Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 53764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
He expected her to do a runner, and the angry tension on his face confirmed it.
But she was innocent of that, and she didn't want to argue with him. She also didn't want him to know she'd figured out what he was doing. She wasn't brave enough to call him on it, and if it was ammunition in her arsenal against him, then all the better. "Thanks for finding me. I was about three minutes away from panicking."
"Why were you out?" he asked through teeth she could see were clenched. Another wave of apprehension took flight in her stomach.
It was best to stick to the truth. After all, she hadn't done anything wrong except for assuming she didn't have to work for him twenty-four hours a day. And somehow she knew that her work schedule wasn't the problem he had with her leaving the building. She'd tell him the exact truth, all except for the part about knowing he had a GPS locater on her. "I had some extra time and needed some exercise. At first I was going to look for a gym in the building, but the day was so pretty I decided to take a walk."
"You walked all the way to the hospital district?"
"No, I walked awhile and then tried to take the train back. But it went the wrong way, I guess. I was basically lost when you found me."
He pulled the car into the underground parking garage of his building and cut off the engine. The light was dim down there, barely permeating the area, and silence enveloped the interior of the vehicle. He turned in his seat to face her, not making a move to get out of the car. That didn't surprise her. It was too early for him to be home from the bank, anyway. She swiveled to face him as well, putting her back against the door.
He watched her in silence for a moment, his expression held tightly in lines of disapproval and something else she couldn't quite identify, but nonetheless, had her trembling inside. "You know how dangerous the city can be?" he asked in a voice that only barely contained the menacing anger she knew he was feeling.
Her eyes held his with concentrated effort. "I was never in any danger," she replied softly, her nerves jumping wildly.
"You think not?" He asked silkily, his hand coming up behind her to land on the back of her seat, trapping her even closer to him and paralyzing her throat with tightness.
"No," she managed.
"It wouldn't have taken two seconds for someone to grab you and drive away." His words were controlled, but with an edge of threat, as if daring her to disagree.
Her breath became shaky, her heart jolting from the smoldering flame in his eyes. "I think you're exaggerating," she maintained slowly, licking her dry lips.
His eyes dropped to her mouth. "Do you?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"I don't think you recognize when you're in danger." He dropped that softly and it landed like a loaded time bomb between them. Silence pulsed within the confines of the vehicle as she realized what he was saying. Her heart beat erratically and her breath came harder as his eyes left her lips and clashed with hers and refused to release her from his hold.
Her eyelids began to shut, attempting to close him out, and his hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, denying her even that simple means of escape. Her heart began banging viciously in her chest. "Marco--"
"Shall we conduct a quick experiment?"
She tried again. "Marco--"
"Do you have any fucking idea how beautiful you are?" His voice was pained, and an unbidden image of how it would be if they were to make love crept stealthily through her mind.
Shocked at both his question and the image in her mind, she stammered, "I'm--I'm not."
"Yeah, Natalie--you are. And you need to be careful. All. The. Time." His fingers tightened around her wrist, his thumb swirling over her pulse point. "I'd sincerely appreciate it if you'd start taking better care of my twenty-thousand dollar investment."
A rock lodged in her throat; her feelings were hurt at his blunt assessment. "Twenty-thousand dollar investment," she repeated flatly. "That's what I am?"
"You want to be more?" He retaliated quickly, his voice lethally low, his rapier glance passing over her, coming to a halt on her chest, which was rising and falling in agitation.
Her heart banged heavily in her chest as he watched her steadily, waiting for a reaction. She couldn't form an answer. Her thoughts were disjointed, all over the place. She swallowed hard and tried to still the blood that was pumping so heavily in her ears that speaking seemed impossible.
His eyes moved to study her lips and Natalie could feel the tension pouring from his large body looming too closely over the console. "Say the word, baby," he intoned slowly, in a voice that both dared and begged her at the same time.