“No.” He said the word without heat.
Her jaw dropped. “Then why am I here in your home?” She looked around the spacious kitchen, her mind trying to spin through the cotton suddenly filling her head. “Wait a minute. You’re not afraid of me at all.”
He cocked his head, giving him a predatory look that was all Garrett Kayrs. “Oh, I won’t underestimate you again. You don’t have access to any weapons, and we’ve scanned your body and know there’s nothing hidden beneath your skin. You’re dangerous, and I learned my lesson.”
“Yet I’m here.” She lifted her chin, wishing she could rememberhowto be dangerous.
“You’re here because this is where I want you to be,” he said softly.
Her numbing body went glacier still. For the first time since he’d kissed her outside the diner, she felt the danger from him. Toward her. Her attempts to dissociate from the moment and calm her firing nerves were failing. Because of him. The vampire commanded every inch of space around him with very little effort. “I don’t want to stay here,” she snapped.
“I don’t care.”
She blinked. He’d treated her with such gentleness since the beginning that his statement made her panic. “You can’t keep me here.”
“Don’t be obtuse. I can do anything I want with you.” He finished the second beer, gracefully tossing the bottle in the bin with the first one. “So you’re going to want to cooperate with me.”
He’d threatened violence before, but she hadn’t believed him. Not really. Even the night they’d spent together had shown him to be attentive and gentle. He’d clearly held himself back. Garrett Kayrs might be a controlled killer, and he might be the future king of a species of immortal killers, but he would not hurt her. She knew that. “Do your worst,” she whispered.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I don’tneedto do my worst with you, baby. I don’t even need to exert much effort to gain your cooperation.” He stuck his thumbs in the pockets of his ripped jeans. “I have no problem making sure you can’t sit down for the next week, and I think you know that’s the truth. So how about you promise to go with honesty from right now?”
Anger spread through her veins. If he attacked, could she somehow remember those moves she seemed to know? Did it matter? He’d handled her easily on that video she’d watched. “I’ve never lied to you.” It was the truth, and it hurt that he didn’t know that. What kind of life had he led that he’d be suspicious of a woman he’d been intimate with just the night before? One he seemed fine with being his mate. She should feel sorry for him, but instead, she wanted to kick him in the groin. Hard.
“That’s a bloodthirsty look you’ve got in your eye,” he mused. “Tell me what I want to hear.”
“If I don’t?”
His body unfolded from his position leaning against the counter. “Then you’re about to have a very difficult night.”
She believed him. “Fine. I promise to tell you the absolute truth. And the first thing I want to say is that you’re going to owe me a very large apology, and I expect there to be flowers in your hands at the time. A lot of them.”
“Fair enough. Tell me about when your parents died.” He struck fast and sharp.
She gulped. “I don’t remember a lot about them. My father had a deep voice, and my mother smelled like orchids. I didn’t know she smelled like the flowers until I went shopping for perfume last month.” Her chest ached and warmed at the same time. “Now I know. Orchids.”
“How did they die?”
She tilted her head. “I assume you’ve already investigated my entire life. Shouldn’t you know that?”
“Yes. Answer my questions.”
She sighed. “Car accident when I was four years old. My aunt came to live with us at that time and then sent me away when I turned six. I’ve never been back and had no idea there was money for me. In fact, I thought I was going home after my time at Chapel Hill for Girls, but then somehow she found the money to send me to Stoneton Hills for the remainder of my education. Ten years of it.” That island off the coast of Maine had been her home longer than most people had a home, from what she’d learned in her sociology class.
“Do you know where she got the money?”
“No.” Dessie looked down at the floor, not wanting to see pity in his eyes. If there was pity. Maybe there was nothing there for her any longer, and she didn’t want to see that, either. “I figured she really didn’t want me to come home.” Odd that it still hurt. “My parents were good people, Garrett.” She had to defend them for some reason.
He waited until she gave up and looked at him. “I know. From everything my scouts could discern, they loved you a lot. In fact, your trust fund is substantial, about twenty million dollars, though your aunt could only take a small amount each year to raise you. Enough to pay for Chapel Hill but not nearly enough to cover the exorbitant expenses of Stoneton Hills Academy.”
She paused. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, but I think we can assume it has something to do with you being trained to kill me,” he said without inflection.
She shook her head. “I just can’t explain it, but I’m not a killer. I don’t even know how to fight except for the self-defense classes I took, and what I learned wouldn’t hurt you.” Other humans, sure. But not an immortal. She chewed her lip. “If I die, does my aunt inherit the trust fund?”
“Yep.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m going to take care of her shortly, so don’t worry.”
“No.” Dessie jumped off the stool and rounded the counter to grab his arm. “Please don’t have her killed. I don’t want that on my soul, Garrett.”
