Charlee’s eyes flew open and collided with Roy’s. His face hovered inches away. The pungency of his cologne set off her gag reflex, and her heart banged against her ribs.
She jerked her arms where they stretched above her head, her hands imprisoned by rope. The leather couch creaked beneath her. Still on the bus, the only remnant of smoke was the burn lingering in her lungs.
The strips of lights on the ceiling cast a muted glow, highlighting the creases in his pale face. He raked a hand through his black mass of hair with an uncharacteristic yank and inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring. “You’re awake.” He released his breath. “I was worried. Propofol is…tricky.”
“Propofol?” Her head spun, not with a post-drug fog, but with the will to overpower, to control how this would end.
A hush enveloped the bus, but she refused to let her thoughts leap to the cruelest explanation for Jay and Nathan’s absence. Outside the windows, metal walls surrounded them. She’d been transported somewhere, hidden in a building.
He brushed her hair behind her ear, sparking shivers where he touched. “The injection was Propofol. The milk of amnesia. How do you feel?”
How did she feel? Seriously? She gave him her coldest glare. “Like you care.”
He hung his head, and his hand crept over her belly. “I care, Charlee. I’ve always cared. Perhaps a bit too much.” His fingers whispered over the waistband of her jeans, slipped the button free, and lowered the zipper.
Everything inside her bucked, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction. “Where are we?”
“Mississippi.”
Helpful. Not. “Are we in a shed?”
“A hangar.” His eyes followed his fingers as they slipped inside her pants.
She recoiled uselessly into the cushion.
“Our plane will be ready shortly.” He spread the fly open, lowered his head, and pressed his lips against her silk-covered mound.
A violent tremble invaded her body. She could tell him Jay’s semen still coated her *, but the backlash might be more forceful than her bones and skin could withstand. His lips delivered light kisses over her belly button, and she tensed up, magnifying the tremors. She sucked in a breath. “There are cameras on all the vehicles that feed live footage to a remote location. They have evidence of you boarding the bus and driving it away.”
“Oh, Charlee. So many blanks in the puzzle. What would you give me for the answers?”
What could she stomach? “A kiss?” He’d kiss her regardless. Could she kiss him back?
His tongue burrowed inside the opening of her pants and found her clit through the barrier of her panties. “A real kiss.”
That was too easy. “Yes, Sir.”
“Your bodyguard planted a hack in the recording software for me, disabled the GPS, and he drove the bus away.”
Her stomach twisted, and saliva rushed through her mouth. “Who?”
His exhale blew a sick heat over her groin. “Colson was easily bought. Three kids in private universities and an ex-wife who continues to drag him to court for more money. He couldn’t turn down the paid tuition and the quieted ex.”
“But how?” Her head throbbed to make sense of it. “The bus was on fire, the engine destroyed.”
“My shooters tapped the engine blocks on all the vehicles but this one.” He raised his head and propped an elbow on the cushion between her bound legs. “Colson laid the smokescreen with a phosphorus grenade and chased your friends off the bus with a warning of explosion. The distraction allowed him to pop the needle in your arm and hide you in the bathroom.”
She closed her eyes until she could wrestle down her heart rate. “How did he drive with all the smoke?”
“Thermal imaging goggles and a gas mask.” He gestured at the head gear tossed on the galley counter.
“That’s a far-fetched story. The protective team wouldn’t have evacuated without me.” Jay had been an arm’s length away. He wouldn’t have let her go unless something happened to him. Dread squeezed a fist around her throat, crushing her ability to breath.
His lips twitched and her stomach dropped. “Don’t look so sad, Charlee. Nathan Winslow and Maryanna Tony didn’t abandon you. Colson told them he’d hidden you safely in the nearby woods.” A tic jumped in his cheek. “They might still be searching for you there if Mr. Mayard hadn’t created such a disturbance.”
The blood in her veins turned to ice. “Where is he?”
“An hour away. Soon, he’ll be an ocean away. How does Italy sound, my beautiful girl?”
Panic shook her body. Her blood pressure elevated with every breath. “You will not kill him.”
“No.” He traced a line from her pubis to her bra, dragging her shirt up with his invasion. “I’ve made mistakes in the past. Some unforgivable.” He stroked her flesh, rising goose bumps across her belly.