Gerry went over the plants he’d delivered to the greenhouse earlier in the afternoon. They sat in various produce boxes, green stems and a few blooms mixed in.

“Is this everything?” I surveyed the haul, but I didn’t see the main species I was looking for.

He pushed his worn navy ball cap back on his head. “I had to order four of them from Florida. Shipment got delayed. They should be here in a few days.”

“Oh.” To hide my disappointment, I pulled on some gloves and busied myself with the new arrivals.

He looked around at the orderly rows of plants and the newer seedlings I’d separated into pots. Just in the past handful of days, he’d helped me arrange the greenhouse to my liking and provided me with all the tools I’d asked for—except pruning shears. Apparently, sharp weapons were forbidden.

“Is there anything I can do for you today?” He slipped a toothpick from one side of his smile to the other.

I pointed to another list on the prep table. “I want some seeds, if that’s possible.”

“Sure.” He swiped the list and skimmed it. “These should be easy to get. The heirloom ones will require a bit more searching, but I should be able to scare some up.”

“Great.”

“Anything else?”

“Not right now.” I squinted at the row of tropical plants. “I think we may have a clogged mister, but I won’t know until this afternoon. I’ve adjusted their watering interval, and one is acting skittish.”

“Just let me know.” He stared through the glass toward the tree line. “I’ll be out in the woods a bit today, but all you have to do is let Timothy know you need me, and I can get back here in a jiffy.”

“What are you doing in the woods?” I reached past him for a smaller hand shovel.

He dropped his gaze to my ankle. “Just checking some lines. Maintenance.”

“Oh.” I grimaced.

“Sorry.” His sheepishness didn’t diminish the fact that he was out checking my prison bars to make sure they’d hold.

“Any chance you’ll turn all those monitors off?”

“None.” Sebastian’s voice cut off Gerry’s reply.

Gerry tapped the bill of his hat before turning and striding out of the greenhouse.

“Getting your creepy jollies by watching me garden again?”

“Just checking in between meetings.”

I glanced toward my tomato plants and frowned. A white spot on one of the stems I’d noticed earlier in the morning had doubled in size.

“Problem?”

I leaned down and inspected the plant. “Some sort of mold, I suspect. I’d need a microscope to know for sure.” Walking down the row, I scrutinized the other tomatoes. None of them seemed to have the infection.

He was silent as I pulled the problem plant and set it on a bare patch of table several feet from the other tomatoes. Did the seedlings still at the Trenton greenhouse have the same issue?

“You slept well last night.” I couldn’t miss the satisfaction in his voice.

“I must have been worn out from all your psychoanalysis. Emphasis on psycho.” For the past three nights, he’d held me in his arms and told me bits of information he’d picked up about me during his stalking efforts. Then he explained how each fact meant that we were perfect together while I denied it all until I fell asleep.

He laughed. “You are far more quick-witted than a simple schoolteacher should be.”

“And it’s far easier to run circles around a CEO than it should be.” I forced my lips to stay in a neutral line, though a smile threatened.

“I have half a mind to come home early today.” His playful tone spurred a mix of emotions inside. Dread wasn’t among them, and I cursed that fact.

I shook my head. “This is my time. I’m busy.”

“You wouldn’t make time for me?”

“Definitely not.” I finished my inspection and returned to the greenhouse’s new additions.

“I’m wounded.” His tone was laughing, but I couldn’t tell if he was laughing at or with me.

“Good.”

“My next meeting is about to begin.”

“In that case, my day is looking up.” I ran my fingers down the satiny leaves of a dwarf rhododendron. Despite my attempts at focusing on anything other than him, I still waited for his voice to pulse through the speakers.

He didn’t disappoint. “I suspect you’ll change your tune once I have you in my arms tonight.”

“You’re right. My tune will change to a snore.”

“I doubt that quite a bit.”

“You keep doubting, and I’ll keep plotting ways to knife you and run.”

His low growl set the air around me on fire. “I’d chase you. Catch you. I think you’d like that. For me to chase you again. But this time, instead of giving you a ride back to the house, I’d let you take your aggressions out on me. Every last bit of energy expended as you worked my cock. Out in the open, fucking like animals.”

Wicked words funneled into my ears and deeper, landing in the dark depths of my soul. I hoped he couldn’t see the heat in my face, the rush of arousal that flooded my skin.

A low laugh wrapped around me like a dark fur stole. “You can’t hide yourself from me. I’m the only one who’s ever seen you.” His voice faded, as though he were speaking to someone else nearby, and I couldn’t make out the words.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves and refusing to entertain visions of the two of us writhing in the grass along the tree line. It was wrong, beyond sick, and just the sort of messed up image that made my insides twist.

“We’ll continue this tonight.” Impatience colored his words, and then he went quiet.

I worked for a little while longer, struggling to focus on my tasks. How could a few coarse words from his lips light such a fire inside me? I couldn’t get them out of my mind, and my body reacted as if he were here whispering into my ear, his hands on me like they were every night. I forced myself to focus, going task by task until I had a working rhythm. The thoughts wouldn’t stay silent, cropping up whenever I gave my mind a chance to wander.

When I accidentally potted a trailing vine in a mix of clay and manure instead of the sandy loam it required, I ripped my gloves off and tore out of the greenhouse. Thoughts of our bodies twisting together, of him making good on his claims that I was his roiled in my brain. I had to rid myself of the thoughts, to shut them down so I could focus on the bigger picture.

Timothy balanced atop a ladder in the foyer while hanging a wide swag of Christmas greens above the door. He’d been decorating all morning.

“I’m taking a nap,” I blurted and took the stairs two at a time.

“All right,” he called from behind me. “I won’t bother you. Just use the call switch next to the door when you’re ready to…”

I didn’t look back at him, just sought the bedroom like a missile. After hitting the mechanism that allowed the door to close, I was alone, secreted away from Sebastian’s eyes. He wouldn’t know. As far as he was concerned, I was taking an early afternoon nap.

My shirt hit the floor first, then my sports bra, jeans, and panties. I lay on the bed and stared up at the chandelier. I’d seen Timothy taking apart the small camera that had been embedded in one of the decorative arms. It was gone. Even so, I pulled the sheet over me, the slight contact with my aching nipples sending a wave of need through me.

I closed my eyes and spread my legs, letting my fingers find their way to the tight bud of nerves. One stroke of my middle finger, and a low moan rose from my lungs.

I was primed, ready to end my torment in an explosion of bliss. My mind created its own scenario, one that was as wrong as it was erotic. Sebastian loomed over me, his perfect body on full display. I was spread beneath him, giving him a show as he watched me touch myself. I stared into his emerald eyes as he stroked his thick cock, the muscles along his neck bulging from the strain.

“Don’t come.” His voice was deep, hoarse. “Not yet. Your orgasm belongs to me.”

I circled my clit, teasing it before delving inside and pulling my wetness onto my hot flesh. My moans grew louder in both fantasy and reality.

Sebastian licked his full lips. “Spread wider for me.” He put his knees on the bed and stroked his cock down the length of my pussy.

I arched, my fingers playing my favorite tune. “Sebastian.”

He smirked. “I told you this was it. That you were mine.” His cock head pressed against my opening. “Now you’re going to feel it.” He pushed inside in a harsh movement, claiming me with a sure stroke.

I cried out and bit my lip. The delicious mental image pushed me to the edge, my body on the verge of letting go.

Sebastian grabbed my hair and pulled, then fastened his mouth to my neck as he pumped into me, each stroke driving me wilder than the last. My legs began to shake, the sensations overwhelming me.

“Sebastian, please,” I whimpered.

“This is just the beginning.” His voice in my ear, his body owning mine—I couldn’t take it.

I came on a long, low moan, my body folding tight before exploding outward like a deck of cards. Parts of me scattered everywhere, though I kept the image of his intense green eyes. It stayed with me until I came back down, my lower back finally hitting the mattress once again. I breathed deeply, the lust fog clearing from my brain. Now I could concentrate, could stop thinking of Sebastian as anything other than my jailor.

“I just came in my office bathroom. Your name was on my lips.” Sebastian’s deep voice was almost breathy. “Fuck, that was hot.”

I froze and yanked the blanket to my chin before anger burst to my surface. “You said you’d removed the camera. You promised!”

“I did.” His sexy laugh relit the fire I thought I’d doused. “But there’s still audio.”