“Go on … you were hungry, right?” I tip the fork against her lips again, but her eyes trail off down my chest to my pants tenting from my stiff cock.
She gulps, her cheeks getting an even brighter shade of red, and it brings me such pleasure watching her crumble to desire.
She’d never admit out loud that she secretly wants me. But I’m sure she’s considered it a few times, and the mere thought makes me want to pounce on her like a lion who’s finally caught its prey.
But as long as she doesn’t submit, she remains off-limits. Untouchable. Because it’s not me who begged to be punished, it was her choice. And it should be her undoing.
I skewer the rest of the pancakes onto the fork and push them into her mouth until she swallows it all. A small smile appears and vanishes within a split second, but I caught it, and it makes my inner lion grumble with pleasure.
“You finished your plate,” I muse.
She licks her lips and peeks over my shoulder as though she’s wondering if there’s more.
“Are you still hungry?” I ask.
She makes a face and looks away, her hands clenched on her knees.
I grab her chin and make her look at me. “You can have food as long as you obey the rules. Do you understand?”
She nods.
“When Mary tells you to come downstairs to eat with us, you will do so.”
She doesn’t reply, but I know she heard me.
“When I tell you to do anything … you will do exactly that.”
“Why?” she asks. “If that’s all a part of my punishment …” She licks her lips again and briefly glances down at my clearly tented pants. “What else is?”
My eyes flash with the same hunger hers showed mere minutes ago. “Everything.”
Chapter 14
Amelia
He gets up from the floor and places the plate of pancakes onto the cabinet, then sits down on the chair against the wall, his legs wide open. His fingers tap against each other as he stares at me with a daring look in his eyes as though I’m supposed to know what to do.
With renewed energy, I get up from the floor, my nightgown barely covering my private parts. I stand there staring right back at him.
“Come here,” he says with an assertive voice.
I swallow back the lump in my throat. I can choose to fight him, to run and risk my chances. But the possibility of ending up having to endure countless hours without food or those orgasmic waves for hours on end is enough to make me want to forget that option even exists. Choosing to obey would be the easier choice … but at what cost? My sanity.
Giving in to him means admitting that I need to submit. That he is right, and I am wrong. He’s giving me the idea of a choice, but not the freedom that comes with it.
My legs are still shaky as I approach him, my stomach still growling as though it’s trying to make up for all the lost food by eating it all in one go.
He beckons me as if to say, “There’s more where that came from.” All I need to do is beg.
Beg … and obey. It all seems so simple, yet I cannot stop fighting the turmoil in my head.
He looks up at me from his seated position, taunting me to act. He has no weapon, nothing to keep me in place or stop me from attacking him. It’s a test. I can sense it.
His eyes narrow. “Kneel.”
I shudder but still do as he asks, realizing that doing so would be the safest choice. I bend through the knees until I’m on the floor in front of him. He cocks his head and leans over to grab a strand of my hair, only to slowly tuck it behind my ear. The gentleness of his touch catches me off guard.
How can a captor be so gentle and such a monster at the same time? Every single touch he gives me right now is one I crave, and I don’t know why. Have I lost my mind already?
His thumb lingers near my mouth, a simple touch to my lips sending electricity down my spine. His finger still smells of strawberry pancakes and delicious sin. Mere minutes ago, he was feeding me with these same fingers. A man who denied me food and then gave it to me anyway just because I asked …
Confusion settles in slowly but surely, and judging from the haunting look on his face, that’s exactly what he had planned.
He leans back again in the chair and places both hands on the armrests like a king judging his people. “Tell me again what you told me in that library,” he says. “Your deepest, darkest wish.”
I gasp. I’ve tried so hard not to remember why I said those words. And I know that’s the reason he forces me to say them out loud.