Page 204 of Merciless Desires

I sensed him rise to his feet and felt the shift in the air as he did. It whipped a little bit of oxygen from my lungs.

“Harrod will check on you first thing and help you to the car. You can be home by lunchtime.”

I didn’t reply. I couldn’t find any words to explain my cacophony of disturbed feelings. He left without another word and I let my eyelids fall shut.

It would all make sense in the morning.

I managed an hour of broken sleep then twisted restlessly in the baking hot sheets. I couldn’t shake the sensation of Dax’s skin brushing against mine, or the feeling of being worshipped as he inhaled me from head to toe. I shivered even though my skin was burning, and a relentless throbbing returned to my core.

I moaned and flipped my head from side to side. It was useless, the vision of him wouldn’t leave. I tried to think of anything that wasn’t Dax Thorn – the journey home, how on earth I was going to make it to university now, what Remi would say when I announced I still had my V card… but it was no use. Nothing worked. Dax Thorn seemed to be inked on the underside of my eyelids. When I gave in to the image of his towering height and thundering depth, the throbbing between my legs intensified. It only stopped when I rushed my hand towards it and cupped my sex.

Oh.

I pressed down hard, as if that would contain my desire for a man who’d captured me for a pet. All it did was fuel my need. My eyelids drifted closed and I circled a finger around my stiffened clitoris. I might have been a virgin but I knew how to make myself come. I just hadn’t done it in a while. I gasped as lubrication coated my fingers. I knew I was turned on but it usually took way longer than this to ease the way for my fingers. I bucked against my hand, suddenly needing something more. I didn’t dare push a finger inside myself, so I stroked around my entrance, my thighs parting involuntarily.

I felt Dax’s lips at my ear and a wild moan escaped my mouth.

I returned my fingers to my swollen nub and circled it again, massaging it with firm sweeps. I didn’t know what I was doing but it felt nice. Actually, nice had nothing on what I was feeling. It was amazing. Starlit. Combustive. My fingers moved of their own accord as my hips swirled desperately.

Oh God.

I pictured the same lips that had kissed my temple move to my mouth, just as the nerve endings in my pelvic bone united with fiery tension. My jaw fell open and I cried out his name, safe in the knowledge the walls were so thick there wasn’t a chance in hell anyone would have heard. My hips bucked with violently blissful spasms and I surrendered to the rush of heat as it washed over me, dragging me under.

I continued to shudder long after the orgasm had subsided. Something I had never done before. When Dax entered my vision again, I wasn’t so annoyed about it. I was too loose and too soft to be annoyed about anything. Promising myself I would only do this once, I let his name fall from my lips in a grateful whisper, then I closed my eyes, and slept.

Something woke me up with a shock. As I looked around, trying to make sense of my surroundings in the darkness, I heard it again. A muted, muffled crash which drew my eyes to the ceiling. It sounded like the roof of the tower had fallen in.

In my half-asleep, delirious state I thought I heard footsteps outside my room and doors banging elsewhere in the tower. I listened, holding my breath for a few minutes. There were no more loud crashes and no more footsteps. I peeled back the bedcovers and lowered my feet to the floor. I had to know exactly how much damage I’d done to myself and how hard it was going to be to get out of this place. I also had to know if Dax had told me the truth: that I could indeed leave if I wanted.

A shard of pain shot up my left leg as I put weight on it, so I hopped, wincing, out of the bedroom, through the main suite to the door. I took a sobering breath as my hand rested on the handle, then turned it slowly. I fully expected resistance when I pulled it towards me, but it opened, as light as a feather.

With my breath caught in my throat, I looked around the door onto an empty landing. No security guards. I tiptoed to the threshold and bent my head around the frame. If there had been people running up and down the stairs, they were long gone now. I toyed with the idea of leaving right then but it would have been pointless. There was no one around and there was no way I’d get to a port or helipad on foot. Literally, on one foot.

Softly, I closed the door and retreated back to the bedroom. The second my head hit the luscious pillows, I was out like a light.

The next time I awoke, it was morning. The sound of a silver tray and breakfast ware alerted me to the fact someone was in the suite. I slid out of bed and wrapped the bathrobe around myself before hobbling out of the bedroom.

“Oh, miss, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.” The maid was looking back at me with guilt etched across her features.

“Don’t worry. I think I’ve slept in a little. What time is it?”

She smiled. “Almost eleven-thirty, miss.”

“Okay.” I shrugged. “I slept in a lot.”

“I hope you’re hungry.” She lifted the cloche from a serving platter, revealing cooked bacon, sausages, baked tomatoes and mushrooms, as well as cold meats, cereals, pastries and fruits. “Master Thorn said you might have an appetite today.”

I sighed. “Right, yes. Because of the accident.”

She frowned. “He said it was because you’d had a restless night. What accident?”

“My, um, ankle,” I managed. “I fell and sprained it.” The words sounded impressively clear give my inner dialogue was stuttering around, confused and alarmed. Why did he think I’d had a restless night? As far as he knew, I’d been dosed up on Bas-whatever-it-was-called. If he had any inkling I hadn’t slept soundly, he…

My eyes darted around the room looking for anything that might resemble a camera but landed on nothing obvious.

“Is everything okay, miss?”

“Yeah, um, fine,” I replied, still scouring the corners and crevices.

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