Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“No?” I shift my hands on her back, giving her room to escape. She doesn’t budge. “Are you so afraid of what’s between us?”
“There’s nothing between us.”
“There’s everything.” I slide a hand up to take a handful of her hair. “I’ll prove it. Let me prove it to you.” Our breath mingles for a moment, and I nuzzle at her lips, opening her slowly. She—
“No!” She snaps her head to the side, avoiding my lips.
I’m so sick of her denying this. Denying us. “Yes.” I take a firmer hold of her hair.
Her breath catches. For a moment, she’s liquid in my arms. Then—
“Elyria.”
Inara
He releases me so quickly I wobble on my high heels. A touch on my arm steadies me, but then he’s across the room, half-turned to the wall.
I already miss his touch.
“I—” I don’t know what to say.
He runs a hand down his face. He’s not looking at me. “You can go. If that’s what you want. I won’t hunt you anymore.”
“Are you going to watch over me?”
He shakes his head, but I know he’s not going to back down. “Don’t ask me to stop. I don’t think I’m capable of it.”
I told him I’ve been profiling him, and I am. How does a little boy who loses his parents at such a young age cope?
He’s become hyper-vigilant. Trying to control everything and everyone around him. Using the billions at his disposal to make the world safer.
“I need to understand,” I say. “I don’t understand.”
He waits for me to unravel my thoughts.
“You made me feel things. But you’re not the man I thought you’d be. I need to know. . . how did I get it so wrong?”
“You aren’t wrong. Everything between us has been right.” He looks back at me. The light gilds his perfect profile.
“Obviously not. Since I lost my family, I’ve had the ability to just know things.” I don’t know how to describe my abilities. I’ve never tried to explain them to anyone. “I have. . . instincts. About people. People who kill. I’ve never doubted myself. Until now.”
“Is that what you’re searching for? Proof that you can trust yourself?”
I let out a shaky breath. It sounds so simple, the way he puts it. And stupid.
He turns fully toward me. “Then I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything.” The warmth is back in his voice, and it’s like turning my face to the sun.
“Really?”
“I can give you the truth.”
He wants me to know him. But I’ve been in this place before. “No games?”
He shakes his head. He seems weary, and I’m wary of that. The most dangerous man is one with nothing left to lose.
But I do trust him.
Gods, help me.
“All right then. Tell me.”
“Not here.”
I suppress a sigh. Here he goes, adding caveats.
He heads to the wall and opens a hidden panel. A button beeps, and an entire section of the wall—the part holding a section of implements—glides forward with a beep. It slides to the side, showing a dark doorway lit with an eerie blue-green light.
“What is this? Where does it go?”
“Somewhere we can’t be overheard.”
I glance around, scanning the corners of the room for cameras. If the room does have them, I can’t see. I look back at the door. “Do all the playrooms have secret passages?” I ask, stalling.
“Only the ones I designed.”
Am I really going to go down a creepy passageway with him?
I don’t think my curiosity will let me sleep tonight if I don’t.
Rex is right. There’s something about him. Us. I can’t deny it, even if I want to.
“Inara,” he calls my attention back to him. “Come.” He extends his hand. I don’t move. “Little bird. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“Can I get that in writing?”
His expression lightens. He knows he’s got me if I’m snarking back. And he’s right. I’ve already made my decision. “Would it help you to trust me? I’ll call my lawyers at once.”
“Just like a billionaire to need a contract for any basic human interaction,” I mutter and clop past him through the door.
There’s a short hallway lit only with that eerie light.
“Careful.” He catches my elbow. “Stairs.”
I let him guide me forward down the dark stairs, another hallway, and another set of stairs.
I would make a “Is this where you torture and hide the other bodies” joke, but my throat has closed. The air has a slight chemical scent to it. Antiseptic? Poison?
Maybe this is where he keeps his victims.
We come out to an open area, and I gasp.
We’re in a cavernous room, the center of which is filled with a set of illuminated pools. The only light is from their turquoise depths.
“A bathhouse?” My voice bounces off the tile. Rows of teak chaise loungers line the walls, along with shelves of folded towels. The place is empty, but it’s big enough for a hundred-person mermaid-themed orgy.