The kiss with Hunt hadn’t been, either. He’d tasted so hot and delicious, a smoky sweetness from the whiskey he’d been drinking. It had been all the sweeter for the fact that kissing him had been her choice. Her first kiss, taken for herself, with a guy she’d chosen. It didn’t get much better than that.
She just hadn’t expected him to put his hand around her neck, his thumb at her throat. Not that it had been scary, quite the opposite in fact. She’d found it exhilarating, shivering with delight at the feel of his hands on her skin. It made her want more. So much more.
Hunt stood on the sidewalk, a tall, dark, imperious figure, and raised a hand, gesturing down the street to someone. An arrogant movement, like a king summoning a courtier. A car pulled out of the shadows in answer, a long black car. A limo.
Jesus. This was his car? What did that make him then?
Fear sunk sharp hooks into her. That combination of danger and arrogance, she knew it well. Powerful men had it. The kind of powerful men who associated with her father.
Pandora inhaled, struggling with the fear. She could run, vanish back into the night, go to another bar maybe. Even find another man. A much safer man …
Hunt turned, blue eyes clashing with hers, sending a bolt of liquid heat through her.
No, she wasn’t going to run. She didn’t have anywhere to go anyway and besides, fear was all part of the experience, wasn’t it? Part of the excitement. Part of what was making her feel so alive after so many years of feeling suffocated.
He opened the limo door. “Get in, Snow.”
Pandora obeyed without hesitation, sliding onto the soft leather of the seats. He got in beside her, the door closing with a heavy, definite sound. Fateful almost. She didn’t want to move, didn’t want to look at him, afraid that if she did something would happen. Something she wasn’t quite ready to handle just yet.
He didn’t say anything to her, leaning forward to murmur to the driver. Then he pushed a button and the screen between the back and front seats slid closed, giving them privacy.
Oh, God.
Her breath caught hard in her throat, that strange adrenaline surge of excitement and fear rushing through her veins. She didn’t make the mistake of thinking that now she was in the limo with him she was safe. Her father’s men wouldn’t find her, that much was true. But safe and being alone with this man was a contradiction in terms.
“You’re afraid now, aren’t you?” he said quietly.
She stared at the seat in front of her. Stared hard. “Yeah.” Since there wasn’t any point in denying it.
“I’m not going to touch you here, if that makes it easier.”
“Okay.”
“Unless you want me to, of course.”
“No. I think if you did I might …” Explode. Die. Pass out.
There was a moment’s silence. She could feel him watching her but she didn’t turn to meet his gaze. She still wasn’t ready for it yet.
“Just to be clear, Snow, all you have to do is say stop. At any time. At any stage. I won’t hurt you.” His voice was quiet and certain, making something clenched hard and tight inside her begin to relax.
She closed her eyes for a second, veiling her relief. “You know, I didn’t think you would but still, it’s nice to hear it.”
He shifted, the seat dipping beneath her. In the close interior of the limo she could smell his aftershave, a warm, spicy scent that reminded her weirdly of the mulled wine she used to drink on skiing vacations at the lodge in Aspen. A good memory since those vacations had always held a special place in her heart. Of icy mountains and speed, the wind in her hair and the taste of snow at the back of her throat …
Freedom …
“Just make sure you remember it, sweetheart,” he said softly. “Because when we get home, I’m not holding back.”
Pandora opened her eyes. Calm spread through her though she couldn’t have said where it had come from. Whether from the scent of him or the memory associated with it. Or just the fact that she was genuinely free for the first time in her life.
She turned her head and finally looked at him. “Good. Because I don’t want you to.”
The streetlights flickered over the starkly beautiful lines of his face, leaving the intensity of his blue eyes in shadow. He smiled and her heart contracted inside her chest. “Be careful what you ask for, Snow. Because you might just get it.”
The drive wasn’t long and thank God because she didn’t think she could bear the tension in the car for too much longer. She even let out a soundless sigh of relief as the limo pulled up and stopped outside a stately brownstone. A beautiful building, which meant if he lived here, he wasn’t exactly short of money.