Page 56 of Captured
That didn’t bode well for anyone, including myself.
Given I’d taken the brunt of my father’s personal sadistic tendencies, my brothers couldn’t understand my difficulties in controlling the ugly beast dwelling inside.
Granted, we all had a penchant for violence. Even if Easton had also attempted to remove himself from the family business years before, becoming a brilliant financial advisor and professional at a local community college, he was often lured into the dark world of mafia organizations.
Creed was somewhat of a wild card. While I hated giving him kudos, he’d managed to increase both profits and margins with our weapons’ corporation. Some were legal, including selling to the military. Some were not, our involvement with arming third world countries putting targets on our banks over the years.
The one thing I’d learned almost too late in life was balance in all things. Not that I was good at it of course, preferring to work myself to the bone, but I had found ways of tempering my anger.
Unfortunately, as with my enjoyment of the work I’d done for several years, the former methods had stopped working months before. Drinking. Cigars. Music. Good food. Even allowing my sadistic desires to be stroked through going to BDSM clubs had stopped working.
Maybe that’s why Emily had become so important, vital to both my mind and my processes. What was the saying? She could soothe the savage beast?
She’d done so the night before. However, I needed more than simply brushing my fingers down her arm.
I needed to fuck her.
Hard.
I moved to her room, unlocking the door. I’d removed the shackle sometime pre-dawn, but that didn’t mean I wanted her freely roaming the house or grounds until there was a clear understanding in place. Including the consequences should she attempt to flee the island. Of course, that was impossible, but given her level of resourcefulness, my lovely caged sparrow could certainly make it difficult for me and my staff.
Plus, with me heading out of town by the morning, her mind would churn in an attempt to hide a weapon and gain access to my sophisticated communication systems. That couldn’t happen.
She wasn’t in the room, the robe I’d left for her gone. I noticed she’d had coffee and some of the fruit. At least her stubbornness didn’t mean she would continue behaving like a child.
Or so I hoped.
The bathroom door wasn’t closed all the way, the sound of water running pulling a smile. I wasn’t certain why. I’d never been the kind of man who believed passion was better under a steamy waterfall, but it seemed when I was near Emily, everything seemed exciting.
Wine tasted better.
Food was more succulent.
I’d yet to try a cigar, one of my favorite weaknesses, but I had a feeling even the smoke would be sweeter.
But sex…
The passion we shared was on an entirely different plateau.
I quietly stripped off my clothes, needing cleansing anyway, tossing the unwanted items away from the large enclosure.
The moment I opened the frosted shower door, Emily gasped, immediately backing away. Her lower lip was trembling, the sweetness of her surprise and vulnerability delicious. While there was instant fear in her eyes, I also couldn’t help but notice her look of lust as she dared to dart her eyes all the way to the shower floor.
When she looked away as if caught in an embarrassing moment, I was even more aroused than I’d been before. Especially given the blush crossing from one side of her jaw to the other.
“What are you doing in here?” she asked, the hint of defiance keeping the wry smile on my face.
“Joining my little sparrow in a shower. I think we should do this every day.”
She crossed her arms over her breasts, as if that would really keep me from touching her. While she backed herself all the way into a corner, which was only a few feet away, I took my time inching closer. I wanted her to feel the anticipation of my touch, to embrace the desire that had created such an explosion of electricity between us.
When I finally closed the distance, I slowly placed one palm on the shower wall then the other, cocking my head as I drank in her sweet essence. With her hair completely wet, hanging low over her shoulders and beads of water dripping from her face, I couldn’t help but think she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
And all mine.
No matter the outcome with her father or my brothers, the choice to capture and keep her was one of the best decisions I’d made in recent years.
Even if she’d yet to see it. She would soon enough once she learned her father had likely entered into a contract with some Arabian prince to take her as one of his many concubines. However, I wasn’t in the mood nor did I have the time to burst her bubble just yet. There were far more enjoyable things I wanted to show her.