His fingers are warm against my fevered skin, and it sends a strange, hot shiver through me.
No, Lee.
I’m locked up in the middle of nowhere, with no idea if I’ll make it out of this alive. Naturally, I need comfort or reassurance, and any touch could be misinterpreted as that. Histouch means nothing. It’s the wrong time to feel something like this, and certainly the wrong man.
“I know you’re awake,” he says with a deep, rich baritone that’s impossible to ignore.
I sit up too fast. Big mistake.My vision blurs and my head spins for a few seconds before everything becomes clear again.
Then I tilt my head up and all the air gets sucked out of my lungs, like I’ve been gut-punched.
It’shim.
The tall man who watched me from the upper deck of theMona.
Up close, he’s much taller and somehow moreintimidating, with an aura of mystery that makes the hairs on my arms rise, along with a darker feeling I can’t quite place yet.
The very definition of perfect is what this monster is. He’s the exact type of man I’ve seen women willingly sell their dignity for.
He has it all. Broad shoulders and visible biceps beneath a luxuriously fitted dark navy suit. Steel gray eyes that stare straight into the soul, searching for something to destroy. Pink, firm lips that are drawn in a thin line, like he spends all day thinking.
There’s no sign of rings on his fingers, flashy watches on his wrist, or even a glimpse of ink on what I can see of his skin.
Outwardly, he’s clean, like a simple businessman.
But I know he’s the man who heartlessly watched as his men chased me down the dock and dragged me to him like a lamb to the slaughter.
I blink when his lips move.
“You’re burning up,” he says, calm and controlled, his eyes and voice betraying nothing. “Could be from the shock.”
I raise a brow, wondering how this man is able to keep a straight face as he gives a diagnosis to a girl whose life he’s ruined with just a nod of his head.
“You kidnapped me.”
I hope he hears the strain in my voice, the unspoken questions, the silent plea to confirm that none of this is what I think it is.
But the man slides a hand into the pocket of his navy pants as he watches me with disinterest, like this is just another meeting he can’t wait to be done with.
He gives a curt nod. “I did.”
Two simple words spoken with so much certainty that there’s nothing I can do about it. The audacity!
“You kidnapped me,” I repeat, rolling the words over my tongue, like that will make them sound better. “How many days have I been here?”
“We brought you in last night. It’s been less than twenty-four hours.”
“You mean youkidnappedme last night.”
He shrugs with so much nonchalance it makes me want to gag. “Same thing,” he says, then raises a brow. “Any more questions?”
I swallow down a sarcastic remark and sort through my mind for something else to say.
“What’s your name?”
That throws him off guard. He tries to mask it, but I see the slight shift in his eyes.
“Myname.That’s your question.”
