Chapter 9

He nods his head towards the man. Their eyes seem to know what each other is thinking. Confused, I look back and forth between them. The man nods his head and goes out of the room.

I look up. Dark obsidian eyes gaze into mine. He grabs my bum and lifts me off the table. My legs instantly wrap around his hips and my arms cling onto him. I look around and realize we are in his office. Alone. He steps around the table and sits down on an office chair behind. I find myself straddling him.

What is he doing? He lifts my chin with one hand and I'm forced to look into his eyes. Like the black sea, his dark eyes drown me in. It leaves me breathless. He caresses my red cheek with his thumb. Strands of chocolate brown hair fall around my face. He tucks them behind my ear.

"Do you know who I am?" his deep voice rumbles.

His question surprised me. He was telling me to stay here earlier and now he's sitting behind his desk with me on his lap and he wants to talk. Great. Maybe my teasing changed his mood. Maybe I shouldn't have called him Daddy.

"I don't know, Leonardo DiCaprio?" I ask. I've heard several times people call him Alpha Leo and most times some of them don't even look at him.

The corner of his lips lifts up and butterflies swallow my tummy. "Call me Leo, baby doll."

I can't help but giggle. "I rather call you Daddy," I joke, "since you act like you are."

His eyes darken. "Don't make promises. You'll be screaming my name soon."

My eyes widen. What does he mean by that? Not accepting any response from me, he wraps his strong arms around me and pulls me towards him. I end up laying my head on his shoulder as he kisses my head and smells in my scent. He constantly plays with my hair and traces random patterns on my back.

I try to relax myself in his embrace and take a deep breath. He smells so good. I feel his heartbeat thumping beneath my chest as he heaves. "Why did you take me?" I ask without thinking, breaking the silence between us. I feel his breathing increase.

"You're mine," he states firmly, his chest vibrating. "You don't have to concern yourself with anything else."

As I try to take in his words, I feel my blood boiling. I'm his? His? Unbelievable. Who says that to someone they don't know? I pull back suddenly and glare at him, my anger radiating between us. He doesn't even seem to care. "What do you want from me?" I demand.

"I want you."

He can't be serious. I try to take myself off his lap but I guess he's just too strong. "Let me go."

He only pulls me closer. "Don't even try to run away from me, baby doll."

I touch his strong arms in protest, trying to remove them from me. I don't want him to touch me. I know what he wants and I know how much he finds me attractive but I'm not going to give in.

"I'm not going to be your sex slave," I blurt out, looking him straight in the eye.

He scoffs, as if he finds it funny. "You're not my slave."

"Still, I don't want to have sex with you." It's not just the feeling of fear towards him. It's the fear of doing something I haven't done with anyone else. They say it hurts at first but sex is something I want to deal with only after marriage. With someone I want. Someone I love. Not someone I barely know.

"I know," he replies knowingly as if he knows all my secrets. He touches my face and reveals the side of my neck by putting my hair aside. He leans in and I feel him kissing my neck softly, his lips lingering on my skin. "So innocent, baby doll," he murmurs huskily. "I have so much to teach you."

I shiver as he tenderly kisses the sensitive skin below my ear. His words, his kisses, and his touches keep sending a delicious shiver running down my spine. I close my eyes and a soft moan escapes my lips. He pulls down the sleeve of my shirt and kisses my shoulder.

"You can't keep me here forever," I say in between heavy breaths.

"You can't run from me forever," he retorts. "I'll always find you."

"You can't.. do this," I whisper. He can't keep me locked in his house forever. He can't expect me to just accept this and forget my own life and family ever existed behind these closed walls.

"Oh, but I already did," he replies. "You're not leaving me."

I take sudden intake of breath. My heart quickens its pace and I feel scared. How can he be so possessive and heartless? He wants me and he's not even afraid to admit it. He doesn't consider my feelings. Is this what he does? Does he take girls against their own wills and lock them inside his mansion?

As if feeling my fear, he tightens his strong arms around my waist and my heaving chest presses against him. I feel his heartbeat. He kisses my hair and leans his chin above my head.

"If force is the only way to keep you then I will use it. And if you try to leave me, I will punish you. But I will do whatever it takes to make you happy. I will give you everything and I will give you intense pleasure until the only thing you'll ever need and want is me."

My heart flutters and I ignore the strange feeling. "I don't even know you," I mutter.

I hear his heavy sigh. "My parents died when I was young," he starts and my heart sinks. "I grew up in a broken family. My father believed in independence and strength. I learned that the hard way. In order to get what I want, I have to be strong and brave. He had always been tough with me. But he made me who I am."

I don't know what to say.

"When they were killed in a fight, I took it over my own hands to avenge their deaths. Then I followed after my father's footsteps. Now, I stand tall and I always got what I wanted. But then I found you and I knew what I needed."

My heart beats louder inside my chest. I raise my head from his shoulder and look into his deep obsidian eyes. They hold so much meaning. Something I can't grasp. Right then, I know instantly that I'm doomed. That I'm destined to fall for him.

"How can you want someone you don't know?" I ask.

I feel his fingers slide under my shirt. They run smoothly up my spine and I feel tingles crawling under my skin. "I know who you are," he answers. "I know more than you think I do."

My eyes widen. Wait, what?

"Do you really think I'm a fool, Elena?"

Hearing my name roll smoothly on his tongue, I feel tingles all over again.

"Your mother died when you were young," he starts to recite. "You're living with your father at Kingstown. Graduated senior high. At eighteen, you work as a waitress and you come home late to tend your sick father. What's an innocent, beautiful, young woman like you doing in a restaurant?"

I glare at him. "I like my job. It's the only way my father and I can live."

"Your father?" he questions. "Well, what will he do now that you're gone?"

Tears start to gather in my eyes as I remember my father. He's alone. What has happened to him? Is he alright? Is he dying? Is he worried sick worrying about me? I miss him terribly.

He pulls me to him as he sees my tears and I bury my face into his neck. "Shhh. Don't cry, baby doll. Your father's safe. I took care of him."

It feels like a heavy weight is lifted off my chest. I take a deep breath of his scent and sigh. I want to believe he's telling the truth and somehow, I know he is.

"But I don't think I'll be needing him," he continues with a tone of mischief. "I might as well leave him to die."

I tense. "No, please, don't hurt him," I beg. Taking a deep breath, I say, "I'll do anything."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

He kisses my hair and I hear him sigh. "Stay with me."