Mountain Captive by Cassie Mint
Eight
Carver
There’s no way she’ll go through with this. That’s my first thought, when Natalia nudges my legs wider and settles on her knees between my thighs. But just the suggestion has my cock swelling, growing hard and flushed in her grip. Her hand is so small around me, her fingers delicate and pale, and my chest squeezes tight at the sight.
“Don’t forget.” She nods at the camera in my hand, and then her hand is moving. Her touch is gentle, absent-minded as we settle the details, and it’s so distracting I can barely think straight. Doesn’t she know her hand on me is the only thing I can process?
Her little pink tongue flicks out, wetting her bottom lip, and fuck, this can’t be real.
But the tug of her warm hand—that’s real.
The pinprick red glare of the camera light—that’s real.
And the whisper of her damp hair over my thighs as she bends her head—that’s the only sound I want to hear again. That, and her hungry groan after her first lick of my cock. Natalia’s eyes turn glassy as she takes my cock in her mouth, sucking until her cheeks hollow. She bobs her head, taking me deeper and deeper, her sweet little hums vibrating into my skin.
“Natalia. Fuck. That mouth, princess. You take me like such a good girl.”
Her mouth quirks as she smiles as much as she can with my cock stretching her lips. She looks past the camera trained on her, trapping me in her gaze, and it’s just us in this moment. Just our moans and our quick breaths and this unstoppable pull together.
She pulls off with a wet pop, resting her chin on my thigh, and smirks.
“Do you have a message for my father?” Her chest heaves up and down, brushing against my legs.
“Yes,” I growl, and take a fistful of her hair. I wind it around my hand, squeezing until she gasps, then push her face back to my cock. “Carver Ennox sends his regards.”
She takes me deep, eyes watering as she stares directly into the camera lens. I keep my grip on her hair tight, moving her roughly, and her cheeks flush as she moans around my cock. My princess likes it harsh, likes to be taken and treated like a plaything, and my own breaths grow ragged in response.
She wants a bad man?
I’ll be that for her.
I was made to fuck Natalia Volkova.
My hips move of their own accord, snapping up towards her and thrusting me deeper, and she scrabbles to grip the bed covers but keeps going. She’s magic, such a goddamn fighter, and it’s her name that I groan as I yank her off. She’s breathing hard, eyes dazed, but a tiny, blissed out smile curls her lips as I paint her cheeks with my release. My grip softens in her hair, and I cradle the side of her head as she sways on her knees.
She breathes hard for a minute. Gathers herself as my thumb rubs at her scalp, massaging her the way I did in the shower.
Then Natalia stares at the camera. She uses her pinkie fingertip to gather a bead of my come from her chin. And she sucks her finger clean.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” she rasps, shrugging like she’s not sorry at all. “But I’m not coming home.”
* * *No man could deserve Natalia Volkova, but I deserve her even less than most. I kiss her forehead and help her to stand, spinning her around and bundling her into the bed. She smiles at me sleepily as I fuss over her, checking that she’s comfortable and that she has enough pillows.
“Carver,” she murmurs, amusement rich in her voice. “Stop fretting and come to bed.”
It’s so domestic, and I force myself not to fixate on what she told her father on camera. I’m not coming home. She can’t have meant that she’d stay here—she must be leveraging this too, using it to improve her own life like the strategist she is.
Natalia is cunning. Resourceful. Perfection itself. I can’t read too much into this. And I definitely have no right to the pinch of hurt in my chest.
It’s not as though she owes me anything. What we have is not some sacred love story—I am her kidnapper. She can use me in turn however she likes.
“Carver?” She’s slurring from tiredness, her face squashed against my pillow, and a wave of longing hits me so hard that I sway on the spot. It steals my breath, makes my ears ring, and fuck, if only I hadn’t stolen her from her tent. If only I’d introduced myself in the daylight, spoken to her like a normal man—maybe I could have forgotten my mission against her family.
Maybe.
But then I’d never have felt her thrashing and fighting in my arms. I’d never have lashed her to my bed rail and seen her eyes light up with excitement. I’d never have seen that traitorous damp spot on the seam of her leggings, betraying the wicked fact that she liked it all too.
I cross to the desk, camera in hand, and begin the process of uploading the footage. If I were a good man, I’d delete it. Or at least I’d never send it. I’d erase this whole twisted game and let her go this instant, walking her back to her tent and setting her loose into the mountains.
I’m not a good man. I want her father to see the footage. Just the thought makes my skin heat with savage pleasure.
And though I’m not holding Natalia hostage anymore, I can’t deliver her back to the real world.
Not tonight, anyway. The pale tinge of dawn is creeping through the trees outside the window, and Natalia is ashen with exhaustion. She’s curled up in my bed like she belongs, her soft breaths drifting through the cabin.
Tomorrow.I set my jaw and vow to myself—tomorrow I will let her go.
I love Natalia Volkova. More than life. More than these mountains. More, even, than the sweet taste of revenge.
And because I love her, I will set her free.
