Billionaire's Captive Complete Trilogy - Stasia Black Page 0,52
second, she just stands there before me, the perfect specimen of woman.
But more than that, she is my Daphne. The beautiful girl I watched blossom into a woman before my eyes back when I was a post doc student working for her father. I didn’t notice her much until she turned eighteen. There was a dance—a ball, I guess those pretentious fucks call it. But she was there and suddenly Dr. Laurel’s kid daughter was all grown up, glowing and gorgeous and all woman. She’s only grown more beautiful over the years, but even back then, she was heart stopping.
Afterwards, I’d come across her in the study carrels of the lab, head bent over, glasses slipping down her nose as she poured over the latest research reports, determined to help her father save her mom. She was always alone. Her father certainly had no time for her, other than for her help with his research.
She gave and gave and gave, taking care of herself and her father and slavishly devoting herself to research. But who took care of her? She asked nothing for herself. She’d spent her whole life in service of others. And as far as I can see, she’s still living the same way, slavishly taking care of her selfish father and his company with no thought to her own needs or wants.
Not anymore.
“Logan,” her eyes are full of that same intense emotion I saw in her eyes earlier, but more. There’s desire. The desire, at least, I’ve come to recognize. And then come her words, “Logan, I want to touch you. I want to touch you everywhere.”
But I’m already shaking my head. A man can only be pushed so far before he breaks. Can’t she understand that? I don’t say another word. But I will remind her that she is mine. That this changes nothing. That I won’t allow it to change anything.
So instead, I walk to my bedside table again, open the drawer, and remove a sleeping mask. I prepared the room, planning for this moment, even if I never imagined it playing out this way.
I walk slowly back over to her, my back straightening with every step. Yes. This is who I am now. In command.
I am the Master here. And she is the object of my desire, who I will pleasure beyond the heights of imagination. I will claim her completely and eventually, her loyalty will be to me alone.
I cover her mouth with a finger when she opens it again. Silence. And with my other hand, I slip the mask on over her head, and finally, finally, over those searching eyes of hers that see far too much.
A wave of calm sweeps over me as soon as her eyes are covered. She can no longer see the monster.
I am only the Master now.
Twenty-Two
Daphne
He takes my hand and leads me forward. The mask is annoyingly thick. I can’t see a thing. But I…I trust Logan.
Logan.
I still can’t believe it. How could it be Logan, after all these years? And the terrible story he told me. His face. What he believes Dad and Adam did— I have to set him straight. Dad could never— And Adam, he’s—
My leg bumps into something soft and Logan commands in the Beast’s voice, “On the bed.”
I immediately start to climb on the bed, already conditioned to obey that voice. But it’s Logan! Logan was always so soft-spoken and gentle. I don’t know how to reconcile the two in my head.
“On your back.” I obey. Just like every time I’ve given in while under this roof, it feels so shockingly good to give in and follow directions without fighting or weighing every pro and con a million times like I always have to do in the outside world.
I know that wherever the Be— Wherever Logan will take me will be amazing. Gods, it’s been Logan this whole time. Logan who touched my body. Logan who touched me down there. Who touched inside of me. Who watched me come undone and scream out in pleasure. Oh my gods. My face flushes so hot I think my skin might burn off.
But just as I go to cover my face with my hands, Logan snatches my wrists and lifts my hands over my head.
“That’s right, my kitten,” he murmurs, sounding like a confusing mix of Logan and the Beast, skimming his hand up my forearms to my wrists and quickly and efficiently shackling the soft, padded wrist cuffs on.