Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 135378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
It takes all the willpower I possess to remember we’re in a room full of witnesses, and I can’t lock my arms around her and keep her captive against me.
Yet.
I cannot fucking wait to get her upstairs.
She eyes me with mild admonishment for the stunt, but it only causes my smile to widen.
“What?” I ask innocently.
Once she’s standing on her own two feet, she releases my hand.
Don’t like that.
I have to be touching her, apparently, so I grab her hip and pull her close under the guise of guiding her through the throng of partygoers.
“Where are we going?” she asks, but I don’t answer because I suspect she’ll resist if I tell her upstairs.
Her warm body is so soft pressed against mine. The temptation to press her against a wall and ravage her right here and now is almost too much to resist.
Sophie looks back at me in questioning, and I clear my throat. “Somewhere less peopley,” I say lightly.
She’s torn between wanting to be away from people and not wanting to be alone with me.
She’s polite, though. Doesn’t want me to think she’s suspicious of me just because she is, so she doesn’t speak up about her doubts again until we near the stairs.
“Silvan,” she says, mildly distressed as she looks up at me.
I give her a firm but gentle push toward the staircase. I feel like a predator who’s just caught his prey, and I’ll be damned if I let her get away.
“Where are we going?” she asks again, more anxious this time.
Rather than answer, I stop, turn her to face me, and look down at her. “What are you afraid of?”
She licks her lips, her wide eyes locked on mine. She didn’t expect me to call out her obvious discomfort, and she doesn’t know what to do now that I have.
“I… I think I should go home.”
She tries to take a step back, but I grab her hips and hold her tightly against me.
“Look at me,” I tell her, my voice a warning in her ear.
Her gaze obediently rises to meet mine. I don’t know if it’s that or the fear in her eyes that makes my cock harden, but cognizant that I can’t let her feel what she’s doing to me, I loosen my grip and let her have just a little space.
“You’re not leaving,” I tell her, my voice gentle despite the steel of my convictions. I need to feel her wet heat wrapped around my cock, but obviously, I can’t tell her that’s the reason. “Not yet. You haven’t even seen the coolest room. There’s an elaborate escape room set up just for the party. There are too many people to let them all in, but my friends will get to go through it later. If you want to leave, I should probably show it to you now.”
Her brow furrows with distrust. “I’m not your friend.”
“You can be.”
Her gaze flickers to the staircase. “I don’t know…”
I grab her hand and drag her toward the stairs. “Come on,” I say reassuringly, looking back to make sure she’s following.
She doesn’t want to.
She looks over her shoulder and around at all the people as if hoping one of them might save her from me.
They won’t.
I’m no Tin Man.
Tension tugs at me until she reluctantly puts her first foot on the step.
Then a sense of victory fills me.
She thinks we’re going to explore a room built for escaping, but I know there’ll be no escape for her.
Chapter Three
Sophie
He just wants to show me some cool, themed escape room set up for the party. That’s all.
That’s what I tell myself as Silvan hauls me up the stairs.
I hope and pray it’s true.
My instincts scream at me that it isn’t, that I’m a fool for even momentarily believing there might be an escape room, but then I think it’s a little conceited to imagine he’s doing all this work to lure me upstairs for some nefarious purpose when I’m sure he has his pick of girls at this party.
I have eyes, and I can see for myself that Silvan is incredibly attractive—especially in that costume—but I’ve also periodically glanced in his direction and noticed other girls in the room watching him the way he was watching me.
“If we’re not supposed to go to the escape room until later, won’t we get in trouble for going up there now?”
Silvan shakes his head. “It’s my escape room. I’ll go through it whenever I want to.”
So he’s the host of this party.
I guess that makes sense.
I don’t know why it makes me even more nervous. I guess the notion that there’s someone here whose authority is above his made me feel safer, but now I know there isn’t.
It’s his house, his party, and he’ll do what he wants.
When we reach the top of the stairs, a fresh rush of apprehension fills me.