Captured: Highgate Preparatory Academy, Book 1

After we’ve regained our breath and cleaned up a little, we get dressed again, bring in our bags, and Loki takes me for a tour round. I desperately want to ask him about Clarissa, but I can’t stand the idea of bringing that wounded look back into his beautiful eyes.

This house is crazy bonkers! God knows how many bedrooms there are, all with en-suite bathrooms and walk-in closets. Loki and his sisters’ rooms are on opposite ends of one floor, luckily for us, with his parents’ suite of rooms on the floor above.

Downstairs there is a library, games room, and two sitting rooms; the one where I gave the girls’ their dresses in, and another one just as decoratively bland. There’s also the huge open plan kitchen and dining room, plus another more formal dining room. And then his dad’s office, which is out of bounds and locked.

It’s a rhapsody of beige, cream, and caramel. In fact, so far Loki’s and the girls’ are the only rooms with any colour.

Loki stops by another wooden door that has a keypad next to it. He turns to me grinning with excitement.

“This is my domain. My sanctuary,” he tells me, opening the door with a flourish to reveal a set of dark wooden steps heading down to the basement level.

The walls are painted a soft grey, with dark wood everywhere and muted lighting. We get to the bottom step and are immediately in what looks like a mini cinema, with a huge screen taking up most of the wall on the left. There are comfy, dark grey sofas and bean bags surrounding the TV, and a pool table to the left of the screen, with a fully stocked bar on the far right.

“The guys and I hang out here when they come over,” Loki explains, walking over to the bar and passing me a cherry cola from the fridge. “We’ve also got an outdoor pool and hot tub out back, but we pretty much stay in here when they come over during fall and winter.”

“Wow. This is amazing,” I say, looking round. I mean, my uncle’s place back in England is impressive too, with its old English aristocratic feel. But these Americans, they go all in for next level shit.

“What’s through there?” I ask, pointing to the door coming off the bar. It’s solid dark wood, with a slight Japanese feel to it, and I can just make out a soft green glow coming from underneath it.

“Ah.” Loki gives me his panty melting grin, making butterflies erupt in my stomach. Every damn time! “That is the indoor pool, hot tub, sauna, and gym,” he tells me whilst opening the door.

My breath stills as I walk over, open the door and look through. There’s a huge, glowing green pool, entirely surrounded by soft cream stone. The walls and ceiling have dark wooden beams criss-crossing over them until the space looks like an old Japanese style barn.

Along the edges of the room are loungers and wide chairs covered in pillows, all made from what looks like bamboo, and I can just see some bamboo screens towards the back left edge that separate off an area.

“Loki, it’s beautiful here,” I gush, understanding why he called this place his sanctuary. “Although, I did forget my swimsuit,” I lament, walking towards the pool.

“That’s okay, Pretty Girl,” Loki assures me in his beautiful, deep voice. “I usually don’t bother with one.”

He winks at me as he hits a pad on the wall, and In for the Kill, the Billie Martin version, begins to play, filling the room with a beautiful melody.

“What if your sisters decide to go for a swim?” I ask as he begins to undress me. It’s easier this time as I’d just thrown on leggings and one of his soft graphic t-shirts. This one is a soft sky blue and has a picture of an eye, a heart, and a beaver. Snort.

“The door down here has an access code which they don’t have, so we should be all good,” he answers as he slides my leggings down, kneeling and helping me to step out of them. He kisses my thigh whilst he’s down there, and I shiver in sweet anticipation, as well as from the cool air hitting my skin, causing goosebumps to rise.

I unhook my rose pink silk bra, throwing it in the pile of clothes, then step out of my silk French knickers and do the same with them.

There’s something about being naked in a space that’s not your own which is so exhilarating. It sends a thrill right through me, and I can’t help but breathe a little faster, my nipples pebbling as the song and intimate space heightens the feeling.

I look down at Loki, still on his knees before me, looking every inch like the fallen angel that he is. I can’t help but reach for his hair, running my fingers through the auburn locks. In this light, they look like the flames of sunset.

“Now you,” I whisper, holding his emerald gaze.

He gets up, a smouldering look on his beautiful face. He’s so gorgeous, he takes my breath away every time I look at him. It’s like he’s stepped out of an Italian Renaissance painting, his face enough to make angels weep with envy.

My gaze devours him as he, too, gets undressed, pulling his t-shirt off by grabbing the back of the neck and revealing those drool worthy, inked up muscles. He smirks at me with his sexy as fuck smile, toes off his boots, and then sliding his jeans down his hips and legs, he steps out of them.

“This time the socks too,” I command, a smile teasing my lips.

He reaches down and takes them off, and that’s when I notice he’s got a new tattoo just above his ankle. It’s a stunningly lifelike open pink lily, with green leaves swirling round it.

“Do you like it?” he asks, voice husky as he walks towards me completely, gloriously naked.

“It’s…” I start at a complete loss for words. Surely this means something serious. I mean, I know we confessed our feelings a while ago, but tattoos are for life, right? Is that what he’s saying about us?

I look up into his eyes trying to read him. His gaze is so full of intense emotion, they’re practically swirling, like a whirlwind ready to snatch me up and never let go.

“When did you get it?” I question, wondering how I’ve not noticed it up until now.

“A week or so back,” he tells me, stepping so close that I can feel the heat of his body caress mine.

He traces my jaw with his fingers, sending shivers down my spine, making my nipples harden more and almost brush his chest.

“Let’s go for a swim, Darling,” he suddenly says, moving his hand to tangle our fingers, and stepping towards the pool.

With a deep exhale, I let him tug me along, my mind still churning with what’s happening, and not just with Loki, but the others too. I come to with a jolt when he taps my temple, tsking.

“No thinking,” he says calmly, smiling at me. “Don’t question it.”

He turns back round, giving me a perfect view of his biteable arse when he walks down the steps into the glowing green water. He ducks under, coming back up some feet away, and then swimming to the end underwater. I see his auburn head turn once he reaches it, and he makes his way back towards me.

I follow down the steps, and the warm water swirling round my ankles helps me to just let it go, as Elsa would say.

After what happened back in February to my mum, I vowed that I would live in the moment, enjoy life, and dive in—snort—head first. If the events of that awful day prove anything, it’s that life is too short not to live every minute of it to the fullest.

Ignoring Loki, I swim a length of the green pool too, relishing in the release it gives my muscles and mind.

As I swim back, I see that Loki’s sitting down on what looks like a long bench seat built into the corner of the pool. His arms are splayed along the back, like a king on his throne, as he leisurely watches me make my way towards him.

Unable and unwilling to resist him, I swim across, straddling his lap so that my legs are on either side of his. My hands roam the hard muscles of his pecs, tracing his chest ink. His own hands come up to grasp my hips, kneading them like he can’t not touch me when I’m near.

“Do they have meaning to you?” I ask as my fingers move to the dragonfly that takes up the front of his throat. I see and feel him swallow as he thinks about what I’ve asked.

“Did you know that dragonflies moult several times throughout their lives, leaving their old selves behind and starting a fresh chapter each time?” he asks me back, my eyes flitting up to his which stare right back at me. “I like to think that every day, every moment is a new beginning. A chance to start anew. This reminds me of that if I forget.”

His words still the movement of my fingers, and unbidden tears spring to my eyes, making it feel even more like a magical underwater world that we’ve stepped into, as it waves and wobbles.

“I like that,” I whisper, voice rough round the lump in my throat. “And this one?” I question, brushing my fingers over his chest piece yet again.

He chuckles darkly.

“Ah, The Creation of Adam. That one was to remind myself that, although I may like to think I’m God, I’m not. I’m always reaching, trying, but never quite managing it.”

It’s hard to describe the look on his beautiful face, it’s almost one of self-loathing. That surely can’t be right, can it? He can’t hate himself, can he? He’s Loki.

Needing to see his usual arrogance back, I drop my fingers to his hip, stroking the lipstick mark, making his already hard cock jerk between us.

“And this one?” I ask in a sultry tone, a flirty smile on my lips and one brow raised.

His own eyes flash with want, and his cocksure grin is back in full force.

“That’s my second favorite place to be kissed,” he teases, his smile sinful and full of deeds done late at night between lovers.

“And your favourite place to be kissed?” I watch as his sinner’s grin deepens.

He takes my hand, wrapping it round his dick, pumping our joined hands a couple of times. He releases his grip, moving his hand back to my hip, leaving me to continue moving my own hand up and down his hard shaft. I add in a corkscrew motion, knowing that’s what he likes, and his head tips back, his eyes closing, and a long, low groan leaves his lush lips. I love giving him pleasure. It makes me feel powerful that I can bring this fallen angel, this god, literally to his knees.

His hands move down, grasping the globes of my arse, his fingers digging in and adding that little bit of pain I’ve become so addicted to. He’s pulled me closer so that the tip of him rubs my clit, sending spirals of pleasure shooting through me.

His eyes open and lock with mine, and although blown black with lust, there’s an intensity in them that leaves me reeling. I lean my head down so that our foreheads are resting together, my eyes closing with the rush of emotion that is taking over me completely.

“How can it be like this?” I whisper. “How can we feel so…right together?”

I can hear the bubbling water of the hot tub nearby, and Wicked Game by Daisy Gray is playing in the background, her haunting voice caressing us and saying what seems to be between us.

“I don’t know,” he says after a moment, voice husky. “But I’m too fucking selfish to let you go, Lilly.” A thrill runs down my spine at the sound of my name on his lips. “I love you so fucking much, Pretty Girl.”

Before I can say it back, he grabs a fistful of my hair, pulling enough to make me whimper, then slams his lips against mine.

His tongue forces past my lips whilst he holds me hostage, seeking to dominate my mouth and tear me apart. His kiss destroys me, breaking me down, then building me anew.

We break apart, breathless and panting. I feel like we’re in the eye of a storm, winds swirling round us with all of the feelings that are desperate to take flight and overpower us.

Suddenly, the door to the pool bangs open, and in strides Lucifer himself.