“Just watching you, Sir.”I reached for his hand, wrapping my fingers around his cooling digits.“And thinking.”
“There’s my Caroline.”Squeezing my fingers, he dropped my hand before wrapping me up in his warm embrace.“The woman who always has ideas churning in her head.”
“Actually, most women do, Sir.”
It was easier to be bolder with him without the walls of Fortorus looming large around me.He was still in charge.Even then, as we both fled from the sickening system he’d helped to create, he was the one with the fragments of control; the gun in his bag and the wad of cash he’d stuffed in there along with the clothes I’d packed, but the dynamic between us had already shifted.Things were different.Harper might, in so many ways, still be my master, as he’d so eloquently pointed out to me, but he was no longer the commander general, and as soon asCarladocked on European soil, we’d no longer be in his jurisdiction.
His dark eyebrow arched, producing the usual rush of excited trepidation the gesture always provoked, but instead of the sharp admonishment I was used to, only a low chuckle met my ears.
“I know that.”His voice was a soft purr, that same one he employed when he took me to bed.“But remember to watch that tone, young lady.”
I smirked at the chastisement, unusually emboldened.In the old days, I’d have either been on the brink of the best sex of my life or about to have been horrendously rebuked for my sass, but my simmering excitement recognized the changed circumstances.He could reproach me all he liked.He might even try to pull me over his lap for some sort of impromptu penance, but the connection between us on that boat was built on more than only my unconditional obedience.
Standing there, his authority over me was tangible, but its foundation was built on something more akin to trust and desire than fear and compliance.If he wanted to spank me on that deck, or even in the berth below, he’d do so because I surrendered that authority to him; because for the first time I gave him that power over me.
The contrast was visceral.
“Are you going to punish me, Sir?”My tone was intentionally goading, belying the apprehension still fizzing inside.“Because, if you are, I’m going to need you to fuck me afterward.”
His brow rose.Evidently, my self-proclaimedmasterhadn’t been expecting that response.“Who’s this plucky new woman, little girl?You’re going to have to introduce me.”
I smiled at his droll tone, one hand flattening against his sweater.“Someone who loves you, Sir.”
Catching my wrist, he tugged my hand up to graze a kiss at my knuckles.“If you want me to fuck you, you only have to ask.”
“Yes, please, Sir.”My reply was breathy, the huskiness half inspired by the passion he promised, and half by my lingering sense of uncertainty.Whatever happened next, we were refugees, people without citizenship, with no country and no real rights.That forbidding reality was something I’d already had to deal with in my own country, but it would all be new to a man like Harper, and I didn’t know how he’d deal with the change.“I can’t think of a better way to usher in our new beginning.”
“Then, let’s go.”Taking my hand, he guided me toward our berth without looking back.“Let’s see if I can stop your mind from whirring for a while.”
I laughed as he led the way, following along as I always had, but deep down, that gnawing awareness inside confirmed that things between us had changed all right.Despite the danger we were still in, the crippling ambiguity we faced, and not even knowing where we’d call home, even though he was still in charge, something fundamental had altered.
I was no longer his plaything, no longer his to use as he chose.From that moment on, Adam Harper was mine.
Chapter Two
Adam
