Awaken to Danger by OKDeanna

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Chapter 1

Warm, skilled hands traveled up her sides, teasing, touching, coaxing her to awaken. She did, slowly, dazedly and then, as she tried to move her arms and discovered they were locked in some kind of device above her head, her eyelids shot open and panic set in.

Buffy screamed at the familiar face looming above her, his short, bleach blond hair and sharp, angular profile finally coming into full focus, and struggled against the weight that settled across her upper thighs; it didn’t help. He was stronger than she was and a quick maneuver of his legs had him fully stretched out atop her, one muscled leg locked behind her knees, firmly blocking her instinct to kick him in the balls.

“None of that now,” he scolded gently, covering her mouth with his hand. “There’s no bloody need for it. ’M not plannin’ to hurt you, love.”

Yeah, like she was going to believe that!

Buffy yanked on her arms again, discovering with a quick look that her wrists were bound to the headboard of the bed with some kind of thick, heavy, silver chain.

Her gaze shot back to his face, her eyes narrowing, her mouth opening, teeth sinking into his hand, forcing it away from her lips. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she hissed. “Let go of me! Get off of me you creep!”

He frowned, shaking his head as if disappointed in her. But surprisingly, he did as she asked.

“You know, you were much more pleasant back at the club,” he said smoothly getting to his feet.” I’d have thought you’d be a little more grateful to see me, love. What with you chasin’ after me outside the place and all.”

Could he be any more conceited? “I was not chasing after you!” Okay, so yeah, that was a little bit of a lie, one he obviously didn’t believe if the arched eyebrow was anything to go by. “You do realize this is kidnapping, right?” she asked jerking on her arms again; the chains rattled but held firm.

Dammit.

“My friends are going to realize I’m not home and come looking for me,” she lied again.

The blond laughed, clearly not believing her. “You actually think I’d be stupid enough to have you where your silly li’l girlfriends could find you? Find us? Please, love, give me a li’l credit, would you? ‘Sides,” he said giving another shrug, reaching out to lightly run a finger over her cheek. “You don’ really want to leave me. Least not before you find out why I’ve got you here, yeah?”

She yanked her head out of his reach, glancing at the chains, the bed and the dress that rode up high along her thighs then pointedly offered him another glare. “I think the reason I’m here is pretty obvious, don’t you think? And hey, just in case you missed the memo, I’m not into being kidnapped and raped so… if that’s your kink, you’ve got the wrong girl.”

“Do I now? I’m not so sure of that, love. Most girls ‘d still be screamin’ from the rafters by now. But you? You’re lyin’ there cool as you please. Glarin’ at me. Arguin’ with me...”

He stopped, stepping closer to the bed, those damndable fingers lightly trailing across her exposed thighs. “Face it, pet, there’s a part of you that likes this. That wonders just how far I’m willin’ to take it. Take you.”

He met her eyes, towering over her from the side and before she had time to shrink back from his presence, the chains around her wrists were gone and he was standing a foot away, giving her the room she needed to get to her feet.

She rubbed her wrists where the chains had cut into them, eyeing the door across the room before sliding her gaze back to his face, confused by his relaxed demeanor. “I… don’t understand. Why did you bring me here if you weren’t even going to… try anything? Was it to scare me? Is that how you get off?”

“You’re free to go, love, if that’s what you want,” he said, ignoring her snipe but not breaking contact with her eyes. “The door locks from the inside, yeah? Easy to open. ‘M not gonna keep you here if you really wanna go. If you’re too afraid of me to stay.”

She furrowed her brow, casting another look at the door; it wasn’t that far, she could probably make it even if he unexpectedly lunged for her. “You won’t try to stop me?” she asked warily, still not moving toward the only visible escape route in the room. “You won’t… grab me from behind again?”

“No.”

One word. Simple. Straight to the point.

Could she believe it, him, though? Would he really not try and stop her from leaving?

As if he read her thoughts, he gave her a small, sardonic smile and walked to the other side of the bedroom, as far away from the door—and her—as he could get. He didn’t turn and face her as she expected him to, his gaze too engrossed in the contents of what looked to be a hand-carved, antique hope chest.

“What’s it gonna be, love?” he inquired softly, long fingers sliding along the top of the chest, angled chin dropping toward his neck as his gaze lowered to half-mast.

His blue eyes raked over the ornate woodwork cut into the side of the box, his piercing gaze studying the details the same way he had studied her at the club. “You gonna be leavin’ me?” he questioned again, closing the lid of the box, his steady hand hovering over the top as if he might change his mind and reopen it at any moment. “Leavin’ this?

“Or you gonna let me show you why I really brought you here?” He did look at her then, his blue gaze darkening with the same seductive promise she’d witnessed in them at the club. “It’s your choice, love. Though, if you do choose stay, I feel obligated to warn you that I’ll be the one callin’ the shots t’night, yeah? Not you.”

She shivered at the impious authority in his tone, the dark threat of sexual danger in his eyes, and couldn’t help wondering if this is what it felt like to be courted by sin. To want what she shouldn’t want while knowing she had to deny it, deny him and whatever those intense, cerulean eyes had in store for her.

“I don’t even know your name,” she whispered, sliding her gaze to the floor. “I don’t even know anything about you at all.”

She could hear the smile in voice as he spoke, his every word keeping in time with each step it took for him to reach her side again. “Does it really matter what my name is, love?” he asked lifting a finger to her neck, leisurely running its coarse pad across her collarbone. “You had the chance to leave. I gave it to you free and clear. You chose not to take it. You chose to stay…” his arm dropped, his devilish eyes boring into hers, “…with me.”

God, she had done that, hadn’t she? She’d chosen to stay. Stay with the man who kidnapped her. Who planned to do who knew what to her before he allowed her to leave again. “I have to be crazy,” she said shaking her head, focusing on the black biker boots standing so close to her own high heels. “I have to be sick and twisted and—”

“It’s not sick or twisted to want a new sexual adventure,” he said cutting her off, his soft tone offering her reassurance even as it brooked no room for argument. His arm lifted again, his right hand cupping her cheek, forcing her eyes back to his face. “Lots of people want what you want, love. It doesn’ make them wrong or bad or… anythin’ other than unique, adventurous, passionate people.”

She shivered. “But I’m not any of those things,” she confessed, looking away. “I’ve never been any of those things. Never wanted to be any of those things. Not until…”

“Until me?” he questioned when her voice trailed off. He smiled when she finally forced herself to look back up at him, his blue eyes dancing with satisfaction as he wickedly confided, “I knew it, you know. Second I saw you dancin’ in that club, pert body movin’ in those cute, flirty li’l dresses. I knew you would want this. Crave this.”

“H-how? How did you know I would…? I didn’t even know I would want this. I don’t even know what this is!”

He grinned at that. “Would you like to, love? Would you like to know why I brought you here? Why I took you like I did? Why I chained you to a bed then let you go?

She nodded, searching his eyes. “Yes, I want to know. I want to know what made you do this. What made you pick me?”

“That’s just it, love,” he said pushing a strand of hair back behind her ear. “I didn’ pick you. You picked me.”

She didn’t get it. Didn’t have a sodding clue what he meant by it. Confusion settled in her every pore, her perplexed eyes begging him to expand on his statement.

But he wouldn’t. Not when it was far easier to show her instead.

“Turn around,” he commanded brusquely, dropping his hand and taking a step back. She blinked at his tone, opening her mouth to tell him to go to hell no doubt; he shook his head, placing his finger across her lips, stilling her words but not the questions in her eyes. “Turn around, love. I’m in charge, yeah? You already agreed to it. Second you chose to stay with me.”

She drew a breath, staring at him a beat longer than it should have taken and slowly—too slowly—turned her back on him. She dared a glance over her shoulder, but a quick, firm shake of his head remedied that rebellion quick.

“You want to know why you’re here?” he inquired lazily, coming up behind her, running his hands over her shoulders, down her arms, playing with the small patches of skin visible at her waist and hip. “You want to know why you chose me? How I know you chose me?”

She nodded, body trembling with every brush of his fingers; he smiled, stilling his movements, locking his arms around her waist, trapping her hands at her sides as he roughly pulled her back against him. “I saw the spark in your eyes when you looked at me tonight. Sparks like that, baby, they’re just beggin’ to be kindled.

“And you were beggin’ me, love. Every li’l glance you tried to hide, you begged me to come closer. To draw you out. To let you fly. And I will, baby. I’ll let you fly. Fly higher than you ever have before.”

He loosened his arms, slipping them beneath hers, and settled his hands low on her abdomen. “You feel how much I want you, love? Feel how much power you have over me?” He moved his mouth to her ear, taking the lobe between his lips. “Have me on fire, you do, pet. But I won’ take you until you tell me I can. Until you tell me it’s what you want. What you… need.”

“Are we going t—to exchange names?” she asked, voice quivering, body shaking. “I g-generally like to… to know who I’m sleeping with.”

He suckled her earlobe, teasingly flicking its end with his tongue; she shuddered in his arms, a low moan escaping her mouth. “Love, you keep makin’ delicious sounds like that and I’ll exchange anythin’ you want with you.”

He smirked at her gasp, unable to resist a quick nip at the pulse point in her neck. “And I promise you, pet,” he vowed, placing a series of chaste kisses along her skin. “There isn’ goin’ to be much sleepin’ t’night.”

She twisted abruptly, turning to face him, her blue-green eyes glazed but confident as they met his own. “I want your name,” she said, her voice stronger than he expected. “I want your name and I want you to call me Buffy.”

He grinned, rubbing his hands in a circle across her back. “Is that your real name, love? Or just what your li’l friends call you?”

Her eyes darkened, glittering with irritation and… was that a warning? “My name is Elizabeth but no one outside my family calls me that. And neither will you.

“Now tell me,” she demanded firmly, watching his eyes. “Tell me your name.”

He arched an eyebrow at her tone, but instead of admonishing her for the harsh command, he found himself doing as she requested in its place. “It’s William, love. But you can call me Spike.”

Without giving her time to say anything, think anything, he lifted his fingers to the zipper beneath his hands, slowly easing it down, never taking his eyes off her face. “You’re bloody gorgeous, pet,” he told her huskily, sliding his palms beneath the thin, black, spaghetti straps at her shoulders, easily flicking off first one then the other. “’M gonna enjoy watchin’ you come, love. Almost as much as ‘m gonna enjoy watchin’ me come inside you.”

She gasped at his boldness but made no move to catch the dress as he stepped back, silently watching as the body-hugging material pooled to the floor at their feet.

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