“Oh, yeah.”She opens her eyes and tilts her head to look at me.“It’s on Stockholm Syndrome.”
My hands still.“Is that right?”
She nods, a dark little smile curving her lips.“Yes.Interesting subject, don’t you think?”
“Yes, fascinating,” I say drily.My pet is definitely getting bolder.Taunting me—likely in the hopes that I’ll punish her.
And I want to.My hands itch to bend her over my knee, hike up that giant T-shirt, and spank her perfectly shaped ass until it’s pink and red.My cock throbs at the image, especially when I imagine spreading open her cheeks afterwards and penetrating her tight little asshole—
Fucking stop thinking about it.I see Nora’s smile deepen as her eyes flick down to the bulge in my jeans.The little witch knows exactly what she’s doing to me, what kind of effect she’s having on my body.
“Yes, I’m loving it,” she murmurs, her gaze returning to my face.“I’m learning so much about the topic.”
I inhale slowly and resume rubbing her neck.“Then you’ll have to educate me, my pet,” I say calmly, as if my body isn’t raging with the need to fuck her.“I’m afraid I skipped Psychology at Caltech.”
Nora’s smile turns sardonic.“You’re just a natural then, aren’t you?”
I hold her gaze silently, not bothering to reply.There’s no need for words.I saw her, I wanted her, and I took her.It’s as simple as that.If she wants to label our relationship, to make it fit some psychobabble definition, she’s free to do so.
She’ll just never be free of me.
After a few moments, she sighs and closes her eyes, leaning into my touch again.I can feel her muscles slowly relaxing as I massage her shoulders and neck.The challenging expression fades from her face, leaving her looking peculiarly young and defenseless.With her eyelashes fanning over her smooth cheeks, she seems as innocent as a newborn fawn, untouched by anything bad in life.
Untouched by me.
For a moment, I wonder what it would be like if things were different.If I were just a boy she met in school, like that Jake I took her from.Would she love me more?Would she love me at all?If I didn’t take her the way I did, would she have been mine?
It’s foolish to wonder about that, of course.I might as well speculate about time travel or what I’d do if the world came to an end.My reality doesn’t allow for what-ifs.What if my parents didn’t die and I finished Caltech?What if I’d refused to kill that man when I was eight?What if I’d been able to protect Maria?If I think about all that, I’ll go insane, and I refuse to let that happen.
I am what I am, and I can’t change.
Not even for her.
“I talkedto my parents this afternoon,” Nora says as we sit down to dinner that evening.“They asked me again about visiting them.”
“Did they now?”I give her a sardonic look.“And is that all you talked to them about?”
Nora looks down at her salad plate.“I’m going to tell them soon.”
“When?”It pisses me off that she keeps acting like the baby doesn’t exist.“When you deliver?”
“No, of course not.”She looks up and frowns at me.“How do you know I didn’t tell them yet, anyway?Are you listening in on my conversations?”
“Of course.”I don’t listen in on everything, but I’ve eavesdropped a few times.Just enough to know that her parents remain in blissful ignorance of the latest development in their daughter’s life.Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have Nora think all her conversations are monitored.“Did you expect me not to?”
Her lips tighten.“Yes, perhaps.Privacy being a basic human right and all that.”
“There’s no such thing as a basic human right, my pet.”I want to laugh at her naïveté.“That’s a made-up construct.Nobody owes you anything.If you want something in life, you have to fight for it.You have to make it happen.”
“Like you made my captivity happen?”
I give her a cool smile.“Precisely.I wanted you, so I took you.I didn’t sit around pining and wishing.”
“Or dwelling on the construct of human rights, apparently.”Her voice holds just the faintest edge of sarcasm.“Is that how you will raise our child?Just take what you want and don’t worry about hurting people?”
I inhale slowly, noting the tension in her features.“Is that what worries you, my pet?”
“A lot of things worry me,” she says evenly.“And yes, raising a child with a man who lacks a conscience is fairly high on the list.”
