Chapter 14 #2
Aside from their banter, the afternoon in the garden had been sweet.
He’d packed food for them, sandwiches and brownies, along with a thermos of steaming hot tea.
He’d packed a tarp for them to sit on as well as some blankets, so they didn't get wet sitting on the cold wintery ground.
He fussed like a mother hen, making sure her coat was buttoned up even when she got warm from walking, adjusting her scarf whenever it slipped a little and didn't completely cover her skin.
He'd even roared obscenities into the silent woods when he’d realized he’d forgotten to give her a beanie to wear, and pulled one out of the picnic basket hard enough she was sure he would have ripped the thin material. But when he tugged it onto her head, he was almost impossibly gentle.
For a while, she’d almost been able to pretend that he wasn't her captor, that she wasn't a prisoner, that they were just two people strolling through the forest. They didn't talk a whole lot, Steel seemed more comfortable with the silence, and honestly, she was too.
When it had started to get dark and he told her it was time to head back to the house, her spirit started to drop.
This had been a perfect afternoon, but now it was back to reality.
She’d be taken back to her room, locked in, left there until he decided she was allowed out for respite, for a breath of fresh air.
A pet.
That’s what she felt like. One he’d realized he had to walk if he didn't want it to go crazy and start destroying things.
Only she wasn't a pet, she was a real person, and she didn't want to spend twenty or so hours a day locked up in a single room.
Her mind searched for a reason not to be locked up again, one that didn't sound as desperate as she felt. As a kid, when she lived with Ridge, it had been easier to accept being his prisoner because she honestly hadn't known any better. That had been her entire life, all she’d ever known.
But now she’d had a taste of freedom.
Five years of being able to make all her own choices, do whatever she wanted when she wanted, and going back to being a prisoner again was a whole lot harder than she’d thought it would be.
“Can I cook dinner?” she blurted out as she trudged up the porch steps. The Gothic mansion was stunning. It looked like something out of a movie set, and yet to her it may as well have been plain concrete walls. A prison was still a prison even if it was a beautiful one.
“Cook dinner?”
“For everyone,” she added. It was a bit of a lame excuse, but at least it would buy her a couple of hours, depending on what she cooked. “I swear I won't add any poison to it or anything.”
“Brat.” He chuckled as his hand came lightly down on her backside. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, the welts there were healing well, but the jolt was enough to bring her body closer to his, and she found he’d shifted so he was in front of her, meaning she was bumped up against him.
The bulge in his pants pressed into her stomach, and she kept expecting him to shove her to her knees, unzip himself, and force her to take him in her mouth or her hands. After all, she was his prisoner, and it was more than obvious that he was attracted to her.
But he’d never once done that.
Usually, he just palmed himself, shifting the extremely impressive bulge a little, and then continued like he wasn't hard as a rock. Didn't guys hurt when they were hard like that, but didn't do anything about it? Or if they didn't hurt, then at least they got uncomfortable?
She was certainly uncomfortable.
Rose kept having to squeeze her legs together because there was a throbbing between them that made her want to slip her fingers there to do something about it.
She’d never done that before, didn't even know what to do really. Well she knew the basics because obviously she edited romance novels for a living, but she’d never had any practical experience.
Never wanted to.
Until now anyway.
This crazy, dangerous man, who she hated even though she was finding that maybe she didn't, had her body so confused it didn't even know what it wanted anymore.
Or maybe the problem was that her body knew exactly what it wanted, but her head didn't.
“You can cook us dinner,” Steel agreed as his large hand grasped her elbow and he guided her inside.
For a man she knew had super-human strength, he touched her with great care and gentleness. If he wanted, he could snap her in two. There would be nothing she could do to stop it, but he didn't.
In the foyer, he began to undress her, removing her beanie, then sliding the mittens off her hands. “You know I can do that myself,” she reminded him when he began to unwind the scarf from around her neck.
“Mmhmm,” he said, his voice low, almost seductive, and she knew it was no accident that his fingertips skimmed her pulse points as often as he could.
“And believe it or not, I do know how to unbutton a coat,” she added when he brushed away her hands as she tried to do it.
“You have a broken arm.”
“But I'm not helpless.”
“No,” he agreed. “Not helpless, little ladybug.”
His words weighed on her as he led her through the house.
They were simple words, but they felt like they had a whole lot of meaning behind them.
She got that she wasn't what they’d expected when they’d decided to kidnap Ridge’s sister, but she didn't really know what Steel saw when he looked at her.
“Have fun?” Blade asked, looking up from his laptop as they entered the kitchen.
“The grounds are gorgeous,” she replied, because she wasn't ready to admit to anyone, not even herself, that she had enjoyed having Steel at her side as they wandered the gardens.
“Little ladybug is going to cook dinner,” Steel announced.
“Oh?” Thunder looked surprised as he strolled into the room.
“You'd rather lock me back in my pretty little prison?” she asked, arching a brow at him. At least he had the grace to look slightly chastised.
“We’ve never had a …”
“Prisoner,” she supplied for Thunder with a sweet smile.
“Brat,” Steel murmured from behind her, his breath warm against her ear as he leaned in to whisper the word.
“But Thunder is right. We haven’t done this before.
But you're wrong, little ladybug, you're not our prisoner. You're a guest and you should be treated as such, so I won’t lock you in your room. Don’t make me regret that.” His hand brushed across her backside as he spoke, and she knew he meant there would be another punishment added to the list if she made an attempt at running.
Only she didn't think she would.
They were right that it wasn't safe to go back home now if Ridge had sent his people to her house. This was probably the safest place she could be, even if these men had abducted and tortured her.
Which absolutely said something about her crazy life, her crazy family, and her crazy self.
“You're really okay with her wandering the house freely?” Lion asked as he and Voodoo joined them in the kitchen.
“I am, but I’ll take responsibility for her if the rest of you aren't,” Steel said.
A shiver hit her system at the possessiveness in his words.
The man scared her on so many levels, and the fact that he had enhanced strength was at the bottom of that list. For her entire life, she’d had to be a mini grown-up, always in control, handling anything life gave her, studying and chores beyond her years, pain and suffering most people would never endure.
She never had a chance to let go, let someone else take the reins.
But Steel’s dominance made her want to submit, to let go of the tight control she kept on her life and herself and let him take over.
Which terrified her.
What if he turned out not to be trustworthy? What if she gave him power over her and he abused it? What if she allowed herself to let him in and he used that to destroy her?