Reluctant Surrender (26 page)

“Ethan!”

“Wrap your legs around me. It’s time you went to bed and I’m going to take you there.”

She did as she was told, but when he made his way to the door her head came up, bumping him on the chin as she pointed. “Your bed’s that way.”

“I’m taking you to your bed. You still have some earning to do before I ask you to join me in mine.”

She wilted against him like a hothouse flower and grumbled against his neck, “How can I earn it if you don’t find me attractive?”

He was halfway down the darkened hall when her words registered. “Don’t find you attractive?” he growled. Turning, he pinned her between him and the wall, lifting her up until they were at eye level. “It’s because I find you too attractive that I have to take care. I want more than sex with you. A lot more.”

She looked so distraught that a terrible feeling came over him. A knot of something fisted in his belly. At first he thought it was guilt, but the more he eyed her the more he began to suspect it was apprehension. He was actually worried she didn’t want him. Ridiculous as that notion seemed, he had to qualify her obvious trepidation.

“What’s the matter baby girl? Tell me.”

She was staring at his mouth and when she licked her lips he lost a small amount of patience with her hedging.

“Colin?”

“I’m so horny when I’m around you it’s disgraceful. Especially when you’re behaving like a gentleman.”

He was
so
not expecting this honest admission he almost dropped her. She had it all wrong too. The way he was feeling about her at the moment was so far from gentlemanly it wasn’t funny. He debated a millisecond and decided to show her. Not only would it assuage her worry and boost her confidence, it would also keep him from having to examine why he was so relieved at her declaration.

Slowly he let her slide down the wall until her center connected with the rigid length of his hardness. “I want you too, can you feel how bad?” He flexed into her and she moaned, seeking his heat. He gave it to her, letting her ride the rock-hard outline of him through his pants. “Does that feel good?”

She groaned this time and shivered against him. “Yes.”

Loving her reaction, he captured her lips and delved inside her hot mouth with his tongue, pressing his hips forward until she opened up completely. Her legs spread to fully accommodate him, while her mouth was his to command, use and devour. She’d submitted. She’d do anything for him. With him. The power that swept through him, knowing he could have her anytime he wanted, brought him back to his senses.

He broke their kiss and took a moment to adjust her higher against the wall again. Putting distance between himself and that blazing part of her that taunted. He sucked in a fortifying breath, about to remind her that she’d promised him anything he wanted the next day when she laid her palms on either side of his cheeks and pulled until he faced her.

She looked directly into his eyes and whispered, “I’ve never felt anything like this before. It’s beautifully devastating and now that you’ve given it to me, I don’t ever want it taken away.”

First he kissed the tip of her nose and then he rested his forehead upon hers. “What you’re feeling, Colin, is not for me to take. It’s the gift you are free to give to a man. It’s your surrender.”

Although he was mightily glad she’d worked this out and was feeling precisely what he’d wanted and hoped she’d be feeling at this point, he couldn’t help the niggle of jealousy that surfaced the minute he’s said the phrase,
give to a man
. He’d had to fight his every instinct to say,
give to me
, instead. He couldn’t say that yet. Not until she got over the fear of what people might think of her and she was ready to admit she’d be his and his alone.

“I want you to get a good night’s sleep.” He came away from the wall and made like he was going to drop her.

“Oh!” She latched on to him, squeezing him hard with her legs around his waist and her arms nearly choking him.

“I love when you octopus me.” When she squashed in harder, he swatted her butt. “I said octopus, not drill-press. Damn, for a skinny little thing you’ve got some strength.”

“I used to be skinny,” she murmured, easing up. “Truthfully? I think those kale chips are fattening.”

He grinned. “You wish.”

When he pretended to drop her again, she laughed. “Hey, it was worth a try.”

“I like that,” he spoke into her ear. “I hope you’re good at trying, Colin because tomorrow I’ll expect you to put your every effort into trying new things just for me.”

Chapter Fifteen

Midmorning the next day, Colin and Ethan were at the mansion again. Only this time she was better prepared. Hadn’t she decided that wearing a skirt yesterday was too convenient for him? So today she’d opted for jeans and t-shirt instead.

“Ready?”

She nodded, waiting for him to open the door to room number four, glad it wasn’t the examination room. That one kind of creeped her out.

“Good. Now, once you’re inside and you get used to the light, go to the far side of the room. You’ll see a metal and white table there and I want you to get underneath it. Crawl to the corner and stay there until I come in.”

Before she could tell him he was nuts if he thought she was going to do that, he’d opened the door and shoved her in. She stood there, attempting to see in the semidarkness while she squinted and couldn’t help herself when she jumped, hearing the door snap closed behind her. “So much for being prepared,” she murmured under her breath.

The place was set up to mimic a seedy hotel room. Right down to the shadowbox window with a blinking pink and yellow neon sign that read, Ginger’s Place. It flashed with regular strobe beats that illuminated the surroundings in an amber burst of light. And with that afforded glow, she took in the bed, the nightstand and the white table with metal trim that he’d mentioned.

The room had an air of authenticity about it. Cracks in the wall plaster around the room lent to its dingy charm. She spied the cement pillar that went from floor to ceiling on one side of the window and made note of bare concrete floors. She’d taken no more than a step forward before coming to a halt as her eyes fell on the metal hooks embedded in that pillar. Wincing, she decided they weren’t there to hang a robe on. They were too high.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she walked to the table and looked underneath it. The floor was clean enough and examining the table itself, she saw it was well made. Why that should matter to her at the moment, she had no idea, but it gave her a modicum of comfort nonetheless.

One would think after the conversation she and Ethan had shared this morning about what he expected of her and what she could expect, her nerves wouldn’t be acting up like they were now. When her heart started to palpitate she frowned.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Shaking off the last of her uncertainty, she dropped down on to all fours and headed in. Halfway through, she had second thoughts as she bumped her head. “Oww.”

Automatically, she ducked and looked up. That’s when she saw the words
his grace is what I live for
engraved on the underside of the table. Her first thought? How long had the engraver been left sitting under there? A scene of solitary confinement from
The
Shawshank Redemption
came to mind. Ethan better not leave her here that long. Sheesh. Once she reached the corner, she sat with her back wedged into it and her knees drawn up to her chest. She could see why he’d wanted her in this position. Was she supposed to be hiding from him? No, not hiding, cowering more likely. If she were trying to hide, under the bed would have been the better choice.

There was no time to think because he walked in. Even though she’d been expecting him she still experienced a zing of thrilling anticipation at his arrival. The energy in the room shifted and that sexual hum low in her belly clenched and pulsed to life.

He came directly to the table, dropping what she thought were metal keys on it. She feared the
klunk
had deafened her until she heard him ask, “Are you going to come out so I can have a look at you?” He collapsed to his haunches, elbows resting on his knees. “Or do I have to reach under there and pull you out?”

His hair was different, messy, and he’d changed his top. Gone was the pristine white dress shirt of a few minutes ago and in its place was a black, totally-molded-to-him T. He looked the part of a super-sexy bouncer, which wasn’t so intimidating. Why, if he weren’t scowling, she’d be creaming her jeans right now.

“Come on, we don’t have all night. The buyers will be here in less than two hours and I need to see what I’ve got to sell them.”

She was crawling toward him when his words made her pause. “Buyers?”

He lunged for her but she skittered away, going for a side exit. “I’m not for sale.”

“I think you are.”

Getting out from under the table she shot up and spun around. He was standing now too and damn him, he looked much taller but she wasn’t going to be intimidated. “I’ve got money. I can pay you better than whatever those buyers will.”

“Oh, yeah, I know how much Little Ms. Rich Bitch has in the bank. It’s not your money I want.”

Hmm. Her shoulders slumped as she held back a sigh. She was kind of disappointed they’d arrived here so fast. “So, you’ll let me go if I sleep with you?”

“Sleep with you? What I’m going to do to you doesn’t involve any sleeping and no I’m not going to let you go.”

“No?” This was a surprise twist.

“No. As of right now I own you. Every square inch of you is mine to use, abuse and sell. It’s up to you which one of those three things you
don’t
want to happen to you tonight. Because after everything your family has put me through, I can assure you, two of those three things I’ve definitely made time in the schedule for.”

She swallowed and her chin came up. “Which two?”

His voice went silky. “Guess.”

The room all of a sudden felt small and the tiny bed looked big and the pillar with those hooks—she tried to contain her mounting panic—scared the ever-loving crap out of her. “You’re just trying to frighten me. What could you possibly hope to gain other than money or sex from me?”

The relief she experienced when he smiled was short-lived as he said, “There it is. That snobby attitude that apparently runs through your family. Do you really think you can equate your screwed-up values with what you perceive my needs to be?” He sat down on the table and crossed his arms over his chest. “If I were you I’d start worrying because I can get laid anytime I want to and as far as money is concerned? I have enough to keep me comfortable for two consecutive lifetimes.”

“Revenge? It’s revenge isn’t it?” Knowing she couldn’t barter or beg her way out of this left one option open to her. She needed to cut and run. This might be a possibility if she could keep him talking long enough to plan a route to the door.

“Revenge is the small scale, I should think.”

She counted the strides she’d need to make, half-listening. “Really?”

“Yes, because if I only wanted revenge I would have tanked your family’s company and bankrupted them.”

Those words got her attention. “Wait, if you have the power to do all that, why are we here?”

“Because that would have been too easy on them.”

Too easy? “And what do you determine as being more difficult?”

“Their precious, spoiled princess, humbled. Either by me or some other man, until she forgets them and cares about nothing else in life. Sees nothing else but her Master while she presents to him naked on her knees every day from this day forward.”

“Master, huh? I get it.” Now she was covertly mapping out her escape route. “You have a God complex.”

“And you have a death wish.”

Her eyes flickered toward that solitary exit. She bit her lip, gauging what she needed to do to get there.

“Go ahead,” he whispered.

His quiet tone unnerved her. “What?”

“Let’s see if you can make it to the door.”

He was staring at her in such a way that she thought it best not to respond.

“Go on. If you do make it you’re free to go. I swear.”

He swore all right, he also dropped his arms as if he were preparing to launch himself off the table to go after her at a moment’s notice.

“And if I don’t make it?” she had to ask.

“Let’s just say you’ll never forget what I do to you tonight.”

It was the adrenaline. The fear. The submersing herself in the moment that pushed her to take off. She made it around the bed and nearly to the door when disaster struck. She tripped over absolutely nothing and wound up being caught in a jarring embrace. The air went out of her and she doubled over the steely band of his arm.

The second she stopped rocking he grabbed a fistful of her hair and slowly pulled up. “You can scream if you want to. There’s no one here to pay any mind. There’s nothing you can do. How does that make you feel?”

“You’re hurting me.” Her eyes watered and she came up on tippy-toes to ease the tension of his pull.

“So?”

She was ready to freak out. So close to yelling her safe word. She wanted to cry and yet a part of her said she could hang on for just another minute. The thought that curiosity might be her downfall came to mind, but so did how much she trusted Ethan. How sure she was that he’d never do anything to hurt her and that gave her strength to push a little further.

“Fuck you.” Okay, a lot further.

“You want to?” he taunted. Letting go of her hair, he used his big body and forced her up against the wall.

She gasped as the side of her face met one of those cracks she spied earlier. Oddly, the only thought that came to her was how cool the plaster was against her cheek.

“I asked you a question. Do you want to fuck me?”

“No.”

“Well.” He suggestively banged his hips against her bottom, then changing tact he moved in a grinding motion, and said, “That’s too damn bad. I’m going to get into you whether you want me to or not…but I’m going to make a prediction. You’re going to want me inside you. You’re going to want me bad, before I give it to you.”