Herhand reaches out, gently touching the scarred fingers gripping my metal file.Herskin feels incredibly cool against my rough, battered knuckles.Invisiblestatic pops violently in the air between us.Sherefuses to pull away.Istare down at her pale, perfectly smooth hand resting over my completely destroyed flesh.Thevisual creates a stark study in contrasts, highlighting the obvious gap betweenBeautyand theBeast.
"You'renot nearly as terrifying as you pretend," she whispers softly.
"Youhave absolutely no idea."
Iyank my hand away abruptly.Onemore second of contact will end with me grabbing her fragile wrists, dragging her flat onto the steel table, and demonstrating exactly the depths of my depravity.Avicious, primal hunger gnaws at my insides, completely unrelated to food.Ipossess a desperate, territorial need to claim her right here.
"Getback to the ledgers,"Iorder sharply, twisting away from her temptation.
Theharsh tone fails to make her flinch.Asmall, secret smile curves her lips before she finally returns to the monitors.Therapid keystrokes resume their frantic pace.Yankingmy phone from my pocket,Iquickly textBlake.
ME:
Need food. Drop box. Alpha clearance.
BLAKE:
Siege provisions? Or are you finally consuming something other than pure hostility?
ME:
Bring the damn food. Include something loaded with sugar.
Thedevice clatters onto the metal table.Shehumms softly, a tuneless melody drifting under her breath while she actively reconciles the club's accounts.Myabsolute sanctuary stands thoroughly invaded, the silence completely dead and my perfect order entirely shattered.
AndGodhelp me,Irefuse to demand it back.
Theblue glow of the monitors illuminates her intensely focused expression as she works.Herteeth bite down gently on the end of the neon plastic pen.Mygaze zeroes in on the movement, obsessively tracking the way her full lips wrap around the hard plastic.Heavy, aching heat pools extremely low in my gut.
Sheis already mine.
Sheremains entirely oblivious to the fact.Theclub lacks the knowledge, and even the strict ledgers haven't recorded the transaction yet, though the data will reflect the truth soon enough.Thisforensic audit operates as a convenient excuse, and the hidden mole simply presents a temporary nuisance.Theactual defining event of my existence is happening right here, securely locked within four inches of tungsten and steel.
Itrack every single breath she takes, fully intending to continue until her inhalations sync perfectly with mine.Snatchingup the heavy metal tool again,Idrag it hard across the iron bracket.Theharsh scrape of steel echoes against the reinforced walls.
3
MIA
Myeyes feel like they’ve been scrubbed with sandpaper and dipped in lemon juice.
Blinkingfails to clear the fuzzy halo surrounding the numbers on the screen, and the spreadsheet refuses to sharpen.Thecursor blinks at me.It’sthe only thing moving in this subterranean fortress of solitude, other than the terrifyingly large man stalking the perimeter behind me like a predator who’s already marked his kill and is just waiting for the right moment to strike.
Twenty-four hours locked in thisVaultfeels like a lifetime.Therecycled air is getting to me.Thesilent, criminally handsome man currently reorganizing weapon schematics is starting to look like a really intense study partner.
Astudy partner who could snap a man’s neck with his pinky finger.Sure.
"Stopsighing,"Eliasgrumbles.
Focusingon the metal shelving unit, he obsessively aligns boxes of ammunition.Hisback is to me.Abroad expanse of blackcotton stretches over muscles that have no business existing on an accountant.
"Ididn't sigh,"Ilie, reaching for my third highlighter of the hour. "Iwas breathing loudly."
"Yousigh when you find a discrepancy," he says, his voice a deep baritone that resonates through the steel floor and straight up my chair legs. "Youtap your left foot when the numbers balance.Andyou chew your lip when you're trying to figure out how to tell meImade a mistake."
Myhand freezes halfway to the stack of invoices fromPeakWildernessOutfitters.
Swivelingmy chair around screeches metal against the concrete floor.Hisbroad shoulders twitch.
