Bound (Forbidden #1)(25)
Author: Melody Anne

Don’t pretend you didn’t see the bag. Go back up there and open it.

Before she could even think about which message to respond to first, another one popped up on her screen. This one made her smile and then frown.

Yes, I am watching you. Good morning, Jewell. You did well last night. We will discuss it at length later.

She looked up along the walls, trying to discover where the cameras were located. If she could somehow find them, maybe she could find some places in his home where she could hide. She so craved some semblance of privacy.

Did he have cameras in his bathroom, too? Would he watch her as she bathed? Just the thought caused her stomach to stir. Blake seemed to have awakened something inside her, and she didn’t know whether she’d be able to turn it back off. That was a terrifying thought, because this was absolutely temporary.

And still, even though Blake wasn’t Mr. Perfect, and he was demanding and curt, he also didn’t seem to be the type to do really sick things. What if the next guy wasn’t so easy? What if the lifestyle he was into was something she just couldn’t do? She couldn’t get past the words some of the other girls had spoken.

They’d talked about how men liked to whip them, make them bow down at their feet, feed them from a bowl on the floor. And there were other things, sex things, that made her gag just to think of them. She couldn’t do such things. Or could she? Hadn’t she vowed to do anything for her brother? But would he want her to sink so low? Would he do the same for her? Of course he would, at least if he were older.

She just prayed she would never be forced into choosing between her brother and her pride. Because if she were treated in such a demeaning way, it might well not matter whether she saved her brother or not, because she would be lost forever.

Answer me, Jewell. Now!

Oh, you are impatient, Mr. Knight. I was just trying to decide what to answer first.

I don’t like waiting for anyone.

Then you will surely be disappointed a lot in your lifetime.

Not knowing why she was doing it, Jewell added a bit of salt to her comment by looking up at the walls with a mocking smile. She might not know where the cameras were, but she certainly hoped he got the message. She felt a whole heck of a lot braver when she was communicating with Blake by text message and not in person. He wasn’t quite so intimidating.

You really need a good spanking. You’re not jumping when I say jump.

You didn’t tell me how high.

Instead of striking terror into her, his threat gave her a shiver of excitement. She didn’t know this man, and had no idea what he was capable of, but if he wanted to really hurt her, wouldn’t he have shown that already? She hadn’t seen anything so far in his place that looked menacing, and she’d spent the entire day wandering the apartment, so she would have turned up something if it were there.

You’re pushing me, Jewell…

Maybe you need to be pushed. Maybe too many people kiss your ass and that makes you a grumpy man.

When there was no response to her last message, Jewell wondered whether she’d taken things too far, just like the last time they engaged in a phone war. Although texting a message made her feel braver, she didn’t want him to send her away, didn’t want to lose the money future jobs would give her, the money to get her own apartment, the money that would show the judge she would be a fit guardian for her brother. She was again close to apologizing when a message finally came through.

Go take your bath, Jewell. Now! I will show you later what happens when someone displeases me.

This time she didn’t reply. Pacing worriedly from the living room to the kitchen and back again, she chewed on her thumbnail. Was he serious?

I can see you are wising up, Jewell. Don’t try to challenge me. You will lose.

Relief flooded through her at seeing his message. True, it was another order, and it wasn’t a very pleasant one, but he wasn’t telling her she’d have to leave. He wasn’t screaming at her with exclamation marks galore or in all capital letters. Why she felt the need to challenge him she didn’t know, but as much as she was trying to suppress her personality to get through this week, she couldn’t kill it completely.

She’d been raised by a strong, beautiful, brilliant mother, and she respected herself. Sure, she didn’t always make the best choices, but couldn’t that be said about everyone? She was still a good person and she still deserved to be treated with respect, even if she had agreed to work for an agency with the name Relinquish Control.

Even if she was selling her body.

With an extra sway in her hips, she turned and moved toward the stairs. Hadn’t she told herself she wanted to use his bath anyway? Of course she had. So even though he was ordering her to take a bath, it was no skin off her…nose. Let him think he’d won some imaginary skirmish in their battle of wills.

She went first to her room and looked at the bag on her bed. She didn’t want to open it, but she also didn’t want to keep challenging this man. So she picked up the bag and looked inside, then really hoped he was decent enough not to have a camera in her room — but she knew, oh yes, she knew, that he did. Of course the bag contained more lingerie, in a style that would show everything to him. And of course it would make her feel like the slut he wanted her to be.

Angry tears sprang into her eyes, but she refused to acknowledge them herself or lift her face so he could see them. If she didn’t show that she cared, he couldn’t be satisfied by his stupid little games. Once the tears went away, she looked up with another smirk and moved toward his bedroom.

Once back in his large bathroom, she walked to the tub and started the water. He doubtless had a camera pointing right at her here. Good! She hoped he suffered while he was at his stiff desk with his tight pants. Because she was ticked off now, and she was more than happy to put on one hell of a show for Blake Knight.

She took off her clothes slowly, letting them fall to the floor in a nice little heap, then went over to the vanity mirror and lifted her arms, pulled up her hair and placed it in a bun. At least the man thought of everything, having far more vanity products available to her than she had owned in her last apartment. She ran her hands down her neck and over her breasts, then her stomach.

Her phone was sitting on the counter and it immediately beeped, but she ignored it. Instead she sashayed over to the tub and picked up the jar of the bath salts he’d demanded that she use. As she bent over to spread them on the top of the water, she hoped he got a really good view.

When her phone beeped again, she looked toward the ceiling and shook her head with a smile. He’d told her to take a bath and that’s exactly what she was going to do. The phone went off three more times, and with a frustrated breath, she went over and picked it up with the intention of turning it off. But she’d just check the messages first.