One of his brows lifted. “Clearly.”
He didn’t offer anything else. No greeting. No warmth. Just that flat, assessing stare that made my stomach tighten, wondering what he might be thinking. I hated that I liked looking at him. I hate it even more that he always looked back like he was peeling me apart layer by layer.
“I wanted to say…” God, this was going to kill me. “Thank you.”
His expression didn’t change. “For what?”
“You know for what?”
“I want to hear you say it.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re impossible.”
“Say it,” he repeated.
I clenched my teeth. “Fine. Thank you for… saving me.”
The corner of his mouth shifted into something that looked almost like a smirk, but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he leaned back against the desk, arms crossing over his chest.
“You shouldn’t have needed saving,” he said. “But since we are on the subject, you and I need to talk. You were too terrified last night for this conversation, but the sooner we have it, the better for both of us.”
Uh oh.
“That is never a good sentence,” I muttered.
“It definitely won’t be the one you like.”
I folded my arms too, mirroring him without meaning to. “Let’s hear it.”
“There are new rules in this house starting today.”
I stared at him. “Rules?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
He blinked once. “Did you think this was a negotiation?”
“I think I’m a grown woman capable of making my own decisions, so yes. This is a negotiation, and I am denying it.”
He pushed off the desk with a slow, deliberate movement, stepping towards me. He was still not close enough to touch, but close enough to feel.
“You walked into a kidnapping,” he said. “So please do not talk to me about capabilities right now.”
Anger flared in my chest. “Because I was trying to call my goddamn family. A family you are keeping me away from!”
“You could’ve been killed!”
“You could’ve been killed too,” I snapped back.
We stared at each other, his breathing slow and controlled while I tried not to shake all over again. Heat rippled under my skin, irritation battling with something else. Something dangerous and magnetic.
“What are these rules?” I asked tightly.
He paused, as if bracing himself. “Rule one. You are now allowed to leave the house without me.”
I scoffed. “Right. Like I was about to do that before this whole episode.”
