Chapter Twenty-Four
A Good Brushing
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F UMBLING WITH THE PACKAGING , Hannah pulled the toothbrush out of the plastic, her gaze meeting Lawes’ in the mirror.
She barely recognized herself. Her image was vaguely reminiscent of someone she knew, despite the chain running down between her breasts, but she couldn’t put her finger on who the woman staring back at them was.
He was right behind her then, his cock nudging at her lower back and reminding her they were both naked. As if she could forget, her cooling skin and sore ass constant reminders. Two naked strangers in the rundown bathroom. Two strangers caught in a web of both loathing and fascination...
Except they weren’t strangers, were they?
They knew each other.
They knew each other well.
“I’m going to watch you brush.” One of his hands rose to her shoulder and squeezed softly.
She watched its progress in the mirror, trying to decide how she felt about his touch, but there were no clear answers were Lawes was concerned.
She should hate him. She did hate him. So, why wasn’t she running for the door?
“We need to make sure you’re doing it properly. ”
If anyone else had made the demand, she’d have presumed they were joking, but not Lawes. The man with the hard, green eyes wasn’t one for saying things he didn’t mean. He’d been tormenting her for so long, she could scarcely remember what life had been like before him.
“ Now .” He gestured toward the toothpaste sitting behind the basin. “I’m waiting, little girl.”
Shifting in what seemed like slow motion, she grabbed the paste and flicked open the cap.
It wasn’t easy to move fluently with her hands still trapped by the leather and metal, but she didn’t even bother to ask if he’d remove the cuffs.
Lawes would free her when he was ready, and until then, she’d been through enough to know there were considerably worse ways he could have contained her.
Throat drying as she moved on autopilot, she lined the bristles with a tiny portion of the toothpaste and ran the brush briefly under the cold tap.
It was a task she’d performed hundreds of times before, but that time, she was naked, vulnerable, and being watched by the hawk-like gaze of her captor.
Reaching for the edge of the basin, she supported her weight.
No matter how many times he compelled her to act on his will, the power he wielded over her was never lost on Hannah.
She was without clothes because he’d determined she should be.
Exhausted and bound, she’d given in to sleep because it had been her only option.
Her focus flitted to his face in the glass.
My only option.
She’d tried to live without Lawes in her life, and after his conviction and several rounds of therapy, she’d believed she’d been successful, but in the end, where had that life led her?
Right back to him.
Despite her every rational impulse to get out of the horrible house, to get away from him and reclaim her freedom, the weight of his stare impaled her, suspending her there as their eyes locked.
He had her.
Like he’d had her many times before, but as the atmosphere in the bathroom thickened, she was conscious of something else.
She stayed there—in that room, in that moment—not only because she feared the repercussions of fleeing, but because, deep down, she wanted to.
She needed to know what would happen next.
She sought the satisfaction of his smile if she pleased him.
She craved the electricity of his touch.
It was wrong.
She knew it was, yet trapped between him and the basin, she couldn’t consider her culpability.
She’d been his victim more than once, and on both occasions, she’d yielded to the pleasure.
The swirling energy in the room was rising and appeared to be going straight to her head.
Staring into the mirror, she was giddy, as though she’d enjoyed one too many glasses of wine.
“And?”
He arched an eyebrow at her, the gesture accelerating her pulse and demanding that her hand lifted the brush to her mouth.
Pressing the paste to her teeth, she worked the brush up and down, trying to remember how she’d been taught to expedite the task.
If anyone was going to pick up on her bad habits, it would be the dental overlord pushing his cock into the small of her back.
Twisting the brush along her mouth, she tried to concentrate on making the best of the job, but the intensity of his attention was difficult to bear.
By the time she was ready to spit the excess paste into the basin, her heart was galloping at the look of his steely gaze.
Lowering over the sink, she was painfully aware of how nude they both were as she emptied the contents of her mouth.
He could have seized that moment and tried to fuck her, could have easily overpowered her the way he’d done so many times before.
As the seconds dragged on, a cold, knowing realization washed over that she might actually want him to.
Power, as it turned out, was one hell of an aphrodisiac.
It had elevated the professionally handsome Lawes into a god, whose needs, coupled with her own desire, had become the most important variables in her consciousness.
Straightening, she was suddenly aware of his hand on her hip as she rinsed the brush under the running water.
“How many times a day do you brush like that?” He looked intimidating as he judged her most recent performance.
“Twice a day, Mr. Lawes, sir.”
Placing the other toothbrush on the edge of the tub, his hand slid along her midriff until it cupped her left breast. She watched, as if in a dream, aware that it was her breast he fondled, yet too enthralled to respond.
The truth was, she liked the weight of his flesh around hers, her beading nipple confirming her inappropriate response.
She still wanted him.
Even though she should fucking hate him.
“Twice a day is good.” He purred the words into the side of her neck, his head lowering to plant hot caresses behind her ear, and God help her, she longed for those sensual kisses. “But we need to work on your method.”
“Yes, sir.”
She didn’t think there was anything wrong with her technique. Years of being petrified of dentists had meant she’d got good at honing whatever was necessary to keep her oral hygiene in good shape, but dropping the brush into the basin, she sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him that.
His kisses were so good, especially on the sensitive skin of her nape, and whether she deliberately intended to or not, she found herself exposing her throat and allowing him greater access there.
“You’ll need your brush.” His chuckle vibrated along her skin, causing her breath to come harder and faster than before. She should resist him. She knew she should, so why wasn’t she? “Pick it up, little girl.”
“Yes.” Clutching at the sink, she inched closer and felt for the plastic handle while his caresses decorated her neck.
“Do you have it?” His hand tightened at her breast, sliding to her puckered teat and lengthening the nipple as far as his digits allowed. She moaned at the act, her hips rolling forward as she clasped the brush.
“Yes, Mr. Lawes.”
“Let’s focus then.” His kisses vanished from her skin, his body straightening in the mirror behind her. “Into position again.”
She lifted her arms, noticing the way her chained wrists trembled as they rose.
“Let me help you.” His free hand levitated toward hers, encasing the palm holding the brush. “I’ll show you how. Open up.”
Her lips parted on command, her focus fixed on their reflection as he guided the head of the brush back into her mouth.
“Like this , little girl.” He steered the bristles over her teeth in precisely the way she’d just demonstrated, but she stood, hypnotized as he took control of the brush. “Small circles around the tooth, making sure you clean all the way to the gums.”
Watching him commanding her body was mesmerizing, and pinned against him, even she couldn’t believe the power he exerted.
He’d ordered her to do embarrassing and awful deeds in the past, but she couldn’t remember ever being so absorbed by his performance.
The difference was, for the first time, there was no genuine fear or coercion on her part.
He could have used force to have his way, but it was as though they’d both acknowledged that threat was no longer necessary.
Hannah was going to do what he asked, not because he demanded it, but because she was desperate to.
All those years she’d been free, and he’d been locked away, she’d buried those dark passions, but then there he was—larger than fucking life.
He needn’t be cruel to guarantee her compliance.
He’d witnessed the undisclosed desires she’d kept hidden inside her for too long.
With Lawes, there was nothing left to hide.
She was passive as he steered the brush from her mouth and guided it back to the edge of the basin.
“Think you can remember how?”
She witnessed his hand as it left her brush and rose slowly back to her face, hardly flinching at its arrival. In fact, as it skimmed her heated cheek, she actually welcomed his touch.
A part of her acknowledged how ridiculous it was to welcome the caress of her captor , yet watching his fingertips slide to her parted lips, she already knew what she wanted.
Him.
On her. Against her. In her.
He’d become way more than only her kidnapper, and the visceral chemistry in the bathroom suggested they were both aware of the transformation.
“Suck.” He pushed past her lips, his breath becoming labored as she took in the digits and did just that.
The hand at her chest snaked to her other breast, giving it the same attention, and sucking hungrily on his fingertips, she was ravenous for everything he had to offer.
“Sir.” She groaned around his fingers. “I want you.”
It was wrong to tell him so.
So fucking wrong.
Dangerously iniquitous.
Yet, after everything they’d been through, Hannah couldn’t see any reason not to be honest. Surely, he could tell her feelings, anyway? Her tightening buds and throaty mewls no doubt revealed her true inclination, and if he was to brush a fingertip over her sex, he’d know just how excited she was.
“I know, little girl.” His tone was neither arrogant nor imploring. It settled somewhere between the two, completed with a trace of what sounded like reverie. “Don’t worry. You’re going to have me.”
Drawing his digits from her mouth, he spun her to face him, and before she even had time to respond to the change of tack, he swooped. Hand cradling the back of her head, his fingers fisted her hair as his lips crashed into hers, and with one reflexive groan, she gave herself to him.