Page 34 of Caged By the Stranger (Bad Decisions #1)
Charlie - Three weeks later
Fuck. I need to see him.
Not because I want to, but because I have to.
The news I overheard about the Divine family considering selling is too big to pass up.
If Amor acquired their company, we’d be an international chocolate empire.
Rory would want in on that, right? Never mind how amazing it would be if I were the guy to make it happen—that’s not the point.
Staring across the parking lot at headquarters, I tell myself to just grip the car door handle and open it. Nothing happens, though.
“Who cares? You’ve been working under him for months now, and you both manage it just fine,” I reassure myself aloud.
I try to ignore how that phrase ‘ working under him ’ always makes my cock stir. But I’ve managed it…sort of. Well, he manages it just fine. I’ve been struggling to be honest.
Anytime I have to interact with him, whether it be via email or in person, it’s like I lose all common sense and become a scatterbrained airhead. And the bitch of it is that I know why. It’s because I haven’t had a fix of him in three weeks. It’s killing me. It shouldn’t be, but it is.
That was the last time, Charlie . I repeat the words to myself, hoping the message sinks in this time.
He… kissed me . And I…kissed him back. A lot.
And then I fell asleep, and I’m pretty sure he cleaned me up. We…slept together in the same bed. All night. I saw his sleeping face in the morning when I woke up, curled into him like a baby kangaroo, gripping onto its mother. Things were getting way too complicated.
I thought I could just sneak out, but no. I’m not that lucky. He sat up with sexy bedroom hair and offered to cook me breakfast. Breakfast! Like…like a boyfriend or something.
What would I do with a boyfriend? What would my brothers say if I had a boyfriend? How would I work for a boyfriend?
See! Complicated. Way too fucking complicated.
“It’s a three-billion-dollar deal, Charlie,” I inform myself. “Just get out of the car, march in there, and do not stare at his mouth or think with your ass.”
Wrenching the door open, I move on pure willpower toward the entrance. I hope it doesn’t run out before I get to the third floor. By the time I make it to Rory’s assistant’s desk, I’m trembling and want to throw up.
He greets me chipperly, and an ugly thought clouds my brain. Has Rory fucked him? Does he want Rory to fuck him?
Ugh. I hate this.
Luckily, he tells me I can go in. I want to snort and inform him I don’t need permission to storm in and see the man I let fuck me, but I haven’t lost all my marbles just yet.
As soon as I’m inside and the door closes behind me, however, my piss and vinegar dissolve.
I hate how the sight of him is like a damn sedative to my system.
It turns me into some dopey-eyed, smitten fool as though he’s an aphrodisiac.
“Charlie,” he greets from his desk chair, looking way too good in a dress shirt and tie. I want to tear it off with my teeth and ask him to tie my hands up with it.
Jesus fucking Christ. What is wrong with me?
“I didn’t know you were in the neighborhood today,” he adds, tossing a file to the side.
“I…I wanted to discuss something with you,” I manage, taking a few steps closer.
He motions to the chair on the opposite side of his desk, but I forgo the offer. Instead, I stuff my hands in my pockets and look out the line of windows in his office.
“I got good information that the Divine family is considering selling. They’re supposed to be at the Confectionery Expo in Salzburg next week. I was thinking if…if Amor were interested in buying them, I could try to get a meeting with them.”
Glancing over anxiously, I try to assess his reaction. Hands folded in front of his mouth, he just watches me, listening. I have an audience, the kind that doesn’t make me nervous. I know business, and I especially know this business.
“I know acquisitions aren’t in my new job description, but I’ve met them a few times over the years, and they’ve always been receptive to me, so…so I thought it was worth mentioning…or…offering. If…if that’s something you’d want to do.”
I hear an amused sound that has my spine going rigid in mortification, but then he says, “Are you kidding me? I’m certainly not going to say no if the Divines are thinking about selling. Are you sure, though? How reliable is your information?”
“Dexter Divine’s best friend plays racquetball at the gym I go to. She said his mother is sick and that he’s more interested in his Formula 1 career.”
How lovely to be so rich that you can fund your own racing line. I watch surprise take over his face as he lowers his hands and leans back in his chair.
“You play racquetball?”
How is that what he’s concerned with right now?
And, yes, I play racquetball. Lately, I’ve played a lot of racquetball because playing racquetball is the closest thing I can find to alleviating my sexual frustrations, short of storming back over to his house and whatever awaits me there.
Probably more kisses. More deep, slow, toe-curling kisses that make me feel like I can’t breathe and terrify the shit out of me, but in a way that I also don’t exactly want the terror to stop.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Stop it, Charlie.
“A bit,” I digress, deciding I can offer a response since we’re clothed, and it won’t cost me a part of my soul.
“Hm. I guess I bet on the right horse,” he says, focusing on a pen as he rolls it back and forth with his fingers.
“Well, if you’re asking for my permission to make me billions of dollars, you have it.
I’ll have Scott book you a flight right away.
Take as long as you need. If you can make this happen, you won’t just be changing the company, you’ll be changing your life too. ”
I’m not sure what that means, but I suspect it entails more of his generosity. How much more generous can you get than a Porsche and my already tripled salary?
“I just…want to make it happen.” I shrug.
Smiling, he assures me, “And I have no doubt you will.”
That was easier than I thought, except now that I’ve got what I wanted, I need something else.
I was silently hoping he’d tell me he had no interest in acquiring Divine.
It would have been much easier to stay focused on our marketing branches here in the States.
Heading off to Europe, though, for this expo, and then who knows how long I’ll have to wait to get a meeting with Dexter, then negotiations if I can make it happen—I could be gone for weeks.
Gone to another country far away from Rory.
“Was there something else?” he asks patiently.
I want the floor to swallow me up. Seriously, sometimes I think it would be easier to just go to therapy to find out why my brain has been thinking about the things it has lately.
The chain and key are probably as sweaty as my hand is in my pocket right now.
Shuffling forward, I keep my gaze on my feet and then his desk when it comes into view.
Reaching out, I open my palm and hold my breath, my face burning at what a fucked-up mess I am.
He must think I’m insane, standing here holding out the key to my cock cage for him in the middle of a workday in broad daylight.
I can’t go away that far and for that long without it, though, without knowing it’s locked and he’s the only one who can open it.
I just can’t do it after already denying myself of him for the last three weeks.
I need…something to comfort me. Something to keep my libido in check so my brain can be on task.
It’s surreal how, when I first wore this thing, it consumed all my thoughts.
Now, whenever I wear it, it makes me more confident.
I’m going to need that confidence and focus to seal this deal.
After what feels like an eternity, I feel his fingers brush the palm of my hand, retrieving the key. I hope he didn’t hear my little gasp of relief.
“You’ll be great, Charlie. Don’t worry.”
My gaze flicks over to him with that bit of encouragement.
It’s the last thing I expected to hear. He says nothing more but gives me an understanding smile that makes me feel…
not abnormal for what I just did. I nod, more grateful than embarrassed that he gets it.
And then I leave, feeling ready to take on the world and more restored the farther away I get from that key and the man holding it.