She gives in easily. Too easily.
I sigh and hold out my hand. “Key.”
She hands it back without a single complaint, like a gazelle finally giving up hope to ever make it out of the lion’s jaws.
Good. It’s about time she finally realized there’s no point in resisting.
Her eyes find that door again, the one she busted open, and her lips part. “Please …”
“What?” I say, raising a brow.
“Don’t put me back in there,” she says.
When I narrow my eyes, she swallows, and it’s hard not to focus on it. Because it feels so fucking good to know I have this power over her. To hear her beg.
But this kind of begging isn’t the one I’m searching for.
I stare her down.
She lowers her eyes and starts walking toward it, shoulders slumped, body shivering.
I grip the doorway. “Where do you think you’re going?”
She stops and looks at me over her shoulder, an inkling of hope in her eyes.
And fuck me, it sets my heart on fire.
“I never said I wanted you back there,” I growl.
Her pupils dilate. “But you said you’d lock me up—”
“If you didn’t tell me the truth,” I say, lowering my head. “But you did.”
She looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind, but I know what I want.
What I’ve always wanted.
I walk back to the bed and sit on one end, coaxing her to join me with a single look. “Come.”
It takes her a few seconds to start moving. When she’s right in front of me, I grab her hands and sit her down beside me, forcing her to lie down.
I pull the blanket over her body and tuck her in.
Then I get up and sit down on the big, fur-encased chair near the fire and watch her.
“I don’t understand,” she whispers.
“What?”
“Why would you let me sleep here?”
“I want you to be mine, Jas,” I say. “I don’t want you deprived.”
She looks confused. “But I tried to kill you. Again.”
“And I was planning to kill your sister. Again,” I reply.
She sighs out loud.