Page 7 of Cruel Master

I feel around in my hair and find one of the bobby pins left over from my last shift at the diner. I clutch it in between my hands like it's my golden ticket out of here and stalk over to the locked door.

I bend the bobby pin up like I’ve seen them do in the movies, and then I stick it in the lock and jiggle it around. I don't have a clue what I'm doing, but I try my best to move it around in there and hope by some miracle I can get the lock to disengage.

I don't know how long I've been at it, but I finally feel the doorknob give and turn in my hand.

My mouth falls open on a happy gasp, and my heart leaps as hope sprouts in my chest.

I can't believe I fucking did it! I used the most cliche escape route in the book, and it actually worked!

I push on the door, and it swings open—more forcefully than I pushed it, though.

I gasp and jump back when I see why.

Terror grips me in its black clutches when the man in the suit is standing right on the other side of the doorway, glowering down at me.

“Going somewhere, Nora?”

ChapterFive

My stomach doesthis weird thing where it drops and then falls.

It's the first time he’s said my name, and hearing it in his smooth voice has goosebumps breaking out all over my skin even as fear skitters down my spine.

Of course he knows my name. There's no telling what he knows about me. He probably knows more about me than I do myself.

I stammer, searching for the words to explain my predicament, already knowing there are none. Nothing will get me out of this. He caught me red-handed.

Oh, fuck it. It looks like since I've been caught anyway, I might as well go down with a fight.

I launch myself at him, ducking down to try to slip under his arm and around him, but, unsurprisingly, he's too fast for me.

His arms band around me and lift me clean off my feet as he picks me up and walks me back into the room, kicking the door shut behind him with an ominous thud.

“Let me go!” I scream and kick wildly, but he's got my back to his front, so I'm kicking and flailing at nothing but air.

I toss my hands behind my head in a rage, seeking to make contact with some part of him. A surge of satisfaction goes through me when I feel his flesh under my fingertips.

I claw at him like a feral cat, dragging my nails over his face.

I seethe when he starts laughing as if he's enjoying my struggle.

“I knew you'd be a handful,” he rasps in my ear, the wicked delight evident in his voice.

I feel something hard pressing insistently against my ass and go completely still, horrified when I realize that all of my struggling has only served to turn him on.

“That’s a good little kitten,” he purrs in my ear. He strokes his hand over my hair and then trails it down over my shoulder and down the front of my stomach, stopping at the band of my shorts.

Electric zaps shoot throughout my body, and what horrifies me even more than the large erection pressing incessantly into my back is feeling my nipples pebble under his touch. Moisture floods between my thighs, and my entire body begins shaking.

My cheeks burn with mortification at my body's response to him. Surely this just has something to do with the adrenaline rush. It's just a normal reaction to all of the endorphins surging through my veins right now. I can't seriously be attracted to this monster.

“Are you going to behave if I release you?” His hot breath fans directly against my ear.

I can't speak, so I just swallow and nod.

He releases me and spins me so that I'm facing him. I see my scratch on his cheek. Three tiny scrapes of red glisten on his cheek. Satisfaction blooms in my chest, immediately followed by wariness because surely he's not going to let me get away with this.

My suspicions are proved correct whenever his blue eyes glower down at me. “Give me your hand,” he orders me.

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