Tess came awake hours later, a sense of being watched, studied, breaking through the erotic dream of Cole teasing her, tempting her with a kiss that never came. On the verge of screaming out for it, the presence in her room began to make itself felt.
She blinked her eyes open, frowning at the soft light of a candle on the small half moon table by her bed. Her head turned, her heart began to race. Cole was sitting on the side of the bed watching her, his blue eyes narrowed, his muscular chest bare except for the light covering of black hair that angled down his stomach and disappeared into— Her eyes widened, then flew back to his. He was naked. Sweet God, he was naked and sporting a hard on that terrified her. Thick and long, the head purpled, the flesh heavily veined.
Tess was suddenly more than aware of her nakedness beneath the heavy quilt. When she had gone to bed, she had thought nothing of it. Now she could feel her breasts swelling, her nipples hardening. Between her legs, she felt the slow, heated moistening of her fevered flesh. She felt something else, too. Her arms were tied to the curved headboard, stretched out, the same as her legs, with very little play in the rope. Son of a bitch, he had tied her on her bed like some damned virginal sacrifice.
“What have you done?” She cleared the drowsiness from her voice as he sat still, watching her with those wicked, sensually charged eyes. “Untie me, Cole. What are you doing here?”
“First lesson,” he told her, his voice soft as his lips quirked in a sexy grin. “Are you ready for it?”
“Lesson?” She shook her head, her voice filled with her surging anger. How dare the son of a bitch tie her up? “What the hell are you talking about, Cole?”
His hand lifted. Tess thought he would touch her, grab her, instead, those long fingers wrapped around his cock absently, stroking it. She swallowed tightly, her mouth watering, aching to feel that bulging head in it. She may have even considered giving into the impulse, if she could have moved her body.
“Your first lesson in being my woman, Tess,” he told her, his voice cool, determined. “I told you I was tired of waiting on you. Tonight, your first lesson begins. ”
Tess rolled her eyes as she breathed out in irritation.
“Are you a secret psycho or something, Cole?” she bit out. “Did you just pay attention to what you said? Now let me go and stop acting so weird. Dammit, if you wanted to fuck, you should have just said so. ”
He smiled at her. The bastard just smiled that slow, wicked grin of his.
“But, Tess, I don’t want to just fuck,” he said, his voice amused. “I want you know who controls your body, your lusts. I want you to know, all the way to your soul, who owns that pretty pussy, that tempting little ass and hot mouth. I want you to admit they’re mine, and mine alone to fuck however I please. ”
Damn. She knew Cole was into kink, but rape?
“Cole. ” She fought to keep her voice reasonable. “This is no way to go about getting a woman, hon. Really. You know, flowers, courtship, that’s the way to a woman’s heart. ”
“Really?” He was openly laughing at her now. “I sent you flowers, darling—”
Her eyes widened.
“Oh yeah, with a card telling me what size butt plug to buy so you could fuck my ass,” she bit out as she jerked at the ropes binding her ankles. “Real romantic, Cole. ”
She remembered her sense of horror, the shameful excitement when she read the card. She had dumped flowers and all in the trash, but kept the card. Why, she wasn’t certain.
He shrugged easily. “Practical,” he told her. “I wanted you prepared. But since you were unwilling to prepare yourself, then you’ll just have to accept the pain. ”
Pain? No. No pain.
“Now look, Cole,” she warned him reasonably. “Father will be really pissed with you. And you know I’ll tell—”
“I asked your father’s permission first, Tess,” he told her softly, his expression patient now. “Why do you think your mother finally left your father? She refused to accept who he was and what he needed. I will not make that mistake with you. You will know, and you will accept to your soul, your needs as well as my own. You won’t run from me. Your father understands this, and he’s giving me the time I need to help you understand. ”
Tess stared up at Cole, fury welling inside her as her arms jerked at the ropes that held her. Damn him, they weren’t tight, but there wasn’t a chance she could smack that damned superior expression off his face.
“You’re lying to me,” she accused him. “Father would never let you hurt me. ”
“Ask him in the morning. ” He shrugged lazily. “You’ll be free by then. ”
A sense of impotency filled her. Damn him, he thought he had all the damned answers and all the damned plans. She wasn’t a toy for him to play with, and she would show him that.
“I’ll have you arrested,” she promised him. “I swear, if it’s the last thing I do I’ll have you locked up. ”
He was quiet for long moments, his eyes glittering with lust, with cool knowledge.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. And I think come morning, perhaps you will have changed your mind. ”
Tess breathed in hard, watching him with a sense of fear, and hating the arousal that it brought her.