Free Because He Steals Me (Because He Owns Me #6) by Hannah Ford

BECAUSE HE STEALS ME
    (Because He Owns Me, Book Six)
    A DRIANA
    I could feel Callum’s eyes on me as I walked to the bedroom, and my body flushed hot all over. I took long, careful, steps, hoping that if I went slow, it would give me a chance to calm my beating heart and convince myself that what I’d just agreed to – to give him control of not only my body but my entire life -- wasn’t wickedly twisted and messed up.
    Callum followed me into the bedroom, then shut the door behind him with an audible click. He leaned against it and crossed his arms over his broad chest, his expression detached, casual, his body language almost lazy.
    I swallowed and thrust my chin into the air. “That contract isn’t legal.”
    The side of his mouth twitched in amusement. “Excuse me?”
    “The contract.” I smoothed down the skirt I was wearing, resisting the urge to twist the fabric in my hands nervously. “It isn’t legal. You can’t… I mean, it wouldn’t hold up in court of law.”
    “Are you planning on suing me, Lemon?”
    “No.” I shook my head. “I just meant that you can’t hold me to what I signed. Like, if you took me to court or something.”
    All traces of amusement vanished from his face, replaced with a look of smoldering desire. “I don’t have to take you to court, Lemon.”
    “You don’t?” I whispered.
    “No,” he said as he began crossing the room toward me. He circled me like a lion circling its prey, his eyes taking me in. “Because I can just punish you myself.”
    “Oh.” I shifted my weight back and forth from leg to leg. I felt fidgety under his gaze, my mind filled with the knowledge of what I’d just agreed to.
    “You seem nervous, baby.” He reached down and cupped my chin, tipped it up until I was forced to look him in eye. If it was supposed to calm me, it did anything but.
    I could smell his cologne, could feel the heat radiating off his body. Just his presence was intimidating. He was just so god damn beautiful.
    “You don’t have to be nervous, Adriana.” The pad of his thumb rubbed against my bottom lip. “That’s the thing about giving me complete control over your life. You don’t have to be afraid of anything. You just have to let me take care of you.”
    My heart was beating furiously in my chest, pumping the blood through my body in a steady rush. I wasn’t afraid. But I was nervous, the kind of nervousness that caused fluttery anticipation to settle in your stomach, the kind nervousness that only occurred when you knew something big was about to happen.
    What are you doing? my mind screamed. He was just out with another woman and yet you signed a contract saying he could have control of your life! Run, run, run as fast as you can!
    “No turning back now, baby,” Callum said, as if he could sense my thoughts. He took my top lip into his mouth and sucked on it softly. “Because the truth is, Adriana, you want to be here.” His hands slid up under my shirt, palming my tits through my bra. “You want to give me what’s mine.”
    I swallowed and stayed quiet. He was right. I could tell myself whatever I wanted, about how I should have told him off, how I shouldn’t have agreed to any of this, how it was wrong and fucked up, how he’d just been out with another woman, how he was an addict, how I could lose my job because of him.
    But at the end of the day, he was right. I wanted it.
    I wanted him.
    And whatever he required of me, I would do.
    “Eyes down, Adriana.”
    My gaze focused on the floor, and Callum removed his hands from under my shirt and pulled out my hair tie, sliding the elastic down and letting the strands loose.
    He pressed his hand to my heart. “You’re still so nervous.” His voice was soft and soothing, and I wanted to look up at him, wanted him to pull me close and move inside of me the way he’d done in my bed last night. But a second later, he grabbed at my hair and snapped by head back roughly. “Maybe you should be,” he said