The look on Carter’s face both confused and excited me in ways that I didn’t expect.

I assumed he was going to be really pissed. I figured he’d yell and maybe threaten me, the usual stuff. Instead, he seemed genuinely amused and excited by the whole thing, which seemed totally crazy to me. On the other hand, he looked so damn attractive handcuffed to that bed that I nearly forgot my plan and gave in to temptation. I could have easily gotten him hard and then rode him to my heart’s content, but I had to resist that urge.

Still, the way he reacted showed me that he wasn’t just some immature playboy asshole. He could take a joke, and apparently he liked a challenge. That excited me and intrigued me more than I would have guessed.

The next morning I did feel a little bad about leaving him there. I sent him a quick text.

“If you’re still cuffed to the bed, don’t respond to this message.”

A few minutes later, he got back to me. “I was free ten minutes after you left. Although I think I owe this poor housekeeper a very large raise.”

I grinned to myself and felt a little bit better, but still. It wasn’t cool to trick him like that, and maybe I should consider apologizing.

Then again, I doubted he would apologize to me.

I had some breakfast, got into my bathing suit, and headed down to the pool. So far, living at Carter’s place hadn’t been nearly as awful as I assumed it would be. I thought it would just be months of Carter being an insufferable ass while surrounded by stupid and absurdly expensive paintings. Instead, I just lounged around the pool, enjoying my summer vacation. The whole plan was still extremely stupid and ill conceived, but at least I was having fun so far.

About an hour into sunbathing, I heard a weird whining sound. Frowning to myself, I looked around, trying to spot whatever was making that noise, but couldn’t see anything. I assumed it was just some weird gardening thing, like maybe nearby sprinklers, so I decided to ignore it.

But the noise got louder. I grabbed my sunglasses to protect my eyes from the sun’s glare and looked up, trying to spot what the heck was making the noise.

That was when I spotted it. Hovering maybe fifty feet above me was a drone. It was one of those models with the four helicopter rotors with the big camera on the bottom, and I could tell that the camera was directed right at me.

Chills ran down my spine. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around myself before swiping through my phone, trying to find someone to call. At the bottom of my contacts was a listing for someone named “Security Cox.”

I called the number and a man answered on the third ring.

“Security,” he said.

“Uh, hi,” I said. “This is Emily. There’s a drone hovering above me—“

“What kind of drone?” he asked, business-like and direct.

“One of those helicopter things with the four spinners. And a camera at the bottom.”

“Quadcopter,” he said. “What color?”

“Silver. With some blue trim.”

“Not one of ours,” he grunted. “Where are you?”

“Out by the pool.”

“Be there in a second.”

He hung up the phone and I frowned, looking up at the quadcopter. It hadn’t moved, despite the fact that I noticed it and made a phone call. Clearly it had been spotted, but whoever was flying it didn’t seem to care.

A few minutes later, a large man came out of the house. He was older but in very good shape with a close cropped haircut and intense eyes. He was holding a rifle in his hands and looked up at the drone like he wanted to strangle it.

“Miss, are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” I said. “This thing just keeps hovering over me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Sometimes the paparazzi get too aggressive.”

“They’re spying on me?”

“Probably. Mr. Green’s marriage is a big tabloid sensation, as they say.”

Just then, there was a noise over by the house. “Cox!”

We both looked over and saw Carter striding out toward us. He was dressed in his workout clothes again, though he wasn’t sweating and fortunately he wore a shirt this time.

“Sir,” Cox said. “You don’t need to worry yourself about this.”

“Are you sure? I was running on the roof track when I spotted this piece of shit. Why is it still here?” Carter demanded.

“I don’t know who it belongs to, sir.”

“Give me that.” Carter took the rifle from Cox and put it against his shoulder, aiming it up at the drone.

“You shouldn’t do that.”

“Cover your ears,” he said to me and looked back at the drone. It suddenly began to fly away.

I covered my ears and watched Carter take aim, licking his lips. He took a deep breath then pulled the trigger.

The gun was loud as hell, even with my hands over my ears. I looked up and saw the drone dip, rise, and then plummet down to the ground.

“Good shot, sir,” Cox said.

Carter grinned at him, handing back the rifle. “Don’t worry about the legal fallout, Cox. They were trespassing anyway.”

He nodded, face impassive.

Carter looked at me. “Well. Shall we go see our kill?”

I laughed. “Sure. Lead the way.”

Carter waved to Cox who nodded and headed back toward the house. He took me by the hand and led me across the lawn toward the drone.

“Where did you learn to shoot like that?” I asked him.

“Everybody should know how to shoot a gun. Just in case.”

“I don’t know how.”

“I’ll teach you one day.”

“I’m afraid of them.”

He grinned at me. “They’re just machines. Nothing to be afraid of if you know what you’re doing.”

We reached the drone and he kicked it over. There was a bullet hole right through the center of it, and the rotors were still trying to gyrate.

“Piece of shit,” he said. “It’s still broadcasting.” He slammed his foot down, breaking the camera into bits.

“Who sent it?” I asked him.

“Hard to say. We get them every once in a while. Cox tries to catch them, but I prefer just shooting them down.”

“What happens when you catch them?”

“Makes it easier to sell them back. Or sometimes I’ll hijack their programming and turn it into my own little anti-drone.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“It’s a pain in the ass.” He kicked it, shaking his head. “Fucking scum. The paparazzi have been up my ass for years.”

“Must be hard, living like this.”

“Yeah.” He looked at me. “Sorry to drag you into it.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything. I was suddenly intensely aware that I was mostly naked underneath my towel, just a small bikini covering my body, the same body that I had shown off to him the day before. He looked good in his running shorts and tight blue shirt, his eyes staring at mine.

“About yesterday,” I said.

“Don’t worry about it.” He grinned. “Getting handcuffed to the bed was more than worth that picture.”

I blushed a little bit. “That can’t be true.”

“I mean it. You’re fucking gorgeous, you know that?” He stepped toward me.

“You shoot down one drone for me and suddenly I’m supposed to throw myself at you?”

He grinned, seeing right through my lame attempt at deflecting the situation.

“Don’t act like you’re not dripping wet. There’s nothing sexier than a man with a gun.”

“I didn’t realize you were a caveman.”

“Cavemen didn’t have rifles.”

“Good point. But you know what I’m saying.”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting a man to take care of you,” he said. He was inches away from me. “You can pretend all you want, but we both know you want me to press you up against a wall and fuck your brains out.”

“No,” I said softly.

“Yes,” he said, and took my cheek in his hand. “That’s exactly what you want. You want to be respected while at the same time fucked and dominated, treated like the dirty sexy fucking girl you really are.”

I bit my lip and tried to look away, but I couldn’t. He was just too intense, and his face was inches from me, and fuck, he was right.

That’s what I wanted. No, it was what I needed. I needed a man like Carter to throw me down, fuck my pussy deep and rough, treat me like his own fuck doll. I wanted him to want me so badly that he just took me.

Which was why I couldn’t stop it when he kissed me.

His lips pressed against mine, crushing them in an intense and powerful kiss. He arms wrapped around me, pulling me against him, his tongue entering my mouth. For half a second, I thought about pulling away, but I quickly melted into his embrace.

Desire, hot and electric, tingled down my spine. It was like everything that I’d been desiring for the past few days was coming together in that moment, and it was driving me insane. Carter tasted good, so damn good, and as much as I hated it I really liked that he shot down that drone for me.

But shit, he was my stepfather. He was my damn mother’s husband. I knew logically that they weren’t really in love and that their relationship was a total sham for the public, but it was just still so damn wrong.

When I had that thought, the most messed up thing of all happened.

It only made me want him more.

He was forbidden. He was bad. He was all wrong for me, but he still made me feel so damn incredible. Carter was a total ass, the opposite of what I usually wanted in a guy, and yet I found myself pushing deeper into his kiss.

Just as quickly as that desire came, it was quickly replaced with a paranoid feeling that someone was watching. If we got caught, even by just one person, everything was over. Carter would lose everything and my poor mother would be humiliated.

I pulled away gently, using up every last ounce of my willpower. He looked at me for a second, a small smile on his face.

“Tell me that isn’t what you wanted,” he said softly.

I disentangled myself from his embrace and turned away. “I have to go.” I held onto my towel to make sure it didn’t fall.

“Sure. Go run away.”

“I’m not running.” I started back toward the pool and knew I was definitely running away.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he said. “I’ll have you calling me daddy soon. I’ll have you begging for more.”

I clenched my fists as anger welled up inside of me, but I didn’t look back.

I wasn’t angry because he said that. I didn’t expect anything less from Carter Green.

I was angry because I was starting to think he might be right.