Page 39 of Captive Vows
I didn’t miss how her breath hitched. I sure as fuck didn’t miss how she put her hands on my chest. The sparkle of lust in her eyes was obvious too.
But so was her inexperience. She frowned, almost as if she were confused about how to follow through.
“Do I need to remind you that I can do whatever I want with you?”
She stared at my lips and furrowed her brow. “I think you’ve made that point perfectly clear.”
“Hmm-mmm.” I pushed my hips against hers, fighting back a growl at how she jumped and curled her fingers into the fabric of my shirt.
“Does that mean…” She drew in a deep breath and lifted her gaze to mine. “Does that…?”
I waited, watching her closely and wondering how I could be this much of a saint to endure not taking what I wanted. “Go on.”
“Does this mean that youdowant to play games with me?” she asked.
“I don’tplay, Gabriella.” I leaned in to whisper into her ear, “I just take. I take what I want.”
And right now, I want you.
Pressing a light kiss to the skin near her ear, I waited for her reaction.
She sagged, arching both into me and against the wall. She sighed, letting out such a swoony sound of need. And she didn’t protest.
Instead, she turned her head as if to seek my lips for a real kiss.
Perhaps her first.
She’s too young. She won’t know how to do anything.On the tails of those thoughts that should’ve been enough to scare me away, I got hooked on the idea of being the one to show her. To teach her.
“Bullshit,” she whispered, still defiant despite how rattled and shaken she was. I saw the desire in her eyes. I heard the need in her short breaths. She was just as attracted to me as I was to her. And she had to be wondering—confused and reluctantly disappointed—why I wasn’t making more of a move on her. “You don’t onlytake. You gave me that dance studio.”
I laughed once, stepping away from her and grabbing her hand to escort her the rest of the way back to her room. The space between us was jarring, but it almost worked to clear my mind. If I wanted to take this path with her, I had to be sure I could give her up after I’d had her.
“I’m shocked that you haven’t reminded me that I also took you.”
She smirked. “And I’m shocked that you haven’t reminded me that I’m yours to own.”
She said that as a parting shot. Letting go of my hand, she turned toward her room, but not without one last look over her shoulder. A look that suggested she was wondering why I might not act on making her mine in every way that counted, like the most intimate closeness two people could share.
A closeness where we’d be one as we fucked—with me deep inside her and claiming her not as my captive, not as a thing to possess and lock up, but as my woman, as my lover.
14
GABRIELLA
Losing track of time happened too often. Although I was trapped in his house and never given the right to leave or choose anything about my existence here, I fell into the routine of enjoying what I could while I was here.
The studio.
The food.
The lack of wondering whether someone would bother me while I walked home.
At first, it was a simple feat of tracking days and hours by realizing how many classes I’d missed at the studio. How many open-studio hours I was skipping to practice. Once I was given the ultimate gift of my own dance studio and a rotation of tough but excellent instructors to tutor me, I had all that I could have ever wished for.
Under Luka’s provisions, I could catch up to all those privileged dancers who never had to stress about money.
With nothing else to burden me here—no responsibilities other than to be with Luka when he came home to join him for meals—I was free to dance and study and learn. After a monthof dancing here, I felt fit and toned, more precise with my movements. No simple, silly mistakes happened to frustrate me.
