Of course, I wouldkeep her sass intact; I liked that too much about her, but shewould know exactly who she belonged to and would never dream ofleaving me, even if she were presented with the option of freedom.She would choose me because she loved me and I was her only reasonfor living. I wanted her to be just as obsessed with me as I waswith her.
That goal wouldtake the longest to accomplish. I would gain her love eventually,but first, I needed her fear; I needed her to know who was incontrol in order to keep herin line. I would reward her with gentleness and comfort for herobedience, and when it finally became second nature, I wouldmove on to phase two. Iwould give her the world. My world.
ChapterTwenty-One
Business
I woke up entirelytoo hot, and I felt like I was being crushed into the mattress. Ilifted my sweaty head from the pillow to find that Darren hadpractically rolled over on top of me. Lying face down, I pushedwith all my might to roll him off me, but he was too goddamn heavy.Bit by bit, I slowly inched myself away from him, and just as Iturned my back to him, both his arms came sweeping over me andpulled me right back in.
“Mmm …” he said, nuzzling into me. “Where do you think you’regoing?”
“You’re smothering me with your overactive body temperature. Idon’t feel like dying of heat stroke just yet,” I groaned as hesqueezed me tightly.
He mumbled hissleepy chuckle as he kissed my hair and then reached over to theside of the bed. He fiddled with it and then a few seconds later Ifelt the mattress becoming several degreescooler.
“Better?” he asked.
“Thermal mattress covers?” I said looking up athim.
“That’s not what I asked you.”
“Yes, better, thank you,” I quickly correctedmyself.
“Good, you should always remember to answer my questionsfirst.”
“Okay.” I nodded.
Darren then rolled me over, laid my head onhis chest, and draped my right leg over his while he kept a tightarm around my back. He kissed my forehead and began gently rubbingmy back, but it just felt so wrong. I wanted to be lying with Jason, not this monster.
For a moment, we just laid there, and I tookthe time to quietly study his body while he busied himself feelingup mine. He was solid, yet soft enough to lay on. Smooth lightlytanned skin covered layers of thick muscle, and for some oddreason, I wanted to trace my fingers along the edges of thosemasculine curves. I hadn’t realized it before, but Darren actuallysported an eight pack rather than the typical six, and it made mejealous as fuck. I had to give it to him – his body was impressive,even with all the obvious battle scars.
As my eyes secretly wandered, I realized Ihad a better view of the eagle tattoo on Darren’s forearm. Thesymbol on the shield hanging from the eagle’s talons contained anintricate design of interlocking obtuse triangles, revealing thebadge of Darren’s life as a criminal leader – the same badge hewore on his right middle finger.
A few short seconds later, Darren's phonewent off with an almost urgency to it. He reached over to thenightstand and grabbed it.
“Yeah?” he said, answering it.
“We’ve got a situation,” I heard the malevoice on the other line say. I pretended to hear nothing as I keptmyself relaxed, but I wondered what the “situation” was.
“Give me five minutes,” Darren repliedand hung up. “Sorry, princess,” he said, scooting out fromunder me. “I’m going to have to postpone our morning plans untillater.”
“Am I allowed to ask where you're going?” Isaid, sitting up and pulling the sheet to my chest.
“I’m not leaving the estate. That’s all youneed to know," he said as he pulled on a pair of dark gray track pants and a black tank top.
He walked into the bathroom and came backout two minutes later looking fresh and awake. I wish I could getready that fast. I looked over at the clock and realized it wasonly 8:35 a.m.
“And what about me?” I asked as innocentlyas possible. As far as I knew, I was still bound to his room.
“You can go anywhere you want in the houseexcept for the places you already know are off-limits. What wouldyou like for breakfast?” he asked as he laced up his Adidas.
“Do I have to dress up for it if you're notgoing to be there? I'd kind of like to work out afterward, and it’s not good to sweat withmakeup on.” I gave him little puppy dog eyes hoping he would see myside of things.
“That’s fine,” he said. I released a sigh ofrelief and gave him a slight smile.
“Thank you,” I said. “And I’ll just have abagel with cream cheese.” I was going to need a lot of carbs forthe workout I had in mind.
“That's it?” he disapproved, raising aneyebrow at me.
“Yes?” I replied inquisitively.
“No, you need something else to go withthat.”
“I won’t be able to fit anything else,” Iinterjected.
“Jaden,” he warned, turning his headdangerously to the side.
“Fine. How about a small bowl ofraspberries? I like those.”
“Better,” he said, still glaring at me.“I’ll let Pascal know. You can have it on the patio.”
“Okay. How long are you going to be?”
“Why? Do you have somewhere you need to be?”he asked sarcastically.
“Maybe.” I leaned into my answer for emphasis, and Darren raised an eyebrowat me. “I mean, I do have a pity party scheduled for 10:00 a.m.,you know. I can’t cancel that again.”
Darren gave me a serious look that stronglysuggested he didn’t like my jokes, especially when he startedstriding toward me with an angry pace.
“Kidding!” I said quickly with an uneasysmile and that stopped him as he regarded me closely. “I'm justtrying to make sure I have enough time to be ready for when youcome back.”
Duh.
He seemed to like my second answer as hecrossed the room in two long strides and bent down to kiss myforehead. “Now, that’s a better answer,” he said. “Just go haveyour breakfast, enjoy your workout, and go get ready. I’ll comefind you when I'm done.”
“Okay,” I said.
He took my
