Page 56 of Deception

“So, really…” she says with a slight lick of her lip as her thumb strokes over mine. “What you’re saying is that you hate not having control.”

Swallowing down the lump that Lucy’s accurate acknowledgement lodges in my throat, I turn my gaze back to the valley ahead while wrapping my arm around her and cocooning her to my side.

With her hands tucked between our thighs, I settle into the hum of our presence, focusing on the way the sound of her quick, quiet breaths lingers in my ears, marvelling over the fact that we can be two beings from two opposing worlds, and somehow her soul fits with mine. Somehow, we see each other in ways that we don’t see ourselves.

“What were you desperate for?” I ask as she lets out a soft sigh.

It takes her a moment to take in my question or maybe consider answering it. But then she burrows into me before saying, “Love.”

After another silent beat, Red tips her head back to find my stare. “I desperately wanted someone to love me the way I loved them.”

“Do you still love him?”

“Is that why you showed me the photos?” Slipping her hand beneath the hem of my coat, she flattens it to my stomach. “Because you didn’t want me to love him?”

“He doesn’t deserve it.” Regardless of whether she wants to hear it or admit it, it’s the truth.

“I loved the way I felt after…well…after we had sex. It made me feel good for the moment, and then I felt like I wasn’t enough. Like I needed to be better for Freddie to want to keep me.”

Before her words are carried away in the breeze, I tell her, “I want to keep you.”

“I want you to keep me. I want your control…even if it hurts. Even though it’s wrong.” Rising to her knees, Lucy turns to me. With her hands lacing around my neck, she rests her forehead on my shoulder. “I want you to own me.”

“Me owning you isn’t love.” It’s nothing but carnal desire. Lust.

I cup her face with one hand while gripping her hair with the other, tugging at it to tilt her face to mine as she tells me, “No, it isn’t. And I don’t want love anymore…I just want to be yours.”

The words float away in the breeze, and as if to reaffirm her statement, Red nuzzles her face into my hand, kissing my palm over and again. “You can be my master, and I can be your pet. I don’t really know what that means, but…” With a shrug, she looks up at me as though it’s not simply her kisses she’s left in my hand but her entire existence.

It’s impossible for her to know how incredible her surrender feels. Even in these miniscule gestures, the power that it makes me feel is addictive. And it doesn’t matter what happens after this moment, because I will never allow anything or anyone to hurt her again.

No one will ever touch her again. Not without getting through me.

22

LUCY

The pounding of my heart sputters with every passing minute. Tomasz knows I understand every word of his and Anton’s exchange, yet he doesn’t lower his voice or take the conversation elsewhere. With a flit of his pensive gaze to mine, he draws in a deep breath.

“They want the girl, and Dimitri wants to make a deal. Your father will come and get her himself if you don’t take her back to Moscow.”

Exhaling, Tomasz nods at him while still holding my stare. Blue eyes glint with possession as he tells him, “I have a call to make.”

“She won’t be able to fix this mess for you.”

She?The bite of toast dries in my mouth as my chest tightens. Who’s Anton talking about?

“Mikheil Sarapov is out for your head. You killed his son…”

“And I would do it again. That bastard plotted against me, and while he may have a deal with my father, ultimately it’s me that will have to follow it through?—”

“Tomasz.”

“I’ve never taken kindly to traitors, and I won’t start now.”

When he pulls his phone out of his pocket, the sudden movement chills through me. As calm as he is on the surface, I can sense the anger roiling deep. It darkens the clear oceans in his eyes to a murky midnight storm that makes it hard to focus on anything other than its silent roar.

Pushing the rest of my breakfast away from me, I force down my last bite with a sip of sweet tea.

---