I stared at him. “How do they know?”
“Did you ever wonder how you got that new, highly specific and exclusive Elberta Stephensen scholarship? Elberta Stephensen was my grandmother, and I’ve paid every dime of your tuition at Norton, not to mention yearly stipends for your metals and materials.”
I gawked at him. “You paid for my scholarship?”
“Yes. Although it did, admittedly, come out of my grandmother’s trust fund. She would have liked you. That’s what I told them at Norton, that she would have liked to see you succeed. I’ve paid them enough that I’ve pretty much earned a say in whatever decisions they make about you. And I don’t think I want you to have a different mentor. I think I’m best for the job.”
“Is that what you think?” I asked, covering my shock in sarcasm. “I’m sure I’ll learn a lot as you’re fucking me over various pieces of office furniture.”
His cool gaze betrayed a flash of heat. “So ungrateful. Do you know how much Norton costs?”
“I never asked you to pay for it.” I tried to push his hands away. “I never asked you for anything.”
My bid at escape was quickly arrested. He pulled me back against him, then turned me around so my back was pressed to his front. His hand went to my neck.
“Don’t,” I whispered.
“Ungrateful interns are bad interns,” he said, tightening his fingers around my windpipe.
I arched my neck, pushing back against him. “Let go,” I begged. “I don’t want this.” But my body was growing aroused by his force.
“A good intern is grateful. Obedient. Attentive to her boss’s needs,” he said into the curve of my ear.
I could feel his cock hardening against my ass. “No. No!”
“Interns don’t say no. They say ‘What would you like me to do?’”
“Had a lot of interns, have you?” I asked, clinging to my last shards of control.
“No, you’re the first one.” His hand tightened on my neck until I had to struggle for breath. When I flailed and tried to dislodge his grip, his other arm wrapped around my body.
“I’ve always dreamed of having an intern,” he went on in a casual, bemused tone, like he wasn’t a squeeze away from strangling me. “A cooperative, sexy, eager-to-please young professional. Good interns say things like ‘What would you like me to do?’”
I knew I’d have to say it if I didn’t want him to choke me to unconsciousness. I didn’t want to wake up from a faint on his office floor with him on top of me.
“What…” I tried to speak through the pressure at my throat. “What would you like me to do?”
His grip loosened a little, a reward for obedience.
“Lift up your skirt,” he said.
My fingers moved to the hem of my skirt, traced over the material. My nice skirt, my professional, expensive skirt I’d put on to impress my new boss. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. I thought I was starting my career today, and instead, I was back in Price’s grasp.
“No,” I whispered for the third time.
“What?”
I fought his grip and gave voice to the agony roiling inside me. “No,” I repeated, and this time it sounded awful, like a cut-off screech. I jerked away from him, and he let me go. I turned away, rubbing my neck and staring down at the muted diamond pattern of his office carpet.
I had too many feelings, and none of them were sane. Some part of me wanted him. Some part of me wanted to lift up my skirt and see what he’d do to me, but a greater part of me was viscerally opposed to becoming his intern-whore.
“I can’t do this,” I said. “I’ll be your intern, but I won’t… I can’t…” My voice shook. “I’ve worked so hard for this.”
He was silent a moment. Maybe he was going to kick me out of his office. Maybe he was going to force me anyway, against my will. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Please,” I said. The carpet pattern blurred. So many hopes, so many feelings, and all he had for me was “Lift up your skirt.”
“Chere.”
I tensed and turned my head to the side. “What?”
“Look at me.”
“No.”
I didn’t want him to see my tears, because I knew him. They’d only turn him on. I spun the other way and hurried for the door. I didn’t make it. He caught me and wrapped his arms around me, not a chokehold this time. Just a hold. A rough sob shook me as I tried to break away.
“Don’t.” His voice sounded as ragged as my voice sounded when I had said no. “Don’t cry, Chere.”
“I can’t do this.”
“You don’t have to. I thought…” I heard him sigh beside my ear. “Fuck.”
I pulled from his arms and turned to him, wiping away my tears. “You know where I came from. You know how much this means to me, how hard I worked to get to this place.”