Best of 2017

“But if you have any fear, you shouldn’t. This property is secure.” He did glance at me then. “I’m just the extra measure.” He broke eye contact and stared off into the distance. He’d said more words to me than he ever had before.

I, too, looked out at the trees, not sure what to think, how to feel. Maybe I should have put more stock into what I wanted, into the fact that my desire played more of a role in this than my fear. Maybe I should have been worried, but instead I felt like I embraced it, like I wasn’t even giving myself a chance to not accept this. I glanced at Damien again and took in the several guns I saw strapped to his body.

“Should I be afraid of him?” I whispered, not sure if Damien would even answer, not sure if I wanted him to. He slowly turned his head in my direction. But before he said anything, if he even planned on saying anything, I felt as if someone was here, watching us.

“Sofia,” Cameron said from the doorway, his voice deep, mesmerizing. I turned to stare at him.

My heart was already stuttering in my chest. He looked fierce in this moment, maybe even angry with me for pushing him earlier. Had he heard what I’d asked Damien?

“Go to the bedroom. Undress, and wait for me.” The fact he didn’t mince his words in front of Damien had my face heating, embarrassment swimming through me. And then he was gone, leaving me there with my mind reeling. Tonight I’d find out exactly what he had in store for me. The oral he’d given me, and when I’d done it to him, had just been the appetizer to this twisted story. I knew that, felt it.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I FOUND myself in the bedroom, taking my clothes off as if it was an automatic gesture. I thought about how I’d felt outside, the wind in my hair, the sensation that nothing contained me, nothing held me back, a familiar feeling since I’d been with Cameron. I was in the process of pushing my panties down when the bedroom door opened. I turned, my heart thundering, my mind spinning. Cameron shut the door behind him, the suit he had on not taking away from the sheer presence that surrounded him.

“Damien is there for protection, not conversation,” he said as he started to remove his tie, his focus on me.

I swallowed, not sure if I should hold my ground or back away. I couldn’t help but feel like he was stalking me, moving forward slowly, waiting for his chance to attack. There wasn’t anything I could say, nothing I wanted to say in that moment. He kept moving forward, tossing the tie on the bed. Then he went for his cuff links. It was then, once he had them off and set on the vanity, that I realized I was stuck between him and the wall. There didn’t seem to be any way to stop this.

Do I want to stop this?

Yes, I wanted to scream out. I want this to stop. I shouldn’t have to compromise myself because my body warmed at the thought and sight of him. This man made me feel things that I wanted to keep buried, hidden. I felt like my own body was working against me, succumbing, submitting to this man…this monster.

This is insane. You are insane.

I couldn’t help thinking that over and over again, disgusted with myself and this man, because not only did I fear him, but I wanted him, too. A gorgeous demon intent on corrupting me, determined to make me his.

“You can ask anyone about me.” He moved a step closer. “But if you want the truth, you’ll ask me directly.”

I was a prisoner of my own body, my mind. “Asking you anything directly seemed like crossing a line.” He was just inches from me now, his body so big, his heat so intense. Before I could contemplate what he was going to do, what he might say, he had his hands on my waist, turning me, and setting me on the vanity.

The apothecary jars crashed to the side before rolling off and shattering on the ground. Here I was, ready for him, my mind screaming to preserve my self-respect, to let him know that I was strong.

“Who are you really?” I found myself asking, my voice breathy, my body ready. He had his hands on my waist still, holding me, caressing me. I wasn’t a fool to think this man would be gentle, not in the parts that counted, not when there was fucking instead of making love.

No, Cameron was definitely the hate-fuck kind of guy, the one who took what he wanted because he knew he could. But then again, I wasn’t a flowers-and-chocolate girl. I’d come from the gutter of the world, fought my way to the surface just so I could breathe, and the darkness Cameron offered was what I craved.

“Who are you, Sofia?” He slid his hands up to my bra straps, slid them over my shoulders, but didn’t remove the garment. “Tell me you don’t want what I can give you, that you aren’t wet with the idea of the depravity in which I can cover you completely.” He smoothed his hands over the mounds of my breasts, which rose violently above my bra line. “Tell me that taking you in the way I want to, crave to, doesn’t make you so fucking ready for me you’re on the verge of begging me for my cock.”

His words should have shocked me, had bile rising in my throat. Instead I found myself moaning, unable to control myself, unable to control the most basic urges I had for him.

“So tell me, sweet Sofia. Who are you?”

We stared into each other’s eyes for a long second, my mind a whirlwind, my throat tight. “I’m the girl who sold herself to the very devil himself, right?”

He smirked, the first time I’d seen anything but hard composure on this man’s face.

“Who are you?” I asked again, not sure if this was smart, not sure if just playing out this time wasn’t the best route for me to take. After that I could go, live my life, be away from it all. I’d find a way to leave, to forget about what I’d gotten myself into, what I’d seen. The death, the violence, the fear I felt when I didn’t think I had any options with Ricky—those things didn’t have to control me. They didn’t have to follow me for the rest of my life.

He slid his hand up to my throat, added a bit of pressure, and leaned in. “I’m a man with a past you don’t want to know about.”

But I did want to know about him. I did want to know how he became the way he was, this powerful person who was deadly, intelligent, and mine for the next two weeks.

That last thought slammed into me so hard I made this involuntary sound, this breathless gasp.

“Tell me what you just thought about right now,” he said, moving an inch closer, my legs spread, his erection tenting the front of his slacks and coming into contact with my pussy. He felt so hard, so big.

I was a virgin, had never even been with a man before. This would have scared me with a “normal” man. Cameron was anything but normal. He was dangerous, probably volatile, and the things he wanted to do to me…I shivered at the images.

I contemplated about lying, about making something up, or maybe being submissive, subservient. I thought about just telling him I made the sound because I was eager for this, or maybe scared of it—the latter being the truth. He added a bit of pressure to my throat, and I braced my hands on the vanity, rising up slightly. I arched my neck, wanting the pressure off, wanting him to add more.

He held me like he had a right to, like I wanted this, would beg him for it eventually.

I’d probably do that now.

What I was fighting myself on was the fact that these things he said to me, did to me, humiliating as they were, turned me on.

“I thought about how I’m yours for the next two weeks, but that you’re also mine.” Being honest seemed like the best course, but truthfully I probably wouldn’t have been able to force the lie out anyway.

He pulled back and stared at me, barely breathing, not moving.

A part of me didn’t want to desire him, didn’t want this. But I couldn’t fight it. I didn’t want to.

“You want to know the man I am, Sofia?” The way he said it, the look in his eyes and the deepness of his voice, startled me. He was like an animal waiting to pounce on his prey, just take the weaker creature and devour it.

And I was that weaker animal.

He moved back from me, his hand leaving my throat. He started undoing the buttons of his shirt, pushing the material off his shoulders, and I was left speechless as I stared at the body before me. I’d been able to see how strong and muscular he was even when he wore a suit. Thick biceps, vein-roped arms, a defined six-pack and that V that framed it, and tattoos covering it all.