Forbidden Fruit: Volume 1 (43 page)

“Do people ever get out of here?” I asked as he clicked the cuffs into place.

The guard narrowed his eyes before scratching his stubble with sharp, dirty fingers. “No.” he answered with a harsh Albanian accent before spitting on the ground by my feet.

The moment he was out of sight, I let out a harsh scream. A scream that contained every ounce of anger and fear that had been slowly building since I’d awoken here yesterday.

~*~*~*~

I woke up a few hours later, blinking sleep away from my eyes as the sounds of torture from next door invaded my senses. Loud screams echoed down the halls from every direction as I heard bone hitting bone. But as I blinked my eyes open and my head cleared, I realized there weren’t any noises.

They’d all been in my dream.

Boots clapped against the concrete floor and I didn’t even bother lifting my chin to see who it was. I didn’t care. The iron bars clanked and then his clean scent broke through the filth. Adam. He’d returned for me.

I still didn’t look up to meet his eyes. He came to stand directly in front of me as he worked the handcuffs off my wrists. I rolled my tongue over my chapped lips, trying to stay in control of my senses. His broad chest hit my head when he reached to free the other hand. When both wrists were out of the cuffs, I rolled out my shoulders, trying to regain feeling in my limbs.

“Did you eat your dinner?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet and unattached.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Come, I’ll give you a change of clothes and a shower.”

He gripped the top of arm gently enough that I could pretend he wasn’t forcing me. I kept my tongue at bay. Leaving the cell was a good thing. It was a step closer to freedom. I didn’t think the guard had been lying when he said that no one escaped from there. I had to be cunning and one step ahead or I’d rot away in that cell.

He led me down the hallway and I saw glimpses of other people cowering in their cells. None of them were women. For that, I was grateful. I didn’t want to stare into the eyes of women that had it much worse than I did.

At the end of the hallway, he reached up to grab two black handkerchiefs off the wall. I knew it’d been too good to be true. He wasn’t going to give me the possibility of escape. He twisted me around so that my back hit his hard chest. Then he whipped the handkerchief in front of my eyes and tied it into a harsh knot behind my head.  He tied the other one around my wrists.

I tried to angle my eyes as far down as I could, but it was pointless. Adam knew how to tie a tight blindfold. I couldn’t see a thing. He gripped my arm once again and started leading me forward. I could hardly keep up with him when I could see, so when I was blindfolded I was tripping over my feet, trying to feel for what was in front of me.

Adam groaned in annoyance and then swung me up into his arms with one quick flourish.

“I don’t need you to carry me,” I hissed, trying to be as much of a dead weight as I could.

“That’s enough,” he snapped.

I balled my fists, for one brief moment fantasizing about fighting him off. But then common sense set in and I realized I was out of my league, especially when I couldn’t see. My finger nails bit into my hands as I tried to remain still in his arms. Every instinct wanted me to flee.

He carried me for a few more minutes of silence. I listened for the changing sounds: opening doors, boots hitting concrete, and then dirt. I thought I
smelled fresh air for the first time in two days. Finally, he set me down and reached to tug off the blindfold. The sight that greeted me was nothing like I’d expected. We weren’t underground. We were in a modern apartment, with clean, rich wood floors and white granite counters. It was an open floor plan. A kitchen opened into a sitting room, which led to a dining room that had an expensive chandelier hanging above the table.

“Where am I?” I asked, trying to peer out of the windows, but all of the blinds were drawn.

“My suite,” he answered curtly.

“But… this looks nothing like my cell.”

He narrowed his eyes and started walking away. “We aren’t
all
prisoners, Kate. Come.”

My heels dug into the wood floor and I bit down on the inside of my cheek. I thought that when he turned the corner, I could make a run for it and try to find a door. But he didn’t give me the chance. When it was clear that I wasn’t going to follow right after him, he paused and turned back to me.

“Now,” he demanded, and I felt my feet starting to move toward him. “You have an uncanny ability to test my patience.”

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest as I moved past him.

He laid his hand on the small of my back and a tingle spread up my spine before I could stop it. I looked up to see a slight smirk on his face. He’d felt it too.

When we reached the end of the hall, he pushed open a door and we entered a dark bedroom. The room was simple, clean gray tons, but the bed looked large and clean. My aching body begged to crawl on top and sleep for days. But we didn’t stop there. Adam pushed me toward a door across from the bed. The bathroom. It was just as modern and extravagant as the rest of the suite. I stood in the center of the white-tiled floor as Adam moved around me to retrieve items that I assumed were for me: a towel and some toiletries that had clearly never been used.

“I don’t get it,” I whispered. Why was he giving me these things? Why was he letting me shower in his suite?

“Just take them and get in the shower,” he answered curtly.

My teeth ground together at the fact that he cut off my inquiries once again. I snatched the toiletries out of his hand and swiveled around him to head toward the shower. It was large; there was enough space for half an army to bathe inside. I popped open the glass door and set down the toiletries, then turned to hang up the towel. I didn’t have to ask Adam to leave. He was already heading toward the door, but he didn’t bother to close it behind him when he left.

I didn’t take off my clothes until I was in the shower with the water beating down on my skin. I didn’t know what his plan was, but I didn’t want to be naked without some semblance of a barrier between us. The shower’s glass would have to be enough for now. I tried to clear my thoughts and fears for five minutes and let the warm water wash over me. I washed my hair, using the rich fragrant shampoo and conditioner he’d provided me. The shower-head simulated a waterfall and I stood directly underneath it, letting the water warm every inch of me.

I was spreading the body wash over my chest when I heard a knock on the door. I snapped my gaze up just in time to see Adam walking in with a fresh set of clothes in his hand. He wasn’t even pretending to give me privacy. His heated eyes scoured down my body like hot coals. My hands flew to my breasts and we stood staring at each other. The air in that bathroom sparked through the condensation of my shower as if I was about to be electrocuted. His eyes were haunting and mysterious. I wanted him to leave as much as I wanted him to stay, but I didn’t dare speak a word.

I stood frozen as the water streamed down my skin.

“This is a fresh set of clothing,” he stated, placing them next to where I’d hung my towel. He was so close to me then. The glass was the only thing separating his hands from my naked skin. Why the hell didn’t I scream at him to leave? Why couldn’t my vocal cords cooperate? I opened my mouth to yell at him, but not a single syllable fell from my lips.

One moment Adam was keeping his distance, and the next, the glass door opened and he was stepping into the shower with all of his clothes on. The shower head drenched him instantly. Water dripped from his rich brown hair down across his sharp cheekbones. I watched a drop fall across his lips and my nipples hardened into tight buds.

My breathing was audible. I could see my chest rising and falling out of my peripheral vision, but Adam wasn’t looking there. He was staring into my eyes. Brown meeting blue in a clash of sexual chemistry.

We both moved at once. I ripped his shirt over his head and he tangled his hands into my hair to bring my mouth to his. I couldn’t keep up with him. His mouth sought mine with a vengeance. Our lips clashed until I was sure we were bruising one another, but it still wasn’t enough for him. He titled my head back. My feet moved on top of his. His entire upper body leaned toward me so that I was arching into his hands. He was holding me up and pressing me back all at once.

He dragged his tongue along my bottom lip and then trailed his kisses down my face, down my neck. His warm breath heated the water another degree as it dripped in a line from the curve of my neck, across my collarbone, and over the swell of my breast. I cried out when his mouth found my sensitive nipples. He lapped and sucked them between his teeth, causing a deep ache between my legs.

My fingers found the buckle of his pants, but I couldn’t concentrate with his mouth on my breasts. The texture of his tongue on my soft flesh
made my spine curl. One hand teased my nipple while his mouth nipped and lapped at the other one. I couldn’t breathe, my lungs felt weak with lust for this sinfully, sexy man. But then my consciousness woke up.

“Stop!” I screamed, pushing him away. He didn’t fight me. We both stood in the center of that shower with water streaming down our bodies. It was the first time I’d had a glimpse of his chest without his shirt on. He looked like a boxer: broad, thick muscles and a tall frame that stretched his proportions perfectly. He was inherently frightening and he didn’t utter a word as I tried to collect my thoughts.

“What are you doing with me? I’m your prisoner. Are you about to rape me or are we going to have sex in this bathroom? You can’t have both.” I paused to take a deep breath. “Would you leave if I asked you to?”

He licked his lips and bit down before answering, “Yes.”

That wasn’t the answer I was expecting and now the decision was on me. If I didn’t make him leave, then I was consenting to whatever he did to me. I stood there, hoping the air would shift and my moral compass would right itself, but it didn’t.

The water dripped down Adam’s solid body. I had tugged his pants open enough earlier that the base of his hard stomach was completely revealed. I needed to see the rest. I had to know what he felt like.

But I couldn’t give in. I couldn’t condone the situation he was forcing me into.

“Get out,” I bit harshly.

My request surprised us both. His lips parted and his eyebrow rose with an inquisitive air. I pressed back against the bathroom wall, waiting for him to comply. But the darkness in his eyes multiplied as my heart rate picked up.

“Did you hear me?” I cried, scared of losing the battle my body was fighting with me. When he took a step closer to me, I yelped.

“I lied,” he seethed, crowding me against the wall. His hard chest pressed against my breasts and I mashed my lips together, trying to keep from moaning. I felt like I was being ripped in two, trying to fight the forbidden chemistry between us.

He pressed his hands to the tiled wall behind me and pressed his mouth to my ear. I shuddered and rolled out my shoulders, trying to break the spell he was putting me under.

“You’re mine. What don’t you understand about that? I don’t abuse you. I don’t hit you. Do you understand how much worse you could have it? What I’m
saving
you from?”

His words ignited my fury. “Saving me? SAVING ME? You’re a fucking coward.” I scraped my fingers down his chest knowing any other form of pain wouldn’t even make him flinch. “You have to chain me up and force yourself upon me. You’re forcing me against the wall because you’re too much of coward to let me fight you.”

With a cloud crash, his fits hit the tiled wall behind me. I clenched my eyelids, attempting to remain calm. This is what he wanted. He wanted me to be scared. Instead of breaking away from him and leaving the shower, I crashed my entire body weight against him, trying to hurt him like I’d hurt his guard. He didn’t even budge. I moved my fist to break his nose, but his hands engulfed my biceps before I could make contact. He picked me up so that my feet were dangling above the ground.

“I should let my guards come in here and have their way with you.”

I spat onto his face. “Let them. I don’t care. I don’t care what you do to me.”

He clenched his jaw, trying to remain calm. “You speak as if you’re a lion, but you look like a little lamb. You’re my prisoner, and yet you don’t beg me for mercy. You spit in my face as I take care of you.”

I flailed in his arms, but it was hopeless. His strength outmatched mine, as if an elephant were fighting a mouse. “Let me go.”

“You don’t understand what I
am
.”

“Please,” I begged, staring him straight in the eye. There were so many mysteries tied with this man. He wasn’t from Kosovo, so why was he here working with the rebels? What kind of person could kill people without batting an eyelash? How did he end up in such a vile situation? I stared up into his midnight eyes and tried to break beneath their surface, but it was hopeless. He might have been a terrible man, but he never treated me terribly. He cherished me in a disgustingly twisted way, and for that I was grateful. My entire perception of right and wrong was skewed. I’d traveled to the center of hell and fell for the devil himself.

So when we both moved a second later, our bodies colliding in frenzy, I knew I was tasting the forbidden fruit and I bit into it willingly.