Claimed

What was done was done.

There was no rewind button on life, no wiping out what had happened. He’d changed the path of both their lives inexorably and forever with one single, wild act of passion.

James had reinvented himself in that one moment of unfettered lust. He was a different man. The old James was gone, and good riddance. The new James Bennett was a man who took what he wanted—who claimed his woman with sheer, brute strength. Yes! James Matthew Bennett was now that man.

Kelsey belonged to him. Whatever he’d dreamed of or planned up to this moment no longer mattered. Kelsey was his and he could never let her go. With that one brutal, thrilling act he’d made her his own. His cock pulsed with excitement and he tightened his grip around her.

“James, please, let me go.”

“Shh.” James moved to kiss her mouth but Kelsey turned her head away and he caught only her ear. He reached for her face and pulled it back to his. Holding her by the chin, he kissed her lips, forcing his tongue between them. She whimpered against his mouth and tried to squirm away, but he only held her tighter.

“Kelsey, you have to stop struggling. Don’t you see? You’re mine now. I’ve claimed you. You belong to me.” His voice was deeper and stronger, and this pleased him. Did Kelsey notice the transformation? Did she realize she was lying with a new man? Did she feel his power? His passion?

“Ow! You’re hurting me. James, quit it. Please. Please, just let me go.” Kelsey began to cry, the sound ugly and guttural. Tears spurted from her eyes, which were squeezed tightly shut. Her mouth was open, the lips pulled down in an unflattering frown, and the tip of her pretty nose was reddening.

“Stop that,” James ordered, pushing away the remorse that threatened his newfound he-man persona. He shifted a little and loosened his hold on her. Kelsey at once tried to squirm away from him. This wouldn’t do. He couldn’t very well hold onto her all night long.

Restraints. He needed some kind of restraints to hold her down. He had some rope in the basement, but that was too far away. He reached for his tie, amazed he was still dressed, if somewhat disheveled. Kelsey was still dressed too, save for the stockings and panties he’d torn from her body.

His cock was throbbing. Still keeping Kelsey pinned to the bed with one leg, James reached for his necktie and pulled it free. Lifting himself over her, he straddled her chest and grabbed her arms by the wrists.

Kelsey tried to pull away, but she was no match for him. Within a minute he’d managed to knot the tie around her wrists. He jerked them upward toward the wrought iron headboard.

“No, no, no! Stop it! Let me go! Let me go!” Kelsey struggled and twisted, making it difficult for James to get the ends of the tie properly secured over the horizontal bar at the top of the headboard.

Frustrated and angry, he smacked her cheek. Kelsey gasped, her eyes widening with shock and pain. James smacked her again on the other cheek and then continued his task, this time managing to knot the ends securely around the bar.

He jumped from the bed and moved quickly toward his closet. He grabbed two more ties and hurried back to the bed. He jerked Kelsey’s right leg toward the edge of the mattress. Working as quickly as he could, he wrapped and knotted one of the ties around her ankle and secured the other end to the bed frame.

He ran around to the other side of the bed, intent on doing the same with her other ankle. Though he pulled the leg wide, he realized the single tie wasn’t long enough to secure her properly. She was kicking her free leg and shouting.

Frustrated and annoyed, James ran back to the closet and grabbed a handful of ties this time, along with a pair of socks. Returning to the jerking, howling girl on the bed, he unrolled the socks and stuffed one of them into her open mouth, muffling her piercing cries. He wrapped a tie over her sock-filled mouth and reached back to knot it behind her head.

Pleased with his handiwork, he returned once more to the other side of the bed. By knotting two of the ties together, he was able to reach the bed frame. He secured the end of the tie there, knotting it and giving it a tug to make sure it would hold.

He stepped back from the bed, breathing hard as he drank in the sight of his Kelsey, bound and gagged on his bed. He had done that! He was the captor and Kelsey was his prize.

As he regarded her, he decided the business suit would have to go. It would have been better if he could have stripped her before he’d bound her, but no matter. He loped into the bathroom, yanked open a drawer and pulled out the pair of barber scissors he kept there.