WAS THIS TIME REAL?
I let out a scream when I looked back in the middle of my orgasm.
It was Hugo's face.
I opened my eyes and he had disappeared. Him thrusting into me.
Him squeezing my neck.
The moans.
The counter…
Everything.
I ran my hand over my face.
As always, I remembered nothing after that hand and the replicated Hugo.
Shit.
It was then that I noticed where I was.
His bedroom.
Naked among rumpled sheets.
Smelling of sex and him.
It had happened, that much was clear.
The annoying part was not remembering the rest.
Nor how I had gotten there.
I got up on autopilot and looked for my clothes in vain.
Morning light filtered through the cracks of the closed windows.
I had to grab a t-shirt that was on an armchair.
Before putting it on, I took a deep breath of the thick, soft fabric.
It was used and the smell of his skin delighted me.
It reached almost to my knees and that made me laugh.
My CEO was a giant.
I left the room heading to mine.
But I stopped halfway.
Voices.
Distant but real murmurs.
Without thinking, I went to investigate.
I ran on tiptoe with my heart racing.
When I reached the staircase, I leaned over the banister.
I could only see Hugo's bare legs.
His feet in flip-flops.
And a pair of black shoes.
The expensive, mirror-shiny kind.
Square toes.
Could that be the owner of the voice?
I sharpened my hearing.
"We're just waiting for your order," someone said.
Spoiler: it wasn't the voice.
"Until I have those files in my possession," Hugo said then. "I must obtain them without her suspecting anything. She knows too much."
I covered my mouth and ran out of there.
Was he talking about me?
I had to find out what files everyone was talking about.
The whole thing was starting to make me furious.
Or worried.
While I got dressed, the door to my room opened.
I froze.
Hugo appeared with his star smile.
"Shall we have breakfast? Although if you want… we can stay in bed," he purred.
My eyes and mouth opened wide.
Was he being close and affectionate?
Or was it just part of his strategy?
I approached decisively.
I looked at him seriously from below with my arms crossed.
"Do you want something from me and that's why this all started?" I asked, no filters.
My confusion grew when he looked at me with an innocence I couldn't dismantle.
"It's clear I want something from you," he said confidently. "But I think we're not talking about the same thing."
He raised an eyebrow.
Obviously, I expected him to say something.
He didn't.
I huffed impatiently.
"What the hell happened last night?"
This time his eyes sparkled.
And that dangerous curve appeared on his lips, aimed straight at my heart.
"What you've wanted so badly since the first time you sneaked in here," he murmured, locked on my eyes. "Why do you always ask such strange questions?"
He extended a hand and I wanted to pull away but I couldn't move.
His cold fingers settled on my collarbone.
And circled my neck.
Slow.
Deliberate.
The back of my neck prickled.
His power of seduction was impeccable.
Extremely tall.
He leaned into my ear, holding my face.
He smelled of expensive soap and coffee.
"If you want… we can repeat it. Right now. So you won't forget it again."
I laughed softly.
Hysterical.
That man was capable of taking me to a hell of his own making.
Where sin was a utopia.
Without thinking, I pressed myself against his mouth, tasting it.
When I let him go, my lips were throbbing.
"So… this time it was real?"
"It was. There was no other."
I didn't want to delve into it.
"Do you remember the night you caught me?" He nodded slowly. "I threatened you with something…"
I waited.
A reaction, even the smallest.
I didn't get one.
"Do you remember that? It was when you said you'd call security?"
A silence like a slab followed.
Heavier.
And I knew I had just opened a door to something I was still unable to understand.
YOU SAID THERE WERE NO RULES.
"I think you've been locked up here so long that you're making up stories," he said after long seconds.
His tone changed.
Now it sounded almost clinical.
But I insisted.
"I'd like to know, now that we've had intimacy… what you want from me."
"I think that was already clear."
"No. I used to sneak in here because I was obsessed with you and that pushed me to the limit," I blurted out. "But you were already one step… or several steps, ahead. You had never even looked at me. Until that night. Why?"
He pulled away a little.
A crack of discomfort appeared in him.
"Why what, Isabella?" His tone was annoyed.
"Why you let me stay. It's clear you want something. And strange things have happened…" I hesitated. "Things I'd like explained. That woman who calls you, Sue, the…"
I was going to say the notes, then the voice, then the evil mirrors… and more, but he cut me off.
"You're just being paranoid," he approached again and smiled. But his gaze was cold. "I suggest we go downstairs and have breakfast. When I get back from the office we can talk calmly."
"Don't be condescending with me," I growled.
"I'm not. But you're too impressionable. I thought you were tougher and that's what made me throw you headfirst into the game."
I flinched.
That…
Was that a reproach?
Then I gave in.
My shoulders slumped.
"Okay. If you want to keep playing hard…"
"I just want you to help me figure out what happened with Sue," he said softly. "Consider it a bonus while we play."
He turned around and I grabbed his hand.
"Do you like me?"
It was a stupid question.
Without calculation.
"Forget it."
"I like you."
I looked at him and at the same time, my heart roared like a high-speed train.
"Sorry… if I don't understand very well… but Sue… yesterday…"
I didn't say more.
"It's more complicated than that."
"Is it… a relationship?"
His eyes darkened instantly.
"No. It's a game, Isabella. A G.A.M.E," he spelled it out. "Between adults who understand that life isn't as simple as that."
He winked at me.
I swallowed.
"Does someone win in the end?"
He didn't answer.
That is, he did.
With a smile that left me K.O.
Bastard.
I returned it.
"Thanks for the clarity," I sighed. "I'm ready to keep moving my pieces. But I need more information."
I knew immediately that he knew when he put his hand on the doorknob.
There was no need for him to look at me.
"Let it be from both sides. Because you have secrets too."
I did, of course I did.
"Deal," I accepted.
"I also have a couple of rules I'd like to update," he said, already in the hallway, and I beside him.
"You said there were no rules."
"Now there are."
I frowned.
And the sudden ringing of a phone floated in the space.