“I said you couldn’t leave.”
She barked out a laugh, her hands still trying to cover her tempting, naked body.
“Right, so, prisoner.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Not really,” she spat back.
Fuck, I liked that fight in her. It made my blood run hot like fire, and my my cock ache to tame and claim her. I let my eyes drag over her, my jaw tightening as I really took in how fucking beautiful she was. That wild, fierce look in her eyes. The way her body coiled like she might spring at me again. The softness of her sweet, plump lips and the swell of her breasts under her crossed arms. Her smooth skin, the curve of her hips, and those long, lean legs, with my prize nestled tight between them.
I groaned, wondering if her little peach tasted as sweet as it looked with those little panties hugging it so tightly.
“I know what you are, you know,” she whispered, glaring back at me, her face flushing red. “I know what Russian gang tattoos look like.”
“You watch a too many movies, princess.”
Fuck. She’d just confirmed everything I was worried about. Letting her leave here meant word would get out of the “Russian guy with the Russian mob tattoos living up on Blackthorn.” Boris would be kicking in my front door in less than a day once he heard.
I paused, my blood blazing hot through my body. The killer in me knew I should just bury her. The calculating, cold-hearted hitman in me knew the score, and I knew what I should be doing with her.
…But then, everything about this little angel made want to do everything I shouldn’t be doing with her. And no fucking way was I going to do that.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
I shook my head. “Best if you don’t know.”
“Fine,” she sassed back. “Then you can’t know my name either.”
“It’s Chloe.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I looked through your wallet.”
I moved towards her.
“You’ve got something in the cut — a piece of wood or something. It’s going to keep bleeding, and it’s going to get fucking infected. So, I’m going to clean it out, get the piece of wood out of you, and patch you up.”
“You’re not going to touch—”
I gave her a sharp look a I moved towards her, and her mouth snapped shut.
“And then are we going to have a discussion about me leaving here?”
“No, we aren’t.”
She swallowed.
“Because you’re staying here.”
“Fine,” she muttered.
“Fine?”
“Fine you can clean the cut.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “Oh, can I?”
She shifted, and then grimaced as the waist of her panties rubbed against the cut in her hip.
“Take them off. I’ll get the bath going.”
“I can run my own bath.”
“Are you always this fucking difficult when people are trying to help you?”
“Do you always capture girls in the woods and lock them up in your house?”
I almost mentioned how I could have just let her die, but I didn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to even say those words about her. My gaze drank her in, my head spinning and trying to make sense of the emotions running through me. This wasn’t just lust, though I wanted her more than I’d ever craved any woman. There was something about that raw heat and that fire inside of her that sucked me into her — something that made me not just want to posses her, but to protect her as well, from everything.
“Stay put,” I growled. “The door to the place is locked anyways, but if you run, I will catch up to you. That’s a promise.”
She glared at me for a second, but then her look softened.
“Thank you, for helping me.”
I nodded before I stepped through the door into the large master bath attached to my bedroom. The huge porcelain tub sat into an alcove in the wall, surrounded on three sides by a cedar plank sitting bench and large windows that looked out over the mountains. Yeah, the blood money I’d made working for the mob had afforded me quite a nice place to escape to.
I ran the water, adding in the oils and herbs from local plants that I knew would help soothe the burns and ease her pain from that cut. When I was done I stepped back into the bedroom, half expecting to find her gone. But, there she was, wrapped back up in a bed sheet.
Shit, a man could get used to seeing her like that, curled up naked in my bed. My cock ached at the thought of joining her — of sliding under those sheets next to her, spreading her legs wide, and running my lips over every inch of her.
I bit back the growl, held my hand out, and beckoned. “Come.”
Chloe looked at me for a second, chewing on her lip and eyeing me suspiciously before she slowly nodded.
“Okay.”
She slid off the bed, still trying to cover her tits as she dropped the comforter. Fuck her little body made my cock throb so fucking hard.
“Panties,” I growled, raising a brow at them. “Off. Now.”
“They’re staying on,” she said, her breath catching as she saw the hunger in my eyes.
“Then they’re getting wet.”
Her face went crimson - the blush blazing across her lightly freckled cheeks. I grinned, making her gasp as moved close to her, my lips by her ear.
“Dirty girl. Come, I’ll—”
The slap of her hand hit me square across the cheek. I growled, my blood running hot and my patience shattering.
“That’s it.”
Chloe shrieked as I snatch her up in my arms, tossed her over my shoulder like she was a prize I’d just claimed, and marched into the bathroom.
Chapter 5
Chloe
I squirmed against his hard, chiseled, muscled body, even if I knew it was useless to try and fight his strength. My pulse thundered through me, and it wasn’t necessarily fear anymore.
It was excitement. Horrible, horrible, mortifyingly body-tingling excitement. Something about the way this rough, big stranger just manhandled me had a tremor of raw heat blazing through my body. No man had ever talked to me, or touched me, or commanded me like he had. And there was something so freaking sexy about it, as much as I wanted to pretend there wasn’t.
I gasped as he strode into the bathroom and over to the huge tub, with these massive windows overlooking the mountains. God, the whole house was breathtaking — almost as much as him.
He slid me off his broad shoulder, and before I could even think, he’d plunged me right into the tub. I gasped at the heat enveloping my body, and when I glanced down at the opaque, steaming whitish liquid I was sitting in, I startled.
“What is this, milk?”
He smiled. “Nyet. It has herbs and oils from plants that grow up here in it, which is why it’s that color. They’ll help with the burns and any infections.”
The bath smelled good, like flowers and pine and sandalwood, and I swallowed, already feeling the tenseness and the slight pain from my burns soaking out of me. I sank down into the deep tub, covering my breasts with my hands even if the water was white enough that he couldn’t see me.
I could feel the teasing heat of the tub melting over every inch of me, and something in the herbs he’d put in there made my skin tingle in a way that had me biting my lip and squeezing my legs together tight.
The tingling felt good. Really, really good, and I swallowed thickly as the blush crept over my face. The heat tingled between my legs, and I swallowed back the gasp that rose in my throat.
God, what was wrong with me?
I looked up at him — my mysterious mountain man, and let my eyes dart over his face. He was beautiful, but also dark and scary in a way. My protector, and my savior, but also my captor, which made the whole thing extra confusing and weird.
…And somehow hot.
Because there it was again — that uncontrollable, undeniable attraction I had for him. There was a reason I was twenty-two
and still a virgin, and it wasn’t that I was some sort of social outcast or incapable of holding a conversation or anything. It’s that I’d always wanted to feel that something you were supposed to feel. I knew movies and romance books made it a bigger thing than it probably really was. But still, I’d never felt anything.
I’d gone on dates. I’d kissed a few boys. I’d let two or three of them move a bit past kissing. But beyond awkward gropes and one completely uncomfortable attempt to pry my legs apart across the center column of a Ford Fusion, it’d never gone farther than that. I mean, I knew how to take care of myself like that. It’s not like I needed a guy for that, right? And if was going to jump into bed with someone, especially after waiting that long, I knew I’d have to feel that “something.”
….What scared me the most about my nameless, rough, somewhat scary and totally gorgeous mountain man was that I felt more of that something with him than I’d ever had with anyone ever before. And it scared the hell out of me.
“Legs.”
I blinked, shaking myself from my whirlwind of thoughts as I looked at him.
“What?”
“Your legs, beautiful,” he growled softly, holding up a washcloth. “You’ve got some light burns on them. I’m going to wash them with the herb and oil water.”
I swallowed, nodding. “Oh.”
I bit my lip, raising one leg out of the hot, milky liquid. His warm, strong hands gripped my calf, making me tremble a little as he held my leg. He washed my leg with the washcloth in his hand, letting his hand linger up the back of my knee and making my breath catch.
“The other one.”
I nodded, wordlessly letting the first leg slip back into the tub and raising the other.
“Good,” he purred, his eyes burning into mine as he took that leg too, his hand skimming up to my thigh and making my breath catch all over again as he slowly washed it.
“Arm.”
He nodded at my left arm, under the water.
“What’s your name?” I said quietly.
He stopped, looking at me cautiously.
“Look, I’m here, right? I can’t leave, so who am I going to tell?”
He smiled a small smile, one brow raising in amusement.
“Vlad,” he growled, letting the eastern European name roll over his perfect lips.
“Vlad.”
“Da.”
“Nice to meet you.”
He chuckled darkly, nodding at my arm again, and I raised it. He did the same to my arms as he’d done to my legs — washing them gently with the oil-tincture water that left my skin tingling and buzzing. The smell of pine steamed through the room, making my head spin.
He leaned over me, his muscles rippling and making my pulse skip a beat and that naughty, wicked thrill of heat tease between my legs.
“Could you maybe put a shirt on?”
He grinned down at me, his eyes flashing.
“Nope.”
I blushed, biting my lip as his hands and the washcloth slid up my arm and over my shoulders.
“Lean forward.”
I did, hugging my chest as I did so. He started to wash my back with his hands, his strong touch making me melt as he slowly massaged my aching body until I was panting and almost whimpering with the release.
I glanced up at him, my heart flipping as my eyes locked with his. His muscles rippled, and when his jaw clenched and his eyes pierced right into me, I gasped quietly and trembled.
“You’re shaking,” he growled, his hand stopping. “Is the water cold?”
I shook my head, my whole body on fire even if my brain was telling me how insane it was to feel this turned on by this man.
“Then what?”
“I—” I bit my lip.
“You’re scared of me.”
I swallowed, not sure how to respond, and suddenly, his hardened, rough look softened, and he shook his head.
“Don’t be, beautiful,” he murmured, leaning into me. “If you were my enemy, you could be scared, but you’re not.”
“Just your prisoner.”
His jaw tightened.
“For now.”
“And you’re just going to keep me here?”
“Yes.”
His eyes pierced right into me, making me melt under that heated gaze.
Get ahold of yourself, I screamed to myself.
“Sit,” he growled, patting the smooth wood bench that surrounded the big tub on three sides.
I raised a brow.
“I’m going to take a look at that cut.”
“Oh, I can—”
“Angel.”
His voice was sharp, and when my eyes darted to his, he grinned.
“Stop being difficult. Sit.”
I swallowed. Getting up meant him seeing me basically naked again. And this time, my white cotton panties would be basically see through since they were soaked in bathwater now.
“Up,” he purred, tapping the bench.
I took a deep breath, and stood. One arm covered my bare breasts, and I kept a hand over the front of my panties as best I could as I sat, dripping, onto the seat, my legs still in the water. Vlad moved close, and when his fingers moved over the waist of my panties, I drew in a sharp breath. Heat shivered through me at his touch.
“Let me see, angel,” he purred, pulling the waist down over my hip. Fresh blood trickled from the cut, and he frowned as he leaned closer. He used a pair tweezers, making me gasp sharply as he snagged the splinter of wood and pulled it out. I winced, but he quickly stuck a square bandage over it, pressing at the adhesive edges gently to fix it to my skin.
“There we go,” he growled, looking up into my eyes. I sank into his gaze, feeling my cheeks redden.
“All better?”
I nodded, swallowing thickly. “Uh-huh.”
“Good.”
And then, before I could even take in what he was doing, he leaned in and pressed his lips to my hip, kissing where he’d bandaged me.
I gasped.
“What was that for?” I croaked out, my pulse racing as this gorgeous, dark, dangerous man held my thigh and kissed my hip with his fingers still hooked into the waist of my panties.
“My babushka, my grandmother — she did that when were kids. She said it helped to heal.”
“I think that’s a myth,” I whispered.
“I’m sure it’s a myth,” he growled. “I just wanted to taste that skin.”
I blushed, my skin tingling under his gaze and from the heated steam of the bath still swirling through the room. Our eyes locked, my pulse raced, and I knew I was falling even before I took the plunge.
“Show me where else it hurts, angel, and I’ll kiss it all better too,” Vlad growled fiercely, his eyes flashing and his fingers teasing the back of my knee.
“I— I’m not sure,” I panted out, my chest rising and falling as my head swam.
“Then maybe we just start here.”
His lips crushed to mine, his hand cupped my jaw, and he kissed me.
Hard.
Chapter 6
Chloe
My whole body was on fire as Vlad kissed me — kissing me in a way I’d never even dreamed of being kissed. His hand held my jaw tightly as his lips seared to mine, and when he opened his lips, I opened mine, letting his tongue inside as he truly claimed my mouth.
This was insane, and I almost wanted to wonder if I’d hit my head or something back there in fire, but I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop. Ever, actually. I whimpered into his kiss, opening my mouth for his tongue like a crazy person but loving the way he felt and loving the way kissing him felt like letting go. The way he took control and kissed me like I was his to kiss had my pulse jumping through me and my body aching for more.
His hand slid up into my hair, and he growled as he kissed me harder, our tongues sliding together and our lips sealed tight.
Slowly, he pulled away. And when he did, I gasped at the raw, fiery heat in his eyes.
“You’re h
ere, in my home, angel,” he growled. “Because I couldn’t leave you back there. But no one can know I’m here so that’s why I’m keeping you. Why you’re here with me.”
I whimpered as he pressed his lips to mine again, even hungrier this time as he kissed me fiercely.
“People will be looking for me,” I mumbled lamely, like some stupid part of me was still trying to fight this inescapable, consuming attraction.
“Will they now?” he growled, almost in amusement as he moved back into my lips. His hand slid down my arm, tangling in my fingers and pulling my hand away from my breasts. I whimpered into his kiss, and when his own hand took mine’s place, cupping my breasts and teasing his fingers over my clit, I moaned.
“The question is, little angel,” Vlad purred into my lips. “Is do you want them to find you?”
I started to open my mouth to say something, but suddenly, I found myself hesitating. What did I have? My parents had died in a car crash during my first few weeks at college, and they’d really been the only family I’d ever had. I had some friends at school, but after I’d moved to the city for the job at Macworth Prep, we’d lost touch.
I had no boyfriend, and no prospects to speak of, and a job that made me feel like a servant to rich, pampered brats. And here I was with a gorgeous, toe-curlingly sexy man kissing me and making me feel more alive than I had in years — maybe ever — in his huge mansion-like lodge up on a beautiful mountain.
…Did I want anyone to find me?
“I like the hesitation,” Vlad growled, moving in again and letting his lips brush mine. His thumb rolled over my nipple, making me gasp as I blushed.
“I wasn’t hesitating…”
“Of course you weren’t, angel,” he purred, kissing me slowly. “But maybe you like the idea of being here with me.”
His hand slid into my hair, tangling in it and gripping it just tight enough to make me gasp.
“Maybe you like the idea of being mine.”
I swallowed heatedly as the rush of his words teased through me.
“Yours?”
“All mine,” he growled into my mouth, making me shiver.