by Lana Grayson
A part of me was stolen and destroyed. The destruction left behind couldn’t be healed alone. Too much time passed without him, too many nights spent reliving a terrible memory.
I needed him.
All of them.
And instead, my step-brothers hid me to prevent it from happening again. To prevent worse.
“I wished you would come for me,” I whispered. “I laid in bed and listened, terrified something would happen, that I’d be taken or hurt or killed before I could see you again.”
“I don’t want you to be afraid anymore. I’m doing everything to keep you safe. You are my first and only priority.” He exhaled, his breath hot against my neck. “I’ll never forgive myself for what I did. I’d rip out my heart if you asked it.”
I kissed him. “Don’t do this to yourself.”
“I hurt you.”
“Then heal me.”
“I don’t trust myself.”
That was easy to fix. I pushed upwards, capturing his lips with the promise I meant before the horror and the love I gave after.
“I do trust you, Nicholas Bennett. I love you. And I missed you.”
He groaned. “Me too. More than you could possibly know.”
His fingers gripped the pajama top, and he pulled the little tank over my head, savoring the delicate swell of my curves with a silent appreciation reflected in a telltale smirk. His fingertips brushed pure magic over my flushing skin. His hand searched my body, teasing the tiny bud of my nipple with a gentle amusement. We both stilled as he traced lower, resting over my flat tummy.
“Did you…” He didn’t want to ask. I didn’t want to think of it—a child conceived in an act that ugly and cruel. “Did you have your…?”
“On schedule, as always.”
His expression hardened. “Good.”
It was the first time he had reacted positively to the news. He stilled, imagining that day, those events, the pain. I took his hand, kissing those loving fingers that so delighted me with just a touch.
It wasn’t just me affected by Darius’s cruelty.
We needed this. We needed each other, to prove what had happened hadn’t destroyed us. We’d love each other and banish the memories back into nightmare.
I pulled him down, welcoming his kiss with an encouraging murmur. A soft heat chased away any lingering hesitations. Our lips met once more.
A promise.
A vow.
A devotion we hadn’t dared to admit and a love that survived pain and brutality, guns and monsters, greed and vengeance.
We won. We were together.
I had no idea how long we had, but it didn’t matter. Every second wrapped within his embrace passed in both heartbeat and infinity. His touch was greater than time, more powerful than even the fear of losing what little moments we had. I gasped, pained as his hands dared to leave my body to unbutton his shirt.
We kissed in need.
We touched in desperation.
We savored in pain.
We whispered our love in every breath because we feared we’d never have the chance to speak it again.
Nicholas’s kisses traced down. He exposed my neck, murmuring as he studied my pale skin.
“I’ve become accustomed to you in a collar,” he said.
“Regretting my freedom?”
His kisses graced where the leather once tightened, his lips pressing hard against the flushed skin that pulsed so quickly under his command.
“You tell me, Ms. Atwood. Did I ever need a leash to take you?”
“No. I bound myself to you,” I whispered. “My choice. Maybe my own foolishness.”
“You understood where you belonged.”
“With you.”
Nicholas lowered his head, stealing the chance to slip the raspberry bud peeking from my breast into his mouth.
“Always.”
“Do you promise?”
The roll of his tongue stiffened my every muscle. I arched into his mouth. He suckled, hard, drawing me deeper and savoring my sweetened whimper.
“I told you, Sarah. Every night when you returned to my bed and as I took you when the sun rose—you are mine just as I’m yours. I swear to you, nothing will ever keep us apart.”
I bit my lip. “Except this.”
“Only for now, while I make the plans,” he said. “It won’t always be this way.”
“Concessions?”
His kiss aimed lower. “One I will reward you for surrendering.”
His fingers tickled at the waistband of my pants. I held my breath as Nicholas tugged them over my hips. He gazed at the part of me I fought so hard to forget during the month spent hiding from the world, hiding from the memory.
His touch eased the tension tightening my thighs. He gently parted my legs, slipping between the softness with yielding kisses and gentle murmurs.
“Don’t fight me, Sarah,” he whispered. “I only want to please you.”
My breath caught as the first of his touches simply explored. He teased my presented body, and the rush of desperate slickness surrendered at his touch, his whisper. I gripped the sheets tighter, if only to ease the burst of pressure spiking through my core.
It wasn’t dangerous or frightening.
Every caress of his lips, every stroke of his tongue rewarded my slit with a delighted shiver of comfort, trust, and the mounting strain that I had suppressed in fear of the haunting memories. The only relief I offered myself came in bursts of frustration, waking between night and dawn, terror and fantasy.
But this…his attention. The dipping of his tongue tasted my sweetness. Every flick and tremble belonged to him as he savored me like a rewarded lover. He suckled my clit, earning a wavering mew. The quick excitement stirred me too fast, too quickly.
“Don’t hold back,” Nicholas said. “I plan on giving you everything you deserve, everything you can handle. Then I’ll delight you with everything more.”
As long as it was him.
As long as Nicholas delivered me there.
I could handle anything, give anything, take everything just as long as it was Nicholas who stole me to that edge, teased me with the promise of his love, and then captured me within his arms as the swell stole my breath.
I was lost in the aching instinct, trapped within a pleasure so raw and right I’d climb it again and again just to cherish the simple comfort of his possession.
I twisted the blankets, calling his name and earning his excitement. His kisses became licks, and his tastes sheer feasts of my body. He tortured me with promise and tore me from the world and my sanity until my strength faded.
I whispered his name as a delicate plea for more and a command to spare me the endless ripples of a blissful agony that bent me to his will.
“I need you.” As though he couldn’t have read my begging, felt my aching, tasted my desperation. The honesty in my voice weakened as my body shuddered in a fragile crest once more. “Nicholas, please.”
“I’ve dreamt of you whispering that to me.” Nicholas lifted himself from the bed, casting away his belt before I tensed in memory. “Every night, Sarah. I’ve wanted nothing more than to prove how much I love you, how sorry I am for…everything.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just be here. With me. Inside me.”
If I had the ability to rise, I might have pulled him into my embrace, but the dizzying lust swirled my thoughts and surrendered me to his control. He preferred me that way—tamed and waiting. His weight settled over me, protecting me within the straining muscles and practiced strength. I gripped his shoulders and shuddered as the hardness of his chest mimicked what pressed against my core.
His lips found mine. I gave him everything with no protest or fear, secrets or shame, pain or tension.
I expected to dread the moment I was pinned under him.
Instead, his touch warmed as a gift, and my body received his every penance.
He slipped within me in a single stroke—and I met the sweet gold of his eyes with ev
ery shock, every surprise, and every delight of the first time he had taken me months ago.
The world and its cruelties brought us together.
Our love and devotion twisted the ugly into perfection.
I filled with him, thoroughly, completely, and with such eagerness I wept at his touch.
Our embrace was nothing like how we loved before. Not like when we hid at the estate and he mounted me with feral instinct and quick desperation.
This was desire. Pure, uninhibited passion.
All pretense stripped as he thrust within me, burying his sins and abandoning our fears.
No submission, no ulterior intents, no pain.
Just…whole.
For the first time, for the first moments ever.
We melded together in understanding and peace. His every stroke imbedded within me, proving and pledging and demonstrating his love. I murmured and arched, accepting all he offered with a shuddering bump of my hips. The deeper he plunged, the greater our devotion, the more serene the moment, the harder our crest and more desperate our joining.
I cried out for him once, twice, three times, destroying myself with shivers and letting his strength rebuild me and brace me and take me again and again.
I lived without his love for a month.
I’d have to live without it again.
Our movements rolled with a bittersweet sadness—a way to prove our words and offer every promise of love. We dulled the memories and replaced the bleak darkness with a burst light and tempted courage.
In such a short time, Nicholas Bennett had become more than my captor or lover.
He was my reason to live, my strength in the world, and the greatest challenge I had ever endured.
His pleasure was mine, and my delights his victories, and with every shared breath and synced heartbeat, I abandoned my hope for a life beyond the Bennett’s control and instead wished for one where I would never again part from his side.
His motions quickened, and the hardness in me grew. I gripped him, urging his movements, begging to grant him the same releases he freed within me.
His quickening pace and surging aggression wasn’t meant to frighten me.
I wasn’t taken, but loved.
He didn’t dominate me but worshiped everything that I was.
Once I had been used. Now, I was adored, warmed, and cherished.
Our bodies melded. My heart fluttered. I cried out.
Nicholas kissed me as his length sheathed entirely within me, stealing my voice and silencing me with the same boundless passion that filled me with his endless heat, wanting, and grateful release.
If my vision was lost within the burst of my delight, my breath forsaken in a quiet gasp, and my heart stilled in the clutching swell of our bodies, I’d have celebrated my last second of completeness that joined us as one.
I wept and clutched at Nicholas, holding him tight against me as the stresses of the past month faded. He held me and whispered of his own fears, bracing me against him with a fierce kiss. He parted from me and gathered me close to cradle me to his chest.
But the lazy moments spent with his fingers brushing my hair and his kisses upon my temple weren’t meant to last.
I knew better than to hope, even if my voice could only whisper the truth.
“Why are you really here, Nick?”
He exhaled, his touch memorizing the angles on my face, the puffiness of my offered lips.
“I saved your life today.”
The trust.
My heart beat faster.
“Roman Wescott signed the amendment?” I paused after he nodded, lowering my head to his chest. “Now what happens?”
“The board holds to their end of the bargain. In a few days, the agreement of sale will be prepared, and you sign over the stock from the trust. Then, they won’t have reason to hurt you.”
“And you? You lose everything, Nick.”
“I still have my original holdings.” His voice hardened. “And my inheritance.”
“It’s not enough.”
His grip tightened. “It is for now.”
“You can’t overthrow him without a majority.”
“And you wouldn’t live without the trade.”
“It’s not a good sacrifice.”
“I could say the same for some of yours.”
Neither of us would win that game.
“What about Darius?” I whispered.
“Don’t worry about him.”
The kiss to my forehead cured the fever but not the infection. It’d be easier for me if I knew where he was, how to avoid him, what I could do to stop him.
“How long do you expect me to hide?”
Nicholas prepared for the question. He didn’t apologize. “As long as it takes.”
“I can’t do this for much longer.”
“You have to.”
I leaned up, waving over the chalet. Though the little cabin crammed modern luxury in a small space, no amount of Jacuzzi tubs, granite countertops, or vaulted ceilings could compare to home.
Wherever that was now.
“This isn’t a life,” I said. “I’m not wearing a collar, but this isn’t freedom. I’m more a prisoner here than I ever was at the estate. There I might have been in danger, but at least…I had you.” I shrugged. “I had Reed and Max and…hope.”
“Sarah, this is only temporary. I’ll save you from him, but you have to listen to me, you have to do as I say and trust me. Really trust me.”
“I do.”
“In this?”
I no longer had to lie. “Yes.”
“Then I’m asking you to stay hidden, just until the trust is dissolved and we’ll only have one man to control.”
He shifted, easing from the bed and reaching for his clothes.
My stomach pitted. “You’re leaving.”
“I have to.”
“Why?”
He tugged on his pants, glancing at me with a gaze that might have scolded had he not shared the same heartache.
“Anyone might have followed me,” he said. “Anyone might be wondering where I am. It’s selfish of me to even be here.”
“They won’t miss you for one night.”
“He will.”
My heart would crush before I let another tear escape, but the pain stole my remaining courage.
I realized he couldn’t stay, but I had no idea my moments with him would end so quickly.
“Let’s run together then.” I followed him, slipping into my robe as he shook his head. “Nick, we have the money, the ability. We just leave it behind. Tonight. We can forget everything that ever happened. The kidnappings and the beatings and Darius. We can start new somewhere else and be together.”
“And you’d let my father win?”
“Nicholas, he’s already won. There is nothing else for him in this world. Let him rot in his wealth, and we’ll start our own lives, far from all this insanity.”
“And Max and Reed?” Nicholas asked. I looked away. “Your mother? Your company? You could no sooner walk away from your responsibilities than I can mine.”
“So what then? You leave, and I stay in my prison? You surrender my only power over to your father, and then…somehow take over the Bennett Corporation without a majority or any allies on the board?”
“And you stay safe.” Nicholas took my chin in his hand. “You listen to me and stay far from trouble. I’ll be back soon with the sales agreements, and then we can decide what to do. But I am not risking your life. You are everything to me, Sarah Atwood. And I would sooner imprison you in this cabin and bind you under lock and key than give him the chance to hurt you.”
I believed him. That was the problem.
I said nothing as he finished dressing. I followed him downstairs, earning a gentle nuzzle from Hamlet. He basked before the fireplace.
“Thank you for bringing my dog.”
“Thought you’d be lonely,” He said. “Reed’s gonna miss him, but you need him more.”
My perfect night couldn’t end in such misery. I stepped into his arms and held him tight.
“I’ll come for you.” He kissed me, brushing my lips with a promise that did little to ease my fears. “I promise.”
He patted Hamlet and wished me a goodnight. The door closed.
And my hopes fled with him.
I collapsed on the couch and cradled Hamlet. He flopped over me, a fuzzy hug of pure love, but I wished for something more.
The pit in my stomach only grew.
I woke from a sweaty sleep with a start.
Hamlet growled.
Hamlet never growled.
The knock came quietly, same as before. I pushed the dog from my lap, but eighty-pounds of stubborn goldendoodle was difficult to shift. I flicked at his nose and frowned.
“Ham, it’s Nick. He came back. Get up.”
He growled again. What the hell got into him?
I retied my robe and thought of a clever I told you so to serve at Nicholas.
I knew he’d want to spend the night in my arms. No one would miss him. No one would find me. And at least we’d be happy, if only for one night.
I wrapped the blanket over my shoulders and bound to the entry, unlocking the bolt and sweeping the door wide—an invitation inside where it was warm and safe.
Hamlet barked.
The blanket dropped to the ground.
It wasn’t worth screaming.
No one would hear. Any breath I wasted would be one less I had to survive. My chest tightened, and my throat closed without a desperate gasp.
I stared into the leering, malicious, and lust-shaded eyes of Darius Bennett.
Darius stepped inside and shut the door. He switched the lock with a solemn click.
His voice struck like a punch to the gut, but he wouldn’t have to strike me.
Not now. Not here.
Not when I was so far from anyone who might have saved me.
“Hello, my dear.”
Six Weeks Later
Run.
I groaned.
Run.
The last thing I wanted was another night searching for a motel that accepted dogs but wouldn’t lace Hamlet with fleas. It took long enough to find this one, but three nights in the same place was too risky.
Run.
Hamlet whined at me. Somehow, the bowl of kibbles was more appetizing than the burger. I picked at the bun. It tasted way too sweet, but the bread was better than the grey burger, limp and greasy and smelling like…