Page 40 of Forbidden Eyes

I stop her rushing feet before she gets to the entrance, planting my body in front of her. I got my taste and fucking stupidly I know I'd do it again a thousand times over, but if it’s something we're gonna take heat for, along with everything else, I want to be ready when he comes.

“Don't worry, Carter. I won't tell him. I know it was only…” She doesn't know what it was, and honestly, neither do I.

My hand goes up, shutting her mouth. If she thinks I'd let my dick rule my head if something wasn't worth it, she's wrong. There's too much Cane in me for complete stupidity, and she was worth every minute she spent in my hands. Her lips quiver as she waits for me to speak, wrapping her arms around herself as anxiety takes hold. Perhaps she thinks she's not enough for me. She might even think I'm not interested in her now I know she's a virgin.

She couldn't be more wrong on both counts.

But this dick isn't meant for stealing virginity.

“You tell him whatever you want. There's only one thing stopping me from going further, and it has nothing to do with your age or your father. I'd do it all again, every fucking minute. I just need to know if you want to tell him.”

“Why?”

“Because if you do, he can take the anger out on me, not you.”

She frowns and rushes past me back into the hotel towards the elevators. I damn near have to run to keep up with her. The silence as we rise through the floors is deafening even for me. I pace, uncomfortable with her close proximity in the small box. One step and that barrier’s gone between us. My self-control has never been tested before. Never like this. That's all my head and dick can think about the entire journey up the floors. One hard push and her body would be crushed into the elevator wall. She could be held up against it, ass in my hands and pussy spread wide.

“That's kind of you.”

What?I look at her, a scowl of confusion on my face. There's nothing kind about my thoughts.

“Protecting me from my father?”

“Yeah, well. I've never been one to run away.”

The doors open just as she's walking towards me, and my last sentence hangs in my mind as I do the one thing I never do. I run, metaphorically at least. My pace picks up along the short corridor, and I'm through the lounge and heading for my bedroom before she gets a chance to talk to me. There's nothing more to talk about. She can tell me whether she plans to tell her father what happened between us in the morning before we leave. For now, I'm gonna lock myself in this room and find some of that fortitude I should have held onto.

Perhaps strangle my dick, too.

But I'm not coming out of this room, at least not until I know she’s asleep. Then I’ll do my job again. I’ll sit and stare at the fucking main door until morning, making sure no other fucker tries to take her.

And then, when the night is done, she's going back home.

Twelve

What the hell just happened?

I stare at the closed door to Carter’s room. My mind races and my body is in overdrive at what just happened between us, and now he’s walked away?

My bruised and cut feet are rooted to the ground as I stare in disbelief. Every atom in my body came alive tonight. First in terror, and then with desire. Desire for this man who has ruled my thoughts since we were introduced. What happened in that parking lot earlier shook me to my core. I’ve never even come close to being with a man before. My father’s rule over my life has always ensured that any contact with boys didn’t arise easily, but honestly, with my focus on my studies, boys never really appealed. At least not until I met Carter. Then everything in my brain scattered, including my intellect.

That’s exactly what happened earlier. All my brain cells evaporated under his lustful eyes. His proximity set a wildfire burning through my body that obliterated anything else in my mind. My body took over and made my choices for me. Choices that led to my first orgasm from anywhere except my own hand and proceeded to melt me to my core.

I would have never let that occur under normal circumstances. Although, ever since I met Carter, things have been far from normal.

There was a part of me that was prepared for him to block me out and treat me like nothing had ever happened, but he didn’t. He didn’t clam up and act like what we’d done was a mistake. He admitted that and gave me hope that on some level he might want me as much as I want him. But no matter how hot I was, how flushed and wound up, nothing prepared me for the frigid reaction Carter just gave me.

I clench my jaw and march to my own room, slamming the door the moment I'm inside, even though he probably won’t hear it. I shouldn’t be so angry. After all, I have no illusions as to why Carter did what he did. He saw an opportunity, and he took it. A guy like him would never have any trouble getting a girl to go to bed. My stupid schoolgirl heart should just be pleased that he noticed me. But what he said to me in the car got to me. He didn’t need to say those things about my dad, and the cynical side of me still wonders if his own self-preservation was ruling his mind when he spoke, but what if he meant it?

What if he does want to protect me from my dad?

For the first time in my life, I felt like a woman and not just a silly girl who struggled to fit in wherever I went. I’ve never felt like I belong because I’ve never been allowed to. Being sheltered means that none of my childhood experiences have been normal. Carter isn’t normal either, though. He lives in the same world as me, in a way. He’s seen what living under my father’s rule has led to. I’m still working out a big part of who I am, but who I am has been blown away by Carter. He saw me, knew what was at stake, and took the risk anyway.

I crash down onto the bed, and the track of my mind takes me right to the one person I simultaneously can’t stand to think about and yet am desperate to see. Rage, pure and venomous, blazes through me as I mentally go back to that warehouse, and picture what went on. And what happened after. Fear slides under my skin and shakes my body. It’s like an out-of-body experience, replaying the attack, the man with the knife and seeing Carter blaze in to rescue me. As if my mind is denying it happened and trying to protect me from more pain. I look down at my chest and feel the itch of the bandages under my clothes, a constant reminder. It most definitely happened.

It’s all because of my father. How could he willingly do this?

How could my mother?