Page 44 of Venomous Desires

I pushed futilely against his arm. But only tightened his hold and pulled me more into his chest.

“What are you doing?”

“Holding you.”

“Against my will.” I looked over my shoulder, but he was staring at the door. I averted my gaze to Kyle, but he only pretended not to see.

“You’re observant.” I glared at the hand still locked around my waist.

“People usually ask first.”

“Do they?”

“Civilized ones.”

A quiet chuckle escaped him. “That’s where your expectations went wrong, Ptichka.”

I tried prying his arm away again. “Let me go. I can stand now on my own.”

“Do you now?”

“I will scream.”

“Even if you scream, no one can hear you.”

I groaned, realising there was no use in talking to him. If he weren’t blind and twenty thousand dollars weren’t at stake, I’d have head-butted him.

A blind man had the power to make me want to be blind so that I could not see his volatile eyes.

“For the next two hours, I want you to behave.”

When I failed to respond, the fingers of his left hand slipped under the jacket, underneath my right breast, the fabric of my sweater suddenly feeling too transparent. My breath hitched; something I shouldn’t feel bubbled in my stomach.

My knees buckled, and my chest rose up and down frantically. I took a breath and leaned away from his touch, forcing my eyes shut into the skin of my raised arms.

His lips caressed the shell of my ear. “Are you going to behave or do I have to use force?”

I mustered up my courage and nodded. “Y-yes.”

I felt his lips curling against my ear, and then his fingers held my chin. I felt him lean into me. My whole body was burning. “Yes?” He repeated mockingly. “Yes, you will behave? Or yes, I have to force you again?”

My heart raced. I felt his breath on my cheek. There was suddenly not enough air to breathe, not enough space to store it. “Or you’re just going to be a problem for me.”

“I will behave.” I stammered.

I knew he smiled, though I couldn’t see it. A shiver, magnetic, pulled me towards him and ran through my veins. “Good girl.”

He kissed me softly on the cheek. I thought I whimpered. Then he released me and stepped away, leaving me paralysed even after I heard the elevator door open.

I lost my balance, my knees buckled, and my whole body trembled as I fell onto my knees.

Chapter 16

The Prey

Since childhood, understanding emotions had always been a hassle for me. It wasn’t that I was indifferent; I simply struggled to grasp why they felt the way they did.

When my father died tragically, I watched my mother cry herself to sleep night after night. I would kneel beside her door, bothered and confused by her tears and wondering why she couldn’t move on. I felt the loss too, but I believed that if we stayed mired in our grief, we’d be stuck there forever.