Page 35 of Little Blue

His hand moves from my hip to my belly. The mass of it spans wide as he drags it up the length of my torso, between the swell of my heaving breasts, to my throat. His fingers curl there, a warning he doesn’t need to speak.

“You. Are. My. Woman.” He swallows hard as he pins me with those terrifyingly hypnotic eyes.

The man who embodies control is teetering on the edge because of me.

My sob hitches. His eyes snap to my lips.

I’m not sure I want to push him over the edge. I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull him back. If I want the consequences that will come when he free-falls.

I can’t seem to help myself though, because I plead, “I want to go home.”

Ilya’s eyes stay fixed on my lips for a long time. The scent of him is everywhere, hitting me from every angle. I feel overwhelmed and overstimulated. My heart slams in my chest like a wrecking ball. Another minute and I fear it’ll shatter through my chest.

I whimper. “Please.”

He releases me and pushes off me in one quick motion. “I have work to do.”

With that, he walks to the door and slips into the hall. He doesn’t even cast me one more look.

I lay there for a few minutes. I think I’m in shock. Then, I gather myself enough to move to the door. My heart is in my throat as I reach out and twist the knob.

Locked. Like I expected.

Defeated and deflated, I slump against the door and stay that way until Lucy weaves around my ankles, meowing long and loud.

Heart sore and homesick, I lift Lucy into my arms and hold him close. Then I sob into his soft fur.

Sixteen

Irelynn

After my sob session, I scrub my face in the washroom before I set about exploring the room. It’s gigantic, and I find, as I begin opening doors, that there’s a fourth door tucked into a nook in the same wall the bed sits against. If I hadn’t been so out of my mind with terror when I pulled the curtains back from the windows my first night, I might have seen this door.

Now, I step closer to it with trepidation. It could be another closet. It would be fitting that a room as grand as this would have a his and hers closet, but all my clothes (Ilya kidnapped my clothes as well as me) are hanging in the closet with his. So, a hers closet seems unlikely.

My hand trembles as I reach for the knob, twisting.

The door opens and I hold my breath as I peer inside.

Not a closet.

But wow. Just. Wow.

I step inside to see a massive sectional facing a ridiculously enormous television mounted to the wall. Behind the sectional is a yawning, space. It looks silly, really.

I wonder—was this a his and hers bedroom?

I know there are couples out there who prefer their own space. Maybe Ilya always intended for this to be the case for himself and his future partner. In the interim, maybe he used this room for solo entertainment. Or maybe he entertained countless women in here.

Somehow, I doubt that. As massive as the couch is, it looks unused.

Lucy lets out a chirpy meow as he leaps gracefully onto the couch, turning to wait for me. He pins me with Halloween yellow eyes, tipping his head just so as though to say, “Well, are you coming?”

Suddenly, the only place I want to be is here in this dark room, with its blackout drapes pulled over the windows to conceal all the light from outside.

In here, I can sit in the dark silence with nothing but Lucy and pretend that my entire life isn’t in shambles.

I pull the throw blanket from the back of the couch and curl up. Tears of frustration and unexpected sadness fall from my eyes to puddle into the cushion. My face is sticky with emotion, but Lucy’s rumbling purr lulls my wayward thoughts into a deep, impossibly heavy, sleep.

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