“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean? That I’m a bad father?”
“No,” I reply, softening at once. “No, of course not, you’re a great father, Alexei. You just need to let your son live. See what you can do to give him a life outside this place, it’s what he deserves...”
“And that’s what you deserve too, huh?” he asks, moving closer to me again; where I’m standing, I’m pressed back againstthe counter, and the distance between us seems to narrow to nothing at all. My heart rises in my chest, pounding within me, and it takes everything I’ve not to react to his closeness in some way. I don’t even know what I want to say or do, but being apart from him has left me with a craving that I’m unable to fight off.
“It’s different for me,” I echo once more. “When you told me I would have to stay, I knew what I was getting into...”
“And what was that, exactly?” He laces his words with a pointed tone, clearly trying to coax more from me, and I don’t know where to start.
I swallow hard. My mind flashes back to all the times he has taken me, all the ways he has told me that he wants me, how he has made me, every time, tell him in no uncertain terms what is going through my head. And he wants that now, I can tell from the way he is looking at me, but I don’t know if I have it in me to come clean all of a sudden like that.
“Being near you again.”
He inches closer. His knee brushes against mine, just an inch or two away from shoving between my legs to open me up for him at once.
“And yet, you defy me,” he murmurs, shaking his head, sliding a hand to my waist. “What’s it going to take for you to understand that I call the shots here, Cara? For you to accept that I know better...?”
I part my lips, searching for some word of protest, but none comes to mind. It’s the strangest thing, this deep craving I’ve for his control over me. I should loathe it, but instead, I need it. Being able to give myself over to his control, to let go of everything that I’ve been holding on to and allow him to haveme in any way that he sees fit. My hands flex at my sides, and I can feel the air between us alight with desire as he waits for my response. As if it isn’t already written all over my face—as if I could deny it for another moment, given everything that has already happened...
“Tell me,” he continues, as he tugs me closer to him, our bodies pressed together there against the kitchen countertop. “What it’s going to take, and I’ll give it to you. What will it take for you to see that you need to trust me, Cara...?”
As soon as he speaks my name again, I move forward, pressing my lips to his; our mouths melt together helplessly as I gift myself to him once more, unable to deny it, unwilling to ignore the want that throbs down inside of me.
When I was standing in front of Vinski, Alexei was all I could think of, the weight of his body on mine, the feel of him inside of me, and now, I need to confirm to myself that his desire is just as real as his anger. That there is a part of him that I can still stir to life, even when he is clearly furious at me.
He hitches me off the ground and plants me down on to the counter, and I snake my arms around him as he pulls me to the edge, taking my legs and wrapping them around his waist almost insistently. His teeth sink into my bottom lip, rough and commanding, reminding me, without a shadow of a doubt, who is the one calling the shots here.
When he touches me like that, all the internal battles just seem to vanish, at least as long as it takes for me to reach my orgasm. All that I’ve tried to deny for so long has been reborn inside of me as this delicious taboo, turning the helplessness I once felt into something I crave with more intensity than anything else in my life.
“Fuck,” he grunts against my lips. “That bastard, if he had laid a hand on you...” He runs his palm across my thigh, pushing up the dress I changed into after my shower.
“He didn’t,” I whisper back, catching his face in my hands. “And even if he had, it wouldn’t have mattered...”
“Why not?” he demands, grinning, though he clearly already knows the answer. The fury he felt before seems to have faded, replace by something else, something that both of us long to sink in to.
“Because... because...”
“You belong to me.”
He finishes it up for me, already sensing where I’m taking the next part of the sentence. And, as he kisses he again, he makes no effort to wait for an answer, clearly enjoying the way that I sink in to him when he speaks to me like that.
Fuck, it’s impossible to deny it, just how badly I want him, even at a time like this. Even when we clash, the sparks that fly are just as passionate as they have ever been, and I can do nothing but give in to the way it feels to let him have me.
He pulls off my panties in a single motion, dropping them to the floor before us. I know it is risky to do it somewhere like this, where anyone could walk in and catch us, but I get the feeling that this is about more than just his lust for me. This is about claiming me, proving to himself that he still has me, even after Vinski tried to take me right out from under him.
He pushes his tongue into my mouth again as he reaches down to take his cock into his hand, and I wrap my arms around him, breathing in his aftershave. It’s hard to believe that I’m reallyback here, with him, after what happened. I can’t get enough of him. It reminds me that I’m here, that I’m alive, that I’m safe.
Even if I’m with the very man who caused me to be kidnapped in the first place.
He guides himself towards me, and for the first time, he doesn’t tell me to ask for what I want. He already knows, and I’m beyond the point of no return. The two of us might clash, but when we come together like this, none of that matters.
No, the only thing I give a damn about is feeling him inside of me, every inch of him, in any way that he is willing to give it to me.
Mercifully, he does not make me wait, as he moves himself against me, pressing his length against my slit for a moment before he thrusts all the way inside. I grab for him, clinging on for dear life as I press my face into his shoulder to keep from making too much noise. Fuck, the way he fits into me, it’s like we were made for each other, like we were built to come together like this.
My ankles hook around his back without a second thought, demanding as much of him as he will give me, and he does not hold back as he begins to drive himself deeper and deeper inside of me.
