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My nostrils flare at the challenge in her voice. I lean down, bringing my face level with hers, our noses almost touching. “You’re trying to go full brat on me now?”

“Is it working?” Her breath is warm against my lips, her eyes holding mine with a confidence that’s as infuriating as it is arousing.

“I want to fuck you so much right now, but alas”—I straighten up, stepping back from the magnetic pull of her—“I have a bed to make.”

She blinks at me, confusion replacing her cocky expression. “You’re making a... bed?”

I nod, crossing to the corner where I stashed a plastic bag with fresh white sheets inside the box. “Hmm, a bed.”

“Why the hell are you doing that?” She watches, baffled, as I unfold the first sheet.

Instead of answering, I focus on my task, smoothing the sheet over the bed, tucking in corners with military precision. This is the one part of my plan I can still control, and I’m determined to do it perfectly. No matter how our forest chase deviated from my fantasies, or how the kidnapping went really wrong at such a key step, at least this bed will be exactly as I imagined—crisp, clean, comfy and ready for what comes next.

When I finish, I pat the mattress proudly, pleased with my handiwork. I turn to Vivian with a genuine smile—not the practiced rockstar smirk, but the real thing, unguarded and goofy.

Her expression shifts subtly, the hardness in her eyes softening at the edges, her lips parting slightly. For a moment, we just stare at each other, something unspoken passing between us.

My heart slams against my ribs so hard it hurts. I tell myself this is just about fantasy, just about recreating scenes from the novels I’ve dog-eared and highlighted. Just about finally having the woman I’ve wanted since high school for just one night. But deep down, I know it’s more. It’s always been more.

I shake off the unwelcome emotion, circling behind her chair. I lean down, letting my lips brush the shell of her ear, inhaling the scent of her hair—forest and sweat and something uniquely her.

“You’re gonna be a good girl and be obedient for me, okay?” I whisper, putting every ounce of dominance I can muster into my voice.

Without missing a beat, yet visibly flustered, she turns her head, her lips nearly touching mine. “Chapter three, paragraph four of ‘Insane Desires of a Dom’—this is the classic dom speech. You’re supposed to follow it by telling me I’ll be punished if I disobey, then demonstrating your strength by carrying me to the bed and probably choking me as you fuck me senseless.”

I jerk back, blinking at her in shock. “You... you’ve read that book?”

“Honey, I’ve read them all. That one has some of the best sex scenes I’ve ever read.” Her smirk is back, more devastating than ever. “And your bucket list is showing.”

Chapter 6

Andrew

I know a lot of things about you

Before I can bite back, the cabin plunges into darkness so suddenly, for a moment I think I’ve gone blind. One second I’m staring at Vivian’s smirking face, the next there’s nothing but blackness pressing against my eyeballs like granite. My heart jumps into my throat as the fear—the one I’ve never admitted to anyone—crawls up my spine with icy fingers. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Not now. Not the dark. Not when I’m trying to impress her.

“What the fuck?” Vivian’s voice cuts through the darkness, somehow both annoyed and alarmed.

I try to steady my breathing, focusing on the moonlight filtering weakly through the small window. It’s enough to see the outline of her, still seated in the chair, but not much else. I should have lit the fireplace. Outside, something rustles in the underbrush—not the natural sounds of the forest at night, but deliberate movement. My pulse quickens. This wasn’t part of my plan.

“Did you call someone?” I ask, my voice coming out rougher than intended, betraying my unease. “When you ran away from me, did you text anyone your location?”

“Oh sure, let me just check my phone,” she replies, her tone dripping with sarcasm. She waves her bound hands in front of my face, the motion barely visible in the dim moonlight. “Oh wait, my hands are tied, genius. And I dropped my smartphone here when I left in a hurry.”

I swallow hard, trying to focus on the sounds outside rather than the suffocating darkness. “Something’s out there.”

“Yeah, probably forest rangers coming to arrest your kidnapping ass,” she snaps, but a new tension laces her voice that wasn’t there before.

Another rustle, closer this time. I move closer to the window, straining to see through the gloom, and nearly jump out of my skin when Vivian speaks directly behind me.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of the dark.”

I flinch involuntarily, my entire body tensing. “I’m not—”

“Oh fuck, you are!” The disbelief in her voice would be comical in any other situation.

“It’s an emotional thing, okay?” I mutter, turning away from the window to face her shadowy form. “It’s normal to be scared of stuff, okay?”