I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to walk out of this room and never see him again. I couldn’t explain it, but I just… I didn’t.
“So,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant. “What was that business proposition you were talking about earlier?”
“Business proposition?” He frowned, confusion flooding his face.
“Yeah, back at your apartment. You said you had a business proposition for me?”
“Oh.” He shook his head. “It was nothing. It was a stupid idea, especially now.”
“Especially now?”
“Yeah, this girl – ” He shook his head. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
Was he talking about the girl I’d seen in that other room, the one who was crying? I wanted to ask him, but I was afraid if I pushed, he would kick me out.
“Really?” I asked. “Because it kind of sounded important.”
He looked at me, his eyes narrowing. “I can’t… you wouldn’t be good at it.”
My jaw dropped. “I wouldn’t be good at it?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing, just that you’d have to listen to me. I’d be your boss. And you’re not good at following directions.”
“First of all,” I said. “You don’t know me well enough to know whether or not I’m good at following directions.” And second of all…” I trailed off. “Second of all, I’m a very motivated employee.”
“Oh, really?” He was next to me in a flash, his body against mine, his breath warm on my cheek. “Motivated, huh?”
“Yes.” I forced myself to keep my eyes on his.
“You’ll do anything I say?”
My breath hitched again, and I closed my eyes because I couldn’t take looking at him. He was just so damn beautiful, and I was afraid I was going to lose my mind or do something crazy, that’s how much I didn’t want to leave this room, how much I wanted to stay here with him. In that moment, I would have don’t anything he wanted.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Anything.”
He ran the back of his knuckle over my jawbone, then leaned in even closer to me. “You’d have to live with me. I’d need to keep an eye on you.”
I nodded, then forced myself to open my eyes, not caring if he kissed me, not caring if I broke my promise to Declan.
“Okay,” I said.
He grinned, then put his hand on the back of my neck, pulling my hair up gently. Then he closed his eyes and leaned down, his mouth coming closer to mine, his lips full and perfect. I held my breath and waited for him to kiss me.
But a second later, he froze and opened his eyes.
“Wow, Princess,” he said, “you really meant it.”
My legs were jello, my knees so weak I was afraid I was going to fall over. And he’d been bluffing the whole time. I didn’t know whether to be pissed or relieved.
“I told you,” I said, trying to match his cocky tone, like I’d won, like I’d called his bluff, even though I’d had no idea he was messing with me.
Colt leaned back against the desk, and looked up at the ceiling, like he was thinking it over. “Fine,” he said. “We’ll give it a trial run.”
“Aren’t you going to tell me what the job is first?”
“The less you know, the better.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that for right now, you don’t need to know the specifics of what I’m asking you to do.”
“Because it’s dangerous?” I pressed. I thought of that girl again, her hair in ragged strands, a jagged scratch across her face.
He sighed. “It’s not dangerous, exactly, it’s just better if you don’t know the details.” He looked at me. “Do you trust me?”
“I hardly know you.”
“It’s not going to work if you don’t trust me.”
I opened my mouth to tell him it was impossible to trust someone you’d only known for a few hours, but then I realized something – whatever this job was, whatever he wanted me to do, he must be pretty desperate if he was willing to let me, a girl he barely knew, become involved. It must have been something he needed a certain kind of person to do, and although I didn’t know the exact characteristics of that kind of person, I must have had them.
He wanted something from me. And no matter how successful someone was, no matter how rich, how good-looking, when they wanted something from you, you had power over them. I could get something from Colt. Probably anything I wanted.
And there was only one thing I wanted, one thing I’d ever wanted. The thing I was willing to risk anything for, the thing that had led me here in the first place.
“How did you know where I was staying?” I asked.
“What?”
“How did you know where I was staying?” I asked. “You figured out I was staying at the Walnut Street shelter, you somehow had them agree to send my things to your apartment.”