She whimpered at the idea of enduring his violations for however long. Fighting and enduring were two traits that had kept her from crumbling years ago. She could survive and outlast him.
Tears streamed from her eyes as she admitted it wasn’t just him she had to battle. Mia had to resist her own urges and dark desires. Her body betrayed her whenever Shane touched her with sexual intent. She wanted him as much as she hated him. Hatred was easy. It kept things clear and helped her survive. Desire thrown into the mix left her confused and afraid.
What if she lost herself? Surrendered to him? Let him mold her into whatever he wanted and claim her as his? Surely sex, no matter how amazing, couldn’t reduce her to that?
Remembering last night, how she had clawed and bitten him, even as she had orgasmed around his cock, had her questioning that assumption. She couldn’t deny she was vulnerable to Shane’s charms, and he wielded them ruthlessly. It would be easier to just give in, especially since she was fighting herself, too.
That idea was abhorrent. She would not let him overtake her and keep her like some kind of property. It didn’t matter the identity of her adversary. Whether him or herself, she would continue to resist.
She didn’t know how long she was in the dark before she heard the basement door open and Shane called her name. Cautiously, she got to her feet as he called out to her again. The light switch yielded to her finger, plunging the small room into darkness, though illumination from the main basement filtered through the cracks in the door.
“This is ridiculous, Mia. My security detail watched you come in here. You can’t hide.” His voice grew closer, pausing outside the wine cellar. “You’re behaving like a child again. Do you need another spanking?” He sounded like he relished the idea.
Instinctively, Mia bent to pick up the wine bottle when the door creaked inward. The light spilled in behind him as he opened the wooden door, leaving him illuminated in the wedge of light. As he reached for the switch, Mia swung the wine bottle as hard as she could.
With a curse, he threw himself backward at the last moment. The glass bottle hit the wall with a resounding crash, and the impact reverberated up her arm, making her release her hold on the severed neck.
They stood in silence for a second, the only sound was the tinkling of breaking glass and his heavy breathing. Mia found herself incapable of respiration, heavily or otherwise. Her lungs had seized with fear. It was only when the light came on—and his feet crunched through glass—that her body remembered how to function. She took in a deep lungful of oxygen with a small sobbing sound.
Shane towered over her, glaring. He knelt to examine the broken bottle, standing with a ragged chunk bearing the label. “Christ, Mia, this is a three-thousand-dollar bottle.”
Internally, she winced, but said nothing.
He shook his head. “What did you think this would accomplish?”
Before she could stop herself from answering honestly, she snapped, “I kind of hoped I’d crack your skull and be able to escape.”
His eyes narrowed. “You haven’t learned anything yet, have you?”
She glared. “What do you expect me to learn, O’Mara? How to please you? To be your sweet, simpering thing and surrender all my power to you?” Mia’s words faltered when he loomed closer.
“Take off your clothes, Mia.”
“No.” She shook her head, absolutely refusing to march naked through his mansion as punishment. Or allow the even worse things he could make her do in the dim privacy of this room.
He moved so fast she didn’t see him move until his hands were on her arms. She fought him, accidentally ramming her stomach on his forearm. Mia struggled to breathe as her diaphragm seized, stealing her ability to draw in air. Panic filled her as he lifted her easily, and all she could do was clutch the hand around her throat and try to pry it away.
Shane slammed her against the only table in the small room, and it wobbled from the impact. The collision jarred something, making her drag in a deep breath again, but her head was still fuzzy. She was too busy trying to restore a normal breathing pattern to fight him when he stripped off her clothes.
Mia shivered as cool air caressed her naked body. She could breathe again, but her stomach hurt where she had collided with his arm in her struggle to escape. She wanted to scream insults at him but held her tongue when she saw the jagged glass in his hand.
“You think this is about power?” Shane flipped the shard in his hand as he brought it close to her face. “Control?” He pressed the sharp edge against the corner of her eye. “Submission?” The glass trailed down her cheek without puncturing her skin.
Mia held still, paralyzed with fear.
The glass raked her lips, producing enough pain to make her wince but not cause bleeding. She gritted her teeth to restrain the impulse to ask him to stop. Tonight, she wouldn’t beg him for anything. Instead, she would just endure.
“I don’t see it that way.” The glass caressed her chin and down her neck, hesitating at her carotid artery.
Mia held her breath as he lightly pressed against the vulnerable spot, unable to hold in a small hiss when he pushed even more, though the glass didn’t slice her skin.
“If you want to consider this a power game, Mia, then I think you need to reevaluate your perception.” Shane moved the glass away from her pulse point and down her chest.
Mia clenched her hands into fists when he circled the jagged piece around one of her nipples. With wide eyes, she watched his head descend to cover the nipple he had just teased with the glass. She moaned when he lightly sucked before pulling back. With one last flick of his tongue across the very tip of her bud, he stood up enough to meet her gaze. She couldn’t look away from him as he brought the glass back into play.
The sharpness penetrated her nipple, making her yelp with surprise and a bit of pain. She tried to squirm away, but he anchored her in place with a large hand on her stomach.
“You’re bleeding.” He wiped away the small spot of blood with the hand holding the glass and held up his thumb to show her. “Your movement caused that. You cut yourself while trying to escape.”
