Page 6 of He Sees You When You're Sleeping

I want to ask, but a part of me is scared of the answer.

This time when he pulls away, I hear his footsteps as he retreats. “I’m going to remove your blindfold,” he says. “But you can’t freak out or scream. You understand?”

If I was going to do either of those things, I would’ve done so already. But I feel weirdly calm, like I’m suspended above my body and watching everything unfold.

“I understand.”

More footsteps, then there’s a gentle tug on the strip of fabric around my eyes. The knot loosens and falls away. I blink against the blinding light, squinting at the intensity of it. It takes me a moment to realize where I am, but once I do, my entire body tenses.

“What the fuck?—”

“You said you wouldn’t freak out,” he says, a gentle scolding note in his voice. “Stay calm.”

Stay calm? He wants me to stay calm? I’m tied up in the middle of the fucking mall, right in the middle of Santa’s Village, and he wants me to stay calm?

I shake my head a few times, trying to wake myself up from this dream. It feels like one of those nightmares where you go to class in nothing but your underwear. But it’s worse. Because I’m helplessly bound and naked in the middle of my workplace.

“I am calm,” I say, but it sounds distant, like I’m not actually speaking.

The fake snow glitters under the fluorescent lights overhead, and the Christmas lights twinkle around the edges of the sleigh. Right in front of me are massive studio lights, and the camera we use to take family photos is mounted between them.

“What are you doing with that camera?” I ask, jerking my chin toward it. A low chuckle sounds from behind me, and instead of the fear I know I should be feeling, excitement blooms in my chest.

He says nothing as he rounds the sleigh and stands in front of me, the lights haloing him, making him look like a fallen angel. Slowly, he folds his arms across his massive chest. He’d taken off his red jacket, but stayed in his red pants, black undershirt, and black boots, the silver buckles glinting.

The corner of his mouth tucks up in a sly grin. “Nothing,” he says, and it sends a shiver through my body. A part of mewonders if he’s lying, yet another part believes him. “Are you ready, little elf?”

“Ready for what?” I breathe. His grin turns into a full smile, and I tug on my bindings, trying to press my thighs together to alleviate some of the building pressure between them.

He’s silent as he moves to the front of the sleigh and braces his hands on it. His gaze meets mine, and it burns me alive. “One night,” he says softly. “All I’m asking for is one night—one night of fun, of games, of giving yourself fully to me. No holding back. No hiding. I’ll give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of and more, but all I ask for in return is…you have to let me own every inch of your body tonight. Let me own you.”

My breath hitches, and his face softens. Give myself to him? Let him own me?

Again, I know it’s insane—I’m insane. I know I should be screaming and begging him to let me go, but I can’t. I don’t want to. Because, honestly, I want to see what he’s going to do. I want to see what dreams he thinks he can fulfill. I want to know how he’s going to ruin other men for me.

Maybe it’s because I’m a horny slut and think with my pussy, or maybe it’s because I’m so desperate for love and human touch I’m willing to let this man kidnap me and have his way with me…but whatever it is, for whatever reason, I dip my chin in a small nod.

“I’ll take good care of you, baby,” he tells me, and the way he says baby has my heart doing somersaults. “Turn your mind off and let me take over.”

I swallow thickly. He says it like it’s so easy to do—and maybe it is. I don’t know. I’ve never had anyone I could turn my mind off around, but he makes me believe I can do it with him. For some reason, I trust him. I trust that he’ll make sure I’m okay, that I’m safe. I trust that he won’t hurt me.

“Okay,” I whisper, and the smile he gives me borders on otherworldly.

“That’s my good girl,” he murmurs, his eyes melting into pools of dark chocolate. I preen under his praise, but a part of me is wondering if that’s all he’ll give me. Will he hurt me? Make me cry? Beg?

I lick my lips again, ready to find out.

noelle

. . .

Glancing at my wrists, I realize the black leather wrapped around them is from the reins we use for the fake reindeer. Santa has secured my wrists on either side of the bench seat on the sleigh, and my feet are propped on the ledge before me, spread obscenely apart.

He disappeared a few minutes ago, and I haven’t seen him since. The time away from him has given me a chance to breathe—to think.

Since the day we started working together, I’ve had a crush on this man—like a stupid, schoolgirl crush where everything he says is funny and everything he does is mesmerizing.

And, honestly, if he wants to fuck me, even if it’s out in the open like this, is it really that bad? At least I can get him out of my system and move on.

---