I quickly got dressed in a maxi dress. After, I slipped out of my room just as he had been leaving his own. My breath caught in my throat as I drank him in. There was something disturbing taking residence inside of me because I shouldn’t have been ogling my kidnapper, yet here I was. And damn, he was a sight to behold.
Decked out in all black from his jeans, T-shirt, and leather jacket, he looked to be a man on a mission. He even had black boots, which were different from the ones he usually wore.
“Like what you see, Bellezza?” he asked, and his mocking tone brought me back to the present.
“Do you own anything that isn’t black?”
“You don’t seem to mind the color one bit. However, you’re much more agreeable when I’m wearing nothing.”
“Get over yourself,” I replied flippantly.
“I’d rather be hovering over you, watching your face as you come. I can’t erase the sight of you biting your bottom lip as your entire body?—”
“Zarren,” I pleaded, mainly because I heard the sound of voices downstairs, and several at that.
“And how your eyes glaze over when I ram into a certain spot,” he said as he came closer to me.
I stepped back on instinct. “There are people downstairs.”
“All of whom I wouldn’t give a damn about if this was any other day. I’d fuck you for all to see,” he said, and I must’ve paledbecause he smirked. “And you would scream the damn roof down over us.”
“You’re a pervert,” I retorted.
“And you might give new meaning to that title. After all, you’re the one undressing me with your eyes.”
“Was not,” I exclaimed, even though I knew I had been. “Whatever,” I spat out when he chuckled once more. “I’m going downstairs.”
And on that, I decided to test my luck with the house guests. I’d started getting along well with Conor and Liam, so these others would be no different. That thought went out the window the moment I cleared the bottom step and four sets of new eyes turned in my direction.
The men were both blond, heavily tattooed, and looked positively dangerous. I gulped even as the one with the least amount of tattoos peeking out from his short sleeves smiled at me. “Miss Winslow,” he drawled.
“Aurora,” I said to him.
“Yes, of course. It’s nice to finally meet you in person,” he replied before stepping closer. As he went to extend his hand to me, a strong pair of arms yanked me backward and into a brick wall of muscle.
“These are my uncles,” Zarren said to me. “This one is Kingston.” He pointed at the one in the back, then at the one closest to me. “And this is Cillian. Their wives are right over there.”
The dark-haired one smiled at me as she came closer. “I’m Ekaterina.”
The redhead followed suit. “And I’m Reagan. It’s nice to meet you. We’ve heard a lot about you.”
I turned my head and peeked up at Zarren, who was still holding me tightly in his grasp. It was only when one of the mencleared his throat that his death grip loosened. “I’ll be back soon. You’re in good hands with the women.”
And with that, he released me completely and left, followed by the men who provided extra muscle. I shuddered to even think about what kind of business they were headed out to do.
Winter was always the worst for me, especially with the darkness lasting much longer than any light. It made my seasonal anxiety go haywire. I forced my mind to clear as I looked over at the women. They both sat down, with the dark-haired one in the oversized recliner and the redhead on the couch. She patted the space beside her.
“Join us, Aurora.”
Islowly took a seat beside the woman who’d told me that she’d heard a lot about me. Did that mean that she knew I had been kidnapped? Before I could even think about that, I inwardly cursed myself.
Of course they know.
Both women were staring intently as they tried to get a read on me. I’d never felt more uncomfortable in my skin before as I did in that moment. I fidgeted, which was a bad habit of mine whenever I was nervous. As I continued to bunch the silk material of my dress in my hands, I looked up at the sound of my name.
“Aurora,” the redhead said. “That’s a very beautiful name.”
“Thank you,” I replied more out of politeness than anything.
