She made a face. “I ate half of it. I’ll eat the fruit.”
He wasn’t going to argue. She loved fruit. She seemed to prefer it for every meal as well as for snacks. He’d managed to get her to eat half her sandwich so he called it a victory. She worked out daily and trained with him just as if she was shadow riding. He was fine with that, preferring her to be ready at all times, just in case she ever needed to escape into the shadows, not to mention protect herself in a fight against an assailant. He just didn’t want her workouts and lack of eating to be about fear of gaining weight.
“I don’t omit telling you anything, Brielle. You need to ask me when you want to know something. You’re a shadow rider, whether you’re an active one or not. We made a promise to one another to communicate honestly. I didn’t mean that you had to do all the communicating and I could keep things to myself. Do I hope that you don’t have to witness certain things such as the torture of a prisoner to extract information that does, in fact, take place? Or that you want to know about it and I have to tell you details? I hope you don’t ask me for that, but if you do, I would tell you. You’re aware Dario and Val have two prisoners now. They’re attempting to shut down a trafficking operation and they aren’t above using any means to stop it. Sadly, seeing children in cages and what the traffickers were capable of doing to those unfortunate human beings, I think I’m in agreement with Val and Dario.”
Elie didn’t look away from her. “I might not be any better than Santoro or Colombo for my decision to stand with Dario and Val, but I can’t take having so many children, teens and women taken on the whim of others for money or power or just to use and then kill when they like. It sickens me. As hard as the law enforcement agencies try, they can’t seem to shut these people down.”
The intense fire in her eyes softened to that admiration and passionate caring she seemed to reserve for him. She didn’t realize she gave away so much when she looked at him. She didn’t want to care about him, but for some reason she did. He knew it would take time to get an admission out of her, but they had time. He wanted to know everything about her. He had thought he was obsessed with her before; now he knew what real obsession was. He loved every one of those little expressions chasing across her face and needed to know what each meant.
“You’re so compassionate, Elie. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t expect that of you, or Val or Dario, either. Dario scares the hell out of me, but I can tell he genuinely cares for Emmanuelle, Valentino and you.”
“And Stefano, but he’d rather be boiled in oil than ever admit it,” Elie said, strumming his thumb over her soft face.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your photograph right away, bébé?” Elie asked, keeping his tone gentle, all the while stroking his thumb along her cheekbone and then down to feather the pads of his fingers along her jaw. He slipped the question in while she was feeling safe and open and very loving toward him.
“You were already upset with me for something. I could tell when you came in. I didn’t want you to be more upset, and I knew you would be. I thought I could come up with who sent the photograph and maybe even a complete report and you’d be happier. At least, vaguely, in the back of my mind, that’s what I was thinking. You came in when I just found them and I was shocked.”
He dropped his hands from her face and sat back in his chair to keep from strangling her. “You’re not sure why I would be upset that someone sent two teams to our home targeting you for assassination? After already trying and failing to kill you with a suitcase bomb?” There was no way to prevent the edge from creeping into his voice.
Brielle looked more nervous at his tone than she had before. She got up and accidentally stepped into one of the many flickering shadows the flames from the fireplace sent dancing across the room. The physical jolt was brutal. He stood up as well, grateful he’d changed from his suit to casual clothes, giving him some relief, although his trousers were suddenly more than snug on him when they usually were very roomy.
“Don’t go over to your laptop and think you’re going to do more work right now, Brielle. What you’re going to do is remove your clothes and bend over the couch and think about reasons I might have for being upset that two teams were sent to our home to acquire you. I’ll go downstairs and get a few things I’ll need, and hopefully, by the time I come back, you’ll have the right answer.”
Her breath left her lungs in a long exhale, eyes bright with anticipation and that edge of fear she couldn’t shake, the part that always gave her such a rush. She obediently began to undo the buttons on her blouse, taking her time, her fingers trembling just that little bit. The show of submission settled his anger at her inability to believe that he at least cared for her enough to be upset those assassins had come to their home to murder her.
He enjoyed seeing her mixture of nerves and excitement. He sauntered over to the fireplace and propped his elbow on the stone to watch her. She knew to face him as she removed her blouse and folded it, placing it on the desk beside her laptop. Her lacy bra followed, spilling her full breasts into view. He was extremely fond of her breasts, the beauty of them, full and round, her nipples tight buds that reacted to his kind of rough play.
He had a surprise for her tonight, something different, something she hadn’t tried that wasn’t on her menu of items she was willing or unwilling to use in sexual play. He had several surprises for her tonight. He had planned the night out carefully, but circumstances had changed, and now his ideas had. He was glad they were locked in and alone, with no chance of being disturbed, although he wouldn’t mind if his little toy worried that someone might come in. He gave that some thought as he watched her push her jeans and panties to the floor and step out of them. His cock was nearly in a frenzy from just the sight of her naked body and the ideas he had in his head.
“Use the bathroom and be prepared for a very long evening. I’ll be waiting so don’t take all night, and, Brielle . . .” He waited until she lifted her gaze to his. “Don’t you dare touch yourself.”
The moment he told her she couldn’t relieve any ache she had, her body reacted with desperate need. He could see the heightened hunger, her pussy lips glistening, her chest rising and falling faster, her nipples hard, tight buds begging for his attention. Her eyes were dark with lust and anticipation.
This was exactly what his little woman was missing—needing—craving. He was going to have to really pay attention to her subtle cues. She would never ask for him to take charge and treat her as if she was his toy to use rather than his woman he adored. That would humiliate her. He needed to read her. That was his job as her husband, the man who promised to give her everything she needed.
He didn’t allow any expression on his face other than sheer boredom. Taking his phone from his pocket, he glanced down, pretending to ignore her, reading through the text messages Val had sent. The two team leaders had confirmed what his woman had found out—Dino Colombo had sent them—but their orders had been to assassinate Elie Archambault, then to take Brielle if possible. If not, they were to kill her. Dario was working on the two of them to find out why the change in orders regarding Brielle, since Dino had sent the bomb in the suitcase in hopes of eliminating both Elie and Brielle.
He did lift his gaze to watch her walk from the room, her hips and buttocks swaying in that truly feminine show of curves she had that got to him every single time. He was so damned lucky. Not only was she all woman, kinky as hell in the bedroom and giving as fuck to him, but she was as smart as a whip. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her, but he was keeping her. She responded to their play, needing it just as he did, and he would give her whatever she needed in order to make her happy.
He turned off the fireplace to allow the room to begin to cool off. The nights were cold and he wanted the temperature to drop. He’d leave the door open when he went downstairs to get his toys, but more than that, he’d pump cooler air into the room as well.
Brielle returned from the bathroom, standing in the doorway of the huge office with its two entire walls of glass. He almost wished it were daylight so she would be even more worried that someone could see in. He didn’t want to tell her that the outside screens could reflect back light so no boats on the lake could possibly see into the house. She got a secret thrill of being “almost” on display without actually going that far. She didn’t know if she really would like being caught, but the idea was sexually arousing to her. He liked giving her that. He meant it when he said he would never share his woman. But he wouldn’t mind giving her the thrill of feeling as if someone accidentally caught a glimpse of her.
He made her wait nearly a full minute before he glanced up and then indicated the couch with a jerk of his chin. There was no need to say anything else. He’d already said enough. She walked on the hardwood floor over to the couch, her bare feet not even making a whisper of a sound. The sofa was one he particularly liked. It was long and dark brown, matching the darkest color in the rougher beams overhead. Overstuffed and yet still firm enough, it also was high backed, something important to him since he liked to sit back and be comfortable, not have his neck hanging over the edge of his chair.
The height of his couch gave his little bride a bit of trouble as she tried to keep her feet on the floor as she bent over the top of it. There was no possible way. In order to do as he told her, she had to actually dangle her feet a few inches above the floor. The position wouldn’t be comfortable after a few minutes. She had taken the middle of the sofa as he’d indicated, which gave her very little to hang on to.
Elie collected their dinner leftovers, left the door open and hurried down the stairs to change to his softer drawstring pants. He turned the air on to blow into the office, lowering the temperature significantly as he changed. He left his shirt open and gathered his toys for extended play, left a change of clothes for Brielle on the bed, a small bag of toys on the stairway, and brought the others into the office with him. He’d been gone only a few minutes, but he knew to her, it would seem a very long time and she would only grow more excited with anticipation.
He received more texts from Val, keeping him abreast of the interrogation. They lost one of the two men and didn’t expect the other to give them anything else. He sent them a quick message informing them of Brielle’s investigation and what she’d uncovered and that he expected she would uncover much more in the morning.
Dario, through Val, wanted to know why she wasn’t working on it right then. Val added a few laughing emojis. Elie sent spanking emojis and added the words big trouble. Dario said he wanted to talk to Brielle about working for them, and if she was tied up, all to the better. He didn’t care if she was naked or not. He saw naked women all the time. Elie sent the finger to Val’s phone and told him to give Dario that message. He got a lot of laughing faces and red flames for jealousy back.
He thought about Dario’s message for a long while and what he’d said. Dario ran an underground kink club. His brand of kink was far different than Elie’s but Elie wasn’t a man to judge. He knew Dario wasn’t, either. The more he thought about it, the more he decided he would give his little Brielle a very scary thrill. He texted Dario directly. It took a few minutes for Dario to answer him back, but eventually, the answer got to him.
He put his phone on the side table and walked around the sofa so she would catch a brief glimpse of him as he carried the small duffel bag with him. He set it a distance from the front of the couch, so if she lifted her head, she could see him removing items. He took out a bottle of lube and a jeweled plug without looking at her. She gasped and it was all he could do not to grin. She had carefully avoided the subject of her ass and all activity in the area. She was watching him, all right. The next thing he removed was a very thin rod. He laid that aside and then walked around to her exposed bottom.
“You didn’t go into the safe room when you were told to do so, Brielle.” He kept his voice low, velvet soft. Very casual. Rubbing her left cheek gently, he kept his gaze on her pale skin. She had skin that marked so beautifully.