Page 44 of The Freedom in Captivity

“Maybe I don’t want to because I adore the look in your eyes.”

“Strange words from a man who despises me.” He pauses, tensing. One wrong move and he could stab me in a place I doubt healing from will be quick—or even possible. Still, I continue talking, every form of danger provoking me. “That’s why you visited last night, isn’t it? You went on and on about getting me out of your mind, and you went down to prove it to me and to everyone else here.” I jerk my chin in the direction of his door. “Your mind is filled with the past as much as mine is and you think by being cruel, you’ll be able to forget it.”

For a full minute, there’s complete silence. A stillness from him.

Then finally, “Maybe I’m trying to make you hate me so I can remember how I feel about you.”

“I told you why I lied, Flynn. I couldn’t tell you who I was because you’d search for me.”

“You give yourself a lot of credit,” he shoots back, snarky, but the truth in my statement is in our past—in everything he’s said to me since I was captured and brought here.

“Now you’re lying.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it’s not only what you did, but how you did it.”

He speaks so low, so honest, I’m stunned for a moment. The pain’s there in his gaze, reflecting against mine. Two soldiers in this war, unknowingly fighting on the same side but divided by enemy lines.

“You look completely helpless,” he croons, moving the knife again. Whatever emotions he was just showing are gone now, switched off as his mental walls rebuild. It took a lot eleven years ago for me to break them down because he’s so apt at keeping them rigid and letting no one on the other side.

When I finally broke through, it was equivalent to winning the greatest prize ever. But now, I’m back on the other side, with everyone else in the world. Shut out from this man’s trust, and his heart.

That’swhat hurts the most.

“I am helpless,” I whisper back. Helpless to move, not only from his hold on me but from my own desires. From the fact thatsomethingis keeping me chained to this bed.

“Are you? Or is this exactly what you were hoping for, Rozelyn? Trying to find the good within me? I can promise you, it doesn’t exist.”

It does. But you’ve buried it.

Two fingers stroke over my wet centre, and while his touch is so light, almost non-existent, I feel it throughout my entire body. The light that ignites within my heart as the moon overshadows the sun.

“But you,” he goes on, and I’m starting to think he’s only talking to remind himself, “have no power here. Memories might exist in my head, but they’re reminders of the pain you’ve caused.”

“Flynn.” A plea—for him to touch me further or to release me, I’m not sure.

With eyes enchanting mine, he teases my core until my legs spread wider and my hands fist the bedsheets. Hiding my desire is useless at this point when he can see and feel it for himself.

I don’t stop him.

And dare I fucking urge him on? My feet press into the bed, and I rock my hips lightly, silently encouraging his touch, careful of the knife he keeps against my skin. He knows what I’m doing with a slight lift of his brows, a sexy, winning smirk.

“Flynn.” This time, it’s a plea for more.

His thumb circles my clit and explosions go off in my head. I bite down on the noise in my throat, waiting for him to break first—for him to fuck me with his fingers.

“Begging, Rozelyn. Begging to come, but not for your life. That’s pathetic, no?”

Oh, it definitely is, and it’s completely contradictory to every ounce of training Dad shoved me into, but neither of us foresaw it beingFlynnwho’d be with the Corsettis. I’d already lost before all the players were even on the board.

Flynn’s lips curl into a sexy, evil grin, and with eyes still on mine, he places his index finger at my core and pushes it in to the first knuckle. All restraint—gone. I don’t hide how good this feels. How he broke my own barriers.

How much Imissedhim.Him. Sex since high school has been lackluster, and I realize why.

It’s like a part of me has always belonged toma luneand it took me over a decade to comprehend this.

“Flynn…”

I’m so wet, he’s able to easily get his entire finger inside me. His thumb still circles my clit on rotation and the finger he has inside me curls, finding that spot he and I both love. The place that makes fireworks go off inside me and my legs fall open wider, pressing to the bed, encouraging him deeper.

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