With My Breath (Lose My Breath #1)

CHAPTER TWELVE

SLATE

The ride to the ball is silent, and as I adjust my fitted black tuxedo and gold bow tie, all I can think about is getting back to Jasmine. When I’m around Jasmine, all the stress in my life seems to dissipate. Her presence is like a miracle cure to all, easing my burdens, and as of this moment, I want nothing more than to hold her in my arms.

The charity gala was a last-minute notice, yet Jasmine brooked no argument when I told her to get dressed. Her obedience is astounding.

I lean back onto the red velour seats while mentally reliving fucking her on the balcony, my cock rising at the walls of her pussy, squeezing it so tight, she damn near drew the blood from my veins. I marvel at how wet she gets just from my touch; how wet she gets just from the lilt of my voice alone. Just thinking about it makes me want to ravish Jasmine. The feel of her beating clit gliding across my tongue as she cums in my mouth is Mm so sweet and juicy.

I love it when she gives me complete control, being my submissive girl as she trembles beneath me. I can’t think of anything more gratifying than the sound of my name on the tip of her tongue as I’m fucking her.

What I have with Jasmine is something I have never had with anyone else, and I will not lose her—not to my ex-fiancé, not to anyone.

“What are we going to do about Tianna?”

Don’s query rips me from my haze, and my eyes run clean across all the fancy cars parked outside the gala. “I will deal with Tianna.”

It’s true. I never loved Tianna, but I also can’t imagine any harm coming to her because of her broken heart. I was faithful to Tianna for the duration of our relationship. The last thing I expected was for her to cheat on me, but as my mind ventures back to that night, guilt floods me all over again like a burst damn.

Tianna blames me, and rightfully so, but I will not let her hurt an innocent woman because of what I did to her. “I cannot allow Tianna to find herself alone with Jasmine again.”

“Jasmine doesn’t know?”

Don’s eyes find mine through the rearview mirror, and I ponder on what Jasmine’s reaction would be if she were to discover the sort of tastes I have in the bedroom. Would my dominance run her off? Would she be afraid or interested?

“If you are referring to my taste for S emerald, sapphire, and ruby embellished ballgowns swathe the women’s bodies as they pirouette along the dance floor, and though their beauty is apparent, only one woman stands out to me, her impeccable beauty dominating the other women as my eyes land on her.

Jasmine’s beautiful hazel eyes meet mine, and my body ignites into untamed flames as a sexy smile shapes her pouty lips.

“So beautiful,”

I whisper as the French ambassador lunges at me.

I shake the ambassador’s hand, promising to find him later as I break free and make my way over to the gorgeous woman. My heart placates to her need as anxiety leaps from her eyes. This is all new to her. She must be terrified.

My gaze flicks around the ballroom in search of Allison. Where is my sister? I told her to watch over Jasmine. How could she be so careless? I bring my eyes back to Jasmine, the dignified gold ball gown glinting beautifully against her deep bronze skin. The diamonds attached to the velvet bustier section of the gown expel clinquant light onto her plump round breasts.

I trace my bottom lip with my tongue while nearing my assistant, but just as I get to her, her eyes shift downward in shyness. Herr flushed, shimmering cheeks outlining her delicate beauty as she lifts her cheekbones while gracing me with a bashful smile.

“You look absolutely stunning,”

I praise while sliding my hand along the silk portion of the empire-style ballgown, my heart racing as a sexy toned leg emerges from the slit.

“You look exquisitely beautiful, my love.”

“You said that already.”

Jasmine giggles, and the Chanel perfume I purchased envelopes me as I inhale her scent.

I take the back of my hand to her left cheek, raking my eyes dangerously across her as she leans into my touch. “What can I say? You are the most gorgeous woman in this entire building. In this entire world.”

Once again, Jasmine flushes at my compliment, and I want nothing more than to take her to the nearest bathroom and have my way with her.

“Do you really like it,”

Jasmine questions, her voice pastel and enticing.

My fingers grip her waist, hauling her so close to me she almost loses her breath. “Jasmine, let me repeat myself. You are the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen. This dress only serves to accentuate your beauty.”

Her eyes leave mine, and for a moment, I want to know what she is thinking. Words couldn’t possibly express how much I love her. How much she turns me on.

“Thanks to your sister. She styled my hair, and the makeup artist you hired did an impeccable job. They used spray-on makeup, and I absolutely love it.”

Jasmine graces me with another smile, the slight part of her dark pink pouty lips beckoning me as she gazes into my eyes. “Per usual, you look handsome.”

Her hazel eyes shift between mine; the need to protect, own, and dominate her swirls around us like thick dark clouds, threatening to flood the earth with horror at the first sign of fear.

I lean over Jasmine, lifting her chin with my thumb as I crush my lips against hers. At this moment, we share a breath, and it’s as if everyone around us has disappeared. As if we are all alone, and as I slide my tongue inside her mouth, she trembles so lightly, her moans giving life to my aching body that wants so badly to have her right here and now.

Jasmine reluctantly draws from the kiss, her top lip sucking in her bottom lip as she peers into my eyes.

“God, you taste delicious,”

I utter, my fingers contouring her perfectly almond face. “I have something for you.”

I drag my fingers to her wrist, wrapping them around it as I pull her to the nearest hallway.

Thankfully, no guests occupy the narrow space, and I push her gently against the wall, tilting over Jasmine and inhaling her sweet scent once more as I extend her the box.

“What’s this,”

Jasmine asks while taking the box, her hazel eyes studying me with wonder.

“Open it,”

I command, and like a good girl, she obeys.

I observe as Jasmine unwraps the box and opens it, interest forming in her gaze as she retrieves the expensive gold jewelry from the box.

“Nipple chain clamps?”

Jasmine’s lips shift into a satisfying smile, and I rise just from her reaction alone, my cock straining painfully against the zipper of my slacks as devotion nestles deep inside my heart.

“Good, you know what they are, but do you know what you are in for?”

She corks a perfectly arched brow.“I don’t, but I’m sure you will show me. How much were these anyway?”

“Does it matter? You are going to go to the lady’s room, place this necklace around your neck, and clamp your nipples. Then you will return to me.”

A smirk rides the corner of my mouth, numerous naughty thoughts threatening to consume me as Jasmine makes her way to the bathroom.

As instructed, my assistant finds her way back to the main room in search of me. I study her as I stand near the stage of the gala, conversing with the French ambassador. Her elegant beauty pilfers my attention as her deep bronze skin glows profoundly, basking in the gold aureate that enfolds her body.

“C’etait bien de parler avec toi. J’aime toujours me rattraper jusqu’a la prochaine fois.”

I end the conversation with the ambassador and cross the room to my personal assistant.

“I can see your hard nipples through the dress,”

I growl while taking her waist in my palms.

Jasmine moans, her anxiety swallowing her cries as the velvet rubs against her clamped nipples. “It’s like I can feel everything. I’m so wet, Casimir,”

She purrs.

“Mm,”

I growl while moving my fingers slowly up the chain.

I yank the chain, receiving a skipped moan from her as she rocks against my body. Shock waves take to Jasmine’s petite frame as she quakes against me, and I yank it once more, reveling in her weak cries as her pussy throbs from the sensation of her nipples being jerked.

“Casimir, not here. We shouldn’t do this here. My pussy is,”

“Your pussy is what?”

I’m well aware of what nipple clamps do to a woman’s body, but Jasmine is suddenly at a loss for words, and her flushed cheeks tell me everything I need to know. “Now you know what you’re in for,”

I mutter while releasing the chain.

Jasmine stands straight, mapping her fingers gently through her hair as she tries to regain whatever dignity she feels she lost.

Celestial music inaugurates, flooding the gala with glorifying tunes. I hold out my hand while leaning into my assistant’s ear, my tongue skimming the sensitive lobe. “May I have this dance?”

Jasmine nods, and before she can gather herself, I swoop her up in my arms and swirl her onto the dance floor.

“Casimir, I have never danced this way before,”

she whispers while running her eyes across the pirouetting guests around us.

“Don’t worry, baby, I’m a good lead. I know enough for the both of us.”

I place my right hand on her waist, guiding her while holding her left hand in mine. We slide onto the dance floor, drifting quickly with the flow of the music. Jasmine gazes into my eyes, the intensity in them fuming me as I carry her effortlessly across the dance floor.

I shift her closer and closer to me as her dress floats graciously with our sway. We twirl in sync with the other guests, and Jasmine’s eyes never leave mine.

“I want you to be mine forever,”

I whisper while brushing my lips against the lobe of her right ear.

“Only in a perfect world,”

she responds.

“Then tell me what I can do to make our world perfect because I must have you to myself for as long as I exist.”

Various colors of the rainbow ascend the air as the two of us dance, cascading among the other gyrating guests in the ballroom. The celestial music rivets our souls as we become entranced by it, and I never want this moment to end.

“You can continue to hold me like this whenever we are alone and promise never to let me go.”

Jasmine brushes her lips against the inside of my wrist, and my eyes scout hers.

Damn, whatever feelings I have been keeping at bay for her floods to the surface, and her heart guarded by mine is the only thing I can fathom as my throat works, “I love you, Jasmine.”

Her lips tremble at my admission, and the music stops. My assistant tries to step back, but I hold her tighter to me, sliding my lips along her neck.

“People are watching us. They may-they may get the wrong impression,”

She stutters.

“Let them watch. Let them think whatever it is they want to think. I have fallen for you, and nothing will change that.”

I lift her chin firmly in my hand, forcing her eyes to mine. “Don’t worry, baby. You don’t have to say the words before you are ready.”

Jasmine gives me a nervous nod the second my name is called from the stage. I don’t want to leave her, so I scout the crowd for Don, who is already guarding me. With a nod of my head, I give my most trusted man the order to watch Jasmine.

“Stay here. I will return right after I’m done with my announcement.”

I kiss her tenderly on the lips, grateful that she kisses me back, and turn to make my way to the stage.

The host thanks me for my significant contribution the moment I reach the stage. The camera flashes, and the crowd draws in closer as I take the microphone from his grasp. I try my best to focus on my speech and not panic the second I lose sight of Jasmine.

Once I’m done giving my speech, the crowd claps, shouting as they all say their gratitude. But the crowd parts, and what occupies my sight next has my heart threatening to rip from my chest.

Tianna is standing next to Jasmine in all white; her lips are rumbling as shock lashes across my assistant’s face.

What the fuck? I search the crowd for Don and find that he is rushing and failing to get to Jasmine in time. He and Thomas both struggle to plow through the crowd of guests as they close in on Tianna around the same time.

Don snatches Tianna’s arm and drags her away. Jasmine’s eyes immediately find mine as I force my way through the crowd of people who are all desperate to speak with me. But right now, the only thing that matters is reaching Jasmine and making sure Tianna hasn’t said anything that could ruin my relationship with her forever.

“How are you,”

I ask the second I reach Jasmine.

She corks an eyebrow, her eyes tracking Tianna as Don drags her out.

“I’m okay,”

She breathes after a few moments.

“No one saw her arrive, sir. With the large crowd, we were unable to get to her before Tianna.”

I lift my hand, silencing Thomas as my eyes stay on Jasmine, who, at this moment, seems quite discombobulated.

“What did she say to you?”

My question rears Jasmine’s head in my direction, our eyes linking for the first time since I got to her.

“Nothing really besides her usual taunting. It’s more so what I said to her.”

I screw my brows while leaning over into Thomas’s ear, giving my head of security a set of instructions before returning my attention to Jasmine.

“What’s going on,”

She asks while switching her gorgeous eyes between Thomas and me.

“I need you to find my sister now, Thomas.”

I drag out my phone, ready to make a call, but my eyes catch a glimpse of Jasmine tugging at Thomas’s sleeve.

“She left before you arrived. She said she needed to be with her husband.”

“Of course, she did. So, like my sister to think about herself during a time like this.”

With the nod of my head, Thomas is off doing what I instructed him to do moments earlier.

I place my hand at the bottom of Jasmine’s back, guiding her through the crowd and towards the exit.

“Where are we going,”

My assistant asks, planting her heels into the royal carpet.

“We’re leaving.”

I give her waist a gentle tug, but she stands firm in her place, her refusal to move amusing me as I look her up and down.

“No, we’re not leaving.”

I slide my phone into the pocket of my slacks, my chest fuming with heat. “Are you defying me?”

Surprise drips from my tone as Jasmine’s arms fold across her chest.

“Tianna has been escorted out, and we are still having dinner. I see no reason as to why we should leave now. Surely, the security will not let her back in after she was thrown out.”

Although Jasmine does have a point, I’m Casimir Slate, which means no one challenges me. “It doesn’t matter. I said we are leaving, so we are leaving,”

I bark, gripping her wrist.

“And if I say no?”

Jasmine takes a very noticeable swallow, possibly thinking twice as she challenges me. “If you want to leave Casimir, then by all means, leave, but I’m still your personal assistant, and as such, there are certain duties I need to adhere to. There are a few of the guests you have yet to speak with.”

She gestures her hand around us as some of the guests look our way. A smirk rides the corner of my lips as I rub the stubble on the bottom of my chin.

“To think that one of my admirations for you is your obedience and the fact that you brook no argument whenever I instruct you to do something. Yet here you are, challenging me. I have never been more turned on before in my life.”

Jasmine’s pouty lips putter amusingly, but she holds back her laughter.

“I’m going to have to punish you,”

I rasp while snatching her body to mine.

My assistant’s hands fist the sleeves of my tux, and I revel in the fear rising in her hazel eyes. She startles through a skipped breath, her hips rolling against me against her will. Jasmine is horny, and I fucking love it.

“Punish me how?”

I caress the back of her neck with the tips of my fingers, basking in the trembling of her body as I forcibly tug the necklace, yanking her nipples upward.

“Oh shit,”

she bellows but quickly slams her palm against her pouty mouth.

I jerk the chain once again. This time, harder than the last, Jasmine jumps, almost in shock.

“Casimir, I can’t,”

Jasmine stutters, but I bring my finger to her gaping mouth, hushing her before she draws attention to what I’m doing to her.

I lean into her ear, my breath hot against her flesh. “Now tell me, Jasmine. Are you wet?”

She nods her pretty little head, and I place my hand at the bottom of her back. “Good,”

I growl as I lead her to our appointed table.

I withdraw a chair for her, and she sits down, her sexy eyes stroking my every move as I lean over her.

“That wasn’t your punishment,”

I whisper, and I don’t miss the shiver that runs viciously up her spine as I drop into the chair next to her.

“That is a gorgeous necklace. Wherever did you purchase it from,”

The mayor’s wife asks as she and the mayor take their place at the table across from us.

The apple of Jasmine’s cheeks flushes at the question, undoubtedly hoping the mayor’s wife is impervious to her clamped nipples poking through her gold ball gown.

Fucking delicious. My mouth is burning to bite her nipples, my cock throbbing at the feel of her wet pussy slipping up and down it.

“I had it specially made for her,”

I edge in while placing my hand on the back of Jasmine’s chair.

A few more prominent people take their places at the table and adhere to the conversation. The smell of pot roast and carrots sinks into everyone’s noses as they eat their meal. Though the conversations are in-depth, all I can think about is fucking Jasmine, sneaking looks at her now and then as her pouty mouth swallows her food. Focusing on how her full, luscious lips wrap around the fork.

Oh, how I want those lips around my cock. This woman is more than beautiful, and I’m going to make her mine, but as bad as I want to fuck Jasmine, her defiance needs to be dealt with, and I can’t think of no other way to punish her than tying her hands behind her back and taking a whip to her ass. But will she be ok with that?

“What did you say to Tianna,”

I query as each of the guests at the table drifts off into their own conversations.

Jasmine inhales the last of her water and sits the empty glass on the table. Her eyes find mine, and for a moment, worry chases my soul.

“Nothing really.”

“Okay?”

I give her an encouraging smile, one that shocks the hell out of her. I can tell by the look on her face.

“I told Tianna that I know what you did to her.”

A phlegmatic expression shapes my face, and I am determined to keep my emotions under control.

“I found out about… About your tastes in the bedroom. You know how you like to whip women,”

Jasmine whispers as her eyes transfer to the other guests at the table, making sure they have not heard.

“I see,”

I reply, convinced she doesn’t know the true story.“You’ve spoken with Ayanna.”

I append, realizing that this must be Jasmine’s source of information.

“I promised Ayanna that you would not fire her. Besides, she said you never did anything to Tianna without her permission. So please promise me you will not do anything to Ayanna.”

Jasmines slides her hand atop my right thigh, bringing it just high enough that it’s inches from my now-growing cock. This woman definitely knows what she is doing.

“You have my word that I will not go after Ayanna for breaching the non-discloser contract.”

A breath of relief escapes Jasmine’s chest but is replaced by desire as I take her hand in mine. “How does knowing about my tastes in the bedroom make you feel?”

I can tell by the unnerving of her body that the aspect of me whipping her turns her on, and I can’t lie, that turns me on.

“I... I find it somewhat interesting.”

I lean forward in my chair, not wanting the guests at the table to hear our conversation, as curiosity drives my next set of words. “Is it something you would be willing to try?”

My voice is raspy with need as I tap my fingers atop the silk linen-covered table.

“You said you want to punish me to make me a good girl. I’ll be your good girl if you whip me into submission. Of course, I have certain lines I will not cross, but I’ve always wanted to be dominated.”

Every vein in my body is thrumming with fire, threatening to burst open with the amount of desire that is scorching its way through me.

“I won’t do anything you aren’t comfortable with, and you’ll have to sign a contract agreeing to our terms.”

Jasmine crosses her legs, and I know just having this conversation is making her wet. Oh, how I want so bad to taste her juices.

“Okay,”

she moans.

“Let’s go, we’re leaving.”

I rise quickly to my feet, taking ahold of Jasmine’s hand as we say goodbye to the other guests at the table.

“Casimir, slow down. I can’t walk that fast in these heels,”

She screeches.

“Jasmine, I told you I’m going to make you mine,”

I growl while picking her up and throwing her over my shoulder.