it done.”
He turned on his heels and strode from the office, reminding himself that Lothar’s day was coming. Soon.
Chapter 27
Darcy leaned back on her hands and stared at the early morning sky. Thoughts bumbled around in her mind keeping her in a state of confusion. Yesterday had been an adventure in horror. From fear of being caught, to giving Nikol a blow job he hadn’t expected while being watched by an evil man, and then a night of sensual torture.
Despite all of the negatives, her risk had proven to be informative. She’d learned enough when she broke into the database to know she needed a hover-car and ship access codes to get off the planet. Too bad she hadn’t managed to send her urgent emergency rescue message.
Between the spanking and the erotic way Nikol had brokered her promise to stop, Darcy was afraid to push him again. The uncertainty about her future left her in a rare state.
“How are you feeling today?”
Darcy turned her gaze toward the voice. Nikol squatted beside her and tucked a dangling curl behind her ear. She flinched and pushed back the knot in her throat. “Fine.”
He studied her expression with a bland look in his eyes. She wasn’t deceived. This was the man who’d forcibly wrung at least a dozen orgasms from her last night. His thumb brushed her mouth, tugging on her bottom lip. Darcy was caught in his fierce gaze and had to blink to look away.
His hand fell to his side and he braced one knee on the grass beside her hip. “Do we need to talk?”
Darcy snorted. As if. He’d proven his point. He could and would use her body’s reaction to him against her. “No, thanks. I’m good.”
“Are you going to be good, astéri?” he asked, shifting to sit behind her and pulling her back against his chest.
Embers of desire kindled through her body, but Darcy shut the feeling down. She’d had enough sex to last her a while. A long while and she refused to have her orgasms weaponized against her.
When she didn’t answer, Nikol leaned forward and tipped her head back to face him. “You are angry?”
“You think?” She made no effort to hide her sarcasm.
His sighed and rubbed his cheek over hers, the base of his horn gliding along her ear. “The danger you were in with your actions yesterday is inconceivable.”
Concern and weariness laced his tone. Darcy closed her eyes and only wished she could block out the sound of his voice as well. “Everything here is dangerous to me. Even sex.”
She spat the last out bitterly. His body tightened behind her, then his arms looped about her waist to yank her in snug. The next words he spoke were whispered in an angry growl in her ear. “Do you think I wanted to do that to you? You are beautiful in your pleasure. Every cry and gasp is music to my ears. The flush to your skin, the way your eyes glaze over.”
His arms clamped around her until she couldn’t breathe. Darcy tapped his wrist and he eased his hold and continued. “There was no way I could discipline you over my lap again and share any part of you with others. Your body is mine. Your release is mine.”
“You can’t own people,” she said, staring dismally at the flowers blooming around her. This place was a nightmare oasis to anyone who didn’t know better.
“On Marenia, I can.” Darcy stiffened and was about to push away. “It is a new feeling for me to be afraid.”
There was genuine emotion in his statement. She settled back on the grass and cleared her throat. “You mentioned being scared last night.”
“I know you aren’t happy here, but Lothar is a very dangerous individual. I did what I did last night because I need you to be safe, Darcy. I need to make sure no one can hurt you.”
She could feel her attitude softening toward him but needed him to understand how what he’d done affected her afterward. “Using what we shared as a punishment hurt.”
He stilled. Darcy took a deep breath and continued. “Seeing you with that other woman, you can’t know how much that hurt.”
Nikol surged to his feet with her in his arms and spun her around to snarl, “I will do anything to protect you. Anything!”
Darcy blinked in stunned amazement. His expression wasn’t bland anymore. Everything he was feeling right now was there for her to see. Anger, concern and a level of protective fury