Her remark more than piques my interest. For a few seconds, I actually forget that she’s naked. “What do you mean by that?”
She shrugs a damp shoulder. “I’m not valuable. I’ve been sent away and set apart from my family from almost the beginning. On paper, it would be easy to say I mean nothing to them?—”
“But in practice?” I press her.
Her gaze remains steadfast and unyielding.
Not combative, but not fearful either.
“You kidnapped me on my graduation day. No one’s noticed me missing and come after you. I couldn’t even get the attention of an Irish King not ten feet away from me.Youdo the math.” The apathetic way she lists the facts brings uneasiness into my system.
These responses aren’t normal.
They feel and sound honest enough, but the manner of her delivery…
She speaks like a robot who’s powered off her humanity for the evening.
What the hell is that about?
This must be another tactic. Another attempt to throw me off and exploit my distraction.
Tread carefully.My brain shutters up like an abandoned house.
“You’re right.” I call her bluff with a smirk. “In fact, I couldn’t agree more. You do seem pretty useless to the Gallagher clan. Which means it can’t beyouthey’re after.”
Trinity’s eyes widen.
Caught her.
“It has to be something you know. Or…” I lurch forward, crowding her space and drilling her with my stare. “Something you have.”
She stiffens at my proximity, her chin raised. “And what do you think I have, Brody?” Trinity spins in a little circle, showing off that traffic-stopping figure. “You think I’m a smuggler?”
“Wouldn’t put it past you to stick a thumb drive up your ass for safe-keeping.” The image of that brings a smile to my face and earns me an eye roll.
Trinity shifts her weight, sarcasm thick in her voice. “I bet you wouldn’t mind checking for it either.”
She’s not wrong, but… “I just don’t know about you.” My gaze drops to that defiant mouth. I wouldn’t mind kissing those lips again. “That’s what’s bothering me.”
“Maybe they want what you want. A hostage. Leverage against my brother.” She gives me a brittle little laugh. “Sound familiar?”
Even though I can tell she’s lying, I nod. I see the truth in her tense shoulders and skittering gaze. I don’t know why or what about, exactly, but Trinity has a secret.
Which is fair. I did kidnap her. We don’t have any reason to trust each other.
Without any knowledge of this missing variable, I can’t neutralize the threat. Time to push.
“You know what else I don’t get?” My voice goes quiet. Analytical. An echo of hers in the living room. The realization that I’m mimicking her shows up plain as day in her furrowed brows and that cute little pout on her lips. “Why you’re always alone.”
She flinches. Not noticeably. But I do catch the sudden burst of tension in her muscles.
I invade more of her personal space, extending my arm between us like a bridge until my fingertips connect with the soft skin of her throat. As I run my fingers down the side of her neck, her breathing stutters. I want to follow that path with my lips.
“I trailed you forweeks, Trinity.You never saw me, but I saw you.” This confession strikes me as oddly intimate, like scooping out a piece of my chest and presenting it on a platter. “Saw you alone. Always alone. You never went out with friends. You never went to parties. Once, I followed you to that mediocre bar and watched you sip wine and listen to music. I heard you play the piano in the music rooms on campus. Other than that, all you did was go to work and drive your crappy car. Why don’t you have anything in your life?”
Weird. In some distorted way, I could almost be talking about myself.
A workaholic. A man who lives for nothing and has nothing except these responsibilities I take so seriously.
