“Don’t,” she said, but there was no heat in it.
“You shouldn’t go to the mine again.” He pushed his hair out of his eyes with the back of his wrist, and her leg rippled with sensation when his elbow grazed the crease of her knee. “I’m sure the sheriff told you that. But in this instance, he happens to be right.”
“So you did know about it,” she said, not sounding as sharp as she wanted.
“Rael told me, yes. He tells me everything. We’re close.”
“But he shouldn’t. His dad’s a cop.”
“That’s the way it’s always been here, Nadine. Old alliances forged in blood. It’s endearing, the way you see beyond that, but it doesn’t change the way things are.”
“I didn’t fall off the back of a truck, you know,” she snapped, gripping her neck over the bandage. “I’m not completely naïve. Someone left me a note. That’s why I went down to the mine. They told me they had information, and that I should go to meet them there.”
“And you obeyed?” He set the bottle of rum on his nightstand. “That seems a little naïve to me.”
Heat burned in her throat when he looked at her.It’s not real, that voice whispered.He’s only fucking with you. And as soon as you fall for it, he’ll laugh. You’re just another notch on his belt.
She slid her legs to one side and swung ungracefully to her feet. “What do you care? I thought you weren’t king of this castle.”
“Is that what you want?” he asked with an ironic lightness. “Because if you’re looking for someone landed, then I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong brother, little sparrow. Ben—now, he plays for keeps. I’m only looking for a little catch and release.”
Beneath the playful words he seemed almost angry, and she couldn’t understand why. Did he think she was after his brother? Why—and what did that matter? What right did he have to concern herself with what she did with all of his cryptic warnings and seductive taunts?
He was distracting her from her main goal by making her want things she shouldn’t.
“You’re one to talk,” she said, bracing herself against the thick post of his tester bed. “You’ve done nothing but screw with me since I came here. Why should I listen to you? Why should I trust you? It’s so obvious you only want one thing.”
“And what thing is that?” His voice was cool now. “Do you think I killed your sister? And now, what? I want to kill you? You think maybe—I want to fuck you before you die?” Cal’s eyes flashed to her face, and lingered. “Or perhaps, wait until after? A pretty corpse to play with?”
“No—” she began, scared and though she wouldn’t admit it, chagrined. “Stop.”
“You know, when I first saw you, I thought you looked tragic.” He paced the room, looking a little like a restless panther locked in a cage. “A sad-eyed martyr, bound for the pyre. But there’s something bright in your eyes when you talk about your sister. Or when you talk back to me. And it’s completely unselfconscious.”
He turned back around and lightly gripped her by the arms, pulling her away from the bed.
“Tenacity, I think it might be. Or a strange, incurious passion bound up in years and years of diligent restraint. But whatever it is, it’s frozen under glass. Hot and bright, but very much untouchable. You never answered my question, Nadine. When was the last time someone took care of you? And by that, I don’t mean a few tender touches and a pat on the hand like your aunt gives you, no. I want to know if anyone ever threw you down and fucked you like they were trying to strike a match, until that frozen flame I see in your eyes melted away along with that stubborn will, and all you could say wasyesandplease.”
She sucked in a sharp breath.
In the mine.
The thought was so terrible that she stopped thinking.
But her body—her body still remembered that desperation, that wild vacillation between mindless terror and . . . something else. Something darker.
(it’s only going to hurt a little)
Badly shaken, Nadine said, “I—I’d like to go back to my room now.”
“No,” he whispered, making her feel almost afraid. “I think I’ll have my answer first.”
She tugged ineffectually at her arms. “Stop it.Stopit, Cal. Let me go! I don’t owe you anything.”
“Don’t you?” Something hard and intractable had entered his voice. “Because I do. I think you owe me plenty. I don’t think you haveanyidea what you’ve—”
He broke off, shaking himself, and abruptly opened his hands, letting her stumble back. She folded her arms behind her as he ran his fingers through his hair, his movements quick and agitated.
“I suggest you leave. But that is a suggestion—and one you are free to disregard, as long as you understand that I won’t let you go again.”
