Page 34 of Empress of Savages

I lean forward. “You could turn on the lights for me, but you won’t. Am I supposed to believe that you don’t have anyreasons of your own for wanting to keep me in the dark?” My lips tighten and pull back. “You really aren’t getting something out of keeping me locked up?”

I stand. “I think you’re enjoying this. I think it suits you fine, having power over me.”

I pace. “Are you like that with all women, or is this a special privilege? Am I someone special to you, or would you be just as happy keeping any one of a number of women caged for your pleasure.”

He’s studying me. Paying particular attention to all the marks, the grass stains and dirt on my pants and my tee-shirt.

I turn on my heel. “You didn’t want to see the cable ties come off me, did you? Would you like to tie me up again? How about now? There’s only you and me. Would that amuse you, as a way to pass the time? Maybe a blindfold. Yes, somebody mentioned blindfolds. And a gag, perhaps.”

“Oh, hell, no,” he gets up, laughing. “No, I don’t believe I would ever want you gagged.

And he lets out a laugh. A proper laugh. I’m so surprised, it’s so spontaneous and natural, it infects me too.

“Stung, slapped, tied, teased, all of the above. But never gagged.” I narrow my eyes. He says, “It would kill me to miss a single syllable from your precious lips.”

All the things I can think of to say, I totally should not say right now. Not to him.

He tells me, “I’m going to have another beer. Are you sure I can’t get you something?”

“A glass of water.”

“Don’t trust yourself around me?”

Another laugh trickles out of me. “No, I trust me completely. It’s you I worry about.” This time he catches my laugh.

He says, “You’re not nervous, then? Being alone with me?”

“Probably no more nervous that I would be with you in a crowd of thousands. It’s not the alone part.” Suddenly he’s very close. My words stumble and slip. The heat of his body is stifling. My head swims in the dark tang of his scents. “It’s the you part.”

His chin tilts up and his nostrils flare. My chest tightens and it’s hard to breathe.

He looks down at me. The soggy, knotted panties are more awkward and uncomfortable than ever. The heat from his body reaches through my clothes to all the front parts of me. My nipples ache and sting. The way I’m stirring inside makes me feel like I’m betraying my Warrior all over again.

“What you got up to at the cottage this morning,” he says, “Was that a secret game?”

My eyebrow twitches and my chin trembles.

He says, “You wouldn’t be trying to play us, picking us off, one against another, would you?” a sarcastic tug pulls at the side of his mouth.

My throat dries. “I wouldn’t exactly say that I’ve pickedyouoff.” The words crackle and skip as I push them out.

I want to move away. This situation is spinning out of my control. Not that I’ve had any control since the day I woke up. Maybe I was better off while I was unconscious.

Perhaps the doctor is right and I should have a long period of rest and peace to recover. Rest and peace. The very thought makes me anxious and fidgety. I want to move but I’m rooted to the spot.

He has a beer in one hand, and a glass of water in the other. I tell myself, he can’t do anything like that. Not with both hands occupied.

“If anyone engineered this situation,” I glance around, “you and me, here, alone,” my words are drying out before I can push them out of my throat, “it’s you.”

I make a smile as I reach for the water glass. He moves his hand back so I have to reach around him. So I’m closer. My clothes are brushing his. My scent is giving me away.

My knees have turned to jello.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Straightening up, I’m trying to conceal the trembles that spill through my hands and my pelvis. “May I have the water, please?”

“Aww,” he lifts the glass higher. “Don’t you want to play?” He pushes his lips out, mocking.

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