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)
The difference in their height was disparate and Natalie felt completely eclipsed by his sheer size and the steely muscles surrounding her. Against her will, the sexual aura he possessed, and that she always tried to ignore, enveloped her senses. As his hand tightened in her hair and his scent washed over her, her heart jolted and a dizzying current of electricity washed over her. Suddenly, she understood exactly how vulnerable she was to him.
He studied her for a moment before he began speaking. "I had a bad night--I'm having a bad morning." His voice turned deeper and lost much of the anger. "I don't usually drink so much--my head is killing me. Tanya's a bitch--that's over and I don't want to think about her." His hand around her waist began caressing her and he leaned down and put his lips on her forehead.
He maintained that position for a moment while Natalie's heart continued beating furiously in her chest. His lips moved slowly back and forth across her forehead, and it felt as if he were breathing in her scent. Shock and a tiny river of delight stealthily made their way through her veins.
"I shouldn't have snapped at you," he said against her skin. "I know you were only trying to help me."
Natalie's breath hitched and a whirling began in her head as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. He never apologized? Granted, the words 'I'm sorry,' or 'I apologize,' never came from his lips, but everything else he was saying sounded amazingly contrite and it confused her even more.
Before she could think too much about it, he lifted his head and met her gaze once again. "I need to get to the bank--I'm late already." His hand untangled from her hair and his knuckles grazed her cheek. "Will you be okay?"
"Yes." Her voice was little more than a whisper.
"Will you be here when I get back?"
The slight trace of vulnerability was so well hidden that Natalie almost missed it, but she knew by the sound of his voice the answer he wanted and she hesitated only momentarily before giving it to him. "Yes."
"I'll be home for supper," he added.
"Okay."
His eyes swallowed her whole for few seconds as his gaze searched hers. Something intense flared between them and the tingling in the pit of her stomach slid downward and landed is a rush of heat between her thighs. "You're so sweet," his voice sounded agonized, but Natalie lost the ability to think completely when his mouth landed on hers and she experienced his kiss for the first time. It lasted only a second and his lips remained closed on hers, much as a parent's would on a child. But the kiss didn't feel parental in any way and it sent a cascade of new tremors down her spine.
Her eyes were still closed when she felt him release her and walk away, allowing her to begin breathing again.
****
Thirty minutes or so after he left, Natalie was still a bit dazed from the events of the morning. She walked around the penthouse aimlessly, and then wandered back to her bedroom where her eyes fell on the phone he had tossed on her bed earlier.
Her mind running a mile a minute, she picked up both the phone and her purse, and stepped inside her bathroom. She sat down at the small vanity, and removed from her purse the pay-as-you-go phone that she had been using before she met him.
She studied the two phones carefully while her mind raced. Marco was doing crazy things to her equilibrium, and there was absolutely no denying that he was gorgeous and made her heart race.
And now he'd broken up with Tanya.
Before this went even a day longer, she needed to know if she could trust him enough to stay here. She was already in danger of falling under his spell.
She needed to know what technology he had monitoring her. She didn't even know for sure if he was tracking her. The day he came to her rescue, could have been, as he claimed, a coincidence. But she damn sure didn't think so. If it was just the GPS locator in her phone, she was going to write it off as him being careful with his investments, as he had intimated she was to him. After all, she did owe him a lot of money.
But if the guy had cameras on her, or was monitoring her on the computer, then she was out of here.
She looked around the small room. Surely, if he actually did have cameras around the apartment, then he wouldn't have them in her bathroom. If he did, he was lower than low. She was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for now.
The question was, how did she find out what he might have done? How did she find out if she couldn't use her own computer to do a search on the subject? She needed to get to a public library, where she knew she could use the computers with privacy. But she didn't particularly want him to find out she had left the apartment, at least not while she was gone. Afterward--maybe it wouldn't matter.