He sighs when the water pours over him. “This is nice. I can see why you made that sound.”
I blush. I was never one for blushing so this is a first. “You’re… naked.”
“You’ve never seen a man naked before?”
“Not in person,” I admit.
His eyes darken even more as they rake over me. “So, you’re innocent. That’s cute. I like that.”
“Why do you like it?” I demand, settling my hands on my hips. “There’s nothing for you to like. I mean nothing to you.”
He grips my chin. “We both know that’s not true.”
My inhale is sharp. Being this close to a terrifying yet sexy man is a confusing thing, making me feel confusing feelings. I don’t even know how to think right now.
“I need you, Susanna. I need you for my plan. So you do mean something to me.”
I wrench my chin away. “You’re an ass.”
“And you’re a brat.”
“I’ve been kidnapped. I have the right to be a brat.”
“Ok,” he says with a laugh. It fills me with rage and before I even know what I’m doing, I bring my hand towards his face but he catches my wrist just in time. “You really think you can hit me? That you’re strong enough?”
“I might as well try. I will never give up.”
He throws my hand right back at myself. “I like that about you. You have a fighter’s spirit. So do I.”
“You’re not a fighter.”
“Yes I am. When Luca drove me out of this city. I have had to fight tooth and nail to come back. So we have one thing in common.”
I shiver. The thought of having anything in common with Gabriel is frightening. “People don’t like you, I take it.”
“When I did some digging into you, it was apparent to me that people don’t seem to like you either.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I know enough. I know that you’ve caused problems in the past. When I was looking into you, I asked around. Was told some interesting things about Luca’s sister-in-law. How she tried to ruin her own sister’s wedding. How she tried to ruin Alek Morozov’s wedding. You just love trying to ruin weddings, don’t you?”
“I didn’t agree with Alek marrying Katya. And I didn’t agree with my sister marrying Luca. So yes, I tried to ruin those weddings but that is nothing in comparison to what you’ve done and you know it.”
But that’s when I remember something from four years ago now. When Alek had first married Katya, I was an angry sixteen-year-old. So I had pushed Katya into Alek’s pool. She was fine but Alek was so angry with me. The most he has ever been. My intention wasn’t to kill Katya but to scare her.
But the truth is that I do have some darkness in me. I wasn’t a good person when I was young and despite how much I’ve tried to change over the years, I’m not sure I’m exactly a good person now. I mean, I’m in the shower with my kidnaper and I don’t feel as afraid as I should.
In fact, I feel a strange sort of excitement that I’m pretty positive I shouldn’t be feeling.
“Where did your mind go?” he asks in a softer tone than I would have expected from him.
“Nowhere,” I snap.
“Understood. You don’t want to reveal everything to me. I get it. I have secrets too.”
“What kind of secrets?”
He lowers his face until his lips are so close to mine. “The kind I would have to kill you over.”
