“I can’t stay,” she blurted.
He poured the brown elixir and sat across from her, quickly disguising the shock in his gaze.
“I expected you’d say as much.”He sighed and took a sip of his drink.“Let’s eat and then we’ll talk about that.”He motioned for her to take a bite.“There’s no point in having all this go to waste.”
Her stomach rumbled agreement.Warmth flooded her cheeks, so she nodded and took a bite.She shut her eyes and moaned in appreciation, enjoying the salty flavor of the eggs.
“Thank you for this,” she said.“You didn’t have to do it.”
“Not at all,” he replied, chewing on a piece of bacon.“But I like seeing you smile.It makes your whole face brighten up and it’s a delight to watch.”
She pressed her lips together and ducked her head again.She couldn’t recall the last time a man had made her shy.Adam was the first, perhaps, and the knowledge made her heart accelerate with excitement.He didn’t say anything else, so they focused on their food, eating in comfortable silence until both their plates were completely empty.
“All right, now we can talk,” he said, pushing her dish aside and grasping her hand.She tried to take it back, but he didn’t relent.“You’re not running again,” he said.
“You don’t have the power to decide that.”
“I don’t?I’m a cop, Katya, I can help you, little one.I can help you escape whatever problem you’re having.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t understand.”
“I don’t if you don’t explain the situation to me.Talk to me.I want to help, little one.”
She sighed.If only life were that simple, she wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.
“They’ll come after you.Me being here is already a threat to your life.”
“I have a weapon,” he said with a shrug.
“You’re only one person.”
“Talk to me, Katya,” he demanded gently.
She glanced down at their entwined hands.His fingers held on to hers as if they belonged together.Her throat constricted.She couldn’t put him in danger.It wasn’t fair.She couldn’t do that to the man who was her mate.
“I—”
“Talk,” he ordered.
She couldn’t say if it was the tone of his voice or her own desire, but the words began to tumble out.“I came here three years ago, looking for my sister,” she blurted out.“She’d come the year before with an au pair job and then disappeared.I investigated and she’d been enslaved.She had never told me that to get the job she’d had to ask for a loan.Now, those same people were making her work for pennies, and they’d taken her passport, so she couldn’t escape.”
“Didn’t you contact the police?”
She shook her head.
“Where I’m from, they’re useless, and here, I didn’t know...”She shrugged.“I didn’t know if anyone could help.My sister was an illegal immigrant.So, I did what I thought I had to do.”
“You took the same job.”
“I did, but I paid for my own visa.I had some savings, and I was able to invest it in that, but when I arrived here, they took my passport and told me the only way to help my sister was to pay off her debt.So, I started working for them.”
“Have you seen your sister?Spoken to her?”
“They let me speak to her once a year,” Katya said.
“Once a year?”He scowled, a brief shadow of anger crossing his features.“Are there more women like you?”
