Tess was exhausted. It was only an hour into the event, and she already wanted to go home.

Her feet were throbbing in these ridiculous high heels. She was tired of wearing this stupid dress. It was ridiculous short and tight. Every single movement required careful calculation. One wrong move and her tits and ass would be on display for everyone.

She was tired of being treated like a trophy, tired of the endless parade of guests with their polite smiles and judgmental looks.

This was so humiliating. Tess sank into an empty chair.

Fuck these shoes.

She reached down, yanking off her heels. She winced as the cool floor soothed her swollen feet.

That’s better.

No more heels. No more dressing up for Dane. Why should she give a shit what he thinks. She leaned back in her chair, trying to ignore everything around her. The room felt too warm, too loud, too bright. The warm glow of the chandeliers gave it a hazy, dreamlike feeling.

All around her, people were staring. The women’s expressions ranged from amused to judgmental, while the men…well…she knew exactly what the men were thinking.

She’s with Dane Holliday.

She’s on his arm, dressed like this, looking like that.

She’s not here with her husband.

Dane’s dates are all the same.

She needed a break, some time to breath, but it’d barely been a minute before she once again heard his deep, annoying voice.

“Tired?”

Tess sighed. “Can’t I just be alone for one damn minute?”

“You can rest later. There’s someone I have to meet, and I need you by my side.”

She sighed. “This is so humiliating. Everyone thinks I’m some shallow gold digger.”

Dane just smiled. “Are you?”

Tess shot him a look with daggers in her eyes.

He chuckled. “Relax. No one thinks you’re a gold digger. If you were, you’d have charged more than five grand.”

She blinked as a strange wave of confusion passed through her.

Her mind felt strangely blank. Something about Dane’s presence made it harder to think. The warm scent of her perfume still clung to her skin.

She could have asked for more, couldn’t she? She should’ve. She should have played hardball, gotten ten, maybe even twenty thousand. That’s what a smart woman would have done.

So why hadn’t she? Why had she agreed so easily?

A respectable woman would’ve never agreed to this at all. Wouldn’t have walked into this ballroom on the arm of a man like Dane. She wouldn’t have let him dress her up, show her off, all to humiliate her husband.

Why’d I ever go along with this? What’s wrong with me? This isn’t like me…

“Relax,” Dane said, gently lowering his hand onto her thigh.

The first couple times he’d done it, she’d pushed him off. The third time, she’d snapped at him. The fourth, fifth, and six, she politely asked him to stop.

But this time she didn’t react.

Not because she wanted it, or because she liked it, but the moment he touched her, a strange warmth spread through her body. A calming reassurance, like a weight had just been lifted.

It felt…safe.

For the first time that night, all the endless worries and constant stress just…went away.

She knew she should push him off. Tell him to keep his hands off her, but the moment she thought about it, a calm washed over her, like stepping into a warm bath.

Dane’s thumb traced tiny circles on her thigh. A harmless touch, nothing inappropriate. Nothing she needed to fight.

Right?

Tess took a deep breath, staring at the bubbles in her champagne glass. She wasn’t letting him touch her. She just…wasn’t going to stop him…just this once.

Dane’s voice cut through the haze. “Come on. Time to go.”

With a sigh, she reached for her bag, ready to toss the heels inside, then she hesitated. Something felt…off, like something was missing. Her toes curled against the floor. The dress, the hair, the makeup. It all felt… incomplete without the heels.

Dane’s dates always wore high heels.

No. That wasn’t her. She wasn’t going to put them back on just to look good for him.

She wasn’t going to…

But before she could stop herself, she’d already slipped them back on. The moment she stood, her posture changed. Back straight, shoulders back, chest forward. A strange satisfaction washed over her. She looked right.

She barely had time to process it before she felt his warm hand on the small of her back. Before she could think, she was already moving. She’d wanted to rest a little longer, but his touch felt so…natural. Like it was supposed to happen. Like she was supposed to follow.

Her heels clicked against the floor as she let him guide her forward.

Tess tightly gripped her champagne glass, burning with frustration.

It wasn’t just the endless introductions, the judgmental looks, or Dane parading her around like his trophy. It was the condescending way people spoke to her.

People kept treating her like one of Dane’s bimbos, like they didn’t expect her to understand anything beyond expensive shoes and spa days. All because of the way he’d dressed her up. The hair. The makeup. The tight, skimpy dress. The ridiculous heels. All to humiliate her. To humiliate John.

He’d done a damn good job making her look the part.

People really believed it.

They looked at her and saw a shallow, dumb blonde. A woman who giggled at jokes she didn’t understand and stared blankly when the conversation got too complicated. But that wasn’t her. She wasn’t some vapid airhead. She wasn’t one of Dane’s brainless bimbos.

She just needed to prove that.

Tess saw her chance. Dane was chatting with a group of executives about the stock market. She stepped closer, determined to prove she wasn’t just his arm candy.

“Actually,” she interjected, “I read this really interesting article about market shifts the other day. It said…”

Her mind went blank mid-sentence. The men turned, expectant. Heat rushed to her face as she suddenly realized…she had no idea how to finish that sentence. The executives exchanged amused looks.

“Oh?” one of them said. “What article?”

Her brain scrambled for something. Anything. “It was, um… online?”

Dane smirked. “Online. Of course, I think I read that one too.”

Tess wanted to disappear.

“Haha, yeah,” she said weakly, trying to play it off. “It was super… interesting?”

Why did she just say that? She sounded like a vapid airhead, trying to pretend like she knew what she was talking about.

That’s when she felt it. The touch. The warm press of fingers at the nape of her neck. Not forceful or demanding, just there. A silent acknowledgment.

Her body reacted before her mind could catch up. Her shoulders relaxed. Her lips curled into a smile. And the moment his fingers stroked a slow circle, her brain just…stopped.

She jerked away, stepping out of reach.

What the hell was that?

For a split second, it felt… good. Too good.

Tess tried to shake it off. She was just tired, that was all. Until it happened again, the same gentle press of his fingers. The same slow circles. Like a reward. Like he was telling her she did something right. She jerked away again, taking a step back, but the warmth remained. She refused to acknowledge it. Refused to think about it.

But then it happened again, and again. That same gentle touch. Like he was conditioning her to react to his touch.

Her heart sank. Suddenly, she could see the pattern.

Every time she had a ditzy moment. Every time she stumbled or flustered. Every time she acted a bit more like the kind of girl Dane’s dates were supposed to…he touched the back of her neck. It wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t a coincidence. He was rewarding her behavior. Reinforcing it.

She hated everything about this. Hated how her brain froze every time Dane’s fingers touched the back of her neck. Hated how the touches were becoming more frequent. Hated how he did it every time she had a ditzy moment. Until eventually, he wasn’t just rewarding her for having ditzy moments…

He was causing them.

They’d been speaking with a businessman and his wife when Dane touched her neck. Tess was confused. She hadn’t even done anything dumb yet. But then suddenly, everything just… stopped. Her thoughts became slow and sluggish, like her mind had been dipped in honey. She was supposed to say something, but all that came out was:

“Umm… uh…”

Dane pulled his fingers away and the fog cleared. Her face burned with embarrassment as she realized what’d just happened.

A few minutes later, he did it again. Dane had just told a joke. Nothing particularly funny, just an offhand comment. She wasn’t even paying attention, but then his fingers found that same spot on the back of her neck, and just like before, her mind slowed as the warm, fuzzy feeling spread through her body. And before she even realized what’d happened, she giggled.

Like a ditzy girl with nothing in her head. The men looked at her. Heat rushed up her neck, her face, her ears.

Why did I laugh? It wasn’t even funny.

Another investor joined the conversation. An older, well-dressed man. He turned to her with a kind smile.

“So, Tessy, what do you do?”

As she opened her mouth to speak, she once again felt Dane’s fingers on her neck, and just like that her thoughts vanished. Totally gone.

She was supposed to say something…wasn’t she? What was it again? Her job? She couldn’t remember.

“Uh… um… I, like…”

The investor waited. Dane said nothing. Her brain grasped for anything.

“I, um… do… lots of stuff.”

…Did she really just say that out loud?

Dane’s arm slid around her waist, pulling her closer. “Tessy handles important business matters for me. She’s a terrific assistant.”

The investor nodded and the conversation moved on. Dane’s fingers slipped away.

Tess was dying inside. She sounded like a complete bimbo. And the worst part was…

It felt good.

Tess was not okay.

Her brain was completely malfunctioning. Her heart was pounding and her skin felt like it was on fire. She knew it wasn’t just a coincidence. She knew Dane was doing something to her.

But why did it feel so good?

No, she wasn’t going to fall for this. She wasn’t some weak, empty-headed girl who melted under a man’s touch. She was strong. She was smart. She was—

Dane’s fingers found the back of her neck again.

Tess gasped. The reaction was instant. A shiver ran down her spine, her shoulders loosening, her body melting before she could stop it. Her mind screamed at her to pull away. To push his hand off her.

But her body froze.

No. Don’t let him do this to you.

Then his thumb moved. That same slow, gentle stroke, tracing a circle on the nape of her neck. Her whole body shuddered. The pleasure was so intense it stole her breath. Her thoughts became slow and fuzzy, and a rush of warm pleasure hit her, spreading down to her thighs.

No. No…she wasn’t…she wasn’t aroused. Right?

She was too warm, too relaxed. She couldn’t let this happen. Her body wasn’t supposed to react like this, but she couldn’t stop it. His hand didn’t leave her neck this time. It stayed right there, his warm fingers stroking and teasing.

Slow circular motions, again and again. Every slow caress of his fingers sent another wave of heat through her body, and the longer he rubbed that same spot, the slower her thoughts became. Slower and dumber, like every stroke of his fingers was erasing something from her brain.

Dane leaned in, “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

A dumb smile filled Tess’s face. She should pull his hand off and yelled at him. Told him to go to hell. But instead she let out a breathy “Mmmhmm.”

She was horrified by the sound of her voice. Her whole body was burning with shame. She’d accidentally just moaned like a horny, little slut.

Dane chuckled. “Of course it does.”

His fingers kept moving and Tess couldn’t think straight.

Dane’s thumb traced another slow, teasing circle. She bit her lip hard, trying to suppress the pleasure that was flooding her mind. She could stop this. She could fight this, but the longer he touched her, the harder it became to think about anything except how good it felt. A fog rolled over her thoughts, drowning out the panic, drowning out the fight, drowning out everything but that slow pleasure.

Dane’s voice slid through her ears like a warm blanket. “It’s nice, isn’t it?”

Another circle and her whole body tingled.

“It’s nice not having to think so hard.”

A breathy, mindless little “Mmm…” slipped out before she could stop it. She froze.

Dane chuckled. “That’s my girl.”

He was rewiring her. She knew it. She felt it. She needed to fight against it. But she was too warm, too slow, too happy. And Dane was taking his time, letting her body sink into it.

“You don’t need to think so much about the things you say.”

Another slow stroke of his fingers.

“You don’t need to think hard at all.”

Her brain felt like syrup.

“Just let me do the thinking for you.”

The words wrapped around her. They were heavy, thick, and most importantly, true. What was she even thinking about anyway? What was so important? Nothing. Nothing at all.

“Mmm…okay.”

And then he let go of her neck. Tess stumbled and all her thoughts snapped back into place like a rubber band stretched too tight.

Oh my god. What the hell was that?

She jerked away, breath ragged, face burning, body shaking. Dane just smiled, that same smug smile, like he’d just won something.

Tess’s head was spinning. Her skin still tingled where he had touched her. Her thoughts were slow and heavy. She tried to snap out of it and gather herself.

Somewhere beneath the fog she was furious. At him. At herself. At whatever the hell he was doing to her. She needed to say something. Something angry. Something to prove she was still herself. She squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and snapped.

“Dane, you…y-you total, like, um…JERK!”

That wasn’t…that wasn’t what she meant to say. Her voice had come out all wrong. High, breathy, and whiny. Like she was pouting instead of yelling.

Dane tilted his head, amused. “What’s that, sweetheart?”

The condescension in his voice made her face burn with rage. She clenched her fists. No, she wasn’t falling for this. She wasn’t one of his stupid bimbos. She squared her shoulders, took a deeper breath, and tried again.

“I said, y-you can’t just, like, um… just touch me like that and… and…do stuff to my brain, ‘kay?! I’m, like…I mean, I’m not…”

That was even worse. Every word dripped with ditzy hesitation. She sounded exactly like the kind of girls Dane always surrounded himself with. He just looked at her with his smug smile, clearly enjoying every second of this.

Tess bit her lip hard. She had to fix this. She had to prove she was still herself. She cleared her throat and forced her voice lower.

“Dane, I am not—”

And then his hand brushed the back of her neck. Just for a second, but that was long enough. Her body shivered and her brain hiccupped, and when she tried to finish her sentence…

“—like, some dumb little bimbo or whatever!”

Oh my god…

She froze.

Dane grinned. “You sure about that, sweetheart?”

Her face was burning. Her heart was pounding. Her brain was still foggy, but underneath it all she was furious. She wasn’t like this, she wasn’t a bimbo, she wasn’t stupid. She just needed to slow down and clear her head. Needed to say something smart…something to prove she was still herself.

“I am, like, SO not a bimbo, Dane!”

That was so much worse. She didn’t just sound ditzy, she sounded defensive. Like a dumb girl trying to pretend to be smart.

“Oh?”

Dane was just toying with her now, watching her prove his point. She could fix this, she just needed to think harder.

“I mean, uh, like, obviously, I can totally think good and stuff. Like, I literally just—”

She forced herself to stop. She sounded so fucking stupid. Dane was grinning so hard. He was loving every second of this. She needed to just shut up and stop making things worse. But her brain wasn’t working right, and her words kept tumbling out.

“I mean, I totally got, like, a really good score on my SATs and stuff. And, like, um, I read books! Like, really smart books! Like…um…”

Oh god, make it stop. She covered her mouth with her hand. Closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, desperately fighting for control. And when she opened her eyes, Dane was still watching her with a big grin. And before she could do anything else, his fingers slid against the back of her neck once again.

Slowly and gently rubbing circles on her neck, over and over, each stroke making her brain melt more and more. Her knees felt weak, and her breathing slowed. The heat from his touch spread throughout her body, and when she tried to form another thought…nothing came.

Her mind was just…blank. Empty. Everything was quiet, then Dane’s deep voice slid into her ears.

“See, sweetheart,” he murmured. His thumb continued rubbing the base of her neck. His fingers pressed a little deeper. “You don’t have to think so hard. You sound so much prettier when you don’t.”

“Mmm…”

Her eyes widened. She just moaned. She actually moaned. She ripped herself away, stepped back, panting and shaking. Her hands clenched into fists. She wanted to scream. To punch him in his stupid face. To tell him off like she did before, but she couldn’t. She knew her voice would just betray her again.

So instead she turned and stormed off, heels clicking against the floor. Her own voice looped in her mind, that ditzy little whine.

“I am, like, SO not a bimbo, Dane!”

Dane had dressed her up just like one of his dumb, little bimbos.

And now she sounded like one too.