Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
He got into the tub, and the way his muscles flexed with each movement accentuated the vast difference in our sizes. I felt small and delicate, almost fragile in comparison. He settled across from me, and though his bathtub was spacious, it no longer felt so massive. The water seemed to shift to accommodate him. I was even more thankful for the bubbles now. They were the only thing keeping him from seeing all of me.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, his tone laced with an undercurrent of something I couldn't quite decipher.
I looked at him warily, leaving his question to hang between us for a moment. "Do you want the honest answer, or the one that will placate you?"
A faint quirk of his lips hinted at amusement, but his expression remained composed. "The honest one, always," he replied, his gaze steady and unwavering.
"I'm sore," I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. The admission felt raw, a confession that held a vulnerability I hadn't intended to reveal.
“That’s to be expected,” he replied with a gentle acknowledgment. "Come closer.”
I blinked, staring at him with a mix of curiosity and trepidation, unmoving.
"If you don't, I’ll simply come to you," he quipped, his gaze holding mine with a challenging glint.
Pick your battles, I reminded myself as I begrudgingly complied.
I coasted my body across the tub until scarcely any space separated us. My pulse quickened as a myriad of scenarios began to play out in my head.
"You are truly exquisite," he remarked, his voice a gentle caress as his strong hands encircled my waist and pulled me closer until I was all but straddling him. A tremor coursed through me, my thoughts attempting to turn back to the night before. I focused on his solid chest so I didn’t have to stare at his face.
He reached for something, and then I felt the cool sensation of body wash. His touch was unexpectedly gentle as he began to wash me, his movements deliberate and unhurried. I was acutely aware of our proximity, his presence enveloping me in a way that was disarming. His fingers traced my skin with a reverence that felt almost foreign, treating me as if I were a rare and fragile treasure.
The water around us seemed to hold an electric charge, every brush of his hand as he lathered the body wash with a soft sponge. His breath fanned across my neck, sending small flutters of sensation through me. My desire was a tangled web of apprehension and shame.
The circumstances of my situation were at the forefront of my mind. A part of me felt weak for not fighting him, but another argued I already had. I’d tried and epically failed to fight him off. He hadn’t even been using a fraction of his strength then. An actual fight was out of the question. There wasn’t any telling what he would do to me if I pissed him off. A man had just had his eyes gouged out and a woman lost her tongue for incurring his wrath.
All I could do for now was appease him without trading my soul in the process. There was a village with regular people—I hoped.
If I could somehow get back to there, my chances of escape would be significantly higher.
“You know,” he began, interrupting my planning. “You looked beautiful last night, and you impressed me.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
He chuckled at my quick rebuttal. “I was prepared to have you drugged if you decided to behave stubbornly. I always knew you were level-headed. Intelligent to a fault.” He squeezed excess water from the sponge and then continued using it to caress my skin.
I silently repeated what he said back to myself, taking a quiet breath before I spoke. “You say that as if you know me.”
“I do. I’ve been watching you for a long time, deliciae.”
“The trade show only lasted a day.”
“I met you long before then.”
“When?”
I was positive I’d never encountered this man before. We were two worlds apart, his completely different than mine.
The resort was the only place a confrontation between us could’ve happened, even if only in passing.
“That’s not important right now.” He reached for more body wash, still holding me with one arm around my middle. “You were meant to be mine, Lolita. From the time you took your first breath, and long after you draw your last.”
I tensed as he lowered his mouth to the juncture of my neck and brushed his lips against my skin, a trail of goosebumps following in their wake.
“Seeing my brand on your beautiful body as you came all over my dick again and again is a memory I will cherish.”
My cheeks flushed with a mixture of contempt and a strange exhilaration. I could remember it all too vividly. But I wasn’t ready to go there mentally or verbally.