“You only wanted to throw me a curve and take control,” he said bluntly. “Because you thought that it was a safe ploy. It’s not safe.” His voice lowered, and the words came fast and hard. “And you don’t have any idea what kind of women I like to screw. You do appeal to me. And if you weren’t such a weird nutcase, I’d have had you in the backseat, tearing your clothes off, and coming into you three minutes ago.”
“Really?” She cleared her throat. She hadn’t expected that response, and she suddenly felt out of her depth. “Then I guess it’s lucky that I am that weird. You’d be having all kinds of second thoughts that would—”
“Shut up.” His hands were on her breasts, kneading, pulling, stroking.
Heat.
Tingling electricity.
Fullness.
She couldn’t breathe.
She couldn’t move.
His mouth was on her throat, his tongue moved down to the hollow of her breasts. Her shirt was suddenly open, and his mouth was on her nipple.
She arched up to him with a low cry.
“Yes.” His teeth were pulling, his mouth …
She instinctively moved closer, offering more.
He froze.
“Nalchek…”
He took a deep breath, then he pushed her away. “Keep away from me.”
“I don’t want to keep—”
“I don’t care what you want.” He leaned over the steering wheel. “I care what I want. And it’s not to screw some kid who wants a quick thrill and a little experimentation. For God’s sake, the first time I saw you, I thought you were a teenager.”
“I’m … twenty-one.” She was trying to get her breath. “And I’m sure that you’ve done your share of experimentation. Though that wasn’t what I meant—” She stopped. “And you were right, I only intended to take you off guard. I could see that you only thought of me as a kid, and I believed it was a safe way to distract you.” She steadied her voice. “It kind of … blew up.”
“You bet it did,” he said grimly. “You had me so hot that I wasn’t going to stop.”
“But you did.” Her fingers were shaking as she buttoned her shirt. “And now the best thing is clearly to forget it happened.”
“Is it?” He was watching her fingers on the buttons. “Why? Didn’t you say I excited you?” He made a violent dismissive gesture. “Forget I said that. But it’s not that easy. I came close to raping you.”
“No, you didn’t.” She looked away from him. “You wouldn’t have done that. I know about rape.”
He went still. “Do you?”
“See? You’re getting all protective. You wouldn’t have used force.”
“When did it happen?”
“When I was twelve. It was when I was hiding in the woods from my father. Two hunters found me and decided to have a little fun.”
Nalchek cursed.
She shook her head. “It’s over. It took a long time to get over it, but I was lucky that I was in the best place in the world to learn that rape sometimes happens, but so does survival. It was all around me. It’s all part of nature. You just have to turn your back on the pain and accept the joy.” She tucked her shirt in her jeans. “Now I think you should take me to Eve.”
He sat looking at her. “Yeah.”
Then he turned on the ignition. “Did you know their names?”
“The men who raped me? Yes, it seemed important at the time.”
“Who were they?”
She shook her head. “It’s not important now.”
“I want their names.”
“What are you going to do? Arrest them?”
“Maybe.”
She shook her head. “After all this time? More pain than gain.”
“I don’t agree.” His foot pressed the accelerator as he reached the highway. “Let me put it in a way you’ll understand. In nature, there’s rape, there’s survival, but you left out one other important element.”
“What’s that?”
“Revenge.”
*
“Here she is,” Nalchek said when Eve opened the door to her hotel room. He nudged Margaret into the room. “Though what you want with her, I don’t know. She’s big-time trouble.”
“Problems?” Eve asked as her gaze shifted between the two of them. Nalchek was obviously tense and … something more explosive. Margaret was more subdued than usual. “You were longer than I thought you’d be.”