NautiCal (Forever Wilde 8)

“I bit it. It’s fine.”

His nostrils flared, but he stayed calm. He turned to Pres. “Lucas is upstairs talking to Nat and Jin on the deck behind the living room. Cal and I are headed to bed. See you in the morning.”

After dismissing Prescott, Worth approached the door to his stateroom. I expected him to move past me into the bedroom, but he stopped and reached for me, grasping me around the back of my neck and pulling my face toward him. My heart rate jacked up anticipating a kiss on the mouth—something showy to make Prescott jealous maybe—but he veered to the side and pressed his lips to the side of my face near my ear.

“Come to bed, sweetheart,” he said in a low voice. It wasn’t low enough for Prescott to miss it, which I assumed was the point. But it was certainly low enough to make my dick lean toward him in an effort to hear more.

“Mmm,” I managed back.

As he stepped past me, Worth trailed his hand down my chest to my stomach, lighting up nerve endings I hadn’t known I possessed. Saliva pooled in my mouth.

Once Worth had disappeared into the room, I realized Prescott had stepped closer to me. “You know he’s using you, right?” His voice was too low for Worth or anyone else other than me to hear it.

I barked out a laugh. “Even if that were the case, I’d be happily complicit.”

“He’s never going to give you his money. This is what he does, Cal. He seduces young men with stars in their eyes and then drops them the minute they want anything serious. If you don’t believe me, ask anyone on this boat about Mason.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to correct him about the boat/ship thing, but I kept my mouth shut. I was afraid that if I opened it to say anything, I’d admit that it didn’t matter if Worth was using me since this was all temporary and for show. For him.

“So, enjoy his largess while you can,” Pres continued, moving away from me back toward the stairs. “And don’t be surprised if he drops you the minute the Worthington docks back in St. Mitz.” He chuckled as he started up the stairs.

I couldn’t help but get in the final word even though I probably should have kept my mouth shut. “I don’t want his money, Prescott. Just his big, thick cock down the back of my throat.”

Feeling smug, I turned around and caught Worth watching me with a raised eyebrow and smirk. Shit.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I muttered, stepping into the room and closing the door behind me. “It’s not like I’ve actually seen your cock.”

I wanted so badly to add the word yet to that sentence, but I controlled myself. I still had a bad taste in my mouth after the encounter with Prescott, so I wasn’t exactly in the mood to see anyone’s dick.

“What did he say?” Worth asked. “And did you really bite your lip, or did that asshole put his hands on you?”

“I really bit my lip.” He didn’t need to know the details, not if I was ever going to succeed in my mission to tempt Pres.

I tilted my head from side to side and rolled my shoulders to get rid of the tightness. I hadn’t realized I’d held myself so stiffly when I was talking to him. “He’s such an ass. He thought I’d ‘seduced him on purpose’ for some nefarious reason,” I said, using air quotes. “Gross. He also thought maybe it was some kind of test, like you’d set me up to lure him into an infidelity trap. Oh, and he threatened to tell you all about my whoring ways.”

Worth looked amused which annoyed me. I growled at him.

“Cal, you have to admit he was right. I am setting you up to lure him into an infidelity trap.”

“He’s disgusting. I can’t believe I was desperate enough to—”

“Stop. I do not want to be reminded of you naked with that man.” I chose to interpret his gruff tone as possessive, even though it was more likely due to his disgust with Prescott in general rather than any particular interest in protecting my virtue.

“Me neither,” I muttered, reaching for the button on my shorts. I’d eaten so much at the restaurant, the waistband was digging into me. Maybe it was a good thing Worth and I weren’t having sex since I felt like a blowfish right now.

I stripped out of my shorts and hung them up in the closet since I’d only worn them for a few hours at dinner. While I was in the closet, I took a deep breath of the familiar scent I’d gotten super cozy with the day before. Still sexy as fuck.

“The good news,” I said over my shoulder while hanging up the shirt next, “was that he asked if you and I were open which hopefully means he’s still interested.” I realized how that had sounded, and I turned around to elaborate. “Sorry, I just mean… he’s still the cheaty jerk we knew him to be.”