Page 111 of Villainous Intent

“Fuck you.” It was a weak retort, lacking the bite I wanted it to have. My arms were already starting to ache, the muscles in my shoulders pulling tight as I tried to keep my feet flat on the floor.

I turned my head blindly, straining to hear him over the pounding of my own pulse.

The thud of his boots circled me before stopping directly behind me.

I held my breath, every nerve ending in my body screaming, waiting for what he might do. The air shifted against my back, a sudden wave of warmth. He was close. So close that the fine hairs on my arms stood up. But he didn’t touch me.

“You have no idea,” his voice came from right beside my ear, low and rough, “how long I have waited to have you like this.”

I flinched away from the sound, but there was nowhere to go. The cuffs held me fast.

“Helpless,” he continued. “Bound. Mine.”

He moved again, the heat of his body sliding along my side without making contact.

“Cipher,” I warned, though I didn’t know what I was warning him against. I felt the warmth of his breath against the side of my neck. He inhaled deeply.

“You smell like expensive perfume and fear,” he murmured. “And underneath that... You smell wet.”

My thighs clenched together which only made the ache between my legs sharper, a hollow pang that demanded to be filled.

“I’m going to enjoy breaking you, Annie,” he said, his voice dropping an octave, becoming something dark and jagged. “I’m going to take you apart until you don’t know where you end and I begin. You’re going to shatter for me beautifully, aren’t you?”

Truce.

The word was sitting right there on the tip of my tongue, a safety line that would stop the freefall. I could stop this and go back to being Keeper Bishop, the woman who organized files and managed egos.

But I was tired of being the one who held everything together. I was exhausted from being the structural integrity of everyone else’s lives. I wanted to break and fall apart, knowing that this monster, this terrifying force of nature, was the only thing strong enough to catch the pieces.

But I was terrified to take that final step.

“Cipher,” I whispered. My voice shook, betraying everything I was trying to hide.

For a second, the silence was absolute. Warm fingers brushed against my jaw. The caress was feather-light and devastating.

His lips brushed the corner of my mouth in a soft, lingering kiss.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered against my skin.

I let go.

CHAPTER 22

ANNIE

Cipher pulled back and the warmth of his body left me, the ghost of his kiss tingling against the corner of my mouth.

“Time to unwrap my prize,” he murmured.

Metal touched my shoulder and I flinched. Whatever it was slid under the thin strap of my dress. There was a sharp snick, a release of tension, and the strap fell away. He moved to the other side. Another slice.

A knife. He was using a knife to cut off my dress.

Gravity took over and the silk whispered over my skin, cool air rushing in to replace it as the dress bunched around my ankles.

Cipher made a low appreciative sound in his throat.

“Pink lace,” he said, his voice dripping with amusement. “How sweet.”