He blinked.
“I’ll get the tape off your mouth. It will be my first to-do, right after we get together. So let’s eliminate this distance and make some magic happen, shall we?” She hopped again. Went forward a bit more. Yes!
His gaze sharpened on her. She could practically see the wheels turning in his mind and then…he started lurching forward in his chair. Not hopping as she had been doing. More like jerking one side of his body, then the other. Left. Right. Left. Right again. His technique was a lot more powerful than hers, and he eliminated the distance between them in moments with those hard, yanking heaves of his body.
Impressive.
Their knees collided. His gaze pinned her, and his expression seemed to say…Now what?
She wet her dry lips. “Lean toward me. As much as you can.”
He stretched toward her.
“Down more,” she urged him. “Slouch and stretch. Come on, make this happen!”
More grunts from Ryan.
She leaned toward him. As far as she could.
His eyes narrowed to slits as he stared back at her. A growl rumbled in his throat.
She put her mouth on him?—
He whipped back.
“Seriously!” Simone caught herself and lowered her voice. “Do not be a baby about this! What did you think I was going to use in order to get the tape off you? My eyes?” Which, by the way…her fake lashes were gone. Dammit. Another sin to put on Alexei’s shoulders. Maybe the lashes had come off in the rain or during her struggle in the van—whatever. Alexei’s fault. “I only have my mouth free. So I’m going to use my lips and my teeth and I’m going to tug the tape off you. The edge is loose, I can see it. If you will just come toward me…”
He did. Watching her very, very closely.
“Good.” Soft. “Now, give me a second…” She stretched and craned her head. Her lips brushed over his skin, and then her teeth delicately caught the loose edge of the tape. She bit it and started to tug it free. Slowly, slowly, and then she…
Spat out the tape. “Yes!”
“Keep your voice down,” he rasped back at her.
“Don’t be grumpy with me! I just helped you!”
“You got us kidnapped.”
She opened her mouth, then snapped it closed. Her head swirled with options and lies. “I…did not.” She fluttered her lashes. Not nearly as effective when she didn’t have on her gorgeous falsies, but she had to work with what she had. “Alexei has obviously gone crazy.”
A muscle flexed along Ryan’s clenched jaw.
“He put a gun to my back.” Oh, the tremble in her voice had been an excellent touch. It had also been real. She’d been quite terrified that a bullet could sever her spine during that forced walk through the country house. “He forced me outside. Into the rain. Into the van. That’s, um, you know, around the time you appeared.”
His nostrils flared.
“I remember fighting.” Of course, she remembered that. She’d fight, always. “I think he drugged me?” That was the hazy part for her.
“He slapped a rag over your mouth. Probably was chloroform,” Ryan said, voice low. “Or something like it.”
Chloroform? Simone swallowed. “Did you stay conscious the whole time?” Her stare darted toward the bruise near his eye. “Quite the shiner you have, by the way.”
“Got that when I rammed the bastard after he slapped the cloth over your face. When you first collapsed, I didn’t know if you were unconscious or dead. Either way,” he gritted, “I was not happy.”
She smiled at him. “You tried to save me. That was incredibly kind of you.”
“Who the hell are you?”
