Page 19 of Addiction

Tucker’s Tower

Chapter Eight

Elevated Tension

Ella

Her head was fuzzy as her eyes fluttered open, and it took a few seconds for her to realize where she was.

A car?

She blinked as she looked around. It wasn’t just any vehicle, either, but clearly, a bloody expensive one by the looks of the plush interior.

How am I in a car?

She strained her memory, trying to recall. She’d been stuck in the woods, hadn’t she? Caught in Tucker Bowman’s trap, whether she’d wanted to be or not, and hell, she had to admit there had been times she had yearned to be.

How had she managed to get away?

“Good morning, Sleepy.”

The pleasure in his voice abruptly shook the remaining sleep from around her, and she gasped as she turned to acknowledge his handsome smile.

“Tucker?” She was in a car with the man who’d been keeping her as his hostage—the same man who’d tormented and worshipped her. But how? For the time being, it seemed she was struggling to remember. “I mean, sir.”

“You look confused.” One of his enormous hands reached for her thigh and stroked over the fabric of her clothing. “Don’t you recall our hike back to my car?”

The recollections spilled into her mind like the early morning sunlight at his prompt.

“Yeah, I do now.” She pressed her lips together as she contemplated the events of the prior day. Things had been hot and heavy between them before her father had called to throw yet another spanner in the works. Except leaving the cabin had been what she’d wanted right from the start. It shouldn’t have been a ‘spanner’ at all.

Lifting one hand to her face, she rubbed at her temples. So much had happened, she could barely keep up with her feelings anymore, but as her gaze scanned the people dashing down the streets around them, the hope she’d been clinging to blossomed inside.

People meant the city, and the city meant home.

“Where are we, sir?” She eyed a couple walking hand-in-hand as he slowed for a red light, and for one fleeting second, she considered leaping out of the vehicle and making yet another bid for freedom.

The problem was that this time, she didn’t know what she was running from. She’d been frantic to escape the confines of the cabin, but without its four walls, the prospect of more kinky sex with Tucker and possibly discovering how deep the rabbit hole went between them was all the more alluring. Maybe the idea of freedom was less enticing than it should be, after all. She sighed as she mused on her situation. She might not want to ‘go home,’ but she would need to call her mum and let her know she was safe. Susie must have been desperate to know if she was all right.

“In the city.” His answer was predictably vague. “We’re close to home.”

“Home?” She spun to face him. “Where’s that?”

“You’ll see.” He eased away as the light changed to green, smirking at her no-doubt frustrated expression.

“Wherever it is, I need a favor, please, sir.” They knew each other well enough to ask for favors by now, didn’t they? Hell, wasn’t sharing bodily fluids an indication of that intimacy? Not that ‘asking’ was really Tucker’s style. In her experience, he preferred to give commands. It was just a mystery how much his show of authority had seemed to turn her on.

“Oh?” He sounded baffled at the prospect. “What’s that, little girl?”

“I’d like to call my mother from there, please.” She held her breath, watching his face for any sign of discontent. It should have been completely reasonable for her to reach out to her mother and reassure the one person who would worry the most that she was alive and well, but then, she just never knew how things would go where Tucker was concerned.

He was still such an enigma.

“I should think I can allow that.” His tone was wry. “If you’re a good girl.” The wink he threw her sent a delicious shiver of excitement up along her spine.

A good girl.

Even a week ago, the prospect of being called one of those would have been insulting and unthinkable, but Tucker had been able to alter the way she perceived the term. When he praised her that way, she swore she could feel each and every butterfly in her belly spread and flutter its wings at the same time.

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