Dare Darker - Pepper North Page 0,3

her mind recognized the actual words. My sweet. Pulling her legs in close to her body, Mia wrapped her arms around her shins. She pulled the bottom of her shirt over her knees to hide her body, cursing her habit of never wearing panties to bed. “Rafael, is that you? Why am I here?” Then, when there was no response, she whispered, “Are you going to hurt me?”

Silence echoed through the darkness. The young brunette’s blue eyes searched desperately to see anything. Tense and scared, she replayed the fantasies she had shared with Rafael. Those that had her submit to him—to lose all control. Finally dropping her head to her knees in exhaustion, she dozed.

Her dreams were filled with that sandalwood cologne. A shadowy figure was always just out of sight. Even in her dreams, she whispered his name, “Rafael” as the fantasies she’d shared with that charismatic man seemed to come to life.

“It is time to wake up, my sweet,” that deep voice whispered to her.

Waking to find herself still in the pitch-black room, Mia pinched herself to make sure she was really awake. That this wasn’t a dream she needed to wake up from.

“Rafael? Could you let me go? I’m sorry I wasted your time,” Mia asked quickly. “I made all that stuff up. I shouldn’t have talked to you online.”

“That is your first lie to me, Mia. Each time you lie, there will be a consequence. For this first lie, I will take your clothing. Pull off your shirt and throw it to me,” Rafael answered evenly.

“I’m not wearing anything else. I can’t take off my clothes. I don’t know you,” she refused with panic sounding in her voice. Her eyes searched the darkness in front of her.

“Your nightshirt, Mia.” His voice was flat and adamant. “As this is the first time we have talked about the rules, I will offer you something in return. When your shirt is off, I will give you a light in exchange.”

Mia shook her head frantically. “I’m not giving you my nightshirt.”

“As you wish.” The last sounds faded into the darkness.

Sitting there, her ears strained to hear anything in the obscurity. Nothing. “Rafael?” she asked hesitantly. No one answered.

She’d had enough. This man was playing a game with her she didn’t like. He’d coaxed out of her all her fantasies of being owned or kept despite her attempts to conceal them. Now, he was using her own words against her. Wrapping her indignation around her slender frame, Mia pushed herself to the edge of the bare mattress and stood.

Waving her arms around in front of her, Mia tried to feel her way forward. After several steps, she looked behind her, and the mattress was no longer visible. Would she be able to find her way back? Mia began counting steps. One, two, three. When she reached twenty, she waved her hands around in a panic. How could there be nothing ahead of her? How big was this room he had trapped her in?

One fingertip on a flailing hand struck something hard with a dull ringing sound as she leaned forward. Stepping closer, her fingers wrapped around a cold metal bar. She slid her hand upward and even lifted onto her tiptoes. There was no end. Squatting quickly, she ran her hand down the metal to the cold concrete floor.

Shivering, she paused as her mind calculated. She reached to the left and found another bar and a column of bars followed out of her reach. Running her fingertips along the metal rods to the right, Mia’s mind finally put the pieces together.

A cage. Rafael had locked her in a cage. Unable to stop herself, Mia pressed her knees together. Heat began to build in her lower abdomen. Pressing her thighs together, she tried to convince herself that she wasn’t aroused. The wetness between her thighs betrayed her. This was the fantasy she had dreamed of for more years than she could recall.

She was trapped here at his mercy. The darkness wrapped around her as her hands clung to the iron bars. Would he remember all the wicked things that she had shared with him? Mia thought with a gasp. She turned around in the darkness, putting her back against the bars as her heart beat furiously in her chest and holding on to the bars for stability.

That scent of sandalwood whispered across her senses. Too late to whirl to face him, Mia felt the wide leather band wrap around her throat. It