4. Annie
ANNIE
Maybe I’m crazy, or maybe I just made the best decision of my life. I’m gonna go with the second choice.
Roman is surprisingly tender as we lie on the floor, cradling me in his arms, his cock still inside me, stretching me. He strokes my hair as my heartrate starts to level out. The way his chest rises and falls with such control is almost hypnotic. Focusing on it helps bring me down from the clouds.
“This is actually real, right?” I whisper. “I haven’t been absorbed by one of my books?”
He almost chuckles. “I can assure you, I am real.”
“Good.” I lean into him, snuggling up to this man I just met. This stranger I let fuck me. This irresistible man who I let take my virginity, who I let put his cum in me. I inhale deeply. “You smell good.”
“So do you.”
I realize I’m on the verge of falling asleep when Roman slowly pulls out of me.
The loss is beyond description. It’s like a piece of me goes missing.
Watching him stand is like watching an art exhibit.
The way each of his muscles moves in harmony with the rest. The precision with which he has sculpted his physique.
The pinnacle of masculinity. There’s nothing this man could not do.
He looks down at me for a moment, and I twist my lips into a half smile.
“Want some water?”
I nod. “That would be nice.”
My eyes home in on his sculpted butt as he turns and walks to the kitchen. Wow, I cannot handle how hot he is.
I hear the faucet turn on and a moment later see him walking back, his thick cock dangling between his legs. He’s still hard. Not fully, but enough to show off just how big he is.
“I can’t believe that fit in me,” I mutter. He smirks and hands me the glass. I frown. “You don’t want some?”
“Ladies first,” he replies. So the dangerous stranger can also be a gentleman.
I take the glass and gulp half of it down. Roman looks down at me like I’m fragile. Like I’m something sacred. A comforting feeling comes over me. This man would protect me from anything. There’s no doubt in my mind.
“Every book I’ve read pales in comparison to what we just did,” I say.
He nods slowly. “Good.”
He finishes the glass and walks back to the kitchen. I stretch my arms above my head and fill my lungs with air. But then, as I roll onto my side, I notice something lying on the floor by Roman’s pants. I reach out and grab it and have to clamp my hand over my mouth to silence my gasp.
It’s a photo. A blurry photo…
…of me. And on the back is my address.
And it’s not just any photo of me—something public from social media.
It’s a photo of me on my way to work, taken just outside the studio.
I can tell by my outfit that it was taken weeks ago too.
I don’t have that top anymore. I threw it out after someone spilled red wine on it at one of our mixers.
Why would he have this?
I’m tense as I quietly get to my feet. Roman’s still in the kitchen. I only have a few seconds before he comes back. I creep over to the window and glance out, looking for an unfamiliar car or maybe more guys like him. But what I see scares me even more.
A gray duffel bag on the fire escape. With the barrel of a rifle sticking out.
My heart rate skyrockets. This changes everything.
But does it really? I already knew Roman was a bad man. A dangerous man. He was spying on me from outside. He broke into my apartment. No ‘good man’ does something like that.
But I still wanted him. I mean, I wanted him more.
I look back to the photo of me. But this…why does he have this?
The floor creaks behind me, and I whirl to find Roman standing in the kitchen doorway, his eyes fixed on me. The expression on his face is undeniable. I’ve been busted.
But then again, so has he.
“Why do you have this?” I ask, raising the picture. He pauses. My heart pounds painfully. “Roman?!”
“Your father owes money to my employer.”
Goddamn it.
“How much?”
“Two million dollars.”
The number stuns me, but it all makes sense now. Why Dad’s been gone for days, why he’s been unreachable, why the one time he answered my call he said everything was fine and that I shouldn’t worry. I knew he was lying. I can always tell when he’s lying.
“You know I don’t have that money, right?” I ask.
“I know.”
I’m starting to shake again. That same fear that hit me when I first saw him standing in my apartment is coming back. And I don’t like that. I don’t want to feel that when I look at him.
Not the man I just gave myself to.
“So why are you here, Roman?”
Since he arrived, he’s had his eyes on me. Now he looks away. “My boss sent me here…to kill you.”
His words hit me like a truck. I freeze.
I knew it. Somehow, I just knew this day would come. Dad has fucked up so many times that I knew eventually he’d screw over the wrong person, and he’d pay the price. I guess I always thought he would pay the price, though. Not me.
Maybe Roman’s boss, whoever he is, wants to kill me as a threat. Show my dad what will happen to him if he doesn’t pay up. Or maybe it’s just a way of taking something from him. Incentivizing him to hurry up and pay up or something else will happen.
I may be naked, but rationally, I know I should just turn and leap out onto the fire escape, climb down, and run for my life. But let’s face it, I haven’t been rational at all tonight. Can I really start now?
I stomp forward, my insides burning with rage and betrayal, blinking hard to keep the tears from welling up in my eyes.
“You knew who I was!”
“Yes.” He nods, still looking away.
“And you came here to kill me!”
He nods again. “Yes.”
“But you didn’t. You fucked me,” I lash out. “You took my virginity! Did your boss tell you to do that too?”
Roman looks up. His eyes snap to mine, and I see an emotion I’ve yet to see from him. Pain. I hurt him.
“Of course not!” His voice is tense like a coiled spring.
“Then why didn’t you kill me—”
“Because I couldn’t do it!” he roars. The volume and strength of his voice nearly knocks me over. I stumble back, steady myself, and somehow manage to find my voice.
“Why not?”
His massive shoulders slump. His chest deflates. But the pain in his eyes morphs into something so sincere it goes straight to my core.
“Because I saw you, Annie.” He steps closer. I step back. “And you became more than another assignment to me.”
I scoff. “So you thought you’d come in and fuck me instead?”
“I came here to warn you,” he snaps. “That’s all. I was just going to warn you, and then I was going to leave. But…”
“But?”
My head is spinning. I just need to be alone. I need to sit with this, process this, see if I can possibly understand the enormity of what has happened to me tonight.
“I think you should leave,” I finally say.
“No,” he replies strongly. “And you’re not staying here either.”
He walks to his clothes and quickly starts getting dressed. But his eyes are on me. Like I already belong to him. Me questioning his authority doesn’t even seem like an option he’s considered.
“Um, excuse me?”
“You’re coming with me, Annie.”
“Oh, sure!” I laugh. “The man sent to kill me. I’m just gonna go with him!”
“When they find out I didn’t kill you, they’ll send someone else,” he barks. “So get dressed. Now.”
The absurdity of this situation. I’m almost offended. But despite everything that’s happened, I still want this man. His cum is dripping out of me, splashing on the floor by my feet. I’m tingling all over. I’m blazing with heat. I want more.
Round two, round three, round four…
But for the first time tonight, my rational mind starts to take over.
Get away from Roman. Get away from this man now.
I’ve taken care of myself all the countless times my father left me alone, and I can do it again. Roman may think I’m helpless, but I’m not.
“You think you can push me around?” I ask. “Tell me what to do? I’m not afraid of you.”
Lying. I’m lying my ass off. Roman terrifies me. But in the most wonderful way possible.
“I could have killed you, Annie. Now I’m going to save your life.”
Shaking my head, I reach for my phone. “I’m calling the cops.”
Roman steps in front of me and snatches it out of my hand. He slams it to the floor and stomps it under his heel, shattering it into pieces. My world feels suddenly smaller.
“They can track you with that. Now I’m not going to tell you again, get dressed.”
This is insane. The man sent to kill me is now the man protecting me.
I raise my eyes from the mound of plastic and metal scraps that was once my phone and glare back at him. I take it all in. His height, his size, the ferocity blazing in his eyes. And then it hits me.
I have no choice.
There’s no way I can get away from him. Not without an army of bodyguards and a bazooka. So without saying a word, I walk over to my closet and slide into a pair of jeans and my Tom Petty T-shirt. I slip on some flats and turn to him defiantly.
“'Kay. Ready.”
Roman grabs his duffel from the fire escape and takes me firmly by the hand. I feel like a child as he leads me out of the apartment, down the stairs, and out the front into the night.
There’s a black sedan parked a block down in the shadows of a tree. He walks me to the passenger side and buckles me in.
“Don’t move,” he says firmly.
I don’t. What’s the point? There’s no way I could outrun him. He’s twice my size. And if I scream? Well, chances are I’ll just end up getting some innocent person killed.
So I stay put while he gets in beside me, starts the car, and pulls off. I look out the window at my apartment and wonder, Will I ever see it again?
“I’m sorry,” Roman finally says. “I didn’t want it to be this way.”
I don’t even bother replying. What is there to say?
I’ve been kidnapped by the man I just lost my virginity to.