And I would do all of that.
It just wasn’t going to happen today.
I surrounded her face with both of my hands and leaned in closer, holding her stare until our lids finally shut. When I couldn’t hold off a second longer, I filled my lungs to capacity and closed the space between us, gently kissing her. I tasted the sweetness of the cake, the lemon and blueberry. The hint of cinnamon was there, too, wafting from her skin—a scent I now only associated with her.
The pressure of my mouth caused her lips to part, and I turned my face, fitting us together like a puzzle, our tongues quietly touching. The sound of her exhale told me her body was as worked up as mine, that she wanted to feel more than my hands clinging to her face. So did her response when I pressed my chest to hers and scissored our legs, tangling us into a knot.
While my tongue slid over hers, my hand dipped to her neck, her softness taking ahold of me, and I slowly crawled to her side. I stayed there, brushing my thumb back and forth until the bottom of her shirt lifted and I hit skin.
Her breath hitched as my fingers moved beneath the thin material.
If I had thought her neck was the smoothest I’d ever touched, her skin felt like velvet down here. And each inch I swiped, her breathing changed, and her kiss deepened.
I rose higher until I felt the wire under her bra, my thumb tracing the lace.
Every one of her exhales ended in a moan, especially when I skimmed across her nipple. The hardness formed a peak, and I grazed over it, cupping her tit in my palm.
I’d seen hints of her body in her work outfit, but I hadn’t expected her to feel so perfect in my hands. How each bit of her that I felt caused my dick to throb, growing harder to the point where I thought it would burst through my jeans.
Her breaths were vibrating through me, the taste of her on my tongue and the feel of her pressed against me becoming too much to bear.
With all the strength I had left, I pulled back, pressing my nose to hers. I panted while my lungs screamed, my body aching for more. I gripped her waist, holding her steady, waiting for this sensation to calm down.
When I leaned back a little more, I saw the same fight in her. The same breathlessness. The same need, churning like a thunderstorm.
Pearl …
In that moment, I knew I’d done the right thing.
Diving my face between her legs wasn’t going to get her to trust me. She needed to know I was different. That I was here for a reason that had nothing to do with her body.
My actions were the only thing that would show her that.
I pulled her shirt down until it was in line with her jeans, and I flipped her around, hauling her back against my chest, wrapping my arm around her. I tucked my face into her neck, and I took in her scent as I held our bodies together.
“Sleep well, Pearl.”
“You … too.”
It took her several minutes to relax, but the tightness eventually left her, and the moment her breathing changed, I knew she was asleep.
My alarm wasn’t going off for an hour, and for the next sixty minutes, I had no intention of letting her go.
Eighteen
Kerry
The blindfold took my vision away. Something rough and ball-like had been shoved into my mouth, stopping me from screaming. My hands were tightly tied behind my back, the rope burning my skin.
All I wanted was to see.
Yell.
Use my hands to rip and claw.
And fight.
But I had been plucked off the street and thrown inside a vehicle.
The feel of the road, normally something that soothed me, felt like needles stabbing beneath my nails. Each bump made it even harder to breathe. Tears dripped, soaking my cheeks, as anxiety gnawed at the rest of my body.
Who is this man?
Why did he abduct me?
Where the fuck is he taking me?
And how the hell do I get out of here?
One minute, I had been walking to grab a snack from the twenty-four-hour bodega down the street. The next thing I knew, something was placed over my mouth, stopping me from shouting, and I was being lifted into the air and tossed inside the back of a van.
That was when he had taken my sight away and shackled me.
When my senses were suddenly on overdrive.
Fear was eating at me, as though I’d never fed it any food before.
I kicked what I thought was the door, wishing for it to open, but it didn’t budge. I kicked again, wiggling to the other side to try that wall, and turned more to attempt again. Something had to open. To pop. For a burst of light or air to rush through.
But nothing.
Just the steady hum of the road.
I didn’t know how far we had gone—seconds felt like years—but there was slowness.
And then a stop.
I sucked in a breath as the engine turned off. A car door quietly opened and shut. Feet softly shuffled across what sounded like pavement. Keys jingled as they hit together, and finally, there was the swish of air I’d been waiting for.
But it had come because of him, not from me.
My body tightened as I waited for what was going to happen next.
“Kerry …” His voice was like a cough, a hundred packs of cigarettes burning the back of his throat.
I’d never heard him before tonight, but I still tried to place him, digging through my memory. For a time. A place.
“My sweet, beautiful Kerry …”
Tears soaked in through my lips, my mouth now filled and salty. Even my fingernails were quivering, as though they were loose in my fingers.
A sob came shuddering through me, escaping whatever he had placed in my mouth, and something hard and relentless slapped my face. When it happened a second time, I realized it was his hand. Skin on skin. A movement that created even more agony.
My cheek felt like it had been lit on fire.
Right before another sob had the chance to form, he was gripping my face, his fingers like clamps, holding me as though I were corn on the cob, pressing so hard that my teeth ached.
“Never speak unless I give you permission. Understood?” When I went to make a sound, he pushed even harder on my cheeks. “Asking you a question is not permission. Nod your head, Kerry.”
He was even taking away my voice.
I didn’t know what I was agreeing to, but I didn’t want to get slapped again. I didn’t want to be hurt in any other way. I just wanted him to let me go, and maybe this was the first step to make that happen.
I nodded.
“I’m going to carry you out of this van, and if you make a sound, I’m going to knock out every single one of those pretty teeth. I won’t repeat myself. Nod your head if you understand.”
Why do his threats sound so permanent?
Where the hell is he carrying me to?
I was holding back the sobs, but they were ravaging the inside of my body.
And I was holding back the urge to fight because my feet could only get me so far, and I needed my eyes and hands to get past him.
I nodded.
“Now, it’s time to go to your new home.”
Nineteen
Before
Pearl
At the sound of the phone, I backed up from the stovetop, and without looking, I reached for the wall where it hung, holding the receiver to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Ashe.”