Freeing Her (17 page)

“
I’ll never tell
you.”

“
Oh, you will.” He rose to
his feet, rubbing himself on her body along the way. She looked at
him and could see the outline of his erection. He followed her gaze
and looked down at himself and then back up at her. “It’s all
yours. If you tell me.”

“
No,” she
whimpered.

He stared at her thoughtfully and placed his
hand around her upper arm. He dragged her across the room as she
tripped behind him, kicking the shorts out of her way as they went.
She tried to break free of his grasp, but her arms were still
trapped in the shirt.

“
What are you
doing?”

He didn’t answer as he moved, dragging her
behind him through his bedroom and into his bathroom. He led her
straight to the shower and she asked herself what the hell he was
doing when he began to strip. When he stood before her naked, her
mind spun with the idea that no architect, no engineer could ever
have designed something so perfect, with those dips and ridges,
planes and symmetry. The saliva pooled in her mouth as she gawked
at him. He wasn’t just a pretty face. His body was beautiful.
Profoundly.

His pecs and abs were so lovely, her trapped
fingers twitched as she imagined how his smooth firm skin would
feel beneath their tips. She groaned loudly as she dreamed what it
would be like to touch him, where her hands would travel. A glint
of silver caught her eye and she realized he had one nipple
pierced. Oh, how she wanted to put her lips around it. She wanted
to flick her tongue across the ring only to hear him moan. Ink
decorated areas of his torso, but her eyes didn’t linger for long.
They wandered straight down to what was between his legs, fully
erect and pointing toward the ceiling. She wanted to touch it, to
stroke it and put her mouth on it.

“
Are you going to tell me
now?”

She wanted to lick him from head to toe,
like a giant Popsicle. A cherry Popsicle, dripping in the summer
heat. She wanted to slide him inside of her. And ride him.
Hard.

“
Gabriella?”

God, he was unbelievable. The only men she’d
ever seen naked or half-naked (other than patients when she was in
medical school) were Danny and then Mitch, her brief college
boyfriend. And they hadn’t looked anything like this.

Kolson thought Gabriella must be in a trance
because she wasn’t responding. So he took matters into his own
hands. He framed her face with his hands and kissed her, pushing
his tongue past her slightly parted lips. She responded feverishly;
she rubbed her body against his, and tried to wrap her leg around
his.

“
Not your call, kea.
You’re not in control here. Not until you tell me what he did to
you.”

She stopped and looked up at him. She then
stepped back, panting.

“
Why are you doing this?
Why can’t you just drop it? It’s none of your business.”

“
I’m making it my
business. Now tell me.” Gone was the seductive voice; in its place
was the Kolson of the business world. Strong. Steely.
Forceful.

Pushing the heavy glass door open, he
pressed a series of buttons and the water came on from several
different heads. Then he pulled Gabby inside.

“
My shirt.”

“
Is going to get very
wet.”

“
But …”

He cut her off with a wet kiss as his body
propelled her against the wall. Water tumbled over them like a rain
shower and she moaned as she felt his cock against the flesh of her
abs. She tried to rub herself against him again, but he stepped
away from her. Then he squirted body wash in his hand and began
washing her, lingering on her breasts. He pinched and twisted her
nipples until her breasts felt heavy with need and she begged him
to suck on them. But he ignored her pleas. He continued to wash the
rest of her instead.

When his hand reached between her thighs, he
stopped. He regarded her for a long moment as he debated his next
move. Then he quickly sudsed her sex and she groaned, “Please.”

“
You know what I want. The
choice is yours, Gabriella.”

After he shampooed her hair, he quickly
washed himself, leaving her to gape at him. Then he kissed her
again. He slipped his hand down to her core and began that sweet
torture, almost making her come but still denying her pleasure.
This time he took it even further. When she opened her eyes in
frustration, she gasped. Kolson stood before her stroking
himself.

“
All you have to do is say
the words and this can be yours.”

She was paralyzed with want and need. She’d
never known such fierce desire like she did at this very moment.
But was the risk of allowing herself a few moments of pleasure
worth baring her secrets to this man, this stranger? Sometimes,
though, weren’t those the best people to reveal your secrets to?
Maybe she should tell him, have her fun, and leave, never to see
him again.

But she knew that wouldn’t happen. Because
one taste of Kolson Hart was like forbidden fruit. She knew one
taste would never be enough.

His hand gripped his cock as he worked
himself. Up and down. Up and down. She could see the veins and the
plump head as he increased his tempo. The thick muscular bands of
his abs stood out, leading to a well-defined V, and Gabby knew
exactly why God had put it there. That V pointed one’s eyes
straight down to where they should be. And it was a thing of
magnificence. She had never seen a man jack off before and she was
entranced by it. Sexy couldn’t begin to describe what she was
witnessing. It was beyond erotic. It was primal.

And at that moment, more than anything, she
wanted him inside her, filling her, deep and hard. Her tongue
licked the drops of moisture off her lips as she imagined what his
cock would taste and feel like.

When he groaned, she did too. Kolson leaned
his forearm against the wall of the shower as he continued to pump
himself. His eyes never left her, slick hair sticking to her silken
skin, arms locked behind her back.

“
One day, instead of my
hand, this is going to be your pussy, or your mouth, Gabriella. And
you will have told me your little secret. But think, I could have
relieved your need by now.” His breath sounded as if he were
running. Gabby was panting and she was only watching. When his
orgasm hit, he groaned long and deep, and a stream of thick creamy
fluid spurted up and around his hand. He massaged it on to his cock
as he continued to milk himself. His eyes remained on her, watching
as she stood there with water streaming down her glistening
body.

When he was finished, he walked up to her,
his body barely touching hers, and let the water rinse off his cum
as he licked her lips. “To think you could’ve tasted it too.” His
hand ran down her body and moved to her sex. “You’re as wet inside
as you are out. Too bad, Gabriella, there’ll be no orgasm for you
today.”

Reaching behind her, he pushed some buttons
and the water ceased to flow. He pulled off the shirt, wrapped her
in a large fluffy towel, and dried himself off. Then he picked her
up and carried her out of the bathroom. Still wrapped in the towel,
he laid her on the bed and spread her legs. His hand ran a trail
from her throat to the beginning of her slit.

She hissed, “Please, Kolson.” She
squirmed.

“
Say. The. Words.
Gabriella.”

He lifted her leg and bit the inside of her
thigh and then sucked on it until she tried to wiggle out of his
grasp. Moving to the other thigh, he repeated his actions. She
hissed again. Next his mouth landed on the arch of her foot and he
scraped his teeth along it until she begged again. A thrill of
pleasure shot straight to her core. She never guessed that her feet
could be so erogenous.

“
Please.”

“
Tell me.”

Her iron will finally crumbled and she
blurted, “He raped me when I was thirteen and kept on doing it for
years.”

“
And?”

“
No one believed
me.”

Kolson stopped what he was doing. What could
she possibly mean that no one believed her?

“
Repeat that.”

She opened her eyes and looked directly at
him. His eyes were so unusual; it was impossible to read them. She
pulled her foot out of his grasp and scrambled away from him. The
last thing she wanted to see was another accusatory look. So she
did what she learned to do best—run. As she reached the den, it
dawned on her that she had nowhere to go because she was naked.

“
Where are you going?” he
asked softly.

Anywhere, away, another planet.

Her back faced him because
she couldn’t bear to see the condemning look on
his
face.

When his hands grasped her shoulders, she
nearly jumped out of her skin.

“
I’m not going to hurt
you, kea. Never would I do that.”

“
Perhaps not by
actions.”

He turned her around and asked, “Do you
think I’d judge you? Is that it?”

She laughed bitterly.
“What
are
you
going to do?”

“
Well, believe you, for
starters.”

“
Why? Give me one good
reason?”

Gabby stood eyes downcast, straight as an
arrow, braced for the blow she expected to come at her.

He tipped her chin up. “Why wouldn’t I
believe you?”

She snorted. “Oh, I don’t
know. Maybe because no one else ever did. Told me I made it all up.
And then it gave him license to do it over and over and over again.
Until he fucking broke me and I tried to commit suicide. My parents
even told me I was being difficult and that I had been difficult my
whole life. Ever since I was born. ‘You started out as a colicky
baby and you haven’t stopped since.’ That’s what my mom told me
when they picked me up from the hospital after I did this.” She
waved her wrist in front of his face. “I was so damn idiotic, I
didn’t even know the proper technique. Too bad they didn’t
have
Suicide for
Dummies
.” Her voice cracked with
emotion.

Kolson didn’t laugh,
because suicide was nothing to joke about. Instead, he pulled her
into his arms. “I believe you, Gabriella.
I believe you
.”

She stood like a piece of wood. But it
didn’t matter to him. He still held her.

“
Why? You don’t even know
me,” she mumbled.

“
What do you mean, I don’t
know you? I know more about you than you do, it seems. I know
you’re a loving, caring individual who gives so much of herself to
others and cares so little about herself. I also know you wouldn’t
lie about this. I saw the way you reacted to him. That’s not the
behavior of someone who enjoys the company of another. You’re
frightened to death of him. I knew he did something terrible to you
and I guessed it was rape, but I didn’t know for sure.”

“
It’s okay,” she said in a
defeated voice.

“
It’s anything but okay.
How many years?”

Gabby lifted her head and looked at him.
“What?”

“
How many years has he
been controlling you?”

“
Since I was thirteen. I’m
twenty-nine now.”

“
Sixteen years. And he was
never punished, was he?”

She shook her head.

A steel-like glint shone in Kolson’s
eyes.

“
He left me alone while I
was in medical school and during my residency. He hasn’t been
around since college, really. But now he’s back and I don’t know
why.”

“
Gabriella, your parents
are fucked up. You know that, don’t you? You should never have kept
this to yourself for so long.”

“
I know, and you’re right
about my parents. My mom’s an alcoholic who only cares about her
bottle and my dad only cares about how people think of him. But at
the same time, when your entire family dumps you, it pretty much
stabs you everywhere that counts. It fucking shattered me,
Kolson.”

“
I understand.”

“
I don’t think you
do.”

“
Don’t ever make
assumptions about things you know nothing about.”

She tugged herself out of his grasp and
walked back to his room. A fatigue so deep had settled into her
bones, she couldn’t fight it any longer. Not thinking of what she
was doing, or the implications behind her actions, she crawled
under the smooth sheets and promptly fell asleep.

Chapter
Fifteen

Kolson watched
Gabby
walk away. He didn’t follow but
instead granted her some space. He was curious when he saw her
moving in the direction of his room so in ten minutes when she
didn’t return, he went to check on her.

He found her in his bed, snuggled under a
mound of covers, sleeping soundly. Her face had lost the tension
and worry lines. Gabby looked like a teenager with her hair twisted
around her and her soft lips slightly parted. Kolson had an urge to
run his thumb across her forehead and along that small space
between her eyes, which was often lined with anxiety.

There was something else. He wanted to climb
in bed and hold her against him. Not in a sexual way, but to let
her know she was safe with him. Brushing those ideas away, he went
to his closet to get dressed. Then he laid out more shorts and
T-shirts for her to wear.

Not long after, Sam buzzed letting him know
he was on his way up. He walked in with a large suitcase and a
smaller valise.