Chapter 6
Sammy's POV
I sat on the cold floor of my guest bedroom for a long time, staring into the dark.
My body was acting completely crazy. My right palm was still throbbing from the slap, but that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was the heavy, damp heat between my thighs. As I pulled myself up from the floor to change out of my dress, my fingers brushed against my underwear.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat. I was wet. Completely wet.
A wave of pure, deep shame washed over me. I was twenty-eight years old, and this had never happened to me before.
I had never let a man get close enough to affect me, let alone make my body react like this.
I hated him. He was a rough, arrogant criminal who represented everything that ruined my mother’s life. And he was older than me with so many years.
Yet, just from him pinning me against a stone fountain and whispering in my ear, my body had completely betrayed me.
I went to bed that night feeling sick to my stomach, wrapping the blankets tight around myself, promising that I would avoid Damien Kane for the rest of the weekend.
But when I woke up the next morning, the house was completely silent.
I washed my face, put on my glasses, and stepped out into the long hallway. I didn't see a single soul.
No bikers, no servants, nobody. The quietness of the massive house made me feel uneasy. I couldn't stay here anymore. My mind was made up.
I was going to find Mimi, tell her a lie about a client needing me urgently back in the city, and leave this place immediately. I didn't care if it looked bad. I just needed to escape.
I started walking down the open hallway, searching for my sister’s room. The mansion was completely huge, with so many identical wooden doors lining the walls. I started counting them in my head to keep track.
One. Two. Three. Four.
When I got to the fifth door, I stopped. I was pretty sure this was the room Mimi and Ezra were staying in. I didn't even knock. I just grabbed the brass handle, turned it, and pushed the door open.
"Mimi, listen, I need to..." The words died right in my throat.
It wasn't Mimi's room.
Damien was standing right near the entrance of the large bedroom. He was completely shirtless, wearing nothing but a pair of grey sweatpants that hung low on his hips.
His skin was glistening with sweat, his massive chest and stomach muscles showing as he wiped his neck with a small white towel. He looked like he had just finished a heavy workout.
Before I could even think, I stepped backward, pulling the door shut with a loud click. I turned to hurry away, but the door flew right back open behind me.
Damien stepped completely out into the open hallway, entirely shirtless and unbothered. He didn't care that anyone could walk up the stairs and see him like this. He took up the entire width of the passage, blocking my path back to my room.
"See something you like, lawyer?" he said in that low, scratchy voice, loud enough to echo down the empty hallway.
My face burned red. I looked nervously down the long passage, my heart jumping. Anyone could walk out of their room right now. Mimi or Ezra could see us.
"Go back inside," I hissed, keeping my voice down. "I... I opened the wrong door. I was looking for my sister."
"Why are you running?" He asked and took a slow step toward me right there in the middle of the hallway, completely naked from the waist up.
"I am not running," I lied, my voice shaking slightly as I forced myself to stand straight against the wall of the passage and keep my eyes away from his mouth dropping abs.
"I just don't want a repeat of what happened last night." He raised a thick eyebrow, standing right in the center of the walkway.
"Which part? The part where you closed your eyes because you wanted me to kiss you?"
"No!" I snapped, throwing a panicked look toward the stairs before glaring back at him.
"The part where I left my palm on your face. I don't want to have to do it again, especially not out here." He let out a low, dry laugh that didn't reach his eyes, leaned his bare shoulder against the hallway wall and crossed his massive arms over his chest.
He looked down at me, completely casual, as if we weren't standing in a public space where our families were sleeping.
"How about we talk about the other part?" he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, heavy tone that made my skin crawl. "The part where you got completely wet because of me." I froze.
My entire body went stiff, and the blood completely drained from my face. I turned around to face him fully in the middle of the hallway, my hands clenching into tight fists at my sides.
How did he know? How could he possibly know? I prayed to God nobody was walking down the hall to hear this.
"You think you're so tough, Sammy," Damien said, his voice cold and cutting, echoing softly against the walls.
"But you're just an angry virgin who acts out for no reason. Let me guess... what are you, twenty-seven? Twenty-eight? And you've never let a man touch you. You're just bitter because you're starved." I couldn't breathe.
My chest felt tight, and my face went completely hot. He thought he knew me. He thought he could use my body and my choices to make me feel small.
But I wasn't going to let him win. I stepped right up to him, ignoring how close his bare chest was, and looked him dead in the eye.
My voice was shaking, but it wasn't from fear—it was from the raw pain of a wound he had just ripped open.
"You know absolutely nothing about me," I said, my voice cutting through the quiet hallway.
"Yes, I am a virgin. And I am not ashamed of it for a single second. It is my choice. I could have any man I want in the city, but I choose not to. And do you want to know why?" He didn't say a word, his jaw tightened as he looked down at me.
"Because of men like you," I said, my eyes burning behind my glasses. "Men like my father, men who think a woman is just a piece of meat to be used and broken. You think because you have big muscles and a loud engine, you own the world.
You think you can just trap a woman, look down her dress, and tell her what she needs. You are all the same. Selfish, cruel, and completely disgusting. You don't see women as human beings...you just see us as things to conquer."
A single tear slipped down my cheek, but I wiped it away fiercely before he could even look at it.
"I stay away from men because you are all monsters who ruin everything you touch," I whispered, my voice breaking just a little bit, letting him see the deep, unhealed fear hiding behind my corporate shield.
I should have cared but right I don't.
"My sister thinks your family is a dream, but you are my absolute worst nightmare. Stay away from me." Damien froze. The mean, cocky look completely vanished from his face.
He looked at me, his eyes widening slightly as my words landed. He looked genuinely shocked, his mouth opening slightly as if he wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. For the first time since I met him, he looked completely speechless.
I didn't give him a chance to recover. I turned on my heel and walked straight back down the passage to my room.
My hands were shaking as I threw my clothes back into my designer bag. I didn't care about my promise to my mom anymore.
I didn't care about saying goodbye to Mimi. There was no need to tell my sister anything. I was leaving this place right now before someone saw the mess he had made of me.
I grabbed my bag, marched down the stairs, and walked out of the front doors without looking back.
I got into my black Mercedes, threw my bag into the passenger seat, and started the engine. I wasn't going back to my parents' house either. I was going straight back to my own apartment in the city, where nobody could touch me.
As I pressed down on the gas and started driving down the long, winding driveway, a sudden feeling of being watched crept over my skin.
Without thinking, I glanced up at the rearview mirror.
My eyes locked instantly with a pair of cold, grey-blue eyes. Damien was standing on the second-floor balcony, his bare chest exposed to the morning sun.
He didn't move, he just watched my car get smaller and smaller until I finally sped through the massive golden gates, leaving him and his dangerous world behind.