Page 21 of Obsession

“Yes, sir.” She gripped the silk harder, watching as he slid the key into place and locked the door behind him. “I just wanted to look at this.” She lifted the tie as far as the knot securing it to the bed would permit her to show him.

“My tie?” His gaze speared her, somehow managing to elevate the intensity of her pulse.

“Yes.” Her voice sounded hoarse as he approached. “I just wondered why you’d have such lovely ties when you live like this.” Inwardly, she flinched at her wording, hoping he wouldn’t take offense.

“They belonged to another time.” Thankfully, he didn’t seem perturbed by her most recent description of his home or lifestyle. “I used to wear them then.”

“You did?” She looked from the tie to his face, trying to imagine how he might look dressed in the sort of formal attire that would demand a luxurious tie of the sort she was grasping.

“I did.” He slipped his thumbs into the pockets of his pants. “Is that so hard to believe, little girl?”

“Maybe.” She sighed at the name he’d invented for her, no longer able to decide whether she loved or loathed it. “It’s just very different from how you dress now.”

“I’m a different man.” His gaze traveled to the window, as though he was lost in some distant memory.

“Was that man the one who lent Alexander the cash?” She scarcely believed she’d had the nerve to ask the question, but in the end, she was glad that she had. She wanted to understand the person who held her captive. Just like she longed to know why her father had thrown her under the bus.

“It was.” His soft tone suggested little anger at her inquiry, but she tensed regardless, especially when his hand neared her face. “That’s very astute of you, Ella.”

I’m smarter than you think.

She held the words back but wondered if her gaze said them after all. His rising brow suggested that it might have.

“Will you tell me about him, sir?” Her breathing sped up as his fingers stroked her jaw. “I’d like to understand.”

“About me?” He seemed surprised at her interest.

“About who you were then.” She shrugged. “I didn’t know my father for a long time. Maybe you can shed some light on the man he is and why I’m really here.”

“Ella.” His hand slid to her nape, his fingers splicing her hair as he continued. “I don’t know what to tell you. Bennett was never a good man. Neither of us were.”

“I suspected that much.” She managed a smile as his digits stiffened, her lips parting as his grasp lit up her scalp.

The way his fingers tightened in her tresses was distracting, to say the least. She didn’t know if it was her nerves or just something about Tucker, but as he urged her head backward, she chose not to resist. She wanted to know what would happen if she just let him have control again. The last time she’d ceded, he’d taken her higher than she could remember any guy taking her.

“What more do you want to know?” His voice sounded huskier, as if he, too, was enjoying their growing sensual connection.

“I don’t know.” Her gaze flitted to his as he held her in place. Ella had no idea why being manhandled that way was so alluring, but his gentle dominance was definitely doing something for her. Her clit throbbed beneath the blanket, her nipples pebbling as she envisioned what he might make her do next.

I should refuse him. The logic played out in her head as he guided her head back to expose her neck to him. Should fight him off.

But the truth was, as her breaths morphed into pants, she didn’t want him to go.

“What were you like back then, sir?”

Bending over her, his lips descended. Time was suspended as their mouths collided, his lips punishing hers before trailing kisses along her jaw en route to her throat. She barely recognized the guttural groans as they escaped her mouth. All she could feel was the power of his kisses and the soft irritation of his stubble against her skin.

“I was an asshole.” His words were breathy as he pressed the caresses against her sensitive skin. She moaned at the contact, offering him more of her neck. “I didn’t care about anyone or anything.” His head rose, his blue gaze meeting her eyes. “You wouldn’t have liked me then.”

What makes you think I like you now?

The question bounced around her mind as his hand guided her toward him. Turning her head, his attention focused on the other side of her face, peppering her flesh with caresses before he swooped for her neck.

“Why were you so bad?” She forced the words out, determined to discover something new about him amid the swirling passion.

“I fucked people over.” His voice was a growl against her neck, and her senses reacted to the sound, her heart racing even faster than before. “I was ruthless and didn’t give a shit who I hurt.”

She might have dwelled longer on how that reminded her of the man who’d agreed to hold her as his prisoner had the intensity of his kisses not derailed the thought.

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