If she only knew the words that had just passed between him and Brian, she wouldn't venture through the house like this—tantalizingly half-naked in the middle of the night.
Lindsay turned off the treadmill, but he couldn't turn off the thing in his mind that said run, stalk, catch, capture, take, possess. He strode decisively toward her.
Whatever intent she'd seen in his eyes was enough to startle her into running from him. She didn't go for the main entryway and the stairs but instead ran down the hallway toward the cafeteria—no doubt a place she thought was safe... neutral.
Lindsay's legs were much longer and stronger than hers. It only took a minute to catch her, to pin her against the wall here in this wide open space where there was nowhere to hide.
Shannon panted, gasping to catch her breath. Lindsay held her wrists trapped against the wall. They stood a few yards away from the buffet Phyllis would be filling with food soon. In a few hours there would be talk and laughter and sunlight in this room. A safety he couldn't offer her now.
For a long moment they stared at each other—predator and prey—a silent ancient understanding passing between them.
“Why did you run?” he asked, breaking the spell.
“Why did you chase me?”
He couldn't help but notice she hadn't used the word Master yet. The last man she'd used that title for had been the man who'd driven her to Lindsay's office in the city in the first place.
“If you open your mouth again, it had better be to address me properly.”
She looked away. Not defiance. Shyness. Interesting development.
“Look at me.”
She turned back, her breathing normal now. He slipped his hand between her legs. No panties. Good girl. She was wet and ready for him. How many nights had she been left wanting because he hadn't been there to take care of her?
She'd obviously come down here looking for him tonight... looking for this. Otherwise, why wouldn't she put on more clothes to wander the halls? Why would she leave herself so open and vulnerable to him?
“Do not take your eyes off mine or there will be consequences.”
The clock on the wall above them ticked loudly in the stillness. He was sure she felt his erection pressed against her. And yet, she didn't squirm away from it.
Right now they were a million miles away from this same room twenty-four hours ago when he'd been making tea and she'd seemed so fragile and barely of this world. At the time he'd had the odd notion to fuck her back into living, but now, in this moment, he knew the truth. He'd been living the same half-life as her, barely existing inside the shadow of Brian's cruelty.
The only difference was that he'd had more distraction and less pain than Shannon's part in this drama. It was the only reason he hadn't seen his own emptiness—the emptiness that he saw reflected back to him now in guileless chocolate-colored eyes.
He'd wanted to seduce her, warm her up, bring her over more slowly. It was a complete lie that he'd make her beg him to fuck her. Or that fucking was only for good girls. Fucking was for her. Good or bad.
“Please,” she whispered. She opened her legs wider and thrust her hips up at him in an achingly beautiful invitation to his cock.
Fuck it. He had plenty of time to be creative with her. There was nothing more perfect than this moment—running down prey and fucking it against the cafeteria wall.
“Master, please,” she whispered again.
That word he wanted from her finally tumbling from her lips so sweetly.
He let out a low groan when he entered her. She was breathtakingly tight, further evidence she'd been with no one in years. She felt like a virgin. She was so wet and pliant and open. How the hell did they get to this moment? How the hell had they not gotten to it sooner?
He took her like he knew she'd needed to be taken since he'd first laid eyes on her. He drove into her far too savagely for someone who hadn't been with a man in so long, but he wanted to sear the feel of his cock into her mind forever. Let there be no question who the fuck owned her.
In their frenzied joining, the cafeteria became a blend of ticking, rhythmic pounding against the wall, and the soft pants and moans coming from Shannon's sweet mouth as she bucked against him meeting him thrust for thrust.
To her credit she didn't look away when she came, her cunt pulsing around him. Nor did she break his gaze when he did the same. He kept her pressed against the wall, her wrists still pinned over her head. And they just looked at each other, their breathing harsh. It was as though they had a secret now between them. Even though the whole house would know in mere hours.
Shannon laid in bed pretending to sleep as Lindsay got ready to go into the city. She'd replayed the previous night in her mind about a hundred times already.
“Shannon,” he called from the bathroom.
Fuck. She'd hoped she could feign sleep until he was out of the house. She didn't think she could look at him today after the previous night. What had happened between them downstairs in the cafeteria, while it may not have been some complex kink game, it had been so raw. And so soon. But when he'd pinned her against the wall, all she'd wanted was for him to be inside her, to mark her as his. To consummate those papers he'd given her and put truth behind those little numbers on the printout.
She felt a blissful raw ache between her legs as if he were still inside her. It had been so long. She'd held back the cry of pain when he'd pushed his way inside her. She'd been wet enough, but it still hurt. She hadn't cared. But now, in the light of day she felt awkward, and all at once she was overcome with old familiar insecurity. Insecurity from before the house. The insecurity of the morning after you'd been with a man you really really liked, when you were afraid that maybe you'd fucked it up somehow, maybe he felt nothing. Maybe he was done now.
She didn't want Lindsay to be a man who fell into the man she really really liked category. She hated him. She did. And yet, those nervous fears fluttered through her. Even with the grand gesture... maybe she was out of his system now. Maybe the hunger was gone. Maybe his curiosity was sated and he was done. Maybe...
“Kitten...” he growled from the bathroom. “Get your ass in here.”
Okay, maybe not done.
Shannon got up and joined him in the shower. She didn't have to be told he wanted her in there with him. It might have been a long time since she'd done this, but she wasn't stupid.
He ran soapy hands over her body, lingering for long moments over her breasts and ass. Between her legs. She whimpered and rocked against his hand. She wasn't sure she could take him fucking her again so soon, but she wanted him to. It had been so incredibly long since anyone had taken her with such raw desire. She'd been sure she'd never feel that with anyone again.
But he didn't fuck her. Instead he put the soap in her hands. “My turn,” he said.
She bathed him, her hands also lingering... over his chest, his abs. That ass. That perfect tight ass she wanted to leave nail marks in. When she reached his cock, he'd had enough games.
“Stroke me. Don't fuck around. I don't have time for you to tease me.”
The coldly delivered order should have offended her, should have hurt her. But it only awakened long buried urges—the needs it seemed someone was finally agreeing to fill. She wrapped her hand around him, gripping and stroking him hard and fast, as his eyes held her gaze locked on his.