I stripped off her robe with deliberate care, each movement a claim, each inch of exposed skin bringing us closer. I pulled her naked body tight to mine before helping her in. She sank into the steaming water, eyes half-lidded with new warmth and drowsy gratitude.
I stepped in behind her, the heat a welcome jolt to my already charged system. Her back pressed to my chest, and my hands moved in slow, thorough strokes across her body, chasing the stray drops of worry until they melted, liquid and harmless, into the rising steam.
My touch was patient, knowing, coaxing the last of her tension out from the shadows where it hid. My fingers slid over her stomach and made their way between her thighs, drawing a quiet whimper from her. Even in the tub’s warmth, I felt the slick wetness of her heat coating my hand. She lifted her right hip ever so slightly as I entered her with two of my fingers. Her sweet moans filled my chest with the pride that comes from knowing I was fulfilling the needs of my mate. I placed kisses along her neck as I continued to move my fingers in and out of her pussy, loving the feel of her.
“You are the most captivating being I’ve ever known, Juliet. My love. My mate.”
She leaned her head back and looked over her left shoulder, then reached back with her hand and grasped my head with her hand, pulling me down so she could devour my mouth while my fingers thrust inside her harder, her moans reaching a crescendo. I pulled my fingers free and circled her clit with pressure until her hips rose from my lap, reaching for my hand. Her release came with a shout, her tongue still lapping at my own as she continued to kiss me with everything she had. Even as her body quaked and shuddered against my body, my hand held her in place.
When she finally went still, it was the perfect quiet of exhaustion and bliss. I felt it envelop us both, a weightless wonder, soft and consuming as the fog around us.
I stood and exited the tub and dried myself off. Then I reached for her hand. I dried her with the same attention to detail as I had when I made her come undone. Wrapped in a thick towel and in my love, knowing that she was safe and she was mine I carried her into our adjoining bedroom.
I tucked her into bed, watching her long lashes flutter once before the depth of her weariness and the security of our bond closed them for the night.
The truth of it: she was safe, and she was mine.
The truth of it: I had to keep it that way.
I stood watchful, breathing slow and steady, letting my presence and my resolve wrap around her sleeping body. This woman was a part of my soul. I’d waited so long for fate to bring her to me, and I would destroy anyone who thought they’d take her from me.
Chapter 22
Harrison
Icould see her through the small, barred window before I stepped in, waiting with all the composure of a woman who hadn’t been dragged out of her world and into mine. This cell of hers wasn’t just a gilded cage—it was the prize at the bottom of my greedy quest. Her wide eyes made contact with mine as soon as the door closed behind me. A thrill ran down my spine as I returned the gaze, a lizard and a lion momentarily facing off.
Her face was blank as a slate, one she expected me to fill in with my explanations. I gave her a slow, cat-that-ate-the-canary smile as I broke the silence. “Hello, Renda. It’s lovely to see you again.”
The silence took over for a moment. I let it.
“How interesting that I’d finally be invited to a business meeting,” she said, her voice as soft as it was cutting. “However, I’d expect to be seated in a boardroom. Not to awaken in a trussed-up prison cell.”
She wanted her poised demeanor to piss me off, but I saw the nervous way her mouth shook. I held on to my smile, not willing to show the satisfaction beneath it. I needed this to work. It had been a hard-won gamble, but now I was here to collect the winnings.
“You know it wasn’t really abduction, Renda.” I said. “It’s more like…a long-term business trip. It needed to be top secret to ensure a competitive edge. Big Pharma. Everyone wants to steal everyone else’s formulas.”
I took in the details as I talked. No trace of dust anywhere. The elegant lines of the furniture—straight from some fancy showroom in Uptown New York. The shelves, the table, all in perfect order. She had kept everything neat in the two days since we’d dragged her here. Of course she had. Nothing less would be acceptable to a woman like her. The controlled, crisp details stood in stark contrast to the single iron door that let me in and out of the room. The plain slip dress she wore wasn’t fancy, but it was Chanel. And her room, while it was a cell, I’d made it quite homey. I had also supplied her with cosmetics and salon-quality hair care supplies. But I wouldn’t give her everything. She stood in slippers instead of leather pumps.
I decided to crack her composure further. “You’ll be an essential part of creating a groundbreaking product, Renda. It will ensure you and Jules will be secure for the rest of your lives. It will also ensure you’ll live far longer to enjoy that fortune than you may have expected.”
Her eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch, but that was the only crack I saw. Her cool voice washed over me. “How interesting. It might have been nice for you to have asked for my permission to participate before you yanked me out of my car in the middle of the afternoon and hauled me to God knows where. I’m assuming this is why you would settle for my chubby little daughter. And I’m also assuming that since you couldn’t even hold on to that pathetic excuse for a fiancé, you resorted to felony.”
“Well, I had to get Jules to sign off on it, of course. I’m sure he had a very difficult time not telling you in the weeks leading up to completing the plan.” This was, of course a fucking lie. I just wanted to see the look on her face when she thought her own husband had been playing her.
Oh, the satisfaction of seeing that bitch’s face fall. It was a look best described as devastation for her to think her husbandof almost 30 years had sold her out. I wanted to laugh in her face, which was so plump with fillers it was hard for her to frown. But frown she did.
She lifted her eyes to mine. “Yes, I imagine it was quite difficult for him.”
I gave her a measured look, schooling my face to hide the delight. “No hard feelings, I hope. You know I’d never do you any harm, being a partner of Jules and all. It’s a precarious time right now. Everyone wants a piece of the new formula. We couldn’t take any chances. Powerful families have to watch out for one another. They always get involved in these matters.”
The arched brow again, this time more pronounced. “Indeed, they do.”
I pressed on. “We needed you in a secure location until everything was in place. Once the new formula has been perfected, you’ll be back in your loving husband’s arms.”
She was quick in her reply. “Do you know that many women don’t like to be treated like a possession?”
I almost lost it again, her turning my own obsession against me in such a cool, cruel way. But I played my part and kept my grip.
