Chapter 5

ChapterFive

RUE

I might have a lot more in common with Maxim than I ever thought. I’ve often felt like I’m nobody to everybody, but I wonder if it’s a life he’s chosen. This was given to me while he wants to be in the shadows. I hide in them because it’s a necessity. At least I try to. Maxim isn’t really letting me do that now that I’m his captive.

“Maxim—” I stop speaking when I hear his phone vibrate in his pocket.

“I have to take this,” he says when he looks at the screen.

He walks away and leaves me alone in the massive bathroom. I fall back into the giant tub and stare at the ornate chandelier overhead. It makes the ceiling glitter.

For hours I’ve been trying to figure out how to make an escape, but now I’m wondering if it would be so bad to stick around for a bit. What’s so wrong with playing pretend in this beautiful place? But deep down, I know it will only lead to me getting hurt.

Sitting up, I inspect the device on my ankle. It’s unlike any I’ve ever seen before. I’m good at picking locks, but this contraption is something new. There’s not a place for a key, so it must be some kind of electric remote.

“You won’t get it off.”

Maxim’s voice startles me when he reenters the bathroom.

“Who was on the phone?” I pretend to ignore his words. If I can’t get it off, then maybe I can break it. This feels like a challenge, and I was never good at turning those down.

“No one you’d know.” He slips the phone back into his pocket, and his response irritates me.

What the hell is his deal? Why am I here to begin with?

“You don’t know who I know,” I spit back at him and pop up from the tub.

I go to pass him in the doorway and explore the rest of the suite, but Maxim reaches out to stop me. I’m quicker, or at least quicker than he expects me to be, because I manage to dodge his hand and take off as fast as I can.

“There is no escaping me, little firecracker,” I hear him call out before his heavy steps are behind me.

Knowing he’s right, I make it to the other side of the couch so that it’s between us.

“I can always escape,” I tell him, but Maxim shakes his head.

“I’m sure you have in the past, but I promise you that no one has ever escaped me.” He keeps his eyes locked on me, waiting for me to make my next move.

Does he mean the men he’s faced off with or women that he chose to kidnap and toy with? Maybe he has some kind of fetish. As hot as it sounds, I don’t see any women trying to escape him. Sucks for him, but I’m not going to play his weird sex game because he’s bored and I’m convenient.

“I don’t know who you’re used to dealing with, but I can assure you that I want to get away, and I’ll do it. Eventually,” I tell him, and his eyes narrow. “What? Do all the ladies you kidnap normally drop to their knees so easily?”

I’m trying my best to sound like I don’t care, but there might be a smidge of jealousy that slipped in there. I don’t want to think about him with other women.

“Firecracker, I can promise you that I won’t make you get on your knees,” he vows and then licks his lips. “But if you want me to, I’m more than willing.”

The image of him on his knees with his head up my skirt flashes through my mind. It sends a wave of desire through me, and I don’t like it. So instead of answering him, I pick up the closest thing to me and toss it at him. Turns out it was some stupid paperweight, and he catches it with one hand before tossing it on the couch between us.

I don’t get a chance to react before he leaps over the furniture and catches me off guard. I let out a small scream and take off running again. Only this time, I don’t get far. His arm wraps around my waist as he lifts me off the floor, and I decide to flail.

“You brute!” I shout as he tosses me over his shoulder. “Put me down!”

Once again, he catches me unawares as I’m tossed onto something soft. I don’t get a chance to try and get away again before Maxim comes down on top of me. He’s pinning me to the giant bed that now seems small with him in it.

“What are you doing?” I pant. Why am I out of breath? When I wiggle, trying to get free, Maxim grabs both of my wrists and pins them above my head. His hold is gentle but unyielding.

“Careful,” he warns, but I never do as I’m told. I fight harder, and then I feel the weight of Maxim’s body pin me to the bed. My legs spread wider, and something hard and large presses against my sex. When I realize what it is, I suck in a deep breath and his pupils dilate. “You’re going to learn to do as I say.”

I nod my head, unable to speak. A pulse throbbing between my legs has consumed my brain, and it takes everything inside of me to not move again. Not because I would be trying to break free but because I want to rub that pulsing ache away.

Maxim looks at my mouth, and my lips part.

“Are you sure you’re a virgin?” His hold on my wrists tightens. Why does that turn me on more? “Because I think you’re trying to toy with me.”

“Me? I keep trying to get away from you.”

“Or do you like being chased?” he challenges.

Do I? I keep running, and I know there’s nowhere for me to hide in this suite.

“Let me go,” I demand, ignoring his question.

“No,” he says with finality, and though it should piss me off, it doesn’t.

“Am I like catnip? Why are all the men in my life stalking me?” I pretend to be annoyed and let out a long sigh. Maxim and Gavin are polar opposites, so I really shouldn’t lump them together.

Gavin laid it on thick with the charm and said all the right things. For two seconds, I thought he was the kind of man I should be with. I forced it, but I knew the relationship was wrong. I never felt any sexual attraction to him, and I convinced myself it would come with time. I kept thinking that all I had to do was get to know Gavin better and then I’d feel something.

The second I saw Maxim, the attraction was instant. It was so powerful and consuming that I knew I couldn’t have convinced myself to ever feel this way about another person. It was like I felt it in my soul.

“Don’t talk about him when we’re in bed together.”

I smirk, knowing that he just handed me the perfect way to piss him off. If I’m going to fight this need for him, I have to put some distance between us.