Punished; Sex Slave II (Alt)

By Kimberly Zant

Marlee has a secret she dare not divulge, and it isn't something that will withstand the scrutiny of a criminal investigation. When the computer system at the law firm where she works is hacked and critical information filched, she discovers she could be looking at jail time and begs them for the chance to repay them in whatever manner they see fit. The sentence is six months hard time-with six young lawyers.

"This title is an alternative version of "Punished" that has been completely revised."

Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: Erotica. Contains explicit sex, graphic language, and some scenes of sex with multiple partners.

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Concepts Publishing
• Release date: Dec 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311341600

Book preview

PUNISHED

By

Kimberly Zant

(C) Copyright by Kimberly Zant, March 2005

(C) Cover art by Jenny Dixon, August 2013

ISBN 978-1-60394-848-7

Smashwords Edition

New Concepts Publishing

Lake Park, GA 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

Chapter One

Marlee knew the moment she entered the conference room that she was in deep shit. There were six partners in the law firm she worked for--two were brothers, the others their buddies from college--and all six were waiting for her, their expressions eloquent of condemnation--accusation.

Guilt immediately assailed her. It was a strange quirk of her nature that she always felt guilty whenever anyone looked at her accusingly, even if she couldn’t remember having done anything she should feel guilty about.

What the hell had she done? Or not done?

Marlee looked at them wide eyed, trying to swallow the knot of abject terror that was slowly working its way up her throat. Her life was flashing before her eyes, however, job hunting, and eviction--sleeping in her car--and to save her life she couldn’t begin to guess what she’d done.

She’d been working at the firm for a grand total of three weeks. Thus far, She’d had a crush on three of the hunks that practiced law in between rounds of racquetball, tennis--and dating scary beautiful, painfully (for her) young women.

Not that any of them actually knew she existed as a woman. Fresh out of a ten year, going nowhere relationship, Marlee’s self-confidence was at an all time low, partly because of her ex, and partly because she was a realist at heart--or maybe a pessimist? Some people argued that there was a difference between the two. To her, they were like conjoined twins--virtually the same in every way that counted.

In a world that idolized youth and anorexia, she was staring hard at that dreaded mid-thirty mark, and her size twelve/fourteen figure wasn’t considered a ‘classic’ hourglass. It was bordering on elephantitis.

She still wasn’t sure why they’d given her the job. She was fresh out of tech school. She didn’t have experience, looks, or youth to recommend her. The only thing she could figure out was that it was because she came cheap--or maybe because they didn’t want a distraction.

It was certainly a lowering thought, but probably close to the mark, pessimism notwithstanding. The front desk girl was their ‘type’--a size one, fresh faced because she hadn’t even turned twenty yet, and from an upper scale family with upper scale money. She was working on her internship and was clearly going somewhere in life. She had looks, youth, money, and no compunction about using every weapon at her disposal to get where she was going. She generally treated Marlee the same way the partners did, as if she was transparent. Occasionally, Marlee would catch her giving her speculative looks, as if she was sizing her up--there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she was planning on having a wedding ring on her finger before she graduated and she didn’t particularly care which of the partners it was--but there was far more contempt or plain old disgust in her expression than anything Marlee could interpret as ‘sizing up the competition’.

She imagined that she was thinking she wasn’t going to be a loser like her and find herself alone, staring at middle age, fat, and barely making minimum wage.

Marlee shifted uneasily when none of the partners said a word, merely studying her, their handsome faces hard, uncompromising--sort of like they must look when they were standing in a courtroom.

You wanted me, Mr. Justice? She squeaked in a voice she hardly recognized, unable to bear the continued silence.

At thirty five, Lyle Justice was the ‘senior’ partner. His brother, Colin, was the youngest at twenty nine. She’d gone into rapture mode the moment she set eyes on Lyle for the first time but it hadn’t taken her more than two days to figure out she was way out of her depth with that one. Not that she thought that there was any danger of getting too familiar with him, but he was way too sharp even to consider it. Besides, he scared her almost as much as he turned her on.

Lyle’s eyes narrowed. Someone has compromised a very important case we’re working on, Marlee, he responded coolly. We stand to lose a substantial amount of money if we lose the case.

Marlee blinked--several times--rapidly. Case? She knew next to nothing about the law and she didn’t know diddly squat about their cases. Except for catching a word here and there that Perry Mason couldn’t have put together, she didn’t even have a clue of what they were doing for whom. Her duties included filing, typing, watering the plants and keeping the reception area tidy. Someone? She asked in a strangled voice. She was no rocket scientist, but it didn’t take one to figure out the ‘someone’ they suspected was her.

It hit her right between the eyes then that this wasn’t actually an inquisition. The truth was, She’d already been tried and convicted and was facing the penalty phase.

We tracked your activities on the net, Stuart Kendall said coldly.

Marlee turned to stare at the gorgeous blond that she’d imagined looked like a young Redford. Her mind was so busy scurrying around in circles she couldn’t imagine what kind of net he was talking about at first. Net? You mean the internet?

His lips tightened. The chat rooms.

Again she blinked in surprise. This time, though, she could feel blood surging back into her cheeks and it didn’t stop at relieving her of the dead, lifeless look she’d probably had when all the color left her face. It brought pulsing heat with it. I … uh … I … uh. You mean the singles thing? She asked a little weakly, trying to figure out how her trying to get a frigging date added up to cutting her bosses’ throats in court.

The partners all exchanged a look.

I know I shouldn’t have--but I only did it on my breaks. I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed. Vic … Victoria showed me, She ended, feeling like a five year old who’d been caught stealing cookies