Chapter Fifteen

Oh boy. That second drink had really gone to her head. Surely she didn’t hear what she thought she’d heard. Teegan looked at the handsome stalker she’d made the mistake of crossing. She felt like she was looking through a haze of fog and his words were distant like they were coming from some faraway place.

“I’ve set you up in your own room. You know, you’re a self-made woman. You have a career that gives you so much flexibility. I like that, particularly because it means no one will be looking for you.”

She couldn’t be hearing this. She shook her head as if it would clear the fog and dismiss the craziness this man was talking. “Teegan, I think now is as good a time as any to let you know you won’t be going home tonight. Or ever…” Had he really said that? Yes. He had.

“Um, I’m sorry. I need to go. I think I drank too much.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say after trying to process his bold words.

“No, no, I won’t hear of such talk. I’ll take care of you. I sure as hell can’t take a chance on you fighting me, and I damn sure won’t have you telling the authorities that you think I’m Black Rose. I’m really trying to be nice about this, Teegan.” His voice was soothing, yet it held a razor-edged warning.

“Nice!?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You’re being nice?” Her words sounded slurred to her own ears.

“Yes,” he said solicitously, “very nice, in fact. Now, you can stay in the beautiful room I’ve set up for you…” His voice turned grim. “Or you can stay in the fucking dungeon I have in the basement.” No more Mr. Nice Guy. There was nothing nice in that statement.

“I have to go,” she said stubbornly, even as her tongue began to feel thick and dry. “I think I drank too much,” she repeated, as if it would explain her foggy thinking.

He smiled indulgently as he rose to his feet and picked her up. With a nod to the butler, he carried her up the staircase to the guestroom. She relaxed in his arms, feeling strangely safe and secure, even laughing out loud when he carried her over the threshold. She felt euphoric and free as she looked around the room that was more like a honeymoon suite.

“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered. The room’s style was so feminine and yet subdued and classy. Soft hues and gentle lighting made for a peaceful atmosphere. A floral duvet graced the bed and the makeup table had a matching skirt. This room had clearly been intended for a woman. It reeked of femininity. And, despite her groggy state of mind, that bothered her.

Before she could stop to think, she turned to look up at him with a pout as the words tumbled from her lips. “Have any other women stayed here?”

“I told you I had the room set up for you, not another woman.” His tone was stiff.

“That offends you that I’d ask about that?” She cocked her head to the side almost as if challenging him. Yes. She was playing with fire and she knew it.

“I’m not in the habit of abducting women and forcing them to stay with me. It may come as a shock to you, but I don’t have to resort to such extreme measures for feminine companionship.”

“I’m sure you have your pick of women. That’s why it makes no sense that you’d do all this for me.” She could feel her head clearing. She studied the blonde god who was gazing hotly down at her.

No doubt, he was a looker. She’d always had a thing for blondes, the opposite of her, and his blonde hair with copper undertones was pushing all her buttons. His face had taut, angular lines, as if it had been chiseled in granite, and those arctic blue eyes that stared right through her captivated her. Now he was telling her that he’d handpicked everything in this room for her.

“I watched you, you see,” he said as he stepped toward the bed with her cradled in his arms. “I think I fell in love with you from afar. So you see, my stalking of you has backfired magnificently, my love.”

“Love?”

“Obsession, love. It’s all the same to me. You’re special, Teegan. I couldn’t let you go if I wanted to.” There it was again, the melody he put in her name whenever he said it. “You’re so beautiful.” He gently laid her on the bed. He’d been holding her as if she weighed no more than a child, his breath tickling her neck and causing her body to overheat in places she’d assumed were frozen. Whether she liked it or not, she had to admit she enjoyed the attention he was giving her. And she couldn’t deny that her body craved his.

Yes…maybe obsession wasn’t just something written about in romance novels. Perhaps there were those whose primitive passions drove them to take the object of their obsession. Deep down inside, she was just as drawn to him, in no small part because of what she believed he was: a serial killer.

Her fascination with serial killers had finally reached the point of no return. He would never let her go; she knew that now. Risking her going to the authorities was a chance a man like him would never take.

“You’re crazy,” she mumbled, shaking her head against the persistent haze that muddled her thoughts and slurred her speech.

“You’re making me crazy.” When he bent down and kissed her she didn’t resist. She met his tongue eagerly as he explored her mouth. Liquid heat flooded her core as his fingers trailed over her skin beneath her dress, past her thigh-highs. He stroked the slick silk of her panties before pushing them aside to press his finger deep within her creamy heat.

Her hips rose in response to the thick finger he thrust inside her. His thumb slid through her arousal to circle her clit, igniting the flames of desire that had been dormant within her for so long. First one, then two fingers vigorously stroking the bundle of nerves along her inner walls was all it took to send her body into a spasm of pleasure.

He covered her lips with his own, groaning against her mouth as he breathed in her cry of pleasure. The probing rhythm of his tongue matched the thrust of his fingers. As a second orgasm rolled through her, she struggled to breathe. What was this man doing to her?

“I want to be inside you so badly.”

“I want you inside me,” she gasped, dizzy with the intense sensations he was stirring within her. “I hate you for keeping me here, but I hate myself for not fighting you. Damn it, you’re making me feel too good,” she moaned huskily as she rolled her hips against his fingers that were still deep inside her.

He raised up on his elbow, slipping his glistening fingers between her lips. As she sucked on them, his aching cock was hard as bone, so hard he worried that he would come in his pants like an inexperienced teenager. “I won’t take this any further, not while you’ve been drinking. I had to see you come, had to see you take your pleasure even if it was just from my hand. But I won’t take things any further than that; I won’t be the reason that you wake up in the morning filled with regret.”

“How do you know I’ll wake up regretting making love to you?”

“What I’m feeling right now has nothing to do with making love. If I touch you, I’m going to fuck you so hard, I may split you in two. Don’t tempt me, Teegan. You will surely regret it.”

“Then fuck me,” she challenged him with narrowed eyes. “Fuck. Me.”

Oh how he wanted to, but he wouldn’t allow himself to take her, not like this. He hadn’t planned on even going this far, but she was like a drug he couldn’t resist. The plan had been to get her to drink enough to need to stay. She knew too much about him and he couldn’t take a chance on her going to the police.

“No. I’m not fucking you,” he repeated, as much to convince himself as to convince her. “I am, however, dressing you for bed.” He rose from the bed and walked over to the dresser and retrieved a cotton nightgown just like the one she slept in at home.

“Hey, that’s jus’ like mine, little pink flowers ‘n all,” her voice slurred. “Have you really been watchin’ me? Hey!” she exclaimed. “Have you been in my house?!”

“Yes and yes,” he declared as he approached the bed with the nightgown in his hand. “This isn’t a game, Teegan. I’m dead serious about making you mine, not just keeping you here for the night. I’m a man undone. Let’s just say that when you poked your nose where it didn’t belong online, you got more than you bargained for.” He stared down at her as her eyelids drooped and her breathing shifted to the easy rhythm of slumber. “I think we both did.”