Before he can finish that sentence, Harper comes storming in, flushed and breathing fast.
“Visitor,” Adam finishes.
Harper closes the door, clearly worked up and not trying to hide it.
“What happened?” I ask her immediately. “Are you all right? Where’s Cora?”
She shakes her head. “We’re fine. This isn’t—This isn’t working, Everett.”
“What isn’t working?”
“This! The guards, the constant supervision. I can’t even go to work without an escort. I can’t even work in the garden without feeling like I’m being watched. It’s suffocating. I feel like I’m being boxed in and watched from all sides. It’s terrible.”
“It’s for your safety,” I remind her. “For Cora’s safety.”
“I know that,” she snaps. “I do. But it feels like it’s making everything worse, not better. I can’t live like this forever, Everett. I just can’t. All it’s doing is reminding me that he’s out there, and I’m so fucking tired of being scared all the time and just waiting for him to show up.” She exhales hard and drags her hands through her hair, clearly frustrated. “Maybe… maybe we should just go. I always meant to keep running, and distance is probably the best thing right now. I think we should just run again.”
That hits me like a punch to the gut. I get up from my chair and walk over to her, tipping her face up with one hand. “Is that what you want?” I ask. “Do you want to leave?”
Harper hesitates, blinking back the tears in her eyes. She takes a shaky breath, but I can’t breathe properly until she answers. Finally, she shakes her head. “No,” she whispers.
I nod, relief flooding through me. “Good. Because we don’t want you to leave either. We want you here, you and Cora, and that means I’m going to keep doing what it takes to keep you safe. Whether you like it or not.”
“You keep saying that,” she grumbles under her breath. “You’re driving me crazy.”
I smirk at that, and then pull her in for a hug. “I know. Now tell me what you need right now.”
Harper licks her lips, shifting from foot to foot. “I just need something else to focus on. Every time I turn around there’s another reminder that things are bad, and I’m so in my fucking head about it.”
I nod again. “I can do that for you.” Then I grab a fistful of her hair without warning, making her suck in a surprised gasp of air. “Maybe I should put you on your knees for fighting me on this.”
Harper nods without hesitation, her eyes blown wide and dark.
“Do you trust me?” I ask her, just to check.
She nods again.
“I need the words, starlight.”
“Yes,” she pants, already breathless. “I trust you.”
“Good girl.”
I step back from her enough to take off my belt and hold it in my hands. I swivel my finger, telling her to turn around, and she does it, trembling a little. I can smell her arousal though, so I know it’s not from fear.
The leather of the belt is warm from being around my waist, and I use it to bind her hands behind her back, keeping her wrists pinned so she can’t get loose.
She tests it immediately, and makes a soft noise when she discovers she’s not going anywhere unless I release her.
I turn her back around, and her eyes are already dark with want.
“Get on your knees,” I tell her, and then I watch as she wobbles her way down without use of her hands. It’s a fucking gorgeous sight, the way she keeps her face tipped up, her wrists bound, her body pliant and ready for me.
My cock is already thickening in my pants, and I unzip and pull myself out, gripping the shaft hard.
Harper zeroes in on my cock immediately, not looking away from it for a second. When I grab her hair again, she whimpers, letting me tow her forward so the head of my cock touches her mouth.
I tease her a bit, dragging the head against her lips but not pushing into that sweet, tempting mouth just yet.