Page 86 of A Heart So Savage

When it came to the rooftop pool, a staff elevator existed along with a fire escape. The exits were armed with the same fingerprint and code security system, although the fire escape door lacked anything preventing its full use. A safety measure, although why someone like Kingston would bother following the rules in any capacity was surprising.

She could leave through the fire escape, exit onto one of the lower floors, take the public elevator, and walk out of the building as though she was simply one of its many employees. Once out on the street, she would hail a taxi and somehow convince the cabbie to take her all the way to Bitter Springs.

It’s an amazing plan. It will work.

Kingston’s shoes were a sharp staccato on the shiny floor, shaking Ava from her thoughts. She sat up straighter, nibbling a fingernail before abruptly lowering her hand to her lap.

He sat in the low-slung chair across from her, his eyes dark and unreadable. With his long legs stretched out before him and his forearms laying atop the armrests, he looked like a sullen king upset over a missing slave. It was intoxicating, the way he watched her. As though he wobbled between worshipping the ground she walked on and throttling her unconscious.

“Have you changed your mind, lamb?”

“No,” she replied with a small shake of her head. “I haven’t.”

“I thought as much. I still think I should drug, hogtie, and take you with me.”

“Have you much experience with hogtying?” She smiled, making a somewhat pathetic attempt at finding levity in the situation.

Kingston’s lips barely curved. “You’d be surprised just how proficient I am with ropes.”

Ava said nothing as he continued watching her. She wondered when he planned on leaving her. Surely, he was eager to return to The Den and begin his afternoon agenda of torture and murder.

“Come here, Ava.”

She did not even consider disobeying, too eager to have his hands on her at least once more before he left her. Rising from the couch, she approached the chair and stopped at his feet.

With a smirk, Kingston spread his legs wide and crooked his finger at her. Provocative and triggering, that simple gesture made her body flush with longing. She thought how that same finger of his, used in the same motion, could so easily make her come.

“Come closer,” he murmured.

Ava moved between his knees, standing motionless until he encircled one of her wrists and tugged forward so she bumped his crotch.

His other hand rested lightly on her hip. The power implied by the flexing of his fingers made Ava dry-mouthed with both desire and trepidation. Did he know the treachery she had planned and was subtly warning her to rethink it?

“Straddle my lap.”

“Kingston,” she protested, even though she didn’t mean it at all.

“Do as I say,” he replied, gazing up at her as she remained standing. His eyelashes were so long and thick they gave him a boyishly innocent air. “Please,” he added with a wicked smile that told Ava he wasn’t really asking so much as coercing her to do what he wanted.

With an innate gracefulness, she swung a leg over one of his and then the other as she settled atop his lap. Her core now rested over his groin. Evidence of his growing arousal pressed against the material covering her pussy. His hand moved to cup her backside, her ass filling his palms as he held her snugly in place.

“That’s much better.” His eyes were heavy, and Ava was transfixed by his masculine, brutal beauty. She licked her lips, and his molten gaze immediately fastened on her mouth.

“Don’t go,” she asked in a whisper.

“Don’t stay.” A muscle ticked in his jaw.

Ava leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of his firm lips. “You know the reason why I must.”

Kingston’s tone was reflective. “I think I’ll bring you a gift when I come back and collect you.”

Ava shuddered. “Please do not bring me a man’s head… or the heart you ripped from his chest.”

Kingston tilted his head back, chuckling in obvious surprise. “What a bloodthirsty savage you’ve become, Miss Blue. But that’s not the kind of gift I have planned. I was thinking more along the lines of a collar and a little leash. Something I can buckle around your neck so I can control you better.”

“A collar?” Ava repeated, hating how everything inside her tightened at the very thought of Kingston shackling her in such a manner. How could she possibly want something so demeaning and twisted? Why did the thought of this man owning and keeping her forever make her heart thump faster and her thighs clench helplessly?

“Yes. A collar. A leather one, maybe. Black, with a pretty, shiny lock to which only I hold the key. And a chain link leash you can’t break free of.” He squeezed her ass cheeks, grinding her lower body against his erection. “I know you are wet, Ava. Fucking soaked for me. I can feel the heat of you through our clothes. Goddamn, the way you respond when I tell you what I’m gonna do to you makes me so fucking crazy. You don’t know how much I hate leaving you like this, so wet and needy for my cock, but I have no choice.” Kingston searched her eyes, an odd note of melancholy seeping into his arousal-roughened voice. His hands inexplicably grew gentle, even as he shoved two fingers into her mouth, slowly plunging them in and out in a pseudo blowjob until she closed her lips around them with a frustrated sob of lust.

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