The Covenant (The Billionairess, #3)

Chapter 1: Muse

"There," I said, lifting my hands from the keyboard. "It's done."

I had just finished writing an eighty-thousand word manuscript. Not all in one night, of course, but in a frenzy over the course of several months. For several months my fingers buzzed over the laptop Rose had given me, and now my sore hands could rest.

I wheeled my chair back from my desk and let out long, exasperated, proud sigh.

The manuscript was titled, "The Manservant." It's the story of an innocent young man who gets a job working as the cleaning staff for a wealthy actress. It's the story of intimate power play between this young cleaner and his affluent employer.

A common piece writing advice is "Write what you know." And I've certainly taken it to heart. I've never worked for an actress, nor have I worked the same specific cleaning job as my protagonist.

But I know a lot about intimate power play, and the kind of power a brilliant woman can hold over a young man.

I heard a chuckle in the other room. I recognized that sound. That confident, throaty chuckle that never failed to send shivers down my spine. My love. My goddess. My muse.

Rose was in the living of the penthouse, being interviewed by a Adrian Ruther, a reporter for Crowned magazine, a press that focused on the lives of highly successful individuals, like my mistress. She had instructed me to stay quiet in our bedroom while she did so. I used this time to finish up the last couple pages of The Manservant before next week's deadline from the publisher.

The Manservant is my second novel. My first book, Aboard Poseidon, was written shortly after me and Rose's...eventful anniversary cruise. The story was of a detective solving a murder on a cruise ship, and gets so entangled with a mysterious femme fatale that he ends up helping her to cover her crimes after he becomes bewitched by her beauty.

In the time since that cruise, I had graduated from Masoch University with a degree in English, and I went straight away to working on my dream of being a novelist. Around that same time, Rose and I started living together. I moved out of the apartment I shared with Lance. I went to live with Rose in her penthouse, and Lance went to live in a new apartment with Emily. For months I wrote away until words became a manuscript and the manuscript became a published novel.

Aboard Poseidon was a success. It did not top the bestseller list, but it did better than many at the publishing house thought, and even as I finished my second novel the checks were still coming in.

As I sat at my desk, I thought of how lucky I was. I was already solidifying my dreams of being a writer, and I was living with the most wonderful woman I had ever met. Life was truly looking up for Thomas Luxembourg.

I heard Rose in the living room.

"Thank you, Mr. Ruther," she said.

"No, thank you for setting time to speak to me, Miss Delacourt," I heard the reporter say. "I know a woman like you must be busy."

Moments later, I heard the door to the penthouse open and close. Then, I heard Rose's footsteps make their way towards our bedroom.

The door opened, and there she stood, silhouetted in the silver light. I felt the compulsion to drop from my desk chair onto my knees at her feet.

"How's the writing coming along, my love?" she said.

"It's finished," I told. I turned back to my laptop and pulled up the front page. The title, THE MANSERVANT, was typed across in large font. "The whole thing is done."

Her eyes glittered in the dark.

"Oh, excellent," she said. "I'm so proud of you, Thomas."

She walked up behind me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. She pulled my head into her chest, and my heart quickened as I felt her heartbeat against my ears.

"Or should I," she said. "Mr. Lux..."

There's something you should know about my books: none of them have the name "Thomas Luxembourg" on them. I write my erotic thrillers under the pen name, J.T. Lumas. The reason for this is simple: most people don't know about me and Rose's...intimate relationship. Certainly not the kinky parts. To the outside world, I am just her devoted butler, her employee, her companion. If word got out that the author of novels about men sexually dominated by powerful women was the butler to a real life powerful woman...well, people would connect some dots.

But I did not mind. I was happy to have a novel published at all. And besides, I wrote stories because I loved to write, not because I wanted my name to carry any kind of fame and glory. And so, I sold the book under a pen name. For my love.

"Mistress," I said. "I would like to remind you my parents in town this week."

"Yes, of course," she said. "I already have the dinner arrangements set."

I was excited and nervous at once. Despite Rose and I having been together for close to two years, she had yet to meet my parents. They lived in Washington, DC for my father's work. He worked in the security sect for the U.S. Government. They were both busy people, and didn't have time to travel to NYC much. And now was a perfect time for them to meet Rose, because...

My eyes lingered down to the drawer in my desk. In that drawer was a pile of papers, and under that pile of papers was a little black box, and in that little black box was a silver band with a diamond on it. I had been hiding it for Rose for weeks since I bought it, waiting for the appropriate time to drop to my knees and pull it out for her to see.

But not right now, because Rose gave my ear a tug between her teeth when she noticed I wasn't paying attention to her.

"This is a good one," I said. "I think it may be even better than my first."

"Well, I certainly look forward to reading it," she said.

She spun me around in my chair, then grabbed a hold of my tie and pulled me up and close to her.

"For now," she whispered against my lips. "We have to celebrate."