Page 17 of Caged By the Stranger (Bad Decisions #1)

He just stares at me with that unnervingly calm gaze and more of what looks like sympathy.

“It breaks my heart that you sound so adamant about that. I was so proud of you for being open enough to go to the club.” He steps closer into my personal space.

I tell myself I don’t move as a show of defiance, but I honestly don’t know if I can.

That strange sensation of paralysis is settling in again from having him this close.

“How about if I get the lights so it’s closer to how you like it? Maybe you can be brave for me again.”

Air floods my starved lungs again when he steps away.

My brain scrambles for more expletives and arguments to talk sense to the most aggravating man in the world.

Of course, I don’t have to do this. It’s absolutely ludicrous.

Coming for him so I can clear my name at some club I never intend on returning to again?

Utter bullshit. But I want this thing off my cock before this ship docks back on the main island and he disappears back to headquarters.

I’m not stopping in there to beg him anymore to get me out of this.

And this has been more than enough humiliation for one century.

I don’t even want to think about showing it to a doctor when I get back home.

The room goes dark except for a soft glow of moonlight coming from the gap around his cabin window’s shade.

It’s a cruel effect, instantly making my flesh go tight at the knowledge I’m now alone in the dark, half-naked, with a willing, hot-blooded man.

A man willing to do the very thing I once sought him out for. How does he know my undoing so well?

The way his quiet, calculating stare assessed me briefly at the convention months ago paints a completely different picture now. Did he know then? Is it even possible for someone to read another person so well?

“You’ll like it, Charlie. Trust me. You trusted me before.”

I try to reply to his confident assumption, but the words get caught in my throat as I track his shadowy figure moving back toward me. Blinking in the darkness, I clear my throat.

“I doubt it. And that was… before I knew you were a manipulative ass.”

He makes a noise with his tongue. “I think you’ve got me all wrong.

I saw that beautiful trembling cock of yours poke through the opening, trusting and eager.

And then I could practically hear you clawing at the wall like you wanted to rip through it to come to the other side.

God,” he sighs. “Did you know I closed my eyes and imagined you doing just that? Running your fingers through my hair, guiding my head, thrusting into my mouth to give yourself what you wanted?”

Jesus, hell. How can he talk like that? I’ve never heard anyone talk like that. Not about me.

“And I’d have given it to you,” he continues.

“I knew you were special. At least…I thought you were. It was so sweet what you offered—begging me to be the one to come back rather than taking whoever we assigned to come to your room. I was touched. That’s why I had that present made just for you.

I wanted to return the compliment. I thought you’d like it. ”

I can almost see his face in the shadows now that my eyes have adjusted to the darkness. I can barely breathe as his heady words shower over me. Am I…responsible for some of this?

I did beg him to come back. And yesterday, up on the flydeck, I even admitted that I found it hot at first when he put the cage on me. Saying things like that to someone like Rory is like throwing a steak into a kennel of starving dogs. I can see that now.

My gaze scans all over the dark figure in front of me as my pulse kicks in my jugular.

My nuts are so hard they’re practically throbbing at this point and…

and my freaking sphincter just clenched.

It’s an awkward reminder of how I was able to achieve that dry orgasm the other day.

It’s the only way I was even remotely able to get myself close to coming.

“And if…if this doesn’t work,” I choke out, sounding hoarse, wondering where his lubed-up fingers are right now. “You’ll still take it off?”

“Oh, Charlie…you really don’t pay attention to rules. After those intriguing stats you shut Gerald down with earlier, I’m surprised.”

“Yeah, I fucking know I’m not getting a promotion, so just…just leave that out of this.”

His heat grows hotter. I can make out the shape of his body right in front of me now.

A whisper tickles my ear, making me flinch in surprise at how close his face came without me realizing it. “Of course it’s yours if you want it. You’ve been the most impressive performer for the past five years.”

I…got the promotion? My heart flips in my chest, and my nerve endings light up even more.

“But no, my gift to you is an entirely separate matter from your violations,” he adds, making my celebration come to an end.

Why the fuck am I even celebrating about a promotion? There’s no way I can work for this guy after this.

“I thought…you said you’d clear my…violations.”

I’m not sure why I’m repeating his asinine accusations that I don’t even agree with. I’m also not sure why I’m whispering. Maybe because it’s so damn dark in here. Maybe because I know what he wants, and he has lube on his fingers, and a mouth that gave me sensations I’ve never experienced before.

“Yes, and I will when you’re ready to get on that bed, but,” he pauses, letting out another of those sighs like he’s being patient with a child, “I suppose I could compromise since you claim to have had such a bad experience with my gift.”

I don’t even want to ask him what he’s talking about now. I think he gets off on it. So, I wait, a bundle of anxious nerves flooded by his potent scent now that my sight is gone.

“I’ll tell you what, since you’re a doubting Thomas about your ability to come in a cage. I’ll make it even more worth your while. If you can let yourself go enough to get off, I’ll give you those four numbers you’re so certain you want.”

Four numbers? The combination to the number lock on my cage?

“What about the key?” I demand, without thinking.

He chuckles then. The rumble of his chest tells me he’s still mere inches away from me. “So greedy, just as I called it. You keep surprising me.”

Fuck him. Fuck! Him! There’s nothing greedy about me.

You know what? Fine. I’m not bantering with him anymore. If I get the code, I’ll be home free. I can just pick the key lock and get the damn thing off on my own. Then, when I get home, I can make an anonymous call to the police about a risqué club that can in no way be legal.

Turning, I feel for the edge of the bed with my fingers. I lift my leg to slide my knee onto the mattress when a hand rests on my shoulder, giving me a start.

“Ah, ah. No wet trunks on my bed, please.”

“Fucking ridiculous,” I mutter, shucking them off and letting them drop to the floor.

Both knees on the bed, I realize I have no idea why he wants me on here or how I should sit. So, I wait. I wait in the uncomfortable silence. There’s nothing but the darkness, Rory’s scent, and my awareness of just how naked I am at the moment.

Something shifts in front of me. His shadowed frame drops. I hold my breath, waiting for more ridiculousness to come out of his mouth that will probably piss me off so much it will further slim the chances of me coming.

A gust of heat swaths my cock, shooting a tingle down my thighs, making all my leg hairs stand on end. The mattress dips on either side of my thighs. His hands resting there? He’s…on his knees…breathing on me.

Oh, God. I think my dick just jumped and bumped into his lip.

Whiskers brush against the inside of my thigh as the breath moves in closer to the V of my groin. A satisfied sigh breezes over my tender flesh. I shudder so violently, my entire body quakes.

What is he doing? I thought maybe he meant he wanted me to get myself off.

One more stupid assumption on my part. There’s lube on his fingers for a reason.

What’s he going to do with those fingers?

I’m supposed to be pissed off at him right now, but some weak part of me is hoping he’ll massage around the cable again like he did yesterday.

There’s no way I’ll come from that, but anything is better than the dormancy I’ve been a prisoner to.

“It’s been a long week and a half for me, too,” he whispers, letting his cheek slowly graze along the side of the cage.

And just like that, it feels like I’m actually back in that room.

Just him and me, a dark barrier between us.

No snarky taunts or coy games, just…sensation and desire.

A punch of want pummels me in the gut and oozes lower, seeping toward my dick, down my legs, all the way to my toes.

Little pings of electricity shoot to my balls when I feel his thumbs make little circles on the outsides of my calves.

That’s…that’s new. Not something we could do with the panel between us, but…

it’s good. Way better than it should feel.

“You have no idea how much I wanted to be there last week.”

He did?

Something nudges the top of my cage. I feel heat over the top of my cock. When he speaks again, I know without a doubt that it’s his lips moving over the metal.

“My flight from New York was delayed. I was heartbroken. I had so many plans for this cock.”

The air in the cabin seems ten times thicker than it was when I walked in. I’m practically gulping with each new breath at the thought of him trying to get back to me.

No. Not him. The guy who treated me so well. The guy he was before I found out he was Rory, I remind myself.

“You…c-could have sent a message.”

His lips leave my cage. There’s a soft rush of air as he rises. I feel his palm on the back of my shoulder, but I don’t flinch this time. I’m too…malleable just from that reunion of his breath and my groin. So, I move before even realizing it when he urges me to turn.