Flicking on the light, he pulled her into the small, cramped room. Letting her go, he pulled back the bolt and opened the door of the tall, narrow cage. “Get in,” he ordered flatly.
Skylar shrank back. Did he really expect her to get in that tiny cage? There was no room even to turn around, much less sit down. She swallowed hard, again blinking back tears. There was nothing sexy about this. She didn’t like confined spaces. Maybe she could try the plug again? Her anal muscles clenched at the thought.
He stared her down, willing her to obey.
Reluctantly, she stepped into the cage.
He clanged the door shut and slid the bolt home. “Someone will be along in a while to collect you for dinner.” Turning on his heel, he left the room, pulling the door shut behind him.
Stunned, Skylar gripped the bars of the cage. She thought about trying to undo the bolt, but she didn’t dare. The bars were too narrow, anyway, to get her hand through. A blinking red light high in the corner caught her eye. A small camera was aimed at her. She supposed that made sense, since it couldn’t be a good idea to leave someone all alone in this awful little room.
She reached back to stroke her welted ass as she stared at the restraint rack across from her. That looked kind of sexy. Despite her screw up, she had to admit that this place was pretty exciting. And whatever else he was, Master Caelan definitely wasn’t a pushover.
Though she wouldn’t have admitted it aloud, she could manipulate most guys into doing what she wanted. Yes, she’d heard the term “topping from the bottom” many times in her life, and was aware that she did it. But she had needed to do it with the idiot guys she sometimes ended up scening with. Otherwise, she wouldn’t get what she wanted.
Clearly, Master Caelan wasn’t the kind of man she would be able to manipulate. She wasn’t entirely sure yet if that was a good thing or a bad thing. At the moment, it felt bad.
She hated being left alone. And she couldn’t even sit down. She turned slowly in the cage, barely able to process what had just happened.
At the clubs, when she used her safeword, that was that. The scene ended and she went on to something new. Yeah, the Doms were usually pissed off, but they were generally clueless wannabes anyway, and she hadn’t cared. But Master Caelan was different. He was a professional. He knew what he was doing. He’d believed she could handle the butt plug. And in truth, she probably could have if she’d tried harder to relax.
But damn it, she didn’t want to.
It had been a long day, getting from Charlotte to Hatteras. Then she’d had to wait nearly an hour for the private motorboat that took her to the island. That ride had lasted nearly an hour. She’d barely had a chance to catch her breath before she was thrust into the grooming, presentation and first session. No wonder she’d blurted the safeword. Her guard had been down. She was exhausted, not to mention hungry and thirsty. While all that was true, in her heart of hearts, she knew those were just excuses.
She sighed. Here she was, starting off her first day of training with a punishment. And not the sexy kind. At least he hadn’t turned off the light. That would really have freaked her out. How long was she going to be stuck in here? How was she supposed to pass the time?
With another sigh, she leaned back against the bars, trying to get more comfortable in the narrow space. This was no fun. No fun at all.
“Guess that’s why it’s called a punishment,” she muttered.
Sometime later, her eyes flew open at the sound of the door opening. Somehow, she’d fallen into a kind of doze while still standing, her back resting against the bars.
A young woman she hadn’t seen before entered the room. She had dark, smooth skin, her hair shorn so short it was almost a crewcut. Her face was striking, with high cheekbones, a delicate nose with flaring nostrils and bee-stung lips painted a shiny red. Her eyes were so dark Skylar couldn’t distinguish the pupil from the iris. Like Maya, she wore a clingy, low-cut dress, though hers was white. Her breasts were large and practically spilling out of the dress, her nipples clearly visible beneath the stretchy fabric. Her feet were bare.
“Hello, Skylar. I’m Shani,” she said in a high, fluty voice that sounded like music. “I’m a staff slave here at Desire Island.” Shani unlocked and pulled open the cage door. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I think,” Skylar said, grimacing as she stepped out of the small space. “How long have I been in there?”