Chapter 6: Filthy Sin

IRIS

My heels backed up sharply against the wood. I had nowhere left to run, my back hitting the solid surface of the door as I stared up at him. Eli’s face twisted into an expression that looked both pained and completely awestruck. His eyes were so intense they felt like they were burning straight through my skin.

He crossed the room in two massive strides.

He stopped right in front of me, standing entirely too close for an employer with his maid. There shouldn't be this kind of distance between us. His hot breath fanned across my face, and he smoothly slid his hands into his trouser pockets.

He leaned down, his voice dropping into a harsh whisper. "You’re such a whore.”

My heart leapt as he said those words. My skin burned.

He continued. “A damn good liar. You sat down there on that couch and quietly got off from just watching me. What were those thoughts that you imagined, huh?"

I was completely dumbfounded. Shame rushed through me like ice water. The strange, sinful desire of my own body had utterly humiliated me, and now this powerful man knew everything. He thought the absolute worst of me.

“I—I…I,” I opened my mouth, trying to force some words out to defend myself, but nothing came.

"Oh, you don’t want to say it?" Eli asked, his eyes tracking the movement of my lips. "Or do you think you can continue to pretend if you just don’t talk?" He let out a cold smirk, leaning an inch closer. "What part of me excites you, Iris? My voice?"

My breath caught in my throat. He cocked a brow, watching my reaction

.

"What about my face?" he continued.

I was already trembling badly. Every time he spoke, his deep, rough voice sent a sharp thrill straight down my spine. His eyes were heavy, making me want to crumble right down to the floor and beg him. But for what? I didn't even know.

"Do you imagine me touching you?" Eli asked, his tone blunt and unbothered by my panic. "Holding you in those exact places that you’ve been told to keep private? Should I go on?"

"N—no, no," I squeaked out.

I pressed my spine harder into the wood, wishing the door would just open up and swallow me whole.

"You want me to fuck you, Iris," he said, the words bluntly and direct. "And I will. But not until you earn it. I will make you beg for it first. Even then, I’m going to take my time. I’ll give it to you bit by bit until you're begging and screaming my name. My name is going to replace the name of the Lord on your tongue. You will beg me to fuck you so hard, you won’t be able to see straight."

I gasped, my ears burning fiercely from the dirtiest words I had ever heard in my entire life. My body was doing dangerous, terrifying things. My private parts throbbed with a heavy ache, and my nipples were tingling so hard it was painful. I couldn't look away from his gaze. My breathing became completely secondary while this man took total lead of the room.

Eli’s eyes glanced down at my chest, and a dangerous smile touched his lips. "Look at your tits. Begging to be sucked. Tsk. Soon."

He snapped his gaze back up to my eyes. "I know your secret now, baby. There’s nowhere left for you to hide, and there's no use pretending anymore. I will take my dues from you, just in time. Now, leave before I change my mind."

He let out a low groan and took a sharp step back, giving me space.

The moment his pressure lifted, I wrenched the door open and ran out. I fled down the hallway, sprinting in the opposite direction toward the servants' quarters. I didn't care if Agatha was waiting for me in the kitchen or if anyone saw me. I burst into my bedroom, slammed the door shut, and locked it.

His dirty words were ringing in my head, over and over, filling my brain until I couldn't think. It was too much. My body was giving me weird, uncontrollable signals as I rushed to pull off the light blue uniform.

I stepped out of my underwear and my face burned. It was dampened again, much more than the last time. I didn't dare look at it for another second. I threw the garments aside, pulled on a plain nightdress, and climbed into the bed.

I wrapped the sheets tightly around my body, but my mind wouldn't stop replaying the scene in the study. The way Eli had stripped me bare with just his words, without even laying a finger on my skin, made my heart beat wildly like it would burst out.

My fingers tightened around the fabric of the sheets, pulling them hard against my chest. I pressed my legs tightly together, but my private parts hummed with a desperate heat. The tighter I squeezed my thighs, the more a strange, intense sweetness settled deep into my bones.

Before I could stop myself, my hand slipped down. My palm brushed over my lower belly, making me shiver violently, before settling right between my thighs. I pressed my legs tightly around my own hand, my breath coming in short, shallow gasps.

My thighs twisted bit by bit, grinding down against my fingers. The rubbing on my hand made my head spin, an ache spreading through my hips. I squeezed harder, shifting my weight as my legs clamped around my hand, moving in slow, steady twist against my underwear. I felt the slick coating of the dampness seeping through the fabric onto my fingers, but I couldn't withdraw. My thighs twisted harder, the heat rising rapidly until I was breathless. A soft, broken hum escaped my throat into the pillow as I kept pushing against myself, the pressure building to a tight, unbearable coil.

Suddenly, my whole body shuddered. A wave of intense sweat broke out across my neck and chest. My thighs clenched as a violent trembling took over my limbs, and then everything went completely calm.

I lay there, panting heavily into the dark room, as reality rushed back in. I realized exactly what I had just done.

I just committed a filthy sin.

I had allowed the temptation of the flesh to completely cloud my mind. I had forgotten every single teaching from the church.

A sharp cry broke out of my throat. I rolled off the mattress, my knees hitting the floor with a hard thud. I reached for the nightstand, grabbing my Bible and clutching it tightly against my chest.

"Forgive me," I sobbed into the dark room, my voice shaking as tears leaked down my cheeks. "Please, Lord, forgive me. I fell. I let the devil into my mind. Wash me clean."

I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing the worn cover of the book harder against my ribs.

"Cast out these evil thoughts," I prayed aloud, my breath hitching as I rocked back and forth on the floor. "Oh Lord. Fill my heart with strength so I don't look at him again. Deliver me from this temptation. Do not let me be corrupted. Please, just give me the strength to survive this temptation and overcome this weakness."