My stomach grumbles at his words.
“How did you know that’s my favorite?” I tease, thinking he just made a lucky guess. Who doesn’t love French toast and bacon? He just shrugs once again, not answering me.
“You’re not leaving,” he tells me. I smile at how much he wants me to stay. Maybe this isn’t some one-night stand after all. I reach up and trace his lips with my finger, remembering all the wonderful things he did to me with those lips.
“I don’t want to leave either,” I admit. “I’m just going to run home and change and I’ll come right back. I promise.”
He bites my finger, then sucks on it before letting it go. My whole body heats.
“You’re not leaving, period.” His voice grows deeper, and there’s an edge to it now. The hairs on my arms stand up. “If I let you walk out of here, it will be trouble to get you back here. Trouble, and time I’m not willing to waste. I’ve already had to wait to get you here. I’m not waiting anymore.”
His face hardens.
“I said I’d come back.” I whisper the words, unsure of what’s happening.
“He won’t let you,” he rumbles.
“Who?” I ask, even more confused now.
“Your father.”
“I-I…” I trail off, at a loss for words. I’m eighteen. I’m sure my dad doesn’t want to find out I’m dating and even having sex, but it’s not like he can stop it. I’m supposed to be going off to college soon. I’m sure he knows it’s going to happen. Maybe not with someone so much older than me, but still.
“How do you know? You don’t even know my father,” I throw back at him. He raises his eyebrows like I’m wrong. “You know him?”
“I’m Romeo Trope,” he says smoothly, and everything inside me freezes. I know that name. It’s a name I’ve heard my dad mention before. I don’t know much about my dad’s business acquaintances, but I know this is a man he hates more than anything.
“Don’t look at me like that, little love.” He smiles, “I’ll take very good care of you, but know this, you will never leave me.”
Chapter Three
Romeo
I watch Arabella Scarlet eat her breakfast and I think about all I’ve done to get her here. Last night was over way too quickly, but I have to stick to the plan. I have to get her into international waters as soon as possible so that her father can no longer lay claim to her. Right now he doesn’t have any idea she’s become my possession, and I have to use that to my advantage.
“Can you tell me what’s going on?” she asks as she pushes her empty plate away.
I walk over and take her hands in mine, unable to stand the distance anymore. “I can’t tell you everything yet, but I’ve watched you and I’ve waited for the time when I could have you. That time came last night and I won’t let you go.”
“You don’t even know me.” Her words are meant to be defensive, but in her eyes I can see the hope that I won’t push her away.
“I know everything about you, Arabella, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect you. Especially from the monster you call a father.”
“I don’t understand. He’s a good man. He’s always been decent and kind to me,” she says as her eyebrows pull together and she frowns. “He’s not a monster.”
“He’s a man who will use whatever he has to in order to get what he wants, and that includes you, little love.” I trail a hand down her cheek and she leans into my touch. “He wants to sell you to the Duke of England, and I won’t have it. The duke is known for taking on a wife who mysteriously disappears a month after their nuptials. But no one questions it because of his status.”
I can practically see her mind spinning with questions, but her frown deepens. “I’ve heard of him. But my father never said—”
“You were just a pawn in his game.” I cut her off and pull her into my arms. “But from the moment I saw you, you’ve been my entire world.”
Scooping her up in my arms, I carry her back to the bedroom. I lay her out on the bed and pull away her scrap of a dress from the night before.
“You should only be draped in the finest of silks,” I say as I kiss down her belly and spread her thighs.
She’s wet and willing as I kneel between them and slide my hands under her ass. I lift her pussy up to my mouth and inhale before I give her one long lick. Her body shudders, and I watch as a blush blossoms across her chest.
I feast on her nectar as I bury my tongue in her no-longer-virgin cunt. Knowing that I was the one to take her innocence and I was the one to breed her only heightens my own arousal for her. My cock is hard and dripping in my slacks, but I don’t have time to satisfy him. This moment is only about her pleasure before we have to go.
“Romeo!” she cries out as her legs tighten and her climax approaches.
I strum her clit like a mandolin as I lick as far as I can inside of her pussy. Her thighs squeeze me before she cries out and I taste her sweet release. I want to follow her over the edge. I want to thrust my cock into her and stay there for a month, but I can’t. There’s no time.
“So perfect,” I whisper against her tender lips.
Kissing her pussy one last time, I pull myself from the bed and go to the closet. I select one of the dresses I bought for her and bring it over to where she is sprawled out on the mattress. I hold up the pink silk and she smiles at me.
“Where are we going?” she asks with heavy eyes. “I thought I was staying locked in your tower.”
“I want to marry you as soon as possible. The longer we wait, we leave the chance open that your father will try to take you back to wed the duke.”
“So I’m either going to be married to you or married to the duke? Don’t I get a say in this?”
“I’m afraid you’re just too tempting.” I place a kiss on her lips and then deepen it as her arms wrap around my neck.
Suddenly there’s a loud crash from the other side of the room and I look up to see five men dressed in all black rappelling in through the window. They all pull out knives and throwing stars when they land, ready for an attack.
“Give us the girl and no one gets hurt,” one of them says from behind a hood covering his face.
“Never!” I shout and shove Arabella behind me, trying to think of how I can possibly defend her from ninjas.
“Romeo, don’t let them take me!” she screams, and I turn around to see five more men have snatched her from behind me. “Romeo!”
They’ve got me surrounded. How did they get past all my security? How did they know where to find her? I thought I was so careful last night, but I grabbed her in haste and didn’t pay attention to eyes on us.
“Arabella!” I bellow as I catch a flash of pink being carried away as she’s taken from the room.
I charge at the men, but I’m swarmed then overpowered. They pin me to the ground and one of them brings a can of what looks like pepper spray to my face. I open my mouth to shout, but as soon as the spray hits my face, I pass out cold.
My last thoughts are of my little love and getting to her. Nothing will ever keep me from her.
Chapter Four
Arabella
I stand in Romeo’s living room, shaking. I’d grabbed the sheet to cover my body before one of the men pulled me from the room. I have no idea what’s happening.
Suddenly, my father walks into the room. “Dad?” I rush over to him.
“It’s okay. I got you.” He pulls me into a hug. My dad has always loved me. I know he can be cold at times, but the hug is a little surprising coming from him. He’s not big on affection.
“What’s happening?” I look up at him. His face is hard and doesn’t match the sweet embrace he is giving.
“You got mixed up in something you shouldn’t have.” He steps back and looks me over. It’s clear what happened with Romeo and me. My face flushes red when I see the blood stain on the sheet wrapped around me.
“He was so sweet to me.”
“Stealing a young girl’s inn
ocence is not sweet. Neither is plotting to take a daughter from her father.”
I lick my lips, unsure how to respond. “Is it true you were going to give me to the duke? Like some old-school arranged marriage? You would do that to me?”
“I wanted you to meet him, yes. I thought you’d be a good match. Now I’m not sure he’d want a touched bride.”
His eyes go back to the blood stain, making me wish I had the dress Romeo gave me.
“He said he kills his wives.” I tell my father.
“Don’t be naïve, Arabella. He tried to fill your head with lies to use you.”
“We found something, sir,” one of the many men standing in the room says. I’d forgotten about them. My mind wanders to where Romeo is. If he got hurt. If he was using me. Last night felt so right. The way he touched me wasn’t cruel. It was sweet and loving.
My dad follows the man, and I do the same, keeping the sheet tight to me. We enter a room that looks like an office and I freeze. Pictures of me coat the walls. They are everywhere.
“Looks like he cloned her phone. He was listening to her calls, reading her emails and texts—clearly tracking her.”
I gasp.
“As long as your phone is around you he can hear everything. He can even open the camera and have a look around.”
This is all too much. “Why was he doing this?”