Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
His rich, rumbling voice echoed right in my heart.
He’s right.
Sleep deprivation would only get us pissy with each other.
That’s why I’m out of sorts.
Why I’m twitchy and jumpy and itching for a fight.
Not because I was horny. And definitely not because I couldn’t stop my mind from replaying him mounting and taking me.
I’d had no visual.
I hadn’t dared look.
But by denying one sense, I’d only amplified the rest.
The way he’d grunted with every thrust.
The way his cock stretched me with ownership.
The way my tongue burned with the taste of leather.
But most of all…the way my skin sparked with blistering, blinding light as if a million suns burned me alive.
God.
It’s too much.
All of it. Him. This place. What we’d done.
He let me go as if sensing how close I was to breaking.
I wrapped my arms around myself, flinching at the coldness of metal around my wrists. The weight of my cuffs refused to let me forget what I’d become. The slimy wetness between my thighs screamed that he’d been inside me. I couldn’t even tell if what we’d done was consensual or coerced.
Crowding me, Henri placed a hand on my cheek.
I froze as his gaze dropped to my lips.
My heart thundered as every part of me clenched, craved, invited.
I hated this power he had over me.
Hated that there was something about him. Something violent and protective. Something not entirely human.
When he didn’t speak, I licked my lips and forced myself to sound brave. “How…” I cleared my throat to a whisper. “How much longer until they come for us?”
Shadows gathered as his face turned unreadable. Sighing heavily, he replied ever-so-quietly, “Dawn if things go to plan. I’d hoped Victor’s signal scrambler wouldn’t affect GPS frequencies but judging by the fact that no one has come, I think we’re shit out of luck. I…I’m going to figure out a way to turn off the scrambler when everyone goes to bed. My broth—, eh, my unit will hopefully find us and come within a few hours.”
Shudders and ice.
Horror and despair.
I came face to face with the very real notion that Henri was just as vulnerable as me.
“You mean…your team didn’t follow you from Paris? They didn’t foresee something like this? Not a single person knows where we are?”
Wait.
Another question popped into my head. One I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten.
“How did you pay Victor? How am I here right now? Surely, your boss didn’t give you two million euros to pay a trafficker?”
His breath tickled my nape, teasing all my nerve endings. “The less you know, the better.”
“But—”
“Enough.” He shook his head. “He’s coming. That’s all you need to know. I’ll make sure of it.”
My knees wobbled as exhaustion set in.
We’re doomed.
Lack of food and hope made me dizzy.
I reached for his broad wrist, needing support.
The moment my fingers curled around him, he swallowed a curse. “Goddammit, you really shouldn’t touch me.”
I ignored the blistering heat in my belly; the feathering clench from his husky, dark voice.
“H-How do we turn it off? The scrambler, I mean,” I whispered. “How do we get everyone free?”
“We?” His voice strangled. “There’s no we, Ily. I’ll take care of it on my own.”
“But…” I blinked. “We’re in this together.”
A low, gut-wrenching groan escaped him.
He shook off my hold and put some distance between us. The way he paced made me wonder if he felt anything at all for me.
Did he want me as much as I wanted him?
Did he feel the same prickly pain whenever we were close?
With swift steps, he flicked a look at the cameras and marched back into me. Pinning me against one of the posters of his medieval-looking bed, his hand went to my throat.
I shuddered.
He swallowed hard.
Power arched through his touch, far too potent and threatening.
His breath came a little thinner as he whispered, “I told you, I have a plan.”
“A plan?”
“Mm hmm.” His thigh drove between mine, acting for the cameras but doing ungodly things to my senses. “I know where his office is. I’m going to break in—”
“Break in?” I whisper-hissed, cold-water sizzling on my sick arousal. “You’ll get caught. They’ll kill you—”
“Quiet.” His nose nuzzled my hair. “I won’t get caught.”
All my confusion where he was concerned. All my like and dislike, despair and want whipped into a cyclone of terror.
The way he held me said I meant nothing.
The way he whispered said I meant everything.
I couldn’t find my centre anymore.
Didn’t trust what was real.
Another crush of exhaustion, followed swiftly by self-pity. I didn’t like my selfishness, but it rose anyway. “If they catch you. If you get taken…I-I won’t have anyone to take care of me.”
His eyes snapped up.
The silvery depths tore right into my soul. He didn’t speak. He merely tightened his fingers around my throat and pressed his forehead to mine.
I exhaled heavily.
I surrendered spectacularly.
And in some brainless, reckless move, I reared up on my tiptoes, pressed myself into his captivity, and kissed him.