Something ate at his chest when Charlotte’s gaze shifted up finding his – wide eyes, stubborn with unshed tears. Guilt was not a feeling that crept easily in Valentine. Too much time spent in the Watch can make a man numb and he’s had his fair share of seeing reality for the ugly bitch that it was, to be soft now.
He felt pity. Pity for how small she seemed and helpless and guilt that he’d chosen to send her to do his bidding with threats to keep her on a chain. Valentine’s grip tightened around her wrist and only now did it occur to him to pay attention to how delicate that too felt in his grip. How easy his fingers lapped over one another.
He pulled her over, “You need to submit, Charlotte. Come on. I’ll get you home. I’m with my personal car.”
Lottie’s chest felt tight the longer he kept her there. The strong grip, the tall figure, her automatic responses – it would all be too easy to close her eyes and imagine the scene was elsewhere and for an entirely different purpose but then her eyes glanced around and she recalled instantly where she was and why and an entirely different feeling gripped her, one of fear.
She began to pull again but his fingers didn’t yield, if anything they tightened more and a fleeting thought of was she going to have a bruise to remember the event from crossed her mind. Totally trapped she was beginning to fear he was going to go back on his word and issue her another task as he tugged her but what he actually said made her jaw drop and she began to stutter. “What? ….No…..no I’m….. fine.” Her mind was whirling as he marched her along, with no option but to go with him. Was he going to drop her at the brothel? But then he had said he would drop her home so was this another of his tricks to just get into her home without a warrant. The petite girl just didn’t know what to think but that firm grip that didn’t seem to ease up continued to excite and calm her in a way she knew it shouldn’t.
Lottie's wild adventure 