He laughed. “Go ahead. No one can hear you down here, and screaming is a turn-on. Even more than struggling.”And now I was wet.“You’re a fucking asshole,” I said, meaning it with every cell in my being.He switched his hold on me to his other hand. “Sorry to disappoint, but fucking you in the ass wouldn’t be a good idea today. I’m feeling too spiteful. You wouldn’t be able to walk after and I’m not carrying you up that mountain.”“Jesus, you’re unbelievable.”“I’m taking that as a compliment.”I was sweating now, my heart pounding so hard my chest hurt. Suddenly, he let go of my hands. But before I could think fast enough to figure out what to do with my freedom, he wrapped his shirt around my neck. And pulled. Hard. Choking me.He leaned into my ear and rasped. “Beg for my cock when I let you breathe.”My hands flew to my throat. I scratched at the material, clawing, using up the air in my chest with my frantic wrestling.Of course I couldn’t get free. His hold was too tight, too s

CHAPTER 20After that, the loneliness of the island became unbearable.I rarely saw Amber. She didn’t have any reason to come to my part of the house. The pool by the master bedroom was more convenient, not to mention nearer to the office where Reeve spent his days. More than once, I considered joining her there with my laptop or a book, but really, there wasn’t any point. She barely spoke to me at lunch, and whenever I was close to her and Reeve at the same time, the tension stretched my insides so taut I wasn’t pleasant to be around anyway.The nights were the worst. I stopped locking the door to my room, hoping that Reeve would turn the knob and find it open. Hoping he’d sneak in and take me in all the ways he liked. Hoping he hadn’t meant it when he’d said he wouldn’t try anything until I asked him to.But the knob never turned. And now, Amber was more of a barrier between us than ever.I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about the two of them, together, in his bed. I understood

“True.” Besides the one I had for Joe, I had an e-mail for junk, an e-mail for publicity, an e-mail for personal. But I tended to keep all my correspondence organized. If I e-mailed someone from a certain account, I didn’t later e-mail that person from another account.There was another thing that was odd. “Why is this one written in Greek when the others were in English? What’s his language preference with you?”“Greek.” He lifted a brow, catching my drift. “Do you think they’ve been sent by different people?”“Probably not. The ones before could have been sent by an assistant or something.” That was a comical idea – having some hired goon send your threat letters. But maybe it hadn’t been someone he’d hired at all. What if Petros had sent the previous e-mails? Maybe it hadn’t even been malicious. Petros could have simply wanted Reeve to know what was going on with Amber.Whether Reeve was thinking along the same lines I was or not, I couldn’t tell. But he was obviously thinking some

“It’s not?” Reeve left the question open and crossed to the liquor cart to pour himself a drink.Amber ran her hand absentmindedly across the base of her neck. “He’ll still come after me, Reeve. He’s afraid I’ll tell people what he did with my father. He’ll silence me the way he silenced that friend of Missy’s.”“Every one of his ex-girlfriends could testify to his criminal involvement. He’s hung up on you for some reason.” He sank into a chair and slipped his feet into his sandals.Amber rose and moved over to him. “Bourbon?” she asked, eyeing his drink. “You really must be stressed. We won’t talk about it anymore. Let me help you relax.” She circled around behind his chair and began kneading his shoulders.The scene that had been beautiful before she’d arrived had turned dismal. I’d been breathless watching Reeve in the water, so taken with his presence, but now the tight feeling in my lungs felt more like suffocation. I willed myself to close my eyes, but I wasn’t that strong.“Oh,

“You swim a lot,” she’d said to me one June day the summer after my junior year. She’d been sitting on Doug’s front porch steps, smoking when I’d gotten home from practice. Of course she’d be there when I had forgotten to bring my bag with my towel and change of clothes. I’d dripped for most of the six-block walk.As always, her hair and clothing had been perfect. I’d been mortified to be seen in my still-wet ratty one-piece. “I’m on a team,” I’d said, covering myself by hugging my arms across my chest.I’d hurried on, hoping to get in my front door before she talked to me again.But she’d called after me. “Any good?”I’d stopped and turned back to her. “Our team? Not really.”It was a neighborhood league. Our coach was the mother of one of the team members. I’d only been invited because they’d needed another swimmer to have enough members for relay competitions.Amber had smiled, her glossy lips shining in the afternoon sun. “I bet you’re being too hard on yourself.” She picked up th