Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“Oh please.” I shook my head. “The age-old…‘I only hurt you to protect you’ bullshit. Save it.” I pushed his chest with my free hand, needing to get out of the cage of his arms.
He didn’t move.
Tingles sparked in my fingers the longer I rested my palm on his shirt. His chest rose and fell, his heart thundering beneath my touch.
I shoved again.
Nothing.
I dropped my hand and balled it against the stinging current left behind. I hated that he still held me prone. That his fingers flexed around my wrist wedged against my spine—a threat and a caress all in one.
Neither of us spoke for far too long.
Tension and awareness thickened.
Fight and fear, hate and hellfire.
I didn’t like it.
“Let me go,” I breathed. “Just…please. If you’re truly sorry for bringing me here. For gifting me to a dangerous creep who entertains rapists, then please…help me get out of here.”
Henri’s grey gaze bounced around the shelves—eyes narrowed as he searched the corners of the room, the bronze figurines of hunting dogs and stags, the quaint framed embroidery of hedgehogs and badgers. All the knickknacks were from another era, falsified and replicated in this mockery of a citadel.
Finally, he looked down at me and lowered his voice. “I see four cameras clearly. Who the hell knows how many are hidden elsewhere. I don’t know if they have audio, but I can guarantee we’re being watched right now, and we’ve already spent far too long whispering against the bookcase.”
“Then let me go.” I went to push him again but hesitated.
I didn’t like touching him.
I didn’t like the strange sensations that sparked between us.
I didn’t like that even now—even after everything he’d done and would do—my body was still aware of his. Still tempted by the forbidden. Still deluded by danger.
He exhaled hard as his gaze locked on my mouth. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but…you have no choice. I will tell you one last time…I’m the only chance you have in here. Thanks to me, you’ve been trafficked into a society that will never let you go. You were the key to me getting inside, and I’m…” He swallowed, his throat working. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”
“More than you’ll ever know.”
The way he said it. The aching truth behind it.
It made me pause.
Made me study him.
Slowly, things began to shift into nonsensical sense.
The key to getting inside?
The apparent reluctance to play?
The sincerity of his apology?
Who is this man?
And why did he seem different, all while awfully the same?
“Just who the hell are you?” My eyes narrowed. “Why do I keep getting conflicting emotions from you?”
He let my wrist go but he didn’t stop crowding me against the bookshelves. “You don’t need to know who I am, only that you need to obey me.”
Even that sounded forced. No, not forced…laced with something other than dominance.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the gruff ache in his voice was…loneliness.
“You hurt me, Henri. You willingly hurt me.”
“I did.”
A rock lodged in my throat. “And…you liked it.”
He winced. “More than I’ll ever admit to.”
Prickles darted over my skin. “You licked my tears. Back in the nightclub and now.”
“I told you.” He sucked in a heavy breath. “Your sadness does something to me.”
“Something bad.”
He groaned and lowered his chin. “Something I can’t control.”
I paused, trying to figure out what to say. The fact we shared a whispered conversation in a perverted castle with me naked and him dressed was strange enough. Coupled with the fact we’d only known each other a single day, and he’d almost raped me twice, ought to ensure I would do anything to murder him.
And yet…
Despite his unforgivable actions, his tortured vagueness gnawed.
He was trying to tell me something…
But what?
I frowned as I ran over his cryptic urging.
I’m the only friend you have.
Don’t fight me, and I’ll do my best to protect you.
Protect.
Not rape.
Not molest.
Protect.
“Why did you say I was the key to getting in here?” I whispered too low for the cameras to record.
He frowned. “Doesn’t matter.”
“If you want me to stop fighting you, then yes…it matters.”
Sucking in a breath, he shook his head. His gaze skittered away, skimming books and literary luxury before finally settling back on mine. His voice was barely audible. “You weren’t supposed to be here. I was meant to come alone. But…circumstances meant you were noticed, so I had no choice.”
The last two sentences lodged in my mind, echoing over and over again.
Meant to come alone.
You were noticed, so I had no choice.
I went very still, trying to figure him out.
I meant to ask about his first comment, yet stupid ego blurted. “You noticed me?”
He groaned. “That’s what you’re worried about?” His hand landed on my hip, flexing like a clawed paw. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay for that little slip-up for the rest of my life.”