Chapter 6 – Amanda
Locking my apartment door, I trudged to the elevator. My flip-flops slapped against the carpeted hallway, obscenely loud at this late hour.
“I just need to sleep,” I muttered as I pushed the button in the elevator for the top level.
If the red wine didn’t help me pass out, exercise was the next best choice.
I plucked at my loose cotton shirt. The swimsuit bunched underneath.
I adjusted the grip on my bag containing my swim cap, goggles, and earplugs.
By the time the doors opened, I took one look at the pool and decided to hit the sauna instead.
Warmth enveloped me as I entered the cedar space. After cranking the heat and sluicing water on the hot stones, I sank onto the hewn wooden bench. It was time to dissect recent events and process my life.
In the space of a day, I had both a fiancé and a stalker—or a fiancé and a deranged mind.
I shivered against the warm wood. Lying down, I threw an arm over my eyes. There was a food baby in my stomach, a buzz in my veins, and the rest of me was ready for a good night’s sleep. But my brain refused to shut off until I processed every scrap of information.
Earlier, I’d made the mistake of pulling out a legal pad and pen to hash out the situation.
My brain spun until I was ready to scream.
When the clock struck one, I’d come up here to relax.
The twin problems should be able to wait until tomorrow, when I could assess them with fresh eyes.
That was why I’d left the messy yellow pad on my kitchen counter.
I knew better than to try to write a pro/con list after dancing with a bottle of red.
It can wait!
With a huff, I began some deep breathing exercises to clear my mind. At this rate, I would have to take two sleeping pills and meditate. But that would spell out disaster for tomorrow’s productivity.
A loud beep muffled through the door of the sauna. The lights whizzed and blinked out, as did the heater. I sat bolt upright, staring into the dark. The power was out. It was still warm in here, but the lack of puffing steam brought a temperature shift.
“What the hell?” I muttered.
The blackouts that plagued the metropolis weren’t a problem here, because high-end buildings like this had backup generators. When thirty seconds passed and the power was still out, I pushed to my feet.
The door to the sauna opened.
I shot backward with a gasp. Someone entered.
The skin on the back of my neck felt as though it’d come in contact with a live wire. It tingled and zapped wildly.
“Hello?” I hated how small my voice sounded. Clearing my throat, I tried again. “What’s going on?”
The door shut, but the spectral presence was strong enough that my lizard brain sensed the other being. A raw energy sizzled through the dark. Knees cracked, and the sound of someone sitting on the bench across from me made my heart skip a double beat.
As quietly as I could, I took a step toward the door.
A deep, gravelly voice broke the darkness like a thunderclap. “You always did have a problem with following directions, Amanda.”
I stifled a scream. This wasn’t happening! It was one thing to read about these scenarios, but that was supposed to stay fiction. A dark fantasy to delight the inner urge for something wicked.
There was no closing the book. This nightmare was real.
My stalker was here.
Breathing hard, I tiptoed in the direction of the door. My heart thumped like crazy. Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
His voice was deadly calm. “You disobeyed me.”
A scream caught in my throat. Terror crashed into me with a blinding force.
“Now, I’m going to punish you.”
Fumbling with the handle for too many seconds, I bolted.
Somehow, I had the presence of mind to slam the sauna door behind me. In the glow of the emergency EXIT sign, I raced through the locker room and took the first door to the left. Stumbling into the dark weight room, I moved as quickly as possible around the equipment.
Solid steps fell behind me. Each was sure and precise. He wasn’t in a hurry as he navigated the red tinted gloom. I hit my knee against a workout bench, slammed my toe into a rack of weights, and almost tangled myself in a machine.
That rough voice rang out behind me. “You run, I follow.”
I scooted between the treadmills.
“You hide, I hunt.”
With a squeak, I leapt over something. My feet hit the ground with a thud.
“That’s how this works now.” His rough chuckle was full of a dangerous promise. “I’ve been waiting a long time to play with you, Amanda.”
I didn’t risk looking over my shoulder. I heard him over the blood buzzing in my ears.
The monster was coming for me. And there was no escape.
It didn’t stop me from trying.
Pushing blindly through the next door, I tripped onto the pool deck. I shot a wild look around, searching for someone—anyone!
But I was the only tenant crazy enough to be up here this time of night.
The temperature change made my skin crawl. Chlorine stung my exhausted eyes, but at least the skyline through the wall of windows gave me enough light to see.
In my disoriented state, I didn’t head toward the doors for the amenity center’s lobby. Instead, I shot to the left, but the far door was locked. I spun around.
Only to realize the man was between me and escape.
I lifted my palms. “Don’t come any closer. I’m proficient in self-defense!”
There was a smile in his voice. I heard it despite his face being concealed with a black cloth mask. “Oh, Amanda, I was hoping you’d fight back.”
It wasn’t logical. It wasn’t sane!
But that gruff response set off an unwanted spark in my chest.
I took a defensive stance. He took one step. And then another. My heart hammered against my ribs. He wasn’t going to hurt me. I wouldn’t let him! When he closed the distance, I threw myself into every punch, jab, and kick. I struggled. I doled out every violent combination from muscle memory.
It wasn’t enough.
The monster met every blow, judged every attack as though he’d been sparring with me for years. Moments later, he lunged and caught me in an iron grip. My back slammed against the thick panes of glass. The air left my lungs in a whoosh right before his gloved fingers closed around my throat.
“Beautifully done, little one. You’ve learned well,” he murmured.
My stupid body responded with a violent rush of something I didn’t want to name.
This wasn’t how I should respond! I was an independent woman, never cowed by a man.
I gripped his forearm that held my throat, trying to claw at him.
But he only closed the distance, pressing part of his body against mine.
He was warm. Hard. Powerful.
“I like this side of you.” Those words were a seductive, velvety purr. “But I’m in control now.”
An embarrassing little whimper squeaked up my throat as heat pulsed low. Right between my legs. That strip of my swimsuit grew hot and damp.
Self-loathing bubbled inside me. “Why are you doing this?”
He sounded a touch surprised, but my brain was fuzzy. Maybe he was just happy. “Isn’t it obvious?”
I shook my head.
“You said yes when you should have said no.” He squeezed me hard as I jerked. “And if anyone is going to destroy you, it will be me.”
Oh, good lord, if that wasn’t the hottest offer anyone had ever made me—
What is wrong with me?!
I tried and failed to pull myself free.
“You know what I think?” he continued, his other hand tracing down the side of my ribs.
The contact made my nipples tighten, and I prayed he didn’t notice.
This was not something meant to be enjoyed!
Yet everything about this encounter called to a wild, deranged part of me that craved this contact. “I think you like this.”
Guilty. I was freaking guilty of that truth!
“I’ve been watching you.” His voice dripped an intoxicating venom. There was something in the way he spoke, as if I knew that voice from a dream. But I couldn’t place it. Couldn’t remember. “I have a hunch this is exactly what you need.”
I jerked and tugged, fighting hard to struggle out of his hold.
An impossibility.
“Should we see if I’m right?” The tip of his glove traced along my chest, right where the swimsuit hugged my skin.
“Go to hell,” I spat with what little air he allowed me.
His chuckle lacked mirth, cutting through the space between us. “I’ve already been there.”
“I bet you have,” I seethed. “I bet you’re such a monster, the devil spit you back out!”
He clicked his tongue. “You’ve got a mouth on you, ragazza. Pity I don’t trust you enough to put it to good use.”
As he spoke, he shifted his hand under my jaw and pressed his thumb firmly against my bottom lip.
There was something deeply wrong with me. Because just that firm, commanding touch sent a throb between my legs.
The worst part, the bastard in front of me knew exactly what was happening. His rough laugh said it all.
With a fast flick of movement, he spun me around, caging me against his body. I felt him everywhere. The hard cut of his chest against my spine. The corded muscles of his arm crushed my ribs. The thick outline of his cock dug into my lower back.
He was huge.
And he was just as turned on by this as I was.
“You see what happens when you run?” The soft material of his mask rubbed against my cheek.
I stretched away, bending my neck hard to the side to escape him. He proceeded to draw the tip of his nose down the length of my throat.
“I know you, Amanda,” he promised. “I know what your body wants, and you haven’t been getting it.”
With that, his touch skated up my inner thigh.
I froze. There was nowhere to run, no place to hide. I hated that he was going to find out just how right he was.
“You’re sick!” I hissed. “Twisted! Demented—”
Two fingers swiped under my swimsuit.
The touch was electric, and I had to swallow the groan.
It was fast. There and done. But he held his fingers up, letting the light from the city fall on the black material of his glove and the slick evidence coating it.