Page 44 of Under Control

Standing, she locked eyes with him and understood that there was a lot more to that story, but he just wasn’t sharing. She’d come to expect that much from him. Selfishly, she circled back to the reason why she’d played along in the first place.

She had to keep pushing. Her life depended on it.

“Can you also teach me survival skills?” Her tone was dead serious.

“Let’s just focus on how you can fight to defend yourself.”

“I think survival skills would be more…useful,” she said, trying to stay circumspect.

Danica placed her sketchbook on the coffee table and crossed her arms, trying to look strong, but the look on Carrick’s face told her he wasn’t buying it.

“Useful?” he repeated. “Now I know you’ve got something on your mind, and I want to know what.”

The way he looked at her told her one thing. She had something that he wanted to know. Under the intensity of his gaze, something strange got into her. He didn’t deserve to know all her secrets. He didn’t deserve to get the best of her. He didn’t deserve to know all her plans.

Just so he can look down on me?

So Danica shrugged and pushed out her hip with a lot of attitude, enjoying the face he made as he leaned back from the island, that same hunger in his eyes that she’d seen the previous night. Charity case or not, he felt something. And she had decided thatherplan was in part to get the upper hand and prove she was stronger than he thought.

“What’s your plan, Dani?”

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” she smirked, going in for the kill.

As his mouth opened, a confused look crossing his face, she turned around, flipping her nearly dry long brown locks over her shoulder as she slipped toward the patio door, seeking to swiftly step out onto the balcony, hearing him groan as she moved. The one thing she knew about men was that they loved watching women in yoga pants walk away.

If it was torture, she was glad to torture him.

He deserves it.

One point for Danica.She grinned to herself.

And just as she’d hoped, his heavy footsteps were apparent behind her, following her quickly from the kitchen. She lunged forward and shot her hand out to open the patio door farther, but she couldn’t get it fully open in time. And that was when her plan fell through. Carrick was just too fast. He came up behind her, flipped her around and pushed her squarely up against the sliding door glass. Dropping his hands on either side of her, he trapped her in front of him, pressing her hard against the glass with his body.

One point for Carrick.

“I don’t like surprises,” he growled low, a warning ringing through his voice.

As intimidated as she was, she realized how much he wanted to know more. She forced a sly grin across her mouth, and though the unease was there, so was the temptation of empowerment. That was when she decided she was never, ever going to give in to him. He would rue the day he’d called her a charity case.

Runaway girl.

Helpless.

He continued, locking eyes with her, “I’m ready for answers. I’m ready to hear this plan of yours.”

“And I’m ready for some coffee.” She licked her lips, batting her eyelashes innocently. “Why don’t we start with that and see where it takes us?”

And with that, she deftly slid open the door behind her and ducked under his arm, escaping his trap. She found her way onto the beautiful open balcony overlooking Sunset Beach. He hadn’t followed her out, though, but had disappeared back into the house. Danica released a hot, pressurized breath.

A grin crossed her lips and a wild feeling flushed through her mind.Two points for Danica.She grinned. And that was something to celebrate. It wasn’t easy to win against Carrick.

Leaning over the balcony, she took in the scene. The long, wide beach was seeing more and more beachgoers arriving to spend the morning, as was probably usual for a weekend. Danica enjoyed how the salty breeze wafted to her senses, bringing her into a state of deep relaxation. Rays hit her skin from the potent sun above, leaving a lasting feeling of heat on her shoulders.

She was a strong believer that vitamin D did the body good.

And she was proud of how she was turning the day around. She was starting to take back control, regaining a feeling of self-respect.

But she should have known that Carrick never lost.

---