Page 24 of Stolen Vows

It’s not anger aimed at her. It's anger aimed at me for not being able to control myself when it comes to having her this close to me. I’m a grown-ass fucking man, and I should be able to handle myself around a pretty girl, even around a pretty girl who’s looking at me the way she is right now.

But I can’t. I can feel that want in me all over again. And before I can let it get the better of me, I turn my back and stalk out of the bedroom towards the bathroom, making sure to lock the door before I head into a shower. I don’t want her making a break forit again, not after what happened last time. I know I need to keep a closer eye on her than this if I am going to make sure of it.

I start running the shower, and turn the water down to as cold as I can handle it. I need a short, sharp shock to my system right now, something to blast me out of this dangerous headspace that I find myself in. Because I want her—fuck, I want her. And I know she wants me.

I step under the cold water and tip my head back, letting it course over my body and trying to dampen the rush of fiery desire that threatens to get the better of me, even in that moment. I have wanted women I couldn’t have before, of course, but this is different because I know that she wants me, she has made that part pretty damn clear. So, holding myself back feels like a trial I am putting myself through for no reason, and I am not sure how much longer I can handle keeping my distance like this.

I’ll call up some of my father’s men, get them down here, fill this place with some other people to try and push away the feelings that are coursing through me right now. Soon enough, this will be over, and we will have what we wanted from her kidnapping. Even if, right now, it’s hard to believe that I will ever be free of this need.

Closing my eyes, I try to focus on the sensation of the chilly water flooding my body, and not the memory of those half-lidded eyes she looked up at me from under back in her bedroom.

12

Cara

I watch him from the shadows—broad shoulders hunched in front of the fire, scotch in one hand, and who knows how many secrets buried deep within him.

There’s something magnetic about his silence. Like he’s wrestling demons... and barely winning.

I move slightly, and the floorboard creaks below me. His head snaps around at once, and I draw in a sharp breath when I feel his gaze settle on my body once more.

"What are you doing?” he demands, rising to his feet. "I said you could come out of your room in the evenings, not that you could hang around watching me while my back is turned."

"I’m sorry," I blurt out. "The fire just looked really cozy, and I— I wanted to join you. I just didn’t know how to ask."

His eyes flick to mine for a moment and then he lets out a sigh and gestures for me to take the seat opposite him.

"Fine," he mutters. I move to the seat, brushing past him, drinking in the scent of him for a moment before I tuck my legs up and under me on the chair. The warmth of the fire crackles beside us, filling the room with the scent of burning wood; it’s almost peaceful, or, I guess, it could be, if it weren’t for the circumstances.

He has been allowing me a little more freedom. Perhaps he’s hoping that it will keep me from running again, if I am not hidden in that room twenty-four-seven. But what he doesn’t know is that this little taste of freedom that I have gotten, I need more—and, most of all, I need him.

I watch him for a moment, hands clasped on my lap. The fire reflects on the planes of his face, casting shadows beneath his strong jaw and his sharp cheekbones. He raises the glass to his lips and takes a sip, and I’m reminded, all too clearly, of how good it felt when his mouth was put to work between my legs. I want to feel his lips on me again, more than anything. I want to feel him touching me, his hands all over me, taking me, and making me belong to him.

"What even is this place?" I ask as I gesture around the cabin, breaking the silence between us. He looks over at me.

"What do you mean?”

"I mean, why do you have access to this cabin in the middle of nowhere?"

"It’s a safe house."

I almost laugh.

"Well, I don’t think it’s very safe," I shoot back. "Or much of a house, for that matter."

The corners of his lips twist up into a smile, for just a moment. He doesn’t want to admit it, but that thought amuses him.

"Just somewhere we keep to bring people who need to lay low."

"You get a lot of that, in your line of work?”

"More than you’d think."

I twist a strand of hair around one finger, trying to think of some way to keep this conversation going. I need more from him. I need to be with him, in all the ways I have never been with anyone before. In the time since our brief sexual encounter, my mind has been filled with him, and I know that I need to take advantage of his presence here before I am returned to my father once more.

Because my virginity is one of the few things that I have to offer—but one that I can get rid of at any time, if I just find the right guy. I know that it’s one of the things my father has made a big deal of to Mario. I overheard them talking about it a few times, how sweet I am, how innocent, and I’m sure that Mario wants to be the one to take that from me.

But I have other plans. And they are sitting right in front of me with a scotch in hand right now.

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