Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
And now I’m afraid it’s happening again.
“My dream. . .” I start and stall. It might not have been just a dream. It might have been a vision. I see people’s deaths before they happen. And I’m afraid. . . they die because of me.
That’s why I can’t allow anyone to be close to me. Why I’ve kept everyone at arm’s length. Until you broke down all my walls.
“Inara?” Rex prompts.
He wants everything. But if I give in, he’ll own every part of me.
I cannot allow that.
“It was just a dream. A bad one.”
He tilts his head. He senses I’m not being fully honest. I cross my arms over my chest, shivering, and he leans into me.
“Do you dream of the past?”
He’s asking if I dream of my family. Flashbacks to the murders.
My voice comes in a whisper. “Sometimes.”
He rubs my back slowly. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” The words stick in my throat. It’s not okay! A little voice inside me screams. I’m not okay! But I can’t share this with him. I have to be strong. Because I’m not here to give him all of me. I’m only pretending to surrender.
Right?
“It’s okay,” I repeat as if that will make it true. “I’m okay.” But the sense of dread fills me.
What if tonight’s dream wasn’t just a dream. What if it wasn’t a flashback to the past horror?
What if it was a premonition of the future?
Rex
She stares up at me. I cup her heart-shaped face, wanting to lift this burden from her.
“You’re still afraid.” She’s still holding something back, but I won’t pry it from her. Not tonight when she’s given me so much.
One day, I will know everything, and she will be fully mine. She’s in my bed, in my arms, and wearing my collar. I’ve won so much already, and if she needs to hold a little part of herself away from me? It’s fine. I can coax it from her in time. For her, I’ll be a patient hunter.
“Please,” she whispers. “I don’t want to think about this anymore.”
“Allow me to ease your mind.” I lower my head and kiss her sweet lips, still holding her face to control her movements. A little sigh escapes her, and when I break the kiss, her eyes are closed, and her shoulders have softened. She’s beautiful like this, relaxed and waiting.
A voice command activates the lights in the wall sconces and around the base of the bed. They fill the room with an amber glow. Inara’s mesmerizing in any light, but now she’s a sleepy-eyed goddess, so perfect she might as well be divine.
I run a hand down her front, marveling that I get to touch her. And I’m the only one. I’d kill for the privilege and have. “Lie back and let me tend to you.” I help her move to the position I want—on her back and stretched out on the bed. At first, I only stroke her perfect skin, noting the redness where I marked her. Her labia is pink and puffy from my earlier brutality in the cave. She’s strong enough to face the monster that lurks in the dark, but I can be gentle. I want to worship her.
There’s a secret compartment in the bed frame that holds everything I need. I draw out some lube and rope and add a larger O-ring to her collar.
I wind the rope around her left wrist, encircling her forearms up to her elbow. I do the same with her right, looping the rope around a single column and securing the ends to the O-ring that rests above her breasts.
“You wanted to touch me.” I lift her arms one by one, showing how she can move them while feeling safe and secure with the weight of the rope. I kiss her fingertips and check them for capillary fill. “Touch me all you like.”
She runs a hand down my side, tracing the grooves and swells of my abs. My groin tightens. The blood rushes from my head, and I have to pause to remember to breathe.
I loop the rope around the double column of her ankles and shins, tying her legs together so there’s a tight crevice between them.
Then I stroke her all over again. Telling her she’s my good girl, the most beautiful and best girl, the only one in the world for me. My lovely little bird. I wait until her eyes are heavy and her chest rises and falls slowly as if she’s in a trance, before slipping my hand between her legs. With the way I’ve tied her, it’s a tight fit, but my thumb finds her clit. I watch her breathing quicken.
“You will come for me,” I tell her. Her legs strain in the bindings. She can’t escape my hand. I alternate stroking her lower lips and circling her clit. I was rough with her poor pussy earlier, claiming her with toys, fingers, my cock. And then forcing my gloved fingers inside her. I’ll give her a break.