Page 46 of Keeping My Captive

“No, not really. He was on The Island. I remember him coming up to me after the auction was over. He told me he would see me soon. I didn’t recognize his voice until it was too late. He tried to drug me. He tried to…” My voice trails off as fresh tears flow down my cheeks.

Mateo wraps his tattooed hand around mine and squeezes gently. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“Damion told me he was the one bidding against you on The Island and that he let you win because he knew he would have a chance to get me for free.”

“That son of a bitch,” he grinds out, his entire body vibrating with anger. “If I had known he would be at this party, I never would have brought you here. You have to believe that, Aria.”

“So it’s true?”

“It’s true. I’d only heard rumors about The Island before Thiago, my former friend, took me there. Probably as a sick joke on his part. He was like that,” he says with an exasperated sigh. “I knew I wasn’t going to bid on anyone. I wanted to leave straight away. But then I saw you…” His voice trails off as he looks off into the distance out the window, perhaps lost in memory. “Thiago told me how the top bidder treats the virgins he purchases. Rapes and beats them until the life is gone from their eyes. And so, when Damion began bidding for you, I knew I had to counterbid. I had to win you no matter the cost, no matter the consequences,” Mateo says, his voice deep and steady. “I had no idea who was behind the glass, though. I would have killed him a long time ago had I known.”

I rest my hand gently against his stubbled jaw and force his gaze to mine. His dark chocolate eyes are filled with emotion, probably reflecting back some of the same ones I’m feeling right now.

He saved me from a horrible fate on The Island. He saved me before he even knew me.

“What?” Mateo whispers as I stare at him, taking in every detail of his brutally handsome face.

And then he gently cups my cheek, his thumb grazing my bottom lip. My breath catches in my throat. It’s almost like a switch has been flipped. I’m not seeing Mateo as my captor but as my savior. A man willing to do anything to protect me. A man willing tokillfor me.

I don’t know what possesses me, but the next thing I know, my lips are seeking his out. The kiss is awkward at first; both of us shocked by the unexpectedness of it. But then his hand moves to the back of my head, fisting my hair as he pulls me closer, consuming me and incinerating the last of any resistance left in me.

A whimper escapes my mouth as he kisses me like no other man has ever or will ever kiss me. He kisses me like he owns me — mind, body, and soul. And in this moment, he does.

And then just as quickly as the kiss starts, he ends it, pulling back. “It’s the adrenaline,” he tells me with a ragged groan. “It will wear off soon.”

He thinks I’ll regret kissing him. I want to tell him it’s already worn off, but I don’t say a word. I move to return my lips to his, but he turns his head at the last second, staring out the window, dismissing me.

Tears fill my eyes, and I quickly scramble from his lap and go back to my seat. Feeling rejected by him is a jagged, little pill to swallow. Weeks ago, I never would have gone to him willingly, and now I’m upset because he doesn’t want me? A psychiatrist would have a field day with me at this point.

We’re riding in the car for a long time before Mateo finally breaks the deafening silence. “When you come to me again, Aria, I don’t want it to be because you’re sick with fever or because something bad has just happened to you. I want you to come to me because you want me. Only me,” he says quietly.

His intense words permeate the air and stay with me for the remainder of the trip home. And once we reach the compound, I’m left confused with no clearer answers than before.

CHAPTER34

Aria

I’M LYING IN bed late that night, still reeling from everything that happened earlier today. Mateo killed a man for touching me, for hurting me. He risked his business,everything, even his own life for me.

I know it’s wrong, and maybe I’m sick, I don’t know, but the way Mateo protects me turns me on. I’ve been lying here, waiting for him to finish up his shower, my clit throbbing at just the thought of him touching me with those bloody, murderous hands. Oh god, maybe I’m losing my mind. I can’t help how I feel, however. My thighs are so slick from my arousal; it’s almost embarrassing.

The rational side of my brain is telling me that I’m taking my power back. I’m choosing who takes my virginity. Living in this dangerous, foreign land surrounded by bad men, I could lose my innocence at any point unwillingly. At least this way I get the choice. And I’d rather lose it by my own volition than by force from a total stranger.

And so, when Mateo climbs into bed, I can’t stop myself from inching closer to him in the darkness. He’s on his side, facing me, and I slowly press my backside against him.

His body goes rigid, stilling to the point where I wonder if he’s even breathing. “What are you doing, Aria?” he asks in a growl, his warm breath caressing my neck and sending a shiver through me. “Are you burning up with fever again?” he accuses.

“No,” I whisper. Gathering up all the courage I can muster, I grind my ass against his hardening length.

His hand immediately goes to my hip, clutching it in a bruising grip. “I only have so much restraint,cariño,” he breathes. “So, if you tempt me too much, know that I won’t be able to stop…no matter how much you beg,” he threatens.

“I don’t want you to stop,” I tell him.

In a sudden movement, he flips me onto my back, causing me to cry out in surprise as he pins me to the mattress, his hard length pressing up against my bare pussy.

Reaching over, he turns on the lamp beside the bed and stares down at me in awe in the soft light. “You’re wearing one of my shirts.” Then his eyes drag down the length of my body, and he corrects himself by saying, “You’reonlywearing one of my shirts.”

It was a last-minute decision on my part. When I was getting ready for bed, I grabbed one of his black t-shirts that I found in the back of the closet. It smells like him, and the scent made me feel safe.

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