Page 107 of Captive

“So, I can go outside, smile at all your men, and touch their arms?” My surcoat snaps against my legs as I skirt around him and head for the door.

He reaches out, snagging my arm, and yanks me back to him. “You most certainly cannot.”

“Let me go, Hector.” I pull against his hold, and he releases me.

“Tersah is a friend, Sol,” he says, a hint of frustration in his tone. “She has never been more than a friend.”

“She touched you.”

“She’s a flirt. It means absolutely nothing to her.”

“It means something to me.” The words snap out of me. “She knows precisely what she’s doing to induce jealousy.”

He leads me into our room and pushes me to the bed. I land in the center and glare up at him.

“Do you need me to bed you again to remind you that you’re the only woman I want?” Warmth imbues Hector’s words. Enough warmth to drown me if I allow it.

My anger wanes as I think of him bedding me, but I am not willing for him to know that yet.

So, I roll to my stomach, grab my pillow, and tuck it beneath my head. “I need no such assurance.”

“Liar.” He climbs on the bed next to me. “We can do it this way if you would like.”

“Do what?”

The words barely leave my mouth before he straddles me and pulls my surcoat to my hips. He leans down, pulls the material up further, and kisses my lower back.

Don’t give in.

At least, not yet.

I curl my toes and try to not think about how good his lips feel against my skin. His beard tickles. His lips arouse deep pleasure.

He trails his mouth down my back—and lower as he yanks down my pants. I let out a breath as he runs his knuckles over my backside, then slides his hand between my legs, separating them enough to touch me there, to blaze a line of fiery heat to my center.

“Hector,” I gasp out the moment he rises to free himself.

“Raise up on your knees,” he commands.

Quick breaths escape me as I do as he requested, rising enough for him to yank my hips closer and sink inside me. Over and over, he thrusts deep into me.

No matter how many times we’re together, I still wake up thinking about the next time. Longing for the next time. Daydreaming about the next time.

Now here it is, the next time. The perfect next time with Hector.

I move with him, bringing my body back with each move he makes. Harder and harder, he takes me. I welcome it. Oh, how I welcome it.

Sweat glistens on our bodies as he reaches around me and touches me, drawing me to the edge of my summit. As I reach its fiery peak, he thrusts one last time, reaching his completion.

Our skin needed to feel the heat of the other. Our bond needed to be strengthened by coupling.

Silently, I thank him for my binding tattoo, and how it’s bringing me closer to him and allowing me toseehim. Truly see him.

ChapterForty-Three

Hector joins me as I walk through the streets of Karra the following day. Adelaide walks on the other side of him, pointing and waving at a group of stray dogs.

“Can I have a dog, Uncle Hecky?”

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