Page 18 of Degrees of Control

James turned around with a tumbler of what Charlie assumed was whiskey. He didn’t dignify her blathering with an answer, just leaned against his cabinet like something out of an Armani campaign and fixed her with a glare. “You mean everythin’ you wrote to me before you came here tonight?”

Charlie nodded. It had been so easy to arrange this meeting by text and imagine herself behaving with dignity. Unlike reality where she kept ranting about dogs and giving James the thumbs-up. In her defense, he hadn’t asked if she wanted a drink or invited her to sit down. She had no idea what to doasidefrom stand awkwardly in his lounge room saying weird shit.

James took a deep swig from his glass and examined her once again. “You know what you look like?”

A librarian from a porno?“W-what?”

“A girl from one of those slutty Japanese cartoons. Big eyes, big tits and innocence that’s just begging to be corrupted.”

Except I totally have pubic hair.

“Am I the first person to tell you that, Blue-Eyes?”

Charlie shook her head. An ex once showed her a hentai porn comic with a character who looked so much like her it was creepy.

James didn’t seem to like that answer. His lips thinned. “You ever watched one of those cartoons? Thought about being the girl in tight clothes who gets tied up and played with?”

All the air seemed to whoosh out of Charlie’s lungs. “I…maybe.”

James smirked, placing his glass on the coffee table with a hard clink. He straightened up, eyeing her so intently he might as well have brought up his hands and made a picture frame.

“I love that look on your face,” he said. “All nervous but so fuckin’ eager, like you’re gonna cream your panties the second I lay a hand on you.”

He strode toward her and Charlie felt herself shrink beneath his much larger presence. James’ smirk grew wider. He pushed a strand of hair from her eyes, letting his hand linger on her neck. At his touch, she did indeed feel an answering clench in her cunt, sparks flickering deep within her belly. She pressed her thighs together, taking pleasure in the ache.

It was worth coming for this, just to know this kind of doomsday lust exists.

James smiled lazily down at her. “Yeah, you’re real wet for me, aren’t you, sweetheart? You’ve been thinking about this for days.”

It wasn’t a question so Charlie didn’t answer, she let her gaze fall to the carpet. Her toes were covered in black leather, his were golden brown with broad pink nails. A hard hand cupped her chin, bringing her eyes to his.

“You’re gonna look at me,” James said with deadly seriousness. “I know you’re a good little hentai girl and you wanna stare at your feet and go red and act like you don’t want my cock as much as you do, but you’re gonna look at me while I fuck you. While I do anything to you. Starting right now, you understand?”

Charlie nodded, her heart in her throat.

James leaned forward and kissed her. She tasted malt on his tongue and wondered if she’d ever be able to smell whiskey from here on out without associating it with sex. He pressed his big palms against her breasts, and Charlie moaned. The feel of him through all that taut silk was worth the bus perving and static-y tights.

“I’m gonna play with you for a bit, darlin’, that okay?”

Charlie tried to respond but James’ tongue was in her mouth again, owning her. When he was done kissing her he brought a finger to her lips. “I’m gonna say and do a lot of things to you tonight, sweetheart, hard and as often as I want. You’ve had enough, you say red. You want it to slow down, you say yellow. Otherwise you stay quiet, you got that?”

Charlie nodded. It was as though James had cast a net over her from head to toe, everything was tingling and taut.

“Good girl. The only other thing you’ve got permission to say is my name. Understand?”

She nodded.

“So say it, girl.”

“James.”

“Very good.” He pulled away and settled himself on the brown leather couch, picking up his drink. Charlie moved to join him and he shook his head. “You stay right where you are.”

The bite behind his words made her spine straighten. James brought the tumbler to his mouth and Charlie watched his powerful throat work. He put the empty glass down and reclined on the sofa, resting his feet on the coffee table and tucking his hands behind his head. “Take your shirt off. Slowly.”

With shaking fingers, Charlie plucked at the buttons holding her blouse together. The material whispered over her skin to expose her bare breasts. She looked at James, as he had commanded. She was hoping for a reaction, but his expression was one of complete indifference.

“Now the skirt.”

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