CLAIRE


    Heartbreak. Anguish. Fear.


    I cycled through several intense feelings as Cainan locked me in the bedroom. I sank to the floor by the bed, still wearing the robe. Immobilized by panic, I couldn’t think. Nothing in my past experiences had prepared me for this. It was like stumbling into a foreign world where the old rules didn’t apply.


    Only one man mattered. His rules. His pleasure. His mercy-and I couldn’t gain that through violence. Still, I ignored the pink dress he’d draped on the mattress. Wearing what he wanted felt like conceding my freedom. I couldn’t. I was supposed to be a strong woman.


    But I didn’t feel that way. I was drained, my energy spent from battering my fists against the door and screaming. The crew had to hear my frantic pleas for help, and their inaction meant that they really were in Cainan’s pocket. Searching the bedroom revealed nothing I could use for a weapon-not that I nned to fight.


    The door unlocked, and Cainan stepped through. His eyes glittered as his gazended on me, my skin growing hot from his bold appraisal. He closed the door and approached, standing over me like a towering oak.


    I covered myself loosely, pretending his smoldering stare didn’t unnerve me. I only had the robe on, and Cainan looked like he could fuck me on the floor.


    He lightly fingered my jaw, tipping my head back. “Why aren’t you ready to leave?”


    My cheeks burned, responding to his gentle touch with a five-rm fire. I couldn’t be attracted to this man. What was wrong with me?


    He sighed deeply. “Starling, the only reason I gave you clothes to put on your body is because I’m a possessive man. I don’t like other men looking at my ves. And if you walk out there with your tits out and your pussy on disy, they will definitely look. You’ll make them aroused. You’ll get them hard. Do you think I’ll enjoy that?”


    I flinched. “I-I don’t care.”


    He smiled, and it was as if two loving fingers had pushed dimples onto his face. “You will when I protect you from the others.”


    “Other men?” I licked my dry lips. “There are more people involved in this insanity?”


    “Leda is a Caribbean ind owned by several billionaire families with very…carnal lifestyles.” He picked up the dress he’d left for me and tossed it closer to where I stood. “You can’t just fly into the airport. You need an invitation. The rich and famouse here to party, to fuck gorgeous women, towork, to make business deals. There is no police. There are nows.”


    “So you brought me to some kind of…demented yground for psychopaths. Why?” I fisted my robe, unable to stomach my new reality. “Why would you schlep me across the ocean?”


    “Because I’m a sick man with no impulse control.”


    “But that’s-that’s not true,” I insisted, wondering why I was defending him. “You barely touched me in the weeks we dated.”


    Cainan lifted a brow, throwing clothes in myp. “And that deception means I’m not capable of doing monstrous things? Can you ount for the recent gap in your memory?”


    My heart hammered at the disturbing ease in which he gave that answer. “Why date me for that long, then? Why waste your time getting into my good graces only to betray me?”


    “I had to see what you were like. Find out more about you. What makes you tic. That’s always useful for breaking in girls.”Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    Arrogance defined his features, starting with the cruel twist of his mouth. It looked like an ill-fitted mask. Like he was forcing himself to be over-the-top evil. The Cainan I’d met was kind and caring. Beautiful, inside and out. I was his girlfriend, not his victim.


    I curled my palm around his knee. “Why am I here, Cainan?”


    “So I can teach you how to pleasure me.” Still holding my chin, he brushed his finger over my lip. “But right now, I need you to put on that dress.”


    I swallowed, willing myself not to tremble. “Y-you don’t want me like this. You can’t.”


    He seized my hand and pressed it t on his thigh, making me to feel every ridge of muscle as he glided up, over the bump tenting his chinos.


    I gasped as the steel of his erection bit into my palm. I clutched the dense column, feeling the mushroom-shaped head, the thick shaft, the heat of him somehow flowing into my body.


    I released him and breathed in shallowly. I ripped my gaze away from his huge cock and studied his face, struggling to find anything but wild lust. “I don’t believe you did this to me for sex. It’s obvious that there’s something else going on.”


    “You’re right. Fucking you isn’t enough. I want to dominate you.” His hands slid into my hair and pulled it into a fist, making me gasp with pain. “And control you. And train you to be my willing toy. You will choke yourself on my cock just for the pleasure of satisfying me. Soon, you will ept that you exist for no other purpose.”


    I swallowed thickly, imagining myself inpromising positions at Cainan’s feet. “But you’re-you’re so not the type to do this.”


    “How would you know?”


    “I-I…” I trailed off, my knees aching from my position. “This feels like a prank. Like you’re putting on a show to scare me.”


    His demeanor ckened in ferocity. “Put on the dress. We need to go.”


    “What happened to you?” I blurted, ignoring his fierymand. “Where’s the sweet man that asked if he could kiss me? I want the guy who offered me his jacket even before I knew I was cold and told jokes when I felt low and made meugh…I want him. Not this character you’ve made up.”


    My hair stood on end as Cainan held my gaze, the silence suffocating and hot, like steam. He wasn’t looking anywhere but my eyes, and that sent a shock down my spine.


    “This is who I am.”


    He seized my arm and hoisted me onto the bed. He threaded his hand through my hair, so close his breath warmed my lips. His full mouth molded to mine. He was like goose down, so soft and sensual that I leaned forward to im more of him.


    His kiss crumbled a mountain of tension. My hand found his chest, unbidden. Then I glided to his back. I raked the muscles through his shirt. I dragged him closer, deepening the kiss. His tongue swiped across, parting my lips. My nerves buzzed. His earlier kisses made me burn, but this…was exactly what I needed. I wanted to offer him all of me, my neck, my hardening nipples.


    Cainan fisted the hair on the back of my head. He pushed me off him, releasing me with a yful flick of his tongue. “I am not a character. I am real. You better get used to me, because you’re not going anywhere.”


    My stomach bottomed out. “But-I thought-”


    “You don’t need to think. Just obey.” He reached down and pped me between the legs, right on my clit.


    I yelped. My knees shook from the shock of the blow. I opened my mouth to respond, and then he shoved a finger inside me. My nipples tightened with the sudden invasion. The blunt force stole the breath from my lungs. I writhed as his finger fucked my pussy. Pleasure built up before I could resist, easing his forced submission of my body. Then he vanished, leaving me to throb with aching want. He popped out and sucked his glistening finger, closing his eyes as though savoring the taste.


    “Cainan.”


    “Shut the fuck up and get dressed.”