Page 25 of The Count

To be honest, it had made me feel like a real woman,a wanted woman.

I wanted him to reach for me, to pull me close to his chest, to kiss me and stroke my hair before he dragged me off and had his way with me in his bed.

He never did.

I spent most days wondering if it was simply a one-night stand for him, if that was what he did with the women in his life.

Was that all I was to him? Just another notch in his belt that he’d manhandled, spanked, and fucked?

He didn’t look at me like that though. Every time his gaze met mine, it was pure heat and power emanating from his every pore. His dark brown eyes were portals into the unknown and I just wanted to discover everything he had hidden inside them.

When I went to bed at night, I fantasized about all the things he could do to me and all the things he had done to me. I remembered how it had felt when he’d bent me over that table, then lowered my leggings and my panties so he could punish me. Safe in the shadows of my room at night, I slipped my hand in between my legs and touched myself to orgasm night after night.

I didn’t even try to stay quiet because a part of me wanted him to burst through that door and put me over his knee for having the nerve to touch myself without his permission. I screamed his name because I wanted him to hear it.

I came thinking about that too.

Every morning, I faced him trying to figure out if he’d heard me, if he knew what I was doing and what I was thinking before I fell asleep at night.

His gaze was a constant heated mystery that simply made my need grow even more intense.

One night about two weeks later, I stayed up, listening for the telltale sound of the door locking, but it never came. I licked my lips, summoning courage from a part of me I hadn’t even known existed before I’d arrived in this place.

I’d grown tired of his denial, and it was time to do something about it.

I slipped my feet into a pair of soft slippers that John had given me. I was wearing nothing more than a long nightshirt and a pair of panties. I stared at the door and hesitantly touched the waistband of my underwear.

Fuck it.

I pushed them down until they fell to the floor. I stepped out of them and kicked them aside. I reached for the doorknob, holding my breath before it began to turn. When I opened the door, I peeked out.

There was no one there.

I wandered out, walking down the hallway as quietly as I could. There wasn’t any sign of activity close by. I wasn’t sure who was locking me inside my room at night, but I had a sneaking suspicion it was the count.

I’d seen him leave after dinner. It had felt increasingly tense between us. He could probably tell that I was getting restless and a bit annoyed that he hadn’t touched me once since what felt like forever ago.

I walked around rather aimlessly, finding myself in the library, then in some of my favorite sitting rooms, until I found myself back in the kitchen where I’d lost my virginity.

I dragged my fingers along the table edge, seeing the same nicks and scratches along its surface that had been burned into my memory since that night. I glanced to the fridge, wondering if it still housed fresh ginger root like it had the last time. The muscles in my backside tightened, remembering the scalding hot burn of it inside me.

I sighed.

“Naughty girl.”

My heart nearly leapt into my throat.

“Was the punishment for wandering the estate after dark not enough for you?”

The light flicked on, and my breath stuck fast in my lungs. I didn’t turn around right away, instead waiting for him to reach out and grasp my arm gently. I wanted him to make me look at him and he did. His smoldering stare caught me in an instant, holding me captive more thoroughly than a lock and key ever could.

I swallowed back an answer. I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t enough, that I wanted so much more, but I said nothing at all.

I hated myself for chickening out.

He studied my face intently for a long moment before he lifted me up off the floor and carried me out of the room. He brought me back to my chambers and placed me down on my bed.

“Up on your knees. I want that ass in the air,” he instructed.

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