To my surprise, Lucas shakes his head. “I can’t do that,” he says. “But I can promise not to hurt you.”
I run my tongue over my suddenly dry lips. This is not what I was expecting; freedom is always the carrot dangled in front of prisoners. “What exactly are you saying?”
He holds my gaze, and my heartbeat accelerates at the dark heat in his eyes. “I’m saying that I want you, and that if you tell me about your associates, I’ll keep you safe from them—and from anyone else wishing to harm you.”
My insides twist with an unsettling mix of fear and longing. “I don’t understand. If you’re not going to let me go…”
He looks at me silently, letting me draw my own conclusion.
My pulse is a rapid drumbeat in my ears as I pick up my glass of water, noting with a corner of my eye that my hand is not entirely steady. I gulp down the water, more to buy myself time than out of any extreme thirst. Then I force myself to put down the glass and look at him.
“You’re offering me protection in exchange for sex,” I say, my voice wavering slightly.
Lucas inclines his head. “You could think of it like that.”
“What about your boss?” I can’t believe this turn of conversation. “Isn’t he expecting you to hack me into pieces, or whatever it is you typically do to make people talk? Isn’t that why he had me brought here?”
“I had you brought here, not Esguerra.”
I gape at him, caught off-guard once more. “What?”
“I wanted you.” Lucas leans forward, resting his forearms on the table. “We had that one night, and it wasn’t enough. It’s true that I wanted to punish you for what happened, but even more than that, I wanted you.” His voice roughens. “I wanted you in my bed, on the floor, up against a wall, any fucking way I could get you.”
“You brought me here for sex?” This goes beyond anything I could’ve imagined. “You took me out of prison so you could fuck me?”
His gaze darkens. “Yes. I told myself I did it for revenge, but it was to get you.”
“I—” Unable to sit still, I stand up, no longer the least bit hungry. My voice is choked as I say, “I need a minute.”
On shaky legs, I walk over to stand by the kitchen window. The sun outside is bright over exotic tropical vegetation, but I can’t focus on the natural beauty in front of me. I’m too stunned by Lucas’s revelations.
Is he telling me the truth, or is this just another attempt to throw me off-kilter and get answers? A startlingly different interrogation technique that uses our mutual attraction as the base? I’m used to men wanting me, but this is something else entirely.
What Lucas is saying indicates a degree of obsession that would be frightening if it were real.
As I stand there trying to come to grips with his revelations, I hear his footsteps. The next moment, his large hands grip my shoulders. He’s already aroused; I feel his erection pressing into my ass as he draws me against his hard body.
“This doesn’t have to be bad for you, beautiful.” His breath is warm on my cheek as he bends his head and brushes his lips against my temple. “You could be safe here, with me.”
A tremor of treacherous arousal ripples through me, my nipples tightening under my shirt. “How?” I whisper, closing my eyes. His chest is hard, sculpted muscle under my back, his strength terrifyingly seductive. It’s as if he’s tapped into my deepest desires—into my longing for safety in his embrace. “How can you promise that when your boss could have me killed in an instant?”
“He won’t touch you.” Lucas’s powerful arms fold around me, restraining and comforting all at once. “I won’t let him. Esguerra owes me, and you’re the favor I’m going to collect.”
“Lucas, this—” My head falls back onto his shoulder as he nuzzles my ear, the bulge in his jeans pressing into me more insistently. “This is insane.”
“I know.” His voice is a rough growl in my ear. “You think I don’t fucking know that?” Releasing me, he spins me around and grips my hips, pulling me to him again. Startled, I open my eyes to see savage need tightening his features. He drags me to the right and presses me against the wall next to the window, his lower body pinning me in place. “You think I haven’t told myself that a million times?” His cock presses into my stomach as his gaze burns into me. His pupils are dilated, and there’s a vein throbbing in his forehead.
He’s not acting.
Far from it.
My breath hitches, arousal mixing with a primitive feminine fear. The man in front of me is not about to listen to reason—and my body may not want him to.
“Lucas.” Fighting the drugging pull of his nearness, I wedge my hands between us and press my palms against his chest. “Lucas, I think we need to talk—”
“You want to talk about this?” He rocks his hips in a crude, suggestive motion, his cock thrusting against my lower belly through two layers of clothing. His hand catches my jaw, holding my face immobile as he leans in, his lips hovering centimeters from mine. I freeze in anticipation, my heart hammering, and at that moment, a flicker of motion catches my attention.
Startled, I glance toward the window and see a flash of dark hair ducking out of sight.
“What is it?” Lucas’s tone is sharp as he registers my distraction. Following my gaze, he looks at the window and lets out a low curse before releasing me and stepping toward it.
As he leans closer to the glass, I slip around him, putting the table between us. My body is thrumming with heat, but I’m glad for the reprieve. I need to digest what Lucas told me, and I can’t do that while he’s fucking my brains out.
The untouched sandwich on the table draws my attention. I’m no longer hungry, but I pick up the sandwich and bite into it just as Lucas turns to face me, his lips a thin, hard line.
“Who was that?” I ask, my words muffled by a mouthful of food. I need time, and this is the only way I can think of to extend my reprieve. Chewing determinedly, I wave my sandwich at the window. “Did someone come see you?”
His jaw muscle flexes. “No. Not exactly.” Lucas stalks around the table and takes a seat on the other side, his pale eyes boring into me. “You saw someone out there. Who was it?”
I swallow, the sandwich dry and tasteless in my mouth. “I don’t know. I only saw the person’s hair from the back,” I say truthfully. What I don’t say, however, is that I have a very good reason to suspect who the owner of that hair might be.
“Male? Female?” Lucas presses. “Hair long? Short?”
I deliberately take another bite of the sandwich and chew it as I mull his question over. “A woman,” I say when I can speak again. He wouldn’t believe me if I pretended not to notice something so obvious. “Hair in a bun, and I think she was wearing a dark dress.”
Lucas nods, as if I confirmed his suspicion. “All right,” he says, his expression smoothing out.
Then he picks up his own sandwich and starts eating it, watching me the entire time.
12
Lucas
We finish the meal in silence, the air across the table thick with sexual tension. As I watch Yulia consume the last crumbs of her meal, my cock strains in the tight confines of my jeans, throbbing painfully.
If Rosa hadn’t chosen that unfortunate moment to play stalker, I would already be inside Yulia, nailing her against the wall.
I shocked my prisoner. I can see it in the heightened color of her cheeks and the way her gaze slides away from mine. Did she believe me? Did she realize I was being sincere? The solution to the dilemma of what to do with her came to me as I was walking home, and I knew instantly that was the only way.
I’m going to do exactly as my instincts demand and keep Yulia.
Once, such an action would’ve been unimaginable. When I was in high school, if someone told me that I would so much as think about holding a woman against her will, I would’ve laughed. Even when I was in the Navy, long after I knew I was capable of doing whatever the job required without a flicker of remorse, I still clung to the morals of my childhood, trying to resist the pull of darkness within myself. It was only when I became a wanted man that I fully understood my nature and the extent of my willingness to cross lines I once viewed as sacred.
Keeping Yulia for my own is nothing in the grand scheme of things, and it’s certainly better than the fate I originally planned for her.
“So how exactly would this work?” she asks, finally breaking the silence. Her eyes lock on my face. “You’re going to keep me tied up in the chair all day and handcuffed to you all night?”
I smile at her, anticipation sizzling through my veins. “Only if that turns you on, beautiful. If not, I think we can work out a better arrangement.” I’m already thinking of the tracker implants Esguerra used on his wife. I could do something similar with Yulia, making sure at least one of the trackers is implanted where it would be all but impossible to remove.
First, though, I’ll need to make sure the agency she works for is wiped out; otherwise, Yulia could use their resources to disappear, trackers or not.
“You’ll untie me?” Her eyes are wide as she stares at me. “And let me go outside?”