TOUCH WITHOUT PERMISSION
589 Words
Caroline didn’t expect the car to be waiting outside the next morning.
Same black SUV. Same silent driver.
She stepped out of her apartment still tying her hoodie, and there it was — parked like it had been there all night. She froze.
The window slid down.
“He said to pick you up.”
She blinked. “Pick me up for what?”
The driver simply opened the door.
She should’ve said no.
She slid in.
---
They drove into the city, past the rich part of town, and deep into a district where the buildings smelled like old money and secrets. The car pulled into a parking garage beneath a glass tower. Another guard opened the door this time.
Caroline stepped out in sneakers, leggings, and a cropped hoodie — and immediately regretted not dressing for whatever this was.
The elevator ride was silent.
At the top floor, the doors opened into something that wasn’t an office. It looked more like a private loft — wide windows, marble floors, black leather furniture, and not a single sound except low music playing somewhere in the background.
And him.
Reuben was standing near the bar, two glasses on the counter, sleeves rolled, dark shirt clinging to his chest like it was tailored by sin itself.
She walked in, trying not to let her nerves show.
“This doesn’t look like work,” she said.
He turned to her, eyes slow in the way they moved over her frame.
“It’s not,” he said. “Today, I’m studying my employee.”
She scoffed. “Studying me?”
He nodded. “I want to know what you look like when you’re not pretending to be tough.”
Caroline crossed her arms. “And what do I look like now?”
He took a step forward. “Like a girl who’s about to lie and say she’s not scared of me.”
She held her breath.
He took another step.
“Tell me something, Caroline…” His voice was lower now, slower. “Do you flinch when men touch you?”
She stiffened.
He noticed.
“I don’t like being touched by people I don’t trust,” she said, voice clipped.
“Fair.” He circled her slowly, not brushing against her, but close enough to feel it. “And what if the man didn’t ask for permission?”
“I’d break his hand.”
Reuben smirked behind her. “I like that.”
She turned, eyes sharp. “Is that what this is? You brought me here to test how far you can push me?”
“No,” he said. “I brought you here because I want to know what part of you pushes back.”
Then without warning — no sound, no signal — his fingers touched her wrist. Light. Barely there. But real.
She sucked in a breath.
“You didn’t ask,” she whispered.
He leaned in, his face close to her ear, his fingers still gently holding her wrist.
“I don’t ask for things I already own.”
She snatched her arm back, cheeks hot.
“You don’t own me.”
“I will,” he said, voice calm, confident.
Caroline’s heart pounded in her throat.
“What makes you so sure?”
He walked past her toward the bar, picked up one of the glasses — bourbon — and took a sip.
Then, without turning, he said:
“Because I’ve already decided...
And when I want something, Caroline...
The world bends.”
- Writer
