“You shouldn’t be here.”
Suddenly, the sounds of the forest are loud in my ears. The buzzing of insects, the nearby stream, far away cars driving along the main road. It all comes to me then disappears around him, as if he exists only in a vacuum. My knees buckle.
I cast a glance behind him, estimating how far from the house I am.
My stalker lifts the visor of his helmet, his eyes piercing me with their intensity. I can’t make out the colour but I revel in the shiver running along my skin at finally seeing them. I’ve dreamt of them. In my nightmares, my mind has chosen warm familiar brown eyes. Toma’s eyes. My stalker has the same built, and wishful thinking makes me hallucinate.
He shakes his head.
“Dont run,Ružica moja.”
I disobey.
SEVENTEEN
LUCIE
Idart to the side and run.
Run like my life depends on it.
Run like I’m being chased by a murderer. After all, I am.
All the while, wishing he’ll stop me, catch me, and give way to all my depraved fantasies.
The smell of cigarette smoke reaches my nose. Something pulls at the back of my mind, a loose thread of a memory I can’t grasp. Before I can reach it, I cry out in fear when I feel him catching up to me, his fingers grazing my arms before they reach for the loose threads of my scarf. I discard it and abandon him behind, changing course and refusing to look back.
My nipples are tight against the fabric of my clothes, my body burning as I push it to its limits. Sweat coats my back.
“I’ll always catch you,” he taunts, his voice clearer.
I can’t resist this time and glance over my shoulder, seeing him too fucking close for comfort. He’s removed the helmet and runs after me with a half mask over the lower half of his face. Somehow, the view is so sinister, I scream, terrified and confused by my treacherous body’s reaction.
My lungs seize but I keep pushing. My legs burn and dizziness threatens to consume me. The edges of the forestappear, close enough to see the outline of the mansion, and I laugh. I’m winning.I’m winning.
I miss a step and catch a root with my left foot. I stumble. My ankle rolls, and I cry out. Flashing pain radiates from my foot up my leg, and terror at being caught spreads through me. I pause, a hand on a tree to support myself. I move my ankle one way and the other, wincing, but I don’t think it’s broken. When I try to run again, a hand grabs my jacket and pulls me back against a hard chest. His body is hot against mine. One arm bands against my stomach while the other locks around my throat.
The moan that leaves my chest is involuntary and embarrassing but I’m too far gone to care.
“Did you think I’d let you go?” my stalker whispers against my ear and I shiver in his arms, wiggling and trying to dislodge his hold on me. The hand around my throat tightens before he turns me around and slams me against the tree trunk next to us.
His eyes ensnare me, a brown so deep—and pupils so dilated—they almost looks black. Hunger and possession flash in the irises. A second thread weaving my memories together.
“Answer me, little rose,” he croons.
My eyelids flutter close and I shake my head, willing my pussy to stop fluttering like she’s having the time of her life.
He leans closer, his hard body moulding against the soft curves of mine. There’s no mistaking the erection pressing against my stomach.
“Are you going to fuck me?” I blurt out and he chuckles.
“Is that what you want? For me to chase you and fuck you? Down here on the forest floor?”
“Yes!”
“So eager. So fucking perfect,” he hums as he lowers his head against the crook of my neck and inhales deeply. “God, I’ve missed your smell.”
“You were in my flat yesterday.”
