“I don’t know.”
“Can you tell me what you’re thinking? You don’t have to be accurate, but just tell me. Something. Anything.”
“I think the police will make a statement that you were released. Otherwise, they’d have to admit we were able to break into the station and take you. They won’t do that. Imagine how many people would try to break someone out if they admitted what happened. They still have the rifle. I need it.”
I nod and go up the steps.
“I can make us dinner,” he offers.
“Oh no.” I slap a hand over my forehead. “My dad goes to the police station every day at six thirty for a visit. He brings me dinner, even though they didn’t let me eat. Then he stands outside with a cardboard sign that says ‘Free Dina’ and protests until they make him leave.”
Declan’s phone rings. He checks the screen but doesn’t answer. “By the time you bathe, I’ll have a new phone for you and a plan.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
He shrugs.
I climb higher, then stop again. “What’s going to happen to me?”
Declan takes the steps three at a time. When he reaches me, he cups my face in his hands, those elegant fingers warmly wrapping around my head. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. If I wanted you to go down, I would have let themhave you. I would have let them pin the murder on you. They had the rifle, and they would invent a reason. My father has wronged far too many people, and it would’ve been easy for detectives to find a reason for you to shoot him.”
“You’re risking a lot for someone you barely know.”
Declan stares at my lips. Does he want to kiss me again? I press my lips together, hoping that will derail him. It’s enough that I feel safe and feminine when he hovers over me and cups my face just so. I can’t have this man kissing me. I might grow to like it, and then what? Get tangled up with a Crossbow twin? I can’t get tangled up with any man right now, least of all Declan Crossbow, the heir to the biggest criminal empire on this side of the country.
“You helped me out when I needed it most. I’m paying it forward because I’m in a position to do so.”
“But you’re risking your life.”
“My life is always at risk. It’s how I live.”
“I couldn’t live that way.”
Declan shoves his hands into his pockets again. “I know.”
“I can’t say you’re a good man, Declan, but you have principles and values many good men, men who never committed crimes, have abandoned. For one, you know how to treat a woman. One day, you’ll make a girl very happy.” I climb another step so we’re almost at eye level. “It won’t be me. Don’t kiss me again.”
Declan nods. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah.” He descends the steps.
That was easy. I’m embarrassed now. I thought he would fight for his right to kiss me again, but he didn’t. He doesn’t seem to care. I made a big deal out of a single kiss. He’s right. It’s okay. It happens. This isn’t high school. Crap, he’s more mature than I am.
Pussy up, Dina.
At the bottom of the steps, he turns. “Since you’re being honest with me, I thought I would tell you that I’ve trained for this takeover my entire life. You’re the variable I didn’t count on. By having you in proximity, I can oversee your movements. That gives me an advantage.”
“I see now. I was under the delusion you were protecting me.”
“Aren’t I?” He picks up my suitcase and carries it up the stairs.
I follow him into the bedroom. “Yes, and that’s pretty much controlling me.”
He drops the suitcase by the bedroom door. “You’re part of a situation that’s gotten out of control.”
“Right. I get it. I’m only pointing out that your need for control is kind of steep.”
