“You’re lonely.”
I snort and choke on a dying laugh, and she grins at me.
“Well?” she prods. Sucking in a sharp breath, I shrug and nod. Her eyes narrow further, a small frown dimpling her round cheeks. “Not the full reason?”
I nod. She taps her chin in thought, and I can’t help but grin as I watch the inner workings of her beautiful mind on display. She’s so hard on herself, something I saw through every timeshe posted a new video. Everything around her was absolutely perfect, from the home decor to the lighting to her hair and make up—everything but the haunted, dead look in her eyes. She wasn’t doing something she loved, because Summer is always afraid to take a risk she deems too big.
“You stalked me and you’re obsessed with me. Don’t even try to deny that.”
Again, I drop my face with a raspy chuckle and shake my head. Cocky little thing. She won’t be later tonight when we’re in bed together.
When my eyes find hers, I sober and nod, but hold up a finger. Her eyes spark with delight at being proven correct again. I point to myself, then to her, and make a cutting motion. Her face scrunches up in confusion, her pretty head tilting to the side as she watches me repeat the motion.
“Me…you…cut?” she asks. I shake my head, frustrated, before I make a motion as though I intend to pick her up and carry her away, then shake my head again. Her left eye narrows slightly. “You…didn’t want to…take me?”
Elated, I nod enthusiastically. Her face falls, and now I’m the one confused. Shouldn’t that be a good thing to her?
“You stalked me but didn’t want to take me?”
Again, I nod, and hearing it aloud only makes me sound that much worse.
“Where’s the damn notepad,” she grumbles to the grass. I can tell I’m frustrating her, but I need to keep her guessing, just for a little longer.
Just until I know where Carter is. Once I have a plan in place to lure him in and end his pathetic waste of a life, then I can tell her every abhorrent thing about me.
I’m about to reach for her elbow and tell her it’s time to go back inside because—although nothing really stands to scare me—being out here in the dark when Carter or any one of myfather’s henchmen could be watching isn’t the best idea. The screech of a barn owl pierces the night, and Summer screams, bursting forth from her seated position and promptly landing directly in my lap, clinging to me and shivering like a frightened child.
Our hearts race against one another’s, our chests pressed tightly together. My arms wind around her trembling body, and I squeeze her to me in reassurance, my head dizzy with desire, with elation.
All I’ve ever wanted is to be a protector, and Summer is worthy of the heinous things I’ll do to keep her safe.
I just hope she understands that when the ashes of my life fall around us like snow, and the horrible truth of it all comes to light.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SUMMER
He holdsme tightly to his warm chest, and I breathe in his familiar, comforting scent, his shirt and flexing muscles soft and reassuring against my face. I have a better understanding of him and his motives now, but the fact that he admitted to being obsessed with me is still something I can’t quite get over. It’s not normal.He’snot normal.
And I can’t stay here for the rest of my life, living in some twisted fantasy, existing solely to please him and whatever impulses he foists upon me. A small, timid voice in the back of my mind whispers,Run, Summer, this is it.
My heartbeat’s calmed, but now the muscle clenches and pounds out hard, reverberating thumps, the impulse to flee making my limbs shaky. Pulling away from his warm embrace, my fingers resting atop his solid, broad shoulders, our eyes catch.Distract him. Distract him.That voice urges. But I only have one thing that will distract Kage…
Myself.
My cheeks flood with an onslaught of hot blood. I can feel how hard he is through his jeans still, my pussy spread across that massive mountain range of a ridge he somehow hides inhis pants. Now is not the time to give into my dark, lecherous desires, but if I can wield my charm against him, then so be it.
I’ll lose this battle to win the war, and my body will have to be the martyr.
His pupils dilate in lust at our proximity and the sudden shift in the air between us, and I bite my lip hard enough to draw blood as I hold his gaze and reach down between us. He stiffens, eyes widening to saucers as my fingers graze the tough fabric caging in his thick cock. “Will you…will you tell me more?”
My voice is just a husky whisper now, and he nods so eagerly that I have to bite back a laugh. I should find it pathetic, how he simps for me, but all it serves to do is turn me on. To be so desired and obsessed over that hekidnappedme has done something to my brain, and I fear I’ll yearn for this level of attention for the rest of my life.
“Good,” I whisper, pressing my palm to his dick. His eyes roll back as he tilts his face to the night sky, his fingers falling to my hips and digging in so hard I know he’ll leave bruises. Not only do I think he craves my touch, I think he laps up my praise like a thirsty dog. It gives me an edge, a sense of power that I never knew I had before—probably because I didn’t in my past relationships. But praising Kage and watching his brain short-circuit makes me drunk with it.
I swallow hard, preparing to drive the final nail into his coffin when his lust-filled, hooded eyes find mine. “You…you’re huge. I’ve never…” I stumble over my words, and his cock twitches against my fingers.
His entire body is as tight as a piano string, trembling with the force it must take him to not throw me on the ground and fuck me into an everlasting grave. Part of me hopes for that, to be so thoroughly ravaged and in such a dirty, depraved way. He awakened desires in me I never fathomed, and it tortures my soul day and night now that I’m aware of them.
