She gave a light swing with her legs before dropping silently onto her tiptoes.
He saw her glance around, fixing her clothing.
Something about this girl had him feeling positively feral. When she came in for dinner, her scent hit him like a punch to the face; cinnamon and raspberries.
He wanted to hunt that scent.
Visions of her bent under him, wet and panting, right before he set her free in the woods, chasing her, finding her on scent alone.
Eric pressed his fingernails into his palm, breaking him free of his fantasies.
Daniela turned her back to him, and Eric had to stifle the growl that he felt welling up in him.
Seeing her back to him, seeing her making herself such easy prey, had him teetering on the edge of losing control.
“A little late for a midnight stroll,” he said, his cock twitching as she jumped.
Eric shuttered his expression before coming out of the shadows to greet her. Years of training meant she wouldn’t see any of the heat that was radiating just beneath the surface.
“What the fuck do you care?” she snapped.
Eric’s eyes ran across her oh-so-spank-able ass, before answering her. “You’re not going out dressed like that.”
Was that what he had meant to say?
She glared at him, but he didn’t miss the flush breaking out on her cheeks.
Whether he had meant to say it or not, now that the words were out there, Eric was sure he would follow through.
Daniela put her hands on her hips. “What makes you think I give a shit what you think?”
Turning, she moved to the edge of the balcony, and put her hands on the railing.
It was the second time she had turned her back on him, and she was about to learn why it was a bad idea.
Silently, he made his way to her as she hoisted a leg over the railing, intending to drop to the ground, just as she had done from the floor above. Grabbing her wrist, he used her own body weight against her. Daniela twisted, falling into him, a soft yelp coming from her full pink lips before Eric wrapped a hand around her mouth, pulling her back into him.
He could feel her heart hammering in her chest.
“I imagine,” he said, voice low in her ear, “that you are out at this late hour because you want to avoid detection.”
She tried to elbow him in the ribs, but he held her still. Her ass pressed into his hips and he tried to ignore the soft flesh pressing into his growing erection.
“That means you want to avoid unnecessary sounds.”
Taking his hand off her mouth, Eric spun her around to face him. Her cheeks were flushed, but the look she gave him was pure hatred.
“Now you are going to go back to your room, and go to bed, or I am going to throw you over my knee and spank you until your cries alert some of the guards.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she said, her voice changing to an icy tenor.
She was better than he could have hoped.
Not responding, Eric just stared at her. His face a mask.
Half of him wanted her to march upstairs and stay far away from him for the rest of their time here. The other half of him was screaming for her to stay, his hand itching to change that cold tone of hers to a pile of pleading want and need.
When she realized conversation time was over, she hesitated in front of him.
