“Incorrigible.”
“You’re fond of that word when it comes to me. Let me help you out with a few more. Unreformed. Irredeemable. Beastly!”
I snort. “Beastly? One of these things is not like the other…”
She gives me a playful smile.
I feel like we’ve been on a rollercoaster ride, one moment to the next. I wonder where we’ll land when the ride is over.
I hate the thought of her going home. I hate the thought of waking up every day to an empty bed, not when I’ve shared it with the likes of her. I hate the thought of anyone else, fucking anyone, ever touching her again.
She’s mine now. All mine. I’ll put a ring on her finger and take her back home to my place. She might not know it yet, but there’s time.
“So what are you going to do when you find him?”
“Ask him a few questions.”
She works her lip for a minute. “‘Asking questions.’ Will that entail things like…torture?”
“Depends on how cooperative he is.”
“Oh, dear.”
Does she still have feelings for the bloke? Bloody hell.
“Do you have a problem with that?”
She gives me a curious look, as if thinking over what she wants to say. “Makes it hard responding right away when I’m committed to nothing but the truth.”
I nod. “You’re afraid I’ll hurt him?” I bloody well will, but I might be able to shield her from it.
“Afraid you’ll hurt him? Oh, no, Tate, you misunderstand.” She leans in a little closer to me, her hand resting dangerously high on my thigh. “I want you to hurt him. I’m afraid watching you hurt him might do strange, unexpected things to me.”
“Unexpected things?”
“I’ll want to jump your bloody bones.”
“Unreformed,” I utter, shaking my head, and she laughs out loud.
“What might he have had access to when you were together?”
She thinks this over with a grimace. “Oh, God, I hadn’t thought of that. My phone… my laptop. I guess everything, really.”
I nod.
“I can’t believe I was so damn stupid. I let him trick me like an arse. How did I never suspect everything he told me was a lie?”She shakes her head, her voice a bit tremulous. “I can’t believe I was taken like that.”
“I don’t think it’s all that complicated. He told you everything you wanted to hear. He paid attention to you. He gave you what you thought you wanted.”
“I thought I was better than that.”
“Don’t underestimate the effects of a con artist, sweetheart.”
Her lips tip up. “I like when you call me that.”
I reach for the back of her neck and squeeze gently. Her eyes flutter closed, and she sighs, as if relishing my touch.
She leaves her hand resting on my thigh, warm and reassuring, and I’m tempted to pull this car over. She’s right. We won’t need more than the seventy-two minute flight, not this time.
