“Help, not play bait,” Steel informed her.
“You're being ridiculous. You literally brought me here to use as bait. I'm just agreeing it could work, only not quite the way you originally intended. Ridge won't make a trade, me for him. But he does believe you’ve been torturing me, and he doesn’t think I'm strong enough to survive that, so he’ll never believe that I convinced you I'm useless and that we ended up agreeing to work together.”
Sometimes an overinflated ego was all you needed to bring someone down.
Add in an opponent who was always underestimated, and she believed this could work.
“I’ll pretend that I escaped, got to a phone, called him for help. I know his old number, might not still work but maybe it will. He uses encrypted phones so I don’t know if you can track him, but I’m positive he’ll come to pick me up, thinking he can use that to find out where you guys are hiding. Then he’ll come to you, because he thinks he’ll win. Ridge will never play a game where he thinks he’s going to be the loser. Then all you’ll need to do is put a tracker or something on me, wait until he has me, then swoop in and kill him.”
Chapter
Seventeen
January 1st
9:37 A.M.
Of course, there had been times in Steel’s life when he’d been scared.
Not just childish fears when he was small, but as an adult too. When he was going through his rigorous special forces training, there had been times he’d been afraid he wasn't going to make it. His first op had been full of fears and uncertainties, if he had what it took to survive in that world. Then, in those hours and days after the experimental drugs were in his system, and he started feeling uncontrollable rage, followed by suicidal thoughts.
But none of that compared to the fear of sending Rose back to the man who had already spent most of her life torturing her.
“No,” he said simply.
“No, what?” Rose asked, her nose doing that adorable little confused scrunching thing.
“I don’t like that plan.”
“I don’t get you. You're being ridiculous.”
“You said that already,” he drawled, consumed with the need to drag her into his arms and reaffirm the fact that she was there, safe and sound, not in any danger.
Since his team already knew that he was obsessed with the little ladybug, and that they’d spent the beginning of the New Year with him buried deep inside her, Steel saw no reason not to do exactly that.
Squeaking as he hauled her out of her chair and onto his lap, Rose’s hands clutched at his shoulders. Before she could ask anything, he crushed his mouth to hers, taking her lips in a bruising kiss. She might be right, they might have brought her here to do exactly what Rose was suggesting, but things had changed.
Grabbing one of her breasts, he kneaded it firmly, making her moan, but it wasn't enough, he needed more, wanted to hear her scream his name. Claiming her backside, he began to rock her against his hard length, straining against his jeans, desperate to come out to play.
“Steel, we can't,” she said, panting when he tore his mouth from hers.
“Look around you, little ladybug.”
When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw that the guys had taken their breakfasts and left the room. There was no point in reminding her that wherever they were in the house, Blade would hear her come, that Dragon would smell her arousal, she wasn't used to living in a home with people like them, but she’d get used to it.
She had to. Because he wasn't letting her go.
Needing to remind her of that, he rocked his hips up into her as she ground her center against him, making another moan tumble from her lips.
As much as he hated the very thought of Rose anywhere near her brother, he knew she was right. This was the best wayto draw Ridge out, and once they knew where the cowardly scientist was hiding, they could finally kill him.
“Strip,” he said as he lifted Rose and set her on her feet beside him.
“We can't, the others?—”
“Know better than to come in here right now,” he assured her.
Although her cheeks heated, Rose quickly began removing her clothes. Watching her every move, desperate for glimpses of petal soft skin, Steel stood and crossed the room, pulling out a burner phone from the stash they kept in case they had need of them. Then he returned to his chair, set the burner phone on the table, unzipped himself, and let his rock-hard length spring free.
