Chapter 17 Lucie
SEVENTEEN
LUCIE
Idart to the side and run.
Run like my life depends on it.
Run like I’m being chased by a murderer. After all, I am.
All the while, wishing he’ll stop me, catch me, and give way to all my depraved fantasies.
The smell of cigarette smoke reaches my nose.
Something pulls at the back of my mind, a loose thread of a memory I can’t grasp.
Before I can reach it, I cry out in fear when I feel him catching up to me, his fingers grazing my arms before they reach for the loose threads of my scarf.
I discard it and abandon him behind, changing course and refusing to look back.
My nipples are tight against the fabric of my clothes, my body burning as I push it to its limits. Sweat coats my back.
“I’ll always catch you,” he taunts, his voice clearer.
I can’t resist this time and glance over my shoulder, seeing him too fucking close for comfort. He’s removed the helmet and runs after me with a half mask over the lower half of his face. Somehow, the view is so sinister, I scream, terrified and confused by my treacherous body’s reaction.
My lungs seize but I keep pushing. My legs burn and dizziness threatens to consume me. The edges of the forest appear, close enough to see the outline of the mansion, and I laugh. I’m winning. I’m winning.
I miss a step and catch a root with my left foot.
I stumble. My ankle rolls, and I cry out.
Flashing pain radiates from my foot up my leg, and terror at being caught spreads through me.
I pause, a hand on a tree to support myself.
I move my ankle one way and the other, wincing, but I don’t think it’s broken.
When I try to run again, a hand grabs my jacket and pulls me back against a hard chest. His body is hot against mine.
One arm bands against my stomach while the other locks around my throat.
The moan that leaves my chest is involuntary and embarrassing but I’m too far gone to care.
“Did you think I’d let you go?” my stalker whispers against my ear and I shiver in his arms, wiggling and trying to dislodge his hold on me. The hand around my throat tightens before he turns me around and slams me against the tree trunk next to us.
His eyes ensnare me, a brown so deep—and pupils so dilated—they almost looks black. Hunger and possession flash in the irises. A second thread weaving my memories together.
“Answer me, little rose,” he croons.
My eyelids flutter close and I shake my head, willing my pussy to stop fluttering like she’s having the time of her life.
He leans closer, his hard body moulding against the soft curves of mine. There’s no mistaking the erection pressing against my stomach.
“Are you going to fuck me?” I blurt out and he chuckles.
“Is that what you want? For me to chase you and fuck you? Down here on the forest floor?”
“Yes!”
“So eager. So fucking perfect,” he hums as he lowers his head against the crook of my neck and inhales deeply. “God, I’ve missed your smell.”
“You were in my flat yesterday.”
“I know you like it when I’m in your space.”
I should be running, fighting harder to free myself, but I have stopped moving, trembling with anticipation now. With his body so close to mine, I get a whiff of his scent, the last thread snapping into place as a lemony cologne with a hint of cigarette smoke makes its way into my head.
“Fuck me, Toma.”
He stops breathing, his hand flexing on my hip, and I smirk.
He wasn’t expecting it.
I wait with bated breaths for a response, for him to growl against my skin and rip my joggers down to impale me on his cock. I’m so needy with lust I feel like I could come just at the thought of his hands against my clit again.
Slowly, carefully, he lifts his head and meet my eyes. Wonder shines through and my breath hitches. Instead of arousal and the darkness that swirled inside just a few moments ago, something else greets me.
A vulnerability I’m not used to from anyone.
The hand at my throat lifts, before he pulls down his mask to reveal his full face. I should have recognised the proud brow and floppy brown hair. His jaw is clean shaven, his moustache begging me to lick his full lips parted open in awe.
Mesmerised, I take my time to devour the sight of his beautiful face, as if it were the very first time. The air between us grows taut with potential. My hands travel to his jaw, his cheeks, his lips. I caress the plump lower lip and he gives my fingers a reverent kiss.
Threading my hands behind his neck, he lets me pull him down to meet me in a kiss that shatters me from the inside out.
My eyes flutter close when our lips touch, his arms gathering me to his chest. It starts slow before it devolves into a hungry clash.
If he could get closer, he’d try. I slide my fingers through the strands of his hair, clutching him to me, lips devouring.
Our mouths move in sync to learn the taste of each other, the shape of the other.
I moan into his mouth and Toma clasps his hands through my hair, pulling at the roots to send a shiver from my skull to my toes.
“Lucie.”
My name on his lips is the answer to a prayer, filled with devotion and unshakeable desire.
Weeks of wanting him in secret culminate to this moment, tongues dancing with hunger, hands roving his muscular back.
I might have not known who he was but my subconscious did, always feeling safe in his presence, supported and held before I could ever get into his strong arms.
I want him. I want him so bad I forget my fall and my now-swollen ankle. I step forward and moan with discomfort.
Toma freezes and breaks the kiss.
“I’m fine,” I say before he can ask the questions, chasing his lips, but his hold on my hair stops me and I whine, low in my throat.
“What happened?” he asks sternly, frowning. His expression is murderous and I snicker. If he could kill the tree that hurt me, he probably would. And why does that warm my heart? It must be broken, that’s why. I have no other reasonable explanation.
“I… fell?” I say it like a question and bite my lip, because I already know what’s going to happen. I don’t want him to berate me, I want him to fuck me senseless. “But I’m fine, I promise.”
Yet, his grip remains like steel into my hair. When he finally lets me go, his fingers hover over my skin like he wants to learn every shape of my body. Then, he drops low and swoops me into his arms like I weigh nothing.
“Toma,” I squeal. “Let me down. I can walk.”
“Negative.”
He saunters back towards the path that leads to the main trail, bending at the knees to catch his helmet with one hand while still carrying me with the other.
I’m a bigger girl than most of my friends.
None of my lovers or anyone around me has ever said anything to make me feel bad about it, but it’s a very different ballgame to watch the man I want to climb like a tree carry me one-handed like I weigh nothing.
Lust pools inside me.
“I’m too heavy,” I complain and he pauses, looking me straight in the eyes with a dangerous edge of darkness lacing his next words.
“You’re perfect, Lucie. One mean word about yourself and I’m spanking your tight ass until you cry, got it? You already have multiple strikes against you, don’t make it worse by running your mouth.”
My throat goes dry and my thighs squeeze involuntarily. Strikes? What did I do? I want to push, to find out how deep his obsession with me goes, what his dark words promise.
His smirk is blinding, a reminder of the cocky motherfucker I remember from this summer. And I just know he’ll do it, too. There’s something about Toma switching between easy smiles and dark threats that has me enthralled.
“Yes, Sir.”
The monicker comes out unbidden and Toma growls against my neck, biting playfully, sending a shiver up my spine.
He marches out of the forest and climbs the stairs to the chalet with ease, his breaths even. I feel small against his hard chest and that’s not an easy feat. His collected demeanour hides something sharp and demanding, and I want to unravel every thread.
When he pushes the entrance door open, he makes it two steps into the chalet. Mina comes rushing out of the kitchen. The barrel of a gun greets us.
“Drop her,” Mina threatens. Her whole body is tensed and ready to snap, finger over the trigger. My friend’s warm brown eyes have taken on a cold edge I don’t recognise, fierce protectiveness shining through her stillness. If I weren’t so horny, I’d swoon at my friend’s protective instincts.
A mafia queen in her own right, trying to escape her fate just like I am.
Toma sighs like she’s an inconvenience. I wiggle to step in front of him but he doesn’t let me.
“It’s okay, Mina. This is Toma.”
Her jaw clenches and she doesn’t make a move to drop her weapon. Tension simmers between Toma and Mina.
“She’s hurt. I’m taking care of her.”
“And how did Lucie hurt herself, Toma?” she asks, his name sounding like an insult. Her accent is heavier with her anger and I have half a mind to hug her now.
“I tripped. It’s nothing. I promise. Can you please drop the gun? I… I know him.”
After what feels like hours, she lowers her arms but doesn’t engage the safety. Her gaze turns to me, filled with concern. “I’m fine,” I mouth, and she nods.
Mina remains silent, their exchange a fight of wills. Straightening up, she looks the massive beast of a man still holding me in his arms up and down, sneering like she finds him lacking. I have to pinch my lips together not to smile.
“How did you know we were here?”
“Look me up, Mina. The full name’s Toma Kova?. You’ll find all you need to know,” Toma answers cryptically.
My friend catches his meaning because she picks up the phone she had abandoned on the coffee table in front of the hearth, and dials someone, simply saying his name.
Toma doesn’t wait for whoever is on the other side of the line to clear him, he picks me up again and strides with purpose towards the bedroom I chose for myself.
“How do you know this is where I’ll sleep?”
“Your smell.”
The primal part of my brain preens at that.
When we enter the room, Toma deposits me on a love seat and goes back out, probably to get some ice for my ankle.
A little bark has me jumping off the seat and wincing at the pain. I drop back down and look for the source of that strange noise. I can’t believe my eyes.
How is a tiny Chihuahua standing on my bed?
My jaw drops. I can’t resist standing again, and hopping on one leg towards the bed. “Who are you?”
The little dog’s tail swishes side to side and it comes to me willingly, sniffing my hands and licking them. I laugh, turning sideways when Toma enters the room again.
“What are you doing up?” he asks roughly. “You need to sit down and let me care for you.”
I ignore him. There’s the more pressing matter of the dog on my bed. “Who’s this?”
“That’s Biscuit.”
Like that’s answer enough. I know for certain he doesn’t have a dog.
With efficient movements, he removes my shoes then lifts me up again and arranges me on the bed, against the headboard.
“Where does he come from?”
“She.” He answers as he props my leg on the pillows and places the bag of ice on my ankle. I hiss and he frowns, like my pain hurts him. “I found her.”
“Where?”
“Does it matter?”
The stern man’s face softens as he pets Biscuit’s little head, the gesture so human, so sweet for someone so … not.
“So, what now?”
“Now, you rest.”
I wiggle uncomfortably. That’s not how I thought my fantasy would go. Biscuit settles in my arms and I look up at Toma again. He’s standing by the side of the bed, hovering and towering over me, the massive expanse of his chest and strong arms a beacon for my hungry stare. I lick my lips.
“Stop looking at me like that,” he demands and his voice glides against my skin, having the absolute contrary effect. I very much want to devour him with my eyes, my lips, my teeth.
“Like what?”
“You know what, Lucie. Keep giving me the fuck-me eyes, and I won’t be able to hold myself.”
“What if I don’t want you to?”
“You’re hurt.”
“Barely,” I counter.
“It’s because of me.” His voice takes on a tortured edge and it dawns on me. He chased me through the woods, so in his mind, he’s responsible for my little accident. Except, I wanted to be chased. And caught. And now, I want the reward while adrenaline still courses through me.
“Can you put Biscuit in the bathroom please?”
His brow furrows but he does what I ask.
I beckon him to me with a finger and like a magnet pulled to me, he comes willingly. I’ve given so much and lost so much. I want to take.
I fist his tee-shirt with both hands, pulling him to me, lips so close to his I can feel his breath dusting over my mouth.
“You chased me through the woods. You caught me. Now. Take. Me.”