Page 13 of Arrogant Bastard

I mutter a quick, desperate prayer to a God I know no longer takes petitions from me, and I vault down the right hallway. Relief floods me as I see a foyer and wide double doors. I reach them and then realize why Killian sounded more exasperated than alarmed by my attempted escape.

The doors in front of me are no ordinary ones. For a start, there’s no handle. I search valiantly for an opening anyway as I hear him approaching.

“Don’t waste your time. I’ve been in town for four days. I’ve had more than enough time to put a few contingencies in place for when I found you. That front door for instance.” He strolls toward me as I slide my hand along the very thin edge where the door meets the frame. Nothing. I’m still searching when he leans in close like he did at the tree in the park and plants his hands on either side of my head. I don’t turn around. “To your left,” he says softly in my ear after the silence stretches out for a tense moment.

I reluctantly turn my head and see a slim panel set into the wall. He reaches out and touches a button, and the sleek glass surface lights up in neon blue. “Alphanumeric code, a warm palm print that registers my heartbeat, and a retina scan. And that’s just for starters. If by some miracle you manage to leave the apartment—and I don’t underestimate your ability to do so—there’s another door before you reach the elevator. That one needs a different set of commands. As for this door, it may look like wood, but there’s a titanium panel inserted between the two outer layers, just in case you happen to carry an ax in that backpack of yours and you think of hacking at it. We’re on the twenty-eighth floor. The fire escape is temporarily out of commission, and the windows are sealed tight.”

With each bullet point of precautions he’s taken to prevent me from leaving, my heart drops lower into my belly.

“The only other occupant on this floor accepted a very generous offer to vacate his apartment for a while, so we have the whole floor to ourselves.”

“Stop acting like we’re on a vacation, Killian. You’ve kidnapped me.”

“I’m keeping you safe.”

“God, you’re deluded. You must also be really desperate to go to these lengths to imprison a woman who doesn’t want you.”

“You don’t want me? Then why are you shaking, baby?” His breath washes over me right before his lips graze the sensitive skin beneath my ear.

“In case you can’t tell, I’m shaking because I’m fucking pissed.”

His chest brushes against my back as he slowly closes the gap between us. “I know you are. And I’m right here. Feel free to work out your frustrations on me any way you want. But you’re not leaving this apartment.”

I slam my hand against the door, more than a little panicked at the weakness infusing my body from his proximity. “This is nuts. You can’t keep me here forever.”

He doesn’t say anything, and my trepidation grows. I know how blind to everything our obsession made us in the past. If Killian has retained even a fraction of that, I’m in deep trouble. I also know that when Killian doesn’t speak, it’s because he believes his silence will express his feelings.

His mouth skims the top of my spine and then returns for a firmer, longer kiss. I press myself against the door in a vain attempt to escape him. “Killian, no.”

“Yes. With every breath in my body, yes,” he insists gruffly.

I fight the melting in my brain and struggle to retain an ounce of sanity. “You…you said there was more to why you’ve brought me here.”

He exhales harshly. “There is, but dear God, how the hell do you expect me to think straight enough to talk to you when you’re this close? When I’m dying to be inside you again? Do you have any idea how much I need you right now?”

I don’t respond in the vain hope that he’ll stop talking. Stop evoking a thousand shards of memories.

“Turn around, baby,” he insists. “Kiss me.”

I shake my head and try to pull away, but there’s nowhere to go. “Tell me why you think I’m in danger.”

“I don’t think. I know.”

The unwavering certainty in his voice. The locked door. The extra manpower in the park. Knocking me out to ensure my compliance.

He may have his own intensely person reasons for tracking me down and kidnapping me, but the tightening in my gut tells me that the more that’s coming will alter my reality. Possibly in the long term. But there’s no hiding from this. Not anymore. And if a ghost is reawakening, I want to know which one it is.

“Who?” I force the word out through a throat fighting to stay closed.

He inhales slowly. My heart is trying to beat itself out of my chest when I feel his breath on my neck. “Cairo.”

Chapter Five

Black Widow

Cairo. Oh God.

“No. That’s impossible.”

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