Page 24 of Captive in His Castle
“Tell me you’re not aroused right now.”
She tightened her sash and choked, “I hate you.”
“See, you can’t deny it, can you?” He leaned back and, not taking his gaze from her face, took a large drink of his wine. “I am willing to admit that I’m aroused –youarouse me. The difference between us is that I have full confidence in my self-control. Any feelings you rouse in me… more than you already have…” he added with a half-smile, “might be out of my control, but how I choose to act on them is entirely within my control, but you can’t say the same, can you?”
She jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around her breasts, one hand holding the base of her throat, which was as flush as her cheeks. “Just shutup. I will never willingly give myself to you,” she said tremulously. “The only way you will ever have sex with me is if you come into my room and force me.”
The tension that enveloped them at the end of this outburst was thick enough to taste.
Dante contemplated her a long moment and then smiled. “Oh, my sweet little spitfire, don’t you know the inflection and huskiness of your voice makes that sound like an invitation?”
The flush on her skin deepened. The fingers around her throat tightened. Her large eyes were as dark and as stark with longing and fury as he’d ever seen them. And then she dropped her hands from her throat and, without another word, turned on her heel and left the room.
There was no key for the lock on Callie’s bedroom door, but even if there was, she would have still dragged one of her dining chairs across the room and hooked it under the door handle like she’d seen them do in films.
It killed her to know she was putting it there to stop herself from charging back out of the room and running back down the stairs to find Dante. Killed her to know the zing on her lips was the tingling that had set off the moment Dante had dared her to kiss him. Killed her that she’d had to root her feet to the floor to stop herself from doing exactly that.
In that moment, the temptation to vault herself over the table had come close to taking her over, and she covered her cheeks as mortification burned through skin that had suddenly started to feel as if it were its own living being.
Whyhad she said what she’d said? Why had she said he’d have to come to her room? Why even mention her room? Why hadn’t she just left it at never willingly giving herself to him and then stuck to her guns and refused to discuss it a second longer? It had to be that horrible dream that had been plaguing her waking hours at the root of it, and now she was locked in the very room she’d put the imagery of them having sex in both their heads.
“Oh, my sweet little spitfire, don’t you know the inflection and huskiness of your voice makes that sound likean invitation?”
A knock on her door came within a breath of making her scream.
She had to find another breath to call out, “Who is it?”
“Geppa. I’m here to do your turndown service.”
She slammed a hand to her racing heart. “I don’t need it doing.”
“How are your blisters? Can I get you anything or do anything for you?”
If she was capable of laughing, she would do so. All Callie wanted was a car and the code for the gates so she could flee this place… but that wasn’t all she wanted, and it burned her skin afresh to even think of admitting to herself what that other thing she wanted was. “I’m fine. I’m going to sleep now. I’ll see you in the morning. But thank you.”
“Buona notte, Callie.”
“Goodnight, Geppa.”
When she was quite certain the young woman had left the corridor, Callie wiggled the chair to make sure it was firmly in place and then dashed to the bathroom to brush her teeth, keeping the door open so she could keep watch on the main door.
Teeth clean, she jumped onto the bed and double-knotted the robe. She would leave the bed’s drapes tied back.
If she’d been overwrought the night before, it was nothing to what she was feeling now. Not even close. Her core temperature had risen so much it felt like her skin was going to break out in a fever.
God, what was happening to her? She must have crossed paths with thousands of men in her life without feeling even basic attraction, so why this man, the worst man?
A sound outside her door made her heart thrash to escape her chest.
Eyes glued to the door, she gripped the top of her arms tightly, barely able to breathe.
Dante took another shower in the coldest setting he could endure, but this one did nothing to stymie his arousal.Dio, he wanted Callie. Badly. So badly. He’d goaded her, and now he was the one paying the price because all he could see was the flush of colour that had ravaged her cheeks and neck and that stark moment of longing before she’d run away like a frightened but defiant rabbit.
Knowing she was in her own room with the same arousal coursing throughherveins…
He groaned and bowed his head. When he made Callie his, he wanted all her fight to be entwined in pleasure, not in resistance with herself. It made his loins burn to imagine it.
Dio,this was becoming intolerable.
