He ran his tongue across his bottom lip, the way a predator would after spotting his prey. “Four…”
A shiver razored up my spine.
Caspian tipped his head and studied me. His lips parted to saythree, and I finally flew past him.
I tore through my room, flying around my bed and down the hallway. I swung around the corner, darting past a whitewood console table and toward the wooden stairs. One hand slid along the shiplap wall while the other gripped the rail as I bounded down the steps.
Footsteps sounded above me, heavy and determined, and I realized that it wasn’t panic that had welled up inside me.
It was anticipation.
Even though every step I ran took me farther away from him, I knew I’d only made it this far because he’d allowed me to.
He was going to catch me.
I wanted him to catch me.
I glanced to my right, past the living room to the stark white kitchen cabinets and grey speckled granite. Then back across the foyer to the front door.
The footsteps grew louder. He was on the stairs. His footfalls mirrored my heartbeat.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
My adrenaline kicked into high gear. I sprinted to the door and threw it open. My bare feet slapped against the wide, wooden planks on the front porch. I flew down the steps and into the plush grass of the front lawn. The crisp night air burned my lungs when I stopped to breathe. The Hampton house sat on a six-acre lot surrounded by trees. No one would hear me if I screamed. They probably wouldn’t care if they did.
Caspian’s silhouette appeared in the doorway. The darkness of the night casted shadows across his face. He paused, only a moment, for just a beat, long enough for our eyes to meet. Like he was waiting to see if I’d given up.
I pushed off the balls of my feet and ran as hard as I could around the corner to the side of the house.
His arms wrapped around me, stealing all the air from my lungs and sending us both crashing to the ground. My senses were immediately assaulted with the bitter scent of dirt and grass. I was lying on my stomach, and Caspian was on top of me, his body rock solid against my back.
My fingers clawed the earth as I tried to crawl away, but he leaned further down, pinning me in place.
He growled against my ear. “Would a good guy chase a princess out of her tower and tackle her to the ground?”
I tried getting up on my knees, but he straddled me, locking my legs between his.
“Would a good guy be thinking of all the ways he wants to fuck you right now? Of all the ways he wants to ruin you?” He brought his mouth to my bared shoulder and bit down so hard I was surprised he didn’t draw blood. His words were unapologetic and full of promise.
I needed to be fucked.
I wanted to be ruined.
But only by him. Always him.
My body went limp beneath him. My bones turned to liquid and my blood to lava, burning with the awareness of what was to come. We were hidden by the shadow of the house. Out here, in the darkness, everything was heightened—his touch, his scent, the sound of my pulse thrumming in my ears.
Caspian took the opportunity to ease his thigh between my legs. He trailed the tip of his tongue over the spot he’d just bitten, all the way to the back of my neck. I felt the relief of his weight on top of me, followed by the tug of fabric as my shorts and panties were yanked down in one fluid motion. I gasped at the sudden feel of cool air against my bare skin.
He palmed one side of my ass, kneading his fingers in my flesh. I was beginning to think he was obsessed with doing that.
“Is it sinking in yet?” he asked.
I moved to scramble away from him, not because I wanted to, but because I wanted to feed the monster. I wanted him primal and raw. I wanted to see his worst. I needed to know I could survive Caspian Donahue. More than that, I neededhimto know I could survive him.