Mina swallowed. “No. Sorry.” And she squared her shoulders and walked through that doorway. Immediately, the world grew darker. There were no more fancy rugs. No more glittering chandeliers or beautiful artwork. She was in a rough, carved stone tunnel. Old, so old…the air itself felt stale. The door clanged shut behind her and Mina jumped.
“Hope I didn’t scare you,” Luke murmured.
You do. You scare me a whole lot. I just can’t let that fear stop me. “Don’t be silly,” she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder—Mina thought that was a rather nice touch. “What’s frightening about you?” Only everything.
His body slid past hers in that narrow tunnel. There were lights on the stone floor—faint lights that seemed to just come out from the stone itself. Because those lights were down so low, shadows filled the area. It felt tight, too compacted and—
He was leaving her. Never, ever let it be said that Luke Thorne was a gentleman. Behind him, she glowered, then Mina’s heels clicked as she double-timed it to keep up with him.
Soon the tunnel was ending. Another door waited, with another keypad. Only this door was thicker than the one before. Once more, she gave a nervous laugh when he typed in the code. “Just what kind of criminals needed to be kept here, exactly?” And why was there a modern key code set up at an old prison?
Because, obviously, he still uses this place.
She’d been looking for a safe that hid his most valuable possessions. She’d used her power to compel Luke to show her his secrets. So maybe he used the old prison as his safe now. Excitement had her heart racing.
The door swung inward but Luke had turned to face her. His gaze—hooded—swept over her. “Very, very bad criminals.” His voice was even rougher now. “The kind of criminals that needed to be locked away from the rest of the world.”
Her goosebumps were huge. Every instinct she had screamed for Mina to run. She felt as if she were in the scary movies she’d watched so much as a teen. She was the heroine, about to make a seriously stupid move. She should run away. Run, run but…
I can’t leave. I need that treasure too badly. More than just her life was at stake.
So she pasted a broad smile on her face and stepped right up to him. Her breasts pressed to his chest and her fingers skimmed down his arm. “What do you know about being bad?” She injected just the right note of flirtation in her voice. Just the right hint of sly seduction that would whisper through his mind and control him.
He leaned toward her and she felt his body tense. “Everything,” he told her, his voice so dark and sinister.
And she believed him.
Her heart stuttered in her chest for a moment, but she rose onto her toes. Mina pressed a light, teasing kiss to his lips. “Then maybe you can show me.”
His eyes—they seemed to change. To shine. His stare hardened with promise. “I will.”
She licked her lips, a quick, nervous swipe of her tongue, and he gave a little growl.
I am so out of my depth.
She had to keep her control, for just a little bit longer. He was blocking that doorway. She needed him to move. “Take me inside,” she said.
His head inclined. “Only if you promise the same for me.”
He had not just said that to her—she barely stopped her jaw from dropping but he was…laughing now. A rough, almost sinister chuckle and he’d turned to step through that doorway. His fingers had locked around her wrist, and he pulled her after him. Her eyes widened, straining to see in the darker room. Only…it wasn’t just a room.
It was a massive space. Big, wide and not filled with the treasures that she’d hoped. Dammit.
There were cells in that room. Prison cells. The bars were thick and heavy, gleaming as if they were made of silver. Her frantic gaze swung around but, luckily, no one was in those cells.
They were empty, as if they were just waiting.
And, quite suddenly, she had an idea. A wicked one, for a wicked man.
“Your turn,” Luke said.
Her turn? She looked over her shoulder at him, and the desire on his face told her exactly what he wanted.
Only if you promise to do the same for me. His words rang through her head once more.
Tricky devil. But Mina had her town tricks. She thrust back her shoulders and walked inside the nearest cell. The door was wide open. No furniture was inside the cell—it was empty and yawning and being inside was creepier than all hell but she walked right to the middle of the cell. She turned to face Luke. She smiled at him and then she crooked her finger.
He raised one dark brow.
“Oh, come on…surely you have a…dark side,” Mina said.
Luke didn’t smile. “You have no idea.”
Oh, she had plenty of ideas. But he wasn’t coming forward. She needed him to get his ass in there. “Come kiss me,” Mina invited. No, an invitation wouldn’t work. “Come and kiss me,” she ordered him.
He stalked toward her, moving with a slow, dangerous grace. His gaze never left hers, and there was no missing the hunger in his stare, a wild desire that would have terrified her, if she hadn’t thought that she could keep controlling him. But she could keep up that control. For just a little while longer, anyway.
His hand lifted and sank into her hair, tipping her head back. His other arm curled around her waist, pulling her forward.
And he kissed her.