Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Though I hadn’t peeked in his direction, I swore he was looking at me. I could feel the weight of his gaze and the physical brunt of it even though I’d never truly ‘felt’ someone looking at me.
Maybe I wouldn’t be able to feel a regular person gazing at me, but when that person was Knox, it was as if I could feel his very thoughts about me.
It took everything I had not to peer in the direction of the kitchen, where all sounds of cooking had ceased.
Instead, I went to my bag, bending at the hip instead of crouching down to get my clothes and underwear.
That hadn’t been in the previous plan. Yes, I’d wanted to tease him. I’d wanted to establish some kind of sexual, feminine power, but I hadn’t intended on flashing that sexual, feminine power.
But it was what my body commanded. The dark, lustful voice inside of me that had been silenced without my even knowing it.
And without self-consciousness or doubt, I just did it.
Bared my naked pussy to him.
I didn’t imagine the swift intake of breath I heard from across the room.
He had been watching me.
My hunch was proved by the sound of his gasp. The sound of him losing control, the tightly wound man coming undone at the appearance of a vagina.
He wasn’t the first, nor would he be the last. I smiled to myself in victory as I grabbed my clothes, straightened and turned.
Then I let out my own swift intake of breath.
He was still standing, watching me. He was holding a knife. He’d obviously been in the middle of cutting something for dinner. But Knox, all in black, clutching the knife while staring at me like he’d stepped out of a nightmare stole the air from my lungs.
Except the expression on his face... It was not just deadly. It was the picture of masculine need unlike anything I’d ever glimpsed in my life. I’d stood naked in front of men, lovers. Had felt their appreciation for my form, sure.
But nothing like the way Knox was looking at me.
It wasn’t like he wanted to worship me.
It was like he wanted to ruin me.
My breathing quickened as I clutched at my clothes, instantly regretting my decision, chastising my previous boldness.
The moment lasted longer than it should’ve. Much longer. It was charged with an uncertain energy. What would happen next? The silence in the room seemed to boom with tension. I could hear his breathing. Fractured. Unsteady. Nothing that denoted his trademark control.
Knox was still holding the knife. He was a killer, he wasn’t quite hinged, that was clear. And I was pushing him. Pushing him toward an edge I didn’t even understand. I thought he simply desired me, and the ‘worst’ possible outcome of my teasing him was him acting on that desire.
Even though that’s what that secret part of me craved all along.
I’d never considered just how fucked-up Knox might’ve been. That I could be coaxing a wild animal out of its cage, not knowing whether it was going to fuck me or kill me.
Knox didn’t seem like he knew whether he was going to fuck me or kill me either.
For a long moment, my life hung in the balance. I swore I felt it. The whisper of death that could come at the hands of a man I both despised and craved. And insanely, I wanted to risk it. I wanted to drop the towel and invite him closer.
I was seconds away from doing it, caught up in the madness of the moment, a wild animal of my own unleashed and eager to play.
Milliseconds before I did it, Knox moved.
Not toward me like I’d expected.
No, back to the kitchen. He walked slowly, his steps measured and rigid, as if he were made of stone or metal. His gestures were almost robotic as he chopped whatever he was using the knife for. But I knew the clang of the knife against the cutting board was harder than it needed to be, as if he were letting out just a whisper of the violence he possessed.
The violence I was courting. Willingly.
Anxiety bubbling inside of me, I rushed to the bathroom to dress, flattening myself against the door the moment I closed it.
My heart was galloping against my heaving chest, my breathing as rapid as if I’d run a marathon.
My nipples were peaked, my core throbbing with need even though I’d realized what a mistake that was. My mind understood the stakes, my body did not. Or maybe it did, and that’s what made it respond in such a way. A way that felt panic-inducing, like I couldn’t trust what I might do moment to moment. Like another version of me was taking control over my body and I was powerless to stop her.
That version urged me to find relief between my legs. To do it loudly, loudly enough for Knox to hear.