Page 4 of Owned

In front of me.

Hurriedly, I turned to face the windows, looking out into the bright New York night, trying to ignore what was happening in the room beyond the curtains.

“Uh huh, honey,” Atlas murmured. “Be a good girl and stand facing the fireplace. Yeah, just like that.”

That voice, good God. All honey and rough velvet, sex and sin and everything dark and forbidden. The kind of voice you wanted to roll naked in so you could feel it against your bare skin.

I shivered helplessly, wanting to stick my fingers in my ears so I wouldn’t hear, but that might mean I wouldn’t know if my hiding place had been discovered.

“But I want to look at you,” the blonde protested.

I gritted my teeth, stared fixedly at the glass, trying not to breathe.

“Plenty of time for that later,” Atlas said.

There was a silence and then the woman gasped then gave a throaty moan.

“Good girl,” Atlas said roughly, his voice even deeper. “You like that? Tell me so I can give you what you want.”

“Yes,” the blonde whispered and then said something else I didn’t catch.

Silence fell, broken only by the blonde’s loud breathing.

I put shaking hands to my cheeks, trying to calm myself and not pay any attention to them. What was I going to make for dinner tonight when I got home? Mom wouldn’t make anything. She was a hopeless cook and if I wanted something edible, I’d have to do it myself. Mac and cheese again? Soup? Or maybe some burgers with?—

The blonde squeaked and I couldn’t help myself, I turned and peeked through the gap in the curtain. Atlas had never mistreated Mom physically, but maybe he’d hurt this woman?

At least, that’s what I told myself as I looked, adjusting my posture minutely so I could see.

Then once I looked, I wished I hadn’t.

Atlas was standing behind the woman, one hand gripping the back of her neck, while the other stroked down her side to her hip, then over the curve of one ass cheek. He squeezed it, hard, making her squeak again, and it was definitely with pleasure.

My heartbeat got louder and louder. I knew I should look away, I knew it. Yet I couldn’t. I stared, absolutely transfixed as Atlas dropped his hands from the woman and turned to open a small drawer in a nearby side table, getting something out of it. Condom packets.

He threw two of them onto the armchair, then ripped open another, and before I could take another breath, he’d reached down and pulled open his jeans.

My face burned in the darkness behind the curtain as he reached into his boxers and I looked away again, pressing my hot face into the heavy velvet and trying to slow my breathing.

But even though I couldn’t see, I could still hear as the blonde gasped and then another deep moan filled the room. Atlas murmured something and then came the rhythmic sounds of flesh hitting flesh.

Sex was something I hadn’t bothered with in my life so far, not when I had Mom to take care of. Men were an extra annoyance that I didn’t need, and anyway, I didn’t have the time.

I took care of myself, of course, usually in the privacy of my own bed, but none of my private fantasies had ever included hiding behind a curtain listening to Atlas Blackwood have sex.

I don’t know why I looked again. But I did.

The blonde was bent forward, gripping the mantelpiece above the fireplace, knuckles white, her naked body sheened with sweat. While Atlas stood behind her, one hand gripping her neck in a dominating, possessive hold, as he fucked her with deep, hard strokes.

This time I couldn’t look away even if I’d wanted to.

He was mesmerizing, the lines of his face drawn tight with masculine pleasure. He murmured things I couldn’t hear, then his free hand slid around the blonde’s front and down between her legs.

She flung back her head and cried out, her face twisting as his hand moved. He thrust harder, making her breasts bounce, her moans getting hitched and short.

Still, I couldn’t look away.

She cried out, bucking against his hips, but he held her still, thrusting harder and faster until the lines of his face tightened even more and he bared his teeth, hissing as the orgasm took him too.

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