Tormentor Mine(33)

All too soon, however, he puts the brush down on the vanity table, and his eyes catch mine in the mirror. “Up,” he orders, his hands curling around my bare shoulders and propelling me to my feet.

Swallowing thickly, I turn around to face him when he releases me, but he’s already stepped away and is removing his jacket.

My heart sinking, I watch as he hangs the jacket on the chair and reaches for the bottom of his long-sleeved thermal shirt. In one smooth move, he pulls the shirt off over his head, and my breath hitches in my throat as he hangs it over the jacket.

His shoulders are wide, his arms roped with thick, clearly defined layers of muscle. More muscle covers his lean, V-shaped torso, and his flat, ridged abdomen lacks even a hint of fat. Like his hands, his chest and shoulders are tanned, as if he’s spent a lot of time in the sun, and his left arm is almost completely covered by tattoos that extend from the top of his shoulder to his wrist. Amidst a dusting of dark hair on his chest, I see several more faded scars, and I catch myself staring at the sexy trail of hair that starts at his navel and disappears into the waistband of his low-slung jeans.

He reaches for the jeans next, unzipping the fly, and I force myself to look away. Despite his primal male beauty, a layer of cold sweat covers my body, and my pulse is sickeningly fast. He might be a gorgeous beast, but that’s all he is: a beast, a cold-hearted monster. It doesn’t matter that under different circumstances, I would’ve been wildly attracted to him. I don’t want what’s about to happen. It would devastate me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him step out of his boots and push his jeans down his legs, revealing a pair of navy briefs stretched over a thick, long bulge, and powerful legs dusted with dark hair. He bends to remove the jeans completely, and my terror reaches a new peak.

Forgetting his warnings, I bolt for the door.

This time, I don’t even get near my goal. He catches me two feet from the door, one strong arm looping around my ribcage and lifting me off my feet while his other hand slaps over my mouth, muffling my instinctive scream.

I claw at his forearms, my feet kicking at his shins as he carries me to the bed, but it’s useless. All I achieve is having the towel unwrap in the back. His arm around my ribcage keeps it from falling to the floor, but my back, buttocks, and the right side of my body are completely exposed. I can feel his bare chest rubbing against my back, smell the clean male musk of his skin, and the unwanted intimacy intensifies my panic, making me struggle even harder.

“Fuck,” he growls as my heel connects with his knee, and I feel a small flare of triumph.

It doesn’t last long. A second later, he falls backward on the bed, dragging me with him, and before I can react, he rolls over, pinning me underneath him. I end up facedown on the blanket, my hands scratching uselessly at the soft surface and my legs weighed down by his heavily muscled calves. With his palm over my mouth, I can’t do anything except make muffled noises, and tears of panic burn my eyes as I feel the hard log of his erection against the curve of my ass. Only his briefs separate us now, and I double my struggles despite the futility of it all.

It takes a couple of minutes for me to wear myself out—and to realize he’s not moving.

He’s restraining me, but he’s making no attempts to take me.

“Are you done now?” he murmurs when I go limp, my muscles shaking from exertion and my lungs screaming for air. “Or do you want to wrestle some more? I can do this all night long.”

I believe him. He’s so much bigger than me that all he has to do is lie on top, and I can neither hurt him nor get away. The effort expended on his part is minimal, while I’m using all my strength with zero success.

“Will you behave if I remove my hand?” His lips hover just above my ear, his breath heating my skin.

My shoulders bunch up to protect my neck from those encroaching lips, and he lets out an audible sigh. “All right, I guess I’ll gag you and get my handcuffs.”

I make a muffled noise behind his palm, and he chuckles. “No? Will you behave then?”

I manage a small nod. Defeat is an acrid burn in my throat, but I don’t want to be gagged and cuffed.

“Good girl.” He shifts off me and removes his hand from my mouth, enabling me to drag air into my oxygen-starved lungs. “Now that you got that out of your system, how about we go to sleep? I know you have a long day tomorrow, and so do I.”

“What?” I’m so startled I roll over onto my back, forgetting my nudity.

A slow, wicked smile curves his mouth as his gaze travels over my body before returning to my face. “Sleep, ptichka. We both need it.”