Page 43 of Obsession

She used to think she was stoic—that she could handle herself and take what life threw at her—but she realized that was probably because her easy existence had thrown few challenges, aside from where to lunch after the spa. Only a couple of days with Tucker had proved her theory wrong. It hadn’t taken him long to push her right to the edge of her pain threshold and, if she didn’t know better, to her sanity.

“It’s okay.” Reaching for the bed, he yanked the blue blanket from it and draped the cover over her. “I’ve got you.”

He has me.

The thought echoed in her mind as she breathed in his tempting aroma. Was that supposed to be reassuring? Yet, as he lowered in a flash and swept her from her feet, she accepted that perhaps it was. She thought fleetingly to fend him off, but the loud ache in her shoulders persuaded her not to even bother. Instead, she buried her face in his chest as he sat on the bed and held her close.

She refused to acknowledge the strength of feeling passing over her as he tucked her closer or that the emotion was no longer only terror, anxiety, or indignation. There was something else now, and not just the hedonism that had grown wings in the last few hours, but something disturbing and deeper.

Somehow, deep down, affection stirred, a strange and unusual friend she had not expected to find in the confines of Tucker’s cabin.

Affection? Confusion flitted in her mind as she tried to make sense of the realization. How can there be any affection for the man who’s taken me?

“What’s happening here, Tucker?” She supposed she should call him sir as she hugged her arms around her chest, and yet her confusion and the pain in her shoulders made it difficult to remember why the honorific was so important.

He seemed to want to soothe her, but yet hadn’t he been the one who’d caused the hurt?

None of it made sense.

“I mean,” she clarified. “You do these things to me, then tell me you want to take care of me…”

His narrowing gaze provoked the word he wanted from her lips.

“Sir.” She added it in a whisper, hoping it would suffice.

“Nothing’s changed.” His reply was soft. “You’re still mine until your father pays up, but…” His voice trailed away, and she noticed how his gaze flitted to the window.

“But?” she prompted.

“But I can’t deny how much you affect me.” His jaw tightened as his attention slid back to her. “And not just the sex, little girl, but you. I want to know you.”

What does that mean? The butterflies in her tummy flapped their wings as they tried to guess. He wants to know me? But how? Why?

Maybe he feels it, too. She blinked up at him, the thought disconcerting. Perhaps whatever this emotion is, he senses it as well.

“You do the same to me.” She didn’t know why she was admitting it, but wrapped up in his arms, she felt deceptively safe.

Safe?

That’s ridiculous! I’m not safe in the arms of the man who captured and hurt me.

Yet, gazing into his eyes, she realized that was how she felt. He was so strong and capable, as though she’d finally found someone real to lean on, yet he’d used that strength and ability to hold and capture her. She wasn’t stupid enough to fall for a man like him, was she? Had she been so badly burned by Alexander that she fell into the arms of the first Daddy substitute she found?

“Do I?” He sounded genuinely intrigued. “Well, that’s…” His voice trailed away as though he was struggling for the right word. “Good.”

An anxious silence rose as they both struggled to make sense of their feelings.

“Come with me.” He rose to his feet, leaving her little choice as he lifted her in the blanket and carried her toward the door. “There’s something I want to show you.”

Chapter Seventeen

Night Shade

Tucker

Dusk threatened the sky as he carried her out into the fresh air. In the long hours of keeping and recapturing Ella, along with the ones where he simply watched her sleep, he’d lost all track of time. Night had bled into day, and somehow, that same day seemed to have slipped into sunset. Based on the approaching twilight, it wouldn’t be long before another black canopy of stars covered their heads.

“Show me?” Her head rose. “What do you mean, sir?”

---