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“No, you don’t, angel. I like going to sleep knowing you’re marked with my come.”

My heart fell, and the bile that had only just settled started churning again. “Okay,” I said reluctantly. “Can I at least have some pajamas?”

He sighed again, only now, it was one of frustration. “No. I’m fed up with clothes between us. From now on, you sleep naked next to me.”

He nuzzled his nose into my hair and inhaled deeply. As he fell into a deep sleep, my mind spun, and just like the night before, I stared up at the ceiling, questioning how I was going to get off this blasted island.

Chapter 13

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get to sleep. It wasn’t only the fire raging across my ass cheeks that kept me awake, but my mind turning over and over like a broken record.

Every single interaction I’d had with Jacob from the minute I met him played out before my eyes as I stared at the ceiling, until the pull of the moon shining bright over the ocean enticed me from the bed.

Freeing myself from Jacob’s tight embrace as carefully as possible so he didn’t wake, I grabbed the dress that I’d discarded earlier and slipped it on, forgoing panties so the material didn’t rub my raw skin, and tiptoed out onto the balcony.

Many nights passed while I lived with my parents, when I would stare at the moon and imagine what life would have been like if I hadn’t had the parents I had. I often wished for a prince to ride in and steal me away, just like in fairy tales, but now that Prince Charming had ridden in, I regretted my wish.

I couldn’t understand Jacob. One minute, he acted like I was the most precious thing to him, and that all he wanted to do was take care of me. The next minute, he had me over his knee, tanning my ass so hard that I didn’t know how I was going to sit down at breakfast, all because I’d misbehaved.

Misbehaved. What a joke. I’d voiced my desire to go to college and dared to ask him to take me to the mainland for a change of scenery; that was hardly misbehaving. Yes, I had sworn at him out of frustration, but did that deserve the punishment he had dolled out?

I didn’t think so. He’d treated me like a wayward child who needed discipline, when I was an adult with a voice to speak my mind. For so long I’d been silenced by my mother and father, and just when I thought Jacob was nothing like them, he proved me wrong.

My shoulder slumped as I released a heavy sigh. Damn my parents for putting me in this position. Tears of frustration pricked my eyes, and I sucked my bottom lip in between my teeth to stop it from wobbling.

I continued to stare out across the ocean that separated me from the mainland, wondering what the flickers of light were from. Houses? Stores? A hospital? My eyes closed as I let out a scoff; I didn’t even know the name of the town I was staring at.

Twenty miles felt like a world away.

So much for wanting to get off the island. Even if I found a way, I wouldn’t have had the first clue where to go if I managed to reach the mainland. It wasn’t as if I could go to the police and tell them I’d been kept on an island for over a week with a man who gave me beautiful clothes to wear, endless orgasms, and art supplies so I could fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming an artist.

They’d laugh me right out the precinct door.

My gaze dropped in hopelessness, landing on the speedboat moored at the jetty. It rocked steadily with the gentle lapping of the waves crashing against it, and as I recalled Jacob’s words to Wallace earlier, hope soared in my chest.

With hope, an idea formed, desperation for freedom taking over all rational and sensible thought. A boat was a means to escape; if I made it to the mainland, I could figure out a plan. It wouldn’t matter if I only had the clothes on my back; I would be free of the island and Jacob’s craziness.

Before I could think of the logistics of the insane idea, I crept back into the bedroom, relieved to see Jacob was still fast asleep, his breathing deep and steady. Not stopping to grab my shoes, I crossed to the door, pulling it open slowly and praying like hell that it wouldn’t creak.

I had zero clue where Wallace would have stashed the keys after he’d cleaned the boat on Jacob’s orders, but in the hopes he’d returned them to the kitchen side where Jacob had left them, I tiptoed down the stairs, my heart in my mouth and a tremor in my fingers.

Reaching the first floor, I repeated an excuse in my head if Jacob or Wallace caught me. I was just getting some water, or I couldn’t sleep, so I was going to read in the drawing room for a bit.

A creak from somewhere in the house almost made a gasp break free, but I clamped my mouth shut in time to catch it. I held my breath, frozen to the spot, listening intently for any hint that Jacob had awoken and was looking for me.

When the only sound to reach my ears was the thumping of my heart, I continued down the next set of steps, breathing a sigh of relief at making it to the ground floor without making a sound. Gently pushing the door, my eyes nearly bugged out of my head.

Like a beacon of hope, the keys lay innocuously on the counter.

I glanced back into the darkened hallway before creeping further into the kitchen, making sure the door didn’t slam behind me. This seemed a little too easy, and a little voice in my head whispered that this was a setup. Jacob was testing me, so when he caught me sneaking out, he could punish me again.

My hand hovered over the keys, indecision weighing heavily on my shoulders. I sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. No. Jacob trusted me; I hadn’t given him any indication that I would attempt to run away. I was just letting my anxiety talk me out of what I was doing.

Mind made up, I grabbed the keys and rushed out the back door before running down the stone steps to the jetty as quickly as possible. My hands trembled, and the sharp side of the keys dug into my palm, leaving indentations from where I clutched them tightly.

Reaching the jetty, soft thuds echoed as my bare feet padded against the wood until I reached the boat. I glanced over my shoulder up at the bedroom balcony that overlooked the jetty, relieved to see the bedroom lights were still off, and Jacob wasn’t watching my escape attempt.

Exhilaration pounded through me, and my heart beat so hard that I was certain it was going to burst straight out of my chest.