I opened my eyes and started to lift up off the warm softness of Sloane’s body. She was still catching her breath, resting beneath me, and I didn’t want to crush her any more than I already had. Slipping out of her felt like a sin. I was reluctant to ease out of her pussy that only now released me as her orgasm faded. After two weeks of her not talking to me and trying to put distance between us, I was eager to keep her as close as possible for as long as I wanted, regardless of whether she wanted that or not.
Bracing myself on my forearms so I wouldn’t back up completely, I dragged in a ragged breath and hoped it would help clear my mind.
Like this, I gave her more space to breathe easier without all of my weight on her. She let out a grunt as I rose.
“What was that?”
Maybe she was trying to say something. I hadn’t really cared what she had tried to tell me when I was fucking her hard. But now that I was sated and I felt calmer for coming so hard deep inside her, I could hear her out now.
“Nothing,” she muttered.
Nothing as in you weren’t saying anything or nothing as in you don’t want me to know what you’re thinking?
“Going straight back to the silent treatment, are we?”
She craned her neck, making her shoulder blades flex as she twisted to look at me the best she could. Narrowing her eyes, she let me know that she wasn’t amused.
“No,” she bit out. “That was getting really fucking old.”
I chuckled at her honesty as I climbed off her some more. She wasn’t giving me any hint that she’d try to bolt. I bet her legs were too shaky yet for her to get far. When she made a move to get up, I pressed my hand on the smooth skin of her back and held her down. “Wait a minute,” I ordered, only letting her roll onto her side and face me. She stared at me, not shy at all but perhaps a little annoyed that I was keeping her still. Without her protest, I treated myself to another lazy look of her naked body.
Mine. All mine.
She was my mistress now, no matter what her plans were about that. Coming in here tonight and breaking through the ice of her silent treatment felt like the first step to a new beginning between us.
The longer she lay still and gave my cum a chance to take root in her, the sooner she could give me the heir I needed.
“You’re the one who wanted to pull that silent treatment stunt,” I reminded her.
She furrowed her brow, making that little V in the crease above the bridge of her nose. “I had to do something and take a stand however I could. I told you that this was my worst fear realized.”
I grinned, not caring how cocky I looked. “Your worst fear realized was to be fucked so hard that you almost passed out?” I dared her to deny it.
The tip of her tongue peeked out and traced the seam of her lips as if she couldn’t control her reaction of a potential smile. Just the idea that she’d want to hide a smile from me fascinated me.
I had no doubt she hated me for kidnapping her. I could see how conflicted she was about wanting me when I was her captor. But the thought of her enjoying this push-and-pull and challenge between us excited me.
“It would be pointless for me to lie and say that I didn’t enjoy that.” She lowered her gaze to eye my dick. It lay glistening from our cum as it stuck to my thigh. When she sighed, I held in a growl of desire. Just her looking at me like that threatened to make me hard again. I’d just come so intensely that I’d almost blacked out over her back, yet I already lusted for her again.
“I’m not complaining,” she admitted wryly.
I smiled again, worried she could be putting a spell on me, lazy and honest like this, just talking.
“But being here like this is my worst fear realized.”
“Explain.”
She arched one brow. “Would you want to be someone’s captive?”
“I hated it.”
She blinked.
“You’ve been captured before?”
I nodded. “A rival family kidnapped me and tortured me for three nights before I killed them all and escaped.”
Her throat flexed with a smile, but I had to give her credit for not looking away. Her stubbornness to face me seemed like a tiny step toward her acknowledging I was a ruthless, dangerous man. And still, she was staying cool.
“Have you been threatened by someone before?” I asked her. Sure, no one wanted to be kidnapped. That was a given. But she seemed especially antsy about it. “Has someone else tried to take you captive?”
She smirked. “I already told you about that.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you haven’t really talked at all since you’ve been here.” Goading her about beating her out of that silence was too fun.
“At first, I did,” she argued. “That first night before you locked me in here like a caged animal.”
When she didn’t elaborate, I waited her out with an expectant stare. And won.
“I told you about how Lenny almost forced me into that van, when the Mafia men were taking dancers.”
I nodded, brushing her hair back from her face. She didn’t flinch or try to shy away, and I was glad that she was getting used to my touch. Soon, she’d crave it.
“I don’t like the idea of being controlled by you,” she added.
Too late for that. She was mine, and I would control her and keep her. Her purpose would be to act as my mistress and give me a child, but I didn’t have the desire to hover and lord over her like some bastard owner.
Sequestering her in my room forever wasn’t a feasible option. It wasn’t my goal, either. I only needed to knock her up to secure her staying here as a kept woman, but I would need to draw the parameters for her freedom within the house. I hadn’t given it enough thought yet, too busy with this temporary leadership over the family. I had no time to babysit her myself. And the idea of delegating a soldier to watch over her didn’t appeal either because she was mine, no one else’s.
“I don’t like the idea of being controlled by any man.”
“Has that happened to you before?” I asked.
“Yes.” She frowned. “And no.”
“How?”
She shifted to put both of her hands beneath her face, and it emphasized her breasts smushing together. Keeping myself in check was proving difficult, but I didn’t want to lose this moment.
When she didn’t reply, I caught on quickly to the fact that she would not offer any further information unless I directly asked her a specific question. While that was kind of a pain in the ass, I would rather have her open up to me of her own accord. I understood that she had to be feeling vulnerable, and I reminded myself to keep a considerable pace with her.
Before she could reply, I gestured for her to get up with me. Enough time had to have passed by now for my cum to take. I hoped.
Instead of lounging with our juices drying on our skin, I took her hand and led her to the bathroom so we could clean up. Once we were under the hot spray of water, close together as I washed her first, I was pleased with how receptive she was of my taking care of her. I was pleased that she didn’t try to hide or flee.
“How?” I asked again. “How has someone kind of controlled you before?”
“I grew up in the system and—”
I jerked my head up to stare at her as I washed her. “You have no family?”
I didn’t mean to cut her off when I had her talking. Getting her to speak up and answer me was like pulling teeth, but her confession about being a foster kid was important. If she didn’t have any relatives, that would make my goal easier to reach. No parents would be looking for her. No siblings would be putting out a missing persons report for her absence. It would simplify my attempt to keep her here. Plus, the fact that she had no one might prompt her to be more willing as my mistress.
She huffed, clearly annoyed that I’d interrupted her, but she didn’t give me too much sass about it. “Yes. I was told that my parents dropped me off at a fire station when I was a baby. And then I grew up in the system.”
“You were never adopted?”
She shook her head but changed that to a slight nod. “I ended up with a woman in a small town in Connecticut, but when I was in high school, I met Derick and we became high school sweethearts.”
Jealousy hit me at her mention of another man, but I comforted myself with how she referred to him in the past tense.
“Derick wanted to move to the city, so we left town and came here. But it didn’t take him long to cheat on me and then run up debt on all my credit cards.”
“Aha,” I said. “Is that why you were stripping?”
She narrowed her eyes again, apparently not a fan of that judgment and prejudice about her chosen career. Gesturing at her wet, soapy body, she dragged my attention down. She indicated her huge tits with water streaking over them, then lower to point at the apex of her bare mound and that sweet pussy between her legs. The visual of her body taunted me to refrain from licking, sucking, nipping, and worshiping every inch of her smooth skin.
“With a body like this, why wouldn’t I?” she quipped.
A slow smile tugged at my lips. That was cocky of her to say, but it was also true. She had the body of a siren, and it was sexy of her to own up to her beauty.
“It’s not like I went to college or could’ve gotten a better-paying job. I’m just using what I’ve got, trying to survive like everyone else in the world. So yeah, being a stripper isn’t fun, but there’s no doubt that it pays well.”
“Not well enough to get you out of debt?” I asked.
She lowered her head slightly, but I tipped her chin up with my fingers.
Rolling her eyes then looking to the side of the shower stall, she seemed reluctant to answer.
“Sloane?”
She sighed and faced me, but I couldn’t read her expression. Immediately, I became skeptical, worried that she was hiding something from me with her slowness to answer. She was opening up to me little by little, and that was a good start, but I saw how hesitant she was and how nervous she still acted.
Something about her guarded expression at this moment made me tense.
“Sloane.”
“What?” She frowned, defensive again.
“Are you ashamed of being in debt?” Maybe that was it. Perhaps it could be something as simple as that. She wouldn’t hesitate to strip, but her debt might be too humiliating to address.
It was clear she wanted to keep something a secret from me, and I knew I’d be wise to stay cautious.
I can’t trust any woman.
I had gotten into the habit of not wanting to trust any Mafia women, but Sloane wasn’t one. She was just a stripper off the streets. A woman who was an orphan. Someone deep in debt.
“I’ll clear it,” I stated as I finished rinsing her off.
She blinked and watched me closely. “Just like that?”
I nodded. “Just like that.”
“Because that’s what you do? Find strippers and save them for no reason at all?” She was too skeptical, but I couldn’t blame her. I wasn’t fully trusting her either so she was merely meeting me in the middle.
“I told you my reason. You are here to give me an heir.”
Again, she lowered her chin and cut out eye contact.
“And I will fuck you as many times as it takes until you’re pregnant.”
When she lifted her face, I shook my head at the sober anxiousness she showed me.
“No. You have no option to change this fate. You will give me an heir.”
“But why me? Why not some Mafia princess or wealthy socialite?”
I scrubbed my body, perceiving her reaction as a challenge, and it made me want to fuck her again. Any protest from her was a turn-on.
“Why would you take my baby from me?”
I frowned, finding her choice of words interesting, as if she already had a baby, not that we’d make one.
“Why would you use me for a baby?”
With clarity, I realized she was afraid of my taking something else from her. Not just her pussy, but her child. I would. There wasn’t a chance in fucking hell that she’d have my baby and I wouldn’t have full custody. But in the back of my head, another vision filled in with more details. I saw her staying in my future too. Not just to be bred and dismissed as a fuck toy or mistress, but with me.
Lowering my head to think through how stupid these urges were, I focused on cleaning myself and not looking into the drawing pull of her green eyes.
I couldn’t tell her. I couldn’t even hint at the idea that I wanted her to give me a baby and give herself to me too.
That was way too big of an admission to share with her now. Or ever.
If I let her know how badly she was getting to me, that would be intel she could use against me.
No. She couldn’t know. I refused to mention how much I could see myself becoming addicted to her.
But she was still waiting for a reply. I felt every second of her worried stare on me.
When I faced her again, I took the easy way out of having to answer at all.
Gripping the back of her neck, I pulled her close so I could kiss her hard, silencing any attempt at conversation.
