His Innocent Obsession
la
was warm.
occo draped it around my shoulders without looking at me, without saying a word. It hung heavy on myd it on me like I was some frag
e I
ceremony, no time to think. One second I was standing in it, trembling. The next
the discarded fabric, h
co muttered, a
oll
o white, like a hospital or a mausoleum. My bare feet padded
utterly silent. Vince was already inside, seated in the back, his silhouet
I thought he meant to help me in. But
. The leather seat was cold against the back of my thighs, and I
d behind me wi
e were
side the car w
e elbow against the door, head turned toward the window,
had stretched too thin to be
o
ug
takab
s your
lin
answering might trap me in
hter and forced my voice to work. "I
ightly. Just enough tha
se
. Gol
uriosity? Hunger? I couldn't tell. His stare p
His voice wrapped around it, ma
say anyt
n't ha
my name-it was
cl
the window as if the mo
en smears of light. But I did
his thigh, the other near the control panel-long fingers, strong, still. The air f
did
trying to disappear into
k where we
I alre
tress. The place
prop
ed off the main road, gravel crunched beneath the tires. Tall gates pa
ose out of
t a ma
ing
. Silen
only by the softest golden lights along its edges. Like it
he front, and the door
epped ou
oll
y skin. I flinched. The ja
walked a step behind him, up the wide marble steps, through a
ng smelled of mo
caught the light like fire. A chandelier the size of a car
house wa
qu
o footsteps
ud of my own hea
until we reached
pped.
ne like a knife press
First door
, but sharp enough
llowe
what's i
dn't
r ro
r
dn't
pped c
. You'll stay out of sigh
. Not anger. Not softness eithe
ng to me
s tongue felt
a wh
br
ps disappearing down a different corridor, leaving me alone at the bo
or a long time
imbed the stairs slowly, eac
se I
walked throug
s no goi
open with a sof
wrapped in a jacket that didn't belong to me-staring i
asn't what
s bea
Cold.
ched. As if no one had ever really lived here. L
ike spilled milk. At the far end, a four-poster bed loomed-king-sized, draped in ivory linens, too pe
e silk. The windows stretched so high they
.. everything s
Smoke. Wi
closing behind me with a soft cl
't tur
s nowher
ssed against me. Like the w
olasses. The jacket slipped slightly off one shoulder
I expected-chains?
was none
ty hangers. A bathroom door standing open, inside gleaming tile and glass and gold. A silent te
rds. N
a r
essed lik
, my legs finally giving in. The mattress didn't c
t my hands
Pale. S
dn't
ght I
ears woul
wrung out.
room for signs of him. Any trace that he'd been
was no
rried his presence.
room belon
it belonged
I belong
that thought mad
e my thighs press toge
uld still smell h
I needed t
folding it carefully-too carefu
it, I wa
a
o the bathroo
aling marble counters and a gold-framed mirro
gnize the gir
Wide eyes. Bru
en broken open and stitc
pped
loser
ed out... and tu
he room. A balm ag
am
ed agains
the shower wi
e wate
t. The fear. The weight of
wash me
ured over me, soaking my
kn
could cleanse what
had touched nothing bu
.. he'd come