Pursued(57)

“But I’m fine…fine,” Elise insisted.

“You’ll take me down with you if you go. You know that, right?” He looked down at his own half finished dinner. “The way the bond is placed, if one of us dies, we both die.”

“I…oh.” Elise suddenly seemed to shrink in on herself. “I guess…guess I forgot about that. I’m so sorry, Merrick,” she whispered.

He felt his heart contract. At least she still cared a little. “I figured you might’ve,” he said roughly. “And I’m sorry I shouted at you. I’ve just been…really fucking worried these last few days.”

Elise bit her lip. “I…I have too,” she admitted at last. “These feelings…they’re frightening because they’re unusual. I don’t normally…I never feel this way.”

Merrick looked at her in disbelief. “What, you’ve never been horny?”

She shook her head, a bit primly he thought. “No, of course not. I’m always too busy worrying about work or James or…I don’t know. Anything but that, I guess.”

Merrick shook his head. “When you told me you and that idiot fiancé of yours didn’t have sex, I could believe that. But are you honestly telling me you never touch yourself either?”

“James and I are waiting because James respects my wishes,” she said. “And no, I never, er, touch myself. I don’t need to.”

You might need to tonight, he thought but didn’t say it aloud. It was obvious that the idea of sex—even self-sex—made Elise intensely uncomfortable and defensive. Better to keep things low key and non-threatening if he could.

“All right,” he said at last. “Leaving all that out of it, the fact is I need to touch you.”

“I know,” she said in a small voice. And the sudden fear blooming behind her eyes was enough to make his heart twist.

“That’s going to be a problem, isn’t it?” he asked, his throat tight. “Like it was the other night? The night you got so upset?” He wasn’t going to mention her “nightmare” again if he could help it.

She nodded, a quick, terse jerk of her head. “It might be.”

Merrick frowned. “Then how can we do this? How can I touch you without freaking you out again? How can—” He snapped his fingers as an idea came to him. “I’ve got it!” He looked at her plate where she was still toying with the last few worms. “You finished?”

She nodded. “Yes. Why?”

“Come with me.” Merrick held out a hand to her and watched as she struggled to take it. It hurt his heart to see the indecision in her eyes—the longing warring with fear. Finally, she slipped her small, cool fingers through his and nodded.

“All right. Let’s go.”

* * * * *



Merrick led her into the bedroom they’d been sharing the entire flight and went to one of the storage cupboards on the wall. “Here.”

Elise looked down at the slender metal hoops he’d handed to her. Her heart was still trying to pound its way out of her chest as she wondered what he had in mind. “What are these?” she asked blankly.

“Shock cuffs.”

“What?” She frowned at him. He was standing in the middle of the room undressing in a way that made her nervous and hot at the same time. God, he had the most amazingly muscular chest she’d ever seen. She remembered being pressed against it—against him—and wished she could do that again without fear. Without the bad memories in the vault coming out to play. She never felt this way when she saw James with his shirt off…but maybe now wasn’t the best time to think of her fiancé.

“Shock cuffs,” he repeated patiently, breaking her train of thought.

“Okay…” The words meant nothing to her.

“They’re top of the line.” He toed off his boots and tossed them in the corner along with his discarded t-shirt. “They don’t cause any lasting damage but when you put them on someone they deliver a hell of a jolt if they try to get loose.” He flashed her a grin. “Good way to keep somebody in place, you know?”

“What?” Elise felt all the blood drain from her face as she considered the slender silver rings in a whole new light. “But that’s horrible! Why do you even have these?”

He shrugged, his massive bare shoulders rolling with the gesture. “I do a bit of bounty hunting from time to time along with scavenging and smuggling. They tend to come in handy.”

“And you…you want to put them on me?” Elise shook her head and began backing away from him. “No, Merrick. No, absolutely not. I can’t… I won’t…”