Willing Captive (10 page)

Boo’s face turns
sad. Which, in turn, makes me sad. She asks glumly, “This really
bothering you? Even with us here?”

My heart palpitates
and I nod vigorously, knowing she’ll never understand just how much
this is affecting me, even if I wanted to share.

Forcing a smile that
doesn’t meet her eyes, she concedes with a curt nod, “I’ll teach
you everything I can while you’re here.”

Definitely
not
the
answer I was expecting.

My mouth gapes and I
whisper, “Seriously?”

Taking the wooden
spoon out of my hand, she stirs the pot and avoids my gaze. “Yep.
Seriously.” Her face voids of any emotion and she says almost
mechanically, “Every girl should know how to protect herself. That
includes you.” Clearing her throat, she adds quietly, “Help you
anyway I can, Dee.”

My throat thickens.
I don’t know what to say. Boo is the first friend I’ve made in
years.

Standing close to
her, I bump her shoulder with mine. In my peripheral vision, I see
a small smile play at her mouth as her shoulder bumps mine back. I
smile big. We both chuckle and Boo says, “God, we’re dorks.”

I agree.
Totally.

***

Nox

The office door
bursts open and an angry looking Boo strides in.

Not good.

Never good.

Turning back to the
laptop, I’m immediately wary. “Where’s Lily?”

“
Rock’s teaching her to throw a decent punch.” My brows crease
as she continues, “I’ve been teaching her self-defense, too.” She
nods before she asks accusingly, “What the fuck have
you
been doing for her?”

Hold up.

What’d she just
say?

Opening my mouth to
answer, she holds up a hand and I stop in my tracks. Put in my
place like a small child, she utters, “Never been disappointed in
you, Nox. Never. Till now.”

Fury works its way
up my stomach and sits, waiting to strike in my solar plexus. I
don’t speak.

Don’t have to
explain myself to anyone.

Boo’s face falls as
she whispers, “What is up with you?”

Lifting my face to
hers, I glare. Hard.

Boo doesn’t
flinch.

She’s known me too
long. Knows my intimidation tactics.

Lowering my gaze
back to the laptop, I murmur, “Don’t gotta explain myself to
you.”

Hurt crosses her
features and I feel like an asshole. Not enough to apologize.

She hisses through
gritted teeth, “Fine.”

Typing away, I say,
“Fine.”

Not liking my being
a smartass, she growls, “Fine!”

My brows furrow and
I shout to her retreating form, “Fine!”

The door slams shut,
matching the sound of my slamming the laptop shut.

***

Lily

Panting, sweating,
and mentally cursing, I kick even higher than last time. My entire
body throbs. Getting him in the shoulder, the dummy barely wobbles.
This pisses me off. His blank, stupid looking face mocks me. I want
to punch him in his silicone nose.

How the hell can I be getting weaker the
more
I train?

“
You’re trying too hard, Lil. Cool off for a minute, then
we’ll start again.” Rock calls out from across the room. “This
happens, ya know? When you train too hard, you get exhausted.
Happens to the best of us.”

Placing my hands on
my hips, I bend forward at the waist. Panting, I reply breathily,
“Get out of my head, Rock.”

Walking over to me,
he smirks and unwraps the tape on my hands. He’s wearing a pair of
basketball shorts. That’s all. Gotta admit, it’s nice having
something to look at while you work out. Especially if that someone
looks like Rock.

Yummy.

His olive skin
gleams with perspiration. I flush as I wonder what his sweat would
taste like. I also thank God that Rock isn’t a telepath. My eyes
glide down his defined stomach to the indent forming a V then even
lower to the low riding elastic on the waist of his shorts and I
gulp.

Dear God, I’m a
pervert.

Snapping my head up,
my gaze meets Rock’s. Eyes crinkled, he says through a soft laugh,
“Why, lovely Lily, you’re blushing.”

Crap! Busted.

“
Sorry,” I mumble under my breath, my face flaming
further.

“
Look all you want, babe. Makes me feel like I’m doin’
somethin’ right.” His warm-brown eyes crinkle further and I slap a
hand to my forehead. Rock bursts into laughter and I can’t stop the
chuckle that bubbles up my throat.

Rock’s a lot of fun.
He’s also my friend.

God, it’s nice to
say that.

I have friends! I
mentally squeal while jumping up and down like a fangirl.

Boo gave me three
sets of workout clothes. The sports bras she gave fit almost
perfectly, but she’s a little bigger in the booty. Luckily, not so
much bigger that the shorts will fall off, but I do have to pull
them up quite a lot while exercising.

My appetite has come
back with a vengeance, so I no longer look like I’m terminally ill,
but I’ve noticed working out makes me even hungrier. Boo and Rock
are so relieved that I’m eating again. And this makes me happy
because I like seeing them happy.

Still resting, I’m
caught unawares when Rock grabs me from behind. One strong arm
around my middle, the other crossed between my breasts, his hand
gripping my shoulder tight.

And shit! It’s a
tight hold.

Gritting my teeth,
my hands move to his arms and I kick out. I struggle hard for a
full minute before wheezing out, “I can’t do it!”

Lips to my ear, he
says softly, “Close your eyes.” I trust Rock, so I do as I’m told.
He goes on, “Feel me around you.”

Damn, that sounds
like a line out of one of my erotic romance novels!

My stomach clenches
as he says, “I know I got ya good, but think, Lily. Just think.
What can you use to get free?” I’m already exhausted from
struggling and getting nowhere. He says firmly, “Stop struggling.
Now.”

And I do.

He whispers, “Think,
babe.”

And I’m so damn
tired that I lose the fight in me. Melting back into him, I utter
hoarsely, “I give up, Rock. I can’t. Not today.”

A loud cough at the
doorway draws my attention.

Well, well, well. If
it isn’t Mr.
You’re-My-Responsibility-But-I-Don’t-Have-Time-For-You!

Nox stands in the
doorway, jaw tight, looking as if he’s holding himself back from
doing something bad. His cold-blue eyes meet mine. The vein in his
temple sticks out as he growls, “Having fun?”

Rock’s body shakes
with laughter and his breath warms my neck. The strong arm between
my boobs tightens a little and my eyes widen. So here I am, between
two hottie-commando men. One has me wrapped up, the other looks
like his order of protection just turned to an order of
elimination.

And I’m just here,
hanging mid-air in some hot guy’s arms.

My brain adds in a
sing-song voice, “Awkward!”

Cheeks flushed hot
pink, I thank the heavens above when Rock sets me down on my feet.
He sounds amused when he tells me, “Tomorrow, you rest up. But you
have what’s called an active rest day. So no lyin’ in bed all day,
okay? Find something to do that keeps you moving. Go for a walk
around the house or some shit, but don’t let your muscles seize.
That’s your mission tomorrow.” Looking up at Nox, he smirks,
“Laters, Lily.” Then he’s gone.

Standing face to face with a still pissed Nox, I find myself
getting pissed, too. Nox just has that effect on me. I swear this
guy must’ve been conceived through backdoor action. There’s no way
being that much of an asshole is natural
.

Turning my back, I
gather my towel and water bottle before uttering casually, “Haven’t
seen you in almost a week.”

When I turn back
around, he slowly places his hands in his cargo pants’ pockets and
grumbles, “Been busy.”

And that, my
friends, is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

You know when you
send someone a really long, heartfelt text message? You put so much
effort into that damn text message and are so excited to send it
and all they send you back in return is pissy ‘ok’?

Well, I hate that ‘ok’ text!
And every second answer that comes
out of Nox could be classified as an ‘ok’ text message.

Gah! Infuriating
man!

My eyes flare at his
short and curt answer. Placing a hand on my hip, I spit, “You’re
such an asshole!” And that’s not all folks. Oh no. I don’t stop
there. “And a bully!”

Nox remains
impassive. Which, not surprisingly, only spurs me on. “And I don’t
think I like you very much.”

A minute passes, we
don’t take our eyes off each other. And now…I’m mortified.

Nox hasn’t moved an
inch. His face remains blank. He never gives anything away. This,
of course, makes me angrier. I fume in silence. What is it about
this man that makes me go from zero to bitch in less than a
second?

Apologize. Not his
fault you’re takin’ the crazy train to loopsville.

I mentally sigh.
Yeah. That wasn’t cool.

Just as I open my
mouth to apologize, a shrill siren shrieks throughout the
house.

What the frick?

Dropping to my
knees, my eyes widen and I cover my ears while hyperventilating.
Not a second later, I’m hoisted over Nox’s shoulder. He runs down
the hall with me bouncing up and down like a rag doll.

This is serious.
Something’s wrong.

Nox shouts orders
over the siren, but I can’t make out any of it. That freakin’ siren
is so shrill, it’s going to make my ears bleed! All I can do is
grip the back of his tank tightly and hold on for dear life.

Petrified and about
to pee myself, I lift my head to see Nox run me right out the front
door. Right out the front door and into a waiting black van.

No.
No
. Not
again!

With no care at all,
he throws me into the back of the van. I land in a seat with an
‘Oomph’ and he quickly seats himself next to me. As soon as the
door closes, Nox booms, “Go!”

And we do.

Shaking like a leaf,
I turn my wide eyes to my protector and see something familiar in
his hands.

Ahh, hello old
friend.

Nox holds up the
blindfold and I internally grimace. Clearly, now is not the time to
argue. Nodding once, I turn my back to him and he places the
blindfold over my head. My butt pressed against his thigh, I almost
whisper, “Where are we going now?”

He sighs and answers
just as softly, “I don’t know, Lily. I don’t know.”

C
hapter Eight
One of these things is not like the others

Lily

So here I am,
standing in the middle of a dingy motel room.

I’m here after
spending almost seven hours in the back of a van with Nox. This
might not have been an issue if the guy knew the meaning of the
words ‘lighten up’. Alas, this is Nox we’re talking about. The
guy’s meaning of relaxed is sitting in a hardwood chair while
watching me sleep.

A little creepy if
you ask me.

The van stopped
suddenly, the back door opened and I found myself being dragged to
a motel room that looked like its previous occupants were
roaches.

Nox paces in front of me and barks into the cell phone, “If
you haven’t noticed, I’m not there right now! It’s
your
job to tell
me
what the fuck happened!” Pause, then, “Yes, she’s
fine.”

Um, hello? Kinda
freakin’ out here but whatever…

He stops pacing,
looks me up and down and says, “Uh huh.” Pause. “Uh huh.” Pause
once more. “Yeah. Okay. Lily needs clothes.” Pause. “I don’t know!
Underwear and bras and somethin’ that won’t draw attention to us.”
Silence, then, “Nah. Lily’s my wife. I asked them not to disturb
us. We’re on our honeymoon.”

My brows almost hit
my hairline.

Married?

The thought of being
married to Nox is so damn ridiculous that the laughter I try to
quell forces its way out. Hard. And loud.

Busting a gut
laughing, tears roll down my cheeks as I lean my hip on the small
table for two. Nox watches me with a scowl. He does this a long
while before he walks over behind me and covers my mouth with his
hand. All that does is make me laugh harder. He whispers, “Shut it,
Lily. This is important. I can’t hear a thing.”

Finally getting a
hold of myself, I suppress the laughter and pull his hand off my
mouth. His arm falls lower, across my neck with a hand resting on
my shoulder. I try to pull away but Nox has other ideas. As if he
doesn’t even realize it, he talks away with his arm still around
me. Looking around the room with wide eyes, I’m not sure what to do
here. When his thumb absently strokes my shoulder, my core
clenches, and my eyes flutter closed.

My
breathing deepens as I listen to him speak. Every word he says
vibrates through his chest and onto my back. “What do you mean?”
Pause. “Well, when
can
you get
here?”

Jeez, he smells so
good. Like soap and something fresh and outdoorsy. His body is so
big and hard, yet toasty warm. With one arm, he has me wrapped up
tight. And I like it. A handful of erotic scenarios run through my
head. Nox throwing me on the bed and telling me he’s going to take
me right there. Nox pushing me to my knees and demanding I make him
hard. Nox joining me in the too-small shower, soaping up my body.
Nox bending me over the-

“
Lily?”

Suddenly, a record
scratches in my brain, rudely ripping me from my delicious
thoughts. Whoa. Totally need to give it a rest with the erotic
stories.