“You were gone a hundred and twenty-four days out of three hundred and sixty-five last year,” he says. “And for sixty-nine of them, you weren’t in contact with anyone. You’ve established yourself as a runaway. I reckon I’ve got a good two months with you, princess, and I’m going to make the most of that time.”
I take a step away from him before realizing it doesn’t matter what I do. This island is so small and so barren there is no place to hide. He’s stripped me of my clothing and my riches, and he’s taken me to a place just as stripped down.
“Please,” I whisper, my voice catching in my throat. “Just tell me why you’re doing this?”
“I’ll tell you everything, in time,” he says, his voice softening. “But you need to be in the right frame of mind to hear it, or you won’t believe me. I’m going to have to show you so much more than I can tell you.”
He reaches out and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Would you like a bath?”
“Well, you did interrupt my shower…” I say, just managing to crack the hint of a smile.
“I did,” he agrees with a short laugh. “A bath it will be, and then we will talk. About who you really are, and what you will become.”
He runs the bath for me and stays beside me as I get in, washing me tenderly. I am so confused by this man, but of course, that’s what he wants me to be. He wants me off guard. He wants me not to know if he is my enemy or my friend. The way he took me back in my penthouse, I could make him a monster for that except for the fact that I surrendered to every bit of it, besides the spanking.
“What’s your name? Why are you working for Darko?”
His eyes narrow a fraction. “If you had answered a single email, or taken a single call, you would know the answer to that question. I am Darko. This is my home, and my island, that was my helicopter. And you are my newest, most elegant toy.”
I would be more embarrassed about not knowing who he is if not for that word he just used.
“T-toy?”
His fingers drift against my skin, beneath the warm water. His touch is soothing, but his words aren’t.
“You inherited your father’s fortune. Every bit of it. But you don’t know how to run it. You don’t even know how to open an email and respond to it, apparently, so you’re not fit for the task which lies ahead of you.”
“What do you mean? And you’re not Darko. You don’t sound… foreign.”
“I was educated in American academies,” he explains. “I can sound however I please…” He drops into a sexy Serbian accent that sends tingles through my flesh. I’d never admit it, but that voice does things to me. Frightens me. Excites me. Arouses me.
There is something thick and volatile in his voice, something dark and devious.
“Darko,” I say. “You can’t do this. You can’t keep me. Sooner or later, people will look for me.”
“They won’t find you. And I don’t need to keep you here forever. I just need to keep you here long enough to teach you the lessons you should have learned before you ever got anywhere near controlling your father’s empire.”
“It’s not my father’s empire. It’s mine now.”
His brow rises. “Is that a hint of the desire it takes to wield that much power? Pity you didn’t find that spark before, Chloe. Pity you didn’t pay attention until someone made you pay attention, because this is going to be so much harder for you now.”
“You’re talking in riddles…” I gasp as his fingers slide up over my hip and inside my thighs, trailing up toward my pussy. “Stop that.”
“Stop what?” He smiles and lets his fingertips drift toward my sex. He knows how to distract me, how to keep me off guard. My thoughts still again, caught in the slow, sensual motion of his fingers.
“Stop… making me…” My head falls back, my voice getting huskier as his touch draws ever closer to my sex.
There’s a soft chuckle, and his fingers slide away in the wrong direction.
I let out a little whimper and look at him. Those dark eyes are fixed on me with a fierce intensity and his handsome face is a mask of triumph. He has me right where he wants me in so many ways.
“Stop what? Using you for what you were made for?”
“I wasn’t made for this.”
“I don’t know about that. You’re a beautiful young woman, but you don’t serve any other discernible purpose. As far as I can tell your life up until this point has been a series of parties occasionally interspersed with the need to apply cosmetics.”