Page 71 of Tempest

Ardyn

While readingfairy tales as a small girl, I always believed in the prince. I never once considered my virginity would be taken by the villain.

My heart is on fire as I stare into a black void, my sole memory of first having sex consisting of hearing, touch, and smell. It should feel like I’ve lost a crucial aspect of my first time, except all those senses were amplified, like the stretch from Tempest’s dick and the taste of his pre-cum mixed with the metallic taste of my blood… those are sensations I wouldn’t have fully appreciated if I were distracted by his pretty face.

And he fucked me. I was fucked by Tempest Callahan.

The man himself storms over to me and rips the blindfold from my head. His turquoise eyes burn into mine. I make sure to match his ire with insolence.

He stands before me in full glory, naked and pristine, lines of tendons, bulging muscles, and a sweat-drenched torso highlighting his glorious six-pack.

Maybe I was wrong. Seeing him take me probably would’ve added to the entire experience.

He unclenches his jaw. “When did you figure it out.”

In pure Tempest fashion, it’s not a question but a demand.

“About the time you smacked my breast,” I reply. “You stepped too close. I could smell you.”

Tempest’s brows fuse for a moment before he schools them back to normal. “I don’t wear any cologne.”

“You’ve smelled the same since we were young. Cinnamon, cloves, pine.”

Tempest regards me like I have three heads, even though he’s the one that just had sex with me while I’m naked, blindfolded, and tied to a chair, calling him another man’s name. “In all my experience, not once has a person identified me by my smell.”

I give a one-shouldered shrug—as much as I can—in partial agreement. “You represented all the things I couldn’t get while trapped inside.”

His lashes twitch. He’s having trouble processing what I’m saying. I’m not surprised. It’s not every day a guy like him is bested by a delicate woman.

“Can you untie me?” I ask him.

Tempest’s lips thin, but he leans over and breaks the zip ties at my wrists. Just like that. It’s unnerving how strong he can be. A disquieting notion comes over me—Tempest was probably being gentle with my handling this entire time. In his mind, anyway.

After unbinding my hands, he straightens.

“What about my feet?”

“Not yet.” He crosses his arms like a naked, still-hard god lording over his latest virgin sacrifice. “Explain yourself, Ardyn.”

Tempest is intimidating as all hell. I do my best to disguise my reaction. “You’re the one who should be explaining to me why you kidnapped me from my dorm and brought me here.”

“Because I felt like it,” he snaps. “Your turn.”

“Bull. You wanted to freak me out and turn me into the hollow shell I became after Mila—” It hurts to even finish the sentence. “Do you know how perverted that is? To pretend to be the men who took me intending to mess with my mind enough to send me back to a facility?”

“You wanna talk perverted? How about asking the guy who abducted you as a kid to fuck you?”

“I knew it was you the whole time!”

“Did you?” he scoffs. “I’ve seen a lot, princess, but I’ve yet to see a performance like the one you just put on for Nick. You made plans with him, huh? Where were you gonna meet him? Was he meant to take you like this, strip you bare, and live out your rape fantasy as a full-grown, shaved pussy adult?”

I stand. It’s difficult with my ankles strapped to chair legs, but I do it. “And if I was?”

Tempest jolts. He doesn’t expect that.

“You don’t have any idea what I’ve been through this last year,” I barrel on, “and the amount of work it took to get me to this point where I feel stable and strong and independent. You haven’t bothered to know. All you’ve done is yell, intimidate, and touch me in my most intimate places to scare me into leaving. If I wanted to reunite with my kidnapper, then that’s my prerogative. What isn’t your right is to take me and use me and tie me up in this—this basement. You know why?”

“Oh. Do enlighten.” Tempest sounds bored by my very existence.

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