Sean doesn’t reply. Instead he grabs my arms and pulls me from the hanger and out into the open. “Smart ass.”
“Ah, back to my ass again.”
“Your ass is going to be sore if you keep talking about it.”
“Psh, so is yours.” Yeah, I have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, but it sounded good.
That makes him look over at me. Amusement dances in his tired eyes. “I look forward to it.”
Oh, shit. It figures he’d be into anything and everything. Why didn’t I keep my mouth shut? I change the topic. We’ve been walking through a field. The grass is knee high, and early morning sunlight makes the dead grass look golden. It’s pretty, but it appears that we’re going to walk on forever since there’s nothing to see but grass and trees.
“Where are we?” Just as the question slips out of my mouth, I see a beautiful house. It’s a log cabin with huge shimmering windows. There’s a stream that runs behind it, cutting the golden grass in two like a long blue ribbon. My jaw drops at the same time that my feet stop. It looks like something from a ski magazine, and not one of the exclusive tailored penthouses where Sean Ferro normally resides.
“One of my homes.” His voice softens, and almost sounds somber. “Come on. I’ll show you around.” We walk up to the front, and go up the steps to a wraparound porch. As Sean puts a key in the door, I survey the area. The view from here is breathtaking. I can see the clearing we walked through, the stream, a gleaming lake in the distance, and it’s all nestled between mountains that look positively blue in the early morning sun.
Sean pushes the door open and holds it for me. It’s almost like he doesn’t want to go inside. My chest constricts as I walk past him and step into the cabin. I’m barely inside before I spurt out, “Wow.”
My neck cranes back and I stare at rafters that are twenty feet or more above my head. One end of the cabin is made from glass—twenty feet of glass. It’s insane. The view from the porch is nothing compared to the one from this huge window. I’m drawn to it, and slowly cross the cabin. The floors are dark, hand carved wood with a distressed finish. There’s a state-of-the-art kitchen with butcher block counter tops and rustic cabinets, but I don’t stop. The window is amazing. I pass a pristine white bed with a wrought iron canopy and velvety drapes that look soft enough to sniff. I bet they smell like the Snuggle bear. I’m totally smelling them later.
Stopping in front of the window, I look out and can’t help but smile. But something is way off. This seems so unlike Sean, and he’s barely stepped through the door. He’s standing there with it open behind him, like he might bolt. Turning, I ask, “What is this place?”
Sean’s eyes lock with mine for a moment, then he looks down and shakes his head. He steps through the threshold, and pushes the beautiful carved door closed without a word.
“Sean?” I’m worried about him. I’ve never seen him like this before. It’s my Sean, but he’s broken. Sometimes there are no words. I cross the room and throw my arms around his neck and hold him tight. To my surprise, he doesn’t pull back, but he buries his face in my neck. I hold onto him for a while, the way I did at the club, and wonder what ghosts haunt this place. What was this cabin supposed to be?
CHAPTER 16
When Sean snaps out of it, he looks like his old self. His defenses are up and that stern expression is back. Crap. I want to coax him back out, but Sean has other plans. He explains, “I need time to think and no one knows about this place. If anyone shows up here, we’ll know who’s trying to hurt you.”
“Where are we?”
“Upstate, in the Catskills.” New York is broken into several parts, the three main sections are Long Island, New York City, and then that massive amount of land north of Manhattan that’s called ‘Upstate.’ His reference to the Catskills is the only thing that gives me any idea of where I am. If he didn’t say that, we could be anywhere between the City and Canada.
I nod, and memories from last night start to flash behind my eyes. Sean grabs my wrist and commands, “No, Avery. Stop thinking. I want you to lay on that bed and let every thought rush out of your head. I only want you to feel what I’m doing to you. I want to be the one that evokes your fear or rapture. For the next few hours, I own you.”
The corners of my lips lift as I step up to him. “You’ll own me for much longer than that.” I wink at him and whatever restraint he had is gone. Sean scoops me up and carries me over to the bed. He looks down at me and I swear that there’s no blue left in his gaze. Those eyes are so dark that they’re nearly solid black. As his eyes rove over me, I feel naked even though I’m clothed. My heart beats faster, wondering what he’s going to do.