Page 66 of Mine

“Tilt your head back,” he said. His hand was on my chin. I let him guide me under the stream of hot water, letting the warmth flow through my hair. Then his hands came up and I felt him rubbing shampoo into my hair in slow circles. His fingers ran across my scalp, sending thrills down my spine. One hand came forward, encircling my throat. I breathed in sharply and he held my throat as calmly and steadily as he had before.Mine, he told me with his hands.You’re mine.

The other hand continued to lather as he tortured me with gentle squeezes. My breath hitched as his fingernails sent electrical pulses through my skull. He held my head in his hands like he was one of those quacks who study phrenology, studying the bumps on my head with his fingertips. He smoothed conditioner over my wet hair, his fingers untangling the mess slowly, patiently. Everything about him was patient. It felt like it had been forever since I had been in the shower.

Dark, so dark. I closed my eyes and imagined his face. His eyes sparkling with gold flecks. His sharp jaw, the dark stubble defining his chin. The soft dark locks hanging down to his brow. His hands moved, sliding over my head, my throat, back to my shoulders.

He turned me so that I was facing sideways. My fingers brushed his erection and I heard him take a sharp inward breath. His reaction was an unbelievable turn on. Then he leaned forward and his whisper made my heart flutter.

“Touch me,” he said.

I let my fingers find their way along his shaft, stroking lightly. As I touched him, his hands continued to caress my arms, my back, my stomach with soap. His cock jumped in my hand and I bit my lip. His desire ignited mine, like nothing else had done before. The darkness enveloped us, closing around us with warm water and steam and the fresh scent of soap.

Then his hand curved around my ass, circling back. I whimpered as his fingers slid down, touching me in the back. I froze, my hand squeezing the base of his cock, as his fingers ran lightly across my pucker. Slippery, probing.

“Rien—”

“Is this new to you?”

All of it, I wanted to say. This was all new to me. My previous love affairs had been dreary and one-dimensional. Other actors, who acted in the bedroom as they would have acted in a love scene, cameras rolling. Never anything new, never anything real. Sex like they were reading their blocking from a script.

But this… this was real. Exciting. Terrifying. His fingers thrilled me, and I moved my hand along his length, wanting to give back to him what he had given to me. He pulled me against him tightly, his hand still exploring me. In the darkness, I could hear his heartbeat begin to quicken.

My asshole was burning with sensation as his fingertip moved in circles over the puckered flesh. Every nerve of mine fluttered when he paused at my entrance. Then he pushed inside, just a bit, and I gasped with shock. Stars burst in the black air of the shower and I clutched his other arm with my free hand to keep from falling.

“Sara,” he murmured. His finger pushed in, then withdrew. Pushed in, then withdrew. I cried out. The sensation was like nothing else I had ever felt before. The strange feeling of his finger probing me, expanding me. The nerves that had never been touched like this by anyone else. Then he withdrew completely, and I whimpered, my hand closing around his cock.

He took my hand in his and pressed it between his palms.

“Finish showering and come out to the bedroom,” he said, kissing me lightly on the forehead. Water streamed down between our bodies. “If you need a razor, there’s one by the soap dish. I’m going to get some things ready.” The shower door opened, and I felt a burst of cool air come in from the bathroom.

“The blindfold?” I asked. My thoughts were whirling. He was leaving me with a razor. Did that mean he trusted me?

“No,” he said. “You’ve been very good. You may leave it off. But don’t go wandering around.”

“Thank you,” I said.

As he left the bathroom, he flicked a switch and a dim light came on. After the total darkness, it was like being illuminated by the sun. Rien’s shadow passed over the doorway, and then he was gone.

I looked all around me, taking in my surroundings. The shower was a cream marble tile, and there was a razor exactly where he’d said it would be. He’d left a towel hanging over the glass door of the shower. I smoothed shaving cream over my legs and shaved quickly.

He trusted me. He trusted me. The thought pounded in my mind as I finished cleaning up. My stomach was in knots. Why was I so worried? I’d been on a thousand bad dates before. A date with a serial killer… well, how bad could it be?

I rinsed, turned off the shower, and toweled myself off. Stepping out of the bathroom, I saw a dress lying on the bed. It was a strapless evening gown, green with gold beading at the waist. There was a note lying next to it.

Dress up for me. Then wait here.

I picked up the dress, touching the silk fabric in wonder. He must have gotten my size from the dress I’d been wearing when I first arrived.

Two days ago. That was it. Two days in this place, and I felt like another person. As I pulled the dress over my head and adjusted it on my hips, I wondered what Rien was doing to me. Looking in the mirror, I tried to see myself as I looked now. Was I an impostor? Or was I more real now? My heart was beating fast as I combed my hair out with my fingers. I wanted Rien to see me, to think that I was beautiful. I wanted him to hold me, to take me, to—

“What’s happening to me?” I asked my reflection. She didn’t answer. Neither one of us knew if the world we were living in was real.

Rien

I whistled as I reduced the sauce in the steak pan. The night had been fragmented, but I had come up with an idea that I was certain would work. This would be the final test, and then I would have to decide.

Jake still hadn’t contacted me, and Vale would expect me to have the proof ready for him tomorrow. If I could trust her, then things would be easy. If not…

Well, I didn’t want to think about that.

---