"Mmm,” he groaned in his slumber. "Mmm-mm no, I jus—jus fo' a second."
I held back my laughter as I steadied him on his feet, half of him hanging over me. He smelled good.
But also, what was my life? I was moving my kidnapper to the bedroom to make sure he’d be comfortable.
Slowly, I pulled and pushed him forward until we made it to the bed, where Alex slumped down with a huff and then stilled, never opening his eyes. His black T-shirt rode up on his abdomen, just enough for me to catch more tattoos, igniting a part of my brain I refused to acknowledge. Was the rest of him tattooed too? His back? His chest? His…thigh?
I forced myself to turn and walk out of the room, occupying my time with everything possible for the rest of the day.
The devil man slept the whole afternoon, all evening, and through the night, which I spent tossing and turning on the couch under a throw blanket.
It was hard to fall asleep. Alex was in the next room, and something was happening to me. The ocean waves tried to lull me to sleep, but my mind buzzed without respite.
It had been three days since I’d seen him. A short time, really, but it felt like a century. I’d counted each day.
Morning, afternoon, evening.
His motorcycle was still parked outside, abandoned after his swift departure during our whipped cream…incident.
Because whatever happened that night got out of hand, and I heavily blamed myself for it.Heavilyblamed myself for setting it up. I’d thought it all over carefully, knowing that if I climbed onto the roof, he’d come.
But now he was here unprompted.
I watched the sun peek over the blue horizon of the ocean, wondering how long it had been since my kidnapping. Time had no meaning here, and I wanted it to stay that way. I wanted this twisted reality to take over my life. Did they ever have to let me go?
I dozed off in the early morning hours with peace in my soul. I liked this version of me. This girl asked for what she wanted, including organic lavender honey, and magically, it appeared.
It was almost eight in the evening the day after Alex’s surprise arrival, and my kidnapper-turned-intruder-turned-roommate was in the shower. I padded into the kitchen, barefoot from the beach, and braless in my thin strap black dress. It was stained with salt and sand and freedom.
The kitchen, the house, the whole property had become my home, and I wondered where I’d even lived before. Sometimes I missed my apartment. Missed my shower loofah and my owncouch, but tragically…that was it. Those were the only things I wanted from my past life—my loofah and my couch.
I opened the pantry, knowing that Maksim delivered coconut oil sometime at the beginning of the week.
“Good evening.” A deep and unexpected voice sounded close by and I halted, peering behind the cabinet door to see Alex—renewed, refreshed, and wet from the shower. His hair was darker than tar, reflecting the light just as water drops collected on his nape, falling onto his white T-shirt. He changed his clothes.
We stared at each other for a beat, like both of us weren’t expecting the other. “Good evening. Did you enjoy your rest, Sleeping Beauty?”
Alex crossed his arms and leaned against the nearest wall, his smile mysterious and his eyes stealing glances at my naked legs. The dress was flowy but short, and so were his attempts to get a look.
He’d done that a lot, hadn’t he? Looked me up and down?Assessedme. I gulped, swallowing the feeling of guilt. I wasn’t supposed to like it when he did that. I wasn’t supposed toenjoyanything.
“I did. Thank you for letting me sleep.” Once again, the low pitch of his voice startled my senses. My gaze fell to his knuckles, clean this time, but bruised and visibly battered.
“What happened to your hands?” I tried to sound unbothered.
“I fell.”
Liar.
“Into someone’s face, I’m assuming?”
Alex smiled widely, his eyes half open, as if more than twenty-four hours of sleep wasn’t enough for him to get his rest. “Yeah. Something like that.”
He jutted his chin out at me, questioning my actions with just the look in his tired eyes and the dominant posture.
“Um…I-I’m looking for coconut oil.”
Did I…did I fuckingstutter?
