She feared him – hated him – and yet, oddly, still loved him. She wanted to get away, but she didn’t want terrible things to befall upon him. The odd emotions caused such confusion inside her.
She stepped through the doors, immediately feeling the heavy tension lingering in the room. Her heart pounded as she feared what that would mean for her. She was safe as long as people were in the room, but the second he sent them away…
Sierra felt the shiver from the top of her spine to the bottom of her toes. With stress mounted so high, he’d surely be taking out his aggression on her later. She had to fight back the tears threatening to fall in trepidation of her night ahead.
She didn’t even flinch anymore when he raised his hand. She knew there was nothing she could do to stop it, so she tried to let her mind take her somewhere else. Sometimes the beatings weren’t as bad as others.
As she glanced around at the familiar faces of her father’s employees, her eyes stopped at the couch. She could see the profile of a man she didn’t recognize. Maybe he was new, and not working out, and that’s why the room seemed so suffocating.
Her father’s security detail, consisting of three men in suits, kept glancing nervously at the stranger, which was even more odd. The guy oozed confidence as he sat back in what seemed a casual way.
From the cut of his expensive suit, to the custom made loafers on his feet, even to how his legs were crossed, he seemed like a man not to be messed with. Maybe her father had done a lot of business with him, and that’s why he seemed to be the one in charge.
She hadn’t even seen his face yet, and still, his intimidation penetrated her skin in an unwelcomed intrusion.
Curiosity began eating at her almost instantly as the need to see his face, to know who he was. She felt somehow like he was her enemy, which made no sense whatsoever. She didn’t know him, so how could he be a threat? Another shudder passed through her. Maybe she should listen to her instincts and just run as fast as she could.
Her father would never allow her to do that.
Sierra took a few more steps into the room, finally gaining the notice of the other occupants. She saw the slight movement in the stranger’s shoulders as he shifted his weight. Slowly rising to his feet, his every gesture seemingly planned – coordinated.
Though his movement seemed to convey that he wasn’t in a hurry, somehow she knew he did nothing without thinking it through, planning ahead with precise calculation.
He turned around and before she could divert her eyes, their gazes locked together. From within her own head, she commanded herself to turn around, dismiss him with nothing more than a look, but she couldn’t seem to break the connection.
His gaze held her rooted to the spot, locked tightly to his, his expression almost a command for her to bend to his will.
Nonsense! This is nonsense, her brain was shouting, trying to take control of her frozen limbs.
His lips turned up the slightest fraction of an inch, as he sent a cold, arrogant stare her way. Finally, the egotistical look managed to break her from his spell. While her stomach turned over, and her skin felt like it was on fire, she shifted, glancing at her father, who looked slightly ill.
“Why did you need me, Father? It looks like you’re busy,” she asked, growing angrier at the breathless weakness in her voice.
Her dad gazed at her for a moment with an odd look in his eyes, one she’d never seen before, almost a look of regret mixed with anger. He said nothing for several seconds, and her annoyance over the spell the stranger had seemed to cast, faded as fear quickly claimed the forefront of her emotions.
Her glance quickly moved from her father, returning to the stranger, and he gazed back at her with a mixture of self-conceit, and something she couldn’t identify. His lips contained a smirk that seemed to say he owned the world and could do whatever he pleased. His green eyes held a lifetime worth of knowledge in their depths, and his attitude was that of a man twice his age. She really wanted to know who he was and why he was staring at her as if she were his property to do with as he pleased.
She ripped her gaze back from his mesmerizing eyes to look around the room. None of the other men would meet her gaze. Again, her stare focused back on her dad.
“Take a seat, Sierra,” her father eventually commanded, his gaze turning from her. For the first time she could ever remember, he seemed unable to meet her eyes. What was going on?
“But…”
“Sit!” he commanded, his tone that of a man barely holding on to the edge of control. She knew better than to defy him. She quickly sat on the couch the stranger had just vacated. Her legs wouldn’t have held her up much longer, anyway.