Page 20 of The Toy Maker (The Pink Cherrie #1)

EIGHTEEN

He led me to the back room where I spent most of my time since the toy unveiling. I slipped off my coat and draped it over the chair by the door, buying myself a few extra seconds to steady my thoughts while Jason set up the toy that was meant to change my mind.

“So,” he started, and I already knew I wouldn’t like where this was going, “what’s the real reason that you want to stop?”

My fingers twitched. I frowned, narrowing my eyes to cover the panic creeping up my throat. “I told you.”

“You told me part of the reason.” He watched panic set into my eyes. “But you didn’t tell me all of it.”

I opened my mouth but then shut it back tight . If I told him the truth, he could reject me. And that was a risk I wasn’t sure I could take.

Jason exhaled. “I’d appreciate it if you were just honest with me.” The softness in his tone made me wonder whether I could actually tell him the truth. The thought alone was enough to unzip my lips and force out the words.

“I don’t think I can keep doing… what we’re doing and stay professional.”

One of his dark brows arched, amused and equally cocky. “Who said we have to stay professional?”

I blinked, unsure whether I’d heard him correctly. “What?”

“I never said that, did I?”

The air shifted. My mouth parted, but only a small, strangled sound came out. Jason caught it, caught me, and took it as an answer. But he wasn’t done yet.

“Why can’t you stay professional?” he asked.

My head hurt; he knew damn well why I couldn’t. My resounding silence gave him the opportunity to voice his own opinion.

“Is it because of what I said at the toy unveiling?” He took a slow step closer, his eyes locked on mine. My gaze darted away, but he wasn’t letting me off the hook that easily. “Or because you can’t stop thinking about how you want it to be true?”

My breath hitched and heat crawled up my neck. I should be able to control myself, to prohibit myself from forming an attachment to him, but I had been failing miserably.

“I…” My voice trailed off as Jason glanced down at my lips and then back to my eyes. My thoughts unraveled before they could even be fully formed and fell at my feet. His silence eventually pulled the answer out of me. “Yes,” I breathed.

He positioned himself behind me but stopped before his body could press against mine. “Good.” His warm breath trailed down my neck and elicited chills all over my body.

“Jason,” I said between the rapid beats of my heart.

“Yes?” His voice was smooth, controlled.

I sucked in one last shallow breath, surrendering to the inevitable. “Touch me.”

His hand hovered over my hip, as if waiting for permission. “Are you sure?” Agreeing meant falling for those final words he said at the unveiling, falling for the idea that he wouldn’t rely on a toy to make me scream.

Falling for the idea that, for once, it wouldn’t be about the toy. It would be about him, about us.

My heart thrummed in my chest, adrenaline flooding my body. I wanted him. Needed him. After months of discipline, restraint, and learning to fit into a new mold, I deserved to give in.

I nodded. “Yes.”

Without hesitation, Jason lowered my jeans over my hips and let them drop to the floor, then turned me; his soft lips pressed against my leg as he moved back up, which earned a slight jump.

I pressed my lips together, stifling the moan threatening to spill out when his hand cupped the most sensitive region of my body.

Jason exhaled against my skin, his voice a low rasp. “No need to hold back.”

The feeling of his fingers teasing me set my nerves on fire. The pressure on my stomach proved he enjoyed the sensation just as much as I did.

I slowly pulled away from his hypnotic touch and crawled onto the table, locking my eyes on his and lifting my hands above my head to be tied.

Jason’s smirk deepened, but there was something softer behind it.

“This is your last opportunity to back out,” he offered, his voice lower than before, almost gentle.

I held his stare, searching. He was cocky, sure, but he had never been pushy. The choice had always been mine. And even now, as his hands hovered near the restraints, I could see it in his eyes: If I wanted to leave, he’d let me. No questions. No consequences.

Wordlessly, I nodded and peeled my shirt off, the cool air prickling my skin as I lay back against the table, eagerly awaiting Jason’s next move.

The waiting ended in an instant. Jason pressed the vibrator between my thighs, tracing the tip along my most sensitive spot with agonizing precision. My breath hitched, my back arching as the pleasure built.

Reality blurred, my body moving on instinct. I thrusted my hips toward the toy, chasing relief, but Jason was faster. His hand pressed me down, restraining my movements, and in an instant, the softness in his eyes was gone.

What replaced it was something darker, primal.

My breath caught.

What did that mean for me?

“Please,” I bent to his will after minutes of his teasing. With the flick of a switch, my whole world shook.

Pleasure pulsed through me, the vibrations stealing my breath, and my thoughts, all but one. Jason hadn’t wanted me to test another toy prototype; I was the toy.

His tongue flicked over my nipple, sending a sharp jolt of pleasure through my body. A breathy moan escaped my lips before I could stop it. Every nerve was on fire, my thighs trembling, soaked from the unbearable heat pooling between them.

I parted my legs wider, offering, begging , for more. Only for Jason to step back, leaving the vibrator still pulsing torturously against my clit.

“What are you doing?” I breathed.

“Watching you squirm.” His answer sent shivers down my spine.

My body clenched as I fought desperately toward the orgasm clawing its way to the surface.

I shut my eyes, surrendering to the heat building inside me, threatening to consume me whole.

Sparks shot through my limbs, igniting the kind of ache I couldn’t ignore.

I thrashed my hips against the vibrator, chasing friction, relief— anything.

The restraints held my back firmly against the mattress and tightened as I moved. My thighs shook from the torment I endured. The deliberately slow pace of the vibration coaxed a frustrated cry from my throat.

“Keep your eyes open.” Jason’s command was low, authoritative.

The hunger in his gaze sent another pulse of arousal through me, a fresh wave of desperation swelling in my core. Jason’s sultry gaze wandered over my writhing body as I bit back a whimper. Proof of my arousal dripped down my thighs and onto the silky sheets.

“God.” My voice shook, and I saw Jason smirk. “Turn it up.” I pleaded.

“Looks like you’re enjoying it plenty now,” he mocked with a gleam in his eye.

My chest rose and fell as I grasped for a response, “It isn’t enough.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t want to be too unprofessional too soon.”

A gasp caught in my throat as his finger traced slow circles around my nipple. The sensation sent another helpless moan tumbling from my lips.

“Tell me what you want, and I’ll do it.” Relief flooded my chest. “But there’s a condition…” His voice trailed off and let my imagination run wild while I waited for an explanation.

Jason leaned down to where my head rested against the pillow and let his warm breath wash over my neck. My body ached for his touch, for something to scratch the itch teasing me just below the skin.

“For two months, you’re mine.” I stared up at him before he could continue, “We’ll keep testing toys, but it’ll be more than that sometimes.”

I swallowed down the hesitation in my throat. “Like?”

“I want you to be my submissive.”

My eyes widened at the thought. Two months of his teasing for one immediate orgasm seemed foolish. But then the devil on my shoulder reminded me how it would be multiple nights of pleasure. Of his hands wandering over my body, leaving me shaking and clinging to the memory of this night.

It was a tempting idea. But I’d have to sneak around, more than I already was, and I had already almost gotten caught. It was only a matter of time before Kitty stormed in, catching us in the act.

And I wasn’t ready to become the laughingstock of the Cherries. We all had drama, sure, but no one had fucked Jason, yet. I had asked around.

I shook my head, and the rejection caused Jason to laugh. “Suit yourself, baby.” Baby?

“Don’t call me that,” I growled in frustration. He didn’t have the right to give me a pet name.

A smirk stretched across his arrogant face. “I think you should reconsider.” The bastard knew he held all the cards. He knew exactly how to pull my strings and tease the edges of my self-control until I was desperate and pliant.

His fingers brushed over my throbbing clit, and my breath hitched as a fresh wave of heat spread through me. My spine arched, my body betraying me.

“I would do more than satisfy you.” His words dripped with promise, but I knew what he was really asking for. He wanted me to lie—to keep up the charade, to give in to him completely and go on living my double life.

I bit back another whimper or growl. I wasn’t sure which would come out first. “What else?” I pressed.

“We’d be together a lot.” Jason’s lips brushed over my neck, the warmth of his breath sending another shiver rippling down my spine.

I swallowed hard, forcing out a scoff. “That sounds more like a reason not to take your offer.” I feigned anger, hoping it would be enough to drown out the desperation flooding my veins.

The corner of his mouth twitched into a half-smile. His broad shoulders shifted as he stretched, and the muscles in his arms flexed beneath the rolled-up sleeves of his shirt. His eyes locked onto mine, their intensity making my stomach flutter.

He rolled his eyes, his expression softening into something dangerously close to amusement.

“So, we’ll have a lot of time to discover what makes you weak at the knees.

” Before I could react, he leaned closer, and his cologne flooded my senses.

His voice dropped, sending a shiver down my spine. “What makes you beg .”

I squirmed underneath the sudden shift in his tone.

“Have you ever been so sore from being fucked that you can’t help but moan every time you move?” he drawled, his gaze burning into mine, daring me to answer.

My silence only gave him a reason to continue.

“I want to do that to you, every day. I want to make you beg underneath me and shiver as I eat you out,” he whispered.

I swallowed hard, my breath uneven, my body teetering on the edge of surrender.

And Jason knew it.

I tore my gaze away, desperate to pull myself out of the haze he’d wrapped around me. But it was pointless. He was in my head and had been for longer than I wanted to admit.

He was in my thoughts, my body, even my dreams.

There was no escaping him, no way to silence the images he’d already planted.

His fingers brushed against my jaw, tilting my face back toward his.

His touch was deceptively gentle, but the look in his eyes told me he was anything but.

“I can leave you breathless and aching,” he murmured, his lips so close they could have been a kiss.

“Every step you take will remind you of me.”

Jason pulled the vibrator away, the sudden absence leaving my body humming. Relief came in a fleeting second before he slid his fingers inside me, drawing a gasp from my lips.

The introduction of his touch sucked the air from my lungs. My arms strained against the restraints binding my wrists, the fabric rough against my skin as I instinctively tried to grasp something—anything—for stability.

“I’ll think about it.” The words came out hoarse, my resistance unraveling further with each deliberate movement of his fingers inside me.

He slowed just enough to keep me on the edge, the tips of his fingers pressing in a steady rhythm against the spot that made my toes curl. “You sure, baby?” There was that damned pet name again.

I clenched my jaw, barely biting back the frustrated moan building in my throat. “I’m sure.”

Jason withdrew his fingers immediately, leaving me empty, aching, and gasping. My walls clenched around nothing, the loss so sudden it sent a frustrated whimper up my throat.

His smirk was lethal. “Have it your way.”

My stomach dropped at the realization that there would be no orgasm until I got home.

Heat pooled low in my abdomen, throbbing and unsatisfied. Every nerve in my body screamed for more, for his touch, for anything to ease the unbearable need he’d built inside me.

I swallowed hard, my breath still uneven. I’d have to go home completely wrecked, restless, and dripping with frustration.

And the worst part? I knew that’s exactly what he wanted.

He released my restraints, his fingers brushing against my wrists as he loosened the buckles. My skin tingled where the ropes had been, and I flexed my fingers, trying to ease the ache that lingered in my body.

“Thank you for helping tonight.” He gave me a sincere smile that stopped the rapid thoughts running through my brain, then he turned away, leaving me to dress myself.

And I didn’t waste time pulling my clothes back on, letting the cool fabric slide against my flushed skin. My body still felt warm and was charged with adrenaline. I had to go home; I had to get a hold of myself before I did something I’d regret.

As I turned to leave, Jason’s voice stopped me.

“If you happen to reconsider, just stop by later,” he said, stepping closer.

He extended a small card, his fingers brushing mine as I took it. I furrowed my brows, confused.

Before I could ask, he added, “It’s my cellphone number. Feel free to drunk dial me anytime.” The wink he gave me was both infuriating and simultaneously sent a jolt through my body.

It was all the reminder I needed to rush out the door and refuse to look behind me.

As I walked home, the cold night air bit at my cheeks, but I barely noticed. Jason’s offer echoed in my head with every step, and my pulse quickened at the thought of accepting it.