Chapter 17

Piper

Dang him to heck for the new books. I hated that the book lover inside of me couldn"t leave them there on the desk. He sat them there to taunt me, and I left feeling more teased than ever.

With the books wedged between my arm and pressed against my ribs, I walked toward my room, feeling the walls staring at me. Maybe it was my guilt following me around. I did feel guilt that I felt this uncontrollable lust over the man that kidnapped me, while my parents and friends worried about me back home.

I"d fallen into a twisted Stockholm multiverse. I never pictured myself as a woman that could be lustful after the man that ripped her from the real world, and tossed her into his own. I understood how people fell in love with their captor now. Granted, I was one hundred percent sure that all kidnappers didn"t look like or act like Zander.

Scolding myself, I marched toward my room and shut the door behind me. The books were new releases, and I couldn't wait to dive in. I plopped onto my bed when someone knocked on the door.

Sighing, I dropped the book and walked over to the doorway. Zander stood on the other side, sliding his hands into his pants pocket, he smiled over at me. I avoided the smug look on his face that screamed—I just had you pressed against the library bookshelf, while you dry humped my hip.

"Do you need something?" I asked, unable to keep the hostility out of my voice.

A snide comment rested on his tongue, but he seemed to swallow it. "I need your attendance."

"I"m busy," I said, going to shut the door but he wedged his boot into the doorframe, stopping me.

"Reading smut?" he asked, inclining his head to look inside on my bed, where I had shamefully planned to curl up and fall into a true romance, one that didn"t revolve around monsters or beasts. "That can wait," he said.

"Can it?" I asked. "I don"t see anything else to do."

Zander smiled, and I watched as he avoided another sexual innuendo.

Reaching forward, he tugged the doorknob behind me, and shut it, pushing me out into the hallway with him. "A please would have sufficed," I said.

He eyed me. "A please wouldn"t have worked. You"re a stubborn smart-mouthed woman, and manners do not work on you."

"You"re right," I said, adjusting my dress. "Now, where is the fire? Did you call the fire department? I"d love to have a little chat with them."

He turned on his heel and started walking down the grand staircase. "I thought you"d be interested in this. Please," he said, looking back over his shoulder. "Follow me."

With what was left of my dignity, I followed him down the staircase and toward wherever he led me. Vivian stood in the doorway of the kitchen as we passed, and I wanted to flip her the bird after her unhelpful conversation from the night before.

Zander took a sharp turn down a long hallway where the ceiling was made of skylights. The hallway was circular and attached the castle to something built way after the original structure. The glass was tinted, blocking Zander from the sun, but it let in more sunlight than the other rooms in the house.

The closer we grew to the end of the hallway the aroma of chlorine hit my nose. They had a pool? He"d left that out of the original tour. Zander stepped down from a drop-off, and offered me his hand.

I took it, letting him help me down the dip and into the room with a huge indoor pool. I took in the Olympic size, the lounge chairs and the rain pelting against the skylights above us.

"You"re excited," he said, eyeing me. "You like to swim."

"I love to swim," I said.

Zander nodded. "Well then, by all means, let"s swim." He turned away from me, tugged his shirt over his head in that sexy male way, and tossed it to the side.

My gaze swept over his deltoids, the dramatic slope that made my thighs clench, and the muscles of his back. My stomach clenched at the white raised scars crisscrossed over his back. It looked like something out of a movie, not something you saw in real life.

He glanced over his shoulder. "Are you coming?"

I slid my tongue over my teeth. I wanted to swim desperately. It always put me in a good mood, but swimming in this dress, or my underwear felt out of place.

"I don"t have a suit."

Shadows drew over the deep lines of his abdomen, and oblique"s when he turned toward me. "Good. Neither do I."

He stepped backward, turned and dove straight into the deep end of the pool.

Dang it.

Biting my lip, I reached back and untied my dress the best I could. The corset top made it hard, but I struggled my way out of it. A slight breeze chilled my skin and peaked my nipples against the soft fabric of my lace bra.

I stepped out of it, and kicked it to the side with my toe, walking around the pool, I watched as he swam beneath the water for far longer than I could. It had to be the magic in his blood.

When he came up, he brushed his auburn locks from his eyes, and met my gaze. Backstroking, he stopped when he hit the opposite wall. I felt his gaze crawling over my skin, but I didn"t mind.

I took pride in keeping my body in shape, though I"d been slacking over the last week. Once I made it to the ladder, I slowly made my way into the warm water, and plunged downward toward the tiled bottom.

Zander wasn"t on the opposite wall anymore when I swam up for breath.

"I want to play a game," he whispered into my ear.

I turned a quick circle. His honey colored eyes were bright in the dim sunlight, his gaze fighting a battle to glance down at the mounds of my breasts, and my mouth. "What kind of game?" I asked.

"Twenty questions."

"I would have guessed truth or dare."

"If you want."

I chuckled. "Twenty questions will work just fine. Me first," I said, treading water. "Do you truly think I"m your fated mate?"

Zander swam toward me an inch, turning a quick right to avoid hitting me. "I know you are. A wolf recognizes his mate immediately." I wasn"t in a position to disagree with him. I"d had too many feelings of crazy lust to deny it.

"My turn," he said, swimming forward, backing me closer to the wall. "What"s your favorite color?"

I blinked lazily at him. "That"s the best you"ve got? Teal. I hate to say you"re wasting your questions, Big Guy. My turn. Who was the little boy I saw in the woods?"

Zander"s smile faded. "I don"t know his name, and he"s not real. At least, he isn"t anymore."

I folded my brow, and perched my elbow against the wall behind me for support. "What does that mean?"

Zander smiled. "My turn, Little One. What do you like in a man?"

"A sense of humor," I admitted. "My turn. Are you telling me that boy was dead?"

Zander swallowed, and reached out to perched himself up beside me. "Yes." He searched my face for a reaction, and I was certain he saw the shock there. Not that I should have been surprised. When I didn"t respond, he asked, "Did you love your ex-boyfriend?"

My fingertips curled around the edge of the swimming pool. "No. I thought I did, but I didn"t. Not really. I loved the idea of us."

His gaze settled on my mouth. "Your turn, Little One."

"Do you think keeping me here is honestly going to work?"

Zander reached forward, and swiped a piece of hair from my forehead. "I have hope, Little One." He inched forward, his leg brushed against mine under the water, sending goosebumps up my flesh. "What"s the best kiss you"ve ever had?"

A blush crawled up my cheeks. He knew. He had to know, but he wanted me to say it. Lying wasn"t a good attribute of mine, so I didn"t even attempt it. "Yours," I whispered.

Zander swam forward another inch, and I felt my stomach warming. "I—what is your best kiss?" I asked, feeling stupid for asking it, knowing I needed to use my questions wisely. I had so many.

He chuckled, and braced his palm on the other side of me, trapping me against him. "Oh, Little One. I"ve never tasted a mouth as good as yours."

I closed my eyes, trying to block out the overwhelming urge I had from him looking at me. "What do you need from me to trust me?" he asked.

His minty breath hit mine; his chest brushed my aching nipples, and my body lit fire. "You kidnapped me," I whispered.

"Would you have believed me if I had come up to you as the beast that night? What other choice did I have?"

"Not take me against my will, Zander," I said. "I miss my family. My job thinks I abandoned them—,"

"What if I let you go back?" he asked, his hazel eyes danced that honey color again.

The silence, other than the rain above us, deafened me. "You"d let me go back, and what?" I asked.

His fingers gripped the concrete on either side of me. "You could go back and let them know that you"re okay, and then come back ... to me. For me."

The way he said it made me hopeful. Would this man truly let me go back home? What were the chances of me coming back with the risk of being held captive again? Was this a game? A tease? My inner self wanted to believe it.

My gaze lowered to his full mouth, and fixated on the temptation the water droplets sliding down his skin caused me. "You"d trust me enough to do that?"

"I have no choice. The curse won"t break if you don"t love me, Piper. What good is keeping you here if you hate me?"

He was right. He already said he needed more than sex from me, which he hadn"t forced on me. Zander needed true love, which I wasn"t sure I believed in. "I don"t hate you," I admitted.

Zander pulled himself closer, every inch of me, touching every inch of him. The fire inside was blazing. I wanted him to do so many things to me. His handsome face softened around those sharp edges. "The police will be here in a few days, they"re searching the area," he whispered. "If you want to leave when they make it near, I"ll let you go."

I swallowed, wondering why he would let me go. He must not have hope anymore. Was he wrong? Was I not his mate? A part of me felt devastated, which was wrong. So wrong. Why do I even care?

"What if I don"t come back?"

"I have hope that you will," he whispered against my mouth.

The tornado of lust inside of me twisted, and slowly I wrapped my legs around his waist, and kissed him. It was soft, a tease, but when he didn"t attack me as I suspected, I felt him giving me the reigns.

It was silent, but noted.

"You don"t want to kiss me?" I asked, feeling pathetic, like a desperate fifteen-year-old girl in fear of losing her first boyfriend.

"I want you to kiss me. I promise not to take anything else from you, Ms. Sloane. This way, when the time comes for you to leave, it"ll be on your own accord and not some lust driven decision."

"Every time you"ve kissed me, I"ve wanted it," I said softly, tracing my fingertips along his deltoid, and pulling him in closer with my legs. "I believe the mate bond, Zander, but I don"t trust you. You are keeping secrets, and a relationship should be built on trust. What"s that saying? Secrets, secrets, are no fun. Secrets, secrets, hurt someone?"

Zander pondered for a moment. "That may be so, Little One, but this time, the truth may hurt worse than those secrets."

He pulled away from me, causing my legs to unwrap and my arms to catch my weight. "Are we finished with our game?" I asked.

"I have several questions left. I think I"ll keep them for another time. Vivian is coming to tell us lunch is ready," he said, climbing out of the pool, looking closely to a Greek God.

"Can you wait on me?" I asked, suddenly feeling alone in the room. He didn"t seem to acknowledge them, but my insecurities were out in the open for him. My wounds bleeding. Why did I care what this beast thought of me, and why did him pulling away make me feel cold in a heated pool?

"Always," he answered.