Page 48 of Prohibited

Lindsay crawled to where Evelyn lay, inert and tense. With gentle fingers, he undid the rope around her hands, which left a red mark behind.

“Are you alright?” he murmured, stroking the red marks with his thumb. With a glance at the grated window at theback of the truck cab, he undid the gag that bound her mouth and whispered in her ear. “Don’t get me in trouble.”

“Where are they taking me?” she whispered, voice trembling, as the truck engine fired and the beast began to roll forward.

“Another place,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.”

Her hands reached out blindly and felt for him, stumbling over his shoulder, his chest. When she found his face, she caressed his cheeks, and his nose, and his lips with such a tenderness that it made his body warm. He captured one of her hands and kissed her knuckles.

“Are you hurt?” he asked her. The way her hand moved to cup his face made his heart flutter.

“No,” she whispered back. “I’m glad you’re here.”

They rode on in silence for a while. Discomfort chased warmth through his body as he lay next to her, propped on his elbow. The roads made the truck rattle and shift, rotating their bodies back and forth. All the while, she held onto his wrist and kept her hand against his face.

“Are they going to kill me?” she finally asked in a hollow voice.

“No,” Lindsay said with absolute certainty. “They won’t.”

Another stretch of silence as they rode along.

“Will you kiss me?” she asked softly.

“Kiss you?” Lindsay wasn’t sure he heard her correctly.

“I want something gentle to remember before I die,” she said.

“You’re not going to die,” Lindsay said, feeling a small touch of despair swarm through him.

“Will you?” she said.

Lindsay swallowed. Who was he to deny a lady her request? “Yes.”

Heart beating faster, he lowered his mouth until his lips brushed hers. She let out a sigh and her hand found its way to the back of his head. God, her lips were soft and delicious and they parted when he kissed her so that each could taste the other’s mouth. Slowly, they moved together until he broke his lips away from hers with a rich, satisfying sound.

Without either of them saying anything, they kissed again. This time, her mouth opened and he tasted her tongue with his. A soft sound escaped her throat and he matched her, slipping his hand around the back of her head. The scent of her, the taste of her were enough to make his body weak.

Their mouths broke apart again and he lifted her wrist to his lips and began to press tender kisses on the red marks the ropes left on her flesh.

A small voice in the back of his head reminded him that she was likely manipulating him, the way she’d manipulated Simon, but he didn’t care. She was warm and delicious and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted a woman so much. He’d replayed the bath that she’d allowed him to give her ten thousand times in his mind in the past day.

“How far do we have to drive?” she asked him in a quiet, breathless voice.

“Twenty minutes or so,” Lindsay said between kisses on her impossibly soft forearms.

“Make love to me,” she said, pressing closer.

This time, he actually laughed. “What?”

“Make love to me,” she said again, breathless.

“No,” he said. That, he would not do.

“I’m taking my liberties where I can,” she said with an edge to her voice that surprised him. “And I want you to fuck me.” A pause. “Don’t you want to?”

“Yes,” he said. “I mean, obviously yes. But, I–”

“You what?” Her hands were ghosting down over his shoulders, his arms. One of them slipped down to touch his chest and the other one was questing lower.

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