Page 79 of The Harbinger
He jerked my head back, forcing my gaze up, his fingers pressed into my cheeks. “Don’t play coy with me.”
Was this about the cat? Because I hadn’t taken anything from his office. I’d put it all back where I’d found it. If it was about Alfredo, how would he have known? Did Katya tell him? Was a kitten worth him drowning me over?
“It’s gone.”
“And what did you do with it?”
“Nothing, I brought it upstairs, and when I returned, it was just gone. I searched everywhere.”
“Someone took it?”
“I doubt it. He probably found a cozy place to sleep.” I said, slapping his hand off my hair with little result. “Let me go.”
Sacha tilted his head to the side and pinched his brows close together, causing a small wrinkle to form between his eyes. “He?”
“Alfredo, the cat. Isn’t that what—”
“Where’s the knife, Mia?”
“Th-the knife?” I raised my chin. Between finding my passport and searching high and low for Alfredo, I’d forgotten all about the damned thing. I’d even shoved the box in the back of the closet, hoping that I’d have a litter box for him to use when he crawled out of whatever hole he’d found. Now it all made sense. It was never about the kitten… “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
A cold smile pulled across his lips, and my heart crashed to a stop. My heels scraped against the coarse ground as I fought for purchase. He swung his thick thigh over my hips and settled on top of me, then pulled his grasp from my hair. With his body weight settled on top of me, he pulled my bikini string from my neck, exposing my breasts as he flipped it away.
I crossed my arms over my chest in panic. “Stop. What are you doing?”
“Do you know what’s so satisfying about this moment?” He wrapped his strong hands around my wrists and pulled them away from my chest, pinning them beside my head. A cool breeze blew across my exposed skin, peaking my nipples and sending shivers racing down my flesh. I shook my head, and water droplets dribbled down my body to the floor.
“The look of fear glazing your eyes.” He bent over and ran his nose along my jaw and inhaled. “It’s intoxicating.” His lips touched my neck, the soft pillows disarming me for a moment as he trailed down to above my breast, then sunk his teeth into my soft flesh.
“Argh.“ I squirmed as the stinging pain radiated down to my fingertips.
He sucked hard, my vessels popping beneath his suckling tongue. I balled my fists and pushed against his hold, but he leaned his weight into it, forcing my hands back down.
Sacha released his punishing hold on my flesh with a pop of flesh from his lips and groaned, his voice velvety and lustful.
I whimpered and glanced down at the glistening purple hickey he’d left on my chest as a strange pull tugged in my lower belly. It evaporated into thin air when he tucked my opened hand beneath his knee and tugged on the second string for my top, tossing the material to the side. I jerked and gasped as the rough cement cut into the back of my trapped hand.
“Wait.”
Sacha’s hand slid down my body until he reached my bikini bottoms, his fingers tucking into the material, brushing against the coarse dark hairs that grew there. “Now’s the time to tell me where the knife is, Mia.”
If I admitted to it, what would he do? He’d take it away. Lock me up? Use it on me?
He leaned over me, his white dress shirt tight against his chest and biceps as they flexed, his brows pulled down, his lips pursed. I turned my head and squeezed my eyelids shut. “It’s in the box in my room.”
“That wasn’t so hard… was it?” He yanked on my bottoms, the material tearing and popping as he ripped it from my body, then tossed it to the side.
“Stop.Please.”
He brushed the backs of his fingers against my flat stomach. Warmth soaked into my belly and settled between my thighs from his touch, but my heart hammered on with trepidation.
“And what would you give me in return?”
I shook my head. What could I give him? He already owned everything I touched. “What do you want?”
“That’s such a complicated question.”
My stomach lurched, my chin trembling as I spit out the question. “What do you want from me?”