The Pretender

  A SUBMISSIVE SERIES NOVELLA

  TARA SUE ME

  AFTER SIX PUBLISHING

  Copyright © 2021 by Tara Sue Me

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN Ebook 9781950017348

  ISBN Print 9781950017355

  Editing by Crystal Watanabe

  When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?'

  -Sydney Harris

  There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye-to-eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.

  - Homer

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Also by Tara Sue Me

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  ABBY

  Funny how the most insignificant conversations can be the ones that end up causing the most problems. Or how a seemingly minor decision leads to unforeseen trouble.

  The first time I heard Ellery Manne’s name was two days after returning to our Hampton estate following a family vacation to Switzerland. Elizabeth and Henry were enjoying the last few days of their spring break, and I was trying to get everything organized for their return to school. It was a Friday, and the kids were outside in their treehouse. I was in the kitchen where I could watch them while I worked on dinner. Nathaniel had gone in to the Manhattan office of West Industries for the day, and I expected him home at any minute.

  I knew something was off the second I heard him enter the kitchen and saw his face when I turned to say hello. Right as I was about to ask what was wrong, the living room door leading to our backyard swung open, and the laughter of our kids filled the once-quiet kitchen.

  “I’m thirsting to death!” Henry shouted, his footsteps echoing as he ran the short distance between the two rooms. He pulled to a stop when he made it to the kitchen. “Daddy’s home!”

  Before Nathaniel could say anything, Henry ran past him to get his refillable water bottle out of the refrigerator. Elizabeth followed behind her younger brother, entering the kitchen seconds later, walking though, as opposed to his run.

  Once Henry had downed half his water, he proclaimed he needed his dad’s opinion on a secret path he wanted to create leading from the back garden to the treehouse. Nathaniel ruffled his hair and told him he’d be outside as soon as he changed.

  “Are you going to come back out, too?” he asked Elizabeth.

  She took another swallow of her own water. “No,” she said. “I’m going to the library to read.”

  Both our kids loved to read, and we’d long ago sectioned off for them part of the library Nathaniel’s parents had added to the house before he was born. While that room held my heart for reasons having nothing to do with books, it made me smile to see our children enjoy it so much.

  Nathaniel nodded at his daughter’s reply and turned to me with a raised eyebrow and half a smile.

  I patted his chest. “No,” I said in answer to his unasked question. “I’m going to stay in here and finish dinner. I’ll catch up with you two later.”

  “It’s a date.” He leaned forward and dropped his head for a quick kiss.

  “Yuck, Daddy. Come on.” Henry pulled his father’s hand. “Kiss Mommy later.”

  Nathaniel kissed me again. “I’m going to change and build secret stuff.”

  I laughed and told him I’d let them know when it was time to eat.

  “Somehow I knew the kids would be in bed before we had a chance to talk,” I told Nathaniel hours later. “But I kept hoping I was wrong.”

  Nathaniel had found me in the library moments before. I’d been sitting sideways on a couch, and when he came in, he lifted my feet and placed them in his lap after sitting down. I shut down the part of me that tried to stop him from massaging my feet. How was it right for him to comfort me when he was the one who’d seemed upset earlier? But I knew that rubbing my feet was actually a stress reliever for him.

  “It’s not anything major,” he said. “Just something I was unaware of.”

  Being the type of man he was, I could make a case that it was major for there to be something at his office he didn’t know about. However, one look at his expression kept my mouth closed. It might not be major, but whatever it ended up being had definitely bothered him.

  “You remember I hired a new CIO a few months ago?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Vaguely. It was a woman from California, right? I don’t know if you ever told me her name.”

  “Ellery Manne,” he said. “Yes. She and her husband moved to the city from LA when I offered her the position.”

  “That’s quite a move.” I tried to imagine packing up and moving clear across the country to the opposite coast. My mind refused to go there.

  “They’re both from the East Coast,” he said. “Virginia, if I’m remembering correctly.”

  “How long had they been in LA?”

  “About six years.” Nathaniel’s brow furrowed as he worked on my feet. “They moved there because a rapidly growing startup offered Ellery an executive position, and Vincent wanted to try his hand at acting.”

  Like thousands of other people, I supposed. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say since I’ve never heard of a Vincent Manne, that things didn’t go so well.”

  “You’d be correct.” He gave half a snort and shook his head. “He’s decided Broadway is where his true passion lives.”

  Of course it is. “He does realize Broadway won’t be any easier than Hollywood, right?”

  “If he hasn’t given up after six years, I’m not sure what it’d take to make him give up.”

  Six years. I wasn’t sure if I should applaud him for his persistence or criticize him for being blind to the writing on the wall for so long. There was a delicate balance between chasing a dream and coming to terms with the fact it just wasn’t meant to be. Who was I to say which way he should lean?

  “So what’s the deal?” I asked him. “What happened that gave you the worried look I saw when you got home?”

  “I overheard a few of the admins commenting about how Ellery appeared to be standoffish and was probably rude.” He frowned, looking down at my feet as he continued. “I hadn’t noticed anything of the sort from her, so I asked around discreetly.”

  “I hoped you started with Sara,” I told him. Sara had worked as Nathaniel’s admin since before I knew Nathaniel. If anyone had their pulse on what was going on around West Industries, it was Sara.

  “I did,” he said. “According to her, Ellery is stressed about being the only breadwinner. That shocked me because I know what I pay her. I wouldn’t pry, though, because it’s not any of my business.”

  That might very well be the case, but if she worked for Nathaniel, he felt responsible for her.

  “She’s also an introvert by nature and doesn’t seek out the company of others often,” he added. “I know from personal experience that it’s easy to judge introverts as being both standoffish and rude.”

  “That all makes sense.” I bit back a moan as his fingers worked their magic on my toes. I needed to keep my attention on what I wanted to say. “You have a tendency to look at your employees as extended family, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. In fact, I think it makes you an outstanding boss. But you are her boss, and she might not appreciate you trying to do what she may see as fixing her life.”

  “True, but what I was thinking wasn’t quite that invasive.” He lifted one of my feet and kissed the top. “I think she might also be a little lonely. Moving away from everyone she’s known and worked with over the last six years. Coming to Manhattan from LA? No, I don’t want to fix her life. I was just thinking we could invite her and her husband over for dinner.”

  “Of course,” I said. “That’s no problem.”

  “I feel for certain if anyone can get her to open up and feel more at home, it’s you.”

  It was a small compliment, but knowing he meant every word made me warm all over.

  “You should be the one to call her and set it up. That would come across better than her boss doing it.”

  “What if it’s only her, and her husband doesn’t want to come?”

  “He’ll come,” he said with a confidence only he could carry off. “They both will.”

  In a move I’d learned from him, I lifted an eyebrow. “You command it to be so, and the world just agrees?”

  He gave me a look that meant the time for teasing was over. All at once, my mouth went dry, while parts further south became wet. The anticipation of Nathaniel taking what was rightfully his, namely me, filled my body with a weightless warmth.

  “I believe you’ve known me long enough to know the answer to that question.” He remained seated but spread his legs and gave me a nod. Without hesitation, I slipped to the floor and made my way to kneel between his legs.

  I waited for him to give
me more commands, because I had known him for a long time and therefore knew better than to assume anything.

  He gave a quick nod of satisfaction. “Unzip me.”

  I sucked in a quick breath. Sometimes he’d make me wait or tease me before allowing access to his cock. I licked my lips, craving his taste.

  “Greedy girl,” he said. “I bet you’re wet just thinking about having my dick in your mouth.”

  My fingers fumbled as I worked his zipper. “Yes, Master.”

  He stilled my hands before I got his cock out. “Show me. Show me how wet it makes you to be on your knees, waiting for my cock.”

  Unashamed, I wasted no time unbuckling my pants and shoving them, along with the tiny panties I wore, down over my hips. Surely he could smell me from where he sat.

  “I said show me.” He fisted a handful of my hair, and I bit back my moan. Oh, fuck yes. He was in a mood to be rough. “Now.”

  I slipped two fingers between my legs and removed them to show him how shiny they were.

  “Clean them,” he said, and I sucked them deep into my mouth, imitating what I wanted to do to his cock. “Very nice. But because I had to tell you twice, this will only be for me. No orgasms for you until I say so.”

  While part of me wanted to whine and tell him how unfair he was, I hadn’t been lying when I said I knew him well. Talking back or pouting would get me nowhere. “Yes, Master.”

  “Take me in your mouth. Slow and deep and all at once.”

  I finished unzipping him and engulfed him inside my mouth. He buried his other hand in my hair. His grip was firm, and while he didn’t push my head down, he wasn’t letting me back away, either.

  “All the way,” he said. “Take every last inch.”

  I opened my throat, which was the only way I’d be able to get him all, taking a deep breath, even as his length filled the open space.

  “Fuck yes.” He gave a quick thrust.

  I’d worked hard on my gag reflex over the years so he could fuck my throat as deep as he liked, but it was never an easy thing to do. It took my absolute control and focus, which, I supposed, was one of the reasons he had me do it. Though if I had to rank his reasons, that probably wasn’t in the top ten.

  He kept a steady pace, keeping his hands fisted in my hair. His need and desire for me, and the pleasure he took from me, did crazy things to my libido, even knowing there would be no relief for me anytime soon. I pinched the tops of my thighs to keep myself from moving to a position more conducive to providing stimulation to my clit.

  I didn’t look up to confirm, but I knew what I’d more than likely see if I did. Nathaniel would be watching me with the intense look he typically wore when he was in his Dominant headspace. But seeing him that way would do nothing to lessen the growing need between my legs. I kept my eyes closed and my attention on not gagging.

  He quickened his movements, a hint he wasn’t going to prolong the scene. Thank goodness.

  I recognized the signs preceding his climax. The only question would be if he let go of my hair or not.

  His length jerked inside my mouth, but his hands remained in my hair. Swallow it was, then.

  He groaned through his release, and he may have whispered something. I couldn’t say because my focus was on not gagging as he finished.

  After, he stroked my cheek as I set his pants to rights. When he indicated I could move back to the couch, I shook my head.

  “I’d rather stay here,” I told him. My happy place was at his feet, and when he smiled and rested his hand on my shoulder, I knew I was the luckiest woman in the world.

  Chapter 2

  ABBY

  Two weeks later, we were spending the weekend in our Manhattan penthouse. Henry and Elizabeth were waiting not so patiently for my oldest friend, Felicia, to come pick them up for a sleepover at her house. Her husband, Jackson, was technically Nathaniel’s cousin, but because Nathaniel had lived with him and his aunt Linda at age ten following his parents ’deaths, they considered each other brothers.

  I was in the kitchen making sure I had everything I needed to start dinner once Felicia and the kids left. The day after our talk, I’d called Ellery and invited her and Vincent to dinner. I expected them to arrive later in the evening. Funny, I’d told Nathaniel after the call, I hadn’t found her cold at all. To me, she was warm and engaging. Of course, I realized that as the boss’s wife, it wasn’t like she’d have been rude, but I found, most of the time, unpleasant people had difficulties acting otherwise.

  Nathaniel suggested having dinner catered, but I’d looked at him as if he’d started spouting Cantonese. I knew we could call a caterer, but there was something about cooking a meal and watching as people enjoyed it. That didn’t happen when someone else prepared everything. Nathaniel had finally relented, saying he just didn’t want me to have any unnecessary stress over the dinner preparations. I waved him off. I’d been cooking for years and usually for over four people. This was no big deal.

  The sound of the doorman buzzing to inform us Felicia was on her way up interrupted my thoughts.

  “Hey, girl!” Felicia said, giving me a hug after I let her and her daughter, Lucy, in.

  I hugged her back and looked over her shoulder at the empty hallway. “Aren’t you missing three other kids?”

  “Jackson has them. Lucy came with me,” she said as her daughter took off down the hall in order to find Elizabeth. “She’s done nothing but talk all day about the things the two of them are going to do tonight.”

  Lucy and Elizabeth were the same age, but that wasn’t the only reason they were so close. Among our closest friends in the city, they were the only girls. Lucy had two younger twin brothers, Luis and Levi, and another younger brother, Liam. Eliana, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Nathaniel and Jackson, and her husband Todd, had two boys. Maddox, who was significantly older than our girls, and Matthew, who was Liam’s age.

  Felicia always joked that it was up to me and Nathaniel to even the score out and go for another girl. While we hadn’t written off the idea of a third child, I was still taking birth control.

  “I’d say Jackson has his hands full, but I’m sure he’s a pro by now,” I said.

  “He is,” Felicia confirmed with pride clear in her tone. “He’s trying to convince me to have a fifth, but I keep telling him the baby factory is closed. You, on the other hand…”

  “I think about it occasionally,” I said, surprising her. “But can’t decide one way or the other. Whenever I think I do want another, it hits me how good I have it. Everyone’s potty-trained, and I have great kids. Why would I want to risk messing it all up? But as soon as I think that, I feel like the most selfish woman in the world.” I took a deep breath before continuing. “I mean, it’d be my child. Mine and Nathaniel’s. How could that be a mistake? It’d be easier if Nathaniel would issue a decree or something.”

  “What does he say?”

  “That I’m the one who would be pregnant for almost ten months. And the one who would have to give birth. He says he’s perfectly content with the two we have. But that if I want a third child, he’s not opposed to another, either.”

  “That’s all?”

  “Right? For the life of me, I don’t understand how he can be so nonchalant with the question of having another child. How is it possible to live with such defined lines and rules in some areas of his life and be so noncommittal with others?”

  And men said women were hard to understand.

  “I suppose if you never decide one way or the other,” Felicia said. “Before too long, time and Mother Nature will decide for you.”

  “There is that,” I agreed, and we both laughed.

  I slid the steaks I had prepared into the oven about five minutes before Ellery and Vincent were due to arrive. I was pushing it close regarding time. There was a chance they wouldn’t be ready, and we’d have to wait, but I decided that was better than having them ready too soon.