73

Gianna
Alexei’s hand slipped into his back pocket. It came out holding the smart phone he’d taken from the jacket after slipping it over my shoulders. I knew he’d stored it there when he’d offered the coat and cursed when he remembered where his phone was. It could have helped my escape.
With the press of a button, the dark tinted glass wall opposite the balcony we’d been eating on slid apart from the center. The floor-to-ceiling panes opened to a spacious cabin. A king-sized bed sat against the far wall, flanked with dark wood end tables with matching minimalist lamps. As the doors opened further, they exposed a chaise longue in one corner next to a tall bookshelf tightly packed with everything from leather-bound antiques to paperbacks sporting well-worn spines.
A desk occupied the other corner. Made from the same dark wood as the end tables, a large screen iMac with a disappointingly dark screen sat on top, a few hard drives to the side. A man like Alexei wouldn’t leave an unlocked computer where anyone could get access to it. He’d encrypt his drives too. Still, like he said, information was power. If I could snatch a drive before I escaped, all the better.
“The master suite, obviously.” Alexei slipped the phone away and placed a hand against my back, waving the other arm at his lavish cabin. “My walk-in closet is through there; the head, that’s nautical talk for a bathroom, is through the other door.”
The contact between us almost derailed my plan, made it too real. At the same time, his warmth and surprisingly gentle touch on my back, even though my dress and his mammoth coat offered an odd comfort, while at the same time freezing me solid.
I could do this. Before he’d kidnapped me, I’d been planning on doing more anyway… finally. Distract him and get away. It would work. These words rang through my thoughts to no avail.
My feet didn’t listen to my head, not immediately. They remained planted outside Alexei’s cabin, even as he tried to press me past the threshold. His brows furrowed when he twisted his neck my way. I’d take his confusion over letting him see my true thoughts in an accidentally exposed expression.
“I’m just giving you the tour,” he said. A smile grew as he shook his head. His free hand slapped over his chest with a resonant and deep thump, the hand that firmly pushed the small of my back offered a pat. “On my mother’s grave, I swear I’d never take advantage of you that way. I only wish I’d had the time to deal with that idiot who tried to drug you.”
“How noble of my kidnapper,” I hissed, unable to stop myself. “My mother abandoned us before I ever knew her. I wouldn’t put much weight in swearing to her.”
First, my destined future with a husband not of my choosing, and then my mother. It seemed all the thoughts I tried to ignore nagged at me, thanks to Alexei. You either ran from your fears, or you faced them, fought them or at least their source.
I drew a deep breath, a huff to take in all the courage I’d need to keep going. It’d be easy. Living with Katie the last few years, I picked up enough dramatic tips to pull off a convincing performance. My captor had proved himself all too observant already, but he was still a guy. If I got him thinking with the wrong head, I just might have a chance to get out of here.
“Besides,” I said, forcing a smirk onto my face, “it’s not taking advantage of me if I say yes, is it?”
Now, Alexei’s feet wouldn’t move him. I stepped over the threshold and spun, grabbing his hand. He held fast as I tugged him toward the bed. The sudden change in my emotions struck him as odd. That quizzical look, his furrowed brows returned but other than that, the mental battle in his head remained hidden from me.
He wasn’t the only one who could read a person and he’d given away more than he thought he had already. Supremely confident in his plan, with good reason given how well it had turned out for him so far, he’d gamed out every expected outcome, every reaction his assessment of me would make.
My eagerness hadn’t made his list. Seemed he was a planner, not an improvisor. His analytical nature needed to puzzle out my unexpected move. His… penis took the driver’s seat though.
I’d never gone all the way with a guy, avoided relationships the last few years but I wasn’t a prude, not totally. Katie overshared in an exacting detail I was sure my captor would have approved of and it wasn’t like I’d stopped at kissing the few guys I’d had flings with. No worries about falling in love with Alexei, no Stockholm Syndrome for me, and if it helped me escape, all the better.
He gave in, pushed his questions away and let me pull him closer to the mammoth bed. I twisted in front of him and snatched his other hand before dropping to the bed facing him. His chest rose and fell, deep breaths through his open mouth. The furrowed brows fought the feeling. With a shake of my shoulders, his coat slipped off them, pooling on his bed.
“What are you doing?” he said, his voice rumbling just above a whisper. “I told you I wasn’t going to take advantage of you. I don’t think you want to do this, not yet.”
Most guys wouldn’t have objected, but Alexei had more than proved he wasn’t most guys. I had expected it, but the rejection had my cheeks burning. No matter, this was why you had a plan B.
“Come on,” I teased, my own version Katie’s sexy smirk on my face… I hoped. “You’re trying to convince me to marry you, right? Why shouldn’t I sample the merchandise before I buy it? Katie and I came to Rome to celebrate, sow some wild oats. It’s just sex, after all.”
At that, the frown returned, though his breathing came quick. He bit his lip. Katie was the actress, my act didn’t even earn me the title of understudy. Alexei needed more convincing.
I shimmied closer to the edge of the bed. My skirt caught under me and tickled over my knees and up my thighs. My legs spread and knees rubbed against his suit pants. I watched the war in his eyes, waiting for desire to take them. He just needed one last push.
My fingers slipped out of his slack hand. He sucked in a breath when they feathered over his shirt, just above his belt. The twill fabric felt almost like silk but the expense and thread count of his shirt couldn’t compete with his warmth. My fingers pressed deeper, mapping his muscles, almost lost in it.
“Your friend said I was too much man for you,” he breathed but made no effort to stop my fingers on their slow journey toward his belt buckle. “It might be prudent if we slowed down.”
“Prudent?” I giggled but kept from snorting, a small victory. “Katie probably just wanted you for herself.”
“She did say she’d circle back,” he replied.
“But you only had eyes for little old me,” I said, slow and low. Katie always said it was best for brisket and sounding sexy, though I’d never seen her cook anything more complicated than a grilled cheese.
“I had my eyes on my objective,” he said, though his voice sounded hollow.
“How… dispassionate.” My fingers crept across his belt to his pants. “Though this here feels pretty passionate to me.”
My fingertips found the outline of his penis through his suit pants. His breath hitched but he kept his hands to his sides, neither stopping nor encouraging me. Those first tentative touches gave way to further exploration. He was hard, hot to the touch even through his clothes. My fingers traced lower, following it toward his left thigh and down.
I’d only touched three men like this, Alexei included. Neither of the others had anything close to what he had hidden here. Maybe Katie was right. He might have been too much of a man for me, especially for my first time.
A shiver took my shoulders, spurred me to continue. I wouldn’t back down to him, didn’t want to stop. The character I put on took me. I went method and let myself pretend, if only for a few minutes.
Before, I’d told Alexei he could have had me on his yacht for dinner willingly. He could have just approached, flashed his smile and started to speak, no kidnapping or threat of violence necessary.
With my fingers trailing up and down his concealed penis, I envisioned the two of us, minus the abduction baggage. We were just a hot guy and an eager, willing woman. In her headspace, I’d know what to do, how to respond.
She wouldn’t go catatonic, overthinking her next move the moment she touched the man’s penis for one thing. Penis? Thinking clinically didn’t help either and sent me right back into my head for more overthinking.
I forced my eyes up. They fluttered worse than my stomach when they met his. The desire I searched for arrived after I turned shy and averted my eyes; it burned in them scalding blue.
My face twisted into a smile at my inevitable victory. A hint of a grin crossed his, a huge display given his usual control. He missed my sinister intentions and I fought to keep the smile from turning fiercer.
“I think you’ve got my other suitors beat here,” I whispered, low and slow like Katie had told me to do. “Did your spies stake out their bathrooms to find their size? You seem like the type of guy who thinks every detail counts.”
“I left out the photos I have of Di Pozzo with the dominatrix,” he replied between deep breaths. Too bad the shirt was in the way.
He held his hand up, thumb and forefinger about two inches apart. One of his eyebrows rose and a resonant chuckle escaped his lips.
“No wonder he was into… CBT, was it?” My fingers stroked up to the base of his pe- no, cock. Pressing harder, I shifted my thumb down.
“Oh, no.” His hand blurred out, fast as a striking snake and latched around my wrist with just enough pressure to move it an inch away. “I’m not into that. That’s Tommy Di Pozzo’s kink.”
“Never know til you try.” I giggled and my other hand moved to his concealed cock. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. But… think of how much power I’m holding in my hands. I never expected you to be so trusting.”