“Stop eye fucking me and start talking.”
I blanched at having been caught but quickly recovered. “What would you like me to say?”
“Why did you ruin my sister’s wedding?”
“You think that was on purpose?”
“Give me something so I can think otherwise.”
The car pulled into an underground parking lot. The large building loomed over the city, and I could already tell by the exterior design and the valet that the inside would be just as expensive looking.
I tried not to begrudge him or anyone for that matter, his or her financial status. I just couldn’t help but remember that if Dash had been normal, we might have been together.
He read me like an open book that he’d read many times before, but there was one thing he had been wrong about—I wanted him.
That was never the issue, and looking at him now—being this close—told me it hadn’t changed.
Without a word, I waited for the car to stop before popping the lock and bolting from the car. I spotted a taxi a few feet away and just had to make it. The driver’s back was turned as he held a cell phone to his ear, but one look at his cab told me he wasn’t currently servicing a customer. I unwittingly left my purse in the car and had no money, but I would worry about that later once I was safely from Dash’s grasp.
I was almost to the cab and would be home free, but I was still afraid, and it had everything to do with the silence. I didn’t hear footsteps chasing or a yell for me to stop.
I quickly learned why when arms wrapped around my waist. This time, the touch was familiar and created the need to melt into the embrace.
Dash.
He’d run after me and caught me.
Why did that make my stomach flutter? I was undoubtedly a foolish girl.
His hand clamped over my mouth, and as if rethinking it, he dropped it just as quickly. I held my breath as the feeling of his cock against my ass took over my brain. I wiggled out of curiosity rather than to fight.
After unnecessary taunting him, I was thrown into the waiting car that followed the chase.
The altercation was quiet and quick, and all the while, the cab driver was none the wiser as he continued to talk on his cell.
“You ran from me for the last four years, little girl. It ends here.”
“Dash...” It pissed me off how breathless just the sound of his name made me. “What do you want from me?” I felt almost desperate.
“I want you helpless... trapped,” he whispered in a way that made me think it was what I wanted, too. Like a secret wish shared between only us.
“We can’t—” The grin that shone over his model features was almost cruel.
“Maybe you can’t. But I can.”
“You’d force me?”
My voice was laced with disgust, but still, I felt my sex clench, and I shamefully wondered what it would be like to have the decision taken from me... I knew he would never force me sexually, but something told me he had other ways of bending me to his will. Suddenly, those warnings four years ago didn’t seem so harmless.
“For you, I’ll do whatever it takes, and this time I won’t stop until I own you.”
*
ONE DAY AGO
I had a bad feeling about this. But then, I always did when coming home. Only this wasn’t the normal butterfly effect in my stomach.
I felt as if I were being watched as I moved through the crowd at the airport. I realized it was silly with the amount of people crowding the airport, traveling after the end of the holiday. Thankfully, I was able to move faster than the rest because I only had a day’s worth of clothing.
I wasn’t staying long.
I never did.
With a town the size of Six Forks, a lengthy stay meant the chance of being seen, so I never stayed more than twenty-four hours.
It was more than enough time to fulfill an obligation.