Princess

Chapter 40: Deliriously Happy

Ariadne

"How bad can it be?"

The look he gave me assured me that the number of people he'd slept with was, in fact, very high. He'd just come back to my apartment after his day, undressing while I laid on my bed in my work clothes.

"Don't think about them, princess. I don't," he promised.

"Hmph."

"I'm sure there were men before me," he clipped, shrugging his suit off. "Believe me, it takes every bone in my body not to strangle them with my bare hands."

"Why?"

"Because you're mine."

"That's a recent development," I played.

He raised a displeased eyebrow and said, "You've been mine for years."

I was playing with fire but me being me, didn't care. I always did like to push my luck.

"I guess there's been a few good ones," I feigned thought, leaning back on my hands.

"Ariadne."

"I remember this one time this guy fucked me in the backseat of his car..."

"Ariadne," he warned. It was curt and short and very much a threat.

"Then there was the bathroom of this event I went to. Oooh... that was kind of hot—"

Before I could finish over-hyping my bathroom sexcapade, I was dragged to the end of the bed by my ankle, legs spread wide open.

With startling agility, Damon pulled a knife from—I didn't even know where—and cut his tie in three, using two on each ankle to tie me down to the bedposts.

Then, he grabbed my wrists and tied my hands together. He wasn't even looking at me while he did all of this but my heart was racing with an edgy beat.

"Do you know what happens when people decide it's a good idea to fuck with a man like me, Ariadne?"

Ice and frost slid down my spine. I was terrified. And I loved it.

I shook my head.

"I asked you a question." He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows.

I summoned the courage to raise my voice and say, "No."

"No," he repeated calmly. "Well, let me explain it to you."

When his eyes met mine, they were pools of darkness.

Fire and ice.

Everything sinful and oh so dangerous.

Knife in hand, he trailed the blade up the inside of my leg and ripped away at the fabric. Part of me wanted to yell at him for tearing up my pantsuit but another part of me also knew that that kind of bravery was definitely not necessary right now.

His voice held a dark twinge to it when he said, "First, I go slow. Make them think that it's going to be easy. And I give them time to give me an answer that I like hearing."

He'd reached the apex of my thighs, trailing down the other leg.

"Do you know what happens when I don't get what I want?"

Again, I shook my head. Every single part of me was trembling. Newly pant-less and motionless, I didn't even know what I'd say or do.

I was entirely at his mercy.

"Use your words, princess."

"No."

As the target of Damon Hale's full and undivided attention, I should have been afraid for my life.