After a few blocks, she turned again, slowing when she reached a row of townhouses. I cruised slowly behind her, leaving a few car lengths between us. And when she pulled up against the curb near the middle of the block, I slid into an open space near the corner.
I glanced upward, saying a silent prayer that nobody would be out walking and make the wrong assumption about what I was about to do. Having to explain my behavior to the authorities wasn’t on my agenda for the night. The second I saw Hallie’s car door open into the street, I opened my door. “Here goes nothing,” I whispered to myself.
I walked slowly, creeping down the quiet, dark street in the shadows of the two-story townhouses. There were a couple of dim streetlights, but in my dark t-shirt and jeans, I was barely visible as I slipped between the SUV parked behind Hallie’s car. Through the windshield, I watched her approach one of the townhomes to leave a bag of foodon the stoop, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she took a picture of it.
When she turned around, I crouched and listened. I heard her approaching footsteps, a breathy sigh, and her car door opening. My God, she’d left her car running the entire time. Didn’t she know how dangerous that was on a dark street like this? She could’ve been carjacked—or worse.
I’d have to reprimand her for that later.
I slowly rose to my feet when I heard the car door close again, and I knew I had just seconds to act. With a few fast, long strides, I made it to the door of the driver’s side and curled my fingers around her door handle, my shadow covering her body. She let out a scream, jerking and throwing her phone before she even looked up.
Without giving her a second to recognize me, I yanked open the door and gave her shoulder a shove. “Move to the passenger seat,” I said in a growl.
“What the fuck?” she cried out, her voice cracking in raw desperation. Her body trembled under my hand.
Fuck, the fear in her eyes was so satisfying, I had to grip her steering wheel just to ground myself for a second. She was looking at me the same way she had when I pulled out my knife in her apartment, and it was damn near enough to make me want to take her right there in that front seat. Instead, I gave her body another forceful push. “Move over. Now.”
Hallie obeyed, scrambling to climb over the center console in a panic. By now, she’d been able to see that it was me—but the confusion was still written all over her face when I slid in next to her. I slammed the door shut and adjusted the driver’s seat to allow enough room for my long legs, glancing over at the way she held a hand toher chest. Her breaths were quick and ragged, a soft, high-pitched whimper escaping her lips with every exhale.
Without a word, I leaned over her body to reach for her seatbelt, letting my hand graze her stomach before I buckled her in. She reached up to tuck her hair behind both ears, meeting my gaze. “How did you find me?”
“Don’t worry about that.” I leaned forward, my hand hovering over my back pocket. I glanced all around, making sure no nosey neighbors had witnessed our encounter and got the wrong idea. Because if anyone was already thinking about calling the authorities, my next move would have them dialing 911 in a heartbeat.
I pulled a black, satin blindfold out of my pocket and unfolded it slowly, giving Hallie a couple of seconds to wonder what was about to happen. “Is that a blindfold?”
Without moving my head, my eyes drifted up to meet hers, and a slow smile stretched across my face. “Very good,” I said, sliding the soft fabric between my fingers. “Are you going to let me put it on you like a good girl, or are you going to cause a scene?”
Hallie’s body stiffened. “Where are you taking me?”
“You’re asking too many questions,” I said, shifting closer to her. I held the blindfold in front of her eyes, expecting her to just accept it, but she lifted a hand to swat it away.
“I-I just accepted another order.”
Jesus,already?Was she fucking serious?
“Cancel it,” I ordered. Hallie didn’t budge—she just sat there blinking at me like an animal caught in a trap. So I cleared my throat and said the words again, gripping the back of her arm tight. “Cancel. It.”
With my free hand, I picked up Hallie’s phone from the floorboard, where she’d flung it before. I handed it to her, and she shakily navigatedto the DoorDash app and cancelled the order. And as I returned the blindfold to her eyes and tied it behind the back of her head, I had to press my lips together tight to fight the laugh that wanted to slip out. Here she was in the middle of being fucking kidnapped, and her only concern was ruining some stranger’s night with missing food.
“You’re fuckin’ ridiculous,” I muttered, adjusting my tone to hide the smile in my voice. I gave the blindfold another tug and turned her head with both hands, forcing her to face me. “Can you see me?”
Hallie audibly swallowed. “No.”
“Do I have to restrain your hands, or are you going to behave?” I asked, staring at her cherry-red lips. She wore a plain white tank top that night, stretched tight across her chest, with a sliver of her abdomen exposed above her jean shorts. She knew exactly how to get better tips, didn’t she?
“I’ll behave,” she promised.
I licked my lips, dropping my right hand to her leg. Hallie clenched her thighs together, just as she had at the restaurant. As much as I wanted to touch her now, I gave her one hard, lasting squeeze and let out a hungry, primal grunt.
“Fuck, Hallie,” I rasped, tugging away from her. I gripped the steering wheel with one hand and the gear-shifter with the other, shaking my head at myself as I glanced at the back-up camera display on her dash. “Torturing you tonight is going to be a treat. For me, at least.”
Beside me, Hallie’s lips parted slowly. She settled back against the leather seat, fidgeting with the frayed hem of her shorts. When I merged onto I-90 and sped in the direction of my apartment, she gripped the edges of her seat, biting down on her bottom lip.
But it was the way she kept fighting back a smile that sent a fire through my veins.Damn you, Hallie Rutherford.She still trusted me,after everything. There was no terror. No doubt. To her, this was just a game with a giant safety net.
And what was the fun in that?
She left me with no choice but to strip every ounce of trust away.
