It’s too late. One more thrust, one final hard knock against my clit and I explode. Shuddering and gasping for air, my orgasm storms through me like the tornado in my captor’s eyes. He glares at me, frowns in anger and grimaces in disgust. Apparently I’ve been a bad girl; my release wasn’t what he wanted and now…what now?
“God,” I cry, heaving for breath as my body convulses. He’s continuing his rhythm, making everything hurt. I’ve never hurt before, never had to beg someone to stop. I’ve never felt anything but a gentle sway of release intended to just get me by. “Cooper.”
“You came,” he growls, with the audacity to sound hurt. “You fucking came.”
“Are you fucking serious?” I shove at him, forcing his fingers from me as he slips backwards and then jumps back another step. “Get the fuck away from me!”
“I warned you,” he seethes, his body trembling with rage. “I fucking warned you, Erin.”
“I don’t give a shit. I didn’t want that! I don’t command the strings for my body, like you think you do.”
“You’re toying with the beast, sweetheart.” His anger morphs to cold calculation. Crazy. Absolutely fucking crazy.
“I was thinking of my fiancé,” I lie, feeling dirty and shameful for pretending Griffin would be capable of such ecstasy. “You take me from him and I’ll think of him every time you touch me.”
With a roar, Cooper grabs me, spinning me round and smashing my stomach into the wall. With his hand on the back of my neck, he bends me over the edge of the pool and kicks my trembling legs apart.
“Big fucking mistake.” He squeezes my ass, sliding his cock between the cheeks. “Now I won’t be so nice.”
“Yeah, because you were sweet like chocolate before. You’re a prick and I hate you.”
He laughs, pushing me harder into the wall and trapping my hands beneath me, against my pussy.
“Brace yourself.”
I scream, tears pouring from my eyes and dripping into the water when he slams into me.
“It was your fault,” he says, pulling out of me and leaving me slumped over the edge sobbing.
“Tell me,” I say, staying in place and refusing to move as he leans on the side next to me. “Why my orgasm made you fuck me like you hate me.”
“I do hate you,” he says, trying to sound indifferent, but exposing his dirty lies. “I didn’t want you to come on my fingers. You make me angry. You make me so fucking angry, you had to pay.”
“By allowing you to split me in half?”
“If that’s what it takes to make you realise this isn’t a game. There’s no way out for you.”
“Why am I here?” I ask, feeling his cum trickle from me and ribbon out into the water tinged with my blood. “Why me?”
“Because you’re everything,” he says, reverting back to calm and collected Cooper. “You’ll learn everything during our time together and you’ll understand why you. But for now, just fucking enjoy it. I’m promising you the world, Erin, just for following a few simple rules.”
“Don’t touch me again,” I spit, edging away from him, floating across the water on my back. “If you want me to follow your stupid rules, fine. But don’t fucking touch me.”
“I don’t think you realise,” he says, swimming a casual breaststroke beside me. “You have no say here. Believe me, Griffin Masters doesn’t mind me being balls deep in your cunt.”
“What does he have to do with this?” I shriek, stopping and standing up. “What have you done?”
He shrugs, reaching for me and tossing me to sit on the side. I cry out with pain, wincing when my core reminds me it has been violated.
“Get out of the pool. It’s time for lunch.”
Cooper makes me sit naked for lunch, my hair dripping to my lap and making me shiver. We eat a plate of salad with a tablespoon of grated cheese and a slice of thickly cut ham. He eats with his knife and fork, and then feeds me with them. I eat—because I’m hungry, and because I need to be good. For Griffin. I hadn’t anticipated Cooper taking me, so why haven’t I thought about his connections with my family before now? He has made me submissive, just by uttering my fiancé’s name.
“So what do you do for a living that pays for this place?” I ask, trying to strike up conversation.
I need to connect with him somehow.
“I work in technology,” is all he says before he shovels another forkful of lettuce into my mouth.
“And…?”
“And that’s it. I’m good with technological stuff.”
Rolling my eyes, I ask him for a sip of water. He contemplates refusing me, but something flashes in his eyes and he gives me a drink from his glass.
“It’s not a germ thing.”
“Sorry?”
I didn’t realise I spoke out loud, but now he’s looking at me expectantly, amused by my outburst and knowing I have to answer him.
“Well, you don’t like to be touched. I thought maybe you had a thing against germs, but you’re feeding me with your cutlery and letting me drink from your glass.”
A soft chuckle from him makes me giddy, despite sitting down. He could be normal, were it not for him being a complete lunatic.
“No, I don’t have a thing against germs. I like to get quite dirty, actually.” He grins and his eyebrows flick up. “I decide who touches me, when and how. It’s as simple as that.”
“And you don’t want me to touch you?”
“You’ll touch me soon enough,” he says, standing up and clearing my plate. “Are you done?”
“You decide that, don’t you?”
My tone is soft and sweet. I want him to think he’s got me.
“I do. Good girl.”
There it is again, those two words that stir so much anger inside me. But they also tell me I’ve got him. I’m one step closer to going home.
“Thank you.”
“Do you want to see your room?”
“It’s only lunch time.”
“Come on.”
Cooper unties me from the chair and my hands dangle in front of me as he walks me from the kitchen and up a flight of stairs. The first floor of the house is small, much narrower than the bottom of the house; there’s a bathroom and two doors that I assume open up onto bedrooms, and that’s it.
“This is yours,” Cooper says, opening a door and leading me inside.
The decoration is modest, much like downstairs, painted a soft brown and furnished with a mahogany bed, a walk-in wardrobe, and a dresser lined with cosmetics.
“You’ve already prepared it for me,” I say, hoping he’ll leave.
He’s too much. Being here is too much. I’ve read stories where the heroine is captured and left to rot in a basement until she finds a way to break free and return to the hero. But my kidnapping is different. Cooper expects me to want to stay with him and he’s offered me the comfort of his home as an incentive to forget I’m here against my will.
“I have. You have clothes in the wardrobe, underwear in the drawers, and sleepwear, too.” Wow, he really has thought this through. “The bathroom is ready for you, and you have makeup and perfumes on the dresser.”
“Who do they belong to?” I ask, trying to gauge his reaction to me forcing him to remember.
I want to know if there were others before me.
“They’re yours.”
That doesn’t answer my question. They may be mine now, but whose where they before? How many women have worn the clothes he expects me to dress in?
“Thank you,” I say again,
Earlier, he mentioned elocution lessons. I can only assume politeness will go some way to keeping him calm, and I pray I’m right.
“You’ll need to clean up,” he says, his voice dry as he looks down between my legs. “Shower or bath?”
“Shower, please.”
With a lingering glance at where he was buried just an hour ago, he takes a step towards me. I flinch and try to twist away, but he grabs my wrists and with a grunt at my r
esistance, ties me to the end of the bed with a length of rope from his pocket.
“Don’t move,” he whispers as if I have the choice.
I wait for him to laugh, knowing we both know I can’t escape, but he doesn’t. There’s no craziness in his words, just the need to keep me in one place. Why? Why does he need to fix me to furniture to feel safe?
He leaves me and a few moments later, I hear the water running from the shower. I close my eyes, imagining the heat enveloping me like a blanket, warming away the chill I’ve had since I woke here and realised I’d been taken. Cooper returns to the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, and unties me again. Taking one of my hands and awkwardly threading his fingers between mine, he leads me out of the room and down the hallway to the bathroom. Steam fills the generous space and brings with it the masculine scent I masturbated to just days ago. It feels like forever ago, my freedom a distant memory. I took it for granted and I shouldn’t have. Another mistake to add to the long chain of mistakes I’ve made. I should have appreciated every moment of being a free woman. I have no idea what’s in store for me now, with this creepy sex god. Opening the door of the shower, Cooper gestures for me to enter, and I step carefully into the cubicle. The water is perfect temperature and hammers my cold skin like bullets. Bringing my hands up to my chest, I tip my head back and close my eyes with a sigh.
“I knew you’d feel better after a shower,” Cooper says, his hands settling on my hips as his front presses to my back.
“Cooper?”
“Yes?”
My question is a whisper, with a ripple of fear that reminds me I don’t want to be here. “What’s going to happen to me?”
“That depends on you, Erin.” His lips graze my shoulder as he places a gentle kiss there. “If you follow the rules, you’ll be fine.”
“What are the rules intended to do?”
“Are you always so inquisitive?”
“Yes.” Taking my bottom lip between my teeth, I brave my next words. “Maybe I’m not the woman you need.”
His rough hands grip me harder as he spins me to face him. His grey eyes burn down into mine, like I’ve already been incinerated and all that’s left is ash. He intends to steal everything that makes me who I am—I can see by the anger in his eyes that he doesn’t appreciate my outburst. Maybe I should have waited. I need him to trust me. The man who trusts no one, not even enough to give me the use of my hands back, needs to trust me more than the only person he relies on for affirmation—himself.
“You’re the woman.” He pushes me back to the wall and follows, pressing every hard line of his body against mine. “You’re not just a woman who will satisfy my urges and do what needs to be done. You’re the only woman and there’s no one but you.”
“The woman for what?”
If he’s going to kill me, which is what I imagine the end result will be, why wait? I may as well ask, push for the answers I’m not sure I’ll have long to search for.
“For me,” he says simply, as if it answers everything.
It doesn’t.
His anger subsides as he strokes my cheek and leans forward to kiss my lips. I close my eyes and stay still, hoping a small kiss is all he will take, but his fingers flex against my hip and I gasp in terror, tearing my lips from his.
“Tell me why you fight,” he says, granting my wish for personal space and taking a step back to pick up a bottle of shower gel. “You want me, we both know that. So why do you fight it?”
“It’s not right.” I shake my head. “I didn’t ask to be here with you, Cooper, and I have no idea why you took me.”
“You don’t need to know. I have everything here you could possibly want. I didn’t take you and drag you to a prison cell to starve you to death.”
“No, but-”
“No buts. You’re here. This is your life now and the sooner you come to terms with it, the sooner you can have a little more…freedom.”
Freedom. He says it like being free is an option for me. He may decide to let me explore his home, step outside into the garden of my own accord, or raise a glass to my own lips and take a drink, but he has no intention of letting me be free. I’m not sure he even understands the meaning of it.
“You said I have to pay for my sins. So there’s more than just following your rules? I haven’t sinned, Cooper.”
“Oh, but you have.” He smirks as he extends a sponge towards me and begins to wash me.
I feel the layer of chlorine wash away, leaving rough skin, dirtied after days of being wherever he held me, but as he washes me, he reveals what’s beneath. The soft skin of a woman who is tougher than she may appear. I moan, snapping my teeth together when I realise my reaction is only going to reinforce his belief that I want him. I don’t. I just want his touch…the gentle yet assertive touch of a man who is so much more than the XY chromosomes. Griffin never touches me with such confidence. He never wonders if what he’s doing feels good, only that we’re doing something adults in love should do. We’ve never taken a shower together and I’ve never been in a cubicle with a man who wasn’t a teammate. Cooper is stunning, his body lean—shoulders broad and waist clinched in—the perfect swimmer’s body. His muscles are soft yet prominent, his height and stature designed to make women come on the spot. His golden skin hints at a recent holiday, along with the tan line circling low on his waist. He’s perfect…aside from the mind that told him it was okay to steal me, he’s a perfect specimen of everything women want.
“It’s okay to enjoy it,” he says, leaning down to lick a trail of water from my neck. “Perhaps it’s considered a sin not to.”
“You know I like it,” I breathe “But it has nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me,” he growls, scrubbing the sponge over my neck to remind me how vulnerable I am. “I bet if I fell to my knees right now and ate you out, you’d be coming on my tongue in seconds.”
“Please…”
“Please do it?” he asks, dragging the sponge between my legs and making me whimper.
“No.” I shake my head, to convince myself as much as to deny him. “Please, don’t.”
“I won’t.” He laughs, taking a step back and spreading the soap over his own body. I watch, transfixed. “You haven’t earned it.”
“I’m sorry?” My eyes snap to his. “How about you have a little lesson of your own, Coop? If you want me to want to stay here, I suggest you stop dangling orgasms in front of me, expecting me to obey your commands like an obedient little pup.”
“Oh, she bites.”
He’s amused by this. He’s entertained by this exchange, while my blood begins to boil and my bound hands curl into tight fists.
“Believe me, I bite. Don’t treat me like a vessel. There’s more to me than the need to come.”
He pauses for a second, tilting his head to look at me. He’s wondering if I’m crazy, if there’s such thing as a woman who doesn’t want to be promised orgasms in exchange for his idea of good behaviour.
“That’s an interesting theory.”
“You’re a prick.”
With the sponge hovering over his crotch, his cock lathered and foamy and too damn delicious even when flaccid, Cooper laughs. His tight abs tighten further and ripple with his amusement.
“I’ve been called worse, baby. And, I must say that yes, I’m a prick of the highest calibre.”
“Well, at least you’re not in denial about your crazy.”
I can’t help but toy with him. While I want to get away, I’ll behave so he lets me free and I can make a break for it. But I can’t resist playing with him, antagonising him…making him stir. I have a feeling he isn’t challenged often. His chin dips in reaction and he takes a step, tossing the sponge behind him. Cupping my chin, his glare burns down into me as I look up into his eyes and try to swallow the lump of fear stuck in my throat. The constant switch is giving me a headache. He’s been comforting, brooding, playful and now he’s…what?
; “I’m. Not. Crazy,” he seethes, stroking his thumb over my bottom lip. “I love how you don’t even try to understand me.”
He’s hurt. God, I’ve hurt him. I tell myself that it’s detrimental to my survival, but I have a much more intense suspicion that I feel bad.
“Is that why you take women?” I ask, refusing to allow him to frighten me. “Because no one tries to connect with you willingly?”
“I don’t take women,” he says, his voice still holding a rumble of anger and a gruff of hurt. “I can fuck any woman I want.”
“There it is again. Sex. There’s so much more to life than sex, Cooper.”
“Are you sure?” He raises a brow.
He knows! The bastard knows. How long has he been following me? Finding out the secrets I thought I held to myself?
“Yes.” I stand strong and reach out to touch him. “Yes.”
Cooper jumps back before I can make contact with him, stepping straight out of the shower and grabbing a towel.
“Enjoy wrapping yourself up without the use of your hands.” He looks at me over his shoulder as he heads out of the bathroom. “Lying doesn’t equal rewards, Erin.”
So now being saved from pneumonia is a reward. Way to earn my submission, Cooper. I’d rather die of the cold than beg him to help me, so I let him go without another word. When I hear a door open and close down the hall, I jump up to switch the shower off, grateful I don’t fall and break my neck, and then I step out of the shower. It’s impossible to wrap oneself up in a towel without the ability to extend your arms, but God, do I try. I manage to flip it over to rest on my shoulders, shuffling one side then the other. It’ll do. I leave the bathroom and shoulder the door open to my bedroom, sitting on the bed and waiting to dry off. It’s so quiet. I can hear a couple of owls outside but there’s no sound of traffic, no hint that there is anyone else around. Cooper has a lot of land and it has given him the ability to keep me here undetected. Would anyone hear me if I screamed?
“Good evening, sunshine.”
I wake up, blinking rapidly and focussing on Cooper leaning over me. He has his hand on my shoulder and I know he’s been shaking me awake. The way his eyes linger on my breasts squashed between my biceps, tells me he probably touched me too. I curl up, rolling onto my side and forcing him to take a step back.
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