Caught for Christmas (Stripped 3.50)

Even though it’s wrong.

Even though it’s immoral and screws over the very people who have been my friends the past few months. That’s why I’ll never get to be with West, why I’ll never deserve him. I could dream of his strong hands and whispered words. I could imagine my

silver-blonde hair over his dark chocolate skin as I worked my way down his body. And that’s all I’ll ever have—those dirty-sweet dreams.

We would have been beautiful together.

I can’t ruin him like this. “You don’t want to do this,” I whisper.

He smooths the last piece of tape over the chair, locking me in. “Do what?”

“Touch me.” He would hate himself after. He isn’t that kind of man. I wasn’t wrong about him. I may have pushed him into doing something drastic with my mixed signals and then breaking in here. But if he touches me like this, while I’m tied up, he’ll only hate himself later.

A short laugh. “I want to do a lot more than touch you, Bianca. And I think I’ve earned that right, don’t you?”

There’s a lump in my throat. “Not like this. Not while I’m tied up.”

Are you sure about that, Bee? Didn’t you taunt him for being too good? Now he’s offering to be bad. The voice in my head sounds too much like Maisie for comfort.

He runs a dark finger down my cheek. “There’s no better time. Now you can’t run away.”

With every word, the room seems to shrink, the bonds seem to get tighter. The air seems to get sucked out of the basement. There’s nothing here but me and him, floating in a black void. No escape.

My fists tighten, and I tug against the tape. Nothing happens. “You can’t do this.”

His smile is hard, but his words are gentle. “How are you going to stop me?”

“West, please.” I don’t know why I’m fighting so hard, why I’m near tears. I never expected him to take advantage of me. I’m supposed to be tougher than this. I’ve been messed with on a con before. I know how to endure things. But it’s worse with him.

“And you know what else?” he asks, studying me. “I think you’ll like it.”

My body grows warm—humiliation? Fear? There’s something else too. Something hot and sensual, because I want West. I’ve always wanted him. And now it looks like I’ll have him.

He stands and pulls his phone out. “It’s me. Send it down.”

Chapter Seven

Shock renders me speechless. What is he having sent down? I could have been okay with what he did to me. Maybe. I would have been okay with him touching me if we’d been in a bed, both of us hot and willing. Being tied up turns me on, but it also makes my heart twist in fear. I don’t want him to be this man. I want him to be better than that, just like he believed I was better than a common thief.

If he’s bringing down some other men to touch me, to use me, I won’t be able to endure that. Not the pain of their hands or cocks. Especially not the knowledge that it was West who forced this on me.

My teeth are pressed together so hard, my whole body clenched tight against what might happen next. Tears burn their way down my cheeks. No no no.

“Wait,” I say, close to begging. And then I am begging, whispering for him to stop please no.

His expression turns soft with sympathy—the kind of implacable sympathy that means he’s going to do it anyway. He runs a hand over my head, pushing the black beanie off and stroking my hair. “It’s as soft as I thought it would be,” he says, almost to himself. “Softer. Like silk.”

There’s a knock from the basement door, and then someone pushes it open. I can hear footsteps coming down the steps. Only one person as far as I can tell, but maybe there are more. Anyone other than West would be too much. Oh God.

Someone reaches the bottom step and then comes into view.

My heart gives a hard, angry kick. It’s Blue. He owns the security company the Grand uses. I know that he and West used to be in the military together, and sure enough, they clasp hands briefly in a gesture of masculine intimacy that makes my stomach pitch.

Blue doesn’t look surprised to see me. He studies me, his expression unreadable. “She looks worried.”

“She should be,” West says, his response fast and easy. That’s how they’re taking this, without shock or drama. Just a girl caught in their web, something to be eaten.

Except that Blue is in a relationship with Hannah, one of the girls who used to work here. He wouldn’t fuck with me, would he? Not when he has a girl he’s into at home. But then I know as well as any girl here that commitment doesn’t mean much to a lot of men. When they come to the club, they don’t see us as women, as girlfriend material. We’re just warm bodies to grab and to fuck before they go home to the real women in their lives.