* * *
Gage
She thinks I’ve underestimated her, but what she doesn’t know is that I could see the wheels turning in her head underneath her complacent little exterior.
She’s smart. I’ll give her that.
But, unfortunately, not as smart as me. I’m not diminishing her intelligence. I love that about her—how smart she is. But she just doesn’t have the criminal and street smarts that I do.
I sit in a chair in the hall directly across from my bedroom door, waiting for her to make her move.
It’s true. I was going to give her my bedroom and sleep in one of the guest bedrooms myself—all so she would be more comfortable.
But then I’d seen those wheels churning in her head. I knew she was going to try to run. She couldn’t believe I was going to leave her alone, unsupervised. And now I can’t.
I can’t even say I’m disappointed. Her actions will just give me an excuse to do what I already want to do—be near her, watch over her while she sleeps.
I hear the sound of the water rushing as she takes a shower. I wonder if she’s really taking one or if she’s only running the water to make it seem like she is. I imagine water droplets gliding over her tanned skin, and my cock starts weeping.
I shift where I sit in the chair, adjusting my growing erection. Fuck, what would it feel like to be sheathed inside her perfection? Have that hair locked in my fists as I drive deep inside her. I’ve never raw dogged anyone before, but I already know there’s no way I’d wear a condom with her. I’d want nothing between us.
I fist my hands on my thighs and will my erection to subside. Goddammit, I want to make her mine. She’s supposed to just be a pawn to get her father to fall into line, but I already know I don’t want to give her back when I’ve accomplished my goal.
Seeing her in my home, in my bed, it’s made me want to keep her. Fuck, she looks so right here, her presence already adding something to my life. God, can I fucking keep her?
It would be so easy. So easy to keep her locked up here with me forever. I have the resources to do it, to make her disappear.
I push those dangerous thoughts away and force myself to try to keep my mind blank, to keep me from charging into that room and tunneling deep inside that pussy that’s calling to me. From claiming the only girl who’s ever had me knotted up like this before. From scaring the living shit out of her.
I must sit outside the door for at least two hours after the shower cuts off.
I’m under no illusions she’s fallen asleep, though. My wily little princess is biding her time, waiting until she thinks I’ve fallen asleep before she makes her move.
The anticipation makes my cock harden again. Hell, every thought of Ava makes my cock hard. How the hell I’m going to keep her here for any length of time without touching her is beyond me. I refuse to be a rapist, though. And that is what it would be because I’m pretty sure she won’t give herself over to her kidnapper. And I may be a criminal of the worst sort. I might be deep in the underworld, a certified bastard, but that is one line I vowed never to cross.
That’s what separates me from men like Ava’s piece of shit father.
I scowl, suddenly regretting my decision to kidnap her to get to her father. If I’d approached her like a normal man, would I have had a shot with her?
I guess I’ll never know now.
Every muscle in my body tenses and goes on alert when I hear the soft clicking of the doorknob turning.
My eyes zone in on the door that slowly creeps open. A flash of honey-colored hair appears as Ava slowly peeks her head out the door.
Showtime.
* * *
I took a long shower, trying to kill time, and then I bided my time for a couple of hours before I dared to even walk over to the door.
I open it slowly now, peeking my head out to look up and down the hallway and get a bearing on my surroundings.
I’m so focused on looking left and right that I don’t look straight ahead until I’ve cautiously placed one step outside the door.
“Going somewhere, Ava?”
I jump at his voice, my heart thundering up into my throat. My head swivels until my eyes connect with blue—ice blue.