Sweet: A Dark Love Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

had assumed she would choose the one farthest from him. The idea that he was inside her head enough to perceive how she would think disturbed her. She hung her towel on the bar to dry and slid into her clothes before taking a deep breath to gather her strength.
    It was tempting to hide in the room, but her stomach was rumbling for sustenance. Breakfast had been a long time ago and had consisted of a stale pastry from an airport coffee shop. The overpriced and undersized cinnamon roll had done little to satisfy her hunger. And she was ravenous now.
    Refusing to analyze why that was, or allow herself to replay the memory of running through the jungle to escape him before he captured her and took her down like prey, she deliberately blanked her mind as she moved the chair from underneath the knob, opened the door, and stepped out into the hallway with a deep breath.
    He wasn’t in sight, so she walked down the hallway in a state of anticipation, expecting him to jump out at any moment. She made it downstairs without any sign of him, finding her way to the kitchen after a couple of wrong turns. The house was ridiculously large if he lived here alone, and the kitchen was easily four times the size of the dorm room she had recently left after graduation.
    She went to the refrigerator, a sleek stainless steel design, and tried to open the door. It wouldn’t budge. She tried again, and still got the same result even though she pulled harder. With a frown, she tried to open the freezer drawer beneath the refrigerator section, but it was stubbornly stuck as well.
    “You’ll need a code for that, I’m afraid, and you aren’t authorized for that yet.”
    She glared at him as she turned to face Declan. “You’re planning to starve me too?”
    He chuckled as he reached for an apple from a fruit bowl on the counter. “No, of course not. I like your luscious curves just like they are. You’re slender, but you have nice hips and a great ass. I’d hate to see that wither away.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Then why is the refrigerator locked?”
    “That’s simple.” He lifted the apple in the air, tossing it toward her with a careless gesture.
    She caught it reflexively, her stomach rumbling as the fruit hit her hand.
    “I figured if you had unfettered access to the food, you’d make a point of avoiding me and attempting to barricade yourself in your room. This way, you’re forced to join me for meals like a civilized adult.”
    She bit into the apple savagely, wishing it was his throat as her teeth carved their way through the peeling and the softer flesh inside. “You expect us to engage in what…family dinners?” She openly laughed. “You may control the food supply, and that might even mean I have to eat at the same table with you, but I don’t have to talk to you or engage with you.”
    “Perhaps not. We’ll see how long you hold out.” He sounded unconcerned as he lifted an apple and bit into it too. “I’m expecting some rebellion and defiance, but you’ll eventually outgrow it.”
    She rolled her eyes as she devoured the apple. “You make me sound like a recalcitrant child. It’s not some bratty display to prove a point. I’m not being defiant. I’m simply demanding you acknowledge my right to leave this horror show.”
    “Never,” he said carelessly, but with an underlying note of seriousness that was daunting.
    The bite of apple in her throat went down painfully, and she gasped and choked for a moment, coughing to clear her airway. Her eyes had watered from the coughing, and she wiped her cheeks before she spoke again. “Never? What do you mean by never?”
    He ate his apple as though unconcerned with anything else. “Just what I said. There’s no reason to ever leave this island, except for medical appointments when you get pregnant. Even then, we could just have a doctor come here. We have regular food deliveries, and there’s everything else we could need here.”
    “Don’t you have a job or