Lydia stared at the incredibly attractive stranger standing before her and her chest tightened as fragmented memories crashed together like shattered glass trying to reform.
The perfect lips moving hot on hers... Those impossibly dark eyes turning red as he rode her wildly, looking at her intensely all four times he made her cum...
"You are real? That moment with you..." She whispered, her voice barely audible as heat flooded her cheeks.
"That wasn't some twisted fantasy my traumatized mind created?"
She had convinced herself it was impossible: that she could never have given herself so completely, so wantonly, to a complete stranger.
And when flashes of another man's golden eyes haunted her mind and vision, she'd been certain her damaged psyche had conjured the entire impossible scenario.
Believing she had that wild dream just as she was about to wake up in her new life since it was what she had lacked in her previous life.
But he was here. Real. And looking at her like she was something precious he'd been searching for his entire existence.
"Every second of it was real, my love." He said, his voice carrying that same dark velvet tone that had whispered such sinful promises against her skin.
"Who are you?" She blurted out, taking an instinctive step backward.
His lips curved into a smile that was equal parts seductive and dangerous.
"Maxwell Salvador." He replied then his eyes flashed red as they swept over her half naked body with unmistakable hunger.
"How did you get in here? And what did you do to them?" She gestured frantically at Rose and the maids lying motionless on the carpet, fear creeping into her voice despite her body's traitorous response to his presence.
Her body was heating up, yearning for a touch and Lydia didn't understand why she would be feeling that way.
"I can enter anywhere I want without anyone knowing."
As for them—they're simply sleeping. Pressure points along the neck, applied with precise timing. They'll wake in an hour with nothing more than slight grogginess." Maxwell replied with casual confidence that should have terrified her but somehow made her feel relieved.
Before she could process his words fully, he was suddenly in front of her, not having walked or run, but simply appearing as if he'd moved faster than her eyes could track.
His hard chest pressed against her softer curves, and she gasped at the immediate heat that flared between them.
"You can't run from me, my love." He murmured, his breath warm against her ear.
"Even if you could, I would find you. I could track you to the ends of the earth, even if you were buried six feet underground."
The possessive intensity in his voice should have sent her fleeing. Instead, it ignited something primal deep in her core that she didn't fully understand.
"Why?" She whispered, her hands coming up to press against his chest, actually to push him back at least a bit but instead simply resting there, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
"Because you belong to me now. And I protect what's mine. I would never hurt you, love. But anyone who tries to harm you..." He said simply, as if stating an immutable law of physics.
"They won't live to regret it." His eyes flashed a blazing red.
Lydia's breath hitched at the casual way he spoke of violence, but instead of fear, she felt an unexpected surge of safety.
When had anyone ever promised to protect her? When had anyone ever looked at her like she was worth fighting for?
Maxwell pulled back slightly, his intense gaze searching her face with an almost supernatural ability to read her emotions.
"Someone was hurting you earlier, I felt your pain, your terror. Tell me who it was." He demanded, his voice tight with barely contained fury.
"You felt it? How could you possibly..." Lydia stared at him in confusion.
"Tell me, who made you afraid?" He interrupted her, his hands coming up to cup her face with surprising gentleness.
A bitter laugh escaped her mouth, tinged with hysteria.
"Technically, my own parents kidnapped me and dragged me here against my will." She'd meant it as dark humor, but Maxwell's reaction was immediate and volcanic.
His body went rigid, and when he spoke, his voice carried a dangerous edge that made the air seem to tremble.
"Your parents did what?" Each word was precisely enunciated, as if he was fighting to maintain control.
The genuine outrage in his voice, outrage on her behalf, broke something inside Lydia that she'd been holding together through sheer willpower.
Tears began streaming down her cheeks as twenty-four years of pain and betrayal came pouring out.
"They're monsters..." She whispered, her voice shaking slightly.
"They've done terrible things, destroyed innocent people and I hate them so much I want to..."
"Kill them?" Maxwell finished softly, his thumbs brushing away her tears with infinite tenderness.
Lydia's breath hitched at hearing her darkest thoughts spoken aloud.
"Yes, and even worse if possible." She admitted in a whisper.
Maxwell's expression shifted, fury giving way to tenderness as he watched her tears fall. He leaned closer, his forehead touching hers.
"Then I'll kill them for you. Just say the word, and they'll disappear. Permanently. Untraceable. No one will ever hurt you again." He said casually as if offering to bring her coffee.
The matter-of-fact way he spoke of murder should have horrified her.
Yet, Lydia felt something dark and hungry unfurl in her chest, a desire for vengeance that matched the intensity in his eyes.
They stared at each other in charged silence, the air between them crackling with tension, desire, and shared darkness.
The emotional turmoil of discovering her parents' betrayal, combined with his overwhelming masculine presence, created a perfect storm of need that threatened to consume her entirely.
As if he knew what she was feeling and what she needed at the moment to keep her from falling apart, Maxwell moved first, his mouth claiming hers in a kiss that was anything but gentle.
It was consuming, possessive, and completely devastating in its intensity.
His hands tangled in her hair, holding her exactly where he wanted her as his tongue invaded her mouth with the same commanding authority he brought to everything else.
"You're making me lose control. Do you have any idea what you do to me?" He growled against her lips, his voice rough with want.
Despite every rational thought screaming warnings, Lydia found herself responding with equal desperation. Her body arched against his as if it had a will of its own, seeking the connection and release his touch promised.
Maxwell's hands roamed her body skillfully, finding every sensitive spot with the precision of someone who had already mapped every inch of her.
When his fingers found the hook of her bra and instantly unhooked it, she didn't protest.
She even arched her back slightly to make the task easier for him.
"So perfect!" He murmured as his palms cupped her breasts.
His mouth left her lips and sharply followed the path his hands had traced, leaving a trail of fire across her skin.
When he reached one of her nipples and gave it a bite, she gasped, her hands fisting in his dark hair.
"That's it, my love. Enjoy how I make you feel." He murmured before fully taking the nipple in his mouth, sucking it.
As his tongue rolled over the bud, teeth grazing them, his hands worked magic on her body, every touch calculated to drive her higher.
When his fingers traveled down to find the slick heat between her thighs, she cried out at the immediate surge of sensation.
"So wet for me already, your body remembers, doesn't it? Remembers how good I made you feel." He grunted approvingly.
Lydia just stood there moaning loudly, her legs shaking as his fingers wildly moved in a rhythm that had her wobbling on the edge of release within minutes.
The emotional devastation of the day had transformed into pure physical need and her body was seeking escape in this wanton way.
"Uhmmm!" She moaned.
"Let go, my love. Let me take the pain away." He whispered against her skin, his mouth now on her other breast as his thumb found that sensitive bundle of nerves that made her see stars.
When the climax hit, Lydia's body convulsed against his hand as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over her, temporarily washing away all the anguish and confusion of the day.
When she was done, Maxwell gave her breast a final pull then straightened up.
As her breathing slowly returned to normal, reality began creeping back in and his possessive grip tightened as if he sensed her thoughts shifting.
"I'm taking you out of here. You're not safe in this house with them." He declared with finality.
But the orgasmic bliss had cleared Lydia's head rather than clouded it, and she realized she was tired of being moved around like a chess piece by people who claimed to know what was best for her.
Like how Amanda Dante had done in her previous life!
"I'm not going anywhere with you. I will take care of my situations by myself." She said firmly.
Maxwell's expression cycled through surprise and annoyance. But before he could respond, a sharp knock came on the door.
"Darling, are you done keeping up?" Amanda's voice came through from outside like a concerned mother.
Maxwell's head turned sharply and his eyes darkened.
"That is one of whom you want dead, right? It will be fast!" He informed her.
"What... What are you trying to do?" Lydia couldn't believe him.
"To get rid of her for you." He stated as if he was surprised she was asking. Lydia's jaw dropped in disbelief but this man seemed serious, he was already by the door, his hand hovering on the doorknob.