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What I failed to realize until this ave him to my arm, not until I feel the coldbut flesh and bone, and hear the startling nuht around —not quite anger, not quite protectiveness So in between

“Trust has to be earned, not freely given,” he tells ravelly tone that sends a shiver up my spine

I s “Yet you want me to trust you, no questions asked” The words come out of my mouth without permission, just like they did every time I spoke to him between the kitchen and where we stand now Is itabout this man that makes me want to speak exactly what’s onI’m safe to talk freely without worry of some kind of punishment?

“I’ve done all I can so far to earn your trust, Arabella I’ve been nothing but gentle with you I’ve fed you I haven’t hurt you in any way That’s how I earn people’s trust, with actions, not words,” he explains, and I can’t even argue, because what he said is true He hasn’t done anything tome

Except for the fact that he’s now tugginghis other are bed, where he snaps the other cuff around one of the wooden rungs of the headboard He yanks on the bedspread until he pulls it out from under me, then lays it across my lower half I would complain, but it’s like I’ve been tucked into a cloud, and the handcuffs aren’t all that uncomfortable

My body sinks into theoverin my food But as if he can read my mind, he says, “Your adrenaline has worn off, and if what I assume is true, you haven’t been so well-fed in quite so with your full belly will ood, deep sleep”

He tellsin his eyes I’ve never seen from anyone before, notinside ht, and itbed He lifts his hand toa strand ofthe line of ain

“Get so I need to take care of tonight before I can join you,” he murmurs, the soft look in his eyes still there as he steps back from the bed, then turns and walks out the door

Try as I hme under My mind won’t just shut off What in the hell just happened in the last two hours? Wasn’t it just a few days ago that I was daydrea to steal me away from my cloistered life? Did I manifest this? And as scared as I am of this situation in reality, the e about this happening Over and over again, I brought e inme away to his castle

How did my fantasy come true so accurately?

If I had written it down in a diary soot ahold of it and was paying this man to role play and act out this dream of mine But I never had God only knohat Ferro would’ve done if he’d found it

Ferro—ill he do when he discovers I’ure out I’one since he only visits me once a month, but that’s not the case, because certainly my security team realized I wasn’t home almost immediately They would’ve infor it up to my apartment after my driver dropped me off

Could they be tracking ht now, as I lay comfortable and not in a panic in anotheronI had withof books, my purse I’d just purchased the day before that only had my credit card, ID, and lipstick I’d purposely left my phone at home to not be disturbed atI needed otherwise, I could simply ask my driver for