Sheik Down (3 page)

“You see?” Raid murmured. “Don’t rush where your heart isn’t ready to follow. We have time.”

“If this is about giving you my body, why the hell won’t you let me put a lip-deposit down on this transaction?”

“Maybe
I
need the time. Did you consider that?”

Lucas furrowed his brow. This man, this in-control sheik with money at his disposal and anything he wanted delivered with little more than a phone call, was worried about him? “I don’t understand.”

“You will. These are the terms of my offer. Will you accept them?”

“Just so we’re on the same page, you want to fuck and if it all works out, you want…a relationship?” Lucas asked. “Am I getting that right?”

“A crude definition. I’m suggesting we enjoy each other’s bodies with no more commitment than we only do what the other wants. The relationship would be a dominant-submissive one only. I want you involved heart and soul in the role.”

“Except that you seem to think
I’m
a submissive.” Lucas frowned down at him.

“Aren’t you?” Raid asked the question like he already knew the answer even if Lucas didn’t.

Raid loosed the three ties on Lucas’s pants. His cock sprang free. Lucas rushed to cover himself.

“Don’t move,” Raid barked.

Lucas froze, leaving his cock hanging in the air as the men stared each other down. There was something so calm and steady in the other man’s expression that Lucas’s panic receded until all he felt was peace—and the need to feel the other man’s hands on his aching cock.

Raid’s smile was proud and pleased. “Yes, Lucas. I think we both know you are. You may cover yourself and get to work, now. I’ve left the sketches downstairs in the play room.”

“Raid…” His voice cracked. “Touch me.”

The sheik’s black eyes heated. “Not today. You have enough to process before we add sex to the mix.” Raid moved toward his office.

“What am I supposed to do with
this
? It’s not like it’s going to go back behind the flap thing.”

“Feel free to use the bathroom to relieve yourself.
This
time. Next time you’ll be doing it for me to watch.”

“Oh, God,” he moaned after Raid had disappeared. Lucas’s body shook with need, yet it went deeper than that. He trembled to his core with some indefinable revelation that nothing would ever be the same for him again.

Raid went out of town the next day. He didn’t come back until the following week, by which time Lucas had completed three of the designs. Lucas spent most of his hours hard. Seeing how the sex furniture turned out and knowing that he’d be on them, using them with Raid, did nothing to keep his libido in check.

The guest bathroom got quite a bit of use.

He could’ve gone back to his preferred work clothes, but he didn’t. He continued to wear the leathers Raid had provided. The pleasure of seeing a new box on his doorstep every day with another pair of pants and socks only kept him going. It was proof that Raid thought of him daily, planned for his needs daily. He liked it. A lot. Even when he got pissed off at the presumption of another man picking out his clothes, whether or not he was in the same city, there was always the element of excitement. Raid cared enough to keep doing it. He cared enough to arrange for used leathers to be collected and cleaned. And at no point did Lucas forget that Raid thought he was beautiful.

And the bathroom would get used again.

A man should never have this much power over him. His pride resisted—pathetically. He stood back to admire the polished, gleaming mahogany of the third piece. He imagined himself spread against the enormous X and cuffed at each of the four points.

“Fine craftsmanship, Lucas.” The words rumbled through the room.

Lucas whipped around in surprise. “You’re home.”

“I’m home.” Raid’s gaze took in Lucas’s full length, lingering on the bulge pushing at the tied flap. “What a welcome gift to see you still here so late.”

Lucas had lost track of time. Going home seemed empty these days as Raid and his contraptions completely swallowed his imagination. “I hadn’t realized. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. This is where you’ve been every minute I’ve thought of you. It pleases me to see reality so close to my fantasies.”

Lucas grinned. “You fantasize about me?”

Raid loosened his tie with a hooked finger to his neck, then draped the tie and his suit jacket over a saw horse.

“You’ll get sawdust all over your coat,” Lucas warned.

“My suit thanks you for your concern.” Raid grabbed Lucas by the tool belt and tugged. “You aren’t good for my concentration.”

“I hope it only gets worse.”

Raid chuckled. “Guaranteed.”

Raid walked him backward. Wood pressed the middle of Lucas’s back. Raid pinned him with a heated look. Lifting one of Lucas’s arms, Raid tightened the thick leather cuff Lucas had just finished installing around his wrist. Instinctively, Lucas tugged. He reached for the buckle.

Raid leaned against him. “Be still.” He secured Lucas’s other arm.

Lucas’s breath rasped from his throat as full on panic set in. “Raid, c’mon, weren’t we going to talk about this?’

Raid smiled gently. “We did talk about this. Red is stop. Yellow is ease up. Yes, is go.”

“If I say red right now, you’ll let me go?” he demanded.

“Immediately, but you had better mean it. If you say
red
, be sure you want me to stop. I won’t question your decision, even if you mean to test me.”

Lucas blinked at him. Did he want to be let go? “What if I say stop?”

“I won’t unless you say
red
. You have the freedom to flail and fight me as much as you wish, knowing you have the power to end everything with a simple word,” Raid reminded him.

Raid sank to his knees and cuffed both ankles to their posts also. Lucas didn’t know what to think. Did being strapped down and used by another man make him weak? Is that how Raid saw him? What if he didn’t stop? What if he shouted
red
and Raid kept doing whatever the hell he wanted? What if—God, what if he shouted
red
and he did stop? What if he liked it and Raid thought it was funny? Was this abuse?

“What is your safe word, Lucas?”

Raid caught his chin as he had the first day things had shifted between them.

“Lucas. Pay attention. What do you say to me to make something stop?”

“Red,” he answered breathlessly.

“Well done. And what do you say if you think you’re reaching your limit?”

“Yellow.”

“Excellent,” Raid praised. “What do you say if you like what I’m doing and want it to continue?”

“Yes.”

“Lucas. In this room, you’re the boss. Remember that. The power is all yours,” Raid whispered. Raid released Lucas’s jaw, sliding the flat of his hand down Lucas’s chest. “Your work is magnificent. Fine talent. You’re gifted in your craft. It’s quite remarkable how you turn simple supplies into art. I’m very impressed with you. I’ve always been impressed with you.”

Lucas couldn’t look away from his endless black gaze. He kept searching it, looking for amusement, superiority. He found none. Hands stroked up and down his torso, teasing his ribs and armpits, skimming his abs. Thumbs brushed his nipples.

“Yes,” Lucas hissed.

“Good, Lucas.”

The whispered praise felt like a blessing. He closed his eyes and lifted his face to the ceiling. The same ticklish strokes moved up and down his arms, feathered over the inside elbow crease, petted the hair in his pits and tugged on it just enough to remind him how sensitive he was there.

Raid’s fingers traced Lucas’s collarbones, the cords in his neck, the angle of his jaw. All the time he murmured admiration for Lucas’s strength, beauty and the perfection of his body.

Lucas’s cock strained for attention, and he pushed his hips out hoping Raid would help him without being asked to. Raid kept his hands north of Lucas’s waist.

Lucas found his voice. “Yes,” he said, hoping Raid would take it farther.

Raid’s fingers circled Lucas’s nipples, faster, faster. So fractured was Lucas’s mind that he wasn’t sure he wanted Raid to keep touching his nipples or grab his cock. He was so close, so damn close and what Raid was doing felt too good to stop him. Yet his cock wanted out. He wanted to come so badly.

Suddenly Raid pinched hard several times. Lucas’s hips shot forward as come filled his leathers. His
yes
filled the air. Semen spurted into his pants and Lucas’s eyelashes swept open.

“Oh, God,” Lucas rasped. “Oh, God. That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Says who?” Raid murmured, unconcerned. “Did you want to come?”

“Yes.”

“And you did.”

“I wanted you to touch me,” Lucas said. “What’s the word for
take my cock in your hand and jack me off
?”

Raid laughed. “There isn’t one. That’s where you learn to trust that I know what you need.”

“I needed my cock in your hand. Or your mouth. God, yes, your mouth.” Lucas lunged for Raid, momentarily forgetting that he was bound to the cross.

“In time.”

“Time is stupid. Get me out of these things and let me kiss you,” Lucas demanded. Then suddenly remembering, added, “Red. Goddamn red. Red, red, fucking red! Red to the restraints.”

Raid was grinning as he released Lucas, but just as Lucas made to haul him in for that kiss, Raid put his hand on Lucas’s chest.

“No. Don’t test me, Lucas.”

Lucas let go of him instantly. “Please let me kiss you.”

Raid shook his head. “No.”

“I want you.”

“You might, but your cock needs time to recover,” Raid reminded him.

“Surprisingly, no. I’m getting hard just thinking about you bent over and waiting for me.”

Raid’s eyes hardened. His jaw tightened. “I said no.”

“Fucking hypocrite!” Lucas stormed out of the house.

* * * *

Raid didn’t send fresh leathers the next morning. Lucas waited an extra ten minutes until the delay threatened to make him late. He couldn’t wear come-stained pants. He’d tried to clean the inside flap, but the leather had dried stiff and would’ve chafed him.

Putting on his worn jeans and T-shirt left Lucas feeling a little out of sorts. Like Raid didn’t want him anymore and when he thought about the things he’d said he began to worry that he’d messed everything up.

Raid wasn’t in the house when he got there. He wasted an hour studying the next piece of furniture, before giving up. He climbed into his truck and tore out of the drive on his way to the Kanz Jewelry head office.

He stormed passed the secretary and straight into Raid’s office.

“Mr. Faisal, I’m so sorry, sir. I didn’t know he was coming in,” she rushed to explain behind Lucas.

Raid looked up from a desktop of paperwork he’d been standing over. His gaze drifted to Lucas, who silently warned him that it was going to take a fucking army to get him out of that office.

“It’s fine, Alecia. I’ve known Mr. Talstaad for years. He’s been doing a renovation for me.” Raid looked beyond Lucas, presumably at the startled secretary, and smiled warmly. “Hold my calls and shut the door behind you.”

“Yes, sir,” she answered, doing as he asked.

Lucas waited for the click of a closed door before he stalked the desk. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

“Is there?”

The argument suddenly seemed petty. What was he going to do, demand fresh leather pants? That was the only thing that had changed between yesterday and today—yet it wasn’t. He felt sure of it.

“There is, actually,” Raid said coming to some conclusion of his own. “I’ll send a severance check to your home address. You’ve done fine work for me, but I believe I’ve made a mistake.”

Hurt stabbed Lucas’s chest. “A mistake?”

“An error in judgment. It’s my fault. You’re free to go with no hard feelings between us.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Things between us will never be the same.”

Raid looked pained. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll—miss you.”

“Why? Why am I being fired?” Lucas demanded to know.

“I thought I could offer you something. I thought we could have a mutually enjoyable change in our relationship. It seems I was wrong.”

“Because I want to
kiss
you?” Lucas snapped.

“Because you are angry about giving up dominance.”

“Right. And you’re a pussycat when the roles are reversed. You asked me to trust you with the fucking rainbow. I asked you for a kiss. You can’t trust me with a kiss?”

“It wasn’t the kiss. It was the principal. I’d asked you not to once before. You didn’t honor my preference and tried again,” Raid pointed out.

“When you said no the second time, I stopped trying, didn’t I? Doesn’t that deserve some iota of trust?”

Raid circled his table to stand before Lucas. “I trust you with many things, Lucas, but I was wrong. You aren’t a submissive.”

“Funny,” Lucas snapped. “I was willing to be, for you. Shoe on the other foot and suddenly Sheik Faisal doesn’t want to play anymore. What’s wrong, Raid? Did I shit in your sandbox?”

Raid eyed him coolly. “I can see that you’re upset. I won’t take anything you say here personally.”

Lucas grabbed him by the lapels. “Take it personally. I want you to. I really, really want you to. There’s nothing more personal than rejection, so excuse me if I’m a little pissed off at the moment.”

“I’m not rejecting you. I’m recognizing your needs and that they don’t match mine.” Raid closed his hands over Lucas’s. “I wish they did.”

It was like banging his head on a brick wall. Raid didn’t seem capable of reason, which meant only one thing. Lucas was going to have to force him to see it. “Fine. I’m not your play toy and my dick will never be your lollipop. I get it. But last I checked, firing someone because of a disagreement over sexual favors was illegal. You said yourself my work was perfect, my execution flawless. I can only assume you’re firing me because I let you get me off in your sex dungeon.”

Raid frowned. “You want to continue? I can have someone else pick up where you left off.”

Lucas narrowed his eyes dangerously. “In every way, I’ll just bet. Sorry, I want my job and I’m not leaving until it’s done and I’m compensated for it, no matter how replaceable I am to you.”