Page 9 of Craved By You (Dark Desires Duet #1)

Colt

A strid took off, stumbling slightly in her haste. This was not how I had pictured our afternoon going.

Sure, Colt, just start off like this and let her see that you're crazy . She didn’t seem to fear me, though.

From what I could tell, she was a combination of excited and confused.

Fighting between right and wrong, and how quickly things were moving between us.

If I had my way, she’d already belong to me.

Frustration gnawed at me, but the sight of her eagerness mirrored my own feelings, and a smile touched my lips.

I pulled out my phone, checking the app to see what direction she was headed.

While I could rely entirely on my senses to find her in this giant warehouse, the app would help me expedite the search. I took the time to have it installed on her phone, I may as well get some use out of it.

Perfect, she’s making life easier. I watched as she rushed toward the area where I normally tortured my victims before I killed them. It was a good thing I always cleaned up thoroughly, otherwise, I could scare her off before we even started.

She’s going to look beautiful on my table. The mental image took over as I slipped my phone back into my pocket, the timer going off and letting me know it was time to begin the hunt. Slowly, I started meandering down the hall.

“ You are my sunshine…” The words I sang echoed in slow motion down the dark passage as I got closer to where I figured Astrid had chosen to hide. The only issue was that she could hide in so many places in this wing. “My only sunshine…”

My mother used to sing this song to me as a child. It always made me feel better when I was afraid of the monsters hiding under my bed. Little did I know that one day, I would be the monster, watching others from the shadows.

I stopped, listening to the silence. Listening for any hushed breaths, footsteps, or anything else that could give her location away. ????

Nothing. Damn, she’s good.

I continued moving forward, when I heard it. Nervous laughter came from behind me, followed by a gasp as I turned around.

“ Don’t take my sunshine,” the words faded into a raspy whisper, “away.” I paused once more. A glimmer on the floor caught my eye – the reflection of light on Astrid’s shoe buckle. I approached slowly, my eyes fixated on the spot where she’d been crouched down.

Hovering over the table she had hidden beneath, I squatted down, ready to capture her in my arms. “Gotcha!” I declared, but only her shoes remained. “ Fuck .”

She was a devious girl, leaving a piece of herself behind as a decoy. While I was distracted, she’d made a break for it, dodging the chains that hung like a spiderweb from the ceiling, each link grasping at her like a predator lurking in the darkness waiting for its prey.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Get back here,” I demanded, her instincts triggering something that had been lying dormant in my soul. This beautiful creature was going to be the death of me and I welcomed my personal demise.

“ Catch me if you can.” Astrid continued giggling as she dodged obstacles that would get in her way before she tripped over a pipe that she had overlooked on the floor. “ Ow, ” she whined.

I rushed over to her. “Astrid!” I called out in desperation, hoping she wasn’t hurt too badly.

I tossed my mask into the darkness, not caring where it landed while moving everything that was between us to get to her quickly, hoping that she was okay and upset with myself that she had gotten hurt.

Without even asking, I scooped her up and carried her across the threshold into my office, sitting her on top of my table so I could get a better look.

“Well, nothing looks broken, at least.” My eyes glossed over her arms and legs, only noticing scrapes that needed to be cleaned.

She pouted. "I'm fine." While she continued trying to convince me, I soaked a cotton ball with hydrogen peroxide. "I can do it myself."

“ I know you can do it by yourself,” I advised her. “But at some point, you have to be willing to accept help.”

“ Colt, I don’t need help from anyone,” she tried to argue. “That’s like accepting that I have a weakness.”

I cupped her chin, pulling her face up so that she could see the seriousness that was building behind my eyes. “If anyone calls you weak because you accepted help, then I will gladly sit back and watch as you kick their ass and prove them otherwise.”

We both laughed, and Astrid seemed to relax, breaking down a fraction of her hard exterior shell so that I could get a glimpse inside her beautiful mind.

After a few moments, we just sat in silence while I finished cleansing her wounds, glancing up occasionally to see her eyes intently set on me with a smile plastered on her face.

When I stood up to throw away the trash, I heard Astrid mumble something as I walked away. “What was that?” I asked, hoping that I had heard her correctly.

“ I guess you were right.” She shrugged.

My curiosity had piqued. “Right about what?”

“ You told me before we started the game that me not being yours by the end of it wasn’t going to be an option.” She paused. “Now that you have me, what are you going to do?”

Her words loitered in the air, their meaning slowly sinking in as I leaned back against the counter, lost in the admiration of her beauty.

I’d been right – she did indeed look exquisite on my table.

But this time, I wasn’t going to give in to my usual impulses.

Her story about her ex from earlier lingered in my mind.

Slowly, I made my way over to her, my fingertip gliding up her arm before my hand rested against the side of her neck and massaged the tension from it.

Momentarily, the world moved in slow motion, and I felt myself in a battle with my own body.

I wanted this moment to be perfect, but also having the opportunity to take her right then dancing in front of me.

“There are a few things you need to understand before we take things further, sunshine.”

Astrid tilted her head in question.

“ Earlier you mentioned that you had things you were interested in exploring, but your ex ruined that.”

She nodded.

“ Is that still something you’d be interested in exploring in a more controlled environment? With someone you might actually trust?”

Astrid looked away for a brief moment before biting her lip and coming back to me. “Someone like you?”

I couldn’t help but smile, never in a million years did I imagine that was how she would react. “I know things will take time. I know trust will take time, but there’s one important thing I need you to understand, regardless of what we are doing.”

Now she seemed hesitant. “Okay.” I watched while a light flickered in her eye as she patiently awaited my response.

“ Do you understand the stoplight system?” I asked calmly. She nodded. “Tell me.”

“ Green means I give you full consent. Red means everything stops immediately.” She hesitated on yellow.

“ And yellow?” I asked while caressing her face, feeling the tension begin to build between us.

“ Yellow means to slow down.”

“ Good girl,” I growled into her ear. “This is important information for you to keep in your back pocket when we are together. Whether we’re holding hands in public, kissing, when we are being intimate… I want you to get used to that.”

As she nodded and leaned in, her lips met mine and a sudden spark ignited, sending chills racing through me. Aggression was building between us and once she bit my lower lip I grasped her hips and pulled her closer to me, eager to dive into her.

“ Wait.” She went to lean back but quickly remembered there was nothing behind her. “There’s something you need to understand about me, before we continue any of this.”

“ What’s that, sunshine?”

She seemed embarrassed by what she had to say, unsure of how I would react. “I don’t orgasm.” Fortunately for her, I already knew this information and had started researching ways that I could try and help her.

I placed my finger under her chin and lifted her face up so our eyes would meet. “You just haven’t found someone willing to be patient enough to help you.”

She seemed pleased with this. “How do you know that?”

“ Just trust me.”

???

Astrid

I wanted to trust him, but I had heard it all before.

“ You just haven’t fucked the right people” was the most common response I would get while knowing that even the best fuck in the world would leave me without feeling a release.

I wanted to tell him before we got too far into our…

whatever this was. Everything was happening so fast.

A good fast.

I was relieved when Colt pulled me into him, holding me while we sat there in silence. The quiet moments didn’t bother me when it came to him. They were comforting, not menacing.

I’ve always struggled to understand why I couldn’t fully embrace intimacy.

I assumed that my teenage rebellion, with its impulsive choices and disregard for my own needs, had left a lasting impact.

I allowed men to dictate the terms of our encounters, neglecting my own desires and the opportunity to truly explore and appreciate my own body.

Maybe it was deeper than that, perhaps I was never hydrated enough, or relaxed enough, or maybe I put too much stress on myself to be quiet so we wouldn’t get caught; eventually training my body that it didn’t need to orgasm.

Regardless of what it was, it wasn’t something I felt needed to be brought up to my doctor.

Colt finally broke the stillness. “Would you like to get dinner?”

“ I ruined things, didn’t I?” I asked, feeling infuriated at myself. Colt leaned in and kissed me passionately, pulling me into him as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“ You could never ruin anything.” He smiled sweetly, letting go of his tough shell. “We have the rest of our lives to connect physically and learn each other’s wants and needs. When the time is right, we will be unstoppable.” Colt kissed my forehead and helped me off the table.

He held my hand as we journeyed through the maze of his warehouse stopping when we reached the grouping of chains. “You may not think you can be suspended, but with these babies, you can soar.” He grasped the rings tightly in the palms of his hands and pulled himself up. “See?”

“ Maybe one day.” I smiled at his determination. “I suppose we could have a lot of fun in here.”

“ We can have a lot of fun anywhere.” He ran his fingers through my hair, pushing it behind my ear. “As long as I have you.”