Entwined: (A Dark Romance Kidnap Thriller) (The Dark Necessities Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  “She’ll be in touch.” Dalton’s voice was unrelenting as he made the prediction. “Of that I have no doubt.”

  Connor inhaled, praying inwardly that his brother was right. “I guess we’ll see,” he replied.

  “You mark my words,” Dalton told him. “The woman is clearly crazy about you. Who flies across the pond to spend the afternoon on some shitty English beach with the guy who abducted you the year before? Jesus, Connor. She sounds even more fucked up than us!”

  Connor chuckled at his brother’s assessment. When he put it that way, it was fucking unbelievable.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  They met in an ancient looking pub in the city. London was full of the places; each building dating back further than her mind could even conceive. This one had the date 1596 on the small archway as Molly entered inside. That might have perturbed her more if her belly hadn’t already been full of those agitated butterflies.

  She’d contacted him a few hours after they’d met at the beach. Leaving it that long was the best she could manage; somehow not communicating with him seemed impossible, but she’d still chastised herself immediately as she’d hit send on the message. Fortunately, and for a change, he didn’t make her suffer, replying almost at once, and over the course of the next few days, they’d agreed to meet again. This time to decide about the future. A future, with the man who’d taken her.

  The thought jarred in her head as she jostled into the entrance of the pub that morning. Molly saw him immediately, his gorgeous frame leaning over the small, wooden bar. Of course, he was leaning, she mused as she drew in a deep breath. Connor was so tall that he’d have no choice in a place with ceilings this low. As if he heard her thinking, Connor turned at that moment, his green gaze sparkling as he appraised her. She stood there for a moment, dumbstruck at the look of the man. He was dressed in a black shirt and trousers, both of which accentuated his mesmerizing eyes even more, and for a moment, Molly could barely even take another breath.

  Slowly, he raised his right hand, and beckoned her to come with his index finger. It was only a small gesture, and one that should have irritated her to high heaven. There he was, ordering her around like his pet again, his silent authority over her compelling her feet to move, despite the fact that no words left his mouth. It didn’t rile Molly though. Not anymore. Instead, she heard the audible gasp which escaped her lips as his finger curled, and she already knew her feet were moving to obey. A few seconds later she was at the bar alongside him.

  Connor’s gaze fell over her, drinking in the length of her body. “Good morning, kitten.” His voice was like a soft, delectable purr that she wanted to vibrate all over her skin.

  Molly’s lips parted at his words, and for a moment she forgot that he was even expecting an answer.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, and there was that tone again, the low thrumming vibration of it, which overrode her brain and seemed to speak directly to her clitoris.

  “Yes,” she told him, although the sound came out more like a gasp.

  Connor’s brow arched at the gesture, but he smiled, tilting his head toward the bar. “What can I get you?”

  Molly swallowed. In truth, she felt nauseous, and the thought of a drink wasn’t helping. “I think I’m fine,” she croaked, trying to drag her gaze away from his enthralling face.

  God, she’d missed it so much, and though she’d already known that fact, and it had been one of the drivers for the journey back to England, nothing had prepared her for the rush of emotions that consumed her now. Even seeing him a few days back hadn’t helped. In fact, after their impromptu session in the rental car, Molly hadn’t been able to get him out of her mind at all. No new words had come since that evening when she’d managed to pour her heart out into the laptop. Since that day, she’d lost her focus again, each new morning concerned only with communication with Connor, and that nagging guilt that overwhelmed her whenever she thought of home.

  “You most certainly are,” he replied with a wink. “But I can’t have you ordering nothing. Why not join me for a hot chocolate, pet, and since you’ve been such a good girl meeting me here, I’ll even let you drink it from a mug this time?”

  Molly flushed instantly at that, his words bringing a torrent of memories flooding to the fore of her mind. Connor had made her a hot chocolate once before, in the early days of her captivity at his house. Back then though, he’d made her drink it naked from her pet bowl, and they’d both reveled in her utter denigration as she’d lapped up the warm liquid.

  “I’d like that, thank you,” she breathed, aware that she was almost panting as she answered.

  He grinned at her knowingly, more than aware no doubt of where her mind had gone after his previous statement. “Choose a table then,” he instructed. “I’ll order the drinks.”

  She nodded, forcing her attention left to where a small number of tables were dotted around the place. Taking a deep breath, she moved in their direction, choosing a place in a private little alcove. Molly took a seat on one of the small stools, raising her chin just in time to see Connor sauntering over toward her.

  “Is this okay, Master?” she asked.

  She nearly tripped over the final word. It felt odd calling him that in a public place, and yet, there was really nothing else to call him. He was her master now, in more ways than one. No one else could have got her back on a plane to England. No one else could mess with her head so effectively. No one else made her this wet without even having to touch her. Only Connor could do those things.

  Connor took his place on the stool opposite her, his gaze scintillating as he offered her a small smile. Molly felt her belly twist at the look of him, her body reacting to him as though she was a love-struck school-girl. Or kitten, her mind reminded her helpfully.

  “It’s perfect, kitten,” he told her softly. “Relax, you look tense.”

  Molly shrugged. He was right. She was tense. In fact, she was so tense she felt like she might shatter into thousands of pieces if she wasn’t careful. “I’m nervous about seeing you again,” she confessed, knowing she was blushing at the admission.

  He reached across the small table, that large palm gesturing for her to join him. Gingerly, Molly lifted her hand, and shifted toward his waiting hand. Connor’s palm devoured it in seconds, the warmth of his skin sending electricity sparking through her body.

  “You have no reason to be nervous,” he assured her. “If anyone should be anxious about today, then it’s me.”

  Molly gulped. The idea of Connor being nervous made her want to laugh. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him that way. Even when he’d been arrested, and she could see the panic in his eyes, he was still calm on the outside. Always calm, and always in control. That was Connor.

  “Why?” she murmured, her gaze diverted to their hands as his fingers edged between her own digits. She watched as his fingers entwined with hers, the act so sensual that it nearly took her breath away.

  “Well,” he continued. “You’re the one here to pass verdict on me, kitten. Not the other way around.”

  That made Molly pause, and she lifted her chin to meet his eye. “You already know my answer, Master,” she breathed. “I wouldn’t be here at all if I wasn’t sure what I wanted.”

  Connor’s expression softened at her explanation, but still, she could see the tension in his jaw. “But?” he probed. “There’s more than that, right?”

  She blinked up at him, aware of her heart pounding away at its usual frantic rate when Connor was around. Honestly, how did he do that? How did he always know what she was thinking?

  “Yes,” she mumbled. “There was one condition I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Right on cue, Connor’s brow rose at her words. “A condition?” he laughed. “Okay, pet, I’m listening.”

  At that moment, a young blonde woman appeared with two large mugs of hot chocolate in her hands. “Here we are, sir,” she said with a smile. “Two hot chocolates.”

  Connor’s g
aze shifted to her momentarily, his face evidently unimpressed with what he saw. “Thank you,” he concluded as she placed the drinks down on the table next to their interlinked hands. “That will be all.”

  The waitress looked downright offended at that, and for a moment she just stood there stunned, before she finally sauntered off back toward the bar.

  “That was a little rude, Master,” whispered Molly as she watched the younger women retreat.

  “I said, I’m listening.”

  The timbre of Connor’s voice was almost a low growl, and it grabbed Molly’s attention at once. She gulped, taking in the new, fierce intensity in his eyes.

  “I want to be with you,” she began, trying to regain a little composure, but whenever she met his eye, her attempts were rendered futile. “You know I do…”

  “Tell me, kitten.”

  That was an order, and the resonance made her heart leap in Molly’s chest. Damn it, she thought as she gazed down at the small marshmallows floating on top of her drink. What was it about this man that meant she could never get her words out straight? She was usually so good at communicating.

  “It’s Lydia,” she replied, lowering her face reflexively.

  Connor squeezed her hand gently, and she raised her head to look into his eyes again. He didn’t seem surprised by Molly’s answer. In fact, quite the opposite, it looked as though he’d been expecting it. “What about her?”

  “I don’t claim to know all about it,” Molly went on. “And I’m not even sure I want to know, but, Master, I think we have to address her death before we can move forward.”

  He edged closer, leaning across the table in her direction. “Address it, how?” he murmured.

  Molly lowered her gaze. She just couldn’t help it. Connor’s expression was so intense she felt like he might set the whole place aflame at any moment. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Perhaps we can talk about it? I just…”

  Her voice trailed away then, as though her last line of defense against him had waned.

  “It’s alright,” he reassured her. “I’m not angry. I want to know. I want to know what you need, what you want, what I can do to put things right?”

  Put things right? The thought made her want to laugh, but as she raised her gaze, the look in his eyes stopped the sound before she’d even created it.

  “I just know she deserves better than the fate which has befallen her,” Molly said with a sigh. “It’s not decent, being left to rot where she is. She deserves more than that, Master. We all do.”

  Connor nodded, his eyes closing momentarily. “You’re right, kitten,” he mused as his stare found hers again. “She did deserve more. And maybe, with a little help from you, and my friends, we can put that part right at least.”

  Molly bit her lip at his words. She hadn’t expected him to be so compliant. “Really?” she asked, her surprise no doubt obvious from her tone.

  “Yes, really,” he told her. “What did you expect? That I’d say no and take you over my knee right here in the pub?”

  His eyes twinkled as he asked the question, and Molly blew out a breath at the mental image his words inspired. “No, I…” She hesitated, raising her gaze to look into those sparkling green eyes once again. “I just wasn’t sure how you’d react, Master.”

  Connor snorted, releasing her hand as he raised the mug to his lips and took a long sip of hot chocolate. The movement left her palm cold and bereft, and all the while, Molly noticed the intensity of his gaze never left her. “And did I pass that little test?” he probed as he lowered the cup back to the small table between them.

  Molly smiled. He had more than passed. “Yes,” she admitted in a small whisper. “You passed, Master.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “And what about my questions for you?” Connor’s voice was soft as he probed, but it didn’t reflect the way he was feeling. “Did you think about what I told you?”

  This was the crux of the whole meeting. The crux of everything. Had Molly thought about what he’d told her by the coast last week, and what had she concluded? Could she commit not only to him, but to life within The Syndicate?

  She shifted against the hard stool, her eyes falling to the mug as she wrapped her small hands around it. “Yes,” she answered. “I thought of very little else actually.”

  That thought warmed Connor and he smiled at her wryly as he took another sip, making her wait a little longer for his response. He might be the one with knots inside his stomach, but Molly didn’t have to know that. He didn’t have to let it show. Slowly, he swallowed the sweet liquid and lifted his chin to look into those soulful, blue eyes.

  “And?” he demanded. “What did you decide?”

  Connor hoped his tone didn’t sound as impatient as he felt, but he suspected it might have done.

  “I don’t understand a lot of what you’re asking, Master,” she conceded in a painfully tiny voice. “I can’t even comprehend the organization you describe, but—”

  “But?” he repeated, ignoring the knotting anxiety in his gut.

  “But I want you,” she went on. “I want to be with you. That’s why I ignored every sane and rational thought and got back on a plane to come here, Master. That’s why I met with you at the beach. That’s why my heart skips every time I get a message from you. It’s like I’m a stupid little lovestruck teenager, or something.”

  It was almost like she was talking to herself as the words fell from her lips, but Connor let her speak. He sensed she needed the release, and he wanted to know what was on her mind. Frankly, just being around her again was intoxicating. Her soft, American purr was making his cock hard every time she parted those sweet lips, and Connor fucking loved it.

  “You’re far from stupid, kitten,” he soothed, reaching up to caress the exposed skin at her wrist.

  Molly looked fabulous in a clingy blue dress which accentuated all of her delicious curves, but it was the touch of her naked skin that he craved. He needed it.

  “I don’t think that’s how other people would see it,” she chuckled, but something about her tone sounded sad. “I don’t think that’s how my mom, dad, and friends will see it.”

  So, that’s what was on her mind. It had been such a long time since Connor had had parents to worry about, he’d nearly forgotten the concern they caused other people.

  “Do they know where you are?” he asked, although he already knew the answer. There was no way Molly would have told them the truth. They’d have fought tooth and nail to stop her coming back to England, to him. And he guessed he could understand that.

  She shook her head. “No,” she whispered, her expression crumbling all of a sudden. It seemed as though all the weight of that betrayal had just landed in one go. “I never told them. I never told any of them anything. I just up and left. Fuck, Master, they must be worried sick.”

  Molly gazed across at him with wide, desperate eyes. The look of them made him want to bundle her up in his arms and never let her go.

  “It’s okay,” he told her, guiding her trembling hands back to the security of the table, where he wrapped them both in the warmth of his palms. “If you decide you want to try this then I swear you can get a message to the people you love.”

  She pulled in a shaky breath before she replied. “Do you promise, Master?”

  Connor stroked the outside of her palm with his calloused thumb. Christ, he hadn’t seen her this vulnerable for a long time. “Of course, I promise,” he reassured her. “I don’t say things I don’t mean, kitten. Or, don’t you remember?”

  He flashed her a cautionary look, and noticed how Molly automatically bit her lip in response. “Yes,” she nodded, feigning a smile for him. “I remember, Master. I’m sorry.”

  That did it, he decided, watching her tremble on the opposite side of the table. He needed her beside him. “Don’t be,” he told her firmly. “There is nothing to apologize for. I know what you’re contemplating giving up for me, Molly, and it’s huge. There’s no poi
nt pretending otherwise.”

  “It’s what I want,” she admitted, as a single tear made a track down her flushed cheek.

  Connor moved like lightning, rising from his place and swiping the stool from underneath him. In a matter of seconds, he had closed the distance to where she sat quivering, setting the stool beside her and ending up face to face with the woman who’d haunted his every thought for so long. Molly gasped at the sudden proximity, but it wasn’t fear he saw in her eyes anymore. Now, there was only lust and longing.

  “It’s what I want, too,” he replied. “It’s everything I want, and I’ll do anything—everything—in my power to help you, kitten.”

  She gazed at him with teary eyes. “You’re frightening me again, Master,” she whispered. “But it’s not like before. It’s no longer the monster that scares me.”

  His lips curled at her admission, and he reached for her hands again, dragging them the short distance to her lap, where he squeezed her fingers gently. There was that connection between them, that visceral one which had made him physically ache for his kitten. It was there in everything she did. Every furtive glance, and every wicked grin. Connor knew them all. He owned them all.

  “Tell me what scares you now,” he ordered. “If not the monster, then what?”

  His words were a sensual command, and her gulping response told him that she knew it.

  “It’s how I feel about the man,” she mumbled. “How crazy I am about him, and how completely powerless that makes me.”

  Connor laughed gently. He could certainly relate to that sentiment.

  “I mean it, Master,” she insisted. “I’m useless without you. I can’t write, and I can barely function. Whatever this thing is between us, I need it. I think we both do.”