If I had to guess, I’d say he was somewhere in his early to mid-thirties. His hard nature made me think that he had some tragic backstory that left him the way he was. He liked to be in control, which meant he wasn’t the type to soften over anything. To lose the upper hand would be like death for him; I was almost sure of it.
If I wanted to find a way to beat him, I’d need to take the upper hand. But how?
I washed the suds off me, shut off the shower, and picked up one of the fluffy towels to dry my body off.
Only then did I take a look in the mirror. And the image looking back startled me.
Eyes that I’ve known all my life stared back at me, but inside the mirror stood a woman I almost didn’t recognize as me. She had a height of flush on her cheeks that I’d never had. Her wrists were chaffed an angry pink. And her eyes shocked me.
They stared, and theywanted.
I blinked, and I saw myself once again.
Get a grip, Leda!I reprimanded myself.
I wrapped the towel around my body, walked out of the bathroom to the wardrobe, and sighed as I beheld my skimpy choices.
What did it matter now? Valentino pretty much made his intentions clear. We were going to play his game. He laid out those ridiculous rules of his, and now he was going to take his time using me, either in bed or not.
And after?
Well, I didn’t want to think about anafter. Mostly because I wasn’t sure if there wouldbeand after. And if there was, I wasn’t going to like it.
So I needed to make sure I delayed theafteras long as I could.
A secret thrill ran through my veins as I selected a black teddy, one that left nothing to the imagination. If I was going to make him lose control, I’d need a little help.
I needed him tofeelsomething.
Chapter 17
Leda
I dropped the towel and slid on the teddy, tying a black ribbon at my breasts. The material was sheer, just like most of the things in the wardrobe, with ribbons that held the bodice together. Would Valentino even bother untying those ribbons? Or was he going to rip this like he ripped all of my other clothing?
“Leda.” I closed the wardrobe. “Get. A. Grip.”
That bastard. He shouldn’t make me feel like this. I was sex-starved now, and it wasn’t like I had a whole lot of other experiences up until now.
Really, it was all just too overwhelming.
I held onto my virginity, waiting for the right moment and not wanting it to be some drunken encounter in the back of a bar or a club. I wasn’t naive in the act or any foreplay that came before it, but letting a man touch me somewhere so intimately?
Well, that wasn’t something I had experience in. The closest I had come was with my last boyfriend, Frederick. A French model that lasted four months. First a rebellion against my father, until a bag of money and a not so veiled offer of a choice in broad daylight sent him running back to Europe.
Yes, Carmine D’Agostino either paid off my boyfriends to keep them from ruining me for my future husband, or had them disappeared altogether.
It wasn’t something I ever wanted to know. The first time I learned about this arrangement was when an unfortunate boy—too young and foolish—chose to turn down the money.
I locked myself away for days after finding out what my father did to him.
I shrugged on a short robe from the end of the bed, and walked out onto the balcony, letting the sun warm my face. Now that it was daylight, I could see the town below. It was a typical upstate New York town. Small enough to feel cozy, but somehow big enough to accommodate a couple of apple orchards, pumpkin patches, and two breweries.
And all on Valentino’s payroll.
The house was surrounded by woods on three sides, and the grounds were carefully manicured and. I realized now that there was no way for me to escape in the dark. But after our interaction from a few hours ago, I didn’t know if I truly wanted to.
My lips pursed at the thought. Of course Iwantedto. This line of thinking had to be some sort of traumatic issue that any kidnapped person ran across. I didn’t want to stay here.