“Yes, well. I was momentarily overwhelmed.”
I can feel my breath coming out in embarrassing pants, but there’s nothing I can do to compose myself—beyond putting as much distance as I can between us. But this is futile, really, because there are only thirty steps to the back wall of this cell.
Also, my traitorous body simply doesn’t want to. It wants to reach out and tug at thosereally, very nicearms and pull him close. Pull him, impossibly, through the iron bars and trap him in here with me, just so I can feel his tongue against my mouth again.
Unfortunately, this intention seems to be crystal clear in my expression.
Dante is pressed so far into the bars they will likely leave an imprint if he steps away. And those dark eyes…God. He looks like a manstarved.
“Momentarily?” His voice is charged with something dangerous.
I swallow down my lust. “It was a long moment.”
Because this is insane. And maybe I am going crazy from being locked up down here, finally succumbing to Stockholm Syndrome, exacerbated by my embarrassing lack of experience with anything romantic.
Come on, Carmen, be logical. You’re smarter than this.
I need something. I need a…reason. Yes. A justification. Does it matter that I’m coming up with it after the fact? Probably. But…if I could just…
“Then come back here.”
There is no mistaking the undertone of desperation in his tone. The longing, the want. Despite everything, I’m appealing to him.
I can work with this.
I can…
God. I can seduce him, can’t I? I can use my traitorous,curiousbody to my advantage and offer him something so he keeps coming back. Something so that he keeps slipping up and feeding me pieces of information that I can utilize to make my escape.
He holds the key to my cage. I could pluck it right from his sleeping, satiated hand after a night of…inexperienced, non-penetrative sex with a virgin.
I might need to workshop this a bit more.
But it’s a start. And if there’s something Idoknow a lot about, it’s about how to remain flirtatiously unavailable.
Seduction at a distance it is.
“I don’t think I will,” I take another step back so that the backs of my thighs press against the mattress of my bed.
Dante seems to take the movement as a personal assault. “You forget that I can open up this cell.”
“And what exactly is it that you’d be coming in for?” I force myself to keep my tone light and take a seat. “I think the moment might have passed now, and I’m not in the mood to be accosted by my captor.”
I see some of the tension leaving his shoulders and panic.
“No matter how attractive he is.”
This perks him back up a little. His arms slide through the bars to dangle at my side.
“Well, I think I’d be curious to learn how you could have gone so long touching yourself without describing it aspleasure.”Hetilts his head slightly, a crooked smile that does little to offset the intensity of his eyes.
I bite at my lip as an insane idea begins to form in my mind.
“There’s no need for you to come in for that.” I try for nonchalance, but it comes out too breathy. “You can watch from there.”
And oh, how his jaw goes slack. All pretense of casualness evaporates from his posture.
“Carmen.”
