man in front of her were using up all the space, and all the air in the car. It wasn’t, she knew, scientifically possible for his presence to suffocate her, but she could have sworn he’d sucked in all the available oxygen. She tried to step back, but she was already against the mirrored wall. “Don’t take another step,” she said, pitching her voice low and loud.

  He smiled. “Whatcha gonna do? Push the alarm button? Then we’ll stop, and we’ll be here for a nishe long time.” The waves of alcohol fumes coming off him were so thick they were almost visible. He stepped toward her, leaning in, lips pursed like a goldfish, searching for hers. She turned her face away. His hands reached for the wall, he braced his weight on them with his arms on each side of her head.

  She ducked low and slipped under them, around and past him as the elevator dinged and the doors slowly began to open to the garage.

  He turned and grabbed for her arm, but he was off balance. He stumbled, and she squeezed through the opening and out of the elevator. “Oh no you don’t,” he bellowed, catching up with her. “Come on Sweet Cheeks, you know you want it.”

  If she ran for her car, he might still catch her and keep her from getting in. Drunk as he was, he had strength on his side. He clamped his hands on each side of her waist and pulled her to stagger back against him. With a bent arm, she aimed her elbow at his arm, but when she landed a blow, he didn’t seem to feel it. He maneuvered a knee under her coat and between her legs. With all her strength, she twisted her body and loosened his grip on her waist, spun, and kneed him. He doubled over, swearing violently. “You fucking little bitch.”

  She backed away, keeping an eye on his bent body. “You’re a goddamn pig,” she screamed. “And if you think you’re in pain now, you have no idea the damage I can do. Don’t you ever fucking come near me again.”

  He wasn’t chasing her. She spun to face forward and run for her car. And slammed into a hard, male chest. “What’s going on here?” Hal Barmak asked. He looked past her at Mason who was still bent over, hands on his knees. Hal held Lainie carefully by her arms. “Seems like I keep asking you if you’re okay. I don’t even know your name.”

  “Lainie,” she panted, nodding that she was all right. His hold on her was firm but careful. She wasn’t sure, but he might be keeping her upright, her balance was shaky.

  Hal looked over her head. “You go on up to your room now, Mason. I think you’ve had enough fun for tonight, don’t you?”

  Mason grunted. Lainie turned to watch him slouch off, back to the elevator.

  “You did tell me you could handle yourself. I guess that’s true. Although, I’m not sure what would have happened if I hadn’t come along, and heard the screaming.”

  Lainie regained her equilibrium and pulled free from Hal’s hands on her arms. “I was dealing with it,” she said.

  “Don’t I even get a thank you?”

  Screw manners. Anna’s words came back to her. You have just the right mix of polite and firm. Polite had vanished into the cosmos as soon as her shift had ended. “I told you I can handle myself, and I just did. Now I’d like to go home.”

  “I could do a lot for you, give you a position that would pay better, and no one would lay a hand on you.”

  “This again. Offering to pay me.”

  “I have the money,” he said. “Why not spend some taking care of you?” He rested one hand on her shoulder.

  “Because,” she twitched away and stepped back, “you can’t buy people. Maybe you do in politics, but you can’t buy everyone.”

  “Wrong. Everyone has a price. You just have to find out what it is.” He didn’t step toward her, but his eyes explored her face. “My driver’s waiting.” He brushed a strand of hair back from her cheek. “Let me get you out of here safely.”

  “Thank you,” she forced herself to say, “but my car’s right over there.” She pointed to her battered two-door car.

  His gaze followed her finger. “Let me drive out with you,” he said. “Underground parking’s not the safest place in the world.”

  “All right.” She sighed. It would be faster to just go along with him now. Refusing would only prolong the argument.

  The drive through the deserted garage took minutes, and at the booth, he insisted on paying. When she had cleared the exit gate, Lainie stopped her car on the sidewalk, waiting for Hal to get out. She saw the black stretch limo that had to be his across the street.

  He didn’t reach for his door. “One more thing, Lainie,” he faced her, “when you come work for me, if you ever use language like what I heard from you tonight, I’ll flip you over my knee and pound on your behind until you learn how to behave in the political arena.”

  “When?” Lainie was incredulous. “When I come to work for you? Didn’t you hear me say no?”

  “You will,” he smiled, showing white, and perfectly even teeth. “I just need to find out your price.”

  Wasn’t he ever going to get out so she could go home to her own space?

  He patted her arm a little harder than she thought he should have, and got out. When he closed her car door behind him, she breathed a sigh of relief and looked around, preparing to accelerate away. As she turned right, and left the driveway of the parking garage, she heard the scream of tires, and a sickening thump before she even saw the accident. The garage entrance was in the middle of the block, and at the corner, a figure lay in the street. A streetlamp showed only the dark mass of a body.

  Slamming on her brakes, she stopped her car by the curb, shoved open her door, and was out and running. As she neared the corner, she saw a black car just behind the prone figure backing away, and then, to her shock, it moved forward, toward the person lying in the street. Didn’t the driver see that he’d hit someone?

  With a leap, she landed herself in front of the body and waved both arms frantically. Tinted windows hid the driver’s face, but the car stopped, pulled back, and screeched away, past them. For a Saturday night, the city’s nightlife seemed to have slowed to a crawl. There was no one around to witness the hit and run. Fingers on the side of his neck, Lainie felt for his carotid pulse. There was none. She hammered the nine-one-one button she had programmed into her phone, placed the fingertips, and then the heels of both her hands on the center of his chest and began compressions. A quick check for a carotid pulse told her that the victim wasn’t back, and she blew into his mouth. S
he repeated the cycle, alternately listening for sirens, and looking around for help.

  Partly concealed by the streetlamp, a man watched her. So she wasn’t completely alone. He was too large to be completely hidden by the lamppost as he peered out, and when she saw his face under the light, she recognized him. Mason.

  Her focus was on checking the man’s pulse again when she heard a deep, familiar male voice asking her if she needed help. Hal dropped to his knees beside her. “I’ll sub in,” he said. “I know CPR.”

  “Not yet.” She kept pumping.

  The movement, as he lifted his phone from a pocket, caught her attention. “This is Governor Barmak. I need an ambulance at Fifth and Central. Immediately.”

  “I’ve already called,” she said.

  “I have pull,” he said. “I’ll get an ambulance here faster.”

  Sirens wailed up beside them. The ambulance attendant ran to them, nodded to the governor, glanced at Lainie, and dropped down to take the injured man’s pulse.

  “I’m a med student,” Lainie said. “I’ve been doing CPR since he was hit, but no response. No pulse, he’s not breathing.”

  The paramedic slipped a resuscitator mask over the man’s face while his partner felt for a pulse and took over chest compressions. A police car pulled up, and a female officer asked Lainie what had happened. Hal stood close to her, listening.

  “I didn’t see the car hit him, but I heard it, and it was hit and run. The car was a four door, big and expensive with tinted windows. I didn’t know it was going to drive off, so I didn’t notice the license plate.” She looked up at the streetlamp where she’d seen Mason. “I only noticed one other witness. He’s gone now, but I recognized him.” She turned to Hal. “It was Mason, I’m sure it was him by the lamppost, watching.”

  “You know him, Governor?” the cop asked Hal.

  “Yes, unfortunately, I do. His last name’s Shore.”