Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

KAYCE

My body freezes in place like I've just seen a ghost.

Because I have .

Staring deep into the eyes that I know so well, I try to both convince myself he's not actually standing there and will my feet to run toward him. He breaks our stare and begins walking away from the party and into the cemetery.

I shove through the crowd like a crazed woman— an obsessed one— and follow him as he disappears between the mausoleums. Running between the buildings and around the gravestones, I chase after a phantom of a man. Never able to catch him. I reach a small clearing with nowhere for him to hide, but he's still out of my sight.

He is a fucking ghost…or I'm losing my fucking mind.

Trying to catch my breath quietly, I listen for any sounds that prove I'm not out here alone. But I don't get one. I've run so far from the party that the music previously blaring from speakers is now only a faint hum. Suddenly realizing the foolish and dangerous situation I have put myself in, I quickly walk back toward the party.

Sticks snap not far behind me, and a shrill scream soars from my mouth as I quickly spin around, only to find myself completely alone. Picking up my pace, I mutter, "Get your shit together, Kayce. There isn't anyone else out her?—"

A large hand clamps over my mouth, silencing me. I try to scream, but it just vibrates against his warm palm. Snaking an arm around my waist, he pulls my back tightly to his chest. With his lips dusting against the shell of my ear, he playfully whispers, "It isn't safe for you to be out here all alone. You have no idea what kind of monsters are lurking in the dark."

I scream into his palm again until I'm breathless. My heart pounds as he lifts me from the ground and carries me toward a tall, narrow tombstone. He carefully takes us both to the ground and uses his hard body to pin me face-down in the grass. Grabbing my hand, he forcibly pulls it over my head. I try to fight him, but he's too strong. He easily ties it to a piece of rope already looped around the tombstone. Roughly, he grabs my other hand and attaches it to the first.

With my hands secure, he pushes himself from my back and kneels with his legs straddling my lower spine. Through my struggles and screams, he manages to slip soft fabric over my face, causing everything to go black. My heart pounds so hard that it thumps in my ears and echoes through the hood pulled over my head.

His lips press against the side of my throat, and my whole body involuntarily tenses so hard that all my muscles throb. He places a trail of wet kisses along the length of my neck as he works the zipper running the length of my torso. Gingerly pulling my dress down my legs, he leaves me bound in nothing but my bra and panties. "I'm going to give you everything you've been dreaming about," he gravelly whispers.

"I don't want this," I spit as I pull at the ropes holding me in place.

Cool blades of grass rest against my skin as he rolls me onto my back. He climbs on top of me, pressing his warm, bare skin against mine. His heavy, heated breaths blow over my breasts as his lips dust over them. As much as I want to deny his touch, my body betrays me, and I let out a small whimper when his mouth slides over my bra-covered nipple. Teasingly rubbing his lips around it, he taunts, "Are you sure you don't want this?"

"Yes," I bark, trying to hide my fear. "I'm fucking sure."

His lips continue to dust over my heavy breasts as his hands caress every inch of my exposed flesh. "You are so fucking beautiful," he breathes against my skin. "As much as I want to explore every fucking inch of you, I won't without your permission."

I scoff, and he lets out a deep chuckle. "You're going to be begging me to fuck you. You just don't know it yet."