Chapter 17 Kateřina #2
He walks away, leaving me alone with him.
How good he looks in his work attire. Black slacks, perfectly tailored to sculpt his tall, athletic frame. His black shirt is unbuttoned at the top, just enough to reveal the inked patterns on his back, creeping up the sides of his neck.
I have a strange feeling around him; I don’t know what exactly it is. I’m not awkward or scared—not at the moment—but I’m not relaxed or calm, either.
He fixes his eyes on me and scans me from head to toe. Now I feel awkward. Why is he looking at me like this?
“It’s rude to stare.” I cross my arms.
“It’s rude to be so damn irresistible in the middle of the day.” His brow shoots up.
I instantly feel my cheeks flush. I force myself to meet his gaze, refusing to show how much he’s affecting me.
I narrow my eyes. “You’re crossing the line.”
He steps forward until he’s close enough to make me crane my neck and meet his dark green eyes.
“Am I?” His voice drops. “Because right now, I could make you regret that look in your eyes. You don’t want to test me.”
My jaw flexes. “You’re a bastard,” I whisper, the words barely escaping my lips.
His grin sharpens. “You have no idea how much worse I can be.” He steps closer, making my pulse spike and my eyes drop lower. I back away without thinking, only stopping when the counter presses against my lower back. “But maybe you’ll find out.”
I’m trapped.
Again.
My lashes flutter involuntarily, refusing to rise and meet his gaze.
Looming over me, he slowly unties my arms and let them fall to my sides. He grabs my chin and lifts my head to look at him. My emotions are all over the place. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way, but I try to relax, obeying his commanding gesture.
“Do you still want to kiss me?” he asks, his breath hammering against my lips. My breathing becomes shallower, and I feel my fingertips going numb. Do I?
“Uhm”—I swallow—”what?”
He hums slowly—it’s almost like a growl.
His fingers tighten slightly on my chin, tilting my face further up. His eyes burn into mine.
Intense. Dark. Consuming.
“You heard me,” he murmurs, his lips barely a breath away from mine. “Do you still want to kiss me?”
My lips part, but I still have no answer. Wanting and surrendering are two different things, and right now, I don’t know which is worse.
“You can say no, little rose,” he hisses, his fingers tracing the curve of my jawline. “But we both know you won’t.”
He’s close. God, too close. I can almost feel his body pressing against mine.
The fear licking up my spine isn’t from him. It’s from me. From the way I don’t pull away. From the way my body betrays me, drawn to him like a moth to a flame. From the way I already know how this will end.
“Last chance,” he murmurs, his breath warm against my lips. “Do you want me to stop?”
The absolute horror isn’t that he’s asking. It’s that I’m not sure if I want him to.
His other hand descends on me and grabs my ass firmly while his dark eyes remain fixed on mine. “You’re such a good girl, Kate?ina, you know that?”
He lowers his other hand to my ass as well, and his grip tightens as he lifts me effortlessly, placing me on the cold kitchen counter. My breath stutters.
He steps between my legs, caging me in, his fingers pressing firmly against my thighs. Possessive. Obsessive.
“Almost too good,” he whispers, brushing his soft lips on my neck, causing goosebumps all over my body.
“So ready to be ruined.” His hand lowers and slides into my black jean shorts and under my black lace thong.
“So fucking wet for me already,” he growls, his teeth grazing my skin.
Slowly, he rubs my clit, sending shockwaves all over my body, leaving me craving more.
Unable to hold it back, a soft moan escapes my lips.
“Yes, Kate?ina. Tell me how good it feels.”
My breathing hitches. “Why are you doing this to me?”
His lips brush on my cheek. “Because you’ve infected me.” He slides a finger inside me, making me moan louder. “You consume my mind. Your scent, your smile, your taste—they’ve sunk so deep I can’t tear them out.”
A second finger joins the first and curls inside me, stroking my walls, and my legs already shake from pleasure.
“That’s it. Let go. Give into me.”
I tangle my fingers through his hair and grip it tightly, pulling him closer to me. His other hand grips my throat tightly, almost choking me. But I don’t pull back. I don’t protest. A pleasurable euphoria numbs my brain, leaving me unable to think straight as if I’m drunk.
“Give me everything,” he demands, his lips barely brushing my ear. “I want it all, Kate?ina. I want your love, your pain, your tears, your screams. Give yourself to me. Body and soul.”
I can’t breathe—I can’t think. The only thing I know is how much I want him right now. And I hate it.
I want more.
“C-Cain,” I mumble, unable to hold it back as his fingers become more violent inside me.
“Say it.”
“Don’t stop.”
I can feel his lips curling into a twisted smirk against my skin.
And then, he takes his fingers out of me and pulls back. My eyes widen, and my body freezes. What happened?
His gaze remains locked on me, dark yet amused. He shakes his head slowly.
“You’re such a bad girl after all, Kate?ina.” His voice is low, almost mocking. “And bad girls don’t deserve rewards.”
“What the fuck do you want from me?” I snap, jumping off the counter, my blood boiling.
He steps closer, reducing the distance between us, and traps me between his body and the counter again.
“I was clear with you from the beginning.” His fingers trail up my arm. Slow. Possessive. He brings his lips close. “You are mine. All mine. And all I want is for you to admit it.”
“I will never!” I spit.
His smirk deepens, his hand curling around my throat again.
“You will, sugar. And when you do, you won’t just admit it.
You’ll beg for it,” he whispers, making my lashes flick.
“You’ll beg me to defile your little pussy the way I’ve imagined since the moment I first saw you again.
Remember, r??i?ko?” His fingers trace my jaw before gripping it, forcing me to meet his gaze.
“Five months ago. The day you arrived in LA. You walked down that street so sweet, so innocent. And you saw me watching. You smiled at me, oblivious to the obsession you had created.” His grip tightens just enough to make my pulse stutter.
“You had no idea what you did to me. No idea that from that moment on, you were never going to be free.”
“You’ve been stalking me since then?” My breath gets shallower, listening to this confession.
“I made sure you ended up here. I walked the same streets as you in Prague. I watched you laugh with your so-called friends. I was there.” He leans in closer. “I owned you from the moment I saw you. You were mine long before you ever realized it.”
A shiver races down my spine. My emotions are conflicted while listening to his delirium.
“I was in every dark corner you pretended didn’t exist, every hallway you thought was safe, every door you thought you locked. I heard you at night, watched you when you thought you could finally breathe. You were never alone.”
My stomach twists, and my breath catches in my throat.
“And I know you were waiting to see me again,” he murmurs, his gaze never leaving mine. “Every day. I’ve watched you—I’ve seen your eyes scanning the crowd, desperate for a glimpse of me. I’ve seen the darkness in them when you couldn’t find me.”
“Why?” A tear runs down my cheek. “You could have everything. Why me?”
“Because,” he says, his voice growing darker, “you’re the one who showed me just how alone you are.
You’re the one who let me see that emptiness the moment you looked at me.
You don’t even realize it, but that hollow space inside you is exactly what I was waiting to fill.
You’re not an option, little rose. You’re my obsession.
The bane that burns through my veins, consuming me from the inside out. ”
He wipes away the tear with his thumb, a sickening sense of satisfaction in his eyes, savoring my helplessness.
“Let me go,” I whimper, my voice trembling, my body shaking with the cold terror coursing through me.
He hums softly, a cruel smile spreading across his face. “Fine.”
“What?” My heart skips a beat.
“Go,” he growls as he gestures toward the door.
“The door is open. Go ahead, try. But don’t fool yourself.
I will follow. You can try to run, but the moment I catch you, it’s over.
No more running, no more bullshit. I’ll drag you back to me until you’re begging me to stay.
” He leans in, his lips brushing the shell of my ear.
“And you will beg. Because when I’m done with you, you’ll never be able to live without me.
I gave you chances just to watch you waste them. This is the last.”
He pulls back, his eyes locking onto mine.
“Go. Run!”