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I sed very hard and took a long slow breath

"All you want to do is hurt me," I said calmly A hint of fear laced ive a shit Instead he shushedso safe "It’s going to be okay"

He grabbed hly and turned ht about it, I wrapped my arms around him and held on to him as hard as I could He was my torht within I didn’t care that he would undoubtedly hurt ht now; I just needed somebody to hold me, somebody to be kind toto be okay It wasn’t of course, I knew that But I didn’t care I needed the lie I needed my books, my movies, and now Caleb’s arms

He held ently, until all ainst him "Please don’t leave ers caressed the side of ave me hope But then I felt him inch his way out of the bed Without a word of reassurance, he gathered his clothes and left me

Lost, I lay back down and pulled my pillows closer They smelled like hinificantly less oht of the room behind him I was, dare I admit it, relieved to see him Caleb I stopped e breath I sat…I waited He stood by the door, and then leaned against it casually What looked like a silk nightgoas held almost carelessly in his left hand I stared at it as he held it out toward me Weary, I tried togaoing to put it on or are you finally over your self-indulgent modesty?" I waited for the tease to play out, but he continued to stare at rabbed it fro to htly,with his chest for a brief hed and it was allided throughI had never been this close to the open door andin from the room behind him beckoned me sharply I fumbled with the slippery silk

Caleb’s hands unexpectedly reached out for , overly excited hands I looked up at hilow of the adjoining rooht, to really see him, as plainly as I had that fated day on the street It seeht hand lifted toward my face It was pure instinct that bade ers caressed first my brow, then my cheekbone, the curve of my jaw, and finally, his thumb across the bow of my lips I swayed My former instincts to fend off his caresses had left me at some point but I couldn’t recall when exactly they had stopped His touches were expected now My skin unconsciously eager, waiting for a stroke to feed this new hunger in ht at runts in my ear as he had taken his pleasure froown into his all too capable hands and opened my eyes, expectant but also bemused I tried, and failed to suppress a shudder when his hands slipped it on over my head The silk licked my flesh from head to toe, first cool, then warm as it absorbed my heat

"There," his voice was hoarse Another caress, this one down ainst dark cloth He tookagainst the silk

He was really going to leta s ? And like always, the ansas: yes

I stepped into the living room as if I stepped into a whole other world It was one I was strangely frightened to enter I hesitated, the rooht toto nized the ridiculousness of e it What was it called when a hostage took refuge behind her abductor? Stockholm’s? Did I have it? Could you catch it like the flu? I kneas stupid to wonder The siuy, the one that took hts soothed otten to ht and let go of Caleb’s hand to eue

My eyes devoured every surface, any object because who knehen I’d be put back in h, and marveled at the thick wooden bearandiose Beneath e ones, sons Tapestries and wall sconces lined the large roo chairs I felt like I was in an eighteenth century sitting roo a stylish, if not useless walking stick was going to enter the rooh one look at the arched entrance to a hallway directly opposite lish This place had a lot of Spanish vibes Where the hell was I? To the left I spied a type of kitchen area There was a table at least And directly across, to iddy squeal I ran to the , shaking off Caleb’s grasp when he tried to stopout It was still night! I was hoping it was daylight; I hadn’t seen the sun in…in…in? My brain couldn’t process anything beyond seeing the outside world I was still trapped This was a prison within a prison Still, this wastih to sustain ht I reached through the bars, wishing they weren’t there, and touched the , the warlass The landscape was muted and hard to make out; the moon, nowhere to be seen I wondered if this black iht--I couldn’t tell where the hell I was I could be three blocks fronawed at me, Mexico ay too close to California and yet too far away frohts, "Are you hungry?" he said behind me, way behind me

I didn’t look back at him, absorbed in the darkness outside, and distracted by everything else I ed a, "Kind of"

"Well, it’s ‘kind of’ a yes or no question I’d appreciate it if you answered me properly, and face me when I speak to you" I ripped my eyes away fro s to cause so much inner turht – it was al ry" I turned toward theand squeezed the bars His words echoed in ht little ass"

"There’s chicken and rice, or tamales Which would you prefer?"

"Uain Even this felt like a test, a gary, but I was afraid if I didn’t eat I’d have to go back inside erator and spooned the contents out onto a plate How do ready to eat when you decided to have your little…episode" He spoke so casually, as though ere conversing about the color scheme of the room He carefully and quietly closed theabout this mundane task My episode He’d been inside e of pain and a flutter of desire at the same time My stomach clenched Episode

What he called an episode, I kneas a life changing event I would never be the same and it didn’t seem to matter to him I blinked rapidly Do not cry Livvie

IKitten No more dark so no more tears" He slipped the spoon he used into his ain I stood there, staring at him like an idiot not sure what I should do I nodded It was all I was capable of

He took two beers out of the fridge and set the the plate from the microwave "Here, take this," he handed me the plate, "be careful it’s hot Sit at the table" I held the plate inbefore the heat started to burn my hands

"Shit!" I exclaimed and hurried to set the hot plate down on the table He laughed under his breath as he put another plate of food in the ers on le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">