"I got lost."
"In a straight hallway?"
Her big brown eyes fix firmly on mine. And I see the defiance there.
"What do you want me to say?" she asks. "That I was trying to escape? Fine. I was. But you already knew that."
"I did." I pick up my coffee again, watching her over the rim. "Just like I know you didn’t find an exit last night. But you found something else just as good."
The pink in her cheeks deepens, and I love the way she has to look away. "I was just?—"
"Just what?" I interrupt, my voice dropping lower. "Just couldn't help yourself?"
She opens her mouth, then closes it again.
I stand slowly and move around the table toward her.
She stays frozen, watching me approach with those eyes that are equal parts terrified and hungry.
I stop beside her chair and lean down. Close enough that I can see her pulse hammering in her throat. My breath brushes against the soft shell of her ear. “It’s okay,solnyshko, I like it when you watch.”
Her lips drop open.
And I don’t doubt my words hit her somewhere sensitive and warm and achy.
She clears her throat as I reach for my suit jacket hanging on the back of her chair. I shrug it on before sitting across from her again.
"What happens now?" she asks quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean..." She gestures helplessly between us. "What am I supposed to do? Do I just sit in my room all day? I don't know what is expected of me."
"I have work to attend to," I say, checking my watch. "Calls to make. Business that won't wait just because I've acquired a beautiful houseguest. So you will need to entertain yourself."
Her eyes narrow slightly at the wordbeautifulbut she doesn't rise to the bait.
"What kind of work do you do?" she asks.
The question is cautious but still probing. She's trying to understand me. To get a read on who I really am beyond the monster who kidnapped her.
If only she knew who I really am.
Of just how much danger she's sitting across from right now.
But that wouldn’t work in my favor. Not if I want my plan to succeed.
So I give her the same answer I give everyone who asks.
"This and that," I say with a slight smile. "Various imports and exports."
"That's wonderfully vague," she says, unimpressed.
"It's meant to be."
She studies me for a long moment, those intelligent eyes trying to piece together the puzzle. I can almost see her mind working, cataloging details and building a profile.
Good luck,malyshka. Smarter people than you have tried and failed.
