Chloe stood in front of a mirror dressed in a green silk robe that fell just above her knees. It was loosely cinched around her waist, but the opening of the lapels fell low enough where I could see the swell of her inner breasts. She looked up through damp hair, staring at my reflection as I shut the door.
It was the first time we’d been alone together since that night I held her. I’d brushed hair from her face and felt the tears in her eyes. Now it felt like business as usual—her with her resting bitch face as she waited for me to say something.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey.”
Not having much to work with, I grasped for anything to keep things from getting more awkward than they already were. “Have you napped at all?”
Have you napped at all?What kind of question was that?
Based on the side-eye I was getting, she thought the same thing.
“A little. Fell asleep in that hot tub. Can’t tell you how nice that was after being in the woods for so long.”
“Yeah, I imagine,” I said, lost in the sudden vision of Chloe slipping into a hot tub, wearing nothing as she extended her long, toned legs to step in before lowering herself into the bubbling water.
Chloe set down a brush and turned away from the mirror. The edges of the robe fluttered with every movement, showing tantalizing glimpses of thigh. “What do you want to talk about?”
Here goes nothing…
“You leaving.”
“There’s nothing to discuss,” Chloe said, turning her back to me and picking up the brush again as if we were done.
“Yeah,” I said. “There is.”
“Sorry, Marcus,” Chloe said unfazed. “You don’t get everything you want.”
I didn’t fucking deserve that.
“Why are you being like this!? Did I do something!?”
Chloe sighed. “It’s not you. It’s me.”
The utter uselessness of that statement blew my mind.
“What the fuck does that mean!?”
Chloe whirled on me. “It means I slept with my charge. It’s unprofessional, and I can’t do my job properly.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, which did a lovely job of showing off a healthy amount of cleavage. She was calculating enough that I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d done it on purpose to throw me off.
I wasn’t falling for it.
“What do you mean? Just because I saw you naked, you can’t watch my back anymore?”
“Basically, yes,” Chloe said.
Chloe was smart and disciplined. There had to be a better reason than this, so I did my best to calm down and work through the logic.
“Erin juggles my schedule, makes sure I’m fed, fends off the crazies, and gives me a phone whenever mine breaks or gets lost. Somehow we manage to find time to fuck like rabbits, and my calender is pristine. Same with Helen.”
“I’m not Helen or Erin,” Chloe said, “and their jobs are different.”
“Easier?”
“Different,” Chloe repeated. “I have to pay attention to a level of detail that would drive you insane, Marcus. The type of clothes people wear, or if there’s a plausible amount of dirt on some guy’s shoes… it takes all my concentration when I’m on the job.”
I thought about that… I mean, really thought about that. What would it be like to have to pay attention to every little detail constantly? I couldn’t tell you how many people we interacted with between Astrid’s house and boarding the plane. I’d bet anything that Chloe could tell me, though. What kind of Holmesian brain was needed to store all that information, and how did someone who could do that not go insane?
Chloe continued, “If I’m on the job, I have to be focused. I’ve already screwed up, more than—”
“When?” I asked, cutting her off.
“The coffee shop. When Cartwright pulled a gun on you.”
“You were dealing with my brother,” I waved her off.
“Doesn’t matter. I should have gone with you or sent John.”
“You’re not omniscient.”
“I have to be pretty cl—”
“What was the other time?” I asked.
Chloe sighed. “Vegas.”
“That’s not on you,” I said. “I had plenty of protection, and you were on the other side of town with the girls.”
“I’m not paid to protect the girls,” Chloe said. “I’m paid to—”
“You’re paid to protect who I say you’re paid to protect!” I was getting heated again.
“I can’t protect anybody if I’m admiring your ass at the wrong moment!” Chloe matched my venom with her own.
“So hire more Johns!” I barked.
“Then what’s the point of me being there!?” Chloe snarled. It was some of the most anger I’d ever seen from her.
I took two steps toward her. “Because you’ve saved my life, you idiot!”
Chloe didn’t have an immediate response, so I pushed.
I raised a hand and ticked off one finger. “You showed up at that warehouse and gunned down a hundred guys!”
“It was eigh—”
“Whatever! You pulled my ass out of the fire!”
I took another step and ticked off another finger.”And do you think I’d be standing here now if I hadn’t had you with me in the forest? It might have been me trapped instead of Astrid… or worse. You think I could have built that shelter? Or taken on all those mercenaries at the cabin?”
“You had Henry,” Chloe said.
I waved my hand through the air as if I were trying to backhand her words. “Oh fuck off! I wouldn’t have made it long enough for Henry to get there, and it could have easily been a blood bath if Tanaka had his entire force. Plus, you saved me on the chopper!”
I took another step toward her. “Who hurt you, Chloe? What happened to make you see yourself like this? I’m fucking lucky to have you!”
Something I said must have struck a nerve. Chloe didn’t say anything. For a second, I thought she might hit me.
Instead, she stiffened and looked off into the middle distance, chewing on her bottom lip.
“I don’t want you to go, Chloe,” I said, pleadingly. “I really like you, and I swear to God, if you get a replacement, I will ditch him at every opportunity.”
That got a snort from her. She cut her eyes at me and gave me a look like I was an idiot.
“We can’t continue this if I stay,” she said.
“Continue what?” I was already scared of the answer.
“Sleeping together.”
Yeah. That’s what I was afraid it would come to.
If I agreed, and she stayed, I could see her every day.
And I’d be haunted by the memory of what it was like to see her undress in front of me, while never experiencing it again. I could never feel the ripple of her muscles under my fingertips while making love. I would never get to taste her again.
That brought up another question.
“What happens if I say no?”
She shrugged. “Then I stop being your bodyguard.”
“Then what?”
“What do you mean?” Chloe asked. Her arms tightened slightly in front of her, almost like she knew what I was about to ask and was drawing into her shell a little more.
I couldn’t help myself.
“You stop being my bodyguard. Then what happens? Do we still keep doing what we’re doing?”
“No,” she said. That was it—no further explanation.
I didn’t have the fucking words.
I held up my palms like I was out of options. “So, that’s it then. You feel bad, and you decide you’re out? That’s it?”
This couldn’t be my fault, could it? Chloe would have told me if I did something wrong, if she felt nothing for me, or if I was a bad lay. It’s not like she shied away from hurting anyone’s feelings, right?
“Are you sure this has nothing to do with me?” I asked. “Chloe, I really like you, and I like what we did out there. It meant a lot to me, but if it didn’t mean anything to you or you didn’t feel anything… then just… let me know.”
“Fuck, Marcus,” Chloe said. She turned and walked to one of the two airplane windows nearest her. “You’re a moron sometimes. You know that, right?”
“So I’ve been told.”
“I had a good time with you, and you made me feel things I hadn’t felt in a while. That’s the problem… if there isn’t a clean break, then I don’t think I can trust myself to be an objective security asset.”
“But you can’t stay with me even if you’re no longer my bodyguard?”
Chloe shook her head. “I would go to work for someone else. Marcus, do you have any idea how many hours I spend at my job?”
I genuinely didn’t. “A lot?”
“Most of my waking hours are spent doing this. I don’t have much time to devote to anything other than the job.”
“You’re making that choice, though.” I pointed out.
“And I enjoy what I do. It’s fulfilling. I’m sorry, Marcus, but everything else is second.”
I… didn’t know what to say to that.
To be honest, I wasn’t even sure why this was upsetting me so badly. It wasn’t like I was asking Chloe for a relationship. Sure, I was fond of her, but did I love her?
Did I even know the difference between desire and love anymore? It was getting difficult to distinguish the two. Was I just another entitled asshole who burned through women like hours in a day? Maybe. But that didn’t explain why the thought of someone else touching her—warming her at night while I faded into memory—made my throat close.
“So, you’re just done, then?”
She raised her hands, palms up. “I don’t know what else to tell you. I can’t keep doing this, and you do. Since we can’t make that work, we should part ways.”
Wait… she wasn’t telling me that her leaving was inevitable. She was saying that we were done sleeping together. That didn’t mean she was out of my life, though.
“What if we can make it work?”
Chloe turned to face me and leaned against the wall, arms still crossing her chest. “How?”
“We break off whatever we had in the forest, and you keep just being my bodyguard.”
Chloe arched an eyebrow. “You think you can do that?”
“It’ll suck,” I admitted, “but I think I can manage.”
The silence was eerie as we stared at each other. Her golden brown eyes daring me to look down at her cleavage as she stared directly into my eyes. I took the challenge and met her gaze without looking away—or down.
Finally, she said, “If you think you can manage, so can I.”
“So, you’ll stay?”
She closed her eyes and nodded once. “I’ll stay.”.
Relief should have followed. It didn’t.
A part of me was sad that this conversation wouldn’t end in a kiss… or with me slipping that robe off her shoulders. Right now, I needed that. I needed her.
There was still so much of Chloe I hadn’t unlocked—parts of her I hadn’t uncovered, hadn’t earned. And the idea that I might never get that chance made my stomach twist.
You’d think I would’ve pulled Erin into a room by now. But between the cold in the forest and the ache of this conversation, I hadn’t been in the mood.
Funny how pain had a way of lighting old fires.
I might have to wake Erin after all.
“One thing,” Chloe said, taking a couple of steps closer. Her head dipped slightly as she looked at me with a serious expression, chewing on the inside of her cheek in thought. “Does Erin know?”
“About us?”
“Yeah.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Good,” Chloe said. “It stays that way.”
“Why just Erin?” I asked.
Chloe snorted. “If you were going to tell anyone, it’d be Helen or Erin. More likely Erin since she’s here. Why?” she cocked her head as she looked at me, “Did you tell someone else?”
“Astrid knows.”
Chloe looked at me in disapproval.
“She figured it out on her own!” I said, raising my hands defensively.
The accusatory expression faded. “Yeah… I suspected she figured it out,” Chloe muttered and shrugged. “Eh… if it gets out, it gets out. Just don’t go spreading it around. Deal?”
I glanced down at her cleavage when she looked at the floor, giving myself a moment to mourn. When she looked back up at me, I was being a good boy again.
God, I would miss that body.
“Deal,” I said.
Our eyes held—too long.
Then she looked away. That was new.
She blinked first.
Maybe this wasn’t as easy for her as she wanted me to believe.
***
They say the best negotiations leave both sides a little unhappy.
This one felt like a win, but it didn’t feel good.
I had hoped we could pick up right where we left off in the forest, but if I had to choose between having Chloe in my life without the intimacy and not having her at all, I’d gladly choose the former. She wasn’t just another fuck. I genuinely enjoyed her company. Chloe was cool. She was good at her job and incredibly level-headed.
She made my life better.
Out of my shitty options, this was the better of the two.
It was still shitty, though.
So when I left Chloe’s room, the only thing I felt like doing was being alone. Maybe in an hour, I’d see what Erin was up to, but after that conversation, I needed to decompress… maybe take a nap.
The last thing I wanted to do was talk to anyone, so I stalked the short distance to my room and quietly shut the door behind me.
It was dimly lit. The window panels were lowered so that slivers of light escaped from the bottom, casting a section of the floor in a dim orange glow that painted the room in dark silhouettes—perfect for napping.
As I made my way to my bed, I stripped my shirt off and tossed it to the side. Next came my shoes, pants, and socks, so by the time I reached my darkened bed, I was in nothing but my boxers, ready to crash for a few hours.
I stood with my back to the bed, huffed, and fell back onto the mattress.
A scream erupted from the sheets as I landed on a body.
“Fuck!” I bellowed, twisting onto my hands and knees, ready to attack whoever was thrashing and flailing as they scrambled to sit up.
I reached for the bedside light and fumbled with it until it finally blinked on. A heartbeat later, the lamp on the other side of the bed did the same.
Bobbi Nanford was crouched near the edge of the bed, one hand braced on the bedside table while the other dropped to the mattress as she turned to look over her shoulder at me. Her golden brown hair was a tangled mess, shimmering in the low light. Her slate gray eyes, large and fearful, peered from underneath the wild mane.
And she was completely nude, her fair skin glowing in the incandescent light like a hill at sunrise.
The way she stretched toward the end table made her modest breasts hang naturally from her chest, dusky pink nipples already stiff—likely more from fear than arousal.
“Marcus!” She breathed. “You scared me!”
I came into the room frustrated and a little sad. Seeing Bobbi triggered months of workplace trauma, and I immediately felt remnants of old dread and dislike bubble to the surface.
“What did you call me?” I snapped.
Her eyes narrowed and her jaw set, and I recognized that initial hatred, but it was replaced almost immediately with a look of guilt, followed by genuine concern.
“I uh…” She pushed off the end table and straightened. Her legs were folded beneath her, weight resting on her heels. “I…”
In this position, I was treated to a lovely sight. Her hair fell from her face and draped her shoulders, framing the elfin features. Her mouth was set in a small frown, less hateful and more worried that she had transgressed. Her hands rested on her thighs, and her lovely, natural breasts settled on her chest in peaches and cream teardrops.
A collar graced her neck, made of a material I still hadn’t identified. It was comfortable to the touch but firm. It displayed the words ‘breed me.’
I hadn’t changed them before I left, which meant Erin had done it.
What did she get up to while I was away?
And then that’s when I noticed another detail—stripes of faint pink across most of her body. They were barely evident, fading into nonexistence in many places as they criss-crossed each other—a testament to how thoroughly Astrid’s cruelty.
I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.
“Damn,” I breathed. “She really did a number on you, didn’t she?”
Bobbi blinked. “What?” Then quickly followed up with, “Sir?”
She was still wrestling with her rebellious nature. There were some serious holdovers from her old attitude clawing for space, but she was getting more adept at burying her natural tendencies in favor of her training.
“C’mere,” I said.
She didn’t move.
“It’s okay. I’m not mad. Come here.”
Bobbi hesitated a moment longer before slowly crawling toward me. Her catlike grace and the collar around her neck made her look incredibly sexy.
“Turn around,” I said, patting my thigh.
She did, settling her ass between my knees. I brushed her hair off her back to get a better look at the pink remnants of Astrid’s handiwork.
“Sorry about landing on you. I thought I was in here by myself,” I said as I traced my fingertips over the faded lines. She looked a little like a tigress, which fit her personality well—not to mention the adopted moniker, ‘kitten.’
As soon as I started speaking, she stiffened. Then she slowly settled back into my touch.
“It’s okay,” she said, her tone conversational.
“Did I wake you up?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Bobbi said, ‘but I guess I was kind of waiting for you or something.”
I hadn’t seen Bobbi much after we landed at Astrid’s house. I’d been too distracted with some of the other girls, checking my phone, and making arrangements for the plane ride back. I barely acknowledged Bobbi’s presence yesterday and ignored her all morning.
***
Flashback to previous evening
As soon as the chopper touched down, one of our mercenaries threw open the cargo door, and the two who had pulled Astrid out of the wreckage hauled her through the opening on a gurney. It was one of those old-style ones with no wheels, made to take up minimal space.
“Her personal physician is already here?” I asked.
“Yes,” Psalter said. “An unnecessary precaution. My medic says it’s a miracle that Astrid won’t lose the foot, but it’s a small miracle. She’ll be fine.”
“That’s what Chloe said.”
I stepped off the chopper and turned just in time to nearly be knocked off my feet by my sister. Emily was a tall woman with a lot of mass compared to someone like Erin or Bobbi, so it took an effort to remain on my feet.
Emily squealed as she tried to squeeze the breath out of me. She kissed me on the cheek and then pulled back, grinning ear-to-ear. “Marcus! Thank God you’re alive!”
She was close—really close. Her fingers were pressed into my back as if she were trying to do everything she could to keep me from slipping away. Her big, silvery-gray eyes flickered back and forth between mine. They were liquid and bright in the evening light… like she was on the verge of crying.
“It’s good to be back, sis,” I said, wrapping my arms around her for a fierce hug.
I felt another body press against me; someone’s face buried itself in the middle of my back between Emily’s hands. “We were so worried!”
I twisted and threw an arm over Natashya, hugging them close and kissing them both—Emily on the forehead and Natashya on top of her messy dreads. “So was I, Tash.”
Natashya squinted up at me. “Tash. That is new.”
“Hate it?”
She broke out in a wide smile. “No. No one has called me that before. I like it.”
I squeezed them both and looked up to see Erin standing there, watching me with unmistakable tears in her eyes. She had a sweet, serene smile on her face, and she was clutching a phone to her chest.
Extracting myself from my sister and her girlfriend, I approached my assistant. The grin on my face was almost painful, but I couldn’t help it. After days in the forest, Erin was a vision.
“Welcome home, sir,” she said, looking up at me through her thick eyelashes.
I didn’t say anything. I cupped her face in my hand, running a thumb over her smooth skin and admiring her perfect face. Then I kissed her.
With mercenaries unloading gear and people chattering all around us, we engaged in a fierce liplock. She threw her arms around my neck, and my other arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her into me, causing her to gasp in my mouth. I invaded her mouth with my tongue, seeking hers out to begin that all-too-familiar dance.
Eventually, we pulled back. She was standing on her toes with her arms still draped around me. “I take it you’re happy to see me?”
“There are no words,” I husked.
“I’ll ask for a demonstration then,” she said.
“Count on it.”
“Can’t wait!” She pulled back and then presented me with a phone. “Since I couldn’t reach you, I assumed you lost yours.”
“What would I do without you?” I asked, covering her hand with mine and giving it a light squeeze before slipping the phone from her grasp.
“Probably never have a phone.”
I pulled her back into me and enveloped her in my arms for another hug, kissing her head and inhaling the familiar scent of lilacs and lavender. I peered around and spotted Bobbi, watching me with an expression that was impossible to read, and even felt a twinge of brief joy at seeing her face. I gave her a small, tight-lipped smile and turned my attention back to Erin, drinking her in and forgetting about the little submissive.
***
Present
“Sorry, I haven’t paid you much attention since I got back,” I said. She stiffened under me again for a moment as I ran my fingertips down her spine, painting an invisible picture that connected the lines along her silky back. Again with the stiffness… was I doing something to put her off?
“It’s… yeah. It’s fine.”
“These look good,” I said. “Have you been using some kind of ointment on them?”
Bobbi gave me a glance over her shoulder. “Emily got some. She put it on me… where I couldn't reach.”
That scanned. Emily was a nurturer, and it was obvious that she’d taken a motherly interest in Bobbi.
My fingertips ran across her upper back and down an arm, trailing to her elbow and transferring to her side. I felt her shiver as soon as I touched her ribs, and gooseflesh erupted on her skin.
“What did she do to you?” I asked.
“Emily?”
“Astrid.”
Bobbi gave me another glance, looking a little confused. “She beat me.”
“I can see that,” I said. “Can you tell me a bit more?”
“It was with a cane,” Bobbi said.
“Shit, Bobbi,” I said, tracing some of the lines that crossed her ribs. Given how well they were healing, they would probably fade into nonexistence over time. Astrid knew what she was doing when it came to administering punishment—another reason to not trust that crazy bitch. She made Helen look like a puppy by comparison.
“I’m sorry, Bobbi,” I finally said, looking back up at her. She was still watching me from over her shoulder, her look a mixture of accusation and… fear.
I guess I couldn’t blame her for that. I hadn’t exactly treated her in the most dignified way. I’d blackmailed, coerced, and goaded her into things. Then, I did a one-eighty and decided to let her go, which completely freaked her out. I handed her over to Helen for training, and Helen had taken her to the very edge of sanity to break her, only to rebuild her from the ashes of her pain.
It had been a painstaking process that had taken time and attention to detail.
Now, I’d handed her over to a monster who carried things to a level I couldn’t even imagine, with no regard for consequences. Of course Bobbi seemed a little cowed—more hesitant than I’d ever seen her.
When Emily went off on me, she had come to my defense, but… did she really not blame me? Or was she just too scared to say otherwise?
“I didn’t know.”
***
Flashback to earlier in the morning
After leaving the helicopter, we were examined by Astrid’s doctor, who promptly declared that I was in good health and left me alone to give her attention to the other two patients. It turned out that Chloe was the biggest concern. Her multiple lacerations—one of which had been received during that last fight—had caused her to lose a lot of blood, so she spent several hours getting stitched up and undergoing tests. Then she was ordered to bedrest for the rest of the night with an IV in her veins and some antibiotics.
Whatever the medic gave Astrid before cutting her out of the wreckage must have been strong—she was unconscious for the rest of the night. After a few hours, the doctor declared that she would be fine and fully recover. All she needed was rest and plenty of water.
So, I left her alone for the night—even after receiving a voicemail that made me change my mind on when we were leaving. I had originally intended to stay a few more days and get some rest while deciding what to do next, but one of the voicemails I’d missed while away changed that.
“Marcus!” My old neighbor, Phoebe’s, recording said. I could barely hear her through her sobs. “He’s taken my baby! I don’t know—” She couldn’t continue thanks to all the crying she was doing. “Marcus! He’s all I have and I don’t know what else to do!”
That had been a day ago.
I tried to call Phoebe back to get some details, but she never answered, so I texted her. Phoebe, I’m sorry I missed this. I’m not ignoring you. I just ran into some trouble. I’m in Europe, but I’m on a plane home and will get there as soon as possible. Call me.
Fortunately, Erin had recalled my plane in case I wanted it when I returned, so we didn’t have to charter one.
I wasn’t leaving without exchanging a few words with Astrid, so the next morning, before leaving for my flight, I made my way to her room and found her already awake.
I stood in front of the open door and knocked on the jamb. “The doctor says you're going to make a full recovery.”
Astrid looked up from the newspaper she was reading. Even bedridden and waking up after being unconscious for half a day, she looked ready to mingle at a high society function. I swear… it was like she had a touch of old Norse god blood in her veins or something.
Her fine features glowed as she smiled at me. “So I hear. I also hear that Chloe and Shea returned safely, as did my cabin staff and security.”
“Most of them,” I said. “One of your guys didn’t make it. Ryo Tanaka killed him. Matthew?”
“Falk,” Astrid said. She picked up a piece of apple and crunched on it. She gazed at me with an expression that was hard to read. “I heard.”
“Does he have any family?” I asked.
“He does,” Astrid said. “I’ll make sure they’re well compensated for their loss.”
I studied her for a long moment, unable to tell if she was hiding the pain of losing someone who worked for her behind a wall of stoicism or if she even cared. I could examine Astrid for years and not get an answer.
“Okay,” I said.
“Does it bother you that I’m not crying over him?” Astrid said, insightful as always. She popped the other half of the sliced apple in her mouth.
I shrugged. “It just seems a little heartless. That’s all.”
“I said I would take care of his family,” Astrid said. “Crying won’t bring him back or help his loved ones move on.”
“You’re right,” I said, not in the mood to argue.
“And you’re still mad.”
Shaking my head, I took a few steps into the room and shut the door behind me, locking it so we wouldn’t be disturbed for the next few minutes. “Not about that.”
Her gaze slid from the closed door and then back to me. The challenging, sort-of arrogant cant to her features shifted slightly into uncertainty. I wouldn’t have noticed it without spending the last several days with her.
“I’m leaving,” I said, approaching the bed and leaning against its footboard. “This morning.”
“So soon?” Astrid’s concern was taken over by curiosity. “Why?”
“I got a phone call. There’s something I need to take care of.
“Mysterious,” she said, one corner of her mouth quirking in amusement.
“But I wanted to see you before I left.” I walked along the edge of the footboard until reaching the corner, my hand sliding along the smooth, varnished wood.
“Are you going to miss me?”
I stood there, looking at her. I couldn’t deny that a part of me found Astrid to be fun and exciting. I would never have described her as such on our first meeting, but she certainly knew how to let her hair loose and have a good time. She had this way of applying practical nihilism to her life, which made her seem so carefree. It was attractive.
Not to mention, she was a real beauty.
“I might have, but after that stunt you pulled back at the helicopter… I don’t think so.”
***
Present
“I took it.”
Bobbi’s words were a proud declaration.
“I know,” I said.
I hadn’t gotten a lot of details from Astrid, but I’d been able to put enough together from the pieces. Astrid dealt more damage than I would have ever approved, and Bobbi followed my orders to the letter. I’d commanded her to be Astrid’s for the night, and she had endured. What more could I ask for from a submissive?
“She tried to break me,” Bobbi said, her voice laced with venom. “She fucking tried.”
“I know,” I said, kissing her bare shoulder.
“And you know why I didn’t?”
Another kiss, a little further up. “Why?
“Because she was fucking bad at it,” Bobbi said. Her voice was low… quavering, and I could see her eyes shine extra bright in withheld emotion. “Helen could give her some fucking lessons.”
“No, she couldn’t,” I said. “We aren’t going to see her again.”
“Good,” she spat.
“Bobbi.”
She didn’t respond at first, and I suspected it had less to do with how upset she was or how defiant she felt and more with how little I used her actual name.
“Bobbi,” I said again, resting my hand on her shoulder. She looked back at me.
I gave her shoulder a nudge and said, “Turn around.”
As she slowly spun, I took a moment to drink in each curve of her body. My hand trailed over her slender waist in a way that was all-too familiar… intimate.
She settled back down between my legs, eyes downcast. Her hair looked even more golden than usual in this light. Her skin was translucent.
I hadn’t had sex since that last time with Chloe.
There hadn’t been time since I got back.
And I had been so damn tired. Erin had fallen asleep next to me, and I’d awoken to find Shea cuddled up on my other side, but sex hadn’t happened then either. We were too busy preparing to leave as soon as possible.
I had hoped that the conversation with Chloe could have ended differently. I wanted to roll around under some actual sheets with her… to see her comfortable and smiling. I’d wanted our sex to actually be enjoyable, and not laced with a need to stave off the cold and remind ourselves that we lived!
Instead, I’d gotten a negotiation.
Erin would have come in an instant.
But Bobbi was here… now.
What happened to her had been incredibly unfair, and despite our rough relationship, I felt I owed her some of my attention.
We both needed some attention.
My hand traveled up the slender valley of her waist, feeling the ripple of her ribs before drifting over her breast. Her fair skin did a good job contrasting with the pale pink lines running across it. Several of them intersected at her nipples, as if they had been a favored target of the heiress. Her breasts had clearly seen the lion’s share of Astrid’s abuse.
I softly cupped her breast and gave it a gentle squeeze, running my thumb over an aroused nipple.
Bobbi sucked in a breath and flinched.
That’s when I realized she was trembling ever so slightly. Her chest rose and fell in short breaths.
Placing my free hand under her chin, I gently lifted it until she looked into my eyes.
“What were you doing here?”
Bobbi swallowed visibly, her eyes flickering to the side as if searching for an answer. Her arousal was at war with her fear that she might still be in trouble.
“I was waiting for you,” Bobbi said as her eyes settled on mine. Her tone sounded resolved and ready to answer for her crimes. “I was hoping… I mean… you know… in case you wanted me.”
Her gaze brimmed with resignation, pleading, and defiance, and I tried to work through what that meant while figuring out what I wanted and what she needed.
I tightened my grasp on her breast just a little, eliciting another gasp from her parted lips.
“When was the last time someone had you?”
“Since Astrid.”
Fuck. If that was true, that was the longest Bobbi had gone without sex since she came to live in my house. Between Helen and me, she’d seen regular use and had replaced her horrible narcotic habit with sex. Not having access to either, especially after having a night like she had with Astrid, meant that she had lived in abject misery since I left to meet Tanaka.
Yeah. I didn’t care who she was; she didn’t deserve that.
“That first night,” Bobbi continued, “I slept in Emily and Natashya’s bed. It was…”
Her chin slipped free from my fingers as she lowered her eyes again. “It was nice. After that, everyone just got busy. Then you went missing.”
“And you just slipped between the cracks,” I said. “You could have asked Erin—”
“No.” Bobbi’s gaze whipped back up at me, her face hardened. “Not her.”
“What’s your problem with Erin?” I asked.
Instead of answering my question, she looked away.
“Hey,” I said, and I could hear steel creep into my voice.
I reached for her chin and directed her gaze back to me. “I asked you a question.”
“I don’t like her.”
And the ‘stating-the-obvious award’ goes to…
“I guessed that. Why?”
Bobbi’s lip curled into a sneer. “She’s too happy.”
“She’s too… happy?”
“It’s annoying.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s not enough?”
“No,” I said. “You’ll have to learn how to coexist with her, kitten. She’s not going anywhere.”
Bobbi started to roll her eyes, but I reinforced my hold on her chin, making sure she didn’t look away from me. “And neither are you.”
She stared up at me like a petulant child without saying anything, and I let it slide. The last few days had been hard on her, after all.
Finally, I decided to change the subject. “So, it’s been a while, huh?”
“Since I’ve had sex or since I’ve gotten myself off?”
“Both?”
“I’ve been getting myself off several times a day,” Bobbi said. The look in her eyes suggested that it was hardly the same thing, and barely sufficient.
And that’s when I noticed the faint aroma of sex in the room—specifically Bobbi’s. “Is that what you’ve been doing in here?”
“Earlier,” Bobbi admitted. “Before I fell asleep.”
Letting go of her chin was preferable to letting go of her tit, so I dropped my hand from her face to her hand and picked it up. Her wrist was so dainty that I could easily wrap my fingers around it with plenty of room to spare. I twisted it as I brought her now open palm to my face, and leaned down to give it a test sniff.
Sure enough, her fingers reeked of her sex. There was no visual evidence of Bobbi’s solo activities on her hand. If the smell hadn’t caught my attention, I might not have known what she’d been up to.
I inhaled deeply while cutting my eyes up to see her as she watched me closely. Her lips parted, and the tip of her tongue pressed against her upper lip. Her fingers curled until they brushed my lips, and I complied with the wordless suggestion, inviting her middle and forefinger into my mouth.
Bobbi was tangy… sour, but with an aftertaste of sweetness that hit after the fact. It wasn’t a completely pleasant sensation by itself, but what it represented made it delicious—an enemy I hated brought to heel. Subjugated. Breaking down and slowly being rebuilt as not only someone who would serve me, but who needed to. Her disposition had been almost as bitter as the taste of her fluids had been. With mine and Helen’s guidance and intervention, that was slowly changing.
Just like the diet and exercise I had her on were changing her taste.
Swirling my tongue between her digits, I slid them deeper into my mouth as I inhaled her again. I could feel my own arousal rising as my boxers lost room.
“Ma… Sir?”
I let my fingers slip from my lips. “What?”
“I really need you to fuck me.” Her words were strained… laced with so much need that I got the impression she might die if I didn’t honor her request.
My fingers tightened on her breast a little more, not out of cruelty but driven more out of my own growing need and desire. I let her wrist slip free from my grasp. “Ask me properly.”
“Please, Sir. Fuck me.”
My hand returned to her face, cupping her cheek. She pressed herself into my palm; her eyes fluttered shut, and a faint whimper escaped her lips. This was not the Bobbi I was used to seeing.
“I fucking need it,” Bobbi whispered. She turned into my palm so that the corner of her mouth brushed my wrist. Her lips pursed in the barest of a kiss.
That might have been the first time I’d ever seen her try to kiss any part of me.
Eyes opened—half-lidded and smokey.
I released her breast and pulled the waist of my boxers down, unveiling a cock already rock-hard.
“Make sure I’m ready for you first,” I said, my voice thick.
I slid my fingers through her hair, entwining them through honeyed locks as I tugged. The action was just as much a command as my words.
Whatever little resistance there was from my pet was gone. Only compliance.
Because good girls get rewards.
***
Flashback to earlier in the morning
Astrid’s shoulders fell, she cocked her head, and her pleased smile fell into…
Was that disappointment?
Was she fucking disappointed in me?
“Really, Marcus? You’re going to hold that against me?”
She was already trying to reframe it by pretending it was tactical brilliance instead of reckless selfishness. Classic Astrid.
The audacity of this fucking bitch.
I could feel my blood boiling. “What?”
“It worked out perfectly,” Astrid said. “Everyone made it out alive, including your girl.”
“Shea!” I was grinding my teeth. “Her name is Shea!”
“Shea is alive. Chloe’s alive. You’re alive.”
It wasn’t her lack of apology that bothered me. It was her complete lack of awareness of the problem! Chloe and I had worked our asses off, making sure she stayed alive. We had been on the same team, and the moment I was trying to make sure we all got out alive, Astrid decided to take matters into her own hands by grabbing my gun and shooting that merc, endangering one of my people.
My decision may have been a bad one. Maybe not. We would never know. Astrid made decisions based solely on what was good for Astrid, and damn everyone else.
“That isn’t the fucking point!” I said, stepping near her. I could feel my fingernails digging into my palms.
Astrid instinctively reached for her phone beside her bedside table.
I planted my foot against the corner of the end table and shoved.
The furniture danced away from the bed, skittering several feet along the wall as all its contents flew off the surface. A lamp, plugged into the wall, was yanked off its perch like a lassoed rider off his horse. I heard glass break. Her phone hit the floor and spun across the dark polished wood.
I grabbed Astrid’s outstretched arm, locked it in place, and entwined my fingers in her fine blonde hair, yanking hard to ensure she looked me in the eyes.
“You endangered people’s lives,” I growled. “You almost got me killed. You almost got Chloe and Shea killed.”
“I did what I had to,” Astrid said. A momentary flash of fear in her eyes immediately froze into a look of pure ice. “It’s called surviving, Marcus. If you don’t learn how to do it, this life will kill you.”
“And if you ever do something to endanger me or my people again, I’ll kill you.”
Astrid smiled. She actually fucking smiled. “Where has this Marcus been the whole time?”
“I mean it, Astrid.”
“I know. I like it.”
I heard the door rattle, and then there was a knock. Someone called out in Norse, and it sounded like a question.
Astrid responded in English without taking her eyes off mine. “Just an accident! I’m fine! We’re discussing a private matter!”
The man started to respond through the door again, and Astrid’s face became a thunderhead. “Leave!”
Astrid lifted her chin at me when it grew quiet. “What will it be, Marcus? Are you going to kill me, or are we going to fuck?”
Jesus. Yeah, this woman was twenty-one flavors of crazy.
“We’re done,” I said, letting go of her as I straightened.
She sighed. “Oh, come on, Marcus! Where did you go!?”
“Erin’s called a car. We’re leaving. Thanks for the help with Tanaka. I'll handle it from here.”
“Marcus!”
“Lose my fucking number, Astrid. If I see you again, I’ll feed you to Bobbi—she’s hungry for your blood after what you did to her.”
I unlocked the door and threw it open. A slab of blonde human man stood in the doorway, looking down at me. Then he looked over my shoulder at the mess in the room. I stepped aside and hiked my thumb over my shoulder. “Your employer needs her phone.”
He said something to Astrid as he moved in the room, and I slipped out as she replied, leaving them both behind.
***
Present
Bobbi’s lips stretched around the base of my cock as I slid the final inch inside, feeling the head squeeze past her initial resistance and invade her throat. It squeezed my member deliciously, and my pet’s gagging coughs only served to massage it, bringing greater pleasure.
I curled my fingers through her hair and kept pressure on her head for a beat or two longer… then pulled her off me. Her gasps as her mouth left me were exquisite—a cry for help mingled with a declaration of her submission.
She kept her eyes on me, tears leaking down her cheeks. There was no running mascara this time. There was no lipstick. No blush… nothing smeared except for saliva and precum coating her mouth and chin. I had Bobbi at her messiest and rawest.
Once she caught her breath, I slipped the head of my cock back between her pretty lips, and she accommodated my girth by opening her jaw as much as she could. My entire length invaded her mouth once more until I felt her nose brush against my groin. And then, with my hand on the back of her head, it became less about my pet servicing me with a blowjob and more of me fucking her face.
My dick ran in and out of her throat as we stared at each other. Her gagging and coughing were so much less than they had been when Helen and I first started training her. I cupped her chin in my other hand as I continued to work in and out of her mouth.
“My fucking God,” I whispered. “You’re gorgeous.”
I slipped my member out of her mouth, and she gave a surprised mewl as I pulled her to her knees, still keeping her firmly in my grip as I brought her face near mine.
Moments ticked by on a river of gasps; our breaths mingled as we stared at each other. It felt as if neither of us knew what to do next.
And then I pressed my lips to hers and drove her back into the mattress, landing on top of her.
Our tongues didn't dance in each other's mouths. They fought. They invaded. They warred over territory. Our lips were like supporting troops—crapturing, retreating, assaulting. Bobbi’s hands roamed over my back as her legs wrapped around my ass, both working in tandem to pull me as close and get my cock inside her.
I wasn’t just making out with a woman who was simply submitting to my desires. I was kissing a woman who was reciprocating with all the passion of a woman wanting to be taken.
Suddenly, she squealed and pulled back, our lips separating just enough for her to catch ragged breaths as she locked gazes with me. Resistance flashed in her eyes—the annoyance and anger of the old Bobbi reared its ugly head.
“Wait,” she gasped. “This isn’t how I want it.”
I knew what she wanted. It was that morning in the shower all over again. She wanted release without intimacy, submission without closeness.
“It’s how I want it,” I said. “And it’s what you need.”
She turned her head to the side, baring the curve of her neck—long, graceful, with the faintest twitch of tendons beneath skin as smooth as poured cream. The sliver of vulnerability called to me, and I couldn’t help leaning in and sliding my lips along shallow, silken hills and valleys.
“And you’re mine to do with as I want, pet,” I whispered, delivering small, wet kisses just below her ear.
Reaching down, I grabbed one of her wrists and slid it over her head. I pressed it into the mattress as I grabbed her other hand and brought it up and pinned both of them there. I pushed my hips forward a little more and was rewarded with the tip of my cock nestled between her soaking pussy lips.
I ran my lips down the sharp edge of her jaw and murmured, “Look at me.”
After a delicious moment’s hesitation, she did. Her gorgeous slate-colored eyes were at war—equal parts desire and trepidation.
“Repeat after me, kitten,” I husked. “I belong to you.”
“I belong… to you.”
I pushed my hips forward, slipping the mushroom head of my member just past her inner lips.
“What you want, I want.”
Another inch of encouragement.
“What you want, I want,” she groaned, her head rolling back so that her lips brushed mine again.
“Now,” I said, brushing our noses together. “Ask me to make love to you.”
“Please, just fuck me!” Bobbi breathed.
“Ask me,” I said, pulling back a fraction so she could feel me begin to evacuate her.
“Nnng!” Bobbi rolled her hips forward, but I matched her movements, withholding any more of myself from her.
“Fuck,” she breathed. “Ugh… please… Master. Make love to me.”
I pressed my lips to hers at the exact moment that I began sliding the full length of cock deep inside her.
Her loud groan into my mouth vibrated along with her hyperaroused body. Her fingers curled around the hand pinning her onto the mattress.
In one single thrust, I was fully buried inside her.
“Oh, fuck,” I gasped against her mouth.
“Please… don’t stop,” she husked before I resumed kissing.
I felt her hands push against mine as if she were trying to release herself from my grasp so she could cling to me. I didn’t oblige… just held on tighter as I reversed course and pulled out of her. Her canal gripped me tight as if she didn’t want to let go while I withdrew, but the sounds she made against my lips let me know that the friction was welcome.
And then I started fucking her in earnest—it wasn’t the hard, rough pounding she was used to getting from me. Save the way I held her wrists, there was nothing demanding in what I was doing with her. I wasn’t taking from Bobbi this time. This was an exchange.
Right here. In this moment, she wasn’t Bobbi, the owned. She was Bobbi, the woman sharing my bed.
My attempts had been met with resistance at first—it wasn’t the kind of relationship we had, but the slow drive of my hips marked the seconds as they ticked by, and what little reluctance remained in her melted with each passing moment. Her hips rolled up to meet my slow thrusts, matching my tempo, and we found a new rhythm. One where her groin would grind against mine with each plunge, seeking that extra bit of friction for her clit as I buried myself inside her.
She tore her mouth from mine, tilted her head back, and drank in oxygen—her gasps ragged, deep, and rapid, and I used the opportunity to explore her vulnerable neck once again. My lips traveled over that crisp jawline, leaving a trail of hungry kisses. The softness of her throat between my teeth inspired a powerful surge from my member.
“Fuck!” I moaned into her neck.
It snuck up on me like a knife in the back. My seed released deep within, followed by a more explosive second one. All of the pent-up emotion over the last several days—the frustration with Chloe, the confusion with Emily, and sheer need released inside Bobbi in waves.
The friction lessened as the walls of her pussy became slick with my spend, and I continued fucking her through my entire climax with my teeth clenched firmly on her neck.
Her cries became uneven as sobs began to overtake her. I pulled back and placed my free hand on her face, gently guiding her to look up at me. There was dew on her cheeks—signs that something was going on deep within her—but the look of vulnerability on her face showed anything but fear or pain. It was something else entirely.
Slow acceptance of what we were doing.
“Hey,” I whispered. My hardon hadn’t subsided, and I continued my deep thrusts in and out of her. “The only ones who will hurt you moving forward are me and Helen.”
She released a shuddering gasp as she arched her back, pressing herself more into me.
“And I promise, we’ll put you back together again every time.”
Tears still falling, she gave a jerky nod and the ghost of a smile.
And then that smile disappeared as she wailed, her climax crashing over her. She shuddered violently against me as I felt her soaking pussy grip my cock like a vice, pleasure overcoming her.
The sight of her world being rocked was too much for me, and despite having just cum, I was only a few heartbeats behind her, finding release once more.
We both knew moments like this would be rare between us. She would return to Helen’s crucible soon.
But today, she was as close to equal as she could get.
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Book II is now underway, with Chapters 1–24 already available. 9 bonus chapters for Book II are also available, including some of the events mentioned in this chapter.