by Gemma James
“So it’s sex then?”
“That’s what I keep telling myself,” I muttered.
“Jesus, Kayla. He’s not gonna be your fairytale ending. He’s gonna rip your heart out.”
And I was going to rip out Ian’s.
The certainty of it came on so suddenly that I grabbed my wine glass and downed the chardonnay in one gulp. Tense, inconsequential conversation filled the air during dinner—when we weren’t immersed in uncomfortable silence. I emptied another glass of wine as Ian took care of the check.
Afterward, we ended up at a crowded dance club a few blocks from the restaurant where the music pulsed non-stop and the drinks flowed freely, though he cut me off after my third.
“Uh-uh, you’re not getting drunk tonight. You’re going to be in full control of yourself when I take you home.” He palmed my ass and brought me tight against him as our bodies rocked to the rhythm. “And you’re going to remember every second.” His breath shuddered out against my neck, replaced an instant later by the pressure of his lips.
My blood pumped hard in my veins, and I held onto him to keep from melting to the dance floor. His erection pressed into my thigh as we moved together to the beat; he was more than ready to put action to words.
My head spun, from the alcohol, from the feel of his body against me. Heat and sexual tension smothered the air. “Can we get out of here?” Too many people closed in from all sides, and I wanted him alone. I wanted to lose myself, and I couldn’t do that here.
“Hell, yes.” He pulled me through the crowd, out the front entrance, and I sucked in fresh air until my lungs nearly burst with it. I was way too hot and it had everything to do with him.
He still got me going all right.
We covered the distance to his car in minutes, and soon we were speeding down the highway. He inched his hand up my leg, underneath my skirt, and slipped his fingers beyond the barrier of my panties. I parted my thighs and moaned as his touch sent tingles down my spine. He teased me the whole way home.
The car jerked into park in my driveway. He struck quickly, hauling me over the console and onto his lap. “Is this what you need? Someone burning up for you so much they can’t make it to the door?” His mouth opened on my throat, hot and wet, and descended to my cleavage. “I want you so bad.”
I leaned against the steering wheel, unmindful of the blast from the horn, and moaned as he yanked my top down over a breast. He sucked my aching nipple between his lips and grazed with his teeth.
I hissed in a breath. “We need to go inside.”
He groaned. “I know, but I’ve waited so long to touch you like this again, to taste you.” He lifted his head and gazed at me. “I still dream of that night. Still hear the breathless way you cried my name. I want to hear it again.”
I reached for the handle and pushed the door open. “Take me inside.” I untangled from his arms and found solid ground. He immediately drew me into his embrace as soon as he got to his feet. One hand tangled in my hair as he coaxed my mouth open under his. We slowly backed toward my front porch, unaware of anything but each other.
“It’s locked,” I moaned against his lips once we reached my porch.
“Give me the key.” He never let go of me as I blindly dug in my purse with one hand. His lips traced a winding path down my neck.
“If you keep doing that, I’ll never find it.” Even as the words left my mouth, I tilted my head so he’d continue.
He moved away with a sigh. “I’m not making love to you here on your doorstep, so find that key.”
I finally pulled it from my purse and inserted the key, my fingers shaking. He picked me up, carried me inside, and the door slammed, echoing in my ears. He braced me against it and pressed his mouth against mine. His fingers inched under my camisole, sliding it above my breasts where his hands explored my tingling nipples.
“I love you so much,” he said, inching back to look at me. “I’ll never hurt you, never take you for granted or use you.”
I couldn’t say why, but his words brought tears to my eyes. “I’m wrong for you,” I choked out.
He removed his hands from my breasts and framed my cheeks. “No, you’re exactly right for me. You and I, we make sense. We always have.”
Gage and I didn’t make sense, so why was I suddenly consumed with thoughts of him? Ian’s touch lit me on fire, but Gage’s turned me into an inferno. His voice when he issued his commands, the way his eyes smoldered before he came—everything he did turned me to ash, and somehow he resurrected me every time.
The haze of passion I’d experienced at the club and in the car dissipated. “I can’t do this,” I whispered.
He leaned his forehead against mine. “Tell me why.”
“You don’t deserve this. I can’t…I can’t use you like this.”
He sighed against my mouth. “Why do you think you’re using me?”
The truth stuck in my throat, like a piece of something I hadn’t chewed all the way before swallowing. I dislodged it anyway and spoke the words I knew he didn’t want to hear. The words I didn’t want to admit to myself.
“Being with you makes me normal, and I…I’m not…normal.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “The things he does to me—”
“He’s sick, Kayla,” he interrupted, an edge to his tone. “He’s made you question who you are, and I hate him for that. There’s nothing wrong with you! He should rot in jail for what he did.”
I opened my eyes and drew in a shaky breath. “I’m sorry. This was a bad idea. I think you should leave.”
“How did we go from kissing and touching”—he whispered before his lips claimed mine for a brief moment—“to arguing about him? He doesn’t matter.”
I shook my head and gently pushed against him. “He matters.”
His shoulders drooped. “You won’t let me try, will you? You’ll let him do unspeakable things to you, but you won’t let me in, not even a little.”
The defeat in his tone tore at me. “Ian, you mean so much to me.”
“But I’m not him.”
“You’re better than him. Better than me. I can’t give you what you deserve. He…he wanted”—I gasped, trying to get the words out through the sobs rising in my throat—“to wreck you. Please,” I begged, “don’t let him.” I wedged the door open. “Don’t come back, don’t call. Forget about me. I want you to move on and find someone who deserves you.”
“Kayla”—his voice broke, and the sound alone bruised my heart—“please…”
“I won’t sleep with you. That would be unforgivable of me. Go.” I opened the door wider.
His hands fisted at his sides. “If I walk through that door, I’m not coming back.”
“I…I know.”
The next few moments were the longest of my life, but eventually he disappeared into the night, and I wasn’t prepared for how his exit from my life broke my heart all over again.
6. Taken
I awoke to a crushing weight on my chest. Vise-like fingers encircled my wrists, rendering me incapable of moving, and a strangled cry tore from my throat. Instantly, I thought of Eve, but she wasn’t here; she was with Stacey…
Oh God. No she wasn’t. Stacey had dropped her off after Ian left. Someone had broken in, and she was asleep in the next room.
“Kayla!” A familiar voice said. “It’s me. Calm down.”
Gage.
I sucked in breaths of relief but then reality crept in again. What the hell was he doing in my bedroom in the middle of the night, pinning me to my mattress? He’d scared the life out of me until I’d realized he wasn’t some random serial killer rapist. “What are you doing?” I squeaked. “If Eve wakes up, she’ll be terrified. You can’t pull shit like this!”
“Eve’s safe.”
I blinked, taking a moment to let his statement sink in. “Of course she’s safe. She’s in her bed, Gage.” My words came out too calmly for the panic fisting my heart.
“She’s on her way to my jet. She’s sa
fe, Kayla.”
“What the fuck do you mean she’s on her way to your jet?” I fought against his hold, kicking and screaming, though his strength made my efforts useless. Gage had always been and always would be too strong for me. Tears heated my cheeks, though these were born of rage just as much as fear. “Why are you doing this?”
He wrenched my arms to the mattress and held them down, and his strong thighs kept mine from lifting off the bed. “I told you I wasn’t leaving here without you, and I meant it. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s up to you, but if you want to be reunited with your daughter, then don’t fight me.” He loosened his grip slowly, as if testing to see if I’d attempt escape. “I’m going to let go, and you’re going to get dressed, understand?”
With a gulp, I nodded. He let go and slid from the bed, and I got up on shaky legs, my breaths coming in choking gasps. I searched for the nearest pair of pants and pulled them on underneath my T-shirt.
“How can you do this to her? She must be terrified!” I wedged my feet into my sneakers and faced him, my body trembling. “I can’t believe you kidnapped my daughter! Who has her? Please…you can’t mess with Eve. She’s innocent in all of this!” I fought the urge to get on my knees and beg, but doing so wouldn’t help. He’d come this far and he wasn’t about to change course now.
“She’s fine. Katherine’s with her.”
Time did something funny. One instant I was standing a few feet from him, and the next I had my hands around his throat, squeezing as a red haze clouded my vision, fingernails digging in and scraping away skin until he yanked me out of reach from causing real harm. He twisted me, bent me over the bed, and used his thighs to trap me against the mattress. All the fight went out of me for a few seconds—seconds I couldn’t afford because he used them to secure my hands behind my back.
“You’re only making this harder on yourself.”
“You fucking bastard!” How could he let that bitch anywhere near my daughter? I wanted to kill him; the urge to crush his throat with my bare hands overwhelmed me.
“Eve’s fine, so knock it off. Katherine won’t hurt her. She’s a mother too.”
And that was supposed to make it all better? I gritted my teeth as he pushed me into the hall where the narrow space seemed more suffocating than usual. Helplessness stole over me as we approached the front door. He was really doing this.
Why was I surprised?
Deep down, I never thought he’d involve Eve like this. He’d used her against me a year ago, but she’d been safe from the fallout. Safe as expected, considering she’d been fighting her own battle. But now…
He’d gone too far, even for Gage.
“I’ll send movers for your things, but everything you need is already waiting.” He grabbed my purse and keys before opening the door. “Let’s go,” he said, gesturing for me to go first.
How fucking gallant of him.
He didn’t even bother to keep a physical hold on me; he knew he had me where it counted. He had Eve and that was enough to make me comply without hesitation. I slid into the passenger seat of his car and ignored the burn radiating down my arms from being restrained. He rounded the hood and settled into the driver’s seat.
“Where are you taking me?”
“The airport, and if you promise to behave, I’ll free your hands.”
“Fuck you.”
With a sigh, he started the ignition and pulled onto the street. “Have it your way.”
“My way? How about you bring my daughter back and leave us the hell alone?”
He clenched his jaw. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, he unzipped his pants with the other. “Get your head in my lap.”
My eyes widened. I couldn’t fight him, and he knew it all too well. He’d make me suck his cock all the way to the airport if he wanted, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop him.
“I’ll shut up now, I promise.”
“Yes,” he said, grasping my hair and jerking me sideways into his lap, “you will. Open that sweet mouth, Kayla.” He wound my hair tight around his fist so I couldn’t move and forced his erection between my lips. His taste flooded my senses and an unwanted response traveled through my body, like sparks misfiring.
My body had to be misfiring. No way was I getting off on this. He bobbed my head up and down, painfully yanking my hair as he neared release.
“Deeper.” His command floated above me, a breathless whisper as the road sped underneath us. To his credit, I didn’t sense the car swerving at all, but that was Gage—always in control.
He pushed into my throat and came in a gush. “Swallow,” he said, holding my head down to the point of smothering me. I couldn’t not swallow.
Neither of us spoke afterward. I was too busy gulping in air as he dabbed at my mouth and chin with a napkin. I tried lifting my head, but he refused to let me up. His penis went flaccid against my cheek, and my tears drenched his lap as I cried myself into a doze.
The soothing hum of the highway was absent when he woke me. I struggled into a sitting position and noticed his jet through eyes bleary from sleep. No one witnessed him escorting me onto that monstrous machine with my hands tied behind my back.
Even the pilot turned a blind eye once we boarded.
Katherine didn’t. I expected her usual smugness, but something close to uncertainty pinched her face as she took in my restrained hands. She sat next to Eve, who lay sprawled on the couch at the front of the jet, fast asleep.
“Gage, I can’t go to jail over this!” Katherine cried. “You didn’t tell me you were kidnapping her.”
“Lower your voice.” He was so calm it was irritating. “Let’s not wake Eve.” He gave Katherine a pointed glare and then turned to me, as if her presence was of little importance to him. “If I untie you, will you behave? I’d rather not have a scene in front of your daughter.”
Caging my anger, I nodded. He released my hands, and I rubbed my wrists until I got some circulation back. The severity of what he’d done hit me, and I was an instant away from panicking again. He pushed me onto the couch and took the cushion beside me. I wanted to go to Eve, but Katherine sat between my daughter and me, and Gage slid an arm around my shoulders anyway, keeping me at his side. His hold was just as possessive as always. I peeked up and got a spark of satisfaction upon seeing the nasty red scratches I’d left on his neck and throat.
As the jet sped down the runway and took to the air, I thought of only one thing.
He’s gone too far this time.
7. Return of the Master
The flight was shorter than expected. We beat the sunrise as we landed in Portland, not that we would have seen much of it anyway with the way the sky was crying. Now the four of us entered Gage’s house. He shut and locked the door before turning to Katherine. “Take Eve to her room and sit with her. It’s the last door on the right.”
She gritted her teeth but went to do as ordered. Eve opened her eyes and looked over Katherine’s shoulder, calling to me.
“It’s okay.” My voice cracked. “Go back to sleep, baby. She’ll tuck you in.” Comforted by my voice and words, she laid her cheek down, and I watched them disappear down the hall.
Gage clutched my arm. “Come on.”
“Please stop,” I begged, fighting our progress toward that door—the door leading to the one place I never wanted to see again. “Gage, don’t do this to me.”
Ignoring me, he inserted a key and the door creaked open, revealing the darkness beyond. I remembered how it infiltrated every corner, every implement of torture. Gage was at his darkest when in that space.
“You said you loved me,” I cried. He pushed me in front of him, and through my panic I heard the door slam and the lock click into place.
“I do, Kayla. So fucking much.”
He switched on a light and herded me down the steps. “Strip.”
“No,” I said, folding my arms.
He took a deep breath and seemed to deliberate for a m
oment. “You have no options. The only way through that door is by key. Now strip. I want you bare in front of me.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.” His tone was free of anger, free of anything other than resignation, and I wasn’t sure what it meant.
I slipped off my shoes and brought my trembling fingers to the hem of my shirt. I wasn’t wearing a bra, and his eyes glazed over at the sight of my breasts, nipples puckering in the chill of the room. I pushed my pants down my legs, followed by my underwear, and stepped outside the puddle of clothing to stand before him, reduced to a shivering mass of vulnerability.
This was about more than stripping me of my clothes.
“What do you want, Gage?”
“Every damn piece of you.”
“Even my daughter?”
“Even your daughter.”
I dropped to my knees from the force of his words. “Let us go!”
His tall frame became a blur through my tears, and I was unprepared for the ball gag he shoved deep into my mouth. He wrenched my hands up and secured them. His movements were measured but quick, and I had no time to adjust to what he was doing. He hauled me to my feet and kicked my legs apart, and I never thought I’d end up back here again—in Gage’s basement of hell, strung up on my toes, hands secured above me and feet spread wide.
I’d come full circle, and I didn’t like it one bit. Unlike last time, when fear and uncertainty had taken center stage, now an all-consuming rage filled my soul. I hated being helpless and at his mercy, rendered incapable of expressing the fury boiling in the vat of my being.
He had Eve, and no one messed with my daughter. Not even Gage Fucking Channing.
He sank into a seat, lowered his head into his hands, and didn’t speak at first—just gripped his hair with those slender fingers that still managed to deliver lethal masculinity, as if he could hold himself together. Minutes passed. He didn’t move, and I couldn’t move.
What did he want?
“I have something to say, and you’re going to listen,” he said, rising from the couch and pacing in front of me. “I didn’t want to do this. I tried doing the right thing, tried giving you time to come to me on your own, but then you fucked him.” He stopped, and his face twisted, reminding me of how furious he’d been a year ago after catching me in Ian’s arms the first time.
