Dark Redemption (Broken Souls #1)

by Sarah Marsh

  “Do you want me to watch you?” he whispered low next to her ear, causing awareness to spread through her entire body.

  Sofia was a little breathless at the thought of putting on the same show for him as he did for her, but in the end, her pride won out over the wanton need she felt inside.

  “No,” she barely answered, and it sounded weak even to her ears.

  His deep chuckle at her answer made her nipples peak even more, and she was almost disappointed when he leaned back and pushed the timer on his watch.

  “You’ve got ten minutes, Sofia. Then I come in and get you.”

  Sofia had never used the washroom and showered so fast in all her life, she got done with barely a minute to spare as she put her bra and underwear back on and then wrapped herself in a big fluffy towel before she walked back out into the room.

  “You can keep the towel until you’ve eaten, then it’s off,” he said once he saw her.

  She’d take that small win, and she took her sweet ass time eating as well until he finally took the tray away after she’d spent five minutes chewing a single piece of melon.

  “Now are you going to make this difficult on both of us or are you going to behave?” he said as he motioned toward the wrist cuffs once again.

  She thought about it, but there was nothing she could do against his superior strength, so she begrudgingly laid back against the padded headboard and raised her wrists.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked quietly. “I told you everything I know already.”

  “Well, I’ll see about that soon enough, won’t I?” was all he said in reply as he fastened the cuffs and picked up the tray before he left the room.

  ***

  By the time Eitan had gotten the kitchen cleaned up from breakfast and returned to the bedroom, he was already half hard from replaying how she’d looked watching him come in the shower. He thought about putting on a pair of jeans, but why bother? He certainly wasn’t ashamed for her to see how she affected him and she sure as hell didn’t seem to be put off by his body, so he may as well use that to his advantage, right?

  “Ready for the ankle cuffs?” he asked as he entered the room.

  He saw her swallow hard and move her legs tighter together.

  “Why do you have to?” she asked with a worried look. “Are you going to touch me?”

  “You don’t want me to touch you?” he challenged, already knowing her body didn’t have any arguments.

  “Of course I don’t want you to touch me!” she answered, clearly trying to sound offended that he’d suggest such a thing, “I don’t even know your name!”

  “Well, that’s easy enough to remedy,” he said as he placed one knee on the bed and pulled up the first ankle cuff. “My name is Eitan. Now give me your leg, Sofia.”

  He could tell she was surprised he’d given her his name, and to be truthful, he was a bit surprised by that himself. But the more he thought about his name on her lips as she moaned her pleasure, the harder his cock got. He was doing all sorts of things with this little captive that seemed to be breaking his rules, and Eitan wasn’t sure he really cared.

  When she tentatively placed her little foot in his hand, he quickly attached the cuff and then slowly ran his fingers over the softness of her skin. Clearly she waxed her legs as the skin was still supple and hair free. That thought made him more aware of the noticeably smooth skin under those pretty purple panties, and his mouth watered as he imagined how soft it would feel under his tongue. As he fastened the second cuff and her legs moved further apart, it was all he could do not to crawl up her body and relieve her of those panties just as he’d fantasized about doing in the shower this morning. It was then that he finally had to admit to himself that this interrogation was probably going to be more difficult for him than it was going to be for her…because his self-control was already bucking to be let loose.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sofia had never felt this sexually vulnerable before. It was oddly intimate to be here in this situation with a man she didn’t know, who she should have been terrified of. So many emotions were going through her right now, but she didn’t feel threatened exactly. She felt confused, and vulnerable, and yes…aroused. She’d never dated a man before who’d ever expressed interest in BDSM, so she hadn’t given much thought as to whether or not she was particularly submissive. It appeared, however, by her emotional and physical reaction to what was happening between them that submission and dominance were exactly what had been missing out of her unnotable, vanilla sexual history. Her body literally melted in Eitan’s firm hands. She’d always thought it was just that she hadn’t been very attracted to the nice men she had dated, but apparently it was much more than that.

  Eitan was now kneeling casually on the bed in between her feet, and as he ran his fingers lightly up and down the insides of her legs from knee to ankle, her body began to react to the hypnotic movement.

  “Now tell me, Sofia,” he began in a soft, soothing voice, “when did you first meet Carl Roberts?”

  “I met him when he was moving into the building six months ago,” she quickly answered breathlessly.

  “Have you ever been on a date with him before?” he asked, this time moving all the way to the inside mid-thigh with his warm touch.

  “No, I already told you that.” she answered again, her eyes flashing in irritation.

  She thought she’d pushed him too far when he sat up and began to climb further up her body, leaning closer to her. When his groin just barely brushed up against her covered mound in between her splayed legs, all the air left her lungs in a rush; then when the soft hair of his chest tickled the tips of her nipples, she couldn’t stop herself from pushing up into the delicious heat of his body.

  He didn’t physically react at all to her movement; he simply held himself there and then leaned forward to whisper in her ear, “Are those cuffs too tight?”

  Sofia moaned softly and tried to rub up against him in spite of what other thoughts may have been going through her head at that moment. The loudest one was screaming at her to just get closer, that if she could just feel the weight of him on top of her, it would be everything she needed right now.

  So when Eitan backed away from her, dragging the hardness of his cock beneath the soft material of his briefs along the damp front of her panties, she struggled to try to get her arms free to bring him back.

  “Shhhh, don’t hurt yourself now,” he said softly as he brought his warm hands to trail up the sides of her ribcage and tease the underside of her breasts. “I want to see these.”

  “Yes…” she whispered back.

  Before Sofia knew what was happening, Eitan had leaned over the bed and grabbed something small, and when his hand came back with a knife she went completely still, not knowing what to think. Her body and mind were a mass of confusion and lust―of course, she was frightened of the knife, but she also ached for his touch at the same time.

  His eyes locked with hers as he brought the blade down and slid it under the band connecting the lace cups of her bra, and with a light twist of his fingers, the material parted. The shock of his hot, calloused hands replacing the soft lace was so damn good her eyes slid closed at the pleasure. Sofia didn’t think that anything had ever felt better than his hands on her skin.

  A few moments later she felt the cold steel once again against her heated skin, only this time is was at the low waistband of her panties. She looked up into Eitan’s gray eyes. When she bit her lower lip to stifle another groan, the slightest grin curved up on one side of his generous mouth and she nodded once for him to continue. She felt the material as he pulled it away and suddenly she could also feel his eyes zero in on the part of her that wept for his attention.

  “You’re a beautiful sight, sweet Sofia,” he murmured as he ran his fingers along the inside of her legs, ending just at the top of her thighs before looking her once again in the eyes. “Tell me more about when you met Carl.”

  Sweet Jesus! she thought.
Was he trying to fry her brain? Sofia couldn’t even remember what Carl looked like in her head right now! Everything in her was focused on the dark, controlling man sitting between her legs at the moment.

  “Did he ever bring or give you anything?” he continued while lightly moving his fingers and slowly lowering himself so he was almost resting his chest on the bed in front of her. “Maybe like a plant? Or a trinket of some sort?”

  “No! I only ever saw him in passing until yesterday morning,” she whispered, desperately wanting him to lower his head and kiss her where she now felt his warm breath against her wet folds, “He helped me move some boxes from the elevator to my car that I was taking to a storage locker!”

  Eitan stopped for a moment and gave her a serious, considering look.

  “Very good baby,” he said, gently running his fingers along her wet pussy, revealing her swollen clit just waiting for his mouth. “Was he ever out of your sight with any of these boxes at all?”

  Sofia was trying to lift her hips to force those luscious lips to touch her where she needed him most desperately, but his weight on her legs made it impossible to move.

  “What? No…I mean, well yes…” She was so confused and needy, she didn’t know why he wouldn’t just touch her. “While I went to get my car and pulled it up to the elevator doors he was alone with the boxes.”

  “That has to be where he put the zip drive then. We’ll go take a look this morning,” he finally answered her, looking up again into her eyes, “You did great, baby.”

  Finally, without breaking eye contact, he lowered his head and drew her swollen clit in between his lips. When he began to suck on it, and then lightly bit her, Sofia’s entire body went taut as the most glorious orgasm flowed through her limbs and ended up right in the very center of her.

  “Oh God, Eitan!” she screamed, rolling her hips as if she could almost feel him inside of her.

  Chapter Twelve

  He could tell that Sofia was confused by what had happened between them this morning, because as soon as she’d come, Eitan had gotten up off the bed and released her from the cuffs. Then he found some comfortable clothes for her to wear, telling her to get dressed as he left the room, even though his hard on had been clear as day, tenting his boxer briefs in a ridiculous fashion.

  He knew she was wondering why he didn’t do something about it while she was at his disposal. But time was of the essence here. They needed that zip drive before any of Donovan’s potential buyers found out he’d been picked up by the CIA. Once that happened, there would be a lot of interested parties coming around searching for connections in “Carl Roberts’” life, and who knows how many people in that building saw him and Sofia together that day.

  Eitan couldn’t stand the thought of some Russian mafia contractor or even his boss getting their hands on Sofia. They would be ruthless in seeing what information they could get out of her and then once they had it, her fate would be even worse.

  He dialed the number for his handler and waited for Hays to answer the phone.

  “Kent, did you get it?” his boss said as soon as he’d picked up.

  “I’ve got a probable location on the drive,” he answered calmly. “I’m going to go right now and take a look. I’ll keep you posted.”

  “That’s good because we aren’t getting anything more out of Donovan unless we agree to his deal.” Hays sounded exhausted on the other end, as if he’d been up all night trying to get Ben Donovan to talk. “That bastard is a lot tougher than he looks.”

  “I doubt that, boss,” Eitan replied. “But then again, you never did have my delicate touch.”

  There was a low laugh on the other end of the phone and then silence as Eitan’s boss ended the call. With a little luck, this job would be over in a few hours. Eitan was beginning to think that he was finally ready to leave this career behind him.

  “Can I come out of the room?” Sofia’s small voice carried through the open doorway to the bedroom, “You didn’t say.”

  “Yes. We need to go to this storage locker of yours right now,” he said as he finished getting dressed.

  Her eyes went wide as she watched him put on his gun holster, and the other various weapons he had on his body at all times. He didn’t try to hide anything from her. What was it about this woman that made him want to show her who he was?

  Who he really was. Not the façade he was forced to show the rest of the world because of what he did for a living.

  He’d already made the decision to take Sofia with him to the storage lot. He wasn’t sure what his boss’s intentions would be toward her if they did find the drive and the information was verified. It was hard to anticipate if they’d think of her as a loose end or not, but he wasn’t comfortable leaving her unprotected.

  ***

  It was quiet in the car as they left the building and made their way to the storage lot. Eitan couldn’t pinpoint why her silence bothered him so much. It just didn’t feel right and he needed to fix it.

  “So, do you like writing for a living?” he asked, trying to ease the tension.

  “How do you know I write?” she replied in surprise, turning to look at him before understanding bloomed on her face. “I suppose you know just about everything there is to know about me now, huh? Well, I just hope you didn’t leave my apartment in the same state you left Carl’s when you tossed it.”

  “Nah,” he said with a teasing tone and a quick wink. “He really was a slob. It looked like that pretty much when I got there.”

  Eitan didn’t know why he felt compelled to make conversation with Sofia, but the small smile that crept over her lips was more than enough reward. It was true. He’d gone through her entire apartment, her computer…hell, even her refrigerator. You could learn an awful lot about a person from the things in their lives, but still he needed more. He wanted to know everything about this woman sitting next to him.

  “Yeah, I love it. But sometimes I get a little lost in my head, you know?” she said quietly after a moment. “Do you like your work?”

  Talk about a loaded question. He was impressed she’d had the balls to ask it in the first place, to be perfectly honest. Sofia was tougher than he gave her credit for.

  “No,” he answered, shocking her and himself when the word fell out of his mouth.

  “Then why do you do it?” she asked quietly.

  Eitan didn’t say anything for several minutes as he debated whether to tell her the real reason why he did what he did. He was so tired of this life, tired of having to lie to everyone he knew. Well, everyone except his former boss at the CIA, who he took contracts with, and Maddy, of course, but she knew better than to ask too many questions.

  The last thing Eitan wanted was to add one more name to the list of people he couldn’t be honest with. There was just something about sweet little Sofia that made him ache to tell her everything.

  “My little sister, Tara, went missing from her university dorm room almost six years ago. I was working for the CIA at the time, and when they didn’t pursue her case in connection to the human trafficking ring we knew to be active in the area, I made a choice to resign my job and look for her myself. I didn’t find her. But when I followed the lead my contacts had given me, I ended up finding another woman who’d been taken, and I brought her home after dealing with the man who’d abducted her. Now I take private contracts…mostly to find criminals who are trying to hide from our government and bring them in.”

  It felt so foreign to say this out loud to another person, but damn did it feel good to have the weight of it off his conscience just a little. There’d been so many times he’d wanted to share with his parents, but he was scared they would blame him just as he blamed himself for not bringing Tara home.

  “I’m sorry about your sister, Eitan,” Sofia said, putting her hand on his arm in comfort. “That woman you saved must have been so grateful you found her.”

  The irony of his own captive now trying to comfort him was not lost on Eitan, Sofia was
special, there was no doubt about that.

  “Maddy is a strong woman,” he answered, clearing his throat when his emotions began to rise. “She held on long enough to be rescued, and now she takes care of anyone I find who needs my help. I wouldn’t know what to do with those girls if it wasn’t for Maddy.”

  Eitan could see Sofia holding back some of the questions that naturally came into her curious mind, and he was thankful for it. He didn’t know how much he was ready to share with this woman.

  “Did…did you ever find out what happened to your sister?”

  “No.”

  There was that silence again, only this time, it wasn’t awkward…just sad.

  “It’s not your fault. You know that, right?” Sofia said finally. “You’re only human, Eitan. You can’t save everyone.”

  “Look, Sofia…” He turned so he could look straight into her eyes. “I’m sorry you got caught up in all this mess, but I know you weren’t helping Donovan. I promise I’m going to get everything sorted. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “I believe you.”

  Eitan was shocked at the resolve and trust in her face as she looked back at him. She really did trust him to take care of her.

  Well, shit. How could he resist her now?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Finally, the storage lot came into view as they were stopped at a street light.

  “Eitan…what’s going to happen to me when you find what you’re looking for?”

  He glanced over to her. He could hear the hesitation in her voice, and when he met her eyes, she held his for just a moment before breaking the contact and lowering her gaze.

  Ah, Sofia was so deliciously submissive and she didn’t even know it yet. Eitan was willing to bet he was the first man who’d ever dominated her in bed. By her reaction to it, especially in their particular situation, the fact that she’d been able to completely let go and trust him to give her what she needed? Well, that was a gift to a dominant man like him. He’d seen so many men try to make women submit, or try to break them. Eitan had stopped counting how many of those men he’d had to show the errors of their ways. That was a part of his job he didn’t regret.