“How does the time difference work with—” She shakes her head. “You know what, I don’t care.”

“You’re safe here, Eve. No one gets into this castle without my permission.”

“I wouldn’t need to be safe if you hadn’t been playing human for years with me.” She glares. “Tell him I mean nothing to you. Tell him it was just business and getting your rocks off. Tell him it’s all bullshit.”

I can’t. “It would be a lie.”

“It would be a lie,” she echoes. “Don’t tell me you fell for your own bullshit. Hooker with a heart of gold, right? That’s the fairy tale. That it’s not a job for me, that I really care about you, that I never once faked it. But you were a damned client and that is my job.”

Each word lashes me. “It doesn’t matter if I’m a job to you, Eve. He knows me well enough to know that I care about you, so he’ll hurt you to punish me. No matter what you feel for me—or don’t—you don’t deserve to be hurt.”

She holds my gaze. “Style yourself my savior in your head, but did you stop to wonder if lying to me, taking me away from everything I’ve ever known . . . might hurt me too?”

I knew it would. I chose to do it anyway. “Better you be hurt and alive than hurt and dead.”

She shakes her head and plants her hands on the table, then propels herself to her feet. “You’re lying.”

Now it’s my turn to blink. “Excuse me?”

“It may be true that Brosh wants me dead, but it’s not the full truth, is it?” She drains her wine and sets the glass down on the table. “If you were such a good leader, such a selfless person, then you would have given me a short contract to keep me safe until you had dealt with the situation. Then you would have sent me home.” She stands and moves around the table to lean against it, bare inches from me. “But you didn’t do that, did you?”

I don’t know where to look. Her breasts are so close to my face. The angle of her body makes her dress ride up to truly indecent heights. Her expression is downright dangerous. I push my chair back a little, just to give myself space to think. “Brosh isn’t the only threat, just the most present one. Now that my feelings for you are out in the open, the threats won’t stop coming.”

“Liar.” She kicks my legs wide; I’m shocked enough to let her. Eve steps between my thighs and plants her hands on my chest. “You saw an opportunity and you took it.” She slides her hands down my stomach and hooks the bottom of my shirt, then reverses direction and lifts it. “You wanted me forever, didn’t you?”

Of course I did. How could I not? I jerk my gaze to her furious eyes. “I may have lied to you before, but I won’t in the future. Not again. I promise.”

“Whatever you say.” She leans forward but has to practically crawl into my lap to reach the sensitive spot beneath my ear. “Well, I’m here. Take me.”

I freeze. “Stop that.”

But she doesn’t stop. She straddles my hips, revealing a tiny slice of red fabric covering her pussy. It’s so thin, I can see her slit through it. My cock jumps. I can’t help it. I grab her hips. “Eve.”

“Tell me your safe word, Azazel.” The snap in her voice makes my cock even harder. My sexual tastes are varied, but Eve fits them all. She always has. She grabs my chin and forces me to meet her furious dark eyes. “Now.”

“Apple,” I grit out.

“Do you want to use it, Daddy?” She doesn’t move her body, but her nails prick my skin.

I know what the right answer is. Speak the word and put a stop to her doing this for all the wrong reasons. The problem is that I can’t find the breath to speak at all. I’ve seen her unwound and messy and orgasming, but this feels like the first time I’ve seen all Eve, not the bits she allows through the shield of Ginger.

Eve narrows her eyes and drags her gaze over my features. “If you won’t say it, then answer a question, Daddy: Do you want me to stop?”

It turns out I do have the breath for words. “Why call me that?” I never would have said it’s a particular kink of mine, but on Eve’s lips?

“You have me grounded here. I can’t leave. You control every element of my life now. Who does that if not a Daddy?” She drags her thumb over my bottom lip. “It makes me want to put you in your place the only way I can. And you like it. I can feel that you do.”

I do like it. Entirely too much. I swallow hard. “You’ll hate me.” Each word fights against her grip on my chin.

“I already hate you, Daddy.” She finally moves, rolling her hips to grind herself over my hard cock. The weight of her, the friction against me, not through the shield of a glamor, is nearly enough to have me coming right here and now. But as soon as she starts, she stops. “So be it.” She starts to rise.

I tighten my grip on her hips and slam her back down onto me. “I don’t want you to stop. Even if you hate me.”

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CHAPTER 6

Iknow this is a mistake, but I don’t care. I’ve spent days wandering the halls of this cursed castle, my frustration and fury growing with each turn that leads me nowhere but to another endless hall until I’m finally deposited back at my bedroom.

If I had better control, I would come up with some kind of brilliant plan to seduce my way to freedom. I know what Azazel likes—at least what he’s shown me so far. But right now, looking up at his ruggedly handsome face, crimson skin blushing darker with lust, eyes gone obsidian when I called him Daddy . . .

It’s hard to think of anything at all.

Instead of fighting it, I allow myself to fall. I’ve done nothing but think for days. I’m exhausted, frustrated, and heartsore. I thought my days of using sex as a way to purge messy emotions were over, that those more dangerous impulses were carefully caged, but apparently some scars run too deep. When faced with a situation I have no hope of controlling, I slide right back into being that girl who held her aching heart outside her chest, who took a razor blade to it before anyone else had a chance to, just to know that no one else could hurt her worse than she hurt herself.

“Eve.”

“No.” I dig my nails into Azazel’s square jaw. He’s so fucking big in this form. He was already significantly taller than me, but now he has feet over my five foot five inches and his body is built like the strongmen who toss around boulders and trees for prestige. I swallow hard. “I don’t want to hear you say a single thing unless it’s your safe word.” A word we negotiated before my first night with him. It’s a required step for all my clients, even if we’re not engaging in kink. A little fail-safe for my peace of mind—and theirs.

I don’t really care if Azazel has peace of mind right now, but no matter how close my fury flirts with hatred, there are lines that should never be crossed. I won’t respect a single word out of his mouth . . . except that one.

His hands bracket my hips, the strength there enough to make my skin prickle, but he doesn’t attempt to control or maneuver me as I grind down on his cock. His truly, world-endingly huge cock. Historically, I’ve scoffed at the idea that anyone would be too large to fit, but I truly don’t know how he will without ripping me in half.

Good thing I’m in the mood for pain.

I cling to his shoulders, using my thighs to maintain my place, and nip his earlobe. It shouldn’t be so sexy, but there are a lot of things about this that shouldn’t be so sexy. I release his jaw and grip his horn, earning a muffled curse. “You want to play Daddy and take care of me, Azazel?” I lick the shell of a delicately pointed ear. “Then take care of me.”

He doesn’t hesitate. One moment, I’m doing my best to straddle his stomach. The next, he bands his forearm under my ass and uses his free hand to sweep both place settings from the table. The bottle crashes to the stone, sending up the strong scent of wine. A loss, but I’m too busy being laid out on the table as if I’m the feast to worry about it. The glass and a half that I drank makes my body fizzle, but I’m nowhere near drunk. That would be too easy.