“Give me back my journal. You had no right to read it and no right to take it.” I hadn’t realized until after I turned Keiran in and had gone home to cry my heart into the pages, it was missing. I knew there could only be one culprit. It was then I realized a photo of me was also missing from the desk, but why would he take them?

He walked into my home as if he owned the place and closed the door, locking us both in. Without invitation, he moved further into the house and disappeared into the living room. I stomped after him like a two-year-old and saw he had made himself comfortable on  the couch.

“So what could you have possibly said to send your best friend away crying? Your track record is amazing. Some might say you’re a terrible friend.”

“Go to hell.”

“Is this the part when I say, ‘I’ve been there’?”

“This is the part when you get the hell out of my house.”

“And miss the chance to watch you bathe? Matter of fact, I think I’ll join you.”

Say what?

The chance at a witty comeback or scathing remark passed me by when he crossed his arms and lifted his shirt over his head. I was stuck in a state of drooling and muscle clenching as my pussy salivated over the exposed muscles of his abdomen and chest and those arms…

Keiran’s body was fit for a man, not a teenage boy. It was seriously unfair. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“The idea of bathing in a bowl full of bubbles never appealed to me before now.”

I turned on my heel and headed for the stairs. “I’m calling the police,” I warned without looking back. Detective Wilson’s warning was still fresh in my mind. What if my life really did depend on it? Keiran could really hurt me this time.

Before my feet could touch the first step, I was lifted in the air and staring down at the floor from an upended angle as I was being carted up the stairs. “You can call Detective Daniels and Detective Wilson later. I’ll help you dial.”

“You son of a bitch, put me down!” I screamed and beat on his back during the short trek to the bathroom where he set me on my feet and began to undress me. My hands slapped at his as he unbuttoned my jeans with an amused expression. That was until I sunk my teeth into his shoulder. He grunted in pain and then gripped me tighter, pulling me in close to him.

“Is that how you want to play it, baby?” he growled against my lips. The next thing I knew, I was submerged in water, still dressed in my panties and shirt. He actually dumped me in the tub while I was still partially dressed.

“Why are you here?” I sputtered around the water.

“I needed to see you, but you aren’t exactly making this visit pleasant for me.” When I growled at him, he grinned back.

“You saw me, now get out,” I ordered while feeling and looking like a wet dog. “It doesn’t require you taking your clothes off.”

“Oh, but it might. That depends solely on you.”

“You’re out of your mind.” He didn’t bother to answer and instead, shed the rest of his clothing. I gritted my teeth in anger even as I ogled him. The way he shed his jeans as he stared into my eyes, called to my baser instincts, and I clutched my thighs together to will the arousal away.

“It’s not polite to stare,” he cracked. I sent him a glare before turning my face away. I knew the exact moment that he was naked. My nipples hardened and my pussy began the aching pulse I hated but loved so much when he was inside me. “Scoot forward.”

I did so without hesitation and ground my jaw harder after I had done so. You’re not supposed to obey him, I told myself, but my body had different plans.

He stepped into the tub and sat behind me. Before I could scramble to the other side, he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me between his legs. His cock was already hard and pressed against my lower spine. I shivered involuntarily. I wanted to shed my wet clothes from my body and feel his skin against mine, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Relax,” he ordered.

“No.”

“Should I make you?”

I knew what he meant. There was only one thing that made me weak and it was his touch. I couldn’t take his touch and not want to give in, so I leaned back against his chest. My head was cradled on his shoulder, and I tried not to think about how good it felt. As we watched each other silently, his thumb brushed my lip briefly before sliding down to grip my neck. I knew it was a warning when his other hand rose out of the water and began to tease the edge of my panties and the skin of my lower stomach. “Take them off.”

“Why?” The single word trembled on my lips as my hands itched to obey.

“Don’t worry,” he sneered and gripped my neck tighter, threatening my air supply. “The water will hide how wet you really are for me.”

I elbowed him in the stomach, and other than a grunt of pain, he stayed perfectly still, watching me and waiting for me to obey.

“Fine.”

I hooked my fingers in my panties and pulled them down slowly to aggravate him. The deep chuckle near my ear told me he had noticed, but it didn’t hit its mark. I expected him to issue out some scathing remark or to punish me with his high-handedness, but instead, he lifted my sponge from its hook and squirted body wash on it.

“What are you doing?” I snapped. It came out a little harsher than necessary, but I was a little on edge. It was becoming a natural state for me. His hand had paused above my breast for a small space of time before he began bathing me.

“Are you trying to piss me off?”

“Is it working?”

“You can say that, however, the end result might not be what you had hoped.”

“You know nothing about my hopes.”

“Maybe not,” he whispered low in my ear as he skimmed a finger across my puckered nipple, “but I know you.”

“It would be kind of hard not to since you made me who I used to be.”

“Used to be?”

“I’m not afraid of you anymore, Keiran.” I didn’t miss the brief way his hand froze from rubbing small, soapy circles over my stomach.

“Oh?”

“Are you surprised?” I stretched my neck to see his face, not wanting to miss his reaction, but his expression was as closed off as normal. I knew he cared or else he wouldn’t be here. He once told me he needed the control he had over me and would do anything in his power to keep it. So what was I doing?

“I can’t say I am too surprised considering the reason I’ve been locked up the past two and a half weeks.”

“I hope you didn’t come for an apology.”

“I came for much more than that.”

“I’m not going to sleep with you.”

“You will if I want you to, and I do want you to, Monroe. So how do I get you to say yes?”

“I’ve never said yes.”

“But you have. When I seduced you, when I was inside of you, when I asked you if you needed more…”

“Semantics.”

He laughed again, and I couldn’t help but smile at the rare sound. “You’re really adorable when you get like this.”

“Adorable isn’t—” A shocked gasp escaped my lips when he dipped the sponge beneath the water and skimmed it between my thighs.

“This reckless behavior of yours is only going to be a major disappointment on your part. You see, I have no intention of letting you go again. I tried, Monroe, and do you know what you did?” He continued to use the rough material of the sponge to stimulate my clit as he growled his words in my ear. I began writhing against him, seeking more and at the same time, wishing I could end the feelings he was stirring within me. “You sucked me back in. Was it on purpose? Did you turn me in because I let you go? Were you getting your revenge?”

“I turned you in because—” My screech of pain when he wrapped his hand around my throat and squeezed cut off my remark. He never ceased caressing me with my sponge.

“You know how I feel about your lies, so fucking tell me it was for those two scumbags. I dare you.” He let go of my neck but continued to torture me. “You did it because I hurt you. I hurt you worse than I ever have when I let you go. If I wasn’t so angry, I would say I was impressed.”