“Excuse you? Get out of my way.” She tried to push past him but he was a solid wall of lean immoveable muscle. His skin was warm under his shirt. Her mouth felt dry as she remembered the feel of his chest on Wednesday when she stumbled out of Sheldon’s with him and on Thursday night when he held her against his chest. Which begged the question, what was he doing following her to Ermernia?
“How did you find me?” she demanded.
“Sit down Rachel. Don’t make me beg,” he warned but she wasn’t having any more of his nonsense. Crossing her arms in front of her chest she stared him down – which was kind of hard since he was taller.
“No. I don’t care if you beg, how hard you beg I don’t want to be here! You wanted me out remember? You said we couldn’t see each other again so why did you come for me? Why did you trail me all the way to Ermernia you stalker?”
“Because I want you. And for all the wrong reasons."
Rachel sputtered. That effectively took the spark out of her.
“And you want me too you can’t deny it.”
When she opened her mouth to protest he pushed her softly, but firmly, to sit on the bed and leaned down with both hands on either side of her. “Do you know how many times you’ve tried to touch me in the last 96 hours?” his eyes stared deep into her soul. She held her breath, afraid she would come undone. “Do you know how vulnerable you were under the influence of alcohol? You can deny it as much as I want to but you want me and I crave you. I want you.” His eyes dropped to her mouth. “I want to own you. I want to possess you.”
“I am not for sale, Nate,” she said softly.
He smiled and nuzzled her cheek. Rachel sighed. She was struggling to remember what she had been so angry about.
“But you are in a precarious situation aren’t you?” his lips trailed down her neck where he sucked her skin between his lips and touched her with his tongue. Rachel closed her eyes, falling under the spell of his command, and leaned into him. Nate withdrew to look at the blissful look on her face. “And you’ve been a bad girl haven’t you?”
“No…I’ve not.” She couldn't think when his left hand had left the bed and was now touching her thigh with feather-light touches.
“You were going to fuck someone without my permission.”
“I can do whatever I want to.”
“No, you can’t. I want to own you so you do whatever I want.”
“But you don’t own me,” the last part came out in a drawn-out sigh as his fingers delved beneath the shirt. Her eyes flew open. He was so close and his lips were so moist she wanted to reach out and seize them with hers.
“I will,” he stated matter of factly.
Rachel groaned. She didn’t want him to stop yet she knew if he didn’t she wouldn’t be able to think rationally. But then strong hands parted her thighs to caress the sensitive skin. She fell on her elbows to give him access. He paused but only for a second before placing one knee between her thighs. He continued to touch her down there without touching the quivering lips of her vagina that begged his touch. Her eyes drifted close again. He was teasing her and it wasn’t fair.
Within a different kind of fog in her head she found the strength to answer. “That’s not very romantic of you. You don’t buy a girl drinks and demand to own her after that.”
His fingers stopped on her thighs. “I don’t do romance, Rachel.”
Her eyes flew open begging for him to continue what he started.
He stared at her, gray eyes betraying nothing. “I can’t do romance,” he repeated. “I can’t buy you flowers, chocolates, all those good things women like. I can’t fuck you like you’ll like.”
“But you made love to me…”
“Made love to you?” he chuckled mirthlessly. “I barely even fucked you that day. I’m not into that sort of thing you call lovemaking.”
Rachel frowned. She still wanted him to touch her but it looked like he wanted to talk so she repositioned herself on her elbow aware that she was still very much exposed to him. “So what? You are into gagging, restraints, masochism, and those sort of things?”
“We can start slow.”
Rachel slid away from him suddenly unsure. She closed her legs and pulled the hem of the shirt down even though it went no further than her thighs. “I haven’t consented,” she pointed out. It was all too sudden. Suddenly it made sense to her. He was a control freak.
Nate drew in a breath and sat in the bed keeping a safe distance between them. He wasn’t going to push or force her into it. If she wanted to go he would let her.
“I-I don’t know anything about this,” she stammered.
“About what? Sex?” he teased.
“Hard core. BDSM…that sort of thing.”
“I know that…”
“But I’m curious.”
Nate’s covered his surprise well. “We will have to work on you interrupting me in the future. Don’t do that when I’m talking, okay?” he asked firmly.
She nodded slightly thrilled at the command.
“I can teach you all you need to know.”
“Is this why you asked that sex question the other day?” she asked.
“There are many things that can happen between a man and a woman that you don’t know about. I’m guessing you were the bluestocking kid growing up?”
“Pretty much. Kind of embarrassing actually. I went into marriage before I was done with college, I met Jacob in college. What happened on Wednesday… I never experienced that before.”
“I can teach you more. So much more,” he promised.
Rachel swallowed out of excitement rather than fear. “And what do I get in return?”
“Your life back. It takes just the right words spoken into the right ears to get you back out there on the biggest screen. We will have a contract binding us so we can make ground rules – actually I make the rules. If you can survive a month with me I promise to make your life better again. What do you say?”
She didn’t doubt him. If there was one thing she recognized now it was the sincerity in his eyes when he talked like this. What did she have to lose? She was ruined already, her employment status was next to zero and her life was hanging in a balance thanks to the divorce Jacob was so intent on making public. If she was given a chance to have all that back and all she had to was say yes and be submissive to one man for a month would she not do it?
Looking up from her hands, Rachel looked up to see him watching her closely, waiting for her response.
“Yes.”