AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He doesn’t laugh or even crack a smile as he studies my face. “Have I lost you already, Ranay?”
My eyes flare wide with surprise. “Lost me? No. Why would you think that?”
“You have every reason to doubt me. I was deliberately secretive. I made it a game instead of simply telling you where I was going. I thought…” He rakes a hand through his hair, roughing up his curls until it looks like he slept for days, instead of skipping bed altogether. “I thought a game would make it lighter, easier for you to deal with our developing relationship. I never expected anything would scare you last night. I started thinking about everything I’d already asked you to do—to trust me enough to come out to my rural house and watch my dog when you knew nothing about me beyond Wentworth’s clinic. Add to that my predilection for dominance and control, your own past, and I realized I was a complete and utter moron. A game wasn’t what you needed. I hate that I gave you a legitimate reason to doubt me on the very first night.”
“I don’t doubt you.”
His eyes narrow, his mouth tight and hard, though he doesn’t increase his grip on my hand. “I could hear the fear in your voice, Ranay. You weren’t thinking about the promise you made to me, because you were too busy worrying about what kind of creep had lured you out into the backwoods to commit some horrible crime.”
I drop my gaze and deliberately bite my lip. “I don’t mind being lured into the backwoods by you. Especially if you tie me up.”
He tugs me closer. “Is that right?”
“I was pretty worried about what kind of man you are. At first. The security freaked me out, yeah. The call from a thousand miles away before I even knew what was going on was over-the-top freaky. I might have tried to leave if I wasn’t afraid of setting the alarms off. But you forget that you told me to snoop. I’m a good snooper.”
A spark catches in his eyes, heating the cold brown to melting chocolate. His lips curl and he pulls me onto his lap. “I don’t see any toys lying around, so I figured you hadn’t snooped at all.”
“I was too busy looking for evidence of your nefarious dealings in the middle of the night.”
“And what did you find?” His voice deepens, setting my heart to pounding with hope, need, joy—too many emotions to count. “Am I a spy? A drug dealer? A gangster? A serial killer?”
It sounds ridiculous now. In the middle of the night, after having a few years scared off my life, any of those could have been a possibility. “There wasn’t a lot to betray you in here but I found the proof I needed.” I lean closer, hovering over his mouth without touching him. I don’t have permission yet. “You’re a very dangerous man, Mr. MacNiall.”
He frowns, deepening the lines on his forehead in a fierce scowl. “What did I tell you about my name?”
I grin at him and bat my eyes. “Maybe you should punish me.”
He wraps his arms around me and hugs me close, so I don’t feel any disappointment at all that he doesn’t take me up on my hint. “I thought we were going to have an unforgettable first Christmas together, but I was afraid I’d already messed up so badly that you’d be gone before I could get home.”
“You’re probably too tired to let me keep my promise.”
He snorts. “No man’s ever too tired for that, kitten.” His endearment twists my heart into knots. Slipping his hand under my chin, he tips my face up to his. “Say it.”
I know what he wants most of all. “Charlie.”
Eyes blazing, he leans down, tightening his grip on my chin so his fingers dig into my skin. My body goes pliant, soft and wet and ready for him. “And?”
“I’m yours.”
“Are you sure?” He studies my face as though he needs to memorize every line, shadow and hollow. “There can’t be any doubt in your mind, Ranay. No hesitation. When I take you, I want everything.”
I don’t ask what he wants. I want to give it to him without question. “Yes, please.”
“What are your hard limits?”
“I don’t have any.” He arches a brow, so I rush to clarify. “At least not that I’ve ever found.”
I lived as a full-time slave for a year and had a breakdown when I left. Does that sound like someone who can set effective limits to protect herself?
One step toward him and I’ll fall. Hard. People say they fall in love all the time, head over heels, like it’s something wonderful. Sunshine and bunnies and floaty hearts aren’t in my repertoire. When I fall, I crash like a flaming meteor that wipes out an entire planet.
“Well,we’regoing to start slowly. You have limits, whether you think so or not. And if you don’t…” He narrows his eyes slightly but the full force of his determination rocks me as he sets me on my feet. “Then I’ll help you develop and enforce them. You need to learn to protect yourself, especially from men like me.”
I don’t need slow and careful. I want hard, agonizing demands that wring me out and strip me bare. I don’t want to have choices—I want him to take all of my choices away. Owned, heart and soul, body and mind. That’s what I’ve been looking for with each disastrous relationship. I know he’s dominant, but can he be hard and fierce enough to satisfy that need for me to feel enslaved? I don’t want to be broken and weak again.
But I need to beowned.
While I’m distracted, he stands and moves away. I was so close to my reward but I missed my chance. That loss drives me to my knees.
