I know that look. It’s the same one I imagine I’d see if I could look in a mirror.
The one that means something is wrong.
“You know what I’ve been thinking about?” I ask.
He exhales sharply. “That’s never good.”
I grin to myself. “Ouch. Hurtful.”
“Cason.”
“This whole situation.”
His posture stiffens, almost imperceptibly.
“I mean,” I continue, “statistically speaking, this is a terrible ransom operation. No proof-of-life video. No deadline. I haven’t heard you make a single phone call with demands or pressure tactics. Sure, some cheesy thriller movies might be my only frame of reference, but kidnappers always seem more showboaty on TV.”
His voice is as stiff as he is when he says, “Drop it.”
“See, but I can’t,” I say lightly. “Because the more I thinkabout it, the less it makes sense. What’s even going on while I’m locked away in that room? Why are we still here, Reese? Why am I not free or dead?”
My gaze locks on his through the fog, and his jaw tightens.
There it is again, that flicker of doubt and anger. Something unsure and unsettled. He’s been thinking along the same lines, asking the same questions. And, for some reason, that terrifies me more than if this felt like some normal kidnapping.
But something iswrong.
I’ve been here too long.
When even your abductor thinks there may be some higher power at work, that’s a bit concerning.
I step closer to the glass, water dripping down my chest. His brow is furrowed so deep I almost feel bad for him. I’d distract us both if he’d justletme.
Honestly,Ineed the distraction badly enough that I’m willing to try.
“You want to know what I think?” I ask, not waiting for an actual answer. “Either you’re very bad at your job, which seems unlikely, or—”
“Or what?” he snaps.
“Or this isn’t about a ransom at all.” I tilt my head and drag my teeth over my bottom lip. “Maybe you just have some kind of sick obsession with me.”
His eyes flash.
A beat of tense silence.
“Shut up, Cason.”
“Maybe you like watching me,” I continue, ignoring him completely now. I step back beneath the spray to finish rinsing off, turning my body to give him a view from every angle. “But kidnapping, Reese? That’s a little extreme, don’t you think? You could’ve just asked me out on a date. Saved us both a lot of time and felonies.”
I swear I can hear his breathing change over the sound of the water as it rains over me.
That alone is intoxicating.
The air becomes suffused with something hot and volatile and dangerous.
There are no suds left, but I continue running my hands over my body, periodically stopping to massage a pec or knead an ass cheek or grab my thickening cock.
“Or maybe this is just your thing,” I continue. “Control. Power. Watching someone who can’t stop you.”
