Reeve looked me in the eyes. Oh yeah, he was enjoying this. “This will only take a moment, Emily. No need to be worried.”
I didn’t speak. Anything I had to say would likely only get me in trouble. Best to just let the man do as he pleased and hope that my cooperation would earn me more of his trust.
He started with his hands at my neck, his touch fiery on my skin. Then he swept them down over my collar and outward across the line above my chest. Under his fingertips, my nerves awakened, spitting into flames that licked and burned in the tracks of his path. He glided down the sides of my torso, cupping under my breasts, lingering before he drew back to my waist. Then over my hips. Down the outside of my thighs, his eyes were heated and never left mine. He didn’t pat down like the security at the airport looking for a hidden weapon. He caressed. He teased. He tortured.
He bent to continue his trail to my ankles. There he paused, throwing a glance to Anatolios. Next thing I knew, my legs were kicked apart from behind, forcing me to widen my stance. I swore under my breath, but didn’t fight. Reeve resumed his torment, this time moving up the insides of my shins, past my knees, higher, to the sensitive section of my inner thighs where each centimeter of skin crossed made me fidget and squirm, finally landing at the crotch of my panties.
I drew in a shuddering breath. I was on pins and needles, my arousal so spiked that it was itchy and agonizing and infuriating.
Reeve straightened to his full height while keeping one hand positioned at my center. His eyes glistened as he registered the dampness of the material. “I like this, Emily. It makes me happy to know that at least a portion of your interest in me is sincere.”
Fucking asshole. “It’s all sincere,” I said through gritted teeth.
He stepped even closer so that his breath whispered across my face. “I want to believe it. I really do.” He slipped his fingers inside my panties then, ignoring my throbbing clit and moving lower where he circled my entrance before plunging inside of me. “Ah, soaked. I like this a lot.”
I struggled to suppress a moan, struggled to be as stoic as he’d been when I’d touched him.
But it was impossible. The storm was already gathering, my belly tightening as the pleasure built and I couldn’t help the small, breathy cries that echoed from the back of my throat.
Reeve sighed heavily, pressing his forehead against mine. “You’re very tempting, Emily Wayborn. So very tempting.” Desire clouded in his expression, but – in his stance, in his form, in the way he held himself firm against me – I saw restraint. Which would win? Which did I want to win?
He brushed the thumb of his free hand across my lower lip. “Tempting. But as I told you, I’m not easily overwhelmed.” He pulled away suddenly, leaving my body wound up and wanting. “I’ve just remembered some business I need to attend to. Thank you for an entertaining dinner, Emily. Anatolios can see you back to your suite if you’d like him to.”
Then he was gone, exiting as quickly as his waiters had come and gone all night long.
Again, I cursed under my breath. I didn’t dare look at the guard who had finally let me go, aware that he was likely gloating in my humiliation, and I certainly wasn’t letting him escort me out. Without another word, I straightened my skirt and started out the way I’d come in, my head high despite Anatolios’s eyes heavy on my backside. It certainly wasn’t the walk of shame that I’d expected to make at the night’s end, but I handled it with as much confidence as I could muster.
Back in my room, I collapsed on the bed, my fists balled at my sides. “Dammit,” I said, punching the mattress next to me. “Dammit, dammit, dammit.” I was frustrated and turned on. And worried that I’d never hear from Reeve again and that I’d fucked everything up in my search for Amber. I punched once more for good measure.
But really my turmoil at the moment had little to do with Amber and all to do with what I’d learned that evening: Reeve Sallis liked to be in control.
I’d met that type of man before. I knew what they liked. They were the men who liked to fuck, but on their terms. They were the men who liked giving gifts and praise almost as much as they liked taking them away. They were the men who liked to hurt. To humiliate. Manipulate. They left bruises. They left scars. They were the men that induced fear. The men who debased and defiled. They were the reason I’d left that life in the first place.
And this was why, where Reeve Sallis was concerned, I was fucked. Because these were the men that I could never stop craving.
CHAPTER 4
My cell phone ringtone woke me the next morning. I considered ignoring it, but the thought that it could possibly be Reeve had me reaching across the bed before it stopped ringing.
“Emily. It’s Joe Cook.”
I rubbed a hand over my eyes, trying to convince myself I wasn’t disappointed. Reeve didn’t even have my number, not that that would matter.
Then I registered what the caller had said. I sat up. “Joe. Hi. Do you have news?” He wouldn’t have called if he didn’t.
I’d hired Joe Cook after the police had been utterly unhelpful in my search for Amber. It wasn’t their fault really. I didn’t have enough for them to go on, plain and simple. I’d argued. I’d pled. I spent all of Black Friday in the station¸ in fact, trying to get someone to take my report seriously. Finally, an older detective called me into his office. Patiently he listened to my entire story. He listened to the message that I’d recorded onto my phone from my mother’s answering machine. He listened to me explain how, even though Amber never once asked for help or stated that she was in trouble, I knew there was something wrong because she’d said “blue raincoat” – our code.