“I need a full name, princess.”
“Kaz, hereallyisn’t the type—”
“Atria,name.”
She’d known him for less than a day and already she understood what that tone meant. Grinding her teeth, she reluctantly answered, “Doctor Norman Chambers.”
The orc was quiet for several moments. Finally removing his hand from her throat, he went back to his task — somehow more intently than before, as if heneededto focus on it instead of her.
After a while, he muttered, “Why did you break up?”
Gods, hadn’t she suffered enough for a night? Atria rubbed her eyes and wearily answered, “I don’t feel like telling you that.”
“Tough shit.”
“No, I amnotanswering that question right now,” she shot back. “I am tired. I am sore. And I amsickof you pushing me.” Atria was vexed to feel her lower lip tremble, but she pushed through it. Empaths were known criers, so she always went out of her way to keep her ready tears at bay. Kaz had seen far too much of her vulnerability already. “I just want to go to bed and pretend like none of this is happening.”
She expected him to growl and keep pushing, but Kaz surprised her.
“Fine.” He set the nearly empty sachet by the sink before he wiped his hands on his thighs with two brusque movements. “Bed it is, then. You can tell me in the morning.”
She had barely a moment to savor her temporary victory before the damn orc reached back into his pocket again. This time, hedidhold the cuffs.
Atria made an outraged sound and attempted to throw herself off of the counter. “Oh,no—”
“Ah-ah, princess.” Kaz didn’t give her an inch. In one swift movement, he had both wrists secured in one hand. The other activated the mechanism, and before she could blink, her wrists were bound once more.
“Why are you doing this?” Atria punctuated each outraged word with a smack of her curled fists to the center of his stupidly attractive, tattooed chest. “You know I don’t think you’re kidnapping me anymore! I don’t need to be fucking handcuffed!”
“If I trusted that you wouldn’t try to run the moment I close my eyes, I wouldn’t cuff you.” Kaz bent at the knees to slip one arm under her thighs and the other behind her back. Her flailing didn’t seem to bother him at all as he lifted her up and walked sideways out of the bathroom.
“If you weren’t an asshole, then maybe I wouldn’t try to run!”
Hetsked.“Language, princess.”
She fumed as he used his knee to nudge the comforter and sheets down the bed. It wasn’t entirely indignation. A lot of her outrage stemmed from the fact that he was absolutely correct. Not that she thought her escape stood much of a shot, but her chances weren’tnonewhen she was able to use her hands.
Now her already low chances were so deep in thenot happeningzone, they’d built a nice little vacation house there.
She could practically feel steam coming out of her ears as he deposited her on the bed, her head carefully placed in the exact center of the pillow.
“Get some sleep,” he ordered, stepping back to allow her the honor of pulling up herownblankets.
She watched him walk toward the door with narrowed eyes. Kaz had an incredibly beautiful, muscled back and ass. He was slightly bow-legged, and his ass was a gorgeous bubble of hard flesh. Too bad it was ruined by everything else about him.
He activated the sensor by the door jamb, plunging them into darkness. She watched the dark, triangular shape of his back move as he adjusted the black out blinds over the windows, making sure not even the thinnest blade of light slipped between the window sill and fabric. He fussed with it for a lot longer than she felt was warranted before he was finally satisfied.
When he turned around again, she asked archly, “Where are you sleeping?”
“Right here.” She raised her eyebrows as she watched his shadowy form drop onto the floor by the bed — putting himself squarely between her and the door.
It took some effort to smother the urge to offer him a pillow and a blanket.Hechose to sleep on the floor, just as he chose to be an ass. If he wanted a pillow, she was absolutely certain he would have just taken one.
Huffing, she turned on her side until she was facing away from him. Atria tucked her bound hands under her cheek and glared at the wall. She tried not to think of anything at all, to put her mind to sleep with every meditative technique she knew, but it was useless.
The more she stared, the more she thought about everything that had happened, all the horror, the high of Kaz’s touch, and all that she would lose tomorrow.
All that work. Everything. Just to be spirited away to the EVP before it can be finished.
