Chapter 10 #2
Excuses. That’s what they were. Excuses to cover some unfounded worry I couldn’t silence and a need to hold her again. I was half tempted to ask if she was a witch, thinking she must have put a spell on me to make me this soft.
Her lips curved, a mischievous gleam entering her eyes. “Is that what you tell yourself to rationalize an excuse to feel me up again?”
My jaw ticked, the tendons in my neck tightening.
Whether in irritation at her assumption or that she saw right through my excuses, I couldn’t pinpoint.
“If you’d prefer to sleep in the basement where I torture my enemies, suit yourself.
It’s soundproofed down there and no one will hear your screams.”
She scrambled out of bed, the devious look faltering.
Eyes tracking the curvy bare legs that led to panties that were tight and lacy, my breath faltered. “Why aren’t you wearing the pajamas I provided?” My words came out in a broken rasp.
She tugged at her shirt, succeeding in only covering a fraction of her hips. Not enough to cover the trail of ivy tattooed on her right one. She was sexy. Beautiful, adorable, and sexy. My pants tented uncomfortably and there was no way to hide my reaction.
“Because they’re sized for Riley, who does not have thighs, boobs, or an ass like mine.
Not to mention she’s like a giraffe compared to me.
” Riley was the kind of woman I had gravitated to in the past, but after seeing what those curves looked like on Ava, I was quickly developing a new taste.
With a waist that made a delectable arc I could almost imagine my hands enveloping, she was endowed in every rounded part of her body.
“Jill will be here tomorrow to get you new clothes,” I said, averting my eyes before I lost control and pinned her to the wall. The urge to have her body under mine was almost primal. Tugging my T-shirt over my head, I threw it at her. “Put this on.”
She fumbled, dropping it as her lips parted and her eyes traced my chest before landing on that damned hard-on that wouldn’t go away. They flicked down to the shirt quickly, and I watched her lean over to get it, trying not to strain my neck to see what her ass looked like in that position.
“Fuck,” I muttered, swiping my hand over my face. “Cover up. I don’t want the men seeing you like that.” It was the truth. I was already feeling out of control and a feral need to kill anyone who saw her body was roaring through me.
She rolled her eyes. “Turn around.”
Brow furrowing, I asked, “Why? You going to try stabbing me in the back?”
“If I thought I could, I already would have,” she snapped.
“I’d like to see you try.” I turned around and crossed my arms. “Why am I turning around?”
“Because I don’t want you seeing my tits when I take my shirt off and put this one on.”
I peeked back. “Why don’t you—”
“Turn!” Her arm folded over her breasts before I could see them, the fabric of my shirt blocking them but leaving the rounded edge of cleavage in sight.
If I hadn’t been hard before, I definitely was now.
Shit, what was this woman doing to me? What was I doing to myself?
I should have moved her into the basement.
Or left her in this room, instructing my men to make sure they kept her fed and alive.
Avoided her. That’s what I should have done, but I didn’t think there was any way I could avoid Ava.
It was too late; she was in my thoughts too much and a craving had developed.
Unhinged and out of control, but it was there and difficult to ignore.
“You don’t give the commands,” I told her, continuing to stare her down.
“Please turn, Emerson. I don’t want to sleep with layers of shirts on. It’s hard enough having one on.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Don’t ask her, I warned myself, but my mouth didn’t listen.
“You sleep naked?” It sounded like I had just hit puberty.
“No, but topless.” She held my gaze a bit too long. Like a challenge. Heat seethed in me at the look in those brown eyes.
Silence. Long, heavy silence. With unspoken words and that damned challenge. Almost like she was daring me to grab her and take her against the wall like my body was craving. I broke the connection, turning and cursing myself for being so weak. Ava was my prisoner. That was it.
“Damn. If you thought I was adorable before, any hope of looking like a mature adult has gone out the window with this look,” Ava mumbled.
She stormed past me, book in hand, shaking her head and continuing to mumble.
Hand going to her wrist, I turned her around.
Something I shouldn’t have done because seeing her in my shirt was a mistake.
Giving it to her had been a mistake. No, coming to her room had been the fatal error.
Everything else was just residual idiocy.
Although she was tall, my shirt fell to her knees, the size and the length too much for her frame.
It hung over her breasts, the material gathering so that I could see her nipples protruding along with the outline of the nipple rings I wanted desperately to reach out and tug.
My thumb rubbed her wrist in the same path I desired to smooth over her nipple.
“What?” she said, swallowing a bit too loudly. My eyes rose from where they’d been devouring her body, and there was a twitch in my jaw that matched the one in my pants. “Nothing.” I released her, and reached behind her to open the door, my body moving closer to hers with the action.
Her eyes searched mine. What she was looking for, I wasn’t sure. But I hoped she didn’t see the battle that was waging inside of me. Warring to keep seeing her as my hostage instead of someone I wanted in my bed. Which was exactly where I had commanded her to go.
“Walk,” I said, scraping my hand through my hair.
“I don’t know where I’m going.”
Huffing, I pushed her aside, expecting her to follow me.
“Rude,” she muttered, and I shot a look back at her over my shoulder.
“If you want to keep your tongue, I recommend keeping your mouth shut.” Unless it’s around my dick.
Fuck, I needed to stop. It had to be the situation with the merchandise and everything else that had kept me on edge the last few months.
That’s why I was so off kilter and why my mind couldn’t focus.
She stayed silent as I led her through the main room and to the other side of the house.
“What’s down there?” she asked when we approached the stairs that led from the living area to my room. The hallway continued well past the stairs.
“The garage and the entrance to the basement.” I gestured for her to go ahead of me.
Not because I was worried she would bolt for the garage, but for a better view of her legs.
Perverse reasoning, I knew, but it was too tempting not to.
“Don’t get any ideas, either,” I told her as her eyes lingered on the hallway. “I have men posted outside it.”
“Doesn’t mean I couldn’t steal a car and run them over with it.” Her eyes sparkled with amusement when they returned to mine.
My lips thinned. “Try it and I’ll show you why people fear me.”
She didn’t flinch. Instead, she took a step closer to me and stood on her tiptoes. Her head tilted, revealing the soft arc of her neck, before she brought her fingers to my chin.
“I don’t fear you, Emerson.”
Bold, brash, and beautiful. I was screwed. I’d known this woman for two days and she was already breaking down my barriers.
I grabbed her wrist and closed the remaining distance between us, then forced her to step back until the wall stopped her.
Her lips parted, and I fought the need to kiss her, even though it was raging through me.
Letting her think I was, I moved my face closer, hearing the hitch of her breath and noting her pulse race in the wrist I had pinned against the wall.
Sliding my cheek along hers, the scent of her skin tantalizing me, I brought my mouth to her ear and snarled, “You should fear me, Ava. Because whatever it is you think I am, I’m not. ”
“Then tell me who you are,” she breathed, her chest heaving against mine.
I was too close, and the temptation was too high to just ravage her here in the hallway. To take her like I wanted and touch every inch of her, kiss every bit of ink, play with every piercing. Just the thought had me so hard I was aching.
Dragging my cheek back left my lips so close to meeting hers that it took every ounce of strength I had not to move them the few centimeters needed to devour her mouth. My other hand was above her and I dug my fingers into the wall to keep from dropping it into her hair.
Pulling away but still maintaining my stance of power over her, I said, “A dangerous man with hands that are stained with the blood he’s spilled. Don’t think because I’ve been kind to you I’m anything but a killer, Ava.”
The blink of her eyes was her only reaction.
“Now get your ass up those stairs before I change my mind.”
“You still don’t frighten me.”
My hand fell, my fingers digging into her soft hair. With a handful in my grasp, I pulled, forcing her head back further and enjoying her sexy exhale entirely too much.
“I should.” Tired of restraining my urges, I released her wrist and scooped her up, throwing her over my shoulder.
Her shriek was rewarding, and I chuckled as I walked past the stairs and further down the hall.
“Wait. Where are you going?” Worry edged her voice, feeding the ruthless part of me.
“You chose not to go up the stairs, so I changed my mind.”
Tension left her body rigid. “But you can’t do that.”
I opened the door to the basement, saying, “I can do anything I want. I’m your captor, Ava.
Your jailer. Not some bartender at a wedding.
” My mood turned further at the thought and the next one.
“Did you even think about what he could have done to you? Running off with some strange guy you just met?”