9. Tuomo
CHAPTER NINE
Tuomo
I watch her, admiring at herself in the mirror, admiring how beautiful she looks in the dress I bought her. I have never seen a more gorgeous woman in my life, and it feels animalistic to just sit in the dark here, in the corner of her room, admiring that beauty.
That stunning creature that will soon be mine.
I grin, a dark, knowing smile.
My heart is racing with excitement.
Right now, she is mine to do with as I please. I could take her, I could do whatever I wanted. She’d be powerless to stop me.
I shake my head. No. That is not the game I am playing. I am playing a different game tonight. A patient game. A game that in the long run will make her mine forever.
My cock stirs, hardening against my pants as I sit with my legs spread and my chin resting on one hand. My elbow propped on the arm of the chair.
Patience, Tuomo.
You always get what you want in the end, and this will be no different.
She stands up on her tiptoes and turns around in front of the mirror, giving me a better view of the curve of her hip as it dips towards her waist.
Fuck me.
Patience.
Patience.
Patience.
I brush my hand over my cock, wanting it to calm down, but wandering if it is going to be possible until I have tasted her.
But I wait. I wait and I force my body to conform to what I need right now.
She frowns at her reflection and looks worried for a moment and I think she’s seen me. But then she runs her hands over the dress.
Oh. I get it.
She wants to know who it’s from.
Curiosity is killing her, like patience is killing me.
It is time to put her out of her misery. And me out of mine.
I stand up, as silent and as deadly as a predator. Taking one slow step forward.
She sees me and her eyes grow wide.
Wide and wild and terrified.
She needs a moment to recognize me. Once she does her face will change. She will be happy. She will run into my arms, and we will celebrate being reunited.
I smile, knowing it is a dangerous smile, but unable to hold back.
I take another step closer, so that I am in better light. So, she can see my face. Her mouth drops open, and I see it in her eyes. I can see she knows who I am.
“Hello, little bird.” I growl, tilting my chin lower and staring into her eyes in the mirror.
The smallest squeak escapes her lips, and her body shakes.
Then she spins around to face me, while simultaneously taking two steps backwards and landing up with her back pressed against the mirror she was just watching.
“Tu - Tuomo?” She stammers, a breathless whisper that is barely audible.
“Did you miss me?” I purr, as I step closer.
She tries to take another step away from me, but she can’t. She’s trapped.
I step closer.
I should be offended that she looks so scared, but I am excited by it. I am excited by the idea of hunting her, of claiming her and making her mine.
I shake my head to push the thought away.
No .
Patience. I must have patience.
I stop walking towards her, tilting my head to the side and forcing my face to relax.
“I came to say happy birthday and to see if you liked the gift I got you.”
She takes a sharp breath. “Gift?” She is still in shock.
“It looks beautiful on you.” I gesture with my eyes, letting them trace up and down her figure.
Realization flashes in her face. She reaches up and touches her stomach, touching the dress.
“The dress.” She whispers. “You gave me the dress?”
“I saw you looking at it in the window so many times.”
“You saw me?”
Slowly her face is becoming more and more focused, less shocked, less confused.
Her jaw clenches tight, and her brows furrow when she pushes away from the mirror.
“You were following me? And now you are in my apartment? What the fuck is this? What the fuck do you think you are doing?” She’s shouting. “I’m calling the police.” She lunges for her phone.
I can’t have her shouting at me, or calling the cops. I don’t want her neighbors hearing and interrupting our reunion.
“Nerissa - it’s your birthday.”
She throws her hands in the air in frustration. “I know it’s my birthday. What does that have to do with you trespassing, breaking and entering, fucking stalking?” She is still shouting.
“Lower your voice.” I warn her.
She seems to pause for a moment, my tone a clear warning that she understood.
But then her face changes again and yells. “Get the fuck out of my apartment you psychopath.” She’s seething mad. “You can’t just walk in here. You can’t just come back into my life. Do you want your stupid dress back? Is that it? You can have it. I don’t care.” She is tugging at the dress, trying to pull it off her shoulders, but I can’t let her do that. If she strips out of that dress, I won’t have patience. I won’t be able to stop myself.
“Don’t, Nerissa. Stop. What the fuck is wrong with you?” I snarl, rushing towards her and grabbing her wrists, then tugging the dress back down.
Her eyes are wide with terror. Why is she so scared of me?
We are in love. We have been in love for years. Why would she fear the person she loves - or the person who loves her?
She kicks me hard, her heel connecting with my shin, and it sends a burst of pure anger through me.
I grab her throat and lift her in the air, spinning her towards the bed, I throw her onto it.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing?” I growl, staring down at her. “Calm down, right now, before you make me do something I will regret.”
She scuttles up the bed, away from me, tears streaming down her cheeks.
I don’t want her to cry.
I didn’t mean to hurt her or make her scared.
This is not how this was supposed to go. She is supposed to be happy to see me.
I touch the velvet box in my pocket, wondering how this went so wrong?
“Nerissa - just calm the fuck down for a second.”
Her eyes are red with tears, her cheeks flushed and bright.
“Please just go. I don’t want to die. Please, just get out. Please.”
“Die?” I say in shock. “I am not here to kill you.” I stammer.
“Then get out.” She screams so loud I rush to the front door and open it to check if anyone is coming out of the apartments on either side of her. But this is a dodgy part of town, and no one pokes their nose in anyone else’s business.
I pull the door shut again, locking it.
When I walk back towards the bed, she is holding a baseball bat, kneeling in the middle of the bed, ready to fight me.
“A bat? Really?” I sigh, reaching forward and as she swings it, I catch it and yank it from her hands.
She stands up on the bed and starts swinging her fists at me.
I grab her around the waist and drop her onto her back, pinning her down with my body. Spreading her legs wide so she can’t kick me in the nuts, I pin her arms above her head.
She is crying again, thick streams of salty tears running down her cheeks. My cock is getting harder by the second. Pressed right up against her pussy. The dress hitched up over her hips in the struggle.
This is not what I want.
But fuck me - this is exactly what I want.
She can feel me against her, and she takes in a sharp breath. She bites her lower lip so hard I am sure it is going to bleed.
“Stop, calm down. Please. I will not do anything to you.” I snark against her cheek.
“You are hurting me.” She whimpers, trying to wiggle her wrists free.
“I will let you go if you promise to stop screaming.”
She lies dead still for a moment and my body is raging. Every cell in my is telling me to do it. To take her. To take what I have waited so long for.
But it’s not the way I planned for this to go.
Finally, she takes a soft breath. “I promise.” She whispers.
“You promise not to scream?”
“I promise.” She says again, her voice hoarse with tears.
I release her wrists, lifting myself up, resting on my arms which are pressed into the bed on either side of her head. I stare at her for a moment.
The most perfect, most beautiful creature in the world.
Then I clench my jaw and push off her.
“I came here to talk.” I say with frustration. “I thought you would be happy to see me.”
The disappoint in my voice is not hidden.
When I turn around to look at her, she is leaning over to grab her hoodie from the floor next to the bed. For a moment her ass in the air, facing me.
Then she comes back up and throws it over her head.
I run my fingers through my hair.
Then I pull my mouth tight, look up at the ceiling and take a slow deep breath.
It was a shock. That’s all.
She will remember everything when she calms down. And then this will go according to plan.