Chapter 138: Sexual response reader

Tom had carried the bracelet with him from the Harem Chest.

Before the lunch, he had told Bree to stop at a store and pick out a bracelet case elegant enough to make the gift look extraordinary and expensive. By the time he sat across from Josie, the System item was no longer an exposed reward. It was sealed inside a slim dark case that looked like it belonged in a high-end jeweler’s display.

He brought it out and set it on the table between them.

Before he could open it, Josie shook her head. Her eyes moved from the case to his face with immediate skepticism. "Is that for me?"

"Yes, Specifically for you." Tom said.

Then he opened the case.

The bracelet literally shone... It was refined, expensive, quiet enough not to look loud, striking enough that Josie’s gaze lingered on it longer than she probably meant to.

"Give me your hand, I’ll put it on." he said.

Josie shook her head again, sharper this time. "No. That isn’t for me."

"It can’t be." She added firmly.

Tom’s brows drew together slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Why would you give me a bracelet?" she asked. "I haven’t done anything to deserve that."

The words hit harder than a simple refusal. There was pride in them. Suspicion too. She was not a woman who liked gifts that came with invisible weight.

Tom swallowed once, briefly thrown by how directly she rejected the gesture, however he recovered quickly and flashed her a small smile then said;

"I believed the lunch meeting with Ray would yield good results so I bought it to congratulate you for getting the building back from Ray."

Josie shook her head in an unconvinced manner. "I’m not dumb. That isn’t the reason." Her eyes held his as she added bluntly; "You have ulterior motives."

Tom stared at her for a second, without blinking.

She did not look away. The challenge in her face was sharp and almost daring him to lie poorly.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, thought sharply through the line he was about to cross, then opened them again.

"Yes, you’re right. I have an ulterior motive." he admitted, looking all serious.

Josie’s chin lifted slightly. "Which is?"

Tom gave her a small smile at that before he answer her question. He knew she would ask and he heard an answer ready;

"What other ulterior motive would a man have toward a drop-dead gorgeous woman?"

Josie let out a low, disbelieving scoff; "I should have known."

She looked angry. But even though the anger was visible on her pretty face, she remained seated.

Tom noticed that immediately and did not let it pass. He stayed calm, almost mild, as he said, "You don’t hate the idea."

Josie’s eyes snapped back to him.

"If you did," he continued, "you would have stood up and left already."

Her lips parted in disbelief at the bluntness. For a second she looked like she could not decide whether to slap the words down or escape them. Then she grabbed her bag and rose from the chair.

Tom stood with her.

Before she could fully turn away, he took her hand.

Josie froze, shock flashing across her face at the sudden contact. She tried to pull back, but he was already moving with a task on his hand. The bracelet was in his other hand now, removed from the case, and he slid it onto her wrist in one smooth motion. ⅇ

"This was always for you," Tom said in a more lower, gentler, and firm voice at the same time. "Don’t reject it."

The System dinged the moment the clasp closed around her wrist.

```

[HAREM GIFT SUCCESS]

Host has gifted a potential harem member a marked item.

[HIDDEN FUNCTION UNLOCKED]

Sexual Response Reader

While worn, the bracelet transmits the wearer’s sexual state to Host.

```

Tom read the panel in a glance and felt immediate satisfaction move through him. That was extremely useful.

Josie was still staring at the bracelet on her wrist, as if her body had accepted it faster than her pride could process. She had not torn it off. She was simply caught in the fact of it, that this was a gift from a man who had ulterior motives.

Tom did not release her immediately. Instead, he rubbed his thumb lightly over the skin around the bracelet, across her wrist and the back of her hand.

Josie looked up at him and the anger on her face was still there but it was no longer the only thing there.

The contact was small. Nowhere near indecent by public standards. But for a woman starved of touch, it was enough to shift something under her composure. Her fingers tensed in his hold. Her throat moved as she swallowed.

Another System panel opened.

```

[BRACELET LINK — JOSIE HALE]

Arousal: 34%

Body Response: Heat / lower belly tension

Resistance: Medium-High

Note: Starved body reacting faster than expected

```

Tom smiled inwardly and he concluded that she could glare at him all she wanted. Her body had already begun answering.

Meanwhile, Josie seemed to have recovered from the unexplainable trance, she pulled her hand free and turned to leave.

Before she could take a full step, another System note cut across Tom’s vision.

```

[SYSTEM ADVICE]

Do not let her walk away at Arousal level; 34%.

She is already affected.

This is a perfect moment to do more.

```

Tom did not think twice. He caught her hand again.

Josie turned back sharply, surprise breaking through her controlled expression. "What are you doing?"

He did not answer with an audible explanation. His free hand went around her waist and pulled her in one firm motion against his body. The contact was sudden enough to drag a gasp from her throat. Her bag pressed between them for half a second, her chest brushing his, the warmth of her body registering too clearly through the narrow space.

Josie’s hands came up at once, ready to push him away.

But Tom released her just as quickly as he had pulled her in, removing his hand from her waist as if the contact had never fully happened. The absence was almost as disorienting as the touch. She stood there caught between outrage and confusion, no longer sure what clean offense she was supposed to hold onto.

Then he bent down because of the height difference, bringing his face close enough that his voice could drop into a private line meant only for her.

"I forgot to tell you, you look breathtakingly beautiful in this outfit." he murmured.

Josie went still.

For a second she had no reply ready. The words were simple, but the timing, the closeness, the lingering warmth where his hand had been on her waist... all of it stacked too quickly for her composure to organize. Her lips parted. Her eyes flickered and vulnerability moved through her face before pride rushed to cover it.

Then she recovered hard, turned away, and walked off immediately.

Tom remained where he was and watched her go, watching how her back was set too straight as she walked. She was trying so hard to remain composed.

The bracelet updated before she even reached the entrance.

```

[BRACELET LINK — JOSIE HALE]

Arousal: 60%

Body Response: Wetness beginning

Resistance: Medium-High

Note: Composure holding by force

```

Tom bit the corner of his lower lip as he read it.

"Beautiful." He mumbled to himself because that was the only word for it. A woman walking away with her chin raised high while her body betrayed the truth happening under her expensive clothes and control.

He sat back down slowly, feeling very satisfied. He was pleased that the congratulatory gift had done more than mark her wrist. It had opened a channel into the very hunger she refused to admit.

Then, an idea rose in his mind... A naughty one.

He opened his inventory, moved past the active items, and stopped at the Forbidden Vault access tied to the mysterious key. He paid the high cost for the information without hesitation.

’If the bracelet could show him her body’s state, the vault could show him the shape of her hunger itself.’

The panel that answered did not open gently. It tore into view with a darker weight than ordinary missions, as if the System itself understood the intrusion.

```

[FORBIDDEN VAULT — TIER 1]

Sexual Fantasy Reader

Target: Josie Hale

Access Cost: Paid

Status: Extracting...

```

The restaurant around him faded under the force of the reveal. For a moment there was only the panel and the sense that he was stepping into a place Josie would never have allowed him willingly.

Then the result came up...

Tom’s jaw dropped.

He didn’t know what he had expected from a composed, principled, sex-starved married woman, but the fantasy the System placed in front of him was not mild, not polite.

It was...?