Frustration welled up in her. Daniel Mercer definitely wasn’t the type of man to care about the comfort of others, which most definitely included pretending to have basic social graces. He wouldn’t be an easy man to be around. Lucky for her, she didn’t have to spend time with him after today. In fact, she didn’t have to spend time with him beyond showing him to the door.
“Okay, well thanks again for saving my life down there,” she said, reaching out for the wall so she could walk past him without actually touching him when she passed him in the hall. ”I’m sure you have a lot to do and I’d like to get some rest, so if you’ll just…”
As Addison tried to glide past him toward the front door, he turned swiftly and took her by the shoulders. He shoved her lightly backwards, trapping her between the wall and his equally hard body. Her hands came up to push against him, but he was completely unmovable. She fisted her hands in his shirt. The fabric was a standard cotton T-shirt. Too light for the weather, she thought, but his skin was hot underneath. Maybe he didn’t feel the coolness of the southern winter breeze.
Absurd, Addie! she thought to herself. The head of Tyson King’s security has you pinned against a wall after you’ve both just survived a potential massacre and you’re trying to decide if he might catch a cold if he doesn’t put on a sweater.
“What are you doing?” she gasped.
He ignored her. Instead, he dropped his head until it was level with hers and boldly rubbed his chin against her cheek. Addison gasped again, strained back against the unyielding wall and tilted her head back as far as it would go. He followed her, tracing his nose along her jaw, under her ear and into her hairline. He seemed to be breathing her in, like a bloodhound memorizing her scent. His jaw was bearded. The trimmed hair rasped along her soft skin, marking her. Somehow his facial hair made the act feel even more… intimate.
Heart hammering, Addison took several panicked breaths that had the effect of drawing his scent in as well. It was extremely light, barely there, yet definitely masculine too. Perhaps a mixture of unscented soap and natural scent. She froze. Like the hint of something she had detected in the elevator.
He brought his hand up, startling Addison. She jerked back and hit her head against the wall. He made an annoyed sound and put his hand on her face, forcing it forward so she could no longer strain away from him. He used his thumb to trace her lips. Then her chin, cheekbones and finally trace lightly into the orbits around her eyes. Frightened, she didn’t think to resist him or look away as she would usually have done.
It was an odd move. He touched her the way a blind person might touch another when attempting to visualize their face. Unnerved, she released her grip on his T-shirt and reached up to grab his hand so she could force it away from her face. He took her smaller hand in his, laced his fingers through hers and forced her hand over her head against the wall.
“What are you doing?” Addison cried out again, her voice higher than normal.
He responded by bringing his face so close to hers that his lips brushed against her cheek. She jumped and held herself tensely still as his mouth drifted toward hers. His lips hovered over hers, his even breaths mingled with her panicked gasps.
“I tried to stay away from you.”
His deep voice was so low she wouldn't have heard it if he hadn’t been standing so close to her. He shifted his body until it was flush against hers. She gasped and her head spun. He was so much harder than her, every muscle sculpted to lethal precision. There was no way she could get out of his hold until he was ready to release her. He could do whatever he wanted.
She whimpered.
“I wasn’t going to touch you, Addison Sterling,” he breathed against her, pressing his hips into hers, letting her know exactly how much he wanted to touch her.
“How… how did you know where I live?” she asked.
He ignored her. It was a stupid question anyway. He was Tyson King’s head of security. He probably knew everything about everyone in the building. Risk assessment was his job. But she didn’t pose a risk. What did he want with her? She didn’t realize she asked the question out loud until he actually answered her, much to her horror.
“I want everything, Addison,” he said, squeezing her against the wall so hard she was forced to relax her body under his or be crushed. “I want you every way I can have you. I want you underneath me, begging for mercy. I want to eat you, fuck you, make you scream and hurt you. I was going to leave you alone, but now its too late.”
She cried out and would have begun struggling in earnest except his radio crackled and a voice demanded his immediate attention. He swiftly stepped away from her. Addison would have collapsed to the carpet if he hadn’t retained his hold on her. She slumped between his hand and the wall, taking in deep lungfuls of air and wondering exactly how she was going to get herself out of this situation.
She wondered if Karma worked this quickly. Just that morning she’d been thinking about taking a lover. Nice one, Karma, not exactly what she’d had in mind. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn’t pay attention to Daniel’s radio conversation and leapt back against the wall when he turned back to her.
“I have to leave,” he said gruffly. She felt him move and heard the sound of him running a hand through the smoothness of his hair. Indecision? He didn’t want to leave.
Addison said the only thing she could think of. “Good.”
He ignored her. “Don’t leave, I’ll be back as soon as I can get this wrapped up. We need to talk.”
Like hell! She crossed her arms in front of her body protectively as he stepped away from her toward the door of her apartment. “I mean it Addison, be here when I get back. We need to talk about what happens next.”
“Just go away,” she mumbled.
He left without another word. She knew he would be back.
Chapter Five
Addison didn’t think twice. She didn’t even bother trying to find her walking cane, which she was pretty certain was the item he’d gathered up and brought with him to the apartment when he’d unceremoniously herded her into the elevator. She scooped up her fallen purse and the moment she believed he was clear of the hallway she flew out of the building.
She didn’t lock her door either. She had no doubt he had could find his way in and the panic in her heart and mind told her she needed to put as much distance as she could between herself and the brutal head of Tyson King’s security. With her purse looped over her arm, she didn’t bother counting steps to the stairwell she almost never took, instead feeling her way down the familiar hall and shoving doors until she found one that easily opened under her fingertips.
Addison’s breaths came out in panicked gasps as she flew down the concrete steps, her ballet flats lightly slapping each step as she went. She kept both of her hands on the metal railings for balance, but stumbled on each landing anyway as she had no idea how many steps to expect. She couldn’t seem to calm herself enough to stop and count them properly either. She kept losing count and either missing steps or jarring her legs when there were no more steps where she expected some to exist.
