18

Sam couldn't do anything about it. Her heart leapt. As much as the independent woman in her rebelled against his overbearing behavior, her soul tightened at Killian's possessive words. If she was honest with herself, she had never been very interested in men until now and had felt certain that she would simply not be able to have anything like a relationship because of her trauma.

The only time she felt something like desire was when she realized how beautiful Killian really was. She knew herself that it was sick to feel that way, after all he was her brother and she put it down to the fact that he made her feel safe and secure.

But now? She felt strangely helpless at the prospect of never being able to approach another man, she couldn't refuse his wish after all. He was all she had and she owed him everything. It seemed incredibly unfair to turn her back on him now and put her own needs ahead of his. He had never asked anything of her until now.

What if she was incapable of approaching other men anyway? It would be a small sacrifice then, wouldn't it? She doesn't give up anything, she had never been in love, had only been kissed once in her life and was sure she would never be able to have sex with a man.

It didn't cost her anything and yet she refused him this one request? She couldn't. She humbly swallowed her sadness and nodded silently against his chest. His hand released her fists and he wrapped his arms around her, while also wrapping her arms around his body.

"I'm so sorry, Sam. I wish I didn't have to do this to you, I tried." She nodded again. He really had tried and she could feel his inner struggle. He couldn't watch her flirting with other men. And who could blame him , when he had witnessed her almost-rape?

"It's alright. It's not your fault and it's no great loss to me, honestly." Her father had destroyed her, her trust in men and everything else that usually happened between women and men. It was broken and it wasn't Killian's fault, except for the ones he put on himself. Killian pulled her face towards him and rested his forehead against hers. He smelled so incredibly good. Masculine and earthy and just... familiar.

"I'm working on it, I promise. I don't want to steal your life." She shook her head.

"Without you I wouldn't have anything and whether you asked me to or not, it probably never would have happened anyway. I've had a thousand opportunities and I've always run away. I will never be able to trust any man as much as you." Then he looked at her for a long time, he wanted to say something, his fingers restlessly slid over her face and again she had the faint suspicion that he was about to kiss her. Which of course he wouldn't do. He was her brother. The day slipped by slowly, as if she had been wrapped in a warm tub.

Samantha swam in the strangely comforting thought that Killian wanted to own her and that she liked nothing more than to lie here with him and let him do it. As the movie they were watching reached its peak of excitement and her brother watched intently, she lay with her head on his chest, her ear right over his heartbeat, wondering how much longer her messy braid would last. For almost an hour now, Killian pulled strand after strand out of her quickly erected prison and ran his fingers through her long hair.

She had him to thank for even that. She was shocked to recall an old memory of her mother having used kitchen scissors for her disobedience and cutting her already short hair even shorter. She had looked like a plucked chicken and had driven the already quiet and reserved girl even deeper into her shell out of shame.

Killian had been furious, the only time he'd actually yelled at her mother. After that, no one had touched Samantha's hair and Killian had loved combing her hair, he loved it to this day.

"Should I undo my hair?" she asked. Eventually her half-assed hairstyle had already unraveled anyway. Killian looked down at her briefly, it seemed to take a while before he understood what she was saying. His fingers paused as if he had only now realized what he was doing, then he smiled briefly before turning back to the film.

"Sorry, I didn't realize that the braid was coming undone." His hand withdrew, resting motionless on her shoulder, and Samantha felt a pang of disappointment. She wanted to make it easier for him make him keep going. So she grabbed the hair tie and pulled it out of her blond, long curls and intentionally let them fall over his hand. The room around her was dark, yet she saw the glowing green of his eyes as his gaze settled on her again. Like the eyes of a wolf lurking in the shadows, ready to savage its prey. Except that this prey didn't hide, but pressed tightly against the wolf and unconsciously aroused its hunger.

His fist slid down the back of her neck, massaging her neck muscles, and then grabbed her hair with a mixture of caressing and possessiveness.

"You didn't have to do that," he said oddly.

"I'd do anything for you," she escaped, not realizing it was true until she'd finished speaking the words. She would do anything he wanted. Always.