Page 25 of Seven Night Stopover

“But you do have fetishes?” She moistened her lips, and heat throbbed in his groin.

“Don’t we all?” he replied.

“Tell me one.”

“No.”

Surprise lightened her eyes. “And here I thought we were getting to know one another.”

“We are. But it’s better for you to know what I want when you’re in the situation.”

One corner of her mouth tilted. He desperately wanted to taste her smile. “You don’t strike me as the kind of man who sticks to safe and predictable subjects, Noah King.”

“I’m not. Which is why I don’t want to scare you off, Leia Michaels. You intrigue me. I intend to take this very carefully because the last thing I want is for you to bolt.”

The seductive eyebrow arched higher. “Bolt? I’m made of stronger stuff than you imagine me to be.”

“No. You’re not. Despite what you want to make me believe, you’re very fragile.” He gave in to the urge and smoothed his hand over the shaved swathe at her temple. “Someone broke you, Leia. Some vile, faceless motherfucker that I intend to hunt down and wipe off the face of the earth. And before this week is through, you’re going to tell me who that person is.”

9

She was running on a plane. For a hysterical moment, Leia wondered if she was screwing up her body’s chemistry by running toward the back of a plane that was racing forward at hundreds of miles per hour.

The sound of heavy footsteps behind her propelled her even faster away from the overwhelming force of nature that was Noah King.

“Leia.”

She’d been crazy to think she could handle him. Beyond nuts to think the first time she attempted to break out of the fear-lined box she’d allowed herself to be placed in would be with someone like him. But something in his eyes had answered a need in her, had called to the broken part of her that was too damaged to be fixed but needed acknowledging nevertheless. What she hadn’t anticipated was that he’d see right through to the core of her so fast. So precisely.

“Leia!”

She turned blindly down a hallway that looked vaguely familiar. Desperately hoping her radar wasn’t completelyskewed, she headed up the stairs she prayed would lead her to her suite.

“Dammit. Stop.”

No. Way.

He saw too much. Battered the foundations of her walls too easily.

Avoiding confrontation is not a sign of weakness. Know when to walk away from a fight.

She shook her head, for the first time uncomfortable with Warren’s well-mannered voice in her head.

Seeing her door ahead, she sprinted to it and keyed in the security code. Firm hands seized her arms before the light turned green.

“Stop.” His voice had softened from the harsh command. But the panic escalating within her didn’t abate.

“No. Let me go.”

He loosened his hold and turned her to face him, but he didn’t free her. “You’re upset. Tell me why.”

“It doesn’t matter. I think I made a mistake.”

Sizzling blue eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

“I made a mistake thinking you were what I wanted. I was wrong. I’m going to bed now. If I’m in the mood, I’ll find someone else to hang out with tomorrow. Or I’ll catch a flight back home when we get to Switzerland. Frankly, I think this whole trip was a mistake.”

“No, you don’t think you made a mistake. What you’d hoped for was to find someone to fuck you into oblivion, no questions asked.”

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