Page 70 of Fighting Conviction

Her ass.

Visions of when he’d massaged the untouched rosette in the gym thirty-one days ago flitted across his mind and shot straight down to his cock.

Fuck, she looks good.

Ellie gained weight over the past month and she’d filled out here and there. Devil thought she was gorgeous as sin before, but goddamn, he couldn’t get the thought out of his mind of tugging those leggings over those plump cheeks and getting between. He’d be in heaven.

A moan so faint he thought he’d imagined it made him realize the look he was giving her wasn’t too far off from what he was thinking. She sat on the floor, biting her lip, and from the molten caramel in her eyes, he knew the flush of her skin was from need.

Unfortunately, they’d both have to wait. This lesson was important. He’d waited long enough to show her escape techniques, afraid teaching her too early would set off her claustrophobia. Now that she was healthier, it was time to show her the ropes, so to speak. Or at least how to get out of them.

Her breaths were coming in pants and Devil decided to at least give her a taste of her own medicine with her cheeky ‘sir’ comment earlier. He’d tried to hide how that word was his kryptonite, but apparently she’d been studying him as much as he’d been studying her.

“Don’t worry, baby, when I take you, you’ll be more than willing. I won’t need to tie you up to get you into my bed, but I’ll keep you that way so we can have some fun before I make you come.”

He enjoyed the thick gulp that traveled down the column of her neck and his fingers twitched at the thought of pinning her to the bed by her throat, making her swallow around his hand. Or his cock. The thought made him thicken and he adjusted his sweatpants so they didn’t get off track… yet.

Ellie nodded slowly, as if she didn’t know how to respond to his threat, and patted her hands on the ground. “‘Kay, now what?”

“This.” He bent down and began to wrap the tape around her ankles over her tight leggings. “What’s the first rule of kidnapping?”

“Um… don’t get kidnapped?”

He snorted as he rounded the tape over her lower calves and did the same to her wrists. “Touché. Well, the second rule of kidnapping is: never go to a second location.” He tapped her shins and stood up.

“Never go to a second location. Got it.” Ellie looked down and raised her arms and legs like a floppy mermaid learning to swim. “Is this why I was supposed to wear long sleeves and leggings.”

“Yes. Alright, your task is to get free in three minutes. Whatever you do, don’t quit. This will also be a good exercise for adrenaline, and thinking calmly on how to use available resources.” He raised his watch.

“What? Three minutes? How?” Her scrunched-up face was adorable, but if he kept looking at her like that he wasn’t going to be able to let her finish the exercise.

“And…”

“Wait! Hold on—”

“Go!”

Ellie huffed but attempted to get up. She had a time of it, rocking on her ass and pulling at the tape around her legs with the tips of her unbound fingers.

“Two minutes left.”

Ellie groaned and collapsed onto the ground with a dramatic flair, irritating the fuck out of him.

What the fuck? She’s giving up already?

“Dev, this is impossible. You tied me up to make sure I couldn’t get out of it.” She waved her arms. “How am I—”

“Come on, Ellie.” Devil couldn’t help his growl. He was riding the line of encouragement and hard-ass and if she didn’t kickherass into gear, he was going to have to go full hard-ass. “Don’t quit. Try to be resourceful. You’ve got one minute now.”

She grunted before shoving her fists into her mouth and trying to tear her hands loose. As she did, she kept trying to talk through gritted teeth.

“You were… freakin’… Navy… if you… wanted it on… How could I—oof… take this off?”

The way she attempted to rip the industrial-strength tape with her canine teeth would’ve been painful to watch, if Devil wasn’t already grinding his into dust.

“Fifteen seconds.” Anger built inside him as she started to whine in frustration.

“Ugh, Dev!”